This may get me sent straight to hell on judgment day, but tonight I wanted to strangle some small children that live near my apartment! As I was updating posts etc, all I could hear out my window was SCREAMING from these children. Not playful laughing and having fun, but screaming. Apparently, the parents don't really care what noises are coming out their children because they are playing. I was furious. It is one thing for kids to run around and have fun; it is completely another for them to unload blood curdling screams that would make glass break repeatedly for 30 straight minutes past 9PM on a weeknight for no reason. Some people have no consideration for others. I almost walked out my door and went to the back yard so I could yell to wherever these people were that if they did not shut their kids up, I was calling the police and filing a noise complaint. I told my friend online that I probably should not have any kids of my own. He thinks I should have at least one.

Prince Charming is Riding on the Information Superhighway in a Lexus

To be in the 2000's means that you now are on the Internet, own a cell phone, Instant message, email, text message and quite possibly have tried Internet dating. It is not bad enough that we are almost completely digital in our communication now, but we have moved the fine art of human interaction and dumbed it down to online dating. You can now dehumanize yourself to only your first name and an online profile of personality traits that are matched for you by, what? That's right folks, a computer supposedly taking into account 29 different facets of you. Online dating is supposed to be better, at least on this one particular site because it matches a person from the inside out. Ok. Sure. Right. I have no problem with giving anything the old college try, but I have studied ecology and evolution and you can't get past human nature. Men will always be men and women will always be women no matter how compatible the computer says they are. There is a reason you have to provide a picture at some point in the matching and communication process. We are all visual creatures and chemistry plays a factor for both sexes and whether anyone wants to dispute this or not, men tend to be more visual than women.

So, here is my online dating complaint. You can spin this however you want to spin this, but someone has to tell the truth. There is no such thing as falling in love mechanically from the inside out. I hate to be the killer of romance here, but humans are just plain shallow creatures by nature. ALL OF US!!! This crap about communicating or not communicating for logical reasons is just plain nonsense. Real love is not logical. It is downright messy and passionate and full of surprises. It hits you out of nowhere one day like a speeding train with no brakes and you have no idea what just happened. The person who you never thought of as Ms. Wonderful or Mr Right is standing in front of you in a whole new light. Love is unpredictable and spontaneous. It is anything, but planned and guided and mechanical.

Online dating? Relationships started with no human contact? As a society, I think we have so masterfully found a way to remove emotion from the most emotional part of our lives and at the same time convince ourselves that this is better, more efficient and less threatening. How sad is it that we are moving more towards the digital and less towards the emotional and personal?

The Shower After

So after yesterday's fun float, I was fortunate enough that my friend let me grab a shower at his place before the BBQ. At that time, I was still sunburn free. Normally, my burns, if any will show up in the shower that night or the morning after I have spent any length of time in the sun. Since I showered right away yesterday afternoon, I thought I was in the clear. Well, of course, this morning was no exception. I woke up with a sunburn in the most unusual places and of course, my shower was most unpleasant. I have patches on the tops of my feet and stripes right on the front areas of my arms/shoulders right on the swimsuit line. It is not like I did not bathe in sunscreen. I sprayed it all over and reapplied while on the river. But, I must not have used enough or applied the waterproof one in those areas. Is this not the way this always works? Gotta love it.

8 second Ride

Before you think rodeo and get all excited, let me reassure you that it was not a bull that I was on. Yesterday, I elected to relax and float the river with some friends. Last summer I purchased brand new tubes from one of the tire dealers here in town and never got to use them, so this was their first time being blown up and baptized. After our individual treks to our meeting place, a pow-wow to get everything situated in two vehicles, a proper packing of the beverage receptacle and a Baldwin sighting, we finally headed out to the water. Dropping of my car at the end point normally would have been easy if our other vehicle was not overloaded with tubes and people, so we had to make a run with cars before we actually got started. By the time we had everything actually in the water, it was extremely HOT outside and I was ready to be on the river. It was a good thing, too because after about 15 minutes of roping all of our tubes together and the cooler so it would be within a good tug of rope from any one of us, we were ready to go. Sounds relatively easy, right? Sure. Except my tube decided it was a bucking bronco. I sat on it and quickly landed upside down, feet in the air, under the tube in the river. Thanks for the refreshing dip! I tried it again. No go. This tube would not have me or my ass in it for any period longer than about 5 seconds. Fortunately, I traded my friend for her larger tube and this one was a steady ride. My tube did not cooperate with her, either in the beginning. It just did not want to let anyone on stay on it. I guess she is a better rider than me and finally lasted more than the 8 seconds, tamed the beast and held on for the duration.
So, after the inner tube rodeo, we finally started our float down the Madison. We had a great time. It was quite enjoyable just to relax, trade insults with each other and just enjoy the scenery. Of course, the boys were manning the cooler. Now how would you know that at some point, this was going to lead to trouble? Maybe because there were adult beverages involved? Each man had his own 32 oz sippy cup with Wild Turkey? Not sure, but a deviation from attention to cooler detail did lead us to two men flipped upside down, broken glass, a cooler wide open and half of what was in it happily floating down the Madison. A litter bug I am not. Things happened so fast I could not tell you what led to the demise of the cooler and the men. We all ended up bumped, bruised, wounded and scraped after that incident.
I will say, regardless of a snafu or two, we all had a great day, laughed a lot and enjoyed the fun. Ended the day with a BBQ at a friend's place. Women shopped. Men cooked. Everyone spiraled down pretty fast after all the sun and fun.

Moving Part 60

I am ready to move now. This is process is becoming annoying. (As if it was not in the first place.) I am still packing. Today, a friend said to me, "How much shit do you have? You live in a freakin' apartment!" I laughed. I have been packing for days. But, I do have a lot of stuff and I am trying to be organized and get rid of things as I go. I also can't really take too many trips up and down my stairs at one time to move boxes out to my garage. That is why I am moving. The stairs and my knees don't really get along anymore. It will all be over in 2 weeks and I will get to unpack it all in the new place. GREAT! That is another fun process, but I am actually looking forward to settling into a place of my own. Now, what did I do with that tape gun. . .

Rumors

Do you remember playing the telephone game as a kid? Someone would tell someone a sentence or a phrase and then you would try to maintain the integrity of that sentence while it worked its way through everyone playing the game. Now, if rumors only worked that way. Fundamentally, a rumor is the exact opposite. The integrity of what is said is so distorted that by the time it reaches who it was said about, there is barely any truth to the story (as if there was any to begin with).

I am so amazed and all at the same time not even phased by this entire process I can't even begin to tell you. I was just scooped up, chewed on, and spit out of the rumor mill today and I work in a "professional" office. What is even more disheartening is the people who are involved in the process as it seems this usually goes, are not dealing with firsthand information, are listening to some who are, and listening to others with hearsay only and then perpetuating the rumor down the line to the ones who are supposedly involved in this "so-called incident" that started the actual juicy little tidbit that led to a select group of people's gum's a flappin'. WHEW!!!!! Did you feel that spiral?

And I have to ask this. Why are we so quick to believe the worst about people? (Rhetorical question) Is it because we are still acting like adolescents in high school? Not only that, but I am so glad that people have so much time to devote to things like these and not to what they are supposed to be doing like working! Rumors aside, as there is rarely truth to most of them or such a twisted version of it that you cannot get a clear picture of what is really going on, I will say this. If you are someone with so little respect for a person as to believe a rumor without getting your facts clarified, then you might want to consider how much respect someone is going to have for you if the tables are turned and you are in his or her shoes.

Moving

Well, at the end of the month I will be moving and as it turns out, the place will be mine from the beginning. I am excited about that part, but I HATE moving. I spent the majority of my holiday weekend packing. My mom was here the latter part to help. My parents, after all these years still believe in helping my brother and I take care of these kinds of things. He recently bought a house and they both drove down here to help with everything; mom help with the packing and dad lent his truck for the moving. Steve and I feel we are very fortunate to have parents that are so generous with their time. Even with Mom and Dad's help, moving me will be no small feat. I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the years and I just donated a bunch to charity. Downsizing is such a challenge for me as I am a self-admitted pack rat. Herein lies the argument for owning my own home, but not the price tag/debt that accompanies it.
We did pack a lot last weekend, but I still need to live here for 3 weeks, so we had to leave the essentials out and what did not get done, I am focusing on doing over the course of the next several weekends and in the evenings. I also hate to pack. I don't think anyone likes to move. You have to figure out where to put things, what you can live with while you are in transition, and what you can live without. Great! My life is in turmoil and now you want me to make decisions too. LOL. That is ok, though, because I am ready for the adventure. As mentioned previously, it is time for a change.

New Chapter

Well, it is time. I am moving to a new place. I am not a huge fan of moving because it involves packing and cleaning and I feel about those they way I feel about laundry, but it must be done to get to the next chapter. This will be good. For the moment, I will still have a roommate, but she is not staying long. She is moving on. In the next several months, the place will become my very own. I have not lived alone since I moved out of my parents' house. I have always had roommates. I am looking forward to having a space that is just mine. Should be an interesting time. . .