to sleep, perchance to dream

Do you know what is nice about being an adult? Doing whatever the heck I want! You know when you are a kid and you think, "Man! I can't wait to be an adult! I can have ice cream for breakfast and do whatever I want!"

Well, we were right... it rocks! I mean, sure sometimes it is a little scary. And you have all these decisions to make and responsibilities... but all in all, it is pretty darn awesome.

I am contemplating going to bed, right about now. Yup, 8:30 PM. It was a long day. Soccer yesterday plus tennis today kicked my butt. And since I am a grown-up and get to do whatever I want, that means that I will be going to bed.

By the way, sometimes it is nice not having kids because it really means that I can do whatever I want. If I had kids I would not have nearly this much freedom. Don't get me wrong, I am crazy jealous of my friends who already have kids, but this doesn't suck either.

Anyways, what I was thinking about when I was about to go to bed so early, was how kids hate having to go to bed early and they think they are missing out on stuff. Which of course made me think of one of the best Growing Pains episodes ever where Chrissy is allowed to stay up late so that her parents can prove to her that nothing exciting happens and of course that night EVERYTHING exciting happens, like a circus coming into their living room! That was a great show.

I want to be totally against TV but I have some really fond memories of TV from childhood and I like being able to bond with my peers over it.

Enough blabbering. Goodnight my lovelies.

daffodils

Good morning, world!

There is something about waking up to a fresh bunch of daffodils that just makes me smile.

Is it because my sweet sister surprised me by leaving them for me to find in my room? Yes, that's part of it.

Is it because they are one of the most majestically beautiful flowers of all times? Sure, that plays into it a bit too.

But I think the main reason that they make me smile is because they are a sure sign that spring is coming!

Daffodils are early bloomers. They are pretty much (along with tulips and crocuses) the first flowers to bloom in spring. And they do so with abundance. They are one of those flowers that actually comes back stronger year after year.

So to me they are a sign that spring and sunshine are just around the corner. That's a happy thought that is surely worthy of a smile.

cuss

It's not easy being an adult. You have to make all sorts of difficult decisions. Like, should I have wine on a Thursday night or not?

Turns out that the answer to that one is a resounding "yes!"

And should I blog away while drinking this wine?

Another yes.

Oka,y these disicions are getinin easier and easier.

Ha! I am so not drunk. I have only had about three sips, but I decided to not fix my errors that I made in that last sentence. I'm usually a much better typer. I swear.

Speaking of swear words... what is your favorite swear word?

I've never heard my dad swear. He thinks swearing is for ignorant people and comes up with fancy four-syllable words to use when he wants to insult someone.

I might be a little too lax about swearing. I do it often. Though never at work or inappropriate places. Except for that one time. I can't help it, I get worked up when I am playing games. And so I just might have happened to call Travis's mom a bitch. I didn't MEAN it. It was all in good fun. Everyone stopped and STARED at me! And then they all burst out laughing. It is just a reminder that no matter how drunk you are in a little hotel room in France and how worked up you get played Spit, you should never, ever, ever call your boyfriend's mom a bitch. Now you know.

My French host sister loved learning American slang. She would ask me questions all the time. Usually they were sayings from rap songs and I had no idea what they meant. It was the first time I had ever heard the term "jonesing" and I was embarrassed to tell her that I had no idea what it meant. It hadn't trickled it's way down to the middle-class whites yet. Now I could tell her that I am "jonesing to get back to France." Jones-in'. How on earth would you spell that? I don't know.

Anyways, Marion's favorite American swear term was "Fuck! Shit! Fuck!" Always those three words strung together. It was actually rather cute and endearing the way she said it.

My mom had a bit of a potty mouth on her as well.

My oldest sister's name was Chestra Jo Becker. We won't go in to that. Seriously. Chestra? What were they thinking??!

Remember when you were little and your parents used to use your whole name when they yelled at you? Well, Chestra was a bit of a trouble maker. And my mom used to yell at her a lot. She used to yell, "Damn it all, Chestra Jo!"

She yelled this so much, in fact, that my other sister Chris actually thought that "Damn it all, Chestra Jo" WAS Chestra's full name!

To this day it is still my favorite swear word/term. Even when what I am cussing about has absolutely nothing to do with my wonderful sister.

Hmmmmm.... so not to go totally off subject, but this might be the first time that I have ever even mentioned my sister Chestra in this blog. I don't call her Chestra by the way. I call her "Critter." It is sad when "critter" is a step up from your actual name!

She is wonderful, but is fourteen years older than me and has lived in a different state than me for almost all of my life that I can remember. So while I call her a sister, she seems like more of an aunt. I feel closer to her kids than I do to her.

Hmmm. This wine sure is going down easy. :)

Sometimes it seems weird to me that I am the youngest of six kids. You know why? Because when you are in a family of six kids, it doesn't seem like that many. It just seems normal. And I even wish that I had more brothers and sisters. And I like having my brother and sister as my roommates (most days.)

I feel so bad for people who don't get along with their families. I feel so bad it makes me want to swear.

See how I did that? How I brought it back to the topic of swearing? I call that the ol' "loop-de-loop."

I sure am a creative speller tonight.

(big yawn!) Perhaps that it is my sign that it is time to sign off.

What's your favorite cuss word? How often do you swear? Do people swear too much?

least productive day off ever

Got a whole lotta nothing done today. I did do a few things, like laundry and cleaning and grocery shopping, and watching Wife Swap. I know, I know. I couldn't help it, it was on when I turned on the tv and I got sucked in.

But like I said, I did some laundry. My house is FREEZING and hence I am always freezing and since I was washing my long underwear I was even extra freezing.

But I just went down and got my comforter directly out of the dryer.

It was so soft and warm and I wrapped it around me for a minute and let the heat wash over me.

You always think that would be nice, but it was soooo much better in real life. I don't know that I believe in angels but if I did, I'd like to imagine that that is what a hug from an angel feels like.

my friendly riding companion

So guess what I was doing today... you guessed it- riding on the el!

And at this one stop about twenty people were getting on so I put my bag on the floor and moved over to make some room.

A respectable looking middle aged black man came and sat next to me.

He thanked me for moving over and I smiled and said "no problem."

Mistake number one and two.

Never smile. Head nods are okay, actual words are not. They encourage people.

I can ignore jerks, but I find it really hard to ignore nice people when they are sitting two inches away from me and are trying to talk to me.

Dude: I like your hat.

Me: Thanks. (stare out the window)

(a couple of minutes later)

Dude: Do you ski?

(which I thought was really random since I was carrying a tennis bag)

Me: No.

(stare out the window)

(blah, blah, blah, talk about tennis, talk about me not being in school anymore, he thought I was 17 or 18 and I told him I was 30)

Dude: Do you have kids?

Me: No.

Dude: Oh, you don't want kids.

Me: Someday.

Dude: Someday? Girl, you better start soon. Your clock is tickin'. You don't got much longer."

(uh, suppressed sob)

Dude: I guess you could always adopt.

A lovely way to start the week.

lice

I don't know if I have posted about this before so I apologize if it is a repeat. I haven't even been blogging a year and I already might be repeating myself?! Yikes!

Do you know what one of my biggest fears is?

Getting lice.

I've never had it but the thought of it just creeps me out.

I had a dream that I had bugs on me the other night and I woke up and was freaking out, convinced that I could actually feel bugs on me.

That's the problem, once you start thinking about it, then it really does feel like there is a bug on you. Mental case.

I ride the train almost daily with the masses. The dirty, hygiene-phobic masses. And I am terrified that I am going to pick up some nastiness on the train.

But really my fear started my freshman year of high school. We had to take a swimming test and were given swimming caps to wear from the school. We also had to wear school issued swimsuits from the seventies that had lost most of their elastic. Let me tell you, that was fun.

Later that day I was in gym class. Since it was the first day of classes we do this thing where everybody in your gym period (say it was 7th period) gathers together in the field house on the bleachers. There are cones set up on the floor of the field house that say the name of a class, i.e. "square dancing" or "softball." The teachers call out "seniors" and the seniors all go running to line up behind the cone for the class that they want to take. Then juniors get to go and so on and so forth. Obviously the more popular classes fill up first (meaning the freshman get screwed.) And it is a crazy melee. Not really the safest thing ever either, but whatever.

However, I was waiting on the bleachers and didn't know anybody yet and was sitting by myself and this pair of awful mean sophomore girls was sitting behind me and they were whispering to each other (but a whisper that I was intended to hear) about how they could see bugs crawling in my hair and how I had lice.

And of course, once you hear that, you can FEEL the bugs crawling in your hair.

So I pretended to ignore them, but after school I went to the nurse's office to get checked out! Yeah, totally did NOT have lice (or any bugs for that matter) in my hair. What jerks!

It's kind of funny though. But that is what started my fear of getting lice.

needy

Massage therapists are some of the neediest people out there. You can argue that they are very giving and spend their whole days trying to make other people feel better. But the truth is, we need validation.

We do what we do because we like having people like us. And so if someone doesn't like us, we get really upset.

The thing is, not everybody is going to like you. It's just not possible.

There are all sorts of techniques and personalities out there. My style isn't going to work for every body type. Nor is it going to work for stupid people who are ticklish. (Down with ticklish people!)

I had three clients yesterday. Two of which absolutely loved me and were singing my praises. The third didn't say anything negative but I don't think she was really digging the massage.

That's the way it is. The people who love you are going to come back and become regulars. The other people will go on and try a different therapist.

But it is still rough because as a massage therapist you really want to please everybody. Rationally I know I can't do it, but damn it, I wish I could!