In Praise of Jillian

I love you more than Broad City, even though it’s a close call, gurl!

Hellooooooo. I’m Christa of A Voluptuous Mind and I’m honoured to be guesting on The Pink Panther Snipes Again this evening!

I thought I’d talk about friendship. Jill and I have given each other free reign to write what we like so here goes… BUCKLE UP!

(Not really, it’ll be a smooth ride. I’m not sure why I typed that).

There used to be a time where, if you were going to make a new friend, it would either be in your place of work/school, in the pub toilets or at the bus stop. Or in my case, sitting on the steps at a party, cry eating (usually me, not them).

The thought that there could be people outside of ‘real life’ back in the mid-90’s would have blown my tiny mind. We didn’t even text then. But today you can make meaningful connections across the waves, and in the most unexpected places.

Furthermore, and I’m going to go balls out sappy in this post IDGAF, sometimes you meet someone from ‘out there’ and you think “Yes. This is exactly my sort of person.” – and then you’re in a long distance same-sex blog marriage, and that is that.

I really wanted to sit down and think about these words but it turns out that today is the day sent to test me and it’s been horrible, with no down time (AKA half an hour to an hour to look busy but actually be blogging). What is up with that? So I’m going to freestyle it.

Inspired by Day 19 of Writing 101 which prompted us to feature a guest, who else was I going to invite? Luckily, Jill thought it was a good idea and you know, ‘cos we’re both mavericks, we’re posting in our own sweet time, man. You’re not the boss of us, Cheri McWordpressington.

Jill is great and I’ll tell you why. Firstly, she swears and I have a lot of time for that. Secondly, she’s into shit movies and that is my life force. I appreciate the beauty of a shoddy horror movie, or a frankly bizarre story about homeless lesbians living in a bus station – the polar opposite of movie snobbery. Sure, good movies are all well and good but what’s the point if you can’t make sarcastic comments and question major segments of plot?

Once we’d bonded over Jillian’s reviews of the Sabrina films (as in Teenage Witch), I knew I was fully in love. I forget how I originally stumbled across The Pink Panther Strikes Again but the heady combination of the reference to my dad’s favourite movie franchise (Sellers ones only, obvs) and Jill’s profile picture kept me there. I’ve never looked back.

What I’m trying to say here is that our friendship means the world and I look forward to our weekly movie collabs more than anyone really knows. We’ve covered a lot of ground together this year, from the worst of the worst schlock horror to indie shock-fests to the very best LGBT gems Netflix has to offer – and far beyond.

I’d rent out my left boob to be able to actually sit on the same sofa and mainline popcorn while we watched movies together, but alas there’s an entire ocean between us. I trust the fates however, and one day perhaps that will be a thing.

I consider ours the most modern of friendships, one born of a mutual love of writing and film, to be nurtured just as much as an ‘IRL friendship’. Just as precious, and just as empowering.

And lest you think I’m only in it with my blog wife for her superior (?) film taste, I want it known that I also love her for her kitten pictures (if you haven’t seen Bertha Mason, I feel sorry for you, son), love of fit men, aversion to bows, natural snark and general pure awesomeness.

I love you, gurl!

Ps. I’m not sure my love of Broad City animated gifs are best utilised here but then again, it’s a comedy about a modern female friendship so *SHRUG*.