Halloween at Harlaxton

Once again, bear with me -- I've been such a crappy blogger that I have to go back into the depths of my memory to grab the things that happened A MONTH AGO!  This time, it's Halloween at Harlaxton, yet another crazy night here in England.

So Chris and I were sitting around my room with Mary trying to figure out what to be for this party that wouldn't require a ton of money.  We tossed around really stupid ideas for a few minutes before he just said, randomly, "Let's be Jim and Pam."  So the next day we went to town and bought a few things, and this is the end result.

Pretty decent, huh?  So we got together with a bunch of people and did NOT at all drink beforehand, then walked up to The Greg where Harlaxton had rented out the entire thing for the night.  It was really fun, there were some great costumes -- Sam Baker was Michael Jackson, Mary Johnson was John Lennon, etc. -- and there was a dance floor, which was cool!  And it was extra nice because we didn't have to pay for a cab to get us there or back.  

On the way back -- oh dear.  Chris had a little too much to drink so Pam had to drag Jim's ass all the way back to the carriage house, where she ended up having to tuck him in and witnessed him be a complete ass to Manny, which was probably the funniest moment of her life!  Then Alex and I and a few others smoked some hookah, ate some delicious pizza and called it a night.  Altogether it was an excellent Halloween, definitely one I won't be forgetting any time soon!

Finally . . . a decent Thursday

I feel like today will be one of the better Thursdays in a long time.  There are a few reasons for this.  

I still have to work, but my boss is on vacation.  Which could mean either more or less work, but this way she will not be staring at me and watching my every move allll day long.  I do my work, lady, do you really care if I check my email three or four times over the course of six hours?

I don't have rhetoric tonight!!!!  I skipped on Tuesday just because I didn't feel like going.  I was in no mood to deal with . . . people.  But it's cancelled tonight so I have a whole Rhetoric-free week.  I DO NOT find any of it interesting in the least.  But I am constantly told that it is very interesting.  I don't think it's working, people.  No matter how often you tell me it's interesting, I will still see it as boring.

The next reason today should be decent is that we're going to WDIV!  I'm super excited for that.  We have always watched Channel 4 in my house.  I'm not really sure why, I think it's because my mom likes the Today show and she doesn't have to change the station.  I think it will be really cool to see an actual news studio.  Maybe then I can make a semi - decision as to what kind of internship I want to pursue.  

And last but not least, there are TWO new episodes of The Office plus the premiere of Parks and Recreation!  I might not be able to watch them, depending on when we get back from our field trip.  But it's just comforting to know that they will be waiting for me on my mom's DVR back home so I can watch them on Easter Sunday.

I apologize if my blogs in the next few weeks are really whiny and bitchy.  I have a ton of stuff coming up, projects, Greek Week stuff, formal, etc. so I'm going to be in "I hate the world" mode for awhile.

What Am I Watching?

I think a more appropriate question is what am I NOT watching? 

My favorite TV shows of all time are Gilmore Girls and The Office.  I don't understand why more people don't like them.  I own all the episodes on DVD -- well, I own the entire series of Gilmore Girls, but The Office is still on TV so I just have all the seasons besides the one that is on TV currently.  

Even though I have every episode of Gilmore Girls, I still watch it on ABC Family when it's on.  It's like a surprise -- which season will be showing?  Is Rory still at Chilton or has she moved on to Yale?  Is Lorelai at the Independence Inn or the Dragonfly?  Is Rory with Dean, Jess, or Logan?  Is Lorelai with Max, Chris or Luke?  

The Office is just, plain and simple, hilarious.  I know that some people don't get the comedy.  It's true that most of it is not "in-your-face", it's more in the awkwardness and the political incorrectness of Michael Scott and his number-two, Dwight Schrute.  Plus Jim is like, PERFECT, and I want to be Pam.  And Andy Bernard (The Nard Dogg) just makes the show that much better.

Another series I am watching currently is The Adventures of Pete and Pete.  It used to air on Nickelodeon in the early 90's and I absolutely adored it.  So when it came out on DVD of course I bought seasons 1 and 2.  It's a kid's sitcom, but it's so weird and quirky that sometimes it feels adult.  It's about two brothers, both named Pete Wrigley, their dad, their mom who has a metal plate in her head, Big Pete's best friend Ellen, Artie the Strongest Man in the World, Bus Driver Stu, and Little Pete's tattoo Petunia.  I can't explain it because it's just so strange, but I love it.  From Big Pete and Ellen's friendship turning into love on the marching band field, to Little Pete and his friends staying up for 11 days straight calling themselves "The Nightcrawlers" breaking a world record to murdering the school's mascot, a squid, with a discus. . . STRANGE.  But awesome.

I'm also a huge fan of Arrested Development, though I still need to get my hands on second half of the second season and the third season.  I have the first season but never got around to buying the second season and have been getting the disks on Netflix periodically.  But I love the Bluth family.  I think it's sad that it was cancelled -- the same fate that befell Freaks and Geeks; the network moved around a show it didn't particularly care for, so it couldn't gain a loyal following.  One of my favorite quotes ever is from Arrested Development:

Michael Bluth:  [talking to George-Michael about prison]  Scary?  No.  No, it's the opposite of scary.  It's like a carnival.  Without the half person on the skateboard that grabbed your knee to steady himself.

Other shows I enjoy are Jon & Kate + 8 (say what you may, but I LOVE Kate), GREEK, Little People Big World, Bones, and Girls Next Door (RIP).  I'm not a fan of reality TV in general, but I like the TLC shows because they are not trashy, and I like Girls Next Door because they don't try too hard!  And they are just funny.  

I don't know -- I love TV a lot.  It's an escape.  I always make time to veg out and watch some, because without some relaxation I would go crazy.  I need alone time with my fictional lives every once in a while.

The Glass Office

In the summer I work at my city's pool.  The job itself is very boring -- I'm a cashier and literally, I answer the phone and take people's money and don't let people swim without a bathing suit.  Because, you know, it makes perfect sense to come to a public pool WITHOUT a bathing suit.

Anyhow, resulting from our boredom, we decided to make our own version of The Office.  It took me this long to sit down and figure out how to convert the files from .wmv to .mov, but I succeeded finally and threw them together on Final Cut Express.  They are not what I would call good, because of limited time and resources, but I would call them entertaining.

I hope you enjoy these.  However, if you have never seen/don't like "The Office" you might not understand the humor and therefore will not find it funny.  

I should explain the title.  It is called "The Glass Office" because the main office where our bosses work is enclosed in glass so they can see the entire pool deck.  We call it the Glass Office.  So, yeah.  That's that.

I should explain that some events are for real.  Kathy really is our boss.  The bird trapped in the building was real, and Kathy seriously did name it Morgan Freebird and try to lure it out with a crumbled up ice cream cone.  I have about 15 minutes of footage of this.  How lucky was I that I had the camera right next to me when a stupid bird flew in the door?  The audio for that part is actually really funny because my sister starts screaming at Kathy not to put the cone on the floor because my sister is the one who will have to sweep it up, but it doesn't fit with the overall tone of the show so I had to do VO.

But the rest of it Kathy and I did write.  On some occasions we sat in the girls' locker room and tried to think of the funniest situations that could possibly happen and they all had to do with Vince, the pool supervisor, who we all agreed would not want to take part in this endeavor.  So we included him in a controversial drawing.  

I should also point out that almost all of this footage was shot when there were no swimmers or only 2 or 3 swimmers.  We would never purposely put people in danger for the sake of a movie.  The only exceptions are scenes that Kathy is not in.  I shot many of my talking heads during peak hours, but since I see everyone that comes in and out and am not responsible for saving lives, I figured it was okay.  There are many occasions where we stayed after hours and shot scenes off the clock just because we genuinely loved it!

I probably won't work there again this summer because I have to get a "real job", but I will show up there to shoot season 2 for sure.  

10 Things I Love About Dwight

Ok, so I know I've already done a post about The Office, but truthfully I'm suffering from a strange sort of writer's block, the kind where you don't have to write about anything in particular but you STILL can't figure out what to write about.

10 Things I Love About Dwight

10)  His fashion sense.  Mustard is the new black.

9)  His beet farm.  Frankly, it's encouraging that he and Mose can run a 60-acre beet farm all by themselves, and Dwight can STILL be top salesman at Dunder Mifflin, Inc.

8)  His bobblehead fascination.  Perhaps it's because his head is so abnormally large.

7)  His affinity for strange weapons.  He hides them all around the office.  My personal favorite was the bowstaff hidden under the sofa or the knife hidden in a file labeled "Mr. A. Knife."

6)  His volunteer sheriff's deputy job.  Which I'm pretty sure never existed.

5)  His relationship with Angela.  I laugh so hard every time they talk in the kitchen and don't look at each other.

4)  His rivalry with Andy.  They're two versions of the same person, which makes it utterly hilarious.

3)  His fascination with bears.  If I were to ever go camping at Yellowstone, I would want Dwight about five tents over.  No closer.

2)  His unflinching adoration of Michael Scott.  Possibly the only person who ever looks to Michael as a superior.

1)  His rivalry with Jim.  Probably the best part of the show is when Jim plays pranks on Dwight.  Plus I just love Jim.

I know that was a ginormous waste of time for all who are not fans of The Office, but I think everyone should be a fan of that masterpiece.  Hopefully my relentless chatter about it will convince someone else to love it as much as I do.  

My life goal is to spread cheer to the world, without actually having to be cheerful.

Dwight vs. Andy

This monumentally important question was posed to me during last night's episode of "The Office".  Angela is engaged to Andy but sleeping with Dwight.  Both men have pros and cons to them, and ignoring the moral ambiguity of both Angela and Dwight, I've decided to make a list to decide whose side I'm on.

DWIGHT

Pros:

Can protect Angela in a fight with a bear

Is skilled with a bowstaff

Assistant to the dojo at his karate studio

Drives a Trans Am

Two sources of income:  Dunder Mifflin and Schrute Beet Farms

Cons:

Socially inept

Wears the same color shirt every day

Cousin Mose

Smells like beets

ANDY

Pros:

Went to Cornell . . . ever heard of it?

Trust fund baby

Sings in an a capella group "Here Comes Treble"

Drives a Nissan Xterra

Dresses fancy

Cons:

Cannot protect Angela from a bear attack

Socially inept

Sings in an a capella group "Here Comes Treble"

Anger issues

This is so hard (that's what she said).  Both have their strong points and their negative points.  I suppose I'm going to have to go with Andy because he's just so oblivious, it can be marginally cute sometimes -- while Dwight is just incapable of being cute.