My Twenty-Something Quasi-Soap

So my precious back-from-the-dead iPod is fully charged and hooked up to the computer. What's the first thing I see upon hooking it up? I only have enough room on the damn thing for about 2 more albums. I can easily rattle off at least 5 CDs that I've bought since last updating my iPod. Damn, damn, damn! Why does Apple keep phasing out moderately sized iPods? What happened to the 40 gig and 80 gig machines? Why am I forced to choose between 16 gigs and 120 gigs? The hard drive on my laptop doesn't even have 120 gigs! I don't need the space for movies or pictures or any of that other crap, just my music. And I have to spend $250 for space that I don't need ! Do you know what would happen by the time I was able to amass a large enough music collection to fill a 120 gig iPod? The damn thing would be dead! Because a new iPod will not last as long as the old one has! Oh my god, I'm starting to sound like my mother. Maybe I'll just (*cringe*) buy an iPod on eBay.

How spoiled am I? I got hooked up for Christmas, lugging home a suitcase filled with a new game for my Nintendo DS, a few gift cards, a 4th Wii controller and SD card and a brand spanking new Kate Spade tote bag (::squeeeeeeeeee::), but now I'm back at home trying to figure out how to get my hands on a new iPod or like equivalent and hook it up in my car for an affordable price. Easier said than done. And I'm a spoiled brat. Granted, I haven't used my iPod since June. I can't use it in my new car because I don't have an aux jack or a tape deck. I refuse to use an FM transmitter because those things only work if you live in Outer Mongolia and there are no radio stations broadcasting on any frequency on the dial. So I've been toting roughly a quarter of my CD collection in my glove compartment and center console, which is not appropriate care for my precious discs. Additionally, I'm limited to whatever I have in my car at that given moment, which is not cool i

Greetings from New Jersey, where the current temperature is 35 degrees and it's raining. Sigh. It's good to be home. I stayed up all night on Monday night since I had to be at the airport at 5am. It took a half hour to get through security, which is unheard of at FLL. Until yesterday, the longest I had ever waited was 5 minutes. Of course I was seated in front of a 3 year old who did not understand the concept of not kicking the seat in front of you, no matter how many times his mommy told him to stop. The inflight movie on the plane was "Fred Claus," and there were no other options because I got stuck on a ghetto plane that didn't have the new entertainment system yet. At least it was clean. I was, however, treated to a beautiful view of NYC in winter morning sunlight, and everything was good after that. Except for being stuck behind abnormally slow moving people on the freezing cold jetway. That sucked. Slept for pretty much the rest of the day yesterday, since

I said the next post would be from home, but I just made a horrible discovery: My iPod is dead. It has passed on. It is no more. It has ceased to be. (Apologies to the geniuses from Monty Python.) I plugged it into the charger, got one flash of the dead battery signal, and then nothing. Blank. Resetting it doesn't work. It's been charging for 2 hours. I plugged it into the computer, and nothing. If I hold it up to my ear, I can hear its little hard drive (yeah, it's so old, it still has a hard drive ) gasping for breath, trying to turn over. But it will not. It is dead. This is the replacement iPod, mind you. The one I just replaced like two years ago. Exact same model, just brand new. Or refurbished. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's dead. Two frickin' days before Christmas, 8 hours before I have to be on an airplane, and my iPod dies. To be fair, I haven't used it since my last beach day in June. So it has probably died of neglect. And it is a 5 year old mod

...and that's about all I've gotten done as far as packing goes. I hate packing because I always think I'm going to forget something. It's not the end of the world down here because at least there's a 24-hour Walmart about half an hour away. However, very few things are open 24/7 back home in Jersey. At least nothing close to where my parents are - the price to pay for living on the edge of nowhere. But I have made an extensive list. It's almost 8pm and I have no shortage of things to wash, pack, and prepare before heading out to the airport at 5am. I probably won't sleep tonight and just pass out on the plane. Grrr....I. Hate. Packing. And Chez Target closes at 11, so I have to determine my purchasing needs and make it over there no later than 10, which is 2 hours from now. But do I start my laundry first and then go to Target, or do I wait to see what clothes I need to buy (mainly socks, for they all seem to have disappeared now that I no longer wear them)

...as I quote Madonna, who sampled ABBA, who spawned Mamma Mia, which is playing again in the store to celebrate the release of the DVD. The natives are not pleased. Simply because we had to listen to that CD (the movie soundtrack, mind you, not the B'Way version) for 6 weeks straight this summer. That's an average of twice during an eight hour shift, five days a week, for six. effing. weeks. And it's baaaaaaaack! Except now, instead of endlessly bitching about how much we all hate this CD, we have submitted to singing along with it. You have not seen true nuttiness until you have seen a bunch of bookstore employees singing along to ABBA out loud while putting books away. In other news, I am soooooooo close to Jersey that I can almost sme- wait a minute- I was about to give any Jersey haters a good avenue for a really lame joke right there. I am so close to home I can already see all the cat fur on my stuff! Actually, I still find random strands of kitty fur on my old sweat

**shaking fist at the heavens in Shakespearean rage** I only curse it because in the midst of trying to update my MySpace page, there was a 45 minute window during which my page was visible to the whole wide world instead of just my friends. And somehow, within that 45 minute window, someone saw my page and got some wrong ideas and caused some drama for a few people. (No, there were no dirty pictures or drunk pictures or anything stupid like that. Good luck trying to find my page if you don't already have access to it. And if you do find my page, and you're someone I don't know, don't expect me to friend you. I don't roll like that...sorry!) But I think (I sincerely hope) that the drama is over. I have double checked that my info is private again, and we can all return to our previously scheduled programming. But I still curse MySpace for making privacy an opt-in feature upon upgrading as opposed to an opt-out. And my little screw up makes me feel like one of those

...how general malaise and discontent can easily be solved with a couple pitchers of Yuengling and a good long talk about the good old days. Actually, the "good old days" weren't all that long ago. But long enough ago to reminisce, laugh, and cringe about. But at the end of the day, it's nice to kick back with someone who knew you "back in the day," and just drink and talk and chill. Often it's the basic and simple things in life that we enjoy the most.

...agitated? Restless? Tired? Bored? Just overall feeling blah. Maybe it's the weather...it's icky and grey and "cold" outside. We're so used to constant sunshine down here that more than one cloudy day throws everyone out of whack for a minute. Kinda like when the sun doesn't shine for two weeks straight in New Jersey. Or that one summer where the weather was 70, damp, and cloudy from Memorial Day till the 4th of July (Summer of '03, if my memory serves me correctly). Maybe I'm irritated that I was at work for most of the time that my parents were visiting for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'm confused about a possible reaction to something I said out of true concern for someone that was misinterpreted somehow. (Wish I could go into detail, but since it would involve airing out someone else's issues, I can't. Most likely you're not the involved party, but I still have to cover my ass - you never know who actually reads this thing...but if you

...I've spent a good chunk of my day watching old Sesame Street clips on YouTube. You read that right. I've been a fan since I was little (of course), and I rue the day that Elmo showed his furry red behind on the Street (is it fair to accuse Sesame Street, the last bastion of good kids' shows, of jumping the shark?), and watching the old stuff... wow. If you're ever having a really bad day, or you just need to kill some time, I highly suggest digging up some of the old stuff that's there on YouTube. And I dare you to get through Ernie singing "Dance Myself to Sleep" without cracking a smile (you'll probably laugh out loud). Bert's reactions alone were priceless. Ok, off to go get some wings from Bru's Room and watch my newly-acquired 30th Anniversary DVD edition of The Wiz. The original DVD version was the worst DVD ever made , so an upgrade was sorely needed. Yes, I know I need to get out more. BTDubs, Rutgers may very well get to go bowling

So you know how there's girl crushes and man crushes and just regular old crushes? I have a family crush. I am totally in love with the Obama family and I want to be adopted by them. Don't get me wrong: I love my own family with all my heart and wouldn't trade them for anything. But if I was somehow tragically orphaned, I'd want to be adopted by the Obamas. Because they are that freaking amazing. Did you see Barack and Michelle's interview on 60 Minutes last night? OMG. That's all that can be said. I mean, I was excited before the election at the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next president. And I was totally awestruck by how amazingly awesome Michelle is (my sister wants to be Michelle when she grows up). And the girls? OMG, they're beautiful and smart and regular kids ! And in 65 days, they will all be the First Family. The youngest First Family since the Kennedys. And they're awesome. Because they're real people. Anyone who didn't k

Today is the last day of TRL. They're doing a marathon of TRL playlists on MTV Hits...I flipped on to the 1998 playlist. Whoa. Limp Bizkit, 98 Degrees, Marilyn Manson, Spice Girls, Korn, N*Sync... The world was a crazy place 10 years ago, huh? So our parents had Soul Train and American Bandstand. We had TRL (and I mean the Carson Daly, actually live, traffic stopping in Times Square years). What will the next generation have? Oh, I forgot the Backstreet Boys. They're at number one. It's bad enough that they don't show music videos on MTV anymore. You have to go online for that. But I miss these days, you know? Coming home after school, having a snack, and doing my math homework with TRL in the background, complaining that some stupid video is number one again ... Eating the new (and I think no longer available) Crispy M&M's while watching Eminem's "My Name Is" video, not realizing how funny that is until years later. Watching Brandy & Monica

...what are we all supposed to talk about now that the elections are over? Besides the fact that the economy is in the toilet and will be for a long, long time. (Trust me on this one, kids. It will get worse before it gets better. If you recently poured any remaining savings into Bank Of Your Mattress, you should keep it there for a little longer. Srsly. I, on the other hand, have been chronically broke since I took my "early retirement" back in July '07, so I had nothing to lose in the first place.) Oh, here's some fun news: I have a sinus infection. Again. And I'm on antibiotics. Again. If I have to go to the emergency room again, the tiny shred of faith that I might have ever had in the American health care system will disappear. Not like there's anything I can do about it, besides move to Canada, and fortunately I won't have to do that any time soon, if ever. So yeah...there's not much to talk about today. I shall resume lying on the couch and fee

So my Twitters are all out of wack, but that doesn't matter today. Barack Obama is now the president-elect of the United States of America. My sister and I were watching the returns at a friend's house. When 10pm rolled around, we started watching Comedy Central's live election coverage and flipped back and forth between that and CNN. At around 10:55 or so, we were watching the show wrap up, and then it happened: they called it for Barack Obama. We didn't believe it. We thought they were kidding. Then my sister refreshed her NY Times page... And everyone's cell phones blew up. My mom was on the phone, practically crying. I called a friend and got him right as he was turning on the news, and we cheered for about 30 seconds before his parents called him. I left a breathless and probably unintelligible voice mail on another friend's phone. I tried to call a friend in Chicago...the call wouldn't go through. We jumped and screamed and praised deities, we paused a

As promised, I'm going to tell you all a true story about my Halloween. I have to emphasise that this is indeed a true story, and not something I made up just to rile people up or to be dramatic or start shit or whatever. Besides, I haven't made up stories just to put on this blog...I only speak the truth. Last Friday my sister and I went down to a bar near the Miami airport for a Halloween party. We were meeting up with friends of the owner of the bar. The place itself was in a rather sketchy location, and the clientele consisted of the townies who were irritated by the influx of the other attendees, local and not-so-local kids partying on Halloween. Anyway, of the people that were there in costume, there were all sorts of great costumes and such. My sister and I walked in and started looking for our friends, noticing that we were getting lots of stares. We're used to that. Plus, my sister's costume was freaking awesome - she was a Wii remote. We found our friends, gra

...so I've sold out (or gotten really tech-savvy) and set up a Twitter page for the sole purpose of tracking tonight's goings on. I'll be attending an Election party tonight, and I don't want to bring my laptop for fear I might destroy it. Instead, I'll be twittering from my cell phone straight to this blog. So if you're interested in hearing my thoughts throughout this insane election night, keep an eye on the blog and refresh often. The interesting story that I promised will come soon, I promise. But now I need to eat lunch. And I also need to make it look like I've done some work today. Laters.

My Facebook status tells my friends that I am ready for the end...and the beginning. Will it be the end of 8 years of some of the darkest times in American history and the beginning of a new direction for all of us? Or will it be the end of my faith in the American people and the beginning of my Exploratory Committe on Getting The Eff Out Of Here While I Still Can? About 12 hours from now, provided there are no major voting disasters (that means you, Ohio and Florida), we all might have an idea. The last time I was this anxious and stressed out, there were 4 hurricanes lined up in the Atlantic and Carribean, ready to wreak havoc on some poor country or state, and my town was looking hard at two of them, trying to figure out what they would do. So somehow, I have to once again keep my shit together through another slow and quiet day at work and get ready for history. Not gonna lie, y'all...I'm kinda peeing my pants a little bit. (Figureatively, of course!) Being as that it's

Since we're just a few days from Election Day, I figured I'd tell you all about my experience at the polls last week. I started this post right after I got back from the polls, but I'm going to go back over it and try to get my tenses correct. Apologies in advance for time shifts throughout the story...it's a bad writing habit that I've never been good at correcting. But then again, this whole blog is an English teacher's nightmare sometimes. Whatever. Onward to my story about my 2 hour voting experience. You read that correctly. 2 hours in line to vote. So last Monday, voters here in Broward County turned out in record numbers to be among the first to cast their early votes. Just over 11,000 people voted Monday at any one of 17 polling places throughout the county, which comes out to an average of 660 people per site. Polls were open from 10am to 6pm, meaning that anyone in line by 6pm gets to vote that day. So we're really talking 10am to 8pm (what I exper

Eventually I will post my blog about my early voting experience...it's quite interesting. My advice to those of you who can early vote: Do it. Now. If the lines are long, bring a comfy chair and a book. Just do it so you can get out of the way of the insanity that will commence on the 4th. Can't early vote? You better have your ass at the polls next Tuesday. I believe I have stressed enough throughouth this year just how friggin' important the election is. No excuses - you must vote. Now that I have that out of the way, let's talk about something else because we're all pretty much electioned out. A while back I talked about how excited I was about the new TV season and all of the shows I was going to watch and how frickin fantastic September is, blah, blah, and so on. So I thought that today I'd go back over my list and provide some commentary on what's been going on with my shows and everything. **Spoiler alerts are in effect for the remainder of this post.

...and 2008 has already claimed a place in the history books. And we haven't even had the election yet. All the way back in January, I was bitching about the writer's strike (remember that?), excited about the Bejing Olympics (oh yeah, that was only 2 months ago), and as always, I had an update on Miss Britney (although I was so vague about it that I don't even remember what the major freakout was about). I also mentioned that The Election would be happening this year and that I hadn't planned on disclosing who I would be voting for in November. Times certainly do change, don't they? When I defined 2008 as the "year that's gonna be nuts," I truly didn't realize that not only would I be right, but I would make a serious understatement. Not only has this year been nucking futs, but it's thrown us all into some really scary times and the year isn't even over yet. We are a little more than 3 weeks away from The Election. I'm sure that you&#

The weather is finally starting to "cool off" a bit, and I've been itching for a beach day. Today would have been a perfect day to go to the beach. But I had to go to work. Tomorrow's forecast: scattered thunderstorms. Yay. Won't clear up again till Thursday and Friday...then more rain for Saturday. I know Saturday's a long time from now, so I remain hopeful. I have enough stuff here in the apartment to keep me busy if I really get bored. And if all else fails, I'll clean my room. But I don't think I can ever get that bored. le sigh... I had been meaning to put in my two cents on the whole eleventy bajillion dollar bailout - but we're all sick of hearing about it. I was going to talk about Sarah Palin and how she fucking scares me - but we're all sick of hearing about it. I thought about discussing the suckiness that is Heroes season 3 - but it makes my brain hurt, and I'm sick of talking about it. So instead, I leave you with a rhetorical

...is emotionally draining. My current job allows me to work with schools in such a way that I'm beginning to realize yet again that I should be a teacher. To have the ability to work with kids and inspire them to work hard and get ready for the real world...that's something that's of real merit. That's something to truly be proud of. Even only reaching one kid a year out of the 30 or more you may teach...that's one kid that you've inspired to read more or write more or become a scientist or a teacher or the next President. I don't care if you think this sounds cliched...it's the truth. Anyway, now I'm in a position where the things that I really want to do can't be accomplished with the job that I currently have. Frustrating, yes. Surprising, no. Long time readers really know how not surprising this is. But things are ok for now. I'm thinking about lots of stuff and keeping busy at work and focusing on things that will help me keep my sanity

...you are capable of creating some of the most absurd sentences ever. I am having a scrambled-brain type of day where I really should have just stayed home, but I had too many things to attempt to do at work today. Anyway, my absurd sentence. I called a client today and had to leave a message with the secretary. This is what ended up coming out of my mouth: "I just wanted to touch base on him with a couple of things." (slight half second awkward pause as secretary is trying to figure out if I really just said what she thought I said) "I mean, touch base with him. On a couple of things. ::sigh:: It's been a day." And it's not even 2 in the afternoon. And I had my morning latte. Sadly, I am used to being stricken with stupid every now and then...it happens. Often I'm tapped by my family, friends, and co-workers as a human dictionary/thesaurus/grammar and style guide (although one might find that hard to believe from reading this blog). I've also had

This is another reminder to you all that the deadline to register to vote is quickly approaching. If you've been following this blog for a while, this should not be an issue because you have already followed my orders to get registered. If you have not registered yet, there is still time. But not a lot of time. Get registered today. You can go to your local post office or library or city hall and pickup the form. It takes all of 5 minutes to do it. If you're allergic to libraries or post offices or city halls, you can go to your candidate's campaign office. I can guarantee you that if you're looking for an Obama office, there's one pretty close to you. Don't want to go there? Hop on the interwebs (you're already there right now) and go to Rock the Vote . You must, must, must, must get out there and get registered. And then you better get your ass out and vote. I'd prefer if you voted for Obama, but I'll still (albeit begrudgingly) somewhat respect yo

Rutgers is 0-3. Fucking 0-3! We haven't done this badly since 1999. And that was still the Terry Shea era! OMFG. 0-3. Needless to say, I am so. effing. PISSED. OFF! I called in to the postgame show on WRSU and asked for some advice. I was thinking about going to the Rutgers @ USF game in November, since it's just over on the Left Coast. I have 3 options: 1. Go to the game bedecked in scarlet and cheer for the team anyway. 2. Go to the game with a paper bag over my head like they're doing in Syracuse now. 3. Save gas money, keep my ass home, and watch the game on tv. The guys on the show chose #3. Oh, isn't that a coincidence? Choice number 3, just like the 3 FUCKING LOSSES we have on the board! And we haven't even started conference play yet! And we can't beat Navy?!? Navy lost to Duke last week and then turn around and win against Rutgers?!? Is this the bleedin' Twilight Zone here? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I am seriously pissed off. I am typin

...for my comments coloring South Floridians as brain damaged because they weren't at all concerned about the potential threats that we were under (thanks to Gustav, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine). The comments I made were typical of a native and neurotic Tri-Stater, especially one who was in panic mode. So, to my South Florida readers, I'm sorry. You're not brain damaged. I have finally taken my chill pills and limited my visits to the NHC website to no more than twice a day. Moving on then... ...Facebook addicts around the world hate hate hate the new Facebook and I am one of them. EPIC FAIL, Facebook. EPIC FAIL. Fortunately, I found the now-widely-known workaround so I can keep things looking the way that I have grown accustomed to over the years. Hackers and computer geeks ftw!! Out.

It only took me about half an hour or so this morning to remember that today was September 11th. Despite the fact that I had woke up late, had a last minute wardrobe crisis, and was thinking about how a meeting at work would go today, I still remembered. This morning at work, when my manager announced over the intercom that we were to observe a moment of silence, a strange thing happened. I actually prayed. As a person who has considered herself to be spiritual as opposed to religious (when someone asks about my religion, I like to say I'm undecided), I never subscribed to the notion of prayer. But something moved me at that moment...I chose to actually pray. And it was pretty legitimate too. I guess having preachers in my family helped or something. So in the spirit of this day of rememberance, I'll share the gist of my prayer with you. My apologies in advance to anyone who may be offended or weirded out. This doesn't mean I'm converting or anything, I'm just shari

Some women spend $5,000 on a wedding dress. If I had money like that to spend on a once in a lifetime experience, I wouldn't buy a dress. I'd do this . I'm just sayin'...that would make a lot more sense, right?

So we dodged another few bullets. TS Hanna turned enough to miss us and then rip up the East Coast and ruin part of everyone's weekend up there. You're welcome. :) Also, thanks to the high pressure system that gave all you Yankees beautiful weather for most of the week, Hurricane Ike did not get sucked toward us. Great for us, sucks for Cuba and the Gulf Coast. So today is a windy day, but the sun has been shining for most of it and we've only gotten a little bit of rain here and there. Ike is passing south and west, and Josephine has fizzled out, so we're back to a bit of quiet again. I like the quiet. Now we just get to sit and wait for the next one. Yay.

Yesterday I had posited that people down here might be brain damaged as a result of too much near-equatorial sunlight, therefore rendering them unable to be concerned about incoming tropical storms. Methinks my theory is correct. Overheard at work today: "Hey, have you been keeping up on the storms?" "You mean Gustav? Isn't that one over now?" "Yeah, but there's another one in the Bahamas right now. My sister says that it might hit us if the low pressure system moves enough for the storm to move west." "Oh wow." "Yeah, and there's two others behind it." "Two more?!? Since when?" Since yesterday!!! But nobody watches the weather reports down here anyway. Seriously - have you ever looked at a South Florida weather forecast for the summer? It's the same thing everyday: infernally hot with a chance of thunderstorms. Brain damage! Speaking of things cereberally crippling (like my tendency to make up words like cereb

So we're now all back from Labor Day weekend, which means summer is more or less officially over for all of you who don't live here in South Florida. Lucky bastards. I know I'm only saying this now because it's still hot as balls outside and we're under constant threat of hurricane activity. Once December rolls around I'll be happier. BTDubs, Hurricane Gustav passed well to the west of us, but we did get a buttload of rain and wind from him on Saturday. Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone up in Louisiana and Mississippi who are dealing with the storm...fortunately it looks like the levees have held and lots of people got out before the storm hit, so the damage was nowhere near as catastrophic as Katrina was. Meanwhile, we should also take a second to remember that our neighbors in the Caribbean (ok, maybe not neighbors to you , but neighbors to South Florida) have really been getting bitch-slapped so far this season, so any happy thoughts or prayers you can

Ok, so my plan today was to apologize for bitching and moaning about my whole weather situation when we were merely hours away from yet another Event of Epic Proportions (aka Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech). I was going to apologize for being short sighted and I was going to admit that I might have even been projecting my anxiety about the evening's approaching event onto the weather because I didn't want to admit that I was secretly peeing my pants a little at the thought of any security breach and disaster following said breach. (Translation: There was a tiny part of me that was - and still is - holding on to the fear that someone might try to shoot Obama.) Then I was going to talk about how awesome the speech was and how everyone at the convention had pulled together and made it clear that we have to vote for Obama and Biden in November. And I was going to applaud Bill and Hilary Clinton for aiding to close the rift in the party. And I was going to marvel at

Am I the only one who's developing serious agita over the situations brewing out in the Atlantic Ocean right now? Because seriously, this shit is getting ridiculous. Check out the NHC website . As of the 11am update we have Gustav royally effing up Jamaica and threatening to make a beeline for New Orleans, and Hannah revving up northeast of the Leewards and planning to turn for Palm Beach County (unless she decides to do something crazy and hit South Florida more directly). Oh, and if you're up in West Virginia right now, you're enjoying rain courtesy of Fay. Yeah, she's still around...barely. And I haven't even gotten to the cute little yellow and orange spots that we have to watch out for. Those ones are fun. They turn into bad red spots which then turn into storms with names that we have to watch out for. This is insane. I don't understand how people can live like this. I don't like having to check the weather three times a day (which is necessary because