Sisterly Conversations on: Top 10 Things I Learned in College

unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, or you don't even really know me (which is probably more likely.....i'm looking at you, New Zealanders), you should know that i graduated from college on December 9th. or was it the 10th? whatever, the date is irrelevant. after 4.5 years in school, i finally did it! graduating in the fall is a very unique experience and i'd like to think that it was designed to wean people off of college. i mean, chances are, if you're graduating in December you've probably overstayed your welcome anyways and, like any good addiction, you need to taper off the college life. 

what i mean is this: i had my last week of classes, which for some people would have probably been an emotional experience, but i was like "it's ok, i have graduation to look forward to!" then at graduation, i was like "it's ok, i still have finals!" then after finals i was like "okay, this stupid. i graduated like two weeks ago." i was so over school, i never shed a single tear! sure, i was sad but not in the way or to the extent i thought i would be. it was very effective and i applaud whoever thought of that idea. 

anywho, i was driving in my car to The Flying Saucer the other night (as one tends to do when they are only marginally employed and a recent college grad) and this song came on my iPhone

for the record, i have no idea what's happening in that music video because i just typed in the name of the song and chose a video without watching it so....proceed with caution. 

the song is "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" and it's from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. if you don't feel like listening to all 7 minutes of it (though i highly recommend it), i'll just tell you that it's 7 minutes of Baz Lurhmann doling out his most sage wisdom, accompanied by a catchy beat and that little kid that sings at Claire and Leonardo's wedding. after listening to this song, i decided that i too would pass on my college-learned wisdom to the younger crowd. 

so without further ado, here are the "Top 10 Things I Learned in College":

10. Don't go bowling with your neighbors.

upon arriving at school my freshman year, me and my roommate were eager to make friends with people in our dorm. before we knew what room we were given, we both hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be at the end of the hall, across from an electrical closet or something. well it was at the end of the hall. and it was across from a cleaning supply closet. so clearly, the year in the dorm was off to a terrific start. we decided to go bowling at the Union on one of the first nights we were there, and we invited our one and only set of (male) neighbors to join us. i mean, they had been propping the door open for days with a bulk sized package of Cheez-Wiz, so clearly they wanted to meet people. they came with us and when we got to the bowling alley, it was super crowded. our friend who tagged along saw someone she met at orientation already bowling on one of the lanes with his roommate, so they let us join in on their game. we asked our neighbors if they wanted to join in but they said "we'll watch". about halfway through the game, we turned to look for them and they were gone. they left us. three girls at a bowling alley, with some randos. gentlemen, those two were. needless to say we got back to the dorm afterwards and the Cheez-Wiz door stop had been put away, never to be seen again for the rest of the year.

ass.

9. Sorority fashions rarely work outside of the sorority house. 

I use the term "fashion" loosely here. i really mean heinous pieces of clothing such as

 embroidered PFG fishing shirts

  Nike shorts

 Chacos

...among many others (XXL t-shirts, cute tops you'd wear to the club paired with Nike shorts or workout tights, buns and ponytails specifically made to look messy, etc. etc.) i had a friend who was an orientation advisor and helped pass out t-shirts to incoming freshman. she said they actually ran out of larges and extra larges. this never happens. 

i'll admit i own Nike shorts and have worn them to class on many lazy occasions, but most of the time i looked at myself in the mirror and was like "why don't i just put on pants?" it's a question as old as time, but one i asked often. 

regardless, there are many sorority trends that us mere mortals should just not attempt. ever. 

8. Don't drink the trashcan punch at a Finals Party.

i won't dignify this with an explanation. just don't do it.

7. It's possible to live off of Dine-In Dollars.

when you live in a residence hall at the University of Texas, $1200-1500 worth of Dine-In Dollars and $300-500 worth of Bevo Bucks are immediately bestowed upon you every August. i'm not 100% sure of the exact monetary breakdown, but it's something like that. Dine-In Dollars can only be used in university dining halls and Bevo Bucks can be used in the same dining halls or various businesses and restaurants around campus that participate in the program. this is all the money you get for food for 9 months, unless your parents have pity on you and deposit some money in your Dine-In Dollars account. however, my parents never needed to do that, because i am an EXPERT at dining on a budget. there are three keys to making this work:

1) all you can eat dining halls. CAUTION: you will eat a lot of pizza and salad. and chicken strips. and frozen yogurt. oh, and cereal. 

2) Easy Mac.

3) peanut butter and jelly.

i once went to buy some food at the dining hall downstairs and the girl in front of me only had about $500 left on her account. it was October.

6. 90% of dorm sponsored activities are stupid.

first of all, if it's a mandatory wing meeting, it's not mandatory. 

second of all, if it's a Super Bowl party in your dorm's basement TV room, they'll serve you chicken nuggets from McDonalds and pizza while everyone gets in a shouting match over whether the Steelers or the Cardinals are better. you'll also make googly eyes at the guy cleaning up afterwards, who will take no notice of you. 

third of all, if it's a "How Well Do You Know Your Roommate" game show thing, it will be rigged by the presence of two roommates who are also identical twin brothers. you will lose.

all true stories.

5. Buy an external hard drive.

I got a MacBook as a high school graduation present in 2008. we had been through some rough times together. there was the time i spilled a cup of water on it while it was closed and the time that i missed the bathroom door hook to hang my backpack on and it fell to the ground with my laptop inside. but through all that, we managed to prevail. until the last week of class when it stabbed me in the back and chose to end its life nearly 5 years later on the night before my biggest test of the semester. i got a new computer and luckily they were able to recover all of my files and i lived, but i'll never forgive that Judas computer.

4. Anything free is usually worth it.

things I've gotten/attended/done for free while in college: Austin Museum Day (free admission to every Austin museum), a Gavin DeGraw concert, a Girl Talk concert, free all you can eat and drink cookies and coffee at finals, a free pair of underwear (though I didn't appreciate the crushing of my rib cage that i endured to get them), a live taping of Arcade Fire at ACL Live, multiple clothing items, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

3. Don't ride the E-Bus to 6th Street on Halloween.

packed in like sardines, a bottle of mustard got a little to handsy with me. never again.

2. All math professors are terrifying. It's a requirement, I think.

luckily, i only had to take two math courses at UT: calculus and stats. both of my professors were terrifying. my calculus professor called out anyone who didn't remember basic pre-cal (read: everyone.) and generally made you feel like an idiot. she passed me on the sidewalk once when i was waiting for the bus and i immediately got a chill. this was 3 years after i had taken her class. she was just as glorifyingly terrifying as ever.

my stats professor was like Sue Sylvester's older, more terrifying, Southern sister. she yelled at you if you got up to go to the bathroom or if you didn't do your homework. or if you asked questions. or if you breathed. or if you were human.

she surprisingly did not care if you showed up 30 minutes late to a 50 minute class dressed up as Peter Pan on Halloween, however.

1. Asher Roth had the right idea. 

he's a one-hit wonder right? his song "I Love College" is a really song where he raps about keg stands and playing beer pong, but at one point he says "I wanna go to college for the rest of my life," which when i think about it, actually sounds like a really great idea. i know, i know there comes a time when you have to grow up and move on and become a part of the real world, but i get why people take jobs on college campuses, especially young people. but i don't mean that it sounds like a good idea in the LITERAL sense.

it's hard to describe, but there was this.....feeling, i guess, that i got shortly after i moved into my dorm, before i ever attended my first class and all of that. i really can't describe it. i call it the "fall feeling" because it's something i felt on the first few days of school every semester since i started college. ironically, i found myself randomly getting that feeling more and more as my last days on campus started winding down. i think it's a feeling of wide-eyed optimism and anxiously waiting to find out where life takes you and what lies ahead. it's sort of giddy and exciting and comforting all wrapped into one. i probably sound like a moron trying to describe it, but if someone asked me how i wanted to feel for the rest of my life, that would be it. in fact, it's how i wish everyone could feel for the rest of their life. i think the world would be a much better place.

though it is definitely not an exhaustive list of all the things college has taught me, this list is now complete. i hope you have your own "Top However-Many-Things College Has Taught Me" list. if you don't, you should make one. it'll make you both happy and sad, all at the same time. 

just trust me on that trashcan punch though.

Sisterly Conversations on: Taylor Swift's Musical Diatribes

well, it's the holidays again! and that means that I am back at my parents' house for a few weeks, soaking up all that Corpus Christi has to offer. which is really a shopping mall with a throat slasher on the loose and some really humid evenings. one thing I always enjoy about the trip from wherever I am to Corpus is the chance to listen to potentially 4 hours of uninterrupted music! weee! (I am only partly serious...it's really hard to listen to music for that long. after a while, everything sucks.) on this particular trip, I felt the urge to listen to Taylor Swift for 2 solid hours. 

why Taylor, you may ask? well, mostly because she is probably the artist with the largest collection of music on my iPod, so I don't have to do much song flipping while driving, which is always dangerous. she's also my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. I got the idea to dedicate a whole blog post to her music after her video for "I Knew You Were Trouble" came out, but I didn't know what sort of direction I should take. best Taylor Swift videos? best Taylor Swift songs? best Taylor Swift duets? progression of Taylor Swift music videos/songs (frizzy haired country tunes, to famous people's cameos as love interests, to a sudden break with reality)? about halfway into my drive, I finally came up with the angle I was going to take: best Taylor Swift diatribes!

for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past, oh, 6 years or so, T-Swizz is infamous for writing songs that sound like they came directly out of her diary. sometimes corny, always heartfelt, T is never one to shy away from the hard hitting topics: her friend Abigail doing the nasty with a boy who ignores her afterwards, her ex cheating on her and then wanting her back, being 22....the list goes on. but I would like to now focus, recall and celebrate all of the times Taylor has written scathing odes to her famous exes. we will now begin.

Number 5

Song: "Forever & Always"

Famous Ex: Joe Jonas

Most scathing line: Was I out of line?/Did I say something way too honest?/That made you run and hide/Like a scared little boy

ahh Joe. the very first of Taylor's famous victims. the story goes that Joe called Taylor to break up with her in a phone call that lasted only a few seconds. that. is. low. Joe claims that "a phone call only lasts as long as the person on the other end wants it to last" but after he reportedly broke up with Demi Lovato in the same fashion (albeit, through his dad....douche), I tend to side with Team Taylor on this one. Taylor has confessed to Ellen Degeneres that this song is about Joe, and was a last minute addition to her breakout cd "Fearless". also, the fact that I know this much about people I'll never meet is sad, and means I need a life. stat. anyways, moving on. i enjoy this song and i enjoy working out to it and listening to it on a bad day, but it's probably the least specific and interesting of all of her breakup songs.

Number 4

Song: "All Too Well"

Famous Ex: Jake Gyllenhaal

Most scathing line: Hey you called me up again/Just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel/In the name of being honest/I'm a crumbled up piece of paper lying here/Cause I remember it/All too well

I'm really not entirely too sure why these two dated each other, but I can't blame her. I'm also not entirely too sure why she wrote this super intense song about a guy she dated for as long as it takes me to brush my teeth in the mornings, but obviously she was burned pretty bad. or maybe she wasn't and she just needed some fodder for songs on her new cd. either way, I'm kind of obsessed with this song and I enjoy thinking of Jakey Poo probably not giving a crap about it either way. or maybe he does? according to the song he still has her scarf from this photo:

just like the secrets behind Area 51, Big Foot and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know what happened with these two.

Number 3

Song: "Back To December"

Famous Ex: Taylor Lautner

Most scathing line: Maybe this is wishful thinking/Probably mindless dreaming/But if we loved again/I swear I'd love you right/I'd go back in time and change it but I can't/So if the chain is on your door/I understand

ok so this isn't actually scathing. in fact, it's a departure for the norm for Taylor and she actually accepts responsibility for once (and only for once...I promise) and apologizes to her ex-with-the-same-name, Taylor Lautner. poor T-Lautz. he fell into the female Taylor's trap, but emerged relatively unscathed. the female Taylor is probably pretty lucky that hot Taylor isn't a musical artist because I'm sure hot Taylor has a lot to say about his and female Taylor's failed relationship, if the lyrics of the song have any truth to them. also, this same name thing should've been a sign that this relationship was doomed. so confusing. moving on.

Number 2

Song: "I Knew You Were Trouble"

Famous Ex: John Mayer

Most scathing line: And the saddest fear/Comes creeping in/That you never loved me/Or her/Or anyone/Or anything

I don't actually know that this song is about John Mayer, but it probably is. if it's not, it should be. I wish I knew Taylor personally so that I could've told her that dating John Mayer was a terrible idea. this is the guy that called Jessica Simpson "sexual napalm" in a public interview. on the record. to be put in print. while I enjoy this song, thinking of John taking Tay to "places [she's] never been" kind of makes my lunch reflux into my esophagus. 

Number 1

Song: "Dear John"

Famous Ex: John Mayer

Most scathing line: All the girls that you've run dry/Have tired lifeless eyes/Cause you've burned them out/But I took your matches before fire could catch me/So don't look now/I'm shining like fireworks/Over your sad, empty town

this is perhaps THE BEST example of a classic T-Swizz diatribe. the only song that directly names her ex-lover, she sings for almost 7 minutes about how he burned her. although, again, I don't particularly enjoy thinking about her probably engaging in some adult behavior with him when she was only 19 and he was like 67 (ok, 30), I do enjoy hearing her sing about the after effects. I also particularly enjoy how she spends a majority of the song talking about "the girl in the dress" who "cried the whole way home" and how she "should've known" it would end up like this. then, in the last lyric, she turns the tables and says "The girl in the dress wrote you a song. You should've known." touche Taylor. touche. and a word of warning to other famous men willing to date Taylor: godspeed.

well that's it! the top 5 best breakup diatribes from the incomparable Taylor Swift. while I usually stand up for Taylor when people put her down for dating so many guys (I mean how many people in this world casually date lots of men? no shame in your game girl!) and for her cutesy, sometimes juvenile lyrics (she has a formula that's made her a millionaire a million times over, so why change it now? business genius, i say.), I do realize there is a common denominator in all of these songs: Taylor. so if any of these lovely men would like to get together and write a song called "You're The Problem In All Of Your Failed Relationships", I will gladly dedicate an entire blog post to that song as well.

Sisterly Conversations on: Thanksgiving with the Cowboys

Family. Football. Jellied cranberry. Lots...and lots of cranberry.

This Thanksgiving we spent the afternoon with dad's side of the family in Kingsville. I know we're always in store for a good time when we head even farther south in Texas to spend time with the good ol' paternal familia. 

The visit started off interesting with my disappointing attempt at being nurturing and motherly as my mom encouraged (forced) me to hold my cousin's baby who was a mere 9 days old. I mean, I immediately loved that little baby, but I loved her enough to want to protect her from the discomfort of being in trapped in my bony arms. The conversation quickly turned to my cousin telling me, "You better start practicing. Your time is running out!" Ehhhhhh...no. I've still got time. Plus..maybe I'll adopt. I'll adopt a baby who is already in their toddler years and is not as delicate as a frail bird. I held the baby for a few minutes, then passed her back to my mom who couldn't stop fawning over her the rest of the day. She deserved someone like my mom. I went to look for the bigger kids. And the food.

A couple of hours later (and a lot of sitting around watching football and making chit chat while we all secretly wished we were eating), it was time to eat. I thought I would try my hand at being motherly again and offered to help my grandma set up the food. "Here," she advised (I was sure she was going to give me a big task like getting the rolls out of the oven, stirring the gravy, something manageable but still important), "take this to the other room." She handed me a styrofoam plate with a cylinder of jellied cranberry balancing on it. Both my grandma and I agreed that we could eat the whole helping of cranberry out of the can if our lives depended on it...or if no one was watching. I walked the cranberry outside to the party room. Yes, party room. We'll come to that in a minute. The cranberry was like congealed liquid gold on a plate. It was wobbling all over the place...but I cradled it and kept it safe. Probably safer than I held that tiny baby. Once I got to the party room, it was then that I noticed that 3 other cans of cranberry had already been opened. Not sure what else we really ate at Thanksgiving, but one thing I am sure of is the fact that we had at least 4 lbs. of the 90 cent delicatessen.

The party room. That is a whole other story. It's like Tony Romo (or some other Dallas Cowboys player who is actually good) threw up in there. Cowboys posters covered the walls, tiny Dallas Cowboys helmets sat on random window sills and on any available counter space, and one of my personal favorites, a Dallas Cowboys flag declaring, "America's Team." I wonder what other American citizens would say about that. Like perhaps if we asked the New England PATRIOTS, who's colors are red, white, and blue. Think they think of Tony and the rest of his fumbling teammates as the football team of the U.S.? I think not. I was honestly afraid to watch the Cowboys vs. Redskins game in that party room. I mean, I had heard stories of my uncle being completely obsessed with the Cowboys (which I had inferred from the Dallas Cowboys matching bath and toilet rugs in the bathroom), but I didn't want to be present for a meltdown that would occur when the Cowboys inevitably failed. McKayla was impressed when an ACTUAL Dallas Cowboys team member showed up to join us for Thanksgiving lunch and to watch the game. At least...I think he was a team member. I knew he wasn't part of the family because I had never seen him before and he kept saying things like "We need to get it together," or "Our fans are very fickle." Using those possessive pronouns can really transform someone! As I was analyzing this phenomenon, I noticed my uncle pulling down the ladder to head up into the attic. 'Is there another level to this party? Please, take me with you!' He looked around for a little bit and came out with another pile of styrofoam food trays. Duh. Silly me! When in doubt and you need more kitchen supplies...just head up to the attic.

A small Thanksgiving miracle occurred during the Cowboys game when I heard my cousin ask (aloud), "What is a punt?" Yes! I was no longer the only one who didn't know anything about football. Just a few minutes before, I had asked V how the Cowboys could only have 3 points and she gave me the DS (Death Stare in case you forgot) as she explained how kicking only a field goal at the beginning of the game and not scoring any other points made this a possibility. It's always a good Thanksgiving when family members find different ways to poke fun of one another; especially when we are all together stuffing our faces while doing it. Needless to say, the Cowboys lost, we had our gluttonous fill of starched sides and deserts, and as we were saying our goodbyes before we left, I'm pretty sure I saw my uncle heading up into the second level of the party room to wallow in sorrow at the demise of Team 'Merica. 

Sisterly Conversations on: #VPdebate2012

Ok, so the Sisters do more than gossip about coffee obsessions and hot Olympians. We decided to catch the wrap up of the Vice Presidential debate, mainly because everyone was talking about it on Facebook and we had already missed most of it due to a small shopping spree we went on in preparation for Austin City Limits (that's for a later post though).

Briefly, here is some of our highly political commentary on what we witnessed between Biden and Ryan:

On Ryan:

A:"Ryan would be cute, except for his widow's peak."
V:"He looks kind of like Phil Dunphy."
V:"Uhh..he looks so smug."

On Biden:

V: "What the heck is Joe Biden doing? He looks like a potato. Like a potato with eyes and mouth, right?"

On budget cuts, health care, and getting out of national debt:

A:"I don't care what politicians say. How the heck will the U.S. EVER get out of debt? Where will all the money come from? Are they planning on doing a nationwide fundraiser? "

V: "Ok everyone...we're doing a bake sale! Even though we'll be spending thousands and thousands of dollars for the cooking supplies."

A: "We've infiltrated the Girl Scouts. Buy cookies to cut back on the national debt!"

V: " $1,000.00 a box!"

A: "Thin mints anyone?"

Republican vs. Democrat, Samoas vs. Thin Mints...I hate making choices!!!

On the debate moderator, Martha Raddatz:

V: "Whoa. Crypt Keeper."

So, with all that being said...vote for whoever you want. Politics, debates, the future of these United States of America. It's all just a "bunch of malarky" anyways!!

"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes. Singin' hey-ohhh!"

Sisterly Conversations on: Fiending

ahhh yes. fall kinda, sorta officially started in September with the arrival of new fall television shows and the return of some old classics, but everybody knows that it's not officially fall until the pumpkin spice latte finally makes its much anticipated return to your local Starbucks. the rest of the country probably considers the start of fall to be the day when scarves become a necessity instead of a trendy accessory or the weekend that a cold front blows in and doesn't leave until march. but since this is texas, and both of those things last for about a day, we have one warm pumpkin-y beverage to look forward to to signal the start of the best season of all. and look forward to it we have.

i was recently at Starbucks for a study group when i decided to use my birthday gift card to order said latte. i approached the counter and asked if it was possible to make my pumpkin spice latte decaf. the barista replied "oh yeah, we can make anything decaf! but we don't have any pumpkin. and we won't have any until thursday." it was monday. what was everyone going to do!? the pumpkin wasn't going to arrive for THREE. MORE. DAYS. i suppose they could just get their pumpkin fix with some Starbucks Via pumpkin flavored coffee. or not. that rack was completely empty. no pumpkin anywhere. it didn't dawn on me until i read this article about the national pumpkin spice latte shortage that i realized what was really going on here. the entire nation is experiencing a phenomenon i call "fiending". until recently, fiending had only been happening on a much smaller scale.

coincidentally, i witnessed my first fiend at starbucks a while back. i was at the starbucks on campus (a college campus being a fiending mecca for various items) and the store was quite busy. i was patiently waiting for my drink at the counter because i had nowhere else to be. i was people watching (as one is prone to do in these situations) and i noticed a girl fixing up her coffee at the sugar and cream station. i watched her make up her drink, but when she went to reach for the cream, she found the container empty. i watched her as panic set in on her face. i watched her frantically look around, wondering what to do. i watched her spot the cream the baristas use behind the production counter. i watched her march up to the counter and reach over it. i watched as she grabbed the baristas' private cream stash and poured it in her own coffee like it was no big deal and then set it back behind the counter.

this was fiending in a nutshell. you see, it's basically when you are so frantic about something that you go to extreme lengths to get it and freak out when you don't have it, or are afraid that someone could take it from you at any moment.

my next encounter with fiending was late one night at HEB. i was on a grocery run and made a stop down the pasta aisle when i noticed a fellow college student eyeballing the Ramen (ummm....duh). i watched as he browsed around for the flavor he preferred. then, when he realized that they were out of individual packets and all that was left was an entire case still unopened and covered in saran wrap, i watched him load the entire case in to his cart and roll away. he was so fiendish for some Ramen that he didn't even bother to open the case and take out 2 or 3 packets. that's Ramen dedication right there.

recently a friend of mine told me about a really good sale that was going on at a liquor store. i'm a fan of wine, so off i went to browse their selection and see if i could snatch up any great deals. it turns out that i went 10 minutes before the store closed on the last day of their sale. it also turns out that all of northwest Austin heard about this sale too and were now at the same liquor store as me trying to take advantage of the sale's final moments. i watched in awe as people pushed other people out of the way with their shopping carts (yes, shopping carts........at a liquor store) and loaded them up with cases upon cases of beer, wine, Malibu, Smirnoff, whiskey as old as my dad, mixed nuts, bendy straws......literally whatever they could get their hands on. there was so much frenetic energy in there that i couldn't handle it and retreated to the refrigerated wine room for some peace and quiet. then the wine fiends (a particularly snobby bunch) followed me inside and i had to leave, empty handed. i'll stick with Arbor Mist, thanks.

lastly, i went to a PINK by Victoria's Secret tailgate giveaway at the Co-op with some of my friends today. i was thinking this was going to be something really special and maybe i'd get a free bra out of the deal, but it wasn't. and i didn't. we got there early and a small line had formed outside of the gate. the line eventually grew to hundreds of girls waiting to get in. the big moment finally came shortly after 11 and they let us in. the first stop was supposed to be a table full of bags stuffed with coupons. i don't know why the event organizers didn't realize that this had all the makings of a small scale riot. i mean...college girls, free bras, fighting for equal rights.....oh wait....

anyways, the organizers didn't put up any organizational barriers or ropes or anything, so everyone just kind of rushed the table to get to the bags. i ended up crushed between the table and about 100 other girls that i didn't know. i'm pretty sure at one point i was bent over the table at the waist, yelling at other people to get off of me. then security came and dispersed the crowd peacefully, which was good because i hear at other universities they use pepper spray. i could see the headlines now: "university students pepper sprayed after rioting over free panties" or "panty fiends get peppered" (there's a reason i'm not a journalism major).

so in short, i hope you have learned from my mistakes and are better equipped to recognized those who are fiending. i mostly wanted you to learn to stay away from fiends. far, far away. otherwise, you might just end up bent over a table. and nobody wants that.

Sisterly Conversations on: My Sad Life Outside of School/Work.

That Friday Night Lights...gets ya every time. Although, it is comforting to know that one of the actors from FNL is now one of the new interns on Grey's Anatomy. Strange how V recently told me that now she might start watching Grey's Anat because he is on it. It only took 7 years for me to convince her it is a show worth watching...bandwagon fan!

Gaius Charles "Friday Night Lights"

V.S.

Gaius Charles "Grey's Anatomy"

...If you ask me, he looks a bit more confident in his ability as a high school football star than a doctor.

Other than new actors making an appearance on Grey's, the season premiere was emotional, but expected. I think this season is gonna be pretty deep though! Which is what I like about Grey's: witty humor (usually provided by Drs. Yang and Torres), mixed with drama, passion, depression...everything that makes life worth living, right?! Every time a new season of Grey's starts, I am excited, but I also get a little paranoid that the show is one season closer to ending. Anyone who knows how in love I am with this show knows that I hold a special place in my heart for it. I've been watching this show since I was a senior in high school! I used to have a saying that the "Two G's" were the only consistent things in my life: God and Grey's Anatomy. Luckily one is omnipotent and works miracles, so maybe I can handle it if Grey's ever gets cancelled. Anyways, GREAT show as usual. A little cheesy, but that's what makes it worthwhile. Tune in on Thursdays at 9pm/8pm central, Thursdays on ABC for some real-life medical drama (oh come on all you doctors out there! Like you've never instructed a patient on how amputate their wife's leg under no anesthesia after they fell into a huge sinkhole that opened up in the middle of a city?! Pssh..rookies.)

Continuing on...

This past week was jam-packed with season premieres! Lucky for me, I was able to catch up on Friday night after it was raining so bad that I couldn't make it to the party I was trying to get to because my car started to make scary squealing noises and smoke while driving through flooded streets.

Elementary (10/9pm central, Thursdays, CBS), with bad-ass Charlie's Angel Lucy Liu and this dashing British man, Johnny Lee Miller (well, that doesn't sound British at all), was pretty intriguing. I have to say, I will more than likely keep watching. It is a modern spin on Sherlock Holmes, with Lucy Liu playing Sherlock's "sobriety companion", Watson, who accompanies him 24/7 as he is coming off his drug addiction. Heart-warming, I know. It's pretty similar to all those other mystery-solving shows, so if you're lacking one in your weekly line-up, I recommend adding this one in! Great soundtrack so far, featuring Lucy Liu doing her morning run to a song from one of V's fave bands (listen below). My only warning to you though is that at times it is a bit difficult to understand Sherlock's British accent, but he's a bloke worth looking at ;)

The Mindy Project (9/8pm central, Tuesdays, FOX) Pretty hilarious gal, that Mindy! I never really got into the Office when she was on it, but I have read excerpts from Mindy's autobiography and I knew I would enjoy this show. It's a 30 minute comedy, so you're pretty much guaranteed a few good belly-laughs, and you don't have to invest much time in it. I wouldn't expect any hard-hitting morals to the story or life lessons, though. Mindy has so much Girl Power in this show, which I like. Mindy and I are a lot alike, really! We're both just two young, funny women, trying to find the man of our dreams, kicking butt at being independent, always making people laugh (either with or at us, I haven't figured that one out yet), did I mention trying to find the man of our dreams? Guess we'll both just be hilarious workaholics until that happens!

"I'm a cute, fun Doctor-lady who works with two super hott Doctor-men!! Yeah!!"

And for the commentary I've been waiting to get to (and I'm sure you also may be looking forward to since it will be closer to the end of my T.V. show rant) REVENGE!! I decided I have to post about it before the season premiere tonight (9/8pm central, Sundays on ABC), so that way I could hook you in and make you so intrigued that you have to watch. I will try to keep it very short and sweet though, because not too many words need to be written to promote this show. I started watching it last season on a whim. I needed something different in my life. All I ever watched were comedies. It was time to get serious. Well, Revenge is  seriously one of the best shows out there right now. It has drama, mystery, attractive actors, fighting, Girl Power scenes (there's me and that Girl Power again). Plus, it makes you thank your lucky stars that you aren't filthy rich and don't swim in your own wealth and greed inside a giant palace in the Hamptons...on second thought, I know a lot of people who would love that! But that's why I like to watch it. It's about Emily Thorne, totally interrupting that disgusting world and fighting for TRUTH! JUSTICE! and...the memory of her father who was wrongfully accused of mass murder, imprisoned, and then died in jail! Intense, right?!?! Watch tonight, and if you've never seen Revenge before, just check out this small clip from the Spring season finale. You'll be hooked.

MIND. BLOWN.

Alanna's other favorite shows that she didn't have time to talk about before the Revenge premiere started:

Modern Family (8/7pm central, Weds, ABC)

Up All Night (8:30/7:30 central, Thurs, NBC)

Watch these too!

Sisterly Conversations on: my love for Friday Night Lights

i had two possible topics that i was going to write about for this entry, but then i got some inspiration from the previous entry about fall television. now, i'm a pretty terrible judge of what is and isn't going to be good television while a show is in its infancy. one of the shows i'm currently keeping tabs on is The Mob Doctor on FOX. it's basically what it sounds like: a show about a female cardiologist/surgeon at a prestigious hospital in chicago who moonlights as a doctor for the mob in order to pay off her younger brother's debt. i know what you're probably thinking: "of course you're a terrible judge of tv shows! that show sounds bad based on the premise alone!" and it kind of is. but the only reason i'm watching it is because of the actor who plays dr. devlin's main squeeze, fellow doctor brett robinson: zach gilford. now you may know zach from ABC's short lived medical drama about doctors practicing in a clinic in the south american jungle, Off The Map (also cancelled. also watched by me........i told you i was bad), but you SHOULD instead know him as Matt Saracen, one of the main characters in NBC/DirectTv's cancelled-before-its-time drama "Friday Night Lights".

now i will admit: i did not watch friday night lights at all during its original five year run. it was only after it was cancelled that i decided to give it a shot. i had heard all good things about it and found season 1 on dvd at half price books for cheap. and let me tell you.........best investment i've ever made.

most FNL haters probably have avoided the show because "it's about football". and it is. but i am here to tell you that it is about so much more than that. it's about family and friendship and love and life in a way that is so authentic and totally believable. i mean, no one gets shot in a shooting rampage or gets their leg amputated or gets hit by a bus or has hallucinations involving their dead lover or gets in a car accident and spends the next episode having an out of body experience and singing to themselves about it (*cough cough* grey's anatomy *cough*). everything is so much more subtle and simpler than that.

a lot of the actors/actresses aren't really that mind-blowingly awesome in other stuff i've seen them in. i mean, no one is dying to hand Taylor Kitsch an Oscar for his role in Battleship, but when he sat in the Panthers' film room watching the hit that paralyzed his best friend over and over again and inevitably having a mini breakdown, i totally believed it. and i cried a little bit along with him.

i guess that's what impresses me so much about FNL: the number of times i've gotten choked up or shed actual tears while watching. sadly, it's a pretty underrated show so there aren't many youtube clips available, but i was able to find three that i'm pretty obsessed with and have decided to share them with you. 

oh and surprise: they all star zach gilford.

coach taylor giving matt some tough love in season 2 after he gets drunk at a strip club and his grandma gets rushed to the emergency room while he's out shirking his responsibilities.

this is kind of spoiler-y so don't watch or keep reading if you don't want to know. this entire episode (season 4's "The Son") where matt's dad dies in Iraq had me pretty emotional the whole time. this final scene (the blood on the handle at the end!!), the one where matt breaks down at the dinner table and tells the taylor family "i hate him. i don't like hating people." and the scene where he breaks into the funeral home drunk and demands to see his father's body and his subsequent reaction were the highlights and probably the best pieces of television i've ever seen. those can be seen here, set to one of my favorite pieces of music.

anyways, there's a lot more i wish i could say about FNL, and so many more incredible moments involving all the characters, but it's hard to put the greatness into words. instead, i'll just let this video do the talking for me.

also, i wish tami taylor was my second mom.