in case you needed one MORE reason to shop at your local bookstore...

UPDATED! in all my fame and glory

At long last I've found the notebook in which I scrawled the names of all the celebrities I've met over the years. Care to look? Well, I would, and I'd love to keep a copy of this on the interweb should I lose the original notebook yet again.

Who am I forgetting?

* = spoke with this person!
+ = saw this person on stage (I didn't really include musicians on this + list)


Mary Tyler Moore*
-I don't talk about this interaction much, but, to make a long story short, I met my idol during my last week in NYC due entirely to my parents' efforts!

Lars (Real World London)*
-I have a vague recollection of talking to Lars at some point. No idea what we talked about or why I was in the same place as he & Malik, but it must have been interesting at the time, as I wrote it down in my "celeb" list. Malik (Real World NY II)

Bryan Adams+
-Saw him perform on Late Night with David Letterman in duet with Celine Dion. Dear Lord.
Celine Dion
-Due to my friend Matt 1's urging, we waited for her to emerge from the LNWDL backstage door. There were TONS of chanting, yelling fans waiting for her, all of whom turned against her with merciless boos when she didn't sign autographs. Creepy mob experiment I never wish to repeat.

Jared Leto
-We passed each other in the crosswalk on University Pl. near NYU. I thought, "Man, that bleach-blond dude looks just like Jordan Catalano!" Turns out he was in the midst of filming Requiem for a Dream.

Wallace Shawn ("Inconthheivable!")*
-He came into Starbucks when I worked there and requested a grande iced coffee, no room for cream. Moments after he exited, my Wallace-Shawn-obsessed roommate came in for the first and only time to visit me at work. "Wallace Shawn was here two seconds ago!" I told her. "He went out that way!" Her face flushed and, teary-eyed, she bolted out the side door but had no luck finding him to say hi. Sad.

Liev Schrieber*
-We were BFF a few times when he came into Starbucks to get coffee while rehearsing for Hamlet at the Public Theatre.

Anna Paquin
-When I was a sophomore, I had to go to the admissions office one day. As I waited for my appointment, AP walked in and smiled at me.

Tom Irwin (dad from My So-Called Life)*
-This guy is too old for me but ever so cute. Another Starbucks coup! He came in with a friend and we all hit it off. I took my 15-minute break immediately after he left and called my sister using the Starbucks office phone. (I was a couple of years away from getting a cell phone so busted out the "emergency" family calling card number.)

Janine Garafalo
-She live(d) right in the Village, so we NYU kids saw her a lot. Once Kerri said to me, "It's not fair that everyone else has seen Janine Garafalo and I haven't!" Later that afternoon, we met up for coffee on 8th St., and who should be in line in front of us but Janine? See? God exists.

David Letterman*
-Went to his show a few times during college and once since. In May 2008, Jim & I went to the show and, before we hit airtime, I asked Dave about a quilt my aunt made him many a year ago. He then mentioned me and my Aunt Dorth on the show! Very exciting time in Kirchner life.

Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
-The night I prowled the Radiohead line looking for an impossible-to-find, affordable ticket, he popped out of the stage door right as I cruised by.

Sheryl Crow*
-Yet another NYC Starbucks interaction. My brawny Staten Island coworker was flirting with her like CRAZY, which was a bit embarrassing. We talked for just a minute while I rang her up, and after she left, I asked my coworker why he had flirted so shamelessly. Turns out he had no idea who she was.

Monica Keena ("Abby Morgan" from Dawson's Creek)*
-I met her 60 minutes after her character was killed off Dawson's Creek, a show I watched every week in college with my friends. It was surreal.

Amy Smart*
-My friend Carley & I worked at this "Women & Wine" event in LA a few years back. Amy was one of the invitees. I got to fill her glass with Veuve Cliquot a few times.

Bonnie Sommerville*
-See "Amy Smart."

Keri Russell
-Saw her in Washington Square Park doing location shots as Felic.

Philip Seymour Hoffman+/*
-Being friends with the theatre kids in college paid off. I got to go to free plays a lot and, in this case, attended a talk by PSH. It was incredible to hear him break down his acting techniques. I love him.

Gregory Peck
-In the audience at the opening night revival of Death of a Salesman, Lauren Bacall on his arm.
Lauren Bacall
Arthur Miller+
-Came out onstage to a standing ovation after opening night of DOAS.

Kevin Klein
-Outside the Guggenheim having a smoke before his car came to fetch him. (My parents and I were together, gawking on the opposite corner.)

Kevin Spacey
-He hosted the GQ awards the night that I, along with 50-some-odd other girls, donned a wedding dress to promote the huge runaway hit The Bachelor. We yelled in unison: "Kevin Spacey, will you marry me?!" He didn't every answer us. Hmm...

Liza Minelli
-She was half-dancing, half-walking down 2nd Ave. with an entourage of at least 5 younger men. All right, Liza.

Cynthia Nixon*
-I ran smack into her as she came out of her apartment near NYU. She was pushing a stroller. "Excuse me!" I said, and then, upon recognizing her from somewhere and figuring I knew her somehow, I said, "Oh--hi!" She graciously said hi. Days later I realized she was the redhead from Sex & the City, a show I'd not yet watched.

Holly Hunter
-We passed each other on some street in NYC.

Jennifer Jason Leigh+
-She thoroughly annoyed me with her "I'm-beyond-bored-and-sound-like-a-jerky-preteen-boy" voice as I watched her perform in Proof.

Christian Slater+
-Passed him and Uma Thurman in Washington Square Park over ten years ago. Then in college I saw him as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman. Dave was horribly mean, rude, and disrespectful--but much of his real-life interview was cut by the time the show aired that night. I like Dave, but after that experience I respected him less. Also, Sweet tells me we saw him in a coffee shop once pushing a stroller.

Lily Tomlin+
-Saw her read/speak/perform in small doses at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. I love her.

Christy Turlington
-OMG, we totally went to the same college.

Sigourney Weaver
-Coming out of Patricia Fields on 8th St.

Dar Williams*
-I've met her a few times and had a couple of mini-chats that dazed my teenage self. Most recently, I wrote her an email before her early 2009 concert in Athens and she was very cordial and sweet.

Joy Behar (from The View)
-Eating lunch at some outdoor cafe in midtown Manhattan.

John Mayer
-Standing on top of his tour bus outside Irving Plaza, spraying a group of horny barely-of-age girls with champagne. "Oh, it's that guy from Atlanta," thought I.

Al Franken
-Eating with his kid at Dojo near NYU in 1998.

Lisa Loeb
-I don't remember where I encountered this character.
Judy Collins*
-Kate & I met and chatted with Judy after her Fox Theatre show in February 1997. She was really sweet to us and we had a little email exchange a couple of years later! We also met and talked with Roberta Flack that night.
Roberta Flack*

Nina Persson (from The Cardigans)*
-Some of my high school BFFs & I stayed late after The Cardigans' 1998 Variety Playhouse show. Nina, the adorable lead singer, was nice to us. Lieeish and I like to quote her as she watched us shivering in the February cold: "Go home, get warm."
Amy Ray* Emily Saliers*
-Being a crazy Indigo Girls fan in Georgia means I've met the Indigo Girls a few times. Once Lieeish & I were complaining aloud that whenever we ate at one of the ATL restaurants Emily partly owns, we never saw her. Then we noticed she was at the next table--she glanced over and smiled at us knowingly. Ha.

Shawn Mullins*
-I met him a few times in the late 90s before he hit the big time ever so briefly with "Lullaby." On one occasion, we were chatting for a moment when he asked me to hold his coffee cup so he could sign an autograph for another fan. We're really good friends, obvs.

Nanci Griffith*
-Peyton & I waited to meet her after a show in Atlanta during high school. She had remarkably soft hands, we noticed.

Edward James Olmos
-Walking with the Mothers of the Disappeared in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, 2001.

Michael Stipe Peter Buck Mike Mills
-These guys, especially MS & MM, have houses in Athens, so we townies see them a lot. Luckily we're WAY too cool to think it's cool.

Martin Sheen
-He was staying at the same place as my dad & me in NYC once in the late 90s.

Tom Brokaw*
-Well, I didn't actually meet him, but a few members of my family have chatted with him, and my grandfather Gregory Kirchner was featured in one of The Greatest Generation books!

Mitch Hedberg+
-Went to his comedy show in early 2003. I have perhaps never laughed so hard at a performance in my entire life.

Audra McDonald+
-This Broadway star, whom I saw in Showboat during a high school trip, was on Conan or David Letterman when I went once. She was really pretty in person.

April Wilkner* (America's Next Top Model)
-Lots of my college friends are friends with this pretty young lady, though I haven't gone beyond exchanging pleasantries with her. For a while my 19-year-old self was jealous of her, as she dated my crush for a bit.
Steve Avery (Braves)*
-During a field trip to the bank in 1993 or so, the teller told us that Atlanta Braves star Steve Avery was in the lobby--did we want to meet him? So we all got his autograph and thought we were really cool. Clearly I still think so, as I'm telling the story 16 years later.
Walt Clyde Frasier (Knicks star)*
-Long story. In the end, I was sitting next to him at a swanky midtown restaurant as he tried to get me to try the various kinds of sushi that were laid out in front of him. He also told me I had really good style. (Trying to be nice, perhaps, as I walked into the restaurant with jeans and sneakers, not realizing I was going to be breaking an unspoken dress code.)

Cameron Diaz
-She sat near us at Yaffa Cafe on St. Marks.

Ben Folds*
-I've seen him in concert a handful of times, but the interaction that most sticks out is the time when Julie, Sweet, and I saw him at Yaffa Cafe with his parents. I didn't know much about him at the time, but we stood outside the restaurant afterward trying to decide what to do next and I started busting out the song "Brick" really loudly. I turned around when Sweet cleared her throat: he was walking right next to me, laughing quietly. Oops.

John Hannah (from Sliding Doors)*
-Amazingly enough, I ran smack into this dude as he exited the W. 4th subway station while I tried to enter. It was very Sliding Doors.

Gwyneth Paltrow
-She walked by me on the red carpet during the GQ Awards when I was dressed as a bride.
Neil Diamond*
-Once, out of dedication to my friend Phil G., I ran through college buildings in order to corner Neil as he entered his limo, which was tucked away behind a maze of buildings and protective road blocks. It was exciting and ridiculous.
Henry Winkler*
-He spoke at the Love of Literacy Luncheon sponsored by the Palm Beach Literacy Coalition in 2003. He approached the AmeriCorps kids' table and came over to me. Stroking my cheek with the backside of two fingers, he said creepily, "This must be the young table." Ugh.

Mandy Moore
-Sitting in the stands at the Chris Evert Celebrity-Pro Tennis Classic in Delray Beach, Florida. She was so sweet and kind to her preteen fans that I decided I liked her, too.
Dr. Phil+
-Played in the aforementioned Tennis Classic and got RUL tudey when half the stands left to get faux-referee Fran Drescher's autograph.
Fran Drescher+
-Pretend ref at the tennis thing. Obnoxious and unfunny, if you can believe it. (She and all the players were miked.) Andy Roddick+
-Played at the tennis classic, his then lady-love Mandy watching from afar. Jon Lovitz+
-Tennis thang.
Chris Evert+
-Tennis thang.

Josh Taylor
-Days of Our Lives Star! My sister shook his hand at Disney World in the 80s. So exciting.

Sandra Burnhardt
-Walking out the backstage door after Elaine Stricht's one-woman Broadway show in May 2002.

Real World/Road Rules guy Mark
-At a deli in Melbourne, FL.

Demi Moore & kids
-Emerging from their Central Park West apartment building and then getting into a car. The doorman informed me that I had just missed Bruce.

Brian Dennehy+
-He starred in the revival of Death of a Salesman.

Alan Rickman+
-Starred in Noel Coward's Private Lives, which my mom and I watched from the front row.
Lindsey Duncan+
-Starred with Alan Rickman in Private Lives.

Some old-ish dude who claimed to be "THE Jack Hanna(h)"
-At a sushi place in Buenos Aires, 2001. The cartoonist was dead by then, and this guy was NOT the animal dude. So... I have no idea who this guy was, but he was flanked by people and paid for some of our drinks.

Jennifer Nettles*
-Formerly of Soul Miner's Daughter and the Jennifer Nettles Band, this former Athenian is now some megastar in Sugarland. Good for her.

Julianne Moore*
-Met her at Book Expo America in May 2009. She was stunningly gorgeous in person and was kind enough to sign a copy of her new book for me.

Julie Andrews+
-She spoke at Book Expo America in May 2009. It was surreal to be in the same room as she.

John Irving+
Richard Russo+
-I LOVE these authors and was thrilled to be in the small audience when they spoke with one another at BEA 2009.

Neil Gaiman*
-Saw him at Book Expo this year. AND he sent me a personal message on Twitter.

Steven Tyler+
Chuck Klosterman+
Clarence Clemons+
-These two rock stars were the keynote speakers at Book Expo 2009. I found myself really liking Clarence and really disliking Steven Tyler. Sorry, Liv.

Cher+
Cyndi Lauper+
-I saw Cher & Cyndi TWICE on their summer 1999 tour. Amazing. I believe.

Ed Begley, Jr.+
-Book Expo keynote speaker, 2008. Amy & I faux-stalked him for a few minutes before the keynote. We are awesome.
Craig Kilborn+
-Went to the Daily Show with friends in 1998 or so and nearly died laughing during the portion of the show about the Ohio man who impersonates first ladies.

Conan O'Brien+
-Went to his show a couple of times. He's very tall.

Recent additions others reminded me of:
Lisa Loeb
-On the sidewalk near Bloomingdale's while walking with Sweet

Nancy Grace*
-At Book Expo America, NYC 2009. Jim waited in line to meet her while I was at a seminar. "Who should I make this out to?" she asked him. "Make it out 'to Aunt Evie,'" he replied. Nancy gave him an odd look (or so I surmise) so Jim proceeded to spell it out: "A-U-N-T..." HA! A few minutes later, I appeared and got in line to acquire an autographed book for our friend Matt (who loved the surprise, personalized gift!). A new bookstore friend came up to us post-signing and asked us, "Did you meet Nancy Grace?" "Yes." "I went right up to her and said, 'You are the most obnoxious woman on CNN." "No you didn't!" He continued: "She just laughed and said, 'I KNOW!'" (This snippet made me like Nancy Grace more.)

Amber Tamblyn*
-She's a poet as well as an actress! I met her this year at Book Expo and had a good chat. She's reached out to a lot of young writers and even personally critiques their work on her website. I liked her a lot.

John Carter Cash*
-Son of June & Johnny! Autographed his kids' book for me so I could give it to Mary Beth & Oscar.

Tomie dePaola*
-Multi-award-winning children's author/illustrator.

Walter Dean Myers & son*
-Multi-award-winning children's author with his artist son (they just came out with a book).

Mary Karr*
-Author of the acclaimed memoirs The Liars Club, Cherry, and (coming soon) Lit. Told her I "loved" her books, which is sort of a f'ed up thing to say to someone who's chronicled her scary, abusive, alcoholic former life. Oops. (Her books are great and very brave.)

Craig Ferguson+ Jeannette Walls+
-Craig (late night host) & Jeannette (author of The Glass Castle, which is a phenomenal memoir) appeared on a panel at BEA 2009.

Philippa Gregory+
-On stage speaking at BEA 2008.
Meg Cabot*
-Jim and I had a little crush on her--such a funny, enthusiastic woman (and Key West resident, which is awesome). When Jim went up to get his copy of her new book, a story for preteen girls, he had her make it out to him. He's a weird dude, but he's MY weird dude.

Kathie Lee Gifford
-At Book Expo 2009 signing whatever she wrote. She looked all made up for TV but was in a fluorescently-lit conference hall. Weird. And a tiny bit scary.

Joan Baker*
-You'll know her voice more than her face. Jim befriended Joan at BEA this year and then told me to go up and talk to her. (She was as great as he'd promised.) She wrote a book about voice over acting and has been featured in TONS of commercials, ads, etc. Really nice woman!

Dr. Ruth*
-Yep, that Dr. Ruth. She was tinier than I expected (which is saying a lot). Jim and I got autographed copies of her book and were, quite dorkily, among the first people in line to meet her. (Truth be told, we wanted to spy on her a little bit and listen to the funny things she was saying to her publishers as they got ready for the signing.)

one reason why I'm sad to be missing the Brandi Carlile show in Athens...

Brandi Carlile is an amazing live performer with an electric voice. Even if you are inclined to dis people whose work has appeared on Grey's Anatomy, I encourage you to give her a chance anyway. Listen to her voice and guitar work! I just love her.

This video was posted a few years ago and still brings a tear to my eye. Can you imagine the joy and excitement that girl must have felt?!

because you really want to know about my alphabet.

You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the ABC's of YOU.

A - Age: 29

B - Bed size: queenie

C - Chore you hate: scrubbing nasty, old, wet, formerly crusty crap off pots and pans

D - Dogs or cats: small baby kittens only

E - Essential start your day item: coffee & smoothie breakfast combo

F - Favorite color: rojo

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5'11.72"

I - Instruments you play: I used to be able to play clarinet and took piano in college. Plus my singing voice is AMAZING.

J - Job title: scientific & English document editor; future bookstore owner

K - Kids - I sure do love them, but I don't want any of my own.

L - Loud or quiet: this is silly. But I'll choose quiet.

M - Mom's name: Mary Carol

N - Nicknames: Jan, Janny, J-bird, Regretta Person, Janevie, Jan-Jan, Janey, Janny, Handicapped Twin (or "HT"), ROSE, Neighb, Bonzi, Jon, Jonny, Jenny, Jynni, Word, Geddeeeeeeezzzz....The list goes on and on, really.

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: no thank you.

P - Pet Peeve: pen-tappers in otherwise quiet spaces

Q - Quote from a movie: "Ted, where's that fancy corkscrew? You know that fancy corkscrew for the wine bottle? Uh-Ted?" (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: Rosaurio Dawson Rose Rosacea Rosalita Rosalia

T - Time you wake up: rarely before 9:30, dahling

U- Underwear: under WHERE?

V - Vegetable you dislike: eggplant, and I had way too much that soggy stuff served to me in Argentina a couple months ago. Yech!

W - Ways you run late: I tend to forget VERY IMPORTANT THINGS inside and have to run back and forth to grab all the goods pre-departure. Once I was on the way to the Atlanta airport for a trip to Europe and realized I had left my suitcase in the parking lot. Neat.

X - X-rays you've had: Teefs, neck, foot

Y - Yummy food you make: breaded chicken breast! Pasta with sauce! artichoke & spinach dip! Guacamole! Hummus! Stirfry! I am a CHEF!

Z - Zoo favorite: In Melbourne, FL, it's the crazy birds who have been known to peck at my father's head A. Hitchcock-style

problems of the famous

If I got super-famous and super-stalked by the media, I wonder which of my "friends" would turn his/her/their back(s) on me and spill my secrets to the press.

I wonder this each time I read stories on celebrities, stories in which the following phrasing is used: "an unnamed source, a close friend of the family's, says..."

Is it you?!

Or...you?

Which one of you would sell me out for money from Star?

when I want a little pick-me-up...

I'll watch this.

why do I keep watching Brothers and Sisters?

I mean, the show drives me crazy. There are lots of good actors, that's true. Maybe I'm wishing Brenda--ahem, Rachel Griffiths--will be as frustratingly terrible and lovable and hate-able as she is on Six Feet Under. Maybe now that I've started involving myself in the Walker family story I can't just bow out.

Here's an email I just wrote to my mom. The show is making me mad! Not as mad as The L Word does, but still.

This new half-brother is annoying the crap out of me! The whole show is, as usual, but of course I keep watching.
1. All the Walkers are happy.
2. Oh wait. Each person suddenly has a personal crisis.
3. Nora decides everyone should come over for dinner.
4. All the kids realize what each other's crisis is. They decide not to tell their mom.
5. During the group dinner, everyone acts crazy and, one by one, the secrets start to spill.
6. Nora gets upset.
7. The kids yell at each other.
8. Nora yells at all of them to be quiet.
9. People storm off.
10. Later, Nora explains that she is strong enough to hear whatever they have to dish out.
11. Everyone apologizes and says "I love you."
12. Start at beginning again.

Love,
me

P.S. I have entertained myself. Time for a blog entry. But first I must kill Ryan the obnoxious half-brother!

ways in which technology makes my life easier

I have a pretty sweet deal with work, especially considering that I am often ill with migraine and have not yet worked myself up to the reality (and necessity) of working full-time. I work far fewer hours than my contract outlines, but I get paid a salary regardless of how many hours I've worked. So when The Company fails to bombard me (or even slightly burden me) with projects, I am still raking in the cash. (If by "raking in the cash" I mean "getting paid well and then finding out that huge percentages are taken out in The Company's country as well as mine. But that's another spoiled brat gripe for another time.)

Tomorrow we have the first of four weekly Webconferences. I can't make the second and third, but I'll be calling in for the first and fourth. Apparently, it goes a little something like this: we editors will dial in to the main terminal (for lack of a better word) at an appointed time using our personal phones while simultaneously logging into The Uber-Company's Webconference page. So I'll be holding my phone to my ear talking to 5-8 other people while we all scroll through documents together on a shared site.

Um, hasn't anyone heard of Skype? The technology is out there. We could go hands-free, phones-free and do the entire Webconference (a word I loathe even more in written than verbal form) online, I know. Yet we won't. I will be using my daytime minutes and getting a crick in my neck as we argue about whether or not that comma goes there or not. Lord help me.

We have a homework assignment before the Webconference (gross, I said it again), and I was actually going to look into completing it even though it's not required! BUT I then received a manuscript to edit on a short timeline and will be doing that work instead.

"This'll be a breeze," I tried to force myself to think. "I'll just print that baby up, pour a coup of coffee, and start editing."

Cue printer problems. Cue outdated-and-crappy-work-PC-laptop problems. I spent the last 48 minutes trying to get the durned computer to let me print even though INK LEVELS ARE LOW!!! Once I replaced every single outlandishly overpriced ink cartridge, the computer warned me, "CANNOT HAVE MORE THAN ONE INK TANK INSTALLED. PLEASE REMOVE INK TANK(S)." So I did. Then I got, "ONE OR MORE INK TANK(S) MISSING. PLEASE INSTALL ALL INK TANKS AND THEN PRINT."

This went on and on. Eventually (as I like to see it), I was so swift that I deftly switched printers and then tricked the computer into thinking we had enough ink for the job.

I'm so happy I have multiple computers and printers to get in my way of holding a piece of paper and a pen in order to do my work.

something an ol lady said once

I just remembered one of my favorite quotes of all time.

Here's my dad a couple summers ago in Geneva, OH with two cousins.

Once my dad and I were visiting my grandma in Pittsburgh. We were near the elevator bank when we came upon a woman in a wheelchair. She stopped dead in her tracks, looked at my dad in happy surprise, and said, "And who is this tall, shiny building of a man?!"

I hope he was flattered. I know I thought it was a pretty awesome compliment.

midwifery + Kim is awesome

My friend Kim Dau was featured in a snippet on an NPR station (WUNC) last week. She's a very happy, very talented midwife in Durham who coordinates a local program called Centering Pregnancy.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post it on here. Fortunately, I was able to put it on my Tumblr.com page. Scan through my page and find it on 2/24: http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/jannygirljr

I'm applying for the best job ever!

It's my birthday, by the way.

I finally finished my video application for the Best Job in the World. Video applications are due 2/22, so of course I finished mine 2/21. You'd be amazed--simply amazed!--at the amount of crap I got done today, crap I've had to do for weeks. Funny what a month-long trip away from home will inspire a girl to do. I mailed a ton of letters, sent off boring paperwork, took care of my taxes (read: mailed all forms to an accountant), did Addieville duties, picked up some Argentine pesos, tidied the house, and more, more, more!

Plus I went out for an hour this evening to celebrate Baby Neighb's birthday. And I watched a movie and did this video! Life is good. Hope I'm not too sleepy when I wake up all too early tomorrow.

Watch the video, but don't write evil comments or give me less than 5 stars. 'Cause then, you know, I'd be sad--and a girl shouldn't be sad on her birthday.

let's race with destiny

I started watching this as a joke and then ended up with tears streaming down my cheeks. Thanks, Whitney.

I hear that she's doing well these days, that she's kicked the drugs and is coming out with a new album. That's wonderful news--as much fun as it was to marvel over her non sequiturs and generally dazed, giggly nature on interviews and that awful reality show she Bobby had, I was always sad to see how badly she was doing. This is the woman whose poster I had on my wall after my mom and aunt went to a late 80s WH concert. (I wonder now where that poster is. I seem to recall there was a crooked rectangle situated inside another, pink and/or teal confetti sprinkled all around Whit's face. God, that was a good poster--it was on the back of my bedroom door for quite awhile there.) I did a Google image search for it and came up dry. Luckily I found a couple other gems that made me feel better. Look how adorable she was!


I'm hopeful that she really is doing well and that it lasts awhile. At least creepy Bobby is out of the picture.

I want onnneeee moment in tiiiiimmmmeee!

Looks like it's time to pop in that Greatest Hits album!

could she be any cooler?

I've told you before about some hilarious kids in Georgia I have the great fortune of knowing. I could have sworn I've mentioned Rio before, but perhaps not. She is the wonderchild of my NYU friends Eliza and Eric Obenauf (of $2 Radio fame).

Check out how awesome she is!

(photos courtesy of Eric & Eliza Obenauf)

I heart drugged up kids

noncommittal blogging alert

I decided to get a Tumblr.com account. My username is jannygirljr. Thanks, Lawson, for the inspiration.

There are often moments when I see things I want to share with people, but it's getting to the point where Facebook is rife (or overstuffed) with users' posts on TONS of stuff, so I'm discouraged from posting mine. I don't know why I resist--maybe I don't want people to see how much I am on Facebook wasting my life away.

The articles, photos, and slice o' life stories are often not substantial enough for a blog entry (in my strange rule system), so I usually end up not sharing. Tumblr has granted my wish to be able to have a thought occur to me and post it immediately. Today I remembered a funny photo of my dad and decided to post it along with a story. I guess I could've written about it in my blog, but it seemed more fun to post on my mini-blog. Ew. Mini-blog.

Adieu.

watch & learn!

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11448

new passion: video ichat

What do you do when you are bored and want to see a friend who's far away? What do you do when your friend Chris is in Buenos Aires and you haven't seen his smiling face in weeks? What if Sweet Blond moved to Ireland in 2000 and never looked back*?

Why, call him on your iChat video! This works best if it's very late at night, chatters have had a drink or two, and everyone is giddy and strange. Note: try not to talk about anything of substance.

*slight exaggeration

hmmm...

Of course I find it sad that John Travolta's son died. Of course I think it's crappy that the paramedic (& others) tried to extort a ridiculous amount of money from JT after his son's death.

But I cannot get over how weird looking the kid was! Also: I'm very affectionate with my parents, but some of the photos make it look like Jett & John are on the verge of a kiss, or at least a lovers' embrace. Ick.

I'm evil. Goodbye.

podcast recommendation of the day

Are there any English majors out there? Anyone who wanted to take more English classes but decided to pursue some other interests instead? You might want to keep reading to find out what podcast I'm going to recommend and why. I promise it's good--you should stay tuned.

As someone with an undergraduate degree in English and American literature, I can recall many, many hours of discussion-based literature classes during which pompous classmates dismissed others' theories and claimed their interpretations were the "right" ones. Luckily, far more prevalent are the memories of having one "aha!" moment after another during class discussions, grateful for others' insights that led me to understanding the story, poem, or essay more deeply. Despite my initial discomfort with revealing to others what I saw in the patterns and prose of fiction, I eventually opened up with the knowledge that almost any self-proclaimed theory about literature can be argued as long as you have some evidence and well-picked quotes to support it. Work may be created by the author with one particular goal in mind, but his readers will walk away from the piece with a variety of insights the author may not have intended--and each reader may have a completely unique interpretation.

Other than a few informal meetings of our local fledgling book club, I haven't much talked about literature in a critical sense since I graduated from NYU in 2002. I read voraciously and definitely reflect on my reading, but I don't go out of my way to push myself to understand a novel more deeply or try to see someone else's point of view. I read and reflect alone, then put the book back on the shelf. I hadn't realized I missed the push and pull of roundtable literature discussions, hadn't known that I'd missed the part of myself that could pull all-nighters writing twenty-page papers about my particular take on a poem.

Until now. On a whim, I downloaded a few episodes of The New Yorker's Fiction Podcast. I bundled up for a walk a couple weeks bag and pressed play on my iPod and was whisked into a wonderful, beautiful story. I can't remember what episode I listened to that day, but I can remember smiling as I walked down the streets of Athens. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow! I feel as if I'm in one of my English classes with a really good teacher and no obnoxious, holier-than-thou classmates!" You see, the show not only features the stories themselves--it comes complete with a brief discussion before and after the story is read. One famous author picks any story he wants that has been published in The New Yorker. The guest author reads this story he admires and then discusses the ins and outs of the work with the magazine's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, who has a really pleasant voice (unlike the voices I've stumbled across on several less-established podcasts). I did a quick Google search for her so I could link to her name and came across a really great article from The New York Times--click on her name and read it, if you'd like. Sounds like a cool woman in the NYT article.

And she sounds like a cool woman in her recorded life on this podcast. She isn't abrasive, judgmental, or dismissive when it comes to guest authors' interpretations of the work they choose to read. She retains the wide-eyed wonder (overused phrase--sorry--but it seems to ring true here) of a girl who's still in love with reading, who's still amazed at all the tricks of language and tone. Deborah and the guest author talk about whatever has moved them in the story, about the author's language and motivation, about his/her diction and use of imagery. I've listened to about ten of the episodes so far, and no one has annoyed me. The stories are always great, and the intimate conversation that follows really does shine light on the story.

Have you never ventured into literary criticism but wanted to know what intellectual bibliophiles had to say about so-called "good" fiction? Did you take one (or twenty) literature classes in college and then go cold turkey, not having another literary discussion after age 22? Are you an avid reader who thinks she immediately knows all there is to know about a piece of writing? Are you curious to know why I love this show so much? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I have an answer: this is the podcast for you.

Let me know what you think of it.

I want to be a part of BA, Buenos Aires--BIG APPLE

Oh, it was probably a mistake to sing that song. Now it's going to be in my head for hours. Ick.

All that is to say that I'm returning to Buenos Aires for the first time since I studied abroad there in spring 2001 (that's pre-economic crisis, folks). It was one of the best, most rewarding, and most challenging times of my life. It is my belief that the majority of traveling students feel that way about study abroad programs.

When I got to Bs. As., I was a month away from my 21st birthday and spoke not two licks of Spanish. (Granted, I could say "Hola," which I thought was spelled O-L-A, and I could say one extraordinarily rude thing that didn't sound so bad translated into English.) The first full day I was there, I was STARVING and had no idea how I could go eat. I went to a neighborhood store and pointed to an orange juice container (something familiar!) and perhaps a pack of crackers. Smiled a lot to show my gratitude. Ate the snack and was still hungry.

One of my randomly assigned roommates was a hot young thing from Columbia (that's the university, not Colombia the country). She was confident, funny, smart, and (joy of joys) Spanish-speaking! She took me to a restaurant we found around the corner from our place and ordered for me after translating the menu items.

photo courtesy of Arturo Vasquez, random guy I found on Google Images search

I met so many friends there, started feeling more excited and open-minded about my life (which had recently gotten sort of bland and sad for me, friends and loved ones living away from NYC or moving to other countries). A semester in BA was exactly what the doctor ordered. Since my mid-May 2001 departure, I've been daydreaming about returning. I've spent hours upon hours looking at maps of the city and poring over my photos of gorgeous buildings, lush parks, charming little plazoletas.

Am I very different from the Janet that landed at the Buenos Aires international airport almost exactly eight years ago? Perhaps. Do I want the same things out of this trip as I did the last one? No.

I'm going to try really hard not to annoy my traveling buddies with tales of people they've never met; I'm going to make the effort to keep those old stories to myself (and perhaps email them to former fellow students of the ill-fated first edition of NYU in Buenos Aires). I don't want to relive the long nights I spent drinking too much tummy-expanding Quilmes dancing with friends.

What I'm most excited about is strolling down the beautiful streets, wandering through the parks, soaking up the energy of the city. (Oh you sweet, sweet cliches--keep on keepin' on!) I want to shake myself awake a bit and be somewhere where I'm not entirely comfortable. I want to practice my Spanish and have a lot of alone time. I want to drink wine in a park-side cafe with Liz and Chris and Sweet.

I'll be gone for a month--just cashed in my SkyMiles today for the plane ticket. I'm so, so happy. I'm at the point in my life where this makes sense: my job can be done from anywhere I have internet access, I have some money saved for an apartment and living expenses, and I have the time. It just so happens that one of my dear friends will already be down there (Chris is spending 3 months in Argentina); it just so happens that two of my best friends will be taking turns sharing my adorable apartment with me. Sigh. I feel like a girl with a big ol' crush that makes her smile to herself all the time.

intense TV moments

Sometimes watching The Wire is like this.

Sometimes it's like this.