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My life may not be exciting. In fact, for the most part, it isn’t. Hence, weeks of no blog posts. I mean, I did close a rather exciting deal last week. First and second lien secured credit facility worth $2.05 billion. The second lien facility was particularly interesting, as it contained a PIK-toggle feature that allows the borrower to elect to pay interest in kind during various interest periods.

What, that’s not interesting to you? You don’t want me to explain more about PIK-toggle? It’s a developing trend in leveraged financings.

Ok, fine. I’ll instead have to live vicariously through the lives of my friends, who have more flair than I. Take Aurelia, for instance. She’s moved back to LA, where the celebrities aren’t as well behaved as those here in the city. Here’s her story, which arrived in my inbox with the title “Matthew Perry is an [body part, comparisons to which are generally considered unflattering]!”

So I went to the movies tonight (to see that movie The Invisible). I was there with my friend, Brandy, and there were only 2 other people in the theater. The lights darkened, and 2 figures came in and of course decided that of all the empty seats, in all the theater, they would sit in the row directly in front of me. The profile of one of the guys, who was the only one I really got a look at, looked really familiar to me. I kept thinking it was Kevin Pollack (though I didn’t remember his name then, only recognized his face). Anyway, clearly in an attempt to convince the rest of us that he and his friend were not gay, they had to do the customary “sit with one empty seat between them” move. (Seriously. Why do guys do that?? Idiots.). The two of them then proceeded to speak loudly throughout the beginning of the film, making jokes about the film and laughing out loud (at nowhere appropriate moments), which of course is exacerbated by the fact that the movie’s music was loud (albeit good) and they had to shout more loudly in order to be heard across the vastness of the empty seat between them. Anyway, apparently failing to realize that the rest of us were not interested in their running commentary, the next time I heard one of them speak sopra voce (it was He Would Later Be Recognized As Matthew Perry), I promptly cut him off and yelled at him to “Shut. Up.”, in a deeper, rather pronounced growl. Hilarious. One, because Matthew promptly shut his trap. And two, as what later became evident, I had told Matthew “Friends loser and diet pill addict” Perry to shut his trap.

When the movie ended, I got a chance to see Kevin’s comrade, and that’s when I realized he looked strikingly like Matthew Perry, same spikey-hair from 10 years ago. I guess Brandy had only seen him when he entered so had wondered as well if that were him. Our mutual recognition made us believe we were correct, but just to be sure, we asked the ticket taker outside our theater. She validated our sighting and also let us know that Matthew was a big butt when he gave her his movie tickets as well.

So, my only regret: That they both shut up so I didn’t get to use a further zinger. For example:
“Yeah, Matt, we get that you think this movie is ridiculous. Sorry it couldn’t be more like the American classics “Fools Rush In” and “The Whole Nine Yards”.”
But, alas, it was not to be. Sigh. Another day perhaps….

Later learned trivia: I thought the pairing of Matt and Kevin was bizarre, but upon searching IMDB, it looks like they costarred together in The Whole 10 Yards, the much anticipated sequel to that earlier cited masterpiece, The Whole Nine Yards.

As many of our friends know, Jannine and I are affectionately known in shorthand as Jannate. It’s more efficient than pronouncing all the many syllables in our names, plus that pesky “and”. (The ending of this sentence introduces one of the formal usage rules that I constantly fight with in my head. Technically, I believe, the period should be inside the closing quotation mark. However, that makes no sense to me, as the quotation marks are only related to the and. It seems like a non-traditional use of the quotation mark, which should allow the period to be placed in a non-traditional location. Which I did. Sue me, grammar police!)

Anyway, the “couple names” started with our friends Jeremy and Erica, aka Jerica, and spread to us, Zane and Angela (Zangela) and Stefan and Aneta (Stefeta or Stefaneta — there is debate about the proper contraction).

I was thinking about all this today, and that made me think about how Kat and Suz started using J9 as a nickname for Jannine. I then realized that my name could be shortened to N8. Which would make us N8 & J9. How cool is that??

Do not write a comment telling me that it’s not cool. I have decided that it is cool, and that’s all there is to it.

This morning, I dragged myself out of bed after another psuedo all-nighter. (It’s not a real all-nighter, because although I worked till 7 a.m., I then slept for four hours. I figure a real all nighter is when you don’t go to bed and just keep working.)

After showering, I made a sobering discovery: I was all out of hair product. As you can probably imagine, this was a major issue for me. I wouldn’t want to go to work without may hair all fun and spike, not to mention that as my hair is currently cut, it looks pretty bad if I wear it down. Besides, I think the spikey hair frames my face better. It’s like the rug in the Big Liebowski — it ties my whole face together.

I searched high and low, through the medicine cabinet, the vanity and the bathroom cupboard, and found that there was nary a hair product in the house which would fortify my hair for the long day ahead. There was only one solution: stop at the Sunrise Mart and buy new hair wax. This is one of the many advantages of living in the East Village: Japanese markets are conveniently on the way to the subway.

After a quick trip to Sunrise, I had my precious Gatsby “hard keep type” hair wax. Here’s where things got hairy. (I would say “no pun intended,” but I don’t think anyone would believe me.) I got on the train and perhaps was somewhat overeager, because I couldn’t wait another minute to start styling my hair.

I opened the wax and started to rub some into my hair. I was in the corner of the car, and it was fairly empty (as it was almost noon), so I thought I was being subtle. I mean, who doesn’t style their hair on the subway? Women do their eye shadow and lipstick, so why can’t I do a little wax?

The process just wasn’t feeling right, so I turned to look in the window to see my reflection. At that moment, I saw two girls in the next car, laughing heartily and pointing. I’m not sure if the laughter was derisive or friendly, because I pretended not to notice (one must keep up the charade that their behavior is normal at all times). Regardless, I clearly provided them with some amusement for their day.

But here’s the upshot: my hair looks terrible. It’s a complete mess. Between having it dry “down” and styling it on the subway with no mirror, it looks more like an eccentric professor or a homeless person who got up on the wrong side of the bed than anything. So the moral of the story is: don’t do your hair on the subway.

Ah, victory is sweet. But a long-awaited victory is especially delicious. Peyton Manning and the Colts withstood harsh criticism and envious catcalling, as well as a miserably rainy night in Miami to win the forty-first Superbowl! All the boo-hooing about a supposedly porous defense and overrated quarterback turned out to be for naught, as Indy proved themselves the far superior NFL team of 2007.

Some of you may wonder how it is that I came to be an Indy fan, let alone a football fan. Inexplicably, Nathan was able to educate and turn me onto the brilliance of both brains and brawn of a professional football game. Early on, I fell in (what has turned out to be very close to) love with Peyton Manning, and in the course of last year’s season, the rest of his team. As I am from LA, and LA has proven to be a mostly inhospitable environment for most major league sports teams, I have no emotional ties to any California teams. With both the Rams and Raiders safely out of Southern California, I felt free to join any random football family. (For anyone who thinks that San Diego is the same as LA, and that I should feel a stronger loyalty to the Chargers, they need to talk to a real Southern Californian.)

Even though I am a newcomer to the world of the NFL, I know full well people’s split feelings about Peyton Manning. People pretty much either hate him or love him. I’ve gotta say, one of the most satisfying outcomes of Indy trompling over the Bears last night was watching Peyton and his team come into their own. Peyton Haters were ever ready with the cutting question, “If he’s so good, why hasn’t he been able to win the Superbowl?” As I saw it, he simply wasn’t ready. His time had not come yet, and the same went for the Colts as a whole. This year, they finally stepped into large shoes that had been waiting for them these past four to five years.

Of course, the sloppiness of the Bears’ performance–as ever, Rex Grossman caused many a groan from the Bears’ fans sitting on either side of me–only helped Indy to their victory. But, really, how could anyone expect the NFC titleholders to beat the AFC champions? It’s actually not that fair, given the incredibly disparate levels of talent and competence between the two conferences. But you can read in more analytical detail about such things on espn.com. I’m just a lovin’ fan.

Hello, Readers! It’s Jannine posting here for the first time. Lest you be swayed by the chosen title into thinking that I am any kind of authority on Jay-Z and/or Eminem, let me explain what I was thinking. You see, I was very amused by Nathan’s comparing his eminent (or is it imminent?) return to the world of blogging to The Real Slim Shady. And, then I thought…well, why not? They’re both white (to put it ever so gently), hail from roughly the same area of that great state, Michigan, and share an uncanny ability to rhyme spontaneously (seriously, Nathan is one talented dude).

Next, my thoughts turned to those pervasive and somewhat irritating Budweiser commercials that played every 5-10 minutes in the first few months of the ‘06-07 NFL season. While I admire Jay-Z much more than your average classically trained musician, it got to be a bit much, seeing him drive a nice speedboat in circles around a beautifically waving Beyonce. But, perhaps one can admire even more the pure ego of a celebrity who is not only respected for his many talents, but admires himself so much that he declares at the end of said commercial, “The King is back. Expect…everything.” I mean, if that’s not a (dangerously) high self-esteem, I don’t know what is.

I then decided that if Nathan could compare himself to a Caucasian rapper whose real name is Marshall, I can certainly compare myself to one of the most successful businessmen in the hip hop industry. I’d say that my return to blogging is somewhat akin to that of Jay-Z’s unsurprising return to the recording studio. Except for the theft of Elvis’s nickname and, of course, a comeback commercial featuring breakdancers and NASCAR stars alike.