Chapter 11: Whatever You Like

Today, I think, will be kind of a tough blog for me to write. No, nothing earth-shattering or devastating happened today that will be difficult to talk about... in fact, it is the opposite. This blog will be tough because there is nothing earth-shattering that happened. There isn't much of anything that happened. I hate days like this, that end with you feeling like nothing really happened at all. I need a little excitement in my days. I don't require some sort of major incident in every day, but some sort of minor excitement is definitely necessary. Today didn't really have any of that.

I woke up late, around 8:15am, and had to call a cab to get to work. Normally, my Mom will drive me to work every morning, but she spent the weekend out of town and didn't wind up getting back early enough this morning to get me to work, so I had to find another way. That way, usually, is a cab. Since my Mom lost her old job and started working at the place that shall not be named for security purposes I have not had to take cabs very often, which is a REALLY good thing, because I absolutely hate them. I just find cab drivers so awkward. I think that in a job like that, you kind of lose sight of appropriate conversation skills. Maybe it is the fact that you are stuck in a car by yourself for most of your shift, so all those random little thoughts that you have throughout the day that, in a job like mine, you would share with your co-workers and friends and such, you wind up relaying to your passengers who are, in general, complete strangers and are not really interested in hearing what you have to say. This has been my experience, anyway. Maybe cab drivers should have Twitter accounts, so they can get those thoughts out that way. Either way, anytime I do have to take a cab, I am always so grateful to the ones who just drive you where you need to go and don't try to make conversation beyond, "Where to?" I give them bigger tips than I do the ones who just talk the whole ride. It makes me kind of uncomfortable.

There is this one cab driver in particular who really creeps me out. I used to have to take cabs pretty regularly and so would wind up seeing the same drivers often. Then I kinda stopped taking them so often for a while, cos' I was unemployed, and when I became employed again I worked a shift that allowed for me to have transportation both ways. Well, when I started taking them again before my Mom lost her old job, this cab driver started coming again and now anytime I see him he says things like, "It's always good to see you," and "It's been too long!" I moved in that time, too, and he said to me, "Why didn't anyone tell me you moved?" Um, mainly because we don't run in the same circles, we don't know any of the same people and we are not friends. That just really weirds me out. Just because I pay for your services sometimes doesn't mean you need to know things about my life. That goes for anyone whose services you pay for, unless they are your assistant or your therapist or something like that where they have to be involved in your everyday life. This guy drives one of the van cabs, and when I saw one of those pull up this morning I automatically started thinking, "It isn't him. It can't be him. Anyone, but him!" It wasn't him. It was one of the drivers who just drives and doesn't make conversation. I tipped extra.

Work was extremely boring today. It was pretty slow for most of the day. I spent a little time helping my friend/co-worker Dianna make a grocery list, (or more like I named the most random items I could and she was like, "No, I don't need any asparagus!") The entire work day was extremely uneventful and it felt like forever before it was over. One of the reasons it felt like so long was because I was dying with anticipation for one of the major meetings of TV today, which I have dubbed a HUGE TV day! It included three different favorite programs of mine having people on that were sure to be EPIC; Kathy Griffin on Chelsea Lately, Lady GaGa on Gossip Girl and, probably the biggest deal one, Sarah Palin on Oprah!!! That was a daytime program, so it was waiting for me as soon as I got home, and I had it on my TV as soon as I got home! Let me preface this by saying that I am, in no way, a fan of Sarah Palin's. I did not vote for her, I absolutely hated her throughout the sad excuse for a campaign that she ran with John McCain and have relished every bit of Levi Johnston's shit-talking about her since the campaign ended. While on the topic of Levi Johnston, though, isn't he delicious? I am kind of obsessed with him. First of all, he is extremely sexy in that normal guy sort of way, and he has no problem working that everyman factor to his advantage constantly. Also, he knows he's sexy and has kind of fallen into a name for himself and is using every bit of it to his advantage. People always bad-mouth people who do that, but I absolutely respect it. Which, by chance, is one of the few ways I respect Sarah Palin. She is exactly the same as Levi, except much more dangerous. She is not trying to use the fame she stumbled into for praise and adoration; she is trying to use it for political gain. That can be very dangerous. Luckily, it's never going to work for her so we don't have a lot to worry about.

Sarah Palin talking to Oprah was kind of like Miley Cyrus having a sit-down with Stephen Hawkings. You knew going in it would clearly be one person completely dominating a conversation by never shutting up and trying to make clear they know what they are talking about, all the while never actually knowing what they are talking about. In a lot of ways, I kind of sympathize with Sarah Palin. No, sympathize is the wrong word. I kind of understand Sarah Palin. It just seems so clear, though, that she is working really hard not to give too much away or be too real, while still appearing to be giving stuff away and seem real. It's the same thing as the campaign, except that now everything that went wrong at the time was the McCain camp's fault. She is doing a really good job of throwing everybody around her at the time under the bus. It is not making her look good, but it is certainly entertaining. That is what it all is, at this point. I feel like Sarah Palin is just putting on a show to sell books these days. I did, however, come off of this interview understanding a little more why there were people who actually liked her during the campaign. She does have a sort of star quality. I just don't think politics is her arena. I think she would make an absolutely perfect talk show host. She's pretty, funny and likable, as a person, and I think daytime could be the perfect place for her. Anything to keep her away from the campaign route in 2012, really.

Levi Johnston really is just plain sexy, though, isn't he? I think so...

My Mom got off work and we went and bought dinner from this place that has become pretty much the only place we ever eat out at anymore, called "Gyros & Seafood." The food is delicious and the prices are extremely reasonable. Anytime we do eat there, we come out like, "Wow, that was all it cost for dinner?!" Funny story, though. I know that the word gyro is pronounced with a silent G, like a strange version of the word euro, but because this place was introduced to me by a co-worker as Gyros & Seafood, pronounced like Jai-Rows, it has become a little bit of a joke between my Mom and I to say it that way anytime we are referring to it. Once we got home it was pretty much time for GaGa on Gossip Girl, which I hate to say, I was a bit underwhelmed by. Aside from my general gushing of things like, "HOLY SHIT! GAGA WAS IN THE SAME ROOM AS HILARY DUFF!!! HILARY DUFF KISSED A GIRL!!!" it wasn't as EPIC as I was expecting. It was a really good episode of Gossip Girl, which has been kind of lacking this season, but the GaGa bit was almost the least interesting part of the episode. It makes me sad, especially considering the GaGagasm I have been in ever since the leak of "The Fame Monster." Either way, though, I still love absolutely everything about GaGa.

At this point I am feeling pretty tired as I write this. I am listening to a new artist I discovered through last week's episode of "Gossip Girl." Her name is Anya Marina, and during the etched-into-my-brain-for-all-eternity Hilary Duff girl-kissing moment, they played her absolutely brilliant cover of T.I.'s song, "Whatever You Like." I absolutely love when an artist will take one of those songs that I get the appeal of but simply can't get into myself and turns it into something I absolutely love. That is what Anya Marina did with this song. Previous examples of this would include Joss Stone's cover of "Fell In Love With A Girl" by the White Stripes, Mandy Moore's version of "Umbrella," and so many others. Anyway, Anya Marina has this album called "Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II," which I just finished listening to and absolutely adored. A review I read of the album, as it was downloading, stated that the album is nothing, if not original, and I have to agree with that completely. She's got a very fresh, unique, indie sound and I just know I am going to fall in love with this record.

Remember earlier when I mentioned Kathy Griffin on Chelsea? Yeah, that is on my DVR waiting to be watched still. I've had enough TV excitement for one day, I think. I guess the TV was my one bit of excitement for today. That is good enough, I suppose, and I am grateful for it. Now, though, I am exhausted and it is time for me to head off to bed to dream happy, sexy dreams of Levi Johnston.