Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

I ran across this article on cnn.com, and I had to share. Let's just say I have done (or am about to do) five items in the "DO NOT DO" list. Go me! How many have you racked up?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/29/tf.new.years.resolutions/index.html

Monday, December 13, 2010

What Would She Say

What were you like as a 10 year old? I was bossy—no big surprise. Being an only child meant that I had a certain belief that my opinions would be listened to and weighed with the gravity appropriate for the wisdom expressed. That people frequently noted that I was an adult stuffed into a child's body should not be a surprise either. When friends disappointed me, I would stand with my hands on my hips, shake my head and say things like, "I just don't know what I'm going to do with you."

I bet you can picture it.

I was shy, observant and occasionally fanciful (as the photos of me wearing pink curtains I had fashioned into a gown and cape would attest). I wanted to be a doctor, a spy, a detective and a writer—and all at once.

I still do.

At no point did 10 year old Kate think that she would take a temporary job that would last 16 years—and outlast her interest by a good 14. Passively allowing her ideas to be dismissed? No, I don't think so. 10Kate would never have put up with that. Why would she stay in that situation? Why would anyone?

Perhaps before making decisions, the 10 year old filter should always be applied.

Picture the 10 year old you—maybe you were already developing, maybe those things were still down the road. Pubic hair appearing equaled adulthood. Now tell her that she'll feel inordinate pressure the rest of her life to remove it. Oh, and imagine the shock when you tell 10 year old you that the removal will involve hot wax and someone forcibly ripping it at the roots…. and that she will pay someone to do this often.

Now breasts were power. You had already worked that out if you had siblings or older friends. I'm not sure how the knife and saline implants would have gone over, but I'm guessing it would have elicited some sort of response like, "weird."

Explain to 10 year old you why you got that thing pierced. No seriously. Go ahead.

Look 10 year old you in the eye and explain to her that she will be spending her married life with a man who will not respect her, will cheat on her, will give her STDs and will run off with his girlfriend to Mexico while using her credit cards to expense the trip—while her house is in foreclosure because he lied about paying the mortgage. And he won't understand why she will not be happy for him.

Look 10 year old you in the eye and explain that she will give up what she most wants in life in order to make a partner happy—only to be emotionally abused to the point of paralysis and end up alone anyway.

I bet the 10 year old you would love the idea of you sneaking into a party to meet David Tennant (though, she's unlikely to know who he is yet).

I bet she'd be dismayed to learn that she'll spend her adulthood in love with one man, but marry someone else anyway.

I'm not sure I'd try to explain anal bleaching.


 

Monday, December 06, 2010

Life Unexpected Event

I bring you this most important charity/fun-filled event announcement. :)

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IBG Welcomes "Life Unexpected"

IBG Inc looks forward to fun and informative Conversation With 'Life Unexpected' event this weekend in Los Angeles!

Can you believe it's less than a week away?? December 11th 2010 will mark the second official Conversation Series event for Los Angeles based non-profit organization, IBG Inc. Joining forces with series creator Liz Tigelaar and stars Shiri Appleby and Kristoffer Polaha, IBG is proud to present their "Conversation with Life Unexpected", returning to the Roxbury Auditorium in Beverly Hills.

The afternoon is designed to be an intimate and conversational gathering, with one portion of the hour-long Q&A moderated by E! Online's own Megan Masters, and one portion open floor discussion, taking questions directly from those in attendance. There are still a few tickets available on IBG's website: http://www.ibginc.org/conversationseries and there is also an option for those who cannot get out to Los Angeles this week but still want to be a part of the event in spirit. Proceeds from all tiers of tickets will benefit Portland's Boys and Girls Aid.

IBG will also be filming the event for sale of a DVD, which is already available to pre-order on the website. Proceeds from the sale of the DVD will benefit Portland's Boys and Girls Aid, as well.

In donating the proceeds of the Conversation Series event to Boys and Girls Aid, IBG Inc is proud to join Give Me My Remote.com's previously announced efforts to shed light on, and encourage donations, to this very worthy cause.

Boys & Girls Aid is the oldest child welfare agency in the state. The agency has been working to impact the lives of children in need by providing safe housing, positive relationships with caring adults, and tools to learn and grow since 1885. In addition to foster care, the agency provides adoption services and temporary safe housing for youth in need. For more information, please visit boysandgirlsaid.org.

The “A Conversation With” series is designed to bring together fans and some of the most successful producers, directors, writers, and actors working today. The exclusive hour-long event will consist of both moderated discussion and open-floor questions in an intimate setting. Fans of 'Life Unexpected', and industry up-and-comers in general, won't want to miss what is sure to be an open and honest dialogue about working within Hollywood from both the writer/producer and actor perspective!


Prior to creating 'Life Unexpected', Liz Tigelaar was a writer and producer on a number of other series for TV and the web. She got her start working on 'Dawson's Creek' and began to climb her way up the Hollywood ladder in the writer's room with shows like 'American Dreams' and 'What About Brian'. More recently she has served as writer/producer on 'Brothers & Sisters' and last year's reboot of 'Melrose Place', also for The CW. She is also a young adult author.

Shiri Appleby stars as the beautiful and talented Cate Cassidy, a popular Portland, Oregon radio personality who is reunited with the 15-year-old daughter (Britt Robertson) she gave up for adoption back in high school, in The CW's drama ‘Life Unexpected’. Appleby is best known for her portrayal of Liz, a teenager who falls in love with an alien on the television series ‘Roswell’. Her additional television credits include ‘Six Degrees’ and the final season of ‘ER.’ Her film credits include ‘Swimfan’, ‘Undertow’, ‘Havoc’, and ‘Charlie Wilson's War,’ directed by Mike Nichols. Appleby splits her time between Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the filming of ‘Life Unexpected’. You can follow her on Twitter: @shiriappleby

Kristoffer Polaha stars as Nate "Baze" Bazile, a charming bachelor whose carefree world is turned upside down when the 15-year-old daughter (Britt Robertson) he never knew existed shows up on his doorstep, in ‘Life Unexpected’. Born in Reno, Nevada, Polaha is the fourth son of four boys belonging to Jerome and Esther Polaha. While studying at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, he received rave reviews in the New York Times for his role as John Brown in Eugene O'Neill's ‘Bread and Butter’. His television credits include a role as John F. Kennedy, Jr. in the TBS movie ‘America's Prince’. He has also starred on the series ‘North Shore’ and ‘Miss Guided’ and guest starred on ‘Mad Men’, ‘Bones’, ‘House’ and ‘CSI: Miami’, among others. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children. Though he is not on Twitter, you can become a fan of his on Facebook!

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Founded in late 2008, IBG Inc (http://www.ibginc.org) established a non-profit focusing on utilizing the power of philanthropy through the arts to benefit a broad range of charities worldwide. We act as a “fundraiser facilitator” for micro and start-up charities that would otherwise struggle with the logistics and costs associated with event fundraising. This work has taken on a critical importance as the economy has been slow to recover, and we find ourselves with increasingly frequent requests for assistance.




More information can be found online at http://www.ibginc.org/conversationseries

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Making My Mark

It isn't unusual for me, at this time of year, to look back and take stock of my life. Naturally, work is a huge part of this reflection. Have I made a mark? Am I valuable? Can I continue doing what I'm doing without slitting my wrists? You know--the basic questions everyone asks.

I won't lie. This year has been a difficult year. My work assignments have been doubled for no other reason than I didn't have "enough boxes" under my name in the organizational chart. Way to devalue everything I've done for the last 12 years!

But hey, everyone has bumps in the road, and it didn't stop me from smiling when I got the invitation to the company's annual Christmas party. It was lovely.

Until I read it.

My name was wrong—my first name.

I've been at the company 16 years, 12 of which have been spent in my current office. I've made such an impression that "Kate" and "Kevin" are interchangeable. I can't even blame autocorrect. The invitations were hand-written.

Now, I'm sure there are a million good reasons for this—1) someone new to the office had the task, 2) the person above me on the list might have been Kevin, and the writer just lost their place, or 3) person addressing was distracted by someone named Kevin. We've all made these mistakes. It's not tragic. But it did make me laugh, and I will use this as a constant argument with people who tell me that I'm not nearing total invisibility in Los Angeles.

I wonder if Kevin has been added to payroll. Will he get a bonus? Because I could use some extra cash.

Kate, Making My Mark in LA