Y’all, I’m In Love…

…With a bar.

I know, you got excited.  I apologize.

I discovered it last night and it just feels like such a good place to be all the time.  Definitely my kind of place.

Unfortunately, not everyone is down with that.

Larissa responded to this by listing all the bars she liked recently (which are hotel bars or lounges), the kinds where a long island in $10 minimum (because her boyfriend is loaded and she doesn’t have to pay for these $10 long islands).  And she was like “I’ve outgrown going out and meeting random people. It’s not the type of thing you should be doing in your twenties.”

So I told her to stop acting like she’s forty.

All of my friends are fuddy duddies in their early twenties.  This is a problem.  I don’t really know how to rectify this.

Twenty-four Things to Do Before Age Twenty-four

So, a couple of days ago, I updated my bucket list item to travel with all the places my trip to visit Shawn took me.  I got a comment on the post from Jessica who runs a bucket list type blog called “101 Things To Do Before You Die.”  I was impressed at the organization of the list and how much she has worked toward accomplishing her goals.

My bucket list, on the other hand, is kind of vague and disorganized…

So, I decided that I would get more productive and create a short-term list for this next year.  I kind of already started that with my supposed new years resolutions, so I’ll expand on that, I think.

Right now, I’m feeling kind of lost, so here’s to hoping this gives me some sort of direction.

So, my twenty-fourth birthday is in a little over ten months and I think I can do twenty-four things in ten months.  So here we go!

1.  Get out of the country.  I knew I was doing this since the end of December, but it was on my eventual bucket list and I think it was a big accomplishment on my part.  I ended up traveling to Montreal, and you can read the story, so far, here, here, here, here, and here.

2.  Travel to at least four new states.  I want to fight the curse of square state syndrome and make my way to four new states before turning twenty-four.  Ideally, one of these will be a purple state.

3.  Get my first apartment.  I’m ready to get out into the world!  Here’s to Larissa and I getting our apartment soon.

4.  Get my first car.  I really need a car and this is an important goal for me this year.

5.  Run the Boulder Boulder.  This is a big race here in Colorado and I’ve spent the past few years saying I would do it…  I just haven’t.  So, this year, I’m finally going to run it.

6.  Take up tennis seriously.  I want to get back into this again and get a lot better by the time I leave for my summer job again.

7.  Learn to cook.  I keep saying I want to do this, so I’m finally going to figure it out.  I want to be able to make a pasta dish, a chicken dish, and a beef dish at the very least.

8.  Take the GRE and score in at least the 95th percentile.  I need to take the GRE anyway this year, but I’m going to motivate myself to do really well!

9.  Learn to ski.  I’m a Coloradoan who cannot ski…  it’s kind of an oxymoron.

10.  Go on a road trip. I don’t care where, but I need a road trip 2011.

11.  Watch Titanic sixteen more times.  One of my friends told me sophomore year that I couldn’t see Titanic over one hundred times.  So I want to have spent two weeks of my life watching it…  I know it sounds silly, but I am only four viewings away from having seen it one hundred times.  And only twelve away from the two week mark after that.  I can watch it a little under twice a month for the rest of the year, I think.

12.  Beat old Brody in a game of scrabble.  I was five points away on Tuesday.  It’s going to happen this year.  I will kick his scrabble butt.

13.  Finish engineering bingo.  I won’t explain this, because it sounds kind of terrible, but I’m really close.

14.  Be a trivia champion at least five times.  I’m going to be a trivia champion, y’all…

15.  Go on local brew tours. I’m not a big beer person, so I think that this will allow me to at least appreciate beer, even if it doesn’t make me like it.

This is only fifteen, but I can’t think of nine more things at the moment….  I’ll update you all when I do…

Photo Collage

Admittedly, I couldn’t think of anything to tell you all today.  There’s old Brody and my friends’ weddings, but, I think I’ll wait a bit on all of that…

Instead, here’s a photo collage.

If you want to make your own, here are the questions (and my answers):

1. What is your name?  Deidree
2. What is your favorite food?  Breakfast for dinner
3. What is your hometown?  Denver
4. What is your favorite color?  Pink
5. What is your favorite movie?  Titanic
6. What is your favorite drink?  Iced Tea
7. What is your dream vacation?  Australia
8. What is your favorite dessert?  Cheesecake
9. What is one word to describe yourself?  Exuberant (not lately, but usually)
10. How are you feeling right now?  Small
11. What do you love most in the world?  My friends
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Elementary school teacher

 

If you want to do this, here are the guidelines:

– Go to Google image search.
– Type in your answer to each question.
– Choose a picture from the first three pages.
– Use this website (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php) to make your collage.
-Save the resulting collage.

Strangers Who Talk Too Much!

Have you ever met that stranger who talks way too much?  I don’t necessarily mean this as the stranger who just talks and talks incessantly without letting you get a word in.  Those strangers can be annoying, but interesting.

I mean the strangers that seem not to realize that they’re talking to a stranger.

I met one of these last night.

I ended up at karaoke with one of my friends and one of her friends.  Her friend proceeded to call a bunch of her friends.

One of my friend’s friend’s friends ended up attempting to hit on me.

The first thing he tells me is “Wouldn’t you like my cock in your mouth?”  No…  No I would not.  We just met.

He then proceeded to tell me that “All women are crazy and all men are stupid.  It’s like ‘Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus,’ because you’re all crazy, but we put up with it because we’re stupid.”

I politely explained that it sounded like he hadn’t read the book he was referencing and that perhaps the opposite could also be true: that women were crazy for putting up with male stupidity.

(Please don’t consider this rude, as I do not believe that all men are stupid and all women are crazy.  I think that everyone of both genders has their crazy and stupid moments.)

He left me alone at that point and I thought I could enjoy my karaoke in peace.  I was wrong.

He later came over and said “I hear you like blond frat boys.”

I told him I preferred blond fraternity men, yes.  I also said that everyone has a type.  Apparently, that wasn’t acceptable.

He proceeded to tell me that I was living under the corporate machine and those frat boys don’t know how to live for themselves.  They only do as they’re told, and I had the same problem.

(Apparently this is the fault to be found to the answer for the question as to why fraternity men are my type: upholding the qualities of leadership, scholarship, philanthropy, brotherhood, caring about something larger than yourself, common history, common beliefs, and common circles.  You know, base things.)

I thought he was done here.  I thanked him for his opinion and told him that I disagreed and that we should leave it at that.

He then told me that if I were to make use of my talents by working for myself, I could make four grand a week and he would give me a preview of my earnings right then.

Here is a stranger who did not realize he was talking to a stranger…  Or at least, a stranger who had no class whatsoever.  This isn’t the type of thing you should say to a stranger.  (Actually, this is something I would hope that no one would say to a friend, either.)

Do people forget their manners with strangers?  I don’t know, but here is my request: when you meet someone you don’t know, don’t say anything to them that you wouldn’t say in seriousness to your family or friends.

(And if you would say this to your family and friends, then you’re probably a pretty terrible person.)

I did end up having a nice conversation with old Brody because of this, though…  But I’m not counting his sincerity just yet…

Happy February Fourteenth

So, I hope everyone enjoys someone else’s company today.  Happy V-Day.  Eat a lot of chocolate, smell a lot of roses, that sort of thing.

 

On an interesting note, happy twentieth anniversary for Silence of the Lambs…  Clearly a V-Day appropriate movie.

 

I need to start a club.  Where my single ladies at?  All of my friends are engaged….

Anyway, more interesting content tomorrow…  Maybe even more Montreal story.

Why I Hate and Love Work

This is a post about why I hate work, mostly…  But, I felt like I couldn’t leave you with a depressing post about why I hate work, so I thought I would tell you a story that showcases the times when I love work.

First, why I hate work:

So I have my summer job I started last year that actually applies to my future teaching plans.  I also really enjoy my summer job because it is really fun.  (It’s a bit more complicated than that, but it’s only been six months and I only remember the good things.)

Meanwhile, I have my current job that pretty much believes that if you’re working there, you’re working there for life.  And who really wants to be a retail slave forever?  I sure don’t.

But, a full-time position has opened up in a department that I am knowledgeable about and where I especially get along with the other employees in that area.  Ninety percent of the time, I make or surpass my sales goals.  When I am not with customers or putting away go backs, I find projects, like folding tables or sizing racks.  I even get people to sign up for store cards.  And until I go back to my summer job, I have a completely open schedule.

But, because I have my summer job (which I told them about in October and it’s not until the end of June), they will not give me consistent hours.

I can’t survive on three hours a week on minimum wage.  Everything about me is wonderful, except my short time away during the slowest retail season.

If I was leaving during Christmas, I would totally understand.  But I’m not.  So I don’t.

 

On a happier note, here’s a story showcasing something I love about work.

I was working the closing shift on friday and it was the middle of the afternoon.  The Justin Beiber movie opened this weekend, so my area was full of hordes of screeching middle schoolers.  It got worse as the night went on (and my go backs were terrifyingly large).

But the evening started off slowly with two middle schoolers:  one girl and one boy.

The girl was trying on some of our dresses while the boy was waiting for her diligently outside the fitting rooms.

I came over to clean them as she was showing him one of the dresses.

“How does this look?” she asked.  “What do you think?  What do you think?”

“I think it looks really cute on you.”  I told her as I was signing off for the hour and grabbing some jeans.

“Yeah.”  the boy stammered.

“The employee is giving me more compliments than you!”  she huffed, but didn’t seem too upset.

The boy leans over to me.  “You know that new movie that’s out?”

I don’t know what it is about boys and not being very descriptive, but it’s nice to know they start young.  (You may remember Evan once had a similarly undescriptive statement in The Songfest Romance: “She has brown hair.”)

“Maybe?  There are a lot of new movies out right now.”

“With Ashton Kutcher?”

“Oh and Natalie Portman.  No Strings Attached.”

“Yeah, No Strings Attached.”  He leaned in closer.  “She thinks we’re like that.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or be disturbed, so I offered him a hug that he refused.

He also sweet talked me swearing up and down I wasn’t ten years older than him.  Turns out I was eleven years older.

But he definitely made my day, because he was just a hysterical kid.

And it’s times like that that I really enjoy work.

The Problem with Suburbia

I got off work last night and I was starving!  I was going through my phonebook wracking my brain for people who would be available to eat with me.

I wasn’t able to make it up to the alma mater as usual (probably won’t at all this weekend due to my work schedule), so I was at a loss of what to do.

But, I was finally able to get in contact with my friend Seth.

The problem with suburbia is that the people who are here haven’t ever really left here.  Or, once they are here, they revert.  How I Met Your Mother calls it revertigo, but I really don’t know if other people necessarily cause revertigo the most…

I think it’s much more noticeable when a place causes revertigo.  Most of my friends here revert into a state where they cause high school type drama and go back into their old personalities.

Larissa is probably the worst, but of the Fab Five, she’s the only one who hadn’t left for college.  She doesn’t necessarily revert, she just never really changed.

Seth and I were talking about this yesterday, because he has the same problem I do.  No one we know is willing to just drop everything and head off into the unknown at a moment’s notice.  Everyone is really set in their ways.  Seth describes it as “acting thirty in your early twenties.”  He definitely agrees with me that they’re way too young to already be acting old and shut in, especially considering that most the engaged ladies don’t even live with their fiances yet…

So, that’s the problem with suburbia.  People come back here and they forget how to have fun.  It’s really unnerving for people like me who see this as a temporary stint and not something I want to make permanent just yet.  I don’t know if they see it as a permanent thing either, but the longer they stay here, the more permanent it seems to feel for them.

I think that’s hard to be so old at such a young age.  It’s not even a maturity level thing, it’s just having the expectation that since you’re entering a new stage of your life, suddenly you have to let go of everything you used to be.  That’s wrong.  You shouldn’t suddenly change who you are because of your perceived situation.

I do understand, of course, that people do change because of their situations, of course, but this is the wrong way to do it.  You can’t experience revertigo to your old drama and call yourself mature.

I think that’s everyone’s main problem.  They’re trying to grow in their old environment and they’re forgetting that they’re twenty-two and twenty-three.

I think that that’s my main goal while I’m stuck in suburbia.  I am me.  I’m not that person I used to be.  And more than positivity, I think my main goal is to continue to be who I am.

It’s something to think about.

Deidree is a World Traveler

So, here is an update on my bucket list to travel.  I won’t bore you with a description of every state, so I’ll condense it a bit.

Here is my color-coded map to reflect my world traveling.

If you remember, the rules for traveling are as follows:

1.  In visiting a state, province, or country, some amount of time must be spent there.  Driving through does not count as visiting.

2.  While sometimes lengthy, an airport layover does not count either.

3.  There is no set time line for doing this.

You will also remember the color code:

Red states:  Red states are the areas where I have lived.

Blue states:  Blue states are areas that I have lived in for a brief, but extended period of time.

Green:  Green locals are the areas that I have visited and stayed in for at least one night, but less than a month.

Yellow:  Yellow locals are areas that I have either visited the airport, via layover, or driven through.

Purple states:  Purple states are near future destination plans.  No countries are listed as such at the moment because that is less a bucket list and more wishful thinking.  You can pretty much consider everything white or yellow to be under eventual purple status, but the marked ones are logically marked.

White:  White locals have no status yet.  For clarity, I will only list the states that are white.

Red states: California and Colorado (present residence)

Blue states: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

Purple states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Texas, and Washington

White States: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming

Green States: Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, and Washington

Recently Green:

New York:  I visited Shawn in upstate New York back in January, so now I have visited both areas of the state:  the island of Manhattan and the mainland part of the state.

Quebec:  I spent three days in Montreal with Shawn and friends.

Yellow States: Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, and North Carolina

Recently Yellow:

Ontario:  On the way to Montreal, we drove through one of  the border crossings in Ontario and took that to Montreal.

Georgia:  I had my second airport layover in Atlanta on the way back from visiting Shawn.

So, that’s the traveling bucket list as it stands now.

Don’t Forget the Lyrics!

I was at work with one of my coworkers yesterday.  She was the opening shift and I was the midshift.  We were discussing how the CD playing in our department wasn’t very fun and we needed a juniors’ appropriate CD for our section.

We started discussing one of my odd talents.  My brain is filled with song lyrics.

I know all the words, even the verses, to tons of songs out there.  I know thousands of songs by heart.  So my coworker and I decided that we would make our own CD by singing at the top of our lungs.  This went on for maybe five minutes where we sung some Bon Jovi and The Final Countdown.

We stopped singing to talk about game shows we could see ourselves being on.

She suggested I try out for Don’t Forget the Lyrics, even though it’s only on cable television now.  I was always pretty good at that show when I played along.

She mentioned her dream to be on Wheel of Fortune.

I suggested Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.

We also discussed Deal or No Deal.

I think I would be a pretty good game show contestant, as I have perfected the sorority heel drive.  There’s a recruitment variant with less shock, but basically, you jump up and down.  While you’re jumping up, you bend your legs completely at the knees, ensuring the most air.  While you’re landing, you drive your heels into the floor (hence its name, “the heel drive”).

That’s the perfect way to convey excitement, I think.

But the real conclusion here is this.  I looked up the show and found out my favorite band had been on it last year sometime, and somehow I missed it, oh well.  (Actually, I thought it had been canceled outright, not moved to cable.)

Anyway, so the real lesson is:  Learn the lyrics to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel.

Actually, learn the lyrics to everything by Billy Joel, but definitely “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

The Air Hockey Champions

So, yesterday, I was talking about my weekend and I mentioned that Steph and I once ran into some air hockey champions.

Or at least, they claimed to be air hockey champions.

One night early into 2009 and the second semester of our junior year, Steph and I were having a long island night around the bars and we ended up at our favorite bar enjoying long islands on special.

Maybe twenty minutes into being at that bar, we started talking to some guys from the midwest.  They had moved here recently and were about to head off to an air hockey championship in maybe Texas or something (I really don’t remember, sorry).

Steph and I both questioned this whole exchange.  Air hockey champions?  Is there such a thing as an air hockey championship?

We agreed to play air hockey with them, though.  Air hockey ranks among the cheesy things in life and cheesy, free things are some of my favorites.  They also provided us with more long islands.

So we split off into two teams:  one air hockey champion with each of us.

My team ended up winning.  I also ended up finishing one of Steph’s drinks.

The air hockey champions wanted us to continue hanging out with them after the bars closed, but Steph and I caught a ride back to my house and she ended up spending the night with me.  It was kind of a hard night in the end.

We never heard from the air hockey champions again…  Who knows how their championship went.