Moving Mayhem

Just a quick blurb today to say if you want to know what's going on...follow me on twitter. sorry to say that, really. i moved this weekend, a tweeted a bunch during the process. My internet isn't hooked up yet, and i don't know how soon that will happen. (i'm posting this from my phone until that happens, but there's no formatting. twitter works better on my phone. anyway i'm here, unpacking and tryingto settle in, and those of you who follow me are in the loop. Happy st patricks day

FINALLY...settling in after a year

Okay, that's an exaggeration. I've been under my parents' roof for about 10 months, not a year.

But I'M MOVING!
Yessssss....

I have my own apartment. At last.

I love my parents, but I've been independent for too long for this current arrangement. They'll appreciate getting back to their own routine, too. I'm teaching them how to pre-set the coffee-makers so their coffee will continue to be ready by the time they are up in the morning, so that's good.

Anyway, I know I've been a slacker, and my resolution was to post weekly. I missed what, 2 weeks now? And tomorrow I head out to Brett's again, meaning that I probably won't post again. [teehee]

But my excuse is that I've been looking at apartments, considering neighborhoods, signing a lease...

and I'm finally moving!

I'll post pictures when I'm in.

It's So Lonely Being Me

I mentioned here that “I am the sole creative individual in an office of logicians.” As a writer of business documents, and somewhat of a graphic designer (though I’m better with the words), I make sure everything reads well and looks good.

I recently was charged with designing a new template for a document that goes to a particular entity who declared that ours are “hard to read” and “boring” and “too technical”. They wished we would use one picture more often than the thousand words.

Yes, these are boring documents.

Yes, they are technical.

I’ve been working within previously delineated parameters since I arrived, but now I could break FREE!

*[insert sound of knuckles cracking]*

I turned it landscape. I imported a generic image to fade as the background of some of the pages. I …had to include staffing… hmm… 

Have you ever done something like, oh, say...Grant writing? Similar deal. Pages and pages of writing the stuff they NEED to know, to know that you can do what you say you will do. They want to see who is in charge and why they can be trusted.

WELL… Every time I tried to search for generic images pertinent to the job, Google asked if I was searching for a particular movie star with a similar name. SO I used his image as the image for the head guy on this project. What the hey, it’s just a template!

One of our other guys has a popular name, so I searched by name, and came up with another movie star! This was getting very cute!

The other names didn’t have movie stars leaping at me, so I just pulled up a headshot of a Stormtrooper from Star Wars. HAHA! I laughed out loud so hard over that. 

I had also incorporated images of famous places/things to show our “experience”, so it was a totally fictitious template, but showed where images would work or not. Like saying “Our guy is so awesome, he singlehandedly designed Stone Henge!”

I love it. It’s awesome. It's creative. It was fun. I couldn’t wait to demonstrate it to my superiors. That happened Thursday.

>sigh<

Such a focused bunch.  Did they not recognize the movie stars? Surely they recognized a stormtrooper! No questions. Just about how that page would be used in an actual document, where this element would go, etc.

Sometimes it’s so lonely being me. Nobody inside the business finds it funny, because they’re all so straight-laced. Nobody outside would get its brilliance.

Still – at least I am appreciated for my “unique skill set” – honest-to-God Quote.

I really do love my work. I can't wait to find a creative outlet and make friends who will laugh with me at this stuff. Maybe one of my sisters...

 

Love and February

For the first time ever, I am in love, in February. No matter how many times a day Brett and I say "I love you", I still think Valentine's Day is a crock.I'm reposting what I wrote last year on the subject, because aside from the "being single" part, I still feel the same way.

Some of you may not have seen this post from last year anyway, so I don't feel bad about a re-post.

I give you: February 13, 2012...

I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day and it has nothing to do with being “alone” which is my choice, or being “reminded that I don’t have anyone” or anything like that. I don’t wear black in protest, or mourning, or whatever that’s supposed to signify.

Here’s my deal: It’s NOT ROMANTIC, homies! St. Valentine was a martyr! While incarcerated he wrote notes to the jail-keeper’s daughter and signed them “your” – as was common even in Jane Austen’s day – which gave us the phrase “your Valentine”. …at least that’s the popular one of many saints Valentine. February 14 celebrates the date of his burial. Happy Valentine’s Day, ya’ll!

Besides, if you love someone, do you really need a special day to tell them? Haven’t you already told them? Don’t you show them in myriad ways? If not, shame on you. Doing something special on Valentine’s Day is a cop-out. How much nicer when it’s a surprise for no reason!

So okay, a lot of people might appreciate a “gimme” holiday that basically tells you what to do and how to celebrate. Fine. But really? Named after - and celebrated on -  the day a MARTYR was BURIED? Let’s call it what it is: Happy “Hallmark Totally Made This Up” Day. Or, my personal favorite: Happy “Anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” Day. Heehee. Did I mention I used to live in Chicago?

I’m wracking my brain, and I don’t think I’ve actually been in a relationship on the fake holiday. But then, if I was involved with someone who decided to “do something special” on that day, I would probably get up and walk out of the restaurant, or otherwise ruin all the careful planning. Because really, if we’re together, you KNOW this about me. You KNOW I find this holiday trite and phony and a waste of time and money. So if you have made the colossal mistake of attempting “romance” (key point: I’m not romantic, either - at least not in a traditional way) then you MUST be hinting that it’s time for our relationship to end.

I actually have a commitment – not romantic, and not one-on-one – tomorrow night, so it’s a non-issue for me. But when I get home? Sweats and the movie “Some Like It Hot” which opens in Chicago and includes reference to the massacre in question.

And maybe pizza.

And a beer.

Ah, romance!

To all those who also are not celebrating this martyr: You're welcome for the logical excuse.

A Winter's Tale, or "Everyone Has a Story"

On Thursday of this week, there was a snowstorm. Big surprise, it's winter: This is the Midwest.

On Thursday of this week, there was a major pile-up on a major interstate, due to the storm.

On Thursday of this week, it took me over two hours to get home from work - a drive that usually takes 45-50 minutes. 

I know, everyone has their story of the big storm from "that" winter. And to be honest, the thing that makes one of these stories any good is if you were there. This is not a story like that. I've been in worse storms, if I want to tell a storm story!

But during my massive drive home, which included Interstate, State highway through a business district, State highway through the country, and backroads in the hills, there was just one incident that sort of reminded me that everyone is in the same boat.

It was in the hilly section. I'd been driving long, and probably about 5 minutes from home. I was ready to feel the relief!

The second to last street before home is hilly. I make a left turn, down two small hills, down a longer slope with an even longer rise at the end before it almost levels and I make the final left turn onto the street to home.

(with me so far? It's a straight road, but for the vertical curves including one steep descent with a steeper rise.)

I turn onto this road, and see a car with flashers pulled to the side just before the steep hill, and see the reflections on the trees indicating more such lights at the base of the steep hill.

Upon asking, the woman in the first car says she's fine, but isn't sure what's happening at the base of the hill and wants to be sure the TWO cars down there can go before she continues. Since I was out of my car already, I just started walking toward the hill to find out. A guy met me at the top of the slope, walking up from the (what I assumed was an) accident.

This guy recognized me as living in the area. (who knew!) He said that it wasn't an accident, and asked if I have 4WD. I do not. He said, "Well, without it I don't think anyone will make it up that hill" (on the steeper side).

Turns out, his girlfriend's car couldn't make it up the hill, so he brought his 4WD pick-up out to try to push her up the slope, but her wheels wouldn't grab and she ended up pushing them both back to the bottom of the hill. But everyone was fine, and they were working on it.

I don't know why I love this. The woman with her flashers, waiting patiently in the snow to see what's up with the icy hill. The guy who went out in the storm to try to push his girlfriend's car up the icy hill. The fact that the hill was so icy that my normal route was impassable, the camaraderie with people whose names I don't even know ...maybe it's just the fact that it had been such a long drive and I was so close to home ...

All these hilly roads connect up. I was able to back up and go around another way and get home 15 minutes later.

But I do think that next time I meet people in these types of situations, I will introduce myself. It would be nice to know the names of these neighbors I don't know!

What's your "winter storm story?"

True Love by Donuts

SHHHhh... Brett and Kirsten are still asleep.

That's right. I'm blogging from Brett's house. (This post will probably only be interesting to regular followers of the "Red and Brett" romance. If you're new here, check out last year's post that started it all for some insight into where I'm coming from. OR, just for something different, I recommend my "pervert" post.)

I'm up but Brett and his daughter are not. We're from two different time zones. My body is in the habit of getting up an hour earlier because of the time difference. Well okay, that and the fact that I get up super-early to be at work early, whereas Brett works nights. Yeah. We're not exactly on the same schedule.

When I awoke this morning to the point where I couldn't ignore it, and could see light coming in the kitchen window, it was 6:35. They're sound asleep. I decided to walk up to the gas station for coffee. See, there are some unavoidable differences between Brett and myself, besides the whole time/schedule thing:

Coffee - He doesn't drink it on a regular basis.

The Cold - I think he recently posted something about how much he hates cold weather, but maybe that was on Facebook or Twitter. Anyway, he HATES it. So I wouldn't consider asking him to venture out this morning.

Exercise - Actually, Brett and I always end up going for a walk when we're together. Usually after a meal, sometimes with the dog (if he's visiting me). But first thing in the morning? ...well okay, we've never tried.

ANYWAY, I'm awake, so decided to walk to the gas station. I figured "if Brett gets up, he'll see my blankets are still all messy on the sofa, and know I didn't just leave."
...I don't know why I had that thought, like as if this was some trashy booty-call or something. It's a totally bizarre thing to cross my mind! But I thought it. Call it lack of caffeine or whatever...

I got up, pulled on jeans from yesterday and a ball-cap, reached for my coat...

There's a problem. I'm a bed-maker. At home I don't get into the shower before my bed's made, and I certainly couldn't leave the house with the "blankets all messy..." so I folded them neatly and put them away before I left.

DUDE! It's friggin' COLD! It was a nice walk, but I couldn't feel my ears by the time I got there.

One giant coffee (to last me the morning), one Mt. Dew for Brett, and a half-dozen donuts later, I went back into the cold.
The donuts were kind of an after-thought.

We have a donut thing.

I'm not a huge donut-fan, but ...caution, this is kind of sappy!...

Brett and I, living so far apart, text frequently. And occasionally there will be a series of texts trying to humorously comparatively better describe our affection. One time, Brett randomly texted "I love you so much I'd share my donuts with you." To which, I'm sure I replied something sweetly endearing like "What kind of donuts?" Because my mental image requires details! You know what I mean: am I visualizing a Dunkin Donuts box of a dozen, in which case will you let me have the "creme-filled"? Or are we talking about Entenmann's cake-style donuts in which case I want the crumb-top, or do you have a dozen Krispy-Kreme glazed? There's a different visual!

...Brett's so awesome. I think this quirk (I say "quirk" because it sounds cuter and more fun than "neurosis") of mine to need details drives him crazy, but he laughs.

Well, the next time I visited we bought donuts. I think that was my idea, because I distinctly remember discussing the *fact* that "Of course your town has a bakery where they make fresh donuts" because if we were going to do this, I wanted to go all out and get fancy ones, and Brett informed me that he was sure there was no such bakery, that donuts came from the grocery store or the gas station, or a truck stop, but he did the research anyway just to verify that there wasn't a bakery he didn't know about, BECAUSE I kept pestering him to prove a point HE LOVES ME.

So today, donuts. Just 'cause.
From a gas station.

...and I think I might hear stirring in the back rooms of the house, so I better be done.
I am totally becoming "that girl" who always talks about her relationship. What about you? Tell me your funny relationship story! (I know you've got them...)

Gun Control - IS There an Answer?

Yoiks. I hate this subject.

It's all over my Facebook page, both sides. It's all over the news.

This is what America is reduced to this year: Arguing over "solving" an issue that perhaps is unsolvable.

Oops. How terribly un-PC of me to say that.

First off, I probably wouldn't even discuss it, but I've found a very open-minded, both-sides telling, non-judgmental columnist to read in the Indianapolis Star. Here is a link to Erika D. Smith's writings, so you can judge for yourself. (I don't know her, am not advertising for her, I just love her and follow her on twitter.)

She recently wrote about the gun argument. A non-gun-owner, and not a fan of guns in general, she tried them out, talked to people she knows, in order to better understand where the other side is coming from.

Imagine.

She didn't just lambaste everyone with an opposing view, call them all idiots, and discard their opinion. She looked into it.

But moving on...

It's easy to say "look at the gun laws of [XYZ country] - they seem to work" but should we just repeat what another country is doing? That's a bit like looking at the way other parents do their job and saying "it works for them - it'll work for us" when every child is different. We are a different country, with different issues and attitudes, good or bad.

No, let's not copy another country's laws.

Stop me if I've told you this, but when I was a kid, going to school in India, one year we were getting ready to come back to the States for a year on furlough. We were going to live in Chicago so my Dad could study at the University of Chicago. All my friends in India signed my yearbook that year with messages urging me "Don't get raped or mugged in Chicago!" "Don't forget to lock your door!" "Don't go out alone in those mean city streets!"

The Irony? The previous three years were full of terrorist attacks in my home country of Sri Lanka, and related demonstrations outside my school in India, and all our friends in the States continually wrote concerned letters asking how we were faring through all the violence, and urging us to be careful, that they knew we would be, that they were praying for us, to get in touch and let them know we were okay...

It's the same! The brand of violence may differ, but it's everywhere.

Anyway, I avoid the subject, as Brett can confirm. Nobody can keep their calm when they discuss gun control, and it really brings me down. I guess that's why I decided to write this. It's not funny, or even fun, but I can say my piece here. (sorry for the un-funny)

I have no answer. No one has an answer, but everyone likes to think there is one, that we can somehow control violent behavior when we can't.

...Or can we? What do you think? Really.