“Oh, oh, smother me Mother…”

Today I had a firsthand lesson on how the dumb Pollock jokes got started when I became one. Let me preface this by saying I'll never be ashamed to wear a Poland football jersey and the coordinating socks I picked up in Warsaw a couple years ago. Never! You hear?

So my company has really laid the smack down and pretty much banned nearly every website imaginable. It's all in the name of a) keeping porn out of the office, and b) keeping people productive. They have my full support on both agendas. However, the whole site-blocking has been a little ridiculous because we've not been able to get to a lot of sites we use on a daily basis. This is particularly difficult for my coworkers on the film team--part of our job is to keep a finger on the pulse of pop culture, and not being allowed to get to imdb was a pain. Fortunately, we were able to persuade some of the uppers that there are certain things we MUST be able to access (and I'm a smooth enough talker that I got myspace added to that list), but there are a few things I need to learn to make do without. One of those sites is espn.com.

Now, for anyone who knows me well, it may come as a surprise that I'd even care I can't read sports news. Actually, I'm an American football fanatic (well, a BYU football fanatic, that is), but I like to catch a game here and there. I also don't have cable TV, so a lot of my sporting news comes from online trolling.

Anyway, to cut to the chase of my latest idiocy, I woke up this morning hopeful. I got dressed in red and white team Polska gear and took off to work, cheering my people in their game against the evil German empire (note: I also have German heritage, but because I'm twice as Polish as I am German and I happen to have this particular obsession with the motherland, so it probably isn't a big surprise who I was rooting for). The problem? That match happened TWO DAYS AGO. And of course, Germany won. I feel dumb. But keep in mind that being cut off from major media was a contributing factor to this DUH! moment. Everyone, please promise to not judge my people based on my temporary inability to follow a television schedule.

Another less pleasant surprise this week:

Having Travis's mom (yes, the lady who slipped the jagged shard of plastic into the special homemade wheat bread she made me) tell me how she's been wanting her son to set me up with his friends. This was a bit of a two-pronged attack. First, there was the implied message that she likes me not enough for her son to go out with me, but she thinks I'm good enough for his friends. The second item was a little more bold--she said, and I quote, "You really arent THAT old. It would probably still be appropriate." Still, I like the woman. She's nervy, and it's funny. I'm trying to not let other people's opinion of me count so much.

In other news, I'm still a little distressed regarding the whole moving thing. This weekend I really am going to go out and look for apartments. I'm much more interested in seeing Nacho Libre (and maybe another couple of movies) and having fun. But it must be done, or I'll soon be on skid row.

Still, there are happy things to be grateful for every day. For example, Entertainment Weekly has a list of 100 Bookmark-worthy websites in this week's edition. I quickly added some gems to my favorites, and was pleased to see none were blocked. So I'll still have access to some good celebrity gossip. Also, it's difficult to be sad once the weekend comes around. And I'm happy to say that all the consternation regarding the big life decisions/general trauma has really crystallized for me who my real friends are and given me a pretty good indication of who still keeps me in the convenience category. The knowledge might be a little painful, but I think it's better to know. Anyway, I think the weekend is going to do me some good.
One other confession/thing I'm working on-- I'm going to try to be better about letting people in on my life and extending some trust here and there. It's much easier to keep people at arm's length (I tend to think I'm more likeable the less you know me), but it probably isn't a bad idea to give some people a chance. It's a process, but maybe admitting it to a handful of cyberspace readers will make me more committed.