So bored at work.....

....I started reading Tremble archives.....and found the one that describes me these past few weeks (sans movie deal, ha):

"RICHARD SCARRY'S 'BIG BOOK OF ENNUI'.

Here's a new entry for your 2003 edition. Today, I was so existentially bored, that I drank a ton of water and made myself urinate just so I could make the trip to the bathroom and feel like I did something today. And then, to make it worse if only by legitimizing it, I wrote about it in my secret public diary. And that's not all: Paramount Studios just optioned the story for $5 million.

WE FIRST MET ON 09.18.2002"

I think I might have to read his whole blog now. See how else this guy got in my head....or at the very least, look for other posts that discuss how to combat work boredom. So far the peeing thing is useful, but then I just want to stay on the can and take a nap....I've watched all of abc's online episodes, even "Wipeout" (sad, just sad)....music, ha ha ha we're so past music, and eating just makes me sleepier. There's got to be another way. I could post my letter R post, but I'm waiting on pics. I guess I'll just keep drinking water for now...mmmeeeehhhhhh

A Meme To Suck Up Some Time

Glorious Meme!!
Here's what I got
From this:

Using fd’s Flickr Toys,

• Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
• Using only the first page, pick an image.
• Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Now I haven't had a celebrity crush thing for a while...but when I really put my mind to it I was like "sh8t. Patrick Dempsey is hot, right?" I type in his name and get a PICTURE OF HIM TALKING TO MATTHEW FOX. Holy sh*t. Niceness. The other's you can probably easily guess the answers, though I did get a shipwreck when I typed in "Captain Morgan" Funny. Anyways, try and have some fun.

Credits:
1. The Plumeria Doric Allison, 2. Iranian mini-pizza, 3. phoHM1000pts1-c_0128rc, 4. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 5. Patrick Dempsey and Matthew Fox, 6. Blue Lagoon Comino, Malta, 7. The sea of grass, 8. lattice, 9. Costanera-Otamendi_07_23, 10. First Flight, 11. Of Earth And Sea And The Oceans Free, 12. Lisa Kereszi, Circus Tent at Night

Que?

I've been avoiding posting because I don't have an answer to "que?" Nothing to post in the q's!
Oh well.

Instead I will give a quick update.

1. Survived another wedding. Phew. It was fun, Jamaal and I had a nice time kicking it around the DC area, though we avoided the city. We went to Mt. Vernon which was phenomenal. It really hit me this time around that I was walking in Washington's footsteps and that he and Martha totally used to chill on the porch we were all sitting on - crazy. It made Jamaal a little sad, understandably, as Mt. Vernon was a plantation completely dependent upon slave labor. I guess the one redeeming factor was that Washington freed his slaves in his will. Not that that makes up for it really, but you know, it was sort of a light at the end of the tunnel. Actually during one hilarious moment, one of the guides there kept talking to us, yelling something we couldn't understand. Finally I just nodded and said "hi how are you?" and as we walked away he shouted "EH! You from Ghana??" Jamaal gets this all the time. He's been asked if he's been from: Ghana, Nigeria, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Guyana, all over the West Indies. It's kind of funny, but it's probably irritating too because he'll tell people "no, I'm American" and they'll say "oh but that can't be true, you got xyz blood in you." Um ok. Anyways, as Jam is laughing I shout "no he is from New York!!!" Well the guy seemed to think this was pretty funny and was laughing. I told him that when I brought Jamaal's picture to Kenya the Africans wanted to know to what tribe he belonged and I told them the Brooklyn tribe. This also brought about additional laughter from the guide. Jamaal was laughing too, then I got the Brooklyn tribe thing and he did his characteristic "Oh my god, Allison, let's go." Funny.

2. I just looked at all 1865 of my friend's wedding proofs. They're fantastic, though in most of them I had this odd mark on my arm. I was about 12oo in when I realized that it was the watermark that said "proof" and not some tattoo I forgot about.

3. I helped my parents clean out my cousin's house a bit last night. It really depressed me. I hate it when people die in general, but my great auntie, for instance, was 95 - old. So it sucks but it's sort of like the natural progressions of things. With Catherine it's so backwards. I mean she still had laundry in the hamper, her calendar is on April 2008. It's just odd. I felt like a trespasser as I went through all her bureau drawers, separating clothes for the Goodwill and Interfaith, taking the occasional Sigrid Olsen/Talbots/Henri Bendel top with the tags on it that I liked. The woman had amazing taste in clothes, but it's hard to get excited about taking this stuff because it feels wrong. We're donating most of it, and it makes me happy to think of all the women she will help, especially at Interfaith, where they take clothing suitable for job interviews and career-wear in order to help women get back on their feet. Still though, I understand now why my dad comes home sad from her house sometimes.

4. On a brighter note, a duck on our island in NH has decided that the perfect nesting spot is a planter full of geraniums. This house is about a dozen our so down island from ours, but we nevertheless enjoy their webcams, and to my delight, they put up one of Daisy duck. I spend way too much time looking at it!

5. After reading DoctorMama's blog, I've been inspired to resume running. So inspired, that I stole an idea from her - running with an iPod shuffle. Why did I not think of this? I have spent so much on athletic-type cases/holders for my nano that I probably could have bought two shuffles by now. Because I'm such a spastic runner, I hate anything attached to me (except clothes!) and carrying things. Realizing the shuffle could clip to my t-shirt, I took myself down to the new Apple store on Boylston to buy me one....except....no one waited on me. After milling around and making lots of eye contact, nothing. WTF? So I'm not buying a new iPhone, so what? Does that make me less important than everyone else? I guess so, because there was some serious ass-kissing going on in the iPhone corner. ick. I was so turned off I left. I'll go to Derby Street where someone will hopefully give me the time of day. Bitches!

I think that's all my news. This weekend I get to stay close to home. Of course it's all booked up, but it's mostly local. I might even get my kayak out. Sigh of happiness.

The P's

Proofreading - last week I was reading the Metro's review of "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl." the reviewer ripped the movie apart. I haven't seen the movie myself, but I thought "Oh come on, it's a kid's movie, GET OVER IT, we're going for light family fun and entertainment, swear, sex, and violence free, cut the movie a break" (of course Amy and I saw Wall-E which I found to be fantastic, so I guess there are really great family movies out there). I decided the read the reviewer's synopsis before passing judgment and thought that a lot of the points were valid - but then critic wrote this "Kit's mother is forced to take on 'borders' in her house for money." Heh? I imagined Julia Ormond's character scurrying around the US/Canada border trying to pick up imaginary lines. I read fast, so I often gloss over typos (or even commit them right here on this blog) but this one took me a minute to even figure out that they meant "boarders," as in people. Dude, PROOFREAD your sh*t. Especially if it's a 150 word movie review. Meh.

Presents - I finished one of the gifts on the "to make" list!! I made my friend Alex a triathlon bag for her bday. It's a huge tote with individual baggies for her sneakers and bathing suit. The mini-bags are lined with ripstop nylon and will hopefully be at least somewhat waterproof. The beauty of it all is that all the bags can go in the washing machine! Woo! It was great to have a reason to whip out the sewing machine again, even though the first run was a little wonky, and one of the tote handles came out weird with bunch thread :P Luckily Alex is not the judgmental type (well none of my friends are, especially when it comes to crafts) and is not the kind of person who is like "oh thanks for the bag, what happened to that handle, btw?! it's messed up!!" For the birthday celebration we went to Jacques Cabaret and good lord, it was a fun time and a half. I have not cackled like that in many, many moons. Serious cackling. I did not bring my camera, but wish I had because there were some priceless moments, including one part where Destiny got the birthday girl on her knees and she looked up and had this "oh sh*t" moment with fear and unknowing in her eyes.....It was hilarious. Amy had a special love for Katia:But I think my preference was for Kris Knieval, because I love me some big ta-tas.I loved Mizery, but found her terrifying!!


Anywho, this place has been shortlisted for my bachelorette. I think that probably makes Jamaal feel very secure, LOL. I used to think I wanted a very tame bachelorette, but after going to Jacques, my mind has changed a bit, LOL.

Propositioned - now every once in a while some crazy will approach me on the train. Usually it's not the propositioning type of approachment. For example, last week it was a guy who gave me his life story, told me that 6 months ago he slipped and fell outside Brookline City Hall and could I please look at his wrists and assess whether or not the orthopedist who set it back in place did a good job. Um hi, soooo not a doctor. Yesterday a lecherous looking old man sidled up to me at Park Street. "Eeeeeehhhhhhhh" he said. Stupidly, I removed one of my ear buds and said "Pardon?" because the good part of me said "help this old man, maybe he is lost" Ohhhooho no. He said "EHHHHH! SENORA!!! You loook gooooooood" He then said a bunch of unintelligible things. Maybe he was unintelligible, or maybe I was just still reeling over the fact that he called me 'senora'!!! All I could think was "I am no longer a senorita?!" Le sigh.

Pool - we are lucky enough to have a swimming pool right in our backyard. Ooooh so fortunate. Ame and I didn't have one at the old house, so we remember well the days of no AC, no pool, and having to run through a sprinkler (except when my evil 'friend' would invite me to her above-ground pool after expressly saying 'do not invite your sister' needless to say, we weren't friends for very long....). The pool is still regarded as the luxury it is - on a day like yesterday where the dew point and the temperature match, it is glorious. I jumped in with my clothes on, as I had been gardening for a bit and had worked up a sweat. Then I had a beer poolside, while the sunset and our local colony of various birds (house wren, goldfinch, catbird, song sparrow, towhee, chipping sparrow, chickadee, titmouse, cardinal, hummingbird, etc) foraged before the day's end. I love that time of night in the summer because everything is so incredibly peaceful and quiet. Ahhhh. If only I could go home now.....

Well. Back to my dull job. *snooooze*

*Overwhelmed*

So now that the wedding is done and school is over, I should be chillaxin' right?
Argh! Of course not! I have found myself to be somewhat overwhelmed by life!
Why?
Well, earlier this year, I was able to defer invites, coffee breaks, happy hours, parties and any event that required staying late at work or even remote use of social skills for school. We all know that I was running the slight risk of not graduating and I couldn't let that happen, so every night except the rare few where I was attending something local, like bookclub, I was at home, buried in a pile of books.

Now I am FREE!!! Which is fantastic, but all the crap I put off while in school is fast catching up. We had that whole bill problem back in May, where I forgot to pay sh*t. Well I am paying now, LOL and have caught up, but I still find a mountain of credit card/bank related paperwork on my desk needing to be filed or shredded. Then there are my loans...I haven't even checked out consolidation plans, which needs to happen soon, while rates are down. Then there is the whole getting out of debt for good (no excuse for this one, my credit card debt is dwindling, yet I'm dragging my feet) and having a savings plan for house/wedding. Note house is first! I realize Jam and I may not be able to move into a house right when we get married, but if I blow all my savings on a wedding, as much fun as that one day might be, I will be sad. The end. LOL. So yeah, there's the money junk.

Of course when you think money junk, you think NEW JOB. I am so disheartened by the job market right now. My mother is all "you have a fine job now, don't be discouraged, you can hold out til something fantastic comes along." Yeah. Well. I'm trying to make it. But my job is kind of dull (I am blogging at work after all!) and I am going to have to start paying dearly for that master's degree. Do I really want to hang around here?? It's a great and rewarding place to work, just not my field (and because it's not my field, and my master's is in conservation, I cannot get the requisite master's degree raise. suckage!) I guess I need to be more uniform with my searches and set aside time each week for job searching. Also I need to be more organized with my current job DOING, it's really kind of here and there lately. Hmm.

Then there's the wedding junk. I am sooo disorganized, yet feel like I have enough time to plan ok. I don't think I can be one of those people with a wedding planner. As much as I'd love to hand off some of the tasks to a professional, I can't see myself letting go to that point (or paying one for that matter.) Luckily my sister is ready and willing to take on a lot of responsibility, but Jamaal and I are really the only ones who can set a date and pick a place, which is what we need BEFORE I can start handing off responsibility. With him wrapped up in work and school it's pretty hard to pin him down for anything, unfortunately, and when we are together we're always going to someones wedding, bday, baptism, random party, cookout, etc. I know he knows that we can't wait on all of this til he gets out of school (fall 2009) but I don't want to bug him either. Then again if we want to get married in CT we could meet in the middle for just a day. He's always got a ton of sh*t to do though. Ugh, so frustrating. Anyways, I need to start getting more organized. Maybe I will have to break down and keep a wedding binder! OH NO! I joke about having one now, but it is really just a three ring binder filled with ripped out pages from magazines, mostly of lingerie (hey, I started it in high school!!) soooo yeah, may just have to get organized. Plus with Jam in school it will be easier to make a "presentation" for him, LOL. Can't you just see my showing up at his office with a wedding power point? LOL. And after we're married when he's a fancy business consultant that I can't pin down for more than a couple hours at a time having the "do you like 'celery' or 'celadon' for the wall color dear?" power point....oh hilarious.

So there's that. Then there is just the general CRAP that has to get down. I have to get rid of so much stuff I've accumulated. I just have to. Plus our family is going to be inheriting even more stuff from Catherine. It's already started to trickle in. I feel like the best way to honor her is to make sure her belongings are used. It's one of those "it's the least we could do for her" situations. Our cousin and my father are dividing everything between the two families, and it's worked out nicely, no fighting or griping, thank goodness (because it's tacky to fight about dead people's sh*t. and I can say that without being nasty because we've totally BEEN there in that situation, fighting over possessions and it's tacky as hell!) I'm getting a corner cabinet that belonged to my father's grandmother. I'm not sure what else, though probably wouldn't turn much of anything down at this point what with getting hitched and all. The one drawback is storage though, and figuring out where to put stuff. This means we're going to have to do a purge of possessions. My goal is to get rid of 100 items. I think it might be easier than it sounds......

Finally, my last really overwhelming thing is crafts! I am so behind on gifts I owe...running about 4 months behind at this point. Now I would say f8ck it normally and let it go, BUT I have fabric for all but one of the gifts I owe people, so I have just piles of fabric waiting to be quilted, and it's to the point where I probably won't use it for another project, so I need to just make what I owe. Phew. With it being July and summer weekends booked solid to August 29th, I'm not sure when I'll catch up. Though this weekend is a 3-day weekend and I have a huge Joann's coupon...maybe this is the moment to make a serious dent in the project backup. My sister and I have tossed around the idea of opening a cross stitch shop on etsy, but obviously we can only do this if we have inventory, and the only way I'm going to help add to any inventory is to clear my backlog!! Agh!


Ok enough bitching :) All in all, the summer has been a lot of fun, even if it has been overwhelming. I think it's that way a bit because I'm trying to get back into the swing of busy life after playing the grad school card so often. I'm sure I'll handle it.

With that, I leave you with goals for the rest of the summer (fun...mostly) and pictures!

1. Go to NH for 5 days or more (something I haven't done since I was a kid)

2. Take my kayak out at least 5 times (0 down, 5 to go)



3. Play hooky from work to hang out with my sister and do something that requires pretty much no thought, effort or responsibility...(maybe go to the beach? the RI one? with sandwiches from CROSSROADS!!!?! How's that sound Ame??)

4. Catch up on crafty projects (I owe 7 at the moment)


5. Spend non-school, non-other people's events time with Jamaal. Not sure if this is doable yet.....hmmm.

6. Fly a Kite. For realz, I'm not even joking. http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2008/04/26/psst-secret-beaches-revealed?blog=183

7. ORGANIZE MY LIFE IN ALL WAYS AFOREMENTIONED!
Hmm. Right.


8. Hang out with this little lady and her hot mama.

9. Have a family girl's day where we explore a needlework shop down the cape and maybe (maybe) g0 see Mama Mia.......is that hooky from work yet again??! Maybe I will just need to put in for another week's vacation lol.

10. FINISH the COSTA RICA DVD. It's almost been a year. Oh the shame.


END OF YEAR GOALS

1. Finish 100 books.
2. Go out to Northampton so Jam can meet Anne and Michael and I can show him my old haunts..
3. Give away/sell/donate 100 things
4. Have an all-girl's party


Notice there are themes here. Playing hooky twice, two hundreds references, two fives....but there are only 14 things to do, and most of them fun. I'm so on it :D