Quote of the day, week, month - or whenever I get around to changing it --

I need to get laid - Vickie Moriarity





Friday, July 9, 2010

First Gear to Fifth at Warp Speed

Well, the house sparkles once again as I enjoy my last couple of weeks of irresponsibility.  This morning, I was a whirlwind of productivity scrubbing, mopping, washing, drying, vacuuming, blah, blah, blah.  Today, I will soon head out to the school for yet more interviews.

Yesterday, I was so utterly irresponsible that I got out of bed only to let my cats in and out and to snack...well, I did work out in the afternoon and take a shower.  After reading several lines in the Bible about laziness and what a bad trait it is, I felt compelled to do something productive.  But I didn't do much.  Instead I justified the day as a mental recharge day in anticipation of the upcoming school year.  I apparently had no trouble convincing myself of this.

I enjoyed the day by watching silliness on TV (Real Housewives of New York marathon) and reading a Margaret Atwood novel called Alias Grace.  The Housewives was my sin; the novel was my redemption, for it's fabulously written and requires diligence on the part of the reader as Atwood frequently uses the "stream of consciousness" techniques so diabolically created by southern American writer William Faulkner.  The thoughts, actions, and dialogue of characters are not separated out as we are taught to do from 6th grade on.  Instead, the writing mimics the endless flow of ideas that pass through the mind - the uncensored version of your brain, if you will.  The hard part about watching "Houswives" and reading the novel in succession is that your brain must jump from 1st gear into 5th at record speed if you are going to retain any understanding of the novel... kind of like talking to 1st graders and then shifting to adult conversation.

That reminds me of a customer I used to wait on when I worked the 3 - 9 shift at Coco's restaurant in Phoenix.  The lady was a 1st grade teacher.  She never spoke to me like an adult.  She cooed her order to me, patted my hand like I was six, and sat there grading her students' work, usually a traced alphabet letter, or maybe on a really challenging day, a whole word beneath a picture.  I wish the work I grade now was as simple as hers was, but then again, I could never put up with first graders.  I would rather run around the room with my hair on fire doing a Michael Jacson/Pepsi commercial imitation!

Anyway, back to the Housewives of New York.  That marathon took me through much of the series in one fell swoop.  I like to watch idiot TV in large doses as it gives me a lot of potential writing material.  Take, for instance, the cast of characters for this show.  All are wealthy, some married their money, other worked for it, and some seem to have inherited the cash.  The women always clash, but frequently have some redeeming qualities.    Let me share my perspective regarding some of the major "players":

Jill  Jill appears to be the Queen of Connections.  She is always introducing well-to-do's of New York with other well-to-do's.  She is all about "stuff" - jewelry, homes, clothes.  While that can be really annoying, I appreciate that she can let go of grudges fairly easily.  Her sister is very much an academic who has a radio show, and there seemed to be a few moments in the show where I sense a bit of insecurity on Jill's part. 

Alex Alex comes off as a codependent social climber to me.  Sorry, but she is always concerned about getting her kids into the "best" schools, connecting with New York's finest, and getting her picture in the Society page of the paper.  Her kids are holy terrors in my opinion, and her husband Simon seems much more worried about impressing people and coordinating his wardrobe than he does about being real.  These two rarely do anything apart, but it does seem to work for them.  But, his attention to his attire and wanting to go everywhere his wife does leads one to believe he is pretty gay - at least metrosexual, which to me, is a codeword for gay. 

Ramona  Ramona is self-made.  Mommy drilled it into her head to always make her own money and never be dependent on a man as Mommy had stayed in an unhappy marriage because of the bucks.  As a result, Ramona often takes her independent streak to a whole new level.  For example, during a dinner party for the "girls", Ramona verbally attacked Simon for showing up with his codependent wife and abruptly left the scene because Alex and Simon's codependence offended her sensibilities.

Countess  The Countess, recently divorced, seems to come from old money.  I figure this to be the case because she never allows the "help" to call her by her first name, unlike those with new money.  She comes off as the most "genuine" of the bunch to me.  She is rich, has always been rich, and doesn't apologize for it.  She helps others, and she adheres to the "old money" rules.

Bethenny  Bethenny is a famous chef, an overachiever who takes on way more than she can handle due to insecurities from a financially inconsistent childhood.  She spent the whole series battling a series of feeling: I want to be a very successful businesswoman, I want to be married, sort of - but if you get too close, I will run away, and my clock is ticking - I want a baby!  What a conundrum - no wonder she regularly visits a shrink!

There are other characters, but these ones stood out for me.  Not that this show is deep in any way, but  the showed me all people are both flawed and virtuous.  Take the best, and try to leave the rest.  These people didn't hold grudges that I most certainly would have, and that really stood out to me.  Maybe it was because I was reading Atwood during the commercials and my brain felt obligated to find some real meaning from this inane B.S. I was subjecting myself to, but that message really resonated throughout the marathon with me.

So this concludes my attempt at stream of consciousness writing.  Mine is far too organized to be true stream of consciousness, although it does traipse along the fringe of unintelligible thought.  Thanks to Jules for inspiring me to blog today as I would have left all these thoughts to their own devices had I not spilled them out here.  Now, maybe I can concentrate on the upcoming interviews tonight!

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