On Being Content

I’m not ashamed to admit it, but I google people. Sometimes quite often.

There will be times when I’ll have a lull in the day where I’ll think about someone, wonder what they’re doing, google their name and mystery solved. Sometimes the mystery isn’t solved, but it’s just as well. These are people who are usually friends/acquiantances/coworkers that I’ve lost touch with. They are people that I wouldn’t necessarily call, but I’m still curious about them.

The other day I wondered about Holly. Holly and I interned for the same company in the summer of 1999. Actually, we worked for two different companies but they shared a building. Weird, huh? We were both working in Philly and were excited about our times in the big city.

Our bosses would send ous out for various tasks, some exciting, some not. Often, I would see her there doing the same thing. We’d smile and chat briefly, but it was clear that she was the competition. In our own polite way, we went for each other’s jugular for three months.

The other day I randomly thought of her and googled her name. I learned that she’s doing pretty well, living in another country and working – something that I dreamed of doing years ago. I read her bio and a strange feeling came over for me. It wasn’t jealousy or animosity. I actually felt happy for her.

I no longer have the desire to do some of the things I once intended to do. The dreams I had as a girl changed once I got into college, changed again when I got into the Real World and at this stage, are being chiseled and refined. I am content.

So go fight the good fight, Holly. I’m back here, cheering you on!

Photo from http://www.3d-screensaver-downloads.com/images/cute-animal-babies/big2.jpg

The Lunch Crunch

In recent months, I decided to switch up my lunch routine a little bit. In the past, I would always bring my lunch, eat it at my desk, then run to the library for the duration of my break to get away from the office and escape my colleauges.

But that has changed. I don’t know why I started this, but all of a sudden, I’m bringing my book (in some cases books) and eating in the office cafeteria. This area is usually pretty quiet. The only person I see in there is a grumpy old man who enters every day at 12:05 p.m. to read the newspaper, cover to cover. He gets annoyed whenever people make noise, and plugs his ears as a sign of protest. Of course, that only makes people (namely me) make more noise as they move chairs around, or hit the vending machine’s brows button.

Recently, people have come to join me in the office cafeteria. The first person, Bunny, had to grow on me. She reads while she eats too, but she also likes to talk. Not talk, complain, about the job, our coworkers, etc. I’m all for a tad bit of office griping, but she takes it to another level. Eventually, she took the hint as I’ve limited our convos to our books and our meals.

Then there is Candy, the caffeine addict. She comes in the cafeteria every afternoon because she desperately needs a Diet Coke. We chat for a minute, then she runs back to work. Recently, she looked upset and I made the mistake of asking her what was wrong. She nearly burst into tears as she described a huge project that had been thrust upon her at the last minute. Honestly, I didn’t think the task was that huge and I thought she was overreacting, but I didn’t say as much. I just gave her some advice, a little pep talk and sent her on her way. But that did eat up 20 minutes out of my lunch break. Twenty minutes that I may never get back!

The other day, the weather was so nice I decided to eat at our outdoor patio. Big mistake. For one, the tables are all positioned (and bolted down) in the shaded areas, where it is freezing. I tried to maneuver so I can be more in the sunshine. That worked for a little while, until I noticed the huge pack of bees --- no, no, they were WASPS – swarming toward me and my meal. Lovely. I bolted up and went to a table in the shade and sat down, only to realize much to late that the chair was wet. So I had an unfortunate wet stain on the back of my slacks. I wanted to weep.

So sometime soon, I think I’m going to have to start going to the library again. No chatty, crying colleagues or wasps there!

(photo from http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/02/11/realestate/11sqft.1.600.jpg)

Riding on the MO Train

I'm not sure when it happened, exactly. It was just one of those random things that crept up on me and before I knew it, I wanted, needed more. The thing is, when I like someone, I really really like them. If it's a celebrity or public figure, I read every story pertaining to him/her, defend them to the ends of the other and do my fair share of googling of them. Yes, I know. I'm quite intense.

Lately, I added a new person to my list of google faves. And that person is Michelle Obama.

The thing that I like about Michelle (or MO, as I like to call her) is that she clearly doesn't take any crap from anyone. I had my doubts about her initially, but that was only because her highly arched eyebrows scared the crap out of me. Yet that was before I knew that her eyebrows were a weapon. She can play nice and smile for the media, but there have been quite a few times when I've seen her raise them eyebrows in a way that clearly says, 'Back up -- I'm not the one.' And seriously, everyone knows to back up, even Barack (or The Rock, as I like to call him).

So when the New Yorker did a very long article on her, I had to read it, cover to cover. I'm a Today Show person myself, but I couldn't help but chuckle at the interview GMA did on the Obamas where they talked about getting a dog for their girls. In short, The Rock was hesitant, but MO shut that mess down by looking at the camera and telling the kids (eyebrows raised, mind you), "We're getting a dog." And naturally, I loved how The Rock told the GOP to back off MO.

Anyway, I was reading the newspaper the other day and learned that Michelle will be a guest host of The View on June 18. They called her up and initially asked her to be a guest. However, she did the eyebrow trick again before pointing out to the producers that Cindy McCain was on there not as a guest, but as a guest host, and MO was entitled the same. The producers agreed and are giving her what she wants.

As much as I loathe The View, I will have my VCR (no tivo or dvr folks, i'm old fashioned) set to record this one show. I can't wait to see MO interact with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. It'll be a joy to watch her get shut down.

"I Stole Your Girl While You Were In Prison" (Or, Old School Moment)

Like everyone, I love Fridays. I'm particularly a fan of Friday mornings because I can start my day with the Russ Parr Morning Show. Each Friday, he plays a mix of 'the wrong songs,' which are basically old school tracks. And each week, I enjoy them.





But today, he played one of the songs that always makes me lose my ever lovin' mind. I mean seriously. I know all the words and am not afraid to sing them. Loudly.





Like this morning. I hop in my ride, roll the windows down (still no a/c ya'll. sigh.), check the mirror and turn on the radio. To my surprise, my jam was playing. So I start screaming the lyrics and bobbing my head like I've ... well ... lost my ever lovin' mind. I turn to my left and who do I see? One of my neighbors who was staring at me with interest. She smiled, but she had a look on her face like, "clearly, the child has lost it." I was embarrassed for like two seconds, but I'm over it. Clearly, we have separate mindsets on how to prepare mentally for the work day.





Anyway, here's the video is linked here. Also, I was able to find a recent article with MC Milk Dee. You can find it here.

Image from http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/7/4/1/6/686147_356x237.jpg

'Twins run in our family'

I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. There’s no reason for it, actually. I just can’t get my tail to bed on time. But the problem with that is my sleep deprivation typically causes me to have some crazy dreams when I do get to sleep. On an ordinary night, I don’t remember my dreams at all.

So the other night I had the craziest two part dream that I must share. In the first part, I was in the hospital, in labor I guess, when someone hands me two blankets with babies wrapped up in them. Apparently, I had given birth. To twins! I did not feel happy about this. All I felt was stressed and scared. And the worse part was, there was no one in the hospital room with me. Where was my support system?? I’m not meant to raise two children alone!! And all I could hear in the background was my aunt’s voice saying, ‘twins run in our family,’ which is something she actually said weeks ago.

I’m really wondering what that dream meant. I am absolutely NOT pregnant, so that theory is out the window. I’ve had recurring dreams where I am pregnant, but all in different scenarios. In each of those dreams, there’s no baby, just me filled with the constant fear of having a kid. Never have twins entered the picture. Never. And I wouldn’t say twins run in our family. We have two sets of twins -- nothing near epidemic proportions. But whatever. I’m just scratching my head as to what that dream was about.

In the second part of my dream, one of my friends was pushing me to travel to some place that she thought would be fun and exciting. Delaware. I told her repeatedly that I had been to Delaware hundreds of times and never found anything particularly fun or exciting about it, but she wouldn’t listen to me, she wanted to go. So we go there and I as I predicted, have a pretty boring time. And that’s all I remember about that part of the dream. I think I woke up laughing on that one.

Anyway, it just shows that my mind has been a jumbled mess as of late. I’ll have to go to bed earlier until I can find which bedtime works best for me.

(Photo from http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ONN2-CktSTAvNM:http://bp2.blogger.com/_X_d6JjJ00I4/)