My Act, Together

I’m so used to everything in my life–work, relationships, the state of my apartment–being a mess that when I actually feel a sense of order, it kind of freaks me out. Today is one of those days. My job is going well, I’m feeling good about my place in the world, and I even vacuumed and did laundry this weekend. I haven’t really thought about The Boy in weeks, I’m not worried about Blind Date guy, I’ve completely let go of obsessing over the Crush–it’s almost like I’m sort of embracing singlehood at the moment. (Well, not really, let’s face it, this is a temporary state and I’ll start up again with the “biological clock” and “plight of the single woman” crap soon enough). Seriously, though, I had a good time with my friends last night and reflected about the decisions I’ve made, and I can honestly say that I don’t have any regrets about moving up here. Yes, I hate the cold. Work could be better. There are days when I want to be where everything is comfortable and my mom is only three hours away. But this was the right thing to do–I know it in my heart. And it’s so rare that I know anything in my heart that I’m feeling pretty blessed at the moment.

But let’s get into character and do a little ranting. Here are a few very minor, shallow, unimportant things that are getting on my nerves these days. First of all, what the hell is up with people who don’t pull their hats down, so they’re just sort of sitting there on top of their heads, serving absolutely no purpose? What is that? Isn’t the point of the hat to keep your head warm? If you don’t want to mess up the hair, don’t wear the damn hat! I’m just saying. Also, why do people reverse into parking spaces? Now I hesitate to bring it up, because I have a lot of friends and family members who do the backing-in thing, but honestly, why? To make it easy for a quick getaway? Maybe I’m jealous because I can’t reverse worth a damn–I’m convinced that people who do this do it just to show everyone they can. And finally, I’m irritated by the fact that I’m so intimidated by the idea of going into the Rec Center. See, I’ve been working out every day for over two weeks now (whoo-hoo for me!), but I do it at home with free weights. I need to start upping the weight and adding cardio, which, since it’s like 5 degrees outside lately, means either an indoor track or a treadmill. But I don’t want to go to the Rec! I don’t know where anything is, the last time I circuit-trained was like five years ago, and I REALLY don’t want one of my discipline cases to see me sweating and bouncing around. Yes, it’s silly and shallow of me. But it’s the truth.

So the Oscar nominations are out… yup, I’m one of those nerds who watches them faithfully every year. I used to invite my all-female staff over for Oscar parties. In college, my two best friends and I would place bets on who would win. I get into it. And this year there are definitely some good contenders…I think Sideways is probably going to take it all, but I really liked The Aviator. The acting was fantastic (Leo has finally come out of the shithouse with me for his performances in The Titanic and The Beach, and can you believe Cate Blanchett? She rocks!), the cinemetography was flawless, the costumes were cool. I haven’t seen Million Dollar Baby yet, though, and I hear it’s Clint’s masterpiece. We’ll see. I really loved Finding Neverland, but I think it’s one of those movies that just won’t get its due. I’m a little pissy that Mick Jagger’s song for Alfie got passed over, but maybe they figure it was such a silly movie that it didn’t warrant a nomination even in the “Best Song” category, but really! That awful Counting Crows song from Shrek is up, what the hell? I’m still a little peeved at Adam Duritz.

So on the subject of movies, gotta give a little shout to my buddy LD, who, I discovered, now has a blog of her own, and had a similar reaction to In Good Company–we both zeroed in on the great Iron and Wine songs. Honestly, if you haven’t listened to this band yet, what the hell are you waiting for? Even my mom likes them. And while we’re talking about music, gotta give one more plug to Mason Jennings. It’s January, so listen to “Dr. King” and reflect on what you can do to love your fellow man.

I finally seem to have run out of things to say, so that’s all for today.

-pg

Peacegrrl optimism?

I know, negativity is usually what I do best. But what can I say? It’s a good day–in spite of the fact that this guy just kicked off another four years in office. To start with, I’m off to nerd greatness with my triumphant return to grad school. Last night’s class is going to be pretty easy. I think tonight’s might give me a little more trouble…it’s College Student Development, so at the very least I will hopefully continue on the road to understanding why the hell my students act the way they do. But I’m still pretty jazzed about my Liberal Studies degree, despite the misgivings of SOME of my friends. The idea of creating a program of study based on what I’m actually interested in is just so appealing, especially since I honestly don’t know what I want to do when I’m done with it. It’s so nice to be young and completely lacking in direction…

Some other good news…my hero Jim Wallis has been generating a lot of buzz with his new book: God’s Politics: Why The Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. Read all about it here or watch Jim on Hardball tomorrow night and you’ll see what I’m talking about. One of the things that sucks about being a liberal is that if you admit you believe in God or *gasp* Jesus, a lot of your peers will shun you. Christianity is for right-wingers. Which is actually pretty ridiculous, when you look at it–who preached turning the other cheek? Moving past old-testament “eye-for-an-eye” in favor of forgiveness and acceptance? Loving your brothers and sisters regardless of their percieved transgressions? Rejecting society’s norms in favor of a life of charity, tolerance, and humility? I think that was Jesus, and call me crazy, but some of those ideas seem pretty darned liberal to me. I’m hoping that more Americans, right and left, will listen to Jim’s message and get the politicians to stop using religion as a political foothold and focus on the issues of poverty and human rights that we’re all too happy to turn a blind eye to in favor of war and social security.

So enough preaching, and on to the more shallow variety of Peacegrrl fun that we all enjoy. I’ve got a crush. Just a little one. There’s a very nice, good-looking, smart guy who I’ve been having a lot of fun with as of late, and I have this odd little feeling that I haven’t had in a while. You know, that thing where you really want to see the other person, and it has nothing to do with sex? As crushes go, I figure this is a fairly minor one, and probably won’t lead to much of anything. But it’s a nice diversion, anyway. And for those keeping track, yes, I’m still talking to Blind Date guy, and no, I still have no idea where the hell that’s going. I think it’s probably better if I just don’t worry about it. At least I have someone to see a movie with.

And one last thing to be happy about…a member of my family has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), which, if you know anything about it, is a nightmare. But we found out today that he’s gotten into a clinic in Houston with one of the best ALS doctors in the country, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association is picking up the tab. So even though my family is in for some pretty hard times, at least now we know we’ll have some help. God is great, I tell you. If that’s not a reason to be a little optimistic, then I don’t know what is…

-peacegrrl

A bit better

So first off, a shout-out to my homies Nick and Vixen, for the happy thoughts. I’m feeling a bit better today. First off, I discovered this amazing thing called a Liberal Studies master’s degree, in which I can basically take whatever classes I want, figure out a way to tie them together, and voila! Degree! And the program advisor says that my hodgepodge of English, counseling, and student affairs classes can all transfer in. Good times. I’m thinking of doing something about minorities/underpriveledged students and access to higher ed. Or something. I don’t know. The sooner I get a master’s, the sooner a few more doors will be opened to me–whether I stick it out in student affairs or go off to do something else. Still haven’t ruled out teaching. And let’s not forget that the degree will be FREE…tuition waiver, how I love you.

And let me just say, once I get that degree, unless I meet Mr. Wonderful and he’s insistent that we live in the upper midwest, I’m getting my ass farther south. This weather is fucking ridiculous. Today it was 65 degrees when I got home from work. Now it’s 25 and snowing. What the hell is that about? Yeah, the south is the home of humidity and slavery, and yes, it’s a place where people take actual pride in their ignorance (why else would they hang up the confederate flag and actual write songs to express pride in their redneck-ness?). And it does get up to a zillion degrees in the summer, and most of the people down there think Bush is an American hero. But there’s always Austin, home of good music, radical politics, and liberal hippie-wannabee UT students. And air-conditioning. And none of this freezing rain/snow/sleet/misery bullshit.

Okay, it wouldn’t be peacegrrl without a little man gossip. No, I didn’t get any bootie over the break. This is highly disappointing. However, I did hear from Blind Date guy several times and he called as soon as I got back into town. Perhaps this will progress and the dry spell will end. At the very least, he lets me borrow a lot of DVDs, so the relationship certainly does have merit. I’ll keep you posted.

Alrighty, it’s late, I’m in my office, and my building is supposed to be empty but I’m hearing strange noises and they’re scaring me. I’m going to go lock myself in my apartment now.

-peacegrrl

Oh, dear God.

It’s here. Finally, after all of the hype and stories people tried to scare me with, after the extensive coat shopping and boot advice, it has arrived.

Snow.

So far I’ve only fallen on my ass once, but that’s not exactly good news, since it’s only been snowing since Saturday and there’s only about an inch on the ground. How many more times will I eat it over the next three to four months? Should I start wearing knee and elbow pads? And although I’ve avoided it thus far, sooner or later I’m going to have to drive in it. Shit…

To my readers from the warmer climates, here’s some fun stuff about snow. Yes, it’s pretty and turns everything all white and it’s fluffy and makes snowballs and you can go sledding down the hill on your cafeteria tray. Whoo-hoo. It’s also slippery, gets dirty and gross, requires you to spend 20 minutes dusting off your car before you can go anywhere, stings when the wind blows it into your face, and causes you to slip and fall in front of people. So far I think I’m going to give the snow a thumbs-down. Remind me again why I moved here?

Other news–Mr. Blind Date (I really should give him a better nickname. I’ll get right on that.) and I finally got together again on Saturday and spent a most enjoyable evening watching The Office, which, by the way, is seriously hilarious. No action for peacegrrl, so don’t get excited. I’ve decided that I’m about 50/50 on whether or not I like him. He’s very attractive and has a nice body, and he’s into good movies, music, and TV. He has a fairly healthy sense of humor. However, he also makes very little eye contact, which irritates me to no end. What’s up with that? Is it just a bad habit? A nervous thing? Or am I that ugly? No way, couldn’t be. I looked hot that night. I also don’t particularly care for the way he eats popcorn, or, how when I offered to hang up his coat, he just sort of tossed it at me. Am I being picky? Probably. It was really nice to spend some time with a non-work person, a rather hot one at that. I’m just doing my stupid second-guessing thing now…but I think maybe we’re just doing the platonic thing. I don’t want to go getting a crush if it’s going to be a wasted effort! But it seems to early to ask for clarification…but then again, a blind date, by definition, assumes the person is indeed interested in dating, and subsequent meetings, I would imagine, should be assumed to be “dates” as well. Shit, shit, shit, what happened to arranged marriages?

That’s okay. I will focus on non-sex/relationship issues and that will get me through! I have a coworker who needs some serious cheering up, so I’ll work on that tonight. Work presents an onslaught of stressful last-minute crap that I have to take care of before the halls close this weekend and I finally get a much-deserved vacation. There should be plenty of distractions to keep my mind off of boy-girl games. I hope so. Let’s face it, peacegrrl is boy-crazy. It’s sad, but true…

-peacegrrl