Friday, August 31, 2007

Middle Aged

It's been coming on so slowly that I've barely noticed. Oh sure, there are moments at work, but for the most part, my job gives me energy. But everyone has there breaking point.

Mine happened with a phone call. Oddly enough, I was the one placing the call. There was a click on the line after dialing. Then music. Okay, I guess I'm on hold. Wait, I guess I'm not. I made another call a few hours later. "Please enjoy the following song while your call is connected." Or something like it. I was forced to listen to music that I would probably never choose to listen to. Yeah, I'm getting too old for some of this cell phone media wizardry.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Oh. My. God.

The fiance and I went and picked up "the ring."

I have always stressed that I am low maintenance in the jewelry department. My mom never had an engagement ring, and my parents have been married over 35 years. Diamonds don't guarantee a happy marriage. Come on, I had to have my ears repierced last weekend.

My future husband was adamant about a nice ring for me, and when I started looking, I must admit that I found that I like the look of diamonds. So we picked a beautiful solitaire, planning a wrap to complete it as a wedding ring.

We now have our wedding bands ready for the ceremony. It was hard giving up the engagement ring, knowing that I won't wear it again until October. My claddagh ring is insufficient. When I tried on the finished work, it fit perfectly. Is it weird that the weight of band reminds me of the seriousness of the commitment?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Arghhhhhhh!

I hate stress. Hate it. HATE IT. HAAAAAAAATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't get it. I'm smart. I try to be a good person. I try to help those in need.

Between my job and my upcoming wedding....AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I know...

Saturday, August 18, 2007

It Was the Summer of '84

I remember the day clearly. It was a hot, dry day, not unlike those we've been experiencing lately. I had been eagerly waiting for this day, and it had finally arrived. I was nervous, but I was ready. I walked in with my mom. It was the beauty salon where our neighbor worked, and with minimal tears and not minimal pain, I had my ears pierced.

A few short hours, I was invited to the city pool. My new ear bling forced me to decline the offer, and I wasn't much interested in having my ears pierced anymore. In fact, the last time that I wore earrings was for a dorm formal back in college, ... "a few" years ago. I basically had to reopen a part of the piercing to get the earrings in. Needless to say, my piercings closed years ago.

I had my ears repierced tonight. I am a vain, vain woman. I want to wear cute earrings for my wedding, and I knew clip-ons wouldn't cut it.

Since I don't have a regular salon and I'm lazy, I got it done at the mall. I swear that I was old enough to be the mother of every girl in the store, including the employees. My fiance in tow, I went up to the counter and said that I wanted my ears pierced. I think my vocabulary may have been a bit advanced because I swear that I heard crickets chirping in the silence.

The assistant manager to me over to look at studs and then went to get someone else to do because she hadn't been trained.

"Oh my God."

I kid you not. These were my exact thoughts.

Another girl comes over to help, and I am relieved that she looks like a high school graduate and the oldest employee in the store. After some general confusion about what they had in stock, I make my selection and start signing on enough lines that I thought I might have a house in escrow.

I loved filling in my age and date of birth. It led to the following discussion...

Misc Karen: "Ha. My age. I'm probably twice the age of your average customer."

Teenage Piercer: "You're probably twice my age."

(Yes, she did actually say this. Completely deadpan.)

MK: "How old are you?"

TP: "16."

MK: "I'm not quite there yet."

TP: "Oh, really? I was just joking."

MK: "No, I'll be twice your age in November."

That is when the crickets started chirping again.

She eventually dots my ears with a purple pen on my old holes so that I can greenlight the location. These dots were the size of large acne. She could have put them in about three different spots in the mark. I okayed it, trusting she couldn't mess up putting them in the old spots.

I got home, looked in the mirror, and noticed that the one in the left ear is higher than the one on the right. I'm hoping that once they heal it won't be as noticeable, and if worse comes to worse, I'll let them close up after the wedding.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Swing, Batter, Batter, Swing!

Okay, I'm disappointed. I ca admit it. I was really hoping that Barry Bonds wouldn't get the record. I know "innocent until proven guilty" but I think he had to have been taking performance enhancing drugs. As such, I don't think he deserves to be memorialized. Then again, I pretty much think all athletes are overpaid. That being said, I hope the Seattle tells the Sonics to shove it when it comes to a new arena and that the Sonics enjoy Oklahoma City.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Gimme a D'oh

Okay, so I'm getting my blog back into shape after ages of neglect. I have temporarily put aside my awesome design until I can afford my own hosting to return it to its former glory. I'm putting back my long-lost links. Thank God that Unkymoods is now back as Punkymoods. Then while fiddling with my blogger dashboard, I discover that I had 50+ comments (most from over a year ago) waiting to be moderated to show up on my blog. Looks like I have some settings to adjust.

In other news, t-minus 3 months to the wedding. I have prided myself on my attempts to not be a bridezilla. The fiance and best man called me Bridezilla once, and I basically reared my Bridezilla head. Otherwise, much mellowness. My mantra on most wedding related items, "Is it something we'll ever use again? No? Then we don't need it."

Oh, in catching up on news from the last year. We have a dog now, Buddy (I tried to get him named Black or Coke.) Our cat, Jack, hates Buddy. Despite being maybe a fifth the size of Buddy, Jack is still the alpha pet. I'd post photos, but the last time I posted photos of Jack on the blog, I started getting all these strange referrals from what looked like "adult" sites, and the thought of adult sites referring to photos of my cat creeped me out beyond words.