We're Baaaaaaa-aaaaack!

And oh, how sweet it is...

Crack Cake

Ugh. Someone brought a King Cake to work today and left it in the kitchen for everyone to share. I would now like to hunt this person down and kill. Don't they know you can't bring crack around an addict without them relapsing??? I'm either going to chew my hand off or devour the entire thing within the next hour. I honestly don't know which it will be.

People

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun it out, but when the drakness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
--Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

I am still amazed, every single day, by people. I'm amazed by how badly we treat each other sometimes, for no good reason. I've learned that people will hurt each other; they'll do horrible awful things to cut one another down in order to fill themselves with some hollow sense of comfort. They'll say whatever hurtful things they can think of in the moment; they'll criticize; they'll argue; they'll belittle and mock and yell. I've learned that a great many people are insecure and hard-hearted and when you get right down to it at the end of the day, care only about themselves.

But every once in awhile I meet someone who surprises me. It's a rare thing indeed but every so often you're lucky enough to come in contact with someone who, despite their circumstances in life, treats other people with a kindness that they do not even deserve. These people are able to turn the other cheek, to be the bigger person, and no matter how bleak the situation may be, maintain a sense of peace and joy about life. I've observed people like this and I've noticed that in most cases, these are not the wealthiest people or the most beautiful, or the people with the best jobs or houses or clothes. Rather they are the ones who have chosen not to let the drudgery of life bring them down. They have something inside them, lighting them from the inside out.

And isn't that amazing?

Pocket Calls

So, I got a new cell phone last week. Not because I wanted to you understand, but because it became a necessity. You know those supposedly indestructible SIM cards that cell phones have? Yeah. Well. Guess who managed to destruct hers? And I have no idea how! I was just sitting on the couch last week and I reached into my pocket to answer a text when my phone went ballistic and died right there in front of me. At least it wasn't a slow, painful drawn out affair; it was more a like one minute it was fine, the next it was deader than a doornail. Granted, I've had this phone for approximately forever and it was older than dirt, so I had known for awhile it was only a matter of time before it kicked the proverbial bucket. This was my old phone:

That's right; I was still rocking the old Samsung flip phone, baby. (You should have seen the looks on the faces of the girls at the AT&T store when I whipped that bad boy out). And I loved that phone too. I'll admit I've been kinda sorta wanting a cool new Smart phone for awhile but I also didn't know that I cared to spend the money when I had a perfectly good phone that still worked.

Anyway, once Old Phone died, I had to get something so I hightailed it down to the AT&T store and after spending an hour agonizing over the different styles and texting back and forth with my sister (who LOVES her Blackberry) I decided to go with this one. Meet Polly:

Pretty snazzy, huh? (I justified this because after the rebate and a $50 coupon I had for being "such a good customer," the phone itself was FREE to me). I should tell you here that I'm by no means a techo geek. Once I figure out how to use a new piece of technology I ride that until its dead. It's not that I'm opposed to learning how to use something new, I just...I dunno. It feels like a lot of work sometimes. I was so comfortable with my old phone that I could do just about anything on it without even looking. Not so much now. What I'm telling you is that I've got this awesome new phone and I have no earthly idea how to use it. I'm kinda figuring out texting and I think I can make phone calls but I feel like this phone still has a lot of untapped potential that I'm not using yet. Also, I feel like I'm probably doing unnecessary retarded things simply because I don't know where all the buttons are for different functions.

Case in point: As I was leaving bible study last night I got a call from my Grandad. Its always great to hear from him but I just found it random that he was calling me at 9:00 pm on a Tuesday night. Well apparently, he was returning my phone calls. Yes calls. Calls that I had no memory of making. Calls that I apparently made from my pocket because I don't yet know how to lock the keypad on this new phone and I'm so used to the old flip phone that I don't even think twice about sliding this new one into my pocket. "Yeah I saw where you had called a couple times," he told me, "And I had a voice mail that was just a bunch of static and then a hang up so I thought it might be you." Great. Not only am I making pocket calls,I'm leaving pocket voice mails too.

My point in all this is that if you get a bunch of missed calls from me in the next few days its not that I do or don't want to talk to you its just that I probably don't even realize I've called. Don't take it personally.

(And by the way, my Grandad's suggestion was just to get some pants with looser pockets). ;-)

Krewe of Muses

I did maybe the coolest thing ever in the history if the world last night. Ok that's an exaggeration but it was still pretty freekin' neat. I'm still learning all about Mardi Gras so I didn't know this but the Krewe of Muses is made up entirely of women and so (appropriately enough) they give away shoes during their parade.

Wait a second, lemme back up and put that into English for those of you who are (like me) ignorant of all things Mardi Gras. The Krewes are the big social groups that are responsible for sponsoring the different parades and hosting the balls during Mardi Gras. Best I can tell they are the adult equivalent to the Greek system in college. The groups are all very different, they have their own personalities if you will, and some are super exclusive while others are open to just about anyone coming or going. Some have been around for literally hundreds of years and some are less than a decade old. Some are super secretive with members who will not admit publicly that they are in fact members, and others are very very liberal and open with membership. Anyway Muses is one of the newer Krewes and as I said, is made up entirely of women. Lots of the Krewes throw things (beads, coins, small children, I dunno) during their parade, or hand out souvenirs to onlookers. If you're familiar with the Zulu coconuts at all you know what I'm talking about. These tokens of Mardi Gras are apparently a really big deal and are considered to be highly priced collectors items almost.

Well come to find out, several women here at the hospital where I work are members of Muses and are responsible for decorating by hand all of the shoes that they give away. I got invited to help make shoes and even though I had really no idea what that meant, I agreed to give it a try. It was awesome! They take old shoes that are donated and literally coat them from heel to tip ion glitter and sequins and feathers. They make these shoes look just ridiculously fantastic!

I mean seriously, how cool are these? Who wouldn't want to catch one of these at the parade?

WHY...

Are chocolate donuts not good for you???

Remember these? I loved these things when I was little. Loved them. Ate them every chance I got. Yes, I realize they taste more like they're coated in wax than chocolate but mmmmboy was it good wax.

(Obviously, I'm sitting here craving chocolate donuts at the moment).

Embracing the Nerdiness

It has come to my attention that a few of you don't believe me when I say that I am a complete and total nerd. I don't know how I've managed to convince you otherwise but let me assure that I am in fact, nerdy beyond belief. It's true. I don't wear glasses and I keep my pocket protector and calculator out of sight for the most part but don't let those things fool you. Let's examine the evidence, shall we?


#1: My job. Do you know what I do for a living? I just spent the past five years of my life getting an ACCOUNTING degree and an MBA and now I work as an assistant to the CFO at the hospital. Accounting, people! Do you know a nerdier, more boring group of human beings on this whole earth than Accountants? The answer is no, you don't, because one does not exist. Accountants are the epitome of the "number cruncher." That's what we do, all day everyday. Numbers, numbers, numbers. (I like to think of it in terms of "money, money, money" but at the end of the day it all boils down to the same thing). ACCOUNTANT = NERDY.


#2: My hobbies. The one thing I enjoy doing better than just about anything else in the whole world is reading. I love to read. I'll read anything and everything and as soon as I finish I'll turn around and read it all again. I spent the better part of elementary school hiding out in the library with a stack of books (quite possibly to the detriment of my math skills and knowledge of World History but whatever) and even now I'd choose a good book over TV or a movie any day of the week (and twice on Sundays of course). When I was little my sister and friends would sometimes get mad at me because I would choose to stay inside and read instead of coming outside to play with them. READING = NERDY.


#3: My obsession with nerdy things. I went through a phase in elementary school where I was obsessed with Amelia Earhart and Helen Keller. I don't know why. Sure, they're very interesting historical figures (and women no less) but how many third graders have read every single book in the biography section of the school library? At my school the answer was "one"; me. In middle school I developed an absolute fanatic obsession with the X-Files. Actually, come to think of it, this obsession continues to this day. Have you ever seen the show? If so, can you say SUPER nerd? If we're being honest here, I probably took my obsession to a borderline unhealthy level, but whatever. I'm sure its nothing a few good years of therapy can't fix. X-FILES = NERDY.


Now this may come across as just a wee bit of self-deprecating humor on my part. Wrong! I'm totally proud of and willing to embrace my nerdiness. I'll wear the nerd badge of honor with pride and stand tall knowing that I have nothing to be ashamed of here.

Have I convinced you yet?