What is wrong with men?

So tonight, I'm heading home from my friends' indoor soccer game. It's only like 10:30ish (not bar o'clock) and it's maybe 4 blocks from my house. So I pull into the left turn lane to turn onto my street and after stopping at the red light, I notice there is a truck in the far left lane, the one that would have cars going in the other direction if there had been cars on the road. It's stopped at the light. Just sitting there. Waiting to be hit. Part of me is wishing that there were cars coming because I want to know if the idiot thinks this road (which has a concrete median by the way, of which I am on the other side) is one way, or if he's just really stupid. I mean, if you're going to drive on the wrong side of the road, running a red light isn't really that much worse. Especially as there were no cars going across the intersection. So anyways, light turns green and the truck just pulls out and blocks the intersection, but doesn't go straight or really turn. As I am wanting to complete my left turn and travel the 3 blocks to my apartment, I gently tap my horn. The truck finally moves again and he turns and stops on the railroad tracks. Luckily there are two lanes, so I go into the right lane and pull past the tracks and up to the red light (though only four blocks from my apartment, there are no less than 4 lights to get through). Suddenly the truck pulls of next to me and some guy is cursing at me for turning left. From the turn lane. On the proper side of the road. This light is not sensored, so I turn right, thinking okay, leave the crazy guys and I'll just turn around and be on my way. Next thing I know the crazy guys are chasing after me and I'm scared they're going to crash their truck into the back of my car. So I make a lot of turns and eventually they disappear and I can finally go home. Of course, I'm shaking from fear at this point. I've never had anybody chase me before. I didn't DO anything. They were the idiots sitting in the middle of the wrong side of the intersection. Where are the Addison cops when you need them?
Added to the multitude of lame, idiotic and obvious booty call messages I've gotten on POF this week, I'm seriously wondering why it is that I thought I wanted to have anything to do with that half of the species anymore. Weeks like this make me wish I was a lesbian. Or that maybe I should give up and settle for a really good vibrator. And a dog. A girl dog. For companionship.

Budget Crackdown: Day Two

This year, I'm using Lent to help me enforce my self-imposed budget cutbacks. It will help a lot that Andrea is giving up alcohol, so we can go out and not drink together. My budget rules:
1. No fast food. No exceptions.
2. No buying alcohol when I'm out with friends.
3. I can only spend money going out one night a week.
These cutbacks should serve two-fold. I will save money (which is good as my buffer is going to be gone by the end of March) and I will get back to a healthier lifestyle. I hate feeling fat every time I go into my closet. This week has been hard on my exercising objectives as I had to work later a couple of days and spent all of Monday afternoon cleaning my grill and oven. Not fun, but I always figure housework makes pretty decent exercise. This weekend I have to get back on track. Today I have to work on meeting my weekly job contact quota.

Citizen B Responds

My wonderful friend Citizen B sent me this response to my last post. As it was too long for the comments section, I have posted it unaltered below. And thank you, B, for reminding me that life isn't as bad as I feel. Without my friends and family, I would have already lost my mind.

If you had been a soul-less business major, you might have been working for a credit card company, or a major bank/insurance company. Then the crisis would have hit and they may have laid you off all the same. Or if you had kept your job, you may have been thankful for the salary, but loathed going to work each day. Look at Dameon. He makes a good salary, but he hates his job and it works him to death.

My uncle has an engineering degree, which is very practical and usually easy to get a job with. He's in his 50s and was laid off again. He was a cook to put himself through college. He's now looking for a cook job again because no one is hiring in his field.

Think of it this way--at least you enjoyed your time in college. As my mother always said (and this she learned from a business class), there is no such thing as a wrong decision. If it had a definite right or wrong answer, it wouldn't be a decision. You can only do the best you can with the information you have at the time.

Also, far less useful degrees you could have had:

Religious Studies
Philosophy
Art History
Psychology (without a masters, it's useless)
Film Studies
Recreational Studies (I know people who majored in it)
Welsh Language (it's a real major)
Dance
Vocal performance
Theater performance
Archeology (again- no masters, no good)
Visual Art, specifically sculpture
American Studies (it's real)
Women's Studies
Quilt Studies
Comparative Sociology

'Cause I Had a Bad Day

I'm starting to feel like I'm riding a bipolar rollercoaster. I'll be doing just fine for a few days and then--BAM!--the suckiness of life hits me again and I'm back down in the dumps and I don't want to even get out of bed. Then I figure out a solution for the immediate issue and things are okay again and I can function. I got so used to my life being relatively even keeled, stable, reliable and drama-free that this past year, especially the last six months, is a shock to my system. It wasn't perfect, but I was floating along just fine. Today I feel like I dropped down the steepest hill on the ride, got taken through an upside down loop-de-loop (like the Orient Express at Worlds of Fun that I first rode at age 4 with my dad) and then suddenly the car flew off the tracks and plummeted towards the ground at lightning speed with no way to steer or brake. The hill was when everything I did earlier today went wrong (my hair and outfit for the oscars costume party) and my mom told me that I would probably end up having to pay $1100+ in taxes. The loop-de-loop was going to the party and hanging out with friends, laughing and trying to forget about my impending debt. The crash came on the way home when I found myself bawling in the car as I drove home. Now I feel like my brains are scrambled on the pavement and I'm trying to crawl out of the pile of rubble and shit that my life has become. If I could go back in time, I'd re-do college and this time I'm major in some soul-sucking business college major. I had the skills, the talent and the brains to do it. I just didn't want to. But I would. Then I could trade my soul to the devil in exchange for a 100k+/year job in corporate america and I would have a house and a fancy car and I wouldn't have to borrow money from my parents ever again. But no, I had to be an idealistic idiot and insist on majoring in English so that I could be a writer. I didn't realize then that while all companies NEED people who can write, nobody actually values them enough to bother to hire them.

Why My Job Amuses Me

Today I came across my favorite ridiculous phrase to be included in a phone sales guide since "to your heart's desire, or 2 GB," (actually, I'm insulted that they think my heart's desire could be satisfied by such measly storage). Today I learned that: "You can even choose from emoticons and preset messages to make texting more fun." Now, I'll give you emoticons. I love smileys and :-P as much as the next girl, but when was the last time you said to yourself, "Texting would be so much more fun if I had preset messages to choose from instead of typing my own!"?

Friendly Home Invasion

Don't get me wrong, I love having friends come to visit. But the best part of any visit is when everybody leaves and I have my little apartment all to myself again. I haven't had a roommate for over 3 years now, so I'm used to having everything the way I want it. I keep my apartment relatively tidy. I clean the dishes every few days and I always turn the lights off in the rooms that I'm not in. My parents drove me crazy when they were here for Christmas. They had all the lights on in my entire apartment all the time and if I shut any off, they'd complain it was dark. Part of this is habit. I usually only have whatever light is most necessary for what I'm doing on. The other part is necessity. I've realized that the biggest problem with being home more while I'm not fully employed is that being home more makes my utilities go up. I use more electricity because I'm home during the day. I use more water because I'm home more often. I go through everything faster because I'm home to use it all more. So I try to limit my usage of whatever I can so that my bills don't force me out of house and home. Regardless, while I enjoyed (immensely) having my friend Dameon visit me this weekend, I'm definitely looking forward to having my apartment to myself tonight so that I can curl up with a book, watch NCIS, and enjoy some "me" time without feeling guilty for not being a constant source of entertainment.

Happy S.A.D. Everyone!

To celebrate Singles Awareness Day, my friends and I went to see He's Just Not That Into You. It was better than I expected, though the majority of it didn't help me want to get back into dating. I guess it's the cut and dry attitude with which it treats everything to which I object. It's easy to say a guy's not into you when he doesn't call. At least I have no problems figuring that kind of crap behavior out. What about the guys who do call, who do text, who do have conversations with you, who act all nice, but then they just stop being able to fit you into their "busy" schedules, all the while still calling and talking to you all the time. What about the boys who don't act like total assholes, but still can't commit to a relationship? Neither the movie nor the parts of the book that I read deal with the inbetween guys who I always seem to encounter. I find it's easy to escape from the obvious assholes. What's hard for me is figuring out when guys really are nice and just busy and when they're just stringing me along. They get all pissy if I question their behavior, but how is a girl to tell when assholes wear nice guy clothing so well? I did like the ending of the movie. I thought it was nice that they kept it real by not having everyone end up happily ever after, but the ones who I really wanted to get together did. So not my favorite movie, but it was fun and I liked the actors. It was also perfect for V-Day as we were a bunch of singletons. Later that night, we moved on to a dance club in Uptown to enjoy fast beats, mixed drinks, cute boys and letting go of our inhibitions. There's nothing like dancing to make me feel better, even when life sucks. The advantage of going to a gay club was that there weren't many boa constrictor guys trying to latch onto my ass and squeeze the breath out of me. I don't know why so many men are so bad at something that is a very easy act. My friend Dameon proceeded to get drunk off his ass. More so than I've ever seen him, which was vastly amusing, until he puked down the outside of my car. The only reason he wasn't booted from the car and left on the side of North Central Expressway being that he did not puke on the inside. The plus side was that he paid to wash my car today. So that was my valentine's day. All in all not bad for a holiday that I generally loath and despise.

Schadenfreude: Is it wrong that it makes me feel so good?

In an effort to cheer me up this morning, Citizen B linked me to F*** My Life (some of the stories on there are NSFW, consider yourselves warned). And I must say, it helped. It reminded me that at least I'm not dating a cheating bastard and my parents didn't celebrate my birthday on the wrong day for most of my life. It didn't make me feel better about my decision to unhide my profile on the dating site though. I hate dating. It feels so futile. I told Citizen B that I will hold her responsible if I never date again after reading all the horror stories about people in relationships and cheating, etc. on that site. She suggested we become spinsters together and throw things at kids who trespass on our lawns. And I reminded her that she currently has a very nice and considerate boyfriend. Lately, I feel like everyone is hooking up with good guys except me. But my friend Andrea did convince me that I don't need to have a job to start dating again. So I'm going to attempt it. But I'm going to be a little bit pickier this time around.

If This Is "God's Plan" For Me, I'd Like To Know Where He Keeps His Complaint Box.

I feel like I'm treading water in the middle of the ocean and off in the distance I can see a tidal wave breaking over the top of the water. As it approaches, it gathers speed and height. It isn't here yet, but there's no way for me to escape the pull from below the surface as the wave sucks the water from beneath me and prepares to crash down over my head.

Since I was laid off the first week of September, I have applied for a minimum of 4 jobs a week, often more. This means that in this time I have applied for anywhere between 85 and 120 jobs. All of which I was at least minimally qualified for. I'm on the lists at no fewer than 5 staffing agencies. All this and I have had no more than 3 interviews in that time (not including the ones at the staffing agencies themselves which weren't for specific jobs). One didn't let me know either way; one resulted in my current part-time gig; and the last is the one I won't hear about until the end of next week.

Back in September, I was sure I'd have a job by February. I'd been looking since May, after all and already had 3 interviews and almost gotten one job. I wasn't completely unprepared for what happened (the agency hadn't been keeping us busy for at least 4 months), though I'd expected to last at least another month if not more.

Now, I'm reminded every time I request a payment from TWC that my unemployment is running low and I'm approaching the time when college grads will start competing with me because, sadly, I'm still close enough in experience that what I do, a lot of them can manage but without expecting to be paid over $25k/year.

In three months, I will have been looking for a new job for a year. That's never happened to me before. Even when I graduated from college with a useless English degree, few skills, no experience and no idea what I wanted to do (other than avoid teaching like the plague), I found a job in less than three months. When I got laid off last February (yes, I got laid off twice in one year), I was able to find an new job before my three months of warning (that the company had been sold and operations here in Dallas would cease at the end of February) were up.

Unfortunately, I didn't listen to my friends who cautioned me about entering the advertising world. It seemed like the best career path last year when all these senior editor positions were posted online offering salaries over $70k/year. I didn't realize that the agency I was joining would be like going back to Junior High School where Drama is Queen and everybody cared more about office politics than putting together a quality product. Two months in and I knew that I'd made a huge mistake. Unfortunately, this was about a month after the job market started to tank.

Another month and I will be at my wit's end. I don't know what to do. I've tried all sorts of a different resume and cover letter combinations. I have a good portfolio. At least I think it's good, especially considering I've only been in the real world of work for 3 years. 3 years seems to be the horrible limbo period of experience. The entry level jobs want HS degrees or pay less than my unemployment benefits. Plus, they won't consider me because I'm "Over Qualified." The mid-level jobs all seem to want a minimum of 5 years experience. Which I can't get because I had the misfortune to have my first company sold out from under me and my second company was like working in hell, though I wouldn't have left without guaranteed employment if they hadn't made the decision for me when work fell off (marketing budgets are the first things to be cut when the economy tanks).

And those 6 months of advertising seem to have erased the 2 and a half years of publishing experience and now everyone wants me to keep proofing fucking coupons. What I learned in those 6 months is that I cannot spend the rest of my life proofing coupons or I will kill myself. I did not go to college for four years so that I could make sure that Large 1-Topping Pizza and Flat Screen TV are spelled consistently and correctly. I used to put out a product of which I could be proud. You know what happened to the marketing pieces I spent hours proofing? They get stuffed into people's mailboxes and then tossed into the trash. That is what I do with the crap they fill my mailbox up with (coupons for fast food only tempt me to go out, which I cannot afford even with the coupon right now).

I can't seem to get any publishing or writing gigs because my previous job didn't involve Indesign or online publishing. I have looked at Indesign though. And for the purposes of technical writing, it requires me to do the same things I did when typesetting the apartment newsletters in Publisher. The buttons may be in different places, but that's easy to learn. No one will give me a chance though. No one will let me try anything new. I like challenge. I am willing to work my ass off. I have an outstanding work ethic (I didn't realize this until I was told by multiple bosses). I am a dedicated employee. I like working. I need to work. I am going to go crazy if I have to continue this freelance thing for much longer. I want to put in 40 hours (or more) a week and earn a full paycheck. I want to know that I will be able to pay my bills and that going out for drinks one night during the week won't break the bank. What I absolutely do not want to do is have to ask my parents for help. I know they'll give it. They've offered to loan me money. They bought my new laptop when the old one died unexpectedly (and I fully intend to pay them back as soon as possible).

Ever since I got a job after college, I have been completely self-sufficient. I have managed to pay rent on a decent apartment in a relatively good neighborhood. I have managed to pay for a car that I like. I have managed to pay for real furniture to replace the futon and bean bag chair from my college dorm. I have managed to pay for everything I needed without a husband, without my parents. I like knowing that I can provide for myself.

No matter what anyone says, to me, having to ask my parents for help at this point is equivalent to failing. I went out in the world and I tried, but I failed and now I'm back at square one. My savings are virtually gone. My IRA is over half gone. My job is gone. And apparently my experiences up to this point count for nothing. Because no matter what I do, everybody just keeps passing over me in favor of someone else. I'm stuck in a catch-22 whirlpool of too much and too little experience at the exact same time.

My friend keeps telling me that everything will work out exactly as it's meant to, according to God's plan. And I appreciate her telling me that; some days it helps. But I have always had trouble accepting the idea of God having a "plan" for me. I've never really believed in that kind of God because I don't understand it. I've always felt like God is more of voyeur of my life than an interactive partner. And right now, I want to know why anyone--no matter their omnipotence--would wish all of this on me--or anyone else for that matter. I know I'm not the only one suffering (and not suffering the worst) but I had no part in any of the financial dealings that caused this all to happen, so I don't see how it's fair that I'm suffering from the effects. Which I know is a stupid complaint, but I'm beyond caring at this point. I used to be fond of the French saying, "C'est la vie," (literally "That's life" but I've always favored a looser translation of "Such is life.") but I just can't feel that detached from what is happening anymore. I'm used to being able to fix any problems if I just work hard enough at them, but the rejection is beginning to overwhelm me. If my friend is right and God does have a plan for me, I just want to know why he seems to feel I need to be put through this much stress and depression right now. How much can one person be expected to take before giving up and letting the current pull them under? (And no one better bring up Job.)

The Good and the Hopeful

The good news: I've walked 12+ miles in the last week and discovered that the P.O. is only 1 mile away; the Bank/Grocery Store is only 1.5 miles; and there are two parks pretty and relaxing parks with nice trails in between.

The even better news: I've managed to plan out the entirety of my romance novel over the course of 20 chapters. Which means all I have to do now is actually write it (I have 4.5 chapters done).

The hopeful news: The company I interviewed at over two weeks ago called today and they're going to make their decision next week. I thought they'd just decided I was absolutely horrible and not worth calling back. Please, God, if you're there and listening, I really, really need this job.

And now for something completely different: It's such a nice change to have a President who I can stand to listen to for an hour without wanting to shout "You're nothing but a Talking Monkey Puppet" and throw things at the TV. That said, Clinton may have been charismatic, but Obama comes off as very intelligent and well-studied, which really inspires confidence. At least in me. My grandad is probably cursing him for his "socialist agenda" but I was shocked to find out that almost 4 million people had lost their jobs nationwide. I hadn't heard the number recently. A couple of months ago I hit a wall and stopped wanting to know who else was unemployed and competing with me for the very few jobs available.

Why Won't They Let Me Apply Now?

The annoying thing about applying for grad school for English is that you have to really plan ahead for it. None of the good programs let you apply less than 8 months out. And assembling everything you need to apply takes so long, that you really have to start a year out. So starting now, the earliest I could possibly go to grad school would be 2010. Which doesn't really help me with the whole "I need something to do now" thing. A year ago (when I would have needed to start putting things together in order to apply for admission in 2009) I had a job and I thought I was doing what I wanted to be doing. Now, I want to go back to school, but I'm going to have to find a way to support myself for a year and half before I can actually act on that. And apparently the good colleges all want recommendations from professors, which are difficult to get when you haven't been in school for almost 4 years. Will any of my professors even remember me? This is one of the things that has me procrastinating on this. I shy away from the idea of having to email people I haven't spoken to for 4 years to ask for help. What if they all say no? I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed. So I'm starting with baby steps. First, I take the GRE. Get that out of the way and the scores are good for 5 years. Then I put together the writing samples. Then I can work out how to contact people, starting with the graduate advisors at the colleges I'm interested in attending.

I'd Happily Settle for a Full-Time Job Offer

His lifestyle requires $3,700/day to support. Whereas support of my lifestyle would only require an $84-$98/day donation (just to put it all into perspective). My friend Citizen B was telling me yesterday about some BagLady blog where this lady who really isn't that bad off complains about having to go without her daily Starbucks and fancy manicures. Pardon me if I can't feel bad for rich people having to go without what I couldn't afford when I was fully employed. And I know I'm luckier than some people because I'm not losing my home or being plunged into a mountain of debt (though another couple of months of unemployment and that may not be the case).

Do any of the DC politicians pay their taxes?

Does anyone else find it a little unsettling (and feeling like quite a bit more than coincidental) that three of President Obama's nominees in a row have had issues with not paying taxes? Not to mention completely unfair. My dad sent me this editorial cartoon about it.

On another note, I quite liked Jon Stewart's proposition on The Daily Show sometime last week that instead of bailing out companies, the government should give everyone money to pay off their consumer debt, because it would take care of the individual debt AND bail out the companies at the same time. (There are probably a million reasons it wouldn't be feasible, but I can think of plenty for why it's not a good idea to just dole out money to the companies either. And right now, I care more about my personal financial crisis than that of the greedy CEOs who got us all into this in the first place.)

If my life had a soundtrack, most of the songs would be from Avenue Q

I wish iPod shuffles had been around when I was in high school. Then I could have implemented my desire to add a soundtrack to my life, even if I was the only one who would hear it. Sometimes there's nothing like a song to express just how I feel. Last week it was Dan Powter's "Bad Day." Right now, there's an endless loop of Avenue Q songs in my head. It starts with what my friend Citizen B and I claimed as our theme song senior year of college and goes something like this:

What do you do with a B.A. in English?
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college, and plenty of knowledge,
have earned me this useless degree.
I can't pay the bills yet, 'cause I have no skills yet.
The world is a big scary place.
But somehow, I can't shake the feeling I might make
a difference to the human race.

Purpose. It's that little flame that lights a fire under your ass.
Purpose. It keeps you going strong, like a car with a full tank of gas.
Everyone else has a purpose, so what's mine?
Oh, look! Here's a penny! It's from the year I was born. It's a sign!
I don't know how I know, but I'm gonna find my purpose.
I don't know where I'm gonna look, but I'm gonna find my purpose.
Gotta find out! Don't wanna wait!
Got to make sure that my life will be great!
Gotta find my purpose, before it's too late.
...
I'm gonna find my purpose.
Could be far, could be near.
Could take a week, a month, a year.
At a job, or smoking grass, maybe at a pottery class.
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good.
...
What will it be? Where will it be?
My purpose in life is a mystery.
Gotta find my purpose. Gotta find me.

There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
there's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
and you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.
There's a fine, fine line between love and a waste of time.
There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie,
and there's a fine, fine line between "You're wonderful" and "Good-bye."
I guess if someone doesn't love you back, it isn't such a crime,
but there's a fine, fine line between love and a waste of your time.
And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.
For my own sanity, I've got to close the door and walk away.
There's a fine, fine line between together and not,
and there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime.
There's a fine, fine line between love and a waste of time.

I wish I could go back to college. Life was so simple back then.
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again?
I wish I could go back to college. In college, you know who you are.
You sit in the quad and think, "Oh my god, I am totally gonna go far."
How do I go back to college? I don't know who I am anymore.
I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on my door.
I wish I could just drop a class, or get into a play,
or change my major, or fuck my T.A.
I need an academic advisor to point the way.
We could be...sitting in the computer lab,
four a.m. before the final paper is due.
Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner
and seeing the rest of the class there, too!
I wish I could go back to college. How do I go back to college?
I wish I had taken more pictures.
But if I were to go back to college, think what a loser I'd be.
I'd walk through the quad and think, "Oh my god,
"these kids are so much younger than me!"

Jaxx Recommends...Comics

My friend Sarah got me hooked on web comics a few years ago and so, while I'm bored at work, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite ones that I follow religiously. I hope you like them and if you do, read them, support them and spread the word!

8. Flaky Pastry: Lots of fun and very cute. (Updates Friday)

7. FreakAngels: Normally I'm not into the whole end of the world story stuff, but this one intrigues me and I keep reading to find out what happens. (Updates Friday)

6. Gunnerkrigg Court: I'm not always sure what's happening in the story, but it's intriguing nonetheless and I think it's very pretty (Sarah disagrees but I don't understand why). (Updates Mon/Wed/Fri)

5. Punch an' Pie: Aeire drew one of my fave comics in college, Queen of Wands. This comic follows one of the secondary characters from that one and is a very fun and cute story (though I keep hoping that Angela and Heather will get back together). (Updates Mon/Wed/Fri)

4. Girl Genius: The story starts a little slow (or maybe it's just that it takes awhile to understand the world it's set in), but once I got into it a little ways, I was totally hooked. The artwork is gorgeous and I love Agatha's character (she's got spunk), though it's often hard to keep all of the multitudes of other characters straight. (Updates Mon/Wed/Fri)

3. Questionable Content: Fun characters, awesome artwork and always funny (but often NSFW). (Updates Weekdaily)

2. Girls With Slingshots: I love all the characters (they remind me of myself and some of my friends), the artwork is awesome and the strips are always funny, but definitely NSFW much of the time (it's better that way, I promise). (Updates Weekdaily)

And my absolute favorite that I love above all the rest...
1. Platinum Grit: There's really no explaining this one. Every time I think I've figured out a part of the plot, it gets flipped on its head and I'm lost again. I can't get enough of Kate and Nils--Jeremy is amusing as well. The artwork is great and I fully recommend getting the books if you like it because it's cooler that way. And you know it's good because everyone's willing to wait a year or more between episodes. Seriously, it's that good. (Entire episodes updated sporadically. Totally worth waiting for.)

Quotables from Wild Women

I do so love my "Wild Words from Wild Women" daily calendar.

"Would it upset men if they found out we weren't different?" - Rita Mae Brown (A very cool author. I actually met her once when I was in college.)

"I think racism is a terrible thing. We should all learn to hate each other on an individual basis." - Cathy Ladman

"Sex is still the leading cause of pregnancy." - Frederica Mathewes-Green

"My husband says he can read me like an open book. The only problem is he doesn't know what page I'm on." - Sydney Newman Dotson

"In real life, women are always trying to mix something up with sex--religion, or babies, or hard cash; it is only men who long for sex separated out without rings or strings." - Katherine Whitehorn

The last one reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. I'm anxiously waiting for my friend to return my dvd set to me so that I can get my fix again. There's nothing that cures a bad day like Breakfast at Tiffany's or an episode of Sex and the City. Today I started fretting about the future (and the uncertainty of my employment and financial status) which always gives me a case of the mean reds. I watched the new episode of How I Met Your Mother and it was all about resumes and finding a job. It made me wish my life was a sitcom. Then all my problems would be solved in 30 minutes and I'd have a lot more to laugh about. At the very least, it'd be totally awesome if Barney (Neil Patrick Harris' character) made me a video resume and got me as cool a job as he got Robin.

Who Wants to Be a Republican?

Last week I got a letter in the mail from my grandad. Apparently Obama's election has reminded him that he has yet to convert me to the republican mindset. A year or so ago, I made the mistake of recommending that he watch the movie An Inconvenient Truth because I thought (mistakenly it turned out) that the science would transcend the politics. That was when I learned that not only does my grandad not believe in global warming, but that it is apparently considered more of a political issue than a scientific one. Anyways, for about three months after I recommended the movie to my grandad, I got an unending flow of newspaper editorial clippings from him about how the liberals have all invented global warming in an attempt to bring down the conservatives and ruin the world. Eventually, he stopped after telling me that if I just read Ann Coulter's columns and books, I would see the light. Then, last week a letter from my grandad arrives with a clipping that says that Obama is exaggerating the (according to the Conservatives and Republicans) non-existent global warming crisis in order to destroy the American way of life and make us all into socialists. First off, I'm willing to admit that there's a chance that global warming is exaggerated, but I took geography and geology in college and I'm not willing to accept that my professors who had studied and researched it were lying about the science behind it. I've always found that inbetween two extremes tends to be the most balanced and accurate place to stand. Second, I'm tempted to ask my grandad why he would think that his unemployed grand-daughter, who is currently barely able to afford prescriptions and totally unable to afford insurance and who not only voted for Obama but was actively counting down the days until Bush left office, would possibly side against socialist policies that have a chance of improving the environment, the economy and her chance of getting affordable healthcare?