annieconversations: The Ginger Interview

As promised, in the extended entry you'll find my interview with Ginger, who along with co-blogger Candace, runs one of my all-time favorite blogs, Candied Ginger. i apologize for it's length, but i do get chatty when i'm chatting. Plus, we had a lot of ground to cover. Topics include, blogging, fashion, books, TV, politics, plastic surgery disasters, a certain really cute blogger, and of course, shoes! Please read on...

annikagyrl: i think everyone should know, by how much i have pimped your blog, that you are one of my favorite bloggers
Ginger: aww thanks. You too-- seriously
annikagyrl: its true, Candied Ginger is on the short list of blogs that i check more than once a day
Ginger: yeah, you are definitely on that list for me too
annikagyrl: thanks. How did you and Candace decide to start Candied Ginger?
Ginger: we were both a little disenchanted, and feeling a little lazy, so we decided to join powers and rule the world
annikagyrl: haha. Its an interesting mix. You are an east coast lawyer, and Candace is a west coast Russian language expert
Ginger: yeah, but we are both shoe lovers
annikagyrl: as am i. So it’s all about the shoes?
Ginger: basically, with a little politics and life thrown in
annikagyrl: i want to talk about blogging some more, but footwear is on my list of topics too, so lets just cut to the chase
Ginger: works for me
annikagyrl: do you hold to the rules regarding the use/non-use of white shoes after a certain seasonal deadline?
Ginger: I don't own white shoes
annikagyrl: ohhhhhh
Ginger: they are disgusting
annikagyrl: i just bought some white pointy mules
Ginger: sorry.. but I imagine the rules in Cali are different
annikagyrl: now you have generated an unhealthy attack of buyer's remorse in me
Ginger: did you wear them yet? return them if you haven't
annikagyrl: fuck no, i never wear white after labor day, or is it memorial day?
Ginger: um, labor day. But it should be never. I think I may own a white t-shirt, but that's the extent of my white apparel. Mostly because I am a slob
annikagyrl: did i ever tell you about the guy i went out with who wore all white to our second (and final) date?
Ginger: ouch. You actually went on the date??
annikagyrl: i had no idea. The first date was a setup. i mean, what kinda guy wears all white?
Ginger: Jesus
annikagyrl: it wasn't even off white, lol
Ginger: okay, we are way off topic... what happened to shoes?
annikagyrl: oh okay. i got another question, sort of related. i have formed the opinion during the last year or so, that the toe ring jumped the shark as a fashion accessory when women over 50 started wearing it.
Ginger: hell yeah. That is so stupid looking
annikagyrl: i'm so glad you agree.
Ginger: I really don't get it. It was cute on twenty-something girls a few years back -- for about three months
annikagyrl: i even saw a guy wearing one recently. That's going too far. It was in San Francisco, but still
Ginger: was it the same guy who was wearing all white?
annikagyrl: haha, noo. That would have been too weird. Next question: So how many shoes do you own?
Ginger: That's really difficult...
annikagyrl: of course it is
Ginger: the last time I tallied it, was years ago, before my shoe fetish really took hold, and the only number I can remember was that there were 27 pairs of black shoes. Yes, black shoes. Since then, I have obviously purged a lot, but I would have to venture a guess at around 100. Maybe a few less. Probably at least 40 pairs of black now
annikagyrl: Wow. What organizing system do you use?
Ginger: i don't really have an organizing system...
annikagyrl: its called a closet i guess, lol
Ginger: it works itself out, the ones I wear the most are scattered at the base of my closet, secondary are in a rack in the bottom of the closet, tertiary are on hanging racks on both sides of the closet door, the fourth level is three hot pink crates stacked by the closet, then, fifth, there are boxes in the attic
annikagyrl: describe for our readers what goes into putting together a suitable outfit for say, just going to work in the morning. A lot of my visitors are guys, and i think guys have no idea
Ginger: this sounds so silly, but the outfit usually just comes to me... I wake up, and get a feeling for a shirt or something that I want to wear, and the outfit just falls into place, based on what items of clothing I like to pair with that particular piece
annikagyrl: personally, i change clothes a minimum of five times a day. Unless i'm deathly ill. But then, i’ve always had severe decisionmaking issues. Describe the most comfortable outfit for blogging, is it pajamas, as they say?
Ginger: absolutely... my laptop is on a tray table in front of my sofa, and I like to sit curled up, so definitely always have the pjs on
annikagyrl: i like yoga pants and a sweatshirt myself, but i live with roommates
Ginger: well, the pjs I wear are basically like yoga pants, so same dif
annikagyrl: now, would it be fair to say that you and i are sort of feminine curmudgeons?
Ginger: totally
annikagyrl: in that we have a semi-distrust bordering on dislike of our fellow human beings?
Ginger: yes. it's called misanthropy
annikagyrl: isn’t misanthropy when you think you're a wolf?
Ginger: huh?
annikagyrl: ooops that’s lycanthropy (sorry. too much sci-fi)
Ginger: i was just thinking about this the other day... my real problem is that I have ZERO tolerance for stupidity. ZERO.
annikagyrl: how did we get to that point of curmudgeonliness, do you think? Because as for myself, i think its one of my most attractive attributes
Ginger: I don't know... most people find me a little hard to take sometimes, until they get to know me. Then I guess that's one of the things my real friends love about me.
annikagyrl: when i was in undergrad i went through this phase where i thought everyone i met was "totally amazing" as in “OMG, i just met your roommate and she is such an amazing person!”
Ginger: no... I never feel that way about someone. Usually it's "what an asshole"
annikagyrl: well, lately i have determined that most law students are either boring or assholes
Ginger: yeah, that's probably where both of us got this bitter.
annikagyrl: but your personal misanthropy has been the source of some of your funniest writing, i think.
Ginger: thanks... it's the stuff I'm most proud of!
annikagyrl: there’s one particular incident you wrote about, which to this day still makes me chuckle. It was an example of perfect comic timing, if that's even possible on a blog. Do those crazy things really happen to you?
Ginger: yes. That's one thing that's consistent in all of my writing... it is all 100% true
annikagyrl: Youre the anti Tony Pierce in that respect, lol
Ginger: yeah i guess, although he is one of my own personal gods
annikagyrl: what do you like about Tony’s Busblog?
Ginger: his creativity. It's very nuanced. Sometimes you almost miss it, but when you get it, you're like "damn." Other times he's just silly
annikagyrl: i'm a big fan too. i once wrote Tony a gushy drunken fan email
Ginger: ha ha, I probably have too
annikagyrl: i think he thought i was weird. i do that kinda shit sometimes
Ginger: you are weird. But that's a good thing
annikagyrl: Weren’t you drunk when you wrote your first post, and did you know much about blogging when you started?
Ginger: not much... here's how I came to it all.... y'know those free magazines laying around law school... well there was a write up on one about Glenn Reynolds. I was immediately intrigued... and from there, I just clicked the links on his site (found Moxie, and then found you through her very early on)... it only took a few days before I was totally hooked. It took a while until I actually started for myself... and yes, I was drunk.
annikagyrl: Beer, wine or what?
Ginger: I forget... but I think it was wine, because I remember making a post about how sauviginon blanc tasted good with Sno-Caps.
annikagyrl: haha. You actually left one of the first comments on my blog.
Ginger: seriously? That's funny, because I thought you started before me...
annikagyrl: i was so excited that i googled your name "Ginger" and i got a recipe, which really confused me, lol.
Ginger: ha
annikagyrl: is it a conscious decision for you to write more on pop culture than on politics?
Ginger: no... except maybe for the days leading up to the election... I was sick of it... I have never been an extremely political person, so it's just that pop culture is what interests me more
annikagyrl: what do you think of Desperate Housewives, (i've heard it compared to Sex and the City, which i think is way off.)
Ginger: I think it's crappy
annikagyrl: Thank you!
Ginger: I tried to watch the second episode... it was so stupid and campy, and not in a good way
annikagyrl: i think they were trying to fill the vacuum created by the end of SATC, but they were totally clueless about why SATC struck such a chord
Ginger: yeah, they missed it completely
annikagyrl: you loved 90210 too, right?
Ginger: best show in the genre. I actually had been watching it religiously for the past year on F/X, but they just took it off completely at the beginning of the fall... I was SOOOOO bummed
annikagyrl: i think that was the show that defined our generation
Ginger: yeah, you could say that.
annikagyrl: what else could fit in that category?
Ginger: hmmm, I really don't know about that... I thought My So Called Life was lame
annikagyrl: it had potential, but it didn't last long enough
annikagyrl: Okay, okay: true or false:
Ginger: i'm ready
annikagyrl: Jennifer Love Hewitt's boobs are unnaturally too large for her skinny ass
Ginger: true. Plus her hair is too big for her body
annikagyrl: you see, when chicks do that, it makes it hard for all of us. Tori Spelling too
Ginger: she is a monster
annikagyrl: hahaha
Ginger: have you seen the gap between her boobs? Scary. And there were a few episodes of 90210 (college years I think), that her nose was TOTALLY FUCKED up and mutated from botched plastic surgery. they tried to cover it up with makeup, but it looked awful
annikagyrl: do you remember an episode where Tori Spelling was in a pool after she got her operation? It was like two cantaloupes stuck on a skeleton
Ginger: sick... how is that even attractive?
annikagyrl: OMG yes! Not much you can do with that square head of hers either. Or am i being too cruel?
Ginger: not too cruel. She is abusing her body, so it's fair game
annikagyrl: who were your favorite 90210 characters?
Ginger: first of all, let me just get this out of the way, that I hate Emily Valentine... I know she's a secondary character, but she was the worst. And I wasn't too fond of Claire either.... my absolute favorite was Kelli Taylor. I love Jennie Garth so much
annikagyrl: Claire, yah, me too. How bout the guys?
Ginger: ummm, I don't know, they were all cheezy. I guess Dylan
annikagyrl: haha, you gotta admit Jason Priestly had some good years
Ginger: maybe even David... even though he was portrayed as a dork for the first years, he is actually kinda cute
annikagyrl: i saw him in a mall once. Back in his dorky days. He looked pretty good in real life
Ginger: Jason Priestly was so emotive that his fake acting always got in the way. But my friend Weezie swears the he was probably the best kisser on the planet
annikagyrl: Did she ever?
Ginger: no, she never actually kissed him, except maybe in her daydreams
annikagyrl: how about Noah?
Ginger: too brooding.
Ginger: I actually liked Jesse until he cheated on Andrea with the clerk of the Judge that he went to interview with in somewhere like Idaho... and I always wondered why you would go to Idaho (or wherever for a clerkship). But Andrea cheated on him too, and then they talked about it at their kitchen table in their pjs, and it like cancelled each other out or something, because they were fine with it. That was wierd.
annikagyrl: Steve?
Ginger: Steve is a goon
annikagyrl: i remember the first season, Steve defined cheesy high school guy with the cool car
Ginger: that black corvette. UGH
annikagyrl: lol. Come on, there was one of those guys at your high school too, wasn’t there?
Ginger: probably... I am from Jersey
annikagyrl: haha. i wanna ask you about being a lawyer. Is it all you thought it would be?
Ginger: Yeah... I knew it would suck
annikagyrl: lol... And yet...
Ginger: it sucks. That's basically it
annikagyrl: haha
Ginger: either you make not enough money to cover you debts, or you are raking in the cash, but have no free time to spend it
annikagyrl: i hear that the first year of being a lawyer is tougher than the first year in law school. And the first year in school is pretty intense
Ginger: definitely... I have it somewhat easier, because I work for a judge... don't have billables, don't have to do much lawyering, it's mostly analysis of other people's work and the law that applies to it. First year of law school can be rough... I actually thought it was okay though
annikagyrl: So you get to goof on other lawyer's work and get paid for it, cool
Ginger: yes! I sit next to a clerk for another judge, and we just sit there and laugh at people's shitty work product all day long
annikagyrl: is it really that bad?
Ginger: plus lawyers call all the time with their sob stories about how they can't make it for a motion hearing because they stubbed their toe or something, and we just laugh. A word to all the lawyers out there calling clerks asking for something: niceness counts! Some of these people call up and they are such assholes to us... we don't really go out of our way to help them, but if someone is nice, we will accomodate them however we can. You wouldn't believe some of the crap that people submit either. It's unbelievable... some of it's not even spell checked
annikagyrl: do you ever deal with pro pers?
Ginger: yeah, we have some pro se litigants that come through the system... they are ALL loony. Every single damn one of them. And they normally can't write properly
annikagyrl: "he who chooses to represent himself has a fool for a client"
Ginger: exactly!
annikagyrl: okay okay, i got another topic: Scott Peterson. Discuss
Ginger: that guy is skeevy.
annikagyrl: i can just imagine how many marriage proposals he's gotten. i was quite surprised they found him guilty, and of 1st degree too
Ginger: although I always thought he HAD to be guilty, I never got the strong reaction in my gut about him that I got for Susan Smith... remember her, she drowned her kids or something...
annikagyrl: yes, and then she blamed it on some black guys?
Ginger: I just remember seeing her on the news the next day. Her bangs were done with a curling iron... and I thought: that lady killed her kids... she is too eerily calm. Scott Peterson was a dumbass. What the fuck was he thinking?
annikagyrl: not as dumb as Mark Hacking in Utah though, a Scott Peterson wannabe
Ginger: I always think it's so weird when people have last names that relate to something about themselves...
annikagyrl: like Jack the Ripper, lol
Ginger: Mark Hacking -- hacked up his wife
annikagyrl: he should blame his parents for naming him that
Ginger: yeah, or blame Ellis Island, if his ancestors came through there... the name was probably Hackinowskiosidine.
annikagyrl: lol
Ginger: Jack the Ripper was some English artist guy...
annikagyrl: Not the Prince of Wales?
Ginger: nah, Patricia Cornwell financed a bunch of research and wrote a book about how she thinks it was this dude
annikagyrl: We both signed up for last year’s NaNoWriMo. i notice that neither of us has said anything about it this year.
Ginger: yeah, I couldn't be bothered... it's a dumb ass way to write anything of substance
annikagyrl: i quit after about a week last year, how did you do?
Ginger: probably about the same... although I did keep working on the story I had started... only to have it lost when my hard drive crashed
annikagyrl: Oh no!
Ginger: yeah, I lost EVERYTHING... all my law school writing, all the music I had downloaded, stuff I had written, a zillion recipes I had downloaded, pictures. It sucked
annikagyrl: do you think you'll ever write a novel?
Ginger: yeah, I dream about it every day, seriously...
annikagyrl: Really?
Ginger: but I am also impatient, so that's why blogging works for me now
annikagyrl: the guy who runs NaNoWriMo wrote something i thought was very interesting
Ginger: what's that?
annikagyrl: He said that its not a good idea to plan the story out too much before NaNoWriMo because then you fall in love with it, and when you rush to get it done, you just quit because you want to do it right. That’s exactly what hapened to me. i started thinking that my idea was too good to waste on NaNoWriMo, and i wanted to do it right, then i ended up never doing it
Ginger: yeah. I could have done it if I wanted to write 200 pages of junk
annikagyrl: i still want to write it someday though
Ginger: yeah, so do we all
annikagyrl: i see you as a chicklit novelist, am i right?
Ginger: true. I wouldn't be capable of anything else
annikagyrl: a Jennifer Weiner who's heroine is in better shape
Ginger: yeah. I love her books... looking forward to reading Little Earthquakes
annikagyrl: my novel is going to be a sexy sci-fi shoot-em-up novel about a futuristic police woman
Ginger: that's cool... I could totally see you writing that. I am reading Ann Coulter right now... that's as far from chick lit as possible, while still being written by a woman
annikagyrl: i love Coulter, she and Laura Ingraham are my neocon chick idols
Ginger: I saw Ann Coulter give a talk on election night eve. It was so fucking cool. We were all so jazzed up about the election... and she fed off of it
annikagyrl: wow! Did you ever read any of the Bridget Jones books?
Ginger: yeah, read them both... decent
annikagyrl: who's the best chicklit author?
Ginger: I really like Jennifer Weiner. I just read a book called Big Love by Sarah Dunn. I loved it
annikagyrl: do you get into the romance genre?
Ginger: no, never have read a romance novel. The thought of Fabio peering out at me from the cover skeeves me out.
annikagyrl: can i adopt the term “skeeve?” i like it
Ginger: yeah, it's very useful
annikagyrl: yes, i notice you used it as a verb and an adjective, it’s versatile
Ginger: yeah, it's like the word "smurf"
annikagyrl: or "fuck"
Ginger: I read a lot besides chick lit... one of my fave contemporary authors is Paul Auster.
annikagyrl: what kind of books does he write?
Ginger: um, just stories. It's crazy though... here's my story about Auster's work: I had just read The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett... in that book, the character Sam Spade tells a story about a man named Flitcraft who up and abandons his life after a freak mishap on the street where he could have been killed. So right after that, the very next book I read, coincidentally, was The Book of Illusions, where the main character up and abandons his life after a freak occurence. At that point I didn't make the correlation. A few books later in my reading schedule, I read Auster's Oracle Night, about an author, who upon conferring with another friend, discusses the Flitcraft story and then writes a story within the novel which is a Flitcraftian tale. It was kinda trippy because I kept getting all the stories tangled up in my head when I was reading that last book.
annikagyrl: how coincidental
Ginger: okay, that's kinda dorky getting excited over plotlines of books!
annikagyrl: not at all. Do books ever make you cry?
Ginger: nah, I'm not a sissy
annikagyrl: ha
Ginger: seriously no. I don't usually get moved by books that way. Although movies sometimes make me cry. And I cried the other night while watching the rerun of the Sex and the City where Harry proposes to Charlotte
annikagyrl: oh, that's totally understandable. i got all teary eyed reading Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel trilogy -- three smutty fantasy books -- and i totally don’t even like fantasy
Ginger: I never read that kind of stuff... there are so many books out there that I want to read, I try not to waste my time on trash
annikagyrl: Well, i loved the Kushiel trilogy. It’s beautifully written, but it didn't make me want to read more fantasy stuff. In my opinion, once you've slogged through the Lord of the Rings, why bother with anything else in the genre
Ginger: Well, i've certainly never done that either. Sounds silly, unless you are an eleven year old boy -- which I have never been and will never be
annikagyrl: okay im gonna rapid fire some random topics at you to finish up
Ginger: sounds good
annikagyrl: have you ever met Ken Wheaton?
Ginger: yes
annikagyrl: is he as cute in real life as the picture on his blog?
Ginger: yes. He is actually cuter
annikagyrl: no way!
Ginger: way
annikagyrl: okay, of the following choices, which is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of the internet? eBay, blogs, or amazon.com
Ginger: eBay. There is some crazy stuff going on there
annikagyrl: Glenn Reynolds: genius or madman?
Ginger: both
annikagyrl: why didn't Bush win Pennsylvania? i totally thought he would
Ginger: sorry, I can't answer that... I really don't know what is wrong with this area... it is liberal soaked. Western Pennsylvania may be a little more Red, but Philly is all Dems
annikagyrl: when you go out for fun, do you like live music, or dance clubs, or something more sedate?
Ginger: what is going out for fun? That does not compute
annikagyrl: lol
Ginger: No, I used to love going to clubs, but now I'd much rather just chill at a bar/restaurant
annikagyrl: oh yah, that should have been one of the choices. i have a guy friend who is not comfortable eating in a restaurant unless he's at the bar, its odd
Ginger: sounds like he needs some medication
annikagyrl: Okay, do you have any tattoos?
Ginger: yes
annikagyrl: interesting, i would not have guessed that
Ginger: it supposedly stands for "bravery and fearlessness" but I joke that it means "drunk girl." I wish I didn't have it.
annikagyrl: lol, do your parents know about it?
Ginger: yeah, my mom loves it, and my dad couldn't be bothered. My grandmother thinks I'm a sinner
annikagyrl: my parents were not happy when i got my first one, and they were pretty pissed about the second
Ginger: why? it's your body. you're an adult
annikagyrl: they really flipped out about my tongue stud too. Which i don't wear anymore, btw
Ginger: that's reversible... speaking of which, I have had my navel pierced for NINE years now (geez I'm old), and it's definitely time to take it out. I want to take it out, but can't do it... I have to go to a body piercer and get them to take it out for me
annikagyrl: i like mine, but i guess it will eventually have to come out someday. But i couldn't be taken seriously in law school with a pierced tongue, that just wasn't going to happen. It’s funny, i justified piercing myself by saying i needed to express my individuality, but everyone does it now
Ginger: that's why I hate mine... so many people have it now
annikagyrl: okay, what was the last cd you bought?
Ginger: Christmas cd: Christmas with the Rat Pack. Last regular cd: Turin Brakes, Ether Song
annikagyrl: who's your fave rat pack member?
Ginger: Dean Martin
annikagyrl: cool, mine’s Sammy. Okay babe, i’m out of topics, is there anything i haven't covered that you feel people must know?
Ginger: San Dimas High School Football Rules!
annikagyrl: hahahahaha
Ginger: nah, that's it... but we'll definitely do this again sometime!
annikagyrl: you gotta say woooooooooohoooooo after that, lol
Ginger: yeah
annikagyrl: okay, let me reiterate how much i love your blog and thanks for the fashion guru guidance tonight
Ginger: Thanks... glad to be of service
annikagyrl: even though, when i get off tonight, i'm going to have to log onto eBay and see if i can get rid of those white shoes... and the toe ring, haha
Ginger: It's a moral imperative
annikagyrl: lol, bye