Brighter Endings

Today had lots of highs and lows. I had a terrible time sleeping last night. tears and all. I went back and forth between teary-eyed and smiling for a good part of the work day. I woke up somewhat early to get to tutoring on time, only to find that the hot water decided not to make an appearance today! I don't do cold showers; not even for a sponge bath. An extra stroke of deo works just fine. I didn't notice any strange looks from coworkers.

Tutoring went well, despite a lack of new material to go over. The kid I work with - W - is pretty cool. Our first couple meetings were a little stiff and down to business, but we talked quite a bit today about other things going on in our lives. He thinks it's crazy that I want to visit Mexico (where he's from) because it's so dangerous. I told him I'd take burly men to protect me.

Work was a little hectic once I finally got there. I like working under deadlines though; way more efficient. Just give me a project a few hours before it's due, and voila! I had two of those today and managed to squeeze it all in just before 5pm.

Highlight of the morning though was an email from my mom. This weekend is my work holiday party, a formal all-out classy kind of evening. I was just going to wear an old dress from the back of my closet, since the hassle of finding one (dress search in high school was always such the ordeal) and paying for one isn't something I really want to deal with at the moment. My mom thinks otherwise. She said if I wear an old prom dress, it's going to look like an old prom dress. And if I wear an old bridesmaid dress, it's going to look like a bridesmaid dress. Since I'm the sophisticated DC girl (at least my mom thinks so), I deserve to go shopping and to send the bill to her! What a great mom. Let the search begin. 3 days left....

The new LOST episode tonight was quite a hit as well. Good all around - no complaints from me!

Searching...

If you find someone you're great with, don't let him go.

VS

If you love him let him go.

Which one of these statments is correct? I think I have to let go right now, I don't have a choice. It's not feasible to be just friends. All or nuthin.' That's the risk we take. What a game love is. I think I'm nearing retirement.

The official break-up was in August. Shouldn't I be over this by now? And James Blunt isn't helping.....

You Want Me?

I guess I've had my resume posted on the Gtown alumni job search site - had totally forgotten about it. Don't even know how current it is! But tonight upon checking my email, I had a message from someone who's looking to fill a position, and he singled me out and personally sent me the description and application. Crazy!!

I seriously didn't believe those types of things worked. Do recruiters actually wade through tons of online postings to locate potential candidates? No!

Granted, I'm very happy where I am now. The summer transition to the new job went very well. I work with GREAT people, and we do good work. I'm not looking to change. But when I'm totally broke (pasta and PBJ, anyone?), a potential $9000 raise sounds rather lovely.

Which One's Cuter?

Two named Romeo, both adorable in their own right, both share an affection for me. I think this shall be the state of my romantic life for awhile. Watch out guys, you've got some tough competition.

The Danger of Target

We all know; it sucks you in. And I got sucked in majorly last night. I was bored out of my mind, so I called B and intended to have a little friendly competition at Target. Of the who-can-buy-the-coolest-thing-for-a-dollar sorts of competition. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by the dollar bins, full of delightful holiday bargains. Grab a basket, throw in some cookie cutters, greeting cards, candles, lip balm, playing cards, they said. I listened and obeyed. $53 later I left, feeling torn, yet satisfied. I really did need some of those things (Vitamins and Christmas presents), but I'm trying to tell myself not to go back for a long, long while.....

More Things to Hate about Winter

Ack! The threat of cold sores. Hopefully none of you saw me last May when I had the worst breakout EVER. Even the doc said so. I'll refrain from posting a picture. I've been feeling the tingling on my lips lately and am keeping the Abreva close. *Fingers crossed*

And my skin is drier than ever. Seems to have happened over night - forehead, chin, and especially right under my eyes. It looks awful. Even the super concentrated moisturizing cream that I put on 14 times yesterday hasn't done a thing.......

Yay for Holidays

My rather ambitious plans for this loooong weekend while I'm house-sitting:

A bit of GMAT studying
Magazine-reading in the LoveSac (this house is full of all the guilty pleasure magazines like People and US Weekly - yippee!)
Gym (can't fall behind on the Holiday competition)
Laundry
A little holiday shopping?

Movies
Pride and Prejudice (the new one)
Pride and Prejudice (the A&E one - I haven't seen either version) - got halfway though the P&P marathon
Phantom of the Opera
Blue
Walk the Line
Rent
Meet the Fockers (I accidently DVR'd the Spanish HBO version - way more entertaining)

Happy Turkey Day!

I cooked today with B, a small little feast at my home for the week in the 'burbs. We made a turkey breast, stuffing (my favorite part - and not the StoveTop junk), au gratin pototoes, green beans, rolls and blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert. Yum! It was kinda weird not doing a big thing as in past years, but it was also nice to take it easy, with no worries of entertaining several guests. Not much else to say...we were bums.....

Super Duper Weekend

Saturday was such a lazy day. I love sleeping in til 11:30. Don't tell my dad - he still thinks I'm a lazy bum. I did some grocery shopping in the AM (forgot my wallet and realized it after the clerk rang up all my stuff! - thanks B), made homemade pizza for lunch, then got some HP4 matinee action. I realize Harry's growing up and all, but it was dark! Seemingly much more so than the last movie. I really need to reread book 4 - it's hard to be 2 books ahead and keep all the details straight of what happened when and to whom.

Why does Scattergories render my brian totally useless? It's like I'm trying to play in a foreign language with the vocabulary of an 8-year-old. The category was Things That are Cold, and the letter was S. NO ONE thought of Snow. Duh! Instead we tried to pass off Sidewalks and Seals. I don't even think I wrote an answer down for that one. Really, does anyone else have this problem?

I was Ms. Suzy Homemaker on Sunday. I made a big pot of chili, plus some darn tasty chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (the recipe called them Cowboy cookies - is that a real name?). Whenever I think about marriage (in the way future) and the whole cooking responsibility, I've always kind of dreaded it, but I'm realizing that I actually don't mind cooking at all. I just need to have the time and someone to clean up my mess :-)

Slumber Party!

I didn't actually slumber, but I went to C-Nap's birthday slumber party on Friday night for a good girls' night of fashion magazines, sappy movies and lots of food. Even though she got married this past summer, it's nice to see that C can still hang out with the single girls. I didn't spend the night, but I had my fair share of chocolate covered pretzels and marshmallows, brownies, pizza, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I don't have girls' nights very often - it was nice to have some female bonding!

Quotable Quotes

B makes the list again! He was being super nice on Saturday by massaging my ankle, since I stepped in a hole and rolled it, and it was already hurting from running on Friday.

Me: Why are you so nice to me?
B: Because you're sexy and I hope you'll kiss me later.

That makes me laugh.......

Just an Update

It's been a busy week, despite a near zero productivity rate at work. For some reason we're all in a motivation-lacking funk. I don't feel so bad about it though, since the previous two weeks included working at home nearly every night and through the weekends.

Monday night I went to a church thing where we assembled 72-hour survival kits. Well, assemble isn't exactly the right word. It was more like putting a bottle of water and an ER Bar in a plastic bag. Apparently these things taste like lemon cardboard, but they'll keep you alive! It's even good for five whole years. It's a good start though; something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I have a goal to buy a little something extra for such a kit every time I go to the store. Never know whats going to happen. Two years ago when the remnants of a hurricane hit DC, our power was out for 4 days (even though every building around mine had power!), and I realized how ill-prepared I am for things that like. It was scary to try and get down 5 flights of stairs once the emergency lights burned out. Flash lights are great things to have!

Tuesday was pretty chill, including a dinner out in Chinatown. My weird breathing problem hit me hard that day, so I went to bed a little early. It's kinda scary how it's fine when I wake up, and a few hours later it can be hard to inhale deeply. The doctor should be calling any day about test results....I really just wanna figure this out. It's been 7 weeks!

Wednesday night was the 3rd annual Soup, Salad and Scarves event at church (two church activities in a week is pretty intense for me).
*Quick side note - Jenny was a Friend of Mine by the Killers just came on. I love the line "She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go." I just wanna sing that out loudly and all angsty-like sometimes. Yeah, Brandon Flowers....*
We had a lovely dinner of, what else, soup and salad, with a great variety of things to choose from. I think I nearly sampled them all. Then came the super fun part - learning to knit or crochet a scarf. Some of these girls were amazing! Where'd they learn how to do that? A few people were making really cool stuff. I got frustrated after starting my little row over three times, and the quitter in me won.

That brings us to today, the day the world turned cold. My winter commute really is going to be awful. Anyone wanna loan me a car for 4 months? My mom flew to Mexico today with her sisters and my grandparents. Oh, anything for warmer weather.....

Silly Tests

Just for the record, I am well below average in every category but one!

Personality Disorder Test Results Paranoid |||||| 30% Schizoid |||||| 26% Schizotypal |||||| 22% Antisocial |||||| 22% Borderline || 10% Histrionic |||||| 26% Narcissistic |||||||||||||| 58% Avoidant |||||| 26% Dependent |||||| 22% Obsessive-Compulsive |||||| 22%

Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Nueva Musica

I had no idea AOL streamed newly released CDs - is this a new thing? Maybe I'm just out of the loop since I don't use AOL for anything. However, the new Madonna and Ministry of Sound are both excellent choices for getting yourself into the I-miss-Europe-and-need-to-go-back-ASAP-or-at-least-have-a-dance-party-in-my-office mood.

Sadly, the Ministry of Sound 2006 version on Itunes isn't complete. You'd be better off to buy the hard copy.

Ah, the World of Internet Dating

Last Saturday night was my Facebook.com date that had been in the works for about a month (If you don't know all the great things that Facebook can do, read this article). My friends (and parents) thought I was a little daring to do such a thing, but what can I say? I like meeting people in random ways, and the Internet's just one of them. I have almost no qualms about it, especially since Google can tell you almost anything you need to know about someone.

We'll call him D. D emailed me awhile ago and asked if I like basketball. That's it. I wrote back and said yes, why do you ask? Turns out he lives in NYC and is a huge Spurs fan. He purchased tickets (floor seats!!) to the Wizards/Spurs matchup and wondered if I'd like to go with him. Why me, I have no idea. We emailed a couple times a week until last week, when we had a couple short phone conversations. We met up at a restaurant in Chinatown for dinner, and things ran smoothly from there. No awkward pauses, thank goodness. I dread those.

The game was great, and I saw Ms. Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria there, cheering for her man in the front center seat. It was nice to be so close to the action. I really do enjoy sports events. D walked me home after the game, which was very nice of him, considering the recent neighborhood happens.

On the subject of chick flicks....

Quote of the day from B (I really want to see the new Pride and Prejudice, but I'll be asking my roommates):

Not only are we (the men) subjected to some long-winded, angst-ridden melodrama (i.e., two + hours of women fretting, "he loves me, he loves me not." - without a single special effect), but then comes the inevitable comparisons: "why aren't you more like Mr. Darcy?" Don't forget the ridicule should any of our friends see us going to such a film. It's psychological castration. And women wonder why so many men drink heavily.

Love at Home

Who wouldn't want to go home when you have friends like this?

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I can't wait to see you! I am so excited girl! I can't believe it has been a year since I have seen your beautiful face.

I'm going home this Christmas for the first time since 2002. I emailed a few HS friends to tell them I'd be around, and I got some love in return. Warm and fuzzy all around. Can't wait to see everyone!

I also just got email from Banana Republic about their latest fall markdowns. I've got some BR reward cards burning up my pocket, and I need new pants since the working out began. Hmm....georgetown shopping after today's doctor appt? Anyone, anyone?

Just breathe

To update on my bizarre breathing condition that led me to the ER in early October, I finally had my follow up appointment with a doctor yesterday. I don't have a primary doc here, so I just scheduled with whomever was available. That turned out to be a resident. Joys of a teaching hospital.

Asian name - I expected a short guy with a thick accent who'd be a little bit awkward with patients. What'd I get? A young, hot resident that should be on one of those medical TV shows. Oh yeah.... time to become a hypochondriac (c'mon, you know I wouldn't really do that).

I'm going back to pulmonary tomorrow for more tests. The one breathing test I did yesterday I completely sucked at. The one where you blow into a tube and the indicator goes up. On a scale of 0 to 900, I only got it up to 300, and I tried 3 times! Hopefully they can figure something out - I just wanna breathe normally!

Estoy voluntaria

A few weeks ago I went to church in Virginia, just to scope out a different singles' scene. I really, really liked it, especially since it seems smaller than the current congregation that I attend (it's gotten huge and out of control, in case you haven't read my previous complaints).

Anyway, in Relief Society we had a really great lesson on service. As a single person, I have a lot of time to give - I don't have a family to rush home to every night to take care of. I was really inspired to do something about this. I'd been thinking of volunteering for quite awhile, I just never made any moves to do so. Why not do a little something to contribute to the world? Turns out the very next day I ran across an email on a list-serv from a tutoring coordinator at a charter school here in DC. He needed tutors for students, mostly Latino, that are learning English. Perfect!!! I even think this is more inspired because it's at a school in Columbia Heights that I have driven past every single week and always wondered what it was.

I emailed the coordinator right away and made arrangements to start that week with orientation. The next week I was supposed to meet my student (it's one-on-one tutoring), but I was sick and had to cancel. The third week I showed up, and my student did not. Bummer!

But finally, today! I showed up on time and my student came shortly after. He's from Mexico and I think it's his first year in the English program. They paired with me a beginning student since I speak Spanish, which is a nice refresher for me. I think my language skills have declined a bit, but at least I can still converse with a teenager!

Saturday in the Shenandoahs

B and I drove out to Shenandoah National Park yesterday to marvel and appreciate the fall leaves. Even though he was mad at me on Friday night/Saturday morning, I still convinced him to go. It was well worth the trip.


Shenendoah 3

Shenandoah 2

Shenandoah 1 

True Love

This last week has been a rather heavy one. I've lately been in the mind-set that love is excruiating, painful, and aching -- isn't it? I suppose not entirely - love is supposed to bring happiness, at least that's what they say. And I know that it does. But for some reason this past week I decided that love equals heartache, and I don't want (or can't handle) any of that right now. I'm too afraid of the bad to take the risk for the good.

Why am I this way? Here are a few factors (however ridiculous they may be):
I rented season four of Felicity on DVD (don't laugh). I loved that show when I was in college, and I was abroad during the last season. Despite a friend's willingness to tape all the episodes I would miss, I never got fully caught up and have never had closure. Now I'll finally know who wins - Ben or Noel?! Season 4 starts with the end of summer. Ben and Felicity have been together, though Ben spent the summer away and Felicity spent all her time with Noel. Needless to say, there's lots of drama between the 3 of them that's tough to watch. I think watching back-to-back episodes (vs waiting a week between) really allows you to see and remember each painful moment that Ben and Felicity have to work though. Just when you think things are good and they can move on, something else happens that pushes them apart again. Why can't things just work out?

Factor #2: One thing I always liked about shows on the WB was their excellent music placement - perfect for the moment, and often lesser-known musicians - just what I like. The music from Felicity is no exception. On one episode, during a gut-wrenching Ben-Felicity situation, the song they used added such intensity to the scene that I had to find it. Blue Parade - Sarah Slean. It's been on repeat over the last week. Which brings us to the final factor.

Factor #3: B brought me a book he thought I'd like - True Love by Robert Fulghum (he doesn't sound familiar? How about All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?), stories of love told to and by the author. I've been reading it on the metro during my commute, while listening to Ms. Slean. Music is amazing. It can really heighten emotions and intensify the impact of the subject matter. I found myself near tears on the metro while reading of love and heartbreak, and listening to Sarah sing about it. Agh!

The good news: I think I'm getting past this funk. I'm nearly done watching Felicity, I'm done with the book, and I found a new band so I can put Sarah on the back burner for awhile. Whew. True love - bring it on.

Quick Rant

I (sometimes) deeply dislike group dinners. Especially when you're at an expensive place to begin with, out-of-towners don't realize there's a 10% tax in DC, plus a 17% tip, you're paying for the birthday guest's dinner, and then there's the whole Mormon cheap factor. Sigh.

At least I got to try alligator (which I don't recommend. It's fishy).

He's a Toddler

How cute is Tai Shan? Apparently he's walking now. I'll have to go see him next month, if I can fight my way through the massive crowds.

Martes

I really do meet cool people at bus stops. Yet another one today! She just started working at the building next to mine and has only been in DC for a week. It wasn't one of those awkward conversations where you hope the person gets off at the next stop. We chatted all through our 20-minute bus ride, plus a couple stops on the Metro. Yay for more bus friends. I certainly won't mind commuting with her.

Tonight I feel like I'm back in college. I have a paper due at work tomorrow, but of course I still hate writing. So what'd I do? Put it off til tonight. And what'd I do when I got home from work? Watched a movie, took a little nap, and figured out how to get music from my iPod onto my new computer. Sigh. Some things never change.

Back to writing.....I'm going to bed in 15 minutes no matter how far I am.