On Wednesday, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Do you think I'm any less wiser, now?
It was a much less painful experience than I anticipated. That's the worst part, I think - the anticipation. And then when it's all done, it doesn't turn out to be that bad. That's what they say about childbirth, too, but I'm not sure I'd take it that far.
No dry sockets. No excessive bleeding. Just mushy baby-like food and careful, careful brushing. I'm so ready just to bite down on a carrot or something! The crazy part is that the doctor told me no popcorn, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or peanuts for four months. Four months?! It takes that long for everything to completely heal? Wow. This was just four wisdom teeth coming out - imaging if it was much more serious surgery. Now I see why recovering takes so long. Scott, of course, is loving the no popcorn part because now he is justified in not sharing his popcorn with me at the movies!
So everything is good, which is great, because I'm leaving Sunday for a cross-country trip: New York City for the first half of the week and LA for the second half.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Airplane Etiquette
Give. Me. One. Damn. Minute.
Poison-head arrows were shooting out of my eyes at the suit behind me. It's not that I'm a mean person, it's just that I can be passive-aggressive when I need to be. I wish it were different. I wish I could have looked this jerk in the eye and told him to "Give me a damn minute."
I'm a pretty light traveller these days. I can fit one week's worth of business casual outfits, workout clothes (with gym shoes), casual clothes, fun clothes (if it's a fun city and we'll have time to go out to a bar or two), toiletries, hair brushes, and a good book into a carry-on luggage. I just bring that and my laptop bag with me when I travel because there's no way in hell I'm checking anything (too many pieces of luggage have been lost for me not to have learned that lesson).
But what kills me is that people on the airplane won't budge an inch to let you pull that luggage down from the overhead compartment.
First, I'm amazed by the lack of courtesy people will afford each other when exiting the airplane. There seems that there should be a natural order to things: each row has it's turn to empty into the aisles, with the back rows waiting until it's their turn to go. Instead, it's a mad dash with everyone out for themselves. We've been on the plane 2 hours. Another 3.6 seconds isn't going to kill anybody.
Then, it seems that as soon as you leave your seat, you're expected to make a beeline for the cabin door. Nevermind that you might have some luggage to pull out of the bins. There's the silent impatient scowl from the people behind you, as if they are saying "Look at this conceited passenger. You just HAD to bring your luggage on board and ruin it for the rest of us, didn't you?"
Every time I'm on the plane, I feel like I'm rushing to pull down my luggage, and that I should be apologizing to everyone behind me. And these people don't give even an inch of room. I literally almost took three people out with my luggage on my last flight. It's simple physics, really. The luggage is going to make a downward trajectory arc when I pull it down and anything in the way of that arc is going to get smashed. So if you're breathing down my neck, you better step away.
Now, I'm taking my time. If people aren't going to be courteous to me and other passengers, then they can just wait. I'm going to be more assertive. The next time a passenger is breathing down my neck, I'm going to stop, turn to them and very nicely ask them to back that ass up.
Poison-head arrows were shooting out of my eyes at the suit behind me. It's not that I'm a mean person, it's just that I can be passive-aggressive when I need to be. I wish it were different. I wish I could have looked this jerk in the eye and told him to "Give me a damn minute."
I'm a pretty light traveller these days. I can fit one week's worth of business casual outfits, workout clothes (with gym shoes), casual clothes, fun clothes (if it's a fun city and we'll have time to go out to a bar or two), toiletries, hair brushes, and a good book into a carry-on luggage. I just bring that and my laptop bag with me when I travel because there's no way in hell I'm checking anything (too many pieces of luggage have been lost for me not to have learned that lesson).
But what kills me is that people on the airplane won't budge an inch to let you pull that luggage down from the overhead compartment.
First, I'm amazed by the lack of courtesy people will afford each other when exiting the airplane. There seems that there should be a natural order to things: each row has it's turn to empty into the aisles, with the back rows waiting until it's their turn to go. Instead, it's a mad dash with everyone out for themselves. We've been on the plane 2 hours. Another 3.6 seconds isn't going to kill anybody.
Then, it seems that as soon as you leave your seat, you're expected to make a beeline for the cabin door. Nevermind that you might have some luggage to pull out of the bins. There's the silent impatient scowl from the people behind you, as if they are saying "Look at this conceited passenger. You just HAD to bring your luggage on board and ruin it for the rest of us, didn't you?"
Every time I'm on the plane, I feel like I'm rushing to pull down my luggage, and that I should be apologizing to everyone behind me. And these people don't give even an inch of room. I literally almost took three people out with my luggage on my last flight. It's simple physics, really. The luggage is going to make a downward trajectory arc when I pull it down and anything in the way of that arc is going to get smashed. So if you're breathing down my neck, you better step away.
Now, I'm taking my time. If people aren't going to be courteous to me and other passengers, then they can just wait. I'm going to be more assertive. The next time a passenger is breathing down my neck, I'm going to stop, turn to them and very nicely ask them to back that ass up.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
I want my Girl Scout Cookies!
I finally got my four boxes of Girl Scout cookies today. Two boxes of Thin Mints, one Carmel deLights and one Peanut Butter Patties. I was talking to the Cookie Chair and apparently, there's a bit of cookie unrest in the area.
This year, the NC Girl Scout Council switched bakeries (there are two bakeries in the US that are licensed to produce Girl Scout cookies: one in Louisville, KY and another in Richmond, VA). This year, the council chose to go with the one in Richmond, and apparently people are tasting a difference in their cookies...enough to elicit a front-page newspaper article about it. Apparently, the flavors just don't "explode in your mouth" the way they used to.
Customers are upset. They are demanding their money back and there is a hotline dedicated to taking customer complaints and issuing refunds or new boxes of cookies.
News flash: these are COOKIES we're talking about. I know we get excited about our Girl Scout cookies. They are limited in quantity. You don't get to eat them everyday. But, seriously. I can understand if you got a damaged box of cookies (as some people did, due to a leak in one of the warehouses). But a slight taste difference? Come on.
I did my own taste test of a Thin Mint. It tastes pretty darn good. True, it doesn't seem quite as minty as before, but I don't know if that's because I was looking for it or because there really is a difference.
Some people get upset over injustice in their country. I guess injustice can even take the form of a Girl Scout cookie.
This year, the NC Girl Scout Council switched bakeries (there are two bakeries in the US that are licensed to produce Girl Scout cookies: one in Louisville, KY and another in Richmond, VA). This year, the council chose to go with the one in Richmond, and apparently people are tasting a difference in their cookies...enough to elicit a front-page newspaper article about it. Apparently, the flavors just don't "explode in your mouth" the way they used to.
Customers are upset. They are demanding their money back and there is a hotline dedicated to taking customer complaints and issuing refunds or new boxes of cookies.
News flash: these are COOKIES we're talking about. I know we get excited about our Girl Scout cookies. They are limited in quantity. You don't get to eat them everyday. But, seriously. I can understand if you got a damaged box of cookies (as some people did, due to a leak in one of the warehouses). But a slight taste difference? Come on.
I did my own taste test of a Thin Mint. It tastes pretty darn good. True, it doesn't seem quite as minty as before, but I don't know if that's because I was looking for it or because there really is a difference.
Some people get upset over injustice in their country. I guess injustice can even take the form of a Girl Scout cookie.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Crazy. Ness.
Scott and I have never made a big deal about Valentine's Day. To us, it's an artificial - and superficial - holiday that carries no meaning to our relationship.
After work, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a few items. Complete mobscene. I circled the parking lot about twelve times, finally resigning myself to "stalk" a leaving customer so I could confiscate his spot. Then I elbowed my way past the swarm of people hovering around the 12,589 rose bouquest on sale at the front of the store. (That doesn't count the 1,476 bouquets on sale throughout the rest of the store).
The dairy section was sparsely populated - good news for me, as I scored a gallon of milk - but the meat, wine and cheese sections were all a-tither. Seriously, people.
On my way out of the store, I happened to walk next to a man who started laughing. I gave him a quizzical look. "All together now, let's say 'I love you.'" Nicely put. Somehow, we have all got it in our heads that we need to do the same thing as everyone else in this country, to tell the people we love that we love them. Crazy. Ness.
Of course, Scott and I are not completely exempt from the madness. I did receive roses from him today, which was a bit out of the blue (he has also been out of town for the past two weeks, so that might have something to do with it). And I succumbed to the peer pressure at Whole Foods and bought a bottle of Scott's favorite wine.
After work, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a few items. Complete mobscene. I circled the parking lot about twelve times, finally resigning myself to "stalk" a leaving customer so I could confiscate his spot. Then I elbowed my way past the swarm of people hovering around the 12,589 rose bouquest on sale at the front of the store. (That doesn't count the 1,476 bouquets on sale throughout the rest of the store).
The dairy section was sparsely populated - good news for me, as I scored a gallon of milk - but the meat, wine and cheese sections were all a-tither. Seriously, people.
On my way out of the store, I happened to walk next to a man who started laughing. I gave him a quizzical look. "All together now, let's say 'I love you.'" Nicely put. Somehow, we have all got it in our heads that we need to do the same thing as everyone else in this country, to tell the people we love that we love them. Crazy. Ness.
Of course, Scott and I are not completely exempt from the madness. I did receive roses from him today, which was a bit out of the blue (he has also been out of town for the past two weeks, so that might have something to do with it). And I succumbed to the peer pressure at Whole Foods and bought a bottle of Scott's favorite wine.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
I am a fifth grader
So tonight I checked out the game show that everyone's been talking about - Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? I love this show! It's fun because it's not just random trivia, but stuff that you should know and it forces you to reach back in the annals of your mind to remember some of this stuff.
What's neat is that you realize how much more you know now than you did in 5th grade. Sure, maybe it's hard to remember off the top of your head which element, besides Bromine, is a liquid at room temperature. But most people can reason it out (Mercury). It's neat to see how you use other knowledge you've gained over the years to apply it back to the basics. It's not just regurgitation anymore.
On another fifth grade note, I need some advice. Is it so wrong that I love Miley Cyrus' new song "See You Again?" I'm going to be honest. It's been stuck in my head all day and I'm not upset about that. I'm thinking about downloading it from iTunes but am a little worried I may be end up on 20/20. I happened to run across Hannah Montana on TV the other day, and I found myself watching the entire episode. Miley's really cute and it's a pretty good show - for a 10-year-old.
See? This is what happens when writers go on strike!
What's neat is that you realize how much more you know now than you did in 5th grade. Sure, maybe it's hard to remember off the top of your head which element, besides Bromine, is a liquid at room temperature. But most people can reason it out (Mercury). It's neat to see how you use other knowledge you've gained over the years to apply it back to the basics. It's not just regurgitation anymore.
On another fifth grade note, I need some advice. Is it so wrong that I love Miley Cyrus' new song "See You Again?" I'm going to be honest. It's been stuck in my head all day and I'm not upset about that. I'm thinking about downloading it from iTunes but am a little worried I may be end up on 20/20. I happened to run across Hannah Montana on TV the other day, and I found myself watching the entire episode. Miley's really cute and it's a pretty good show - for a 10-year-old.
See? This is what happens when writers go on strike!
Friday, February 01, 2008
When stupid parents do stupid things
Many of you will recall the MySpace Suicide Hoax last year, where a 13-year-old girl, Megan, committed suicide after being taunted by a boy she liked on MySpace. It turns out that this "boy" was a fictional profile created by her friend (and her friend's parents) to find out what Megan might be saying about this friend behind her back.
This story has made the secondary headlines again because the sherriff of the town (which isn't too far from where I grew up) kept the case open to see if he could charge the friend's parents with anything. The case recently close because it was decided these parents hadn't broken any laws...besides just being stupid and callous.
Now, of course, I'm sure that these parents never imagined that their actions would cause the suicide of a girl. But at what point do parents bow down to the level of their 13-year-old child?
I'm not a parent, and probably won't be for a while, and I know how much parents hate it when non-parents parent. But I think it's one of those scary things you consider when you think about raising a kid in today's world. You want to be a "friend" to your child, but you have to draw a line at indulging your child's every wish. How would things have been different if those parents stood up to their child and said "No," no matter how much they wanted to protect their child.
I think that's the problem today. We want to over-protect, we want to indulge - but at what cost? And what's the line that separates having a relationship that goes beyond parent-child and becoming a 13-year-old yourself? I think it must take a lot of self-confidence to be a parent - to not worry about what your child thinks of you, especially when you have to make those tough and unpopular choices.
Maybe these parents werent' self-confident enough. They got caught up with living in their child's world and not think about the consequences that grown-ups - and parents - should think about. Kind of makes the thought of raising a kid a little scary.
This story has made the secondary headlines again because the sherriff of the town (which isn't too far from where I grew up) kept the case open to see if he could charge the friend's parents with anything. The case recently close because it was decided these parents hadn't broken any laws...besides just being stupid and callous.
Now, of course, I'm sure that these parents never imagined that their actions would cause the suicide of a girl. But at what point do parents bow down to the level of their 13-year-old child?
I'm not a parent, and probably won't be for a while, and I know how much parents hate it when non-parents parent. But I think it's one of those scary things you consider when you think about raising a kid in today's world. You want to be a "friend" to your child, but you have to draw a line at indulging your child's every wish. How would things have been different if those parents stood up to their child and said "No," no matter how much they wanted to protect their child.
I think that's the problem today. We want to over-protect, we want to indulge - but at what cost? And what's the line that separates having a relationship that goes beyond parent-child and becoming a 13-year-old yourself? I think it must take a lot of self-confidence to be a parent - to not worry about what your child thinks of you, especially when you have to make those tough and unpopular choices.
Maybe these parents werent' self-confident enough. They got caught up with living in their child's world and not think about the consequences that grown-ups - and parents - should think about. Kind of makes the thought of raising a kid a little scary.
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