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Wendy News
August 17, 1998
Issue #2
And knitting, and knitting....
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In This Week's Issue:

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o Did You Get This?
o This Job
o Swing Dance
o Movie Reviews
o Horoscopes!
o Official Credits
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Did You Get This?
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Hey! You know, I didn't get one piece of e-mail in response to the last newsletter, which left me wondering if you guys got it or what. Can you do me a favor? If you got this newsletter in your e-mail (reading it on the Web doesn't count), can you reply to this? You don't even have to say anything -- just "got it" will do.

It would really give me some relief. Thanks.

P.S. Sorry it took so long to get that last one out. We had some technical difficulties. D'oh.

P.S.S. I really would like to send this newsletter out a little more frequently -- I've been crazy busy this month. Hopefully things will settle down now. Unless I move out of New York. Heh-heh.


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This Job
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I'm so disappointed. This job isn't going to work. I'm going to have to leave.

It's kind of like when you see a dress in a store and it's really cute and you try it on and it looks great and so you buy it. Then you take it home and wear it the first chance you get and you're wearing it happily for awhile until you realize that the hem is crooked and it's sewn only with single stitches and the fabric is cheap. Well, that's kind of how this job turned out.

The position I was hired for disappeared soon after I got here. So I'm doing really tedious work that an intern could be doing. I'm getting paid good money for it, but who cares? I'm not happy. And the company is disorganized and badly run. Almost everyone who works here is unhappy. One guy, on his second day of work here, went out for milk and didn't come back. He called and left a message that he had gotten another job. Now the inside joke when someone's fed up is "I'm about to go out for some milk in another minute." Bad scene.

So here's my dilemma: What do I do next? I've been hunting around for jobs and none of them sound very appealing. Since I'm in the online industry, I could go get a producer or editorial position somewhere else pretty painlessly, but I don't really ENJOY that kind of work. I need to be creative or I go a little nutty. And I just can't accept the fact that I can't find work that I love doing. I had an internship in college and at the end of the semester my supervisor there told me that I might as well get used to the fact that I won't be happy in my job, and that I should find outside interests that make me happy. I thought that was one of the worst things anyone has ever said to me.

I COULD move to Florida. My family is down there and the rent is cheaper. I could get some job, maybe part time, and pursue what I love doing: writing, my comic strips, art. OR I could stay in New York and try to work it out. Everything is here, after all. It's just that I never seem to have TIME here. And it's so darned expensive. I don't know. I'm stumped.

Well, I'll keep you posted.


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Swing Dance
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After hemming and hawing about how I never meet anyone new, I decided to go swing dancing at Lincoln Center. They are having an outdoor "Midsummer Swing" for four weeks. Live bands, free lessons and $10 at the door. Sounds good to me.

When I got there the dance floor was full for the lesson. I squeezed in with the girls (we were facing boys to girls). Frankie Manning, the "Ambassador of the Lindy Hop," was giving the lesson. They had just done a biography on him that morning on Good Morning America. He was 83 and adorable. He looked 60. Amazing. We were taught some steps and then partnered up. As usual I was one of the last girls to get a partner (although I guess it could've been worse -- some girls didn't get a partner at all).

Don't get me wrong, I'm adorable -- I just don't give off that particular vibe that boys seem to sniff out. Most of the time I'm relieved, because I'd hate to be one of those women who is CONSTANTLY getting harassed by strange men. But sometimes it really sucks, like when I'd like to meet that cute boy over there, only he doesn't notice me because that other girl who isn't even that attractive has him entranced with that -- vibe, I guess. Sigh.

But I digress. We practiced and I picked up on it pretty well. We switched partners during practice, which was good for me because I didn't feel like getting stuck with any one person. Besides, it was boiling hot and all the boys were really sweaty. I know it wasn't their fault, but it still grosses me out. I'm not a big fan of sweat. Especially when it's dripping. Ugh. After a dance or two, I was ready to try someone else, even though the next boy would probably be just as sweaty, if not sweatier. Not that I wasn't sweaty. I just wasn't AS sweaty. Not even close.

Okay, okay, but enough about sweat. I got the moves down -- I was triple-stepping, back-stepping, and twirling my way around the dance floor -- when the practice came to an end and they put canned music on while the band set up. The older guys were good about asking women to dance so I went a few rounds with guys who really knew how to dance and who gave me some pointers. One guy kind of hung around (the others would dance one dance, say "thank you" and then go away), so I told him I was going outside to get some air. Again, didn't really want to get stuck with anyone. I hope it doesn't sound snotty, but I just felt like meeting different people, that's all. It's so easy to get comfortable with one person and then you don't meet anyone else.

I went "outside" (there was no real outside since the dance was outdoors) and sat down on the steps in front of the Lincoln Center. I was there for about two minutes when this guy sat down next to me and started talking to me. He was obviously picking up on me. I knew this right away because he was asking me stupid questions like, "So, what do you do for fun in New York?" and because NO ONE ever picks up on me, so when it happens, I know it. Plus he just had a swarthy look about him. And a French accent.

I endured the small talk for a few minutes and then told him I was going back inside (the kicker was that he wasn't even at the dance, just wandering around the OUTSIDE of the dance). He said, "Well, you can keep my number if you want to call me sometime." I quickly did the math and figured that was a good trade -- I'd write down his number and then never call him. That worked for me. He handed me a pen and I wrote it on my hand. Then he found a piece of paper and asked for my number. I quickly considered whether to make up a number, but decided not to, since he probably wouldn't call me anyway.

I got back inside and it was Sweat City. A young guy who I had seen before checking out all the ladies unenthusiastically asked me to dance. He wasn't that good -- he really didn't lead at all. Once he was gone I ran into one of the guys from practice. And that was about the end of my socializing because I spent the rest of the evening with him. It was okay, I guess, but I just couldn't seem to squeeze myself away. So we chatted and danced, and I only got irritated once, when he insisted on dipping me and then it was a lousy dip anyway. I just don't like getting dipped. Especially by someone I don't know. It always feels stupid to me, like kissing the cheek of someone you don't know that well when you're saying hello.

But he was nice enough and he knew a better way to get home than I did -- he lived right around where I did, so we took the bus together. He also took my number but I think he might actually call. I wasn't enamored, but then again, the boys that I do get enamored with always end up being some type of trouble anyway. I took a class on "How to Meet a Mensch" a couple of weeks ago, and the woman who gave the class said something that really stuck with me -- give a guy a chance. Someone who makes your heart pound the first minute you see them isn't necessarily a good choice. Of course I believe this, but I never really follow it. I WANT that person who makes my heart pound the minute I meet them. But I usually can't have them.

Whether this boy will ever make my heart pound is up in the air. But I sure enjoyed the swing.

P.S. I e-mailed my friend who went to the dance but I never ran into. She told me some guy used a line on her at the dance that he had used at another event -- he had walked up to her and said, "Do you speak French?" at a museum a few days ago. Not recognizing her, he said the exact same thing to her outside of the dance. We compared notes and he fit the description of my swarthy guy on the steps. Oh the humanity.


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Movie Reviews
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The Truman Show
Starring Jim Carrey

My only regret in seeing this movie is that I didn't go see it earlier, before the hype started, and before I saw some of the best and most revealing scenes in previews and commercials. I DID catch it before I heard one too many times, "It's the BEST movie -- you HAVE to see it." You hear that too many times and it's bound to not be true. Nothing can live up to that kind of hype.

"Truman" was a really good movie. I enjoyed it. It is not the BEST movie, and you don't HAVE to see it. But I would recommend you do see it. First things first: this is not a comedy. Jim Carrey does not act goofy, make rubbery faces, or participate in bathroom humor. He's actually quite noble in this role, and for those of you who saw the TV movie "Doing Time on Maple Drive" some years ago like I did, you'll already know that the big secret about Jim Carrey is that he is a marvelous dramatic actor.

The movie, I'm sure you know, is about a man who is unwittingly on television 24 hours a day, the star of his own "true to life" show. I'd rather not tell you the workings of it, because it's fun to discover it when you see the movie. You discover it with Truman, actually. And you wait, along with the rest of the world in the movie, to see what he's going to do next.

It's really a very interesting plot, and it also gets you thinking about your OWN life, and exactly how much are you duping yourself into feeling secure in it? The other side effect for most of the people I talked to was the sensation that you might be on camera after you leave the movie. For the next couple of days, I looked around for cameras everywhere. The irony was that in a lot of places I found one, including in the entrance of my doctor's office, hidden behind a mirror. Whoa.

You don't have to rush to see "Truman," but I would at least rent it. It's a good story and it'll make you think. Mm.

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The X-Files Movie
Starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson

If you're a big X-Files fan, you kind of HAVE to see this movie, which I did. It was... interesting. You get to hear Mulder and Scully swear, for one. And there are can't-deny-it romantic undertones between them, too. The story was solid. You get a pretty big piece of the puzzle. Not everyone I would expect to be in the movie was, which was a surprise. And questions I thought would get answered went unaddressed.

The special effects were cool and more than you'd get in an average episode. But in the end, I couldn't help feeling that I had paid eight bucks to see a two-hour episode of The X-Files. Like, there was really nothing earth-shattering in there. Yeah, that's right -- I was disappointed. In my opinion, this one is a renter. That's all.


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Horoscopes
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ARIES: You need time and space for yourself just now. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

TAURUS: Planetary activity indicates major changes in your life. Stop buying cheap shoes -- they give you blisters. The Snoopy Band-Aids are cute, though.

GEMINI: Venus, planet of relationships, is about to change signs, suggesting that someone new is about to enter your life. Hopefully they'll bring munchies.

CANCER: A change of status is in the cards. It's up to you to ensure that it's a change for the better. Ugh. It's so bloody HOT in here.

LEO: You've got more support than you realize right now and it's important that you recognize that your insecurities are unfounded. I've said it before and I'll say it again: You're so money, and you don't even know it.

VIRGO: With finances uppermost in your solar chart this week, you need to keep an eye on the present and the other on the future. Keep your fingers in all those different pies and your thumb... uh. Never mind.

LIBRA: Now is the perfect time to share your fears -- like that one nightmare where you're running in the woods and snakes keep leaping out of the trees and wrapping themselves around your ankles and making your legs heavier so you can't run as fast and monkeys are screeching and jumping onto your back as you run and you feel like you're never going to get out of the forest because all you can see are trees and leaves, but you keep running because SOMETHING is chasing you, you're just not sure what it is, but you know it's dangerous and if you keep running, hopefully it won't catch up with you. Boy that's a scary one.

SCORPIO: Keep in mind that you don't have to like everyone you work with -- you do, however, have to hold back from pinching them really hard and leaving big purple welts on their arms. Sincerely, man, you're gonna have to cut that out.

SAGITTARIUS: Don't worry about what you haven't got. Worry about what you HAVE got -- you know what I'm talking about. You should have that looked at.

CAPRICORN: Trying to force solutions rarely brings good results. Give it time and an answer to your question will surface. Put the Magic 8 Ball down. That's not what I meant.

AQUARIUS: A kind word can go a long way in smoothing ruffled feathers. It might be to your advantage to take some time and work on interpersonal relationships that seem to be suffering. Now take your friend out of that headlock and think about it.

PISCES: Your field of vision has become too narrow. You should accept an invitation you might normally ignore. Remember that opportunities often pop up in the most unlikely places. Toast, on the other hand, always pops up where you expect it to. And then, yum, toast.


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Official Credits!

Editor, Writer, Wondering How it Will End: Wendy Hall

To write to Wendy, send the gal an e-mail at: hall_wendy@hotmail.com -- she'd love to hear from you.

To visit Wendy's website, go to: http://www.oocities.org/soho/studios/1232 -- this long, torturous URL will be changing shortly to www.wendyhall.com. Oh, what heaven it will be!

"Wendy News" is a Girl Planet Production. Copyright 1998, All Rights Reserved. Any stealing, cheating, backstabbing, and duplication without permission from Wendy Hall will result in Girl Planet Productions hunting you down and suing your weasel butt.

Ugh, finally!
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