Somebody’s got a birthday today. Who, oh who could it be? It’s Brad!
That’s him telling me a story just before enjoying the heaping strawberry shortcake we shared when his dad and stepmom took us out for a birthday dinner on Saturday.
The dessert was delicious. And so is the man.
Happy 28th Birthday Darlin’!
I’m back! Phew, that was a long and tiring trip, but I made it home. Most of my time was spent doing work-related stuff, passing out with fatigue or watching bad tv in the wee hours of the morning because of insomnia. A few hours were spent hanging out with an awesome blogger, a good chunk was spent in airports or plans or shuttles, and I did a little eating too. Not much time was spent enjoying the Twin Cities though, so that kind of sucked.
I have so much to do to get caught up with life again! As soon as I landed in GR yesterday, I was busy and didn’t get home until bedtime, so today is devoted to getting life back in order. Which means I’m cutting this post short. More on everything trip-related soon though. Mostly the fun parts…I’ll try to spare you details on what it’s like to watch Reno 911 at 2am in a hotel room because you can’t sleep and it’s the best thing on.
Tomorrow I leave for Minneapolis. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but I’ll be there the rest of the week for work. Turns out that I may have some free time during my stay, so if you’ve visited or live there and know of something worthwhile, let me know. I’ve been there once before, in my last job, and all I had time to do was visit the Central Library of the Minneapolis library system. What else should I do?
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I had a fun weekend in that it was fun, and a kind of crappy weekend in that I was busy and spent too much money. As much as I love having so many social engagements (because remember how miserable I was before I moved here, with no friends or family around?), they are expensive and make it hard to do things that need to get done. Like homework. And bathing.
Friday night we had dinner with some friends, then came back to our place for an exciting game of Trivial Pursuit Totally 80s. We were all quite young in the 80s and so didn’t do very well. After awhile we moved into a “lightening round” in which you must speed-read the questions, and anybody can answer. If anyone gets the right answer, the person whose turn it is gets a pie piece even if they’re not on a pie space on the board. It was fun and fast, so I highly recommend this method in times of need. We drank beer, ate ice cream, played Nerf basketball, Tetris and Guitar Hero before finally calling it a night.
Saturday night I met up with some old high school friends. There was a group of five of us (called SMEAR, which is an (acceptable) acronym from the first letters of our first names) who hung out in high school. Some of us manage to still get together on a regular basis now that we all live in West Michigan again, but this was going to be a big reunion with all five of us. But dinner and movie for five turned into dinner for four and a movie for three. It was not a rave success, but those of us who could make it had good time.
Sunday we went to my grandparents’ house for Easter dinner. It’s rare that the entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins and all) comes together, even for holidays. But this time everyone was there except one of my sisters. We had fun, but nobody ate the $15 veggie tray I bought and brought. Next time I get assigned something, I’m just going to pretend I forgot because it won’t be missed and then I save 15 bucks.
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The next few weeks are a bit crazy for me. I’m gone all this week, and as soon as I return I have plans almost every day through the first week of April. Not to mention trying to finish up everything for school before the semester ends. As soon as that happens, I’m off to New York for five days. Then finally, finally I think I can breathe a little until summer classes start up May 5. Then it’s school two nights a week until early August, when I leave for a family trip out west. I hope I find time to enjoy the sunshine and warmth, once the weather finally turns. Which may never happen at this rate.
I have this problem with acronyms—I hate when they’re forced. It’s really cool when an acronym just works out or falls into place. Like MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Some mother lost her child to a drunk driver, and she was not only devastated, but pretty fucking pissed, so she started a nonprofit to fight back. MADD. It’s great.
Then there are some acronyms that are pretty inoccuous, but still seem a little unnecessary. Take VISTA: Volunteers in Service to America. Kind of nice right? That’s what a VISTA is, a volunteer in service to America, makes sense. And calling someone a VISTA is a lot easier than rattling off that long title. But is it really necessary? There are a lot of other ways to describe what these people do, yet they picked this one because it allowed for a catchy name.
GREEN is another good example. Gathering Resources to be Educated about our Environment and Nature. Come on, that’s just stupid. Green is a great name for an environmental group or program, but the acronym is unnecessary. Just call yourself Green; people will get it. Your mission statement can reflect the stuff about resources and environment and education, just in case anyone needs a little more information. Drop the ridiculous acronym.
But what really bugs me is when the acronym is not only ridiculous and unnecessary, but just plain stupid. A couple of my favorites (if ‘favorite’ means it makes my skin crawl with annoyance) are VISION: Volunteers Incorporating Service Into Our Neighborhoods, and COOKIES: Creating Optimistic Outlooks and Keeping Interest in Educational Success. People, it is not a requirement that the name of your program be an acronym. Just a catchy name is fine and totally acceptable. And if the first letters of the words in the name don’t spell an actual word, it’s okay. Like you could just be Volunteers Serving Neighbors, and then when you’re lazy call yourself VSN. Perfectly acceptable and even preferred.
But wait, I’m not done. I’ve come across a lot of irksome acronyms, but so far the one that most makes me want to shoot the creator in the thigh is…
SPARKLE: Service Produces A Rich Knowledge-Based Learning Environment
Are you kidding me? SPARKLE? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Sparkle. Okay I’m guessing you’re like a service group that ties volunteerism with education or something. But Sparkle? Is that really working for you? Do you sprinkle everyone with glitter when they walk in the door? Do you incorporate sequins into all your activities? Does everyone who joins get a free diamond ring? With all the possibilities for a name, how do you end up at SPARKLE?
Okay we need a name, so let’s think about what exaclty we do here. We do service, okay, and education. Learning, knowledge, can we work with any of that? S, L, K…slink! No, um, skull. But no that doesn’t make sense. We need something jazzy, something noticeable and exciting. Something that sparkles. Sparkle! That’s it! We can work with that, let’s see. Service People Are Really Kinky Lovers Everywhere. Uh yeah, that didn’t quite work. How about Service P-P-P-Produces! Service Produces A something, that part was easy. A what though? Something before Knowledge. Rank, rapid, rotund, risqué, rich. Rich is good. A Rich Knowledge for Learning? No, A Rich Knowledged-based Learning. Oh that’s good. Service Produces A Rich Knowledge-Based Learning Experiment? Experience? Environment? Environment yes, perfect. Service Produces A Rich Knowledge-Based Learning Enviroment. That’s it, SPARKLE. That’s a sweet acronym dude. I’m awesome. Put it on the letterhead.
What obnoxious acronyms make your skin crawl?
Monday night my sisters and I got together and went to dinner and the mall. Andrea wanted to buy an urban fire pit (or whatever they’re called), so we all tagged along. On the way out, Emily and I strolled through Zale’s (just for fun - we are sooo not jewelry people). A friendly man helped us look at and try on a pearl ring that caught Em’s eye, and as an aside the man mentioned “Pearls are nice, but they do not work for men.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, “what does work for men?”
He held out his left hand for me to notice his gold wedding band, studded with small diamonds.
“Or sapphires,” he added. “Those are a nice rich color that men like.”
Really? Because I thought most men didn’t wear gemstones. Diamonds I guess, in their ears. Or in the shape of dollar signs around their necks occasionally. But sapphires? For real?
I really don’t care if men want to wear fine jewelry. And since I’m not a jewelry person myself, maybe I’m just totally out of the precious stone loop. But this guy suggested diamonds and sapphires for men as if I should be picking up a tennis bracelet and matching drop earrings for Brad.
I’m not sure he’d love that.
In the end, I didn’t even go to the Passion Party on Friday. At the last minute, my siblings and I decided to give my dad his birthday present that night even though his birthday isn’t until mid-April. He’s turning 50 this year, and we got him an iPod Nano to use while he trains for a 25K in the spring. It’s a race he’s run many times—last year he did it with a bum knee—but he likes running with music and the walkman just wasn’t cutting it (he didn’t really have a walkman). My dad isn’t what I’d call technologically savvy though, something I’m sure I’ve alluded to many times, so a little bitty technological wonder like the iPod was a bit of a risk. But he LOVED it, and he was very surprised. Brad loaded it with music for him, and he immediately stuck the earbuds in, cranked the volume on the Rocky theme, and proceeded to tell us that THIS IS SO COOL! THIS SONG IS LIKE AN ADRENALINE RUSH! I COULD RUN MILES LIKE THIS! Glad you like it dad, but you don’t have to yell, we can hear you.
My dad is the awesomest.
Saturday night, in boredom, B and I decided to buy a board game, selecting Trivial Pursuit Totally 80s despite the $30 price tag (it ended up being 50% off when we checked out though!). We got it home and started playing around 11:00. We weren’t in bed until almost 3:30am. It’s that fun. Actually it’s that hard. That was all one game, and the last two hours were spent trying to land in the middle space and correctly answer a question. We both had all our pie pieces at 1:30, but we just couldn’t bring it home. Finally Brad won it with “The Brat Pack” which actually took a lot of thinking and reasoning to come to (Brad has never seen all the typical 80s films, something I’ve vowed to change), and I celebrated because damn, I’m old, I can’t be staying up until 3:30.
Sunday was a typical Sunday: homework, cleaning, groceries. I cleaned out our laundry room which seconds as storage and thirds as a recyling center. Only the recycling never gets moved out of there because we don’ tknow what to do with it. Recycling in Jackson was so easy and convenient, but here, we haven’t found a place to take it all. It’s a good thing we rinse and clean all our recylables before the go in the laundry room—we have a lot of crap! I took this picture two months ago, before it was organized and before another two months of stuff was added. Oh, and that doesn’t even show the many many many plastic and paper bags we have. Or all the glass.
Actually I should take a new picture just to show you how ridiculous it is. If it was in a garage or shed, maybe it would be okay. But this is our laundry room! Our big beautiful laundry room that we fell in love with, and now it’ s nothing but a trash heap. If you live in GR and have any tips on convenient recycling, please share.
I’m supposed to be going to this Passion Party tonight. I’m guessing it’s kind of like the popular Pure Romance parties that women like to have. It’s with a fun group of people so it should be a good time, but the problem is that me and parties that specialize in sex products do not get along.
My first Pure Romance party was highly anticipated. I had heard about these parties that sell vibrators and lubricants, and I definitely wanted to be in on that. So when my sister decided to host one, I was eager to attend. I ended up buying about $70 in products, most of which have never been used. One of them, I quickly realized, though it smells and tastes like green apple, is too sticky to use. Another turned out to be effective but inconvenient. I do actually use one product, but only to spray on my chest when my boobs are sweaty in the summer. Hot, I know.
The last product I bought, the most expensive one, was a certain… tool if you will. The consultant raved about it, and my sisters convinced me it was a hundred times better than the current “tool” I owned, so I bought it. As soon as I got it home and turned it on (yes it’s the kind of tool that requires batteries), I discovered it made an unbearable buzzing sound. Not the normal whirring that these tools are supposed to make, but a high-pitched motorized sound. Kind of like a child’s remote control car. There’s no hiding its use from anyone within fifty feet of you. When I’m in the mood to use such a tool, the last thing I want is to conjure up thoughts of children’s toys. It was definitely not going to work for me.
But Pure Romance has a no return policy on such items, which I suppose makes sense, but this tool never even came near any regions that might render it “unclean” or non-refundable. So it sits in my room, in the plastic wrapping, in the original bag it came in. Fifty bucks well spent I’d say.
My next Pure Romance party was a couple weeks ago. Again, it was fun, but this time I was smart and didn’t buy anything. I think a party that’s supposed to celebrate women’s sexuality is a great idea, but when they pass around rubbery tubes that look like a woman’s mouth and nose (um, for men to use in case you didn’t get that) and play a game called “Tic Tac Toe, Give Me a Prize You Skanky Ho” it doesn’t feel very woman-friendly.
I’m not sure how Passion Parties differ from Pure Romance, but I don’t think I want to spend my money on any more products or tools that will go to waste. I should go anyway, for the social aspect, and just pretend like I’m a virgin and don’t condone sins of the flesh. Or something. But there’s so much pressure to buy something, anything, so the hostess doesn’t feel like she made that plate of cheese and crackers for nothing.
I finally got around to updating my blogroll, something I’ve been meaning to do for oh, I don’t know, six months? Check it out, maybe you’re there! And if you’re not but should be, kick me in the neck and let me know. Especially if you comment a lot or if you link to me, then I definitely want to include you. And the fact that I didn’t does not say anything about the depth and meaning of our friendship, I promise, it just means I have a lot going on okay, so get off my back already.
For real though, let me know. Mutual love.
Shannon: My next vacation is planned for August, but I don’t think I can wait that long to take a trip. I think we should go to New York City.
Robin: I’m in.
Did I think it would really happen? I wasn’t counting on it—we’ve tried to plan trips before, and the plans tend to crumble before we even book a ticket. But after a couple months of talking about it, on Sunday we actually booked a flight to New York at the end of April.
I’m going to New York City baby!
Robin has been once before, but this will be my first time. I know the people who live or frequent the city are thinking I’m obnoxious with all the excitement and cheer, but as an outsider like me (as in, lives in the Midwest), NYC is just one of those places you have to visit someday in your lifetime. And the end of April is my someday.
Truth be told, I’m mostly just excited to be taking a trip with Robin. During college, we once spent a long weekend together in Toronto, and it was one of the most memorable trips I’ve taken. Lately all my travels have been for work, with family or with Brad, which of course are all great, but I miss the days of exploring new places with friends.
We found a place to stay for free, and we got a decent price on airfare that doesn’t require a lot of inconvenient drop-offs and pickups, so we hope to focus most of our trip budget (meager as it is) on entertainment, transportation within the city, and nourishment (though we’re not really interested in five-star dining—we’re good with hot dog stands and corner delis).
We’ll be there for three and a half days, and already we have a pretty lengthy list of things to accomplish. And yes, most of them are the typical, and probably tacky, tourist stuff. We’re not ashamed, we’re tourists and we want to see all that crap they always show on television! I mean Robin has already been the victim of the NBC Studios tour—paraded around in front of the locals wearing giant headphones and following a tour guide—so we’re comfortable with our tourist status. Though we’ll probably try to blend in a little (we’ve agreed to leave our overalls and straw hats at home), I’m not gonna lie, I’ll probably be looking up a lot (tall buildings are cool, shut up.) And taking a lot of pictures. And reading maps with perplexed looks. And crying when I realize we took the wrong train and now we’re lost.
I’m excited to get away for a few days, see a few sights, share a few laughs, and buy a few I Heart NYC t-shirts. If you think of anything I absolutely cannot miss while in town, please let me know. But I warn you, it’ll have to be worked in between our visits to Times Square and Central Park.
Sunday morning, after moving my watch and alarm clock forward an hour, I mentioned to Brad that we need to change the time on the giant clock in the living room sometime that day. He obviously didn’t hear me because that evening he suddenly looked quizzically at the giant clock, then at his phone, the clock, the phone, and said:
“That clock is off. It’s off by… an hour. Why is it an hour slow?”
I laughed because I thought he was kidding, I thought he was trying to trick me. No, he was serious. It’s because of Daylight Savings Time baby.
Hope nobody was late to work today!
It’s a listy kind of month in blog world, so today I thought I’d join in. Just this once. I blatantly stole this from someone else today, but I can’t remember who, so I apologize if it was you and I’m not giving you credit.
What’s in my bag:
Jumble of keys (I swear it’s only the necessities, yet still, a jumble)
Ticket stub from RENT
Cell phone
Bobby pins (for emergencies, MacGyver style)
Personal pharmacy (small container with Excederin ES, Excederin PM, Motrin)
Chapstick
Pepper spray (girl’s gotta be prepared)
Spare contact lens case
Lotion
Visine
Two pens (blue and black)
Tide to Go stain removing pen
Small jack knife (for cutting people things)
Birth control
Digital camera
Mango Altoids tin (with mango altoids and sour lifesaver mint thingies)
Wallet containing all sorts of crap
It all fits nicely into a little bag that I HATE! I hate it with a passion, and every time I look at it or touch it, I say “I hate this purse,” yet I haven’t gotten a new one. This is mostly because every purse I ever own, I come to hate in a matter of weeks. So rather than spend money on a new one that I’ll inevitably loathe, I just keep hatin’ on this one.
But Robin told me she’s taking me purse shopping on Saturday. Hopefully she has a better eye for attractive yet functional purses than I do. I’m so damn picky about my bags though (and so damn cheap), that this could turn out really not good.
Edited to add: Oh yeah, I did a listy thing yesterday too. Apparently that’s all I can manage these days. Hmphf, didn’t even notice.
Things I’m hating right now:
Poor planning and design that results in long lines at public women’s rest rooms.
People who only manage to add “Sounds good, just let me know when!” to a group planning effort. Make a contribution people!
My itchy back.
Sprained neck muscles from poor sleeping positions.
Endless winter.
The current balance of my checking account.
Not being in Florida this week like we have been the last two years.
Things I’m loving right now:
Last night’s primary results.
Last night’s performance of RENT (except Angel, that performance was a little off).
Payday on Friday.
The fact that I don’t have class tonight because it’s Spring Break.
Blue skies and sunshine, even though it’s still bitter cold.
The free glazed donut I got at a meeting this morning. For an office environment, there really isn’t enough free junk food around here. I vote for more.
I discovered this great new way to work out. Something that, so far, is working for me. Which, if you know me, is a miracle because I HATE working out. Since capoeira totally bombed, and yoga at the gym was a joke, Robin and I had been getting together once a week (when we could) to do a 20-minute yoga video. But even that wasn’t working well because too often one of us had an excuse, and god the lady on the video, I wanted to choke her with her unitard. Things were not going well.
Then at my last hair appointment, my stylist told me about Exercise TV on Comcast’s On Demand network. Do you guys know about this? If you have Comcast and you have On Demand and you hate working out, I highly recommend this. It has hundreds of different workouts from yoga to pilates to aerobics to dancing. Even walking excercises that you do right in your living room! I swear I’m not getting money from Comcast. I actually kind of hate Comcast, but Exercise TV is awesome.
It works so well for me because most of the workouts are pretty short (I can do something for 10 minutes without getting bored, but 20 is pushing it), they’re free, it’s at my house and they’re available any time. I don’t have to drive to the gym, I don’t have to plan my life around a scheduled class, and I don’t have to get bored with the same thing all the time.
I’ve been doing these mini-workouts pretty consistently for a few weeks now, and I’m still going strong. Yesterday, for example, as soon as I got home, I did 10 minutes of yoga, a 10 minute butt and thigh workout, and a quick hand weights routine. I don’t always do that much, sometimes 10 minutes of rhythmic stretch is all I feel like doing. But overall, I can tell this is good for me. I’m not losing any weight, and I’m not getting into miraculous shape, but moving and stretching on a regular basis is definitely an improvement. Especially in the winter when what I normally tend to do is sit on my ass.
Of course, it doesn’t help that I just had two boxes of Girl Scout cookies delivered to my desk. Extra butt and thighs workouts for me!
