Friday, June 18, 2010

Commute

Ah, the dreary, mind numbing, aggravating, dismal, stressful drive to work. Gridlocked roads, uncooperative lights, drivers eating breakfast or doing their makeup as they swerve into the next lane. Aggressive distracted, oblivious, dangerous, and slow drivers.

The above was no small reason why i decided to move extremely close to my work. Things to avoid turning my car into a ramming vehicle and why my steering wheel doesn't have dents in it from banging my head or gripping too tightly.

I DESPISE a long commute. So much so that I'm willing to pay more to live int he city where my work is. And indeed with this most recent move, i have found the following.

It takes me less time to ride a bike leisurely to work than it takes most of my co-workers to drive when they're in a hurry.

Don't hate me, we all make choices and this is one that was important to me. In fact it takes me only three turns to arrive safely at work. My only frustration along the one long road when people ignore the posted speed limit and drive ten miles under just to be sure they don't get pulled over or miss their turn.

There are buses nearby if i so choose to take that route. And in the event of a major catastrophe, as our annual evacuation drill notes....i can walk home. This truly is a great idea.

Other news:
The best wake up call ever is trying on a pair of old jeans you stopped wearing, and finding that they fit! without a muffin top!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Sayings

In my life, i've picked up sayings, quotes, or limericks. They travel with me in the back of my head, much as they do with anyone else.

The one on my mind right now is more of a play on words than an actual quote. I got it when i worked my second official job at a movie theater. I had been slated to work in the box office because my till was always spot on. And they had us throw up all these window decals for Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion film (wow, that just dated me).

I cannot stress to you how much i hate window decals. I have some kind of OCD when it comes to windows. Streaks are like nails on a chalkboard for me. Bird poop has me shaking my fist at the bird who dared fly over my car and relieve itself. And unless window decals are put on perfectly....i can spend literally hours pressing out the bubbles. Which is why my normal station was regularly cleaned between rushes for all the people who poked at the glass or annoying kids smudging their dirty noses and mouths all over.

Anyway, back to the decals. There was one decal on my side of the box office glass that took me a while to figure out. Hey, i was 16. In keeping with the haunted mansion theme...it was a headstone with the "name" Claire Voyant. Read it fast, and you have clairvoyant or someone that can see or know what other people can't. Soon after that, i started telling people who had assumed i knew something. "My name is Anne ...not Claire Voyant"

Sometimes i wish it were just that easy. To be able to understand where people are coming from without them having to tell you. To see why they feel the way they do, and what is prompting them to react in a certain way. Sometimes it seems like it would make everything better. And then i realize that it would also take away how we learn for ourselves.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The adventures of dating Jon

I've said it from the beginning. Jon and I have the weirdest dates ever. Things start out traditional then gradually morph into something totally unromantic, which usually ends up with some kind of inside joke.

Examples:
Date 1:
Jon and I both showed up the the pre-arranged restaurant not far from either of our houses on time and proceed to avoid working on our Nano's (it was November) by talking. For three hours. In that time...there were cop sirens going up and down the street behind me every few minutes. I don't know if the local police department had some kind of speed trap set up, but by like the tenth siren and lights to go by, i pulled up the collar of my sweater-coat and tried to hide myself from view, and hoarsly whispered, "They're looking for me." Of course it was all a joke but this led to a conversation about the tactics the swat team would use in order to corner me in the restaurant and even alluding to what i had done to cause such a reaction. Now whenever Jon and I notice a siren go by, I get a shifty look and occasionally duck behind Jon for cover.

Date 2 or 3?:
I went and visited Jon's place the first night where he introduced me to Firefly and we demurely sat on completely opposite ends of the couch, not even touching. By the third "date" we were facing each other on the couch and touching feet. We were in the middle of a conversation about one of our stories when i looked at his shoulder where his shirt neck pulled away from his skin. There was a fairly small spider the size of a dime in the process of crawling out of his shirt. Normal girl: Freak out and alert him to the spider with a scream and a pointed finger. Me: "Don't move" then lean in really close and gently brush the spider up onto my hand and flick it onto the coffee table where it died a quick death from a notepad. I imagine he had been hoping for a kiss, but instead, I asked him what else he kept down there. You can imagine what weird suggestions we both came up with.

Ok, Fast-forwarding now to our most recent "date". Don't worry, there was plenty of other weird dates in-between. Like how he got to meet my dad without warning at the grocery store deli, or getting roped into helping me pack for my move.

Growing up, my grandma lived about a half hour away. Mom would frequently make the trip to go take my grandma who didn't drive to the store or out to dinner or anywhere just to get her out of the house. I was usually taken along for this trip so i have fond memories of certain restaurants, stores, playgrounds, and nearby beaches. Since i never drove to her house before she died when i was 14, I have to rely on memories and landmarks to get to those places again. After picking up Jon from the airport, i told him we were really close to all those places i remembered. I ended up taking him by my grandmother's old house, and the beach at the bottom of that hill.

We got out and started wandering around, picking up the best preserved shell and just talking about nothing. Romantic walk on the beach holding hands when all of a sudden not five feet from us, a huge fountain shoots out of the ground. And sticking out just an inch or two is the siphon for a Geoduck ("Gooey ducks"- check them out for a laugh) The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to make geoducksto squirt on camera. We came away laughing and rather wet.

After over six months with this great guy, I have to say, the weird dates almost always turn out to be the best ones.