Office Space

For the last few days I have been a walking cesspool of contagious disease. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic. I have a cold. But it is a very bad cold and has caused me to miss work for 2.5 days while I slip in and out of consciousness. I guess that's what comes from working in places like an office building...or a school...or I guess just being alive. The problem with colds in an office like mine is that they turn into a vicious cycle. One person gets a cold, then another person gets one, and so on and so forth until it finally gets back to the person who started it. I guess we can't really know who started it because this cycle has been going since the office existed. Or at least since I existed in the office. Regardless, I have been laying in bed watching movies for awhile, which is good since I have not done that in awhile. So I'm catching up. I like movies. I will even watch a bad movie if it has a good soundtrack. Right now I am watching "Lord of the Rings" which has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. I wish I had a soundtrack like that. Of course, I also wish I could speak Elvish and were a wizard. I'm guessing none of those things are going to happen. A girl can dream, though. I guess that's part of what movies do...help us live vicariously through fictitious, or even real, characters. We all need a break from reality sometimes...if we don't take it I think we'd be miserable. I usually get my reality breaks from books. As aforementioned, however, I have not been able to stay awake long enough to read a book so I have chosen movies this time. I could probably suck it up and go to work and suffer through the day, but I figure...my body is telling me it's time for a break, so I'm going to take advantage of it. However, as you may or may not be able to tell, I'm getting kind of antsy. But I'll spare you more babbling and go back to watching my movies.

If I had a hammer...

So this morning I was driving to work, which is not unusual since I can't fly or levitate or anything cool like that. Anyway, I drove through the U of M campus and was sitting at a stop light, one car from the front of the line, and this guy crosses the street in front of my car. Now, I don't have a problem with people crossing streets. I'm just wondering why it was so hard to walk, literally, the extra 20 feet to get to the light. The light was even green in the direction he wanted to cross. I guess if a person prefers to play frogger instead of taking the extra energy (which really wouldn't take that much) to walk to the corner, that's their choice. Those people should wear helmets, it would be much safer.

On a different note, I was listening to a song called "The Percolater." Obviously it was attempting to simulate a percolator coffee pot, and doing a very good job of it. You never hear songs trying to sound like drip coffee makers, or French presses. Admittedly, they would be boring songs, but a percolator is always used. Hearing an espresso machine more often would be interesting. They make all kinds of sounds. Come to think of it, that would be a great song to write and perform. I think the boring appliances and household utensils should be given more attention in song writing. You never hear songs with refrigerators or stoves or brooms in them. I'm going to start a movement for the fair treatment of boring inanimate objects in songs. Anyone who wants to join me may do so.

Checked out

I still have about 45 minutes of my work day left, but my mind is not here. Granted, my mind is usually not at work when I am, but I make it through the day. Don't worry, my mind isn't at work when I'm not here either. Which is why I am in the process of revamping my life, including my thought processes. For example, when I'm stuck in traffic, I no longer think "damn this traffic" and try to find the quickest possible route through it. Instead I think "huh. here I am in traffic. not much I can do about it" and turn up the radio. The other day I picked my parents up from the airport. I was fortunate enough to be going at a time when the sun was beginning to set. I don't think I've ever realized just how beautiful St. Paul can be. As I was driving over a bridge, I had a great view of the bluffs over the river and the trees starting to change. It reminded me of being in the boundary waters, sitting on a rock looking out at the lake. I wanted to do nothing but drive over to the bluffs and find a rock to sit on for awhile, or take a long walk in the trees. I think sometimes people, myself included, spend too much time worrying about what might happen, or what hasn't happened yet, and not enough time thinking about what's going on right now. I'm especially guilty of that lately. Until a few weeks ago, I didn't realize how I was feeling about certain things or people, and how those things or people were affecting my life...both positively and negatively. The good thing was, as soon as I realized which things or people were negatively affecting my life, I started making changes. Had I not taken the time to think and made those changes, it is very likely I would have missed the view of the bluffs all together. Life can be something of a catch-22 sometimes...I can walk with my head up looking everything straight in the eye...and I could unexpectedly step in a pile of shit. Or I can walk with my head down, looking for the pile of shit so I can step around it, and miss all the goods things looking at the top of my head. Personally, I'd rather step in the pile of shit.

What?!?

I recently heard the term "mommy job." Not knowing what it meant, I immediately thought it referred to a job that was sympathetic to the fact that some of their employers are mothers first. Or fathers, but the term is "mommy" job, so I'm just going to run with that. Au contraire....a mommy job, as those of you more with it than I am know, is a plastic surgery cocktail. Tummy tuck, lipo, and boob job. It's a job so that the only evidence that you have produced a child is the little bundle of joy and apple juice in your arms.

Ridiculous.

The celebrities who have a child and the next photo we see of them one week later is a photo identical to before they were pregnant...they creep me out. People are not pants that are size two but thanks to the elastic waist-band could also fit a size 24 and then snap right back to fit a size two again. Maybe this is the conspiracy theorist in me coming out, but when I see such an elastic person, I think "huh. wonder where they snatched that kid from." My mind automatically dresses the person in black, skin-tight pants, a black ribbed sweater, black leather gloves, night goggles, and strapped with ropes, carabiners, and rock picks, with a knife in their teeth just in case. Certainly not the loving mother I should be seeing. And then, of course, I start to think of the well-being of the child. What happens when it grows up as a Mexican child in a blonde-haired family. Granted, I would hope the snatchers would have thought that out a little better. Anyway, this whole "mommy job" thing just disgusts me.

In other news, my mother looked at the fruit basket this morning and said "What?!? You didn't eat any apples while we were gone?" Apparently I hadn't eaten enough, but was able to answer truthfully and just slightly indignantly: "Yes I did!"

Life as I know it

I have recently joined the world of internet addiction. It started with myspace back in April or so, and snow-balled from there. I have realized that I enjoy blogging, and blogging on myspace just isn't enough for me anymore. So here I am. When I started blogging, I wasn't quite sure what to say. I could sit down and write to you about my day and what's going on in my life. I could tell you that I just ate two Haralson apples and am heading towards some raisin toast in a few minutes. I could also tell you that eating the apples, while nutritious and enjoyable, was more an act of avoidance than anything else. You see, my parents are out of town, and since I recently moved back into their home to save money so I can live in poverty for a few years, my diet is under intense scrutiny. If my mother comes home and sees the same amount of fruit in the fruit basket as there was when she left, I'm going to hear about it. So I ate the apples to avoid such a lecture. And, of course, because apples are good. But I'm guessing you don't really care about my food intake. I could tell you that I'm sitting at my dining room table waiting anxiously for a thunderstorm because a good thunderstorm always puts me in a good mood. It's been cloudy and rainy all day, and I think it should just let loose and give me a little bit of excitement in an otherwise dull day. But I'm guessing you don't really care about the weather, either. The good news is this: I have no interest in writing extensively about either of those topics. Since I started dabbling in blogging, I have found out that I really enjoy writing. There are a lot of things in a regular day that catch my attention and make me think. For example, one of my co-workers phone was ringing. Instead of answering it right away, she stared at it for a second and said "I wonder what they want." Naturally, I responded with "I guess you'll have to pick up the phone and find out." It seemed like the logical thing to do. Those are the kinds of interactions that make me think. They make me want to understand people, and know why people say or do the things they do. I think that the best way to do that is with the help of others. So here I am. I will try not to bore you with writings about the consistency of split pea soup, or debates about soda or pop (personally, I say soda). If I ever do, please stop reading.

Next week: I'm getting my hair cut.