Manic Monday #200

Yes, I know it's Tuesday...well, almost Wednesday, truth be told. So sue me.



What's your least favorite word? These days, it's 'economy'.

Where do you go when you need really good advice? Mary Alice, the West Coast Angel, Himself, my sisters, and/or Jean Jean the Office Queen. Each has a unique perspective and each is invaluable to me. I love you, man!

If you could participate in any winter Olympic sport, what would it be? I was going to say women's singles figure skating but I think pairs would be more fun. Pretty, sparkly costumes, a trim, strong body, and getting spun into the air by a handsome, strong young man - sounds like a 10 to me! (Or an 86.09...I do not understand the current scoring system.) I also think any of the skiing events - with the huge exception of moguls - would be thrilling. I love to watch short track speed skating but it would be scary...and my thighs are already big enough, thankyouverymuch.

Ah, love

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are some of my favorite romantic movie lines. Share one with someone you love.

Thornton: Well, some things a man doesn't get over so easy.
Mary Kate Danaher: Like what, supposin'?
Thornton: Like the sight of a girl coming through the fields with the sun on her hair... kneeling in church with a face like a saint...
- The Quiet Man

Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you.
- Dirty Dancing

I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are.
- Bridget Jones’s Diary

Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there...
- An Affair to Remember

I love that you get cold when it's seventy degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend a day with you I can still smell your perfume on my clothes, and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.
- When Harry Met Sally

I would rather fight with you than make love to anyone else.
- The Wedding Date

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet…I mean, what does any one life mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things…all of it, all the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.’
- Shall We Dance?

I love him and I don’t care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is.
- Jerry McGuire

Anna Scott: Can I stay for a while?
William: You can stay forever.
- Notting Hill

On the other hand...

I didn't sleep well and woke up with a headache that decided to stick around. On the other hand, one boss is sick today, the other one is taking a furlough day, so the office will be quiet.

Coworker #1 has already turned on her beloved new age piano "music" which is like Chinese water torture to me. On the other hand, I'd rather listen to the new age crap than Coworker #2's choice of "jazz lite."

It's overcast again, dreary and depressing. On the other hand, it's not icy or snowing.

I'm tired and grumpy and not at all motivated to work today. On the other hand, I have a job, it's Friday, and I have some fun plans this weekend.

What's on your other hand?

Tuesday's Child Is Full of Grace

45.

Forty. Five.

Me.

Today.

It’s is my birthday. I was born at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9, 1965, in Abilene, Texas, the first child of an Air Force captain anesthetist and his homemaker wife.

How is it possible that I am 45? I don’t feel 45. I still feel 17 – hopeful, confused, simultaneously proud and embarrassed of myself, awkward and graceful by turns, and still trying to figure out what/who I want to be when I grow up.

I am, however, much wiser than that 17-year-old girl was. I have learned to trust the people who earn it and to let go of the people who abuse my trust. I have cried oceans of tears over events trivial and earth-shattering and I have learned that no matter how crushing a sorrow is, it will pass. I know what real love is and how, like the Grinch, my heart will always expand to make room for more. I recognize what is good for me and what I cannot seem to resist (chocolate chip cookies, I’m talking to you). I accept my body as it is even as I work to re-mold it into a healthier shape. I cherish the different loves in my life – my parents, my sisters, my nieces and nephew, Mary Alice, Himself (yes, still part of the landscape), West Coast Angel, my church family – and marvel at how each love feels different in the giving and receiving and how each adds precious texture and depth and joy to my life. I am constantly learning and re-learning that there are things I can change and things I must simply accept – and constantly striving to change boldly or accept gracefully.

I am grateful for all that I have.

I like who I am.

But.

I am dissatisfied with my life. It doesn’t resemble the life I want in any way. The life I want includes happy marriage, raising children, and satisfying work in a profession/job that challenges me and provides an income that does more than barely pay the bills. The life I have is single and sometimes lonely, childless, and while my work is relatively enjoyable and challenging, it does not feed my soul and doesn’t allow me financial peace of mind. Without a bachelor’s degree, I am at a sort of dead end.

I don’t have any control over love/marriage or children – that’s God’s territory – but I can redirect my career. And so

THIS IS THE YEAR THAT I CHANGE MY LIFE

I will:

1. Get a part-time job and save the money I earn. – I am working on this. I hope to start a second job this month.
2. Decide where I want to go back to college.
3. Quit my job and move to that place, hopefully by late summer.
4. Either start school in Fall 2010 or, if I need to establish residency in another state, get a full-time job and work for a year.
5. Go to school full-time, probably while working part-time, for the next 3-5 years.
6. Graduate and get a job as an event planner for a professional association or corporation.

I feel…well, I feel convicted. This plan feels good and true. I know it will be nerve-wracking and I know it will not be easy and I know it will take time, and I need to be patient with that, but it feels RIGHT. I am gathering information, making lists and plans, checking in with my trusted confidantes to make sure I am doing everything with the right motivation.

Today, the day I start a new year, I also start a new life. I don’t know where this new life will take me but, as I heard recently, I “don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step.” I will take each step as it appears and hope that I will move ever boldly, ever gracefully forward.

Snow Plow Stories

I saw this outside Target this morning:

My theory is that the car's owner is an employee of one of the stores nearby. The owner angered the snow plow driver because:

a - she, a David's Bridal employee, jilted him in favor of the Radio Shack manager because he works more predictible hours. Not to mention earns a bigger paycheck, which probably means he will take her to Red Lobster instead of Steak n' Shake for their first date.

b - she, a Dots employee, turned him down when he asked her out, and not in a nice way. Those Dots girls can be a little rough. When she discovered her car buried in snow, she called her brothers. The snow plow driver won't explain the new limp and broken nose to his coworkers.

c - he, the Radio Shack manager, dissed the snow plow, calling it a Tonka truck when the snow plow driver came into the store to buy a universal television remote. He's been feeling a little too big for his britches ever since he was promoted and Miss David's Bridal finally accepted his dinner invitation. He drives a primer-painted 1988 Plymouth Sundance that he plans to get repainted now that he is manager. It will be expensive so he hopes Miss David's Bridal won't mind when he takes her to Steak n' Shake for their first date.

d - she, a coed from the local university, cut him off while she was texting and driving. Ironically, she was texting her friends to tell them to take the Oprah No Phone Zone pledge. She regretted her actions as soon as she emerged from Target, where she purchased a Valentine card that will prove to be a horrible mistake. She doesn't know yet that she will never wear the Dyeables shoes she ordered from David's Bridal that exactly match her dress for the sorority house Valentine formal.

What's your theory?