My List

I've been trying to come up with a list of things I want to do in order to take part in Sam's blog challenge. It has proven to be quite difficult for me because (and I'll try to explain this with as much clarity as I can) I have a very full life, and I don't find myself thinking of things that I want to do because usually, when something comes up that I want to do, I just do it. But, there are some things that I know I want to do and will do some day. I just haven't gotten around to them yet. Then there are those things that, as humans, we go through naturally--with or without a plan, like falling in love. Actually, I never wanted to fall in love, but my heart had other plans for me. On that note, here is my list...

1. Travel a lot and see tons of cool places around the world.
I have done this, and have seen tons of cool places. To name a few: I studied dolphins in New Zealand, I was on the crew of a full-rigged, three-masted "pirate" ship in Norway, sailed the Greek and Turkish Islands with my family, visited Thailand and Hong Kong. Sunned myself on the beach in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. I lived in England and Saudi Arabia.
2. Climb a mountain. Did that in New Zealand--Mt. Fyfe.
3. Own a horse and compete in show jumping competitions. Did that.
4. Own a VW Beetle. :)
5. Learn to ski. Done.
6. Go skiing in Colorado. Haven't done this one yet. I'm coming, Adriennne!
7. White Water Rafting. One of the most fun things I've ever done.
8. Have a PERFECT day. Did that. I haven't had one since.
9. Drive at 100 mph. That was fun. Scary, too.
10. Learn to water ski. Done.
11. Get a Black Belt. Done.
12. Own a home. I go back and forth with this. Sometimes I want my own house, and sometimes I think I don't want to deal with the hassle. We'll see what the Lord has in store there.
13. Be in a band. Done this quite frequently, though the band I'm with now is my most rewarding experience to date. I don't know if anything can top this one :)
14. Surf. Done.
15. Own a weiner dog. Done. Her name was Heidi. She was cute.
16. Learn to sword fight. Haven't done this one yet. I need to get a sword :)
17. Learn to shoot a gun. Haven't done this one, either. I need to get a gun :)
18. Go to college and get a degree with honors. Done.
19. Be and artist or a vet for a living. I am an artist.
20. Have my sister for a roomate in our own apartment or house. Never did that, and I probably never will.

I have to admit. I'm having trouble thinking of things I want to do but haven't. I'm sure there are some; I just can't think of them right now. As they come to mind, I'll add to the list. What you won't see on this list are things that, in all probablility, will never happen, even though that may be what I desire. All that serves, for me, is to make me sad for things that I can't have. I have been blessed with a very full, wonderful life, and I'd rather count my blessings than dwell on the things that I cannot have or do. And, of course, there are things that I have done and never wanted to do. Those things will not go on this list :)

Whine and complain -- is that all ya got?

I don't normally do this kind of post--I'm a pretty happy girl who tries to have a positive attitude about things. But this morning, I woke up to whining and complaining AGAIN.

I turn on the news like I do every morning, and once again, the news people are running the same stories into the ground. Lately, of course, it's been anything and everything they can cover regarding the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. And as always, they must interview the Americans who are waiting to get out of these countries. Here's where the whining and complaining begin...…

"It's been two days, and we're still here!" screams one woman at the top of her lungs while she continues her rampage to the cameraman. "I'm so sick of this. Who do they think they are that they can treat us like this!" "What's wrong with our government!?"

What's wrong with our government? What's wrong with you, lady! There are over one thousand Americans waiting to get out of Lebanon alone. Wait, not only a country, A WAR ZONE! There are bombs and missiles flying overhead. But yes, let's just land a few DOZEN planes so we can get you whiners out of there within the hour. Do you have shelter? Do you have food? Do you have HOPE that you will be returned to your families safe and sound? Do you? Do you? Yeah--that's what I thought!

You few hundred American national complainers have it infinitely better than all those poor innocent Lebanese and Israeli people who see now way out and who are at the mercy of their respective governments. They don't have any political agendas, or any ties to terrorist organizations. They are just honest families trying to find a way in a very hostile environment. You people think you have something to complain about? You have U.S. Marines coming to rescue your sorry, ungrateful butts in a matter of days, and yet instead of thanking GOD that you are citizens of a country who cares about the well-being of every one of its citizens, you are all too busy whining about how your country doesn't care fast enough. Imbeciles.

There was one man on the broadcast I was watching who, when the Marines came ashore and were carrying children back to their amphibious landing boats said to the camera "I thank the Lord above that these heroic men and women came to save us, and that I am a citizen of a country who would send them."

Amen! That's what I'm talking about!

July 14, The End

I have to finish this up now since I don't have internet access at home.

I drove home from work feeling very tired and kind of down and thought that a nap would do wonders for the state I was in. So when I got home, I napped for a bit. When I woke up, I had a voice mail from sweet Cynthia about movie nigh. So I headed over to Rob's and Elizabeth's house to enjoy the company of some of my favorite people.

When I got there, everyone was Mac-ing. (I'm going to write it like that for now). Kimmy has everyone typing feverishly to meet the requirements of this latest blog point challenge. I played with Verity while everyone was on their Macs (except Cynthia, she was Delling), and I realized that I came into the middle of a discussion on what the opposite of a gerund was. I offered to call Tim to see if he knew. While I was talking to Tim, Kimmy found the answer - it's called a denominative.

After this, we started the movie, Back to the Future. Cynthia had never seen it, and it had been a long while since I'd seen it, so it was quite enjoyable if you could overlook the obvious flaws in time travel as presented in the film. Oh the 80s. What were we thinking! I say "we" knowing that in that room that night, it was only "me." HA HA HA.

During the movie, we ate some very delicious cake that Melissa made. White cake, no less! And it was limey! Not limey in the British sense, but limey in the sense that it was made with limes! Delicious. It had whipped cream frosting, too.

That's pretty much my day. It was a good one.

July 14, Part III

I figured I better get one last post in before I leave work in six minutes.

The rest of the day has been about as eventful as the previous hours. I got a lot of reading in, talked some with my friend, Pam and spent the hours as best I could so as not to fall asleep or die of boredom.

For the rest of the day, I plan on going home, feeding my fat orange cat, then lying down for a nap, going to the Osborns for movie night, then going back home and sleeping some more until morning. That's the plan, anyway. We all know how plans have a funny and unexpected way of changing even when you don't want them to.

July 14

It's 9:00 a.m., and this is my day so far:

My alarm went off at 6:51 a.m. as it always does, and like I always do, I let out a groan, and dragged myself out of bed. I walked into the kitchen and fed Marcel-Henri, then I put the coffee on. I made myself some cereal, poured a cup of coffee, then took it all into the living room to sit on the floor and watch the news. I don't know why I watch the news every morning. It's depressing. I always give Marcel-Henri the leftover milk from my cereal, so every morning, he anxiously awaits his daily treat. He's so cute. At 7:15, I got in the shower to start getting ready for work. I left my house at 8:17. The drive into work was nonevenful. I came straight down Market Street today. I like to mix it up so I don't get bored; sometimes I go down Glenwood to Mahoning. The thing I don't like about driving down Glenwood is that if you get stuck behind someone slow, it's only one lane, so you can't pass them. Since I'm always running a few minutes behind, getting stuck behind slow people stresses me out.

Once at work, I grumbled about the old lady who is once again parked in my space (23), then I walked into the building with a co-worker who arrived at the same time as I did--4 minutes late today. Since arriving at work, there has been a small gathering of people here in the artroom standing around talking about movies. It's been a good morning so far, though I didn't get any e-mails, and for some reason, that always kind of bums me out. One of the things I look forward to when I get to work in the morning is checking my e-mail to see how many people sent me some kind of correspondence.

When I came back to work after being sick for a week, I had 83 e-mails in my in box! About 3/4 of those were of the JUNK variety trying to sell me Rolex watches and Viagra.

From 9:00 - 9:13, I typed in this new post. Now, you are up to date on my day. Stay tuned -- there's more to come later.

July 14, Part II

I got to use Roman numerals today :)

Since 9:13 this morning, I haven't done much. I've sent a few emails, I've continued my reading of "The Fellowship of the Ring" (Frodo et. al have just left the company of Tom Bombadil and are headed toward Bree), I've played some games on the computer and discussed weekend plans. If you haven't guessed it by now, work is still slow.

We got Chinese food for lunch. I don't buy lunch too often, but about once a week I do, and this sounded good. We ordered from a place in Girard and it was excellent. I had General Tso Chicken with steamed rice and some wonton soup. Wonton soup is hard to eat. Those wontons should be bite-sized instead of two huge lumps of pork-filled dough that are impossible to break up with a cheap plastic spoon. My fortune cookie was stale, though. Here is what my fortune said:

"Don't let unexpected situations throw you."

Day 2

This is day two of my every day posting routine. I don't have much to say, so I'll just bore you all with the mundane.

Last night, I went to visit some new friends from church, Dave and Vanda Knickerbocker. They live just a few streets down from me. It was a very nice visit. I had met Vanda before through the praise team at ONC. She had just started playing trombone when the whole "Dan Thing" went down. Though I was semi-aquainted with her, I had never met her husband. A couple of weeks ago, Dave called me and asked if I could do a logo for him. It's for a church-related thing, so I didn't feel like I could say no. You know, using your God-given talents to serve Him? Yeah. Of all the graphic design things I hate doing the most, it's logos. But, I agreed and last night was when we got together to discuss what he was looking for. They are both fantastic people and I am pleased that I got the chance to know them both better.

When I was sick, John Jarman brought over season 1 of Lost on DVD for me to watch. Being that 24 took up the rest of my sick time and most of my well time that following weekend, I just started to get into Lost this past weekend. Man, what a show! I'm hooked. I still like 24 better, but I do love this one, too.

My boyfriend broke up with me. Jerk.

Later!

Inspired

Kevin has inspired me. Sam, too.

Like Kevin, I'm going to try to post every day. And Sam has made me realize that even though I think I have nothing to write about, sometimes it's the every day happenings in the various lives of friends that keeps us coming back to blogland every day.

So, here comes my random update of what's been happening in my life.

Work is finally back to normal. I say normal, but it's really quite slow. I don't think the word "slow" even begins to cover it. I've done nothing - NOTHING - since the end of THE SEASON. It's been kind of nice. I've taken this opportunity to start my yearly reading of The Lord of the Rings and am well into the journey that Frodo and Sam start start out when they leave the Shire. They have not yet reached Rivendell, but I am looking forward to when they do. I do so love the Elves of Rivendell. If I lived in Middle Earth, that's where I would want to be. There or Rohan. Either one. Rohan has fabulous horses.

In martial arts news...…
My sister just got her black belt! This is a momentous occasion and I'm so proud of her. Her promotion test was very challenging and she stepped up and met every one. It was tough - three hours of strenuous activity including sparring, breaking, self defense, forms, punching, kicking and every thing else we could think to throw at her. I got to be one of the judges who sat for her test, so that was quite an honor.

I started training with some weapons, too, namely the bo staff and the nunchakus (chuks). I have now graduated from using rubber chucks to the real thing now that I no longer have the fear of knocking my noggin off with heavy wooden sticks flying around at about 100 mph. I thought rubber would be a much safer bet for someone just learning. Since using the real thing, however, I have discovered that doing the techniques is in fact easier with some weight behind the weapon. Sure, the potential for self-injury is greater, but that's a chance I'll have to take. I did smash my hand during yesterday's practice, but it wasn't so bad. The chucks are certainly a weapon that you don't want to practice in public until you get really good at them. There is great potential for humiliation.

Until tomorrow!

I have made it back to the land of the living. After working five grueling days at the fireworks store over the 4th of July weekend/holiday (Friday-Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.), I NEVER want to see another pierced/tattooed/wife-beater-shirt-wearing/chain-smoking/mullet-wearing/toothless-with-a-booze stench/three-weeks-of-grime-under-the-fingernails hillbilly again. EVER! I never thought I'd see so many in one place.

Here's the thing I don't understand. Fireworks are expensive. It's not uncommon for ONE 500 gram repeater to cost anywhere from $60-$150. And, this is for something that, once the fuse it lit, lasts for a few minutes tops. These people come into the store with like ten dirty, shoeless kids and spend $2,000 on fireworks. How does that work? Where are priorities? YOUR KIDS NEED SHOES! AND A BATH! HOW ABOUT SOME CLEAN CLOTHES THAT FIT!

Now obviously, not everyone who comes into the store looks like this. I saw people I know from church come through, some friends from the karate studio, and other various people I've met since I've lived here in Youngstown. It was kind of fun to run into people you haven't seen in a long time. But these were the kinds of people that would spend a couple of hundred dollars, not a couple of thousand.

I have never seen so many tattoos - on both men and women. I'm not talking tasteful little tattoos that are discreetly hidden, I'm talking tattoos that are plastered over large chests that are hanging down somewhere around a similarly tattooed waist. Gross. Really.

At one point, I was at a register and in my line three people in a row came through and spent over $2,000 in cash. CASH! All in 10s and 20s. Do you know what a large stack of bills that is? Do you know how nerve-racking that is to count? Where do these seemingly below the poverty line people get that kind of cash? And, having that kind of cash, what would make a person spend it all on fireworks? I don't know -– it was interesting to say the least.

Thanks to all of you out there who secured my job for another year. Here's to getting that resume updated and dodging this 4th of July bullet next year!