My Zany Years Spent Working in Tinsel Town
#DailyNugget
Who says if you travel for work during the holidays you can’t be festive?
Look what my hotel did for me…
~ The Nugget
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Blog content copyright 2013, LISA JEY DAVIS a.k.a. Ms. Cheevious.
#DailyMischief
When the holiday earmarking the thankfulness thing is so recent we can still smell the stuffing, and the next one earmarking goodwill toward men is so close you can taste the candy canes, you know it’s THAT time of year. The time when we’re supposed to allow anger, rage and hatred for all of mankind to dissipate in favor of those more gracious expressions, right?
Yes. It is that time.
But just because I plan to be joyful, cheerful and full of good will doesn’t mean I always am. And even if I do exhibit these great qualities or sentiments once every um – day – right? – these acts shouldn’t be confused with any kind of zen-like or mature disposition – PFFF.
I mean, I’m working on it, but god it’s taking a while to get there.
Remember the time I told you how I was sitting stalled on a freeway off-ramp just before this past Thanksgiving, because car number 2 in our little family blew a gasket (or something)? That story may have flown under your radar, because I posted it on my personal website rather than here. I wax PG on that site.
Yep… I had the hood up and steam was rolling from the engine, when some lousy punk-ass kids drove by leaning on the horn, hurling expletives at me for blocking the road. I could have been the bigger person and chuckled at those involved little people who were obviously incapable of understanding the great opportunity for compassion they were missing. But I hurled back an expletive like “F*CK YOU! F*CKING ASSHOLE!” as I chased them thinking I could actually take the whole lazy, good-for-nothing lot of them. I probably could have.
It’s awesome how just when you say something like I’m working on being thankful, or gracious, (or any of those great qualities we sometimes think we wish we had) that’s when every mo-fo situation under the sun comes your way to help you practice those great qualities.
So, now when I find myself in Tucson, with M.C. Nugget (in case you forgot, he’s on location shooting a film and I am his guest), it’s only fitting that the freaking hotel can’t get a single friggin’ thing right…
I have to hold my breath til I turn blue, then slap my own face to stop myself from doing what I REALLY want to do. I have do my ohmmmms of I’m a guest of the film production people…. I’m thankful… I’m gracious… I’m joyful…
But what I really WANT to do is sign up for EIGHT THOUSAND different Yelp accounts and report every misstep by this flippin’ hotel. Because SOMEONE should! They lose mail, they forget to do promised wake-up calls, their gym has dirty mats and equipment, no one knows how the jacuzzis by the pool work, and the maids keep forgetting to do things like put pillow cases on our pillows. (The irony of my complaining about my maids – and how ridiculously privileged that sounds doesn’t escape me).
But you guys…. I won’t do that… I won’t sign up for eight thousand yelp accounts (even though I probably should), because DAMMIT…come hell or high water, I’m getting this holiday cheer thing DOWN.
Let’s do it together. Shall we?
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Blog content copyright 2013, LISA JEY DAVIS a.k.a. Ms. Cheevious.
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Whaaaaaa????
Where’d my Back-to-School season go with all the stupid Old Navy commercials?
Is it too late to pick a cool-ass Halloween costume?
Come onnnnnn… REALLY?
So… do you mean to tell me that in, like, three or four days, we’ll all be cooking over hot stoves, or paying large checks at fancy restaurants, or serving the homeless at the local soup kitchen for that long-anticipated (but ALREADY HERE) day of Thanks????
HOLY EL DIA DE GRACIAS, BATMAN! I’m not ready!
But…. but…. but…. well….
OKAYYYYYY.
I’ll just dive on in.
If you haven’t picked up on this yet, one of the things I absolutely love to do is write. One of my favorite things to write about is what I am truly thankful for. I try to do this over Thanksgiving each year. It’s generally in the form of an email to my closest friends and family. This year I’m doing it here and now for you all, because, well, I think we can all use a good dose of perspective. I hope my perspective helps to improve or solidify yours. Perhaps it will inspire you to share this with others that could benefit from some perspective as well. Nevertheless, it is my gift to us all (myself included).
As I look back on this year, I can summarize it in only one word:
It’s true. I’m sure words like”Scandal,” “Bankruptcy,” “Uprising” among others ring much truer for many of you, and were more expected, but for me, the word is HOPE. And, HOPE, my dears, is a word I choose because it is in stark contrast to the two or three years prior to this. Those years could be summarized for me as some of the darkest, most “interesting” years to say the least. And when I think of the word “interesting,” in this context, I think of “texture”. My life was chock-full-of “texture” between 2008 and late 2010. I could heave a butt-load of “texture”, right about now. I’ve had my fill.
BUT, November of last year (2010) up to now sparked the return of Hope to the canvass of my life. YAYYYYYY!
“Hope” sorta took a vacation during those extremely difficult years just prior. Here’s just some of what went on in what I’ve dubbed as the “ugly skin era” (you’ll see why in a bit) – and this is where the perspective part comes in:
In the spring of 2008, I went through the breakup of a three year relationship. This, I was not entirely devastated over. I loved and truly cherished the man I was with, but I also credited that relationship with the loss of my younger son (and there were many other reasons for the breakup). My son (then barely 12) begged and pleaded to live with his dad when he and my significant other could not get along. I had always promised my son he could live with his dad if he still wanted to at 12, but by 2008 we were in year one of that situation. I finally ended the relationship with that partner, and moved back to Los Angeles from Colorado (where I’d been living an “adventure” for three years). I had hoped my son, who was about to start high school, would gleefully jump back on board and come to live with me again. It was not to be. He’d formed lasting friendships and wanted to ride out his high school years with those friends. I couldn’t blame him. I’d purchased a lovely two bedroom condo in L.A. to accommodate the possibility, but I understood his need to stay settled, but this was devastating. It was a painful sting that still remains (one of life’s little gifts that keeps on giving).
Later that year, due to poor economic conditions, I lost my largest business account (over $250k/year), along with the means to viably support myself, sans that account.
I did what any responsible person would do. I looked for a job. I re-crafted my resume to suite at minimum five hundred different job opportunities, sent it out, along with individualized and personalized letters to each. Out of that period of eighteen months, I had three interviews. Me. The person who prided herself in landing the jobs (plural) of her dreams, whenever she put her mind to it. This time, it was not to be so. I was either over qualified, under-educated or just a bit out of their desired age-range. And in every single case, the same position I was applying for, which was paying pennies on the dollar compared to what I’d earned in decades past, had received hundreds of over qualified, Ivy-League educated applicants. The competition was fierce, and while I muddled through looking for options, I took whatever work I could get.
In early 2008, (just prior to the housing market creating a financial and economic implosion all around us), my mother suffered a major stroke. She struggled to try to reconnect her neural pathways, with limited health insurance, and no long term care coverage.
A little segue here for impact:
My mom was Italian. If you know Italians, you know they love their food. Every spice, consistency, flavor. It’s an art to them. My mom was no exception. She loved to cook, and when we grew up everything mom created in the kitchen was incredible and delicious. Even her “Swiss Steak.”
In December of 2008, before my financial stability took its toll, I flew home for Christmas to cook a lasagna feast for my family. They’d been struggling to keep the family business afloat, the family home up and running, and our mother’s health and wellness up to par. They were exhausted, and they deserved a little treat. That’s where I came in. Our mom came over to the house Christmas day (from the nursing home), and visited with us, while the aroma of garlic and tomatoes filled the air… she smiled even as the hot garlic bread was coming out of the oven. She would NOT enjoy this feast, because she was still unable to swallow after her stroke, and was on a feeding tube.
It was no wonder then, with the next holiday season, she’d had enough. It was just before Thanksgiving. All attempts to integrate swallowing resulted in food in the lungs and recurring bouts with Pneumonia. She was hospitalized with one such bout. After seeing others on her floor receive their Thanksgiving meals of turkey and mashed potatoes, I think mom just hit that breaking point. When the nurse came in to put liquid into her feeding tube, my mother reportedly asked her, “Is this all there is?” (meaning, am I remanded to a feeding tube forever?) When the nurse, said “Yes, honey… for now, it is…” My mom made the decision and informed us all that she was done fighting. She died on December 3rd of that year.
Mom was one of my very best friends. I could call her at any moment, and say something random like “Hey! So… remember that time we were watching that movie and it had the guy and the girl dancing…” I would go on, and my mom would jump right in to try to help me figure out the name of that movie, it’s leading man, or the name of the song he sang. She and I laughed together over the phone, or had those random conversations so regularly, I still find myself wanting to pick up the phone anytime I can’t remember whether Bing Crosby sang “that” song in “The Bells of St. Mary’s.”
I won’t go on and on and boar you with every detail of every loss. I’ve written tributes to both my mother (part 1 and part 2) and my beautiful sister Mimi Sherwood Larimore, who died the following year from a long battle with Ovarian Cancer. She left me as the sister I was closest to… my “connection” to the elders above her in our large family… and she was so much more. The sister that made everyone laugh out loud so that they cried. So much more. But her death (more so than our mom’s, who chose when she would go, and had lived a full, long life) caused that WAKE UP and GET WITH IT realization of what is truly important. What true priorities are – and how precious life is. It created in me that desire and push to reconnect the dots with my older sisters and brothers and form loving lasting bonds with them as well.
So to summarize, here is a snapshot of the two years prior to this recent year of glorious, unadulterated HOPE:
And this, my dear lovely men and women, brings us to this current year of HOPE.
BEAUTIFUL, INCREDIBLE HOPE.
I say hope, and it is true, but the past year was also when I chose to sell my home at a significant loss (that financial fallout is not yet over…). I also discovered I have the BRCA2 Gene Mutation for Breast & Ovarian Cancer, and will undergo aggressive procedures to eradicate my risk of those cancers very soon. Ahhh, hope. The fuel for KINGS & QUEENS.
Why am I telling you all of this? And why on earth am I re-living these moments right here in black and white for all to read just before Thanksginving… The holiday for which we are to reflect on all we are grateful for? One could easily think I am an attention whore – and – well – DUH but this has nothing to do with that. If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably begun to see the bigger purpose. As I said before – I think perspective is important. And many times I myself get consumed with the seeming insurmountable amounts of crap and negative situations that surround us. I want us all to realize that, despite how difficult the circumstances… we humans are resilient. With a little perspective, (and hope) we can change our lives.
Also, it is incomparably cathartic to recount the losses from a place outside of that loss. So pardon me while I go on and on in order to reach catharsis. LOL!
Yet, after reading of All. That. Loss… especially with my uncanny mad-skill for the dramatic, my reasons for hope may seem extremely simplistic, or too practical to you. They are exceptionally real to me, however, and run very deep.
Here are a few of the simple reasons that this past year is dubbed the year of HOPE:
Like an onion, I’ve been peeled and stripped of what I refer to as the outer, ugly skin — you know… that dried up paper thin layer of skin on the outside?
I didn’t think my layers were ugly. My sister and my mom certainly weren’t. They weren’t even part of my skin. It was MY skin. It was ME that changed. That’s what I get for having the intention to always GROW. WHATEVER… I think I’m pretty grown now! But no, I thought my “skin” was pretty great. I wanted to keep that skin and those layers. When I struggled and cried, and had sleepless nights, my psyche was consumed with the longing of “Can’t I just put some fancy cream on that layer, or take a pill, or read a REALLY GREAT self help book and get the same result?” and “Why is so MUCH happening to me, and why does it never seem to let up?” I’m still HERE though. So all that crap can STICK IT. I’m not going anywhere, and it’s not going to bring me down.
But NOW! Well! Though I’m an ONION (ha ha), I am at the freshest, most VIBRANT point. I am renewed. I’ve let go of so much (and there are no surprises or mistakes). I’ve been stripped of things I thought I truly REQUIRED, and yet, I am still here. I am STILL laughing. Sometimes I think, like a mad-woman, I laugh, but still…
I continue to enjoy love (with my man M.C. Nugget, my two sons, my girlfriends, my sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews). Just watch any of my ridiculously silly, but funny videos, or read any of my blogs or ramblings about life and love. I STILL enjoy EVERY single moment. In truly LIVING each moment, and allowing life to teach me what it will, I am either learning, loving, or laughing (sometimes more than one at a time), in each and every situation.
This is the essence of HOPE, my friends. And this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the gift of HOPE. As I’ve just recently been blessed with one of those rare, goose bumpy moments when I relived the THRILL I have in life… of living so close to the beach, of the vibrancy and health and LOVING LIFE attitude in Southern California… of living with such a percocious band of beach lovers all around me… of being able to ride my beach cruiser to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and sip on a cup of joe, and see other people SMILING AGAIN, after struggling through their OWN rugged terrain of recent years. That very second was magical… and I am so thankful.
My perspective may seem like NOTHING compared to some of the trials you or your loved ones have faced in recent years. But regardless, I’m glad you are here.
Have an incredibly full and very warm and happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy each bite. Be sure to bite off more than you can chew! I know I will!
Stay tuned for next week’s post – another episode of MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN MOMENTS. This time I turn a regular ole happy hour into a lesson on Branding. OY. And, I haven’t forgotten to tell you the story of the WHIPPETS and Ms. Cheevious’ friends. One more time: OY.
Love you people!!!
Mmmmmphhhhuuuuhhhh!
xoxo,
Ms. Cheevious
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Blog content copyright 2011, LISA JEY DAVIS a.k.a. Ms. Cheevious
Sometimes, people, you just gotta let yourself laugh… Enjoy the moment – no matter WHAT curve balls the world throws at you.
I am alone and without family today, Christmas Eve. I will be alone when I wake up tomorrow morning on Christmas Day.
And I am thoroughly enjoying it.
You may ask why, when you read this next little bit, but I’ll explain afterward:
When my fourteen year old asked to stay with his dad (two states away) for the holidays, because, hey – he’s a teenager, and all his friends, cool cousins and festivities are there – I was actually fine with it. I gave him the choice — with a minor caveat: He had to put a gift (we were doing gag gifts this year) together and get it in the mail to me, so I would have it and know he was thinking of me on Christmas Day. I figured it was a fair trade off.
Then, when I spoke to his dad yesterday – the day BEFORE Christmas Eve, and he couldn’t “remember” whether they had shipped the package, I knew the chances were pretty good I wouldn’t be receiving anything for Christmas from my teenager. His dad can be such a schlub, and my son – sadly – (and if he doesn’t wise up) is definitely in danger of becoming one too.
So – I know I am Ms. Cheevious. I’m a cool, whimsical, fun-loving person at heart. But that really pissed me off.
My brain swung to every extreme of the pendulum. I could bring the kid back to my home, make him live with me for the rest of his high-school years and tell him “too bad… tough toast… suck it up” when he cries about it…. or, I could simply ignore him… pretend he doesn’t exist… that I don’t have a teenage son… and make him do any and all the work (groveling, begging) to prove he really is my flesh and blood, if he is so inclined… or, I could simply do nothing. Right now I am inclined to do nothing.
You know why? Because today and this weekend, my friends, is all about ME. I don’t have TIME to get upset about someone ELSE’s lack of respect, or selfishness, or responsibility… As I said, right now is all about ME! I can’t be bothered sniveling, worrying – or even expending all that negative time and energy – on something someone else did or did not do! So I adjusted my attitude. I had to remind myself that I had so looked forward to this new adventure of spending the holiday as a SOLO person – something I have never done – and by god, I was NOT going to let anything take my “cool” holiday away from me.
Then I took an inventory of my solo time thus far.
Since Monday when I dropped my guy M.C. Nugget off at the airport to visit his family back east, I have enjoyed: 1) a luscious Thai Massage, 2) a fabulous sushi dinner and drinks with a gal pal, 3) a crazy jaunt to the movie theatre – at a MALLLLLL (right before Christmas) – and none of my friends or family could complain about the crowds or anything, and 4) a quiet dinner at Nuggie’s beach pad with another gal pal, watching movies and commiserating about our future successes as power people in Hollywood.
What more could one ask? HA!
Then, after my friend left last night, I tucked myself into Nuggie’s oh-so-cozy bed, and fell into a sweet slumber. When I woke up this morning at 9:00 AM, I opened my eyes and smiled. It was so peaceful, and I thought about spending the entire day doing only that which pleased ME. Me me me me meeeeeeee!
Then I actually laughed out loud – kinda sinister-like. Heh, heh. What a turn of events, eh? Me – Ms. Cheevious – craving the delights of solitude during a time of year that is DESIGNED for festivity!
Oh – I’ll get mine – don’t you worry – cuz Nuggie’s coming back on Monday – and then it’s New Year’s Eve! But for now, I am content to forget all my troubles and LAUGH, and enjoy every single moment this Holiday has to offer!
Tonight I am at a dinner party with friends, and tomorrow my schedule is jammed with festivities… from a brunch with some Hollywood power-people, to a glass of cheer and gift exchange with my oldest son… and then dinner with a separate group of friends.
So, during this holiday season, and even after one of the toughest years financially known to man, in the history of our country – when most people still get sappy, drippy-eyed, sweet as sugar and sentimental about it – I am consciously setting aside my worries, troubles, etc… to enjoy myself…. DAMMIT!!
And when your family or loved ones say something to hurt you or piss you off – look them square in the face and LAUGH OUT LOUD. Just don’t do it too aggressively. We don’t want violence over the holidays. But laugh like you mean it… like you have something great to laugh about, and to enjoy. They’ll either think you’ve gone a little whacko, or they’ll realize that your positive, happy demeanor cannot be penetrated by their parasitic, negative behavior.
That’ll teach them to screw with your holidays. HA!
So, tune in next time when I’ll tell you all about the Fraggle Rock red carpet event I took my people to. It was star studded, and funnnnn.
Love you people! Mmmmmmphhhuuuhhhhh!!!
xoxo,
Ms. Cheevious
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Blog content copyright 2009, LISA JEY DAVIS a.k.a. Ms. Cheevious
It’s the Holidays kiddies, and I’ve got Holiday Fever!
It’s sad, really. Not because I have the fever, but because I only get like this around the holidays. Nothing else gets me going like this.
Any other time of year, if I am busy at work, that’s what I do, and then I collapse in front of the television or curl up to read a good article or book in order to recuperate. Not so during the holidays.
I can be on my way to the airport, scrambling to catch a flight, and somehow manage to work a run to the drug store in (to shop for that perfect item that will finish off the perfect gift). And it doesn’t frazzle me one bit.
It’s like I have this extra dose of adrenaline or something. Perhaps I should call it Holiday Adrenaline.
Here’s a little peek into my world over the next two days:
Today: Crazy busy with work. Somehow have to manage a run to the hardware store, and wrap some presents. Oh, and I want to go and do the “stairs” in Santa Monica, since I didn’t do pilates this morning.
Tonight – Hellooooo – it’s Thursday. And it’s Thursday Night Football. And the Saints are playing. And they happen to be Fred the Wonder Chicken’s favorite team. So, you know where I’ll be — here at home, watching football – uh huh! Eating Turkey Tacos! YUMMM
Tomorrow – costco run, more work, Pilates at noon, hair appointment at 3PM, then a meeting with the guy who’s providing all the alcohol for my holiday party on Saturday!
Saturday – errands, decorating and set up for my holiday cocktail party.
Saturday night – PAR-TAY!!!
So, there you have it. I won’t be surprised if I manage to add a few dozen other items to that list! It’s pure mayhem I tell ya. Or as FWC might argue, it’s a melee.
Well anyway – I just wanted to check in with you all, because one thing I am NOT able to do when I’m spinning a thousand plates, is muster up the creativity to write a proper blog! At least not this week!
But tune in NEXT week when I promise to serve up a fantastic Holiday DISH.
Have a wonderful, eventful weekend everyone!
Love you people! Mmmmmphhhhuuuuhhhhh!!!!
xoxo,
Ms. Cheevious
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Blog content copyright 2008, LISA JEY DAVIS a.k.a. Ms. Cheevious
