Tonight I was driving home and listening to christmas carols on the radio. One of those stupid songs came on that I hate so much ... the first two lines of lyrics were:

And so this is Christmas
And what have you done?

And that got me thinking - because another year has come and gone, and it seems like it slipped away so quickly. And yet, when I thought about it, I realized that I've actually very pleased with all that I've done this year. I mean, it's not like I've cured cancer or rescued babies from drowning or anything superhero-esque. But I can look back and see the things I've accomplished and the goals I've met, and most importantly the difference I've made in other people's lives.

I've grown up a little bit, found a little more maturity. I've mellowed in some places, and found a little more peace and patience along the way. I've taken responsibility in areas where I was lacking it, and its made me more independant. I've given a little more, stood on my own two feet a little more, expanded in areas that I didn't think there was anything to expand.

And all of that means a lot to me, and I'm grateful for it. This might not have been the perfect year, but the truth is, it was a darn good one, and I'm better for having lived it.

It's the middle of the night and you know you're not going to fall asleep any time soon.  There's nothing good on TV and you don't feel like reading.  You're bored and you're in the mood to try something different. 

What's a girl to do?

Tonight ... I attempted my first experiment with bread pudding.  I looked at 4 or 5 recipies on line to get the general idea of how to make one, and then I futzed around my pantry to see what I had on had to work with.  It ended up as a base of whole wheat bagels which I topped with a cinimon coffee custard.  At first I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull it off at all, since sugar and vanilla are two baking essentials that I don't keep in the house ... but just as I was about to give up I found an unopened can of vanilla icing that I bought earlier this year, and so the night was saved.
 
It wasn't the best bread pudding I've ever eaten.  It tasted great, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't quite the texture I was looking for.  Basically I should have let it soak for another 20 minutes, and next time I'll cook it covered so it doesn't get crusty on top.  Still, it was yummy and completely edible, so I was happy.  Not too bad for a first attempt.

This one was stolen from the empress' FB notes

Last night I had the strangest scary dream.

I was a character in a horror movie, where there were three victims trapped on a flying airplane with a psychopath who was making us play in a deadly quiz show.  Get a question wrong and he would burn you to death with something that looked like those handheld laser pointers, except the beam was dim, about an inch wide, and would boil your skin.  It was dark and scary, and the bad guy was really creepy in that out-of-control wacko sort of a way

My question was "can you knit a goat?"  I knew I couldn't answer no, or I would die.  It had to be a trick, but I couldn't figure out how.  So after a few minutes of panic I figured out that if you killed the goat and pulled out it's intestines you could knit those together - so I survived the first round.

Anyway, he killed one of the other guys for getting an answer wrong, and then somehow the police found out what was happening and we got turned around and went back to the airport.  The other vitctim and I managed to escape on the emergency water slide.  I remember jumping up, grabbing my bag, and diving head first down the chute.  Once the plane was on the ground they arrested the bad guy and had the obligatory scene where we were wrapped in blankets watching him being led away in handcuffs in the middle of the deserted airport. 

But then, just as everyone thought it was over the bad guy got a gun, escaped the police in a massive shootout, shot and killed the other surviving victim, and turned to come after me.  I ran to the elevator, got in, and pressed the Close Doors button frantically as I watched him walking closer.  I remember hitting the button for every floor so he wouldn't know where I got off.  I jumped out at the second floor and ran to the stairs, thinking I could get back down to the first floor again to get back to the police - but when I go there, there were two staircases side by side.  I knew he was coming up one of them ... and I was so scared that I froze right there. 

As I watched, a shadow appeared on one of the staircases - but by the time the face came into view I realized it wasn't him - it was his secret partner (don't ask - it was a dream, and you know how those go).  I was terrified, and ran to hide before he could see me, but there were no good hiding spots, and I could see a second elevator was coming up, and I was sure that the bad guy was in it.

That's when I woke up.  My heart was pounding so fast and so loud I was sure I could audibly hear it.  I was so worked up over it that the only way to calm myself down was to invent my escape.  So I told myself that if I was standing around with a bunch of cops and everything was over, that I would have had my purse over my arm the whole time, and when I saw the bad guy's accomplace coming up the stairs I didn't run back to the elevator or try to hide - I ran out the doors to the second level of the attached parking garage, found my car, and drove to the nearest police station while the two evil men continued to search the higher floors.

After that I was able to calm down a little bit - but it was pretty scary.

Sitting at my father's computer in his office late at night fooling around on line ... this reminds me of my college days when I used to spend entire weekends working on my thesis in this big empty building.  I had nights where I was at it until 2 in the morning.  Some things never change, I guess.

In other useless news, I've spent the last few months hemming and hawing about how I wanted to get myself the soundtrack to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I've been generally hooked on the music ever since that series Any Dream Will Do aired on BBC America this spring.  Anyway, last weekend I discovered, quite by accident, that I actually already owned the CD I've been planning this whole time to buy!  So I've spent this whole past week driving around Long Island with Joseph blasting in my car, singing along at the top of my voice.  Man, that narrator part is a ton of fun to sing.

On Sunday I had a very interesting conversation with Rebekah that led to an agreement to reform the traveling drama team from years ago. Exciting stuff! Because that really was one of the most fulfilling and fun projects I've ever done for church, and the show that we ended up with really was good in a lot of ways. And I always kind of regretted that we weren't ever properly used. It had the potential to be so effective and it never really got there. So now I have a chance to rebuild it, and I'm very excited about it. The thing is I only have a few weeks to put it together ... Yay for adventure!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

So yesterday was a last minute "we need to clean out the food pantry" sort of a day. I used to go down there every Monday night to sort through food and shelve it. Those were good times. But after Thanksgiving that was no longer an issue because the pantry had been pretty much cleaned out for the holiday outreach.

So yesterday when I got there I was expecting the place to be basically empty. Imagine my shock when I stepped into a room so packed with what looked like junk that you literally couldn't walk.

The kitchen area, where we normally store all the good food was literally piled to the ceiling with hundreds of boxes of vitamins. The palates in the main room where we keep the deliveries that need to be sorted through were piled high with books, papers, and office supplies. There were a few piles of boxes filled with cans scattered around, and then there was all the STUFF. Bicycles and pieces of computers and random things like that.

At first all I could do was stand there and gape. I had no idea where to begin. I took a quick survey and figured out that the stuff had probably come from the storage room in back. That made a certain amount of sense. What I didn't get was why that back room was now filled with boxes of vitamines. Oh, and did I mention that the vitamins were also stacked to the ceiling in the lobby? We are talking about easily 1000 boxes here, randomly piled anywhere there was room.

So after a few minutes of sorting around and moving things to make walkways I came up with my brilliant 2 pronged plan of attack. First, the food shelves needed to be reorganized and restocked with whatever food was still good. Second, the mountain of vitamins in the kitchen needed to be put somewhere so we could get access to the cabinets (which also store food).

And so I started stocking vitamin boxes on the bottom shelves of the accessable shelving units, as well as random unused corners of the rooms. I ended up rearranging and consolidating several sections of storage to make extra room. And soon enough I had made my way to the first set of cabinets.

By that time help arrived in the form of the two hardest workers I have ever known, and they immediately started work on the food.

Fast forward 4 hours later, and the shelves of food are full to bursting. All of the vitamin boxes are at least off the floor of the kitchen, and eventhough theplace is still a complete mess, the look of utter chaos is gone.

Crazy fun day!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Once upon a time I always felt like I had something interesting to say. Is this what happens when you get older? Do you lose your imagination for the day to day? Or is it just that the day to day turns into a umvarying drive? Maybe it's neither. Maybe I'm just having a dull couple of weeks or months.

Whatever, I'm not really interested in complaining about being bored. In reality today was a good day. I got to speak to my mother for a good hour tonight. I love when I have the time to sit and talk to her. It always gives me a little more insight into my own perspectives and viewpoints. So much of me comes from her and it's nice to look into that mirror from time to time.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I found a LJ app for my ipod. Guess who's going to be posting more frequently ...

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

 A survey courtesy of the empress

RULES
-You can ONLY answer Yes or No
-You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks. -- and believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming nothing is exactly as it seems.

1. Kissed any one of your Facebook friends?
no

2. Been arrested?
no

3. Kissed someone you didn't like?
yes

4. Slept in until 5 PM?
yes

5. Fallen asleep at work/school?
no

6. Held a snake?
yes

7. Ran a red light?
yes

8. Experienced love at first sight?
no

9. Totaled your car in an accident?
no

10. Been fired from a job?
yes

11. Fired somebody?
yes

12. Sang karaoke?
yes

13. Pointed a gun at someone?
no

14. Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
yes

15. Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose?
yes

16. Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
no

17. Kissed in the rain?
no

18. Had a close brush with death (your own)?
no

19. Seen someone die?
no

20. Played spin-the-bottle?
no

21. Sang in the shower?
yes

22. Smoked a cigar?
no

23. Sat on a rooftop?
yes

24. Taken pictures of yourself naked?
no

25. Smuggled something into another country?
no

26. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes?
yes

27. Broken a bone?
no

28. Skipped school?
yes

29. Eaten a bug?
no

30. Sleepwalked?
no

31. Walked a moonlit beach?
yes

32. Rode a motorcycle?
no

33. Dumped someone?
no

34. Forgotten your anniversary?
no

35. Lied to avoid a ticket?
no

36. Ridden on a helicopter?
no

37. Shaved your head?
no

38. Blacked out from drinking?
yes

39. Played a prank on someone?
yes

40. Hit a home run?
yes

41. Felt like killing someone?
no

41. Cross-dressed?
no

42. Been falling-down drunk?
yes

43. Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry?
no

44. Eaten snake?
no

45. Marched/Protested?
yes

46. Had Mexican jumping beans for pets?
no

47. Puked on amusement ride?
no

48. Seriously & intentionally boycotted something?
no

49. Been in a band?
yes

50. Knitted?
yes

51. Been on TV?
no

52. Shot a gun?
no

53. Skinny-dipped?
no

54. Gave someone stitches?
no

55. Eaten a whole habenero pepper?
no

56. Ridden a surfboard?
no

57. Drank straight from a liquor bottle?
yes

58. Had surgery?
no

59. Streaked?
no

60. Taken by ambulance to hospital?
no

61. Peed on a bush?
no

62. Donated Blood?
yes

63. Grabbed electric fence?
no

64. Eaten alligator meat?
no

65. Eaten cheesecake?
yes

66. Eaten kids' Halloween candy?
yes

67. Killed an animal when not hunting?
yes

68. Peed your pants in public?
yes

69. Snuck into a movie without paying?
yes

70. Written graffiti?
no

71. Still loved someone you shouldn't?
yes

72. Think about the future?
yes

73. Been in handcuffs?
no

74. Believe in love?
yes

75. Sleep on a certain side of the bed?
yes

Today I am feeling altogether silly.

I'm also sitting in the office of a client who needs me to complete a certain amount of work that I'm not specifically interested in, but such is the nature of work, I suppose.  

Anyway, that's why I'm sitting here updating my LJ.  I'm killing time for the moment.  

Oh, did I mention that this work that I don't want to do is probably only going to take me 2 or 3 hours today, and I'm obligated to be here for 6 or 7?  I guess that puts the killing time part into perspective.

I guess this whole post would be a lot more useful if I had anything interesting to say or any funny anecdotes to share.  But I've only had one cup of coffee so far this morning and I'm still not really clear headed, so nothing's coming to me.  It's moments like this when I would love to be filling out a survey so I didn't have to try to be creative.  

But on a happy note I was at church in Queens on Saturday morning and I happened to overhear one of their drama people saying that they were working on the "cell phone skit" for this weekend.  That was a skit that I wrote two years ago comparing prayer to a cell phone plan.  It was a really cute idea that was thrown together at the last minute and very poorly executed, and I've never been able to find the time or place to do it again.  But to hear that another one of the churches is going to use it just made my weekend.

It's not every day that I manage to come up with a skit idea from scratch and develop it all the way through to a script and performance.  In fact, most of my skits are based off of other people's ideas, skit concepts from christian drama websites, or adaptations of existing scripts.  So to have one of my few forays into skitting from scratch randomly find a use to someone else makes me happy

This is a direct quote from an article I just read on Yahoo ...
"There are no known instances of humans being killed by space rocks."
I don't know why, but it made me laugh out loud

The entire weekend was one giant blurr of activity, busy-ness, and dresses ... but I guess that's how wedding weekends are supposed to go.

Here are some of my favorite/most memorable moments plucked from the craziness... in something resembling chronological order ...

... laughing at Marissa on the drive up because she took  2 benadrill at 9am and wasn't going to get to the house with the cats in it until 4pm
... stopping for a snack at Wendy's and discussing the dawning realization that this was ACTUALLY happening
... receiving the highest complement possible from the guys in the wedding party during the rehearsal (that my timing and delivery was "brilliant")
... running into Richard Ramsey at the rehearsal dinner and getting to spend some time catching up on the last 5 years
... finally getting to see the much-anticipated interview video
... driving through a downpour
... discovering that I've actually known Yanette for much much longer that I'd realized ... who would have thought we went to youth group at the Naz together?
... chicken jokes ... all 47 of them, each one funnier than the last
... our presents from Rashada
... a peaceful morning and a yummy breakfast
... actually fitting into my dress after all this time
... getting to see Rashada in her dress for the first time
... hearing someone yell "just kick it!" as I tripped over my dress walking down the aisle at the wedding
... watching Rashada and her mom speed-walk down the aisle hand in hand (a beautiful moment that was over much too quickly)
... picture taking!!
... pulling off the toast almost exactly the way I'd envisioned it (much thanks to the DJ for getting his hands on that song at the last minute)
... loosening my dress half way through the reception so I was able to breathe and sit at the same time
... sneaking off with the other bridesmaids to decorate the bridal suite
... catching up with Kara for a few minutes
... saying goodbye to Rashada and getting a big hug and a comment that was only mildly inappropriate but made me laugh
... getting to my room and changing into something muuuuuuuch more comfortable and much less formal
... watching the proposal video with the girls at the end of the night (now THAT made me cry)

and now after 12 years, 18 months, or several long days (depending on when you start counting from) it's all over!

It fits ... thank God

ok ... so there's a commercial on TV that I find waaaaay disturbing.

It's a commercial for some brand of woman's razor ... Gilette something or other.

It's a series of scenes where women are walking past random bushes ... and as they walk by, the bushes are magically trimmed-up and shaped ...  into a triangle, a rectangle ... you get the idea.  And at first glance I didn't get it.  I was sitting there thinking "why does that woman have a bush in her bathroom, and why does it look like it was grown in a martini glass?"  But by the second time through I had moved from confused to repulsed.

I mean, think about that advertizing board room meeting.  How did THIS idea get through?  How is it that "trimming the bushes" wasn't seen as a little too literal a translation to be apropriate, much less appealing?

So yesterday at the end of a long day of work I hopped on a train and headed into the city to meet up with my brother.

He's been a part of a couple of different business networking groups for a while now, and he's been politely suggesting that I might want to go to one since the beginning of the year.  Now the truth of the matter is that the very word "networking" kind of gives me an instant knot in my gut.  I'm not a wander-around-a-cocktail-party-handing-out-business-cards sort of girl.  The idea of having to spend two full hours trying to drum up business by  making small talk in a room full of random strangers is pretty much my worst nightmare.

So I've been dreading and passively avoiding having to do this for a while, but I knew that eventually I was going to end up going.  Then I found out that he's actually taking over one of his groups and was planning his first big whatever for last night and wanted me to come.   And since I've messed at least two of the meetings that he's invited me to, I really felt obligated to go to the one last night to make it up to him. 

So I just barely managed to get there on time ... but that is another long and boring story.  The point is that I got there, and I was so flustered and worked up from the day I'd already had that the first 15 minutes were nothing short of agonizing torture.  The room was a little cramped, and at one point I got stuck in one spot, blocked by a bunch of people having conversations around me, and unable to find a single other person who was unoccupied and not already talking .... can  you spell L-O-O-S-E-R?  Ugh, I wanted to die.

But then, about 20 minutes into it they started the meeting and we all sat around a big table and that's when everything got much better.  First we all passed our business cards around the table, so everyone got everyone else's without all the work of handing them out to people.  Then one by one everyone at the table stood up and gave a quick 90 second introduction of who they were and what they did.  That worked for me, since I'm much better at addressing a crowd than making small talk one on one.  Plus it gave everyone a chance to figure out who they might want to meet.

After that they held a brainstorming session where someone at the table explained a problem that they were having with their business and everyone else shot out ideas for solutions.  It was actually pretty cool.  The whole environment was much more giving and supporting that I was expecting.  For some reason, I alwasy thought of networking groups as rather preditory deal-hunting environments.  But this group really seemed focused on how people could help each other. 

And then at the close of the meeting I met three or four people who sought me out either because they were looking for a bookkeeper for their business or they knew someone who was.  It was really cool.  So what started out as an absolutely dreadful night actually turned into something incredibly positive and productive. 

Oh and did I mention that the meeting was held in the offices of one of the members who just happened to be a baker and just HAPPENED to have some of the most amazing cookies I've ever tasted in my life? (chocolate espresso hazelnut I think ...).  those cookies plain old stopped me in my tracks.

because it's Sunday night and I'm bored


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