In the mornings, I take a DoD shuttle bus from the Pentagon to the Navy Yard. It's usually a school bus style monstrosity (at least it has heat/AC and radio), but every once in a while, we get a fancy tour bus type. Not only did we get a fancy-pants tour bus this morning, but we also had a different driver than usual. I like to read while I'm on the bus, and I can usually tune out whatever is going on over the radio. Not today.
Today, I was subjected to Paul Harvey. Besides the horrible timing, entirely too long pauses in conversation, and horrid laughing at jokes that weren't nearly funny enough to warrant more than a chuckle, my "favorite" moment was hearing him say how he has a new favorite TV channel. It's the Gospel Music Channel. Just as I finished rolling my eyes in absolute non-surprise, some music started. I fully expected it to be a gospel song, so I was hunkering down in my book to avoiding getting some religious bullshit song stuck in my head. What it turned out to be instead, was a sexually explicit R&B number. Yeah.
I was quietly looking around the bus to see if anyone else registered what just happened, but no one was showing any outward signs of having half a clue. I don't care about the sexual nature of the song. I'm fairly certain it would have been horrible even without the bad lyrics. The timing was just... something else.




Also, I'm not sure if I ever posted these. If anyone cares, the 2008 Halloween Shindig pics are on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23731451@N07/sets/72157608677770823/

Tags: dumbfuckery, halloween
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: amused

I never paid attention to politics until after I joined the military, and Bush was already in office by that time. I don’t feel qualified to have any conversations about the Bill Clinton administration, for which I was actually old enough to have paid attention and understood but didn’t.
I’ve never been on the winning side of politics, and now that I’m here, I am a bit apprehensive. The first person I ever voted for who actually won was Jim Webb for Senate (Virginia) in 2006.
I was an Obama supporter from the start of his campaign. Many things appealed to me, but most of all his show of intelligence, eloquence, level headedness, and [what I perceive to be] common sense. I am happy that he is the President-elect. I hope that he will be able to fulfill a lot of his campaign promises. I hope more, though; that the American people will be realistic about how long it may take and realize that he is neither Superman nor a messiah. I hope that he can really inspire the Congress to do great things and look past all the partisanship.

I know that if McCain had won, I would have been hoping more than anything else that he would, in fact, turn back into the man he was in 2000 as opposed to the soulless being he became during the course of this election season. Then, I would have hoped for Sarah Palin’s demise (or at least ousting from office). I would have been able to rant and rave about how we’re going even farther down the tubes than we already are. That is why I have refrained from being snarky to the McCain supporters in my life who are concerned and wondering aloud about moving to Canada.

I hope that the country does make a turn for the better, but if we don’t, I am not sure how I will react. I don’t want to point fingers at filibustering Republicans just because I’m a Democrat (I never liked labeling myself as either party, but let’s face it, I’ve voted Democrat enough to make it so—that said, I would like to let it be known that I am totally ok with guns). I don’t want to turn into the type of people I wonder at; staunch Bush supporters who never question their own government because that kind of thinking is “unpatriotic.”
I must admit, it’s easier to question things when I’m highly opposed to the people in power. My distrust for the US government was fostered by a Republican regime. I hope that I am able to maintain it even when my favored party is running the show.

The other thing that has helped to keep me grounded on this whole “hope” thing is the passage of so many anti-gay propositions in various states. I am very happy about Barack Obama’s win, but I am deeply disappointed by the passage of such shitty propositions. I am also frustrated with the lack of public conversation about it. How can we harp on how great it is that a black man was elected President while at the same time, we have trampled on the rights of homosexuals? I haven’t heard much analysis of this on the news at all; it’s all about Obama’s win. I’m not saying his win isn’t a worthy milestone, but I am afraid that the issues of these states’ anti-gay propositions will get lost in the shuffle. The fights are long from over, but now is the time to be talking about this as well. Etch out at least some time for it, media!

Tags: "the" news, politics
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: contemplative

I am an LJ flake. I’ve been putting off an update, and was going to continue to do so, until I saw that headline. Two months. What has transpired in the last two months that is worthy of noting here? Not much, generally.
However, the last week has been very noteworthy.
montyollie has been on a simply awesome road trip across North America for the past few months. Although it was not originally planned, I was fortunate enough to have her land on my doorstep last Monday. I’ve known her through the No Kidding!/We Kid You Not boards for a number of years now, but this was our first meeting in person. The week prior to her arrival, I had also made happy hour plans with some other online folks with whom I am in an Opinionated Women group on Myspace. The meeting of Internet Weirdos ™ was so much fun, I think it was what helped me convince Jo to stay through the weekend so she could participate in the third annual Halloween Shindig.

The Shindig was a great success, and I really don’t know how I would have done it without my wonderful houseguest. She did the grocery shopping, made the witches’ fingers, made the cakes for the kitty litter, painted various objects, and recorded it all in pictures. Besides the physical help, the conversation just couldn’t be beat. Even when I was running around the kitchen doing Halloween-y things, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jo and my husband yak it up at our kitchen table.
I have been reading montyollie’s journal for years now, and I have always wanted to be one of the folks she mentions with whom she has yakked for hours about life. I am so glad to have had the privilege to finally be one of those people. I don’t generally like canned inspirational things. Although there are non-canned things which I find inspirational, expressing that kind of hope and a positive attitude about stuff is not something that comes easily to me. However, I would be remiss to keep to myself just how great it was meeting Jo because she really does inspire me. She lives her convictions and makes me want to strive to better live mine. She challenges herself to step outside her comfort zone and makes me want to do the same. She reminded me of a lot of things I know in my head but never really made the move to DO with the rest of me.
Every one of my friends who met Jo during the course of her visit all loved her as well. I hope that her lesson learned on this trip about having friends (even if not locally) stays with her and doesn’t fade just because she’s not on the road.
Thanks for the visit, montyollie. It meant more to me than I was able to say.

Tags: friends, general update, good days, halloween, party
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: cheerful

So there’s this website, Mortified that I came across a few months back from the blogroll of Postcards From Yo Momma.

Mortified is all about sharing the things from your childhood which you now find, well… mortifying. Some people tell stories, some post pictures, others share their diaries from years past. You may recall my having posted about having found my old notebook full of angsty teen poetry in my mom’s attic. (I hope you can see where I’m going with this by now.)
While the mortified website allows for people to post all this wonderful stuff, the best part of what they do is live shows wherein people chronicle their teen angst and childhood melodramas on stage.

On Sunday, I went to a screening session. I think it went rather well, and I haven’t heard back yet, but I am hoping I will get to participate in the next Mortified show in DC. There will definitely be more to follow on this topic…

Tags: angst, mortified
Current Location: work
Current Mood: hopeful

I've started an LJ community.
I'm not real big on spamming forums and doing unsolicited ads for my stuff, so I'm starting with my friends and just kinda hoping it will take off from there as you (possibly) share it. I'll be posting it all over my own pages, of course. ;)

The point of the community is simply to share some of your favorite links on the web (similar format to macro communities). I put the shell up with a preliminary post, but the long laundry list of sites I have on paper to post will have to wait until after I've had some sleep and birthday shenanigans.

Thanks all!


bookmark_this

Current Location: Charlie's house
Current Mood: happy

I was such an angsty teen from about 14 to 16...
I don't remember if I posted about it, but I had to go to my mom's house earlier in the year to clean my stuff out of her attic (she was moving). I got rid of a lot of stuff, but came home with a few boxes of memorabilia, mostly from high school.
For the most part, I've kept a lot of things dealing with past relationships, all except for my first one. It was unhealthy and generally bad, so when it was officially over, I taped up the shoebox of concert and movie tickets and the like and threw it all out. I could have sworn I also threw out the notebook full of poetry I had written. Turns out I didn't.
Holy shit, was I ever angsty and cliche. It was funny and embarrassing and sometimes a little touching to read what I had written from November 1994 until December 1996.

The bulk of it is about unrequited love (that first "relationship" mentioned earlier), but there's all the makings of teenage drudgery in there: losing my virginity, biology class, friendship, domestic abuse, abortion, religious ponderings, suicide, low self-esteem, and fighting "the system."

Some of my more interesting titles include:

This Grand Friendship Tour
The Biggest Mistake of My Life (It doesn't get much more cliche than that...)
Love and Pain everlasting (Except maybe for that.)
pointless effort
Oh, i'm sorry, i must have zoned out.
Kill Me ; Vegetable
The Girl in the Mirror
ifs
pessimist
butterflies and teddy bears
why die? why not? why live? why not?
blackest death (I think we have a winner for epitome of cliched teen angst.)
The Life of a Lichen
the pointless antics of the love affair of a hopeless romantic teenager

There are 149 in all, though one of them is a revision of a previous poem. I know there are 149 because I actually had a table of contents. Yes, I was that much of a nerd. My pages are numbered, too.


It's mostly horrible, but there was one I thought was kinda cute. I shall, for your mocking pleasure, share one from September 25, 1995:

( the clouds )

Tags: angst, general reflection, lousy poetry, poem
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: nostalgic

I'm newly addicted to Yahoo! Answers.
Consequently, I'm annoyed at the limits per day to answering questions (which you have to do to get points, to move up levels, to be allowed higher daily limits). It's a vicious circle, I tell you!

Tags: internet tomfoolery
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: tired

I won't be putting the details out there because it's just not a smart thing to share your daily travel routines with the world at large, but I am happy to report that T and I have come to an arrangement that will save us money and gas while keeping a car off the road and allowing us to spend some more time together. :D
It's not quite straight carpooling as we work in different places and have some metro stuff mixed in there (along with me splitting my day between my office and my gov't customer's office), but it looks like it'll work out quite nicely on most days for us to do this metro/carpool/pickup combination.

It's a little sad that the impact to the earth was the last of the reasons that came up as we were talking about it. Before the latest gas price hikes, it would have been the first reason and money savings would have been secondary--or tertiary even. I can still safely say we're not making this change because of the rising cost of gas; our work situations have just changed within the last few weeks to allow this arrangement and saving money is always nice, regardless of the current economic state.

Current Location: Work
Current Mood: content

I've been reading my friends' journals pretty regularly, but only noticed today that it's been nearly a month since I last posted to my own. Despite having quit that whole second bachelor's degree business, I've been pretty busy. I say busy, but what I really mean is that I haven't been sitting around in the front of the tv/computer for my weekends lately.

The riding I spoke of in my last post did, in fact, happen over Memorial Day weekend. Since then, I've acquired a bike of my own and even ridden it a few times in an abandoned used car lot. The only thing different about my bike from the pic is that mine has after market mirrors and saddlebags. I got my learner's permit last week to be legit while I'm practicing, and I'll be fully licensed after a Beginner's Rider Course I'm taking in July.

The SemperComm Gala I mentioned was not quite as nauseating as I expected it to be. Their mission is actually kinda cool, and the music wasn't all night long; just a short performance.

( We clean up pretty well, I think )

What else has been going on... work is awesome. I love my job. The people I work with are cool. My boss is chill. Although in the bigger picture, the program I support is a really big deal, the part I play in it just doesn't lend to super mega mega stress. I imagine things will be more demanding as I become more of a subject-matter expert, but I don't think it'll be monumentally bad. I think it will be the good kind of stress, and I don't anticipate it really getting unbearable because I've been managing my workload pretty well.

Used montyollie's recipe for homemade granola bars this weekend with a friend. They're pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to making more varieties. We did one batch with a berry medley of blueberries, cherries, and cranberries on one side of the pan and cranberries with spiced apples on the other side. Our second batch was mini chocolate chips with chopped walnuts. There was a slight consistency difference because we did the fruit ones on the minimum amount of baking time and the chocolate chips ones the maximum (I recommend maximum), they were all very yummy. I didn't get to pack any in our lunches today, but I'm looking forward to eating them throughout the week.

Tags: food, general update, motorcycle
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: content

Once again, I have nothing in particular to talk about, but I feel the need to post anyway. General update time...

There was recently a thread on the WKYN boards about whether or not people are planners and how it has affected their lives. As a general rule, I'm a flexible planner with both long term and short term goals, but I don't always have the details in stone on things.
This weekend, our plans were the same as they had been for every weekend for the last few months; some cleaning, likely breakfast out with some friends, and the one-off outing. This weekend's one-off was bowling. My school always does a faculty versus students bowling thing near the end of each quarter.
I've made a pretty good friend this quarter, and as it turns out, he and his wife are CF and totally get along with me and T. The four of us (actually 5, they had a friend with) did dinner and a movie for our one-off the weekend before, and that was also the meeting of the spouses. So S&L were at the bowling thing, and they live some ungodly distance from us/campus/the bowling alley/civilization. They ended up crashing at our place after bowling because it was near 2am and they were not up for the drive. We went to breakfast on Saturday and ended up deciding to sleep over at their place on Saturday night. It was just such a great weekend of general hanging out; grilling, movies, board games, booze. Awesome.

T has a 2005 1600 Mean Streak which has been sitting all sad and alone in our backyard because, as he found out only after purchasing it and selling his sport bike, that he's more of a sport bike kinda guy. So we've been talking about selling the cruiser for a while now, though we haven't gotten around to it. As it turns out, S&L have a cruiser, too (I don't remember what kind, though). We spent some time on Saturday checking out both bikes and we have plans for Memorial Day weekend now to work on T's bike and get it back into shape (change fluids, mainly) so we can go for a long ride together. I'm thinking we can pack a picnic lunch. I just found an awesome website with motorcycle road trips by state, and found a great day trip I'll be showing S tonight in class.
By the end of the weekend, T said he was actually getting excited about riding. I think the thing with cruisers is that they're better when you have someone to ride with. The sport bikes don't necessarily have/need that element.
I've always liked the cruiser, so I'm totally stoked for this upcoming weekend. :)

Also this week; black tie event. Fun to dress up, but it's freakin' country music all night and it's a Marine-focused event. I'm going to have to drink copiously to keep my eyes from rolling right out of their sockets. I'm getting all dolled up proper, though, by a stylist and everything. Pictures will likely be posted.

Tags: dress-up, general update, motorcycle
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: happy