It's not the end of the world

I've been thinking about my last post and the number of TV shows I watch and I've come to a couple of decisions (aka I told my co-worker and lil' buddy Ben how many I was watching and just saying the number out loud made me cringe...)

I think I may give up on "The Vampire Diaries" after only 2 1/2 episodes because;

1. The lack of expressions by the guy who is playing "Stefan" is starting to annoy me. If we're supposed to be understanding everything he's supposed to be feeling by what his eyes say...well, count me out because I'm not seeing it (pun intended :> .)

2. Why am I watching [another] show about young, skinny, beautiful high-school kids being played by adults? And now they are cheerleaders and football players? It's too much. (OK, I am willing to admit to being a hypocrite here because I'm going to continue watching "Glee", which is also about high school kids...but "Glee" at least has adult characters and it's their story lines I care about the most...) I'm just done with watching supposed kids acting like "little grown ups" by doing such things as sitting around enjoying dessert in a pseudo post-dinner scene. They're frickin' high school students! Shouldn't they be swilling soda (or at least have raided the parent's liquor cabinet) and be eating pizza?

Thinking about shows about high-school students is reminding me that I was recently reminded of a show that I did love about high-school kids ..."Freaks and Geeks". Sadly, it lasted only 18 episodes. I think it was too real for the mass public. I didn't relate to it 100%, being neither a freak or a geek in high school myself, but I sure didn't fit in with the "cool" kids or the "rich" kids. I didn't really know my place. I was in the religion and not participating in any activities whatsoever. I had a few good school friends but most of the people I was closest to (who were my age, from my congregation) didn't go to my school.

OK, now back to the final reason why I'm gonna give up on VD;

3. I've got so many other shows to watch and this one just has NOT turned into must-see-can't-miss-or-I'll-die (no pun intended?) TV. Life is too short for mediocre TV. I'm a bit bummed though 'cause I really wanted to get into this one since it's in a genre I dig...Oh well. Whatever.

I've also decided to save "Dollhouse" for later. It was more enjoyable to watch near the end of the first season but it wasn't as must-see as most of the other shows I watch. So I'll just catch up via Hulu.com at some point in time. (Much as I love anything by Joss Whedon, "Dollhouse" is no "Buffy...", "Angel" or "Firefly"!)

I think I'll also save "Top Chef" and "Project Runway" for later as well, when I can watch back-to-back episodes and see the contestants eliminated one by one by one until they get to the winner (but I'll keep watching "Hell's Kitchen" because I will not be able to wait with that one...)

I'm picking some battles in order to add more balance to my life. We'll see how that goes.

So tomorrow is day 7 of my 7 days in a row work run tomorrow. Then 2 lovely days off and then on for 8 more in a row. I'm just grateful I have a job, I'm just grateful I have a job, I'm just grateful I have a job.

So when am I gonna write about something more meaningful and significant again? I don't know. I just don't have the energy right now.

ttfn.

(Note: just watched series premier of "Cougar Town" and like it so far ...Courtney Cox Arquette is so watchable when she's doing comedy)

An embarassment of riches

I'm such an emotional wuss these days. It really doesn't take much to get me teary-eyed but lately I've been especially sensitive...for example, I just got done watching the "Dancing With the Stars" tribute to Patrick Swayze (R.I.P) and my eyes are damp. So sad about his passing. I love "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" and I can watch "Road House" like a million times and never get bored with it.

And then there was the stupid thing that happened the other day at work, I was embarrassed to have my teary eyes pointed out (by a co-worker who is already on my shit list for various reasons including her hypocritical attitude about scented lotions -she doesn't have a problem with the scent of Aveda products just with all others) in front of the whole bunch of us who were in training -because I was really moved by what Sylvia (one of the "floor support" people who came up from Atlanta to help us newbies on the new system) had to say when she was introduced to us...about her respecting what we knew already and that she was just there to help us with compassion. (For some reason, that just really touched me...maybe it's the reality that the merger is really real and the NWA days and way of life are coming to an end...)

Then again, this combined with MASSIVE cravings for salty things (rice crackers, cheddar pita chips, salsa flavored Sun Chips, buffalo wing/bleu cheese potato chips, parmesan goldfish crackers are just a few of the salty goodies that have been enjoyed by yours truly in just a week...) makes me think this is all just PMS (but as usual, Aunt Flo sent a telegram that she was coming but is standing me up again. Oh well.)

That woman, Sylvia, it turns out is also strangely sweet. She's decided to call me "Cupcake" and I kinda like it.

So we're almost done with week 2 of training on the new Delta system. The first night we took calls I thought I'd die (or at least start smoking again...I've been abstaining for the most part during my cold and now)...it was horrible. It's like being thrown in the deep end of a pool with life preservers just...out...of...reach. The problem is that we have the knowledge and know what to do, it's how to get it done that is the hard part. But thankfully last night and today things were better...just like anything new that you learn, repetition is a great teacher.

I managed to get the training manager to tweak my schedule a bit so instead of 10 days in a row, I'll work 7, then have 2 days off, then back on for 8. I'm not sure if that's really any better but I'm gonna go with it. (And you can bet your sweet ass that I'm gonna be signing up for as many late-in's and PTO (leave-early) as I can to help retain some sanity. Fingers crossed that those are options!)

So it's like 2am and I should think about crashing because I'm having B for breakfast, uh, I mean over for breakfast. Oh, who am I kidding. You all know what I mean! ;)

But I've got so many TV shows to catch up on it's ridiculous! I added reminders to my yahoo calendar to remind me of what to watch and when. I figured it was the only way I'd be able to keep track. Maybe I'll see if I can't save any of 'em for later...watch a bunch at a time instead of trying to see 'em all every week...for curiosity sake, I'm gonna do a quick count...brb...Good God! 24! Bloody hell! Now luckily 1 just had it's season finale ("Warehouse 13" ...though I've yet to watch it), 1 or 2 have season finales coming up soon, a handful of them haven't had their season premier yet and another handful of them are new shows that I'll maybe only watch the pilot of and decide no more but still...Egad!

(Let's not even talk about the pile of books from the library that I've got to read, the 3 Nora Roberts books (that I've never read) that I borrowed from a co-worker to read, nor the latest issue of TV Guide that I've yet to even take a look at, the other blogs I follow that I want to catch up on, the laundry that needs to be done, the prescriptions that I need to get refilled (before the end of the month when my good insurance ends) or the parking ticket that needs paying...)

(And let's really not think about all of the friends I've got catch up with...or my parent's who I haven't seen in months.)

Is there something to be said about delayed gratification? Hmm, something to ponder.

Well, as you can see I've got things to do so ttfn. Smooches and hugs to y'all.

Yes, I'd like a little cheese with my whine.

Well, I'm really only gonna whine about the fact that I will be working for the next 10 fucking days in a row.

We have 1 1/2 more days of classroom training, then on the floor, answering live calls and using the new reservations system until the end of the week, then next Saturday, back to my regular schedule which is Sat-Wed. I won't have a day off again until October 1st!! :(

Yeah, I should just be damn happy that I've got a job right? But this is nuts! This job is hard enough without having much needed breaks for recharging the battery. Oh well. What can I do? Actually I can do laundry! And make sure that I have enough groceries for lunches and such. Practical crap that will mean I have less to worry about then just getting my butt to work.

Anyhoo...it was a lovely weekend. I got together w/Shanna for lunch yesterday. We enjoyed yummy food at It's Greek To Me in Minneapolis. Then while we were sitting there, I was like, let's do something else...it was a beautiful day and neither of us had any other particular plans (I forgot that Irma had concert tickets and was not available that night) so we ended up heading over to Lake Calhoun (it took me until the middle of September to get my butt to a lake and be outdoors like that...how sad. All of my big plans about doing things outdoors this summer just didn't happen...:( ) where we just hung out and chatted while enjoying the beautiful day. Then it was off to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. Yummy yum yum. So we're just hanging out and I'm thinking we should find something exciting to do...we're free, young, have a car and a little bit of money...we should be taking advantage of all of those things.

So after considering our options and how we were feeling (full and relaxed) we decided on just going Trader Joe's for wine and then picking up a movie. (Note: I was a TJ virgin and now I'm not. Interesting store. I think I might have gone a bit more crazy but didn't want to worry about lugging groceries up to her place to stay cold) On the way to TJ's, we end up spontaneously stopping by some outlet place and she finds a cute Calvin Klein top for me (have I mentioned she's got excellent taste in...everything?) and at $21 bucks, I considered it a pretty good deal and splurged on it (plus size clothes are not always as cheap as skinny girl clothes)...I can't wait to wear it to work tomorrow.

We finally ended up back at her place with wine and a movie. We end up talking more and then once the wine was chilled enough, finally got around to watching the movie -or trying to watch the movie. It wasn't all that riveting so we had a hard time getting into it. (FYI-movie was "State of Play" with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck)

I finally stumbled home around 1:30am. (I would have crashed there on her nice couch but having to get up every couple of hours to pee would have been cruel since you have to go through her bedroom to get to the bathroom.) and was happy to be in my own comfy bed.

Today, decided to just stay in and relax. I forgot that I had arranged for bro to come over and do an oil change for the car so it worked out well that I didn't go anywhere. Now that Suzette is officially mine, I want to take her to get properly washed/cleaned, inside AND out. But that will have to wait until I have time to just do stuff like that.

I got caught up on VD, Supernatural and Bones today. In re: to VD, it struck me that I'm getting a "Roswell" vibe out of it..you know, girl keeps diary, meets boy who is NOT quite like everyone else, epic love story in the making/doe-eyed brunette star crossed lovers and all that. I can live with that. I liked "Roswell" (ooh, that reminds me that I should add them to my R.I.P. list) I was super excited about "Bones" and it was a pretty good episode. Should be interesting to see how things unfold between them this season.

So anyway, the next 10 days will just be about getting up, getting to work, surviving the day, then getting home and crashing and doing it all over again the next day.

Onward.

Gratitude Reality Check

So how great is it that there are so many choices of TV shows available to me via this lovely internet? I just can't decide which one to watch first? Hulu has the season premiers of "Bones" and "Fringe" for me and Graboid, will have "The Vampire Diaries" and "Supernatural" ...regardless of what I start with, I'm leaning toward saving "Bones" for last...it's the whipped cream on the sundae...but it's already midnight and I'm not feelin' so great.

Around 10pm tonight, while still at work, I started feeling a bit dizzy/lightheaded and just plain icky ...and I'm not sure why. Is it because it was a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllly long week off classroom training? Mebbe. Thank god I made it home safely and that I've got the weekend off. I'm probably just sleep deprived or something, because I've consistently been going to bed so late this week (then again, that's not unusual) or maybe it's the working 'til 11pm that's messing me up. Strange was a difference a 1/2 hour or so can make...

Or maybe it's from the lingering sore throat that won't seem to go away and means maybe I really should just go to the Dr. already...

Maybe I should try crashing nowi'sh and see how I feel in the morning. Nah....too wired to sleep..it's Friday!!!

I pity anyone else who has gone through or will go through a merger and has to totally re-learn how to do their job. :( though today we had something to look forward to because we all brought in stuff to eat and had a pot-free potluck dinner (all the fixin's for sandwiches, chips, salads, etc.) and we took A LOT of long breaks and stuff. We needed 'em though because the stuff we covered today? Ugh. Reviewing things we know but now having to process them the Delta way. And some of them seeming way more complicated than they need to be.

Intense, intense week. My brain is fried. Thank goodness the weekend is supposed to be pretty mellow. Tomorrow, lunch w/Shanna. Dinner w/Irma? Then chillin' on Sunday while brother changes the oil in the car for me.

Oh! Speaking of car. Suzette is officially mine. I transferred the title today AND got tabs renewed so I'm all set. Now just have to take care of that damn ticket. Maybe if I go there and plead my case they'll give me a break (hey, a girl's allowed to dream right? :P )

Anyhoo. Yup. Things to be grateful for, even if they seem shallow or strange.

Changes...

Well, not so many. Just felt like it was time to change the template of this blog...again. I get a kick out of changing it every so often. Just to keep you all from getting bored with it! (As if! :P)

So for a real weekend, it felt like my usual weekend. Nothing really different or special about it. Wasn't all boring though...ended up covering a TB shift at the SPCO yesterday for someone ...he was lucky I was available. The downside is that I got a ticket for a. expired meter (it was too crazy busy so I didn't get to go and plug it with more quarters) and b. expired tabs. Frick, frick, frick. I have terrible luck in St. Paul. I keep getting busted for stupid crap. It makes me not to want to work there anymore...it's not worth the hassle of parking (yup, I'm becoming one of those people who won't go anywhere unless it's got easy, free parking) ...Then dinner last night w/Irma. Nice dinner. She's got me hooked on this Chinese place called Bill's. Yeah, a funny name for a Chinese restaurant but the food is spectacular. Good company, conversation and food. What more could you ask for on a Saturday night?

Today, mellow day. Didn't do the anniversary lunch with the family after all. My bro called just as I was getting up and yeah, I sounded horrible. Lingering cold. It's mostly gone but we didn't want to take any chances...and frankly, it was a relief. After NOT getting a lazy (aka stay-in-my-pj's) day yesterday, I really wanted one today.

We'll just have to do the celebrating when we can.

I'm actually looking forward to this week and the training we're getting on the Delta reservation system. I sure hope it makes parts of the job easier...aka the finding of answers to questions because I still gotta keep working on bringing my talk time down. I actually did better than I wanted to for August so I'm less stressed about things at work.

So today was a lazy day...I spent most of it reading. I just started a new series by an author named Rachel Caine. A series about a teenage girl, her roommates and the town they live in where vampires rule the town. I love finding a new series and then getting all of the books from the library so I can read them one after the other...it's like watching an entire season of a TV show all in one go. Not having to wait to find out what happens next...but of course, sadly one does get to the point when you're caught up and have to wait for the next book/series/season, etc. As previously mentioned, thank goodness I've got so many others that I read and watch that I can usually keep from getting too impatient about it all.

So I was goofing around on Facebook tonight and just looking for more people from my past and who did I come across? B.V. My first significant adult relationship. Should be interesting to see if he accepts my request to be "friends". I hope he does. I know you can't go back again but it would be nice to just know how he's been.

If he does accept my request...well, that will be great even though I'm feeling a bit self-conscious about the pictures of myself that I have posted. I've certainly "grown" over the years ...and it's been about 20 years since we've seen each other...I'm trying not to freak out about it too much though because thanks to the general encouragement of another blogger...I've decided to adopt her attitude about pictures [of me]...as in, if you want one, OK. Who am I to deny you a picture of yours truly and capturing a moment you'd like to remember? So what the hell, but there certainly is more of me to love than there ever has been.

Well, it's about 1:30am and I don't feel like writing anymore for tonight. So 'til next time....c'est la vie.

Woo Hoo! Yippee Skippee! Hurrah!

And the 2009 TV season has opened with a BANG! New shows that I've seen the premiere of (and I thought they were good enough for me to keep watching (for the time being)) are "Melrose Place" and "The Vampire Diaries". MP is going to pure mindless entertainment and TVD ...well, as long as they do something about those "long, longing stares" ...as in reduce them, well, I'll be fine with it. Nothing wrong with watching shows with cute boys in them right? Right! I also caught the 2nd episode of "Glee" and it was pretty good. However, speaking of "Glee", I made the mistake of reading just a couple of people's comments about the show over at tvguidemagazine.com (they were commenting on the show after yet another good review of it from a critic) and think they made a few good points about the fact that every character is a cliche (dumb jock, guy in a wheelchair, black chick w/attitude, etc.) but I'm willing to keep watching to see how the characters develop. And last but certainly not least, I watched the season opener of "Supernatural" ...excellent! Funny moments and sad moments. This season is gonna be something.

It's Friday going into Saturday and it's gonna be really strange having a real weekend off. Got training stuff the next couple of weeks so hence the weekends off. I'm psyched. There are plans for dinner with Irma on Saturday night and then there's talk of taking my parent's out on Sunday for a belated anniversary [early] dinner (or late lunch?) because we didn't end up doing it last Wednesday. (My cold was still kickin' my ass and my mother wasn't feeling well herself so no family celebration...yet)

Speaking of THE COLD, well, it's almost gone...I think. I was feeling better yesterday...enough that I was up for seeing my sweetie (yeah! yahoo! woo hoo! yippee skippee!)...it's been, like 2 weeks and I've missed him something fierce! Sadly, tonight at work, the more the evening progressed, the worse my throat was. But I feel a bit better now and am glad I don't work the next couple of days.

Then next week, training for a week or so...so not really on the phones...that'll be a nice break.

Hmm, what else? Was fairly productive yesterday and proud of that...but having company over is a good motivator. I did laundry (including my sheets), took garbage out, swept and tidied my room up a bit. It's nice feeling back in control of my home environment.

Well, enough of this for now. Gonna catch up on some of the other blogs I read (I love reading "Sum of Me"...are you people reading hers too? You should! She's wicked funny in a dark, sarcastic, dry way) and the crash for the night. I've got "Project Runway" and "Top Chef" to catch up on now but I'll save those for tomorrow.

Ciao.

It's Almost Here!

Fall is almost here and I'm looking forward to the new TV season.

It's Monday evening, around 6pm, Labor Day 2009 and I'm bored. So very bored. Bored, bored, bored. I could read but I did that earlier. I just ate some leftovers and am now ready to figure out what to do with my evening. I still have stuffed up ears and am definitely staying in...but what am I going to do with myself tonight?

I was just over at Hulu.com looking for something to watch, but nothing is really jumping out at me and saying WATCH ME. I had this problem with cable when I had it. I had digital cable which gave me access to a library full of TV shows and movies and I would rarely actually watch anything though because I could never decide what to waste time on. (Isn't there a Bruce Springsteen song about 57 channels and nothing on?) Now maybe my saying that I'm looking for ways to waste time is a big sign that maybe I should be finding something more constructive to do with my free time but that won't help me tonight. I haven't got the energy to do anything.

I'm caught up on my summer favorites...and the new season isn't quite here (though some will start this week...finally!) so I'm at loose ends TV-wise. I don't want to finish "Moonlighting" because I read too much about the show (google, wikipedia, etc.) and now it's been spoiled for me...besides...watching them spar continuously is too much. I do like Bruce Willis though...and he really does love her. He always gives in to her and gives her what she wants...but then again, he should love her for more than just her pretty face.

I am tempted to watch "The Dresden Files", "Firefly" or "The Pretender" again but I usually am not a fan of watching a show I've already seen even when I LOVED the show.

Oh how I wish the new season was here already...there are some new shows I'm looking forward to..."Cougar Town" (love Courtney Cox Arquette), "The Vampire Diaries" (of course since I'm a fan of the supernatural genre), "Melrose Place" (will I enjoy it as much as the original?), "Eastwick" (should be interesting to see what they do with this...the movie was good), "The Good Wife" (am torn about this one...love Chris Noth and like Julianne Marguiles but the story about "the wife"?? Uh, you understand my hesitation right?), more of "Glee" (really liking this and glad have been able to catch the pilot already), "Three Rivers" (but only because Katherine Moening (L Word, Young Americans) -one of my "girl crushes" is on it!) and "V" (don't remember much about the original but curious enough to see a remake).

How I'm going to keep up with all of those when I've got so many returning favorites to watch too...(see list over there ---------> ) It will be interesting to see which, if any, become shows added to the faves list or even make it past fall.

I just hope any or all of them distract me from thoughts of approaching winter (have I mentioned how much I HATE winter? Why I live in this state is a constant mystery to me 6 months out of 12)...but I'm getting ahead of myself. It's 77 degrees outside right now. I ate out on the back deck earlier and it certainly is splendidly wonderful out there. Warm but not humid. I'd go out there with the computer but even though Jen has lovely chairs out there, they're not quite as comfy as my bed and should I choose to take a nap....well, it's all so perfect right here.

So what to do about entertainment for tonight???? Actually first I should finish figuring out what to get for my parent's anniversary..which is TOMORROW!!!! So I suppose I better go looking around 'eh? (Note: it's 5 minutes later and I just got done consulting with my bro on what to get 'em and I think we're gonna just take 'em out to dinner on Wednesday night. That problem solved. But now what in the hell am I going to do tonight???)

Later.