divine angst

This goes nicely with the previous post, because all of these things are TV or movie related.

1. I am bothered by the “celebrity” interviewers on shlocky networks like the TV Guide Channel who use “whenever” in place of “when.” Example:
   

   Now, whenever you were working on [insert name of junket movie here], did you think working with [insert name of hot actor here] was hard? I mean, he’s pretty hottt!”

   Not to suggest that my actual questions would be more trying (hey, I want to know if working with the hottt guy is distracting, too), but geez. I thought they had someone reading and composing the questions BEFORE they are asked, which I (perhaps wrongly?) assumed meant some copyediting was going on, too.

2. Is “What Not to Wear” getting a little old? I feel like I’m betraying old friends by even suggesting this, but I’m just not as gripped by it as I once was. Friday night they had the “Worst Dressed Couple” show and, as I watched it, I kind of knew they’d pick the couple who were, well, sad, instead of the couple who were possible worst dressed. (The couple they picked were badly dressed, yes, but the woman was very sad, which made me angry. In the other two couples, the woman was all about her fashion choices; in the couple that was picked, the woman actually said that she didn’t like dressing the way she did, but that she did it because she knew her husband liked it. While it’s good to give this couple a makeover, I’m a little bothered by this stereotype of a relationship.)
3. If I find “Legally Blonde” a better watch than most of the drivel on TV, does that make me shallow? I worry about this stuff. I really, really like chick flicks. In fact, tonight, as I sat at home alone (I did try to have a girls’ night, but it was the wrong weekend), I found myself seriously upset that I had somehow misplaced the (archival) copy of “Legally Blonde” I had on VHS. I would have watched a VHS movie instead of a DVD just to have been able to watch that movie. Instead, I watched “Lost in Translation,” a great movie, but not quite in the same genre. We have no DVDs of chick flicks. I realized this last night. I’m going to have to fix that, and soon. Mr. Angst doesn’t go out of town often, but when he does, I’ll be damned if I’ll be left with nothing to watch!

Watching Beaches. DO NOT tell me Bette Midler hasn’t had some serious work done.

The Mineral Palace by Heidi Julavits

I admit it, I bought this because the cover looked interesting, the backblurb was well-written and, oh yes, it was $5.

So, it was OK. The story is of Bena, a housewife in the Depression, whose husband relocates them to Pueblo, Colorado, where they don’t know anyone. They have a new baby and Bena has a thing for numbers.

That part of it seemed really interesting to me—numbers! Depression! anomie and displacement!

What it became, though, was a familiar story. Marital discord, an intriguing stranger or two, a scandal to be investigated and to insert oneself into. As that story goes, it was OK. Nothing about it, though, really gripped me. In fact, the last quarter or so, I practically skimmed, trying to get through the damn thing and figure out what happens in the end.

I think at least part of my problem with the book was the author’s tendency to play with the language a little too much. At times, I wasn’t sure if the paragraph I was reading was in the present or a flashback to an earlier event. Her cues were not strong. I appreciate innovation in writing, but the reader always has to come first. I don’t think I’m an unsophisticated reader, but I do get impatient, and her style wasn’t very appealing to me because of that.

So, it was an OK book. I might read it again, maybe on vacation sometime, when I have hours to spend sitting in the sun and relaxing. Reading it now, when I have too much going on in my own life, was probably the biggest problem with this book. My brain is moving too fast lately to be willing to slow down and pore through an inexpensive novel.

Cleaning house is hard work! I tried to go to a yoga class this morning—not my usual class, but it’s spring break, so they had an alternate schedule—and the teacher didn’t show up. I was also the only student to show up.

So I was a little bummed that I missed my weekly butt-kicking—until I set to cleaning. I’ve swept, vacuumed and mopped the entire house with the exception of the master bath (I have to pick up a replacement valve for the toilet, so mopping now would be almost pointless).

I am tired! But I still have things on my to-do list: pick up a shredder, dust the bedroom, dust the office, finish my laundry and make the bed, and, oh, um, yes, shower.

How am I getting all of this done on a Saturday, you ask? Mr. Angst is visiting a friend out of town. Ah ha!

Mr. Angst and I are not making a decision this week. Or even next week, probably.

See, I was trying to make a decision soon because I was thinking I would fly out for an admitted students’ weekend, and I had a promise of some reimbursement. But that’s, like, two weeks away, and I’d have to reserve, like, NOW, to get a good rate and get reimbursement (yeah, the reimbursement was sort of cheap, requiring advance purchase and all that…I’d rather have just gotten a number. It’s OK, I understand, but it’s not very convenient for me).

So we’ve decided that we’re NOT going to make a decision now. We’re going to wait until we get some more information—financial aid packages, Mr. Angst’s actual admissions letter in the mail, etc. I’m not going to try and make the admitted students’ weekend, but I do have an admitted students’ dinner to go to, where I intend to ask MANY questions. I will also take advantage of every opportunity I have to gather information from the people and bloggers I know about the schools I am choosing between. (Hear that? I may be emailing you soon. Yes, you.)

And, in April, probably right before my earliest deposit date, we’ll have another conversation about this, and make a decision.

I am hugely relieved. Maybe this is because I don’t have to make a decision yet—and because I really don’t want to make a decision yet. Maybe it’s because I have four weeks left to think through stuff. Whatever the reason, I feel better. I’ve been sort of shellshocked for the last day or so, feeling sort of in a rush to make a decision because of timing issues, and I’m glad that Mr. Angst and I have the time now to think through stuff without feeling put upon.

So. It’s another month of waiting, sort of, but the good, necessary kind of waiting. The kind of waiting that provides some space. We’re lucky to have this time.