So we meet again...

Yesterday I found myself in familiar territory…in a place I once loved, where I used to commute every day, and a place that changed my life. That magical place is Manhattan. It was interesting being back for the first time in four years. It was a strange feeling to exit the train at Penn Station and make the walk I made so many times in 2005 when I used to work in the city. The whole day was sort of déjà vu. It all reminded me of my time there, which sadly was the worst time of my life so far. I hate that so many bad feelings are tied to a place I dreamed of living my whole life. I hate that New York is in a way tainted because the time I spent there was just so damn bad.

At the time, everything sounded perfect and I thought I had managed to make all my dreams come true and so early in the grand scheme of my life. I was finally living with my boyfriend of four years and thought we were on the path to getting married, I had taken a stand with my family, I was living on the East Coast and had landed a writing job in NYC. But my how things aren’t always what they seem. Within a few months it all unraveled and taught me a lot about what I really wanted and what actually made me happy. For that, I look back on New York fondly.

Yesterday, I returned to the city in a totally different –and thankfully much happier place in life. I was attending a meeting for a job that I truly love and returning home to a cozy apartment I adore and share with the #1 male in my life, my dog in DC. I also stayed in NYC and had dinner with an old friend from college and it was fabulous! New York will always be a place where I learned much about life and myself and I hope a place where I will soon have many good memories to outshine all those less than fabulous ones from 2005.

This Coughing May Kill Me

It’s been a terrible week. Last Sunday night I started feeling sick and it sidelined me the entire week. I didn’t go to work; I barely left the house, and most days I didn’t really get out of bed. I’ve been the sickest I think I have ever been in my life. It has been miserable. I managed to make it to the doctor Tuesday only to learn I had a virus that had to run its course. My body aches from coughing and I have been going absolutely stir crazy. While I do embody many of the characteristics of a Cancer (emotional, loving, intuitive, imaginative, shrewd, cautious, protective, sympathetic, and moody) the homebody part is not one of them.

It’s times like these when I wish I had a roommate…or maybe that I had had a child a few years back that could bring me more juice or another pillow - I know my mom used to use us for that. If only I had planned a little better...or rather not planned my parenthood so well, then I’d have someone here to help me. ☺ Oh well.

I finally feel a bit better today. I just want to get back to work and out of this house.

Hey, why not?

Every good buzz has to end. Man, I really hate that! I’ve spent the last week traveling and now the high of seeing great friends and interesting places is slowly giving way to the sobering return of my routine.

I didn’t make any resolutions this year per se, but I did make a list (which I am continually adding to) of things I would like to accomplish or integrate into my life this year. One of those things was to travel more for fun and not just to attend weddings back in Texas. I’ve also been adopting the motto, “why not?” It is just so often the correct response when presented with a new challenge or opportunity.

So I put my money where my mouth is and purchased a ticket to pop down to Austin to see a show with my sister. It all just seemed perfect. A singer/songwriter that my sister and I both love and have seen in concert was playing at my friend’s bar. I just couldn’t pass it up.

I really regret that I didn’t spend more time in Austin when I lived in Texas. Blame my Aggie brainwashing (all that orange hurts my eyes!!!) or my student worker salary or the fact I spent most of my time trekking to Dallas, but I really missed out. I have had such amazing times in my visits to Austin over the last couple of years – just great people and such personality.

Austin alone would be divine, but I decided to couple it with a trip to San Francisco to surprise my best friend for her baby shower. At first it seemed a little crazy and I hate to admit that I felt like I needed someone’s permission before I booked such an itinerary. Then my sister said something great to me, she said having that kind of freedom is “the beauty of my life.” This means a lot coming from my sister because I know she doesn’t aspire to have my kind of life. In fact, she probably sees me as a cautionary tale. However, I do have a flexible job, sustainable income, and no kids or husband to consider so why shouldn’t I just hop on a plane (or several) and go where I want to go? [insert Why not? here]

I must admit it was a great idea and a fabulous time! I was able to see some old friends, including my best friend from junior high school whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years! The show was great and I always have fun with my friends in Austin, including a growing crew of bartenders from DC.

San Fran was great as well and it was lovely to see my friend all glowing and pregnant. I got back on a redeye this morning and should have rested today, but instead I have been fighting sleep like a five-year-old the night before Christmas. I couldn’t help but feel a little let down today when I got home and the party was over. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll shake off this travel hangover and be ready to go full throttle into a short workweek and weekend back in DC!

25 Random Things About Me...

This note has reached epidemic proportions on Facebook. I've played along and posted it on my profile, but I found it entertaining to compile so I'm including it here as well, sans the Facebook re-posting instructions:

1. I love all things purple – I even have a purple rose tattooed on my lower back.

2. Listening to live music is my idea of a perfect night. I love all kinds. As far as big names go, Dave Matthews is my favorite (yes Tom, I know you don’t approve), but I also drag people to see artists they haven’t heard of yet.

3. To go along with #2, I also have a thing for men who play the guitar.

4. Like several of my ladies have already said, I also can really dance for a white girl. I have my own private dance parties at home…yes sometimes even in front of the mirror.

5. True to my Texas roots, I love Blue Bell Ice Cream, Whataburger, Freebirds, and I put jalapenos on almost everything. I could also eat fajitas and drink margaritas every day.

6. Few things in life affect me like the ocean. I love being by the ocean and have spent some amazing times on beaches with my girlfriends Cory, Nicci, and Shawna. I wish we were better about making the yearly trips we promised we would make when we were 18.

7. I am not a morning person…at all! I really wish I could change that about myself. It’s pretty miserable.

8. I don’t think you need a reason to pop open a bottle of champagne.

9. I am insanely afraid of mice and rats, which is unfortunate given my affinity for living in cities where I have to see them scurrying around all the time.

10. The year after I graduated college, I was able to accomplish my lifelong dream of working in Manhattan. I absolutely loved the city, but the actual job left a lot to be desired and ultimately did not work out, but I am very happy for the time I spent there.

11. I am a proud Fightin’ Texas Aggie and have fun telling all my friends here about all our traditions. Gig ‘em!

12. I’m close to my siblings, especially my brother Mark. He understands me better than anyone else. Even though we don’t live in the same place, we talk every day and I tell him everything (even things I am sure he wishes I would not tell him!).

13. I am a little obsessed with “Sex and the City” and even have a Pomeranian named Mr. Big. I HATE when people call it “ Sex IN the City.”

14. I was raised in a very strict Southern Baptist family and was very active in church, and now I work for a national pro-choice group.

15. I have always been petrified of singing in front of people.

16. When I was 13, my mom let me be in the room when she gave birth to my youngest brother Joey. It gave me a greater love and respect for her, but talk about great birth control!

17. I'm half Irish and I like to put o' in front o'things.

18. I am very crafty. I make gift baskets, diaper cakes, and even elaborate edible cakes (although I don’t really enjoy making and icing real cakes and only do it for people who are REALLY special to me!).

19. I hate blow-drying my hair. I have started treating myself to blowouts from time to time. I also hate ironing clothes.

20. I have a remarkable memory – it is both a blessing and a curse!

21. I don’t like beer – and yes, I have tried different kinds and no, you are not going to change my mind with your favorite brew. Vodka and whiskey suit me just fine!

22. When I am bored, stressed, or anxious I pick my fingers. My grandfather says the condition of my hands is a reliable indicator of how happy I am in my life. To this day, he always looks at my hands before he asks me how I am doing.

23. I am blessed to have my dream job right now and am frankly a bit of a workaholic…and I’m not going to apologize about that!

24. I think sweet tea is the nectar of the gods.

25. Someone once described me as being more spice than sugar.

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

A little bit o'Friday humor:

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
Andy Borowitz

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tic, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate -- we get it, stop showing off."

The president-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com.

We Remember November 18, 1999

Nine years ago today, the Texas A&M Bonfire collapsed, killing 12 students and injuring more than two dozen others. I can’t believe so many years have passed.

I was a freshman living on-campus November 18, 1999 at 2:42 am. It was push week, and students were working round the clock leading up to the night before the t.u. game when Bonfire would burn. I was actually supposed to be out there working on the stack the night it fell. I remember planning to go, but then something else came up. It’s strange, but I can’t remember exactly what I did that night instead…I have an excellent memory (which is both a blessing and a curse) and can recall quite a bit about my days in College Station, but this night escapes me. I think I went to watch an intramural game and then hung out with friends. What I do remember is getting home around 2 am and walking down my dorm hallway, thinking that I should have gone to work on Bonfire and wondering if I could squeeze it in another night that week.

The next thing I remember is the phone waking me up around 5 am. It was a friend from back home who lived a few buildings over, and she was calling to tell me there had been some kind of Bonfire accident and another friend of ours from home was scheduled to be working there overnight with his squadron and we didn’t know where he was or if he was alright. Luckily, within a few hours we had located him and he was fine. The same could not be said for 12 others that morning.

I—like the rest of Bryan-College Station—spent the morning on the phone. I didn’t have a cell phone back then and so my dorm phone was jammed all day with calls from friends and family from around the country.

This incredibly sad time was my introduction to the amazing spirit of the Aggie Family. As the days went on and we learned the final number of casualties and started to come to grips with what had happened, my parents urged me to come home. Didn’t I want to get away from all the death and sadness? Didn’t I want to rest at home with my family? No. The honest truth was that the only place I wanted to be in the world at that time was College Station, TX. I wanted to be with my Aggie Family. With people who understood what I was feeling and could comfort me without even having to say a word. I remember going to the first memorial service on-campus at Reed Arena that week. Even after the official service had ended, people just stayed and linked arms and sang “Amazing Grace” a ccapella for what felt like hours.

We Aggies have a saying about our traditions and spirit: “From the outside looking in you can’t understand...from the inside looking out you can’t explain it.” And that’s exactly how I felt during this tragedy. I have never been more proud to be a part of the Aggie Family and I still have that pride today every time someone notices my ring, or asks me where I went to school, or mentions “that school with that Bonfire.”

Today we remember those 12 fallen Aggies: Miranda Denise Adams; Christopher D. Breen; Michael Stephen Ebanks; Jeremy Richard Frampton; Jamie Lynn Hand; Christopher Lee Heard; Timothy Doran Kerlee, Jr; Lucas John Kimmel; Bryan A. McClain; Chad A. Powell; Jerry Don Self; and Nathan Scott West.

There's a spirit can ne'er be told and it's the Spirit of Aggieland.

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Sex, Blue Sex

This week's New Yorker features a piece on why so many evangelical teens become pregnant. As someone who participated in the "True Love Waits" campaign in high school and now works for a national pro-choice group, I found this article particularly interesting.

A few quick things that stood out from Dept. of Disputation: Red Sex, Blue Sex that I don't have time to comment on tonight:

• "Social liberals in the country’s “blue states” tend to support sex education and are not particularly troubled by the idea that many teen-agers have sex before marriage, but would regard a teen-age daughter’s pregnancy as devastating news. And the social conservatives in “red states” generally advocate abstinence-only education and denounce sex before marriage, but are relatively unruffled if a teen-ager becomes pregnant, as long as she doesn’t choose to have an abortion."
  
• "During the campaign, the media has largely respected calls to treat Bristol Palin’s pregnancy as a private matter." Funny how it's a private matter only if a woman carries a pregnancy to term...


• "Bearman and Brückner have also identified a peculiar dilemma: in some schools, if too many teens pledge [to remain abstinent until marriage], the effort basically collapses. Pledgers apparently gather strength from the sense that they are an embattled minority; once their numbers exceed thirty per cent, and proclaimed chastity becomes the norm, that special identity is lost."