"Summer time, Summer time, Sum- Sum- Summertime"

I can't wait for summer. I'm so excited that the weather is getting better, and especially excited that it's going to be 80 degrees on Friday. I never thought I'd say this but "YAY for Santa Ana's." I REALLY appreciate sunshine and being outside now more than ever. Five years of working for Corporate America has meant over 10,000 hours of indoor time under artificial light. Ick. I miss walking outside between classes and lounging on grassy knolls during breaks. Well, actually, I miss the vacations the most, and the flexibility of a student lifestyle (e.g. "I don't feel like going to class today...maybe I just won't").

I'm going to live this summer to its fullest. I'm going to be outside as much as I can and spend lots of time by large, swimmable bodies of water with an umbrella-and-fruit-adorned drink in hand.

Last night I finished watching the movie Troy. I thought it was really horrible. While I do find Brad Pitt attractive and previously had a neutral opinion about his acting ability, I have changed my mind on both those fronts slightly. I thought he was less attractive in this movie (by "less" I mean I would still totally do him, but just that he slid down a teen tiny notch on my scale...He is no longer at a Legends of the Fall level), and I thought his acting was horrible. I felt no sympathy for his character and his struggles. I personally feel no compulsion towards wanting to make my name immortal, and the movie did little to make me understand why that was a big deal for Mr. Achilles. I also felt no emotion towards his little affair with the Trojan woman. Yeah, that was cool and all and it had much potential for great movie romance moments--"a Trojan Slave captured by the Spartan army, held prisoner by Achilles and then becoming his lover". What Trojan Priestess wouldn't dig that?--but they didn't build on that relationship enough. It felt very sterile to me. It was more like this:

Trojan Priestess: "Woe is me, I'm innocent and beautiful and was merely worshipping my god when these evil Spartans captured me. And now I'm scared, making me all the more vulnerable and irresistibly beautiful."
Achilles: "I want to be immortal, and that justifies me fighting this horrible war for a king I hate. You're kind of hot though. I'll make sure you're safe."
Trojan Priestess: "But you are on the wrong side and so I should straddle your naked body and slit your throat in the night."
Achilles: "But wouldn't it be better to have hot sex?"
Trojan Priestess: "Yes, let's."

Beyond my opinion of Achilles and his less-than-sordid affair with the Royal Enemy Priestess, I also felt very little sympathy for Paris and his stolen wife Helen. I mean, come on, was she really worth it? Her acting wasn't. The only character I felt some compassion for was Hector. Poor guy had to lead the battles, deal with a father who believed in whatever his priest said about the Gods, and fight his brother's fights for him.

So all in all, I'm disappointed by this movie. I don't mean to be too harsh on it though, it had pretty scenery (Pitt and the ocean) and nice special effects (all those boats and same Matrix-esque jumping with swords). I guess I'm just so disappointed because I love period movies and historical fiction. I think they focused too much on Hollywood big-budget details and less time developing the plot.

Hey look at that? A movie review. Siskel and Ebert would be proud.

If only he were different

So it feels like forever since I've posted anything on here! I feel like a very, very bad blog owner....but it's just that nothing really funny or inspiring happened for a couple of days, and I felt overwhelmed about finding something to share with all five of my readers. As the days wore on, I felt more guilty and more stressed about what to share. At some point it felt better to just ignore the blog entirely. But after spending some quality time with Y on Saturday night, I felt ready to face the blog again. You know, get back on the proverbial horse.

If I was inspired to post again on Saturday night, you may be wondering why it's taken me so long to actually get to posting. The delay, I'm afraid, is because of work and life. It just kept me too busy to get to this. So even though I'm back on the horse (I like to straddle things), I'm still faced with the question of what to say. Another significant part of the Saturday night Blog discussion with Y involved making a little list of witty topics we could each address online. Maybe it was because of all the cocktails we had, but we can only remember one such topic now: our respective roommates (and of course Y's "Tale of the Accidental Mullet," which she has already posted on).

Look at that! I've just written two paragraphs about not writing. I feel productive now.

So, I could write about my roommate and our relationship...but that seems like a daunting task. I could write about The DaVinci Code and how I think it's horribly written and contains way too much symbolism and metaphor...but even though I'm not quite done reading it, I'm so over it. I could write about how I am tired of marathon training and feel like a big wimp after my lame 11 miler on Saturday, or about how fat I feel today after this weekend's gluttonous behavior. But instead, I think I'll write about TT, a boy I briefly dated a few years ago.

I met TT through a friend and there has always been a sort of odd chemistry between us--one that draws me to him without any real reason, but one that is not right or strong enough to survive anything significant. The relationship was brief and infuriating, mainly because we both liked each other a lot but TT just didn't know what to do about that. That sounds sort of lame, right? Well, there's no double meaning there. I mean just that, he didn't know what to do. I never really understood this even after long conversations about it. But here's the gist of the problem: he has ADD, his heart had just been broken, he was broke (literally...no checking accounts and no credit cards. He would get his paycheck cashed at one of those paycheck cashing places), he lived with his over-protective sister and spent a lot of time with his over-protective mother (who I had the privilege of traveling to Mexico with once...it's a very odd story and worthy of another blog entry), and he was terribly unconfident because of all of this. So it never went anywhere because he couldn't decide how to act, and I couldn't deal with someone who couldn't decide anything.

The funny thing is that he still holds some "weight" with me. By "weight", I mean that he makes a bigger impact on me than others. He shakes me up more. I guess this is true with all exes...it's just strange that someone whom I no longer have feelings for and no longer think about can affect me more than other people. As time goes on he becomes a smaller part of me, and I forget more about why I liked him. But on days like today when I get an email from him out of the blue, all these feelings resurface and that same gravitational pull comes back. I am still feeling pulled towards him, and I don't get that. I feel illogically compelled to call him or write him and find out if his life is more together now. But what point would that serve?

I guess part of me has always thought this is a relationship that could have worked if he were different. And maybe that's why I still have a buried interest in it. But he's not going to be different, and so thinking about him and the possibilities of us are not worth my time. He may have caused the tiniest of the tiny earthquakes in my world today, but tomorrow I'll be balanced again. And a new "earth-mover" will come in and wreak a little havoc.

I need to stop with this earthquake metaphor STAT. I'm starting to write like Dan Brown! HELP!

I'm....so....tired....

I am very, very tired today. I had class last night until 10pm. Since I was up until midnight the night before doing two weeks worth of homework, I wasn't able to work out before work. So, after class I was like, "hey, why don't I just work out now?" I only planned on running for a half hour, so I figured that would mean I'd be home by 11 and in bed by 11:30. Which is normal and good especially since i knew I could sleep in this morning...well, here's what actually happened:
Went to gym and was on the treadmill by 10:15. Finished in under a half hour and went home. Got home at 11:10. Changed, put clothes and work stuff away, decided I would watch some of my TiVo'd shows from the evening. Sat down to watch Survivor (yes, embarassing I know but it's so good!) and then felt hungry. I wanted to eat healthy though so I had a salad. By this time, it's 11:45. After my salad, I felt wide awake so I watched TV until 12:30, did some situps and eventually made it to bed but it took awhile to fall asleep. I am so lame.

So this morning, I did sleep in and woke up at 7:30. My alarm clock went off, I turned it off and promptly fell back asleep waking up a half hour before I had to leave for work. I got ready in record time but was still a little late.

So after all of that, I am tired and ready for more sleep! My sole consolation is that it's Thursday.

Phantom Car Alarms

I adore my apartment. It's adorable, with tons of Victorian features and built-ins. It's bright and spacious and feels like a house. It was built in the 1920's and kept in great condition by the land-lords of the building, who called it home until MC and I moved in. We've been there for almost two years now, so we have had plenty of time to come across and accept all of its quirks, and even with a bathroom light-switch that won't stay on, a perpetually dripping shower faucet, cupboards that just won't stay shut, and a circuit breaker that likes to break, I still love it.

There is only one major thing I do not love about my apartment, and it has more to do with the neighborhood than the apartment itself. This thing I speak of is what I like to call "the phantom car alarm." Yes, somewhere in my great neighborhood, someone owns a car with the world's most sensitive anti-theft device. And by sensitive, I mean that it is virtually incessant. A cat while walk past this vehicle and the alarm will go off. A baby will cry two blocks away and the alarm will sound.

Whenever I hear evidence that the Phantom Car Alarm (PCA) is near, I run to one of my front windows hoping to catch a glimpse of which car this alarm belongs to. I have dreams of writing strongly worded yet letters to it's owner with cordial messages of "turn off that f*cking alarm!" But, because this particular alarm does not seem to make the car's lights flash, it is impossible to find it. That doesn't mean I don't try though...that's almost two years of dropping whatever I'm doing and running to the front windows whenever I hear it, and looking frantically up and down the street in vain until it goes silent. Isn't there a super hero somewhere than can see sound waves? Where is he when I need him?

Well last night, I was reading my philosophy homework in my room when I heard a different kind of car alarm. This car alarm was longer, louder and had different sounds. After the 4th or 5th time it went off (in about 45 minutes), I ran to the front window. But after so many fruitless searches for the PCA I was not expecting to see it. This time, though, I DID find it! It was a red convertible (older, maybe late 90's?) with a white soft top parked right across the street. It's lights flashed and the entire alarm would go into a pattern of random noises for a minute or two whenever something big drove past it. I couldn't believe it! This was not the original PCA! Which meant...[insert dramatic movie music here]...now there are TWO!!!!

Even though this was not the PCA, I was now faced with the opportunity to write a note and get out my aggressions about overly-sensitive car alarms!

But...it was late, and I was tired. I figured I'd give PCA #2 a second chance before barraging it's owner with mean things about his stupid car alarm. Much to my dismay, I was able to fall asleep to the sounds of PCA #2. When I woke up this morning I thought maybe it left sometime in the night. I was wrong though. While walking to my car this morning, I was greeted by PCA#2 going at it again.

(sigh) At least now I know what PCA#2 looks like. Somehow that makes me feel better, and encourages me to keep hunting for PCA #1.

The Research Continues...

I have updates in the CC Saga!

He called last night at around 9pm. Based on previous conclusions about my interest in CC, I didn't pick up. But of course as soon as the message came in I promptly retrieved it. Here is a paraphrase of his message:

"Hi ML, it's CC. I was just going to rent a movie and thought maybe if you weren't doing anything you'd like to join me. Give me a call when you get this. I'm sure I told you this already, but I leave tomorrow on a two and a half week trip to Australia and New Zealand. So if we don't get a chance to talk tonight, I'll call you when I get back. Don't forget me!"

Here are a couple of key observations to note: 1) NO mention of the message I left for him Sunday. 2) NO mention of the fact that we had a tentative date planned on Sunday night, which he seemed to forget about. 3) He was calling me on a work-night (I know, I'm lame) at 9pm to go watch a movie. I am a busy person who barely knows him...like I'm going to drop what I'm doing to drive a half hour away to watch a movie with him. On a Monday night no less. 4) He had not ever mentioned the fact that he was going away for 2.5 weeks. I would have remembered that because I've been to OZ several times and my brother lived there. Had he told me he was going there, I am certain we would have had a conversation about it. 5) When we originally planned Sunday night, and discussed that it might not work out, we talked about going out later in the week. This would have been a perfect time for him to mention that he was not going to be in town. For a long time.

I did not call him back, and I do plan on forgetting him.

If nothing else, I guess CC is really just a small part of my on-going research to understand the male gender. At this point, the results of my 26-year-long experiment are still inconclusive. I'll keep you posted.

For now, I am still the amoeba.

Boys are Very Odd

I am tired today and don't have the energy to try and be funny or witty. This was a crazy weekend...not enough time to do anything. I did manage to get 7 loads of laundry done on Sunday though (don't worry...I'm not so untidy that I had 7 loads of dirty clothes just lying around...I did all the delicates I hold onto until there's enough for a full load, and also washed the throw rugs, the slip covers, the duvet cover, as well as two trips worth of clothing). Enough about laundry though!

Friday night I went out in HB with some friends. It was fun! I met a guy, CC, who seemed cool and very into me and he had all the right stats (height, age, job, place of birth--not So Cal). The attention was nice. He called about 6 times over the course of 24 hours and kept trying to set a date up with me. I told him the only time I had was Sunday evening (and I didn't even have that time to give up...I just gave in because he was so eager to get together right away and kept pestering me about how homework and catching up on life didn't matter). On Saturday afternoon, when we discussed going out on Sunday night, he said he'd call me Sunday morning (he had to dinf out about potential concert plans with friends where a ticket was pending). But then, a few hours later, he called again and left a message about how we needed to figure out when we were going to get together, with no mention of the original plan about trying for Sunday night. I didn't call back because I was exhausted, so I called back Sunday morning around 10am. My message was friendly and relaxed, something to the effect of "let me know if tonight works for you." And then....NOTHING. Nothing all day, nothing since Saturday night.

I just don't get it. He was the one who was SO into getting together right away and then when we finally pick a time, he forgets and/or loses interest?

I am not that sad about not going out with him...It was the flattery that got to me more than him. But this whole "we must date" paired with no communication is just stupid. I don't have the time or the energy for it. It just makes me mad that I was willing to put aside homework and responsibility for this silly, silly boy. In a rage of passive aggression, I deleted his number from my cell phone. That showed him!

Today is a very busy day at work and then our book club meeting is tonight. We read The Dogs of Babel. Interesting and good book. Not my favorite, but good. I am looking forward to tonight...I love book club nights. We've been a club for so long now and have a great system in place--good food, good wine, good conversations, etc. It makes me feel very intellectual too. ; )

Good news: I did some speed work at the track yesterday. I run much faster when I am not aware of my speed. I did 2 miles under 9 minutes (each, not total) without realizing it. This morning, I swam for 45 minutes. I'm gonna get so in shape! I can't wait.

Funny Story: I called my mom yesterday evening. She picked up the phone sobbing. I could tell in her voice sometime was very wrong with just her "hello." My grandma is pretty sick right now and my brother's been dealing with some big issues so it's been a stressful family time lately. So of course, when I hear her sobbing this much I think it's something bad. Real bad. With hust her "hello" I nearly had a heart-attack and had to pull over on the side of the road thinking of the bad things that could make my mother cry so much. When I was finally able to get out of her what happened, through her sobbing she says, "Have you seen Jersey Girl? Did you know the mother dies in the beginning??" I couldn't believe it. When I was finally able to start breathing and driving again, there was a lot of frustrated yelling about how she shouldn't answer the phone during times like this when she's crying that much because of a stupid movie. She felt bad and apologized a lot, and it's funny now but seriously, I couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

Granny Smith, of the Gods

YN: I disagree with you in regards to the Ambrosia apple. While your homage to the apple was inspiring and did entice me to try it, I was disappointed when I did. While the ambrosia apple is tasty, the Granny Smith variety--with its winning combination of both sweet and sour crunchiness--still takes the cake.

I realize that such bold statements may cause an apple "blog-war" of sorts. If this does happen, than so be it. Someone needs to defend Granny Smith in the land of blogs. And a blog-war could be kind of fun...

Maybe I should get your friend M to post the history of the granny smith apple on that other, secret group blog just to even-up the publicity?

he, he, he (insert sounds of evil, dramatic laughter here)

Pina Coladas, Golden Globe Moments and Landon-Lovin

well, I'm finally back to normal life after a crazy, whirlwind week. Not only was it busy with all the traveling and work, and stressful being outside of my normal life routine (in terms of sleep, exercise, diet, etc.) there was also a lot of family drama that has really been weighing me down. I don't want to go into it because it just makes me sad, but in some ways it was really good to be away this week. I got to spend a lot of time either alone or with people who knew very little about me on a personal level which made it easy to forget about everything.

My favorite moment this week: Sitting by the pool reading and drinking a pina colada. It wasn't sunny, so it wasn't a perfect moment, but it was pretty damn close. GOD I LOVE pina coladas. I want to recreate this moment again. That will be the goal of Summer 2005--to have as much time in the sun by some water with a pina colada in hand.

Other notable things:

1) I got to have a "Golden Globe" moment. We won an award and I got to go up to the stage with my 2 co-workers to accept it. The show was being filmed and we were given the award by all the big execs, so there was even the whole cheek-kissing, hand-shaking moment when we got to the stage. The guys wanted me to hold the award and I was so afraid I would drop it! I warned them...I was the only one in heels and I didn't think it was a good idea to put me in charge of walking that long way in front of hundreds of people, going down stairs with something like that! But I managed to not fall and people kept saying I looked nice all night (even my co-workers treated me more like a girl!) so it felt good to look good with an award in hand. I'll probably never get to do that again.

2) It was also fun ordering so much expensive wine after the show. It gave me a lot of clout at the bar and bartenders paid more attention to me because of it. There was even a little argument because during last call I got the last order and all these people were upset because they didn't get their final drink. I guess that's what happens when you're dropping several hundred dollars per bottle of wine and you've gone through a case of them! It was so fun doing this with someone else's money.

3) I think I want a boyfriend, sort of. This is the first time in awhile I've felt that way...BUT I want a GOOD relationship, one that doesn't cause me unnecessary anxiety. This is hard because I worry about so much all the time. So I don't think this is going to happen any time soon. I am too busy anyway and since I don't want to bother with the wrong guys the chances of me finding the right one right now are slim to none. Which is fine. I would rather be happy and single than unhappy in a relationship. Thanks to Mike on that one!

All this came up in a really funny way though...I had a dream I was dating Landon from the Real World Philadelphia, and that he was a great boyfriend! I woke up sad because he wasn't really dating me. Thanks MTV!

I feel cheap, and it's not my fault

So I just experienced something very strange...I'm not quite sure what to call it but I don't like it. I spent all night hanging out with co-workers and one of our buyers. It's important that we build relationships with our buyers (because they buy our products and help ensure our business), so it's very much a "whatever the buyer wants" kind of thing when we hang out. For example, if they want a certain song played when we're at a club, we'll pay whatever amounts of money are needed to have it played. If a buyer likes a certain kind of wine, no matter how much it costs, we'll buy as many bottles of it as he/she wants. Well tonight we spent a lot of time with one buyer in particular. Let's call him KL. I met KL for the first time tonight. He's not my buyer (meaning, he doesn't buy my products at the particular account he works for), but he's a buyer for other products at my company. This means that he was a priority for the VPs I was with. So we spent all night hanging with him, buying him his fancy expensive wine, etc. He seemed to like me. I know this because of certain comments me made throughout the night, but thought it was more of a "I enjoy hanging out with you" kind of thing. The night ended after MANY bottles of wine at 4am. He and I ended up walking out together and he said he'd walk me to my tower (our hotel has many towers). I said okay because I assumed it was just polite. We got to my tower and he got in the elevator with me. I got off the elevator and said "okay, this is my floor" thinking he would leave, but he kept following me. At this point, I started getting kind of scared. I was starting to wonder what his intentions were and if misread my behavior at any point. I was happy to see a house-cleaning staff member in the hall. We approached my room and I said "well, here I am." I turned to him to thank him and say good night and he embraced me and kissed my forehead-cheek area in such a way that I really do think he wanted more. I didn't have eye contact with him and quickly turned to the door, letting myself in and locking it behind me as quickly as possible.

I never felt in danger from KL but I felt really sad and surprised about how I believe he interpreted things between us. He's my father's age! I didn't flirt with him at all, but maybe he misinterpreted my friendly behavior as flirting...Problem is, I was just being nice! It is important for us to be nice and to whine/dine these buyers! I didn't cross a line but I really feel like he thought we were going to do something. And that makes me feel sad and cheap. And a little grossed out...

If the other co-worker I was with (male) was nice, at no point would KL have assumed that he was going to get some from him. But if I'm nice, and it's misinterpreted, I guess it CAN be misinterpreted as sexual interest. And that is unfair.

I have not experienced much negative behavior related to my gender in the past, and definitely nothing I would consider direct, blatant sexual harassment. I'm not saying that I have tonight either, but for the first time ever I felt uncomfortable and as though I were in a compromising situation. And to make matters worse, I wonder if I should say anything?? My first inclination is to not say anything at all. But what if he says something false about what we did together (this has happened to me only once before with someone at this SAME company!).

So, I'm sad, confused and unsure about all this. All I know is it made me very uncomfortable and I think this is all very unfair.

Call Me Mrs. Garcia Bernal

Forgot to mention, I saw (and bought) The Motorcycle Diaries this week. It's fantastic. It feeds a bit of my Cuba obsession--not because it takes place in or has much to do directly with Cuba, but because it's about some of Che Guerva's formative experiences.

And let me just say, Gael García Bernal is HOT in a way I cannot even use words to describe. He was attactive in the movie but check out his photo in People's "Sexiest Men" issue. yum yum.

Only complaint about the movie: It makes me anxious (to get out and see more of the world).

Sincerely,
Mrs. Bernal

Thank You, Herbie

It has been a CRAZY day. I am excited about going to SF tonight, but I get home late-ish Sunday night, only to pack again and leave at the butt-crack of dawn for a 4 day business trip. PLUS, I have homework due next week, so last night and this morning I ran around like crazy packing and making lists of things I need to remember for next week. There are post-it notes everywhere!

Good Stuff about Today (so far): I ran this morning! First time since marathon. Only 2 miles 'cause I was in a hurry. It was supposed to be a slow, easy run but I was so stressed and running so late it ended up being quite fast. But the competitive runner in me was thrilled with that.

Annoying Stuff about Today (so far): Because Herbie, my Latin Fling during my recent Puerto Rican adventure, decided to KEEP MY DRIVERS LICENSE, I got the privelege of spending part of this hectic morning at the DMV. Let's pause now here for a moment of silence to honor the wonderful establishment that is the Department of Motor Vehicles.


(pause)


Okay, enough sarcasm. I hate that place. And even though Herbie rocked my world for about 8 hours with his salsa and merengue (God, I'm easy!) I am mad that he kept my ID. In his defense, he did call me to say he had it, but not until AFTER I left Puerto Rico. He said he'd send it to me but ingnored my text message and phone message giving him my address and asking if he'd please send it soon. Since it's two weeks Post-PR, I assumed the ID is not coming back. Maybe he is keeping it as a souvenir. Maybe he collects IDs from all his women. Maybe it's like his version of a little black book.

Silver Lining: I may not have an ID right now, but at least my name is not Herbie.

EXCITING Stuff about Today (so far): I had a long discussion with HB at lunch about Cuba. I am leaning towards going. More on this later.

Unfortunately, I have no news to report about on the job front.

These posts always become SO long....Thank you to anyone who is still reading this!

Interview!

Last Friday I applied to an advertising position for a web company. I found it on Craig's list, which is sort of random 'cause I never visit Craig's list. They called today and I have a phone interview at 12:30!!! Exciting!

Why I Don't Sleep Well at Night...

Good morning Blog! I went swimming this morning (part of my big SD marathon X-training program) and passed the 50min by thinking about what I was going to post on here. I would like to post something that is funny, clever and interesting, but I've decided to use today's post instead as an opportunity to vent about some major concerns I'm having. These things are causing me a lot of stress, actually, and I think they've been part of the reason I'm not sleeping very well lately.

The crux of the situation is that I am planning on going back to school in just a little over a year. The program I hope to join has several pre-reqs that I am working towards completing. Some of the pre-reqs are lab courses that meet 2X a week for 3+ hours and regular attendance is crucial. Now for the problem: My job is one that often requires travel, late nights, sales dinners, etc. I do not always get good notice before these events, and it is expected that I am generally available to attend these things. Further, my boss (let's call him TB) likes to think of himself as my mentor. He's VERY Into his career and assumes that I am too. He constantly gives me advice about what to do and lectures me on how I need to "decide if I'm going to be a mommy or a career woman" (I could write a WHOLE lot more on that by itself).

I once mentioned to TB I might take a class at night. His response was "well....that's okay, as long as you'd be able to skip it if we ever needed you for anything." This is very annoying to me because I have been super dedicated during my time here and I always get my work done. Always.

I plan to start my lab course work this summer. The two big problems with this are: (1) It's very hard to even get in these classes (I was 89th on the waiting list last semester even with priority enrollment), and (2) my job--I'm afraid I won't be able to complete the courses while working at M.

So, I can either look for a new job that is more 8-5 and requires no travel, OR I can just wait and hope that I'm able to pass the course with my life as is now. But there's a chance I might not even be able to get into any of the classes, so starting a new job for them alone could be a lot of extra hassle for no reason (I do really like the company I work for right now).

Then...there's the issue of CUBA. A lot of people don't know, but I have a small obsession with the country and culture. it's a long story but I've always wanted to go. CH is going mid-summer. I have the vacation time, but if I get into a class, I probably can't miss that much school. But, it's Cuba and when else will I have a chance to go with a group that includes male, Spanish speakers (those things make me feel extra safe)???

So, I don't know what to do. I am currently looking for other jobs but nothing is working out quite yet. Regardless of what job I get, I plan on quitting next January and taking a few months off before starting school. But all that presents more stress because so much of what I do in that time depends on whether my pre-reqs are done. They need to be though, because I am planning on going to Brazil with KM in January.

(Sigh) Why does work and responsibility have to get in the way of my life??

Welcome to my Blog!

So when I first heard about blogs, I honestly didn't understand the point. But after spending my afternoon attempting to appear busy at work (while reading the blogs of my more experienced blogging friends), I finally started to understand how cool and fun they can be. After reading YN's and CH's blog, I feel like I understand more about what's going on in their lives. And so now I want to share stuff that's going on in mine too! Also, it's an easier way to keep up a journal type thing, something I've never been good at.

So, for my first posting, I am going to explain why my BLOG is called "Follow the Frog". I recently went to Puerto Rico (henceforth known as PR) where my friends and I rented a car so that we could explore more of the island. I am generally a pretty good navigator in foreign places, but for some reason on this particular day in PR I couldn't get us to a particular rainforest. The entire island of PR is not that big and they only have one big rainforest, AND it's a part of a big, protected nature reserve so there are a lot of signs, literature, tourism linked to it. Still, I couldn't find it. After we'd driven for longer than we should have, my friends got more involved in helping figure out where we were and why we weren't there yet. We ended up going around in circles, literally, for over an hour through the mountains and fishing villages of eastern PR.

At one point, we noticed that we kept running into these little green signs, generally posted near highway signs, bearing the shape of a cute green frog. Through our extensive research we knew that the rainforest we were trying to find was famous for a certain type of tree frog. So naturally we thought "maybe these little frog signs lead to the rainforest!". During one particularly stressful moment, we were stopped at an intersection where MC asked a nearby driver which way to go. They indicated we should turn right. The frog sign suggested going left and we were in the left hand turn lane. The light changed and we had to act fast. All of us were tense with determination and none of us knew whether to trust the other driver or the signs. I turned to KD with what I imagine was a look of panic and said, "What should we do?" With much seriousness--something a little out of character--KD opened her eyes wider, nodded and said, "We should follow the frog." Something about the way she said this, in the moment we were in, with the frustration we were feeling was hilarious.
So we did follow the frog. Turns out the sign meant "scenic route." We figured that out when we came to a fork in the road with frogs pointing both right and left.

"Follow the Frog" has now come to mean anything from "go with the flow" to "take the scenic route." And I like both those messages!

The next couple of years are going to bring a lot of changes for me, and I feel like so much is up in the air right now. So for today, I am just going to "follow the frog."