Friday, August 24, 2012

The next adventure

Tomorrow I embark on my latest (and greatest?) adventure. After three years at my parents' house, R and I are striking out on our own.

I'm very excited. It's been a long time coming.

I might also be a little scared.

Three years, three months, and 28ish days ago my parents welcomed a very pregnant me into their home. I didn't know how long I'd be staying--if it would be just a few weeks for help with the baby. Or longer. (Obviously, it turned out to be much, much longer.) It was an adjustment; I'd lived by myself for the past six months, and with roommates for several years before that.

I decided to stay. I gave up a perfectly good job in exchange for family who could help me raise my sweet little boy. (I miss the job sometimes but I've never once missed an eastern Idaho winter.)

Being a parent to my child and child to my parents at the same time is, well, exhausting. And it doesn't seem to get better in time. But I'm incredibly grateful for my parents' generosity.

There were pluses, too--for about six months in R's toddlerhood I worked a late schedule. Grandma and Grandpa put him to bed, and we got to spend lazy mornings together, do fun programs at the local library, and sit around in our pajamas until noon if we felt like it. I love being home for bedtime now, but I miss those days sometimes.

So...this new adventure. It will be different. I suspect it will be wonderful. For the first time we'll get to see how we interact as a little family all on our own. I'll get to see how I do without any backup.

Ready or not, here we go! (We're so ready.)



Thursday, August 23, 2012

A dollar in dimes


Back by *popular* demand, here are more really catchy songs with, well, pretty dumb lyrics. And where else can I start but with...

Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"
Before you came into my lifeI missed you so badI missed you so badI missed you so, so bad

No. Just no. That's not how it works, Carly Rae. You can't miss something you've never had. Even Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey know that.


Eminem/Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie"
Now you get to watch her leave out the windowGuess that's why they call it window "pain"

Some word plays are witty. And some are just "pain"ful.


Hanson, "MMMBop"
In an mmmbop they're goneIn an mmm bop they're not there

Does it still count as scat if used in a sentence as noun? How is this so catchy? And yet it is. I'm totally listening to this on YouTube and reliving junior high right now. (For some reason this reminds me of mowing the lawn at my parents' house.) And for some unknown reason the song made a comeback (not, like, everywhere; just a handful of us in Rexburg) one summer in college.

Now I need to listen to something else before I break out in plaid or something.


Spice Girls, "Wannabe"
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ha

I don't know what this means. But I love the Spice Girls. Girl power!


Eiffel 65, "Blue (Da Ba De)"
I'm blue da ba dee da ba dieda ba dee da ba dieda ba dee da ba die

Many years ago I heard someone say that the lyrics said "I'm blue. If I was green I would die." Apparently that isn't true, but maybe it's food for thought.


Justin Bieber, "Boyfriend"
So say hello to falsetto in three, two...

Love this. Where else could you get a formal introduction to a voice tone. (Outside of, say, Mandarin 101.) For a minute there, Biebs, I thought you were all grown up. But then you sang about Buzz Lightyear and the world is thankfully back to normal.

Now moving on to his girlfriend...


Selena Gomez & the Scene, "Love You Like a Love Song"
I, I love you like a love song, babyAnd I keep hitting re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat

I hate song stuttering. Except when I love it. In this case I just *might* love it.


Taylor Swift, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
But we are never ever ever ever getting back togetherLike, ever...

I kinda hate that Taylor is on this list. But, yeah, the song is catchy. And if I had a dime for every relationship of mine that's been like this song...well...I'd probably have at least a dollar. A dollar in dimes.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

But the truth is we all suck


You know that point in Pride in Prejudice where Elizabeth reads Darcy's letter and realizes for the first time that Wickham is a money grabbing cad?

I feel like that today.

Not all that long ago there was someone in my life, and I thought something might come of it. It was all very Victorian (or Edwardian or Recency...ish) -- looks and glances and hints, but nothing akin to a modern courtship.

And then one day he disappeared.

Naturally, being me...being female...being human...I wondered what I did wrong. I wondered what it was about me that didn't quite measure up.

And then I got over (well, mostly). It's not like this is the first (or second or tenth) time I've felt rejection. I've been down this road enough to know that eventually the sting goes away. And eventually the "But what did I do wrooooooooooong?" angst fades because enough time goes by for me to have enough sense to recognize and accept that it was a choice made by someone else; probably nothing I said or did would have changed the outcome. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman.)

Anyway, what does this has to do with Wickham? Well...not long after he disappeared, some new things came to light to make me realize that I dodged the bullet after all. The specifics don't matter. Not really.

But between thinking about this and thinking about another friend/ex who has unintentionally (and probably unknowningly) hurt me lately by just...well...being a single guy (and a cad), I realize that I'm not exempt from criticism, either. I've said things that maybe weren't meant as deeply as I thought at the time. I've jumped to conclusions too quickly. I've broken hearts myself.

The truth is we all suck. Me included.

I don't mean that to be negative; not at all slamming on myself here. I just mean to say that despite being hurt, I can forgive them for their humanity because I have plenty of my own.

And I can be stronger for all of that.