Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Stress management 101

My friend Daphne is having a bad day. Someone (who we shall call "Miranda") drove her so crazy that she punched the phone. So, being the friend I am, I tried to help... via gmail chat:

me: Sounds like you need to go outside, find a park, raise your arms above your head as you face the sky, screaming your lungs out. Or go throw darts at Miranda's face...

[about 15 minutes later] Daphne: Hey, it worked!

me: Which one?

Daphne: The first.

me: Screaming is always good - less destructive too. Of course, the homeless people in the park might think you belong there...

Daphne: They high fived me

me: LOL - excellent! you're making new friends! LOL

Daphne: yeah. They agreed Miranda's a bitch.

me: bwahahaha


And my work is done...

Friday, January 22, 2010

Coffee and sunshine


It was supposed to snow/sleet/hail this morning, but it is really more of a cold rain. I'm OK with it, but I was among the thousands of people hoping for a huge block-all-roads type of storm so that we didn't have to go to work today. BUT, it's not all bad: I only work 1/2 days on Fridays anyway, so I just have to go in for four hours and then I'm done! And this way I don't slip all over the place... much. ;-)

But today started off extra nice: My normal commute is cross-the-street, take-the-bus-to-the-end-of-the-route, stop-at-Corner Bakery-for-coffee*, walk-three-blocks-to-the-office. It can be made into a bad commute by watching the bus fly by my stop as I'm stuck on the other side of Connecticut Ave because the light hasn't changed. Today, the light changed and then the bus pulled up to the stop RIGHT as I was walking across the street! PERFECT! I scrambled on, and waddled through to a seat in the back (trying not to hit anyone with my bags), and waited until the metro stop when everyone else gets off (just about). Then I slipped over to the empty seat and got comfy. I read my magazine since I didn't have time to pick up the Express, but it was good because I finished it - and I'll get a new one this afternoon anyway!

Then I get to the end of the route at McPherson Square, and I'm walking across the square, headed to the Corner Bakery. Another passenger had gotten off the bus from the front door and so was walking straight toward me at an angle and we almost ran into each other. I stopped and let her go first with an "Oops!" and a giggle and she walked forward, but turned back to say, "You're so pretty!"

I was a bit stunned because that's not something you hear too often after letting someone pass in front of you, but ... and this is key ... I smiled and said, "Thank you!" Sometimes, you've just got to take a compliment, eh?

So yes, it's a gray, rainy, cold morning, but I got a little sunshine this morning. And it's going to be a good day. It might not be like last summer in Kitty Hawk, but it sure feels nice anyway!

*Best coffee in town, I do not lie!

UPDATE: Edited to clarify that the picture posted above is from my vacation last summer in Kitty Hawk, and here are more of them. Yes, I took it. And yes, I really want to be there now. REALLY!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Random Thoughts

So, is it wrong to eat Ben & Jerry's "Everything but the..." ice cream while watching "The Biggest Loser"?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

word play

I was just revising my profile name back to Giggles and I noticed that one of the labels in my last post was "materialistism"... What a great word! I guess it means that I like "stuff" AND I have a tendency to make lists? Both true. But really, what it's all about is that I love a good typo... it gives one the opportunity to create a new word. I have a friend who used to give me great typos all the time, but she found spell check -- and I realized that she thought I was making fun of her when I came up with definitions for the words she created. I wasn't, honest!

The Washington Post used to have a columnist named Bob Levey, and he had a monthly neologism contest: he would provide a definition and invite readers to submit the new word to which the definition belonged. I loved the contest, but never won. My sister won, twice, but we came to the conclusion that she was good at coming up with words from definitions, whereas I am good at creating definitions from messed-up words!

Amazing really, considering I was more a math major type! :-)

OK, back to work...