Jenny From The Blog

where have i been all your life?

2010-05-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Um, I know, right? It's like... kind of crazy that we haven't talked in over a year. OVER A YEAR, PEOPLE. How are you okay with that? How was I okay with that for so effing long? All I can say: I'm really not okay with it now. I'm so now okay that I am busting out the blogging and doing some serious knowledge dropping into your collective eyepiece. Or I'm procrastinating. Let's stick with the former.

Since you haven't really been talkative so far, I guess I'll start by listing some of what I've done since last we spoke (an activity we know I quite enjoy [listing, that is, not ... not seeing you. You know what I mean]).

1. When did we chat last, February? Gosh. I think I was trying to finish up a government grant on the Night of 1,000 Crazy Liveblogs, and I'm pretty sure I actually did. Impressive. Me: 1. Government: -1000.

2. I moved! To a real apartment! WHAT? Yeah. I did it. I live in the city of Chicago now, the greatest city in the western hemisphere. Summer is thisclose, and I am excited enough to categorize my excitement as "super duper".

I'm already bored by this, guys. I don't think there's much else to tell: I still work theatrically, I'm singing in a choir and an a cappella group (an a cappella group that just performed with one Imogen Heap, in fact. I guess that's noteworthy), I'm sort of trying to figure out what's important in life and what's just distracting, and I'm wondering about what's next in a lot of areas of my existence. Nothing spectacularly interesting, as per the usual.

Today's lackluster post was brought to you by Jesse McCartney and T-Pain; the fact that it's all of a sudden summer after 2.75 days of spring; monochromatic outfits in primary colors; Heart being at Lilith Fair; and the five things I have due in three days.

LOVE. Besos and hugs. Let's get something of content up here sometime in the not-far future, shall we?

xoxox

The G-5 you're going to take when you tell him you're leaving, as stipulated by one J. McCartney

don't even... i just... yes.

2009-02-26T16:01:00.000-08:00

i'm not even going to explain this. you have to figure out what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks i'm doing, because, you do.

6:02 pm
david archuleta, this IS a crush. thank you for joining me via pandora.

6:04
stop and staaaaaaaaaaare, this song goes to the place in my brain where it won't ever leaaaaaaaaaaaaaave, that doesn't even rhyyyyyyyyyyme, but whateverrrrrrrrrr (to the tune of "stop and stare" by one republic)

6:06
it's rainy outside. and dark. and there's thunder. and it's spo0ky. i locked the door.

6:19
daughtry, i'm sorry i ever doubted you. i really do enjoy your melodic stylings. thanks!

6:32
is carpel tunnel reversable? am i getting old?

6:33
nick lachey? yesplease.
i am SO not old. i'm just lame.

6:43
i thought it said 'hotel dingo.' it did not.

6:56
how do you sleep? i don't know. i certainly don't. i DO, however, know that i heart the jmac.

7:24
let's do this.

7:53
RAIN. lots of it! scary!

7:57
ACK. really scary.

8:22
i can't believe i'm still doing this.

8:30
FREEEEEE FALLLLLLLLL INNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG. i am a good girl.

8:39
sadly, i do enjoy the jonas.

9:29
forge ahead! this is getting old! i'm eating saltines! do you ever just think, 'damn. saltines are tasty.'? i certainly do. in fact, i did just this very moment.

9:43
this was not as great of an experiment as i thought it'd be.

9:47
that's all. okbye.

the curious case of new year's eve

2009-01-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

it goes without saying (isn't it funny when people start saying something by explaining that they don't need to say it? i think so), but new year's eve -- henceforth affectionately referred to as "nye" -- inevitably disappoints someone/everyone each year. i don't usually go in with very high expectations, but i can't help harboring secret hopes for some sort of epic, life-altering experience at midnight; when it doesn't happen, i remind myself that i know better, and that it's silly to get excited about some arbitrary, man-made change of the clock that has already happened in hundreds of locations around the world by the time it gets to me. but still! it's like when you tell yourself you don't care about that boy in the corner, but secretly you do, and you can't seem to talk yourself out of it despite your very best efforts. it's like that.

this nye was pretty tame compared to some. still fun, though. the dawn of 2009 carried with it a number of lessons: (1), my advancing age will most likely preclude me from partying at the level to which i've grown accustomed in recent years; (2), it is far more satisfying to spend real human time with whoever's in the room than to wait for a text message from someone who was never really there to begin with anyway; and (3), champagne corks are unweildy and should be treated with extreme caution.

it should be said that i am very excited for 2009. first of all, nine is a nice multiple of three, and i feel good about threes. secondly, there are many good things already happening that have carried over into 2009; the year change doesn't mark the beginning, necessarily, but definitely offers a feeling of rebirth, cleansing and renewal. this is good. third: why not be excited? it's a new year. might as well.

with that i leave to attend to my insanely disorganized files, which need to be dealt with in honor of my happy new year attitude.

thank you:
lists, in whatever form you take; long-distance friendships that stand the test of time and... distance, for lack of a better word; periodic reminders that i'm actually finding my way; craigslist real estate listings; toast, water and naps, in that order; the food network; indie-electro-rock.

xoxo

the gregorian calendar, without whom we might not ever know the bittersweet confusion of new year's eve

thank you, 2008, and goodnight

2008-12-27T08:51:00.001-08:00

blogfriends, the mighty baby j*sus's b-day has come and gone again, and it is now time to try to forget that we* have 250 more days of winter and look ahead to spring. i'm already dreaming of all the adorable roll-bottom cargo shorts i'm going to purchase and fun outdoor adventures in which i'm going to engage if the temperature ever tops 40 degrees. things like:

- kayaking! (i never have, but it shouldn't be too difficult, right?)
- riding my bike down the pacific coast! (i don't currently own a bike, but there is some amount of time between now and warmth for me to remedy this; i'll also need a helmet because safety is what the cool kids do. right?)
- rock climbing! (i heard it's just as easy as kayaking, if not easier! right??)
- camping! (i once camped on the beach in puerto rico, and the only big problems i had were putting up the tent, sleeping on the ground, dealing with a category 77 sunburn, keeping the bugs out, and enjoying myself. i'm basically a camping pro! RIGHT?)
- swimming! (this i'm pretty sure i can do. but not in lake michigan, because the wisdom of age has taught me that i actually shouldn't overlook the bacteria advisories posted at every beach entrance. ... rightttt???????)

soooooo, maybe i'm not the most super outdoorsy person, but i totally could be, and maybe summer 2009 is the time it will all come together. but before that happens, new year's! yes!

... and in honor of new year's: a new section**! remember that song "thank you" by alanis morisette, where she thanks all those things and countries and belief systems with no explanation for her gratitude? well, here you go: a less musically-pleasing but equally slapdash list of things i wish to thank as 2008 draws to a close.

Thank you!
songs with synth, dairy-free cheese, drunken city nights, mountains after dark, book series written for teenagers but read by me, laughter, jesse mccartney, my amazing family, really awesome friends, drummers, triangle pose, biology, the universe, ancient egypt, tony kushner, 7/3 time, the interwebz, christmas lights, windy days, jersey cotton, hand cream, fleece blankets, my filofax, text messages, kisses, dancing, really great pens, digital cameras, the beach, public transportation, hoodies, harmony and dissonance, sweeping epics, arthouse cinema, blackbox theatres, grammar and syntax, shampoo, spinning, love.

------------------------------------------------
*me + whoever else lives in the frozen tundra of the middle-west, or the far northeast, or, for good measure, the nordic countries.

**oh yes, this blog has sections, even if they are only haphazardly thrown together and updated at non-regular intervals.
-----------------------------------------------

xoxo

the filofax family of organizers. mine is red!

things i love: a list.

2008-12-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

- holiday commercials that never change, no matter how outdated they look (hello, 'we wish you a merry christmas' hershey kiss spot/campbell's snowman soup ad)
- mix tapes/cds/future-whatever-we'll-call-them's
- 80s music, with specific emphasis on toto and whoever sang "king of wishful thinking"
- arts & crafts, including, but not limited to, anything involving scrapbooks or iron-ons
- dancing! especially in inappropriate situations/locations
- delicious meals that i miraculously cook for myself
- pancakes
- any kind of food, really
- people-watching on public transportation. i thoroughly enjoy the people who excitedly examine whatever they just bought as if it is the lost treasure of... some lost island full of treasure
- using phrases like "cash cow" and "bring home the bacon"
- saucy television chefs
- bagels; general jewry
- the word "aghast"
- bankers who moonlight as bartenders who moonlight as actors. and the word "moonlight", because it reminds me of mooning people, and that's funny, because it involves butts.
- cutting things with sharp knives. food things! not people things. i'm not a maniac.
- ... unless you mean a DANCING MANIAC. because then i totally am. see above.
- using "n" instead of "and." 'and' is for chumps. ampersand is okay, but we need to work up to that.
- pretty people. honestly, who doesn't??! let's just accept it.
- journey. pre- AND post-gabriel genesis. queen. rilo kiley. regina spektor. everyone on my ipod. everyone who will one day be on my ipod.

fin. for now. to be continued!

warning: i might sing along.

2008-12-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

i find myself saying this to my coworkers. quite often, in fact; usually immediately prior to a rousing round of showtunes or 80s music, complete with chair and -- if they're lucky -- stand-up dancing. i'm glad i work with a bunch of people who *may* be crazier than i am... although i'm pretty sure i come off looking like the insane one at the end of the day.

(on a side note: though i just this minute used one, i'm not a fan of phrases like "at the end of the day" or "throw/threw _________ under the bus," phrases that have found their way into the popular lexicon thanks to the genericness of reality television stars [participants on any season of "rock of love" not withstanding]. is genericness a word? my brain dictionary is malfunctioning as of late.)

... which reminds me: it's been about, what, six months since my last post? i don't deal in calendar time, so i'm going to go with six months simply because i now feel compelled to update you all on my fabulosity/miscellany. ps: a lot of the latter, and very little of the former, will be included in this post. so! here we are. you and me. back together again. reunited because fate continues to force us upon one another... fate, an internet bookmark and a voyeuristic pension for time-wasting activities.

magic.

so. here's what i've been up to since last we spoke: i finally made it out of JFK, back to chicago, and back to nycity again; i lived in an apartment with a crazy bug infestation, a living room full of kitchen appliances and a revolving door of roommates, and then refused to pay rent on that apartment until two of those three things were fixed (jsyk: they never were); i spent the summer trying to figure out where i was going to live next, settled on chicago, said goodbye (temporarily) to nycity, quit my job, moved out of my apartment, moved back to chicago, turned 25, and became crotchety; i saw the backstreet boys in concert and screamed like a 12-year-old; i started a new (very awesome) job; i learned how to cook (sort of), became a vegan, started thinking about becoming a buddhist, and found my way (very slowly) back to the gym; i re-discovered the joy of car travel; and i blogged again (OMFG it's happening right! now! WHAT! meta.).

you know, there really hasn't been much else... i've explored some neighborhoods in which i might want to live, discovered some awesome places that play even more awesome music in said neighborhoods, and seen some great theatre, some terrible theatre, and a lot of in-between. so... there you go. that's the happs.

and now, unfortunately, we must part, for i find it necesary to dedicate my full attention to singing along (loudly) to my early-90s pandora station, complete with... if YOU'RE lucky... stand-up dancing.
thanks, and awesome.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

brian thomas littrell, who i'm told makes excellent hush puppies.

liveblogging my incarceration at john f. kennedy international airport

2008-04-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

1:14 PM: have been at JFK since approximately 4:45 AM. after one missed flight and two subsequent (failed) attempts to get standby seats, have resigned self to fact that 12 hours of my saturday will be spent in this purgatory of transportation. finally found a place to plug in my computer; thus, we blog.

things noticed so far:

glasses give me a headache

people here are assholes. big, smelly assholes.

the things flying around that i thought were giant bugs are actually birds. glad they aren't prehistoric insects, but really, what are birds doing inside the airport?

all's fair in love and standby tickets. except that is a TOTAL FALLACY; nothing's fair in either of those things

1:29 PM: thank allah that music downloading program works here. will get some "work" done while i wait.

1:31 PM: happy realization: no waiting for luggage at o'hare, since it will have preceded me by approximately 4.5 hours.

1:32 PM: tapes 'n tapes: catchy! minnesotaaaaaaa (holla).

1:34 PM: like most things, being stuck at the airport must have seriously sucked before technology.

1:36 PM: thoughts drift to the production of CANDIDE i saw last night at the nyc opera. delightful! official now: wee crush on daniel reichard (he of JERSEY BOYS/adorableness fame). big ups to dfro for providing pimptastic second-row orchestra tickets free of charge.

1:40 PM: random thought: can you imagine me at comiccon? i sure can't.

1:42 PM: nature calls. how to negotiate this? can't lose prime blogging/power seat! but can't leave belongings unattended. don't trust geeks sitting around me. quaaaaaaaaaandary.

2:17 PM: was forced to give up prime blogging/power seat. am now stationed at gate where next flight is set to depart, in hopes of not being ousted for the coveted 1.25 extra seats that seem to magically appear on "sold-out" flights 5 minutes before departure time. failure is not an option.

2:30 PM: why are all flights scheduled at the same time? wouldn't it be nicer if some were scheduled during the down time of 2-4 PM, so people could actually hear the announcements that were being made? yes, that would be nice. how about it, air travel?

2:31 PM: good news: switched from glasses to contacts during bathroom break, so headache abates (slowly). bad news: contacts showed just how shitty i look right now. that's what you get for messing with me, nyc!!! more good news: procured 2nd venti coffee of the day. should be cracked out in.... t-5 minutes.

2:39 PM: time to plan my summer concert calendar. would be helpful to know dates to include in said calendar. where to find them? mysteries.

2:39:30 PM: semi-sentences have started... all downihll from here.

3:21 PM: contemplating purchasing movie on itunes at the suggestion of n. finkelstein. will probably wait to see what happens with next standby flight before making decision. hope things go better than they have so far today. really hope.

4:40 PM: VICTORY VICTORY VICTORY! on the plane home. finally.

....

7:40 PM: shower, food, sleep. most excellent close to a crazy day. thanks for playing!

xoxo

JFK sparrow king

liberty, justice and national treasure for all

2008-03-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

if you've been counting down the days until you get to see a photo re-enactment of one portion of National Treasure, then circle "0", my friend, because THIS IS YOUR LUCKY DAY.

what follows is a partial account of my time in philadelphia, the birthplace of america/home to some national monuments that no one seems to care about anymore. when not diligently documenting my own personal n.t. tour, i was registering voters, trying to persuade people to vote for obama, and enjoying that delicious piece of heaven known as 'cheesesteak.'

ohnoshedidn't...ohyessshedid! i totally posed like a douchebag tourist outside of philly's flagship urban store, thus beginning my descent into national treasure-induced madness.

independence hall... where it all happened. and by 'it all', i mean the ingeniousness of disney and jerry bruckheimer.

unfortunately i didn't have big enough cajones to actually jump the rope and go up to the bell tower. NEXT TIME.

oh, foreign nemesis, you're so dumb to think that the clue would be hidden at the new location of the liberty bell. everyone knows the bell tower now holds the centennial bell. duh.

that's right, nicolas cage... the clue is actually hidden behind a random brick atop independence hall. not only are you uncannily adept at solving weird riddles, but you also have oddly hawk-like vision. you are the perfect lite-action-movie hero.

this friendly gentleman was actually an extra in n.t., although he didn't work at the infamous meatstand-behind-which-blonde-chick-hides at the time. he tried to explain what he was doing during the 14-hour shoot -- scooping ice cream, maybe? -- but i paid no attention, as i was understandably preoccupied.

yes, i am pretending to run through the streets of philly, and yes, i am awesome.

clutching a headstone and attempting to re-enact the 'graveyard shoot-up' scene from n.t. fyi: cemeteries are pretty, but creepy.

the franklin institute. much to my chagrin, the silence dogood letters are not actually housed here. WHERE ARE THEY???

this is in the movie, but i also love giant stone statues of old white dudes.

"oh, don't mind me. i'm just waiting outside the franklin institute for my tiny informant to come back with the last four letters of the next clue. i hope the villains don't get here just in time to catch us!"

sadly for you, reader, this is where our national treasure tour ends... for now... (ominous music). luckily for me (and for you), the movie's other two locations, washington, dc and nyc, are well within my reach. stay tuned for part 2, coming later this month.

xoxo

nic cage, who enjoys wide stances and referring to himself in the third person

it's back! that wasn't so bad, was it?

2008-03-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

yes, three more months, la la la, whatever. first, i have to say: i clearly have some serious reservations about blogging, or even using the word 'blog', or thinking about the prospect of someone reading the 'blog' that i've 'blogged', thereby making me a 'blogger' (because what is this blogart without you, the blogaudience?). so let's just pretend this is an email you begged me to write because you're really really interested in my life. k? awesome.

in lieu of another kickassssss acrostic poem, here is an update on what's happened since last we spoke, in handy outline format:

I. Employment
A. Promotion
i. i got a mini promotion that included half of a private office
iii. there is a glamour shot of regis philbin on my wall, and i frequently refer to him as my patron saint.

II. Real Estate
A. Roommate shuffle
i. the tall curly one is leaving us at the end of the month
ii. we will possibly have a christpher guest retrospective as part/all of her going-away party
iii. whoever moves in is going to have to be okay with rubble in the bathroom and furry friends in the kitchen (guy).
B. Construction
i. there seems to be construction going on in the apartment above us... this has been going on for months
ii. the construction 'workers' are probably not following code, and if they wake me up one more time at 8 am on a saturday, then i might have to lay down the law
iii. there is a growing pile of rubble in our bathroom, as mentioned above.

III. Other
A. Travel
i. i have an itch to travel that philadelphia will have to scratch it for now, since i'm going there this weekend
ii. dc is planned for the end of the month
iii. hp will happen for judaism in april, and la/seattle/vegas will happen in june.
B. Social
i. gala season is upon us, and thus, it is time to go a-shoppin
ii. outdoor drinking season will soon be upon us, hopefully involving boats
iii. kickball and kayaking are now on the summer agenda. godisitsummeryet???
C. Weather
i. winter is lasting longer than normal
ii. i don't know how i'll survive a winter like the one chicago had this year... hope that doesn't happen again
iii. i might need to move to bermuda.
D. POLITICS (this should have been "I", but i'm too lazy to go back and change it)
i. VOTE FOR OBAMA
ii. VOTE FOR OBAMA
iii. if you are a hillary supporter, then i no longer respect you.

i think i'll be able to come to terms with my blogophobia soon, so hopefully there will be a philly-related post (with pictures!) in your future... if you're lucky. thanks for playing!

xoxo

mike huckabee

Blogology?

2007-11-26T21:46:00.000-08:00

You know we've hit the three-month mark when I bust out the blogging. Perhaps, in lieu of a biological clock, I've been graced with a blogological clock, and boy-o, does it keep on tickin'. That is a truly ridiculous sentence... just one of many in a career of ridiculousness.

It is November. I am recovering from Thanksgiving "vacation", which turned out to be more of a shitshow than life in NYC. (I mean 'shitshow' in a loving way, not in the way I/others normally use it, which is more cynical, I think.) Thanks, HP! The only thing I'm sure of is that I do a better job of not having a job than I do at my actual job, which is a disheartening realization to make when one has no way of becoming instantly independently wealthy. Or... DO I??? Hint: I don't.

I hope you didn't think this was a "thing"... oh, god. this is awkward.

2007-08-30T21:31:00.001-07:00

Maybe what I'll do is just post every three months, because I'm trying to keep it chill. I don't want commitment right now. I really hope I didn't lead you on.

What follows is... drumroll please... the PRE-LABOR-DAY-SUMMER-RECAP-DELICIOUS-RECAPATHON!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAH! Ohmygod you are SO excited to read this!

Summer 2007: an acrostic poem

Sauce-filled, because I love barbecue, especially when it's free/above 100th street
Uhhhhhhhhhmazing, because also I love ridiculous intonation spelled out in word form, and because there are no a's
Monumental, because I didn't really do anything worth writing about, and yet here I am, acrosticking the night away
Musical, because I'm a nerd, and because I'm pretty much almost a full-on rock star
Enlightening, because I learned how to read again
Randy, because bring that word back, people miss it

Revolutionary, beacuse I mentioned my planned rebellion of the proletariat (read: me), like, a million times
Umbrella'd, because it rained a lot, and I lost my shoe in the 157th street river
Lugubrious, because no one needs an excuse to use that kind of language
Zandy, because I went to the beach. Get it? Like "sand."
Extra-awesome-tastic! Because it's summer!

But now summer is over and we, much like my hair, must get serious. We must put away our white hotpants and figure out what we're doing with our lives. We must waste no more time dilly-dallying or coming home at 4:30 am on a Wednesday morning, for we must pretend to be grown ups, because we are now 24, and that is pretty much very grown up. We must not spend too much time on 'blogging' or 'narcissism' or 'exhibitionism'. And we must put away the whimsical acrostic poems until next summer.

Be well, my reader(s). I'll see you the next time I get lonely, but this doesn't mean we're a couple. I'm telling you this for your own good.

xoxoxoxox

Kitten In Shoe

alive and, well, you know...

2007-06-10T20:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings, my poopsicles.

It's been nigh three months since I submitted my first post. (Is that the correct usage of the word 'nigh'? Sometimes -- most of the time -- I write things that sound good but make very little sense. The odds are in favor of this being one of those occasions.) News from the front is as follows:

1. I'm almost done with book four of the Harry Potter series. It seems that I'm able to accomplish tasks when I truly set my mind to them; unfortunately, this applies only to meaningless things such as finishing an entire season of a TV series in a single weekend, and does not extend to actual accomplishments that would garner actual praise in actual everyday life.

2. Having scrapped "Ratz! The Musical", I'm now on to a new top-secret musical project that has the potential to turn the world of musical theater ON. ITS. HEAD. And I absolutely meant to use incorrect punctuation/overenthusiastic caps. And it probably makes me a big dork to have used such dramatic syntax in relation to an as-yet-unwritten musical that may or may not ever be finished.

Such is the way of me.

3. As much as I'm missing certain individuals who've departed for other coasts in pursuit of other things, I'm seeing this summer as one for the record books. I'm also noticing an alarming increase in the number of cliches that find their way into my writing. This is a direct result of working with people who have absolutely no idea how to write, which is a sad but true tale of the American workforce, and something that I'll just have to accept now that I'm "in it", despite the fact that I'm "in it" as SLAVE to the MAN and not as the free agent I one day hope to be.

4. My drunk roommate just came into my room and reminded me of why I'm happy. Happy to be in this city, happy to have the friends that I have, and happy to be a drama queen who has to work hard to find an appropriate outlet for her personal drama.

Because life would be too damn boring otherwise.

this is/isn't a test

2007-02-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

Just when I think I'm strong enough to resist spouting my unnecessarily embittered musings all over these internets.

Just when we all think we're safe from the merciless combining of words that never, ever asked to be involved with one another.

Just when I realized I should have baked a cake, but couldn't, because I didn't know you were coming. (That's what she said. Right? RIGHT?!)

... It's back.

... Mostly because I'm quickly running out of ways to amuse myself during the long hours of nothing with which I fill up my days.

...But also -- and come on, you know you're thinking it -- because I love to hear myself talk! And in a society in which talking to oneself is somewhat frowned upon, especially in the work environment, I find the thinly-veiled self-indulgence of writing for the purpose of posting in a public domain to be the only acceptable alternative.