2009 Resolutions

So cliched, but I gotta document them somewhere. 

1. Go to the gym more often, at least as much as I did before Thanksgiving.  I've put on poundage, and it's sad, because about a year ago, I was like a size and a half smaller. :(  Think I'm going to take up yoga in addition to spinning. 

2. Have more intimate, deep and meaningful conversations with friends.  I seem to end up in a lot of short, easily-distractable conversations with friends at bars.  There are people I've known for over a year and don't even know what they do.  Lame!  

3. Be nicer to the boy.  

4. Be happier at work. 

5. Spend less, save more. 

I Hate Winter

I've decided that I hate winter.  Sure, I'm getting crotchety in my old age, but what good is there in winter?  Christmas is but one day, and it breeds greed and materialism.  New Year's is nothing but a drunken mess.  Those two days aside, winter is nothing but three to six months of long drawn out misery.  It's cold, being outside is miserable and causes physical pain.  Heating costs skyrocket.  Said heating causes dehydration, causing skin to crack and bleed.  People die under such conditions. 

To make matters worse, people, especially those nut jobs in New Hampshire, like to go out in this weather and engage in activities categorized as "winter sports."  Not just skiing and/or snowboarding, but snowshoeing, winter camping, ice fishing, ice skating, anything that starts with ice...  ARGH!  I hate winter.  Bah. 

Black Friday

Despite being afraid of losing my job and this economic crisis that I am finally old enough and mortgaged enough to understand, and despite the insanity going on in Mumbai, I went shopping today, on the blackest Friday of the year. Here are my purchases:

Western Digital 320 GB External Hard Drive; might have to return it for one I can network, if this doesn't work that way.

Black & Decker Convection Oven from Kohl's. It was discounted even further because it was an early-bird special. Thankfully, Kohls extended their specials until 3pm!

Targus laptop fan. $9.99 from Staples. Staples had great deals. It was amazing.

I can't find a picture, but Target was selling Christmas tree ornaments - balls that were filled with candy. I got two of the tootsie roll ones for the boy's mom because she loves them. They were $1 each and we gave them to her today.

I bought a few more things but nothing important. Honestly, the sales weren't that great, and the stores weren't that crowded. Except that one Wal-Mart in Long Island, apparently, where people were so crazed they broke down doors and crushed and killed an employee. A temp employee, nonetheless, contracted to work through a temp agency, so Wal-Mart probably isn't even liable for worker's comp. That was the least shocking part of the whole story. Alas.

Not that Bad, Really.

If you know me at all - and let's face it, if you're reading this, you know me - but if you know me at all, you probably know that I have issues with my family. I don't get along with them, find them to be racist and closed-minded, insane, and not in a good way, and overbearing and the mere thought of them gives me heartburn.

You will also probably know that my romantic life is something they know very little about. Then again, I have had very little romantic life until now. I mean, I'm not exactly going to tell my parents about random hookups and what not.

Even if you don't know me, if you are reading this, you will probably understand that having dinner with the fam and with the boy tonight, all together, in one room, at the same restaurant, at the same table, sitting together, was kind of a big deal. BIG HUGE F'ING DEAL.

But look. I'm here blogging about it and haven't used any cuss words directed at anyone in particular.

It really wasn't that bad. I would even venture to say it was pretty good and even as we were parting ways, I pictured in my head doing it again. A second date, if you will.

The boy found the family to be pleasant. Granted, he hardly understood half the conversation because try as we might, it was mostly in Chinese. But there's something about him meeting my family and approving that makes me think, ok, fine, they're not that bad. They are good intentioned. They are generous. They were welcoming and it was almost as if the boy had to approve of them more than they had to approve of him. They were all this, on top of the racist, closed-minded, insanity. But it wasn't that bad.

A Sad, Sad Day

This is a picture from the LA Times of people cheering Prop 8 results. The picture does not indicate which results they were cheering, but given the results, I'm going to guess that these people are closed-minded, bigoted, fear- and hate-mongering, hypocritical, awful people who purport to believe in the same God as I, but are horribly, horribly wrong about that God.

My BFF and his HUSBAND are no longer married. Overnight. Like that. Taken away by these people who have no right to do such things. Taken away by miserable people whose own lives are probably unhappy so they must rain misery down on others.

If it were a certain time and if I were a certain type of person, i.e. more like them, I'd hunt these people down and kill them. That's how awful this is. I'd be happy with the ability to slap a few Californians upside the head right now. Unbelievable.

But GOBAMA.

Halloween

Three hundred sixty four more days until next Halloween, and the next time I have to find every reason not to go out. I am officially old, but not old enough where I dress up kids and take them trick-or-treating at 2 in the afternoon. I just hate this holiday. Without kids, it just seems like it's an excuse to get dressed up like tramps and get wasted. Slutty pirate, slutty nurse, slutty soldier. Really? And I can't deal with the hangovers anymore, and the only purpose for adults in my situation is to go out and get wasted. (And let's face it, I can get on a high horse, but not a horse so high that I won't get wasted right along with everyone else.)

Jon & Kate Plus 8

When I first happened to watch this show a few years ago, I quickly turned it off. Kate was a bitch, and the kids were so young at the time that it wasn't that interesting to watch babies getting fed and changed and taking naps. I happened to catch the show again a few months ago and the sextuplets are now about 4 years old and they have personalities and they talk. And they are downright ADORABLE. Kate, however, is still a bitch. And I think she treats her husband awfully, but I guess it works for them, and he snaps back, too.

So I started getting obsessed a little with the show and did a google search and came across this blog, written by Aunt Jodi's sister. Yes, I had thought it was weird that Aunt Jodi, who is Kate's sister-in-law, wasn't around anymore. Turns out, the production company offered to pay Aunt Jodi some money, but Kate didn't allow them, stating that no one could profit off her kids. The hitch is that Kate didn't allow anyone to tell Aunt Jodi about this. A few seasons later, the production company approached Aunt Jodi directly and offered money. She then found out about the prior offer, and again Kate asserted that no one could profit off her kids (except herself and Jon). And so Jodi's off the show.

I have decided to boycott the show. First of all, have I made it clear? Kate is a bitch and she's difficult to watch. I feel bad for the kids. She yells at them FOR BEING KIDS. Hey, Kate, kids are meant to get dirty. They will never again in their lives have so much fun and care so little about getting dirty, even if you weren't in their lives. Second, what a hypocrite!! I mean, all of a sudden Jon and Kate are rolling in money, getting plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures done, taking vacations to Hawaii and the Outer Banks. Umm, where is this money coming from? Why not spread the wealth a little bit, spread the blessing. But no. Third, Kate's a bitch and she's hard to watch. She has a personal chef and people who do her laundry, and she bitches and moans about all the work. Fourth, it's a little scary. How do the cameras not affect the kids? Maddie, I'm sorry, she's a child, but she's spoiled and snarky and totally acts up for the cameras. Eew. Also, have I mentioned, Kate's a real bitch. And Jon ain't no wonder either.

I Think About You in the Summertime, and All the Good Times We Had, Baby

OK, first of all, those are lyrics from the first single of the new NKOTB album, Summertime. Suck it up. (Whoo, concert on Sept. 26!!)

Anyway, this fall weather is getting me sentimental for the summer. Not the hot, sticky, sweat-dripping-down-your-legs, suffocating-from-scent-of-hot-urine-in-the-subway-stations summer. But the it's-ok-to-skedaddle-from-work-at-2-to-beat-the-traffic-to-the-Cape summer. Not that I really went to the Cape that often. Just once. But I did go to Bar Harbor, West Palm Beach, the Outer Banks, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, NYC, and Montana. Not to mention a few trips down to Jersey, and a 100-mile bike ride across the Garden State. I think that covers it.

So I guess even though I'm no longer basking in the post-bar exam glow (and nightmares) by skedaddling myself all around the globe, I've had a pretty damn good summer.

I think it's time to hunker down this fall, stay in town, and drink lots of beer and eat lots of wings so that I can get some extra padding to keep me warm through the long New England winter.

Oh, wait, no. There's this thing called "winter camping" I'm supposed to discover. What the hell? How do you build a fire and roast s'mores in 14-feet of snow?!?!!

I Don't Like Republicans. Or At Least, Republican Values.

I, like many people, watched Sarah Palin's speech last night at the RNC. I also caught part of Giuliani's speech. During both, I was shocked and disturbed by the crowd chanting "Drill, baby, drill," referring to drilling in ANWR. To me, this is disgusting. To me, this is Republican inability to see two sides of the issue. To me, this is mob mentality, the same kind of mob mentality that creates groups of people who watch someone get beaten up without stepping in, the same mob mentality that would stone a pedophile. It's sickening. OK, the environment is not a human life, but then again, human lives are more fleeting than the natural world.

Look, I like cars as much as the next person. And I understand that we need oil until we can come up with a viable alternative. But to be so cavalier as to chant during the convention like that. Ugh.

The less shocking but equally disturbing thing I, as many have, observed, is this Republic hypocrisy. If Chelsea Clinton got knocked up, now, much less at 17, oh boy would the Republicans be having a field day. And in Palin's speech, I also observed the Republican tendency to point fingers, to sling mud, to twist the truth. No, Obama did not serve his country by joining the military. But then again, he was born and raised in an age when it was not as expected, nor was it as urgent. But that didn't stop him from serving the people. Sure, it was the people of Chicago, but they are part of humanity nonetheless. I don't think that should be discounted, just because he didn't grab a gun and go shoot Communists in Vietnam. And in Obama's speech, he also made a promise to cut taxes. Increased government spending? Hello, have you looked at the size of the deficit Bush is spending? Winning the war in Iraq? What about funneling some of that money to help the "working Americans" you were so busy touting up on that stage. So F you. And anyone who got caught up in that is an idiot. I don't like Republicans. There, I said it.

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