Weekends rule so very much

I wish I could bottle the air today and put it online for everyone to smell. The sun is out, the air is cool without being cold and it smells like fall leaves, which just may be the best smell in the world. I took Willow out earlier, and tried to get her to stay outside and enjoy it, but she is the strangest dog - she does her business and comes right back in. Maybe it's because she was a stray before she wound up in the SPCA, I don't know. Anyway. Today is just beautiful.

I don't think I've mentioned here before that I watch General Hospital every day. Well, actually, I record it every day and watch it on the weekend. I didn't watch it last week, so I have two weeks worth of shows to watch today. Well, I did - I'm halfway through the first of them already. Mobs, stalkers, affairs, illegitimate pregnancies - Port Charles is a very busy town! It's fun to watch, though.

I bought the softest light blue yarn yesterday. I picked up a free mitten/scarf/hat pattern in the store, and am going to make at least the mittens and scarf for myself (I'm not sure about the hat). I wish I had a digital camera so that I could take a picture of them when they're done. I've started the first mitten, and they are going to be super cute.

Tomorrow is Halloween. Everyone in my office is going to dress up, except for me. I don't have any costumes, and no desire to spend money to get one. But that's okay. I've never dressed up for Halloween since I've become an adult, and I don't really feel the desire to start now.

Also, don't you love the fall time change? I sure do. I got up at 7:40 today, or so I thought - then I remembered the time change, and realized that it was really only 6:40. Woo! I got up anyway, and now I have an extra long day to goof off. Well, until I start to do my homework, but all I have to do is read, and I can do that while I'm watching TV tonight. So no biggy.

Okay, Zelda is demanding attention. Bye all you Internet people!

Double Grrrrrrr

I just typed out a whole post, and when I tried to add a picture, it disappeared. Grr! I'm not typing the whole thing out again, so you're getting the edited version. I hate working in teams; boys who think they know everything annoy the shit out of me; my dog is bothering me and has been for over an hour (she thinks we need to go to bed, even though it's only 9:00).

And the picture up there is my dog Bo, who I had to put to sleep in July. It about killed me, because he was my heart. Also, I had to put his girlfriend, Bailey to sleep in June. I don't know if it was some weird twist of fate that they both got sick and died exactly 30 days apart or if Bo just willed himself to die of a broken heart, but it wasn't fun and I don't ever want to do that again. And wasn't he beautiful? I miss him (and Bailey). And I would love it if my current dog, Willow, would just lay down and leave me the heck alone for a little while. Is that too much to ask? Geez.

What the heck?

I had to write a quick post to say - what the heck is going on here? I had to SHOVEL SNOW out of my driveway this morning. That just should not happen in October. It was heavy, wet snow, too. I really don't like winter.

Also, most of the people in my office are going to be dressing up for Halloween on Monday, and I'm not. I feel like a scrooge or something. I've never dressed up as an adult, and have no idea what I would be. I'll think about it. Maybe I'll come up with something by then. Suggestions are welcome! Post any you can think of in my comments.

Mid week ick

It's Tuesday! Which means nothing, really, except that I'm done with classes until Friday and there are only three days left until Saturday gets here. Today has been an okay day, I guess. I got up early and got to school at 7:30, half an hour before my class, so I could have a meeting with a member of my group from today's class. He was going to help me turn my web page template (it's a web publishing class, and our big class project is to redesign a page for a local area company) into an actual html page. He didn't end up helping me, though, so I got up half an hour early for nothing. We did work on it during the second half of class, though, so I have a good start on it. I'll see if I can finish it up tonight after work.

I also got roped into going to see the school play tomorrow night with my boss and a coworker. Hey Sarah, do you want to go too? I can get you a student ticket so that it's only $1 to attend! You know you want to. I'll talk you into it tomorrow.

We have 6 1/2 weeks of classes left before the semester is over, and let me just say that I can't wait. I'm not really sure why I'm going for this degree right now. I'm 36 years old now, and will likely be pretty close to 40 by the time I finish it. Am I really going to want to start a new career at that point? I have no idea. In the meantime, though, I trudge on, taking two classes a semester and wishing for each one to end quickly so that I can have my free time back, and not have to go to class or do homework or work weird hours in order to get almost a full 40 hours every week. Imagine being able to work a normal 8 hour day every day, never having to come in early or leave late! It sounds wonderful.

I don't like to say too much about work here, because other people have learned that lesson the hard way (www.dooce.com for instance) and I don't aim to be one of them. I do feel the need to say one thing, though. We have a very casual dress code here, but the one firm rule is that we aren't allowed to wear blue jeans. We can wear colored jeans, but not blue ones. What is my male coworker wearing right now? You guessed it - blue jeans. The bitch of it is, the boss doesn't even notice, so nothing gets said. Grrr. I feel like a snitch if I point it out (although I did point it out when he wore them two days in a row at the beginning of the semester), so I'm just sitting here ignoring it. This is one of the reasons I prefer the end of the week, when I get to work with Sarah. Hi Sarah!

Okay, I'm off to enter another code into the Mountain Dew sweepstakes. I only have a few days left to try to win that game system! Cross your fingers for me.

Seen above: a much dryer day here on campus, taken in the fall of 2004. If you want to know what that would look like now, add the cold rain that is currently coming down in buckets, brrr.

Friends

This has been a very good weekend so far. I think I've probably written about the fact that my life is usually a very quiet one. I don't go out and do much, and am usually perfectly happy to spend my free time at home, reading a good book, watching TV or a movie or playing the Sims. Shoot, I usually multi-task and do at least two of those at once. This has been slowly changing a bit recently, though. Yesterday, instead of spending the day at home by myself, I went out with a friend.

What makes this even more unusual is that the friend I hung out with all day yesterday is a guy. I have never been friends with a guy before. I've dated them, I've been social with them in a coworker setting, but I've never been friends with one. Jamie and I have become really good friends, though. So we went to the new Long John Silver's that just opened in town (I used to love to go there when I lived in Virginia, but we've never had them up here in central New York before now), which was very good - it tasted just like I remembered. Then we went to the mall in Utica and walked around for a while. I hadn't been to a mall in years, so that was fun. We also hit the Barnes & Noble (my nickname here is avidreader for a reason). I love book stores. I could spend hours there alone. We also went to Old Navy where he got a new winter coat and I got a couple of t-shirts to wear to work. Even though it was cold and raining outside, it was a fun day of shopping.

When we were done with that we stopped at the store and got some chicken for dinner and came back to my house, where we watched this week's episode of Nip/Tuck (man, I can't wait to find out who the carver is), and then I got him to watch Finding Nemo, which he had never seen before. That's so crazy! Nemo is a must watch. Anyway, all told we spent about nine hours together, and it was very fun. And hey! Look at me getting all social and stuff.

Today so far I've been pretty lazy. I've gotten some laundry done, but that's about all I've accomplished. I have some homework to do for tomorrow, and I need to go in and shower and get dressed, but I just can't seem to find the motivation. It sounds much more appealing to sit here in my pjs and play the Sims while I watch the TV shows I recorded last week or read my book, you know? I do need to get moving, though. I can't be a slug all day long! Well, I could, but I'm not going to.

Oh, and We (Women's Entertainment, which is a cable TV channel) has been playing Dirty Dancing this weekend. I love that movie! I must have watched it a thousand times, between the VHS tape I wore out as a teenager, the DVD that I have now and the times I've seen it on TV. It's coming up to the end now, so I'm going to go watch it. Later!

Temptations at Work

I got to work this morning and checked my e-mail. What was waiting for me in my inbox? Temptation, in the form of a link from the college library to a catalog of electronic books. Yes, they sent me a link that I can use to read books on my computer. I of course played with it right away, and found, not too surprisingly, that they don't seem to have current books. I'm sure there are copyright issues there. But they do have the classics. I found the Bronte sisters (I don't know how to do that thing over the e on here, so just imagine those two little dots over the e, okay?) and Jane Eyre is on my screen right now, tempting me to read it. I've started to read Jane Eyre a few times, and like it a lot. It has some of the old timey formal English feel to it, but it's not so bad that it can't be read and enjoyed without the use of too much brain power. I've never actually finished it, because by the time I get half way through it I usually need a break from it, and I usually go read something else and never go back to it. But you know what? I bet I could actually finish it if I were reading it at work.

Not that I would do that :).

They just really shouldn't offer me such distractions in my inbox!

Another Monday, another blah day

It's Monday. Why do they suck so much? Oh yeah, because they mean the end of our two days of freedom and a return to the routine of work, school, commute, responsibility. I was afraid that today was going to be crazy hectic because my boss returned today after a two and a half week vacation during which she got married and went on her honeymoon. So far so good, though - it's been nice and calm. Which is just a little weird and has me wondering if the craziness has just been postponed until later, when she starts to get caught up. We'll see.

I came really close to calling in sick today. I'm not sick, of course - I just had the urge to spend an extra day in my pjs playing the Sims and watching TV and laying on my bed being happy to not be at work. But I was a good girl and got myself up and ready and came in. I just had a long weekend last week for the Columbus Day holiday, so I didn't really need the extra day right now. I'll save it for sometime when I'm ready to go crazy and need the day to save my sanity.

I had a really good weekend, too. I wrote about the low key day I had Saturday. I love those days. Sunday I was planning on being low key, too, but it didn't really work out that way. I lounged around and watched a movie right after I got up (Alfie starring Jude Law, which was decent, but I didn't like the ending), then I turned on my desktop to start playing the Sims again, and it started up and I double clicked to start up the game, and my computer shut down on me, and when it came back up it was giving me a local profile error. I had this computer built for me a month or two ago, and had some problems when I first got it where it wouldn't run at my house but would fine at the house of the guy who built it for me. He finally got that fixed by changing out the DVD/CD drive and the power supply, and it had been running fine until yesterday. When I got that error and it loaded up a desktop for me, none of my stuff was there, and I was a little freaked. I didn't have anything major on there, just the hours and hours of play I had put into my Sims that would be lost. But I called the computer guy and he came over and found it all for me, thank goodness. It was all there, and he just had to create a new profile and switch everything over. So that was all right, and I panicked for nothing.

And then, since I had showered and gotten dressed before he came over, I figured I might as well get out of the house and do something, so I IMed my friend to see if he was busy, and he wasn't, so we went to Wendy's for lunch and to Walmart to wander around and look at stuff and get me some groceries, and all in all it was a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. And I still got to play the Sims when I got home, so all was well. :) I love weekends.

Saturday at my house

Saturdays at my house are generally very low key and quiet. Which is just the way I love them, in case you were wondering. Every once in a while I'll break my pattern and go to lunch with a friend or go after groceries or to get my hair cut or something. Usually, though, I can count on spending the day in my pajama pants, watching last week's episodes of General Hospital, listening to Internet radio, reading whatever book I'm in the middle of at the time (right now I'm rereading Pamie's (www.pamie.com) book, Why Girls are Weird, which is just very funny) and playing the Sims 2. Anyone who isn't addicted to this game may not understand my addiction, but anyone who is will most likely be nodding their head right now. Oh yes, the hours that get lost in that game.

Today is no exception to that pattern, by the way. I've gotten a couple loads of laundry done, I've gotten showered and dressed and I've taken care of my animals - otherwise, I've been sitting on my butt playing the game, watching GH, downloading music and listening to it (currently Huey Lewis and the News, "Heart and Soul" - don't judge me by that, I grew up in the 80s and therefore love Huey Lewis and almost every song he's ever sung, the one exception being that horrible duet he did with Gwynth Paltrow for that movie, ugh. The radio goes off when that comes on) and reading the book. Add in the fact that we've actually seen some sunshine here today (it's been raining for a week), and it's pretty much the perfect Saturday.

Also, I paid all of this month's bills this morning. I tend to put that off for some reason, even though I always feel much better once they're paid and out of the way. I don't know why I put them off - it must be the same reason that I never quite get around to exercising, even though I know I would feel better after doing it. I may feel good after, but it's so painful during! Oh well.

Anyway, that is my Saturday so far. Well, that in addition to putting up with this dog, who I swear never naps, even though in my experience dogs usually sleep a good 18-20 hours a day. Not her - she paces, grumbles, chases the cats so that I have to yell at her, and comes over and butts her head under my arm every so often for affection. I think my friend Jamie needs to come over and let her lay on his lap like he did the other day after work. She enjoyed the attention, and she left me alone! It was nice.

Well, it's time to go back to my Saturday. I hope you all are enjoying yours!

Why I don't take lunch at my desk

I work at a college, at the front desk of an office that deals with the students' laptops and cell phones. There are people who work here who are comfortable taking their lunch breaks at their desk, with their heads down, ignoring anyone who might walk in. I am not one of those people. Today I got a reminder of why.

I would normally go outside to eat or I would go to the back office and sit at the work study's desk. Today it was too cold and rainy to go outside and the work study was actually at her desk, so I ate at my counter while my coworker manned the desk. I was interrupted four or five times, the last time by a person who damaged his phone beyond repair and is going to have to pay to replace it. He had come in yesterday and argued with a different person about it, calling her names that were not very pleasant. I had to tell him the same things today that she told him yesterday. He didn't call me a name, but he did walk out the door mumbling the F word as he went. If I had been in my car during lunch, or if we had a proper breakroom, my coworker would have had to deal with him, while I enjoyed my book and sipped my root beer in peace. Oh well.

And today was already sucking anyway because it's the first day back after a four day weekend, and my favorite coworker called in sick (Hi Sarah! I hope you are feeling okay). Is it Friday yet?

(Oh, and I've been dealing with a headache all day because I let myself get addicted to caffeine again and I haven't had any since Monday. I want to break the addiction, hence the root beer. I am not exactly loving life today. Sigh)

The Joys of Fall, or, Annoying Dog for Sale Cheap

I had two topics in mind for a post today, so I thought I'd just combine them into one post. So, first - the dog over there is named Willow. She's insanely friendly and cute and lovable. I adopted her from the SPCA almost two months ago, and I love her wholeheartedly. That being said, she is driving me up the wall today! Honestly, I'd give her away to anyone who came by to pick her up. Well, at least for a little while. She is an adult dog who had apparently been mistreated, because she is afraid of a lot of things that no reasonable dog should be afraid of (plastic grocery bags when they're full of groceries, umbrellas, leashes if they get pulled tight on her neck), but we're working on those things. The most annoying thing about her, though, and the thing that is driving me crazy today, is that she grumbles and barks all the time and for no reason. Or at least she is today. She's afraid my cats might get into something that she doesn't want them into. She's afraid that someone may come over, so she's on guard against that. She's afraid that the sound of people on TV or even the sound of my Sims in my computer game might be people who want to come attack us. She seems to just be angry at the world today, and she needs to calm the heck down.

Okay, whew. She just laid down in her crate, so maybe it's naptime. Meantime, here's the other topic I was thinking about. Fall is here! I love fall. I wish I had a digital camera so that I could show you the glorious things about this season. I don't have one, though, so you'll just have to use your imagination as I write about them. First, the Canadian Geese are here, in huge numbers, and they're hanging out in the field next to my house. I love the sound of them. I just took Willow outside, thinking that maybe she was bugging me because she had to go potty, and while we were out there, the whole large flock of them picked up and flew down the field away from us, and the sound! It was amazing. The beating of wings, the honking of their voices. It was great.

Second, the coolness, the crispness of the air, and the colors of the trees as they turn orange and yellow and red. It's all fantastic and beautiful. And the third thing I'm loving about fall today is the loaf of pumpkin bread that I just made. Yum. The house smells great and it tastes great, and it just screams of fall.

I'm not sure why fall is my favorite season. It shouldn't be, because I hate winter, and the arrival of the geese and the coolness means that winter is a very few short weeks away, as far as mother nature is concerned. But even the thought of snow doesn't stop me from loving fall. It just makes me feel like all is right with the world.

And in not such cheery news, my friend Sally lost her father this weekend. He had been sick for a while, and she said he was ready to go, but I know first hand how horrible it is to lose a parent, even if they are ready to go, and I feel for her. Sally, if you read this, know that my thoughts are with you, and that I am here for you whenever you need someone to help you through.

Okay, I need to go finish the sinkful of dishes that I have soaking. If you Americans have today off like I do, go out and enjoy this glorious fall day! Take your own dogs for a walk, or if you don't have one take yourself for a walk. Look at the leaves, smell the air, and enjoy life.

Sunday Relaxation

I don't very often go to the movies. I love to, so I'm not sure why I don't. Maybe it's because I don't very often have people who want to go see the same things that I want to. Or maybe it's because when I only have two days off a week, I like to stick pretty close to home for most of those two days. I am very much a homebody. So that's why it's so surprising that I would go to see two movies in two weeks.

Last week I went with my sister and one of my friends to see Serenity. I've already admitted my love of Buffy and Angel, so it shouldn't be too surprising to learn that I also bought the DVDs for Firefly and loved every single episode, and of course I had to go see the movie once it came out. And I loved it. I left the movie theater wishing that the movie were on DVD so that I could buy it and bring it home with me.

And this week that same friend and I went to see The Corpse Bride. A very cute movie, with an entertaining story, and a nice way to spend an hour and 20 minutes.

Oh, also, the priest/preacher whatever in that movie? Totally reminded both me and my friend of the Warlock from one of those old Christmas cartoons. Was it The Year without a Santa Claus? I'm not sure, but if you know the one that had the warlock, who had to be taught to put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking cross the floor...and that just reminded me that it was the cartoon about Kris Kringle. Anyway, he totally looked like him.

So in addition to watching the movie we also walked around a couple of stores and had lunch at Denny's (I just had the leftovers for dinner), and it was a very fun day. Now I'm going to sit back with the down throw that my niece gave me last year for Christmas on my lap, and I'm going to play the Sims for a while. This just may be the perfect Sunday.

Introducing Zelda

This is my cat Zelda. She is very happy to meet you. No really, that look is one full of love. She wants you to pet her. No, she demands that you do. She wants to climb on your shoulder and purr in your ear. And if you don't watch out, she'll also jump on your back so that you have to walk bent over until you can get her to jump off on a piece of furniture. She thinks you should live to pay attention to her. She wants you to pet her until she gets really happy and starts to drool.

And she wants to know what in the world I was thinking when I brought that dog into the house. We were doing just fine without her.

She almost didn't forgive me when I brought in the stray cat who moved into my basement, but then she decided that she would just need to be more demanding than she was before, and that's seemed to work out well.

She likes it when I bring people over, because then there are more hands to pet her. She laid on my sister's chest for two hours on the day that I had to put my dog to sleep and my sister came over to be with me. She loves that I have a friend coming over once a week now to watch Nip/Tuck, because she can lay on his shoulder and drool on his shirt. She likes to lick plastic bags, which I swear she only does because she knows it will drive me crazy.

And she's very happy to meet you. She says to come by often and say hi.

I'm not sure why I'm doing this

I'm starting a blog why exactly? It's not like the world needs another person broadcasting their thoughts to the world at large. I hadn't been thinking about posting a blog, either. I gave my friend Sarah a link to Pamie's online journal (www.pamie.com), and she loved it and asked me why I didn't have one of those that she could read. And somehow I ended up on blogger creating an account and here I am.

Although I'm not sure if I'll tell anyone about it. I may tell Sarah eventually, since it was her idea, but otherwise I think I'd rather remain anonymous! So Sarah if you read this, please don't out me at work, okay? I may let other people know about it eventually, but I'm not ready to yet.

So I guess I should introduce myself to you. Like I said, I prefer to remain anonymous, so you can call me Reader. Or Avid. Or Avidreader. Or hey you. Whatever strikes your fancy. I'm 36 years old, single and never been married. I've been in love once, and had my heart stomped for my trouble. That was fun! Not. My parents are all gone, and I say all because my father died when I was two, and I was raised by my mom and step-dad. I've been an orphan for over 5 years now, and I'm here to say that it isn't any fun. Losing my mom almost killed me. And I'm not really kidding there - suicide was thought about at one point. But I turned around, and now I'm back to my old self. Although a little plumper, damn that urge to eat away my pain!

I own a house that is slowly sinking me into the poor house. I live in the country, and recently got a notice that there may be a major subdivision going up around me. Rising property values aside, I wasn't exactly thrilled about that. I like living in a rural setting. Corn fields are much better neighbors than people are. I have a dog and five cats, so yes I do live the single woman cliche. But I'm happy with that. I had two different dogs before this summer, but they died 30 days apart. It was not a fun time. But I went to the SPCA and adopted a dalmatian/spaniel mix, and she may be a little neurotic, but she's very sweet, and I love her. Dogs are the coolest.

Also, I've been single for a very long time, and it's getting old. I'd like someone in the bed next to me that doesn't have four legs and a tail, you know? Maybe some day.

Wow, my life sure sounds exciting, doesn't it? Whatever it may sound like, though, I like it. I've made some good friends in the last few years, including two at the job I'm in now (Hi Sarah!), I have a wonderful sister who has a large, fantastic family (my nieces and nephews are the coolest), I have a best friend in Michigan who I may have to send this link to, and although I'm not rolling in dough, I generally manage to get my bills paid every month, and that's all I really ask for. Now if only I could get David Boreanaz to dress up in his vamp face and come over, life would be perfect! Hee.

And this post is officially long enough for an intro. So I'll sign off now! Bye! And if my voice actually manages to get heard out there, post a comment for me! I'd love to know if anyone actually reads this thing.