What are your biggest fears?

We're taking care of Rocky this week because Tiffany is out of town for a photo shoot, and I have looooved having him around! He's so chill and cute, and is just the perfect little companion to calm me down when I'm having one of my meltdowns. (He had to witness one on Wednesday. Sorry, Rocks!)

So Tiff had mentioned that Rocky was scared to walk up and down stairs. Her apartment has an elevator (lucky bitch!), but I have to hoof it up and down four flights of stairs every single day. I actually enjoy getting the extra bit of exercise, but Rocky was NOT having it. Not.having.it.

Look how he's totally backing away from the edge of the stairs. Poor Rocks! He was genuinely scared out of his little doggy mind!

Dogs are so funny. I recently learned that Rocky has a pooping ritual. He turns around in a circle three times as fast as he can before he does his biznas. It's like he's serenading his shit or something!

So what about you: What are your biggest fears? I'm totally afraid of heights. Boring, I know. Is anyone scared of something weird? Remember back in the day when people went on Maury Povich to talk about their fears of lettuce and cotton balls? Crazy!

Could you work from home?

So remember this post where my sister and boyfriend pretty much made me their laundry bitch for the day because they figured I had the TIME to do it for them? Well, it's becoming more and more evident to me that people just don't get what it is I do all day long. When I send emails at 6am, people write back asking, "What are you doing up so early?!" This happened to me just the other day, only it was like 9:45!  I rarely sleep past 10am on the weekend—c'mon now! 

Working from home is tough. I don't have anyone forcing me to do anything, so it's up to ME to stay motivated. The majority of the time, I have my PT job, random freelance gigs and the blog to keep me busy and on track. But there are days here and there where I'm like hmm, I could totally sit on the couch and watch TV all day if I wanted to! But, I don't. (Well, I just might watch part of Oprah today—the Twilight cast will be on!) But trust me, I'm on the constant hustle. Can't stop, won't stop. I haven't even SEEN my bf since Sunday! Is the weekend here yet?

Tell me: Could you work from home and stay motivated? Do you think you'd enjoy it? And if you were home during the day, what's the one thing you'd be tempted to do? Nap? Watch Dr.Phil? WHAT?

If you build it, they will come

So I never really loved the movie Field of Dreams as much as everyone else, or as much as I felt I should, but the lesson that is taught is a good one: Patience. Work hard, keep the faith, have patience—and it will come. It will. It's hard though because, well, I want it NOW. I'm not even entirely sure what it is anymore, but I know that I want it. I guess more than anything, I want to be passionate about my work and make a decent amount of money doing it. I want a little normalcy and consistency in my life. Is that so much to ask?!

I didn't like any of the photos from the movie (damn Google images!), so I chose this one. Pretty cool, huh?

I have admitted in the past that at some point, I think it would be really great if I could turn a little profit from this blog, but honestly, things have been so loco lately that I'm finding myself coming here to just relax and take a break from it all! The blog can be stressful sometimes (like when I'm trying to write two posts before work and I have serious writer's block), but I'm getting back to the place where it's more fun than anything else, and that makes me happy. So, I'm just going to keep building it, and I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes!

I saw this video about blogging—and how to be successful at it— that supports the basic jist of what I've just said. It also encourages bloggers to ASK their readers what they want. I did that once and the main points you guys made were that you wanted: 1. To see more of ME 2. More gender neutral posts 3. More hot-button topics. I think I've done a pretty good job with working on those suggestions, but I probably could improve with #3. Hey, but I can't help it I like writing about random shit!

But tell me again what you think: What would you like to see more of on the bloggy-blog? And do you struggle with patience like I do?

Jury Duty: My Cousin Vinny style

I wish! Jury duty wasn't nearly as exciting as My Cousin Vinny (favorite movie of ALL time!), but I came across a few interesting characters yesterday. It was quite the comical experience. So of course EVERYONE is trying anything and everything to get out of it. All the jewish people claimed they couldn't serve because of a holiday next week. And even though a lot of them probably haven't been to temple in years, it was reasonable. You can't question someone about religion. But what about the lady who exclaimed she just couldn't do it because she had a HAIR APPOINTMENT on Monday. Everyone chuckled and she said, "Whaaat?" She was dead serious, people. Dead.serious. Her hair was purple, so actually, I'd say not only was it a valid excuse, but an emergency!

And then there were people who took this as an opportunity to get their 15 minutes of fame. One lady strolled into the courtroom in a metallic gold trench and oversized shades. She sat waaay leaned back in her chair and talked in a low, raspy voice. She was clearly pleased with her image. But the judge actually called her out and asked if she was talking in her REAL voice! Haha. She coughed and then poof, suddenly her voice went up five octaves. Another dude was REALLY excited to rattle off his rap sheet: Two DUIs, busted for smoking pot on the street, arrested for possession of a martial arts weapon (yes), and the list goes on. I don't know about you, but I sure was impressed.

And then there was lil ol' me feeling so boring and normal, giving my spiel about how I lost my job and don't collect unemployment, so if I'm not available to work, then I'm not able to pay rent, and more importantly EAT! I actually wouldn't mind serving on jury duty at some point. It seemed pretty interesting, but I already had to turn down one freelance gig for the time I was there, AND I wasn't able to go to my part-time job. Not cool. So they let me go. I think my "excuse" was better than most.

Obviously there weren't any lawyers in the courtroom as badass as Joe Pesci. It is just hilarious when he wears this suit! I love when he gives this explanation to the judge:

I bought a suit. You seen it. Now it's covered in mud. This town doesn't have a one-hour cleaner, so I had to buy a new suit, except the only store you could buy a new suit in has got the flu. Got that? The whole store got the flu, so I had to get this in a second hand store.

And who could forget Marisa Tomei's style? Awe.some. There just aren't words for how amazing she was in this movie.

So tell me: Has anyone else witnessed funny characters at jury duty? And are there any other My Cousin Vinny fans out there? C'mon, hit me with your favorite quote!

Have you ever plotted revenge on someone?

Over the weekend my friend Tom told me a story about a "psycho girl" he recently dated. (And by dated I mean they went out a couple times.) I'm always skeptical when guys call girls psycho—as if they play no part in making girls act crazy—but I'm going to share the story under the assumption that what Tom told me was the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (Jury duty is rubbing off on me!) 

Tehe, how cute is this pic? So right, the story. After date number two, Tom was really into PG—she was pretty, fun and smart. They sent a stream of flirty text messages back and forth, but then he could feel a change on PG's end when he told her about his upcoming birthday. He didn't invite her out for the celebration because it was a guys-only night. Fair enough. And THEN, the crazy came out. (If a girl's got it in her, she usually can't hide it for long.) The day after his birthday, PG invited Tom to her penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side to give him his birthday present, if ya know what I'm sayin'. 

So he quickly got ready and hopped into a cab uptown. When he got to the apartment, the doorman informed him there wasn't even a penthouse in the building and that no one by PG's name lived there! WTF?! So he texted her to see what was up and she said she had accidentally texted the address wrong. Oopsie! So he hopped into another cab and when he reached the building, it was the same story. Wrong apartment. To make a short story shorter, Tom went to three or four apartments before receiving this text:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FUCKER. HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR TOUR OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE!!!

Happy Birthday, Fucker? Seriously? But yeah, it is pretty damn funny. Sorry, Tom!

So tell me: Girls, have you ever plotted revenge on a guy?  And guys, have you ever been royally screwed like this before? 

When's the last time you FORGOT to eat?

Ya know how celebrities claim they forget to eat because they're so busy? I always thought that was a load of shit (kind of like when they say they stay in shape by "chasing their kids around") until now. Things have been mucho crazy lately. Sorry I'm leaving you in the dark as to what is going on, but until I decide whether I want to (or even should) share, I'm going to keep mum. Sor-ry, I hate that. An.Y.way. 

Yesterday, it happened. I forgot to eat. Yes. I was at jury duty all day, which came at the worst possible time (don't postpone it, people!), and was working on a project on my laptop during every break—you get a lot of 'em. So I had a big egg puff topped with cheese and salsa with a coffee for breakfast, a slice of veggie pizza (I needed something quick!) for lunch and a pack of Snackwell cookies for a snack. When I got home from jury duty, I was working away at my desk and didn't even move from my chair until 9:30pm. That's when I realized Whoa! I forgot to eat dinner! Cooool. (Haha, kidding.) Since I had planned to go to bed at 11pm, I didn't want to have something too heavy, so I just ate the second half of a huge salad I had leftover in my fridge from dinner the night before. 

The old Ellen would have done this yesterday, but I didn't. (Insert pat on back here.) Usually when I'm stressed I stuff my face because I dunno, I feel like I deserve a treat—or 10—when I'm losing my MIND. I had urges to cheat, but I ignored them and just focused on my work. I'll know to be better prepared today with snacks so I don't go so long without eating—I know it's not a healthy habit to get into!

Ohh and remember when I wrote about eating speed? This pic of Takeru Kobayashi reminded me of that. I liked writing that post!

Alright, gotta get a few more things done before I head back to jury duty. If I wasn't so darn busy right now, I think I'd actually enjoy it—it's pretty interesting. 

So tell me: When's the last time you FORGOT to eat?

Long.Duck.Dong.

Say it as fast as you can ten times and see what happens. Oh, right...happy Monday, guys! So I know this post seems random, but there are worse things than starting the week with Long Duck Dong, right?

I love Sixteen Candles—why don't they make movies like that anymore? WHY?!

So Saturday night my boyfriend and I went to Peking Duck House in Chinatown for a little...duck. They bring the entire bird out in front of you and cut it into slices. It was pretty cool.

Add a little cucumber, sauce, and wrap it up into your own little duck burrito! It was yummy. I enjoyed my dinner, but I didn't stuff myself to the point of utter discomfort, which is so easy to do with Chinese food. Victory!

When we left the restaurant, we saw this barber shop across the street: Mei Dick. That's quite a good marketing strategy—in the 60 seconds it took me to get out my cam and snap a pic, at least five people stopped to look at the sign. Slap the word dick on anything and people will pay attention. I kind of want my bf to get his hair cut here just to see what it's like!

So, has anyone tried any new, interesting foods lately? And what is your favorite Chinese dish? I usually stick to the simple stuff—General Tso's or sesame chicken. Mmm.