Movies, Obligations, Breakdown

It’s June 1st of my birthday month and I don’t know where the time has gone.  I can’t believe the year is almost half over.  Traveling seems to set me back in terms of my life running smoothly. The trip to Paris, then NYC for a conference, then Napa for a conference.  

Last week, I was offered the volunteer coordinator position for Burning Man’s art group which I accepted.  I’m also overseeing this year’s Dreamscapes art theme for the Burning Man cafe. And up until now, I was helping the Black Rock Arts Foundation (Burning Man’s non-profit arm) with a public art toolkit.  Lots of Burning Man stuff.  And even a new email address to add to my slew of addresses…they all go to the same gmail account, but my simple, easy to remember new address is vixen@burningman.com. 

On top of that, I’ve been trying to wrangle some help for my high school’s 15 year reunion.  Less than three people have agreed to help.  That’s not enough when it comes to planning a weekend celebration (the survey results indicated an overwhelming interest in a Saturday adults only evening event and a Sunday family-oriented picnic) so I’ve sorta thrown my hands up and agreed to plan a Saturday cocktail event…and that’s it.  I don’t have any kids and don’t have the time to plan a kid-friendly picnic.  Fuck it.  I guess I’m just overwhelmed with the whole thing and also rather frustrated that while there’s a lot of interest, few people want to actually do the work.  I feel like the workload has always fallen upon me, but maybe that’s my fault.  I’m just going to stop being the person who agrees to bear the responsibility.

There’s more.  I have a contractor working on my condo.  He redid the bathroom (new tile, lights, vanity, cabinet).  Now the whole place is being painted.  A different color for every room. My bathroom is done (pink).  My hallway is done (navy blue).  More to come.  All the furniture is in the middle of the room.  My kitchen became my bathroom for two weeks.  That’s where I brushed my teeth and washed my face while my bathroom was being redone.  

Now for the movies.  You all know I don’t watch many movies.  I have watched more movies in the past two weeks than I have in the past five years.  I went up to Bodega Bay for Memorial Day weekend with some guy I have been seeing off-and-on for the past few years.  His friends had rented a house on the beach.  It was frigid.  I spent the whole time in the hot tub; I didn’t even get out when everyone went inside for dinner.  We watched the Big Lebowski which was so funny I thought to myself, “Why don’t I watch more movies!!!”  On Monday, I went to Hollywood Video and rented La Vie en Rose.  I thought that was ok.  Thursday at midnight, I watched the premiere of Sex and the City with my girlfriends.  The theater was packed, but my uber-smart girlfriend Michelle (we call her Miranda) realized that it was playing in a second theater…barely anyone was in there.  We had the best seats in the theater for this much-anticipated film.  I LOVED IT!  I don’t care that it’s gotten horrible reviews.  It was so funny and so true to the show.  Friday I took my parents out for my dad’s birthday and he wanted to see an award winning film called the Visitor.  It was super slow.  I didn’t really like it, but my parents loved it.  And lastly…I went to the Pixar wrap party for WALL E yesterday night. Hated it.  Even though I hated it, when the Pixar people asked my opinion, I said meekly, “it was cute.”

I randomly got invited to the Pixar party through a friend.  She couldn’t go so she suggested I accompany this guy as his date.  This Pixar guy, Jay, was able to procure two guest tickets and took me and another girl as a threesome.  Bizarre eh?  The other girl and I met up for drinks beforehand and ended up getting along really well!  Pixar rolled out the red carpet for all their employees and their guests at the Masonic Auditorium on Nob Hill.  Amazing.  Really, really amazing.  The program started out with the director and his two producers giving their thank you speeches, then they broke out into a full-on band ensemble with a gospel choir brought on stage and pictures of Pixar employees flickering on the screen above.  Then there was a short cartoon which was hilarious.  Then the WALL E movie.  You know how you leave the theater right after the movie is done?  Well, everyone stayed until the credits were completely done, clapping and cheering…Acting, Directing, Animation, Art Direction, Editing, Lighting, Staging, Rendering, Financing…on and on.  Then the party started…three floors of dancing, food, drinks. There were party favors passed out.  Lots and lots of fun.  I was eating until way past midnight.

Now that I’ve listed all of that, I can’t believe my life has become a series of movies.  

To be continued.