January 31, 2007

Let me be an attention ho for a moment….I’ve been working out regularly for nearly a month now and I’m starting to see some results. I’m up to about 45-50 minutes of cardio per session and I’m doing strength exercises about 2 or 3 days a week (weights or yoga). Places that were flabby in late December are much less so, although I have a ways to go, trust me. I’ve been doing kickboxing, bellydancing, yoga, cardio (mostly elliptical trainer) and weights (upper body and back). If I keep this up for a few more months I am going to be in the best shape I’ve been in in years.

I was doing some errands Saturday morning and the usual coalition of right-wing nutcases were protesting at the local abortion clinic. It always provokes a good deal of eyerolling and disgust from me, but I really started thinking about it this past weekend. I’m really angry at these people. Not because they hold a viewpoint drastically different from mine, but because they don’t think about what their views really mean. Rather than spend hours on a Saturday morning holding up signs and harrassing people, why don’t they go and do things that would make abortion unnecessary in the first place? Why don’t they help poor people or go volunteer at a home for abused/neglected/abandoned children? Why don’t they invest their time and money in programs that teach young people about how to prevent STDs and pregnancy? Or how about teaching young people that there are other ways to get love and attention besides sex? For that matter, I wonder why they don’t do more to support public health and education. If they want to protest and get angry at something, they should get angry at the social conditions that drive people to obtain abortions in the first place. Better yet, why don’t they mind their own business? There’s a severe shortage of MYOB in these times.

My boss is gone today, so I have 8 hours of uninterrupted time to box up my stuff for next week’s move. Should be interesting. I’ve got about 75% of my stuff packed, which is more than I can say for most people around here (laaaaazy). I have class at 3, which I am dreading since annoying-dude-in-my-program is in that class. I’ve never met a more idiotic, socially inept and talkative person in my life. Even Dr. Thoma doesn’t seem to like him and that’s saying something. It is kind of funny when the rest of us look at each other and roll our eyes when he goes on one of his little diatribes, which always include the phrase “and what have you” at least 3 times. Grrrr….

Grrrrrrrr……….. January 26, 2007

The part of my job I hate? Still hate it. This old woman keeps calling for my “other boss,” and I transfer her (even though he should have given her his direct line). When she gets his voicemail because he’s NEVER around, she calls me back again….and again…and again. I’m just not answering that line anymore. If she doesn’t understand the concept of “leave a message” then I am not dealing with her.

I can’t wait to quit this bullshit in August. I will be putting in my 2 week notice the Monday after my birthday. Just call it my present to myself. Then I can have a week or so off before I start an assistantship, hopefully teaching. I wouldn’t mind a research assistantship, but at this point I think I need to get some collegiate teaching experience under my belt so that I’ll be employable.

Stressing out just a bit January 24, 2007

So we’ve been on the hunt for an officiant for a little over a month now. There are quite a few “rent-a-preachers” down in the NOLA area, but they charge a hell of a lot and it just seems to cheapen the notion of getting married. It’s like they have this one formula, plug your names in and there ya go. Nothing personal or meaningful. I sure as hell don’t want some minister admonishing me about what the Bible says about the role of a wife, especially when he has no idea who I am. We contacted the Unitarian congregation down there (since that’s something we agree on) and I finally talked to the minister yesterday. She seems really nice and is open to doing our ceremony. Here’s the deal:

Her partner (yes, she’s a lesbian…no, I don’t care) is due to give birth to their child somewhere in mid-June. If the baby comes before June 23, no big deal. If the baby hasn’t come by then, then the Rev. will be on 24 hour alert until the baby comes. With my luck he/she will arrive at  6:45 PM on June 23 (the wedding’s at 7:00 PM). However, should something like that happen, then there is a back-up person who may be able to do it. No big deal. It’s just the uncertainty of it all.

Another thing that has me stressed out is that Scott was harping all over about “What will your family do when our lesbian minister shows up with her partner at the rehearsal dinner/reception?!” As if my family is the only group we need to worry about. His folks are nice, but not the most open-minded. (Cue flashback of his dad blaming Clinton for all of the ills of the world and complaining about black people at his restaurant.) However, he ignored that and just acts like my entire family are sheet-wearing, cross-burning bigots. Admittedly, there are a couple of people whose opinions are 180 degrees from mine, but I’m not worried about pleasing them or catering to their whims, especially since they’ve never worried about doing that for me. It really bothers me that he takes the shitty actions of a couple people and projects that upon my entire family. Honestly, 90% of all the people I’m related to are very nice people, and I’m not just saying that because I’m related to them. They’re upstanding, intelligent, hard-working people. I don’t know about you, but I think that as a general matter of principle, you hold your tongue about your fiancé(e)’s family unless something comes up. He makes fun of them, and I find that entirely disrespectful.

There are a few things he’s said recently that make me question who it is that I’m marrying. I used to think he was pretty open- minded, and he’s always talking about how liberal he is, but it’s looking more like lip service than ideology. When we were discussing my friend Rashmee’s predicament (she wants a quasi-arranged marriage, and her younger sis really can’t get married until she does), he called the whole idea “stupid.” He didn’t say, “Oh, I don’t understand it,” or “I don’t think I could do something like that.” No. He called it stupid. I ripped him a new one. Do I agree with their tradition? No way. I wasn’t raised to believe in that. But it’s their culture, their beliefs, and it’s what they’ve decided they want. They’re OK with that. I think people’s choices should be respected. You don’t have to agree with an idea or concept to respect it, and just because it seems “primitive” or “backwards” doesn’t make it stupid. He didn’t handle himself very well at the one Indian party I brought him to, and that’s actually been a source of embarrassment for me. He also makes fun of people for believing in God, even though he knows that I do. When we go to Target on a Sunday morning and it’s empty, he’ll say “Oh. Looks like people are out worshipping their god.” A friend of his recently was talking about his idea and the fact that he does believe in God but doesn’t ascribe to any particular religion and Scott actually laughed at him. Then he also complains about being looked down upon because he doesn’t go to church or whatever. His lack of reflexivity is really appalling. If you’re going to look down on others for their beliefs, don’t get your knickers in a twist when people look down at you for your lack of belief. He says he won’t rule out the existence of God, but that he feels there is no concrete proof. That’s fine, but don’t turn your nose up at people who’ve decided that they do believe. The majority of the world’s population believes in some sort of higher power or deity, so obviously religious belief does serve a purpose to humanity. What that purpose is, I don’t know.

Sorry for the long rant, but I really needed to vent that.

Thank you January 22, 2007

Thanks to those who offered condolences. Even though I haven’t lived at home since 2001, Oliver was still a part of my life. Every time I would go home, one of the first things I would do was to go look for him (he liked to hide during the day, either in my dad’s closet or under his bed). He was a gentle kitty and never hurt a fly. When I was 16 he got really sick and we were convinced that we would lose him. We kept him in my parents’ bathroom so that he could be isolated and not have to deal w/ the dogs and Pitter. I would go in there after school and stay in there for hours holding him because I wanted every second I could have with him. Thankfully, he recovered and lived another 8 years.

It’s hard  because Scott’s cat Applejack looks just like him. Identical, even in the fur markings. They act nothing alike (Nappy has a mischevious streak and likes to battle with a dog 6x his size), but seeing him makes me even sadder.

RIP January 19, 2007

Oliver 1994-2007

Nothing interesting to report January 19, 2007

Four day  weeks are the way to go. Seriously. I’d almost be inclined to work 8-6 four days a week in order to have Fridays (or Mondays) off. There hasn’t been much to do here since my boss was out until yesterday afternoon. I caught up on some stuff and played around. Left early (worked through lunch, so it’s not like I was shortchanging anybody) and was home by 4:30. Last night I stayed out until almost midnight, so I rolled in a little late this morning. Not really a big deal, since nobody was around.

We’re getting a lot of wedding related stuff done, and it’s actually been fun. Our save-the-date cards came in yesterday, so this weekend will be spent addressing those to mail out next week. I’m going to Office Depot later on today to find cardstock that matches the cards to print up hotel info on so that people can go ahead and make hotel reservations.

I just want it to be 3:45 already so I can leave.

Long weekends are the best thing ever!!!! January 14, 2007

Even though I had a full 10 days off for the holidays, I really needed this long weekend. Yesterday I met up w/ my friend Rashmee, who just got back from Argentina on Friday. She had been living there since last year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and was working on a master’s at a university in Buenos Aires. I had really missed her and while we were hanging out I caught myself almost tearing up because I was so happy that she was back. The first few months she was gone, I would find myself about to dial her number when I was in Bham to ask her if she wanted to get dinner or coffee. Then I’d catch myself and realize that she wasn’t IN B’ham. She may or may not go back to Argentina, depending on a few different factors.

We went shopping after lunch yesterday at Old Navy since they were having a sale. Here’s what I got: 2 button up shirts (work friendly), a pair of pinstripe pants (I managed to find a size 4 short…yay!), a pair of black workout/lounge pants, and a scarf for Scott. Total: $28.66 I think I did pretty well. I try not to go shopping, but those deals were too good to pass up, and I actually did get stuff I need (and the scarf for Scott was less than $2.00, so I can’t really feel guilty).

Today is kind of lazy other than some random laundry and maybe cleaning. I will definitely work out sometime today since I didn’t work out yesterday. So far I feel like it will be possible for me to work out at least 4 days a week, maybe 5. We definitely won’t be cooking anything since we’ve made pasta, paella and a HUGE (OMFG, huge!!!!) pot of jumbalaya. We made it last night before the Saints game and even after Scott had 3 bowls and I had one big bowl, it still took 3 large plastic containers for all the leftovers. (

lost_requiem

: remember that tall Revere pot that mom used to boil spaghetti in? That’s the pot we used, and it was about 80% full.) Luckily it was amazing, because it would suck to have that much crappy leftovers.

January 12, 2007

Last night Scott and I made paella and had Utz over (he called us about 15 minutes before it was ready and we told him to come on over). I should have taken a picture of the paella, because it looked really good and tasted even better. I have leftovers for today, as a matter of fact, packed in my Mr. Bento. Apparently this thing has a lot of fans, with a bunch of websites that document what people put in their Mr. Bentos. It really is awesome because you have four containers to put things in. Yesterday was pasta, salad, cheese and crackers, and peanut butter cookies. And it was sooo good. One of the containers is good for putting soup in because it’s totally sealed and won’t leak. Not only that, but when you heat things up in the morning and put them in the jar, they’re still hot hours later (therefore you don’t need a microwave). Maybe I’ll start taking pictures of my lunch.

Tonight I’m going to Decatur to hang out w/ my dad and sister a little bit. My dad’s going to Germany for I think 10 days (or maybe 2 weeks). That should be fun for him, considering I don’t think that he’s ever left the country (except for Canada). Tomorrow I’m having lunch w/ my friend Rashmee who’s coming back from Argentina today after having been gone a whole year. I’ve really, really missed her.

Oh, and I went to the gym this morning at 6:45. Kick ass!

January 11, 2007

Last night I went to the Rec after class got out. I got in about 4:30 and it was farkin’ insane. Parking was a nightmare and there were people everywhere. Everywhere! Lots of little girls in lots of makeup and updos and sorority shirts. Erghhhh…While I worked out, I watched Oprah and the show was about spoiled kids and their parents. I’m convinced that about 80% of all American parents are shitty and stupid. This one mom (divorced single mom) bought her 4 year old thousands of dollars worth of Barbies, American Girl dolls, got her a biweekly manicure and pedicure (she’s four!) and all this other shit. She said she didn’t think she was parenting out of guilt, yet she felt awful that she had to work full time and couldn’t be with her kid. I’m not pathologizing her or anything, but what motivates her to spoil the hell out of her kid if not guilt? Just admit it!

Today I’m not going to the gym (unless I decide to go to yoga) and instead I will take Brubeck for a nice walk. He’s been such a good boy lately since we switched our approach with him. We’re training him not to get on the furniture or to lick our plates after we finish (no joke). We have a spray bottle w/ water that we use when he misbehaves and so far it’s been very effective. He used to jump on Scott, bite him, hump his leg, etc. He hasn’t done that in almost a week now. I think if we combine lots of rewards with a small amount of punishment (water bottle), he’ll be a better dog. He’s got a sweet temperament, but those who have met him (

ladybug1116

,

dmaguire27

,

lost_requiem

)know that he has a huge naughty streak. We’re working on getting rid of that without getting rid of his overall good nature.

Is it 10:15 already? Score!!!!

Weekend January 8, 2007

I honestly felt like I got a lot out of this weekend and I wasn’t dreading work as much as I normally do. We cleaned the carpets and the furniture, cleaned all of the other floors in the house, organized and rearranged the den, got some laundry done and did some wedding related stuff (picked out invites and save-the-dates). This morning I was up 10 minutes before the alarm, got ready quickly to drop Brubeck off at the vet (fleas are out of control) and then got to work 15 minutes early. I’m taking care of other stuff here before my boss rolls in.

I even fit in a workout last night. I thought the Rec was open ’til 9, so I was going to go around 7:30 or so. I called at 6:00 and found out they were closing in an hour. I got over there and fit in a 30 minute workout and left right before they closed. I could have easily just not gone and justified it, but I went. I’m dreading the next few weeks because it will be packed. Luckily it’ll taper off before February and things will be calm again, except from 5-7.