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| It was 90 on Monday and she jumped in the freezer! |
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Kitty!
This past memorial day weekend I adopted a 6 year old girl. Her name is Jazmine and she's quite furry with beautiful green eyes. She likes to jump on things, incidentally into the freezer the other day and the best part is that she's always excited to see me when I get home. The best part about the fact that she's a cat and not a child is I can fill her water and food and go to work. While she doesn't help pay the bills like a roommate would, she's excellent company -- enough company I think. She happens to have an excellent temperament and knows just when to leave me alone. But she's also not afraid to ask for attention. I love her dearly even though I've only had her 3 days. I suddenly look forward to coming home when I used to always feel like home was where I should go because at least I won't spend money there. I feel the need to keep my apartment clean 1. so she won't eat things she shouldn't or hurt herself on anything and 2. because I feel like she should have a nice place to live. She already knows that morning is when we we eat and when I get home from work it's time for dinner. I'm very excited to have her and just maybe I'll even chill out a little bit because now I have a little kitty to focus on instead of bills, work and things that really just don't matter.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
How To Be Good At Life?
I read this article this morning talking about a guy who went to a good school, got an "amazing" job and took 6 years to realize that his six-figure career bought him everything he wanted but was killing him. http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/no-one-cares-that-you-graduated/
It's really good. It's really honest. And it's really true.
How many times a week, hell a day, do I think "why do I suck at life?" I recently opened my May edition of Vogue and read this article about a girl who studied abroad her first semester junior year in Kenya. She went from student to a woman changing the world. It reminded me a bit of my spring break trip to Ghana, minus the fact that I'm not engaged to a local, political/social activist, survived malaria and started an entire organization that educates children, provides food, medical care, vaccinations and HIV/AIDS testing to the local Kenyan community. But we're the same age and when I read things like that and think "why do I suck at life?" I also thought "why am I excusing myself for sucking at life all the time?" I wanted to be like her. She was inspiring. I stapled the article and stuck it on my fridge.
http://issuu.com/hopetoshine/docs/vogue_feature_shining_hope
I've been tracking it with this very blog -- failed attempts at healthy eating, not wanting to spend money on wine every week, not writing every day. I spend my time doing things but the whole time I think that I should be doing something else. Why is that? If I'm watching tv I think about how I should be cleaning or doing laundry. If I'm doing laundry I think about how much I hate doing laundry but feel "good" about it because it's what I should be doing. Right now I should be doing dishes instead of writing, only I love writing and reading articles online. I try to organize my life based on the things I feel like I SHOULD do only to end up doing kinda what I want to do but I punish myself for it. I'm obsessed with trying to have enough money since it seems everyone I work with makes so much more than me. I want to help my parents out -- my dad is 71 and still works 12 hr shifts in a factory saying things like "I thought I'd get to retire, but I think I'm going to die in there." That's kind of depressing. And my mom doesn't work because my sister is special needs and requires her entire life caring for her -- plus now she is caring for my grandma who is in her late eighties. My mother hasn't work in nearly 30 years. So add that to the fact that I don't have benefits of any kind including insurance, sick days or vacation. I work hard at what I do only to be told that getting used to make other people money is "just how it is" because I don't have enough work experience and blah blah blah. But truth be told it makes me really upset. I have so many ideas, so many things I want to do. I want to travel, to start my own business (even businesses -- I have multiple ideas I think can be successful). I want to work to help people whether in government or as part of an NGO or something. I was excited NATO was coming when other people were terrified that the city would be violently attacked and burned to the ground.
Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoy what I do and I'm good at it but I'm turning 25 in about a month. I'm trying to get my shit together finally. Eat better & exercise regularly because I need to start taking care of my body before things go downhill. Start doing and not just come up with ideas and let them sit there. I want to find ways to do everything I want to do. I want to make sure I don't get caught in the machine that is Corporate America. Last night I was talking to my aunt on the phone. She's getting ready to retire. She worked hard -- endless hours her whole life. She was a model employee but she said "yes, I have all this money and we are where we are today because of it but I've wasted my whole life." "Not your whole life," I said. "You still have plenty to live." "Yeah, but not much of it."
So I can work and plot and fantasize but the excuses remain. I can't leave because of my family, I want to get more experience. It's expensive and uncertain to move or do something else. While I have more to think of than myself, at the end of the day you have to answer to yourself. So I ask: What would the definition of "a good life" be for me? What are the things I should be doing to make me happy, to be successful and to help others? I don't want to live a regimented life even though order and consistency is always looked upon with favor. But it's boring -- to me. So plain, so regular.
I just need to figure out what it means for ME to be good at life. And also I should probably quit bitching and just do the dishes already.
It's really good. It's really honest. And it's really true.
How many times a week, hell a day, do I think "why do I suck at life?" I recently opened my May edition of Vogue and read this article about a girl who studied abroad her first semester junior year in Kenya. She went from student to a woman changing the world. It reminded me a bit of my spring break trip to Ghana, minus the fact that I'm not engaged to a local, political/social activist, survived malaria and started an entire organization that educates children, provides food, medical care, vaccinations and HIV/AIDS testing to the local Kenyan community. But we're the same age and when I read things like that and think "why do I suck at life?" I also thought "why am I excusing myself for sucking at life all the time?" I wanted to be like her. She was inspiring. I stapled the article and stuck it on my fridge.
http://issuu.com/hopetoshine/docs/vogue_feature_shining_hope
I've been tracking it with this very blog -- failed attempts at healthy eating, not wanting to spend money on wine every week, not writing every day. I spend my time doing things but the whole time I think that I should be doing something else. Why is that? If I'm watching tv I think about how I should be cleaning or doing laundry. If I'm doing laundry I think about how much I hate doing laundry but feel "good" about it because it's what I should be doing. Right now I should be doing dishes instead of writing, only I love writing and reading articles online. I try to organize my life based on the things I feel like I SHOULD do only to end up doing kinda what I want to do but I punish myself for it. I'm obsessed with trying to have enough money since it seems everyone I work with makes so much more than me. I want to help my parents out -- my dad is 71 and still works 12 hr shifts in a factory saying things like "I thought I'd get to retire, but I think I'm going to die in there." That's kind of depressing. And my mom doesn't work because my sister is special needs and requires her entire life caring for her -- plus now she is caring for my grandma who is in her late eighties. My mother hasn't work in nearly 30 years. So add that to the fact that I don't have benefits of any kind including insurance, sick days or vacation. I work hard at what I do only to be told that getting used to make other people money is "just how it is" because I don't have enough work experience and blah blah blah. But truth be told it makes me really upset. I have so many ideas, so many things I want to do. I want to travel, to start my own business (even businesses -- I have multiple ideas I think can be successful). I want to work to help people whether in government or as part of an NGO or something. I was excited NATO was coming when other people were terrified that the city would be violently attacked and burned to the ground.
Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoy what I do and I'm good at it but I'm turning 25 in about a month. I'm trying to get my shit together finally. Eat better & exercise regularly because I need to start taking care of my body before things go downhill. Start doing and not just come up with ideas and let them sit there. I want to find ways to do everything I want to do. I want to make sure I don't get caught in the machine that is Corporate America. Last night I was talking to my aunt on the phone. She's getting ready to retire. She worked hard -- endless hours her whole life. She was a model employee but she said "yes, I have all this money and we are where we are today because of it but I've wasted my whole life." "Not your whole life," I said. "You still have plenty to live." "Yeah, but not much of it."
So I can work and plot and fantasize but the excuses remain. I can't leave because of my family, I want to get more experience. It's expensive and uncertain to move or do something else. While I have more to think of than myself, at the end of the day you have to answer to yourself. So I ask: What would the definition of "a good life" be for me? What are the things I should be doing to make me happy, to be successful and to help others? I don't want to live a regimented life even though order and consistency is always looked upon with favor. But it's boring -- to me. So plain, so regular.
I just need to figure out what it means for ME to be good at life. And also I should probably quit bitching and just do the dishes already.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Avengers & Yellow Tail
No, not the adventures of yellow tail. The Avengers AND Yellow Tail. Those are the subjects today.
I went to see The Avengers opening weekend. It was pretty good for your typical Marvel movie, but a bit long. Two and a half hours that could have been one and a half, two at the most. Robert Downey, Jr. (Ironman) & Chris Hemsworth (Thor) stole the show with their humor and delivery. One of my favorites was a scene where they are in the woods after Thor has been arguing with his brother. Thor's character speaks in a very Olympian and official kind of way and so "Ironman" says to him "What is this, Shakespeare in the woods?" I was laughing 5 minutes after it happened. You just had to be there, I guess. The other characters were good but I do have to say that Scarlet Johansson was pretty much just there for the boys seeing as her talents were kicking people in the face and delivering most of her lines in a sexy-but-bad-ass voice while wearing lots of leather, skin tight outfits. But to be fair, the red hair looked good on her. Long story short: it's a good date movie. All the action a boy could want and all the good-looking boys a girl could want. Win-win.
Now, let's get to drinking.
I've been trying to "explore" my wine knowledge and really learn what I like. Then one day I didn't have a lot of cash and didn't want to read labels. I walked into Walgreens and grabbed a moscato -- something I know my taste buds wouldn't mind sipping on. After the day I'd had I was not into the idea of accessing the tanin levels and seeing if it balanced well with the acidity. I wanted cheap and easy. I'd seen somewhere that Yellow Tail was one of the highest-selling brands in the market. I remember being surprised by that fact and figured that since I saw a bottle in front of me, I should see why everyone seems to like this stuff.
That would be because it's cheap and good.
I've bought another bottle since. It doesn't taste cheap like even some pricier bottles do or other imported wines under $10. I can usually find it for right around $6 which isn't much more than the over-priced orange juice I buy. There's a slight effervescence which is something I really like in a white wine, particularly sweet wines. I used to drink maybe a half glass of wine at a time and I can drink a half bottle of this. That's probably not a good habit to form, but the point is that I don't feel like "eeehhh, ok enough of this now." I enjoy it and say "oh, just a little more -- can't hurt." I bought a bottle of the "Sweet Red Roo" to try. I have every confidence in it after how surprisingly tasty their moscato was.
I still have my wine book and I have every intention to continue to explore wines, however I also found an easy go-to when I don't want to think about it. Or when I'm broke.
I went to see The Avengers opening weekend. It was pretty good for your typical Marvel movie, but a bit long. Two and a half hours that could have been one and a half, two at the most. Robert Downey, Jr. (Ironman) & Chris Hemsworth (Thor) stole the show with their humor and delivery. One of my favorites was a scene where they are in the woods after Thor has been arguing with his brother. Thor's character speaks in a very Olympian and official kind of way and so "Ironman" says to him "What is this, Shakespeare in the woods?" I was laughing 5 minutes after it happened. You just had to be there, I guess. The other characters were good but I do have to say that Scarlet Johansson was pretty much just there for the boys seeing as her talents were kicking people in the face and delivering most of her lines in a sexy-but-bad-ass voice while wearing lots of leather, skin tight outfits. But to be fair, the red hair looked good on her. Long story short: it's a good date movie. All the action a boy could want and all the good-looking boys a girl could want. Win-win.
Now, let's get to drinking.
That would be because it's cheap and good.
I've bought another bottle since. It doesn't taste cheap like even some pricier bottles do or other imported wines under $10. I can usually find it for right around $6 which isn't much more than the over-priced orange juice I buy. There's a slight effervescence which is something I really like in a white wine, particularly sweet wines. I used to drink maybe a half glass of wine at a time and I can drink a half bottle of this. That's probably not a good habit to form, but the point is that I don't feel like "eeehhh, ok enough of this now." I enjoy it and say "oh, just a little more -- can't hurt." I bought a bottle of the "Sweet Red Roo" to try. I have every confidence in it after how surprisingly tasty their moscato was.
I still have my wine book and I have every intention to continue to explore wines, however I also found an easy go-to when I don't want to think about it. Or when I'm broke.
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