Wow, I haven't written on Xanga in a really long time. But this was too upsetting for me not to write (aka rant) about.

So I was reading an article on yahoo.com from one of the headlines that popped up in my email front page widget thing and I see this ad on the side that said "10 Things I Hate About You - an ABC Family original series." And the thing is, the logo is basically the same as the logo on the movie - green background, pink and white writing. And so I'm thinking "huh?" And out of curiosity, I click on it and it takes me to THIS page.

I nearly vomited.

They're using the same theme song, same characters, same plot, and even the exact same actor is playing the dad! Now, for my generation of teenagers, this was one of the best teen movies to come out in our time. Not to mention one of the only "chick flicks" most people who "don't like chick flicks" will watch! It was Heath Ledger's first successful mainstream American film (and Julia Stiles' for that matter) that made him the huge heartthrob star that he was (may he rest in peace). It inspired lots of great, useful quotes like "I want you, I need you, oh baby oh baby." And now they're making it into some crappy afterschool special calling it an "original" series?

I'm sorry, but since when does the word original mean taking a movie and copying it almost exactly, but just doing it as a TV show? I'm appalled not only at the fact they're taking this great film that launched the career of one of the best actors of this decade and making it into a cheesy Disney series (and yes, Disney owns ABC and ABC Family and basically the rest of the world), but they're calling it an "original" series?! THEY DIDN'T EVEN COME UP WITH AN ORIGINAL LOGO FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!!!!

I work in independent film/tv and I'm really starting to get depressed that Hollywood seems as if they have ceased to even try and pretend like they're coming up with anything original. I never used to be one of those anti-Hollywood filmmakers, even though I know there are major flaws in the system and lots of the stuff they produce are crap. But now I have to put up with this?! Come on! I think I have lost all faith in Hollywood. They're remaking old movies (ie The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, which the original is a GREAT movie btw and didn't need remaking) or making sequel after sequel or (in this case) turning movies into TV series or vice versa. Are there no new ideas out there? And I realize that it's hard to come up with something new when so much has already been done, but there are new ways to tell the same stories and make them interesting. At the very least, if you're going to turn a movie into a TV series and steal even the logo, don't call it a freaking "original" series.

Ok, rant over. Thanks for listening.

So I've gained a little weight over the past... 6 months, as my mother so kindly pointed out to me at Thanksgiving (hooray family time...). I blame the fact that I've been going out for drinks more often and exercising less. I've probably been eating about the same. Maybe a little more sugar, which I should cut down. Anyway, while I have been making conscious efforts to eat healthier lately and drink less, it's really hard to motivate myself to exercise, especially in the winter when I don't like being outside. And when I don't really like exercising...

The thing is, there is one type of exercise I do enjoy: dancing. I went through a phase where my exercise was to crank up the music in my apartment 3 or 4 times a week and jump around with weights in my hands. But this is actually not the best idea in a small New York apartment with paper thin walls (and floors and ceilings). So I am joining a gym today, mainly so that I can take their free dance classes ("free" after you pay the membership fees that is, but dance classes in NY are expensive, so it's actually still cheaper to do it this way I think. And more flexible).

I also have recently found a club that I love that plays great music ('80s music, which is super aerobic to dance to) and friends that like to dance (most of my friends don't sadly). So I also plan to go out to this club as often as possible (and not drink alcohol while I'm there). And other clubs too. Just go dancing as much as possible.

Because the thing about living healthy, diets and exercise, is that you're probably not going to stick to it if you don't enjoy it. I tried forcing myself to start jogging. That failed miserably because I'm pretty sure jogging/running is the most unpleasant thing life has to offer and the only people who like it are masochists. I like biking, but then my bike got stolen and honestly biking in NY can be a little terrifying at times. Dancing is the only kind of exercise I truly enjoy, no strings attached. So I figure, the only way to get myself back into living an active lifestyle is to dance as much as possible. What kind of exercise do you enjoy?

I've never been much of a cook. I don't like cooking - it takes so much time and effort. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm a picky eater, so that limits my cooking options. But honestly, it's the best way to stay healthy because it's the only way you can truly know what you're eating - that you have healthy ingredients that aren't laden with preservatives or chemicals, etc. Not to mention just knowing the ingredients gives you a better idea of how many calories you're consuming and it's easier to control your own portions (American restaurants certainly love to give you massive portions). And it also saves you massive amounts of money, particularly if you can find reasonably priced grocery stores (or try your local co-op or Costco - but stay away from Sam's Club because they're owned by Walmart and Walmart is the devil).

The past few months I've been eating out a lot more because I've been busy and haven't had time to grocery shop or cook (and did I mention I'm not much of a cook?). Grocery shopping is surprisingly hard in New York City and so it's difficult to motivate myself to do it - the grocery store is a 20 minute walk and there's no way to take the train, so I don't want to carry a ton of stuff back (walking that walk with 40 lbs of groceries is not fun...), but I also don't want to go that frequently because it's such an ordeal to get there. And shopping for one is hard. Food goes bad if you buy too much of it but then you have to go so often. Since I have increased my eating out, I've definitely noticed some weight gain. While I still am having trouble finding time to grocery shop, now I am forcing myself to eat salads at least three meals a week that I eat out. Hopefully that will help a little in the meantime.

My roommate rarely ever eats out and she has always tried to convince me to cook more often. She is the one who pointed out that it's one of the best ways to eat healthy. Sometimes I'm lucky and she'll offer me some of what she cooked. But I am starting to gather recipes from family and friends of things I like with the hopes that once I get used to cooking dishes that I like, I can expand my horizons a little bit and cook things that I'm not quite as sure about.

A friend of mine was very well off this time last year. And now he's broke. Literally broke. Not sure how he's going to pay his rent this month broke. And he's not entirely sure how this happened. He knows he's a big spender, but he didn't realize how quickly it adds up.

While I've never been a big spender, I certainly never paid attention to what I was spending my money on before I became financially independent. And I'm pretty clumsy/scatterbrained so I'm pretty sure it was not that uncommon for me to literally lose money (ie it would fall out of my purse).

When I became financially independent and was only temping (therefore I had very little income), I realized how important keeping track of your spending is and that it's actually one of the easiest ways to save money. I got the program iBank (for Macs) and every night or every couple of nights I sit down and input every penny I've spent over the past few days (or as close to that as possible). I make sure that all my bank accounts, credit cards, student loan accounts and even the cash in my purse balance so I know I'm not forgetting expenses. If I can't remember everything cash-wise, I will estimate to the best of my abilities until it balances properly. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but honestly it takes about 3 minutes if you do it every day, 15 if you do it every couple of days.

This gives me a really good idea of my monthly expenses and income, as well as what I should cut down and what I might have some extra room for. For example, this last month I've spent way too much money eating out and going to bars, so I'm going to cut down because I'd rather pay my student loans off faster and save money to put toward travel (and eating out is also not necessarily very healthy for you either - just like paying attention to your spending so you know exactly what you're spending is the best way to stay financially healthy, paying attention to your food and preparing it yourself so you know exactly what's in it is a great way to stay physically healthy - but that's a different post). Not to mention, when you're really paying attention to your finances every single day, you think more about what your spending your money on and so you are less prone to impulse buying. And you certainly won't suddenly end up with that "where did all my money go?" feeling. It's really easy and it makes managing my very limited finances so much easier. It's really easy to say "I'm too busy to do that," but like I said, it just takes a couple of minutes and it can keep you out of real trouble (which would be much more time consuming).

So do yourself a favor, keep track of your finances. Unless you're filthy rich and don't need to (in which case, feel free to give me a call...). But even if you think pretty well off, it's still a good idea. Look at my friend? Last year he was living the high life and now he's barely scraping by.

Most New Yorkers that I know have a little bit of a bias against New Jersey. I definitely have developed this bias over my four years living here, despite the fact that I have recently made a few friends who live in Jersey (in Jersey City or Hoboken, just right across the river) and extol its virtues to me constantly. But last night reaffirmed my disgust for Jersey whole-heartedly.

Last night I went to this club. I don't go to these types of clubs often, and now I know why. I should've realized as I walked there with the four ditzy/slutty Jersey girls walking behind me to the same club babbling/yelling about "omg, I like totally like love so-and-so. He is so amazing! wooo!!!!" and "and then she was like nu-uh and I was like yu-huh and she was like I don't like even like know like what you're like talking about." I should've turned around then and walked back to the subway. My friend J even warned me the crowd would probably be very "bridge and tunnel." But I had friends who were already there, and I didn't want to just ditch them, so I went. I got there and every guy in the line looked the same. It was all these New Jersey guidos with their greasy spiked up hair, their button up shirts that had one too few buttons buttoned and their aviator sunglasses (at night). I really don't understand how they don't get that this does not make them cool or hot and in fact they are a walking stereotype. Inside, it was worse. As I shoved my way through the hoards of guidos to try to find my friends, half the guys that were not already "dancing" (read: basically having sex with on the dance floor) with some trashy Jersey girl that I passed looked me up and down and said "hey sexy," and tried to start "dancing" with me. When I finally found my friends, we were still surrounded by all these skanky Jersey girls in their short shorts or skirts, low-cut tight shirts, with their knee-high socks and too much make-up were grinding up against these sleazy guido guys (who, one by one, started taking their shirts off throughout the night...) and taking photo after photo in obscene poses that they seemed to think were really sexy and/or hilarious like "omg! look at us in this club in Manhattan that we paid way too much money to get into! We're like sooooooo hot! isn't it funny how I'm about to give this guy a blowjob in this picture? We're like sssssssooooooooooo hotttt! woooo!!!!" (I suppose I should add here that I got in for free, that's the only reason I went. I would never pay $30-40 to get into a club). My eyes were blinded by the constant flashing of their cameras. And of course, they were all wasted, having pre-gamed before they came since they can't actually afford drinks at this over-priced club, so I was getting stepped on, run into and elbowed constantly by girls who were too drunk to stand confidently in their trashy high heels. Plus the club was packed.

And then there was the group of guidos behind me who thought they were super cool to go "ooh ooh! ooh ooh! ooh ooh!" for 10 minutes straight (it might've been longer, but I got so annoyed that I left and went to a different floor). And the one asshole that seems to be at every club I go to who whistles obnoxiously in the same pattern all the time. Then there was the fact that anytime the music changed or the DJ raised his arms or blared this obnoxious car horn sound in the middle of a song the crowd would scream enthusiastically. Hell, sometimes they would scream for no reason.

I stayed for about an hour and a half before I couldn't stand it anymore and left. And that is why I hate New Jersey.