Hollywood Glamor Moment

Spiderman and Chucky take a smoke break
Originally uploaded by sassylittlepunkin.

the following is a real conversation i overheard yesterday while seated on Hollywood Blvd with LQT, enjoying some delicious gelato and all the local color.

Chucky: Oh, I got this invitation to a party!

Spiderman: Who's throwing it?

Chucky: Um, the Policemen.

Spiderman: (laughing) Maybe they just invited you there so they can arrest you. Like a setup.

Chucky: Hmm, I don't think so. You sure?

Spiderman: That's what Superman said...

As I wrote on LAist and as mentioned on Defamer.

up on walden hill

Bathroom Mirror Self-Portrait Cliche
Originally uploaded by sassylittlepunkin.

where have i been, you ask? (well, maybe you don't ask, but let's pretend you did.)

oh, i've been around. i've been busy playing the role of scholar, putting together what wound up being a 17 page paper for my medieval drama seminar (and getting an "A" on it, woo hoo!), and spending a lot of time enjoying the relative peace, quiet, and solitude up at my folks' place while they're out of town. i set up camp there a few days and nights last week, lugging some laundry and all my source material and laptop for paper-writing. i fed the cat, i watered the plants, i checked the answering machine. i realized that for some reason, their darling little hilltop house let me get a lot of good work done. this prompted foxy to refer to it as my "walden," which would surely make my thoreau-loving step-dad grin. they call the area skunk hill, because of the many skunks that populate the area. i saw some wildlife, yes, but mostly i was buried in my notes and outlines and keyboard, taking bribe-breaks to channel surf, snack, and harass the fussy feline. oh, and also feeling like i was on vacation, because i got to shop at a different grocery store location, and enjoy the after-effects of different water and/or shampoo, because my hair did this amazing thing and, as you can see, i had to take a picture of it.

i'm home now, delighting in the miracle of central air conditioning and knee-deep in the mess i'd left behind. i've gotten out and about a bit--to our last class meeting on saturday and to the chinese food festival on sunday--but mostly i'm enjoying being on summer break.

the downside to things right now is that things are kind of challenging and shifting right now in my extended family. there's a big move taking place, and also an unexpected tragedy, both really hitting home and reminding me how important family is. if there ever was a time i could have been in vancouver to take part in a sunday night family dinner it was last night. but i'm here, melting away in what will most likely be my last los angeles late-summer for a while.

makes you really think about what "home" means.

how i snuck off and stole a summer vacation

Look, I'm at the Beach!
Originally uploaded by sassylittlepunkin.

i was in a sleep-deprivation fog after class on saturday afternoon when i decided that what i clearly needed was a vacation. time, obligation, and cash were not on my side, however, so it wouldn't make sense to hop a flight to...anywhere. but i've got my mom's car for the next couple of weeks, and no more workshops to teach next week, and a few days off to finish my paper, so...i decided i'd head up the coast on sunday for a one-day summer vacation just to clear my head, soak up some sun, take in some sights, and mellow out and regroup before finishing my paper.

i got up early on sunday morning, grabbed a shower and threw some stuff in a bag. fueled up with some coffee, fueled the car up with some gas (hello, expensive!) and hit the road. i took the 101 through the valley and hung a left on las virgenes, and crossed over the mountains into malibu. i was going to stop for breakfast, but all the spots were on the other side of PCH, and i couldn't manage the turnaround in time, so i kept on trukin' up the coast, and finally found a diner in oxnard where i could have some greasy breakfast.

then it was off again, up the 1, which becomes the 101 around ventura. wow, things have changed around there! years and years ago (1998-9) i spent a lot (emphasis on a lot) of time in oxnard/ventura; my b.f. of that time lived there, and well...i was there a lot. weird memories for me to travel through that part of california, but i'm tough, and i made it. i hit santa barbara late in the morning, and instinctively went right up the hill to the mission, which is always my first stop. i just love that place. but this time i did something new--i purchased a tour ticket, and went inside. it was beautiful, and there was a mass going on, so the singing carried throughout the buildings.

then it was across to the rose gardens, and then back down the hill to state street. it was free admission at the santa barbara museum, so i checked out the art, then strolled up and down state street. this is actually when i got way too much sun, and my shoulders and chest got sooooo burnt! ooops. i knew i should have packed the sunblock.

i grabbed some sushi for lunch in a tiny little state street joint, then on the way back to the car stopped in this great used book store and nabbed some bargains--just what i wanted to do! then, full and a little walking-weary, i drove down to the shoreline and parked, and found a spot on east beach. i read a bit, napped a bit, and then around 5:30 a wedding started up just a few yards away, which was so lovely to watch. then it was back to the car, a run through a trader joe's to get some aloe vera gel (much needed at this point) and some snacks for the road, and as the sun set i sat in traffic along the south 101, and finally made it home after nine.

what a day! it was so nice to play tourist, to snap endless pictures, to roam in shops and galleries, to nap on the beach, and do it all less than 100 miles from my home. now it's back to work for me. no excuses!

my kingdom for a ghostwriter

it's the infamous end of the academic quarter, and i am, to quote myself in a recent email to an editor: "knee-deep in grading and a paper on medieval drama--what fun!"

say, is anyone interested in writing a 12-page paper for me on the depiction of mary magdalene, her relationship as christ's intimate, and her role as exemplar in relation to the 13th century instructional manuals "hali meidhad" and "ancrene wisse" in the 15th century saint's play mary magdalene?

yeah. i didn't think so.

wish me luck. and please remind me that little work gets done when i opt to zone out in front of endless episodes of will & grace and ER on dvd.

thanks.

playing cat and fish

sometime around mid-afternoon i lost the will to remain upright. while there is always the somewhat unsavory option of cashing out for a spell on one of the cots in the nearby ladies room, my workplace was eerily quiet, and the dark space beneath the reception desk under the computer no one uses was beckoning. "it's filthy!" exclaimed someone. "you are too much!" said someone else. i didn't care. i was exhausted. "i'm a cat," i told them, and i proceeded to crawl as far under the desk as my body and the various plugs, cords, and office equipment would allow me to. and like a cat, i napped. not so much sleeping, but resting my eyes a bit, trying to recoup the sleep and energy lost the night before from drinking on a school night, and from my new routine as transit/on foot commuter.

by the evening, however, with some vigor regained, i shed my inner cat and embraced my inner fish. i jumped into the heated, soothing waters of the olympic sized pool, and wriggled my surprised muscles. the sun was setting, a nearby radio was offering hits of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and i was happily pushing off at either end and stroking lap after lap. the swimming habit is a newly rediscovered one for me, but one i'm happy to form.

life seems to be about survival of the fittest, and i aim to be adaptable.

yeah, but what's your blog's name?

last night was one of those rare instances that would have benefitted from the addition of name tags. mine would have said "hello my name is lindsay...but my blog's name is sassy little punkin." it's hard to mix bloggers and reality, but a hefty dose of beer helps, as do charming organizers like hilary and paul, and my security blanket of the three internet hunks of LAist. it was nice to finally clink glasses and trade quips and, dorkily enough, urls, with fellow los angeles bloggers. my link list has grown, as has that tempremental sense of bloggery community. i even got to hand out my darling little business card! the downside was that while i had such a lovely time chatting with the likes of dan, meaghan, and mary, i didn't get more than a moment or two with folks like marissa, jessica, keith, and justin, to name a few. i'm going to have to get my "stop touching me!" t-shirt custom made before the next meetup. and maybe i should start posting more regularly. just maybe.

the list

-complete master's in creative writing
-adopt & maintain healthy eating/vitamin-taking/exercise routine
-boyfriend*
-savings account
-reduce clutter
-apply to 8-12 phd programs
-george clooney

*see attached

hot child in the city

chances are, if you've been looking for me recently, you'll find that i'm in transit. or on transit, literally. i've been riding the metro for the past week-plus, and, for the most part, it's been going well. there's an odd sort of karmic balance to the fact that it eats a bigger chunk of time out of my day, but it gives me big chunks of time for me to get reading done for classes and projects. i don't mind the walking so much, so long as i'm not carting an assload of stuff, which has happened from time to time. my best recourse is to beg and borrow the car from my mother, who is pretty agreeable to such bartering. and that's about the long and short of it, location wise. i'm out and about in the big bad city.

of course, when i do remain stationary for an extended period of time i'm probably either tackling my work or vehemently denying its existance. while the tackling method is more productive, the denial approach means that i've enjoyed some lazier days catching up on movies and such, and some outings. the highlight outing of recent days would surely have to be the evening generously sponsored by LAist in honor of our first birthday (are we in the teething stage?). girls who don't drive have but license to drink, and drink i did, shamelessly babbling and taking photographs that wound up being as blurry as i felt the next morning. it felt glorious to unwind a spell, and to spend time with such fine and fabulous folk as my co-contributors are.

and, last week, when i was seemingly off the radar, i was waging a battle in stages having to do with things as precious as employment and immigration status. the two were engaged in brief conflict, following a mini-saga known as "i got hired verbally, and the department forgot to initiate my paperwork" which is really an ugly scenario when your employer is the state university and your paycheck a revered and much anticipated end-result of frustrating labor. in combatting those evil forces i taught my friend and co-worker a lesson in the squeaky wheel gets the grease, of which i tend to often be an example. i also learned the four-one-one on green card expiration dates, and how it's not a bright course of action as a hiring rep to freak the living shit out of someone who has just realized her green card expired. note to anyone with an expiring green card: get out your checkbooks, because the renewal isn't cheap. note to employers: it's just the card that's expired, not the status. calm the fuck down.

so that's where i am. i'm the hot child in the city, running wild and trying hard to look pretty--which isn't easy when you're schlepping a backpack full of books and articles on mary magdalene's role in medieval drama and french author marguerite duras in ninety-plus degree heat--and, generally, looking as busy as i am. unless i'm resting. and if that's the case, leave me alone. i've earned my break!