Why I Like Working At My Desk At Home

This is my view as I gaze over my laptop. And I have bay windows, so there's also a window to my left and one to my right. Need I say more?

It's Very Zen, You Know.

Just saw a commercial for Bowflex in which a "50-year-old grandmother" (who admitedly looks damn good for her age) called her exercise machine "very zen." Yeah, I'm sure that 6'10" x 7'8" x 3'10" monstronsity that is the Bowflex Ultimate 2 in the middle of your house is, like, totally feng shui.

See This Movie. Again and Again. And Again.

The other night I saw a screening of Little Miss Sunshine. If you've heard of it and know what it's about, or have seen a trailer, that's fine, but if not, then embrace that lack of knowledge and go to the theater (when it opens) with a clean slate. I knew nothing about it and can't imagine seeing it any other way.

So damn good.

Decisions, Decisions

Gosh I'm so hungry but I'm craving both doughnuts and fried chicken. If only there were a place out there to satisfy me...

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

I was talking with a colleague of mine the other day and she told me she is a member of this organization, and at one of their meetings a month or two ago the subject came up of getting publicity for your independent film. And my colleague said that someone piped in and said, "Well, if you're looking for a publicist, Tara X is the best." And apparently two or three other people chimed in as well, just saying how great I was. My colleague says it was a "We-love-Tara fest".

This news naturally delighted me (are those goosebumps?), but what made it even better was that the two people who I knew were in the organization and who I assumed could have been talking about me, weren't there that night. So people are singing my praises and I'm not even sure who they are!

Needless to say, I plan on going to next month's meeting.

The (In)convenience of Modern Technology

So I was making a few calls yesterday, doing research to help out my spring time employer, and upon one call I heard a generic female voice greet me with the following:

"You are about to be transferred to an automated voice message service. However, the person at XXX-XXX-XXXX does not subscribe to this service, so your call cannot be completed at this time."

Brilliant.

An Iceland Pic

This is me in front of Gullfoss, a famous raging waterfall about an hour east of Reyjavik. It was gorgeous! Eventually I'll download all my pics, but I don't really have the patience for that right now...

Iceland #3

So it's about 9 am on Monday. I leave in less than two hours (well, my flight isn't until 5), and I'm going to stop by the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport (apparently Iceland's top tourist attraction, though it sadly it is man-made).

When I left the bus tour yesterday, I was chatting with Sam and Darren (the couple from Australia currently living in London) and Kent (from Brooklyn). Darren had asked if I had plans for that night, and I said I was planning to check out Kaffibarinn, as I'd heard good things about that bar/pub. So the three of us agreed to meet there at 10ish, and I have to admit I was delighted when I got there at 10:30 (I needed a long nap) that the three of them were there, and nearly done with the first round of drinks. It was a great pub, very laid back, and I loved being able to spend my last night in Reykjavik with some new friends. Cheesy? Yes, but give me a break. I had fun.

(Incidently, I did attempt to watch the World Cup earlier in the evening, but when I found a pub playing it, I realized 85 minutes had already passed in the game, I didn't know which team was in blue or which was in white, and, most importantly, I didn't care who won, so I figured my time would be better spent on a disco nap.)

So now I'm off to grab some coffee before leaving Reykjavik for good. Sniff. I took a lot of pictures with my camera phone which I'm sure I'll post at some point. Forgive the less-than-stellar picture quality in advance.

I'm really glad I came here. I would come back, though only with more money and more time, so I can make my way around the whole island. All I know is I've been but by the travel bug (again), and I can't wait for my next trip to... wherever.

Iceland #2

In Reykjavik, the city goes all out on Friday and Saturday nights for the runtur (pub crawl). Pubs, bars and clubs stay open til 5 or 6 am to accommodate the crowds, and it's crazy. I've learned a few things:

BENEFITS IN PARTICIPATING IN AN ORGANIZED PUB CRAWL FOR 2500 KRONUR ($33):
- You get to meet lots of fun people, all travelling like you
- You get to drink as much as you can from 10 to 11 pm
- You get 'free' shots at each pub you hit
- Your entrance fee covered for the dance club you go to

BENEFITS OF STAYING INSIDE FOR THE ENTIRE NEXT DAY AS YOU RECOVER FROM 'GETTING YOUR MONEY'S WORTH' AT SAID PUB CRAWL:
- When you finally leave your guesthouse at 9:30 pm, you don't feel like you've wasted your day because the sun is still out
- You've learned your lesson and return to said organized pub crawl to meet more people, only this time you're limiting yourself to water and soda
- At the second night of the pub crawl, you see familiar faces, and happily discover you weren´t the only one suffering that day

Seriously, despite drinking waaaay to much on Friday (no lectures please) I am having a great time. Had fun doing the pub crawl sober last night, and today I went on a bus tour covering the beautiful "Golden Circle" (including a roaring waterfall and a geyser). And on the tour as well were an Australian couple from last night's pub crawl as well as a guy from Brooklyn who was at Friday's pub crawl. Hey, Reykjavik is small, so of course us tourists/travellers are going to bump in to each other.

I got about three hours sleep last night (I left the club at about 2:30 am, and it seemed the city was just getting started with its night), because my bus tour left at 9 am. Alas I couldn't get to sleep until nearly five, so I'm a bit sleepy. Part of me wants to take a nap, but the other part wants to pop down to a local pub to check out the World Cup. Though I still don't think I'm ready for a pint...

Iceland

So I'm in Iceland right now. It's close to 2 pm, and I've been strolling the small streets of Reykjavik for a couple hours. Just returned to the place I'm staying (Guesthouse AdaM) for a little bit because my cell phone (and, for all intents and purposes on this trip, my camera) died so I needed to charge it. Luckily this little guesthouse that I'm staying at has a computer with free internet access for its guests. So here I am. Hi.

I got off the plane yesterday (Icelandair is not the most glamorous airline and prompted me to buy a portable DVD player for the trip -- an investment I am very pleased with so far) and kept thinking "what the hell am I doing in Iceland?!" But I got to my guesthouse and was pleasantly surprised -- basically because I learned I wouldn't be sharing a bathroom but that I had one in my room (it's all about the little things in life). Also in the room is a mini fridge (as well as a TV, microwave, hot water heater, etc), so I got some beverages at the market right downstairs because Iceland is crazy expensive. After napping I decided to venture out to a local bar. I had a beer, but admittedly was half expecting folks to take me under their wing ("you're from California? come sit with us!" etc) but that didn't happen. So I was feeling kinda lonely and bored, but still felt good about going out instead of staying in my room all night.

The weather today is great. It's crisp but the skies are clear. Quite comforable in the sun (though not t-shirt weather) but really chilly in the shade. Reykjavik is small and almost quaint. Lots of little shops and one way streets... It reminds me of Durham (England) a little bit. But of course that's probably just because Durham was the only other foreign smallish town I've visited.

A few things you should know about Reykjavik:

- THE SHOWER WATER SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN EGGS.
All I can say is thank god I just recently read David Rakoff's Fraud, in which he has an essay about being in Iceland and comments/complains about the sulfur smell of the water, so I at least knew what it was. Of course I quickly learned to shower without breathing through my nose.

- IT DOESN'T GET DARK. EVER.
Well, at least not at this time of the year. It's so weird to have jet lag, no concept of time, and to have it still be light out at midnight. Granted, the sun isn't blazing, it's about a pre-dawn brightness. But still, very odd. And very cool.

- THE PHONE BOOK LISTS PEOPLE BY THEIR FIRST NAME.
Basically because in Iceland, people have their given names, and then their last name is just based on parent's name, with the suffix of -dottir for girls and -son or -sen for boys. So Sven's son Bjorn would simply be Bjorn Svenson.

Okay, I think my phone/camera should be all charged now, so I'm off. More later!

Janice Dickinson Is Fuzzy

So I was flipping channels the other day (as I tend to do), and came across one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time: "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" on the Oxygen network (aka OH!). What? Another reality show? How doooo they do it?

Look. We know Janice (apparently the world's first supermodel) is a bitch. And she has an insane amount of collagen in her lips. By no means is this show life affirming, good television or even purposely funny. It's (perhaps unintentional) comedic brilliance is the fact that nearly every time she is on screen, the camera magically switches to soft focus.

And not just on those little "interviews" when she's speaking directly to the camera. She can be in the room with her son (poor kid), and the camera focused on him will be normal, but the camera focused on her with have a slight soft focus. And the soft focus seems even worse when she's talking to the camera directly. Did your contact just fall out? No, that's just Janice's monsterous ego.

If you get OH! (I actually don't, I saw this in NY), this is definitely worth watching. But not more than once. I don't want you to lose brain cells.

I Won The Lottery!

Well, not that lottery. I didn't win money, but I won something pretty damn cool. Front row seats to the musical WICKED. On Broadway. For $25. It was amazing! I was so close I could see the pores in the actors' faces. I was sitting just off to the right of the center, and there was more than one occasion where one of the leads was singing right in front of me. At one point, Elphaba (the "wicked" witch) was so close I could practically reach out and touch her broom. Did I mention it was only $25?!

Here's the deal: I'm in New York (for a few more hours), got here on Tuesday, and have just been keeping myself busy for the last couple days, as Dylan left town on Friday and it was just cheaper for me, flight wise, to have a Saturday stayover. It's been a great trip. I've checked out a hilarious variety show at a tiny local improv theatre, went to the Guggenheim finally (where all I could think the whole time was about how I wanted a pair of rollerskates), went to the Queens Museum to check out their huge panorama of all five boroughs). And that was after Dylan left. When he was here, we went to a party at a SoHo hotel penthouse, danced, and saw you-know-who. But I digress. Back to WICKED.

The lottery works like this: For every show, there is a drawing for 28 front row orchestra seats. 2 1/2 hours before each show, they start taking names to be entered in a drawing. Then, 2 hours before showtime, they call names until the 28 seats are given away. You don't pay to put your name in the drawing, and if your name gets called you pay only $25 for front row seats. But the odds are not good. I tried for the lottery for the Saturday matinee first. Got there at 11:30 and there were already at least 50 people in line. Finally got to the front of the line, and put my name down. By the time they read the names, there were at least 100 people huddled around, and probably more. But the guy read the names, and in less than a minute, it was over. My name didn't get called. It was so anticlimactic. And while they have 28 seats, they really only read about 15 or 16 names, as each person is allowed to ask for two tickets.

But I decided to give it another go at the evening show. Already had my plan B too: I would put my name in the drawing, they would call out the names, I wouldn't get called, and then I would head back to the subway and go to the Brooklyn Museum (it was the "Target First Saturdays", with free admission, music & films, and they had this new graffiti exhibit that sounded interesting).

There were SO many people there for the evening lottery. When I got there at 5:30, there must have already been 100 people in line. And the line just kept getting longer and longer. The girl behind me in line was by herself to, so we each decided to request two tickets, and if one of us got called, then the other one would get to go too. They started taking names at 5:30 and didn't stop until about 6:10. Easily 200 people there, maybe even 300. All I knew was I didn't have a chance.

They called the first few names and I was already mentally walking back to the subway. They called a girl standing a few feet behind me, and as she walked past me I kinda gave her back a dirty look (what can I say, I was jealous). But then right after her, they called my name. I was so giddy and excited I was shaking when I was trying to pull out my ID.

So I got the tickets, and Grethel (the girl that was behind me in line) and I went to get drinks before the show. It was such a fun night. I'm still in shock. I mean, winning those tickets, to see WICKED, on Broadway, on a Saturday night, on a holiday weekend? Damn.