pegster

imnotthatkindofgirl:wanderlusts:ephe:(via fieldmanual)

10 things you want for christmas:

a soft binder case for my dvds, a handheld hardcore back massager from brookstone, for me and my family to stay physically and mentally healthy, to keep losing weight,  to meet my future employed and financially stable husband who i will subsequently marry and procreate with, for my college loans to be paid off, for my car loan to be paid off, a maid service to work for me for free, a professional organizer to work for me for free, to have enough money to put a down payment on a nice, decent house

9 musicians/bands you love:

duran duran, u2, radiohead, the smiths, wilco, the killers, adele, jill scott, elvis costello

8 things you do everyday:

brush teeth, shower, wash face, put on shoes, wear lipgloss/balm/stick, fix hair, watch tv, sleep

7 things you enjoy:

deep tissue massages, goat cheese, a really long hug from a good friend, making out with the right guy, a long shampoo at the salon, foot massages, getting something completely awesome for free due to the kindness of others

6 things that will always win your heart:

sincerity, candor, perspective ambition, open minded spirituality, good taste in music, rooting for the sports teams i like

5 favourites:

1. Candy= snickers
2. Fast food= chic fil a
3. Snack= chips and dip/crackers and cheese
4. Movie= waiting for guffman/this is spinal tap.
5. Place= cape may, new jersey

4 smells you enjoy:

fresh laundry, good food/dessert baking, fresh cut flowers, a flowering wisteria bush or magnolia tree

3 places you want to go:

scotland/ireland/england/europe in general, australia, africa

2 holidays you love:

thanksgiving, easter

1 person you’d marry on the spot:

gerard butler because he’s single and in my age range, but if stephen colbert or clive owen had clones that were single, i’d take either one of them, too.

from milemarkers

November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving is pure.  I like the ratio of minimum expectations to maximum enjoyment — the only thing expected in my family is your contribution to the meal (we all offer something, including each child). No gifts, no cards, no parties, no have-to’s, no fanfare. The day is all about celebrating what is already there. 

Just like I am not one to think about goals only at the new year, or growing up only at birthdays, or love only on Valentines Day, I think gratitude is a virtue worth exploring and honoring all year long.  To me, being grateful is not a reflex action in response to a kindness or blessing, but a default setting worth cultivating.  No matter what kind of day I’ve had, each night I count at least five things I’m thankful for before I fall asleep.

I had an encounter with raw gratitude on Saturday morning, and continue to be humbled by it. 

Paige and I were running South down Lamar towards the lake.  There is a hill between 12th and the popular intersection at 5th street, and we passed a man sitting at the corner of 9th.  “Wonder if he needs some help?” Paige asked out loud, more to herself than to me.  I looked at the man; he was homeless, a large man in a wheelchair with a prosthetic leg.  He had his belongings hanging off his chair, including a guitar case.  I mumbled something like, ” I don’ t know…I’m scared.” But Paige ignored me, already on a mission.

“Sir, do you need some help getting up that hill?” Paige smiled, her real smile, the one she smiles at me.

He looked startled for a minute.  “Oh, um, I’m not sure which way I want to go.”

“Well, if you want to go toward 5th, I can get you there.”  Still smiling.  Meanwhile I prayed he wasn’t crazy and about a pull a knife on my good samaritan friend. 

“Well, OK, sure.  Yes, I want to go that way.”  He looked at her quizzically, likely wondering how her skinny legs could possibly push him and all his stuff.  Or maybe even wondering why she cared. 

“Great,” she said. And she grabbed the handles behind his chair as easily and comfortably as she reaches for a baby jogger and started up the hill.  He must have weighed 200 pounds, give or take, plus his belongings.  At first he tried to use his arms to “help” her; he looked very strong from wheeling around town.  After a few minutes of high-speed churning, he gave up trying to hold her pace and accepted the ride for what it was — a gift.  It was as if he were weightless, the way she pushed him without effort, chatting and bantering all the way.  I ran beside them, making conversation but feeling like a third wheel in the moment, winded by my own lack of initiative, my own fear. 

He took over as they crested the hill, his load lightened by kindness and momentum.  Perhaps the greatest treat of all is not being overlooked.  He thanked her and wheeled off to wherever he was going.  Paige and I ran quietly for several paces, very much aware of our legs and what just transpired.  I always talk about how important it is to train to be ready, and Paige was trained and ready for that beautiful moment.  I will never forget it. She does things more than she talks about the idea of doing them, and that is something I really love about her.

Some might say this is an example of generosity or compassion, but to me, it is an example of gratitude. A grateful life is about seeing, thinking, offering, appreciating and living beyond self.  This is the spirit behind giving thanks.

Sometimes it just takes a push.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. 

 Kristin

so let me get this straight:

i buy tickets for christmas vacation, inform you that i will be away soon after i purchase the tickets, and then go about the business of sorting through my now-deceased boss’s files.  this will take me through the end of the year.

then, your little lackey messages me on fb asking me of my availability during the xmas holiday.  i inform the lackey that yes, i will be away.  they ask “even for xmas eve?”  yes, considering my flight is out of philly and is departing before 8am, and i have to drive there, park my car, and check my bags, which means i have to leave my apartment no later than FOUR A.M., yeah, that kinda blows any chances of being able to sing at a xmas eve service, dontcha think?

then, your lackey informs you and you send me a message on fb and get all quasi-sanctimonious about it  that you didn’t know i would be away for xmas eve WHEN I TOLD YOU A MONTH AGO THAT I WOULD BE and imply that i will be singing for someone else that night and imply that you hope i’ll be able to get from that other place to philly on time.

um, no.  DO NOT TWIST IT motherfucker.

i never confirmed that i was going to sing for anyone else because i don’t know if i physically CAN sing for anyone else considering i will be spending the majority of that day dotting i’s and crossing t’s in my now-deceased boss’s files in manhattan.  i’m working a whole day that day!  i’m not skipping out at noon or what the fuck ever.

and that said, i’m not feeding into your drama.  i’m not messaging you back.  i’m going to CALL YOU and SPEAK TO YOU like a human being and not play your stupid little junior high game of he said/she said.  nuh uh.  i barely played that then and i sure as hell ain’t gonna play that now.

rosasparks:

My DAD is here. He’s been very supportive, thus far, but yeesh.

I can’t tell if he’s judging me, doesn’t care, is worried, or what. He’s been on the phone with his girlfriend for like 40 minutes or something. Oh yeah, the woman I’ve never met and I’m sure has great insight into all of this.

Always good to look like a failure in front of my dad. YEAH.

 no, no no.  don’t look at it like that.  i know you’ve written about how you have a weird relationship with your dad, but nobody’s perfect…dads, daughters or otherwise.  parents see you at your worst and at your best, and maybe this is the universe’s/God’s/pick your own deity’s way of helping your relationship with your dad. 

i’ve been fired/let go too all kinds of times of year including right before the holidays, and it sucks ass, but ultimately it shows you that you’re not meant to be there.  of course, it would have been great for them to let you know this earlier or at least waited until the end of january, but timing schmiming.  the only direction is forward.

keep your head up, girl.  something is bound to break in your favor, and soon.  losing any job sucks, but right before the holidays really smacks of a certain peculiar kind of malice.  thankfully you have folks at your old job who will back you up, because lots of people don’t have that.

there is nothing like seeing a recent bad picture of yourself to knock you right back down to earth. 

anybody got a match?  i need to burn some photos.

lickystickypickyme:

Your organs are donated, unless you specifically object.
Many many lives have been saved. Many.
Not to speak of those who live on a time clock because if such and such organ is not replaced they will surely die.
It is like being in the waiting room of Death.

and I respect religious or other reasons people may have, but the Darwinistic truth is that when you die, it all goes to the worms anyway.

Rather help out someone who wants to live but has failing health.

in theory, i’m all for that.  it’s far more democratic than the organ donation system in place in the US now.  now, you can opt to donate organs, but those donation organizations are like vultures, and they only want certain organs from certain people and won’t take from others. 

is organ donation only for the young?  can those over the age of 50 donate organs, or are they deemed not viable due to age?

gamesockson:neurotical:

Which, for me, means that more than a few people will tell me I should have had sex in a different month.  Because the boys are xmas bookends, five days on either side.  Sometimes, they are extra helpful and tell me what month I should have had sex in, in order to have appropriate bdays.  So that when I travel back in my time machine, I can right this wrong.  But joke’s on you, motherfuckers, because I did have sex in the “right” month.  It’s just that neither of them could wait for the new year to make their grand entrance.

I mean, it does sort of suck because no one wants to come to a bday party right before xmas or right before new year’s, even if they aren’t away, so I don’t even have them.  We just take them somewhere for a day trip.  And it sucks because they have to share their bday with xmas and each other.

But still.  Stop telling me I fucked on the wrong days.

 oh man.  this annoys me to no end. jiminy h. christmas.

gosh, i’m sorry my parents had sex between february and april!  i’m sorry that my birthday is inconvenient for people.    here’s what we should all do in the future - force mothers to get scheduled c-sections so that all births for the year will be done by, say, november 15 or something.  that way, nobody has to be born in late november/december ever again and deal with people blowing off their birthday because it’s not in the middle of april when nothing else is going on, because birthdays around the holidays are just so damn inconvenient.

i’ve shared my birthday with the following:

• college final exams (when i was IN school)
• pta performances (when i taught school!)
• office parties (working in offices in various locations)

wtf ever, folks.  if you give me a birthday christmas present, rest assured i will do the same for you on your birthday for the other 10/11 months of the year.  turnabout is fair play.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

i will not be bitter, jaded and cynical today.

it’s amazing to me how people say phrases, they become part of the vernacular, and they fail to realize the message that the phrase really conveys.

case in point:  “my time is valuable”, “i have many different things that take up my time”, etc.

i hear this all the damn time.  i hear it from people who are scheduled up the wazoo.  yes, some people have legitimate calendar issues where they are not in a position to say no, so they say yes to everything only to find they are booked for any and every given day. some people work two jobs.  some people are stay at home parents whose days are filled with kids.  trust, i get it.  you’re busy.

however, in general people will make time for the things they really want that don’t really cost them too much, either monetarily or emotionally or what have you.

the real problem with the phrases is that they quantify the speaker’s time as the only time that really counts.   “my time is valuable”  suggests that the receiver of the phrase does not have time that is also valuable.   newsflash, folks:  ALL TIME IS VALUABLE.  yours, mine, everybody’s time.  let’s think about respecting everybody’s time, not just yours, special snowflake.  if you can’t do something, don’t do it…don’t gauge how you feel about it against how others feel about it because truly, nobody else cares.

it’s also become an excuse for things, too.  ‘i couldn’t call you because i have many different things that take up my time’.  well, duh.  in fact, if you’re not conscientious enough to return a phone call/email/whatever, then don’t bother at all.  you’re not the only one with a life.

i’m not sure if the uses of these phrases is a by-product of our over computerized lifestyles, but when someone uses them on me soon after i meet them, it feels like a defense mechanism for something that hasn’t even happened yet.