flute lessons

I have finally found a creative outlet. I just began flute lessons! I am really excited about it and looking forward to seeing if I will ever be able to play that Vivaldi piece that I listen to and imagine myself on a stage, playing with an orchestra behind me...or at least being able to remember the fingerings for the various notes.

My cats, on the other hand, are not excited about this new venture. The first day I practiced they both looked at me and ran. Ginger hid under a table and Simba went into the other room. The next time I played, Simba looked at me with this, "What the heck?!" expression and sauntered out of the room; he likes to act like he's not frightened by walking out cool-like, but you can tell he's terrified. Ginger does not hide the fact that she's scared. She looked at me with those wide open green eyes, her mouth in a little frown, and hid under a chair, looking out occasionally to ask with her eyes if I was done yet. Yesterday I practiced and Simba has gotten used to it. He even sat on the bed next to where I was standing as if to be my audience. Ginger looked at me as I opened the flute case, then darted out of the room. I need to get her some valium.

you think you know someone...part 2

The saga continues...

The woman who previously owned my kitties came over to visit them. She brought over paper work from the original owners when they were adopted from the Humane Society). I thought the cats were 3 1/2 years old. According to the paperwork, they will be 7 years old this March. This could actually explain alot...like why Ginger is so fat! She's not 21 in people years, she's almost 49!

I know, I know, you are all thinking I am a crazy cat lady with all these stories...

I'm in the money!

Okay, not really, but I finally got a job! Woohoo! I start on Jan. 31st and it's a great company to work for. Benefits start the day I start and I get to wear jeans to work! Plus, if I hit all green lights, it's only 5 minutes away from my apartment. It's nice to finally have that soap opera done, at least for now. God provides in His time, I just need to contantly remind myself of that!

you think you know someone...

I got a call the other day from the woman who owned my cats previously. She wanted to know how they are doing. She asked, "So, what did you end up naming them?" I said, "I kept their names the same, Ginger and Simba." She laughed hysterically and said, "That's not their names!" I was so confused. I said, "Your roommate told me that their names were Simba and Ginger." We both laughed and she explained, "When I got them, their names were Cleo and Leo. I didn't like those names so I changed them to Gin and Juice."

I can see how you could get Ginger from Gin, but Simba from Juice?

I decided to do an experiment. Ginger was in the same room and I called out, "Cleo!" She looked right up at me and meowed as if to say, "yes?"

Kind of explains why they never respond when I call them...that, or they are just being normal cats...

Simba

My cat Simba is a beautiful cat. He is a tannish color with slightly darker stripes. Everyone who meets him thinks he is beautiful.

I thought it would be cute to get him a Simba stuffed animal from the Lion King movie. My mom purchased it for me and I brought it home to him. "Look Simba, it's you," I said and laid the stuffed lion on the bed next to him. I walked out of the room and when I came back a few minutes later, the stuffed Simba was laying on the floor.

I guess the live Simba doesn't like competition, or he is not happy with the representation of himself in the stuffed one.

returns

I bought a little bed for my cats, thinking they would enjoy a soft pillow for the floor. This was especially for Ginger as she like to prop her head up on the legs of tables; I thought this would be a nice alternative. I brought the bed home and they wanted nothing to do with it. I eventually coaxed Ginger to at least sit in it, but she barely fit (she's a portly cat) and she did not like it very much. I left the bed on the floor in the hopes that they would warm up to it.

After a few days, I decided to take the bed back because they were not using it. I put it in a bag and headed back to the store. I approached the returns counter and the lady asked why I was returning it. I said, "My cats didn't like it." She asked, "Did they use it?" I answered, "one of them sat in it for a minute but that was it." She said, "It smells," and wrinkled her nose. I just kind of shook my head not knowing why it would smell. She then looked at the tag and asked, "do you know why it's wet?" I picked up the bed and saw that indeed, the bed was wet and had the inmistakable smell of cat pee. I was horrified! I apologized and left the counter with my cat bed in tow.

I got back home and decided to wash it. Maybe they peed on it because they didn't like it or something. So I cleaned it up and it smelled all nice. I put it on the floor hoping one of them would take to it. Neither cat touched it for a while. Then, Simba kind of smells at it and paws at the bottom. He gets in the bed and squats as if ready to relieve himself when I yell, "Stop! Get out of there!" He jumps out and goes to use his other litter box instead.

I've come to the conclusion that Simba is not the smartest cat out there...

the search continues...

So, I have a job interview tomorrow. I want to be excited about it but at the same time I don't want to get my hopes up and then be terribly disappointed when they send me the rejection email. I'm wondering just how much rejection one person can handle! Is there a point where I will receive the rejection that will put me over the edge and I will jump off the observation tower at Sea World? Actually, that wouldn't happen because I'd have to pay $60 just to get in the park and then an additional fee to ride the observation tower elevator. I'll have to find a cheaper way to end it all...

Don't worry, I'm not going to jump from any tall buildings or end my life in any other way. I may go crazy from this job search but it won't put me that far over the edge! I just hope the insane asylum they ship me off to has internet access so I can keep my blog updated...

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!

Anatomy

I don't understand how the human body works. With little or no effort I am able to gain pounds but when I workout 6 times per week, eat healthy (veggies galore and no sweets), and make sure I drink plenty of water, I can't lose a pound?! At least I have more energy. And I get to walk around at work since I have to go to the bathroom every five minutes from all the water!

Regalos de Silvia

I just saw an interesting movie. It's called "Regalos de Silvia" (Silvia's Gift for my non-Spanish speaking friends) and is about a girl who is clinically depressed and decides that her purpose in life is to kill herself so that others can benefit from her organs. The movie follows 3 people after they receive her organs. It is sad and tragic, yet extremely compelling. She gives her live so others can live and yet the 3 who receive those gifts almost end up wasting the gifts by not using them wisely. I am in no way condoning suicide. This movie is an interesting look at the hopelessness of life without God, that a beautiful, talented young woman thinks her purpose in life is to kill herself. I recommend this movie if for nothing else, to give you something to think about. Warning: it's subtitled, so unless you are fluent in Spain Spanish (very different from Latin American Spanish), wear your reading glasses. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this after they watch it.

Long lost blogger

I know, I know, everyone can sigh a breath of relief...I am finally writing another blog. It's been a while and I feel like I'm in the stone ages again. It's hard to remember a time without the internet and email. It's crazy! Now that I don't have easy access to it, I definitely crave it. I think I'm going through withdrawal. It all started when I had to go from fast easy internet service at work to dial up at home. As if that weren't bad enough, I had to cancel at home and the place I'm working now has computers from the 1980's. No joke! Complete with the green screens. If you tried to connect them to the web in any way, they would internally combust! So, I have to settle for my short bouts here and there at the library and friends' places. This is how bad it's gotten...the other day I had to wait in line for access. I sat, impatiently, waiting for the next computer to free up. I understandibly got perterbed at the 8 year old playing games on the McDonald's website. Come on! I have emails to read! Let's move it! But you know it's bad and you really need help when you scowl at the middle schooler on a wetlands website doing research for school. Screw the wetlands! I need to check my email! Okay, it wasn't that bad, but I was very happy when the middle schooler left. I hope she gets a good grade on that paper. But what the heck!? Why doesn't she have internet at home like every other child in the USA?!