A lot of Short Stories...

Thoughts I didn't feel like/couldn't flesh out into full entries.....

It's November!!!  It's National Novel Writing Month, and the beginning of NaNoWriMo!!  Or, write a 50,000 word novel in a month event.  And this year, I'm participating! Writing a novel has always been on my bucket list, but in the back of my mind I had a sneaking suspicion it would never get done.  Novels seem difficult to write, and really time consuming.  I mean, do I have enough vocabulary words?  Do I have enough time?  What about a plot and all those run-on sentences?  It's not going to be perfect, what will people think?!?!

Silly fears.  Screw it, I'm doing it.  Besides, who spits out perfection in the first try?  I mean, the first time babies take a step, it usually looks funny and then they fall down.  But eventually, everyone masters coordinated walking.  Well, mostly everyone (rubs knee that just banged into door-frame)...


I met Bobbi!  Bobbi of Bobbi's hummus which is delicious, all natural, and gluten-free.  I first fell in love with her Black Bean Dip that my roommate Liz brought home.  Like so many other food products, I never really think about who was behind them or what the name on the label means.  I just yesterday made the connection between Paula and Jimmy Dean.  They're married, right?!  Should research that....

Right, back to the point.  So Bobbie is a really nice old lady.  She said everyone thought she was crazy for peeling so much garlic for all her hummus back in the '70s but that now business is really growing.  Clearly she loves what she does and I respect that.

And this is her giving me free hummus.

(Nope, not getting paid for this recommendation.  I just thought it was super cool to meet the lady on my label and that she was nice and gave me free stuff was endearing.)


I love Liz Lemon.  Slash Tina Fey.  Just because! Blerg!

Comedian Rob Delaney is suing Kim Kardashian.  And E!.  And Ryan Secreast.  And Comcast. By now, most know (and don't care) that Kim K's marriage to Kris Humpries lasted 72 days.  After getting paid to be in the wedding ceremony and accepting thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in donations via catering and dresses and whatnot, Delaney is calling out the wedding for being a sham.

Instead of fighting for monetary rewards, Delaney simply wants Kim and Kris to actually try.  Try to be married.  Try to get through the rough stuff that every marriage encounters.  Just try to allow the relationship to be real and imperfect.

While I know little about his legal stance, good for you Delaney.  Address the issue that marriage is hard and not all rainbows and butterflies.  Let people know that struggling is normal and that not everything in life is as easy as pulling out a credit card and clicking on a link.  Again, good for you.  I can't wait to see what happens.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

I'm sitting in a king size bed on the Governor's Club level of a hotel overlooking a protest taking place at the Capital building in Madison, Wisconsin, watching television and doing research.

I. feel. grown. up.

My research includes and article about beer, some Wikipedia, and the new episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" in which Charlie and Dennis discover "enriched" beer.  I have to give a beer presentation tomorrow so I'm setting up my (sober) brain to be completely prepared.  Both with jokes and facts.

I've also been preparing by talking with lots of random people.  Today, one my first solo plane ride, I sat next two a nice old couple who were randomly from my hometown!  They told me where they lived and told me to stop by next time I'm in town.  Retired entrepreneurs (they used to own more than 1,700 air pumps, most of which are now free to use), they now run a food kitchen for people in need.

I also met an old hippie dude who is a snow bird.  He lives half in Tampa, FL, and the other half in Wisconsin with his kids.  He told me about Blueberry Field south of St. Pete which is where people go to do some recreational stuff.  For $5, you're safe to do whatever.  They provide some different settings, including a giant bird cage that you can sit about 20 people in along with huge rope swings.

Since he is also retired, he is doing a bunch of stuff.  Including writing adult Dr. Seuss books.  He recited two of them to me and they are hilarious.  All the rhyming was clever, and it was a little dirty and definitely causes lolz.  I'm trying to find him on FB but its tough going.

Okay, back to beer research.  And watching protests from my window.  You know, all just part of being a grown up!

Paper Moon

There's this movie on Netflix Instant Watch called Paper Moon.  You should definitely invest the 102 minutes to watch it.

Now, most of you (yea, you 3 people reading my blog), will be like "ohhhhh I LOVE Paper Moon, why did it take so long for you to discover it?"  Well, see, I have a slight problem.  I grew up in a household where 1920-1950 was the ruling media age.  No Simpsons, no Rugrats, no to a lot of things.  Never watched Star Wars or The Breakfast Club.  I know, I KNOW.  What a sin against humanity!  Well I have seen The Thin Man, Casablanca, And Then There Were None, Arsenic and Old Lace, My Man Godfrey, The Maltese Falcon, The General, and every other influential movie up to 1960.  So chill.  I have the same amount of knowledge, just in a different era.

Now in case you haven't seen it, Paper Moon came out in the 1970s, hence why I haven't seen it.  It's a great take on the Depression era and strays away from the traditional "everyone was nice, Mama was great, Paw was an upstanding gentleman, and there was no such thing as whores or bootleggers."  There's this con-man, Moses (Ryan O'Neal) and a little girl/boy Addy (Tatum O'Neal).  Her mom dies and he gets stuck traveling with her cross-states to take her to her only kin.  Because its the Great Depression and he has a car.  And ain't no one else payin' to send some whores kid away.

The thing is, he owes her $200.  And until he gets it back, he's stuck with her.  The black-and-white film and filming techniques do a great job convincing you the characters' are really stuck in that era.  The depiction of the Great Depression's poverty is so raw and real it is almost unsettling, but the plot is sweet.  It is a weird mix that I really appreciated and thought worked well.

And the ending.  Well let's just say it is perfect.  Not overally sad, not overally happy, it just is what it is. So refreshing.

4.8 out of 5 stars.  Watch it!