Things I Disliked - 2010 Edition

Let's kick this off properly:

Nicki Minaj

Simply awful. How can anyone listen to her "music" and say it's good with a straight face, let alone get by without their ears bleeding? Someone had to say it and now everyone else can feel free to follow (you can thank me later.)

30 Rock

I still don't think this show is funny AT ALL. Am I missing something, or is it just childish humor that somehow goes over my head? Not funny, and quite bad actually (sorry Emmys Foundation but you're wrong.)

The Red Hot Chili Peppers

It's not really their fault, it's more so 101.9's issue, but I can't hate the station solely because of Matt Pinfield. If you haven't been exposed to WXRP between 8:00 - 9:00 am on weekdays, I'll have you know that hearing a Chili Peppers song is 110% inevitable, and it's been like this every day for at least the past year. It started off as the principal that pissed me off, but now I've convinced myself to actually hate them. They do this with other bands too (ahem Foo Fighters, no thank you), and they recently began repeating The Black Crowes, and I certainly hope they stop because I don't want to dislike them. I know I could change the station, but it's not really an option when the alternative is Z100 playing Justin Bieber and talking about The Human Caterpillar.

Exhausted Phrases

Fail/Epic Fail/For the Win/WIN! These stupid phrases were funny for a nanosecond. If you still say these things you deserve to die.

Vampire Weekend's "Holiday"

This song was fine until they started repeating the Honda Civic commercial non-stop for the past month on both the TV and radio.

Synergy (Astoria)

Words can't describe how much I hate this gym. There is nothing wrong with the physical equipment, my problems are:
1) The instructors. This doesn't go for all of them, but there are a select few whose machismo is intolerable. Being harassed (sexually and being yelled at in general) are not what I paid for.
2) The chick who does "cardio dance" doesn't actually dance. I moved my feet back and forth a few times but that was it. FOR 45 MINUTES. I burned more calories watching the clock in that class.
3) Most of the time the instructors don't play music. NO MUSIC! How can you conduct an hour-long class and not play music? The only thing silence motivates me to do is want to punch you in the face.
4) The few classes I have experienced that do play music have been Eurotrash techno crap which I presume a majority of the 20-30 year old population of Astoria listens to (unfortunately this demographic includes my upstairs neighbor.) This is the one circumstance where it's actually better to not play any music.

Believe it or not, there were some things I liked, and even greatly enjoyed in 2010, such as:

My Fendi Sunglasses

I don't think I've ever owned a pair of sunglasses that cost more than $10 and not bought from a street vendor until now. Hooray for quality.

Dexter and Mad Men Being late to the game is never a bad thing.

Also, one more show (my favorite of the three?) -

Skins (UK version)

I'm totally obsessed with this show and maddened that my following "like" is not streaming Season 4 yet. And while we're talking about this, doesn't Sid look like Badly Drawn Boy's son?

Netflix

How did I not discover the wonders of Netflix sooner? This has basically changed my life - for the better for me, but for the worse for anyone who actually wants to socialize with me.

Mark Ronson

I knew a handful of songs from his first album, but I heard a lot more upon discovering that we had the NME channel while staying in an apartment in Spain. I went to see him at Webster Hall since and can't stop listening to his latest album. "Bang Bang Bang" and "Glass Mountain Trust"for the win! deserve a listen, or 12.

"Bang Bang Bang"

The Bed Intruder Song

51 million youtube hits, what's not to like?

Light Up Beer Pong
Okay, I don't actually like it that much but I thought I'd post new photos.

I'm sure I'll think of more things that pissed me off this year so stay tuned. Ho ho ho.

Your Love is My Drug

About my Flexible Spending Account: I put way too much money into it this year and now I have to spend it all asap - doctors and prescriptions by 3/31 (I have no need for appointments or drugs before then though) OR over the counter medicines by 12/31 (thanks for changing the law Obama...yes, that was sarcastic.) As a result, I have a few hundred dollars to blow on Gas-X. Seriously though, yesterday I bought Tylenol, Alleve, Mucinex-D, a thermometer, Sleep Aids, blister Band-Aids, and yes, Gas-X. Not to mention my mini spree last month of ThermaFlu, Ibuprofen, and Cortizone (note: I don't need ANY of this medicine right now.) Since pills expire (I just found out about this - apparently I've been taking Tylenol that expired in 6/09, whoops), I'm trying to stock up on a variety but I don't know what else to get now. I think I still have about $100 left and it's use it or lose it, so if you have any good over the counter medicines you think I should invest in please let me know asap!

Does anyone besides me still watch One Tree Hill? May I just say that I love how they revived the opening credits - every week they use a different cover of Gavin McGraw's "I Don't Want To Be" (that was the original theme song.) And when I say different, I mean dance versions, acoustic, sung by guys, girls, etc. (not sure what the etc. option represents but you get it.)

I recently started watching Mad Men (thank you again Netflix) and Pete Campbell is total swoonsville. Also, I had no idea that the actress who plays his wife is also Annie from Community - which must not pay so well being that both she and Joel McHale are on two shows at the same time. Speaking of which, did anyone catch The Soup's 300th episode when they did the montage of all the pop-up people? We also just finished watching Dexter season 4. In conclusion, as much as I love Netflix, it's completely ruined my desire to socialize. At this rate, between everything I have on the DVR and all of the shows I have queued up to watch in my head on NF, I doubt my friends will ever see me again.

Though, I will be be leaving my cave to see Better Than Ezra tonight and I am so freaking excited!! I haven't seen them in about two years and I'm all giddy inside. Also, I won tickets (yes, of course I did) to see Tricky at Brooklyn Bowl last night. It was not at all what I expected. I'm only familiar with his music from the mid-90s which is all trippy, but everything he played last night was a lot harder. That was fine, but he barely even sang - he left the girl to do it all (she was good but I don't get why he didn't rename his group if he wasn't doing anything on stage?) Also, he had about 30 people come out while the band played "Ace of Spades" (yes, THAT "Ace of Spades") and he danced with them and they kind of just bopped up and down and took photos with him. I didn't get it at all. And to top it off, he didn't even play "Christiansands!" I put up with the G train for that, I mean come on.

So yesterday I was trying to send a text with the word "proove" but my phone refused to automatically type the word. After retyping it about 5 times and getting frustrated, I realized that it's actually spelt "prove." I was sober.

I started the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus plan last week. The big life change means that I can now eat fruit, which I NEVER would do, since to me it was a waste of points, and now all fruits are 0 (for those not familiar, you're basically put on a budget regarding food, and they just changed how they calculate these points.) Well, I didn't think I did so great, but it turns out I lost 3.4 lbs. this week. Yay for fruit!

I made butternut squash fries for the first time the other day. The peeling and cutting of the squash was time consuming, and although the fries were delicious, I don't know that they were worth the effort.
Spaghetti squash, which I discovered a few months ago, IS worth the scooping and is a good substitute for pasta, especially if you like bland food. But really, I highly enjoy it with bolognese sauce.

I also just bought a ton of zucchini.

And to top it off, I bought canned pumpkin which is new for me, though I have no idea what to do with it.

All this from a girl that never grew up on squash, who would have seen that transformation coming? (You really know I have nothing to blog about when I go on about squash.)

Current Music: Friendly Fires - Photobooth