Telling it like it is

Our blog posts are always pretty upbeat, reporting all of our usual adventures. Sadly, this post will be different.

This past week was, probably, the worst of my life so far. On Monday night, my beloved cousin Samantha died at the age of 24. It doesn't even feel right to call her my cousin, because we were much closer than that. We really were like sisters, and her real sister Dena and I have the same relationship. I had been dreading this day for decades, literally, and it finally came. Yet I feel no sense of relief. Just pain.



One year ago this week my biggest problem was that I had to deal with an incompetent, idiotic research company and a client who loved them. As stressful as that was, I'd be thrilled to trade that problem for all these new ones. In the past nine months, I've experienced the following:
- My "stepmom" died
- I discovered a long-time friend talking shit about me (sounds juvenile but damn it hurt)
- I turned 38 (no jokes about how this a good thing; it might be good if I'd achieved ANY of the goals I'd set by now)
- I attended my 20-year high school reunion (yes it was fun but again, kind of sucked being single and childless among all the happy couples)
- My dear cousin Debby was killed in a car accident
- My parents, divorced for many years, both chose to spend Christmas with me (again this turned out to be fun but started out a little awkward, and the holidays are always stressful anyway)
- Samantha went in for a long-awaited lung transplant and had every complication you can think of
- I lost two friends -- not close friends, but people I cared about (one to suicide, one to cancer)
- Brian and I just could not get along and he moved out
- I got the flu and was sicker than I'd ever been, ever
- After 9 1/2 years with DDB, the management stabbed me in the back. I quit, but it was so awful, it felt like I'd been fired instead. (It never feels good to think you're so important and great, only to discover you are not valued AT ALL.)

After about 3 or 4 of these events I thought, "NO MORE!!" but it just kept on comin'. The good news is that Brian really rose to the occasion and showed me tremendous support when I lost my job, even though he had no responsibility to do so. So after a few months he moved back in, and that was good.

But I'm still suffering from the loss of my career and since it was the center of my life for so long (I have no husband or kids, so the natural focus was on my job), it's been very hard to regain a feeling of vitality. So I'd already been moping...



And now I've lost my darling Samantha. We were so alike. She was my go-to girl for anything fashion-related. I could name drop some trendy designer and nobody knew what I was talking about, except for her. Every single sale I came across, I told her about it. We loved Kathy Griffin, Intervention (though sometimes it bummed her out), The Soup, and lots and lots of other mindless trash TV. We took so many memorable trips together, to Hilton Head Island, Disney World, all over LA, and especially Las Vegas, where I took her to her first (and probably only) male strip show. She was only 17 so I still feel a little guilty about that. But the look on her face sure was worth it.

Anyway, I don't mean to whine and moan and groan. I know a lot of people have it a lot worse than I do. I am just a little worn out right now, so bear with me if I'm a little grumpy. I really don't want to become a bitter old lady, so I'm gonna try to maintain some positivity and live a life that Samantha would approve of. Suggestions and encouragement always welcome.

Love.


(This is Dena, my Aunt Carmie, and Samantha at Christmas two or three years ago)

Big fat update

So hello again. We have much to report since our last update!

We've been on the road a lot. Last month, I flew to Atlanta for the wedding of one of the first friends I ever made on the Internet. Here are a few pics:
- me and my beloved date Katie
- me in the dress I wore -- no big deal, but check out those SHOES! "Beauty is pain", you better believe it.
- me with the happy -- VERY happy -- new couple (They serenaded each other with an impromptu medley of Grease songs, and gave us plantable trees as favors. How charming!)





Also last month, I fulfilled a childhood dream by seeing Micky Dolenz in concert. Two Monkees down, two to go! We met him after the show and he was very nice and still cute! I had a great time but some crazy groupie kind of gave me attitude (yes, Micky Dolenz has groupies. Okay, groupie. Singular).



On eBay, we found front row seats to the Kids In The Hall. I took two pics but they're blurry and awful, so here's a random pic. Anyway I got to be a part of the show, slightly, when Mark McKinney took a video camera, zoomed in on my face (which was then projected on a huge screen behind him for the world to see), and decided whether or not he was going to crush my head! Sadly for me, he decided I "look like a backscratcher" (???!?!!) so he declined to crush me and moved on to some other chick.



We recently returned to the lovely city of San Gabriel to visit the glory that is Chung King. "What is Chung King?" you ask. Well our friend Wei told us about it. It's an authentic Chinese restaurant. I mean authentic. AUTHENTIC. The menu scares me.



And that's hardly the worst of it. Another page features "stir-fried frog with pickled pepper (live)". I assume they mean the FROG and not the pepper. But anyway, their specialty is a chicken dish with hot red peppers -- so many that you cannot possibly avoid them! It's delicious, really.



Speaking of China, I just interviewed for a job in Beijing. But after the first round, they decided I'd be better suited for the Hong Kong or Bangkok position. But don't freak out -- after the second round, they sensed (correctly) that I wasn't extremely thrilled to move to Asia. I would have been interested, but not for three whole years, which was what they wanted. So I didn't get the job. But I did get a freelance position (right here in LA), so I'm keeping busy.

As you probably know, our goal is to become full-time vacationers. We did a great job of that over Memorial Day week, when we took our annual trip to the Outer Banks (NC). Lori and Mike picked out an incredible house this year -- with a heated pool!! We drank many Coronitas, ate like pigs, and Brian fished like it was going out of style. One night he caught 25 fish, but a FOX jumped up and stole one right off the line as he was reeling it in! Crazy, huh??



Last week, Brian went fishing in Colorado with his family. He had a great time but doesn't have any photos!! While he was there, I went to Las Vegas with my mom, aunt, cousins and mom's friend Kelli. We stayed at the glorious Bellagio, where our room had an impressive bathroom.



In Vegas, we saw Mamma Mia, ate at rumjungle (not great) and Tao (great great), drank at poker tables, slot machines and Kahunaville, and generally had a fabulous time. The highlight was definitely our incredible seats and backstage passes at the Kenny Chesney concert, courtesy of the very talented dobro player in LeAnn Rimes' band. This photo isn't fabulous but at least you can see how good our seats were!



So that's about it for now. This weekend I'll be in Las Vegas again (for work) and next weekend we're using a free flight (thank you John and ExpressJet!) to visit Monterey. We leave you with a link (lame YouTube won't let me embed) to a video that actually had me crying with laughter.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9yAkBSrMk0

Please stay in touch everyone!!!

The more things change...

I love Gilda Radner. This is really funny, and really depressing!

Stretch Marks | Funny Jokes at JibJab

SATC review

We've been on vacation, and have one more (each) coming up this weekend, so there will be a fun update shortly.

But for now, my review of the Sex and the City movie that I so eagerly awaited for years. I loved seeing them again, loved the clothes, had a lot of laughs, but in the end, was very bothered by one big message (that somehow, didn't seem quite as blatant in the TV series). The New York Post agrees with me, and here is the excerpt from their review:

"...distressed by the movie's regressive, unmistakable subtext: that unless she's a sexual compulsive, a woman is nothing without a man of her own."

I give it a C!

I almost forgot!

I saw these two at dinner on Sunday night! She was wearing more clothes, but he was dressed about the same as he is in this pic.

I Love LA

It's so much fun living here sometimes.

Today I visited my friends Maria and Dustin who work at Paramount. I hung out on "The Lot" for hours. I saw a lot of sets but no celebrities.

But tonight Brian and I went to a research screening of a movie. We do this every once in a while, and the movies vary. A few weeks ago we saw one called The Uninvited that isn't scheduled to be out until Halloween. It was llllllame but all of the 14-year-olds around us loved it.

Tonight's movie was not revealed to us until we got there. They said we were the first audience to see it. When we arrived, they frisked us and searched us for camera phones. Brian had to check his iPhone at the door.

Turns out the movie was HANCOCK, which stars Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. I LOVED IT. I gave it 5 stars, Brian gave it 4. If my brother Lee is reading this: GO! It's a superhero movie, but only sort of.


Here's the coolest part: Will Smith was in the audience!! He snuck in the back and watched from the last row. I hope he felt the positive vibes I was sending, because this movie was a blast and it oughta make all of the stars much richer.

After the movie I went to Pinkberry. That's probably my 6th one in 7 days. The cashier wrote my name on the cup, sort of: JENAFUR

Last week in Burbank I caught sight of this:


Tonight in Venice I saw these little guys (there were tons more but I couldn't herd them). It may not be obvious now that I look at this pic, but they are ducks. There are tons of them all over our neighborhood:


Yesterday on my way to teach a class at Cal State Fullerton, I spotted this license plate. I thought it was pretty funny. I'm assuming the driver is a Hispanic Star Wars fan:


Brian and I are both dieting but he had a craving for Shepherd's Pie the other night. So he made a healthy version, sans gravy.


He really is a great cook!! Much better than I am, I hate to say. There's only one time a year that I am a semi-decent cook, and that's when we go on vacation and have to cook for a whole house of friends and make sure we don't embarrass ourselves.

Last year Ilse and I went to a concert that Perez Hilton put on and I can't remember if I posted this photo then or not. But we love him and it's a great pic, so here it is (maybe again)!!


A while ago my friend Darcy and I ran into an actor we loved. We didn't know his name (it's Ben) but he was the star of one of our Ameriquest commercials! Tonight I recognized him in a new Gas-X ad. I'd like to leave you with this line from that commercial that made me, quite juvinilely, laugh out loud: "Your son Rip is on line toot."

I love LA!!

A wise man said...

"Women your age are more likely to be mauled at the zoo than get married." - Jack Donaghy