In French, the way to say “I’m bored” is “je m’ennuie,” or, literally, “I bore myself.”

Think about it, yo.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

This is the song Matt and I sang at the Christmas party (photos to come when they’re uploaded to Facebook) . . . Helena taught me how to play it on guitar and we thought we’d show off our mad skillz. Unfortunately, my lack of guitar know-how and our combined love for fast songs caused this song to go from a nice 100ish BPM to about 140. That was our bad. By the end, I have to strum half-time because I can’t play fast enough.

At any rate, hope you’re all having a good break or back-to-work time – it’s warm here in central Ohio and I’m getting lots of driving and Nintendo time (I’m a force to be reckoned with when it comes to Wii Bowling and my Wii age is 33) but it’ll be nice to get back to the city so nice they named it twice.

If you’re a movie buff, we need to trade top ten lists for this year and debate choices – I’ve got Juno as my top pick and Sweeney Todd/Across the Universe rounding out the bottom five.

So unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few days, you’ve heard that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. My friend Kate texted me Tuesday night to let me know (essentially right after it was posted) and I called Andy to tell him – that particular piece of gossip was too good to pass up . . . it was a very convoluted emergency phone tree.

My initial reaction was “bwahahaahhahahahahahahahafsdjiojdsoijdf – can’t breathe – aodijfpodijd hahahah”.

But now that I see the way the media’s been covering it, I’ve been sort of disgusted at everyone’s general consensus, especially when you compare it to how single moms have been portrayed in the media as of late.

I saw Juno a couple weeks ago and loved it – it’s the story of a high school junior who was with the wrong guy at the wrong time and ends up pregnant. She tells her parents and although they’re surprised and disappointed in her for being irresponsible, they support her; the first thing her mom says is that they’ve got to get her prenatal vitamins, not an accusatory “HOW COULD YOU?!” or some variant. Ellen Page does a phenomenal job of being a girl who’s out of place and can’t figure out how she’ll manage maintaining normalcy being a social outcast who will be having a child in the not-so-distant future.

The movie’s been nominated for Golden Globes and will probably pick up a couple of Oscar nods, and rightfully so; it takes a socially taboo concept and turns it in such a way that the protagonist is more of a relatable heroine than a heinous pariah.

Now we’ve got the real-life case of a high school junior who . . . gets friendly . . . with her boyfriend of two years and ends up pregnant. She tells her parents, and they go to a magazine to set the record straight and quash rumors before they spin out of control. And I’m surprised that Perez Hilton hasn’t Photoshopped a scarlet A onto Jamie Lynn’s Juicy Couture jumpsuit based on the way the media’s spun this particular fairy tale.

I’m not going to make judgments on whether or not teen pregnancy is morally right or wrong – it is what it is – but it’s funny that people are so up in arms about of this girl who’s having a baby out of wedlock (as about 50% of children today, say census records) and has spoken of her firm intentions to raise her child in Louisiana (away from the paparazzi, Les Deux and Lindsay Lohan) so that the baby will have a somewhat normal life.

Teen pregnancy is a real issue, and maybe this’ll be an opportunity to take an objective look at how the whole issue is handled, stop pointing fingers (mainly on the media, which is apparently glamorizing young pregnancy – I beg to differ) and find out how to better educate kids on the matter.

J-Lynn has a huge opportunity ahead of her, and I hope she uses it to her advantage; maybe she’s looking to be a different teenager than the other Hollywood pop tarts who slug down vodka shots and end up with washed up careers at the age of 22.

I don’t want to say that she’s an angel or a heroine, but I’d hardly call her Hester.

Edit: to those of you who think Juno wasn’t necessarily with the wrong guy, I ‘spose I think she was ill equipped to handle the situation, as she put it, and being with your best friend who isn’t your boyfriend at the time would make him “the wrong guy”, in my opinion. Let’s duke it out. I’ve seen it twice now and feel ready to debate.

Also, who’s Hester? Here, goofballs.

I got a call at 8ish this morning from a number in Ohio that I didn’t recognize, so I let it go to voicemail and listened to the message on my way to work.

Here’s the deal. According to my ancient (before-she-worked-at-Xanga) Xanga site, I have been receiving calls intended for Steve since 2003. Steve may not be a popular guy, but his activities are certainly varied – he was at fault in a car accident in late 2004, so the guys at Progressive got to know me pretty well. Steve also got an invitation from his friend Jim to hang out and play hockey, and today, a guy at the bakery wanted to know if he was going to come into work on time or not.

Steve’s calls are usually pretty spread out, so it’s not worth complaining to Verizon, but I want to know how you could go four years occasionally giving people the wrong phone number – especially the insurance company!

What’s the best course of action for this? Keep in mind that my voicemail message very clearly states, “Iiiiiiiiiiiit’s Natalia. Leave a message,” and my pronunciation does not really leave any room for ambiguity as to whether I may have mistakenly said “Steve” instead.

I keep waiting to get a call saying, “Hey, it’s Steve . . . have there been any calls for me?”

I met Amy Sedaris at a Chelsea craft fair over the weekend (where I bought [something] for my sister and [something else] for the DDs) and she was incredibly nice. I always get nervous right before I meet famous people and was hoping I wouldn’t say something stupid (see Paris Hilton, last August when I just stammered because I got starstruck), but she was a delight. So yay for that.

I’ve been slacking on the FQs, so think of this as the Time Life collection of responses.

What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Last year, they were to take a picture every day, to keep a journal that wasn’t online and to avoid being a disaster. I’m not sure any of those were actually achieved.

This year, I want to volunteer more often, learn how to cook *something* so I’m not eating bagels every night (but I like them!) and to learn at least 100 words in Portuguese – the more obscure, the better.

Do you like or dislike speaking in public?
Depends – if I have to talk about the Kyoto Protocol or something else I don’t really know very well, then I’d rather not. If I’m talking about pop culture or how I feel about downloading music, bring it on and give me a strict time limit, ’cause I’ll go on for a while.

What is one thing about you that most people probably don’t know?
I change my away message at least ten times a day even if I haven’t left my computer. I get so tired of looking at the same thing . . .

Has our generation become increasingly picky as to who we date or marry?
This one is particularly interesting because the responses have been so different. Half the group says “yes, obviously” and other half says “no, what a stupid question” without much in between. I think that in general, we’ve been more interested in getting into and out of relationships quickly without regard for much else.

That said, I’m extremely laid-back and hate making decisions, but I’m the pickiest person I know when it comes to this sort of thing. My ideal guy is geeky but not in a pocket protector kind of way – he should be witty and brilliant, and each of us should also know a great deal about a subject the other doesn’t know anything about so we can teach each other.

Ten things Ideal Guy should be able to do…
-know the difference between “you’re” and “your” and correct grammar under his breath just loudly enough that I can hear it
-have some sort of special talent that he won’t tell me about right away
-be able to read/play music and debate whether or not key changes and triplets would improve any particular song
-know that I love kazoos and record scratches in my songs and try to perform or find music that includes both
-be appropriately behaved at family functions (read: my mom should love him) and not be afraid of my dog back home
-be able to name all of my siblings without messing them up. Bonus points for middle names.
-speak another language and choose a day where we go out in public without speaking English
-appreciate my love for both high and low culture (read: not mind that I watch weirdo documentaries and High School Musical ad nauseum)
-be able to cook and not mind that I don’t like to at all
-be aware that I get sweaty palms all the time but pretend not to notice.

The BFFs fit these, but polygamy is generally frowned upon in this country

So, no, I wouldn’t say I’m too picky. Wait, why is it that some of the kids I graduated with are already married and I’m not? [shrug]

ARGH! I had a whole post written, forgot that I wasn’t logged in and when I submitted it, the post was gone. Au revoir, entry 1.0.

Sooooo Czech Dream, probably the best documentary that I saw this year, finally came out on DVD yesterday after a year and change of being in limbo. It’s a senior project by two Czech film students who create a massive ad campaign for a hypermarket (think Wal-Mart meets Costco in an enclosed strip mall – there’s really no US equivalent) that didn’t actually exist. They create posters, radio spots, commercials, inserts for newspapers and an ear-grabber of a theme song . . . and on the day that the “store” opens in an open meadow, you find out if anyone actually shows up to the opening. It’s poignant without being preachy, and you can see how easily people are affected by advertising.

I saw the movie in May (at the annual film fest held where I went to college) and the last time I saw it, I thought – and talked ad nauseum – about post-Communist spending mentality, the devaluation of currency and how American tendencies have infiltrated other nations’ habits, too . . . but this time, I thought more about morality in advertising, dishonesty, what’s kosher and what’s not and whether or not I should be furious. Beyond fascinating.

So, in conclusion, Netflix it, go to Blockbuster, something! Just see it. I promise you won’t mind spending an hour and a half with these guys.

At the top of the box, though, it said “Morgan Spurlock presents…” as in the Supersize Me! guy. What he has to do with this project (except, maybe for funding) is beyond me. Get out of my Czech documentary! NOW.

FQ was about what your wishlist included. I have no idea what I want . . . except maybe a six-passenger private jet that makes express flights from NYC to Columbus whenever I want (gift-wrapped, please – I like blue and orange color-wise).