[The West Wing] 1.01 "Pilot"

Sam is cute. (Physically. The only one I think this of so far. Though the young females are mostly v. pretty.)

Eric was all "How can she not know what 'Potus' means?" I did not mention that while I recognized it had to be code (since I knew what show I was watching) I had absolutely no clue. (I actually assumed the whole thing was code.)

CJ is way prettier in the scenes after the press conference. (As opposed to during it.) What up with that?

Leo starts off as someone I hate, but his jackass-ness grows on me. (Obviously the NYT crossword bit helped.)

The [spoiler] girl is Cuddy from House! I knew I recognized her from somewhere.

Oh, and that error about Leo's daughter? Even working casually with someone you don't like, how do you not absorb that kind of information.

The bruncheon with the Christians? Made of win. Huge fan of the President, but the whole thing was made of win.

And I do really appreciate the balance of the show on political issues.

Sidenote: The show moves incredibly fast (and the subtitling as often so different from what people were saying). So for once there probably won't be any talking during the show from the peanut gallery.


P.S. I forgot to mention it when I first wrote this up, but early in this episode a song plays, something about standing out in the rain, and I totally thought it was Bif Naked ("Moment of Weakness" -- also heard in BtVS 4.03 "The Harsh Light of Day" -- which prompted my purchasing of Bif Naked CDs, in fact), but Eric thought Gwen Stefani/No Doubt. I was right.

"I don't need no one to tell me about heaven"

Eric says he's probably coming on Saturday. (His dad's birthday thing is still up in the air, but it's looking like this weekend won't be a good weekend.) He says he's probably coming around 4 'cause that's when Cailin and Alyssa and Nicole (i.e., all the attendees we mutually know from work) are expecting to arrive.

me: "What, 'cause the rest of my friends scare you?"
him: "Basically, yeah."

He asked if my family was gonna be there and was bummed that my brother wasn't gonna be there, 'cause he's heard about him and would like to meet him. I barely talk about my brother (to the point where during this conversation I said something about how we're very different -- in response to a comment about a male version of me -- he expressed surprise) so this struck me as very strange, but whatever; I was actually afraid when he asked that he was gonna be all "Oh that would be so awkward being at a party with your parents; now I don't wanna come."

Edit: The boy continues to impress me. Somehow "I think therefore I am" came up this morning while we were chatting, and I learned that he took a Philosophy class in college. (Something I kinda wish I had done, actually. But of course there are tons of classes I would have liked to have had the time to take.) And after lunch I e-mailed saying where I recognized the girl in The West Wing from and Eric (who has nothing to do this afternoon -- all his profs are in meetings or whatever) wrote me back this page long e-mail about the kind of shows he can't get into (of which House is absolutely one), which is actually a topic we've been discussing intermittently for some time now.

"the man behind the counter looks like he's got a half a dozen places he'd rather be"

Eric, to me (upon seeing my jacket on the back of my chair): "I love that you're rocking the 80's jean jacket, with the unicorn patch."  He said it seemed very not me, but then conceded that he doesn't really know me outside of work.  [We have in fact almost never interacted outside of work.]

Later he borrowed my computer and was surprised by my desktop image.  "It's a gay teddy bear," I said; "How is it not me?"  He said he didn't think of me as a cutesie girl, which is absolutely true.  (Though I do still have my Sears Winnie the Pooh that was an early first birthday present.)

Cailin came by just then and was all "It just has a rainbow; it isn't necessarily gay," and I explained that it is the gay bear from Vermont Teddy Bear company, conceding that rainbows don't necessarily mean something's gay (which is actually something I argue in other venues, but I was uncomfortable here because here I wanted it to signify gay).  Not that she's homophobic at all, but it seemed very clear to me that she was reading me as straight and the gay bear as thus incongruous, and I really badly wanted to come out right then but I couldn't come up with a way to say it.  (I am uber-coward, plus I was calling it a gay bear -- I realized later I should have said Pride bear -- and I don't at all want to identify as "gay" because that elides the liking-males part like whoa, so I think my brain got stuck.  Oy.  I so fail.)

Eric had come up to our floor helping Alyssa carry a batch of photocopying back to her desk, but no one was around so he ended up sticking around chatting with us (Alyssa, me, Cailin, Mary Alice).  He was talking politics with Mary Alice for a while which of course made me uncomfortable (in part because I haven't been keeping abreast of stuff enough to argue any side) but then she went home (she leaves at 4) and he and I kept talking and it was substantive comfortable conversation -- y'know, like one has with real people.  At one he mentioned how now that he's taking his pills (his phrase) again he actually has an attention span.  I'm a big fan.

***

Today I:
+ bought Astonishing #17
+ almost forgot to obtain parking permits but thankfully it's on my way home, so those got obtained
+ bought groceries
+ did laundry
++ (during the wash cycle: bought more groceries, during the dry cycle: read more of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- not a fan, btw)
+ [in progress] ate something resembling dinner
+ [next on the agenda] watched CSI

Also on the agenda:
+ do the dishes
+ order boots from Payless

CSI 7.01 "Built to Kill"

Wtf, CSI, wtf?

Also: I set it up to tape in case I didn't have time to watch it, and I think it thought it was taping, but afterward I rewound to see the two brief segments I missed, and it's just static.  The owner's manual says, "During recording, you can watch only currently being recorded TV program or DVD playback," so since I was watching what I was taping I don't understand what happened.  ::is frustrated::

Oh, and OriginalRoomie+family say the free production of Hamlet at Wellesley is so not worth going to.  FYI.

(getting closer)

Roomie's family did the dishes again, so I took the time to tidy my room.  Looks much more presentable now.  Decided to start decorating my door (finally).  The dynamic is so different now that I'm not living in a dorm (and also just not in school).  And there should definitely be some stuff on/around my desk instead of just on my door and dresser, but my desk is still currently a mess, so that's not really feasible.  I still need to get a white-board and picture hooks.  Sigh.