this post is only for those who find themselves blessedly single this holiday season: all others must leave the site Immediately

'Why aren’t you married yet?’ or 'Are you seeing anyone?' the question is guaranteed to come...sometimes by well meaning individuals, and sometimes by others who rather enjoy making themselves feel better by putting you on the spot. As Miranda of Sex and the City so wonderfully explains in an episode about being asked the question and getting the pitied face and the "oh, you'll find 'the one' someday, don't you worry," for most married people, it's an uncomfortable subject. single people make married people feel uncomfortable. and so married people try to wish us the best and instill hope as a way for them to get through the uncomfortable truth that 'oh no, not everyone has their 'other half''. shouldn't everyone have an 'and guest' at a wedding or 'his and her' towels in their bathroom. Unfortunately, being single in this society is seen as a bad thing, as less-than being married, as 'still on the journey to being whole'...crap. however, in attempts to go against the grain of societal expectation in finding a mate...here are some answers you can use when asked the questions about why you haven't yet tied the knot.

‘It takes time to separate the best from the rest’
‘Johnny Depp is taken.’
‘Just lucky, I guess.’
‘Have you seen me naked?’”
‘I’m taking my time to make sure I do it right the first time.’
‘It gives my mother something to live for.’
'I look at marriage as an old-fashioned, patrician, indentured-slave practice that imprisons people in a backbreaking, emotionally bereft sinkhole.’”
‘Because a couple of years ago I got a great deal on a 50 pound box of condoms, and I want to get my money’s worth.’ (haha..thats hilarious)
‘One thing at a time. Let me get the sex change first.’
‘I guess it just goes to prove that you can’t trust those voodoo-doll rituals.’
‘No one has been smart enough to ask me yet’
'That's a good question, I've never thought about it before!’ and walk away with a huge smile on your face.
'I’m still hoping for a shot at Miss America'

Well, there you have it...ideas you can use...though i'm sure some will be more affective than others...hehe. eitherway...i know, deep down...that being single rocks. once we do get married, we have the rest of our lives to be stuck with someone else...enjoy freedom while you can...rise up, singles and unite!!

damn caffeine

well...it is almost 3am and i have resigned to the fact that caffeine is the devil. as i do not drink coffee every waking moment (like some people i know...Hallie!) it affects me more than i want to admit. my normal log-like sleep has been disturbed and i can not retreat into my usual unconscious state (i'm also talking/typing all weird). the sad thing is, i had coffee at 5pm this evening...you'd think it would have worn off by now. you'd also think that the beer i had before i went to bed might help put me down-yummy Newcastle. instead, i find myself tossing and turning, and though my eyes are heavy, my mind is racing and i can't fall asleep. lucky for you...you have an updated blog to read!

so...i've been in rochester for the past three days, and it's been wonderful and relaxing...chillin with my dad and two pooches, i've had a nice respite from my normally busy life. however, this weekend has not gone by without a few interesting moments:

1)friday, i decided to take both dogs for a walk...at the same time. mind you, my dog is an 80ish pound black lab/shephard mix and my dad's dog is a 110ish pound black lab/pitt bull mix. both are stronger in one leg than i am all together, and so, it was interesting to say the least. i figured out how to stop them from tangling leashes by keeping them on their own respective sides of the sidewalk...brayson to the left and zeke to the right. all was going well until a little boy (no older than 3 yrs) and his parents left their house and walked towards their car...right in front of me and my two large k-9s. while both dogs were excited at the prospect of smelling and then playing with this little fella, i knew they had another thing coming. i successfully kept them away from the boy and his parents, with the exception of zeke sniffing and licking the boy's hand. after making it past the family, i realized what the past 30 seconds could have looked like, in worst-case-scenario (or any future moment for that matter). these two dogs could've easily decided to follow their own desires and disregard the owner holding the other end of their leashes. i had pictures running through my head of them taking off with me still holding on, but instead of walking or even running behind them, i'm being dragged on the pavement, with no way to stop...like two dogs pulling their owner on a dog-sled, but without the dog-sled. the ice under my feet didn't help these visions. luckily, this owner prevailed, and we made it home safely and in three unscraped and undragged pieces!!

2)tonight, i went to see the Nutcracker at Eastman Theatre with my dad. it was such a treat and a pleasure to hear and to see. the orchestra (RPO) was phenomenal, as were the ballerinas!! what talent and skill and art and graceful movement and beautiful music. surprisingly, the theatre was not as full as i thought it would be. however, we did have the luck of sitting next to a sweet elderly couple who seemed to have a grand daughter in the ballet. we learned this by the way they were talking to each other during t.h.e. e.n.t.i.r.e. ballet. and this wasn't just polite whispering between an excited couple, mind you. this was talking between two people who have a hard time hearing, so they had to speak loudly and on many occasions, repeat themselves--a discussion about if who they were looking for was indeed the "third girl from the left?" "no, she's more of a blond and all those girls have brown hair". then, the woman began humming with the music. i got to nod to my dad's quiet "is she actually humming along?" a sweet couple, no doubt, but a little on the frustrating side when trying to appreciate and concentrate on the ballet itself!! of all the seats in the entire auditorium, right? ha

well, i hope that helps, and i'm able to fall asleep soon. it's now after 3am. i will never drink a cafe mocha again...well, as Lucas from Empire Records so perfectly put it..."that's not entirely true". (if you don't know every line to that movie, we can no longer be friends!!)

ps. i don't know why the time that it states i posted this blog is off...i thought i had fixed it. for the record it's actually 3:27am now :(

what a quick IM at 8:30 AM can do

i have a hard time relaxing. i always feel that if i have free time, i should be working...working at a place of employment or just working on making this world a better place-being productive and using my time to its fullest. This work-ethic, while good intentioned, is rather annoying, and sometimes i have to put my foot down and say...screw it all. fortunately, i was able to use my foot this morning, and now i have reason for such a happy posting on this beautiful tuesday...for further explanation, read on.

for every student at WVU, thanksgiving break involves a whole week off, which is nothing like the two days you get at calvin leaving almost NO time to travel 8 hours home for a relaxing thanksgiving dinner and or spending time with the fam (miss you aaron!!). unused to the extravagantly long break...i of course decided to find shifts at my job to fill the time, time that most people spent traveling home and doing nothing, sleeping in and enjoying time off. Instead, i worked an obnoxious amount of hours at the hospital this weekend and barely slept. Monday and tuesday were to be filled with practicum time and therefore completing more of my 100 hours needed by the end of the semester. wednesday was left to drive home...no time wasted. however, after trying 18 different outfits on for work this morning (and finding myself over 30 minutes late), a quick IM to my friend Hallie changed my plans, and we both decided to ditch our responsibilities (well, she was told she didn't have to go in, so i was the only one ditching) and headed to panera bread for some artichoke and bacon souffles...yumm yumm. to add to the fun and excitement of the morning, we decided to take our laptops to breakfast, for no other reason that the fact that => we can!! and so, we sit here, after some good thought provoking conversation about the reality of the spiritual realm, catching up on blog siting and drinking our coffee in silent contentment. what a perfect way to start my 'holiday' a day early!! Take that annoyingly-strong-work-ethic.

ahhh, the whole day ahead...and i can do whatever i want!! *sigh*!!

take this with a grain of salt

so i got a little bored at work and had some fun on www.blogthings.com. these are my results from some funny tests...what are your results??

the quickest personality test ever:

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

what kind of kisser are you?

You're an Expert Kisser

You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantity You've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks off And you're adaptable, giving each partner what they crave When it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

your birth date means:

Your Birthdate: July 9

You are a born idealist, with more pet causes than you can count. You prefer be around others, both when working and while relaxing. Generous and giving, you believe you can change the world one person at a time. You're open minded and tolerant. People feel like they can tell you anything. Your strength: Your go-with-the-flow flexibility Your weakness: Your flair for the over dramatic Your power color: Pine green Your power symbol: Circle Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

how weird are you?

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

how seductive are you?

Your Seduction Style: Au Natural

You rank up there with your seduction skills, though you might not know it. That's because you're a natural at seduction. You don't realize your power! The root of your natural seduction power: your innocence and optimism. You're the type of person who happily plays around and creates a unique little world. Little do you know that your personal paradise is so appealing that it sucks people in. You find joy in everything - so is it any surprise that people find joy in you? You bring back the inner child in everyone you meet with your sincere and spontaneous ways. Your childlike (but not childish) behavior also inspires others to care for you. As a result, those who you befriend and date tend to be incredibly loyal to you.

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

hope you had fun!! i did

to be a fly on my living room wall!!

so, last night, i finally did my introduction exercise video with the Core Secrets ball and yes, it kicked my ass. other than tennis...which i played quite a bit this past semester, and walks i take my dog on, i am completely and ashamedly out of shape. so, about a month ago, i decided to purchase one of those big exercise balls for less than 10 bucks, figuring it will give me something to do if i ever happen to feel in the mood to work out...which happens about..well...almost never. so it came in the mail a week later and i quickly 'blew' up the ball (with a little stamp/pump thingy). about a week later, i proceeded to watch the introduction video, which they say to watch before you actually do it so that when you do it, you know what to do. yeah, i fell asleep watching the video. so, three weeks or so later, i finally decide to put my 10 bucks and good intentions to use and i did the video thinking "it's a 20 minute introduction video...how hard can it be?" and i'll be honest...the stretching actually felt good. i thought, "hey, no problem...i'm gonna have to get a more advanced video cause i don't feel anything". and then...

the Instructor Guy, surrounded by 5 beautifully toned women, became Evil Insructor Guy, when he told me to do these lunge things while holding the big ass ball at the same time...THEN, he told me to hold the ball in the air on one side and swing it down to the other side while going to a kneeling position. by the 6th lunge, i realized that i was feeling slight pain in my legs, and by the 4th 'swing and kneel' exercise i was going into shock at the sever pain in my leg and ass muscles. by the end i had trouble getting up. and let's just say...a fly on the wall would have had a nice chuckle!! i began to feel very, well, pathetic. little did i know Core Secrets Introductory video would kiss my ass!!

needless to say, i have some work to do...BEFORE i get a more advanced video.

"stick with it" statements and encouragement postings are welcome!!

pitiful and sore...yours truly;)

my new favorite word: Prestidigitation

say it 10 times in a row, i dare ya, well, say it once correctly and you get a star for the day!!

Word of the Day for Wednesday November 16, 2005

prestidigitation \pres-tuh-dij-uh-TAY-shuhn\, noun:
Skill in or performance of tricks; sleight of hand.

He was the man who had sat alone in a room for hundreds and
hundreds of hours, his fingers manipulating cards and coins
until he had learned and could perfectly reproduce every
form of prestidigitation found in books of magic lore.
-- Brian Moore, [1]The Magician's Wife

Some modern readers may be less surprised to find that
efforts to use accounting prestidigitation to deflect
borrowing away from current expenditure speedily came
unstuck and that a return to more conventional ideas of
financial integrity was rewarded by what seems to be a
generation of calm, not entirely due to gaps in the record.
--Peter Rycraft, "Fiscalitat i deute public en dues viles
del camp de Tarragona: Reus i Valls, segles," [2]English
Historical Review, November 2002

One of his magician friends told me that practitioners of
prestidigitation have great respect for their fellow
magicians who also hold forth behind the bar.
--Gary Regan, "Tricks and treats: cast a mystical spell on
guests with a magician bartender," [3]Nation's Restaurant
News, March 3, 2003
_________________________________________________________

Prestidigitation was adopted from French, from preste,
"nimble, quick" (from Italian presto, from Late Latin
praestus, "ready at hand") + Latin digitus, "finger." One
skilled in sleight of hand is a prestidigitator.

why response to katrina was so slow

hehehe

4am - enter queen of overanalyzing everything - proceed with caution!!

well, i had all kinds of things to write about today...many interesting and deep thoughts about the current goings on...and yet, at 4am, it's hard to think anything is important except my bed, waiting for me to crawl into when i get to go home, away from this horrible place they call a health care facility. i am currently working my second of two night shifts at my very part time hospital job. my eyes are a little less dry than anticipated (though at 7am i won't be able to move my lids i'm sure) but i'm a little 'out of it' as they say. the hospital has no open beds so all transfer patients, which usually i coordinate and admit, are unable to come. this means i only get to answer random phone calls asking for bed numbers and/or physician pager numbers. but let's face it...it's 4 in the morning...most of the world is sleeping and my phone calls have been few and far between.

something that has been on my mind a bit lately involves a quote from class (many counseling/psych classes, but specifically one a few days ago) and i've been trying to figure out what it means for me. "People teach others how to treat them", an intersting perspective when we always complain about things happening 'to us'. gaining a perspective that makes us partly responsible for what happens to us is both frightening as well as hopeful, depending on how you look at it. in many cases i believe the statement to be true....taking away the shit that happens outside of our control (rape, war, etc.). once there is a pattern of behavior and a pattern of events...there's a good chance that some of our own behavior 'allows' these events to occur. we act in ways that feed into our beliefs and create situations of self fullfilling prophecy so that we remain comfortable and so that our beliefs 'hold true'. however, if we changed our actions, these events might no longer occur...

so, in regards to that statement, i ponder: do i act in ways that perpetuate my own belief system and therefore 'allow' people to treat me a certain way? when looking at my own life, i'll admit, certain patterns can be seen...situations in which i feel i have been wronged or treated unfairly. So. do i, in my interactions, give 'permission' for this type of behavior? perhaps. though it's hard to know exactly which behavior is the cause and what needs to be changed. Also, while i don't mind taking some of the responsibility, i would like to state that even if 'permission' is 'granted', it should not be a green light for people to screw me over or take advantage. although perhaps thats a statement for a world that doesn't exist!! question: how do i figure out what behavior is detrimental to me, what actions perpetuate thoughts about life, about love, about men, or about my chances for success, etc.? what actions will keep me from succeeding in my career or in my social/love life? i don't want to distrust men forever, i don't want to expect certain behaviors or outcomes out of life, and i don't want to 'let' people screw me over. i guess this is where the hopefullness comes in. at least we can have the power and the chance to change things. through self evaluation, and maybe help from a few honest friends!! we can break and change the cycle...maybe!!

well, hopefully that wasn't too painful...more a chance for me to get some thoughts on out and process the situation that is my life. thoughts anyone???

a short aside: the excess use of quotations in these paragraphs reminds me of the Friends episode when joey uses 'the fingers' to show quotes and place emphasis and he keeps using them wrong, and ross goes "not using it right, joe"...i love it!!) ok, that was super random...but it made me chuckle.

three hours left to go...ok, i'm out

my gal pals, oh how i miss thee :(

so, this weekend, my three gal pals from MI are hanging out in Canton and i am stuck in morgantown. :( how i wish i could be there to spend time with you ladies!! and while even if i wasn't working the graveyard shifts this weekend i probably wouldn't have made it to Canton, i miss not being there anyways.

the last time i saw them was mid september when i played in jen's wedding...and i got to spend quality time with jen, bex and mel. per mel's request...here are a few photos of that weekend. (mel, can you send me the one of the actual wedding again...i think i deleted them by accident)


mel and me at mel's place :)


me at mel's...i hate alone pictures...why, mel, why???


jen (and me and mel) waiting for bex's plane to get to gr...it's late!!


me sleeping once bex finally made it in!!! TIRED!!


a walk thru the ATM drive-thru, in front of cars, makes great time for pictures before breakfast!!haha


time to eat some REAL FOOD, yumm yumm;)


what a beautiful bride!! jennie


what beautiful ladies!! bex, jen, me and mel

just so you know ladies...you are missed and i hope you have fun this weekend!

the reason i lost my 4.0...haha

ok, so getting me to do homework before i started all of this internet blog nonsense was hard enough. however, now that i'm addicted, i don't know what i'm gonna do!! ok, well, i do eat and sleep, and i will be stopping to watch ER in 25 min. but seriously, i've spent way too many hours today working on this blog, then i started facebook...and also started a blog on Xanga...which was fun cause i figured out how to change colors of everything on it...what fun!! where have i been to be starting so late?

ok...so, yes, i started facebook...and before those of you who know me and my severe angst with facebook...don't be disappointed in my giving up my position. I hate facebook b/c: it reminds me of highschool...who can be the coolest with the most friends and the coolest party pictures, yada yada yada...z;lkjf;adsjf;aoij. however, quite a few people in my class have joined and so i spose i was curious.

"Today we salute you, FaceBook addict. You thought you could just log on once, but little did you know it would consume your life. Joining one pointless group was just not enough. Adding every person you never spoke to in high school just to be "virtually" popular. As if IM wasn't enough to feed into your stalker-ish behavior. Oooo look at you with your 340659 "friends". So go ahead, Compulsive Away Message Checker Turned Face Book Psycho. It's too bad that you're not too popular at the bar, but in virtual reality, you'd be the life of the cyber party."

haha!! anyways..that's enough about facebook.

I'm sure once i settle down and relax i won't be quite so obsessed with this internet thing...who knew i'd get so into the web!!

in my defense, it's fun to see what other worlds are out there and how many people i do know who take part in it...we shall see!!

what's in a title? wouldn't a blog, with any other heading, be just as significant?

well, it is like 75 degrees outside, and in walking to work, i realized that i should not be wearing my kick-ass poofy vest that i bought two weeks ago (and feel like a million bucks in). instead, i should be taking advantage of the crazy warm November weather, before it starts snowing and being annoyingly cold. However, i've been planning on wearing it since last week and decided my vanity was more important today. This kick-ass vest was to be worn to a certain class to spite a certain person and i was not ready to surrender to the mere temperature of the outdoors. also, i'll be honest, i was just in the mood to feel good in my kick-ass vest. so...now that you, as the reader, may think me totally conceited and vain, i'll admit that perhaps i should have waited for another day. in all truth, i'm too warm...oh well, what's done is done.

so, more pictures...yay!! pictures of a couple of my favorite people...only a couple b/c i am relying on other people who have more technology to give me these pictures, and not all of my favorite people have this technology! i'm working on getting my own, which would probably be the more advantageous route, but let's face it, i'm poor. so, here they are...how i love them all!!


me and sis eating coldstone icecream...yummm yumm!!


so, maybe we're a little strange, but what a fun sweatshirt...considering her irish boyfriend!


iceskating over christmas break (2004)...downtown rochester as snowflakes fell..(bro, me, sis)


and last but not least...my baby, brayson...shared by me and sis, but i get him for now!! he's awesome!!

other than that...went bowling last night with the kids...(yes they're freshmen in college, but i call em my kids) and had so much fun. somehow i got more strikes left handed than right handed...something seems wrong about that!!

should i go to a discussion tonight about implementing intelligent design into the school curriculum or not...??? i should, but i have lots to do tonight...what to do, what to do!!

i'm beyond random today...so much going through my head...but better this than the days when i feel as though i have nothing to say and my mind is a total blank. and while it might be cathartic to post about it all, i'm not sure making all of my thoughts public would be so beneficial!! nor do i have the time...and so for now, i'm out

a little humor to brighten the day!!

so i found these the other day and they make me crack up




hehe


sarcasm anyone?


i'm sorry that's just funny!!

so, yeah i have a few more...i think i'll save them for another day. i found them at www.toothpastefordinner.com. maybe i'll grace this blog with a few every now and then.

so, all the students left the lounge...does this mean i can leave early??? my boss would never know the difference....i think i'm gonna do it. (oh no, Nana is hitting her head with a skillet as i speak...anyone, anyone (it's from the movie Prime)) but i think i'm gonna do it anyways...later.

homework? what homework?

so, 42 minutes til midnight, the beginning of a whole new day and i have successfully not done any homework all weekend. perfect!! except for the fact that things are due this week. ah well, it always gets done at some point...but this is not the point at which it will be completed. so homework, deal with it!!

other than that, a typical day...work at the hospital, chat with friends, take brayson out, watch a movie...a good day. i really thought i had something more interesting to offer this entry, but i forget what it was...oh well!! i'm out

Jump?...here i go

While i'm all about not following fads, this blog thing seems to be quite a hit, and so i figured i'd give this a shot...i'm jumping on the Blog Bandwagon...so here goes!! Part of the title of this blog came about after some suggestion (from someone who will remain nameless) ...though my hope is that it will not only be meaningless banter between me and friends, or me and myself for that matter, but that it will entice, intrigue, and entertain!! Also, forewarning: i use '...' all the time, as well as '!!' to help place inflection on almost every statement or sentence i write. If it begins to get out of control, feel free to let me know and i will try to limit such uses!! So, with not much further ado, let's get this party started!!