Hey yinz-

If you’re reading this, you need to update your reader feeds here. I swear andreadisaster.com is even MORE fun.

See ya in a couple clicks.

xoxo,

Andrea

Hooray, new blog address! Please update: http://andreadisaster.com.

The floor was crowded, the haze of sweat and whiskey sours buzzing above our heads.

“Um, I’ll have a gin and tonic?” I tentatively told the bartender as if I was asking his permission.

Walking away, I felt a tap on my arm. I turned around.

“I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful.”

“Oh- thank you,” I replied, shocked.

A flash of a smile and he was gone.

“What did he say?,” my friend asked.

“He told me I looked beautiful,” I said, no quivering, no question mark.

Know what sucks? Having hangover without the alcohol (okay, so there were two beers, but unless my alcohol tolerance took a nosedive in less than a week, I’m not blaming it on the al-al-alcohol.*)

I woke up yesterday with an awful migraine. Took meds, put a cool compress on my forehead, rubbed some mint oil on my temples. None of it was helping. I figured it was probably because I hadn’t had coffee yet. I made a pot of coffee and some toast. I barely had half a cup when it all came up to visit again (sorry, but true).

This isn’t the first time I’ve had this happen (I typically get bad headaches when the seasons change), but it always happens on my days off.

Otherwise, this weekend was pretty great. I saw some of my favorite local bands, met some awesome people from Twitter and capped off it off with a couple games of Apples to Apples (one of which I won). I have to ask: when you play that game, do you explain for your case on why you chose the red card that you did, in order to persuade the person picking to choose your card to correspond with the green adjective card? My family does, my friends don’t, and I have to say I like the former best. Maybe because I just like to argue and debate, even over something lame like an Apples to Apples card.

Here’s hoping the week goes well for everyone.

*Yeah, bad joke, whatever.

I would normally hate the fact that I’ve gone five days since I last blogged, but I’m okay with it, because they were great days spent at parties, bars and the homes of my friends and family. I would say ‘more on that later’, but every time I do, I never get around to blogging about what I mentioned I would blog about, so I’m going to destroy that possibility by NOT blogging about blogging about it.

Am I overthinking this or just being precautious?

We’ll say both.

Anyways, right now is a time to mourn.

Last Friday I sorted through my t-shirts and rounded up about 20 to give away. It was hard though, because  I’m a sentimental person and I want to keep things just because I have nice memories attached to them.
Some people suggested I keep them to make a quilt, but this is a bad idea for two reasons: 1) I know I’ll never make the quilt, no matter how much I try to kid myself. 2) By trying to convince myself that I will someday make said quilt, these shirts would continue to sit around, collecting dust. I’ll fully admit that I’m sentimental as hell, but at some point the madness needs to stop.

So, instead, let me highlight a few of my favorites as I let go. And feel good about doing so.

I got this one at a thrift shop in Seattle. I really liked it for a while; it’s cute, whimsical. And I haven’t worn it in a year. Toss.

I have no probably admitting that I still love Hootie. However, it’s stained and I never wear it. Sorry, Hootie.

Relics from my former hippie days. Peace.

T-shirts about alcohol aren’t cool and they’re especially not cool when you’re over 21. This was a Christmas gift from one of my old roommates (yeah, lucky me). Also, 2005 was four years ago and omg I feel old now ahsdfakdfj.

Um, yeah. My cousins gave me this for Christmas… when I was in high school. I have a hard time giving away things my relatives give me, okay? It goes bye bye now.

The highlights of this shirt: I wore it a lot my sophomore year of college because a guy I had a crush on was from Michigan and he always commented on it. Bonus Weepies CD in the background!

Part of me can’t believe I’m giving away this one. I got it freshman year of college, it was one of my all-time favorites and I’ve gotten tons of compliments and comments on it. However, it’s just reached the end. It’s pretty faded with a couple little holes and stains. I’ve also worn to places that were perhaps not so appropriate (such as meeting my friend’s parents, a church pastor and his wife) and it’s not one you’d wear to work on Causal Friday. It’s just time.

Plus, getting rid of clothes you never wear = more room for new clothes. If only that meant money for new clothes.

Unless you’re interested in buying one of these shirts and if so… let me know.

Sunday afternoon, I was laying in the park, reading.  A young couple in plaid and tight dark denim walked off the path and cut across the grass in front of me. They smiled at me and I smiled back, as they walked up the hill hand-in-hand, the girl carrying a small plastic kite in the other. They looked like they could to take on the world, lose, and not care, so long as they were still holding hands.

Between that, You’ve Got Mail nonsense and the fact that the husband in Britain’s longest-lasting marriage has passed away, I’ve feeling rather le sigh. Don’t mind me.

Seriously, just try to read that article without tearing up, I dare you.

What I’m about to blog about may cause me to lose readers, dignity and respect. I’ve pretty lost the other two years ago but please dear readers, don’t leave me! At least hear me out.

I saw Julie & Julia, which yes, haters, I greatly enjoyed. Meryl was amazing, should have been just a whole Julia biopic in my opinion, but whatever. That’s not the embarrassing part (sadly, some of you might be thinking).

I knew that in addition to Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron wrote and directed several other movies, such as When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and Michael. The movie that really struck me though was You’ve Got Mail.

I saw it in the theater in 8th grade with my best friend and a handful of times since thanks to cable, but it had been while. I’m not sure why (I called it a booger in the brain), but I just had to watch it right now. Eff Netflix- I was buying it.

Oh, if only it could be that easy.

Eleven stores (yes, I went all the way to eleven*), half-a-dozen strange looks from long-haired guys in various states of struffiness, a handful of lame excuses (everything from “Guilty pleasure” to “I’M A GIRL I’M ALLOWED TO LIKE IT”), more miles on my car than I’m willing to admit and $7.42 later, I was in possession of the movie.

Again, I’M A GIRL I’M ALLOWED TO LIKE IT. And no, everyone who is screaming “Sleepless in Seattle is the same thing!” it is not.

But believe it or not, it’s very interesting to look at how the Internet was then and how it is now. Eleven years makes a huge difference. It’s become quite dated for such a short span of time.

Points, I’m making them:

1. For all those who haven’t seen it in a while, this was B.B. (before blogs), but not A.C. (after chat rooms), as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’s characters met in a chatroom. These were the days when everyone thought e-mail was just UNBELIEVABLY fast compared to snail mail (funny to note on the day Gmail died). Has our patience died that much or have we just become that more expectant for instant gratification? These are also in the pre-text message days kiddies, be-tee-double-you. OMG HOW DID WE DEAL?!

2. As I remember it, the general feeling of the Internet in those days was that you could be anyone you wanted. Using your real name was considered dangerous. Everyone lived under goofy screen names and avatars. I’m not sure if I would say that now people aren’t as careful as so much the trend has changed. Instead of pretending you’re a lion tamer in your offline life, you fess up to be a lion pooper scooper, but damn if you’re not the best lion pooper scooper the world’s ever seen. You’re “you,” but a better version of you. Think of Facebook profile pictures. If you don’t look your best, you at least look hilarious, daring or awesome.

3. The other thing that struck me was how the two leads exchanged e-mails about “nothing” while not knowing anything about the person beforehand. That is the important part. Do two people who do not anything (and I mean nothing at all) about each other still able to have e-mail relationships like this? Blogs, Facebook, Twitter are all great, but I feel we know too much about each other to ever go back to these days. I know firsthand that a person is more likely to spill seemingly small secrets to strangers- it’s the feeling of freedom that allows us to do this, because we feel we can’t discuss these things with the people around us who “know” us. And I know as a blog writer, I’m aware that I can do this with the whole entire world. Yet, if someone were to contact me, they would be at the advantage- they “know” more about me than I them, unless they are a blogger/Twitterer/etc. that I follow, which even then, I only “know” the them that they wanted to present (see previous argument). Admit it- how many times have you Googled someone you just met or only heard of. “Knowing” takes away the suspense and intimacy of learning someone in bits and pieces. In gaining, we have lost. I honestly would love a penpal who knows nothing about me, like I had as a kid, but I don’t think I ever will be able to again.

Other, more superficial observations:

4. Had a great chuckle at Greg Kinnear’s character, the anti-Internet journalist. He would not survive until 2009.

5. Dial-up Internet! How quaint!

6. Do people still use AOL? You can tell me, I won’t make fun of you too much.

7. Computers were so boxy.

8. One of the minor characters whines about possibly moving to Brooklyn. Now she’d be dying to get a place in Billyburg.

9.  I had no idea who Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were then but as someone who has studied Angels In America and read The Bell Jar, I definitely know now.

10. They still made typewriters in 1998?

11. I never heard of Starbucks until this movie. Cappuccinos sounded so sophisticated. The county I grew up in didn’t even get a Starbucks until 2006, in a Target. The prices are 75 cents more expensive than they are in the city. In case you were curious.

12. Parker Posey’s character is just as annoying and funny now as she was then.

13. I totally forgot Dave Chappelle was in this movie. For everyone who is all, “WHAT?!”, he’s pretty forgettable, hence my surprise.

14. In the scene where The Shop Around the Corner is selling its last few items, someone can be heard in the background jokingly saying, “Let’s bomb Fox Books.” In the post-9/11 world, that joke wouldn’t even leave the writer’s head.

15. Even though it is sappy and predictable and cliche and etc. etc., I still really love the ending. Because ultimately that’s the big difference between You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle- in the former, they already know and love each other, while in the latter, they just MEET for the first time at the end.

Whew.

That’s it.

I think I’ve thought much more deeply about this movie than it ever was intended to be.

*Please tell you get this reference. Please.

RING RING RING.

Mom: Hello?

Me: Hey Mom, it’s me, I have a question.

Mom. Hello. Yes, your Great-Aunt Kate died yesterday.

Me: Um, what? THAT WASN’T MY QUESTION.

Mom: I thought you probably saw the obituary come through at work.

Me: Um, not working today, so no, didn’t see it.

Mom: Oh. Well, she died.

Me: Well that’s… sad. Poor Aunt Kate.

Mom: She was sick a long time. She was ready to go.

Me: Yeah, I knw she was. Well, I guess that’s good.

Mom: It is. It’s sad too but she’s not in pain any more. So what’s your question?

Me: How long does it take to steam green beans, usually?

Mom: Shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes.

Me: Okay. Tell everyone I’m sorry about Aunt Kate.

Mom: Will do.

It’s a total lie though. The green beans took at least a half hour.

Makeshift bookmarks.
Trader Joe’s silver dollar-size chocolate chip cookies.
Walking past strangers who smell good.
The first autumn breezes on an August day.
Reading whole books in an afternoon.
How my mom always leaves messages that start, “Andrea. It’s your mother.”
Falling asleep to Time-Life infomercials (I have the BEST dreams then).

I’ll save the list of things I hate for when I’m feeling venomous.

1. My napkin looked like a chicken.
2. Ambiance is always nice.
3. I like catching my friends in candid moments (that finger pointing was not planned).

Le sigh. I’ve been a total blog slacker. Bear with me. I’ve have tons to say.