So one of the finer selling points of Los Angeles is the proximity to many, many famous people. I know my friends of the Avril Lavigne contingent wouldn't buy into something so superficial as that, but I hate Avril Lavigne, so who cares what they think?
Seriously, I hate her. I used to think I didn't like Christina Agoraphobia, but it seems my distaste for her was but child's play. Avril Lavigne sends my sanity screaming into the night like a wounded forest creature, I hate her so much. Her stupid name, her stupid music, her "fashion" "sense" (seriously, Avril, Diane Keaton called. She wants Annie Hall back), and most of all her stupid attitude.
All right, it's time to make a confession. I hung with a bunch of social misfits back in high school, and I loved every minute of it. It felt like a different brand of cool to be running with a crowd full of people who shunned all things mainstream and scoffed at anything embraced by the In Crowd. Mostly, this was out of necessity -- sort of a Better Living Through Sour Grapes approach to life -- but it was mostly due to the fact that most of the kids in my social circle had been so burned and put-down and demeaned for years by the popular crowd that they were steeped in resentment and hatred so deeply that their bitterness was palpable. My pals and I dominated the arts department at my high school and made it a very hostile environment for anyone who owned clothing from Abercrombie & Fitch or J Crew.
This is the sort of audience that Avril Lavigne targets with her anti-pop reverse snobbery. I'll admit that it was that same sentiment that got me through high school, but when I hit college I came immediately to realize how hypocritical it was. How could I count myself more genuine or respectable than "Them", when I was pulling the same act of entitled elitism in return? I guess my point is that I grew up, and Avril Lavigne hasn't yet. And for her open scorn and derision of her fellow musicians and their fans, she gets multiple award nominations? Whatever.
Well, that was a somewhat lengthy aside, wasn't it? That wasn't the original point of this entry, believe it or not. I was going to tell you guys about my weekend!
See, last Saturday I decided to go into town and put my Christmas gift certificates to good use. Well, I'm all waiting for the light to change, lost in thought, and then I look up because some dude is standing right next to me. You can be sure I nearly swallowed my tongue in shock when I saw that it was Josh Jackson, who plays Pacey on Dawson's Creek. So I kind of stare for a second, and then look away all quick so I don't look like a big freak, and then turn back because, dude. I'm standing next to Pacey. That's when I started giggling because it was so surreal.
Anyway, the light changes and we push off, and I find myself walking next to him for half a block before I finally manage to shake him and go clothes shopping, as per my original intent (at Old Navy, for what it's worth). Well, I bought some new jeans, which ended up being really bulky in the pelvic region, which is just so very wrong that they need to be returned now, and then I decided to pop into the bookstore before heading home.
So into the bookstore I pop, and as I make for the stairs, I run into someone. I'm all, "Sorry," and I look up into the eyes of...Josh Jackson. Like, stop following me, dude! Anyway, I start giggling again and then I turn and scurry away so he doesn't think I'm actually for real stalking him. I look for books, I leave, and I decide to pop into the Jamba Juice around the corner for a refreshment of the blended fruit variety.
So into Jamba Juice I pop, and who is standing right there in front of me? You probably just guessed Josh Jackson, but you were wrong. It was Erik von Detten, whom nobody has ever heard of despite the fact that in his twenty years of life he has accumulated a resume as long as Robert Downey, Jr.'s rap sheet. I recognized him from his current stint as Contestant Sure to Be Eliminated Any Day Now on ABC's "Celebrity" Mole. So again I start giggling because, hello, "Celebrity" Mole!
Anyway, that was my big run-in with fame this past weekend. I've other close encounters of the weird kind as well, though.
See, Annabelle keeps calling here, despite the fact that she got fired. And what makes it even more bizarre is the fact that she tries to act like it's not her, as if I wouldn't recognize her voice. So she calls and, in this deep, raspy voice, she'll grunt, "Is Joanie there?" And I totally know it's her, but she's obviously trying to keep the situation from being awkward (self-defeating, if you ask me), so I have to pretend I don't. The worst are the times when Joanie isn't there and I have to go back and ask if I can take a message. One time she hung up on me, and another she tried calling back and pretending that this time it was really her and she hadn't just called five seconds before.
I don't know. I'm just trying to make it from day to day out here. Why'd she have to go and make things so Complicated?