Buon Pomeriggio!

Day One of Italian class is complete, and I think it's going to be a success! The class is full of middle aged wealthy people who "Want to learn a few phrases" before their vacations to Tuscany, but I think it will be a good time. There is, as in every class anywhere, the one student I absolutely can not stand who seems to think she knows everything and is much smarter than every person in the room. My favorite moment was when she tried to translate something the teacher said out loud to show off and was wrong. Completely wrong. I couldn't help but giggle like a kid. My friend who is taking the class with me and I have already decided that we are going to be the "bad kids" of the class, and it didn't help that we went for a margarita (or two) beforehand.

I got on Amazon tonight to buy a workbook for the class, and ended up spending 100 bucks impulsively on books I probably don't need. No, definitely don't need. I'm most excited for "Fuck This Book", a collection of photos of signs vandalized with the word "Fuck", and I also bought another book from Post Secret. Jen-nay turned me on to the website/blog and I instantly loved it. I've decided I'm going to start my own collection of the books.

I have more stories to post about a current temporary roommate but don't have the time/energy to post now. Stay tuned.

Stuff

• This week began my second week in a series of 25 full 5-day weeks at work with no break. As most of the people in the working world go "big fucking deal" , it is to me, and I'm wondering just how it is I plan on staying sane throughout the upcoming weeks. Although I love my job, and recently switched from French to Spanish, I foresee several "mental health days" creeping into my schedule. I hate to complain, since I do get almost three months off a year, but a few long weekends here and there would be nice.

• As I was flipping through the channels this afternoon, I happened upon the Jerry Springer Show which bore the title "Pregnant Gals & Mimes". My first reaction was "how does this show stay on the air?" Then I realized it's because it has shows with titles like "Pregnant Gals & Mimes".
• I've been working through my stack of books that I've taken upon myself to consider required reading. I like to try to consider my self quasi-cultured and somewhat well read (although I'm not at all). I've worked through "Siddhartha" and my biography of Che Guevara, as well as "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac which I picked up back in October almost out of obligation because everywhere I turned it was praised because of it's 50th anniversary release and I'd never even considered reading it. My next endeavors are "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (recommended to me by Mikey and also, strangely enough, my mother) "Hunger" by Knut Hamsum and "End of the Night" and "Death on the Installment Plan" by Louis-Ferdinand Celine. This reading list will, of course, take me an unreasonable amount of time to finish since I prefer to pick up my copy of "I Am America and So Are You" by Stephen Colbert or The Onion's "Our Big Dumb World". Both of which I personally consider required reading also.
• A big HOLLA to Julia for getting a job before she even graduated from school! Congratulations!
• I enrolled today for beginning Italian classes at my local community college campus. It was a total impulse decision, but I'm completely psyched about it. I've always wanted to learn Italian, and I figured "hey, what the hell". I also am going to sign up for some classes through my district's IU which seem pretty cool. One is the history of music, which includes a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and another about the history of Pittsburgh's South Side which includes a trip to there as well. Should be interesting, I'll keep you posted.
• I saw a bumper sticker on my way home from work today that read "Hunt With Your Kids Not For Them". This puzzled me and made me wonder when exactly Kid Season is and what kind of permit you need for such hunting. This sticker rivals "Charlton Heston is MY President" as favorite bumper sticker ever.
  

There's just a quick run-down of some goings on in my life. Stay tuned for more!

Mr. Brightside

As someone who works with people all day everyday, I can appreciate the occasional grumpy mood or sneering look. But when you deal with complete strangers, I feel it only polite to have the facade of a happy person. When an internet repairman showed up at my door this afternoon, instead of a traditional greeting, said "You havin' problems with the internet?". Why yes, you havin' problems with the router cable up your ass? For the rest of the visit in my home, I responded to monosyllabic orders and questions. Why do people, especially when your job requires you to enter stranger's homes, feel the need to express the anger or malaise so visibly?
I read a very interesting article a while back in a Smithsonian magazine titled "What's behind a smile?" which broke the codes of the simple smile and might have changed my mind a bit on the matter. It states that according to research, people who were not happy or uncomfortable were put in a slightly better (although mostly false) mood when they smiled or were around someone who smiled at them. The physical act of smiling isn't exactly what makes people feel better, but it's contagious. I totally agree. I can be the most miserable and pessimistic person when I want to be, but find it almost irresistible to not smile at someone passing me if they flash their teeth first.
Although, sometimes it can feel too cumbersome to act so happy, which is maybe why Mr. Repairman just wasn't havin' it, even though I was trying to kill him with kindness. This article also talks about companies that make their employees constantly smile and be polite. It mentions McDonald's and WalMart amongst others. (However, I have been treated rudely at both establishments on more than one occasion). People can become miserable by pretending to be wonderful. Barbara Held, author of the book Stop Smiling, Start Kvetching says "There's nothing wrong with smiling, I do it. It's the insistence of others that everyone smile, and have a nice day, and look on the bright side, no matter what, that's tyrannical, because it denies the psychological fact that people cope in different ways." What a real statement. Not everyone is having the time of their lives serving you 600 calorie sandwiches and listening to Jibbs. Held talks in the article about a middle aged woman who works in a store she frequents who always asks "how are you". "I give her my standard answer, 'I hate everything'. Because I want people to know that there are other answers besides 'I'm fine.'" says Held. I love this woman. She says that her answer to this woman "I hate everything" actually cheers her up. "I go home and think about it and laugh to myself".
Maybe being a jerk does have it's up side.

Culinary Delights For All The Senses

It both amuses me and disturbs me that last weekend while watching "Everyday Italian" with my mother, we both screamed at the TV in perfect tandem: "OK, we get it, you're a Dago!" when she started talking about her bisCOOHti and amaREHTTi cookies for the third straight time. Also, if I hear my girl Ina Garten say one more time that she really likes food to look like what's in it while throwing quartered limes on a platter I'm writing both Food Network and the East Hampton City Council nasty letters.

In my own culinary adventures, I've been all over the globe this week. Started out with an awesome 3 cheese 3 pepper enchilada at Mad Mex. Tuesday was $5 carry-out day at a local pizza place, so I couldn't pass that up. Wednesday I met a friend at a Japanese steak house where I had spicy tuna and cream cheese sushi (which sounds repulsive but really kicked ass). The highlight of my Japanese experience (besides the Saki) was the fact that in the middle of dinner, bright disco lights came one and a Japanese-pop version of "Happy Birthday" started blaring while our waitress brought out a half-empty bottle of Grey Goose with a sparkler in it for a 9 year-old boy. Tonight was Quiznos, the real American treat. And tomorrow I'm going out with Jen-nay for my first Ethiopian dinner. (I've decided I'm not eating out at all next week) When I told a colleague today that I was going to an Ethiopian dinner, she asked how it was possible to have an entire restaurant based on a country that doesn't eat. I do love subtle racism in the work place.

In other work-related news, I overheard another colleague saying that Lifetime movies should be shown in school to teach students real life lessons.

This weekend should prove to be interesting and very indie, so I'm sure I'll be blogging that.

All The Same But Different

Moved by the recommendations of several people (mostly strangers) I recently rented the 2006 Alejandro González Iñárritu film Babel. I had wanted to see the film for a while, mostly because one of my favorite actors, Gael García Bernal , is in the cast. (I later found out however, his role is pretty minor and doesn't get much screen time, but he's there nonetheless.) I'm not going to pretend to be a movie critic and go on about the intricacies of the plot, but I will say that Babel is a very well directed and cast "think film" that will leave you going "Huh...".

The plot takes you through four seemingly unrelated interweaving plots all around the world from Morocco, to Tokyo, Mexico and the US. It begins with an American couple, played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchette, who are vacationing in Morocco when tragedy strikes. Jump to Tokyo and follow a teenage girl carrying more baggage and personal challenges than a normal teenager should. Then cross the Mexican border to a traditional wedding and an untraditional return to the states. All four different plots could be created into a movie all on their own, and it can be hard at times to understand why we are seeing all these scenes in one DVD. However, González Iñárritu melds them beautifully.

The resounding theme to take away from this movie is how similar everyone in the world is despite being so very different. Another consistent theme is the need for communication and shows just how many barriers there are to complicate communication, either spoken or emotional.

The title, which is so ingenious in my opinion, comes from the Hebrew verb balal which means to confuse or confound. Also, according to the Bible, this is where everyone ended up after the great flood. Long story short, they decided to build a tower to Heaven, God got real pissed at them for this, and made everyone speak a different language as a punishment. (Temper, Temper...) This is also where we get our word babble. Anyway, because no one could understand each other, they scattered all over the world, which is why we have so many different languages today. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the evolution of several languages which were spread by nomads and conquerers. Oh wait, evolution of anything is just a made up theory.

If you get the chance, NetFlix Babel. You may have to watch it more than once, and you may have to think, but it's worth the two hours of your life.