Oh Hey, May.

So, I realize it's been a long time since I've written anything...sorry. I assure you I've been keeping up the whole skirt thing!

I've been busy. And tired. Lately I've kept myself running around catching up with friends and old coworkers and reuniting with some really old friends I haven't seen in probably close to 5 years. I've rediscovered my love for playing in the rain and playgrounds. And playing in the rain at a playground.

Last week I spent three days in Atlantic City (for work) for the New Jersey Apartment Association Conference & Expo. It was fun. There were two events at night that were a decent time, then during the day I had to stay in the exhibit and talk to people. It really wasn't that bad, just tiring, especially since the 2nd night there I stayed up way too late. At the end of June I'll be going to another show like that - the National Apartment Association Education Conference & Exhibition. It'll be in Boston. I'm excited for that because I've never been to Boston before and I have a few friends there that I'm hoping to hang out with one of the nights I'm there.

I have to go to bed. I'm exhausted.

Musical Once More

Despair can ravage you if you turn your head around
to look down the path that's led you here, cause what can you change?
You're a vessel now, floating down the waterways.
You can take your rudder and aim your ship,
just don't bother with the things left in your wake.
Just sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping your back.
To breathe in the air will be the only thing that you have
and your love will be warm nights with pockets of moonlight
spotlighting you as you drift, the actor in this play.
And you walk across the stage, take a bow, hear the applause,
and as the curtain falls, just know you did it all
the best that you knew how and you can hear them cheering now.
So let a smile out and show your teeth cause you know you lived it well.

That is an exerpt from a song titled "This is Not an Exit," by the band Saves the Day (one of my favorites).

I want it played at my funeral.

I wrote music today. Like sat down at a piano and actually composed something. I even recorded it on my phone, and when I was really on to something, I wrote it down. That was tough because I didn't have staff paper, so I had to put it in a regular notebook, designating each note's letter so I wouldn't get confused the next time I look at it. The whole experience was awesome. It was so much fun just letting my fingers do whatever they wanted, just to see what they came up with. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't written music in almost ten years...it seems a little crazy to think about, but it's true. The last time I had to compose anything was in college. It felt good. Really good.

Now what would really be cool is if I can get some words down to this music. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately, in the sense that there's so much I need to get out of me in so many different forms. I guess we'll see where this takes me.

My brain hurts. Time for bed. I am SO glad tomorrow (I guess technically today) is Friday. This was a pretty crappy week.

Terrible Tues

My graphic designer's dog tried to eat me today. He bit my leg and went after my ankles. Luckily, I decided to wear boots today. If it weren't for them, my achilles tendons would've been ripped to shreds. I was really shaken, but it wasn't anything a xanax couldn't fix.

That was abou 1:30pm. Earlier in the day I was informed that the printer who is printing the labels I designed needed a format that is impossible for me to have, due to the antiquated nature of the program I had to create it in. I had to resize it and fix everything accordingly, then send it as a JPG file to the graphic designer, who then was kind enough to turn it into an EPS file.

Everyone seems to think that I'm some kind of computer genius. I'm not tech support. I don't know how to do everything. Leave me alone.

If tomorrow isn't better, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Let the Whining Commence.

Yesterday's pin curls didn't turn out as planned, even though I followed the exact same procedure as earlier in the week. I couldn't really brush them out because I would've ended up looking like one of Charlie's Angels (I brushed them out late last night...I was right). Here, I'll let you see:

That was in the morning. After the brushing, it just got worse.

This morning I woke up chipper enough for a Monday, until I went to check on the shoes that were drying from Saturday. As I was looking the left shoe over, I thought that perhaps they could be saved...until I smelled a familiar yet unpleasant aroma. As luck would have it, the right shoe was sitting in a puddle of cat urine. Chipper-ness gone.

When I got to work, I was in a foul mood and on top of it I was starting to not feel well. I saw that my newsletter went out under the wrong sender address and ended up in junk mail. Fabulous. My stomach started to hurt more. Two hours later, I gave up and went home.

The rest of my day involved my niece, a nap, a sewing lesson and a trip to Kohl's and the grocery store.

I hate Mondays. I hope Tuesday will be better, but I doubt it.

It's a Small World After All

I went to a 50th birthday party today. At this party I met some new people who were pretty cool. Not only were they pretty cool, but they know people that I know. And not only do they know people that I know, they know people that I know from guard and dance!

The birthday boy's wife is best friends with my colorguard instructor from high school.

The birthday boy's best friend's wife was the first modern dance teacher of my most recent modern dance teacher.

I'm not sure I can convey the excitement that I had upon discovering those connections. In fact I know I can't. Let's just say that I was super animated and talking loud and fast and gesturing wildly. That generally means I'm excited.

At some point early evening it began to drizzle. Our group relocated from out in the open to under a large tent. Shortly thereafter, the heavens opened and it poured. My thoughts immediately went to my car...I couldn't remember if I had closed the sunroof! So I did the only rational thing anyone in my position would do - I grabbed my keys and sprinted to the car. The sunroof was closed. I was soaked, but the fact that the interior of my car was not soaked made it worth it. The possibility that my shoes may be ruined...I guess that was worth it too. Because shoes are cheaper than replacing the leather interior of an Audi. I love playing in the rain anyway so I really didn't mind getting soaked. I actually took my time on the way back to the tent. Yay for rain!

This is what one looks like after running about in the pouring rain after a couple of hours; the absolute epitome of beauty.