Holiday-itis

I have it. I have it baaaaaaaaaaaaad. You know, holiday-itis. You're familiar with senioritis, I'm sure. I've had it three times, to be exact: once in high school, once in college and then again in grad school. It happens and when it does, it hits HARD. Well that's not the only "itis" you can get that makes you antsy for change or antsy for an end to the insanity. I think there's probably winter-itis, project-itis and most definitely Holiday-itis. So here I am, counting down the days until the real holidays hit (ugh, Halloween, ugh) and fidgeting in my chair as I also count down the minutes until I can go home.

Tonight is my last night of Spanish class. This weekend I have to do a bunch of errands and house cleaning stuff. Next weekend I'll be practicing like crazy and keeping busy with stuff (e.g. rehearsals and Cooking Shows and all that jazz [more about that in another post]), the next weekend is Former Roomie K's wedding, and then it's THANKSGIVING! So you see how time will pass quickly? Well, at least how it should pass quickly? Well it's not!

And you know what? More than even the holidays, I just want to go home. I am all kinds of homesick right now. Family and friends, I miss youuuuuuuuuuu! Tulsaaaaaaaa! (To the tone of: Stellaaaaaaaa!) I have nothing more to say now. Just know this: I'm over it! I'm over the non-holidays. Donezo. "Get me back to Tulsa, I'm too young to marryyyyyyyyyyyy..."

I'm on Twitter (And Other Things)

Heyoooo! This post's original title was "The Fall Bucket List." However, I joined Twitter yesterday so that takes precedence now. Yes, I caved. I used Twitter bug repellent for months and finally yesterday I forgot the ole spray can and the bug bit me. So now I tweet. Weird. Feel free to follow me: @gillyblythe.

Even though I tweet I still feel very out of touch with modern social media. I'm using Twitter on my iPhone and I don't understand what all the symbols/buttons mean. So I could be misusing the system and not even know it. Eh, ignorance is bliss.

So, onto the meat of this post - the "other things." This fall is shaping up to be uber busy. With the departure of Roomie K I felt the need to fill up my schedule so I'd be less likely to feel her loss (read: weep). Ergo, I decided to do three things that I hadn't done this summer. One, I decided to take Spanish. That's right! Soy estudiante de espanol. And I love it. Granted, I'm only in Level 1 and always forget to practice what I've learned so my progress isn't quite the same as The Little Engine That Could. However, I know some stuff now. And with any luck, I'll go on to the next level after wrapping this one up in a month.

Here's the scenario for Spanish. Three of my friends and I meet our tutor at 7pm on Monday nights at the local Barnes & Noble. We set up shop for two hours, learning everyday conversational Spanish, and go home to practice and do our homework. Last week I bought a children's book of Spanish words. It has pictures. It's helpful. Anyway, we found out tutor through this program called Spanish Blackbelt. It's solid. We're working on our white belt right now. Let's hope I pass the test.

The second thing I put on my schedule for this fall was musical. I am the sole violinist in the pit orchestra for Centreville Presbyterian Church's winter community theatre production of Les Miserables. We haven't started rehearsals yet, but we will soon and so I guess I should practice, errrrr....? That project will be keeping me busy this fall and winter. And boy do those show composers seem to hate musicians. Could you add more key signatures??? I mean really. It's ridiculous.

So, the third thing I chose to add to my list is semi-new. I mean, I've done it before, but... Okay, I'll start over. I decided to join a new church. So, in getting involved in the new church, I decided to join a small group. I've done the small group thing before with my former church, but this is the new one, with new people. So that's a weekly thing. I'll miss my former church, of course. There were lots of good people there, but I'm excited about getting more involved in this new congregation and gaining a greater sense of Christian community. And, since I won't be working in the Children's Ministry anymore, I won't have little two-year olds yelling at me and breaking my necklaces. Ugh. They sure get testy when they're separated from their parents.

So those are the things. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to Twitter.

The iPhone

Ahhhhhhhhh. Fall. It's in the air, idnit? The other day I was walking to the metro and I saw some yellow leaves on an otherwise green tree. I was all, whaaaaaat? Plus, I practically need a light jacket in the mornings and nights. So I wear a hoodie. Hoodies are super comfortable.
Anyway, here are some more deets on my life since vacation. I'm not gonna sugar coat this, people, I was not excited to come back home after my family reunion. It was so much fun and so good to be with family and it was not good to come back to work and to the last month spent with Roomie K before she moved away. Depressing! However, there was a bright spot in all this emotional upheaval. My iPhone.

Now, I've wanted an iPhone for years. You know how you want to buy something but you want to "sleep on it" so you don't make an impulse buy you'll regret? Well I had "slept" on this decision for over a year and I knew what I wanted: an iPhone. However, those little cookies are not cheap and I stick to a strict moral code when spending my money. And by strict moral code I mean budget. Anyhoo, I got back home from Trinidad and checked my bank account to make sure I'd been paid while I was away. Yes! Money! And not only the regular moneys, but I'd gotten a leetle cash reward from work as a thank you for working so well without direct supervision for a year. I think you know what I did next...

I walked into the Apple store with Roomie B and said to the nice young worker man, "I'm here to buy an iPhone." "Great!" he replied. Oh this is good, I thought, he's really excited to sell me one. "Unfortunately we're all out of the new ones, though," he said regretfully. "You interested in an older model." Ummmm, NO. WHAT?! I COME HERE TO SPEND MY HARD EARNED MONEY ON A NEW SUPER COOL PHONE AND YOU TELL ME YOU'RE OUT OF THEM?!!!!! OUTRAGE!!!!! I was not pleased. In fact, I was irate. Sure on every other day of the year they have plenty, but when I'm finally ready to purchase, no dice!

So I went home and stewed. And then I considered going to one of the many other Apple stores in the area to buy one. But I didn't want to have to make a special trip. I mean, the store I'd just gone to was right. near. my. house! So I thought, why not order one online? Um...three weeks shipping time. NOOOOOOOO!!! The universe was against me, I think. But no, I was NOT going to waste my time visiting another part of town to get the immediate satisfaction of an iPhone. I wanted to purchase it NOW and by golly I did it. I ordered it online. And waited...and waited...and waited. My dumb old school cell phone was getting more annoying by the second and still that new puppy hadn't shipped. Yes, I was checking the status every day. Until, finally!, after two weeks I saw it was prepared for shipment. Oh crap. Wait, someone has to be at the house to sign for the phone?! NO! I'll be at work and so will Roomies K and B and...oh wait, Roomie W will be home! No, no that's not true. Roomie W is going out of town that day. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? ...That's pretty much the stream of consciousness mayhem that was going on in my head. I was praying, yes actually praying, that on the day it was to be delivered the delivery person would stop at my house first thing in the morning so Roomie W would be there to sign for it. As I walked to work, I prayed for this. His eye is on the sparrow, kids.

Naturally, at work I checked periodically to see--DELIVERED! YES YES YES YESSSSSSS!!!!! Delivered and signed for by Roomie W. I got home that day to a beautiful new phone. All I had to do was hook it up to my computer to sync--"This device is not compatible with this machine." WHAT?!?!?! Not ANOTHER complication. I was thinking loud thoughts. But oh yes, my computer was not updated enough to handle a brand new iPhone. Sooooo I ditched Roomie K to pack by herself (rude) and headed back over to the nearest Apple store to have them set up my phone for me. It worked, it worked! yes! Only thing was, I needed to update my home computer with the latest operating system so that it would be compatible with the phone. No problem. I could do that.

A couple days later I practically was blind from staring at my phone so much. I was downloading apps, playing games, taking pictures of myself (don't judge, we all do it), deleting those pictures, adding contacts and generally loving the crap out of my new phone. I borrowed the discs for operating system Snow Leopard from a coworker and brought them home, ready to get all my gadgets synced up. I put the first disc in my computer and..."This OS cannot be installed because this machine does not have an Intel processor." I almost screamed. I really did almost do it.

So, I want a new computer. That's how they get us, isn't it? They convince me that this new phone is the one I have to have cause it's so cool, but then they also make it so I can't use my old computer with the new phone. I have to get a new computer to use the new phone. And dang it, Apple, I have such brand loyalty to you that I won't settle for anything else. For now I content myself with the Pandora radio app, and the various games and other apps I've downloaded for my user pleasure.


Fin.


By the way, I realize this story could have been about 8 paragraphs shorter, but I really needed you to know the struggle and emotional turmoil I dealt with in this whole process. It was dramatic. I'm still reeling.

L8rz.


P.S. I just took a picture of myself on my phone. It's a two way camera, so it's cooler than yours. Okay, I'll put it up.

The Trinidad Post, Pt. 2

Aaaaaand we're back! And it's only been two days, suckas! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And you thought I couldn't do it. I didn't think I could do it, for crying out loud. But anyway, back to basics. Back to the Motherland. Back to Trinidad.

No, not back to Tobago. We were supposed to go to Tobago on Thursday, but that didn't work out on account of all the boat races in the waters on that day. The ferry was full! No matter. We didn't need that tourist spot anyway. (Just kidding - I've been to the Bag and I love it. Hmmm, "The Bag" [pronounced with a long A sound]...I think I just started something.) Instead, we traveled to Harry's Water Park in T-dad. I just want you to know, it's way more fun than Big Splash. Don't think I'm being disrespectful to Tulsa, cause I'm not. I love me some Big Splash. However, in Trinidad they let multiple people go down the twisty slides at once. That's right. Three grown adults can all spoon up and go down the twisty slide at break neck speeds. What a rush. I almost killed my mom and me when I launched us from the top of that slide. And Laurel, Uncle K and I were flying down that thing. Good times, though. Good times. You haven't lived until you've seen your life flash before you whilst traveling down a water slide. Anyway, we swam, we grilled out in our own little cabana, Kyle and I practiced jumping and swimming in the kiddie pool, and the cousins and I had somersault contests and underwater distance swimming contests. It was an unofficial family olympics of sorts.

Now, on the way to and from these various site seeing adventures we had plenty of time in the maxi to get to know each other. For example, I know exactly which one of my cousins is the most competitive at the alphabet game, and who will get frustrated the quickest playing Mafia. Ha! The adults were up front singing old hymns and gospel songs and we young ones were in the back killing each other off in games of Mafia. Generational divide, peeps. Granted, we young kids also did some singing, but it was more along the lines of songs from Glee and not so much the sacred stuff. Oops. OH! I missed one important site seeing event. The night before the water park trip (Wednesday, for those keeping track) several of us family members took a long ride out to some Trinidadian beach to watch giant sea turtles lay eggs. I don't have any pictures of this since we're not supposed to use flash photography with the turtles (*cough* Laurel *cough*), but this thing was COOL. This turtle was bigger than I am and it was all laying its eggs and stuff. I even got to touch its shell and flippers once it had gone into its egg-laying trance. That was cool. I also got to see another smaller kind of turtle laying eggs and even released a newly hatched sea turtle into the water. Those things are squirmy. Now that's what I call vacation. Of course, it's a little scary walking along a dark beach, listening to the sounds of the waves absolutely CRASH against the shore. I kept thinking turtles were going to bite off my toes. And those stars there were incredible. I've never seen so many stars in one stretch of sky in my life. HOlla!

Alright, so the day after we went to Harry's Water Park we headed out to San Fernando, Trinidad to check out the world's largest natural pitch lake. Well, it might not be the largest but it has some sort of world record that's impressive. I don't remember these things. This lake is strange because half of it is soft pitch that you can walk right over, and then there are random pools of water in which you can swim. We saw people in a swimming hole and right next to them, still in the lake, were some kids kicking around a soccer ball. Cool. In some places our feet would sink inches into the pitch.

There were also pockets of sulfur water in the lake. We all splashed around in the green sulfur water, filling our water bottles with it and making sure it got to every single mosquito bite and blemish still afflicting our skin. Natural healers. Gotta love 'em.


There was also a white sulfur water stream that we used to clean jewelry. Unfortunately, this water quickly revealed what jewelry was real and what was fake. Some people ended up with black metal that used to look gold.

Wow, I can't believe we're up to Saturday morning now. But we are. I've skipped over a bunch of the fun parts, but how many times can I say that we watched Kyle dance to Michael Jackson songs, laughed at our own silliness and played board games till we keeled over from pure exhaustedness? HOW. MANY. TIMES? Saturday morning we foreigners did some souvenir shopping. We walked into the shopping hub of Arima....um, I think it was Arima...and bought things to take back to our friends and family in the States. And Japan. Saturday night most of us headed to the church to rehearse for the church service we were commandeering the next day.

Let me just tell you about how I ruin people's things. I was slated to play the violin for service, right? I didn't want to transport my own instrument internationally (flying with an instrument anymore is just ridiculous), so my family found a church member who was willing to loan me her violin for the day. What a nice woman. Um, sorry about what happens next. Well first she brought out her electric violin. I was like, YES! I've never played one and always wanted to. Well I'm warming up and I'm having a hard time not hitting two strings at once. This is not good as I'm not playing double stops in this piece. Turns out, the bridge on an electric violin is flatter than one on an acoustic. Luckily she had an acoustic violin, so I took that one over and proceeded to tune it. And that's. when. it. happened. I was trying to wrench the D-string peg into place. It was being very stubborn. All the others had done my bidding with a little coaxing. Why wasn't this one doing the same??? I yanked that peg one time too many and. * POP* The string broke. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I felt like the biggest jerk on the planet. Um, hey stranger, thanks for being so generous with your stuff....that I broke. She took the D-string from the electric violin and put it on the acoustic. She was very gracious about her loss. My dad and I played and it was fine. But wow. That wasn't the most fun I've had breaking something.

Let me tell you a little bit about this church service. We took it over. I mean completely. We made up the band, the worship team, the special music, the announcements and the preaching. It was all Ryans. Poor congregation. Sorry we shoved ourselves in your face. They didn't seem to mind too much, though. We sang, we danced the electric slide, we clapped. I even got to play the bongos during one worship song. That's right. Me, playing bongos. Living the dream. I had to concentrate so much and I was not good at all, but it was the most fun.

Sunday was really the last day that we all had together. Family members started heading out that night so we had one last dinner/hurrah to end the week on a good note. In fact, in honor of my dad's (gulp) 60th birthday, we even roasted him. Surprise roasting, if you will. We played games, ate our faces off, danced more salsa, watched more music videos, played more Michael Jackson for Kyle and hugged each other goodbye as people started to leave.

That's the best trip I've ever had. Even though I can't talk Trini to save my life. (My sister told me I sounded more Hispanic than anything else.) Never mind that. And no offense to anyone I've ever visited. I had fun with you, too! But that trip, with my family, in the motherland....it was just...perfect.

The Trinidad Post, Pt. 1

It's here, it's finally here! I know you three have been DYING to know how my trip to Trinidad was. Aaaaaaand I've made you wait a month, just about. RUDE! My apologies, medears.

Trinidad, in short, was 8 days of pure bliss. Okay, not pure bliss exactly. There was a mosquito infestation that threatened to drive us all, natives included, batty. However, one of our hosts came up with "Eau de Reunion", a potent concoction that kept the little buzzers at bay. If you'd like to repeat this recipe, just mix together petroleum jelly and citronella oil till you feel the consistency is right. Slather this mixture over your exposed skin. The end. You are safe from bites. Oh, and your skin will be so soft and supple and somehow you'll avoid breaking out. Seriously, you will. Makes for great pictures.

I'm getting a wee bit ahead of myself. I'll start from the beginning. I mean, I've forgotten every single thing we did, but I'll try to give you the highlights in order since you people are so about chronology. You like, majored in it in college. Gee willackers. Willikers? No one knows.

Sunday, August 1st, I got to the Regan National airport at the ungodly hour of 6 ish. Blech. No worries, I was so excited to get to Trinidad and see the family that I didn't mind the early hour. I felt alive. That's a lie. I felt sleepy, but I also felt sweet anticipation and that makes up for the sleepy part. Okay, so I had a nice uneventful flight to the Houston airport. Got myself some Jamba Juice and sat next to my connecting gate to wait for Mom, Dad and Barron to show up. Here's what happened when they did.


So there's that. It was a great reunion. We grabbed some lunch. Dad and Barron fiddled around on their iPods and I told everyone that I was going to win my little cousin Kyle over and make him mine, despite the fact that Laurel already had a head start with him because she got to Trinidad two days before we did. Goals, people - they're good to have.

Due to the grace of God, and that's no joke, I got a seat right across the aisle from the rest of the fam. I didn't even plan it that way. Holla. So Barron and I annoyed each other from across the aisle...okay, he just sat there listening to his music and stuff and I kept poking him in the ribs and staring at him with my tongue sticking out and stuff. I was happy to see him, k?! Good grief, don't judge me. I'm an instigator. Everyone knows this. We got to Trinidad around 9 Sunday night, went through customs (s...l....o.....w) and met up with the driver my uncle hired to take us to the family compound. Uncle T let us out-of-towners stay in his guest house, so it was one big party at that joint. We arrived at the tail end of the inaugural family dinner/party and were greeted by almost every reunion member. It's funny how family reunions start. There are pleasantries and exclamations of greeting as you get used to each other again. Especially with us Trinidad/U.S.A./Canada/England/Japan cousins, aunts and uncles - we don't see each other for years at a time. That can be a little intimidating in those first few minutes when you're greeting cousins you used to give piggy back rides to and now they're taller than you are.

Well that introductory period lasted about 20 minutes. Then it was on. Laurel, Barron and I were back together. Kyle had already given me a hug on first meeting - this boded well for the rest of the trip, I thought. I mean, for crying out loud we had a dance party that first night. We were good to go, I'd say.

Monday was a holiday for all. Emancipation Day, I think. No, I don't know the history behind that whole thing. Wikipedia is your friend and mine. So anyhooos, Monday all the shops were closed and the banks were closed so Barron and I were mooching off Laurel who'd already changed her US$ into TT$. First stop on Monday was to get Doubles. This is a Trini staple and you can get doubles from vendors on the street. Cousin Randell knew of a guy who was selling them not to far away so several of us cousins set out to get doubles, no spice. (True Trinis eat their food with slight or heavy pepper, but we wusses can't handle this, believe me. Slight pepper was good, but my digestive system preferred the "no pepper" version. I digress.) Doubles involve some good pita-like dough, some chick pea stuff and then some other stuff that's just all really good and mixed in there. Google it! We all ordered two or three doubles, at least, and ate them on the street. We also took some for the old folks at home.

Digression: food is a big deal. Of course when you go to another country part of the experience is tasting a different type of cuisine. Trinidad has such great food. And drink! It's worth planning your days around good food when you get to eat stuff like doubles, roti, bake 'n' shark, bake 'n' saltfish, pholourie and palau. Um, yuuuuummmmmmy. And of course, there are all those beverages you don't get easily in the States: Solo Apple J, Peardrax, mauby, and sorrell. Plus, every afternoon and evening almost we drank tea. That tea kettle whistling was always a good sound. A little black tea, some condensed milk, stir and mmmmmm. No, I didn't take any pictures of my food. Laurel did. She's smart. Plus, when she does presentations on Japan for her Japanese students they like to see these things. Who doesn't?

Some of our best outtings as a family were to eat at various people's houses. We'd linger over a meal, talking and laughing. And of course, dancing. We brought the electric slide BACK, people! We gave the cha cha slide its due, but the electric slide was our dance of choice. Well, that and salsa. Randell is a salsa king and he taught us female cousins all the smooth moves on the dance floor. Actually, he taught everyone who was willing to learn. We ladies just got the special privilege of being spun round the dance floor by an expert. One time he told me to stop looking so scared. I mean, I didn't know which way I was going to spin next, and I'm an amateur. But we were all in good hands. Barron, come back to DC so we can salsa. Kthanksbuhbye. I just want to say, we turned everything into a dance opportunity. House parties, guest house hang outs, walks down the street, church. Yeah, church. We did the electric slide during worship and it was AWESOME.

Of course, we did also do quite a bit of sight seeing. Trinidad is a beautiful, lush island, so green and warm. (Read: humid.) It's gorgeous, it really is.

The picture above is from the Asa Wright Center bird sanctuary. We went there on Tuesday, the second full day of our trip. There were so many birds and lizards and plants. We had a tour guide lead us on a nature walk and it was pretty fascinating. Naturally, we were all wearing Eau de Reunion and repelling any unwanted insects.

Our transportation for the week was a maxi. We had a great driver who took up to 25 of us all around the island. Maxis are public taxi vans, just so you know. Informational, I am. You're welcome. So remember how I said that my mission, and I chose to accept it, was to confiscate Kyle and allow him to love none other? (I exaggerate. He can still love his parents.) Well, welcome to Tuesday.

He was a bit resistant at first, seeing as how I was a stranger and all. However, when I did a dramatic reading of The Gruffalo, complete with (inconsistent) character voices and picture demonstrations, he knew we were meant to be. It was only a matter of time.

Anyway, on Tuesday we also took a trip to Maracas Bay, this great beach where you can get bake 'n' shark at a number of different cabanas. We got a little lost on the way there, so our time at the beach was cut a little short, but we had a great time eating good food and playing in the waves. Great times. My swimsuit kept falling down, by the way. The bottoms. The elastic broke (not my fault!) and so I was trying to hold Kyle on one hip and use the other hand to pull up my swimsuit bottoms, all the while being pummeled by waves. It was fun :). For reals, it was.
Here are a couple views of the bay...


I'm going to leave you with that for now. Roomie B and I have to head out to Fairfax for a bridal shower for Roomie K and I still have only told you about half of everything I have to tell you. Challenge! Anyway, tune in next week (or in two days or a month, you never know with me) for the second installment of the Trinidad Post. You won't be sorry!

Summer 2.0

Um, excuse me. Where has the summer gone? Seriously! It was almost here one second and the next, it's July 24th. Yes, one day after I turned 27.5, y'all! No kidding, I celebrated my half birthday. Roomie W was trying to tell me that I made it up and that my celebration was fake. Really?! REALLY??!! Um, 6 months is an actual amount of time. I was born 6 months and 1 day ago. That's a fact. July 23rd is an actual day on the calendar. I told him to have fun the next time he hits the 6 month mark with a girlfriend and she wants to celebrate. "Um, no thanks, babe, you're just making that up. It's not a thing." Aaaaaaaaand break up. So maybe I got on my soap box a little about it. Maybe. But hey!...just because others don't choose to celebrate their half birthdays doesn't mean they don't occur. I had at least three people wish me "Ha Bir". And yeah, it felt good to hear it. And no, they would not have done this if I hadn't made a big deal of my half birthday, but I like celebrating my increasing age (to many of my peers' astonishment) and if I want it to be a big deal, I'll make it a big deal. SOAP BOX!

Oh, but I was going to mention how I celebrated the day. Before I went off on that other tangent, that is. I had a hot dog lunch. I shall digress again. I usually bring my lunch to work. Keeps the calories down, for whatever that's worth, and keeps my money in my wallet longer. However, when I want to treat myself, I sometimes declare it Hot Dog Day. I usually can rope one or two of the Lunch Bunch (the super cool kids I eat lunch with at work) into taking Hot Dog Day with me. I/we walk across Independence Ave. and head to the second hot dog stand on the left of the plaza. The first hot dog stand could be perfectly good, but I don't patronize it. Hot Dog Lady at stand #2 is a delight. So yeah, I usually get the two hot dog special which includes small chips and a can of pop. SCORE! It's delicious. Anyway, that's what Hot Dog Day is and it occurs randomly and often without much warning and it can make a day that is otherwise rubbish. Granted, yesterday wasn't rubbish cause it was my HALF BIRTHDAY but those hot dogs sure kicked everything up a notch.

Now, my roommates had been teasing me for getting excited about my half birthday for a couple weeks. Naturally, I didn't think anyone was going to acknowledge the day unprompted. I mean, why would they? I just like to use the day as an excuse to treat myself to things and make people wish me "ha bir" but Roomie B really went above and beyond. Drum roll please...
I came home to a happy (half) birthday card AND my first Spanish-English Dictionary! Um, AWESOME! Isn't she the bees' knees? I mean really.

Alright, so now that I've spent approximately half my life discussing my half birthday, I'll move on to the rest of Summer 2.0, and this Spanish-English thing has something to do with it. For a while now I've really wanted to learn Spanish. I took French in high school and loved it. Forgot it all by now, of course. But I would like to be bilingual and I think Spanish is the way to go. Not only because the Spanish team won the World Cup and oh boy is that goalie Casillas H-O-T, and not only because I want to watch soccer and yell at the TV in Spanish, but also because I think Spanish is cool. Um, probably the first two reasons are better. Anyway, four of us lovely ladies are banding together to get group tutoring sessions through some language thingy. We're going to be ablar espagnoling in like two hot seconds.

In other news, this summer was defined for me by two important things: 1) Roomie K's imminent departure to Seattle and 2) the World Cup. I am all about that World Cup. I love me some futbol, and I grieved when July 12th came along and had no more intense competition to drool over every day. Remember that U.S.A. vs. Algeria game? I was watching that at a bar near my work. I asked my boss if I could come in early that day and then take a super early lunch so that I could watch our national team school those Algerians. Let me tell you in all seriousness, nothing can compare to the feeling of watching a game like that with a hundred other proud Americans. That place was packed, everyone in his/her work clothes, drinking business juice and screaming their heads off for our boys. When we scored that goal in stoppage time, the entire place erupted. I'm sure you've seen clips on Youtube, but it was incredible. I almost cried. I even peed in my pants a little cause I was jumping up and down and hugging my coworker and screaming so loud. That might be too much information, but I'm just letting you know how big a deal it was. I was hoarse the rest of the day because I'd spent so much of my vocal allotment on yelling at players and refs.

Four years ago I was taping almost every game and playing soccer with my brother in our living room and our yard. I wanted the Italians to win and they did, the divers. This year I had no way to tape the games so I listened to/watched almost everyone on espn3.com at my desk. Usually I'm listening to music while I enter gifts. For one whole month I was listening to Irish commentators and trying not to yelp when something good/bad happened to the team I was rooting for at the time. My world was World Cup and now what? I have half a summer left.

Just kidding. Things aren't as dreary as all that. I have lots left in the summer that are even cooler than sneakily watching/listening to World Cup games at work. Um, don't worry people. Everyone was dong it. Seriously. And no one cared. Oh, and everyone I work with knew I was doing it too. Did I mention that they, in turn, were also doing it? Just saying.

I also should expand on the first item that has defined my summer - Roomie K's imminent departure. She's moving to Seattle to be with her future hubster and we remaining roommates are charged with the task of attempting to find someone cool enough to live in her room after she leaves. I don't even have the energy to get into what that whole process has been like. UGH. But I will in the future, never fear. There are laughs to be had about that one and I want to make sure you have them. So stay tuned.

Um, in 8 days I fly to TRINIDAD!!!! That's right. Family reunioning (it's a word now, fool!) with not only the Ryan side of the family, but My Auntie K and Uncle K as well (from the Davis side). Weeeee! The rest of the summer is going to kick the first half of the summer's tushy.

I cut my hair today. It's really short.

Okay, I have things to do now, like watch more of The Mentalist and wish Simon Baker wanted to date me. You'll be hearing from me again, and soon. And if it's not soon, that's because I'm in Trinidad and I'm having too much fun to care about anything else in the world. But I'll let you know how that goes. Oh yes I will. I might even let you know about how other things went/go, too, like finding a new roommate and what I did for July 4th (like that's even relevant anymore) and what's on my Fall Bucket List and how I've done on my Summer Bucket List. We'll see!

Luhyaokaybuhbyethen.

The Lexington Weekend

Hey folks. As promised, I'm taking you on a journey back a bit. I think this weekend's worthy of its own post, and if you don't agree with me I just don't want to hear about it. Technically, there have now been two Lexington Weekends since I started drafting this post...three months ago. Buuuuuuuut, the weekend I'm referring to here is the one in April for the Nave/Symes wedding. Now that we've gotten THAT all figured out, let me just say - this was a whirlwind weekend, folks. A whirlwind weekend.

Let's start with the car rental, shall we? I had never rented a car before. Never. Always been too scared cause I had no idea how to do it and frankly, until a couple years ago, I hadn't even been old enough to rent a car without paying fees for being under 25. This time, however, I knew what I needed to do. I'm not a huge fan of flying, plus it was going to be way more expensive than renting a car...so I decided to rent a car. I went to Hotwire.com (product placement, uhthankyouverymuch), reserved a little compact for the weekend, and was instructed to show up at the airport to get my vehicle bright and early on Friday morning. Ahem. I spent the two weeks before picking up the car fretting about picking up the car. Just ask my roommates and coworkers. I was all, "where am I supposed to get it" and "do you think they'll have shuttles from the metro" and "I'm afraid I won't be able to find the Alamo desk" and blah blah blah. I even had a nightmare about this. A nightmare! I dreamt that I went to go pick up my car from the airport and the attendant wouldn't let me take the car on my own until he'd first driven us about an hour out of the way to pick up snacks for him from a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Then I was allowed to drop him off at the airport and go on my merry way, having no snacks for my own road trip, of course. Wow.

Worry not, dear readers. I woke up super early that Friday morning, walked to the metro stop, metroed to the airport, and successfully followed all the signs to the Alamo/National rental area of the giant concrete jungle that is the parking garage. Oops, went to the wrong desk. "You here to rent a car," asked the attendant (whom I feared would cause me trouble later, if my dream was any sort of prophecy). I replied in the affirmative. "Well you need to go back to the stairs then down one flight then to the Alamo desk, then back up a flight and back here so we can get you your car." UUUGGGGHHHHHH! Fine, done. I walked back with my rental confirmation in hand, and was directed towards a very grumpy-looking female attendant behind a portable desk. "Car," she asked, quite grumpily. "Yes, please," I said in meek tones. "Follow me," she instructed. Walk, walk, walk, stop. Okay, there were about four cars in the garage with trunks up and keys in the ignition. "You can have any one of these," she said, pointing to the three silver compacts and the shiny red one right next to us, "which one you want?" I looked around once and then noticed she was giving me the once-over. "Hmmmm," she mused with attitude, "I think the red one for you."

Red one it was. I closed the trunk, hopped in, adjusted the mirrors, made sure I knew what all the controls did and turned the key in the ignition. Was this thing on? I turned it again. OHHHHH. It was on, alright. It just didn't sound like a heap of metal sucking in air for dear life. In other words, it didn't sound like my car. So I quietly eased out of the parking spot and out into traffic, headed home for my bags. After gathering bags and snacks, I hopped back in the car, about-faced and headed (Google map directions in hand) to Lexington. I made it without any problems.

Nope, that's a lie. I had a big problem. This problem was....I GOT LOST. IN VIRGINIA. ABOUT 10 MILES FROM MY HOUSE! Oh, the humiliation. Yeah, I knew where I-66 was and I knew how to get there, but Google was telling me to take some old state highway and wander through tiny town U.S.A. to eventually merge on 66. Little did they tell me that this is impossible! ARGH! So I ended up back tracking through some town and getting back on the highway the way I knew how. Lost close to an hour, I'd say. Maybe 45 minutes. Well from that point it really was smooth sailing. I made great time, arriving about an hour or so before I'd planned. AND that drive was divine. Really pretty part of the country, first of all, and secondly there was almost no road noise in that little Corolla. The speakers actually worked. I could actually hear the bass. I was singing and eating pretzels and drinking my Diet Coke and loving life.

When I finally arrived in Lexington I made my way to my friend Julia's house and settled in the pink room for the weekend. By the way, I could never redo a house. I'm telling you this now. Julia's house is amazing, but it got that way cause she tore out walls and redid wiring and changed closets and on and on. ACK! I haven't the knowledge nor the patience for these types of real estate transformations. I was impressed. Anyway, the weekend passed so quickly. I got to catch up with old friends, see a former roommate get married (and move to Oklahoma!), and I even got to help clean up a dead possum from Julia's back yard. Her dogs are possum hunters, and good ones too.

I did get to really Lexington-it-up on Saturday by going to Keeneland for a little horse racing. What a cultural experience. I hadn't been to track races since I left Kentucky, and I wasn't opposed to betting a couple dollars on the prettiest filly. I won about $1.85 or so on that first bet, so I thought I'd invest in some more.....losing. I think I netted a $2 loss or something. Ended in the red. Whatever, I enjoyed myself and Jesus still loves me, k?

Sunday I arose early, broke my fast with the other people in the house and left Lexington for sunny Arlington. What a great drive that was, even better than the one to Kentucky. This time I took some of the back highways through the hills/mountains of West Virginia. I did take pictures of those, but who's shocked that I don't have them on this computer, nor on my thumb drive? No one's raising his/her hand? Yeah, I know. Don't judge. I wove my way round those curvy strips of asphalt (who's the poet now, fool?!), singing at the top of my lungs and exclaiming every time I came around a bend and saw scenery even more beautiful than the bend before. It was great.

To sum up, rent a car when you go on road trips if you happen to have a car that leaks water when it rains, has no AAA coverage, lacks any sort of speaker power and gives you a good earful of the wind whistling by when you're going any speed over 25 mph. Success.

So here's to the Symes. May you live long and prosper! Also, may you be Star Trek. Just kidding. Don't be that. Unless you want to be. But mainly happy marriage. Bye bye.

Ridiculous

Could I BE any more lazy about posting? The answer to that rhetorical question is, of course, "NO." Wait, is there even an answer to a rhetorical question? I don't care.

Want to hear about my good intentions for posting? I'll tell you everything that I was going to write and then you can be all who-cares-cause-you-never-wrote-it and what not. I still plan on blogging about my road trip to Lexington because it was pure awesome, but that has to be accompanied by pictures to really tell the full story. As it is, I've had my camera at several events and haven't snapped picture one. Lame! So I was going to blog about Lexington (still will...eventually) and I was going to blog about going to the Gold Cup races and I was going to follow up on my Bucket List blog and tell you how I'd been so productive and accomplished everything................but I won't. Cause I'm lazy, or haven't you noticed?

However! Something miraculous has happened. Roomie K is back in town. That's right! Back from Lome, Togo, Africa by way of Paris, France, Europe. The house is complete again and it's fun as all get out. It almost seems like she was never gone cause we all picked back up right where we left off. Well, except for the fact that the house is sporting some lovely flower gardens and hanging baskets - these are the kinds of nice touches that the rest of us roommates are too lazy (overuse that word much?) to do anything about. Except Roomie W. He mows the lawn. So! Back to basics.

We have cornhole now. That's right! Best lawn game ever. If you're not familiar, you should be. And buy a set. It's totally worth it. Friday night we had some friends over to the house for bleu cheese bacon burgers and cornhole in the back yard. It was amazing! I'll refer to this again later when I tell you all about my summer goals. Slash summer bucket list, cause booyah!, my pastor used "bucket list" in the same way I did a couple months ago and Barron you can just put that in your pipe and smoke it! Mwaaaaahahahahaha! Ahem. Anyhoo...

Okay, summer goals. Now that Memorial Day Weekend is almost here, and therefore summer is upon us, my roommates and I are coming up with the best ways ever to spend the summer. Now, this summer is much more important than previous ones I've spent in DC because it will be my last summer with these roommates. That's right, at the end of the summer Roomie K will be moving out and the rest of us will have to find someone else to fill her shoes. Impossible, but we'll try. So since we know this is the last summer for 107 and the PHC, we definitely have to live it up and do all sorts of fun things. Fun things such as....

• going to NYC
• tubing in the Shenandoah
• going to the beach!!!
• DC United game (taking care of that Wednesday, booyah!, vs. AC Milan, double booyah!)
• Nats game
• having people over all the time for grilling out and playing cornhole and ladder ball
• finding a pool to frequent
• and more...

So yeah, there's a lot on the list. Oooo, I also want to go to a concert or two. There's so much to do. Oh! And attend the Rosslyn outdoor film festival which, this summer, features 90s movies, YES! And I will make a real commitment to blog more frequently about the happenings around here. You three faithful readers will get every juicy detail of my summer. Ha!

Hold up, I have another couple stories for you. Saturday afternoon Roomies W & K and I all sat out on the front porch for a few hours to talk and eat and drink and generally be merry. Well, we ended up all taking naps on the front porch. Roomie W was on the porch swing, Roomie K was on the iron bench, and I was sitting on a chair with my feet propped up in the table, sawing some Z's and listening to the rain. Yeah, I want summer to be like that. Just hanging out, listening to music, napping on the porch. Sunday after my last morning as Team Leader in the Babies/Pre-K ministry (I've taken a step back from that leadership role so I can volunteer in the classroom again...I don't like being in charge), I practiced frantically for half an hour before heading out to Falls Church, VA, to play Borodin's 2nd string quartet with a group of musicians I know. We worked on the first movement for 2 hours! And we'll be meeting again in the next couple months to work on the other movements. Let me tell you, it's so great to play good music with people who enjoy it. And this group is pretty equally matched ability-wise so it's a challenge to play with them, which is good. Cut to me practicing more this summer. OH! Speaking of practicing, I also might be joining a church orchestra for their production of Les Miserables next winter. Yes, I am getting involved. Booyah!

Let me just say, now that the "Bucket List Era" of Roomie-K-being-gone is over, I feel like I've accomplished a lot and am ready for the summer. I stuck to my guns and kept myself from going all hermit and boring. It was a pain sometimes, but it was totally worth it. Now I'm primed and ready for the best summer of life. Summer 2010. It's going to be good.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. Um, wow. There are more booyahs and exclamation marks in this blog than I care to count. Dash.

Hot Suey

Dagnabit it's hot around here. Whew! Spring is here...except summer's really trying to barge its way in before Spring's even had one spin around the dance floor. Nosy season.

Nonetheless, I am LOVING this weather change. I've been in the best mood for about three weeks now and it's all because of the weather. Lies, all lies. It's not all because of the weather. I've also entertained three out-of-town visitors, started grilling out again, and checked a few things off my "Bucket List." Okay, okay...I realize that my brother takes great issue with this term. He thinks it's too morbid. If anyone has a suggestion for what I can call my Two-months-goals list then please, by all means, give me a shout. Until then, I'll be (semi) satisfied to just call it "The List."

Here's what I've checked off The List for the past couple weeks - cooking (check), exercising (mostly check), being social (checkity check-check-a-roony) and, ummmmmmmm don't know what else. If you'll recall, these are all things I thought I'd have trouble doing during these two months of solitude-ish. Turns out my fears were unfounded. I've had one of the busiest springs I can remem--nope, scratch that. Two springs ago when I was writing my thesis - THAT was a crazy busy spring. But since that time I haven't had such a busy spring. Until now. Whatever.

My church is in the process of moving into a new facility, so I've spent a couple nights this week painting and moving furniture and organizing toys and getting the place ready for our first services there this Sunday. I'll be back there this weekend, too, making sure everything's in order. We won't be meeting in the movie theater anymore. I'm a little sad about that, even though I did see a mouse in the theater that one Sunday. Gross. Anyway, this week has been a good one for working alongside my fellow church members and getting to know them better. Nice people. Let's hope everything gets done by Sunday morning. Yipes.

Granted, I haven't been to the gym as much as I told myself I was going to be, but I've supplemented those exercise times by continuing to walk to and from the metro at a sluggish pace and sometimes jogging around the neighborhood before coming home to eat peanut M&Ms on the porch. Oh, and one time I went to play tennis but then all the courts were full so my friend and I just walked a few feet apart from each other, stood in place and tossed a Frisbee for a while. Vigorous, no? Tell that to the mirror who practically broke in horror when I went swim suit shopping yesterday. Just kidding, the mirror said something like, "Don't worry, deary, you still have plenty of time to get svelte. Eat that chocolate bar when you get home and reward yourself for it being Wednesday."

As far as the social stuff goes, that's just plain easy during the warmer months. Now everyone's out on their porches and in their yards and it's no trouble at all to say, "Hey neighbor, come on over here and hang out on my porch!" It's happened. It does help that I've had a few visitors come through over the past three weeks. One of them, a good friend from college, is going to be moving to these parts in the next couple months, so I consider that a real social victory for myself. Oh, and congratulations on the new job, Julie.

That's me in a nutshell. I'm having a ball and keeping it real, per youjjjj. (That's an abbreviation of "usual", for the layman.)

OH! I forgot one thing! On Easter after church I drove into the city to have brunch with Roomie B and her parents. Success! I found the place,( The Jefferson hotel), found parking, and did it all without breaking a sweat. This is a milestone, people! I generally hate driving in the city because it's scary and people honk at me when I'm doing nothing wrong and everyone's angry and there are so many cars and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Buuuuut, this time I felt quite confident and I generally knew where I was at all times. So I'm getting more comfortable with this place. Score.

Bucket List

Hello, faithful readers. Spring approacheth, no?! It's been rainy and dreary here the past few days, so you know it's about to be Spring. I could do without the rain, but I'm happy about the seasonal change.

I've been way too productive lately and very homemaker-y, and it has really worn me out. This weekend was the first of nine that my roommates and I will spend without one of our own, Roomie K. She is medical missioning abroad for two months and has left us all to our own devices. I am determined not to be a hermit during her absence. I want to have something to show for these two months...perhaps there will be a show-and-tell presentation upon her return. Therefore, Roomie B and I have made a Bucket List. No, not a life/death bucket list. More of a goals list for the time during Roomie K's absence. But I digress. I was talking about my extraordinary productivity this weekend. Let me explain.

My house was a mess. Parts of it are still a mess. And I have some greatly anticipated company arriving this week, so a messy house is NOT okay with me. I chose to use this first weekend of the "Bucket List Era" as a semi-spring cleaning weekend. I did all my laundry, I cleaned the trickiest parts of the house [read: bathroom, kitchen, another bathroom], I went grocery shopping by myself for the first time in years and I cooked two meals for the week. WHAT?! This is not me. Usually I collaborate with Roomie K on the cooking and she comes up with all the meal ideas, but without her I did not flounder. And I'm impressed with Me. (No, not "myself". Me.) I made my first solo lasagna. That's right! Please don't judge me for the fact that I overcooked it by about a half hour. I forgot it was in the oven, okay! I was watching some TV and really just lost track of time. But I have a frozen lasagna ready for the weekend (that hopefully isn't ruined) and I'm quite pleased with myself. I also made some yummy Italian sausage/spinach/shell pasta soup for the next couple days. This weekend I also caught up on some TV episodes I'd missed, did a little reading, and caught up on some correspondence. PRODUCTIVE MUCH?!

Okay, so back to the Bucket List. Here are my main goals:

• Go to the gym regularly
• Drink more water
• Be social and not hermit-ish whilst Roomie K is gone
• Try new things around the city with Roomie B (i.e. restaurants, concert/sporting events, dancing, etc.)
• Eat nutritiously

I also need to practice the Borodin Quartet No. 2 since I'm supposed to be playing it with a chamber group in two weeks and I haven't even looked at the music. Okay, I looked at it. But have a I practiced it? Nope!

Now, my gym goal is nothing new and I've been mostly good about keeping it...with the exception of the past month. Oops. However, without my normal gym buddy around, I'm really going to have to make an effort to go. Cause let me tell you, the gym is a 20 minute walk from my house and once I get home after work I do NOT want to go out again. Plus, street parking is sparse in the general gym area and even walking home to drive to the gym takes (mostly mental) effort. Sooooo, new plan. I'm going to bring my gym bag to work with me during the week so that after I get off the metro in my neighborhood I can go straight to the gym and then walk home. Ugh, and double UGH! Keep in mind, this means I have to bring two bags on the metro and that is just pure awkward. Today was my first day of this new experiment and I was so that awkward girl with two bags. They kept falling down around my feet and I'd have to bend over to move them every time someone wanted to get past me. I couldn't hold them on my shoulders because, let's face it, that's just inconsiderate of the other riders. I can't stand it when people with their big shoulder bags and backpacks insist on keeping said bags on their shoulders and/or backs. That makes getting in the metro car during rush hour much more difficult. Keep the bags at your feet, peeps! Much easier and then I don't have to worry about a bag banging me in the face when I'm sitting down and you whip around really quickly to check which metro stop we've reached. Mmmmmkaythanksbye.

I would also like to note that it is very cumbersome to walk in the rain with two bags and an umbrella, especially when one bag is weighed down by a hefty coin bag. Yes, I have to stop at the bank and convert all my saved-up coins to bills. Gotta get me some spending money for the weekend, y'all!

So I'll let you know how the Bucket List goes. It's only Day 4. I have plenty of time...

Blerg. Also, Cooking.

It's been a while. A month, you might say. I've been unmotivated when it comes to anything but hanging out and watching the Olympics. (Has anyone noticed how much more dangerous the winter olympics are than the summer olympics? Wipeout!) However, it has been a month and Laurel has inspired me to blog again. I don't have much to say, except that you should know I'm Betty Crocker.

Well, in my opinion I'm Betty Crocker. Betty Crocker would call me an amateur and probably throw batter in my face to prove her point. Or something. However, I would shake my finger at her and exclaim, through the tears of shame and humiliation, that while I am an amateur I have been making things from scratch lately and shouldn't she be proud?! I sure am. Well, as you might know, I usually cook on a team. Roomie K is the head chef, which she vehemently denies, and I am the sous chef. She comes up with the brilliant ideas and tells me what to do and then we team up to create culinary masterpieces. Most recently we made biscuits and gravy. From scratch! I've never made white gravy in my life. You know, the breakfast kind. People don't really eat that around here and I'd kind of forgotten about it until one night a couple weeks ago. The night of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, to be precise. That Friday, Roomie K and I were grilling homemade Bleu Cheese Bacon Burgers to celebrate the U.S.A. We had plenty of bacon grease in the pan, so R.K. says, "Let's make gravy!" "Okay," I said enthusiastically. I had no idea how to do this, but I DID have a recipe for biscuits in my "Anne of Green Gables" sampler book that my parents gave me years ago. I knew how to make biscuits and R.K. had an idea for the gravy making. We combined our knowledge and not only made the most delicious burgers you've ever had, but some Grade A biscuits and gravy for the next morning's breakfast. Huzzah!

And yes, that's the most exciting thing that's happened to me in the past month. Well, besides the Snowpocalypse. The Snowmageddon. The Snowtorious B.I.G. (I didn't make a single one of those up.) All that snow (3 feet ish) is finally starting to melt now that warmer temps have arrived. There will be giant snow drifts across the city until mid-March, I'll bet, but at least I don't have to walk through them every day to get to the metro. I did have four snow days in a row that week. AWESOME! I built an igloo, shoveled lots of snow, and walked around in the Blizzard of 2010. People kept calling it a blizzard but I don't believe it. When I think "blizzard" I recall the words of Laura Ingalls Wilder in The Long Winter. They had such bad weather they had to tie a line between their house and barn so they could find their way back without getting lost in the storm. It certainly wasn't that bad around here. But it still was pretty hardcore. That's the most snow this area's received in over 100 years. And I really enjoyed living a life of leisure, watching movies, reading books, eating like I was a bear preparing for hibernation and hanging out with the neighbors. I'm sad those days are over, though I'm not sad to see the snow melt. I'm over it. Let's get on with Spring!

So that's about it, methinks. Nothing else to report. No "real world" revelations at this time. Work is normal, peeps are good. Oh, I am in charge of the volunteer schedule now at my church. Have I mentioned that? I'm a Coordinator now. I'm the manager, if you will, for the babies and pre-k classes during the first service. I've held a lot of fussy babies recently. I'd like to think I'm the baby whisperer, cause after I walk them around a bit they usually stop crying. But that's me handling one. The volunteers have to deal with multiple babies at a time. I'm all, "Yes! No more tears! Awesome! I'm great at this!" Then I look over in the babies classroom and I'm like, "Hmm, not so much. Multiple children are scary."

Okay, the end. Buh bye.

SURPRISE!!!

So I was lying in my bed this morning, doing the Samurai Sudoku and watching TV online, when my doorbell rang. I thought, "My pizza's already been delivered so who could that be? Must be someone selling something. I won't answer. Wait--maybe someone sent me something for my birthday, I'll answer it." I ran down the stairs, looked out the door and saw...BARRON!!! WHAT???? WHAAAAAAAAT????!!!!!! That's right! He surprised me with a visit to the greater DC area! My birthday weekend just got 80 million times better, y'all! WOOOOO!

AnticipAsh NAsh

Pronunciation guide - the title of this post is comprised of abbreviations or abreevs, if you will. I noted the phonetic "long A" sound with a capital 'A' in an unexpected place. I don't know how else to explain this. If you don't get it, I can't help you.

Moving on.

So back to my old ways, I see. It's been exactly one month since my last confession--I mean post. A lot has happened in that month and I will summarize it for thee before delving into the meat of this post. So meaty.

In summAsh:

To Tulsa town I went, I went

On winged plane, did fly

The Christmas cheer was gamely spent

The dreary moods did die

I saw this one and I saw that

We hugged, we laughed, we cried

And yet I was a-forced to go

Back to the land of pride (what?)

The New Year was a high affair

I spent it cleaning up

A backed up sewage line downstairs

It smelled like yuck and yuck

This January month has flown

It's been a busy time

I long for warmer weather and

Perchance another clime (-ate. climate, k?)

I've fiddled, and I've tickled chins

I've churched, I've worked, I've slept

Two thousand ten, hi!, here you are

I'm getting all farklempt.

Don't ask for a deeper meaning. There is none. And I'm not farklempt. I just like that expression and it kind of rhymed. If you have any questions regarding my activities over the past month, feel free to ask. I think I summed it up pretty well in that epic poem. Not epic as in long, just epic as in really really really important. Oh, another thing I did this month that didn't make it into the poem - I saw the eye doctor. Got my eyes dilated. That's why I'm wearing funky glasses in the picture above. Roomie K and I went to the eye doctor the same day and both drove around Virginia (is for lovers) looking like loons. I am now sporting funky fresh new glasses and have switched to monthly contacts instead of quarterly. Now if that's not what you wanted to read, I don't know what is!

Alright, here's the meat, the juice, the real 4-1-1. My birthday's in two days. YESSSSS!!! I will be 27 and this is going to be my best year yet. I'm not sure why, but I'm really pumped about being 27. I really like that number. It's a good age, and what better year to be 27 than 2010? I mean, seriously. Be serious about this, peeps. (See? Another abreev.) I'm now in my late 20s, love it, and I'm starting what some people like to call a new decade (they're incorrect) in what I've determined is my golden year. I don't know exactly why it will be golden, but I just anticipate good things. Maybe a new job, Lord willing, maybe a new city (no promises!)...I mean, heck, I might just get an iPhone or something. No, I'm not going to shake on it.

Here's the rub, though. Motivation. MotivAsh. I've mentioned this before. We 20-somethings really have to motivate ourselves to do stuff, or at least I do, and in order to make this year truly golden I'm going to have to do stuff. You know? If I want this year to be truly awesome I'll have to do something about it. Actually go to the gym, actually join a small group at church, actually plan activities on the weekend instead of sleeping till noon...nope, I'd rather sleep.

A new year just brings on all these thoughts. And turning a new age about the same time just doubles those "what ifs" and "what do I want for this year/age" questions. Kind of overwhelming, now that I'm putting it all in writing. Yipes!

So there. As for now, I'm going to celebrate my birthday for days on end. I'm going to keep up the posts in better time than I have been (no promises). I'm going to party like it's 1999.