lixlove

Funemployment Pros and Cons

lixlove — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:00:27 +0000

Leaving my career and relocating to Tampa was marked the beginning of a significant life change (workopause?). I’m sure that it is significant in size but it may be too soon to tell if it is significant in meaning. Read more…

Funemployment Status Update

lixlove — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:51 +0000

On most days, I feel like I barely accomplish the mere basics. However, looking back over the past 4 months quite a bit of shit went down. Continue…

Movie Audience Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

lixlove — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:00:51 +0000

Last week Nate and I went to our local movie theater to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. As we searched for seats we noticed that we were the youngest people in the audience by about 35 years. I was also the blackest person in the audience by about 100-fold but that is an unfortunate reality I’ve come to accept in Tampa (maybe everyone else went opening week). We settled into our seats between two sets of seniors.

Tinker Tailor is about British intelligence agents seeking out a mole during the cold war. The movie opens with John Hurt giving an agent detailed and specific instructions for an operation. The agent is soon at an undercover meeting with a Hungarian spy. Between the details of the operation, real names that sound like code names, code names that sound like real names, and subtitles, I said to myself, “Alix, you’re going to have to pay close attention to this movie or you will be lost in about 5 minutes.” I sat up in my seat and focused intently on Gary Oldman.

Shortly thereafter, the couple next to me started to speak to each other. The wife was confused by the plot. The husband tried to help but he was equally lost.

Who’s that?

Huh?

What’s he doing there?

Who?

Is that happening now or before?

Now! It’s now!

They had the courtesy to use a “whisper-like” inflection but were still speaking loud enough for everyone around them to experience their conversation. Kind of like walking though an intersection but pumping your arms in a running-like motion to signal to the waiting cars that you have the courtesy to hurry but you are still going to walk at normal speed.

The talk-whispers continued as we moved further into Gary Oldman’s mole hunt. Tinker Tailor is a movie that is quietly intense and intensely quiet. The score is quiet and understated. The dialogue is rich with details when there is dialogue. Otherwise, the film is filled with intense stares, glares and glances. Oldman stares suspiciously over his shoulder. Colin Firth glances furtively across the room to Toby Jones. Toby Jones crooks an inquisitive eyebrow towards Ciaran Hinds. (Poor Ciaran Hinds only has about four lines in the movie, but his annoyed frowns are the best.) Hinds frowns at Oldman. Oldman frowns disapprovingly at Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch glares at Tom Hardy. Hardy stares longingly at his Russian lover. She stares back at him with sad desperation. You get the idea. These looks stand in place of dialogue that turns out to be unnecessary with top-rate, quirky-looking actors. Characters are never greeted with words. They just look at each other and sigh.

This is a great movie and it didn’t end up being too difficult to follow on its own, but the chatter next to me was distracting and beginning to piss me off. In addition to an endless tide of pointless questions (what’s that on her face? Who? Her face? What? I think it’s a mole.) the husband spent a good 10 minutes trying to moisten his mouth. Any saliva-related noises make me nauseous. I wished my friend B. was there. She would not have hesitated to tell them to shut their pie-holes before the end of the opening credits. The couple couldn’t see my own disapproving glares in the dark. I missed my chance to be diplomatic and my frustration was boiling over into anger. I signaled to Nate that we needed to change seats. After relocating we soon learned that the couple next to us was also engaged in Mystery Medicare Theater 3000.

It’s official. Old white people have replaced black people as the most annoying people in movie theaters. Or maybe independent international movies are to baby boomers what Tyler Perry movies are to (some) black people – a community experience meant to be shared and overshared with your compatriots. I recommend seeing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I highly recommend seeing it after 10:00 PM.

Dear 2011: Suck it!

lixlove — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:00:26 +0000

Dearest 2011: There were many times in the past year where I longed for your demise. You brought me more tears and anxiety-fueled depression than any year prior. The record was previously held by 1991 – my freshmen year of high school. Congratulations, you sloppy whore. Read more…

The Remains of the Day

lixlove — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Faced with another hour of tossing and turning, at 2:30 am I grabbed two pillows and tiptoed downstairs for a rendezvous with the best of late night cable television programming. Praise be to House Hunters and Mystery Diagnosis. After passing out at 7:00, I woke at noon with an annoyed and disappointed feeling in my stomach – I’ve wasted half the day. Read more…

DC Alix v. Tampa Alix

lixlove — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:43:38 +0000

I’ve always been interested in identity. How you see yourself v. how other people see you. Who are you? Are we one, the other, or a constant mix of both? Does it even matter?

Why I Quit My Job

lixlove — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:50:42 +0000

This post shouldn’t exist. I don’t know exactly why I quit my job. I’m able to give you reasons and answers and excuses about why I wanted to (then needed to) leave my job, but it still doesn’t make sense to me, fully. Regardless, here are the three main reasons I bolted from a good paying job in a growing industry without a new job or a clue about my future. Read more…

My Mantra

lixlove — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:00:01 +0000

In October, I shared my mantra for creating your own rules to find happiness in your life. Looking back, they seem a bit cliched but it was what I was feeling at the time. Read on…

Write Your Own Script

lixlove — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:09:35 +0000

About 8 years ago I was confiding in a friend about my strong desire to leave Tampa and move to DC. While I wanted to work for a health policy think tank and move out of my mother’s house, I mostly wanted to change my life and fulfill a lifelong dream: to live in a city. Read more…

The DC Files

lixlove — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:20:04 +0000

After 7 years and 8 months of living in DC, I am moving back to Tampa, Florida. I am not thrilled to be returning to Tampa. I left then to start my life. A life that was more reflected who I felt I was at the core: someone who needed what a northeastern city offered. DC provided much of what I sought at the time: people that were educated and international, houses with wood floors and historical character, streets lined with old trees, public transportation, posh bars and lounges with well dressed people, and a varied stream of activities to fill one’s calendar.

My time in DC allowed the person I felt I was at the core to grow to reach the surface a bit. In general, I found the right people, places and activities, and ignored the wrong ones. DC served as the setting for my late 20s and early 30s and the associated flux in friends, boyfriends, social circles, career satisfaction, hobbies, ambitious life plans, and waist circumference.

Aside from my wonderfully loyal and surprisingly supportive friends, I will miss living in Adams Morgan most of all. My next few posts will summarize what I will and will not miss about DC, and why I’m leaving. For now I’ll say that while it is incredibly sad to leave, and I’m fearful for who I may and may not become in Tampa, it was not a hard decision to make. More to follow!