While I Was Out, 11-08-11

So, it's been a week already.  Well, a week plus a day...but with the whole "falling back" concept, I'm hoping you missed the fact that I'm late with my weekly wrap up.

So you know that thing where you love a TV show and then for some reason you just stop watching it?  Kind of like how Elizabeth Taylor must've felt about all those husbands?  I hate to say it, but that has happened to me with "Glee."

When this show first came out, I was NUTS about it.  Correction:  BEFORE this show came out, I was nuts about it.  The extended preview made me cry.  "Being a part of something special makes you special, right?"  Oh Rachel Green, how I identified with you. 

And now?  Well the DVR still dutifully records it and hangs on to 5 episodes at a time and so each week, a little piece of musical heaven drops off my watch list like an illiterate kid slipping through the cracks of a public school.

How did this happen, I ask myself?  Well, it was the strangest thing.  At some point in the past year...life showed up on my doorstep.  In full technicolor and with its own glorious soundtrack not featuring the self-indulgently sad tunes of Barry Manilow.  And suddenly I didn't need "Glee" to tell me that all of those days I spent being a little nerdy (read: a LOT) in Show Choir were okay.  Suddenly I knew I was okay.

I credit Yoda (my shrink) with much of the growth, although she would insist that I did all the work.  She's a giver.  And mental health is a glorious thing.

Do I sometimes still get sad?  Absolutely.  One doesn't survive all the loss of the past couple of years without occasionally feeling a little melancholy.  One doesn't grow up being "Ogg the Dog" and "Ogg the Hog" without some bruising.  But on the whole, I'm baaaaa-aaack. 

And being back, safe and secure and confident in your own skin, well shit, that should have it's own show.

And maybe that's what this blog is:  my own show.  Apparently it will take the networks a little longer to get the hint.

So a huge, heartfelt thank you goes out to you-- my viewers (readers).  Your interest in the bizarre thing that has been my life truly sustains me when I'm feeling low.  There are now 584 of you in 9 countries and 40 states.  Italy, the UK, Germany, Vietnam, Norway, Costa Rica, Mexico... and most recently Russia.  It's so amazing to me that people who I don't know... and whose culture is wildly different than mine (assuming they're not all ex-pats) still enjoy my little stories.  Shout out to my peeps!

UPDATE:  598 readers from 10 countries.  G'day, Australia!

So, this week when when I wasn't not watching "Glee," alienating some of you by dogging on "Twilight" and creating a story about Pudge Gazelle and Christopher Phantom, writing a love letter to the Hairy Love of My Life, and being a Marketing Genius and amazing girl friend, I stayed pretty busy.  Here are some things I loved this week:

It's possible I'm becoming a little too ourdoorsy lately, but these are seriously gorgeous photos.

More proof that sometimes "Good morning" just means "good morning."

Even gorillas are better dancers than I am.

Have an extra 10 minutes?  Spend it here.

Hey Buffalo, you make a better door than a window.

So, this is perhaps a bit close for comfort.  How will Ben Affleck save us when he's busy being such a cute Dad?

And finally, if this one isn't appropriate for my life, I don't know what is.

Teaser:  I can feel a new episode of "Adventures in Dating" percolating!

In the meantime, to keep up with everything I do, become a FANdrea by clicking "Join this site."  You'll never miss a blog post and it's way less time-consuming and more legal than stalking (even though I do feel really close to you).