big, stewy mess

I've been a bit messy on the inside for a few weeks and it was just tonight that it hit me. It hit me that I have so much stuff spinning around in my head and in my heart. So many issues -- surface, and way, way below. And, it's hard to figure anything out when another issue keeps coming up and another and another and pretty soon it's a big stewy mess. Oh, isn't life fun? Man, I guess God never said it would be easy.

The beginning and the end

They say that people remember the first thing and the last thing... that's why programming for things like recitals is so important. Or, why we generally over-rehearse the opening and closing of a work. I'm thinking that maybe that is also true for days. Or at least my day today. This morning started out great with Starbucks and seeing what I can only explain as a baby raccoon on a leash. Hey, I only report what I see! Then, somewhere between that and 7pm, there was a minor work tragedy that I won't detail here b/c I'm just beginning to experience a duller pain. But, then tonight, I went to a birthday gathering for Elizabeth (who is fabulous, by the way!) and I had a really good time. I thought I would be in a pseudo-crappy mood, but it was exactly what I needed. We had conversations about our hometowns and how to get free tickets to stuff and the probability of Hyla surviving the Peace Corps. It was pretty awesome. As is Elizabeth, the birthday girl! Happy Birthday, Ms. Fabulous!
So, the beginning of today was good... and the ending was good. The middle was somewhat questionable, but we'll leave that for what it is. On to Friday!

Big shout-out to Dell

I requested a new charger/AC adapter for my laptop last night via chat at approx. 6:15pm. My charger was on my desk by 2:40pm today! I love my service agreement! Thanks, Dell!
(and, yes, Stephen - you could say, "easy as dell")

Yay Dell!

My charger (AC adapter) for my laptop died so I contacted Dell since I have the super-duper warranty and service agreement. They're sending me a new one!
Yay!! That was easy!

GJF, Vol next-to-last

Well, we thought today would be our last day for jury duty, but we got called back for yet another day. It's like the never-ending jury duty!

In other news, I didn't run into anyone today. hmmm....

A new series

One of my favorite things about living in the city and commuting via foot and metro is running into people randomly in the course of a day. So, for a week (or maybe two -- we'll see), I'm going to log my running-intos. So, here we go.
This morning, on the metro, I ran into Pat, from our grand jury.
Then, on the other side of the metro, I ran into Sarah, also from our grand jury.
On the way back to the metro, I saw a former board member (he didn't acknowledge me).
Tonight, I ran into another Sarah on the metro (this one is a musician I know from church).
Then, when I was almost home, a familiar green car drove by... with Amy!

Today's random highlights

This morning, I heard a new announcement on metro. (my paraphrase) "Metro now has new, more secure trash cans. So, throw out your trash without fear." What? Um.... was this a problem? Were people fearful when they threw out their trash?

I did my laundry tonight and it was cause to celebrate. drum roll please...... Both of my dryers worked on the first try!! That is a sheer miracle.

And, now smashed eggs with goat cheese, asparagus and sweet corn. yummy (It was supposed to be an omelet, but um, apparently, I haven't yet acquired omelet skills.)

The silver lining...

on the cloud where I always lose my phone is that when I leave the charger at my brother's house, I have 2 or 3 extras at home!

An Open Letter

I hate that you never pass me as I walk home anymore.
I hate that we never run into each other outside the building anymore.
I hate that when I yell your name outside the window, no one yells back.
I admit it, I miss you.
I miss our late night giggle-fests.
I miss seeing your green car in the questionable parking spot.
Maybe we could at least have a date night.

Defy expectation

Every once in a while, I pine for that American dream of a house and a marriage and a dog and 2.67 kids. Today's one of those days. It just hit me suddenly. I was scrolling through a couple blogs of my friends and I was hit with some pangs of jealousy of my friends that are getting married and another who posted adorable pictures of their kids peering out the window. I guess I'm allowed to think about it every once in a while.
And, now I'll just shove the lump back down my throat and go on in my life of strength where I am independent and get to do my own thing and live my life differently... the life where I have frequent culinary experiments, I can work as late as I want and move at the drop of a hat. I'm not trying to fulfill the expectations of my parents or even the expectations of my youth. I'm just living my life full and experimentally. Perhaps that's what's so nice about the grow up - get married- have kids - stay in one place ideal. There's a template to follow -- there's some security in that. I have no template. Just a challenge.

Weekend home

Weekends at home always present me with mixed emotions. Nostalgia, longing for natural beauty wonder about what it would be like to live around family, annoyance with the bizarro accent (and annoyance with the fact that even though I grew up there, I cannot duplicate it), frustration with the general pace of life. But, then once I slow down enough to be inside the life instead of watching them live as I whiz by, the nostalgia grows and I have fantasies about moving back and opening music studios and a great cafe and going home at night to pick fresh vegetables out of my garden and grilling them on the huge patio on the back of my house that I could actually afford. And, then I think I'm crazy that I would just go nuts and I dismiss it all. The fantasy becomes more and more detailed every time I go home, though. This time, it involved me becoming a regular at a couple good restaurants within 30-minutes' drive and finding a church that would work for me.
But, I digress...
I actually just wanted to check in and post that I was glad I was able to spend a few days with my parents. They are having a bit of a rough time and although they didn't let me see their emotion, I know this is hard for them and they feel a lot of responsibility to care for Chris and Andy (the neighbors). In other news, my father built this really cool fire pit and we sat out there around a fire on Friday night and roasted marshmallows and he told me about his trips to Montana. It was soo good. Anything that gets my father telling stories is cool. Just one question, why no firepit when I was at home? That would have been awesome. Anyways, I was glad I got home.
It also gave me a chance to get inside my head... I have a tendency to get very "thinky" when I'm at home. I was able to get through another layer of processing. I still don't know how this will all shake out, but I'm getting somewhere with the processing, I think.

Things that aren't supposed to happen

There are some things in life that I just feel like aren't supposed to happen. The kind of things that make me say, God, where are you in this? If you are the good and loving God I believe you are, then why do things like this happen? And, I always come back to the same place... knowing that things like this draw us to Him... that we are more likely to look for something greater than us when things aren't all perfect. That these are the times, more than any other, that we need something to believe in.
On Monday, the 9-year old son of my parents' next-door-neighbors shot himself in the head and subsequently died yesterday afternoon. He was apparently home alone and it's been attributed to an accident. What else can I say? It's terrible and my heart goes out to his parents.
My parents are close to his parents and spent a fair amount of time with the boy since they moved there a few years ago. In fact, my dad was quoted in the local paper... reading that brought me to tears over this for the first time. My dad was really sweet talking about Zach. Here's the article if you want to read about it.

a proud moment

I don't often write about work stuff here, but this morning, our brand-new website launched. I am so excited because it is SO much better than the former site and it feels good to look like a grown-up arts organization rather than a limping chorus. Anyways, I worked pretty hard on cleaning up some of the copy this week... I'm sure there are still a few details to be fixed or improved, but today it's up. I'm proud of it.
Check it out

Good day, #299384

A wonderfully cool day in August: +2
Oversleeping the pool: -2
Still having no voice: -3.5
Getting a temp to answer the phone since I'm a mute: +1
Having the temp complete 3 projects I don't have time to do: +3
Getting a ton of work done b/c no one is in the office (nor apparently in the city): +2
Yummy chicken salad for lunch: +1
Current score: +3.5

Now, to Macy's to return clothing and home to clean, clean, clean!

The muted version

I lost my voice this weekend. I was hoping I would wake up this morning and it would be better, but it is pretty nonexistent today. I feel okay, but my voice is just not there. I had to cancel my morning meetings for tomorrow. It would be a nice surprise if it reappeared.
Froggily yours,
Hy

Pop some popcorn, baby

I've just found my new favorite international issue. I plan to be a spectator of what I'm coining the "Arctic War". Russia planted a flag in a titanium capsule on the bottom of the ocean and Canada is now going up there to "reassert their sovereignty". There's a part of me that hopes they get into a bit of a flag-planting war.
And, just when I thought that conquering and land-claiming were dead to the Northern hemisphere!

Great times.

This is my favorite time of year. (Is the sarcasm dripping from your screen yet?) The time of year when it gets down to 90 at night. The time of the year when it feels like a steamy oven all over the place. Ew. Ew, ew, ew.

In better news, I made dinner for my small group and it was totally tasty and fun (if hot).

In strange news, a guy hit an SUV with his fist when we were crossing the street today and shouted "What? Are we in your way?" when they had to stop with the end of their vehicle in the crosswalk at rush hour. He really nailed it, too. It actually scared me. The girl driving wound down the window and said, "classy". Weird

GJF, Vol. 14

Well, just a few final thoughts. (Well, at least until the recall days.) The last five weeks have been so different than the rest of my life. In a way, it was kind of nice to learn about something all new to me. I really didn't know that much about the criminal prosecution process and it's nice to be more educated about something. I probably could have lived my whole life without hearing about all of those domestic violence cases and without some of the vocabulary expansion. Regardless, it has been an interesting process.
I am more than happy to going back to working just one job, though!

Celebrate the Mattress! (GJF, Vol. 13)

We hear case after case and they tend to run together. Often, we'll refer to a case by the one memorable nugget, an identifying feature: the one with with the brick or the one with the Bobbi Brown lipgloss, something like that. Today, though, we got the best nugget yet.
A witness came in to tell us about an altercation he had. He was a rather confused older man who seemed to have a childlike mentality, for whatever reason. Anyways, he mentioned early on that he had a mattress delivered the day of the altercation. The attorney later asked him if he had any alcohol that day. He responded, "Yeah, I had 3 beers.... I had to celebrate the mattress!" We all chuckled... how awesome is that! Celebrating the mattress. You go! You celebrate that mattress! Carpe Diem, man!
Later, though, I couldn't help but think that perhaps we could all use a little more mattress celebration. We take so much for granted and have such a sense of necessity (and truthfully, entitlement) that we rarely take time to really soak in the little stuff. But, this guy... he was celebrating his mattress. I don't know why it was important to celebrate it. Maybe he was sleeping on the floor. Maybe he saved up for it. I don't know, but I do know that he found it celebration-worthy... and beer-worthy.
Tonight, on your way home, notice the little things. And, celebrate them! Maybe it's just a little smile or a silent "Thanks, God" or a diet coke toast to that great pair of earrings you found on sale for 75% off. It doesn't really matter what your "mattress" is, celebrate your mattress!

Overheard in Georgetown

"I didn't realize that it wasn't a state. I thought New England was a state up there by New Hampshire." Wow... wow, wow.

Also, there was an adorable, swedish-looking family on the bus tonight with two little kids. They both had "Mom cell 202.202.2022" written on their arm. Hysterical. And, smart!