Anna's Write

Me, as a South Park character

I know I haven't blogged in a really long time and that's because I do so much blogging for TV Squad and talking about our exploits on our podcast that I'm all blogged out.

But, in case anyone is still checking this website, I thought I'd post a picture I made on this website. It allows you to make yourself into a character from South Park. I actually look kind-of friendly, don't I? I also made one of Jason.

Saw this on another website...

...thought I'd play along.

Four Jobs You've Had in your Life:

1. Ice cream pusher at DQ
2. USFS Trail Crew
3. Barista
4. News Producer

Four movies you could watch over and over:

1. Fight Club
2. So I Married an Axe Murderer
3. Lord of the Rings: The Trilogy
4. Serenity

Four places you've lived:

1. Indianapolis, Indiana
2. Kalispell, Montana
3. Savannah, Georgia
4. Portland, Oregon

Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. Lost
2. CBS Sunday Morning
3. Firefly
4. Scrubs

Four Places you've been on vacation:

1. Orlando, FL
2. Kalispell, MT
3. Boston, MA
4. Las Vegas, NV

Four website you visit daily:

1. Dooce
2. Redbunny
3. TV Squad
4. The Superficial

Four favorite foods:

1. Turkey
2. Ginger chicken @ Pho Van
3. Golden Grahams
4. Chocolate bag @ Jake's

Four Places you'd rather be:

1. drinking root beer at Flathead Lake
2. anywhere with Ginger & Lee
3. NYC
4. ice skating on Woodland Park pond

Four albums you can't live without:

1. Lyle Lovett: Live in Texas
2. Teitur: Poetry & Aeroplanes
3. Willie Nelson: Teatro
4. Mitch Hedburg: Mitch All Together

When the Internet Attacks!

Geez... I never knew that writing for a website would be so stressful! This blogging gig is fun, but there are a lot of people who launch personal attacks against me in the comments. Sheesh! It's getting a little annoying. Some days, I can brush it off and not care. Other days (like today!), I get frustrated with all these people who just need to CHILL OUT. It's just television. It's not REAL. It's fiction. And it's for fun.

Luckily, some fans of Delta Park Project come to my rescue when commentors are being total jerks. My husband also comes to my aid. Still, I dread reading the comments I get in my in-box because they can be so rude. I'd ignore them, except it's in my job description to manage comments on the stories I post. I know people get nasty because they're pretty much anonymous when they give themselves a nickname and make a post on a website.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be famous? I am definitely not famous, but I can imagine that famous people get a constant barrage of rude comments to THEIR FACES, rather than their in-boxes.

And yes, I realize the hypocrisy. I regularly bash entertainers but I don't like being bashed myself. I get it.

Fun on TV Squad

I've been having a little fun on TV Squad lately... here is another post that is getting a lot of attention:

The Five: TV Characters I'd like to meet under the mistletoe

The conversation in the comments section is getting downright hilarious. Go and leave your own comment!

My 15 Minutes, 24 seconds of Fame

I cannot believe the last few hours.

You see, I wrote a blog on Saturday for TV Squad (it's something I'm paid to do!). The post was The Five: Least Watchable News Personalities.

Um, it got pretty popular.

On Sunday, it appeared on a news website called TV Newser. And tonight it appeared in an industry newsletter called ShopTalk... a newsletter that everyone I know in television receives. A newsletter that a lot of respected journalists receive. I've already received two e-mails from people wondering if I was the one who wrote the article. I did. That was me.

Tonight, I was contacted by The Lionel Show, a syndicated program out of New York City, to discuss my list. You see, the host LOVED it. He hates most news personalities, except Keith Olbermann (whom I praise in my blog post).

So, I went on the show. I giggled. A LOT. I'm a big, big dork who should just stick to writing.

Anyway, if you want to hear me giggle on nationally-syndicated radio, click here.

Maybe we should live here...

Adele- what do you think?

Morley's Emergency

We had a little drama here last night. Morley and I were playing when I backed into a piece of furniture and startled him as he was running-- so he slid on the floor and ran into the armoire. He couldn't put weight on his hind right leg so I panicked a little, then we shoved him into the kitty carrier and took him to the Emergency Vet... which is about 15 miles away.

The picture you see here is him hating his visit. He was pretty pissy and put up a good fight to those nurses... so they sedated him to take an x-ray. They found that he didn't break any bones. It turns out that he dislocated his knee cap and tore a ligament. OUCH! That, we are told, could require surgery with a lengthy recovery. Poor cat. He was drugged up all night so we left him in his kitty carrier in the bedroom with us. We finally let him out this morning and he's walking fine but boy is he DOPEY. He's sitting next to me just swaying a little and staring at the TV screen. Total space case.

I talked to our vet this morning and he said if Morley starts hobbling this week, to bring him in. He said they like to try and give cats 3 or 4 weeks to heal before doing an expensive surgery that requires a lot of rehab time. Poor fella. Everybody cross your fingers for Morley! Surgery would really cramp his style.

For the next few weeks at least, FRISKIES bowls will be on the floor.

Quarter-Life Crisis

I can't get that phrase out of my head. It's from John Mayer's song "Why Georgia". And I keep thinking that perfectly describes my current state of mind. I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis.

I desperately want to do something DIFFERENT. Something that I'm not doing now. I want to get into a career that will allow me to have a LIFE. To have a family (don't read anything into that, Susan!). And I am learning of so many other people my age in the same situation. Except, it seems that no one is getting anywhere. We're all stuck. We worked so hard to get to this point and now we're all thinking "This is it?!?" Where's the fulfillment? Where's the MONEY? Where's my social life?

I realize that you're not going to get complete fulfillment out of a job. At least, most of us aren't. It's just a job. It pays the bills. It really doesn't define who we are. But we grow up and go to school thinking it DOES define who we are. I mean, when you first meet a person you learn their name and what they do for a living. Learning their job automatically puts them in a social group.

I say I'm having some sort of crisis because my behavior of late is very strange. Just ask Jason. He thinks I'm going nuts. I'm forgetful and exhausted and grumpy and I'm shirking many of my responsibilities. My motivation is gone. I think it's the shift. Actually, I KNOW it's the overnight shift. I'm thinking of quitting whether I get another job or not. That's still up for discussion. Because there isn't exactly a mountain of jobs here in Oregon.

Anyway, I found one new thing to do. I volunteered to write a story for the Oregon Humane Society quarterly magazine. I finished it up Tuesday night. It's actually more of an essay because the magazine has a heart-warming, holiday feel to it. Hopefully next time I'll get to do more of a newsy article that involves an interview or two. It's nice to be writing again-- writing something other than for television. It was actually pretty hard to do. My first draft wasn't stellar but I'm pretty happy with my second draft (and hopefully the final draft). So, that kept my from complete insanity this week. Gotta figure something else out for next week.

The Worst Breath Ever

I just made some Trader Joe's Garlic Fries for dinner and now we both have the worst breath EVER. I've brushed my teeth twice and I can still taste and smell the garlic. Now we're about to go work out and sweat out the garlic. We should be smelling really good in about an hour. I'd recommend against the Garlic Fries. I'll let you know when my taste buds and breath are back to normal. Until then I think I'll be chewing A LOT of very strong peppermint Ice Breakers gum.

Crossing Over

I have officially crossed over to the "dark side". This morning I booked a live interview with Paul Burell, Princess Diana's former butler who just wrote a "tell all" book. That's right. We're all over the Royals. I've crossed over... hey look! There's Dave Kartunen!