The seven 'g's of grounding

Writing is a very head-intensive process. Meaning that a person stays in her own mind all day every day, to the point that insanity can ensue. Friends of mine in the writing process have had such body and soul-neglective side effects as: constant shivering no matter how warm the room, extreme weight loss, frequent crying, and residual unprecedented lack of lust for life. Remembering what I do about my dear mother's lessons in the mind/body/soul balance, these symptoms are indicative of severe mind-centric imbalance. So, in such fond memory of my incredible mother (whom I miss so much every day) and her new age ways, my aunt (Mom's sister) and I came up with my seven 'g's of grounding: (1) This one you can guess. Go ahead, there are two 'g's...yes, Gilmore Girls. This, the first of the 'g's has to do with turning off the active mind and shifting science to the subconscious via marathons of my favorite pair of saucy ladies and their fight-the-man antics. See, I knew it counted as work. There is so much mental and creative processing that occurs in the subconscious mind. I swear to you that this is true. It was in the New York Times. (2) The next 'g' is a bit of a stretch but it refers to my blog. I call it "gushing." It also includes long emails to friends, phone calls, angry explosions in the car with my sweet and understanding husband, and the venting-sessions in hallways and offices of all of my coworkers. (3) Gardening is an obvious tool for grounding. Sometimes, as I recall, these things are quite literal. So, the square-foot gardening, and eating the cucumbers and tomatoes harvested from my own yard, have been counted as the third 'g.' (4) The gym. You may be noticing a theme, in that I've blogged about all of these 'g's before but I've only recently "grouped" them. Hehe. That's another 'g'. (5) Grooming. Aunt Becky thought of this 'g' for describing the pedicure I got yesterday afternoon as well as the pricey haircuts that I maintain as one of my last pieces of luxury freight to throw overboard when it comes time to pinch pennies. (6) Guacamole. Let me hear you say "Oh, yeah!" Margaritas also count in this category because I consume the two items together. And the seventh 'g' of grounding is (7) Games. This includes facebook wordtwist and scrabulous as well as a crazy set of kids games I found on my new computer called "Purble Place." Don't judge me until you've tried these delightful and brightly colored games. They're harder than they look. Now, I have to say that I feel very proud of Aunt Becky and me for coming up with these things. I really think that Mom would endorse our work. Also, Mom, if you're reading this from wherever you are, notice that we used "seven" things. "Seven" is an important and non-patriarchal number, unlike the evil "ten" utilized by what's-his-name on late night TV (please, as if I'm up at that time of night).

Usually that is fine, but today, sorry lady, I have ennui

Probably it's clear to all of you at this point that I've decided that the Gilmore Girls, and watching them incessantly to the detriment of the rest of my life, are one of life's joys and necessities. Today, the topic is the final episode of season 1 (Love, daisies, and troubadours), right at the beginning when Lorelai comes into the inn to find Michel not answering the phone. This is when he says one of my favorite Michel lines of all time (and that's saying something):

Look, I've made my peace with the fact that everyone who calls here is a notch above brain dead, and that the pennies I am thrown each week are in exchange for me dealing with these people in a nonviolent manner. And usually that is fine, but today, sorry lady, I have ennui.

He defines "ennui" as "existential angst." This is how it's defined by merriam-webster:

Main Entry:en·nui : a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom

Pronunciation:\ˌän-ˈwē\

Function:noun

Etymology:French, from Old French enui annoyance, from enuier to vex, from Late Latin inodiare to make loathsome — more at annoy

Date:1732

I'd prefer that it be referred to as existential angst. I spent the rest of my weekend telling Kevin, whenever asked what was the matter, that I had ennui. It turns out that mine was more like Sookie's, which dispersed as soon as she told a little joke:

Sookie: You look happy.

Lorelai: Oh, well… what's the opposite of ennui?

Sookie: [pauses] Off-ui. [giggles] Oh, hey, I'm cured!

Nick Drake, Liz Phair and the Sugarplastic

So, these are the bands that Dean liked in season 1 of the Gilmore Girls. I downloaded a Sugarplastic album from itunes because I like Liz Phair and Nick Drake and I was thinking that Dean and I have a lot in common (season 1 Dean, of course, not the later stupider Dean). It turns out that it's true, I like the Sugarplastic. So, now, I'm scouring Gilmore Girls episodes for the music that they discuss, particularly in the first season. I am using this website to help me. One exciting thing that I discovered is that I have a lot of this music on my iPod already so I made a Gilmore Girls playlist and bought another three albums, which I had intended to buy already (the White Stripes-White Blood Cells [I only had Elephant], Pavement-Westing [My Slanted and Enchanted tape won't go onto my iPod], and Tom Waits-Real Gone). I'm enjoying myself but am sensing a feeling of impending doom as my husband realizes that, not only am I spending money on music, but that I'm doing it because of the Gilmore Girls. So far, he has not put these things together, talkative as I am. I need more Bjork now, as well as the Breeders, these bands that I enjoyed while I was constantly able to hear them via the radio and other people's parties but now miss because of the passage of time. Also, I need to reinstate music in my life. I listened to my iPod a lot when I was visiting Boston and riding the train but I find that between audiobooks in the car and a ban on iPods in my lab, I'm missing some serious music appreciation in my life. I blasted my iPod from the little portable speakers at my house last night. I think Kevin liked it :) What he liked was that the music was in the kitchen so I cooked.