Tuesday, February 21, 2006

These are the days of our lives

I should be at work today, but I'm using the fact that my car is making a very disconcerting noise to convince myself (and my boss) that I really should work from home today. I can be productive at home, I swear. Really. ... It's just that the tv is so tempting. And there are so many good things to read on the internet. Oh, and the bed, the bed looks so warm and inviting. Oh, let's face facts. The day is a wash. I guess I might as well go crawl into bed and watch some tv.

See, this is why I shouldn't be allowed to work from home. EVER.

I've been feeling very dissatisfied with my life lately. Not so much the generality of my existence - I'm pretty happy being me - but the feeling that I've done almost nothing of significance with my life so far. I'm still living in Michigan. I got a college degree that is practically useless. I have a job that I like, but that doesn't have any real stability to it. I'm not any closer to being married than I was back in high-school. In fact, the only real things that I have now that I didn't have in high-school are a dog and a mortgage payment.

I look at friends who have moved away or who are doing these amazing internships is places like Brazil and San Diego, and I wonder what is wrong with me that I am still here in the same place I was in when I graduated from high-school. Why did I not study abroad in Europe for a semester in college? Why didn't I spend a summer in some fun place like Martha's Vineyard or New York City, when money didn't matter and I had no real commitments? I had all these opportunities to get out and see the world and I never took any of them.

I go back and forth between wanting to just sell my house and join the peace corp, to thinking that it's too late and I'm too old to sacrifice everything and just go.

I am in such a funk right now.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Everybody's doing it ...

FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD:
1. buser/ hostess - at this little Italian restaurant in my home-town. I loved it because I could sneak back into the kitchen and eat as much food as I could talk the chief's into preparing for me. Plus the waitresses taught me how to smoke pot - and I found out that, contrary to popular belief, you CAN get high the first time.
2. flower pusher - I ran the Sam's Club floral department, which actually only consisted of a small cart filled with buckets of pre-packaged flowers. I got very good at looking cute in my green apron, reading on the clock, and wandering around the store trying to look busy - oh, and making out with my boyfriend, who worked in the produce department, in the walk-in cooler.
3. nanny - In college I watched this little girl, Clare, three days a week. I got paid under the table and I could watch tv all I wanted. Best job ever. I worked for them for 3 years.
4. mortgage banker - my current gig. I've been doing this for over 3 years now, since I graduated from college, and I love it.

FOUR MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. Office Space - this movie is my life in so many ways
2. Groundhog's Day - it doesn't matter what part of the movie you come in at, you can just jump right in
3. 50 First Dates - don't ask me why, but this movie gets me everytime. I just love it.
4. Pulp Fiction - so many good lines

FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Mt. Clemens, MI - born and raised
2. East Lansing, MI - during my most formative and life-shaping college years at Michigan State University
3. Sterling Heights, MI - with my Grandma for 6 months after I graduated, when I realized there was no way I could live with my parents ever again
4. Royal Oak, MI - finally bought my own house about 3 1/2 years ago, worth every penny

FOUR TV SHOWS I LOVE:
1. Gray's Anatomy - I dare you not to love this show!
2. The Daily Show - Oh, Jon Stewart, you with your sarcastic wit, how I adore you
3. Soprano's - counting down the days until the next season starts
4. Chappelle's Show - Dave, why have you forsaken us?

FOUR PLACES I HAVE VACATIONED:
1. Alaska - with my Grandmother, no less. If you have three hours, maybe I can show you all the pictures we took.
2. Michigan's Upper Peninsula - two weeks, crammed into a little Ford Tempo with my then-boyfriend, driving all over the place, camping the whole way.
3. Out West - every summer when I was growing up, my parents and I (and our dog and cat) would climb into the car and head out west . You name it, we saw it - The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, The Rocky Mountains, etc. That's still how I love to travel. No destination, just pick a direction and go.
4. New York City - I got to stand at the top of the World Trade Center!

FOUR OF MY MOST FAVORITE THINGS TO EAT:
1. spaghetti with meat sauce
2. warm chocolate chip cookies
3. filet mignon, medium-rare
4. my Dad's hungarian goulash

FOUR SITES I VISIT DAILY:
1. Dooce
2. NY Times
3. Finslippy
4. Live Journal