"It's research, I swear!"

“Welcome to New York’s Upper East Side, where my friends and I live and go to work and play and sleep, sometimes with each other. We all live in huge apartments with our own bedrooms and bathrooms and phone lines. We have unlimited access to money and booze and whatever else we want, and our parents are rarely home, so we have tons of privacy. We’re smart, we’ve inherited classic good looks, we wear fantastic clothes, and we know how to party.”

Alright, let me explain. Yes, this is from the introduction of the pathetically popular series Gossip Girl (no, not the TV show, but the books). And yes, I am reading it. But – it’s research, I swear! It actually is research for my article on fiction for young women, which I have completely missed deadline on.

So far I’m only a few chapters into Gossip Girl, and already it is dripping with all the things I thought it would: privilege, beauty, wealth, jealousy, gossip. It’s basically all round trash! My curiosity is piqued, and while I was planning to only read the first few chapters to get an idea about what is in the market, I think I’ll read it the whole way through. I’m also reading Chrisopher Plummer’s memoir, In Spite of Myself so I’m switching between very low and very high-brow reading. I actually stress the spine of Gossip Girl when reading it on the train, hoping that nobody will see.

Also, who knew Christopher Plummer was the Great-Grandson of Canada’s third prime minister. I’m only a few pages in, and I’ve already learned something remarkably interesting! Seeing Plummer from the second row of the Stratford Festival a few months ago was easily one of the highlights of 2008.

Speaking of 2008, how the heck is it already November? I’m already knee-deep in “Secret Santas,” dinner plans, holiday shopping and even a little bit of decorating. I haven’t filled my apartment with reds and greens (silver and golds) quite yet, but I did stock up on decorations from IKEA this weekend.

And I’m in love with my first etsy purchase! They’re coaster-sized labels with my name on them to include with my holiday baking. Wow, am I ever organized this year!

Last but not least, my iTunes shed some interesting light on my music-listening. A simple click of the mouse rearranged my iTunes list from artists listed in alphabetic order to play count, showing me exactly what songs I’ve listened to the most over the last year or so. Music tells so much about a person, but it’s strange when the mirror is turned on yourself and you realize you’ve listened to quite a number of melancholy songs over and over again. Here are just the first fifteen:

The Park, by Feist (45 plays)
All Fires, by Swan Lake (31 plays)
Tell Me Baby, by Blue Rodeo (29 plays)
Young Folks, by Peter, Bjorn and John (26 plays)
Lover’s Spit (Redux), by Broken Social Scene (24)
So This is Goodbye, by Junior Boys (19)
Via Chicago, by Wilco (19)
We’re Just Friends, by Wilco (19)
Already Gone, by Blue Rodeo (19)
The Crane Wife, by the Decemberists (18)
The Close Western, by the Rest (18)
Memories Like Photographs, by the Rest (18)
She’s A Jar, by Wilco (18)
A Postcard to Nina, by Jens Lekman (17)
Your Ex-Love is Dead, by Stars (17)

Oh, one more thing! Congrats to me on my 300th blog post. I've actually kept this thing up!