I missed writing. I really did. In the past two and a half years, I've realized there is some functional relationship between writing and my overall well-being.
Not only does it allow me to be intraspective, but it soothes me. I've been in a lovely, long distance relationship for almost three years. I don't have many regrets, but one of them is that I abandoned writing. Many a fight would have been avoided if I simply went to a corner and scribbled my thoughts down.
Hopefully, my words--and relationship--can continue.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Friday, May 11, 2012
My Head is Made of Syrofoam
Those of you who know me well, or at least around enough to hear me bitch, probably know this phrase by now:
"My head is made of syrofoam"
To date, I've hadfour five concussions. Two were soccer related, one from rough-housing, and the most recent one from water polo. Oddly enough, I've never gotten a concussion from drunk antics, overall clumsiness or skiing.
UPDATE: Turns out I've now had five concussions.
This new concussion seems to be my most "legitimate" head injury. I was rear-ended yesterday on my way to work in a 45 mph zone. I do not know how fast the car behind me was going, but it was not a fun ride. After he hit me, my head hit the steering wheel, then hit the headrest, then said "WTF?!?!?!" Apparently the power from this impact was enough to put me into shock so I didn't notice the pain. I was preoccupied with being pissed that my baby's bumper/back panel is cracked (for reference my car is my baby; Ruby's a pretty girl).
My newly acquired medical history addition begs the question: "Why is my head so goddamn fragile?"
I took my vitamins when I was younger, and even now I still occasionally swallow a multivitamin. I drank milk and yogurt growing up, so we can not blame a lack of bone density. Perhaps all that bone density went elsewhere? The only bone I've ever broken was my toe due to a stupid decision. While not risk averse in life, I don't make completely stupid decisions all the time.
What is there left for me to do to protect my head? Should I invest in a bedazzled "life helmet"? I definitely choose a helmet over living in a bubble.
Should I try to be more careful? Should I embed a steel plate in my head? Why does Google's spell check not recognize "styrofoam" as a word? Ah the questions of life.
T.F.G.I.F.
"My head is made of syrofoam"
To date, I've had
UPDATE: Turns out I've now had five concussions.
This new concussion seems to be my most "legitimate" head injury. I was rear-ended yesterday on my way to work in a 45 mph zone. I do not know how fast the car behind me was going, but it was not a fun ride. After he hit me, my head hit the steering wheel, then hit the headrest, then said "WTF?!?!?!" Apparently the power from this impact was enough to put me into shock so I didn't notice the pain. I was preoccupied with being pissed that my baby's bumper/back panel is cracked (for reference my car is my baby; Ruby's a pretty girl).
My newly acquired medical history addition begs the question: "Why is my head so goddamn fragile?"
I took my vitamins when I was younger, and even now I still occasionally swallow a multivitamin. I drank milk and yogurt growing up, so we can not blame a lack of bone density. Perhaps all that bone density went elsewhere? The only bone I've ever broken was my toe due to a stupid decision. While not risk averse in life, I don't make completely stupid decisions all the time.
What is there left for me to do to protect my head? Should I invest in a bedazzled "life helmet"? I definitely choose a helmet over living in a bubble.
Should I try to be more careful? Should I embed a steel plate in my head? Why does Google's spell check not recognize "styrofoam" as a word? Ah the questions of life.
T.F.G.I.F.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Organized Complaining
Related to my last post, I have been traveling a fair deal. I've also been using an annoying amount of passive voice (literally a little gremlin starts poking at my brain with a sharp fingernail—excessive passive voice is aggravating), but that’s beside the point.
This morning, after reflecting on the aggravation of dealing with customer service, I have some guidelines. Don’t mistake me for being a hardass or hypocrite here. I’ve traveled more than most people ever will, and I do have patience, however, I operate on a two strike policy. I expect employees in customer service to do their job to the best of their capabilities, politely and pleasantly. Those are some of the caveats of service; you need to be polite and pleasant.
Guidelines:
1) Never fly with or deal with Delta airlines if you can help it.
a. I have a special vein that pops reserved for Delta operations, customer service, and employees.
b. I’m glad you found a job where you can be an incompetent idiot, but I’d rather you be hoarding my tax dollars in welfare than messing with my travel.
c. If your airline causes delays, possible missed flights, and inconsideration then it is your job to compensate me and find the best possible solution as soon as possible. I should not have to tell you what to do or how to do your job.
2) When dealing with financial organizations, or long phone chains, when in doubt press “0”. In most cases it takes you directly to an operator.
3) Phone trees are the plague. Have your organization limit the number of branches they use. a. Talking to that “dummy” operator makes everyone seem silly. Either improve your voice recognition software or go with the technique of pressing buttons.
4) Be polite to your passengers as a flight attendant. Your job is to secure safety, bring drinks and be pleasant. Barking, sass, snark and unpleasant sarcasm are unwelcome. If you are having a bad day, be human and explain that to your passengers. They will be a lot more understanding than just watching you pick away at another passenger.
5) When traveling, pick a layover wisely.
a. Too little time and you’ll become a hot mess running through terminals. No one wants to be that person bashing others with their baggage.
b. Too much time and you will be bored out of your mind. Depending on the airport, there is only so much area to wander. I’ve done a few laps around Newark before.
c. Pick a time that allows you to get where you want to be without excess perspiration.
i. Preferably you will be able to read a little bit, be prepared, and have a well-deserved drink.
6) Travel with a loved one. Nothing makes stress more manageable than smooches. Apart from booze that is. a. The magical combination is to be lightly buzzed with your significant other.
7) If “Economy Plus” is only $9 more, it’s worth it. Trust me. I’m not even that tall either.
I don’t doubt that more pet peeves will surface eventually, but for now, bullet points and numbering remind me too much of work. Peace out homeslices.
I apologize for the odd formatting. My brain was stuck between "regular" typing and HTML.
This morning, after reflecting on the aggravation of dealing with customer service, I have some guidelines. Don’t mistake me for being a hardass or hypocrite here. I’ve traveled more than most people ever will, and I do have patience, however, I operate on a two strike policy. I expect employees in customer service to do their job to the best of their capabilities, politely and pleasantly. Those are some of the caveats of service; you need to be polite and pleasant.
Guidelines:
1) Never fly with or deal with Delta airlines if you can help it.
a. I have a special vein that pops reserved for Delta operations, customer service, and employees.
b. I’m glad you found a job where you can be an incompetent idiot, but I’d rather you be hoarding my tax dollars in welfare than messing with my travel.
c. If your airline causes delays, possible missed flights, and inconsideration then it is your job to compensate me and find the best possible solution as soon as possible. I should not have to tell you what to do or how to do your job.
2) When dealing with financial organizations, or long phone chains, when in doubt press “0”. In most cases it takes you directly to an operator.
3) Phone trees are the plague. Have your organization limit the number of branches they use. a. Talking to that “dummy” operator makes everyone seem silly. Either improve your voice recognition software or go with the technique of pressing buttons.
4) Be polite to your passengers as a flight attendant. Your job is to secure safety, bring drinks and be pleasant. Barking, sass, snark and unpleasant sarcasm are unwelcome. If you are having a bad day, be human and explain that to your passengers. They will be a lot more understanding than just watching you pick away at another passenger.
5) When traveling, pick a layover wisely.
a. Too little time and you’ll become a hot mess running through terminals. No one wants to be that person bashing others with their baggage.
b. Too much time and you will be bored out of your mind. Depending on the airport, there is only so much area to wander. I’ve done a few laps around Newark before.
c. Pick a time that allows you to get where you want to be without excess perspiration.
i. Preferably you will be able to read a little bit, be prepared, and have a well-deserved drink.
6) Travel with a loved one. Nothing makes stress more manageable than smooches. Apart from booze that is. a. The magical combination is to be lightly buzzed with your significant other.
7) If “Economy Plus” is only $9 more, it’s worth it. Trust me. I’m not even that tall either.
I don’t doubt that more pet peeves will surface eventually, but for now, bullet points and numbering remind me too much of work. Peace out homeslices.
I apologize for the odd formatting. My brain was stuck between "regular" typing and HTML.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Airport Eating
In my work, I have been traveling a lot more in the past two to three months. Due to the increased frequency of travel (air travel here, we're not talking measly drives to Chicago, but plane rides to the East Coast, West Coast and Caribbean) I started to notice some of my odd behaviors more.
Whenever I am flying through O'Hare, if I am tired or stressed at all I have a default comfort order. Not nutritious, apparently delicious, give me a small order of fries and a M&M McFlurry, and I'm good to go. I don't fully know how this craving came about. My main hypothesis is a childhood craving for junk food, since we weren't allowed it regularly. I suppose it's comparable to a frostie and fries, although let's be serious, McDonald's fries are clearly superior. Didn't you know they put crack in the fryer?
The oddest thing is that it happens only in O'Hare. I guess it's because I hate that airport?
That's a separate rant entirely.
A recent development in commuter consumption is the booze. While I was still flying across country for college, and some flights were post 21, I never felt the urge to drink while traveling until I started working. Perhaps it was college frugality? Then again, I had a $40 bottle of Chambourd above my fridge Senior year. Maybe I truly wasn't as stressed? I really think that while professional travel brings stress, it also allows you to be reimbursed for checked bags. Who wants to worry about the aftermaths of your whiskey sours combining with the motor skills to navigate a large roller-board?
This girl sure doesn't.
In completely unrelated news, this song has been in my head all day. I'm sure I've annoyed in someone in the office by now thanks to my officemate's speakers.
Whenever I am flying through O'Hare, if I am tired or stressed at all I have a default comfort order. Not nutritious, apparently delicious, give me a small order of fries and a M&M McFlurry, and I'm good to go. I don't fully know how this craving came about. My main hypothesis is a childhood craving for junk food, since we weren't allowed it regularly. I suppose it's comparable to a frostie and fries, although let's be serious, McDonald's fries are clearly superior. Didn't you know they put crack in the fryer?
The oddest thing is that it happens only in O'Hare. I guess it's because I hate that airport?
That's a separate rant entirely.
A recent development in commuter consumption is the booze. While I was still flying across country for college, and some flights were post 21, I never felt the urge to drink while traveling until I started working. Perhaps it was college frugality? Then again, I had a $40 bottle of Chambourd above my fridge Senior year. Maybe I truly wasn't as stressed? I really think that while professional travel brings stress, it also allows you to be reimbursed for checked bags. Who wants to worry about the aftermaths of your whiskey sours combining with the motor skills to navigate a large roller-board?
This girl sure doesn't.
In completely unrelated news, this song has been in my head all day. I'm sure I've annoyed in someone in the office by now thanks to my officemate's speakers.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
I'm Not A Platypus, or Don't Hate Because You Can Only Button Mash
Most of my titles make a decent amount of sense. This one will after reading the post, but it does grab your attention, doesn't it? When was the last time you thought about platypuses? I find them cute, but then again, I have a habit of being able to draw just about anything in a cute form. The point is platypuses are rare, so rare that it is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus(Ornithorhynchus). While almost hunted to a threatening level for their fur, they are currently not under any immediate threat. You just can't find them outside of Australia.
This little scientific background about the platypus brings me to the point of my longwinded-ness. I'm not a platypus. I'm not that rare, I'm not extinct, I'm not exotic, you just have to sometimes look a little harder to find me.
I'm not a platypus, I'm a girl who games.
Maybe I'm just not used to coming out of the technological, socially-challenged, adventuresome, ridiculous world of RPI. I got used to girls who game, flaming cereal, rubix cube costumes, cosplay, LAN parties, SSB tournaments, playing video games at work and reviewing the newest Mortal Kombat game for the Poly, the school's newspaper. Maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise, maybe I shouldn't be face-palming so hard at so many guys, but I just have to wonder, why are girls who game still considered an anomaly?
Since living in Madison for over three weeks now, and being in the "real world" there's been a plethera of responses to the fact that I own a PS3, play a variety of games, am decently good at said games, and used to play PC games. There were one or two responses of just plain acceptance, which is really nice. Then there are two others which include flirtatious joking about giving me a bad time for playing video games, in the sense that ::GASP!:: a girl who games? Don't be silly. The other, which I find a bit annoying is:
I've always found a girl who games to be kind of sexy.
Ladies, do you find a guy who games sexy? I'm not sure if the reverse is true, it might be, I'm not going to hate, but it doesn't always seem to be the case in my opinion. During my lunch break at work the other day, I found this interesting little infograph that you can see below. (I apologize again for the image disrupting my blog's formatting.)
According to their research, women now account for 40% of all gamers and 67% of households engage in playing video games. While 40% isn't half and half, it's still not really a minority considering the only categories are pretty much a) guys or b)girls. There's a lot of us who do this! Why is this odd?
Now, I will say that I didn't do a lot of follow-up research into this, so I don't know what they are classifying as "gaming". There are some statistics that incorporate women who play Farmville or Mafia Wars on Facebook as gaming. I don't know the break down of PC verses console games. My hunch is that it's a smaller statistic, but even so, 40% is nothing to shake your head at.
My musings above are turning out to be one of my more annoying posts personally, where I don't really make a solid point or reach a definite conclusion, but rather verbalize my own befuddlement. I don't understand why it's weird that a girl could play video games. Both myself and my two younger sisters always have and still do. I remember when I was five and I played Pajama Sam on our good old Windows 95 system. We all had Gameboys, then Gameboy Colors, Gameboy Advances, and both of my sisters currently have DSs. A paycheck or two from now, I'd like to have one of the new 3-D DSs.
Maybe it's the fact that we were raised by parents who's love story was set in the early days of Intel. Maybe it's because most of my cousins are guys, so many summers included playing Super Smash Brothers, StarFox, and Halo when we couldn't go to the beach. Maybe my family's just plain nerdy?
Who knows, maybe that (and many other) statistic is just flat out wrong and female gamers really are an odd phenomenon. I don't really understand it all. Back to coding work, followed by an evening of cleaning and restoring my FFXIII data.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
At Odds About Odds and Ends
In the grand scheme of things, this post has almost as much weight as angel food cake. That's being generous too. Relaxing on a Saturday morning in my pajamas, I'm allowed to be superficially indulgent. I get my first real paycheck in a little over a week, and my girlfriend Adya and I have already started the fantasizing.
There's the practical purchases; I'd like to get some more pots and pans, maybe a small dresser for my room. The foodie in me is dying for a good steak, grilled with my favorite Pappa Jake's seasoning, I can melt in the flavors of spice and smoothness of the pepper, natural juices, washed down with a good Cabernet. Mmmmmm.
Back to Saturday morning: there are the practical, and then there's the "I don't need this, but I want it and I'm enjoying having freedom with my spending" aka indulgence and wants. The real question is: girly fashion or rock climbing gear.
While I still don't have a car, and won't for a while, my friend Jeff is willing to drive anywhere and is always up for everything. On Thursday, we went to this climbing gym on the East side. I remembered how to belay, and the Girl Scout in me remembered a figure-8 knot. Climbing the 5.9 to show that I remembered how to move, my muscles seemed to effortlessly know how to balance, how to position. Damn I love moving.
I'm working on joining a swim club at work, and hopefully I can convince Jeff to make climbing a weekly release. If so, I'm really tempted to buy my own shoes and harness, you know actually have some gear. I've always enjoyed climbing, just never really had the time nor capital to fund this interest, so the thought of immediate advancement and gratification? That paycheck is going to be so satisfying.
Shoes and a harness? Just shoes so I can buy a shirt at Anthropologie, maybe a necklace too?
As a girl in the modern age, we've been told we can have it all. Sometimes though, it sucks considering that your optimization is unfortunately a constrained problem.
There's the practical purchases; I'd like to get some more pots and pans, maybe a small dresser for my room. The foodie in me is dying for a good steak, grilled with my favorite Pappa Jake's seasoning, I can melt in the flavors of spice and smoothness of the pepper, natural juices, washed down with a good Cabernet. Mmmmmm.
Back to Saturday morning: there are the practical, and then there's the "I don't need this, but I want it and I'm enjoying having freedom with my spending" aka indulgence and wants. The real question is: girly fashion or rock climbing gear.
While I still don't have a car, and won't for a while, my friend Jeff is willing to drive anywhere and is always up for everything. On Thursday, we went to this climbing gym on the East side. I remembered how to belay, and the Girl Scout in me remembered a figure-8 knot. Climbing the 5.9 to show that I remembered how to move, my muscles seemed to effortlessly know how to balance, how to position. Damn I love moving.
I'm working on joining a swim club at work, and hopefully I can convince Jeff to make climbing a weekly release. If so, I'm really tempted to buy my own shoes and harness, you know actually have some gear. I've always enjoyed climbing, just never really had the time nor capital to fund this interest, so the thought of immediate advancement and gratification? That paycheck is going to be so satisfying.
Shoes and a harness? Just shoes so I can buy a shirt at Anthropologie, maybe a necklace too?
As a girl in the modern age, we've been told we can have it all. Sometimes though, it sucks considering that your optimization is unfortunately a constrained problem.
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