Who Doesn't Love Depression?
Sometimes it gets tiring being the person who 'seemingly' has it all together so others can use you when they need you but when things are peachy keen for them just pretend you don't exist? 'Oh, don't worry about her...she'll be totally fine with everything. She always is.'

Feeling like I have for the past couple of days really reminds me of this time when I was a senior in high school and it was spring break. Well, the year before a bunch of us had gone to Panama City with one girl's mother chaperoning the lot of us. Senior year came around and I'm not sure if it was b/c I wasn't cool enough or what, but the same set of girls set a trip up and lo and behold, guess who wasn't invited. I know this might seem a bit petty to be mentioning, but this was the same group of girls who all throughout the year depended on me for rides and to listen when certain factions of said clique were being mean to them. I had one girl in that group that I really considered to be a friend and she knew how much it hurt me not to even be invited, but no one else did. I just went on my merry way, like I always do, pretending to be ok with everything. I guess that part is my fault b/c how is anyone supposed to know what is going on with you when you don't let them in. I suppose that I just figure why burden others with your bullshit when everyone has their own to deal with.

So, I have decided to burden this blog with my bs b/c I can. In any case, I am sure this feeling of blueness and uselessness will pass but I was feeling it and thought I should get it out before it consumed me. Please forgive my self-indulgent post and be ready for another post which I am sure will involve some type of weekend shenanigans!

Trivia Nights In DC
Thought I would post a link to the the best trivia in the Washington DC area. Courtesy of my lovely friend Lucy!

Hot For Teacher
I am currently sitting in the office, just having been given a task that needs to be completed in 3 hours and what do I decide to do? Blog.

I don't have much to talk about, but I did want to mention how important it is to have a fabulous array of music to listen to while one is at work, doing seemingly meaningless tasks. Currently, on my windows media player playlist are the following classics:

Hot For Teacher
Jump
Separate Ways
Talk Dirty to Me
Luka
I Touch Myself
Love is a Battlefield
Unskinny Bop
Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy
Let's Get Retarded
White Wedding
Who Do You Love
Blinded by the Light
Don't Stop Believin'
Livin' on a Prayer
End of the Road (Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies version)
Lose My Breath

This is a disturbing look into my music tastes...or lack thereof. Ok...off to do some budget reporting. At least I have some Van Halen to keep me company...

Snow! and Promotions!
It is snowing just enough to allow me to go home and work the rest of the afternoon from there! That is the greatest news I have had since I heard that my friend Lucy got this awesome new job offer, which I also heard about today. Rock on!

Bizarre LA Occurrences
So, I am sure anyone reading might be thinking that this event has something to do with alcohol or bars, but it actually does not.

Ok, so we were staying in a hotel in El Segundo (and no, none of us left our wallets there) which served a free 'hot' breakfast. Now, I am always one who can appreciate a free meal and apparently I was not alone. Molly and I went down around 9am to see what was available and very quickly noticed a woman who seemed to be asking a number of questions to the workers who were stocking and cooking the food. I immediately thought that 'this woman is going to be high maintenance.' Boy, I didn't even know what I was getting myself into.

To describe her on this day is to say that she was wearing an all black ill-fitting suit and even more scary was the fact that her shoes appeared to be at least 2 sizes too small. While Molly and I were enjoying our fine breakfast, we noticed that this woman seemed to be spending an awful lot of time collecting food. Our eyes travel to the table where she was putting all of her food and were greeted with what can only be described as the largest amount of food one could gather from a free buffet. I kid you not, there were at least 4 rows of plastic containers, piled 2 high...that is 8 containers, filled with food people! And, she was just getting started!!! Not only did she get four of everything that was readily available...eggs, bacon, cereal, muffins, bagels, toast, fruit and french toast, she also took the 2 minutes and 30 seconds a piece that it took to make 4 Belgian waffles. She then proceeded to get 4 of each type of drink. We are talking about mass amounts of food here.

So, throughout all of this, Molly and I are watching in amazement b/c first and foremost, we can't imagine there are enough people to even eat all of this food and this was only one lady. We finally determined that she must be getting stuff for either the entire week or she had some other people with her. If the latter was the case, how was she, one person going to be able to transport it? A luggage cart, that is how. She piled that thing up with 5 rows of containers, all at least 3 containers high! We seriously could not believe it. We wanted to see her accomplish this task, but we had already spent 30 minutes watching her amass this feast, so we finally had to leave. When we got back to our room, we told Lucy and Molly's brother about it and I don't think they really believed us, but luckily...or unluckily...for Lucy, when we went to breakfast the next day, this lady was back to gather the same amounts of food for her as yet unseen companions. Only this time, she was wearing all white--with the exception of her colored underwear which pretty much made all of us lose our appetites.

This time we considered possible actions we could take that might hinder her from taking all the food from the entire buffet. Perhaps we could take the luggage cart so she couldn't transport it, I believe I suggested. It was then observed that she had completely bogarted all of the waffle mix. This was too much for Molly who boldly went up to the buffet and just took a mix. The lady got very upset and stated that she was making 4 waffles. Molly said ok and came back to our table with her lone dixie cup of waffle batter. (can I also point out at this time there were at least 3 people in the dining area not wearing shoes...that is so gross. Hygene people!)So, we politely waited the 10 minutes it took for her 4 waffles to be made before we could make ours. Now, of course, Molly didn't really want a waffle, it was the principle of the thing so I ended up eating it and it was good. So, we gathered up ourselves and headed back to our room.

As we arrived back at our building, we noticed that the lady was taking her luggage cart upstairs, but we didn't know which floor. I bounded up the stairs as all three of us go into Nancy Drew mode to catch a glimpse of what we expect to be the fattest most sloth-like people in the world b/c seriously, who makes one lady go down to the buffet and gather all of that food while they just rest on their laurels? Or, is there actually no one with her and she just goes back there and eats herself into a stupor until the next day? All these unanswered questions.

I reach the third floor just as the elevator is closing and nonchalantly read my paper as I peer around the corner. I see her enter her room, but unfortunately don't get to investigate much further around the door as housekeeping is in the area and I don't want to appear suspicious and stalker like...I know, too late. A few seconds later, the lady emerges and it appears to me is going to return the cart. So, that was the most bizarre thing that happened while I was in LA...no celebrity sightings, no major drunken shenanigans. Just the story of this woman who felt it was necessary to gorge herself and her companions (if they exist) on all the free food the hotel had to offer.

The Fourth Estate--Free Press or Not?
I just came across this in the New York Times. As a person who was trained in broadcast journalism, things like this really disturb me. I don't care which side you lean to, when you can no longer trust what you see in the news to be fair and balanced, or even true, that is disturbing.

It hasn't been that long since I graduated and I am fully aware that even when attempting to be your best unbiased self, it is somewhat impossible, as all humans are inherently biased by our own experiences. That being said, each person in charge of reporting the day's events should make every effort to present the truth and the facts to every issue. Things like this and the other issues of 2004, Jayson Blair and the Dan Rather thing among others, really cast a pall on a profession that I had once held in such a high regard.

Sorry, just had to get that out.

This is Awesome!
I normally steer clear of political stuff and this is old, but I just thought this was too funny. And, I love penguins!

Thanks to Dan for posting this on Pamie.com and bringing it to my attention.

15th Century Pub Saved
Mood:  party time!
Now, here are some folks who would understand the ode I penned below. Check out this Pub Story

Ode To Alcohol
Some people enjoy drinking just soda
To them I say, that isn't my coda.
For me, I enjoy something much stronger
Drinks, non-alcoholic couldn't be wronger.
Bud Light, Miller Lite, and the Captain, too,
All taste much better than sodas do.
Some laugh and sneer and call me a drunk,
But fuck you, I say, you bad Baptist* punk.

*please note I do not dislike Baptists, it simply fit with the artistic vision of the poem and refers to one of my friends who thinks she is a bad Baptist sometimes.

Happy Birthday to Me
Mood:  celebratory
Well, my 28th birthday was this weekend and it was a blast. As stated in the previous entry, there was much skankstravaganza excitement taking place all of last week.

So, on the day of my actual birth, I was awoken by my friend Big B calling me at 7:55am, which we determined was unacceptable for many reasons. Basically, it was way to early to phone anyone on any day, much less on a Saturday and certainly not on someone's birthday. However, it was a great start to a fantastic day which was spent with my very favorite friends who currently reside in the area.

Much of the day was spent at a lovely restaurant in Northern Virginia called The Front Page with my friend Patsy. Molly came to join us and then a number of us went to dinner and out to sing karaoke. Now, I think I have mentioned this karaoke place before and it is a real dive bar, but still a fantastic place to sing things such as Poison's 'Talk Dirty to Me' and as my friend Molly likes to sing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' which is always a crowd pleaser.

I guess it was late in the evening when I looked back on the day and around the bar at the friends who had gathered to celebrate and I was really happy. I have been very lucky to find a new family here in DC, so far away from my own, a set of friends who are so loyal and fun that they love you like blood. (blood relatives, not like vampires or anything) So, basically, I just wanted to tell them all that here. Not that most of them check this out, but you know, in case they do. There were some who couldn't make it out on that day and they were certainly missed, but at 28, even though I am not where I thought I would be in life, I can at least say that I am surrounded by some awesome people.

And, b/c I can't leave this out...when we were leaving an after-hours party at a friend's apt. Molly felt it was appropriate to knock on other apt. doors. I attempted to stop her from doing this, only resulting in her tripping over her own feet and taking both of us down in the process. I am surprised I didn't have a concussion, but I am sure the massive amounts of beer probably helped us to not get hurt.

In any case, thanks to everyone who helped celebrate this entire birthday weekend skankstravaganza. It really meant a lot to me. Next weekend...a sketchy trip to Los Angeles with Molly, Lucy and Molly's brother! AND MAYBE 50 CENT!!!