Ugh.

I interrupt the pop culture commentary to talk about me. I often hear to get what you want, you have to ask for it. But what happens when you don't know what you want? Right now I feel like I am just waiting for things to happen, maybe because I don't know what to ask for. So here I sit, waiting for a variety of things:
1) a new episode of Lost (and maybe an explanation for WTF is actually happening on the show)
2) a phone call from a potential new employer
3) a clear message from a boy to let me know whether or not he is interested

I can't definitively ask for any of these things, because:
1) I have no idea what is going on with Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate et al, so a new episode is really not going to help
2) while I would like a new job, not sure if it is this one
3) while I would like a new boy, not sure if it is this one

So instead, I sit here, resentful and thinking that none of the things I am waiting for are things that I really want.

And so I repeat - ugh.

I'm hungover, but they're getting sober, so we're even right?

So today, as I nurse a hangover and curse Sarah's mom and her insistence on feeding us wine, the most exciting thing that happened was the premiere of Celebrity Rehab: Sober House. Celebrity Rehab, and all of its spin offs/incarnations, is definitely one of my fave guilty pleasures. The people on the show are such train wrecks that I can't turn away. Plus I love me some Dr. Drew. He is a true silver fox. And he can rock a pair of jeans. And in this picture, a bad ass leather jacket.

Up in the air

Recently I was on a plane and the woman in front of me was watching "Up in the Air" which I have already seen and quite enjoyed. It reminded me that it has one of my favourite scenes from a movie, ever. Right after Anna Kendrick's (Natalie) character get dumped via text message, she has a breakdown and a speech that sums up how I felt for most of my 20s:
Alex (Vera Farmiga): What a weasley prick
Natalie: What does that make me, someone who falls for a weasley prick? When I was 16 I thought I'd be married by 23, maybe have a kid. Corner office by day, entertaining at night. I was supposed to be driving a Grand Cherokee by now.
Alex: Life can underwhelm you that way.
Natalie: I don't want to say anything anti-feminist, I really appreciated everything your generation did for me.
Alex: It was our pleasure.
Ryan (George Clooney): Well done.
Natalie: It just feels like success won't matter til I find the right guy.
Alex: You really thought he was the one?
Natalie: We could have made it work ... he really fit the bill. White collar, college grad, loves dogs, likes funny movies, 6'1, brown hair, kind eyes, works in finance but is outdoorsy, you know, on weekend. I always imagined he'd have a single syllabled name like Matt or John or Dave. In a perfect world he drives a four runner and the only thing he loves more than me is his golden lab. And a nice smile. What about you?
Alex: That he's not an asshole. He comes from a good family, wants kids, is healthy enough to play with his kids. He can't earn more money than me and it would be nice if he has hair, although that's not a deal breaker anymore. And a nice smile. Even that could be enough.
Natalie: Whoa, that's depressing ... you should just date women.
Alex: Tried that - trust me, we're no picnic.

It's an abridged version, but when I saw it in the theatre, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I definitely did not plan on having a corner office or kids by age 23, but the part about the boy with the single syllable name, the dog and the SUV - all true.

Having already seen the movie, I watched another quality film - Twilight: New Moon. Full of crap dialogue of course, but I felt the need to watch it in order to understand the cultural zeitgeist. I guess it falls under the "guilty pleasures" portion of this blog. And PS, I'm totally Team Jacob, even though the cutoffs the wolf pack wear are awful and Taylor Lautner is way too young, not to mention too short.

Cynicism is easy

More olympic thoughts ... this time from Stephen Brunt ... it made me cry:

My mom still has hope

My mother called my on Wednesday night to tell me that should I ever be competing at the Olympics and she should die, I should continue on, a la Joannie Rochette. Without a word of a lie, she said "put me on ice, I'll keep." Thanks mom, happy to know that you still have hope that one day I could be an Olympian. But I'm fairly certain the jig is up ... as a 33 year old occasional runner/skier/hiker/snowshoer/group power goer, I'm fairly certain I won't make it. Although there were +40 types competing at the 2010 games - am thinking here mostly of curlers (as previously discussed, my fave sport), but apparently there is a 43 year old ski crosser ... as DG put it, she apparently has no name or country as the announcers regularly refer to her as "the 43 year old."

So the Olympics have come to a close and there are many more best of moments that I don't remember right now, mainly because I'm too depressed that the 17 days of competition are over. But here are a few good ones, along with some bad ones too, because let's admit it, the closing ceremony was pretty bad:
1) Hockey gold for Canada ... both men's and women's. To be honest, the men winning was more of a relief than anything else. Had they lost, it would have put a damper on all the other celebrations. But thank god for Iggy and Sid.
2) The post-game celebration of the women's hockey team. Smoking cigars, drinking beer and champagne, and driving a zamboni? Awesome.
3) Marianne St. Gelais watching her boyfriend Charles Hamelin win gold in the 500 metre short track competition ... I'm pretty sure she exerted as much energy as he did. So great.
4) Bob Costas deadpanning: "here come the always-popular giant inflatable beavers," at the closing ceremony.
5) Once again, watching the closing ceremony while BB messaging with peeps in far flung places. Too bad the ceremony itself was god-awful. Nickelback, really? Avril, come on. What happened to The Hip, Arcade Fire, Feist, Knaan, etc, etc. Also, how bad was that "Let's have a party" song. How about, let's write a better song?
6) Being interviewed by Shaw TV about women kicking ass at the Olympics this year. It's supposed to air today and apparently I made some comment about being sad that I was past my prime ... it's true though. Were I 15 years younger, I could potentially have become a mogul skier or something. Probably not, but maybe!
7) Other people joining me in my love for John Morris. The third for the Canadian men's curling squad is hot. Plus he's a volunteer firefighter. Yum. Oh and he played really well.

On that note, I will end this entry. More Olympic thoughts to come I'm sure.

Fave moment 3 can be found here:

I believe ...

So the Olympics have arrived and I am firmly on my couch, in luge position, watching everything and anything. I know I've already mentioned my love of curling, but the Olympics brings this obessession to a whole new level. It helps that our Canadian teams are both doing so well. Even Gretzky was impressed (they interviewed him at one of the round robin matches this week ... he's a big fan apparently. Randomly so is Carl Lewis. Yes, the sprinter). Moving on from curling, I am equally obessesed with snowboard cross, ski cross, moguls, skeleton, bobsleigh, xcountry skiing, downhill skiing, the list goes on and on. It also helps that I got to go to Olympics this year as they are just a hop skip and a jump from Calgary. Last week I was lucky enough to see the cauldron and take in a few hockey games ... plus I got to see some of my fave people in the world so that helped to. So, below a list of my favourite Olympic moments thus far - both official game moments and just me and my friends hanging out during the Olympics. We are at day 12 already and I haven't posted anything yet, so this is an incomplete list, in no particular order and will be added to in the next few days):
1) Jenn Heil wins silver ... she was expected to win gold, but I don't care, silver is still amazing ... the speed, the steepness and the size of the bumps is insane and the fact that she is so good, is so incredible
2) Alex Bilodeau wins gold ... the big story is about his brother, but my favourite moment was on the NBC feed when right after they finished interviewing him, his girlfriend arrived, they started making out and Bob Costas deadpans "I think it goes without saying that it will be a great Valentine's Day for Bilodeau"
3) the orcas at the opening ceremony
4) while I think it was a bit ridiculous that Wayne Gretzky rode in the back of a pick up truck to light the outside cauldron, I loved the crazy waiters running beside him
5) watching the Opening Ceremony while BB messaging with KM in Fredericton ... sometimes technology is just awesome
6) the hug between Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves when they realized she had won the bronze medal
7) the fact that Jon Montgomery has a turtle on his helmet
8) Jon Montgomery drinking a pitcher of beer walking through Whistler village
9) Tore Vikingstad's hat trick at the Switzerland - Norway game (it helped that I was there to enjoy it in person!)
10) our awesome seats at the US - Norway hockey game
11) my friend MM hailing us a limo to get us home after dinner at Chambar last Friday night ... oh and the fact that there was a limo traffic jam in front of her house.
12) Anja Parson of Sweden winning a bronze in the super combined after a horrific fall at the women's downhil..
13) the pants of the Norwegian curling team
14) my new Norges Ishockeyforbund (Norwegian ice hockey federation) hat
15) sitting in the sun on the steps of the art gallery watching people zip line through downtown Vancouver
16) high fiving the random American at Hub in Yaletown after Sid scored the winning shoot-out goal against Switzerland

17) MM saying "the russians are coming" when a group of russians took our table at Yoji's sushi
18) Virtue and Moir's free and original dances ... both were beautiful
19) any type of slow motion montage put to music
20) Tom Brokaw explains Canada to Americans

And finally, not really a favourite moment, but a memorable one - the fact that Joannie Rochette skated a clean short program 3 days after her mother died. She's in 3rd place right now. Amazing. That girl has guts ... the expression on her face as she finished made me bawl.

And I can't believe it, but I am not sick of the CTV "I believe" theme song yet ... in fact, I seem to hum it all the time. Who knew it would be catchy instead of annoying? Here is a picture I took of the cauldron - just to prove I was actually there.

Eso es lo que dijo

I was recently in Mexico (those would be my feet) with 3 friends. We basically spent the whole week laughing, re-telling the same stories/joke over and over again. One of the non-stop jokes was the oh so obvious "that's what she said," and it never got old. Seriously, we could say it a dozen times a day without eliciting any groans. In an effort to commune with the Mexican culture, we eventually asked someone how to say it in Spanish ... it was roughly translated as "como este," which I think is not really a direct translation (according to google translate those two words mean "like this." That also never got old. And because I am a "researcher" by trade, I looked into the origins of the phrase, and apparently Mike Myers first used it in Wayne's World. Another explanation can be found in this funny (but not suitable for work) video:

That's What She Said from Megan Mullally