A for Attitude

Ain't nothin' gonna to break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no
I got to keep on movin'
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground
Oh-no, I got to keep on movin'

You're on a roll and now you pray it lasts
The road behind was rocky
But now you're feeling cocky

The sun is setting earlier and rising later.

As much as I love Fall (being a Fall baby and all), I do not like losing daylight.  As long as the sun shines and the sky is light, I feel like I have plenty of time to accomplish things.

However, I've noticed the past couple of weeks that I've been hitting the snooze more in the morning and rolling out of bed later and later.  The bedroom is cool and dark and I want to stay there.  Then, at night, I sit here in my spare bedroom, clicking away at a work-at-home part-time job and watch the sun set and the skies grow dark.  Before 8:00 p.m.

As soon as it starts to get dark, I start to get sleepy.

Right around this time every year, I start to get a little moody, a little sad.  I think the clinical name for it is seasonal depression.  I've tried various things over the years -- light therapy, aromatherapy, diet changes, exercise, re-arranging furniture, feng shui, vitamins, juices, schedule changes, switching from an electric alarm clock to an old-fashioned wind-up clock, and meditation.  And even good old American pharmaceuticals.

I've been trying to focus on happier things and channeling positive thoughts and energy.  

Every morning, before I go into work, I sit in my car for a few minutes and just try to clear my brain and heart of any negative feelings and thoughts.  Then, I give myself a little pep talk and then listen to some sort of upbeat song on my car stereo.  

Throughout the day, I try to find things to be thankful for, grateful for and happy about.  I try to shake off anything that wants to bring me down or attach itself to me and make me feel worse.

Sometimes... most of the time..  it works.  I can usually make it through the day and make it home in one piece.

I've noticed that I don't seem to be the only one who suffers this, though.  I've noticed that people who normally post frequent and upbeat comments on Facebook are getting scarce.  Friends aren't as interested in going out and doing things as they were when it was lighter later. Co-workers have been grumpy and distant.  Everyone seems tired and worn out.

I have about a month until vacation and the glimmer of hope of having something to do in the middle of October is keeping me moving forward.

I hope I win big so that I can come back and quit the part-time job and maybe try to do something different with my nights and weekends.

Or find a way to make it ok for me to hibernate like a bear.  I think I'd love to crawl into a cave until spring and just sleep.

Dare Me

Put up your dukes, let's get down to it!
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Why Don't You Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Fire Away!

I've mentioned before that I have a younger brother.

Growing up, we were always antagonizing each other and daring each other to do things.  We were always getting into trouble, too.  "Who dug that big hole in the back yard?" "Why did you shoot your brother in the head with a BB Gun?" "Seriously, who put the crayons in the furnace register vent?" "Why do you not have any bangs?  Who cut your hair off?"

I'm not really one to take risks.  At least, not risks that I don't stand some sort of chance of being successful.  I'm not foolish.  I'm definitely a list maker.  A pro and con list maker.  I've even made pros and cons lists about men I was dating to decide if I should continue dating them.  I worry about just about everything.  My middle name should be "what if?".  When I don't weigh my options, my middle name turns to "Can't Get Right."

However, there's just something about a dare.  I know I shouldn't do it.  I know I should say no.  But, as soon as someone says, "I dare you...", my eyes twinkle and I get excited.  Do I do it?  Do I say no?  Will they like me more if I do it?  Will I shock them?  Will I be their hero?

When I was in the 1st grade, someone dared me to lick the bottom of my shoe.  It's gross.  I know.  Please don't judge.  But, I did it.  I immediately went to the water fountain and rinsed out my mouth, but I didn't want to be seen as a wuss, as a wimp.

I've been dared to flash people, spy on college classmates, send secret admirer notes, and do assorted silly things. Lick foreheads. Let a guy take a picture of me in a bra.  THAT one is majorly regrettable. I wish I had passed on that dare.  Or kept the photo.

I actually enjoy the dare.  Mostly because of the outcome.  I love that look of shock.  I guess I don't look like someone who would take a dare.  I guess it's my innocent girl-next-door good looks and bashful blush. 

Now, I won't do anything illegal.... or unethical... or cruel.  I also won't do anything that will cause harm to myself or another person.  So, I'm careful in which dares I actually jump at, but, man, I love a challenge. I also won't do anything that I risk getting my heart broken or my feelings hurt.  7 minutes in heaven or spin the bottle?  Not for me.

I also like daring people too.  I love when people get involved and respond.  It totally tickles my fancy when someone takes my dare. It shows a playful spirit and makes me wonder just what else they'd be willing to do.  (What would they do for a Klondike bar?)

I think I need to have a slumber party so we can all play a good game of truth or dare.  I haven't played that since I was 10.  I imagine it could be way more interesting as an adult.  

Especially if alcohol and members of the opposite sex are involved. :)

Just don't ask to see me in a bra.  That ship has sailed my friends.  And the photo is somewhere in Albany.

Silliness To the Rescue

I want to be the one to walk in the sun

Oh girls they want to have fun

Oh girls just want to have

That's all they really want

Some fun

When the working day is done

Girls - they want to have fun

Oh girls just want to have fun,

They want to have fun,

They want to have fun...

I am a child at heart.  I love anything that tickles my fancy and makes me giggle.  Most days I can find something humorous in some of the most mundane things, as evidenced in my frequent observational status updates on Facebook.  You just have to keep your eyes open and be ready for anything.

Today, my friend Janelle and I went to see Contagion.  That in itself was not funny.  However, every time someone in the movie theater coughed, I giggled a little on the inside.  I also watched everyone make a beeline for the restroom and wash their hands furiously.  Ahhhh, nothing like the fear of germs to generate some hysteria.  I bet anti-bacterial company stock goes up.  There was plenty of product placement for Purell.

Before the movie, Janelle and I went to Books A Million, near the movie theater, to kill time.  For some reason, we stopped in the HUMOR aisle.  Normally, I make haste to the romances or new fiction.  I rarely stop in the humor aisle.  I highly recommend it.

Janelle did a dramatic reading of Go the F**k to Sleep and I realized that if I had kids, I'd probably write a similar book.  I laughed and laughed.  There's just something about seeing and hearing the "F" word in a children's book type setting.  Click on the book title and enjoy Samuel Jackson reading the book.  SO funny.

Then, I discovered a book called Crap At My Parents' House.  I kept laughing and giggling over the captions.  My parents had some of the stuff in the book.  I found a website about the stuff and they are on Facebook.  I thought about buying the book just to have it at my desk at work for when I have a bad day.

Then, I dramatically read some of Jimmy Fallon's THANK YOU NOTES to Janelle as she read to me tips from THE SEXY BOOK OF SEXY SEX. I learned more than I needed to know about ... um.. pube scaping.  Yeah, it's exactly what you think it might be.  

I oohed and aahed over the plethora of zombie-related books and wished that PAT THE ZOMBIE wasn't sealed.  (Remember PAT THE BUNNY?)

We eventually moved onto calendars, mocking one about the upcoming apocalypse in 2012.  I jokingly said that if I designed a calendar about the apocalypse, I'd have it end on 12/21/2012.  The calendar was sealed so we couldn't see if it ended as abruptly as the world is expected to.

Janelle wanted to look at magazines and I noticed some comfy chairs.  Two were occupied.  One was not.  I sat down in one next to some guy reading what looked like a "graphic novel" (bookspeak for an over-priced comic book).  To make him nervous, I kept glancing over at his book as he tried to read.  He leaned away from me and started to hunch over the pages.  I leaned a little more.  He turned and gave me an evil look.  I smiled, straightened up and updated my Facebook status with the event.  As I typed (or tried to type - making sure I don't accidentally call people like I did last night... sheesh...), I'd glance at him and then back down at my phone like I was documenting his behavior.  Fearful that he'd report me to the sales clerk and get me kicked out, I got up and wandered around the toys section.  

We eventually left and then went to the movie.

Every now and then, I need to have some comic release.  The laughter generates this oxygenated perky feeling and everything is right in the world. 

Like bantering on Facebook with Janelle about the sexual benefits of a toothless man... or bantering on Facebook with Janelle about my encounter with a random IMer on Yahoo Messenger ... or bantering with my co-worker Gordon about whatever strikes me/him as amusing at the time... or shocking co-workers in a training class by admitting that I knew all of the words to the Humpty Dance...  aaaah, good times.

I think the world would be a happier place if we all could find our inner child and just go have fun.

I dare you to do it.  I'm on a mission to have more fun and encourage others to have more fun.

• Read something as if it's dirty (as in "sexual").  That's super fun.  Just about anything can be made to sound dirty if you read it the right way.  
• Play with a toy.  (A real toy, not a sex toy, although that can be fun, too.)  
• Buy a happy meal.  Keep the toy.  
• Listen to fun music like THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.  
• Do some You Tube Roulette.  
• Go to www.stumbleupon.com and check out random websites.  
• Think of unique things for your Facebook status.   
• Invite your friends to make up your Facebook status.  
• Google Jack Handey.   
• Write your own "Deep Thoughts".  
• Go to the SPCA and play with the animals.  
• Go to an arcade and play skeeball.  (My personal favorite.)  I'd start a Skeeball league if I could.  
• Eat ice cream for breakfast.
• Watch cartoons.  The ones for kids.
• Sit and people-watch.
• Google Kids in The Hall's "Crushing Your Head" and do it to people at work or in airports or at the train station.
• Make up stories in your head about people you see on the street, in the store, or in the car next to you.
• Say "wiki wiki wiki" in random conversations.
• Give yourself a rapper name, stripper name and porn star name.
• Google Dennis Quaid on the Ellen Degeneres talk show.  "Dennis Quaid is here!"  Talk about yourself in third person.
• Splash in puddles.
• Blow some bubbles.
• Offer someone a hug. (Someone you know.  Decrease the creep factor.)
• Watch videos on www.wyotk.com.  I suggest "What we say wrong" and "Hugs and Kisses".

Life is too short to take it seriously.  You don't get out of it alive so you must make the most of it while you are here.

ABCs ... of Me

A B C , Its easy as
1 2 3 , as simple as
do re mi, A B C, 1 2 3
baby you and me girl

When I taught elementary school, one of the things we used to have the kids do to help them with adjectives was to make a list of adjectives, descriptive phrases and words that described them, what was important to them, etc. using each letter of the alphabet.  They could decorate the list however they wanted, using clippings from magazines.  It was a fun thing to do and it helped promote positive self-esteem and creativity, too.

I dare you to do it sometime.  It can be kind of fun to think of words and phrases uniquely "yours" for each letter of the alphabet.

To take a break from the semi-heavy topics of recent days, here's my list!

A Autumn-loving B Bashful (sometimes) C Careful D Demonstrative E Eager to please F Friendly G Generous H Halloween-loving I Imaginative J Joking K Kitchen-savvy L Loving M Music-loving N Nice O Optimistic P Pet-lover Q Quirky R Romantic S Sarcastic Sense of Humor T Tempted U Understanding V Valuable W Writer X eXuberant Y Yearning Z Zaftig