Life Is Good

Tony was offered a position for the job he interviewed for on Monday! It's in the office (as opposed to the warehouse) for the company he currently works for. What's funny is that when he starts his professional career in 2008, he'll already have put in almost 10 years of service at this company. Holy crazy hell. He's going to be one of those examples that the company tells new hires about.
I am so excited for him. He was so bummed out after his interview, because he thought he had screwed it up. I suppose this is what love is. Being as excited about the other's achievement as you would be if it had been your own. And I suppose that this is a milestone or a turning point or something in our life together. Soon we'll both be working adults instead of one working and one semi-working, matriculating adult. We'll be a dink household. We'll be out of the strange limbo period I've felt us to be in and into something new.
In other good news, my car is treating me well after become a legal citizen of Davidson County. That's all I'm saying for fear of jinxing myself.
I feel good about today. I feel like I'm just going to relish this good feeling. Bask in the glory of great news and not worry about all those things that make me worry. Where my life is going? If I'm living up to my own expectations? What's going to happen with my mother and brother? Whether a roach will be waiting for me in my bathroom this evening?
Sometimes it is enough to just take a moment for what it is. And appreciate those good things that life hands out to us occasionally. Love. Employment. Stability. Pets. Enough money to eat grilled cheese and watch Waitress. A warm bed. A favorite song.
I guess my Thanksgiving just came a week late.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Words cannot express the joy of getting your car fixed. I mean, really, they really can't. I'll try anyway. The sum total I've spent since August getting my tags came to $588. That's for three mechanics, a tune up, emissions, two tickets, and the actual price of tags. And while that sends me into a frenzy of panic over how I will ever pay off my credit card, and how I will ever make Christmas happen, much less get to Michigan for the holidays...it is an enormous relief to have my car back. To not be hitching rides to and from work. To not be stuck at home once I've gotten there. To not tremble in fear every time I drive past a cop with my 3-month expired tags.
Ahhh...sweet, sweet freedom. When the lady at MARTA told me I'd passed the test, I seriously wanted to hug her. I broke into this huge grin and told her to have a good day instead. She returned my well wishing halfheartedly. Then I headed to the Hermitage Police Precinct to get my new tags. It was like angels shining down upon me when I stuck that new sticker on.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
I will bask in this calming light and ponder whether maybe the universe does transpire to help you achieve the things you need. More on that later.

The Bug

No, not a post about roaches this time, although there was one in the bathroom last night that I thankfully did not see, but it managed to make Tony whimper in fear. I pledged my fealty to him after he zapped it into oblivion with bleach and disposed of it in the toilet.
Ok, this wasn't supposed to be a roach post. So no, the bug I'm referencing here is that bug that gets into me every year about this time. Just as Thanksgiving is coming, short work weeks, a chill in the air (unless you live in Middle Tennessee, where the temperature is still in the 70's...), that space between Thanksgiving and Christmas when there are extra baked goods lying about, and your dedicated work ethic starts to plunge. Off the charts.
I have no enthusiasm. I have no will. I want to sit at my desk and surf the Internet. Or better yet, chat with my co-workers, torture my cubemate with useless chatter. Anything but focus. And drink coffee in an attempt to keep from eating chocolates.
Alas, no bah humbug, although I'm not much into the actual spirit of the holidays. Money is tight after FINALLY getting the car legal. Paying tickets, paying mechanics, repaying friends who toted me around for weeks with gift cards. I feel I'm definitely on the edge of an abyss. How am I going to buy Christmas presents? That's what makes Christmas for me...hmmm.

Life Is a Musical

Ok. It's not. And ok, I stole that line from Andre 3000...but there are a few songs that fill me with longing whilst I sit at my desk with my headphones on. Something about these songs makes me want to break out into song and dance and have all of my co-workers join me in choreographed dance numbers. Is that weird? Do other people do this? Sometimes I think I might do well as a character on Scrubs.
Hmm...so my weekend was action packed, considering my boyfriend was out of town. I hit up the Riverdale-Smyrna high school football game to watch Tony's cousin play, and while Smyrna was our crosstown rival, that's only the second time I've stepped into their football stadium. It was filled with all of the scary teenagers you might imagine. Every time I end up with Tony's family for some function and his teenaged cousins are around, I find myself thanking God that I'm no longer that age and wonder how anyone ever survives high school. It's like a time bomb of nerves and stress and drama and a bunch of kids who think they are the shit. Only to discover once you graduate that yes, there is life beyond high school, that does not revolve around you. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.
Almost like the giant roach I chased into the linen closet the other night. All by myself. No Tony to pick up the carcass, which is lucky since I didn't manage to kill it but instead chased it into the refuge of my towels and extra blankets. Nice.
Saturday found me yard saling. I don't think I was magnificent, but it was a fun day. I came home with a nice little profit (which I managed to spend later that night) and some funny stories:
-an unnamed party who let out a dainty little squeak (and by squeak I mean fart) while lugging around a king sized mattress.
-a very happy couple who took home the Black Jesus.
-and yes, I did regale an unfortunate couple with the joys of watching Brad Pitt eat finger food all through Ocean's Eleven. Watch it - you'll see exactly what I mean.
Then there was a hockey game with my pal, Lacy, who I love very much but hardly see. Then there was a lot of drinking, Mafiaoza's pizza which I never got a bite of, and a search for my keys (and H20) when we finally made it home.
Sunday Lacy took me to the Titans game (my first ever!), but I didn't fully enjoy it due to my lack of restraint the previous evening combined with the onset of allergy city. Sunday evening, finally curled up on my couch, still a little wary of six-legged pests, the allergies set in and rendered me useless.
Anyway, it was a good weekend. Full of adventure. Next weekend we're driving to Michigan for the MSU-UM game. I get to see lots of kids I went to college with and my best friend. And I'll get to see my family for brunch before coming back home. I'm pretty excited.
Car's back in the shop (again), so Tony will probably have to drive. I'm not complaining though. He's got the cd player.

Yard Sale

So today is the big day. I don't think I've kept y'all very updated about my life, just the random thoughts that wander through my mind. Well, for about the last two weeks, I've been helping my friend, The Mullet, prep for our "joint" yard sale. I use "joint" as loosely as possible, considering I've contributed about 1/8 of the goods.
So now I'm scarfing down some Special K Red Berries (yum) and getting ready to head over there. I have to say, I'm a mixture of excited and nervous...I guess that would be anxious. I think it's going to be really fun haggling with people and watching things get sold, but I've never done this before, and it occurred to me this morning that I'm also a little intimidated by the task. So we'll see how it goes. Hopefully we'll sell a ton of stuff and still be in relatively high spirits by the end of it.
In other news, I took my car to the mechanic yesterday...for about the fifth time this month - and that's not an exaggeration - to see what's up with my check engine light. And, after two tickets for my expired tags, I went ahead and failed my emissions test, so hopefully if I get pulled over again, I can show that I've tried. Oh, frustration.
At least if I sell some junk I'll have the money for whatever repairs my car may need this time.

I Had No Idea...No, Really

Well, until J.K. Rowling outed Dumbley-dore last week, I had no idea what fanfiction was. No idea that there are people so inspired by Harry Potter (and LOTR and Star Trek) that they make up their own stories, art, and character relationships based on her characters. No idea that there are websites and magazines totally devoted to these discussions and ideas and works of fiction/art. So I decided to browse a little, and check wikipedia.org (my favorite source for all things knowable), and lo and behold...there are even genres based on homosexual relationships between the characters - slash!
So I checked out some sites. I found one that focuses exclusively on relationships between Hermione/Harry, Malfoy/Ginny, Ron/Luna & Lily/James. Note that the last one is the only one that stays true to the book, and also that Ron gets stuck with Looney (apparently he's not good enough for Hermione...that's a whole different discussion for another day). Well, I'm not going to get into all of those aspects of whether I agree or disagree with what some people like to think about HP & Company.
I guess it just makes me wonder if I'm far less creative than other fans. I mean, it just doesn't occur to me to sit down and write an ending for Harry that's different from the one that Rowling has given him. And I certainly don't want to imagine these characters in explicit sexual situations. That's why I chose to read a children's/fantasty book about an eleven year old. Yes, I know that they all get older, and we get some snogging (yea!), but I don't want to imagine Harry in a situation any more compromising than that. I have to admit that while I do see the creativity there, and the imagination in saying, "Well, she did this with them, but what if it went this way..." I think I'm far more content to let it stay Rowling's work and Rowling's creation. To me, I have no authority to go around changing what she's chosen for her own characters or re-writing the world that she's made for me. Then again..."maybe I'm just like my father, he's never satisfied." Ha ha.
After my perusing I again was left with that feeling of being amazed by the many sub-cultures in our world. And also being a little excited that there are definitely people in the world that are far more concerned with the magical world created by J.K. than I am. This is yet another "whole 'nother world" that I had absolutely no awareness of until a week ago, and yet it has been putting right along for years.
Humph.

Drop It Like It's Hot

Sometimes, when I'm taking my dog out to "relieve" himself, I say that to him when he's taking his sweet time finding a poop spot.
I'll be like, "Come on, Boom, drop it like it's hot." And I chuckle to myself a little about my pun (I sure love puns). And then I get annoyed that there's noone around to appreciate it. 'Cause you know, my dog doesn't speak English, so he doesn't laugh at my jokes. He probably wouldn't laugh at my jokes if he did speak English, because honestly, he doesn't seem like he'd be a very accomodating guy. Better that he's mute in the ways of the language.
Anyway, something tells me that it's not what Juvenile, or Pharell, or Snoop D-O-double-G had in mind, but there you go. These are the thoughts that cross my mind while I wander about the minefield with my dog.