Secret Society!

Okay, so the first thing I think of when I hear or see the words "Secret Society" is Selma Blair's mildly retarded character in Cruel Intentions when Sarah Michelle Gellar tells her that by having sex she'll be in a secret society. Then Selma starts dancing around chanting "secret society! secret society!" I know this is an obscure reference, but I watched a lot of Cruel Intentions in High School. Like a lot of it. And it's kind of a great movie.

But anyway, that really had nothing to do with what I'm going to write about. What I would really like to focus on is this: My boss has gotten completely carried away with facebook. As in, he's obsessed with it. It's like he's always online... and so active and vocal about it! I remember the days when I used to play Scrabulous all day at work and he used to chide me. Now I'm the one who sees him online and sends him messages like "Focus!" and "Get back to work!"

Recently, things have progressed. The other day he came over and I thought he had something serious to discuss with me when he asked, "Do you know what Superpoking is?" And we had a conversation about superpoking etiquette.

Did you know that January 26th was Official Hug an Asian Person Day? I did. Because he sent us the event on facebook. At lab meeting the next day, he asked if we all hugged Asians on the big day. "Don't worry," he said. "February 9th is Official Hug a Caucasian Day." Oh thank goodness. I was worried that I wouldn't get a hug.

But my favorite thing was when he asked us if we knew about secret groups on facebook. And the sad thing is that we really didn't. Then he schooled us in the art of super secret grouping on facebook. Now we're all in super secret facebook group together. Not that anything great happens in this group. Or that we don't hang out with each other at work every day. But still. It's secret! It feels like a secret society! ("Secret society! Secret society!" You sing it, Selma Blair).

Old people on facebook is funny at first, but then it gets kind of creepy. For example, I thought it was amazing when my mom joined... until I noticed that she wrote on the event wall of "D's super ridonculous sweet 16+8 party." She wrote: "Sorry, I can't make it! But great choice of beers in that picture!" MAAAHM! Really?! And then earlier today from my boss: "I'm going to friend your mom." Enough.

BB

It looks to me that a certain BB has really embraced her life as a San Franciscan.

Earlier this morning, she had this message in her gchat status, "BB wants this hella long week to be over!!!!" Umm, excuse me. Did she just say Hella?! I remember when I used to go to farm camp in NorCal (in the 90's) and everyone used to say "hella." As in, "Cow chore is hella cool." (I decided to use a farm camp example, to make it a little more realistic). And I also remember how everyone else would make fun of them for it. As V just added, "Hella is like the west coast version of Wicked." Both are pretty lame (but slip out occasionally).

In another hipster move, BB got bangs! Now, I don't have any pics to share (yet), but I'll post some as soon as I can.

smile.

Tonight a few great things happened:

1) The Office. Every time I hear the opening music to the office I can't help but bounce up and down on the couch, humming the music and clapping my hands with a giant grin on my face. No exaggeration. And I watched last week's episode, too, so it was a double-header.

Great moments included the duel between Dwight and Andy: "Why isn't he turning around?" "The Prius is silent at under 5 MPH. Andy deserves the win." And the office-wide debate about Hilary Swank's hottness. I especially appreciated this debate because just last week I spent some time in the lab debating a similar question: Blake Lively's breasts. Are they real or not? Seriously, I vote for fake. Judge for yourselves.

2) Pistachio Chocolate. In an attempt to spend the last of my pesos in Mexico, I bought some pistachio chocolate at the airport. I hadn't had the chance to try it until tonight. Sure, the chocolate tasted great, but the real excitement came from opening the package. To keep the chocolate bar from breaking, a piece of cardboard was placed under the wrapper. Instead of acting like a normal person and simply removing the cardboard, I instantly thought of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and started dancing around my tiny kitchen singing, "I've got a Golden Ticket!" It really tickled me. As in I'm still kind of laughing about it. (But seriously, who doesn't think of finding a Golden Ticket when they open a chocolate bar?).

3) 30 Rock. This is possibly my new favorite show. Yeah, I know. It's been on for a while now - it's in its third season. So I'm a little late in my discovery. Whatever! This show is awesome. I downloaded 6 episodes to watch on my iPod nano on my trip to Cabo. I thought I would watch them on the plane, but I really ended up watching them in bed while my friends were still sleeping in... and I would end up laughing out loud! My friends thought I was crazy.

But anyway, the best part of the 30 Rock episode tonight was that there was a public health message in it!! WOOO PUBLIC HEALTH! Tracy Morgan's character goes to the doctor and finds out he is at risk for diabetes. And then Jack McBrayer (Kenneth) tries to convince him to eat healthier to reduce his risk. Love the health messages here. They were relevant, naturally placed, and still entertaining!

4) Match.com/Facebook chatting. After a couple of weeks off, I finally made my way back onto Match.com. I had a few emails to read and winks to check out (boy do I feel popular). I even did a couple of searches. I also had a fun facebook chat with a new friend from speed dating. Good times on the internet :)

5) Medical School. I got rejected from another medical school tonight. But who cares?! Not to be a gloater, but I got into Medical School (Drexel) on Sunday! WOOT! I'm going to be a doctor! Okay, enough of that. But seriously, I'm super happy. And to all of those schools who are rejecting me (it's been 3 this week), you can suck it! Because I'm already in!

Things that did not happen tonight: Yoga, lit review for my internship, reading my book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, early to bed.

Thar She Blows!

I've been in Cabo San Lucas for a few days now.  This is my fourth visit and, without a doubt, the tamest.  Previous visits have involved parasailing, booze cruises, drunken bargaining, and family members being dragged from the marina by federales.  This time around, this vacation has included relaxation without the drama.

But anyway, today we did the best thing ever.  We went on a sunset whale watching dinner cruise.  This activity combined so many things that I love: sunsets, Mexicans (and mexican food), cheesy music, pina coladas, and WHALES.  I effing love whales.  As in I'm obsessed with them and act like a 5 year old kid at the thought of seeing them.  When I first saw the spout, I gasped dramatically and pointed.  I then spent the next half hour hanging over the side of the boat pointing my camera and squealing with glee every time the whales surfaced.  I almost missed dinner because of my obsession with the two humpback whales we were following.  Even when we were in line for dinner, I kept glancing over the side to catch a glimpse of the whales along the side of the boat.

This was almost as good as Bear Watch 2007.

Also, Cabo smells like farts/sewer at night.  It's kind of a mystery.  Where does the smell come from?  Why does it only come at night?  So weird/gross.

Elite Status!!

Soo... I went speed dating a couple of nights ago. I've always thought it sounded fun and now that I'm embracing my hip single-girl lifestyle, I thought "why not?!" So my friend V, Sis-E, and I went out to Hollywood for speed dating. We signed up a few weeks ago and couldn't wait for the actual event. Seriously, every day we'd count down the days. Everyone around us was interested in the event. Even my step-dad wanted to know how it went; he confessed that he'd always wanted to try it, too.

The excitement kept building and building until the big day arrived. Except by the actual day of the event, I was a little more freaked out than actually ready to "date" 10 guys in one night. To make matters worse, I had a meeting earlier that afternoon in Hollywood, so I had to arrive on my own. V and Sis-E were carpooling and coming up on their own. Ah! I totally didn't feel prepared to tackle this event on my own.

My meeting ended at 5:30 and speed dating didn't start until 7:30, so I had some time to kill. After waiting in my car for an hour (yeah, I was that sketchy person getting dressed and putting makeup on in my car... you know, just chilling in a parked car at dusk. No big deal), I decided to change locations. So I went to a nearby Pinkberry, where I waited for another 45 minutes. Alone. In Pinkberry. As in, nobody else was in there, except for the overly attentive person behind the counter who "hooked me up" with chocolate chips and later brought be water "just in case I was thirsty."

Finally, the time came for me to just suck it up and go into the bar. I saw a few girls lingering outside, so I figured that if anything, I had the place right. I go in and there is literally only two other people in there - one is the guy hosting the event and the other is some other speed dating dude. I ordered a drink, my usual G&T and wait anxiously for my people to arrive. After a minute or so, I decided to introduce myself to the other speed dater, since I decided I would be kind of an ass if I didn't. It was all a little awkward.

But soon, everything fell into place. V and Sis-E FINALLY arrived and after another awkward talk about how everything was going to go, we got started. And it was pretty fun! Sure, the first minute or so of every date started off a little slow, but after that the 8 minutes sped by.

I think the best part about speed dating was that it allowed me to get to know guys that I would have otherwise never taken the time to talk to... because honestly, the girls were a lot hotter than the guys. The guys were all a little so-so. Why is that? So many of my guy friends sounded interested and wanted to know how it all went, but were too nervous to give it a chance. To those of you single guys out there who have been on the fence about speed dating: Do it! You'll totally get a bunch of dates because of how normal you are! But really, I met some interesting people who I wouldn't mind getting to know further. It has reminded me to take the time to get to know people outside of my "norm."

Oh wait. I'm sure you wanted at least one juicy/ridiculous story from this event. Before I went, my coworkers and I were joking about absurd questions to ask in case the date went wrong. Such questions included "Do you think God likes black people or white people more?" and "Can you believe they still teach evolution in schools?" I was in the middle of a horrible date, clearly the worst of the night, where the 8 minutes could not pass any slower. He asked questions like, "Define romanticism" and "Do you believe in love at first sight?" and "If you saw your favorite actor, would you kiss him on the first date?" The whole time, he was like "I looove you and I already checked 'yes' as soon as I saw you." SO CREEPY. And so I busted out the evolution question. "What are your thoughts on evolution?" I asked. His response: "Another date with you." OMG and EW. Next!

Anyway, the next day, I received my matches (I had said yes to 4 out of 11 guys) and they all said yes to me! What a confidence boost!! And not only that, since I had such a high "success rate," I've been promoted to "Elite Status" with Fast Life, the speed dating company we used. That means I get discounted rates if I ever want to go again and can go to "Elite Events" for all of the cool popular people. Yay for me!!

But seriously, for those of you on the fence about speed dating, go for it! If anything, you'll get a little more comfortable with first date jitters/awkwardness and you might meet some interesting new people.

Not Enough!

I can't get enough of Wallace Shawn's new character on Gossip Girl. For those of you who are thinking "Wallace who?" think back 20 years to The Princess Bride and his character as Vizzini ("Inconceivable!!"). Anyway, he's now playing Blair Waldorf's new stepfather, Cyrus Rose. And he's AWESOME!! My favorite part is his catchphrase, "Not enough!!"



It turns out that I use the phrase "not enough" at least 25 times a day and now all I can think of is his character shouting it out with enthusiasm. I'm not even kidding. Yesterday I was having a serious philosophical conversation about science with my boss and we kept referring to part of an experiment as not being enough of something. After a few snickers, I couldn't take it anymore. I burst out with "It's NOT ENOUGH!!" just like Cyrus Rose. Sadly, this didn't go over too well with my boss (turns out, he's not a Gossip Girl fan... Weird).

Engaged?!

No, not me. Don't worry, my friends, I am not engaged. I remain to be (bitterly) single, resigning myself to being alone forever. Aloooone. Forever. Actually, I'm kidding. Not about the engaged part (I'm still not engaged), but about the bitterly single part. Yeah, I'm single. But I'm enjoying my life as a twenty-something single girl. In fact, tonight I went on a date. And it was actually pretty fun. And I'm going speed dating on Wednesday - you're jealous, you know it.

But back to the matter at hand. Engagement. I just got back from a trip to Washington DC, which is apparently more than just the capital of our country; it is the capital of serious relationshipville. Literally every 25 year old woman I met while in DC was in a serious relationship and talking with her partner about engagement, or actually engaged. ENGAGED!! WTF?! It must be in the water...

I have never met or been around so many people my age who are engaged (seriously though - my roommate's relationship is going on 5 years with no ring. That's how un-engaged we are out here in LA). I turned 26 a month ago and I have really struggled to embrace the responsibilities of old age. It is truly difficult for me to fathom being engaged or married or (heaven forbid) pregnant. I sincerely feel as though I am too young and completely unprepared to do any of these adult things. However, in reality (and this is the part I'm really struggling with), 26 is a perfectly normal age to do any of these things. Like completely normal. It is entirely socially acceptable for a 26 year old to get married. People will never think, "what a shame, she was so young" at 26.

In fact, I feel as though I missed the memo on becoming engaged. The memo said, "Now that you are 26, you should start acting like an adult. First task, find a man and get engaged. Next, big wedding. Finally, have some kids. And now your fun single life is over and your stressful adult family life has begun. Enjoy!" This memo was first distributed in Washington DC and is slowly making its way across the country. As a mature, 26 year old woman, my response to this message is, "Suck it!"

Good thing I don't live in DC... I've got me some speed dating to attend.

"And finally, some news about Lindsay Lohan."

I'm sitting in the Denver Airport waiting to board my flight to Baltimore ("Good Morning, Baltimore! You know you're singing it). There is a TV near my gate blaring news so loudly that you can't help but listen. I'm not sure what the news source is, since the TV is actually hidden behind a pillar or something, but it seems fairly respectable. They just covered a story about how Roland Burris was turned away from the Senate. And currently, they're discussing happenings in Gaza.

Amidst these super serious news pieces and tips about adjusting my investment portfolio, I hear "And finally, some news about Lindsay Lohan." Seriously?! YES! I love me some Lindsay Lohan news! And this news was so unexpected! I remember the days when my favorite ginger was completely out of control (the crazy DUI/rehab times) and my roommate and I were on "Lo-alert." The entertaining Lohan news just kept coming in... and it was so dramatic! At all times! Lately, there's been a dry spell, so my ears really perked up with this mention about Lindsay on what sounds like a major news source (seriously, though... I have no idea what I'm listening to. It could be the crappiest news source ever, but I really wouldn't know).

Sadly, the news was boring: Lindsay blogged that she and Samantha Ronson did not break up. LAME. How is that newsworthy? And the only news I would like to hear on this subject is that they DID break up. Boring and lame. And so random that this was mentioned among real news. For some reason, I was thinking that if the story was good enough to interrupt normal news, it must be something juicy.

Here's the story: Lindsay Lohan Blogs That She and Samantha Ronson 'Did Not Break Up!'

The only good thing about this story is that it reminded me that I should be reading Lindsay's blog on a daily basis. As a fellow blogger, I should support her. Slash I love me some Lindsay Lohan.

Happy Five New Pairs of Pants Day!

I love it when friends do something so in sync (Bye Bye Bye! Whoops, sometimes I get carried away with just a possible mention of *NSYNC) with my life that I know that they really care. Today I picked up some pants from the tailor (okay, it was five pairs of pants that I had literally waited six months to take to the tailor. Five pairs!! That's a lot of pants).

Just as I was admiring the tailor's handiwork and thinking, "Wow, it's like I just got five new pairs of pants," I got a text from L. And what did it say? "Happy 5 New pairs of pants day!" Now that's friendship. Or crazy stalking (see picture of L in full stalking or "photojournalism" mode at the Getty). But since L is back in Massachusetts, I'm going to call it friendship.

Now Accepting Tips

And I don't mean the monetary kind. I'm hoping for tips of the juicy (or not so juicy) gossip variety.

Just saw Vanessa and Nate smooching at the snowball dance? Send it in! What's that? Chuck and Blaire are in love? I've got to see it. And so do all of you.

Oh wait. I'm not gossip girl. But seriously, you just found out your best friend is dating a guy named Manheim? Need to know that. Destructor passed out while making out with a girl? Again?! Send it in! Even if I don't know who you're talking about, I'd love to see it on Look at Me! But if I do know who you're talking about, I NEED to see it on Look at Me! Seriously. Do it. But try to be nice... I don't want to see lives being crushed here. Okay maybe a little (no, I don't).

Also, I just just flossed my teeth twice in a row while I was daydreaming about the hundreds of tips that would be pouring in to Look at Me! That's what blogging has turned me into: a double flossing, gossip-hungry, daydreaming blogger.

Paper Chaser?

I'm just wondering, when did the term "paper chaser" become common knowledge? Because for me, it was only a short while ago. In fact, I wasn't really aware of the term until I was listening to TI and Rihanna's new hit song "Live Your Life." I thought: hmm, paper chaser, yeah I get it. What a great new phrase!

Urban Dictionary definition:
Paper Chaser:
Someone that's about their money. Someone thats trying to get paid by all means neccesary no matter what it is. Whether its a regular 9-5 job or being a drug dealer or a prostitute. Someone who will never stop trying to get paid.
Example: "That broad is a golddigger." "Nah dude she a straight paper chaser."

Since then I've seen "paper chaser" everywhere. Like everywhere. I was looking to buy TI's new album for a Christmas gift for my brother and I came across maybe five different albums with songs that included "paper chaser" in the title. And I was in target. Not online searching for "paper chaser." And then this morning, I was driving to work when Ice Cube's "You Can Do It Put Your Back Into It" came on. I was kind of excited since I always associate the song with "Save the Last Dance" (which came out years ago in high school). Then, out of nowhere, BAM! Paper Chaser in the song! Really?

Seeing some recent rap albums with paper chaser songs on them in Target didn't make me feel out of touch. In fact, I felt a little more hip (a clear sign that I'm old and out of touch) by noticing all of the references to paper chasing. But I was a little shocked by the older reference. This means that I have missed out on saying "paper chaser" for years (and I'm obviously going to try to make references to paper chasers as often as possible now). Am I so out of touch? Is this like missing out on "OMG" for like ten years before it became popular? I'm really disappointed in myself.

On a completely different note, happy new year! And thank you to all of my Bowdoin friends who made it all the way to LA to attend my super sweet new year's eve party (since I know you've all made Look at Me! Look at Me! your homepage).