Monday, August 31, 2009

It's not all crazy ladies.

I'm never a fan of when people are overly negative about their pretty fantastic lives. Roof over your head, nice partner, food on your table, then you probably don't need to complain quite as much as you do. (Myself included)

I know everyone has a half dozen friends that simply cannot be grateful for their lives. Their facebook status, their emails to you, even dinners out at nice restaurants can quickly devolve into Bitchfest 2009 with no intermission.

While I do believe that it's "better out than in" and that everyone needs to vent, I do tire of overly negative people lamenting every hangnail and sour glance they get in their lives. What's odd is that most people I know that are truly in crisis, they are pretty nonchalant about it... just putting one foot in front of the other.

That was a long-winded way to say, I'm about to complain...

First to give you some back story:

About 6 months ago, I had some friends over for a nice Kenyan lunch. After lunch they were quite nearly asleep on the sofas, when there came a horrific sound from the hallway. The woman across the hall appeared to be trying to kick her door in. Now, I knew that she had a long-standing feud with the little old lady next door, but I had never experienced this level of outburst before. So... kick, kick, kick... and then quiet.

About 30 seconds later, she came and tried our doorknob, then knocked on the door. Yes, you read that in the right sequence, she TRIED OUR DOORKNOB, and THEN knocked.

I looked at my terrified friends, mumbled "you've got my back, right" - and watched their looks escalate in their degree of fear, and then opened the door anyway...

Well, she only needed to use my phone to call the police. Did you know that you can call 911 to have the police come and unlock your door? Well, now you do.

So, fast-forward to last night. I am semi-comatose on the sofa around 8:30pm. I hear someone try the doorknob, and thought it was Charles. Now my husband actually HAS a key to our house, so I don't know why I thought it was him. Eventually I realized it must be someone else, maybe my brother or sister-in-law.

I looked out of my peephole and there stood my crazy neighbor with her head resting against the door.

Most of the conversation that we had through the door was unintelligible. I know I said "Who is it?" - "This is not a good time right now" - and "What can I help you with?" What she said is a mystery, but the semi-evil look on her face through the peephole was not fun and made me respond by quietly sliding the chain on the door.

By the way, did I mention that she tried the doorknob first! Who does that?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A nice walk on a late summer day.



Last night, I was walking with two former students of mine that came to visit me. We were talking about their lives and loves. And they were asking about mine.

I was telling them about my husband something like...

"Well, his sister was coming from Kenya..."

Suddenly the woman walking in front of us whipped around, held her bag up in the air like she was going to punch me in the face with it, and screamed...

"Did you say my name? Are you talking about me with these bitches?"

I jumped back to avoid the blow and said...

"No! I didn't say your name."

She put her arm down and said...

"Oh."

and walked away.

Sheesh. So I tried to compose myself and go back to the conversation. We sat in the park and chatted for another half hour or so, and then my students said...

"Sorry, you were assaulted during our reunion. Do we need to escort you to the train station?"

I was fine. But I did notice that slightly crazy people seem exponentially more threatening after you've narrowly escaped being punched in the face.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hit the ground running.



Like my handy photo work? Fancy, right?

Well, I didn't feel like getting a usage release from the others in the photo, so there you go... now you can only really see me. And my Cheshire-cat of a husband.

But so see how the picture makes it look like we are all disolving? That's what I feel like, I took my vacation too late in the summer... too close to the start of classes, and now all my relaxation and fun is dissolving too soon.

I guess that everyone suffers from this, but I usually avoid it by not taking long vacations. I miss the freedom. I miss the lack of stupid drama. I miss taking naps in the afternoon and doing fun, active things with my husband.

... oh the poor man... he is going to suffer from the same thing... BIG TIME... but not until next week, when he starts back to the jobs AND school. I best go home and be nice to him... encourage him to be lazy while he has the chance.

That's my plan for the evening. Help my husband be lazy.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Ah Vacations...

So you may be asking yourself, what did I do on my vacation?

I found a tree with a face - (attn. Gina... there are two in the world)


I went kayaking and swimming in a lovely, warm lake in Maine, 10 yards from the house we stayed at... complete isolation: no internet, no tv, no other people!


I drove! My driving anxiety is much better. I drove over bridges and on highways, in traffic, in cities, and on crazy curvy roads in the pitch-black darkness.


I saw my sweet nephew and his sweet parents.


And I became negligent with sunscreen application (thus the hiding under this sweatshirt at the soccer game.)

Friday, August 7, 2009

On Vacation...

Please return to find stories of the trip next Tuesday.

Emergency contact people are: my boss, Banjo Baby, my maid of honor, and my sister-in-law.

Surely you know one of them.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Adopt-a-pig



I have adopted this little guy and he now sits in my office. I'll be collecting money in him to send off to little kids with cancer. For more info on the program, visit: (www.adoptapig.org)

One step at a time.

I am wearing my new pedometer today. So far, I've walked 3,861 out of my required 10,000 steps - and it's only 10:30am!

The problem is that I sit at a desk all day. No steps are taken. We'll see how I do, I have a few things I have to walk to: the gym, the drugstore to pick up my prescription, lunch, and the train.

But if anyone I work with wants to call me for an impromptu "meeting" in your office, that would be great... every step counts.

I also have new shoes - a gift from my husband. I love him!

****Update****
3:44pm: 5,114 steps. Only halfway! I may be pacing back and forth in the apartment tonight to get my required steps in!

************2nd Update***********************
9:15pm: 12,757 steps. That translates to: 8.3 km, and 572.6 calories - and I didn't even wear it during my gym workout!

So where did I walk?
- To and from the train station
- To and from the drugstore
- To and from the burrito place.

That is it! I didn't even go anywhere special. This is totally doable.