The word "predictable" has a bad reputation. My belief is that predictability is directly correlated to maturity. As children, we have to try out different ways of operating to figure out what works for us, and to determine who we are. There comes a point, however, where we realize that certain behaviors are just not options, and that is where our characters are formed. Sure, from time to time, we like to be "surprised" with something new or exciting, but when I think I know someone, the last thing I really want is to find out that they are "unpredictable".
The sidebar to this is the reality that after a certain age, people really just don't change much. Fine, people make mistakes and forgiveness is awesome. However, if someone is "predictably" BOGUS, F-ED up, or otherwise horrible and awful, why keep them around? If I can't put it past you to NEVER {fill in unsavory behavior, here} then you have no place in my life.
With this note, I would like to thank all of my "predictable" friends, for being so consistently dependable, kind, generous, positive, encouraging, funny, loving, supportive, and {insert good adjective, here}. Y'all give me hope that the world is mostly good in these scary, scary times :)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Baby Steps...
"Once you decide, you'll figure out HOW. Until then, you're still working on IF." -Someone AWESOME...I wish I could remember the name to give due credit...
Like a lot of people, I love making resolutions. New year resolutions, birthday resolutions, Monday resolutions, morning resolutions...I'm "resolving" to do something ALL the time. Problem is, my follow through rarely matches the enthusiasm of my beginnings. If I fall off a little bit, I get all discouraged and want to quit, waiting to start over until the next, dramatic opportunity to start fresh comes around. Well...that's how I acted when I was a kid (last week, lol), but now that I'm all grown up ;), I'm determined to change this trend.
So you have some context, my three main resolutions for the first quarter of 2009 are that I am going to 1) abstain from eating and web surfing after 11:00 p.m. (when you see the time I posted this blog, you'll know how well that one is going, lol), 2) proactively improve my health with daily flossing and vigorous exercise, and 3) learn how to swim. The good thing about these resolutions is that they work together, so if I'm successful with one, I should be able to do all three. Here's how it should all work: I'm off the internet by 11, floss my teeth so I don't want to eat, go to bed by 11:30 since I've vetoed late night distractions, which makes it easy to get up in the morning, to go swim at the gym...see? In theory, my plan is perfect!)
When it comes to setting goals, I've learned that clear definitions and timelines make it easier to stay on track. In previous years, I might have said "I'm going to stop eating 'late'", without giving "late" an operational definition, therefore giving myself an easy out to do whatever I want. This year, I know that if it is 11:15, and I'm stuffing my face, then my actions are clearly out of alignment with my objectives. Also, the idea of a year-long resolution leaves the door of procrastination WIDE open. I know that I only have three months, so there is NO time to waste.
2009 is my year. My resolutions are not optional, and I have decided that they WILL work! When I fall off the wagon, like tonight (it's 3:54 a.m., and my computer should have been off hours ago, but peer pressure is a bee-hotch, and my only follower kind of insisted that I post something new), I get right back on. Baby steps are ok. Changing sleeping habits from going to bed at 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. just won't happen overnight, no matter how strongly I try to will it to be so. It's ok if I go to bed at 4 a.m. for a week or so, then 2, then midnight, etc. I'm taking baby steps, and that's ok, as long as I can see myself consistently inching closer and closer to my goals...
Like a lot of people, I love making resolutions. New year resolutions, birthday resolutions, Monday resolutions, morning resolutions...I'm "resolving" to do something ALL the time. Problem is, my follow through rarely matches the enthusiasm of my beginnings. If I fall off a little bit, I get all discouraged and want to quit, waiting to start over until the next, dramatic opportunity to start fresh comes around. Well...that's how I acted when I was a kid (last week, lol), but now that I'm all grown up ;), I'm determined to change this trend.
So you have some context, my three main resolutions for the first quarter of 2009 are that I am going to 1) abstain from eating and web surfing after 11:00 p.m. (when you see the time I posted this blog, you'll know how well that one is going, lol), 2) proactively improve my health with daily flossing and vigorous exercise, and 3) learn how to swim. The good thing about these resolutions is that they work together, so if I'm successful with one, I should be able to do all three. Here's how it should all work: I'm off the internet by 11, floss my teeth so I don't want to eat, go to bed by 11:30 since I've vetoed late night distractions, which makes it easy to get up in the morning, to go swim at the gym...see? In theory, my plan is perfect!)
When it comes to setting goals, I've learned that clear definitions and timelines make it easier to stay on track. In previous years, I might have said "I'm going to stop eating 'late'", without giving "late" an operational definition, therefore giving myself an easy out to do whatever I want. This year, I know that if it is 11:15, and I'm stuffing my face, then my actions are clearly out of alignment with my objectives. Also, the idea of a year-long resolution leaves the door of procrastination WIDE open. I know that I only have three months, so there is NO time to waste.
2009 is my year. My resolutions are not optional, and I have decided that they WILL work! When I fall off the wagon, like tonight (it's 3:54 a.m., and my computer should have been off hours ago, but peer pressure is a bee-hotch, and my only follower kind of insisted that I post something new), I get right back on. Baby steps are ok. Changing sleeping habits from going to bed at 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. just won't happen overnight, no matter how strongly I try to will it to be so. It's ok if I go to bed at 4 a.m. for a week or so, then 2, then midnight, etc. I'm taking baby steps, and that's ok, as long as I can see myself consistently inching closer and closer to my goals...
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Mass Holiday Text Message
Merry Christmas! I hope that you had a lovely day.
I am a big fan of "keeping in touch", so I love hearing from friends and family who I may not see or hear from on a regular basis. That said, holidays were once a great opportunity to make such connections. I remember a time (before everyone and their 8 year old kid had a cell phone) when people actually sent cards, made phone calls, and visited one another to spread holiday cheer.
Over the past three to four years, this trend has shifted towards embracing the "Mass Holiday Text Message". Hmmm... On one hand, it is nice to send and receive holiday cheer, and texting makes it practical to reach out to all of the people you care about (It's just not possible to visit or call everyone). On the other hand, text messages cost money, and it's not really fun to get the same message 500 times. I am more than willing to spend ten cents to receive a text message that was sent to me, personally, but it is a little bit annoying to buy hundreds of one liners that went out to every number in one's phone.
In the hierarchy of friendship, I'd say that the people you spend time with rank highest, then those who you call, then those who get a personalized text, then the generic text. People who mail cards get cool points for being extra classy grown-ups...I'm not there yet, but I hope that 2009 is my year!
The added confusion of sending/receiving the mass text is for people who change their numbers, or lose/break/upgrade phones often. If you choose to send a non-personalized mass text, please make sure that you sign your name to the end of your message to identify yourself (in case the recipient doesn't have your number saved in their phone), and to avoid awkward conversations that start with: "Hi, I just got a 'Happy Holiday's to you and yours' text from this number..."
I am a big fan of "keeping in touch", so I love hearing from friends and family who I may not see or hear from on a regular basis. That said, holidays were once a great opportunity to make such connections. I remember a time (before everyone and their 8 year old kid had a cell phone) when people actually sent cards, made phone calls, and visited one another to spread holiday cheer.
Over the past three to four years, this trend has shifted towards embracing the "Mass Holiday Text Message". Hmmm... On one hand, it is nice to send and receive holiday cheer, and texting makes it practical to reach out to all of the people you care about (It's just not possible to visit or call everyone). On the other hand, text messages cost money, and it's not really fun to get the same message 500 times. I am more than willing to spend ten cents to receive a text message that was sent to me, personally, but it is a little bit annoying to buy hundreds of one liners that went out to every number in one's phone.
In the hierarchy of friendship, I'd say that the people you spend time with rank highest, then those who you call, then those who get a personalized text, then the generic text. People who mail cards get cool points for being extra classy grown-ups...I'm not there yet, but I hope that 2009 is my year!
The added confusion of sending/receiving the mass text is for people who change their numbers, or lose/break/upgrade phones often. If you choose to send a non-personalized mass text, please make sure that you sign your name to the end of your message to identify yourself (in case the recipient doesn't have your number saved in their phone), and to avoid awkward conversations that start with: "Hi, I just got a 'Happy Holiday's to you and yours' text from this number..."
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Some direction
So here I am, with this jazzy blog and very few posts. I've spent the past few days exploring some established blogs out here, trying to figure out what makes the really good ones so inspired and enjoyable. I guess the most important thing is to have some direction. Some people blog as an outlet for whatever randomness is on their minds, some like to share personal stories, some are inspired by food/music/nostalgia/comedy/art/gossip(etc.), while others appreciate a meeting of minds and opinions to discuss "real" issues. Many, many factors make a great blog, and I've compiled a list of my faves over there -------> in the side bar.
I guess that in order to get some semblance of coherency and direction, I'll focus this here blog on my fascination with "growing up". Why on earth does traditional media always feed us "Coming of Age" tales about people under 21? Seriously? In what world is a 21-year-old "of age"? I'm knocking on 30, and the only two reasons a sane person would define me as a grown-up are that I'm old enough to drink (who cares?) and I pay my own bills (except when I'm on a date...I a'int payin'!, lol). So I ask myself...why don't I consider myself an "adult"? What characteristics must one display, to truly be "grown-up", "adult", "mature", etc.? In what situations is it ok to act like a child? What does it mean to act like a child? If a lifespan is around 85 years, then shouldn't it technically still be ok to be closer to child than adult? Or is "adult" just an in-between place after "baby" and before "old"? Who knows.
In any case, there are DEFINITELY certain behaviors that are just not ok at my age, and certain indicators that I'm more grown up than I like to admit. I will dedicate the majority of this blog to rambling on about various topics that relate to our inevitable maturation process, highlighting my personal change in outlook over different stages of my life.
A few topics to look forward to:
(mostly to serve as a memory jog for myself when I'm trying to decide what to write about.)
1. MTV vs. VH1, Billboard vs. NPR
2. Stuff that is fun and/or randomly makes me happy
3. Family/Friend stuffs
4. Making decisions
5. Time machine discoveries like newspapers and libraries
6. Jobs vs. Careers
7. Current events/activism
8. Health, fitness, nutrition
9. Wasting time +/or money
10. "The youth"
11. Goals and success
12. "The Scene" ugh...
13. Things that I refuse to understand because they are just dumb...
14. Issues and insecurities
15. Affection and creepiness
16. Archetypes, social norms, and rites of passage
17. Expectations and standards
18. Racial stuff
19. Nostalgia
20. Things that I would like to understand, but don't.
21. Use of language and other communication tools
FYI-If you end up reading a lot of my entries, you'll see a lot of random commas, "Quotation Marks", (Parentheses), numbered lists, /es, ...'s (I don't like the word ellipses, but I love the dots) ..., and BoldItalic words and phrases. These are things that make me happy, even if they are unnecessary or grammatically misused. If it annoys you, I'm (kind of) sorry, but it's my blog so it doesn't really matter. I love you, though! Thanks for reading :)
I guess that in order to get some semblance of coherency and direction, I'll focus this here blog on my fascination with "growing up". Why on earth does traditional media always feed us "Coming of Age" tales about people under 21? Seriously? In what world is a 21-year-old "of age"? I'm knocking on 30, and the only two reasons a sane person would define me as a grown-up are that I'm old enough to drink (who cares?) and I pay my own bills (except when I'm on a date...I a'int payin'!, lol). So I ask myself...why don't I consider myself an "adult"? What characteristics must one display, to truly be "grown-up", "adult", "mature", etc.? In what situations is it ok to act like a child? What does it mean to act like a child? If a lifespan is around 85 years, then shouldn't it technically still be ok to be closer to child than adult? Or is "adult" just an in-between place after "baby" and before "old"? Who knows.
In any case, there are DEFINITELY certain behaviors that are just not ok at my age, and certain indicators that I'm more grown up than I like to admit. I will dedicate the majority of this blog to rambling on about various topics that relate to our inevitable maturation process, highlighting my personal change in outlook over different stages of my life.
A few topics to look forward to:
(mostly to serve as a memory jog for myself when I'm trying to decide what to write about.)
1. MTV vs. VH1, Billboard vs. NPR
2. Stuff that is fun and/or randomly makes me happy
3. Family/Friend stuffs
4. Making decisions
5. Time machine discoveries like newspapers and libraries
6. Jobs vs. Careers
7. Current events/activism
8. Health, fitness, nutrition
9. Wasting time +/or money
10. "The youth"
11. Goals and success
12. "The Scene" ugh...
13. Things that I refuse to understand because they are just dumb...
14. Issues and insecurities
15. Affection and creepiness
16. Archetypes, social norms, and rites of passage
17. Expectations and standards
18. Racial stuff
19. Nostalgia
20. Things that I would like to understand, but don't.
21. Use of language and other communication tools
FYI-If you end up reading a lot of my entries, you'll see a lot of random commas, "Quotation Marks", (Parentheses), numbered lists, /es, ...'s (I don't like the word ellipses, but I love the dots) ..., and BoldItalic words and phrases. These are things that make me happy, even if they are unnecessary or grammatically misused. If it annoys you, I'm (kind of) sorry, but it's my blog so it doesn't really matter. I love you, though! Thanks for reading :)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Ummm...
So Monica made me turn my computer back on after I shut it down. 3 hours later, it's still on, so here I am. I guess I'll just ramble for a while until I get sleepy.
Man, it's gonna take a minute to get into this blogging thing. I guess the only thing worth noting is that I have a newly found love of newspapers and the library. Ok, that's me for the night.
PEACE!
Man, it's gonna take a minute to get into this blogging thing. I guess the only thing worth noting is that I have a newly found love of newspapers and the library. Ok, that's me for the night.
PEACE!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I guess it's been a while...
So I've been getting a lot of "hoo-ha" about the fact that I haven't been posting, despite my official declaration. Sooooo...I guess I'm back in the saddle. Life is grand right now :) I'm about to start an exciting new career (details to follow...deserves it's own post), I live alone (FINALLY! And, apparently, walking around naked never get's old...who knew?), I have a car, familial relations have been consistently pleasant, "everything" seems to be going smoothly and falling directly into place, and for the first time since i was like six, I'm actually HAPPY! This is kind of new...I like it!
I know that was brief, but it's all I got. Love Y'all!
I know that was brief, but it's all I got. Love Y'all!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Birthday Registry
So I know that you're all up in arms about what to get me for my birthday. I hope that this list makes my gift buying easy...
- Daily and Weekly CTA cards, for when I don't feel like dealing with parking
- Volunteers to move stuff from Mommy's, Angel's, and Grandma's houses to my new place
- A new bike helmet
- A bike holder for my car
- A trombone and a trumpet
- Money
- Accessories (earrings, necklaces, bracelets, belts, purses, perfume, make-up, wallets, headbands/scarves, etc.)
- An eyelash refill package
- 5 extra hours in each day
- A (round trip, lol) plane ticket out of the country
- Car port for my ipod
- Paint for my Apt.
- Paint for my car
- Target gift cards
- A toaster
- A microwave
- A fashionable laptop bag
- Festive stamps
- Spa services (Massage, facial, manicure and pedicure)
- Love in the form of cards, phone calls, text messages, hugs, visits, and guestbook signage.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Things I want to do to my blog...
1- Add links to Monica, Natalie, Bernie, and Queridas' blogs.
2 - Add polls to my sidebar.
If you know how, let me know so that I can!
Thanks, biches!
2 - Add polls to my sidebar.
If you know how, let me know so that I can!
Thanks, biches!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
My official admission of dorkiness
ok, so i've finally decided to start blogging. why, you ask? no joke, it's because everyone else is doing it. i figure that the only way to understand is to just get into it, too! so here i am, world...welcome to my thoughts, hopes, fears, joys, successes, and trials...judge if you must, i no longer care :)
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