In other news...

Wow. Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson filed for divorce.

Didn't see that coming.
Single tear. Sniff.

(just kidding)

(WARNING: OFFENSIVE WORDS BELOW!)

Oh, and the owner of the Laugh Factory says they will now start dishing out fines to anyone who uses the "N" word on stage, following the much-publicized meltdown and racist tirade of Michael Richards.

I wonder...does that include the brothers?

I absolutely HATE this double standard. There would be no BET if black guys didn't say 'nigger' in their act. There would be no Kings of Comedy.

When Richard Pryor said it, it was FUNNY. When these guys say it now, every other word, it's NOT.

Carlos Mencia is a racist too, but since he's hispanic, nobody cares.

I hate the "C" word. But I have no urge to reclaim and embrace it in the name of women everywhere and use it on a regular basis. You won't hear me walking up to one of my girlfriends and saying, "Hey, what's up cunt?" No, if I use that word, and I use it very rarely, it is reserved as an insult for the female people I despise the very most. Only a small handful have earned that title from me. (Like the girl I told you about earlier today, and only two others I can think of right off.)

If a word is offensive, then it's offensive to everyone, and it shouldn't be allowed to be used by one group and not another. I'm not defending Kramer - what he said was certainly over the top. But the double standard is wrong, and that's what I'm on about.

Word to your mutha.

Thanksgiving. Done.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But really, nothing is ever as bad as I think it will be.

We had a really nice lunch at The Canary Café in Addison. It came highly recommended, and the food really was good. Very non-traditional Thanksgiving fare, but everyone seemed ok with it. Evan’s sister is really nice. We spent several hours with her and her husband and I didn’t drink or say anything stupid. Yay me. But then his sister sent us home with a gift – two bottles of wine. Dammit. I smiled and thanked her politely, knowing full well that those would certainly go to waste or be re-gifted. But it was a very nice gesture on her part.

I didn't do a 'what I'm thankful for' post because I've been away from the computer pretty much since Wednesday. But I do indeed have a lot of thanks to give.

My kids - they make me crazy and keep me sane. They are wonderful and funny and smart and adorable.

Evan - he makes me laugh, he makes me cry (to a lesser extent), and everything in between. I can't imagine my life without him. We've become so real with each other. I've never felt that I could truly be myself and be completely honest with anyone. I am a flawed individual, and that's not something you share with everyone. But we have that. It's a great feeling. And in spite of the rough patches (or fields?) that we go thru, I know that at the end of the day, he'll be there, smiling and glad to see me. I love you so very much, Evan. You really are what's been missing in my life.

I'm thankful for a job that doesn't make me cry. For a mom who's just nutty enough to be amusing. For the few close friends I have who truly care about what happens to me. For my sense of humor. And for my excessive kindness, which I still say will be the death of me.

We had the kids Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Friday to Sunday. The CsZ show was cancelled on Friday nite, so we took the kids to see “Happy Feet”. It was ok, a little too politically preachy for my taste, but oh well. The animation was outstanding, and the musical compilations were fun. But I wouldn’t recommend it, especially if you’re less of the bleeding heart persuasion than I am.

Saturday nite, Comedy Sportz, of course. I worked the concession stand. They played a couple of games that I’ve never seen and I liked them a lot. The kids had fun as always, but started to get on each others (and my) nerves later in the evening. I didn’t grow up with any siblings, so the whole sibling rivalry thing makes absolutely no sense to me. I always wished I had someone to play with or talk to. But, if I’d had a brother or sister, I probably wouldn’t have liked them anyway. Who knows.

I had an awesome Sunday with my female offspring. I decided to separate the younger two for the day, so Emily and I went to visit my oldest daughter, which of course led to a shopping trip. The boys stayed at home and played video games. Duh. The girls and I went to my friend Beth’s boutique and bought a few things, and then on to a couple of other stores on Greenville. It really was one of my best days recently. I’m so surprised at how well my oldest is doing out there on her own. She even sent us home with banana pudding that she made for Thanksgiving. I’m glad I at least taught her a few things.

I’m very pissed off today, but I’m trying to let it go. Our roommate, who hasn’t paid a bill in 5 months, wanted another friend of his to move in. Well, he didn’t ask us. He never even mentioned it. She sent me a Myspace message asking if she could move in. First off, how immature do you have to be to ask someone something so big via Myspace? She could have called or stopped by the house. I mean really. But when I didn’t respond to her within 24 hours, (God forgive me for spending time with my FAMILY over the HOLIDAYS instead of being on the freaking computer!) she took it personally and unloaded all kinds of vitriolic bullshit on me – again, via Myspace. Ahh. To be young and stupid. Anywho, it’s ruined my day and I’d really just like to punch her in the face. She called me spoiled, controlling, and jealous, among other things.

What?!?!?!

Ok, obviously this chick doesn't know me at all. She made reference to my 'spoiled Plano life'...um, ok. I've lived in Plano for almost 4 years. Didn't grow up there, don't come from a wealthy family, don't live a fancy life. How is it that I'm spoiled exactly? I don't even know what to say to the other things she called me. Geez. She's like a 12 year old.

No, I didn’t want her to move in. But my reasons are not what she assumed them to be, and I wanted to take the time to formulate the nicest response I could muster. She got really personal and nasty and I just don’t need people like that around me. I have enough shit to deal with. The thing is though, roommate talks about her like shit when she’s not around. Basically she’s his shameful booty call. He has her come over once every few months when he’s lonely. Then he tells us how much he can’t stand her. So my guess is that he didn’t really want her to move in, but he wanted us to be the bad guys and be the ones to say ‘no’. Well, I’m sick of being the bad guy. I’m sick of everyone making me out to be the one who’s mean and wrong. And I don’t appreciate any of the lies that he obviously told her, not to mention some personal things that really are none of her business. Not welcome in my house. Never. Never. Ever.

I cannot wait to move and get out from under this situation. It’s really making my life miserable. He and I will be having a chat later, and I doubt it will be pleasant.

I’m a very nice girl. Until you push me too far. And you just don’t want to see me when that happens.

Have a nice day and don’t piss me off.

16,000 non-painful hits

Thanks for 16,000 hits. I wish I had more interesting stuff to offer, but I'm glad it's still being read.

Are the google ads at the top of my page reading my mind? I don't remember writing about those issues. Weird.

Thanksgiving time again. I thought the office shindig was on Wednesday, but I arrived this morning to discover that it's TODAY. Dammit. I didn't bring anything. And I ordered the turkeys for pick-up tomorrow. They were accomodating when I called, thankfully. 20 pounds of turkey fully cooked and ready to eat, 24 hours earlier than you originally needed? Sure thing. Geez I feel like an idiot.

My oven is broken so I am unable to cook. I haven't missed cooking a Thanksgiving meal in 15 years. We're going out for dinner. My ex gets the kids this year too, so that just sucks. Evan's sister is coming to visit and she doesn't know that we live together. She would not approve. I hope I don't slip and say something stupid. Grr.

God keep me from drinking this week. Please? Pretty please?

I realize that lately I feel very uncomfortable around people and in public. I don't know what that's about.

Somebody smile for me. I can't muster one up today.

Ms. Movie Phone

Hello, and thank you for reading Jenn's blog. If you know the name of the entry you'd like to read, press 1 now.

You have selected Movie News. So here ya go.

The movie that we helped write the script for last year is going to be on the big screen. Woo! How freaking cool is that? Details:

The Longshot, playing at the Magnolia in the West Village on Thursday, November 30 at 9:15 PM.
Tickets can be purchased at the box office.

The whole idea of this movie was to do one continuous shot throughout a single location. There are no edits or cut-aways, it’s all done in one shot, one place. The camera moves through conversations of different people in a bar. I wrote a couple of the characters, Evan did quite a few. I’m looking forward to seeing it. We didn’t participate in the casting and filming – after helping to write the script, we were done with it. There were quite a few ‘artistic differences’, and it was exhausting and time consuming. But I’m glad it’s finally out there. Come see it if you can.

And speaking of movies…we went to see “Stranger than Fiction” with Will Ferrell on Friday nite. What a great movie. The commercials make it look like a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it wasn’t. To give you a comparison – Evan says that it was Will Ferrell’s “Punch Drunk Love”. That’s the one Adam Sandler movie I’ve never seen, so I hope that’s a valid comparison. Will Ferrell showed his ability to act and not just be the goofy funny guy. I loved it. We both did. Go see it. It’s worth it.

And that concludes your movie review.

To drink, or not to drink. That IS the question.

So I haven’t had a drink in a while. Only one since I said I was giving it up, and I of course have wonderful excuses for why I chose to drink that nite. I won’t get into it here. Suffice it to say, I have to learn how to deal with certain situations head-on instead of relying on alcohol to make me not care about them.

Wow. This is hard. I didn’t think it would be. I never thought I actually had a problem. Well, I thought I probably did, but I certainly didn’t want to admit to it. Friends have approached me about it in the past, saying that they were concerned. I never gave it much thought. Not that I didn’t appreciate them caring, I just didn’t think it was necessary.

I haven’t gotten into an AA group. I’m still trying to decide if that’s something I really need. I seem to do fine when I’m alone, it’s just in certain group settings that I start to feel insecure and out of place. I am, however, seeing a therapist, for many reasons, and I hope it helps.

Why am I writing about this here? I don’t really know. I guess I’ve just made a lot of realizations lately and I want to share my progress with those of you who read this faithfully. I don’t need pity or coddling, I’ll be ok.

It’s hard to admit that we aren’t the perfect, happy people that we portray to others. It’s hard to admit that something as seemingly harmless as a glass of wine can send me into a spiral of doom. And it’s hard to imagine what a full-blown case of alcoholism would do to my children. They’ve never seen me in that state, and I’m thankful that I at least had a modicum of control where they are concerned.

I was married to an addict. I’ve been to many a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and watched as these people professed their sobriety, yet discussed the nearest place to score in the parking lot after the meeting.

I don’t want to be one of those people.

What's that like?

One of my co-workers was leaving early today. I looked at my watch in a joking manner, mostly because I don’t wear a watch, so I was really just looking at my arm. Ha. Yes, I’m a riot. He said, “I’m leaving early for a romantic weekend with the wife.” Aww. That’s sweet. I felt myself make a face, and I think I actually said, “I hate you” or some such thing out loud, I’m not certain.

Anyone care to take this bitterness off my hands? It could use a good home.

The thing is…Evan and I have barely seen each other in the last few weeks, and I’ve discovered that I don’t much care for that. I didn’t realize how accustomed I had gotten to seeing him practically 24/7 when I was working at home. I just took it for granted that he was there, all the time. Now that I don’t see him much it makes me sad. I work all week, he works on the weekends. By the time I get home in the evenings, it’s time to get dinner and then I’m off to bed fairly early so I can rise for my next working day. The only time I see him on the weekends is when we’re in the car on the way to or from a show, and then we’re both too tired or too rushed to really do anything. We managed to have a nice dinner last week sometime, I can’t even remember what day it was now. Maybe Saturday? I don’t know. I suppose it could be worse, and at some point, we’ll no doubt welcome some time away from each other. But right now, I miss my Evan time. But a weekend getaway? Forget about it. I would love it, but logistically, I don’t know how we could pull it off. Maybe we’ll look into it soon.

Election Re-crap

So we re-elected a crappy governor. Yay, Texas. Way to be forward-thinking. But the voters in South Dakota rejected a very strict and unyielding abortion ban, so that’s good news for the women folk up there. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/sd.election.abortion.reut/

A ban on gay marriage was defeated in Arizona, but 7 states did vote in favor of constitutional amendments banning those unions. Stem cell research was given the thumbs up by Missouri voters. Thanks, Michael J. Fox. It’s good to see that we’re moving forward in some areas, despite the far reach of the far right.

I was surprised to find out that people of Rhode Island voted in favor of restoring the voting rights of felons who are on probation or parole. I actually think that’s a good thing.

I forgot to vote, and I am riddled with guilt. Not that my one little vote would have put Chris Bell over the top, but I have to think that maybe it would have. I met him and his wife when I lived in Houston, and I was very much looking forward to his run for governor. I’ve had friends and relatives bombarding me with “Vote for Kinky” emails. The main reason I would not have voted for Mr. Friedman is because of his stance on abortion. He said he would not veto a ban, of any kind, and in spite of his charm and non-politician ways, I could not have voted for him and felt good about it. I’m not a one issue voter by any means, but that’s a big one. And it’s a shame that his 12% of the votes could have meant a possible victory for Chris Bell.

So now the Democrats have control of the house for the first time in 12 years. We have the very first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. That’s exciting. Hopefully these things will bring about some change, especially in the areas war and accountability. Most of you probably don’t care. I used to be very political, and I’ve gotten away from it in recent years. But I still pay attention to what’s going on.

Work is busy, life is busy, I’m dealing with a lot of personal issues right now and I’m not feeling excessively chatty. I woke up with a migraine today, so I’m dealing with that the best I can. Hope you all are doing well and smiling today.