Life Listed, April 18 - April 25

I fear I've been falling into old Negative Nelly habits too often these days.  That odd new feature on Facebook is what confirmed my vague suspicions...the sidebar that tells you what you wrote as your status on this day in previous years.  And mine were almost always funny/happy, or goofy/happy, or muse-y/happy.  They didn't scream "I'm bitching about something!"--and I wonder if I'm becoming the kind of person that whines all the time.  And there's nothing more tiresome than a person who whines all the time...am I right?  No matter what the subject is...it always sucks.  Because what are people supposed to say to me?  "I'm sorry," "That sucks"---different iterations, over and over and over?  It can also be construed as attention-getting, and while I do like some attention, I don't want to get it because I'm complaining or through sympathy.

So, while I'll never be Rainbows and Light and Ponies Leaping Through Sun-Dappled Meadows...I DO want to be more upbeat.  Life is going well right now, and there's no reason for me not to be.  I just refuse to fake it. :)

Speaking of faking it...


What parties have you been to in the last year?

Ugh, parties!  They make me nervous.  They make my blood pressure rise.  I will do ANYTHING to get out of a party, with a few exceptions.  A few close-knit friends getting together to scrapbook?  Hell yes.  A family birthday with the Parshalls and select other family friends in attendance?  Bring it on.   In the case of this summer--a bachelorette party with the bridesmaids, a crazy cool hotel room, and multiple bottles of wine?  Couldn't get enough!  And if board games are involved, I am absolutely SO THERE.  But...I can't take it if I don't know everyone at a party.  Or am just acquaintances with them, or it's work sponsored.  I just can't relax.  I wish it were socially acceptable to pull a Rory Gilmore--find a comfy, high-backed chair to hide in and bust out some Dorothy Parker to read in relative peace.  Ironically, I LOVE being away from parties...enjoying the noise and bursts of laughter while removed slightly from the action.  When I was little, my parents would have dinner parties and let me stay up late.  My favorite thing was going into the living room, one room away from the dining room, lay on the couch in my slippery party dress (ALWAYS satiny tulle, always ruffles), and be lulled to sleep by the muffled gaiety.

Oh yeah, the question at hand.  Hm.  Amy and Mark's wedding.  Sarah's bachelorette, and Sarah's bridal shower.  Sarah's wedding.  That might be it.

What character traits do you use most often to judge people?

Intelligence and sense of humor.

What schools have you attended?

Children's House, 3-5
Ridgeway Elementary, 5-12
West Junior, 12-15
Hickman High, 15-18
Grinnell College, 18-22
NYU, 23-24
MU Law school, 26
SISLT (Library school @ MU), 27-30
UNC-Chapel Hill/Oxford University, 29

I have one last educational wish, and time will tell if it will come to fruition.

Which family members do you wish you weren't related to?

HA!  Wowie wow wow.  Well, I'll say right now--I love my immediate family to freaking pieces.  I'm glad I'm related to them because they are automatically forced to love me and I am so damned lucky they do.

But...even though there are certainly extended family members who aren't always pleasant, I don't wish they weren't in my life.  I don't have to see them very often, and when I do, it's been long enough that we pretty much just catch up and then our time together is over.  My mom's family has some pretty horrific stories to tell--not that they would admit to them--but I've always been welcomed with open arms.

Who are your heros today?

HEROES, DAMMIT!!! HEROES!!!!!!

Call yourself a published work.  Tsk tsk tsk.

I don't really have heroes.  I don't think it's a very healthy method of consideration.  I admire a lot of people, for dang sure...all you selfless mamas with your hands full day after day after day, teachers, nurses, artists, Zack Galifianakis...but I don't put anyone on a pedestal.

Which of your body parts do you hate the most?

Which?  So, only one then..?
My lower stomach.  All the fat goes there and it's so obvious.  I've always had it--even at 135 lbs.  I wish I could just cut it off.  (Okay, ew.  I won't do that.  But if there was a pain-free, cost-free, side-effect-free way to do it...I'd be sorely tempted.)


Where do you like to travel and where have you been?

I feel like I've answered this about three times so far.  So I'll make up a new one:

What was your worst vacation?

(so much for trying to be more upbeat.)

Though it wasn't 100% horrible, our trip to Reno in May of 2010 was quite memorable in very unpleasant ways.  The first half-day of the train was good--fun and adventurous even, and we met an adorable old couple at dinner who showed us their pimped-out room (as in, it had a bathroom and was twice the size of our sleeper).  Sleeping in our converted bunk beds was fun, and watching the countryside zip by through our huge window was neat.  But the communal bathrooms were little more than airplane-sized, and our coffin-esque room got old REAL QUICK.  I had just started taking Paxil the week before, and the side effects were kicking in--cold sweats, lack of interest in food, the shakes, and a general foggy-brained feeling.  And there just wasn't anything to *do*.  I couldn't read by the window or I'd get sick, and it just became a waiting game in between meals.  Eventually we didn't even fold up the top bunk at all since napping was a good time-killer.

The next several days in Reno were okay.  Grandma's house and landscape are absolutely gorgeous, and I would *love* to live in a place like hers one day, with dry landscaping and a mountain right outside her backdoor with little lizards scurrying around.  The air was deliciously dry and mild, and we spent a lot of time sitting in the backyard enjoying the surroundings.  I gambled for the first time in my life, and understood why I shouldn't let myself do that again--money lost all meaning to me.  Charlie (Grandma's husband) was surly as usual, bitching about my taking naps (the Paxil's side effects were super bad there) and lord knows what else.  But Grandma made cinnamon rolls and took us out to eat every night, and when it came time to leave, I'd had enough chicken fried steak to last several thousand years.  

The train ride back was a *nightmare*.  I don't even remember the first part of it, but the final twelve hours were unbearable.  Shortly after we went to bed that last night, our A/C (which was controllable inside each little room) went full blast and would NOT stop.  It was totally hot outside, but utterly freezing in our sleeper.  We couldn't find any crew to help us, and even hours later when Neil eventually talked to someone, they couldn't do anything about it.  We had only packed summer clothes, and the beds were equipped with a sheet and super-thin blanket.  We wrapped ourselves as best we could, but there was nothing we could do but wait it out.  We were bleary from lack of sleep, pissed off at not getting help, and shivering uncontrollably, stuck in this teeny rectangle of a room until the train rolled into Ottumwa, IA--only to have to drive three hours to get home.

Tickets for the train trip were about $1700.  Never, ever, ever, EVER again.