This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

It’s also my last day of working from home.  I thought I should do something I wouldn’t be able to do in the downtown office, but all I can think of is 1) Take a nap, which is a habit I don’t want to get used to again or 2) Go to the post office up the street, which is really boring.  I guess I’ll just snuggle and pet the kitties as much as I can.

So, I’m sorely disappointed with the lack of interest in Halloween from people across the interwebs and in day to day life.  It seems a lot of people I know are too poor, too depressed, too tired/stressed, or just “don’t like dressing up.”  I’m even finding that more and more people aren’t bothering to take their kids out!  I feel like a freak of mega proportions for still getting giddy like a kid about Halloween.  I remember my Dad dressing up in this frightening Vader-esque alien costume every year to pass out candy. EVERY YEAR.  Alright, I get a bit of my perpetual childhood from my dad. I’ve also, as I’ve mentioned in past years, NEVER had a Halloween without someplace to go or something to do–from trick or treating to parties when I was old enough for those.   Did I have a point?  I think it was that even if I was taking my own kids out or passing out candy, I’d dress up.  If I had a house or just a bigger space, I would host a most kick-ass Halloween party. It’s just hard to mill about in costumes and decorations in a little one-bedroom apartment.

Ala’ Kilax, I have a Friday question(s) for you!  Are you indifferent to Halloween, or excited?  Are you dressing up?  Going out or staying in?  Gorging on tiny snack-size chocolates or what?

Zen Is Not In My Genes

I’ve been a *tiny* bit frazzled the last couple weeks.  Preparing to overhaul your entire daily routine can do that to a person, I suspect.  So, I’ve been trying to find calming rituals and solutions to make the transition, along with the beginning of the holiday season, easier for me (and those around me).
The thing is?  Calm is not in my nature.  It’s not even in my DNA.  I’m part Italian and part Hungarian.  You know who else is Hungarian?  Bela Karolyi*.  ‘Nuff said.  (the other parts are Russian, Czech, and misc. British–I think the mellow little British genes got totally overpowered by the others)
I like to think of myself (and Bela, and my people) as passionate.  Passionate is not a bad thing.  It (hopefully) makes me fun, interesting, exuberant, and driven.  It’s not something I would trade for the world–I wouldn’t be ME without it.
But I could stand to turn my brain off once in awhile.  One of the times I was home this summer, my cousin was lamenting to me that he just couldn’t get his brain to stop going at times, and it was making him a little crazy.   I suggested he try playing more golf and spending less time reading stuff on the internet and that’s about all I could offer.  Heh.  I don’t play golf, but maybe I could work on the second one.
So, less thinking & less passion?  Don’t come natural to me.  But hopefully I can temper it here and there with zen-like habits.

*I tried to find a YouTube video of one of his olympic interviews from this summer to demonstrate my point with disappointingly no success.

Political Debate: Thunderdome

Last night I came up with a great idea.
E. and I were talking over dinner about two people we know.  One is a friend of mine who identified herself at a young age as a Communist, served in the Peace Corps, and has always worked in nonprofit.  The other is from his circle, and she is on the opposite end of the spectrum entirely.  She thinks anyone who runs for President should have had military service, participates in leading her church youth group despite having had an extramarital affair, and we have reason to believe she thinks all gays are inherently evil.
So.  I conjectured what it would be like to throw those two in a room together, and E. took it to the next level by suggesting something of Thunderdome proportions.  Two women enter, one woman leaves! (I’m placing bets on my friend)
Of course you know where this is going, right?  I fully expect my political Thunderdome to be built in time for the 2013 election. Two candidates enter, one candidate leaves!  We could have separate Thunderdomes for the VP candidates and we might actually end up with a mixed ticket! Imagine!
Plus I figure it’s pretty hard to bullshit your way out of Thunderdome.
Really, is it that much worse than what has become of politics and government in America?  At least it would make for a speedy and tremendously entertaining decision. (And think how great the clips on The Daily Show would be!)

Not That You Asked…

That damn “6/7 random/weird/quirky things” meme is going around again.  Hasn’t just about everyone completed that by now?
Well, I don’t have 6 or 7 things but some things have been on my mind lately that I think will make me borderline certifiable.

1.  I am actually really uneasy about the election next week, but not in the way most other people are.  My mom reminded me that this election could swing Chicago into chaos of “Cubs Win the World Series” proportions.  If Obama wins–parties in the streets.  If he doesn’t–rioting in the streets.  I am seriously thinking I will come straight home from work and hide out in my house for 2 days.  Despite the fact I am now enamoured with the idea of writing in Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

2.  I made progress on buying Christmas presents, and I am itching to buy cards soon.  This is actually a little late for my standard shopping schedule.  Eek!  But I have gotten a lot done already.  I wonder when/if the day will ever come that I don’t lookat the holidays as a time to check as many things off my to-do list as possible in a short amount of time and get it all over with.

3.  I have developed seriously bad shopping juju!! This is sad.  I thought maybe the Kohl’s experience was because I didn’t have my lucky shopping buddy, H., along.  But last night we went to Target and I STILL could not find anything I wanted clothing-wise.  In fact, only about 50% of my shopping list got check off at all.  Boo.  However I came home and ordered the following from Newport News:

(sweater)

and

Here’s hoping I don’t have to send either of them back…

ETA:  Dorkathlon Event #10, the final event, is up at Elizabeth’s place!

Believe It or Not, I’m Excited…

I’m actually getting excited about working in the office again.  I am very much a social creature, and while the kitties have been good company and the freedom the last 3 years have provided me has been awesome, it’s just not the same as the energy I get from being around other people.
Also?  Free Starbucks coffee!
Also?  Free gym!

But the thing I am looking forward to most of all?  Sweet jeebus, someone will be getting paid to take my trash out every day. YES.

More Good Than Bad

Just to get it out of the way–I had a rather bad gallbladder attack on Saturday night.  It sucked, I was in a lot of pain.  Instead of going to Dave & Buster’s, I took a Vicodin and passed out early.  I also had a lot of “really good ideas” while on the Vicodin, which oddly enough (sarcasm) I can’t remember today.  I spoke to my doctor and was advised to take pain pills as needed and keep to a bland diet.  It worked–no pain today.  But I’m still wondering if this is going to be a regular thing to deal with now?  In fairness, I ate sushi, mysterious cookies*, a cupcake and later spaghetti for dinner, so it’s not a wonder.  I don’t normally eat like that, but are cheat days now out of the question?
Well anyway.  On to the good stuff.   The spa experience was WONDERFUL.  I have wanted a rain shower since the first time I ever experienced one.  But for the first time I got to experience a rain shower with wet sauna all in one.  Oh my!  We started the visit with the two of us packed in a tiny dry sauna in our robes, then we nibbled on mysterious cookies* until it was time for our massages.  The style was a form of meridian massage, which I was not used to or expecting.  I found it a bit rough, but it might have just been the guy who worked on me.  E. had a great experience.  Overall, though, I did feel better when all was said and done, so the experience still gets a hearty thumbs up.   We were totally relaxed and melty afterwards and I think both of us could have just spent the whole rest of the day doing the rain shower/sauna thing.
Once I was up and around today and coming out of a Vicodin haze, we opted to go to Kohl’s so that we could both look for work clothes.  On the way we stopped in Roscoe Village, where the street was partly blocked off and the shops were doing Trick or Treat.  We ate at a restaurant we’d never been before and I got to coo over little ones dressed like bears, tigers, bunnies, and other assorted cute fuzzy things.  I had a delicious cranberry, apple and chicken salad while E. got a burger covered with chili, chopped jalapenos, and cheese…plus french fries on the side.  Quite frankly, I’m surprised I didn’t have a gallbladder attack just typing that.
Kohl’s was sort of a bust–I only found one shirt I liked at all (E. got 3 pairs of pants).  I did buy two pairs of earrings and somehow enough pairs of socks to run my bill up to $60.00.  That’s a lot of socks!  But, you know, I can’t exactly wear my fuzzy argyle socks into the office…so it goes.  Even socks have to be professional.  Eesh.
Overall I am feeling better and happy but tired.  So I think I am going to hit the hay early so that I can start getting in the routine sooner vs. later of waking up before 7:30am…I know, life is hard, right?

*The cookies were packaged in plastic with a random unrelated picture (flowers, maybe?) and Korean writing on the outside.  So we have no idea what kind of cookies they were but they were really yummy.  We started calling them mystery cookies and of course had to break into, “Mmmmmm….mystery cookies” which caused us to giggle uncontrollably.  I’m slightly surprised we weren’t asked to leave…;)

Life Always Looks Better on Saturday

Alright, my last entry may have been a *wee* bit overdramatic, I confess.  But honestly, after I got over the initial relief re: my gallstone, I was still uneasy about the fact the stupid thing is tumbling around inside me and if it gets stuck or makes new friends in my gallbladder, I WILL need to have surgery.  (and it still acts up when I go running, not surprisingly, which is a pain–literally)
Surgery itself doesn’t scare me, I’ve had it before, specifically of the laproscopic variety.  But it freaked me out to be thinking about it in light of the move into our office downtown.
And the move into the office downtown isn’t scary–after all, I’ve been here almost 3 years now, plus 6 months I consulted before, it’s not like I don’t know anyone.  But I will be more visible and that brings all kinds of concerns, most notably, what if people find out how weird I really am? (and an irrational fear that I will struggle to adjust to my new routine, which is silly, considering I’ve spent more time in an office in my lifetime than working from home)
Also due to some things happening in the organization that of course I can’t talk about this could end up being an opportunity for me.  Just being more visible and *potentially* working on some broader projects than what I’ve been doing is a little nerve-wracking when I’ve been comfortably toodling along doing the same thing day in and day out.  Granted, I complained to E. that I needed a change or a challenge and I got exactly that.  It will be good, it really will.  But change is scary to humans.  (and kitties too)
Plus, at the end of the day eventually one of my supervisors will move on and assuming I’m still around, it would just make sense for me to be poised to take on that role.  That’s something that’s always going to be floating around in my head.  (I really have been buckling down on the PHR and plan to take it in early January)
And unrelated to any of this I had a profound ache in my heart for time I feel I lost with my friends this year.  Much of it was out of my control, but some of it was totally within my control.  Last night S. and I rocked out to Guitar Hero until the storm shortcircuited the Xbox, and we resorted to watching bad Friday night cable.  It’s been too long since S. and I were able to hang together, just she and me, without either of us stressing over something terrible.
E. and I are getting a couples massage (don’t be gross, it just means we’ll be massaged side by side at the spa!) today and going to Dave & Buster’s tonight to send a mutual friend off to Arizona.  More perfect remedies to everything I’ve been in my head about.   I’m feeling hopeful today.

Antidote

This week I have been so far up in my head I seriously feared I would get lost in there. I blame Scrabble. Yup. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact I started this week thrilled with life and ended it scared shitless about stuff that transpired this week and stuff in the months ahead.
So!
Here are some favorite ways I got out of my head…at least a little…
1. I listened to some music I hadn’t listened to in a very long time and forgot I liked. And by listened, I mean the good old fashioned headphones-on, listening on the train and while walking around town kind of musical immersion. It was good. I need to remember to do that more–but safely.
2. I shopped! I bought this cute sweater for work at Urban Outfitters:

3. I also bought this:

Except the one I bought is not a tiny ornament, it is a medium sized plush Snow Kitty.
*ahem*
I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for the holidays.

Date from Hell

There’s been a meme going around about your worst date. I saw it over at Dave’s and at Snackie’s, too. I don’t know if this is my worst date EVAH, but it definitely makes the list.
Some of you may know that E. and I met at a speed dating event. Yes, it’s true! I had recently gotten out of a crappy relationship and was just starting to dip my toes in the dating pool again.
If you’re not familiar with how speed dating works, you sit at a table and rotate dates every 8 minutes or so. You get a score card, and circle the folks you’d like to see again. When your “yes” matches another person’s “yes” you get an e-mail notification after the event that you’ve matched.
So, all told I ended up with three matches (E. being the one I was most excited about…awwww…). One was a guy who works as an editor for a newspaper, one was a guy who worked in IT and made music on the side, and of course there was E. I figured the wise thing would be to explore all my options, even though I was pretty sure E. was the best match. (again–awwwww)
Newspaper guy took me to a hockey game, which was pretty fabulous. I love watching hockey and have a hard time finding people who actually want to go to games!* The first half hour or so (on the bus, to the hockey arena) was pretty normal. But once we sat down, things got weird. My date started asking me all these controversial questions about my religion, whether or not I eat meat, my political leanings and so forth. I guess he wanted to get all of the big stuff out of the way, but it was really off-putting in the first few minutes of a date!
The game was great, but I was getting increasingly uncomfortable with my date. At one point he patted my head affectionately (no! no patting permitted on first date!) and said, “You have really pretty hair.” Um, yeah. My date had turned into a caveman.
On the bus ride back to our neighborhood, my date continued to pat and stroke my hair and remark on how soft and pretty it was. Which was weird. And I should have told him to stop, but really, all I was thinking was that I wanted to get to my stop ASAP and go home. He did invite me to join him for dinner, but I did my best to make up a bunch of excuses about work things I had to do (which, at that point in time, was probably really true).
I think he called a few days later and I just never called him back. I’ve seen him once since then getting off the train, and he chose to ignore me. Which is perfectly fine. At least he didn’t reach out and pat my hair.

*Keep reminding me to schedule an outing this year! I am wayyy overdue!

Hooray!

Just talked to my doc–good news! The problem in my gallbladder is a polyp/stone combination, but it’s so tiny he feels it would be overkill to go in after it. Pretty much, I should be able to function as usual, but if the pain gets worse I’m supposed to give him a call.
He asked me how I was feeling today, and I’m a bit tender, but then, I had 4 different people poking at my tender abdomen and that’s probably to be expected.
In a nutshell, life goes on as usual until something new transpires.

ETA: Speaking of bodily functions, my embarrassing story for Dorkathlon Event 9 is up at Elizabeth’s Blog…