Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Holiday Sale
Now, we all know about the Christmas Creep. No not your skeevy uncle after too much eggnog, but the insidious crawl of holiday-centric commercialism ever earlier in the year to the point that I saw red, green, and silver Hershey kisses available around Halloween. It's a familiar, if infuriating phenomenon, and I'm waiting for the good belly laugh when we celebrate Labor Day with 50% off all Santa merchandise.
But this is a new one for me.
I opened my Yahoo email account this morning to see an email from Ann Taylor Loft (love!) advertising a sale. It makes sense, as it's two days before Christmas, and the parking lot around Fair Oaks Mall was crammed yesterday with crawling cars filled with panicked people. I wasn't among their numbers, but I could see it from I-66. God bless online shopping. And I know the economy sucks and retailers have been busting their humps, doing just about anything to get people to at least look at their wares.
Anyhoo. I was all ready to delete yet another sale ad until my eyes caught the subject line.
(Note that it's currently December 23.)
"Ann Taylor Loft After Holiday Sale Starts Today!"
Amazing. I knew they were capable of great work-appropriate clothes. (I'm wearing a sweater of theirs right now.) I did not realize they were capable of bending the laws of space and time.
Good show, Ann Taylor Loft! I humble myself before your scientific prowess. Somebody get NASA on the phone!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Humbug
In spite of the fact that Christmas has not been my favorite holiday for a number of years, I find that I am usually able to gear up for the season. I have Christmas music CDs that I am often itching to play by mid-November. I delight in selecting a wreath and decorating my house. I start shopping sometimes by Halloween. I get all excited about how many different kinds of cookies I can make and the special food items I can bring. I bombard the Post Office with cards. I seek out lighting displays. I love choosing pretty wrapping paper, and I have a library of holiday movies that I start watching on Dec 1.But this year feels like I sat on a punctured whoopee cushion. Maybe it's that my hormones have been on strike (no, I have nothing to announce) and it's been an awfully rough December for me. Maybe it's my depression and generalized anxiety rearing their ugly
heads (great timing, guys). Maybe it's that Christmas is late in the week and, since I don't take off before the holiday, I feel pressed for time on my must-be-last-minute stuff (cookies can't exactly be done more than a few days in advance, and our family recipe for rolls is a Day-Of thing). Maybe it's been too gray this year. Maybe it's that so many homes in the area are vacant or foreclosed that the lighting displays are weak at best. Maybe it's all the bad news we've been hearing since September that sets such a gloomy air. Or, yes, maybe it's that my heart is two sizes too small. Whatever it is, nothing seems particularly festive and I have a hard time finding any semblance of spirit.
Husband had to convince me to decorate this year because I really wasn't feeling it. I whipped into Cox Farms alone after work two weeks ago and grabbed the first wreath I saw with a top-fixed bow rather than taking time to select the right size, shape, and arrangement. I'm sure it didn't help that I was in pantyhose and heels on a gravel lot. Instead of inciting joy and peacefulness, my CDs are an irritatant and I'm choosing Offspring and Fiona Apple over Tchaikovsky and Diana Krall. At the blowout office holiday party, I felt nervous and awkward and left early; and before you tell me that you wished you could have cut out early from yours, let me say that Company does up one hell of a party and I had planned on shutting the place down. I've so far watched exactly one holiday movie (Elf), and whereas I often bake at least five different kinds of cookies, this year I'm hard pressed to make the two requisite (sugar cookies and chocolate cherry thumbprints) and one maybe (caramel cookies). I didn't even feel the love when I made the fruitcake this year.
(Yes I make - and eat! - and love! - fruitcake. Now stop laughing or I'll throw it at you and if you value your facial structure, trust me, you don't want that.)
None of this is like me. I had lunch with Friend Kristin today and, while that cheered me up a little, she agreed that this is very un-Rosie. In years past, I've at least been able to fake it. But this year... maybe I'm just done with 2008.
I know I'm just a big barrel of warm fuzzies right now, but this is my blog, dammit, and I get to write about how I feel, be it peppy, funny, sarcastic, or depressing. And you all have to read it because you can't help yourselves. Let it be known: Rosie is broken. Please to fix.
However, I will end on a high note, so that I don't have you all reaching for the revolvers. I promise I will arrive at all functions on time (except to those to which I already made it clear that I would be late) and with a smile, offering cookies and showing gratitude. I will be sunshine and lollipops, or gingerbread and candy canes. I promise to spend the free part of the weekend watching Baryshnikov, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and Mr. Grinch until my eyes bleed. With luck, that will trip the switch and I will be my sugar plum self.
Besides, I am down 10 lbs since October and am working out more regularly, so more yet may come off. Yay!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Bailout
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Roommates
Sharing space. I’ve never been especially good at it. Perhaps I can trace it back to my childhood, in which my sister and I were lucky enough to never have to share a room except on vacation. Add to that my generally introverted nature, at least until I become comfortable with another person, and you have someone who is fiercely protective of her metaphorical homestead, whatever that homestead may be.
I was an awful roommate, both in college and after. I’ll be the first to cop to it. Truth is truth. I didn’t let the dishes pile up for weeks or allow strange people to crash with us or use up all the hot water knowing that Roomie needed a shower too. My defects are all about how I deal with conflict. I let things build and fester like a nasty infection until I snap over something miniscule, or just make life unpleasant in general with my silent glaring and snarls. Adult of me, I know, but we all have our faults. Husband is the last roommate I’ve had, but we’ve only experienced minor problems with it because both of us are conflict-averse, and he knows how to recognize and shut me down when I start building up.
In my professional life, however, I have experienced no situation in which I had to share my space. I always had my own cubicle, or at least my own clear work area when I was in the Tech Writers pod at Company 2. Here, however, is a new scenario for me.
Roommate is a very nice woman, bright and lively, polite and quick to smile. I have no cause for complaint about her. Best of all, she is in fact a woman. I was having fits trying to figure out how to handle the Aunt Flo issue with a male officemate. I considered stashing a box of “supplies” in the ladies room, but figured that everyone would take advantage of those and they wouldn’t be there when I needed them. I considered going the makeup bag route, but depending upon how much time Roommate was there and how observant and/or dense he was, I anticipated questions about why it was only one week a month that I seemed to need to touch up my makeup a couple of times a day. Cosmetics are a bitch, Roomie.
So I’m fortunate on that score. But today we’re already running into growing pains. Because I have a conference call at 11 and she has an in-person meeting going on right now, and not only do I know I can’t concentrate on the call with the two of them talking, I also know I won’t be able to concentrate on my work with someone talking – either in a meeting or on the phone in general.
Maybe sound canceling headphones are the answer. Or maybe we’ll have to arrange to work from home on alternating days. Hrm... In the meantime, maybe I need to go to Coworker's actual office instead of being on the call today.
Monday, December 1, 2008
NaNoWriMo 2008: Results
Qualified Fail.
"Fail" because I missed the goal of 50,000 words in a month. I also missed my own personal goal of 10,000 words. In fact, I concluded the month with a grand total of 3,089 words. To my credit, a number of them were big, multi-syllabic words. But it's still a Fail.
"Qualified" because even 3,089 words tops my previous NaNoWriMo (2006) total of... 0 words. So yay me! Maybe I can crest 5,000 words in NaNoWriMo 2009. And even though I cranked out 3,089 words of uselessness (seriously, the whole thing worked much better in my outline than it did on paper), it is not a total loss. I think it can be retooled and redirected to another genre and turn out... maybe all right. I don't know if I'd ever submit it, but it's good to have something.
Word counts aside, one goal was certainly achieved. I reminded myself of the thrill I can feel when scribbling borderline nonsensical words on paper. It's nice to make the world melt away and to sense nothing outside the blissful confines of your own mind but the smell of cheap ink and the feel of good paper. In remembering that simple joy, I count this year as a Win.
(And now that it's over, I no longer have to feel guilty for reading when I should be writing!)
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Death of Daytime
I found an article today from a former soap opera magazine writer (e.g., Soap Opera Weekly) talking about how we're watching the demise of daytime TV. The source of this hypothesis: the firing from Days of Our Lives (my own former "stories") of Deidre "Exotic Bird Hair" Hall and Drake "Smell the Fart" Hogestyn.Okay, Diedre's moniker is self-explanatory, but, for those of you who don't get the reference for Drake, here is the clarification: Jennifer Aniston's daddy, John Aniston, spent a goodly amount of his career playing Victor Kiriakis on Days, enduring many a ridiculous plotline and span of dialogue. In 1994, a little show called Friends came out on NBC (maybe you've heard of it?), the same channel that supports Days of Our Lives. Joey on Friends, as you may recall, was supposed to be a soap actor. So there are the various tie-ins, and why Days stars (Alison Sweeney, Kyle Lowder, Kristian Alfonso, among others) periodically showed up on Friends. In one season or another Joey took it upon himself to teach, or assistant teach, a community college (I guess) class on acting in soap operas. In response to - I believe - one student's question on what to do if you forget a line, Joey tells them to strike the "smell the fart" expression to buy them time. Then he demonstrates: he stops as if he's been paralyzed, raises one eyebrow skyward, then rotates his head vertically and away from the side with the raised eyebrow so his chin is stuck out in that direction, and inhales deeply. The desired effect is too look like you just, well, smelled a fart, though it's all suspenseful and dramatic to the audience. Those of us who are or were Days devotees, however, knew exactly and on the spot who taught Joey the trick: our main man, Drake Hogysten, who trademarked the look.
Now I haven't watched the show steadily since 2001, with a brief stint during 2005. I've caught an episode here and there, and there are a bunch of new characters, so I'm with the author: why not kill off one or five of them? Why are we digging more DiMeras out of the woodwork (even though we have trouble retaining evil mastermind Stefano!), but losing our anchors?
John and Marlena have been an institution on this show since the 80s. Allow us to hang onto one or two couples that manage to stay together through mistaken identities and demonic possession and adult children they never knew they had who turn out to not actually be theirs but her ex-husband's with another woman and hidden by Stefano DiMera on a secret island and never taught to speak or interact socially until they are dropped at age 18 essentially in his daughter's lap and she takes them under her wing and teaches them how to speak and to relate and to love!...where was I? Ah yes.
Let the younger characters bed-hop and make countless mistakes - that's their thing. Go ahead and create trouble for John and Marlena - conflict is, after all, the essence of drama - ... - and what is a soap opera without drama - ... - and functional couples aren't all that interesting to watch - ... - who was it that said that every happy family is the same but every dysfunctional family is unhappy in their own way? - but don't take them away.
I suppose, as I have abandoned the show to become part of the paid workforce, that I have no place to talk. I can't be angry about changes to a show I don't watch anymore, or speak out against plot twists that I can't follow.
But I can be a little bit sad.
And I am.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Congratulations, Leah & Phil!
(See, it's funny because they're lawyers and they met in law school. I crack me up!)
Leah chose me as her Maid of Honor, but the honor was absolutely mine to stand beside my beautiful friend as she pledged her life to a man who I know cherishes her to her very core. As he should!
You couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. After threats all week of cold and rain for Saturday, the weather gods saw fit for the sun to shine bright and warm, which was quite the endorsement. The location was elegant, the cake was delicious, and the service was excellent (if a little enthusiastic about the NA cider). Leah was a vision, Phil missed the glass, the groomsmen hoisted both of them up for the Hora, and in true celebratory form, I danced the Dance of Joy until my feet nearly fell off. (It's okay! I can feel my toes again!)
My very best wishes go out to the happy couple! Phil, you are a lucky man to have found such a lady. I know you'll take good care of my friend.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Trouble with Characters
I've chosen a character and I'm working her out, and building side characters who are gaining shape and color (for the most part) slowly but surely. In the first paragraphs, I really liked this main character and was interested at how she was taking form. But in all honesty, by this point (1,489 words in), I'm far less interested in her than I am in a side character I built for her. How did that happen?? When I first concocted this craptacular story, this guy was essentially a ghostly thing, always pale and shapeless, merely holding a place and serving a purpose in the plot. But he will not be suppressed the way I wanted him to be. In mindlessly scrawling words in my notebook, he gave me his name, some nuance, and personality-shaping details even as a child. I can't get such a clear picture of even my main character, and that's a problem, because the story originally centered on her!
This is what Amy Tan talks about in The Opposite of Fate, what Stephen King talks about in On Writing, what Jude Devereaux talks about in interviews and blogs. This is the exciting and energizing thing about writing, to me anyway. It's just a story, but it's a living thing. No matter how concrete your outline or your mental storyboarding, sometimes your story will decide despite your best intentions to yank the reins to the right. And you can kick and you can yell and you can pull all you want, but the horse is going this way and you're stuck in the saddle.
So okay. Let's see where he takes me...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Brave or Crazy?
For the unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is an international phenomenon in which aspiring writers take up their pens and put on their Writing hats starting at 12:0o:01 a.m. on November 1, and waste reams of innocent paper in pursuit of a truly ghastly story by 11:59:59 p.m. on November 30. The goal is to have a novel (50,000 words minimum) written in one month.
A friend of mine got me into this two years ago and, much like this year, I leapt blindly into it... and never got more than about three pages written. I hope to top that number this year, but I confess I don't really have a story. I have an outline of one that I was knocking about in my head some while ago (outlines prior to Nov 1 are allowable!), so maybe I'll go with that - it was quickly turning sour in my mind's ear anyway so what's the harm in making it truly gawdawful this month.
The only hangups are about time really: I'm participating in Friend Leah's wedding next weekend, I'm spending the following weekend with my mom and grandma, the weekend after that is Thanksgiving Party weekend, and then there's Thanksgiving itself and...
But really I'm just making excuses. It's a hobby of mine. There is a lot of open time in the rest of the month and even during those weekends that I could be getting high on the smell of BIC ink and the feel of good paper.
Thus shall I persevere! Bring me my Writing hat, a pen, and a case of Diet Coke! NaNoWriMo, I declare myself to thee!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Reply All
Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon before my time. I don't want to socialize with my co-workers at large. I do want office buddies, don't misunderstand, and I'm happy to spend some of my free time with those co-workers whom I consider actual friends. But as for the rest of them, not really. I'm happily married and my commute is long, so I don't want to go to happy hour, to after-hours Wii parties, or to mid-day team-building exercises of any sort. What I do want is to work my eight hours and go home to see my husband, pet my cat, and change into jeans.
So when the office organizes trick-or-treating for the little kids in the day care center, that's cute and maybe I'll even participate, but I don't care whether Enthusiasm McPerky wants everyone to "count her in! :-)". When the Fun Committee (I kid you not) organizes a movie night for remote team members, I don't care that Teamy McJoiner thinks it's a "GREAT idea, Fun Cmte!!" It's fine to like things, it's fine to be a joiner, it's fine to be peppy. But share your support with the people directly organizing it or by participating. The entire office doesn't need to be distracted by your non-work related opinion. Just sayin.