Month In Review: June

Wow, we are nominally halfway through the year. Where has the time gone?

• Take better care of myself. I’m like a broken record with this, but I can once again only give myself partial credit for this. The month started on the right track. I was more or less eating right and I even exercised a couple of times, but then my birthday happened. And instead of being inspired to take better care of myself, I was inspired to eat as much junk food as possible. Not to mention all of the extra calories I’ve been consuming in the shape of frappuccinos and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and free sodas in the break room. I’ve already decided that I’m going to get serious about this after the Fourth. But in the meantime, I have a bunch of junk food in my house that I have to eat. (I can’t just let it go to waste, you guys.)
• Read every day. I was really quite smart when I came up with these resolutions, giving myself some that would be easy and others that wouldn’t be so easy. This is one of the easy ones. (Going in to this year I thought it would be the only easy one.) I only read 2.5 books this month, but that included 2 Austen novels: Northanger Abbey (which is great) and Mansfield Park (which is awful). (I’m now halfway through my Austen re-read and I ordered the books so that I’ll read 2 great ones, 2 bad ones, and 2 great ones. I’m also interested to see if my opinion of any of the books changes this time around, but that hasn’t been the case so far.)
• Blog every day. This is my other easy resolution, even though I was afraid it would be quite difficult. When I really stop and think about it, I am pretty shocked that I’ve managed to blog every day. But I really like blogging. I mean, how else could I ever justify spending hours on YouTube looking for Chase Utley videos?
• Work on my house. Yikes. Does selling old textbooks and DVDs to Amazon count as working on my house? If it doesn’t, then I haven’t done a thing for my house this month. At this point I don’t even care if asking my mom to help clean my house makes me a bad person, it has to be done.

Holy crap, I just looked at a calendar and there are only three weeks left in the semester. And I will have a lot of assignments due. This will adversely affect my blogging, but I will try to post every day. Thank God my boss asked me to take next week off.

But my reward at the end of July will be a trip down the shore. I’ve already got my plane tickets to Philly for the last weekend of the month. Can’t wait!

Until tomorrow.

How Could I Forget This?

I spent some time at The Atlantic Wire this morning after my personal cheerleader sent me a link to this article about the best girl-power books. I agreed with a bunch of the selections, but more importantly I started following links.

That’s how I found this article about re-readable books. I’m a big fan of re-reading books, so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to that link. There were quite a few books listed that are high on my re-reading list, so that made me happy (especially the Betsy-Tacy shout out).

But the thing that really struck me was the mention of Christopher Pike books. I freaking loved Christopher Pike when I was in middle school and I’m so upset that I completely forgot about him! I owned a bunch of his books and read them a lot. (Although I had a hard time picking out any of the titles from the list on his Wikipedia page. So maybe his books didn’t have as big of an impact as I’d thought they would at the time. But I am pretty sure that I had the Final Friends Trilogy and at least one book from the Remember Me series. But I had so many more than four books and it’s bumming me out that I can’t remember anything else.) I have this really strong urge to read Christopher Pike now. Which would present quite a contrast to Jane Austen. I may have to get over to the Brandon Library to see what Christopher Pike books they have, because I really don’t feel like buying any.

Seriously, brains are so weird. Middle school me is horrified that I ever forgot about Christopher Pike because she didn’t think it possible. But then just reading the name (in a non-Star Trek context) immediately reminded me of how much I loved him and made me want to read him again. And YA horror/thriller books are not generally my thing.

It really would be something to revisit. I’m taking a YA books course next semester, so maybe I can justify it that way.

Until tomorrow.

I’m A Bad Influence

It’s true. You can ask this guy Larry that I knew in college.

I took an awesome and unexpected trip down memory lane this morning. My personal cheerleader and I were having a random text message conversation (as we do), when she referred to herself as a bad influence. At first I agreed with her, but then I remembered that when we were in school I was the one who was called a bad influence. I wasn’t even sure if she was going to get the reference because my message didn’t mention college and I had only just thought of it for the first time in forever. Not only did she know what I was talking about, but she took it a step further and tried to remember who had originally deemed me a bad influence. She suggested another guy we knew named Jackson. And after she said Jackson I remembered that it was Larry, who was Jackson’s roommate.

(As she pointed out, this is just yet more proof that we share the same brain.)

I don’t remember why the hell Larry ever decided that I was a bad influence, though. (Kinda makes the story worse, doesn’t it?) It was probably a joke about how quiet and shy I am. But, if so, there was no malice in it; I certainly wasn’t offended. Hell, I kind of took it as a badge of honor. I’m pretty sure I made a sign that said “I’m a bad influence” and hung it on the door of my dorm room. (Or one of my friends made the sign. The point is, there was a sign.)

It was an inside joke amongst my college friends for years. And then I completely forgot about it. Until this morning. Isn’t the brain weird? And awesome.

Until tomorrow.

Apotheosis

What did you do for Chase Utley Day?

I began the day by obsessively checking social media for official word that he was, in fact, being activated from the DL today. Once it was officially official, I was able to relax a little bit and search the Interwebz for some Chase Utley greatest hits (as it were). Like this video of one of my all-time favorite Harry Kalas calls. (Seriously, watch it because it’s awesome.) Oddly, though, I found myself spending more time on interview-type moments instead of on the field moments. For a guy who is well-known for a kind of antagonistic relationship with the media, he does have some awesome on camera moments. Like this one

And this (NSFW) moment will always be special to me. It wasn’t technically an interview, but he was on live TV.

Seriously though, everything about the (infamous) “world effing champions” line was amazing and perfect. I actually watched it live (online). I know every Philly news station was carrying the victory parade live (and without any sort of a delay – whoops) and I think most of them were also streaming it online. I spent hours sitting at my desk at my first crappy Tampa temp job, watching (and sometimes just listening) to the 6ABC stream. It was glorious.

But the weirdest thing I did to celebrate Chase Utley day was buy a Led Zeppelin greatest hits record. Now, I don’t like Zeppelin and I never have, but AmazonMP3 picked the absolute perfect day to offer said greatest hits record for $2.99. You see, I had a $1 credit for AmazonMP3. And I did have this overwhelming desire to listen to “Kashmir.” (Especially since they never played it at the Threshers game last week.) Sure, I could’ve just spent the buck on “Kashmir,” but it seemed silly to waste the chance to pay $1.99 for 23 “extra” songs.

(It occurs to me that you might not know what the hell Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” has to do with anything. It is and always has been Utley’s walk-up song. To the point that Twitter exploded during his first at-bat tonight because they didn’t play “Kashmir” at CBP.)

So why did I name my second Chase Utley post in as many days “apotheosis?”

Have you read the Dan Brown books about Robert Langdon? If you have, you probably know that apotheosis means deification or god-making. (Does apotheosis come up in all the Robert Langdon books or just The Lost Symbol? It’s been so long since I’ve read any of them that I can’t remember.) And that is absolutely the thing that Phillies fans do to Chase Utley. Especially the past two years when he has started the season on the DL.

He is seen as a bit of a savior for the team. He certainly seemed like one tonight when he went yard during his first at-bat of the year! (And I see you in the dugout, Ryan Howard, about to start a rehab assignment!) And then Chooch followed with a home run of his own. Man, the first inning was fun. The rest of the game, not so much. But whatever, it is June 27th and Chase Utley is back in red pinstripes and that is freaking awesome!

And I need to go to bed 😦

Until tomorrow.

Happy Utley Eve

This is a legit holiday for Phillies fans, you guys.

And this was one of those boring days where nothing inspired me to write, so you get me blabbing on about Chase Utley some more.

He went 2-for-5 with a home run for the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs. And if all goes according to plan he will be back in red pinstripes tomorrow! *Kermit flail*

Needless to say, this is great freaking news 🙂

It’s almost as exciting as the shots of him doing fielding work at Citizens Bank Park yesterday. In a sleeveless t-shirt. Oh my God, his arms. Look, I’ve had a thing for Utley forever (dudes with dark hair and light eyes are kind of my type), but he’s even hotter now. Just sayin’.

Y’know, Utley was the reason I finally caved and bought MLB.tv last season. He was making his season debut, it was about a month before my birthday, it seemed like an awesome early birthday gift to myself. And it was.

Oh yeah, and the Phillies won as well! Chooch is on another tear. As of right now he leads all of baseball with a .361 batting average. And he’s still third in All-Star voting. That is downright shameful.

Alright, I’m tired, it’s almost midnight, and I haven’t read anything yet today. (I’m currently re-reading Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park if you’re interested.) I am off to bed.

Until tomorrow.

Yeah, Okay

Last week I thought my new boss was pretty cool, but it turns out that she’s kind of a bitch.

I dunno, maybe I’m reading too much into it or taking it too personally or something, but it’s kinda messed up to get upset with me about not meeting an expectation that you never set. Oh, you expected me to stuff the entire ginormous pile of checks and extraneous related paperwork into envelopes today? That’s nice, you never told me that.

I can say lots of bad things about one of my old bosses, but one good thing is that she was very into expectation-setting. We always knew what she expected of us. I think I took that for granted until I was reprimanded for failing to read my boss’ mind. (Okay, “reprimanded” is a strong word; it’s not like she yelled at me. I don’t remember if she used the word “disappointed” or not, but she was clearly disappointed.)

And admittedly, I was lollygagging a bit. But I just saw a pile of work to be done, not a pile of work to be done today. Plus, there was one day last week when no one gave me anything to do (true story), so I think I could even be justified in “hoarding” work.

Blah.

And then my mom called shortly after I got home and I told her the story (since, y’know, it was the only interesting thing that had happened to me). I didn’t call my boss a bitch, but I was venting a little. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my mom is literally the worst person I know to vent to. It’s been that way since I started working retail in college and wanted to complain about customers (which is one of the ways you stay sane when you work retail). Somehow I am always the asshole for daring to get upset about whatever I’m complaining about. It’s like if you were to complain about something on Twitter and have a thousand strangers reply #FirstWorldProblems. Only, y’know, it’s your own damn mother.

I pretty much checked out of the conversation at that point since I was kinda angry, but my mom clearly didn’t notice. As evidenced by the fact that she called me again at 8 PM and the first thing she did was ask if I was still upset about my boss. I couldn’t believe she brought it up again and really had no desire to rehash it. And I actually kind of told her that, instead of just getting all passive-aggressive. Which is kind of a big deal for me.

So, yeah, that was my day. I still think I am well within my rights to be annoyed, regardless of what my mom thinks.

But the Phillies won! The bottom half of the first inning was one of the most fun things I’ve seen in ages 🙂

Until tomorrow.

Is The Sun Still In The Sky?

I am legitimately curious. I didn’t see the sun at all today, so for all I know it no longer exists.

Yeah, it has been raining since the moment that I woke up this morning. Yay! And it wasn’t some measly drizzle, oh no. More often than not it was a torrential downpour. Double yay! (Not least because I had to make the 43 mile trek from my parents’ house.)

I ended up staying at my parents’ house much later than I had intended to because I was waiting for the storm to let up. But it never really did.

I did manage to get home in time for the tornado watch and warning. Triple yay! (Does anyone know the difference between a watch and a warning? I know that one of them means a tornado is possible and the other means that a tornado is either imminent or has been spotted, but I don’t know which is which. Why are the words so damn similar?)

At least I never lost power. That really would’ve sucked. But this wasn’t really the best way to end my weekend. (For that matter, neither was the Phillies getting swept in a day-night doubleheader.)

Until tomorrow.

Woohoo!

That was awesome!

The Phillies are playing the Rays this weekend. In Philly. (It figures that they’re playing my local team during my birthday weekend, but in Philly.) Unfortunately, I am now at the mercy of the crappy MLB blackouts (since the Rays are playing and they are my local team), which means I have to watch the Rays broadcasts.

I’ve said before that as annoying as the Phillies’ TV broadcasters are, I’d still rather hear them than the other team’s broadcasters. (This is, in fact, why I pay for MLB.tv Premium.) So I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to watch the game. But then Juan Pierre hit his first home run as a Phillie (the 17th of his career), giving the team the lead in the process. That made it easier to watch the Rays broadcast.

Things got a little hairy in the eighth inning and I realized that I actually preferred the Rays broadcast to the Phillies at that moment. Wheels’ negativity is so annoying that I would rather listen to the Rays’ broadcasters being hopeful. Plus, the Phils managed to get out of the inning pretty much unscathed, so that helped.

The ninth inning was a different story. At first, I was still glad that I was watching the Rays broadcast and didn’t have to listen to Wheels. But when Papelbon blew the save the Rays’ announcers became a different kind of annoying. So rather than subject myself to what I assumed was inevitable torture, I decided to just stop watching.

I flipped over to Oxygen because they were showing Pride & Prejudice and I love that movie 🙂 But I hadn’t realized how late it was and was disappointed that Lady Catherine de Bourgh was already at the Bennets’ house. I had hoped to have a lot of Jane Austen goodness in which to drown my sorrows.

During the first commercial break I decided to check Facebook, just to see if there were any updates on the game. And were there ever. Not only had the Phillies won, but Jim Thome walked it off!!!!!

That is just so damn pretty. I’m bummed that I missed seeing it live (on TV), but still. And TMac got legitimately excited on that call, so good for him. Honestly, I’m not even mad that Papelbon blew the save since it gave us that moment. That was the 609th homer of Thome’s career (tying him with Sammy Sosa for 7th place on the home run list). It was his 101st with the Phillies. His fifth of the season. And the 13th walk-off homer of his career (giving him the most in MLB history). Not too shabby for his first pinch hit of the season.

Yep, my cousin got a pretty awesome birthday present from the Phillies. I, on the other hand, got a rained out game for my birthday (to be made up in a day-night doubleheader tomorrow). But that’s okay, because I got pretty awesome birthday presents from people I actually know.

Coolest socks I have ever owned? Yes.

As if all that wasn’t awesome enough, I saw Seeking a Friend for the End of the World this afternoon and it was phenomenal. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Plus I liked seeing Keira Knightley in a movie that wasn’t a period piece. And she and Steve Carell were fantastic.

Now I will end this great day by watching the end of Pretty Woman.

Until tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Have Some Free Stuff

I celebrated my birthday by visiting three different retail establishments. The reason for visiting each was that they wanted to give me free stuff. And I am all about free stuff, so it worked out.

My first stop was Starbucks on the way to work.

Venti Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino

If Starbucks offers me any drink on the menu for free just ’cause it’s my birthday, you can make damn sure that I’ll be going for some venti deliciousness 🙂

After work I went to the Brandon Mall to hit up the other two retailers.

Free gift at Sephora

Free gift at Panera (and my default birthday cake)

So why did Starbucks, Sephora, and Panera offer me free stuff for my birthday? Because I’m a member of each’s rewards program. And since each rewards program is free, I’d say I made out pretty well.

All in all, this birthday hasn’t been so bad. I even got emails from Old Navy and the Phillies.com Shop (among others) offering me special deals for my birthday. But no free stuff, though.

Come to think of it, I don’t remember ever telling the Phillies.com Shop when my birthday is. And yet they know. Yeah, that’s not creepy at all. Whatever, I’m not gonna think about that.

Happy Birthday to Me 🙂

Until tomorrow.

Thoughts

Okay, I’m exhausted, so I don’t really feel like thinking right now. The good thing is that I had some thoughts while at work the past two days and emailed them to myself. This is a thing I do when I’m working. I email myself every day. If I weren’t emailing I’d be writing random things on sticky notes, so at least this way I keep everything together. Plus, I find the emails amusing.

All of that being said, here are some of my thoughts from the past two days, presented with little to no context 🙂

Wednesday, June 20

• There’s an elevator here that smells of vinegar – ewwwwww (Okay, I have to explain this. I don’t think I’ve talked about it before, but the smell of vinegar makes me nauseous. Herr’s salt & vinegar chips were the bane of my existence in school cafeterias growing up. The best part, though, is that my nose is also extremely sensitive to the smell of vinegar. It’s my own private hell.)
• While filling out paperwork, it’s nice to be able to look at my hands and see bright, pretty colors on my nails 🙂
• I feel so weird every time I leave the office because I have no badge (Explaining this one too. My current workplace uses biometric scanners instead of access cards. It’s weird. Plus, 10 or so years of working in places that use access cards have conditioned me to feel naked when I leave the office without my badge.)
• I am way too literal sometimes

Thursday, June 21

• Still using XP? Sheesh…
• Am I supposed to be proactive?
• Is it weird that I obsessively check my front door for packages near my birthday?
• This non-chip nail polish top coat may be the biggest rip-off ever; I feel like such a sucker.
• I have a phone number. I wonder where I’m actually supposed to be sitting
• Five Kristins (me included) and only one Kristen – surprising (Okay, this and the previous thought came when I was looking myself up in the Outlook directory.)
• I am an evil genius
• Apparently I have decided that all your junk food are belong to me (to eat).
• Why can’t you buy tickets for AMC theaters at movietickets.com anymore?
• I had to explain Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to my parents last night 😉
• My parents want to see Ted, but Hysteria is anathema to them. This makes no sense to me.
• This whole free soda thing is awesome (and evil). But no way to recycle the cans?? Lame.
• Oh noes, how will I learn about casual Friday?
• In what world is “noes” an actual word? (huh, it’s the actual plural of “no” – who knew?) (I was surprised that Outlook didn’t complain about “noes” in the previous thought, so I looked it up and actually learned something today.)
• Important thing I just spent two minutes on: Does that car with the terrible parking job have a Jersey tag? Result: I’m pretty sure, but not positive
• Holy crap, today is the last day of my 32nd year. Yikes…

So that was a sample of the very important things that ran through my brain while I was at work. That last one is kind of a killer. Tomorrow is, in fact, my 32nd birthday. Do normal people enjoy their birthdays? I’m legitimately curious. I don’t generally enjoy my birthday because a) I tend to have shitty days on my birthday (this has been true since I was a kid) and b) I often end up freaking out about mortality and that’s just no fun at all. Looking forward to it!

Until tomorrow.