A quarter of a century gone
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 15, 2007
I am now officially closer to 30 than I am to 20. That’s right, yesterday I turned 25. I’d actually been stressing this birthday for awhile because 25 used to seem so old to me. But I’m done complaining about being 25. Anyone who has spoken to me in the last two weeks is probably sick of hearing it anyway.
To celebrate, Andy and I decided to spend the weekend in LA. This has been one of my best birthday celebrations ever. We drove down to North Hollywood Saturday afternoon. Since most of the stuff I wanted to do in LA is in that area, it seemed like the best place to stay. Plus there is a hotel there that’s relatively inexpensive yet really nice.
For my birthday dinner (which we did a day early), we went to my favorite Italian restaurant ever. It’s this little hole in the wall that smells just like a Pizza Hut, but the food is a million times better and pretty cheap for what you get. For those of you in the Studio City area, it’s called Little Toni’s and is at the Intersection of Lankershim and Vineland. From there, we decided to check out a movie at the Arclight Cinerama Dome. Dreamgirls happened to be playing in the Dome, so that’s what we went to see.
Since this was my birthday weekend, we spent much of Sunday morning just being lazy at the hotel. When we finally did leave, we hit up Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash because I had some toys to pick up. From there it was off to Hollywood so we could be tourists. Since Andy hasn’t really spent much time in LA, I figured we could do all those touristy things that people who live there or near there never do. It was actually a ton of fun. We hit up the Guiness Book of World Records museum, which is kinda boring, and the Wax Museum, which is freaking awesome. It was there I got to see Johnny Depp, Wonder Woman and even Darth Vader, which led to a geek moment for each of us.
To end the best birthday ever, I got to spend my evening playing poker with Kevin Smith. I had a great time, even though I lost miserably. By the time I was completely broke, at 4 a.m., I was so exhausted from the day that I went back to the hotel, curled up next to Andy and passed out. But it was an amazing weekend. We even busted out the camera and took some photos, though not a ton. You can check them out here.
iPhone… iWant
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 9, 2007
Ok, I was just going to do a post on the MacWorld conference going on this weekend, but that was until I read Steve Jobs keynote. Words can’t express my feelings I’m just that excited. Jobs’ keynote is usually where he introduces new products. And he did. But everything was overshadowed by the one that makes me excited. And that one is…
I don’t know what to say. It’s just amazing and I want one. Unfortunately, I’m stuck with Verizon for two more years and this is an exclusive deal with Cingular. I will no doubt be spending the next few months brainstorming how to get out of my contract.
Kindness of strangers
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 5, 2007
Today everyone on post had a lovely day off thanks to the electric company deciding to turn the power off from 4 this morning until 10 tonight Of course, in reality, not everyone got the day off because there were areas that needed to be guarded while the power was out. So tonight I had to go to work from 6-8 p.m. to pull one of these guard shifts.
On my way home, I drove past all the people who were returning home after escaping a day without power. My only thought was that I wanted to get home and finally relax. Well, that was my only thought until I sped past a string of about 6 cars, all who started flashing their high beams at me, the universal (it would seem) sign for cop ahead. I end up seeing the flashing lights about a mile up the road and as I pass take over flashing other people to warn them.
Seeing this got me to thinking. In this day and age of road rage, murders, war… all sorts of bad things, people still feel compelled to perform this little act of kindness for strangers. It’s like we all are constantly against each other but still do this. Really illustrates the phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” We may not like other drivers. We may call them assholes, honk our horns at each other, cut other drivers off; but as soon as there is a cop, suddenly we are getting each other’s back. Gives one hope that things aren’t as bad as CNN and Fox News would have us believe.
Time to start fresh
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 1, 2007
With 2006 now over, I guess now would be a good time to reflect on a year that had many ups and downs for me. I’m nowhere near where I thought I would be when the year began. In 2006, I’ve had one relationship go completely to shit and another one even better than the last begin. I’ve made some amazing friends and fallen out with others.
This year saw the end of my marriage and with it the loss of people I considered family. Everyone knows what a rough time that was for me, but there were a few people I couldn’t have made it through without. I’m pretty sure they know who they are as I’ve thanked them publicly before. I’m sorry to know that I’m not friends with a couple of you anymore, but I hope you realize that I’ll be eternally grateful for your support during that time. With the end of my marriage I also lost people that I considered family. That’s how things go when a marriage ends, but knowing that didn’t make it any less saddening. I also lost a friend this year, Shaun, you are more than missed by many, and watched my brother head to Iraq.
But things weren’t all bad this year. I went on amazing vacations to New York City, New Jersey and Los Angeles to meet up with people from the View Askew board, which was the source of many wonderful friends and countless memories, mostly good. This year I also got to spend the holidays with my family and visited briefly with my brother before he deployed. And while one relationship ended this year, another began with an amazing guy that I really care about.
There were many ups and downs to 2006. But with a new year comes a chance to start anew. So here’s to a much calmer and happier 2007.
Happy New Year!!!
