Sleepless in Sin City

Greetings, my wholesome (and not so wholesome) friends, from Sin City, where you can drink, smoke, and gamble 24 hours a day, or get a hooker to your hotel room for $39 in 15 minutes or less. (I only know about that last one from the breasty flyers they've been leaving on our rental car. Really.)

Truly, this week has been one of the worst experiences of my career. The details are too dull to elaborate, but suffice it to say that if the moment hasn't been ACTUALLY sucking, it was either just finished sucking, or about to start sucking. I went in at 8am this morning and worked... HARD... until 11pm. And now I'm all wired and worked up and can't go to sleep, even though I have to be up in 6 hours to do it all over again. The worst part is that we signed a 3-year contract for 2 shows a year. *sob*

This week's hours have reminded me of my 8-month moonlighting stint with the Barnes & Noble Cafe. Do you guys remember that? How on earth did I do it? Well, I was only 25 for one thing. It hurts more now. I used to work 8-5 and 6-midnight 3x/week. Ugh. Then I'd get home and be crazy awake (which birthed my VERY unscientific hypothesis that you can absorb caffeine through your skin) and end up with about 4 hours of sleep.

So, a lot of you have been asking for pictures of my new haircut. I've posted 2 pictures of my friend Marci and me, taken exactly a week apart. It's like a whole different person. Hope you guys like it as much as I do. Going to pressure sleep. Love, J.

The Great Milk Caper

Soooo, I won the bet. What? You made a bet! A bet's a bet! You bet on a bet and if you lose you lose the bet!! I'm wearing the crown and Brian's wearing the frown. He was a trooper. Got 2/3's of it down in about 40 minutes, and then decided he was not ruining his lifelong love of milk for a mere $50, so he quietly exused himself to purge, and I did the obnoxious "I won" dance. He came back a few minutes later with a bottle of wine.

I miss Friends.

Yes, I miss you guys. But also, the TV show. Several months ago, my friend Gen and I were discussing some of our favorite Friends moments (the one where the girls lost the apartment, when Chandler had to spend Thanksgiving in the box because he kissed Joey's girlfriend, the entire season of "but they don't know we know they know we know!"), and how it kind of tapered off at the end of the series. But then we remembered this awesome Chandler-Joey scene from season 8, when he thought he had a crush on Rachel. Gen located it on the web and e-mailed it to me, and I giggled like an idiot just reading it. It's probably not half as funny if you haven't seen it, but the comedic interaction between these two actors is spot-on.

Joey: (entering) Hey, Chandler, you got a minute? I- I really need to talk to you.
Chandler: Oh! Uh, yeah! Is this a cold pizza talk or a leftover meatloaf talk?
Joey: Well, neither.
Chandler: Oh my God, what’s up?!
Joey: I don’t know. It’s- it’s just…lately, I’ve been feeling… Okay, here’s what it is… You know what? I feel a lot better, thanks! (Starts to leave)
Chandler: Oh no-no-no, no you don’t, just come back.
Joey: All right. Okay. You and Monica, friends for a long time, and sure, there are rules, but then you went to London. Oh, no, but that’s different. I mean, there are rules there, too! You know what I mean?
Chandler: Do YOU?
Joey: It was different for you guys! I mean, I mean, you were both in the same place, right?
Chandler: In London?
Joey: Yeah.
Chandler: Yes. When Monica and I were in London, we were both in London.
Joey: You know what? This is a bad idea. Forget it. Forget it, and listen, do me a favor, this conversation was between you and me.
Chandler: If that.

Nice to meet you.

So, I would like to take this opportunity (ibym opportunity... slow day at work) to expound for a moment on how much I hate shaking hands. It's one thing in a professional setting (although I don't like it much then either) but it's entirely another in a social setting. I realize I'm somewhat of an obsessive hand-washer, but say we're meeting a big group of people (including new faces) at a restaurant. Do I really have to shake hands with everyone before I eat? That's disgusting. My mom's church is the worst. EVERYONE wants to shake my hand between the door and the pew. I then spend the entirety of the service obsessing over whose kids have snotty noses. And beyond the germ phobia, it's simply not... ladylike. Sure, men have to do that handgrip-shoulder-pat-with-opposite-hand move (since they're no longer permitted to beat their chests in public,) but I find it uncivilized for women to shake hands. If I know a woman well, I'll more than likely give her a hug and/or kiss on the cheek. If I'm just meeting her for the first time ever, a simple "it's so nice to meet you" will suffice.

I feel like this post going to come across as unfriendly or unaffectionate. Anyone who's reading my blog should know me well enough to know that I'm an extremely affectionate person. I adore having physical contact with my friends and loved ones. I just don't adore having it with perfect strangers. Does this make me a bad person?