Working At The Daily Show

I Am So Funny - Lauren Weedman


This is an excerpt from Lauren Weedman's new book, A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body (Tales from a Life of Cringe), which recounts her 6 months as an on-air correspondent at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It's a pretty funny recounting of the mistakes she makes, but doesn't seem to get much into the culture or the nuts-and-bolts of the place. Worth a read.

Blind

Interesting evening: Blind date with a friend's mother's friend (yes, I wore my new jeans). In trying to set things up, I came up against the limitations of email. It' s just too easy to set aside and not act on it. Finally got things set up during a 5 minute phone call.

Every piece of dating advice out there now states that first dates should be casual affairs in an atmosphere which promote discussion. "Dinner and a movie" is deprecated, coffee with optional snack is the standard first date.

Well, that all goes out the window when one schedules a first date right after a late work day. 7pm rolls around and John's gotta eat! Interesting chat over coffee/tea, followed by dinner at Corner Bakery. Not bad for a chain. Butternut squash soup was really tasty. Chicken Pomodori Pannini wasn't bad either: "Sliced chicken breast, fresh basil and spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, and provolone cheese with pesto mayonnaise on grilled sourdough country bread." Creepily, we ordered separately but got the exact same thing.

Chatted about jobs, Excel, regression analysis, and dance (she told me a bit about jazz and ballet, I gushed about swing). She's added herself to the list of people who told me they'd like to come along to swing dance "some day." Well, she actually said next week, so that's a possibility.

All in all, a fun first date.

I'm A Horrible Human Being

S: I didn't finish my school work yesterday, so I had to do twice as much today.
Me: Oh, are you home-schooled?
S: Yeah!
Me: Is that why you're so weird?

D: I'm going to school everyone!
Everyone: Bye, D!
Me: Do you have librarian classes tonight?
D: What do you mean? I'm not a librarian.
Me: Oh sorry, it's just that with the way you're dressed...
D: You already made that joke once.
Me: And it's a winner every time! I'm being pretty mean lately. I asked S if she was weird because she was home-schooled.
D: That's pretty mean. But we're all weird, I think.
Me: Yeah. Wait, what? Even me?
D: Yeah, even you.
Me: What's weird about me?
D: You make obscure movie references and quotes.
Me: Don't think you're going to make up for calling me weird by making a veiled compliment.

Good thing neither of them read my blog, or they'd have just called me 'sir.' Apparently, that's the quickest way to get under my skin: Make me feel incredibly old.

Who The F Is That?

I spent money yesterday on jeans with a washed look:



Never thought that would happen. Never thought I'd spend more than $20 on jeans, either.

And I bought fragrance on the way out. Who the F was that guy inhabiting my body?

Last Night At Tia Juana's

Amantha wants to know whether I'm going to TJ's for OC Swing's last night of swing dancing there. I hadn't planned on it. But OK. Why not? The last time I went, it was both tightly packed AND playing fast, fast music.

Last night, tightly packed, with medium tempo music. I spent more time not dancing than dancing, though there was some fun conversation with Fred, Claire, Charles, Aurelia, and Chrissy. Wait, Chrissy? I thought she hated me! She assured me that she didn't care enough about me to muster hate. No, she didn't really say that. But she was ... friendly. Weird.

Next week, OC Swing starts at their new venue, at the Women's Club in Orange. Hey, that's much closer to me. I'll definitely check it out, since that's what I need: More swing dancing! Tuesday: Atomic. Wednesday: OC Swing? Thursday: Team Practice. Friday: Atomic. Saturday: Team Practice. Sunday: OC Swing and Atomic classes. Hmmm... Two days of social dancing in a row? That hasn't worked well for me before...

Polygamy Duh

Boys Are Being Cast Out From Fundamentalist, Polygamous Mormon Group

Simple math, people. When you have polygamy, or more precisely, polygyny (men married to multiple women), the guys with the most resources (financial, spiritual, or whatever the currency is), get the wives.

AND it follows that the group is going to make up behavioral restrictions which it will be difficult for young men to follow in order to have an excuse to expel them. Maybe that's why they don't want them to get high school educations: the ignorant population is easier to control.

LOL

Watched a television show where one character goes on a tirade about people saying "LOL" in person (Californication in case you care).

I admit to having the same peeve. Well, if I was ever faced with this in real life, which hasn't actually happened. LOL is chat/text shorthand for "Laughing Out Loud" which indicates to someone over text chat that you're laughing.

Why would someone say "LOL" instead of just laughing? If you say LOL, you're not actually laughing. If one was to say "LOL" the actual emotion expressed would be more along the lines of "Hey, that was funny," which could be shortened to "Ha" or "Heh," both of which are faster than saying "LOL."


Who the F says "LOL" anyway? Is that the TV plot equivalent of a "straw man?" I mean, WTF?