cubicle life...

yesterday celebrated the 40th anniversary of the inventor of the cubicle. the announcer stated that you either love or loathe yours. here are my thoughts...

when i had a desk that was out in the middle of the open room, i though, "if i could only have a cubicle, what a wonderful life it would be."

then i got a cubicle. it was a cubicle with a window. not a window to the outside world, a window where people could look in on me! i was on display, like some kind of animatronic robot at christmas. people would mime at me (it was in the theatre department), swim up to me and ask me for "10 on pump 5." i hated it. i had not door so people would knock on the file cabinet on the edge of the "room" or simply walk up to the opening and say "knock knock." AHHHHAAHHH!!!!

then i got my first real office. with a door. i decorated it and made it a home away from home. it was comfortable. if i needed to make a call, i closed the door. if i had a meeting, i could have people over to my place. too bad it was 40 miles away from home.

now i'm back in a cubicle. i smell what my neighbors eat for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. i hear their music. i hear their telephone conversations. i hear their meetings. i hear them make doctors appointments. i hear their arguments with their husbands and wives. there's no escape. people say "knock knock" to me again. i can't make personal calls. i can't have meetings, which is really challenging as a supervisor!

i'd say i'm on the loathe side of the fence.

huge geek...

i'm constantly wondering what it is i'm a pro at...i feel like i'm good at a few things, but a real pro, only maybe one or two things. we went to see the breeders last night. i will go to pretty much any and all lengths to see kim deal, my (music) idol since the 9th grade. the show was one day after the deal twin's 47th birthday. the 9:30 club was full of balding men and women who looked like me complete with pig tails and rimmed glasses. the very first time i saw kim perform live was at the American University in DC with nirvana. that dates me right there. but, holy shit, what an amazing time to be an angst ridden teenager. in any case, my friends an i pushed our way up to the stage to be closer to her, braving "the pit" and hanging on to each other for dear life. after that first time, i saw her with the pixies (reunion only) three times and with both the breeders and the amps at the 9:30 club, rise, fletcher's in baltimore, the ottobar, lolapaloza in west virginia, and a couple of other random DC locations.

i've only met her once, which was at the baltimore show at fletcher's. a group of friends an i were (again) hanging on for dear life at the front of the stage. she leaned over to us and said, "when was the last time you were able to make it to the bar?" we told her we hadn't moved all night. she said, "give me a second," and came back with a case of beer. she distributed them to the front row, handing me one and apologizing that we had to wait so long to get a drink. who does that?! honestly?! i think that's something extra that makes her so special. she's totally and completely unaware that people idolize her. a few years after that, my band, five gold stars, did a tour of boston. we played at the middle east with frank black and i had the pleasure(?) of meeting him after the shows were over. he was a very odd man. again, totally unaware that people worship him. at least, when he told me and my bandmate, Pat, about how he had to take his shirt off to mow his lawn earlier that day because of the heat (ew) i assumed it. either that or he was trying to gross us out.

in any case, back to my original point, i am a total kim deal geek. i was able to tell eric what year each song came out, titles, albums, what kim and kelley were doing at that point in their lives, what i was doing at the time the song came out, who wrote the song, what each of their pedals and microphones do, i've never felt so geeky! why do i have this useless knowledge? and why can't i apply it to something that will make me money? ha!

it was a great night, nonetheless. even despite the fact that i felt like only about 10 of our 30+ year old bodies were moving...and most of the people there brought their kids with them.

here's a photo from the 2002 show at the ottobar which was a few days before my birthday!

what's a little death...

check it out...

evil under one roof...

here in catonsville resides a walmart with a mcdonald's in it. now, i never go into walmart, so maybe it's a long living partnership, but ew, how much more gross can you get. i've spent a total of $1.87 at walmart over the past five years. i feel awful about it, but, i really needed tissues today and it was the closest store.

last night we went to an awesome event held by share our strength at the AVAM. very cool. wish i had some money to donate. in any case, i had some much better cupcakes made by "karma's cupcakes." they kicked balto. cupcake co.'s wrappers off. yummy! i essentially had chocolate and cheese for dinner last night at the event so tonight i'm making black bean burgers with broiled zucchini and avocado. mmmmmmmm.

tomorrow i have to go to every single CCBC campus AND one extension center. annoying. i'm going to run out of gas this week. i know it. i seriously don't have any money to refill either. i don't know what i'm going to do. it takes two weeks to get mileage reimbursement checks too.

etsy adict...

so, i sold a bunch of stuff on ebay and held the credits in paypal so that i could shop (semi) endlessly on etsy. i cannot stop buying things. i have way more wall vinyl than anyone needs and i really, really need to stop buying jewelry because 1. i don't need any more junk and 2. i won't even wear it. i instead need to focus on what i can SELL on etsy so that i can buy a new computer not on credit. i think that's more important right now.

stimulus check, oh stimulus check, where are thou stimulus check? i'm trying my hardest not to pre-spend my check.

today i bought 5 mega millions tickets. so unlike me, but i had "a feeling." well, either that or it was the huge honking billboard i passed on the way home that said, "jackpot $12 million."

rip vacation...

oh. my. god. four whole days off. it was fantastic. i read and napped and cleaned and cooked (i love cleaning and cooking). the kitties were so happy that i was home too. i watched martha real time and lounged around. the house was quiet for the most part. we got a wii fit so i did a lot of exercising too. i'm feeling good so far. i have a follow up appointment scheduled with the doctor for next week. can't wait to see what he has to say about the mono. i think it's pretty much gone for the most part.

i picked up a new freelance job...this one will be really fun. i love designing for theatre. a friend of mine from towson is starting an ensemble and they have written a play that has already been accepted to several fringe festivals. it's a follow up to hamlet, written in complete iambic pentameter. quite amazing. she's really into funky things so i get a lot of creative freedom from a job like this. nice and refreshing. i'll also be starting in on the infamous aerospace engineering newsletter in a few days here. woo. hoo.

too old...

there comes a time when "stopping by" someones house is unacceptable. especially when they don't answer the house phone, the cell phone or the text you send them asking them if they're home! easy, right?

i haven't had a day home alone uninterrupted, without school work in literally months. this was supposed to be my day, but someone decided to stop by. not for 15 minutes. not for 30 minutes. for 5 hours. through dinner, through bedtime.

grow. up.