Day: November 6, 2015

baubles, babble, bubbles and liquidation

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Another early-to-bed, who-knows-when-to-rise Friday sliding into Saturday. Finally watching the accumulated episodes of season 2 of Fargo. I’m liking it, but every season has its actor who needs more time and training with a dialect coach (this time it’s Jeffrey Donovan and Kirsten Dunst, who are both overdoing it, and last year it was Martin Freeman, at least the first few episodes. For him, there was a better excuse).

The day was full of work and phone calls and annoying things like the engine on my not-old-enough-to-give-out treadmill blowing out, which also tripped the breaker for the entire house. Disappointing, and worthy of complaint.

But there were nice things, even if they weren’t earth shattering. Chains of events that unfolded in a funny way… I saw a recipe that is basically a “nest” of julienned sweet potato hashbrowns into which you break eggs and let them cook, sent it to Mr Firewall (who is obsessed with sweet potatoes), and when he joked that he’d need a bigger pan (paraphrasing Chief Brody, of course) I realized I could use this unused Tesco voucher to get him a new pan. When I signed in on Tesco’s website, I found that I had even more vouchers than I thought. And then was able to double the value with some kind of voucher “boosts” and got 10 GBP off and ended up spending a total of 10 GBP for 60 GBP worth of merchandise).

Topping off the good stuff, I had good news that my intervention/assistance led to someone getting an unexpected job interview. If anything, that turned my day around. Just in time for bed.

Lunchtable TV Talk: You’re the Worst – Don’t Give Up

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Surprised by the first season of You’re the Worst, in which two unpleasant people – but still somehow, sometimes, likable in their vulnerability – fall in love, I looked forward to the second season. It began a few weeks ago, and at first, I was a bit disappointed. There were episodes that seemed to try too hard, in which things were neither funny nor thoughtful. The only thread that seemed to be woven, subtly, through the season was Gretchen’s increasingly irregular behavior. This is revealed to be a downward spiral into clinical depression, and this is where the story came together once again. Oddly, the seemingly disconnected nature of the story to the point that Gretchen’s behavior was explained all led somewhere – but so subtly.

The most recent week’s episode, in which Gretchen starts stalking a couple that looks perfect and idyllic to her from the outside, and insinuates herself into their life, only to discover that she’d bought into an illusion, was sublime. Gretchen is almost manic in her shift from elation at witnessing this couple and connecting with them (she seems to find a naive hope in what she perceives as their happiness) to being visibly crestfallen when the man in the couple (played by an always amazing Justin Kirk) starts confessing – spewing, even – his discontent. The look on Gretchen’s face, expressing this dawning and deepening disappointment, is bewitching in its reality and relatability. As Gretchen and Jimmy leave, Jimmy totally oblivious, rambling in his careless and carefree way, he does not even notice as Gretchen silently falls apart.

It was unbelievably touching in the sense that… well, I think we’ve all been there if we’ve ever found ourselves depressed on any level. And as much as I don’t like Gretchen most of the time, she made me feel for her.