Happy Blerg-day, Tina Fey!

Yeah, I am addicted to this amazing comedy series, 30 Rock, which sadly will end this year in season 7 (nevertheless I am excited about the 1-hour series finale; I hope all will be good for Liz Lemon!). FX Asia shows four rerun episodes every Monday to Friday. This show has introduced me to this great lady, Tina Fey, who has become one of my very few Hollywood role models. Have you read her autobiography (if you can even call it that)? The book, called Bossypants, was the first book I finished in less than three days in almost three years. It is such a genius book, containing brilliant jokes, some of them from Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Covering her experience as a writer for SNL, and then 30 Rock, and some pieces of her personal life in-between, it is one of the best books I've ever read. Who knows, that trying to get Oprah to guest star in an episode of 30 Rock (and she only appears in TWO scenes!) was such a tremendous challenge?

Never, ever judge a book from its cover

The first thing that attracted me to 30 Rock was that the main character, Liz Lemon (played brilliantly by Tina, who is also the creator of the series), has some striking similarities to me. We eat a lot, we're not good with guys (!), we write for a living (me, not yet actually; but recently I earned some good amount of money thanks to my short story about Australian brothers who are part of the Stolen Generation), we do not give a d**n about stereotypical female interests, we dress bi-curiously, we head(ed) a group of writers (I was the Editor in Chief of my junior high school's newspaper), we watch lots of TV, and we can be 'sour' at certain times. Years of watching television, I hadn't found a character in whom I could find myself. Those similarities instantly made Liz Lemon my official favourite television character.

Through her book and series, Tina has shown the world than being a nerd (and I mean a REAL nerd, not someone who deliberately puts on thick-rimmed glasses in order to appear 'cute' or stuffs like that...) is not at all a shame. This post you are reading is, in fact, written by a nerd without glasses (she actually needs them, but she has not yet to get herself a pair because her family think her impaired eyes will get better eventually). And her character Liz has made me even more confident with my usual attires of t-shirts, jackets, jeans, and sneakers--they are cheaper and require less time to wear--without having to care about what others may think on a daily basis, and also with my eating habit, as long as I keep myself healthy. So, while some of my friends choose Kim Kardashian or Katy Perry as their Hollywood role model, I go with Tina Fey, the honorary patron saint of TV addicted, writing nerds and stress eaters.

And two days ago on May 18, 2012, a week before my 17th birthday, Tina celebrated her 42nd birthday (why do those people never look their ages!?). As a fan I wish her all the best for her and her family (husband Jeff Richmond, composer for 30 Rock; and children Alice Zenobia and Penelope Athena). Too bad 30 Rock will someday come to and end, but its legacy is sure to be remembered. We, writing nerds and stress eaters, hope that there will be awesome projects from her after 30 Rock!

If you instantly think that you are better than her just because of
her glasses and sandwich, that's a dealbreaker

Tell me I am not the only one who reckons that this lady is worthier
than any of the Kardashian Sisters

So, as Liz Lemon would say, happy blerg-day, Tina Fey! Wherever you are now, of course, we want to go to there!

(Photos courtesy of my own, Endless Simmer, and Talking Makeup)