Battlestar Galactica Crossroads, Part II

Okay, does anyone else feel like that climax was someone's drug induced "brilliant" idea? Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower"? Really? That finale frakin' sucked, sorry. The scene in the courtroom was great. The business with Tyrol, Tigh, Tory and Anders hearing the song was HOKEY. "Oh, we all hear the song, we must be Cylons. But we're going to do our jobs because these humans are to be protected." What?!? What qualities did these characters ever have to merit their being Cylons? The writers were all sitting around high as kites one day and decided, "Dude, you know what would be really cool? If a bunch of characters heard this song and it was All Along the Watchtower and then they figured they must be Cylons, but still want to save the fleet...Oh, and Kara comes back ready to lead the fleet to Earth." TA-DA. Totally disappointed. It felt like the last ten minutes were part of a music video. I think they could have done better. It was like the writers ran out of steam. BSG bit the big one on that finale.

Return to Normal

I went and climbed today for the first time in awhile. One of the regulars asked me to climb with him, then proceeded to make me do laps. Climbing laps are a great way to get in shape, but incredibly painful if you are out of shape. Kind of like anything. I did a 5.9 for three laps, and then died. I got a break while he did 5 laps on a much harder route. Then I did 5 laps on a different 5.9. Its funny because despite how infrequently I have been climbing the last several months, due to all the bouldering, I have reached a point where 5.9 is pretty easy. It used to be a bit of a struggle. It felt so great. In the last week, I feel like my life has returned to me. I am in control of my job situation. I am finally getting back to exercising because my allergies and infections are getting better. I almost feel like December to March are wasted months for me. Somehow I have to get a handle on the allergies and stress that tend to control my life during those months, not to mention the winter blahs, which were not nearly as bad as last year. It just feels great. In the next months, I will decide on a new employer, find a new home and be illness free. And I can not wait to do some backpacking soon. Return to calm.

Ta-da

At this very moment, I hold three offers of employment in my hand and I have an interview with a fourth district on Tuesday. It kind of feels like when I applied to college and got those acceptance letters back from my first and second choice. Of course, makes for some hard decision making, but its really quite cool.

I finally decided that despite the sheer beauty of where I live, there is not much else keeping me here. On average, three out of four weekends I tend to travel 50 minutes north to hang out with friends. I can make about 10,000 more a year moving there, and cost of living is about the same, if not less. And my allergies, either due to my apartment or the environement, are horrible here. I have had six terrible sinus infections in the last year, all allergy induced.

Oh, and yes, all the offers are districts to the north. So, while there are a few little things I will be giving up, it hardly outweighs the great big things I will be gaining. So, this is all pretty exciting. Its funny, someone said to me, my parents must be proud. Sure, okay, but I'm kind of an adult now, and I work freakin' hard, I am smart and in a lot of ways I am good at what I do, so I'm damn proud. There were hundreds of people at this job fair. Mind you, I am certain there are a lot of positions as well, but to have three offers and a fourth interview, that is darn impressive. So, I am going to be insanely conceited right now because goodness knows for all the crap I had been feeling lately, this is a welcome change of fortune.

MARCH MADNUUUSSS!

I am closet March Madness lover. I turn on the games when I get home from work. And they play until they are over while I work, clean, cook, etc. I LOVE the quality of ball, LOVE the upsets, LOVE the thrill of who's going on to the next round. I don't even care to watch the whole game. Its so much better to watch a close game in the last ten minutes, anyway. Well, today did not disappoint, DUKE is OUT. I probably have no idea about half the teams and the only team I care about truly isn't in contention (by the way, what's a bubble team?) but I know enough to know that Duke is always a strong contender and they make it to the finals often. VCU upsets by 2. Some very nice bball, y'all! Its usually such great team ball, something the NBA seems to have forgotten and I bore watching them anymore. UCLA won too and since bro went there, have to get excited about that. Its kind of funny. I don't watch any sports all year long, but bring on the MADNUUUUUUUUUUUS!

(Hey, I was feeling like all my posts were total downers, okay?)

Sick in bed

I spent Monday and Tuesday asleep instead of at work. My body ached, my head hurt, I was coughing up my lungs and there was not enough Kleenex to contain the amount of mucous that came out of my nose. I know, gross.

I watched bad afternoon television and slept a lot. I tried to read, but that was even kind of taxing and I have not been able to get into three books I have started. Its been a slow month for reading. It occurred to me, however, as I watched various daytime shows - Ellen, Rachel Ray, Martha, Oprah: how do they manage to fill those audiences? It seems almost impossible that for all the talk shoes and what not out there that they could manage to fill and entire audience day after day. I only assume its a live taping, but perhaps I am wrong on that account, which would make it slightly more credible. I just find it hard to believe that there are that many people day after day with NOTHING to do but sit in a studio audience. So if you imagine there are approximately 100 seats in a show room times five shows per week for (let's say for average sake) 45 weeks out of a year. That's 22,500 people per year on one show. Then figure the number of shows out there times that many people. I don't even know how many shows exist. How about 7? 157,500 people total just to go to a talk show. I know its smaller than the population of most places, but really?!? I still can't figure out who these people are that go sit through one of these shows. Do they have plants whose job it is to sit in the audience day after day and get paid? Like at the Oscars, you can be a seat filler for when people get up to go to the bathroom. I found this little discourse I had with myself while on my death bed to be quite entertaining.

As for the shows themselves, I thought Ellen was kind of amusing, Rachel Ray is annoying and a TERRIBLE interviewer, Martha is pedantic and disconnected, and Oprah is Oprah. Today on Martha there was some woman that makes these gorgeous roses out of coffee filters. They look real. It was painful to watch these two women make them and the dialogue made me want to poke the stems in my eyes from shear boredom. Martha asked the woman how much she charges for her roses and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $75-100. What?!? Sure they last forever and they take as long to make, but I don't need roses that badly. Rachel Ray must have had someone tell her she needs to have more black talent on her show because her guests both days and again tomorrow were black. Either she did not know them as well as she claims she does, or she really is a terrible interviewer. Ellen had on the climbers from Mt. Hood that fell in a storm and survived 20 hours before they were rescued. Their dog took turns laying on them to keep them warm. Everyone loves a feel good story. Yesterday Oprah had these two women on that could make you look 10-30 pounds slimmer just by changing their clothes. The before photos made me want to cry. The majority of these women wore sweat pants or baggy jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts. One of them was even a teacher who wore such things to work. People?!? This is unacceptable. Do you somehow think by not caring it will make you look like you are more dedicated to your job? No, no, no. It does not cost that much more money to upgrade a little. Ugh. It makes me think of some people I work with and the atrocities they wear. I will never understand why track suits are considered proper attire for work or even jeans for that matter. If there was one thing I learned while living in Europe it was that taking care of your appearance is part of projecting how you want to be treated. If you dress like a slob, expect to be treated as such. If you dress professionally, expect to be treated such. Oh, and according to the what-not-to-wear-girls get a good bra and some decent chonies, like the ones that suck in your belly and cover up your derriere real good.

So there you have it. You have officially been updated as to daytime television land. I return to the land of the living tomorrow and hope to be in full swing by this weekend. There will be interviewing, we hope!

Ciao!

Spending your way into oblivion

I read this trashy novel recently about this woman who had a spending problem. She goes on her honeymoon around the world and can not, much to the chagrin of her husband, stop buying stuff. She gets home and somewhere in the neighborhood of four trucks filled with stuff shows up at her flat. By the end of the book she has to learn from her miserly long-lost half-sister how to be more spendthrift. I think I could use a lesson in how to be more spendthrift at the moment.

While I am surely characterized by others as someone who is reasonable with her expenses, I began to feel a little out of control. I kind of stopped paying attention to what I was spending and what I was saving. Yikes. A little budgeting and restraint never hurt anyone. So, until June there has been a moratorium on buying anything that does not fall under the umbrella of normal monthly expenses - food, rent, gas, electricity. Its going to be a long Spring. At least the sun is out and the weather will be perfect, so I can spend all my time playing outside, then it will not matter. Ahh, yes, I bore you all. Worry not, I will be including brother's wedding expenses in the normal montly expenses. Normal for April. And you can all rejoice that I will be spending my Spring break, most likely, waiting to see if I get called for jury duty. That's right, doin' my civic duty, y'all! That's mostly because I do NOT want to do it this summer. I have got better things planned.