All posts by Jamie Mittleman

Love Shack

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I think it’s time…I think it’s time to have THE TALK. Dun dun dun… It’s time to talk about LOVE. As many of you know, I have spent the last year interviewing New Yorkers about their dating, hook-up and love escapades in order to turn them into a web series.  People often say to me, “Jamie, you spend hundreds of hours talking to people about their love lives. Is there anything you’ve learned from all of it”? Well, thank you for asking. In fact, there is. Let’s choose one lesson for today.  I learned that in every situation, we are given the choice to close ourselves off to another person or to choose to be loving and supportive. Now, does this mean that we have to always smile and nod and act like everything is always peaches and cream???  Come on, that’s so vanilla. However, I challenge all of you (and me of course) to fully listen to the people in your lives, and then to choose how you want to respond.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to test-drive this newly acquired knowledge a few days ago. I was talking to one of my good friends and he told me that he had been offended by something I said to him. Now, my first instinct was to get defensive and say, “Are you kidding me? You are a sensitive little _________________….” Quick- mad libs time…insert offensive noun here.  Instead, however, I thought back to my interviews and I realized that this was a perfect opportunity be loving and supportive. I paused and said, “I’m sorry. You’re right.” After I said that, I realized that he was right and that what I said was actually incredibly offensive! Lesson learned.

I know how hippy-dippy all of this sounds, but hear me out! Throughout my interviews, I have heard countless stories about relationships that don’t work out because people assume things about the other person instead of actually just listening to what they are saying. I don’t want to hate on my own gender, but I hear a lot of women saying phrases like, “ All men suck. They are all the same. There are no good men in this world.” Now, call me crazy, but I don’t think that’s sending the message, “I am a great catch and would love to get to know you.”

Ok, it’s time for a love smackdown…. Throughout my interviews,I have met so many awesome women and men that have a lot of love to give.  I am therefore debunking the theory that love does not exist. DONE.  Try and put a little more love into everything in your life and see if things start to transform. Put love into your food, the environment you create, the things you dedicate your time to, and of course the people in your life.

Oh, speaking of love, special thanks to my blog model Manny. Oh ladies!!!!!!!!!!! He’s single, very attractive, and can bench press more than…well, whatever, a high number for bench pressing is…I don’t know how these things work. Anyway, If you’re interested,  just send me a message through my contact form and I’ll hook it up.

Good luck with our love challenge and please let me know how it goes! Wishing everyone lots of love.

Have a Funky Friday!

Let’s Get Funky in 2014!!!

If Baby Ellie is telling us to have a Happy New Year, we’d better listen. You just don’t mess with that level of cuteness…

 Well, 2013, it’s been real, but it’s almost time for us to part ways. Before we part, however, I would like to tell you what I learned during our time together. The greatest lesson I learned in 2013 was that once I started fully listening instead of always closing myself off to the world, lots of opportunities came into my life.

 It’s even more perfect that one of the last days of the year is my friend Dori’s birthday. Although Dori and I have been friends for quite some time now, I feel like this is the perfect time to tell the famous “Arch-Nemesis Story.” When Dori and I went to college together, we both auditioned for the same a capella group… Stop laughing…Pitch Perfect made a cappella cool… Anyway, outside of the audition room, some might say that I was mean to Dori because I really wanted her spot in the group. I even went and told my friend Lewis about “Dori-the arch-nemesis.” Of course, there must have been some kind of universal smackdown happening because I later found out that Dori was his G-d sister!

 As luck would have it, Dori and I both ended up getting into the group, and I’m  so lucky that we ended up becoming good friends. I’m not telling this story so that I sound like a character in Mean Girls, but because I want to emphasize what we miss out on when we spend our lives being closed off to people and possibilities. Sorry Dorz!! Happy Birthday and I’m so happy to be celebrating with you years later!

 So, 2013, I guess it is time we say goodbye. Thank you for giving Baby Ellie to Kira and Andrew. She’s pretty delicious. Thanks for letting me celebrate Dori’s birthday with her, and  thanks for teaching me to listen. Wishing everyone a happy new year full of openness to new possibilities!

ellie 2014

Funky Friday TV Launch

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I am so proud to be sharing that from now on, I will only be posting twice a month. No, it’s not because I’m lazy…It’s because I will be launching my Funky Friday Dream Series! On this series, I will be introducing you guys to all of the people that have inspired me by following their dreams. There will be singers, actors, personal trainers, entrepreneurs, and more. Please check out the launch next week.

In order to stay tuned to this series, make sure to subscribe to my youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBjEwZnL6aq8xN1JU5NAZmQ/videos.

As always thank you for all of your amazing support. Have a Funky Friday!

I Want You!

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Do you love watching TV? Are you good at editing, writing, acting, or collaborating? If you answered yes, then I want you to be on my creative team!

Here’s the deal…. As many of you know, I’ve spent the past year developing a web series and I’m now in the final stages of writing. A number of people have offered to help me edit before the big release. I love collaborating more than anyone, but I don’t want to give it all away. I’ve decided to put together a creative team of 20 people. Our team will spend lots of time together reading the script, editing, discussing, and laughing.

Benefits of joining the creative team:

  • Lots of hours of laughing
  • Unlimited red pens
  • Your own clipboard
  • Tons of snacks
  • Your name in the credits

In order to apply, please fill out the contact form on the website. In the body of the email, please answer the following:

  •     What is your favorite TV show and why?
  •     Who is your favorite character in a TV show and why?
  •  Why do you want to be a member of the creative team?

I can’t wait to work with you! Have a Funky Friday!

Stop, Meditate, and Listen

Hippy PicI hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you’re taking some relaxation time! Speaking of relaxation time, a number of people have asked me recently how I stay so calm. The truth is that up until a few years ago, I was the furthest thing from calm! I was a walking ball of anxiety. Once I was introduced to meditation, my life was forever changed. My nervous system calmed down and I was able to think much more clearly.Here’s the difference between my life with and without meditation….

Jamie without morning meditation routine:

  • Wake Up
  • Make to-do lists
  • Stress out over doing everything on my to-do lists instead of actually doing them

Jamie with Morning Meditation Routine:

  • Wake Up
  • Feel relaxed and calm.
  • Realize that everything is figure out-able and that to-do lists are not a way of life!

 I know that people are always looking for good meditations. Whenever I only have a few minutes to meditate, I turn to my friend Dana. Dana is the proud owner of Yogababelife.com.  She has an incredibly soothing voice and sounds like she was born guiding meditations. I’m attaching a link to one of my favorites, but you can find many more cool things on her site or on her youtube channel YogaBabe TV.

Yoga Babe Meditation

Yogababelife.com

 Thank you to my resident hippies Alex and Samantha for the picture.

 Have a Funky Friday!

Happy Thanksgivingukah!

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Wait a second….not everyone wants to eat Tofurkey to get into the Thanksgiving spirit? Who knew!

As you know, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This year, for Jews, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Chanukah. I like to think about all events in terms of food, so that means we will be combining a huge Thanksgiving meal with fried potato pancakes and chocolate. Hey-you only live once!

This year, as I put the final touches on making my dream come true, I feel incredibly grateful both for the people that believed in me as well as those who didn’t. Although we all need a good support system and lots of love, I really learned to trust myself instead of constantly seeking outside approval.

So, that means it’s time for another leap. I have created a youtube channel which will house my Funky Friday interviews with inspiring people and will also be the place that I launch my website. My goal is to get 1,000 subscribers before I launch the web series. So, please don’t let me be my only subscriber…. Subscribe to FunkyFridayTV. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBjEwZnL6aq8xN1JU5NAZmQ/videos

I would also like to thank Samantha and Julia for being in this picture, their brother Alex for taking it, and their mom Carolyn for being the only other person I know that thinks Tofurkey is delicious.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving filled with tons of love, good company, and whatever food makes you happy.

Have a Funky Friday!

 

GOA presents The Laramie Project

laramie poster title onlyLast weekend, I had the privilege of attending Golda Och Academy’s production of The Laramie Project. For those of you that don’t know, The Laramie Project is a play about the murder of Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student from Laramie Wyoming. The show chronicles the community’s response to this brutal hate crime.

Golda Och Academy was the first place I ever worked. After watching this show, it made me more proud than ever to have worked at such a great place. Under the direction of Jordan Herskowitz, the students at this small Jewish school brought this hate crime to life. These students, so full of love and light, showed the audience what it would look like if they allowed their lives to be governed by hate and ignorance.

This show was also significant because it was the first performance of the Laramie Project by a Jewish school. Although the students are very accepting, there have not been a lot of students that have felt comfortable enough to live openly gay lives at school. I hope that this show will create opportunities for all of them to live in a way that they feel comfortable. As one of the students mentioned in the talkback, the goal is not to turn the students into gay rights activists, but to just accept one another regardless of sexuality.

Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 5.41.17 PMAt the end of Act II, the actor playing Matthew Shepherd’s mother said, “ Go home, give your kids a hug, and don’t let a day go by without telling them that you love them.” At that moment, I looked around the theater and I saw a lot of crying audience members. I was reminded of what a special community I was visiting. There are a lot of people in the world that are not raised in such a loving and accepting environment. Please forgive me for sounding preachy and hippy-like, but I hope that the GOA students will continue to spread their love so that the people they influence will choose this way of life.

Congrats to the cast, crew, and GOA community on a great show!

 

Spoiler Alert!!

first_date_retouched_duo-2_wide-631dda67d6bbe3652e2ede93193fa3ed3a187cfd-s6-c30Last weekend, I went with my family to see a Broadway show called First Date. The entire show was dedicated to celebrating the awkwardness of a first date. It was really clever and I highly recommend it. Just don’t see it on a first date.

Anyway, the subject matter of this show is obviously one that excites me, so I thought I would give a web series update. I’m excited and terrified to say that things are really coming together!! I am interviewing lots of people, scripting episodes, and have already cast a number of roles.

The show is based around 4 close friends in NYC trying to figure themselves out while trying to find love. Each character will go on their own adventure and will learn to celebrate their countless missteps along the way. Although the audience will meet lots of characters on this journey, I’ll spoil two of the leads. One character is a gay man who has recently come out to his friends and family. He is single and definitely ready to mingle. I hope that he will make you laugh a lot! The next character is an awkward Jewish girl…. Enough said…

I’m pretty psyched about this project. There are a lot of people that have helped me bring it to this point and I cannot say thank you enough. Throughout this time, I’ve learned the importance of asking for help. If anyone has things they would like to see, people that I should interview, or any more advice, please share.

Have a Funky Friday!!!

Rite of Passage

It was about a year ago that I realized it was time to face the inevitable. It was time to become a waitress. Cue-scary music. Although I definitely needed the money, I also felt like it was a rite of passage to enter into the acting world. For the first time, I had absolutely no connections or help, and I needed to prove to myself that I could do it.

 I still remember my first day of work like it was yesterday. I remember clocking in in the basement after being greeted by a pack of rats. Was it too late to turn back? Yes-Turning back is for suckers. I quickly learned that I would be working nine-hour shifts with a fifteen minute break to eat. When I found my name on the schedule, I realized that I would be working every Saturday night until 4 am. Correction- I later learned that the restaurant closes at 4 am and then we were allowed to start cleaning.

When I first began waitressing, I was awful. This is not me being self-deprecating. My learning curve for carrying lots of dishes, dealing with impatient customers, and trying to communicate with the kitchen staff in Spanish took some time.

Eventually, I found my inner confidence, learned to go with the flow, and actually grew to enjoy waitressing. I could easily write an entire book about my experience, but I’ll just tell you about some of the customers I met along the way. Let’s put them into three categories-Angry, Nice, and Too Nice.

The angry category was comprised of the people that acted as if I had ruined their life when I messed up their order. In this category, I think of a woman that grit her teeth so hard when her cookie took too long or the man that stood up and yelled at me when his sandwich was missing pesto. At first, I used to get really upset and felt like a failure, but with time I just learned to problem solve and not take it personally.

The nice category was filled with the majority of customers I met. There were so many customers that asked me my name and even asked about my own life aspirations. I got to be a part of many birthday and anniversary celebrations. You have no idea how many older women told me the stories of how they met the loves of their lives. It was really sweet.

The “too nice” category is made up what some might call “the creeps.” I remember going to a table with two very attractive guys my age who were out with their uncle. When I turned to the uncle to take his order, he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t order right now because my pacemaker’s going off. “ Yikes…

During one of my last days of work, a man handed me his business card. On the back it said Mr. ________ turns out to be the most important person in the world. I’m not writing his name here just in case he turns out to be the most important person in the world…

Now that I’ve told you all about the customers, it only seems fair that I confess one thing about the waitresses. At the restaurant, we served these delicious buckets of fries. Sometimes, when the customers were finished and there were still fries left in that bucket, well…you can imagine the rest. When you’re exhausted and hungry, the grease starts calling your name. Believe me, no one was above the bucket of fries. I recognize how disgusting it was, but it was totally worth it.

All in all, I had a great time waitressing. I had to move on because of the low wages and bad hours, but I would like to leave you with a thought that sums up my experience. My friends often joked that I put on my waitressing uniform as if it were a costume. While I cannot deny enjoying wearing my apron, the truth is that all of the girls were just wearing costumes. I met some really intelligent girls that were waitressing so that they could pay for school, start new lives for themselves, and even some that were helping to support their parents. If you take anything away from this blog, please tip your waiter/waitress!

Have a Funky Friday!

 

 

 

 

Stumbled on a Song

You know those times when you go on Youtube and you stumble on a song that you just fall in love with? Well, today, I stumbled upon an old Andy Grammer song called “The World is Yours.” I instantly felt calm while listening to his soft vocals,guitar playing, and honest lyrics.

Now, before I get caught up in my song analysis, I would like to share a funny story.  Andy Grammer and I were friends in college. A few years ago, I saw him singing one of his hit songs on TV and I was shocked. One day, you see someone playing his guitar in the college dorms and then a few years later, you hear his music all over the radio. That was the first time I had seen someone I knew chase their dreams. Of course, I was so inspired by seeing his success that I told my students about it the next day. Some might say that was my mistake….

A few weeks later, I was on a trip to Israel to take part in my friend’s wedding. Apparently, while I was out of the country, my high school students decided to attend an Andy Grammer concert. Nope-it gets worse… They made a giant sign saying, “Call Jamie Mittleman from college.” He saw the sign during the concert and then spoke to the girls afterwards. Apparently, they had also written my phone number on a piece of paper and gave him orders to call me and get back in touch.

Well, imagine my surprise when I returned from my Israel trip to find these three giggling teenagers in my office ready to tell me what they had done. After my natural blush turned even redder and my jaw dropped to my knees, I was finally able to laugh at the story. Today, as I stumbled upon that moving song, I couldn’t help but think of this story. Thanks for the grand gesture girls!

I was drawn to “The World is Yours” because it talks about the phase in your life before your dreams comes true. This journey often seems daunting because we witness other people’s success and not their struggle. Although the journey may not be easy, it’s certainly much more exciting than not trying at all.

Note – If you think this blog entry is grossly optimistic and lacking an adequate dose of snark, I hope you’ll stay tuned for my waitressing blog entry next week… Until then, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and dream…

Have a Funky Friday!