Sedaris fever!

While we were in Europe we learned a lot about America. That's because we downloaded 10 hours of This American Life (the radio show) to listen to during wait times. And because we took our iPod back from some Spanish gypsy thieves, we were able to complete that task. For those not in the know, TAL is a weekly NPR radio show where Ira Glass, the host, presents a theme and stories ("acts") based around that theme. One of my favorite activities is speaking in "act" speak, and telling stories like a TAL reporter. Little voice inflection is necessary, except lowering your pitch at the end of each sentence and talking a little slow. Please ask me to do it next time you see me.

One of the best episodes was "An American in Paris." We learned about David Sedaris' life in Paris and his visits to taxidermy shops and how he has never visited the Louvre. He is a nervous, quirky man who happens to be a mad hit on the NPR intelligencia circuit. He's on a lot of TAL episodes, to the point where I think we are friends (much like all the characters in Felicity). In Paris, our dream was to run into him, although we had no idea what he looked like. We just imagined that we would find him drinking an espresso on a street corner, or hanging out in a hardware store. I took a picture of taxidermied rats in a pest control shop hanging from traps and said to Jon, "David Sedaris would totally love this place! I bet he has stood right in this spot and checked out the large spiders and ferrets."

In addition, a particularly inspired friend bought me Amy Sedaris' book, "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence," for my birthday. It is a ingenious, giggle out loud book on how to earn money whilst throwing a party (sell household items), paste googley eyes on root vegetables, and rabbit-proof your home. It also has wonderfully grotesque pictures of stews and gloppy looking desserts. It is amazing, to say the least. Then I made the connection Amy and David were brother and sister, and also listened to the TAL episode "I enjoy being a girl (sort of)" where David explains (among other things) that Amy's imaginary boyfriend and pet rabbit are two very real things in her life, and how she has invested in the bottom half of a fat suit to use on various random occasions.

Looks like I have a new girl crush and gay crush.