F U N

In an effort to try to battle my ongoing work vs. life seesaw balance game, I’m looking for ways to re-energize myself. I’m feeling particularly ambitious after my rough patch a week or so ago. I hate being a Negative Nancy so I’m trying to take an active role in finding more fun in my days.

So, some questions for you. Feel free to answer any or all, and I’ll respond later with my own answers.

What are two positive things that happened to you today?

What are you looking forward to?

What websites are you loving?

What do you want to learn?

What do you want for Christmas?

I am a pro scuba diver

Guess what? Scuba diving is fun!

I liked it! I didn’t drown!

I wrote a while ago about how I was a bit anxious to try scuba diving, but, like most things I try, I completely excelled at it.

Besides the beginning part, where my goggles squeezed my brain and I was a bit too buoyant and I had to have extra weights added onto me so I would sink in the four feet of water. And then when I discovered that laughing with a regulator in your mouth is probably not the best decision and I choked for a panic-inducing thirty seconds. Yes, ignoring all of that, I’m pretty sure I’m ready for my first deep-sea dive!

In the meantime, I may need to brush up on my sunscreen application skills.

On being a Southern California celebrity

As many of you know, I was supremely addicted to Mario Kart Wii earlier this year. So much so, in fact, that I would find myself strategizing about launching turtle shells at slow cars when I was driving on the freeway. It became a little unhealthy, much like my Harry Potter craze a few years ago when I would walk outside and see a black dog and swear that Sirius Black was in my neighborhood. Maybe you didn’t need to know all that.

Also, as you may know, I get Very Into Holidays. So naturally, I had my Halloween costume picked out in July.

Every time I play Mario Kart, I am always Luigi, so it was a no-brainer that that’s who I would be. And my boyfriend, Jason, was a very good sport in assuming Mario’s role even though he’s not much of a fan of wearing red.

I wore my costume to work on Friday, and let me just tell you: there’s nothing quite speaking with a customer on the phone who has no idea that the person they’re speaking to on the other line is wearing adult-size overalls and a mustache.

We visited a local mall on Halloween and felt like local celebrities. The lady who took this picture had actually just excitedly run up to us to ask if she could get a picture with us, and we got accosted by a group of 12-year-olds in Target who wanted pictures with us as well. We gave them bunny ears.

A couple of people also did the oh-I’m-just-taking-a-picture-of-this-tree-you’re standing-behind nonsense because they were too shy to ask us to pose for them. There’s no telling how many awkward pictures of us there are on the internet. I’m just happy I was wearing gloves so I can rest assured that I was probably not caught picking my nose.

Highlights: an old lady in Target who giggled at us, a trick-or-treater who specifically asked if Luigi “could hand her the candy,” and the fact that Jason’s overalls were Osh Kosh.

Grumpalupagus

I am not in a good place these days. I can’t quiet my mind and it does not make being around me very fun. I suppose I never realized how skilled I am at burying emotions, and it seems like all of a sudden they are all competing for my energy.

To combat this funk, I am trying to search for positivity. I wish I could tell you about my trial run of scuba diving, or how I went to a petting zoo that had guinea pigs this weekend, but it all seems rather inconsequential right now. It’s annoying not to be able to shake this feeling.

I apologize for being vague. Please send me a hug. I’ll try to write soon.

The Amanda of five years ago is cringing

While I was home in Dallas, my sister, brother-in-law, and I went cowboy boot shopping.

Eeeerrrrrrsh. Whoa. That was the sound of the bus backing-the-freak-up.

Y’all, I have no idea what’s come over me.

You see, I went to college out of state for a reason. I wanted nothing more to do with Texas, I had had quite enough of the Southern drawls, the hellish summers, and the fact that I graduated high school with a class full of Republicans (Me? Judgmental?  Absolutely!)

I turned my nose up at people who said “y’all” and wore cowboy boots. When I moved to California and people were surprised that I didn’t have an accent, I was flattered.

But now? I find myself truly wishing for an accent, contemplating interjecting Texas jargon into my everyday conversations. I go cowboy boot shopping and wonder what outfits I’d pair them with. I proudly announce that I’m from Texas and give recommendations on what to do there.

And I’m not even ashamed of it.

Texans are a hoot

I went home to Dallas this weekend. We went to the State Fair.

I discovered that I spent my teenage years blissfully unaware that the biggest State Fair in the country was only miles from my house. But now that I was armed with that knowledge – as well as the knowledge that Oprah would be filming her show there the next day – I experienced a much deeper appreciation for all of its glorious hick-ness.

Behold the magic of my home state.

Me & Big Tex

First stop? The food court. My sister is proudly displaying the nachos we split. Naturally, every chip was in the shape of Texas.

I did not eat this for dessert but I probably should have.

I found this beauty in one of the many shops. Please also note the camo jacket behind me  (or wait – NO! You can’t see it! It’s camouflage!)

Here we have your everyday run-of-the-mill sculpture made entirely of butter.

And the perfect closing piece: stained glass hot dog, soda, and fries.

Birthdays are real fun

Last Sunday was my boyfriend’s birthday. Considering his mom had called me on August 27th to discuss the details of this momentous occasion, I had high hopes for this day. You see, Jason had been saying that he wanted a surprise party. And how the heck do you throw a legit surprise party for the guy who has basically sent out a royal decree that he must be surprised during those 24 hours?

Well, I’ll give you a brief outline; here’s how the process went. First we decided to throw the party at his mom’s house, and that lasted all of three days before Jason declared that he Did Not Want a Party at His Mom’s House, don’t even think about it. “Okay,” I thought, “I have the perfect idea.” I then sent an email to his friends asking if they would be interested in getting together and surprising him with a game of laser tag. He is always talking about laser tag. And anime cartoons. But I figured laser tag was the way to go, everyone was into it, and then came Labor Day. On Labor Day, I was informed that his dad and step-mom wanted to throw him a surprise party. “Okay,” I thought, as I coolly accepted that all of my plans were likely not going to work out.

Let me let you in on a little secret: I LIKE BEING IN CONTROL. I like making plans. I am, how you say, a planner. Now you would never guess this, because I usually come off as being pretty reserved and agreeable when in most social situations, but holy hell, do I love to dictate What Will Happen. So this whole hodge-podge of everyone pulling to get their way on his birthday was a real lesson in patience for me.

Having said that and making myself out (pretty accurately) to be a monster, this control-freak condition of mine is equally crippling because – HA! Even when I do end up planning everything, things rarely turn out the way I had intended. For example, on Saturday night, I made Jason cupcakes while he was at a hockey game. I made them from scratch – a first for me. And I decorated the house with balloons and wrapped his present. It was a lovely display, really.

And then when Jason got home, before he saw any of this, I told him about a conversation I had with my mom earlier in the day in which I told her, “I’m making cupcakes tonight!” This information was totally unnecessary to my actual point at the time; I just decided to include this snippet because gosh, cupcakes are good. And then I realized that I had just flat-out told him the surprise and went into the corner to cry while he laughed and laughed. Cool.

Luckily, I did manage to surprise him by taking him to a park and renting a tandem bicycle. It was pretty magical because all I could think about was how we were just like the couple in that song, “Daisy, Daisy, give me your hand, I do… blah blah, and a bicycle built for two!” Also, I imagined myself as Juno riding her bike with her legs up in the air. I don’t recall if this actually happened in the movie or if I’m making it up, though. Here is a dramatic re-creation of what I looked like flying through the park:

And then, of course, we come to the surprise party. I was absolutely sure that we had him fooled and that we’d pull it off. So sure, in fact, that 2 hours before the party, I wrote this on Twitter: “2 hours until my boyfriend’s surprise party and I still haven’t let it slip! Knock on wood…” And I would say that up until about 20 minutes before the party, he still had no idea. But as we were on our way over to his dad’s house, he said, “Are you texting everyone to let them know when we’ll be there so that they can hide behind their chairs?” What! What a stinker! I had actually only sent two VERY SHORT texts, one to his sister and the other to his mom. And I had sent them while he was on the phone.  Note to self: Do not try to surprise boyfriend again.  (Of course, the birthday card he had gotten on Friday from his grandma had said, “Dear Jason, sorry we can’t make it to your party!” but he couldn’t read her handwriting and had given it to me to translate. I mumbled a few words and then threw it in the guest room).

It was still a good time, though, and the whole thing definitely taught me to chill out a bit. Does anyone still say “chill out?” It reminds me of Charles in Charge. Anyway, yes, I need to relax more and not get so tied up in my “planning.” Because really, spending all night secretly baking cupcakes and burning myself on the oven door only to openly confess exactly what I had been up to is pretty hilarious.

Don’t be tardy for the party

Noteworthy things of today:

My coworker was making a phone call and she said, “Hi, Can I speak with Bertha?” and I could not control my laughter. She almost started laughing, too. Sorry, Bertha, it’s not your fault!

I bought cookies for my office at Subway.

I’m going to a baby shower tomorrow and I found this little gem of a present

It’s pink! It has footies! AND IT HAS EARS! I would like a baby girl right this second.

It officially felt like fall outside for the first time today, and now I’m wearing my penguin pajama pants. And watching Real Housewives of Atlanta, of course.

One of these things is not like the other

My life is all over the place lately. Here is what my weekend looked like:

- Saturday morning: Saw the Dalai Lama give a teaching in Long Beach

- Saturday afternoon: 3 hour nap

- Saturday night: Knott’s Scary Farm until 1:30 a.m.

- Sunday morning: Visited multiple stores in search of overalls for my Halloween costume (it’s top secret – sorry)

- Sunday afternoon: Attend a children’s birthday party for work

What! That is just all over the map! And the coming weeks’ plans seem to follow the same trend. It’s fun, though.

So, the Dalai Lama, oh my word. First off, it’s impossible for me to tell people that I saw the Dalai Lama without saying, “Dalai lama mama lama mama” about ten times. And that’s not obnoxious at all. But I thought you should know. In all seriousness, though, it was amazing. I’ve taken a number of classes on Buddhism (the last from a Buddhist nun) and I find myself identifying pretty strongly with a lot of the beliefs. To hear and see the Dalai Lama in person only reinforced my desire to learn more about the religion. It was a 2 hour event, and in the beginning there was a Q&A session in which he proved himself to be funny, extremely down to earth, and just all around very accessible. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Then later that night my boyfriend and I went to Knott’s Scary Farm (Knott’s Berry Farm, but, um – scary) where I became increasingly Not Fun To Be Around. And then I just kept getting more pissed off because I was mad at myself for being Not Fun To Be Around. Woo hoo! I’m pretty sure it’s because I got really tired of the people jumping out at me early on – I think there were about 3 or 4 monsters that scared the life out of me within the first 30 minutes. And though I tried to play it cool and act like I wasn’t scared, whenever they would come near me I would let go of Jason’s hand, scream, and RUN. I imagine that if my life were a movie, everyone would have gotten a kick out of the lady whose face was painted green and kept yelling at me to “TAKE YOUR BABY!” as she tried to give me the black lump of dead baby she was carrying around. At one point I actually wondered, “Wait, is that my dead baby?” She followed me for a good five minutes while I ran around trying to hide myself in between groups of complete strangers. Oh, and there was also the time I was surrounded by three clowns. Perhaps that’s why I was having a minor meltdown.

Now onto another week! I can’t wait for cooler weather.

Riff raff, street rat, I don’t buy that

Just interjecting a little Aladdin into your day.

The days are going by pretty quickly and I’m still trying to find balance. I don’t really know what to do with myself without the routine of school. Sure, I have work to replace that now, but not having homework to fill my nights has been a shock to my system. Is that nerdy to say? I sure hope so. I’m flying my nerd flag high.

Lately I’ve just been going to work for eight and a half hours a day, and then I kind of twiddle my thumbs until bedtime. Well, I mean, there’s a lot of Bravo and Project Runway watching, and I’ve been whittling away my magazine stack, but I still feel like my nights are a bit boring. Oh, I got my hair cut last week, and that took a good three hours. So that’s something.

I just feel like I need to find something more. Something that I’d really look forward to doing, like perhaps some funky drugs – only not. I want to be more interesting.