I mentioned the big letdown in my last post referring to all the excitement of my travels. I've come into the current century and digitized some of these photos, which I will share. Bear with me if this doesn't work quite right - yahoo photos just "upgraded" and we all know how that works.
Travel photos Most are from London and the first ones aren't cropped, but they are cropped later in the album. It's still a work in progress.
In other news: apparently I'm not the only American with a soft heart.
Created as a daily update of my time volunteering in Belfast, Northern Ireland with pages from other trips to Ireland and England. Now a journal of my travels through life.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 26, 2006
The Big Letdown
I'm at my parents' house scanning old photos. Right now I'm working on photos from London 2001. It looks like I had a lot of fun. I am reminded of the pubs, the people, the good times. I'm browsing thru my online albums, see photos of Northern Ireland, me and Ronan kissing and I'm like, wow, that must have been nice. Meeting a boy and having a romance in Northern Ireland. Sounds exciting. Then I look at my life now, my efficiency apartment in the Midwest, crappy job, or lack thereof and well, it doesn't quite hold up to the memories of my days in lands far, far, away.
I had very different visions of where I would be at this point in my life. I'm going to be 30 next year, and I feel like a 19 year old just starting out. This is really not how I imagined my life would be.
On the other hand, I am quite thankful for what I have and that I am close to family and am healthy and happy and such. It's just when I think about "life" I get very nervous b/c of the thirty mark around the corner and wonder what will my life be? When my time is up, what will my life have been? How will I be remembered? What will I have accomplished? Did I live a happy, loving life?
I guess working on the family tree isn't helping my existential crisis, either. You sum up a person's life by birth, death and marriage dates and maybe an occupation. I guess I'm just scared that my time is dwindling away and I don't know that I've done all I want to do. I'm sure I'm not the only one who fears the end of existence. It makes me long for the days when I was "invincible" and had eternity in front of me.
This is also what I get for having a week off and spending it at my parents' house! My goodness, those are some depressing thoughts. Reminds me why I moved out in the first place, even if it was to an efficiency apartment in the middle of the middle of the country. C'est la vie...
I had very different visions of where I would be at this point in my life. I'm going to be 30 next year, and I feel like a 19 year old just starting out. This is really not how I imagined my life would be.
On the other hand, I am quite thankful for what I have and that I am close to family and am healthy and happy and such. It's just when I think about "life" I get very nervous b/c of the thirty mark around the corner and wonder what will my life be? When my time is up, what will my life have been? How will I be remembered? What will I have accomplished? Did I live a happy, loving life?
I guess working on the family tree isn't helping my existential crisis, either. You sum up a person's life by birth, death and marriage dates and maybe an occupation. I guess I'm just scared that my time is dwindling away and I don't know that I've done all I want to do. I'm sure I'm not the only one who fears the end of existence. It makes me long for the days when I was "invincible" and had eternity in front of me.
This is also what I get for having a week off and spending it at my parents' house! My goodness, those are some depressing thoughts. Reminds me why I moved out in the first place, even if it was to an efficiency apartment in the middle of the middle of the country. C'est la vie...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Black Friday
The best and worst of Black Friday MSN Video story.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year. It traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. More and more, though, the sales are starting earlier and retailers are even opening on Thanksgiving day to lure in customers. Five years ago, there wasn't a store in town that was open on Thanksgiving, now it's becoming commonplace.
Because of all the hype of Black Friday, some folks say, "no way" to going shopping that day. This spreads the retail joy across the entire week. Some people continue to get up at the crack of dawn for these super duper "early bird" specials just because it is tradition. And some are just crazy mad for sales and hype and getting up at the a*s crack of dawn for a super deal on a blender for Aunt Edna. To each their own.
No, I didn't go out this year. I stayed in and hid from the crazy people who trampled themselves for a Play Station 3 or Elmo doll or whatever the heck else. No thank you, I've bought little gifts throughout the year and I'm making most of them anyways. Besides, it's a lot funner to watch Black Friday than to experience it!
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year. It traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. More and more, though, the sales are starting earlier and retailers are even opening on Thanksgiving day to lure in customers. Five years ago, there wasn't a store in town that was open on Thanksgiving, now it's becoming commonplace.
Because of all the hype of Black Friday, some folks say, "no way" to going shopping that day. This spreads the retail joy across the entire week. Some people continue to get up at the crack of dawn for these super duper "early bird" specials just because it is tradition. And some are just crazy mad for sales and hype and getting up at the a*s crack of dawn for a super deal on a blender for Aunt Edna. To each their own.
No, I didn't go out this year. I stayed in and hid from the crazy people who trampled themselves for a Play Station 3 or Elmo doll or whatever the heck else. No thank you, I've bought little gifts throughout the year and I'm making most of them anyways. Besides, it's a lot funner to watch Black Friday than to experience it!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
In honor of Thanksgiving, here are some e-cards that I thought were pretty funny! Of course, I'm easily amused.
My favorite! Make sure you have your sound on and don't forget to click on each of the acorns.
Turkey Time
Fun with Taters It's the guys from my favorite one doing another one of their bits.
American Entree Search My favorite turkey stars on this card are the first and fourth stars.
Singing Thanksgiving Chins Be sure to watch the Bloopers!
Maxine and her giblets
Yee haw! Happy Thanksgiving! :-)
My favorite! Make sure you have your sound on and don't forget to click on each of the acorns.
Turkey Time
Fun with Taters It's the guys from my favorite one doing another one of their bits.
American Entree Search My favorite turkey stars on this card are the first and fourth stars.
Singing Thanksgiving Chins Be sure to watch the Bloopers!
Maxine and her giblets
Yee haw! Happy Thanksgiving! :-)
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Dems Rock the House
Yay, Democrats take over the house! Rumsfeld resigned, Dennis Hastert isn't going to be Speaker and Dick Cheny went hunting again. Wowee what a day.
On a more personal note, I had quite a day myself. I am applying for rental assistance thru the township trustee and man do they make you jump thru some flaming hoops. My appointment was this morning and the lady almost made me cry by saying, "well if you don't have that form from your landlord, we're done". And I was like, huh? I thought I could get a three day extension, and she's like, "weren't you already in here for an extension" No, I wasn't. Oh, she blushes and says, "I thought you were already in here for an extension." For f*ck's sake, give a girl a heart attack, will you? And if I had not listened intently last time I was there, or not had the balls of steel I seem to have, I might have retreated out of that office with my tail between my legs crying in my beer (in my rent arreared apartment!) Man, people piss me off.
Right, so then I go to library to use the puter and who messages me but the man I can't seem to get out of my head no matter how hard I try - Ronan. Then we start chatting about the good times and my heart starts going a flutter and I'm like, damnit, I can't do this to myself again! So then I call Mike to discuss the matter and he was sh*tty and said, "Sabrina, if you want to keep getting hurt going back to the same men over and over, that's your choice." After I got over how rude he was, I thought, he's right. There are so many men in the world, in this country, in this city - why keep stabbing myself in the heart for someone who can't put his money where his mouth is (or typing fingers). As I left the building, I looked up and there was this really cute guy holding the door open for me. Yes, I thought, there are other choices and chances, I want true happiness. I see marriage proposals on tv and hear people talk about their own and I think, man, I didn't have that. I backed Ronan into a wall and he said, okay. And whenever the going gets tough, he retreats into the darkness only to reappear after sufficient time has passed that I may have forgotten the time before. He even did it in our online conversation today. When I mentioned how bad my last visit was, he suddenly had to go to the store. When I brought up something like broke my heart last time, he had to go. I absolutely abhor bringing those things up, I don't mean to dredge up the past, but those are huge things that I still don't understand and there's no way I could ever entertain the notion of Ronan again until those things are resolved. I think he knows that, but he has no intention of resolving them, he wants to have a nice chat online so he can feel the warm fuzzies (and other things) while we're online, then go back to his life, whatever that may be. Not me, I fell too hard for that business and I can't do it again. God, I can't even believe I'm typing this now. Ronan? Really? Did I actually allow him to get under my skin for two seconds again? Why am I such a hopeless romantice - or fool? Hey Ronan, if you read this - I resent you my last email, which I told you during our online conv. I came to the library tonight hoping to see a reply, which was not there. If you really want me, you need to do more than casually type a few words from your computer and get your ass on a plane and come here to America and get me flowers, let me show you around my city and make me an actual part of my life, not the dirty little secret from the messenger archives.
And that was all before lunch. I went twirling this evening. And I took a nap. I tend to do that when my emotions run high. Curse my bleeding heart!
On a more personal note, I had quite a day myself. I am applying for rental assistance thru the township trustee and man do they make you jump thru some flaming hoops. My appointment was this morning and the lady almost made me cry by saying, "well if you don't have that form from your landlord, we're done". And I was like, huh? I thought I could get a three day extension, and she's like, "weren't you already in here for an extension" No, I wasn't. Oh, she blushes and says, "I thought you were already in here for an extension." For f*ck's sake, give a girl a heart attack, will you? And if I had not listened intently last time I was there, or not had the balls of steel I seem to have, I might have retreated out of that office with my tail between my legs crying in my beer (in my rent arreared apartment!) Man, people piss me off.
Right, so then I go to library to use the puter and who messages me but the man I can't seem to get out of my head no matter how hard I try - Ronan. Then we start chatting about the good times and my heart starts going a flutter and I'm like, damnit, I can't do this to myself again! So then I call Mike to discuss the matter and he was sh*tty and said, "Sabrina, if you want to keep getting hurt going back to the same men over and over, that's your choice." After I got over how rude he was, I thought, he's right. There are so many men in the world, in this country, in this city - why keep stabbing myself in the heart for someone who can't put his money where his mouth is (or typing fingers). As I left the building, I looked up and there was this really cute guy holding the door open for me. Yes, I thought, there are other choices and chances, I want true happiness. I see marriage proposals on tv and hear people talk about their own and I think, man, I didn't have that. I backed Ronan into a wall and he said, okay. And whenever the going gets tough, he retreats into the darkness only to reappear after sufficient time has passed that I may have forgotten the time before. He even did it in our online conversation today. When I mentioned how bad my last visit was, he suddenly had to go to the store. When I brought up something like broke my heart last time, he had to go. I absolutely abhor bringing those things up, I don't mean to dredge up the past, but those are huge things that I still don't understand and there's no way I could ever entertain the notion of Ronan again until those things are resolved. I think he knows that, but he has no intention of resolving them, he wants to have a nice chat online so he can feel the warm fuzzies (and other things) while we're online, then go back to his life, whatever that may be. Not me, I fell too hard for that business and I can't do it again. God, I can't even believe I'm typing this now. Ronan? Really? Did I actually allow him to get under my skin for two seconds again? Why am I such a hopeless romantice - or fool? Hey Ronan, if you read this - I resent you my last email, which I told you during our online conv. I came to the library tonight hoping to see a reply, which was not there. If you really want me, you need to do more than casually type a few words from your computer and get your ass on a plane and come here to America and get me flowers, let me show you around my city and make me an actual part of my life, not the dirty little secret from the messenger archives.
And that was all before lunch. I went twirling this evening. And I took a nap. I tend to do that when my emotions run high. Curse my bleeding heart!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Election Day
So did you get your vote on today? I did, but I can't say that it was well informed, or informed at all for that matter. Somehow we have gotten so detached from the process and people who represent us and make the rules that govern our lives. I guess that happens when everything is going pretty much alright. I guess I see, once again, how American privilege has led to ignorance becoming bliss.
I just got back from a long weekend at my parents' house. Was nice to spend time with the fam. While I really wanted to go to home for a visit, I had originally planned to spend a day with my old college boyfriend. However, the stress of the possible meeting was beginning to outweigh the potential benefits, so I decided to head north earlier than anticipated.
Well, it's late, I'm off. Have to walk to my car across the street in the parking garage. Why do parking garages always seem unreasonably creepy? I'm getting the heebee jeebies just thinking about it. Curse my computer addiction and my lack of one in my apartment ;-)
I just got back from a long weekend at my parents' house. Was nice to spend time with the fam. While I really wanted to go to home for a visit, I had originally planned to spend a day with my old college boyfriend. However, the stress of the possible meeting was beginning to outweigh the potential benefits, so I decided to head north earlier than anticipated.
Well, it's late, I'm off. Have to walk to my car across the street in the parking garage. Why do parking garages always seem unreasonably creepy? I'm getting the heebee jeebies just thinking about it. Curse my computer addiction and my lack of one in my apartment ;-)
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