Randomness

I haven’t been doing the blog thing lately…other than reading…trouble with blogger and having difficulty posting so it’s just not worth the effort. Plus, I just really don’t have much to say. Someday my life will be more exciting.

Four Noble Truths: I’d create my own, but I think Greg has it right.

Favorite new blog designed by the husband of Heather. My favorite is here.

Should I feel guilty for not really working when I have to work?

I’m working on 100 things about me. Initially, I saw this at Stephanie’s and tried desperately to keep it at 100 but then realized she has way more so now I just randomly put things down. Eventually I’ll post it here.

I did get an avatar. FINALLY figured out how they work…for being computer literate I often feel really illiterate. Oh well. I’d like to learn how to set up links on the side of the page but that’ll be for another day.

Thank you for the prayers for Zachary and Art. Art is still in the hospital, but doing okay. Zachary has been moved out of CICU and doing really well. He still has a long road ahead of him, but he is doing well.

A lot to read...

I tell ya, the things I find myself reading these days. Here are a few:

A Clash of Kings – the second in the George R.R. Martin series. A must read!

Attitude is everything – good to remember to help the advance of my career…or what there is left of it. But also good to remember for all the fun staff things I need to work on.

And then the “WHOA” of the week. (I’m still thinking about last week's…I promise I will comment on that soon.)

I always start with Lileks (scroll down a bit – it’s at the end he talks about Joel)
Then I moved to the article
Then to the comments by Hugh
Then to the interview This is the "Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein..." from Tuesday Jan 24. This is one of those few times I wish I had speakers so I could actually hear it.

Uffda.

Emotions are flying the gamut today, boys.

Joy:
There is nothing like the birth of a child to bring joy to the world. No, I didn’t pop out a kid, but so many of my friends have had children lately: Julie/Andrew, Brian and his wife, Kristin/Ron, Justin/Anna, Geoff/Tammie…it’s incredible.

And on top of that I reconnected with Mikey today, who sent me pictures of he darling wife, Heidi, who’s due to have their first child in a few weeks! Ah, Mikey. I miss him. He and I and Heidi always had such a great time together – then they had to go and move to Texas. UGH! Talk about far away. Heidi and I were really close when we were in closer proximity. Some times distance just is the pits.

But the joy of friendships is even when you are separated by miles and don’t talk or see each other as often as you like, when you do pick up that phone it’s like no time has passed. Of course you go through the obligatory “what have you been up to” stage, but that lasts all of 5 minutes and you’re back to joking around and laughing like always. That’s the joy of true friendships…it’s always there. You always have them in your heart even when they aren’t in your sightline.

I’m working to plan a trip to see Mike & Heidi. I’m hoping to get down there this spring after the baby comes so I can see all three of them. I haven’t seen both of them since their wedding I think. Oh, that’s been ages! (well not that long, but still)

Sadness and Concern:
My father’s Godfather was in the hospital again recently. Art has been such a pillar of life it’s disheartening to hear that he isn’t doing well. He’s lived an incredible life – building the Replica Church ¼ scale of West Nidaros (including the cracks in the floorboards) was one of his great moments – besides just being a wonderful man. I always love his hugs and smiles. And he always has a story to tell. It’ll be a sad day here when he dies. But while sadness lingers at his illness, joy fills me with memories of him and the knowledge that he will live on in eternal glory.

I’m asking for prayers for Kristin and Ron’s little boy Zachary. Zachary was born way early and though is doing well does have quite a few days of building ahead of him. Thanks.

Excitement:
Soon I’ll be taking a trip. Not just to Texas but to Alaska. I’m so excited for this one. Two and one half weeks way up north, working and playing and learning. I’ll tell more as I get closer to this one.

Interest:
Tuesday night I went to the Guthrie for my 6^th of 7 season ticket shows. That night (and currently until Feb. 5) they are performing “The People’s Temple” – a show which tells the stories of survivors of and those who died at Jonestown in 1978. The writers spent countless hours interviewing survivors, reading documents from it and researching the mission. It started as a religious movement but turned into a political and socialist movement instead, all led by Jim Jones. It was an incredibly moving story – seeing the mission from the perspective of those who lived it, survived it and died from it. If you’re in the Cities, I highly recommend this one. It’s well worth the effort to get to it.

blah? no, just boring

Has anyone else figured out that my life just hasn’t been that exciting lately? I mean, pictures of pies, procrastination lists, blah blah blog. Sorry. I wish I had more exciting things to report but alas, my life is just this exciting. Not.

So I’ve been reading. Read this. Then read this. I’m not going to comment yet because I’ve been trying desperately to sort it all out in my head. Soon though. But feel free to start. (p.s. the first one is long) (P.S. Reid - get a blogger ID, you don't need a blog, but get an ID and then you can comment. I'm guessing you'll have some thoughts on this one.)

But here are some thoughts (not related, but maybe) I’ve been toying with over the last couple of days:

Living in the past. Looking to the future. It’s interesting with people’s outlook on things. I know I have a problem with my own looking at the past and feeling negative about situations that have happened. Hopefully, I have learned something from those situations, but using them as a way to not do something else for the future worries me. I’m not making sense. Let me start here. E made a great comment on his blog: “Either people are going to buy into the future or they are going to sit on the around and bitch about the past. And the past isn’t where this is going to be anymore.” This is a fabulous statement which can apply to an individual, a relationship, a committee, a company, even a community. The trick is finding those who DO buy into the future and helping those bitching to see beyond the box.

procrastinating, again...

Thanks to whoorl!

[A is for age:]
30.75 Yes, sir. I am in my 30’s and loving it.

[B is for booze of choice:]
Rum and Diet Coke, natch.

[C is for career:]
Event Services Scheduling Coordinator. Fancy title for “the girl who enters the room requests in the system”.

[D is for your dog's name:]
I’ve never had a dog. It’s okay. They’re too needy, though damn cute.

[E is for essential items you use everyday:]
Softlips; CL peach tea; eggs; water; toothpaste; toothbrush; BC.

[F is for favorite song(s) at the moment:]
Ooo…right now, sad to say, I’ve been listening to Janet Jackson’s “Design of a Decade” and her famous song Nasty. Sad to say it’s probably my fave at the moment, though I’ve been listening to a lot of Chase lately, too. What's scary is Richard Marx is on the radio right now (Hold on to the night) and i know all the words. help!

[G is for favorite games:]
Cranium, Sudoku, Cribbage to start.

[H is for hometown:]
Baltic, SD.

[I is for instruments you play:]
Clarinet and piano, though I took methods classes for every instrument so ideally I could play anything – just not well.

[J is for jam or jelly you like:]
Strawberry.

[K is for kids:]
None that I know of.

[L is for last kiss:]
J-man.

[M is for most admired trait:]
This isn’t an M word, but okay I just don't know. Hospitality?

[N is for name of your crush:]
John Cusack, Ethan and J-man.

[O is for overnight hospital stays:]
None, unless you count staying over while friends/family were admitted-then 2 that I remember.

[P is for phobias:]
I have a fear of falling, and I’m not a fan of tight spaces or a lot of people crowding around me. This is why I’ve never been bungee jumping or to the MN State Fair.

[Q is for quotes you like:]
I have way too many for this one. For now: I'd just like to acknowledge all my loved ones, but most of all, I believe I must give credit as credit is due. When it comes down to it, it is to procrastination which I owe much of my creativity and subsequent success. Many see procrastination as a negative thing, however, I have obviously reaped the benefits as I stand before you today. May my success, my creative genius, be a reminder to all, that Procrastination has it's place in society today. Without obsene procrastinatory habits, creativity would not have blossomed and grown. And although my creative streak is being honored here today, it is really my overdeveloped habit of procrastination that this success is to be attributed to. ~ tep

[R is for biggest regret:]
Not applying for Regents College in London, not playing more during college, not focusing on one passion and spreading myself too thin (though not physically) and not having the guts to just pack up my little car and drive somewhere and start completely over.

[S is for sweets of your choice:]
Sugar Free Hershey’s Dark Chocolate and Reese’s PB cups. Oh and Lite Cool Whip. Oh and sugarfree Fudgsicles.

[T is for time you wake up:]
6am but it ends up being 6:40am before I roll out of bed. Though today it was 7:08. EGADS!

[U is for underwear:]
Right now, black cotton bikini.

[V is for vegetables you love:]
Celery, broccoli, lettuce, peppers and I’m learning to like spinach. I’m not much of a veggie eater.

[W is for worst habit:]
Biting my nails, inability to make decisions, procrastinating (of course!) and NLP’s (neat little piles).

[X is for x-rays you've had:]
Only dental.

[Y is for yummy food you make:]
PB cookies with Dark Chocolate kisses, chocolate chip cookies, low-fat sugar cookies with frosting, steak, chicken, lots of stuff!

[Z is for zodiac sign:]
Aries, baby.

PIE!

FINALLY, pictures from November. Doesn’t that look tasty…especially while on Phase 1. MMM

The nemesis of Four

I wasn’t officially ‘tapped’ as Angie was by Emily but alas, this is kind of interesting, at least if you’re procrastinating entering tax data onto a spreadsheet it is. So here it goes:

Four Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life: Crew Leader at Arby’s, library circulation desk worker, deli hostess at Sunshine Food Market (there’s a song with that, did you sing it?), beginning and middle school band teacher

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over: My Blue Heaven, White Christmas, oh man…I can’t think – there are way too many I already do watch over and over!

Four Places You’ve Lived: Baltic, SD; Aberdeen, SD; St. Paul, MN; Minneapolis, MN. Pathetic, I know.

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch: CSI (the original), Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Monk. (And Laugh In, but I don’t actually have that one readily available.)

Four Places You’ve Been on Vacation: London (twice), Turkey (sort of), Israel (sort of), Maryland (sort of).

Four Websites You Visit Daily: Dooce, The Breast Cancer Site (and other tabs), Greek Tragedy, fluidpudding (obviously). (Many more are listed in my blog favorites. I waste a lot of time online.)

Four of Your Favorite Foods: Strawberries, Diet Coke with Splenda (does that count for a food?), my cookies, spichemere.

Four Places You’d Rather Be: in the arms of John Cusack, in London, in Israel at Muza’s, in the movies.

Four Albums You Can’t Live Without: Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Collection, Chase, Parliament, Jaztronauts. (again, so many others to pick)

I thought I wouldn't tap anyone else officially, but I'd love to hear what your 'four' are. :)

I’m 31 now.

So this weekend – since I haven’t been here in a while – was pretty good. Morty turned 1 on Friday (with over 19670 miles – ugh!). I was going to take him for a bath and clean up him but I ended up spending the day indoors going through files and receipts for the impending tax filing season. If that wasn’t depressing enough, which let’s face it – it was, I also had to shovel, first 3 inches (during which Charley came up behind and me and was redoing parts of the sidewalk I had already done – thanks, buddy), and then another 2 later that day. So rough b-day for Morty. I’ll make it up to him soon enough. Someday I’ll have enough money for a detail appointment – then boy, won’t he be happy!

Saturday was new years eve, duh. I’m not usually a girl to go out and party it up, esp. in the cities where everything seems to be overpriced for what you get. BUT A&K wanted to go and I wanted to hang with them, so we went to the Lounge. Once we finally got in it was a pretty good time. I got to kiss a boy at midnight, and a little after, which is always fun, K got hit on twice by a girl, A got really drunk, and we all hung out and had a fabulous time (well, the girl left early, much to K’s thankfulness). My friendship with K is growing (at least I hope so) which is great because I love hanging with A and it’s important that K and I get along, otherwise it’ll just be painful. So hopefully we all can hang out more in the future. They are incredible people.

And since it’s January 1, it’s time for the resolutions – or goals for lifestyle changes, as I prefer. I’ve already posted these once so I’m not doing it again. If you REALLY want to read them (they’re boring, trust me), then go here. Otherwise, just know that I’m still working on me as I have been since July and August and that will continue for a while. Someday I’ll be fixed (not like a dog gets fixed, but in a good way) and maybe I’ll have some better ones.

So happy new year everyone! I hope 2006 treats you better than 2005, unless 2005 was the bomb, then I hope 2006 at least lives up to it. Or screw it all and just live your life and count your blessings each day, because really, what more do we have?