Well, it's official. November beat me. After my last post a lot of stuff started happening. I got my acceptance letter to grad school, which led to signing up for classes, meetings with financial aid, a whole week of not being certain if I'd have a job in January (I do! Happy endings all around!). There just wasn't any more time for writing about "What's your favorite birthday?"
The whole point of the project was to get me updating this thing again, so it worked in that regard. Now that I've started again, I really want to keep at it, especially once I start school so that I have an outlet for something fun to write besides research papers. I'd like to do more food blogging, about the recipes Trench and I make at home. Maybe some crafty stuff about what I'm currently knitting and how it's going. More reviews of what I'm reading or watching. I've been playing with the idea of posting videos to the horrible pop songs that I hear at work every day and doing a full on rant about them.
Speaking of which, we've just switched to holiday music at work. So far I'm okay with it because it's giving me a break from Justin Bieber and Beyonce. I like the old Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters carols, and we also have a rock CD where I can hear the Ramones "Merry Xmas, I Don't Want To Fight Tonight". I'll take any Ramones song I can, even if it's a xmas carol. The carols I hate the most are the R&B ones with Luther Vandross or whoever showing off how long they can hold a note for. Yes, your range is astounding, please shut up now.
And now, off to work I go!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
What You Love About Yourself/Your First Kiss
The posts are doubling up more often. I'm shocked I'm still doing this. You won't beat me, November!
What You Love About Yourself: I don't consider myself an insecure person, but it's still hard to think of something. Maybe I'll just go with that...I'm not an insecure person. I'm aware that I'm pretty damn cute, and I enjoy it. I know how to take a compliment. I've known lots of girls who are so insecure that all they do is protest when their boyfriends say that they're pretty. I think that's terribly sad. It's strange that I'm not like that, because I was picked on a lot when I was a kid and thought I was the most worthless thing to ever walk on the earth. When I got older I was able to shrug a lot of that off, thank god. I also learned from my friends' insecurities (my friends from when I was young that is...the friends I have now are aware of how spectacular they are) and knew I didn't want to act that way. If my boyfriend told me that I was pretty, I was going to say "thank you", not start running off a list of all the things that were ugly about me. I wasn't going to constantly harp on stuff I didn't like about myself in order to fish for a compliment that I was just going to brush off. I wasn't going to play the "I'm so fat!" game with my friends (you know the game...where one girl laments how fat she is and everyone else says, "No you're not! I'm the fat one!" and so on). I also wasn't going to run in the other direction and fret constantly about my looks, contemplate Botox at 24, and get into bad relationships just to validate myself. I like dressing up and wearing makeup and looking pretty...but I know that under it all I'm still a geek girl who is likely to trip over her cute shoes multiple times and would sometimes rather stay in watching Firefly dvds. Honestly, I think that everyone is beautiful, and that if you are a beautiful person then you will stay beautiful as you age. Enjoy it in whatever way you want to.
My First Kiss: I tried to do the date-any-loser-just-because-he-asks thing, and it didn't work out. I was an insecure wreck in high school because I was the strange girl who liked to read. Unfortunately, I preferred reading whatever I wanted rather than doing my homework, so instead of being in honors classes with my friends, I was with the "normal" kids who thought I was weird and commented on my weirdness daily. (Um...I'm still the weird girl sometimes, in certain company. At least now I can deal with it better.) I met my first kiss in summer school. He asked me on a date, we went out and talked on the phone a lot. I wanted to like him, because he liked me and no one had ever liked me before, but I just couldn't do it. I remember what I didn't like about him was that he was so serious all the time. I think he was probably trying to show off how "deep" he was, but he didn't make me laugh, and that's the main thing I look for in a guy. Luckily he was in military school so he went away soon. He sent me a sappy letter about how he was in love with me. Remember a few posts ago when I said I don't believe people can be in love after knowing each other a few weeks, that love is something that takes time to build? I felt that way back then, even if I didn't realize it. I sent him a letter "breaking up" with him, although according to me we were never really together. I considered the few kisses we had to be "practice" for when the real thing happened. Poor guy.
What You Love About Yourself: I don't consider myself an insecure person, but it's still hard to think of something. Maybe I'll just go with that...I'm not an insecure person. I'm aware that I'm pretty damn cute, and I enjoy it. I know how to take a compliment. I've known lots of girls who are so insecure that all they do is protest when their boyfriends say that they're pretty. I think that's terribly sad. It's strange that I'm not like that, because I was picked on a lot when I was a kid and thought I was the most worthless thing to ever walk on the earth. When I got older I was able to shrug a lot of that off, thank god. I also learned from my friends' insecurities (my friends from when I was young that is...the friends I have now are aware of how spectacular they are) and knew I didn't want to act that way. If my boyfriend told me that I was pretty, I was going to say "thank you", not start running off a list of all the things that were ugly about me. I wasn't going to constantly harp on stuff I didn't like about myself in order to fish for a compliment that I was just going to brush off. I wasn't going to play the "I'm so fat!" game with my friends (you know the game...where one girl laments how fat she is and everyone else says, "No you're not! I'm the fat one!" and so on). I also wasn't going to run in the other direction and fret constantly about my looks, contemplate Botox at 24, and get into bad relationships just to validate myself. I like dressing up and wearing makeup and looking pretty...but I know that under it all I'm still a geek girl who is likely to trip over her cute shoes multiple times and would sometimes rather stay in watching Firefly dvds. Honestly, I think that everyone is beautiful, and that if you are a beautiful person then you will stay beautiful as you age. Enjoy it in whatever way you want to.
My First Kiss: I tried to do the date-any-loser-just-because-he-asks thing, and it didn't work out. I was an insecure wreck in high school because I was the strange girl who liked to read. Unfortunately, I preferred reading whatever I wanted rather than doing my homework, so instead of being in honors classes with my friends, I was with the "normal" kids who thought I was weird and commented on my weirdness daily. (Um...I'm still the weird girl sometimes, in certain company. At least now I can deal with it better.) I met my first kiss in summer school. He asked me on a date, we went out and talked on the phone a lot. I wanted to like him, because he liked me and no one had ever liked me before, but I just couldn't do it. I remember what I didn't like about him was that he was so serious all the time. I think he was probably trying to show off how "deep" he was, but he didn't make me laugh, and that's the main thing I look for in a guy. Luckily he was in military school so he went away soon. He sent me a sappy letter about how he was in love with me. Remember a few posts ago when I said I don't believe people can be in love after knowing each other a few weeks, that love is something that takes time to build? I felt that way back then, even if I didn't realize it. I sent him a letter "breaking up" with him, although according to me we were never really together. I considered the few kisses we had to be "practice" for when the real thing happened. Poor guy.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Your Mode of Transportation/Where You Live
Another double post. Can you tell we're in mid-November? But I'm still at it.
Mode of Transport: These days it's the train. A few years back Trench and I had a car basically catch fire on the highway and that was the end of us being a two car family.
Trench usually has the car because he has to drive out to the burbs for work. I miss having a car, but I think I would still take the train to work because it's in a very trendy, boutiquey neighborhood and parking is difficult. At my old job downtown I happily shelled out money to pay for parking in the garage. Sometimes with me, it's less about the money than it is about time. If it takes twenty minutes to drive somewhere, and 45 minutes on the train, I'd rather drive even if I have to pay for parking. With my current job, all the time gets eaten up with looking for parking, so I'd rather take the train and read a book instead of freaking out over parking and traffic and construction. I do take the car sometimes when I work on Sundays because parking is a lot easier and the trains run slower. The feeling of leaving work and just walking straight to my car instead of waiting 15 minutes for a train? Glorious.
Where You Live: Trench and I recently bought a condo in the most northern neighborhood in Chicago. I didn't mean to move this far north, but the further you get from the trendy neighborhoods, the more affordable the housing is. We definitely lucked out. Trench and I spent almost ten years in the same apartment, mostly because our landlord let us do whatever we wanted and never raised our rent. It was a great apartment and I miss it, but our new place is so much more updated. Central air/heat! Windows that aren't drafty! Multiple electrical outlets everywhere you look! Trench and I both take decorating very seriously so we quickly dove in with paint and artwork to make it our own.
The neighborhood isn't bad. We were worried because it has a reputation for crime, but our place is off the main strip, so it has a very quiet and residential feel to it. We're across the street from a park and just a few blocks away from a beach. Right by the train station there's some evidence of gentrification...a coffeehouse/bagel sandwich place. A massage therapy business. An Italian restaurant. A wine store (our favorite). So we might be a little far out, but I'm slowly falling for my tiny corner of the city.
Mode of Transport: These days it's the train. A few years back Trench and I had a car basically catch fire on the highway and that was the end of us being a two car family.
Trench usually has the car because he has to drive out to the burbs for work. I miss having a car, but I think I would still take the train to work because it's in a very trendy, boutiquey neighborhood and parking is difficult. At my old job downtown I happily shelled out money to pay for parking in the garage. Sometimes with me, it's less about the money than it is about time. If it takes twenty minutes to drive somewhere, and 45 minutes on the train, I'd rather drive even if I have to pay for parking. With my current job, all the time gets eaten up with looking for parking, so I'd rather take the train and read a book instead of freaking out over parking and traffic and construction. I do take the car sometimes when I work on Sundays because parking is a lot easier and the trains run slower. The feeling of leaving work and just walking straight to my car instead of waiting 15 minutes for a train? Glorious.
Where You Live: Trench and I recently bought a condo in the most northern neighborhood in Chicago. I didn't mean to move this far north, but the further you get from the trendy neighborhoods, the more affordable the housing is. We definitely lucked out. Trench and I spent almost ten years in the same apartment, mostly because our landlord let us do whatever we wanted and never raised our rent. It was a great apartment and I miss it, but our new place is so much more updated. Central air/heat! Windows that aren't drafty! Multiple electrical outlets everywhere you look! Trench and I both take decorating very seriously so we quickly dove in with paint and artwork to make it our own.
The neighborhood isn't bad. We were worried because it has a reputation for crime, but our place is off the main strip, so it has a very quiet and residential feel to it. We're across the street from a park and just a few blocks away from a beach. Right by the train station there's some evidence of gentrification...a coffeehouse/bagel sandwich place. A massage therapy business. An Italian restaurant. A wine store (our favorite). So we might be a little far out, but I'm slowly falling for my tiny corner of the city.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Your Siblings/What's In Your Bag
I missed my post for yesterday, which was "Your Siblings", but that one is easy. I'm an only child. Done and done.
So now on to "What's In Your Bag". Hmm...let's see...
- A lot of spare change that should be put into the spare change jar we have.
- My cute little going out wristlet-purse. This should be taken out too so I know where it is when I need it.
- Benefit Dr. Feelgood.
- Double pointed needles for a knitting project I was working on. Yet another item that can get out of my bag.
- Vintage glasses case.
- Various receipts.
- Sharpie pen (not a marker, the pen).
- Pilot pen.
- Two packets of Emergen-C.
- Burt's Bees lip balm.
- Three lip glosses.
- Seven lipsticks. (What? I like lipstick.)
- Purse-hanger (the kind you can use to hang your purse on the table at a bar).
- Spare keys.
- Sample of a solid conditioner from Lush (ooh! Forgot about that!).
So now on to "What's In Your Bag". Hmm...let's see...
- A lot of spare change that should be put into the spare change jar we have.
- My cute little going out wristlet-purse. This should be taken out too so I know where it is when I need it.
- Benefit Dr. Feelgood.
- Double pointed needles for a knitting project I was working on. Yet another item that can get out of my bag.
- Vintage glasses case.
- Various receipts.
- Sharpie pen (not a marker, the pen).
- Pilot pen.
- Two packets of Emergen-C.
- Burt's Bees lip balm.
- Three lip glosses.
- Seven lipsticks. (What? I like lipstick.)
- Purse-hanger (the kind you can use to hang your purse on the table at a bar).
- Spare keys.
- Sample of a solid conditioner from Lush (ooh! Forgot about that!).
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
An Inspiration
I think that instead of being all, "A poem! A beautiful sunset! My favorite song!" I'll discuss what inspires me as a writer. I've noticed I work really well with prompts. Case in point, right here. My inspiration could be a dry well for an embarrassingly long time, but if someone points to me and says, "Hey you! Write about such-and-such!" then I'll settle in with a notebook and pen and scribble away. Sometimes I can get there on my own, but for the most part it helps to have a jumping off point. You would think that just knowing this would make me a productive writer. It doesn't. It also helps to have a class or a group and deadlines. I've always wanted to go back to grad school for a writing program, but have never been able to justify the thousands of dollars that would cost. Maybe just saying here that "Writing prompts help to inspire me" will inspire me to break them out on my own more often.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Your Beliefs
This one could get preachy fast. I'm too tired to be preachy. I'm going to do stream of consciousness. If it gets preachy, don't blame me, blame the long day I had or the glass of wine I'm drinking.
I believe that wine is healthy and can be drank (drunk? drinken?) every day in moderation. I believe that the sulfites in red wine mess with me, so I drink white wine instead. I believe that white wine has just as many antioxidants as red. I believe that antioxidants are the key to staying young, as they fight the free radicals that drain the life from our cells. I believe that tanning is worse for your skin than smoking. I believe that alcohol (in moderation!) is a preservative, so drink up. I believe that you shouldn't try to wax your own eyebrows, leave them to the pros. I believe that cats are just as faithful a companion as dogs, and won't abandon you when someone else offers a treat. I believe that dogs are sometimes more fun than cats because you can take them out and play with them and get exercise. I believe that cats are better in winter when you'd rather stay inside and nap. I believe in rampant creativity. I believe in staying inside with a good book on a sunny day. I believe in dancing all night in a pretty dress and heels. I believe in buying good shoes that don't hurt your feet even if they are expensive. I believe in buying cheap clothes because who cares if they wear out? I believe no one should ever pay a lot of money for a purse, because it's just a dumb purse. I believe that a label slapped on a purse/shoe/clothing item makes it tacky and uninteresting. I believe in buying vintage designer clothing at thrift stores. I believe in chaos and that nothing is meant to be, it all comes down to the personal choices that we make. I believe that people can do anything they want...they just can't do everything they want. I believe in spirituality. I believe in science. I believe in the "poetic anatomy". I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I believe in energy. I believe that Mayan descendants don't believe in 2012. I believe in punk rock. I believe the Brits always make the best music. I believe that my cat loves me as much as a child could. I believe that children are wonderful...for other people. I believe in the healing powers of being outside in nature. I believe that I am a city girl and could never live anywhere else. I believe that it isn't wrong to eat meat. I believe that factory farming is a holocaust for animals, and it is wrong to eat factory farmed meat. I believe that eating healthy is delicious and more people should try it. I believe that people who don't like vegetables aren't eating them the right way. I believe in very salty french fries and potato chips...yum. I believe in feminism. I believe in pro-choice. I believe that if I got pregnant now, I couldn't have an abortion. I believe in birth control. I believe in gay marriage. I believe that my trans father in law is one of the sweetest, most gentle people on earth and that fundamentalist Christians only wish they could be half as good. I believe the most ethical people I have ever met have all been atheists. I believe that no one in the world knows what is out there after we die, and that is why I am agnostic. I believe that the friends that I have are like my family. I believe that you can make amazing friendships on the internet. I believe that no one "should" be such and such a thing, and that people can be anything they want...but they can't be everything they want. I believe in faeries. Clap your hands.
I believe that wine is healthy and can be drank (drunk? drinken?) every day in moderation. I believe that the sulfites in red wine mess with me, so I drink white wine instead. I believe that white wine has just as many antioxidants as red. I believe that antioxidants are the key to staying young, as they fight the free radicals that drain the life from our cells. I believe that tanning is worse for your skin than smoking. I believe that alcohol (in moderation!) is a preservative, so drink up. I believe that you shouldn't try to wax your own eyebrows, leave them to the pros. I believe that cats are just as faithful a companion as dogs, and won't abandon you when someone else offers a treat. I believe that dogs are sometimes more fun than cats because you can take them out and play with them and get exercise. I believe that cats are better in winter when you'd rather stay inside and nap. I believe in rampant creativity. I believe in staying inside with a good book on a sunny day. I believe in dancing all night in a pretty dress and heels. I believe in buying good shoes that don't hurt your feet even if they are expensive. I believe in buying cheap clothes because who cares if they wear out? I believe no one should ever pay a lot of money for a purse, because it's just a dumb purse. I believe that a label slapped on a purse/shoe/clothing item makes it tacky and uninteresting. I believe in buying vintage designer clothing at thrift stores. I believe in chaos and that nothing is meant to be, it all comes down to the personal choices that we make. I believe that people can do anything they want...they just can't do everything they want. I believe in spirituality. I believe in science. I believe in the "poetic anatomy". I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I believe in energy. I believe that Mayan descendants don't believe in 2012. I believe in punk rock. I believe the Brits always make the best music. I believe that my cat loves me as much as a child could. I believe that children are wonderful...for other people. I believe in the healing powers of being outside in nature. I believe that I am a city girl and could never live anywhere else. I believe that it isn't wrong to eat meat. I believe that factory farming is a holocaust for animals, and it is wrong to eat factory farmed meat. I believe that eating healthy is delicious and more people should try it. I believe that people who don't like vegetables aren't eating them the right way. I believe in very salty french fries and potato chips...yum. I believe in feminism. I believe in pro-choice. I believe that if I got pregnant now, I couldn't have an abortion. I believe in birth control. I believe in gay marriage. I believe that my trans father in law is one of the sweetest, most gentle people on earth and that fundamentalist Christians only wish they could be half as good. I believe the most ethical people I have ever met have all been atheists. I believe that no one in the world knows what is out there after we die, and that is why I am agnostic. I believe that the friends that I have are like my family. I believe that you can make amazing friendships on the internet. I believe that no one "should" be such and such a thing, and that people can be anything they want...but they can't be everything they want. I believe in faeries. Clap your hands.
Monday, November 8, 2010
A Precious Item
Okay, I'm racking my brain right now, but can't seem to come up with anything. This might be surprising to people because I've always had a lot of stuff, and throwing things away can be hard for me. I think that's a bad habit that I'm growing out of. Trench and I got rid of a lot when we moved (turns out that's the best way to de-clutter...move out!). So I'm trying to think of the one precious item that I can't live without. Books? Music? My wedding ring is the easy answer, but it was my grandmother's setting, and believe it or not, she had a backup. The stone is an amethyst, which is precious to me, but I didn't exactly need to take an insurance policy out on it. Maybe I'll switch to a diamond after I'm forty, because according to Holly GoLightly, I'm too young for diamonds until then.
I think the item(s) that would hit me hardest if I lost it in a fire would be my journals. For years I kept paper journals in composition books. I tried having one for every year, which worked when I was in school, but after school they started blending together. I remember trying to find one for a specific period of time last year, and couldn't find it anywhere. I was really distraught about it, it was like losing an entire two years of my life. I found it when we were moving, right with all the others as if it had been there all along, even though I scoured them all multiple times looking for it.
Lately I've switched to an online journal (besides this one...it's out there, but no one can access it but me). After thinking I lost that one journal, I didn't trust paper anymore. If there's ever a house fire, the internet will keep my current journal safe, although it's the paper journals that mean more.
I think the item(s) that would hit me hardest if I lost it in a fire would be my journals. For years I kept paper journals in composition books. I tried having one for every year, which worked when I was in school, but after school they started blending together. I remember trying to find one for a specific period of time last year, and couldn't find it anywhere. I was really distraught about it, it was like losing an entire two years of my life. I found it when we were moving, right with all the others as if it had been there all along, even though I scoured them all multiple times looking for it.
Lately I've switched to an online journal (besides this one...it's out there, but no one can access it but me). After thinking I lost that one journal, I didn't trust paper anymore. If there's ever a house fire, the internet will keep my current journal safe, although it's the paper journals that mean more.
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