future

i was once bitten by a ...

bug named NaBloPoMo. i decided i should blog every day in november, and i decided i should encourage others to do the same. through the power of group brainstorming, we ended up with a container full of topics and more than a dozen participants willing to play along.

i have posted to this blog every day since november 1. some times, multiple times a day.

tomorrow will be the last of the remaining NaBlo topics. i'll miss it when it's over.

unless you want to suggest a topic or two? i'll keep picking if the topics keep coming.

my movie theater

i think it would be absolutely awesome to own a movie theater. it's part of my Nonsensical List of Life Goals. i want an old theater. one with lots of character. and i want to play movies that i love ... because you should love them, too. i could do johnny depp movies on fridays. and show friends episodes on tuesdays. saturday night could be old horror movies. and of course there would be holiday-themed extravaganzas. i think alan alda night would be monday because everyone could use a little alan alda after a monday at work. we'd start with an episode or two of M*A*S*H and then show one of his films. i could rent the place out for private parties. and really, so long as i don't charge admission i don't need to get any kind of licensing to show the movies/shows.

this would make me unbelievably happy.

thoughts on God and shopping

i really think God has a fabulous sense of humor. after all the drama with the jeans that should fit but don't? the jeans that i bought didn't get put into the bag of clothes that the sales clerk gave me. so tomorrow i get to go back & hope they believe me when i say i paid for them but didn't take them home. :)

how to survive a tragedy

tragedy ... or events that border on tragedy ... leave me numb. i don't have a survival technique for them. unless walking around like a zombie until the numbness fades counts. in that case, i guess: be a zombie. sometimes all i can do is let the situation take its time and toll on me until it's past.

favorite school memories

my senior year of high school, my friend marisa and i were tutors during homeroom. we hung out in the guidance counselors' office and if no one came down for help, we got to chat or help with office stuff. at Christmastime the door to the office had been decorated with paper wreaths, stockings and holly. when we came back from Christmas break, one of the counselors asked us to take the door down. being the obedient li'l tutors that we were, we quickly did, indeed, take the door down. granted, she probably meant we should take the decorations off the door ... but that's not what she said. and the pins in the hinges came out quite easily. :) if i remember correctly, we put the door back up (and probably removed the decorations) before we left for our first class.

my junior year of high school, i parked my car in the back of the building. i had a silver plymouth reliant, and so did my friend natalie. i came out to my car one day and was quite humored d to see that someone had tied up the inside of natalie's car with yarn. it was looped from door handle to door handle, around the rear view mirror, through the head rests, etc. and then i realize it was my car.

there was the dance in sixth grade when kevin & i danced.

in elementary school i was part of the Challenges Unlimited class. there were maybe 8-10 of us, and we got to skip some regular class time each week to meet and do other projects. i don't remember any one particular time ... but i remember really enjoying the class and the teacher.

ooooo! first grade! there was this super-cute boy in my class named Timmy. and all the girls liked him. and he & i knew each other from church. and when we did our class program for our parents, he wanted to square dance with me, not the cute girls. that pretty much rocked.

i went to school with erin one day our senior year. i don't remember why i went ... but i was there during homeroom and maybe part of her first class?

settling

you have to watch at least the first half of the clip. or, at least, you have to if you want to hear how it relates to the topic. if you keep watching after that, you'll get a decent ikea reference, too. :)

i wonder if i could have posted friends youtube videos for every topic ...

(what's the deal with the widescreen youtube format? that doesn't fit nicely on my page.)

punctuation

favorite: the ellipse. ( ... )

least favorite: multiples (???? or !!!!!!!)

summer vacation

summer of 2009 consisted of a lot of baseball games,



my first visit to the porter county fair,




a couple of amazing road trips,


and a total of almost 2500 photos taken.

the color blue & world peace

i doubt that a single color can encourage world peace. a bright blue sky makes me feel peaceful, but it may simply make others happy that they have a clear day to shoot at each other. more people leave their homes on a blue, sunny day ... but that just puts more people on the road to honk & shake their fists at each other. and a lot of people find the blue of the ocean to be peaceful, but that only lasts until there's a shark attack.

perhaps the color blue would contribute to world peace if everyone in the world was the same color blue. but that doesn't speak to the color of blue so much as to our inability to see past color in general. and i'm pretty sure our variety of skin pigmentation has something to do with climate where we live ... so having one consistent color is going to screw up someone, somewhere. we'll be fighting over whatever land has the climate best suited for blue skin. and, frankly, we'd just find some other reason to judge each other.

hmmm. perhaps i don't doubt the color blue so much as i doubt our ability to attain world peace. we're a restless people, quite often not looking beyond our needs and desires. perhaps someone could whip up a big batch of soylent blue to fix those attributes and see where that lands us ...

post nablo

so technically NaBloPoMo has ended. i posted every day in November, and Omor still has a few topics left to give. so a few of us are going to continue posting on a topic each day until they're gone. i've also agreed to do fitness-related posting through the month of december. part of me thinks i shouldn't even start because i'll never finish. and part of me needs to start because then maybe i will finish. i mean, i certainly can't finish if i don't start, right?

i know i went shopping for jeans this weekend and the size that should fit me did not. that was frustrating. i'm in need of another pair of jeans, so i'll end up buying a larger size ... but man, i hate that. i mean, i was trying on the exact same size as the pair i wore to work today. meh.

i also know i just heard something fall & break ... i should go check that out, eh? :)

i have this neighbor ...

to the west of my house, i have this neighbor whose kids played in my yard constantly the summer i moved in. okay, probably not constantly. but it seemed like i was telling them to get out of my yard at least once a week. and i know they're kids, but seriously ... the fence between our yards is a pretty obvious line not to cross. they either stayed in their own yard this summer or were more sneaky about being in mine. either way, i was glad.

to the east of my house, i have this neighbor who waves, smiles and says good morning. the entire family is friendly, and the littlest boy in the house is just adorable. and, of course, he always plays in his own yard. ;)

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they have plenty to say.

three favourite words

seriously: by sheer volume of use, this is my favorite word. it can be a question, an affirmation or a cynical retort. seriously.

tartlet: tartlet. tartlet. tartlet. the word has lost all meaning.

home: i can feel the warmth just hearing the word.

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immunity vs.immortality

think of it this way: would you rather know your life would be completely healthy but end someday (immunity) or know you'll live forever but with the chance of illness (immortality)?

i'd pick immunity. i'd rather die having lived a healthy 30 years than live 630 years with a horrible illness. i mean, sure, if i could guarantee i'd never get anything worse than the flu or an occasional rash of the hives, i'd totally live forever. but what if i ended up with a terminal illness, but couldn't die? i'd be stuck forever in the last stages of a disease that has me wasting away to nothing ... only nothing would ever come? i think that would be horrible. i'd much rather it be short and sweet.

although, i would definitely keep my immunity a secret. because there's no way i'm giving back my five sick days at work. ;)

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want to hear other views on today's topic? visit the links on the right.
they have plenty to say.

biggest influence growing up

quite easily, the person who influenced me the most growing up has been my mom. she stayed home with us kids when we were little, and she was always there when i needed her. she could run the house with one hand tied behind her back, and she still had time left to have fun with us. and as i got into junior high & high school, she was clearly the 'cool mom' that most of my friends envied. she helped us plan pranks and whipped up mean chocolate chip cookies. and through it all she taught me how to love, how to be gentle with people, how to be responsible for my own actions. she's taught me that friends are important and family needs to be held close. she's taught me to celebrate the triumphs and cry at the defeats. and then to get up and try again. she's always believed in me, even when i've been convinced there was nothing in which to believe.

i haven't yet caught onto the depths of her patience ... but if i can grow up to be half the woman she is? i'll be doing pretty good.

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want to hear other views on today's topic? visit the links on the right.
they have plenty to say.

gratitude

today, i'm grateful for:

my amazing family. the opportunity to help big-hearted friends serve thanksgiving dinner. gayety's chocolates delivered to my house. a steady paycheck. co-workers who are seriously fabulous. card games with mom & dad. pumpkin pie. flannel pajamas. music. mathematics.

and, of course, blogging friends. :)


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movie cast

official topic: who would portray each of us in a movie? (as many people as you know in the group)

i'm going to claim jill hennessy (crossing jordan) for myself. she's intelligent, witty and has a good edge of sarcasm and cynicism. sure, she'll need to gain a bunch of weight for the role ... but given the obvious success of NaBloPoMo: the movie, she won't mind.

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want to hear other views on today's topic? visit the links on the right.
they have plenty to say.

favorite authors

i have had a tendency my entire life to latch onto authors. as a kid i was at the mall every month buying Ann M. Martin's newest Babysitters Club book. as i got older i fell for anything written by Francine Rivers or Max Lucado. And, of course, there was my affair with the books of Sabrina Ward Harrison (refer back here.) currently i'm more likely to skip around. i've read a few books by J.K. Rowling. and i've enjoyed what i read, but not enough to finish the Harry Potter series. the same holds true for Stephanie Meyer's writing; i've enjoyed it but haven't picked up book 3, yet.

i am, however, fairly incapable of NOT reading anything Michael Rigg has written. he's this local author who's creative as all get out, and i love his work. he's been posting first-draft novels as blognovels for the past couple of years - and i love it. there's something about knowing a new chapter is being published tomorrow that makes me need to read the current chapter today. there's an urgency to it that isn't there when i can pick up the entire book at once, knowing it will still all be there tomorrow. he currently has two blognovels available: august winter and an angel for sara dawn. check them out. get hooked. but read quickly; i hear there's a new one on the horizon.

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they have plenty to say.

panic

on my way home from work tonight, i had a moment of total panic. my mind was wandering, and i suddenly realized there was a car driving alongside of me. there should not have been a car there. it's a two-lane road! i was driving into oncoming traffic!

no, i wasn't. it's a four-lane road. i was fine.

and, after that little shock, i was also more attentive to the road. so i guess panic is a good thing, right?

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current passion

official topic: what are you most passionate about at this time in your life, and why?

this follows the same line of thinking as "what cause is closest to your heart" for me. i could think about it all day, but in the end i'll think my answers aren't as honorable as other people's answers. i'm deciding i'm okay with that.

right now, i'm passionate about not letting my job eat away at the very core of my being. i've been less than successful at this recently, but monday's a fresh week. anything can happen.

i'm passionate about listening & re-listening to the jonathan coulton cd mikey gave me. i'd really like to internalize the lyrics to a talk with george.

i'm also currently passionate about getting my christmas cards made. :) i'm very close to be done. yay me!

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want to hear other views on today's topic? visit the links on the right.
they have plenty to say.