My Egg Hell

Addiction can take many forms: alcohol, drugs, even gambling.  For me, addiction manifests itself in a pastel candy shell.  That's right: I'm strung out on Cadbury Mini Eggs.  And to my competing joy and vexation, Mini Egg season is upon us.  Yes, I tend to rush spring, but seriously, Cadbury?  Must you do this to me?  Easter is April 26.  I bought my first Mini Eggs of the year on January 28.  I would have bought them sooner, but the first time I saw them in a store, Charlotte was with me.  You can't buy your stash in front of your kid--that's just wrong.  (Plus, she would want some, and I can't share.) Why sell the seductive ovoid menace THREE MONTHS before the holiday it's associated with?  To mess with me, that's why.  So I will spend the next three months (and at least a week after that, when they'll be on clearance, DAMN YOU, RITE-AID!) sneaking around eating Mini Eggs, hoping my family won't see the true extent of my addiction.  I'm not proud.

Effing winter!

I must be a huge ageist, because I loathe Old Man Winter.  Actually, I'm terribly fickle when it comes to winter: between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I appreciate cold weather.  It's a little depressing to celebrate Christmas in short sleeves; hot cider and mulled wine are less appealing when you're sweating.  However, by New Year's Day, my tolerance for cold weather disappears.  If only I could bend the universe to my will, spring would start on January 2.  So lately, I've been longing for spring and warm weather.  I knew it was bad when I begin opening my bottle of Bobbi Brown Beach perfume (which smells like the Bain de Soleil my grandmother used to achieve her enviable tan: the smell of a childhood beach trip) and just inhaling.  So the question is, do I wallow in winter misery or try to rise above it?  Lately, I've been opting to wallow: there's been lots of cookie baking and, of course, eating whatever I've baked.  In that spirit, here's the music that fosters my winter blahs:

Seasonal Affective Disorder Jams

• "The Drugs Don't Work," The Verve
• "Rockferry," Duffy
• "So Cruel," U2
• "The Killing Moon," Echo and the Bunnymen
• "Lover, You Should've Come Over," Jeff Buckley
• "And I," Boyzone (shut up)
• "Viva Forever," Spice Girls (seriously, shut up)
• "To Love You More," Celine Dion (God!  Would you please shut up?)
• "Bedshaped," Keane
• "How Soon is Now," The Smiths
• "Never Tear Us Apart," INXS
• "The Promise," Tracy Chapman

Of course, if in the middle of all of this moping, "Imma Be" makes its way into the shuffle, it is perfectly acceptable to shrug off the winter blahs and shake it.  Even the best of bad moods can't be maintained forever.

Here we go....

So, I'm starting a new blog.  There's no particular focus this time: just observations, current pop culture obsessions, and--just for fun--the occasional excerpt from my old pen-and-paper journals (names changed, of course).  So here goes.

Pop Culture Check-In (in which I detail what's entertaining me--or not--at the moment)

Watching

• Being Human on SyFy: The supernatural isn't usually my cup of tea, and I've never watched anything on SyFy (except those awesome clips from their movies on The Soup).  I don't even like how they spell their name.  Still, this show is really entertaining.  I like the dorky werewolf, and though the vampire is a tad Cullen-ish, he is funny and doesn't sparkle.  The cliffhanger ending of the pilot episode really worked for me, and I'm psyched to watch next week. 
• Parks and Recreation:  It's back!  Yay! I fell in love with this show when I Netflixed season two over Christmas break, so I was spared the agonizing wait that longtime fans had to suffer.  I don't know who I'm more excited about: Andy and April or Ben and Leslie.  Nah, they all pale in comparison to Ron Effing Swanson.
• Gavin and Stacey:  Never make the mistake of watching season one of a show (again, via Netflix) when season two isn't yet available.  Dammit!  When will I learn what Nessa is going to do about her...situation?  (If you've seen season two, don't tell me.) Anyway, this show is a lot of fun, and I just appreciate it for introducing me to the word crackin', which is best appreciated in a Welsh accent.

Reading

• Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell: Yes, I'm a little late to the party, but thanks to this book, I finally understand why the overlords at Alphabet Street got so mad at me for not wearing a Santa Claus hat at the Christmas program. 
• Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain:  This book can be summed up thusly: woman has bitchy daughter.  I was disappointed.

Current Jams

• "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," Jay-Z
• "Big Girl (You are Beautiful)," Mika