Inhale. Exhale.

So, for about a week, I get to be a normal person with a semi-normal if rather mundane life.

What does "normal life" entail?

I go to the gym.
Again, I gained two pounds during this tech. Sad that this happened when our tech for fringe was only about four hours. But, in my defense, our venue was fifty paces from a Five Guys. When I'm stressed, I tell myself I will feel better if I give myself the things I enjoy. Since a trip to Italy is out of the question, cajun fries seemed the next best thing.

I watch bad TV.
I do this while I'm at the gym. Tyra - how have I survived without you? Today, Tyra's mom was on to dispense motherly advice to viewers who had emailed her. She actually seems pretty together. And Tyra seems more together with her. There was a sweet nineteen-year-old boy on who had never been on a date, more, never been kissed. They tried to boost his confidence. I thought it was pretty obvious he was probably gay.

I read magazines.
I have now received at least one issue of all four of my allegedly $2 subscriptions (and you better believe I am watching for that sudden $80 charge on my mastercard). Yesterday I got my first SPIN magazine. Just opening it up blew my hipness quotient up at least three notches (on a scale of what to what, I don't know). I now know what Sarah Silverman listens to (Fiona Apple, Patty Griffin, old Liz Phair... ummm, hello!? She has MY IPOD, I swear! Does this mean I'm as cool as Sarah Silverman?) and that Sufjan Stevens just released an album of outtakes and extras that according to Spin is almost as good as ILLINOIS. Makes me wonder if he should be wandering from his proposed fifty states albums (Sufjan, that's going to take a while. You're young, but you're not THAT young. Maybe you should stick to regions?) It also finds me a little disappointed that DC is totally not one of the fifty states. But I dare say Sufjan, DC would give you more fodder than, say, South Dakota, right?

I read the newspaper.
I do that even when I'm not being a normal person. But today note that the headline for Peter Mark's fringe retrospective (which he probably didn't write himself, right? Someone else writes the headlines don't they?) incorporated my buffet metaphor from last year. Which I hated that I used when I spoke to the writer on the phone, because I kind of try to keep my predilection for buffets (mom and dad, I learned it from watching you!) under wraps.

I watch Netflix.
I finally saw Wedding Crashers. Vince Vaughn reminds me of my brother. I thought the movie was cute but it never actually decided if it wanted to be an over-the-top comedy or a funny romance. In any case, I will watch Christopher Walken do anything, so he made it worth my two hours.

I eat french fries at Tunnicliff's with MB.
If nothing else, I am predictable.

Normalcy ends in about five days. I am enjoying it while I can. I do think I need to figure out how to incorporate less fried food into my definition of normalcy.