"there's something wrong with being copied in a memo, in the form of a big ugly demo..."

So I'm spending Friday night in. This is perfectly ok because, one, I could have gone out dancing with friends tonight but pansy-ed out (because I'm tired and broke) and two, because I've got stuff going on both Saturday and Sunday nights. (Actually, when I put it that way...I should probably be being productive tonight...hm, nah...) So instead I will recount a tale of my Saturday previous.

I get excited about little things. I'm not sure if this is inherently who I am, or someone I became at some time in my life for purposes of coping with said life, but I do know by this point it is essential to my being. There is this bar in town that has all sort of goodies in the ladies' room, including body lotion, spray-on deodorant, hair spray, peppermints, and (free) tampons. Now let me tell you--when you have dry skin, as I do, you very much appreciate when a business is intelligent enough to put lotion in the bathroom. Washing hands and then not putting lotion on in the winter is rather uncomfortable. =( So suffice it to say, this place already had my allegiance. Well, I was prevented from being a hermit last Saturday by a couple of work buddies who were going to this place for dinner and drinks (including the dude responsible for the introvert/extrovert quote in a previous post). I hadn't been to this place in a while, and was happily surprised by the newest addition to the restroom luxuries:



Washcloths to dry one's hands with! How awesome is that?! There was a little sign on the paper towel dispenser saying something like "restroom amenities provided by staff. soiled cloth hand towels in hamper, paper towels in trash". Drying one's hands with cloth is a lot less rough on dry skin than paper towels, so this is just a dream come true for me. Plus, my little inner hippie is very impressed that they are also cutting down on their paper waste.

Besides the washcloths, the rest of the evening was very lovely, also. It's nice to begin to feel less and less like a hermit. My work buddies were glad that I seem to have finally come out of a months-long funk and am being sociable again. A lot of people have had a lot of really nice things to say about me in the past week. I don't really know why all this positivity is converging on me all of a sudden, but it sure is well-timed, I'd say. There were also a couple not-so-nice things said about me this week (evidently I'm an even worse judge of character than I realized, or more accurately, I'm even better at deliberately ignoring my character judging abilities than I realized...), but the balance of it all is still positive enough to prevent me from getting down. Even though I'm somewhat in a holding pattern this first part of the year while I wait to see where the second half will take me, I'm quickly discovering there is still enough friendship in this foreign land to keep me from crashing into the Hudson.

out of context

You know, with a different picture, this ad could take on a whole other meaning. (But that program probably wouldn't be suitable for PBS. Unless it was sufficiently "artistic".)



In other news, yesterday's brooding has been downgraded to something that could probably be taken care of by one of those really small Ben & Jerry's cups. However, upon realizing (while chatting yesterday eve with my recently-turned-health-nut little bro, who was--despite said health-nut-ness--eating a pint of oatmeal cookie B&J's) that I hadn't eaten any of their ice cream in oh...well, at least since I left Vermont, I've decided it's time to fix that. Tomorrow, at lunch. And I'm probably going to go for the pint, but it's also probably going to be the low-fat, fro-yo Half-Baked.

And if you don't know what the following is all about, then you should probably go look it up... (oh, Google...is there anything you can't make interesting?)

"when sad," she said, "i do what i do best. i take to the keys."

Endings she could handle, misunderstandings...she could not. But it was out of her hands now, and what would be, would be.

This one would have to be settled the old-fashioned way, she feared...with some Ben & Jerry's and a fresh haircut.

word

Ok, it's official. I miss Burlington. =(

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27752501/

(The downtown co-op they mention is where I used to work! woot!)

"he's just not that into you"

Points if you can name the source of that quote.

So, I have had my mind changed this morning. I am aware of the fact that I am a very stubborn person (but I would maintain, not-arrogantly, that this is just because I frequently have already thought well through whatever is being talked about...this is more of an affliction than something to be proud of), however, I also know that my mind is definitely changeable when someone makes a particularly good and articulate point. And I know that this is all a very genuine construct in my brain due to the rather marked feelings of happy and relief that arise when someone else makes a good point to change my mind. Sort of like that person is taking over the wheel for a moment in my continual quest to map and understand the world, and giving me a moment to rest.

This is a particularly good and articulate point about why being single is great. Hope you have some time to read, as it's seven freaking pages long. Actually, it's not just one point, but an article stuffed full of great points. Definitely worth a read. (Well, if you're single at least...)

With that little trinket of good thought having been delivered, I am now setting myself to the task of finishing my last grad school application. Adventure cannot wait around for accompanying gentlemen.

way to normal

"'Are you an introvert or an extrovert?' ... Fucking shit."
--lunch buddy on Thursday, describing himself emailing with potential lady friends


(DISCLAMIER: I fucking love Ben Folds. If you know me at all, you already are aware of this.)

How self-neglectful have I been, to have gone 3 months without checking out Ben Folds's latest album? Anyway, suffice it to say I am finally checking it out, and he's making me believe life is really all that worth living again, like usual. (At least if one owns a piano or has access to one in the woods...I am working on saving for one, for whatever space I will inhabit beginning next fall...) In conclusion: Ben Folds + Regina Spektor + piano = true love. And I'm not even a huge Regina Spektor fan.

This week for me was denser than the irrationals in the reals. (My little math joke. hah.) Work was crazy, but the great news there is that I am moving to a much sweeter desk as of Monday; I carted all my stuff to my new location at the end of the day today. As for my personal life (yes, I'm really beginning to have one of those again!), after tomorrow I will be done done done with working on my grad school applications. And then I will begin having a fun, restful existence again. I'm rather looking forward to it...after all, that is one of the perks of being a working stiff as opposed to a student--the relaxation factor.

I'm not sure if it's just heightened sensitivity due to the fact I am not in a relationship right now (albeit freshly at peace with the end of the last one), but it seems like the whole world is getting engaged or at least just plain in a relationship. Strangely enough, I didn't seem to notice this when I was still acutely in broken-heart pain, so I guess I'm doubtful of the single syndrome cause. I guess all the marriage proposals can at least be blamed on the holidays, perhaps.

Viewed from one angle, being single is rather freeing. And such freedom is even, might I say, really romantic in a way. Viewed from another, I still find myself longing for a relationship of some sort. Something easy and comfy...affectionate yet not too serious. At least not (serious) yet. Someday maybe. Damn you, contradictory emotions; always sneaking up and getting the best of me. The next place I live needs to be busy enough for me to not notice such things. At least if, no one notices me (or, deliberately chooses to un-notice me).

Well, I am getting my hair chopped off tomorrow. Needs to happen...it's getting too long. I've always wanted to grow it out really long, as I'm sure it would look super bad-ass with it being so curly, but every time it so much as gets down to my shoulders, it starts pissing me off and I itch to cut it. I'm bringing pictures of Carrie's hair from SATC season five and will say, "make my hair do something like this, please." We'll see how that turns out.



"So, I'll say something I should've said long ago,
You don't know me at all."
-- from the man who wields thirteenth chords like they was triads

CELEBRATE YOUR VEGETABLES!

Today at the office there was a rather heated debate on the social email list about vegetarianism. I kind of felt like throwing my computer across the room by the end of it. The meat-eaters side of the aisle didn't seem to get that vegetables are tasty, and were completely incredulous that veggie-broth based soup could be any good. They also made such silly claims as that eating meat is "natural". (I worked in a deli for almost a year. That shit is rarely natural, yo. So, I hope this person was limiting their comment to fresh steaks sliced right off the animal.) All this started by someone asking if anyone was interesting in doing a vegetarian soup swap at work a couple Mondays from now. One lady said she wasn't going to bother doing it, and would participate another time when chicken broth was allowed. What kind of wonky sense does that make?! Really...you aren't willing to try vegetarian soups made by the exact people that know how to use their veggies? My response was, "where's your sense of adventure?" and "don't think of vegetarian food as missing meat, but more as a proper celebration of vegetables." This shift of food-world-view focus seems to be something meat-eaters have an incredibly difficult time comprehending.

And now, for a turn on the topic.

So this week at work I'm responsible for training a new hire on our project. Turns out, his girlfriend recently quit being a vegetarian. I said, really?, why so? (This conversation occurred yesterday, well before today's veggie vs. meat office smack-down.) He said it was for health reasons, that she was getting sick rather frequently and didn't have enough energy. I said that one thing I'm determined to get better at as we start this new year is my nutrition. I don't get enough protein or iron (and I can really tell the lucky times that I do), and I need to start taking a multi-vitamin, which I have recently started doing. But I want to better educate myself about the various available plant proteins (other than my arch-nemesis, the evil soybean) and do a better job of getting a full spectrum of amino acids, as well as other nutrients, too. (Iron and B vitamins top the list.) So I sat down this eve with the intention of doing some online research. I was day-dreaming of one day having a huge kitchen filled with not just cookbooks, but also science-y nutrition books detailing the pros and cons of various foods and nutrients. (Dork-ery in the kitchen...what revelry that would be!)

I hopped on Google and was met with this. The quizzical stuff in the picture needs no intro.



There definitely not 5 times as many vegans as vegetarians. What this says to me, is two things:

1. Being a vegan is far more nutritionally tricky than being a vegetarian.

2. Vegetarians as a whole don't really take their nutrition very seriously, or as seriously as they should.


Is being a vegetarian a wise decision? I'd say a passionate "yes". But we'd do better to be wiser in it's practice.

(And it's also a damn tasty decision, too, just in case you were wondering.)