still haven't found...

If you really want to feel inadequate, worthless, and unqualified, try looking for a job. You'll feel all three of those, plus a host of other negative feelings about yourself, within a few minutes!

There's got to be something out there, right?...

Orlando drivers

One of my friends made a really good point today. She said, "You have to think 5 seconds ahead of all the other drivers here. 'What's this guy doing? Where's that woman turning?' I could be a professional racecar driver with all the swerving I've learned how to do!" I thought that was funny and also accurate. I won't go on a rave about how awful the drivers are here in Orlando. Sure, they run redlights while cops are sitting right there (and the cops do nothing about it), they run you off the road instead of letting you in, etc. The reason I won't rant and rave is that I have noticed that I am becoming more and more like them. I run my fair share of red lights, but in my defense, if I didn't run them, the person behind me would slam into my rear.

I like to use the fact that I still have a Virginia license plate on my car to justify my bad driving. It makes it look like I'm a tourist with no idea where I'm going. I think people are more sympathetic to that.

brrrrrrr!

It was 50 degrees when I drove into work this morning. The other day had a wind chill of 22. I'm pretty sure that the Native Floridians had to get out the dictionary to look up the words "wind chill"! When I was in Minneapolis, I expected the cold. It was refreshing, I felt alive! Here, on the other hand, it is completely out of context.

Florida apartment buildings are not insulated well, so I freeze at night. Even my cats are cold! They snuggle up next to me at night; they have never done that before.

Speaking of my cats, I have decided that I'm going to train them to like to cuddle. I'll scoop up Simba and cradle him in my arms, showing him who's boss but also giving him lots of loving affirmation. "What a good kitty you are!" He just kind of looks at me like, "Are you almost finished? I have another appointment to get to." Ginger, on the other hand, is another story. First I have to chase her around. It reminds me of a greased pig chase because she is so fat. When I finally catch her, I cuddle her in my arms and she looks at me with her wide green eyes as if to say, "please, please, please put me down! I hate this!" She may hate it now, but she's going to love it sooner or later...

venting session

I'm fed up with Christmas! Or I should say the commercialization of Christmas. I know that we live in a society that tries to take God out of everything, but what happened today really ticked me off. It isn't even that big of a thing, I simply went to Walmart this morning to look for a box of Christmas cards. I dug through 2 bins and looked on various shelves for cards that said something about Christ's birth, since that is the original reason for celebrating the holiday. Not only could I not find cards that said anything about Jesus, I couldn't even find cards that said, "Merry Christmas"! I found plenty with Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays. Even the Thomas Kincade cards didn't say it! They at least had verses from the Bible in them, but they had nothing to do with Jesus. One was about prayer...yes, prayer is important but can we at least acknowledge Jesus in the semi-Christian cards?

As I left Walmart without a purchase, I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. I hate the passive indifference of our society! I wish I could express in words the hollowness I feel inside as I think of the state of this world.

i stand corrected!

Wow! I didn't realize I had so many readers! The response to my last blog helped me to see that I do indeed have a fan base.

My co-worker told me I should be a comedic writer...That would definitely be an interesting job. But am I truly comedic, or is it that the people who know me truly well are the only ones who think I'm funny?

"i'm all alone...with nobody here beside me..."

I think I have only one reader. Logic tells me that I should just ditch the blog and email my one faithful reader when I have blog ideas. But it's a status thing. I feel so cool having a blog, like I really know what to do with all this technology. Savvy, intelligent.

I'm pathetic!

PS--10 points for whoever can guess what movie the quote I used for my title comes from...in case you're keeping points...

what do i want to be when i grow up?

The job search continues. It appears that after 5 years of college, 2 1/2 years living overseas, and 6 years of job experiene, the only thing I'm qualified to do is customer service, more specifically, answering phones in a call center. My question is this: why did I waste all that money on a college education when the only jobs that will hire me are for call centers?

Did I mention how much I hate answering phones? The irony is maddening.

bird phobia

As I was walking into work this morning, I saw a couple of sand hill cranes hanging out near the front doors. I was a little taken aback. If you don't know what sand hill cranes are, they are tall gray birds that look very menacing although from what I hear, they rarely attack anything except their reflection in car windows. I was a little nervous, but okay until I saw 3 more cranes standing nearby. I don't like birds anyways, of any size, so this made me exceptionally nervous. 3 of them started to walk away as I approached, but one took this stance and was frozen. I don't know if he was scared and hoping I wouldn't see him, or if he was getting ready for the attack. I kept telling myself, "don't be afraid, they can sense fear". I don't really know if that's true, but that's what they say about dogs. So I tried to walk to the door as confidently as I could. My hands were completely full so I had to press the button to open the door automatically and in my mind I saw sand hill cranes running into the building to cause mass chaos. Of course, that didn't happen. It would have made an interesting blog though!

I went to the grocery store on Saturday and as I was walking out to my car, all I could hear were the calls of thousands of birds in a field next to the parking lot. It was creepy and I felt like I was in the horror flick "The Birds".

One day I was leaving my apartment to go running (okay, walking; who am I kidding?) and there was this small white crane sitting on the roof of my car. I shooed it away but every time I would turn my back on it, it would head back to my car. I kept chasing this thing away from my car for like 15 minutes. Frustrating! I finally gave up and went walking. When I got back, that dumb bird was still around but it was sitting on someone else's car. At least it wasn't mine...

on being cold

I went to Minneapolis/St. Paul last weekend. The first night it was 20 degrees. Part of me was like "dang! this is cold!" but a bigger part of me loved it. I love the cold because it makes me feel so alive. I felt like I was in a Robert Frost poem as I walked around, seeing my breath for the first time in years. Plus, with zero humidity, my hair looked great! And that's what is really important.

People from the upper midwest talk funny. They say their a's and o's weird. I once got asked if I was from Minnesota. I guess that makes the way I talk weird too.

It's a good thing they don't erase your blog if you don't write in it regularly. I'd have to start a new one every time I finally got on the internet!