how do you live so happily while i am sad and broken down?

Today was my birthday, and I had a fabulous day.

Now I am about to tell you what I did, and there will be parts of it where you scratch your head and go, "She did that on her birthday and is happy about it??" That's okay. I have come to terms with the fact that I am indeed a special snowflake. It's fine.

First, one of the really cool things about my work is that included in what they call "floating holidays" is the option to take your birthday off. So today was literally a holiday for me. \o/

So this is what I did today:

• Went to my GP for a physical, which included getting the update for my HepA/HepB vaccine, getting bloodwork done to test my cholesterol, and having an EKG.


• Went to Krispy Kreme and got donuts as a reward for all the needles.


• Went to Lowe's and got keys made for the house. Intended to get keys made for tenant, but instead got really pretty keys made for me. I also got more houseplants so I can pretend like I can grow things.


• Went to Ross and got 2 photo albums, 5 shirts, and two dresses. 3 of the shirts I didn't even try on til I got home, but they are all great and one of them is so awesome I want to wear it EVERYWHERE. I got all this for $100.


• Went to my laser hair removal appointment.


• Went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and got more fabric cubes for my office.


• Hung out with my friend at the tennis center; sadly couldn't play because you're not supposed to get overheated for 24 hours after the laser hair removal.


• Picked up my dry cleaning.


• Got a salad from my favorite Mexican place.


• Came home and got the mail, only to discover gifts from friends had arrived!


• Got wished happy birthday by my mom, who asked if I'd opened my card yet. I had not, as I'd just gotten the mail, so I opened it while I was on the phone with her, and YAY! They'd sent me a $100 check*! So it's like they bought me all the clothes I splurged on - *\o/*


• Went on a "Don't Get Killed by Strangers from Craigslist" errand with the same friend from earlier and had a nice chat.


• Came home and washed the curtains and baseboards in my bedroom.

*Yes, I'm the baby, why do you ask?

Now, as I said, some of you may be thinking that this would be a horrible way to spend your birthday. No special dinner? No friends everywhere? No attention? No party? But for me, this is perfection. Over the years, I have determined that while I love my friends and family, and I am excited to celebrate the occasion of my birth with them, it is in everyone's best interest if we don't do this on my ACTUAL birthday.

This is what happens on my birthday: I am a Virgo. On our best days, we're your friend who remember to bring sunscreen, bug spray, and bandaids on every outing. On our worst days, we are the anal-retentive bitches melting down on the side of the road because NO ONE IS FOLLOWING THE PLAN. Guess which one birthdays tend to fall under? Every year, my anxiety level would rise higher and higher as plans were made, but then changed at the last minute. Or people were late. Or the service at the restaurant was bad. Or we couldn't get to the movie theater on time. Even on the celebrations that turned out well, I always felt like at the end of the day, I hadn't had as much fun as everyone expected me to have.

The beauty of my day? Everything was under my control. I wasn't dependent on someone else to show up, no one was trying to make me have the bestest birthday ever, I got to do all the things I wanted. I accomplished things. I had a productive day, and was pleasantly surprised by all the things that I hadn't even planned on, like finding fun clothes and getting fancy keys.

And tomorrow, I will go out with my friends to a joint celebration with another friend from tennis whose birthday was this week (so we can share the spotlight, whew). It won't matter if half the people don't show, or if twice as many people show as RSVP'd, or if the guys at the karaoke place who barely speak English mess up our reservation and we get crammed into a tiny room. I had my birthday, and everything else is just icing on the cake.

I just had the stupidest breakfast ever.

I'm at Midway Airport in Chicago, and I wanted to get something to eat before my flight. The Bar & Grill at the food court seemed the best bet for actual breakfast, because as much as I like Chinese food, 10 am is a bit early for General Tso's chicken. So I looked over their (extremely) limited menu, and settled on the "3 Buttermilk Pancakes." When I ordered, the woman asked me if I wanted 1,2, or 3, which surprised me because the menu said 3, but I was pleased to be able to order less so I asked for 2.

Then they came out.

When I say these pancakes were the size of my head, you will think I'm exaggerating but trust me I am not. They were on a plate that was 10 inches, and they were hanging off the edge. They were about an inch thick. AND THERE WERE TWO OF THEM. No one, I mean no one, needs that much to eat in one meal. I'm pretty sure if you counted the calories it would have sustained you for the whole day.

When strangers stop to comment on your food, you have too much food.

So I'm sitting there, actually feeling humiliated (I have enough weight issues, I don't need to be seen as the piggy girl with the monster pancakes) and angry (so much waste!) I don't understand why the woman wouldn't have at least asked me if I'd had them before, and if I said no, have explained their size. What makes me even angrier is that I know they do this to be perceived as being of great value. That is why our portions are so out of control in this country; we've been trained to to value quantity over quality. And these pancakes were not good. I ate one corner of them, and then threw over 3/4's of them into the trash. Again, what a waste. Ugh.

I had planned to use my pre-boarding time to write up a post, but I didn't think it would be about that. Let's see, other things about my week:

• I've been on a client site about an hour outside of Chicago.


• I didn't leave the building I was in from Sunday to Wednesday, when I walked over to the building next door to watch a free movie.


• Limitless was okay, I give it a B-. Points up for Bradley Cooper's pretty blue eyes, points down for gore.


• This site had only buffet dining. The food is excellent but I have eaten way too much this week. Although nothing I had touches the Pancake Excess above, so I guess that's something.


• I didn't work out at all, because I was tired and afraid I'd get dizzy on the treadmill, but mostly because I didn't want to.


• I'm 3/4 the way through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'll probably finish it on the ride home.


• I had made a huge list of things to do whilst on site this week, and I got through most of them.


• I bought $30 of coloring books off of Amazon last night. Most of them were Christmas gifts for my cousin's kids, but a couple of them were for me, not gonna lie. Go to Amazon and search for Dover Coloring Books and you'll see why.


• I haven't been sleeping enough this week. Like last night, when I stayed up til 1:30 even though I knew I needed to wake up at 7. Once again, I fail at being sensible.

One of the things I had on my to-do list was to explore Spotify. So far my judgement is, "That's cool, but it doesn't live up to the hype." Maybe I'm missing something, but their application isn't terribly user friendly. Icons with no explanation of what they do, the sync from my iPod duplicated, it doesn't sync up smart playlists (which is 75% of what I use,) and so far as I can see, it doesn't do anything Grooveshark doesn't do, except link up to Facebook. To be fair, I haven't linked mine up to Facebook, so maybe that's where all the fun is.

It's making me feel like maybe I'm getting old, because I don't see the big deal with it or with Google+. I guess if you use a web cam a lot, G+ would be more. Right now, it's just a social network with very little of my friends on it which is just... not fun. Facebook is fun. Also, I am grumpy at Google's lack of innovation recently... Buzz=Twitter, +=Facebook, Android=iPhone. They aren't coming up with anything NEW. Except for Google Wave, which, well... that didn't work out so well.

See? I feel like I'm yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Which should be mowed when I get home, so that's a plus.

Day 27: This month, in great detail

December 28:
Slept in, had lunch with Mom & Dad. I went to Wal Mart while Dad went to the doctor's - he's come down with a bad sinus infection/bronchitis thing. :( I picked up all the things on their list, and bought the birthday/anniversary cards for tomorrow's dinner, as well as a pastry brush for my mom for her birthday because she mentioned this week that she'd had to throw her old one away but kept forgetting to get a new one. Never say stuff like that around me, it tends to get you that thing, no matter how silly it is. Also, I almost bought a jigsaw puzzle set because for some reason I've been really wanting to put one together over this vacation, but I talked myself out of it because I knew my sister wanted to play cards tonight. Maybe I will look for it on sale at my Walmart when I get home. Anyway, I was wandering around the store, killing time waiting for my dad to get done at the doctor, and I saw the craft aisle so I looked at the yarn for a minute. Then I saw that Electronics was nearby so I thought I'd see how much a small TV would cost as I want one for my office. Then this happened:

My Internal Voice: "Damn, this cart has a wonky wheel."
Part of My Brain That Actually Pays Attention to Life: "Um. Wouldn't it have been wonky the entire 45 minutes you've already been shopping? Why is it just now bad?"
I look down, see the yarn that is quickly winding its way around one of the wheels. "SHIT."
I pull into an aisle and start tugging uselessly at the yarn.
My Internal Voice: "Ugh, it won't come off. Ew, I'm touching wheel grease, this is gross."
Part of My Brain That Actually Pays Attention to Life: "Um. The craft aisle was about 8 aisles back. Have you been trailing yarn this entire time like a dumbass?"

For the record, I had not. I had only been trailing about 15 feet of yarn like a dumbass. I had to get TWO Walmart employees to help me, one of which I asked for assistance and the other who FOLLOWED THE TRAIL OF THE MOVING YARN TO SEE WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON. This is my life.

I managed to not have any more accidents and Dad came and got me, and we went to the pharmacy to get his medicine. We chatted with Emory Melton, one of the few people I recognize in town these days and I helped find batteries for his hearing aid because the pharmacy was packed! Then we came home and I got on the internet for a while, then I helped make soup, and then we played cards. My sister and I won three games in a row - we were unbeatable! So we stopped to buy lottery tickets on the way home in case our good luck continued. We then learned that you cannot buy lottery tickets after 10 PM in Cassville MO. We are not sure if that was a state law or a gas station rule. I kind of lean toward it being a "the lady in the back didn't want to teach the new girl how to do it" rule, but that's just me. So we bought 4 scratch off tickets instead. Then my sister had to teach me how to play because I had never bought one before (still haven't, as she paid for them) and didn't understand. 4 tickets at $2 each, and they were all a bust except one, where we won the $2 back. No free money for us! :(

December 29:
Met my best friend's mother in town for lunch and caught up with her - she seems much happier than she has been any time I've seen her post-divorce. Then I went to Springfield with my parents and went to Best Buy. I am going to get a new radio for my car, because I am tired of messing with FM transmitters. Oddly enough, replacing the radio is not that much more expensive. Okay, it's 2-3 times more expensive, but has less chance of me dying in a fiery crash because the damn thing went staticky. Coming soon: Free to good home, one FM transmitter. Works well if you do not live in a major metropolitan area. Ugh. Anyway, I selected the radio I wanted only to find out that they couldn't install it that day, so I will have to do it on Friday after I'm home so that I don't miss the sale price. Also, may have talked my dad into getting a wireless router by telling him it would make us all want to hang out at their house when we're home. True, and sad, I know. I miss wifi. I miss internet. But I love my family. Speaking of which, we then went to our annual Birthday/Anniversary Extravaganza at Jimm's (first time at this restaurant - I realize that made it sound like we do this annually at Jimm's but I'm too lazy to fix it.) I was not expecting Jimm's to have two M's. But the food was decent and it was good to see everyone one last time before I have to head home in the morning. I came back to my sister's after saying goodbye to my parents (sniff) and packed everything up. I am definitely leaving with more than I came with! My mom gave me a knife tonight because I commented on how sharp it was when I was slicing veggies at her house. So far, I've nearly stabbed myself in the foot with it; perhaps I should not have sharp things.

December 30:
Driving, driving, more driving. I let the cat out to stretch her legs in Conway and she peed on the car seat. :( It wasn't her fault though; she was trying to use the litter box but just missed. After 13 lovely hours, many of which were filled with yowling cat, we are both happy to be home. And in anticipation of my New Year's resolution (more coming soon!) I have unpacked and put away almost everything. Then I stayed up far too late embracing the marvel of wi-fi. Oh, how I have missed it!



Day 28: This year, in great detail
Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30: Whatever tickles your fancy

Day 27: This month, in great detail

December 2nd:

I woke up this morning with a killer sore throat and feeling generally icky. Ugh. Apparently I shouldn't have been playing tennis at night in the cold. Who knew? I curled up on the couch with my laptop and went to work. It was a frustrating day of waiting for something to be fixed, but I did get a chance to work on my iPod playlists. Then once we got our problem resolved, it was a race to get as much done as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, I had a possible bright spot - but I don't want to jinx it, so I'll tell you more about that later. (tease, I know!)

Then I went off to have dinner with my friend Scott at a restaurant called Everybody's in Virginia-Highlands because they are closing that location this week and it has always been one of our favorite places. We were going to walk around a bit, but all the shops were closed and it was cold (have I mentioned that? It's cold. I disapprove.)

Then I came home to ensconce myself on the couch with my laptop, where I uploaded pictures from Thanksgiving and my cousin's wedding (anyone who wants to friend me on FB is welcome, btw, but it is an entirely NON-FANNISH place for me, so you would need to abide by that - no mention of the slash fiction!) and did some Christmas shopping on Amazon and Sephora. I only bought two things for myself, yay? One was a throw blanket that was only $10 - I thought it would be nice for my car. And then I bought a set of Urban Decay eyeliner pencils that I probably didn't need. Such is life.

Oh, and a friend linked me to this site today: www.ebates.com
It's a website where they give discounts, special deals, and cash back for shopping online. I used it for my Sephora purchase and got a free gift with my purchase and will get 6% cash back on my purchase. I will try to remember to post an update when they actually give me the cash, but my friend said the friend that has been using it for a while has gotten lots of cash back with no issues. They require your name, email, and mailing address, but no credit card info.



Day 28: This year, in great detail
Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30: Whatever tickles your fancy

Yes it's four in the morning. Yes, I may have told a friend I'd be up at 9 am tomorrow to go to yoga. Yes, I may be a little bit drunk. But I digress...

Point the first: Last weekend was my all concert, all the time weekend. I went to see the American Idols concert on Friday. My indie soul died a little, but fuck that, it was a ton of fun. Or I was really intoxicated. Possibly both. The majority of the show was like a really good night out at a karaoke bar, and then Adam Lambert came on and it was a real rock show. Also, credit where it's due, the winner, Kris Allen, put on a hell of a show. Then on Saturday, you guys, on Saturday, I saw GREEN DAY. OMG, my soul was restored :D They were completely, completely awesome. I think that may have been the best concert I've ever been to. And they did everything, all the new stuff, all the American Idiot stuff, King for a Day, Minority, Good Riddance. The only thing they could have done to make it more awesome would have been if Tre got up and sang Dominated Love Slave, and I'm willing to bet that that will never happen. They did three encores, and they let some random kid from the audience play guitar for Jesus of Suburbia. Let me repeat that. Some random kid who was about 18 got to play Billie Joe Armstrong's guitar on stage with Green Day.

Point the second: My aunt is doing well. They ended up not doing surgery or traction, she's just doing rehab and apparently it's going really well. She's out of the hospital and in a nursing home? or some sort of care facility. I'm not sure. But thanks everyone for your good thoughts.

Point the third: Cinnamon is over her pink eye. That sucked.

Point the fourth: You know how you know you like a boy? You start questioning the content of your underwear drawer. Anybody got a favorite source of pretty underthings for the more well-endowed girl? I hate, hate, hate Victoria and all her secrets. Her secret is she's a skinny, flat-chested bitch and that just doesn't work out for me.

Ugh, ok. Bed. I'm so going to be napping during corpse pose tomorrow.

So tired, omg. Going to bed soon even though it's only 10pm here.

Today was an exercise in why it's a bad idea to have someone try to work when everyone else in the company is taking a holiday. We hit an issue at install that required escalation and everyone was off barbecueing (cuing? cuying? idk). The bright side was that we got to call it a day around 3pm, because there was no point in pretending we could get anything done.

This gave me plenty of time to go shopping, which I needed to do because I had a packing failure. Always fun to unpack at the hotel and go 'Um. Where's that shirt?' Still not as bad as my all-time favorite: the time I forgot to pack my shoes. \o/ I rule! I asked the concierge about the mall, and he said it was 12 blocks away, and then sent me down to Granville Street. A) It wasn't 12 blocks. More like 20. But whatever, it was a nice day. People were out walking their dogs and their kids and stuff, so. Nice. But still mah feets hurt. B) Granville Street is under construction. Not like, ooh, 'there's a pothole, let's fix it' construction, but 'oh my god they've take out the entire street AND the sidewalks and left this giant gravel road that feels like walking in the Old West' construction. Seriously no road. None. In related news, Chucks and gravel, two tastes that taste great SEPARATELY.

I got to the mall, and had sort of lost my will to shop, but I persevered. I found a top at The Bay for $20! It's a bit too hot pink, but it'll go well with the pants that I actually did bring to go with the top that I only thought I brought. And I bought two baseball caps to wear for tennis this summer so I don't sunburn my scalp - one Converse, one Puma. They were... not $20. I possibly overspent on hats. But I'll save on not getting skin cancer, so there's that!

The rest of my evening I've spent watching Adam Lambert do various things - hi, new obsession, hi! - and lounging. Now I'm listening to Queen and thinking about how much I want shoes. LOTS OF SHOES. And a cool messenger bag that I can cover with pins and patches.

+ Drug myself out of bed, wishing I had not stayed up til 2 am out of a paranoid worry that Obama's victory would somehow be snatched away.

+ Obsessively refreshed cnn.com and npr.org to track what was going on in Senate races and with Prop 8.

+ Failed at being a good aunt. I didn't forget my niece's birthday, but I couldn't think of anything to get her. I'll mail her a card and some money this weekend.

+ Pondered what I want to do to be a part of positive change in this country.

+ Got my site up and running.

+ Did some shopping on Amazon. Will soon be the proud owner of a new yoga DVD, A People's History of the United States, and a new photo album.

+ Requested a couple of books online at the library and renewed the two I have out. Fingers crossed the books I requested will be available by Saturday!

+ Filled out a form to volunteer at the library.

+ Emailed Habitat for Humanity to find out more about their Women Build program.

+ Bookmarked the CARE website to look into volunteer opportunities with them.

... was pretty awesome!

( In which I ramble on about the Con and Gerard Way )

Pictures are here.

Things purchased today:

New sheets
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sheer curtains for my bedroom
Twig things for my bedroom
New cheapo sunglasses
Two new belts
An awsome new purse

I had Friday off as a comp day, due to all the travelling around I've been doing, so I decided to use it to paint my living room/upstairs hallway. Photos of what it looked like before are here. I painted for about five hours and then went off and played tennis for an hour and a half, then came back and painted from 9pm to 3am. I kept thinking, I'm so close, I'll just finish it. I got it done, but eesh, was I tired the next day! And also, so so sore. The tennis alone probably would have done me in, but combined with 10 hours of painting, and my carpal tunnel flaring up, and moving around just was not fun.

But the room looks gorgeous! Pictures are here - the faceplates and stuff are still off, and I've moved almost all the furniture out of the room, but you get the idea.

On Saturday, I bought the area rug I've had my eye on for months for this room, and I pick it up this coming Saturday, so once I have the room more together I'll do another set of photos!

Also on Saturday, I saw Tristan Prettyman at Eddie's Attic - she's really great, check her out on myspace.

On Sunday, I flew to Boston, as my site this week is on Cape Cod, and got to have dinner with my brother and his wife, so I am a happy camper this week! :D Hope you're all doing well!