1. Embarrassment, pride, and respect can all be felt simultaneously about one person.
One of the main reasons I watched Gilmore Girls at university (aside from the fact that I was a huge slob and did nothing but watching TV) was the relationship between Lorelai and Rory. In the first ever episode I watched, Lorelai dropped Rory off at Yale. Considering my own mother had been sobbing quietly on my shoulder not months earlier, I felt an immediate affinity with the relationship between mother and daughter.
Admittedly my mum is not as young, nor as fashionable, as Lorelai. But the fact that Rory can be ashamed, proud, and then confused in five minutes is
extremely analogous to my relationship with my mother.
2. It's OK to be upset by failure...
When Rory fails to get her dream job at the New York Times, she goes home and has a meltdown. I feel you, sister. I've had a couple of rejections in my life that have seriously kicked me in the teeth. (This goes with the territory as a law student, sadly.)
3. And "success" may not be what you expect.
Rory does get offered a position on Barack Obama's campaign trail. (GG is clearly a politically astute show.)
Sometimes you have the perfect life planned out. You dream of the heels you'll wear to the office. You calculate the exact commute from door-to-door. And then at the last minute something else happens. What to do? After all, this
isn't the plan.
GG has taught me that sometimes this secretly
is the plan - the Universe just hadn't deigned to let you know a single thing about it. (The Universe can be a bit of a dickhead, in truth.)
4. Be a geek. It will get you everywhere.
5. Survive a terrible family situation using quick wit and sarcasm.
With a mother like Emily Gilmore, quipping is the only way to get through dinner. This has taught me much about dealing with a certain passive-aggressive family member. If you are
particularly skilled, you can be sarcastic and yet the object of your irritation believes fully in your sincerity. Win-win.
6. Don't get married in Paris.
It might seem romantic at the time, but everyone can see it's not going to work. Have you not been watching the series? The story arc has not favoured this husband. If it's the final series, you don't want your big romantic moment coming before the final episode.
(Shame I have no idea where I am in
my story arc, or in
my series. That would help a lot with relationship advice, right?)
7. If you lose someone you love, singing karaoke will get them back.
8. Even the most beautiful of women have bad hair days.
9. Do not steal a boat.
The vest that Rory had to wear for community service was deeply unflattering. Enough to put a girl off a life of crime altogether.
10. You should always pick the "bad boy".
If you have a chance with Milo Ventimiglia, you
take it. (And no, floppy-haired Dean is NOT an option.) Admittedly Logan's money
could sway me... (What? I'm soulless.) Over the course of it all, I was rooting for Jess. And I was fighting a losing battle in my mind.