Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving :

What I’m thankful for.

My amazing friends. You know those girls who snag the man of their dreams? Whose faces just glow and their eyes sparkle while they say : “I don’t know how I got so lucky” ? Well that’s honestly how I feel about my friends.
My job. OK, so I complain sometimes but now that I’m busy I’m enjoying it! Plus I’m just glad I have one. Because if I didn’t I’d still have a midnight curfew. Haha. But in all seriousness with an income I’ve been able to establish more independence than I’ve ever had before in my life; it’s very liberating.
Milo. It’s impossible to verbalize how the daily presence of an innocent creature adds happiness to your life, but it does. It’s non-stop entertainment.
My roommates. We’re all so different from each other. We’ve got the free spirit/hippie, the conservative organized one, and then me, who I guess is smack-dab in the middle of that somewhere. But we have yet to get sick of each other and have all agreed it will probably never happen. We are “those girls” who annoy people because we live with each other but hang out mostly with each other even in a room full of 50 people and laugh at things nobody else would think is funny. Plus I’ve never met girls who like eating as much as I do.
My apartment. Because it’s such a positive environment, I feel like regardless of life circumstances I’m always happy while I’m there. No matter how stressful the day or night walking into the front door of my apartment is like breathing a sigh of relief.

And now for the smaller, less important but fun stuff:

Hen House lunch menu: Seriously, where else can you get fresh soup or salad for under $5? If you’re looking for healthy, fresh and cheap this is the place to go. It’s saved me many dollars and a pounds.
My gym: Which, is actually, to clarify, a community center in Mission. It’s a big cedar lodge complete with every workout machine you can imagine, a pool, hot tub, water slide, lazy river and a hot tub and sauna (which I use every day to relieve any post-workout knots.) Not only is it a fun family-oriented environment but it’s $25 a month. Can you believe that? Neither can I . . .
Caffeine: because without this little invention I have no clue how I would get through my workdays.
Quick Trip: If you can ignore the crowded parking lot and the interesting characters that frequent its facilities this place is genius. There’s no way to make a faster or cheaper food or gas run, complete with a friendly staff that says “See you later!” each time you leave. I’m lucky enough to have Quick trips near my apartment and my workplace.
Quick Trip Kitchens: This deserves its own category. If you haven’t had a Quick Trip donut you haven’t lived. The advertisements about fresh food aren’t lying; my roomies and I had the privilege of trying fresh warm donuts straight from the Quick Trip Kitchens truck as it was unloading one lucky Saturday night at 3am. Our taxi driver was extremely impressed.
The plaza lights: The plaza is one of my favorite places in Kansas City and this added perk will just make it ten times better.
My free time: I’ve learned to cherish the fact that work stays at work and then I have every afternoon and weekend to do whatever I want. The accounting class I have to take next semester is looming over my head like a giant thundercloud because it will put an end to this relaxing freedom.
Shark Bar: is the shiznit. I’m not the biggest fan of Power and Light or its many obnoxious regulars but I haven’t had a bad night at Shark Bar yet. If you are looking for a place that plays tasteful (read: 80s and 90s) music that you can dance to and just have a blast this is your place.
Blue Bunny family-sized ice cream buckets: If you like this delicious dairy delight as much as I do there’s no better way to save money. If you have room in your freezer, that is.
Satellite radio: It’s like Christmas for compulsive channel changers like myself. 115 stations with everything from hip hop to show tunes to add onto the AM/FM stations I’ve already got programmed into my car. The catch? My free subscription expires December 1st. FML. I’ve already started burning some CDs to make this transition a little easier.
TV shows: I’m sure any of you working folk can relate to this one. When nothing too exciting is happening in your life, no happy hours are scheduled and your two roomies are being study bugs sometimes having a TV show to look forward to in the evenings can be the highlight of your day. My all-time favorite is Grey’s.
Mission, KS: It’s close to everything. By this I mean it’s an 8 minute hop to either downtown, Brookside, Westport, the plaza, my work, and KU med (which I will hopefully go to next year) . But it’s far enough away to be safe. I also mean this in a second sense, as in from my apartment it’s about 2 minutes to the grocery store, gas station, post office, gym, hair salon, every fast food place, ect. I could literally walk anywhere if I wanted to.
Lunch breaks: I look forward to them every day. And I’m going to leave because I’m about to go take mine now.

That’s it for my random ramblings of the day; hope everybody has a great Turkey Day!

Nerd Alert.

Right smack-dab in the middle of my whirlwind of a busy work week I had a startling realization about myself: Writing is more than my hobby, it’s my stress outlet.

I didn’t fully realize this until work started getting busy. The more stressful the day the more my fingers crave to fly on the keyboard. Mind you, not even to ventilate about work, just to write. Whether it be about general ideas/lessons/realizations relevant to concurrent situations in my life or topics as pointless and unexciting as “fortune cookies” (see entry below).
Nerdy? Maybe a little bit.

Why writing?

It challenges me to see the “bigger picture”.
Because I’m strongly averse to revealing my life details to the entire cyber world, I’m forced to think about my situations as lessons, ideas, realizations and generalizations that I wouldn’t mind the public seeing. In the process I end up learning my own lessons.

It gives me an outlet.
Pardon my language, but I’m fully aware of the fact that half the things I write about on here, nobody gives a shit about. My brain works about ten miles per minute and I have to have somewhere to put my pensive musings about life. Better on here than talking somebody’s ears off.

It’s forces me to be creative instead of complain.
For example: I would love to rant about my job I know that’s a huge no no. Using Face book to metaphorically describe how most newly-employed grads are just as bored at their jobs as I am I is a much more socially acceptable, job-saving, non-whiney way to portray this.

Which brings me to my next favorite hobby: Reading great writing. Especially writing that uses humor to describe everyday aspects of life. Writing that candidly puts it all out there on the table. We all are thinking it, but that person has the balls to actually say something about it. It’s refreshing, relatable, funny and usually true.

tickledbylife.com is one of them.
Stuffwhitepeoplelike.com (honestly, the person who wrote this is brilliant)

2 examples to check out on a rainy or boring day!

Til next time!

Fortune Cookies.

I used to be the girl who chucked my fortune cookies straight into the trashcan, or handed them off to a willing friend. Fact of the matter is, I didn’t like the taste of the unique wafers nor did I believe a word on the flimsy pieces of Panda Express paper.

Now reading fortune cookies brings a little highlight to my workday. Granted I don’t get Chinese food very often but when I do it’s an added perk. In fact, I have a section in my desk drawer where I save them all.

Todays: “Be Daring. Try Something New.”

I am going out tonight. So we’ll see what happens!

OK I’m kidding a little bit. Honestly, I think what I get most out of fortune cookies are just little one-liners of inspiration for the day. Think about it. Who gets a debby-downer fortune cookie? If they started making those then that would defeat the purpose and piss people off.

This brings me to my next newest addiction: Horoscopes. This was an initial hard-sell for me. My roommate and friends would start sending me forwards of my daily horoscopes and I honestly wouldn't even look at them. Until work got really, really boring. Like I said, it's amazing what you'll find yourself doing with 40 spare hours in a cubicle (although it's definitely no longer like that).

Then I realized how strikingly relevant the horoscopes were to my life. Do I plan my life according to what my celestial forecast has to say? Heck no. But I do subscribe to a daily horoscope e-mail sent to my phone. Because sometimes it's fun to see how a horoscope's words of wisdom align with my daily life. I'd be interested to hear who does the same.

I swear the longer I'm in the "real world" the more easily-amused I become.

College.

Ironic: I don’t think I understood the full impact of college until I got out of it.

The realization actually hit me at 2:30 am this past Friday morning when I was in town for the KU/ K-State game.

I was snuggled up on a friend’s loveseat, thrilled about the fact that scoring a couch meant a less exhaustion for following day’s tailgating shenanigans. I was just about to slip off into a slumber when the banging began. Then the laughing. The doorbell. It sounded like there were people outside trying their hardest to get in. I say trying their hardest because it took them about 20 tries to punch in the proper door code. I’m pretty sure somebody actually fell down trying.
I held my breath.

Please don’t get it. Please forget. Please just pass out on the doorstep. Go next door!

Dangit. Apparently their intoxication levels weren’t high enough to completely prevent entrance. As feet came thundering in I heard the words I was dreading the entire time:
“AFTER HOURS!”

…

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

The tailgating begins at 8 am tomorrow morning and you want to do after hours!?
Even better: I managed to have staked my claim on the couch directly above the sub system downstairs. I may as well have just partaken in the festivities myself.

Instead I settled for listening to the intense conversation taking place on the top of the stairs. At first the banter was harmless but my ears perked up at this:
“Stoooooop!” I heard a whiney mouse-like voice say.
“Why should I ?” I heard a guy say, forcing his voice to drip with a deep (and if I do say so myself, failed) sexiness.
At this point curiosity killed me and I craned my neck to size this guy up.
Skinny, spiked hair, collared shirt, sunglasses (??REALLY?) , crocodile on the left breast pocket. Yep . Most likely a sophomore frat boy.
“Because!” the girl cooed, trying her hardest to stand up straight, “I have a boyfriend!”
And that’s where my eavesdropping stopped.
“EXCUSE ME!” I intervened. The girl seemed so startled she about took a straight tumble down the stairs. “Does one of you live here??”
“Yeah I do.” The guy said.
“How old are you??”
“A sophomore”. (a HA! I was right).

** Side note: why freshmen and sophomores who can’t even go to Aggieville need “after hours” is beyond me. If you guys can figure that one out, let me know.**

“Well just to let you know there are about 4 of us sleeping up here. We’re friends with your older roommates.”
That’s about all I said. As long as that chick didn’t cheat on her boyfriend I didn’t care much. After all, it is college. Let them have their fun.

One hour later, the sub music ceased.

Two hours later (This is now 6 am in the morning) the party resumed. Atleast they were our friends this time around. Due to my comatose state I can’t describe exactly what I saw to you, but I do remember watching a bunch of dudes parading around in a line clanging pots and pans, hearing Irish bagpipe music shake the entire house, and hearing the words “A screwdriver to start off the morning!”

It was that moment exactly when the epitome hit me.

How did I ever used to be able to do this??

Granted, no matter how gung-ho I was in college I never made it to after hours before an early morning tailgate, and “early” for me meant 8 am, not the crack of dawn. In fact, for most early morning games I hit the hay at midnight the previous night.

I guess that’s also a big difference between girls and guys. Watching guys get ready for games is probably one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. They are like little kids anxiously waiting to go see what Santa brought them Christmas morning. The beer, the music, the food, the drinking, the “spiritwear” so to speak.
But that’s a whole other story.

So the tailgating began, we had a great day, and then the sleepiness started to set in. Luckily, we found another friend with an abundance fluffy couches to take our naps on.
Sweet.
Until half an hour later when about 15 people paraded in, turned on the music and began playing drinking games.
Well, there went that. Apparently a nap was not in the cards for us. If you can’t beat them, join them. (Although luckily I got to go visit a friend in Junction City instead.)


Don’t ask me how I survived an entire night at the bars afterward and still managed to have fun, because I don’t know. And just for the record, the whole weekend was a total blast and I’d do it all over again!

But I do know that it took me atleast 4 days of napping and chugging water to feel normal again. I literally had to strain my brain at work and double check everything I did because I was positive it wouldn’t be able to fully function after a weekend like that.

And to think that I used to be able to do this in college, wake up go to class, work, take tests, ect by Monday...

Drunk Texts

Drunk texting. If you aren't guilty of it, chances are you know somebody who is .

Check out this article = ) :

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/the-iphone-gets-a-new-weapon-in-the-war-on-drunk-dials/


I see this as three things.

1.) Hilarious. Seriously. I laughed outloud when I read it.

2.) Relevant.
Why else would "textsfromlastnight.com" become an instant hit? I think we can all relate to this situation to some extent. Sometimes all it takes is a single drink to convince us that texting an ex, a crush, or whomever is a wonderful idea.

If we haven't already experienced what I like to call a gigantic "texting fail" that we cringe at the next morning, we've atleast had to exert some serious self control to stop ourselves from doing so. All of us have at some point atleast been on the recieving end. My roomies and I last year had a great time swapping "texting fail" stories if we ever had any. Drunk dial fails too. (It's pretty funny, when it isn't happening to you!) If you haven't experienced either, well then congratulations; you're probably the minority = ) .

3.) Pathetic. Because no matter how useful or funny it is, is this what our world has really come to? Is it sad that most of us can read that article and immediately apply it to our lives or people we know and understand why this application might actually be useful? (no matter how hilarious it is).

Alcohol + keypad = trouble!

Way to go Apple for realizing that!

Responsibility.

Ironic:
Last week I was writing about how my midday boredom leads to face book usage.
This week I have so much to do I barely have time to go get lunch.

Don’t get me wrong; this drastic change is definitely a positive one.
Yesterday was a mile marker in my “Big Girl Job” world. For the first time, I was given a big responsibility.

My job? To take over the most high-maintenance sales rep team we’ve got here. Their team and accounts right now are in such a state of mess that I am not sure this is a compliment or a way to get me fired. I’m hoping it’s the first option.

Obviously I can’t go into detail on here. But I can say this. By 5:00 yesterday afternoon all I wanted to do was get an enormous amount of food, a large glass of wine and pass out.

Goodbye face book, goodbye day long g-chats with Emily = ) , good bye texting all day, good bye long essay-like blog posts. And good riddance. I won’t miss those days. About time I got paid be productive and do something with my life.

Now let’s just hope I survive it!

Til next time!