A list

I am somewhat tired and at my wit's end, so I am going to make a list of trivial things that excite me.

Trivial things that excite me:
-When I let a car over and see the driver's little hand wave 'thank you'
-Hearing the word 'drew' used in a sentence
-Putting a new sticker on my license plate
-When people compliment my star necklace
-Doing the tomahawk chop
-Self-scanning aisles at the grocery store
-Having my name written on my Starbucks cup
-Drinking milk out of the gallon (my own gallon)
-Looking at menus
-Reading horoscopes
-Checking out the 10-day weather forecast
-Laughing at text messages
-Dining-in a food establishment by myself
-Going to the library (tomorrow!!!!)
-Looking things up in the dream dictionary
-Not getting IDed

On that positive note, I will go to sleep!

Burnout

Hi. My name is Drew and I am experiencing burnout.

This week has flown by, yet lasted forever at the same time. Does that even make sense? I don't know, but I'm sure there's some lunatic out there who is reading this and understands. I have jumped from one thing to another all week and can't wait to sit at home and take it easy this weekend. Now we'll just see if I do that because I have a feeling I might go back on my word. werd. drew.

The highlight of my day was that I had Ben and Jerry's at work. I got chocolate chip cookie dough with Reese's Pieces and chocolate syrup. Deeeeelicious! I had a Moe's burrito for lunch and nachos/spinach dip for dinner. I am eating so much lately and exercising almost none. I can't wait to have a non-hurting rib so I can workout more.

I'm trying to think back to whether or not anything exceptionally amusing happened this week. Apparently the answer is no. I have really been chasing my own tail all week.

I can't believe it's already August...almost. I don't even know where the summer went. Geez, I am so absent-minded right now because I'm just exhausted to the max.

On that note, I am going to go check on my laundry and reflect on the fact that there was absolutely no reason to write this.

It's tee time

It has been a buuuuuuuuuuuuusy weekend.

Yesterday I went to visit my uncle in the hospital. He had quadruple bypass surgery on Wednesday after getting hospitalized on Monday. He is doing well. He was telling me how he would let me borrow a golf club, but he was seriously worried for me to have any kind of weapon like that in my hand last night. I don't blame him, as he has seen me in all forms and fashions.

Wow... Last night was incredible. The bachelorette party was hilarious - the most fun I've had in who knows how long. We looked absolutely absurd and our actions were in line with our costumes. We carried around this foam golf club that got transformed into a guitar, a stick pony, etc. I truly can't think of many times that I've ever been as crazy as I was last night. Gosh, we were a sight! Having on someone else's golf glove really made me feel like a superhero. I think we could all agree on one thing, though, and that was that I attract the creepiest people.

Tomorrow is the start of the first five-day work week I will have had since the week of June 15, I believe. And the three weeks before that were one two-day week and two four-day weeks. Now I am really wondering how I'm going to hold up! Only one month of Summer Fridays left.... AHHH!

I am about to go eat Mexican food and see a movie. I haven't been to the movies since last December, I think. I hope I can stay awake; movie theaters tend to put me to sleep!

Adios!

I <3 the WEEKENDS!

Well, it's Friday. I have had an incredibly productive day....not. I went to sleep last night at around 11:00 p.m. and didn't get out of bed until 10:30 a.m. I'm proud of myself. I used to be envious of people that could sleep so late, but it looks like I've become one of them. I don't know that I could do it regularly, but I can at least do it when I'm so sleep-deprived that I'm slurring my speech and getting dizzy.

I headed to Smoothie King late morning and got a smoothie because it seemed like the appopriate thing to do. Then, I stopped into Marshalls to see if they had anything to complete my golfer outfit for tomorrow's bachelorette party. Well, the Marshalls gods took care of me today. I walked over to the little girls' section thinking there might be something ugly and golferesque and BOY, was I right. I got these hideous yellow Ralph Lauren shorts that have pleats on the front. To seal the deal, there is a navy and white belt attached to them and it has a polo horse on it. I was truly embarassed to buy them, but I know I'll get a hole-in-one with these. HAHAHAHA!

I haven't done much of anything else all day. I did go to the pool for a while, then came home and took a two-hour nap (pathetic). I am about to go out to dinner and gorge myself shortly. I am totally looking forward to that. Perhaps I will wear the new brown dress I got at Marshalls today. I never pay full price there.

This weekend ought to be ridonkulous.

Wednesday Zensday

Greetings.

I am excited because my friend and I are going to eat steak nachos for lunch.

me: YES!!!!! i haven't been out to eat all week

except i went out for mexican on sunday and monday

I am looking forward to the weeeeeeeeeeeeekend. I've got Friday off work (again!) and a bachelorette party on Saturday night. It should be packed to the brim with fun! I'm kind of in hokey-mode right now because sometimes I need to force enthusiasm when I am creating things at work. AKA all the time.

Did you know that whatever program is automatically spell-checking this says that bachelorette isn't spelled correctly? Now it's saying it is. I guess it doesn't know and wants to be right one time. Why am I even talking about this? Good grief, Charlie Breezy.

I am bordering on delirium.

This morning I walked into Starbucks with a price tag hanging out of my shirt, so I've been pretty excited about that. Thankfully I had my hair up, so I'm sure nobody missed it. I'm just proud I got a good deal on the shirt and that everyone will see that it was on clearance. As a matter of fact, the price tag says $4.99, but when I got to the register, it was even half off of that. Maybe I should go back and let everyone know that I actually got a better bargain than they are all telling their coworkers.

Thank you.

Sunday Funday

The weekend is coming to a close....already. It was fun, though. Friday the Braves obliterated the Mets, improving my season record to 6-0. Ahh, what a great feeling! Saturday I went to spin class, got an oil change, got my hair did and went out. I had a good time people-watching and hanging out. Today I slept late, went to the pool, ate Mexican and am now sitting lazily on the couch watching the Braves.

I can't believe it's already nearing the end of July. It seems like time is passing so much faster than ever before. I guess maybe that's what happens when you stay busy and enjoy the days. Time flies when you're having fun (I thought of that on my own). I love summertime so much. I need to look into moving somewhere that has summer year-round.

I ordered a book on Amazon that should be getting here any day now. I was actually kind of expecting it already, but I will be patient. It's the 2009 Writer's Market and I'm excited for its arrival! Awwwwww, SNAP!

Well, I just popped off an Ambien in hopes of getting a good night's sleep. I figured my body would want to stay up late since I was up last night, so I proactively took a sleeping pill. What a responsible substance-user I am!!!

Saddle up

It's FRiDaY. Woohooo! This is the first Friday that I've had to work since June 19. It's okay - I have next Friday off.

I am going to the Braves/Mets game tonight - GOOOOOOO BRAVES! They are also doing a ceremony to retire Greg Maddux's number, so that should be neat. Tomorrow night I'm going out in the Highlands with some peoples. It's gonna be a good time! Other than those two plans, I hope to relax some this weekend. I live for the weekends!

I have been thinking a lot lately about food. I have no idea why. Right now I am thinking about a steak quesadilla. I could totally hit up some Monterrey's restaurante mexicana around lunchtime. I may just eat something lame I have in the freezer at work, though. I don't know how/why I deem this important enough to be debating at such a time in the morning, but I am. I live for lunch!

So, let's see. I spent the last two nights at the theatre. Not sleeping there, obviously, but practicing on Wednesday and watching the show last night. It was enjoyable! I hadn't been to a show in quite some time, so it was fun to see a performance again.

Well, I guess it's about time to start devising my lunch plans. Yeah!!!!

Tuuuuesday

So, I went to the library on Saturday and had a great time. I got five new books and have already finished two of them. I got a book by Ellen DeGeneres, one by Steve Martin, two books of essays and a book called Torture the Artist that a friend recommended. So far I've read the Ellen book and one book of essays and enjoyed both. I was so excited when I was leaving the library. I wanted to clone myself several times so one of me could start reading each of the books. That's probably one of the least dorky thoughts that's ever crossed my mind.

Yesterday I worked from home for half of the day and then had a doctor's appointment. They 'medicated' me once I got there and I was really expecting it to be a somewhat enjoyable experience. I got Xanaxed, but it really didn't seem to be doing what it should be. If it did, I probably wouldn't have yelled a profanity at the top of my lungs during the appointment. It sucked pretty badly, but I took a nap when I got home, went to improv, and then started drinking beer.

I go to physical therapy again tonight, so we'll see how that goes. My rib(?) is feeling so much better than it was last week. I hope I get to bask in the heating pad again; that was fun! Wooohooo! It hasn't ached all day...knock on wood.

Anyways, what an exciting Tuesday. Gotta love it!

Freaky Friday

Geez, the week flew by! I was so sleep-deprived this week because, after Monday's physical therapy session, I found myself in a lot of pain. I had trouble sleeping all week because every position was uncomfortable and caused pain. I am feeling better after going yesterday. We tried a different approach to getting the rib where it should be, and that seems to be helping. Now I have costochondritis, which is the irritation of the cartilage where the ribs connect to the sternum. I'm telling you - I am a piece of work! I feel pretty good today, though. This is the least pain I've been in all week. WOOHOOO!

I went to Chick-fil-A tonight because I was craving a milkshake. I didn't really realize it was Cow Appreciation Day until I got there. There were several patrons dressed in cow costumes to receive a free meal. I hope those cow costumes were from something else because there's no way I'd buy a $30 cow costume to get a $5 meal. Anyways, when I was walking out with my milkshake, nuggets, and buffalo sauce, I saw another strange occurrence. There was a guy in a motorized wheelchair in the drive-through. I mean, literally between two cars as if he were a car. He had on a white undershirt with spots drawn on it as his attempted cow costume. I don't say any of this to criticize; I am just still confused.

Anything else interesting happen this week? Umm, oh yeah. I won an award at work called the Spirit of Swoop Award. It is a quarterly award given to someone who is 'contributing' within the workplace and outside. I was recognized for my revamping of our email communications as well as the SUCCESS I had fundraising for the CF walk. It was a pleasant surprise and a good beginning to the week (Tuesday).

Otherwise my week was pretty low-key, but good!

Manic Monday

Well, today I went to physical therapy for my SC joint. Although I have said for the last four months that I injured my SC joint, it appears that I might be wrong. The physical therapist thinks that I displaced my first rib instead, which also connects to the sternum. Regardless, he tried to pop it back in and was not successful. I will say that it was somewhat terrifying for a Monday morning, but oh well. I go back Thursday and will do more 'exercises' and we will try again.

I had fun at the lake on the 4th of July. I wish I had gone to physical therapy before the 4th so the guy could have told me to do whatever I wanted. He said that I could do anything I wanted as long as it didn't hurt. I bet being dragged behind the boat wouldn't have hurt....because I was drinking beers. So maybe it's good that I didn't go, but he said I'm not going to make it worse; it just flares up when I aggravate it.

I just ate lunch and my stomach is growling. Maybe I should go get something fun after I finish up filling in at the switchboard. I could really eat some nachos right now. I could also eat onion rings.

Crippled thing

I have felt pretty crippled lately. Can you believe that it's already July and my SC joint is still bothering me? I did something to aggravate it lately, but can't figure out what it was. Regardless, I have been feeling more limited in my motion than I was back in March when the injury initially happened. Somehow the pain can now be felt when I move my uninjured arm, too. Does anybody feel sorry for me???????????????? JK, but even moving my head feels risky.

Today was an EXCITING day. I slept 12 much-needed hours. I ended up bailing on last night's Braves game so I could get some sleep. I was clearly in need. I went up to the pool and read for a bit. Then, I headed back from the pool to meet the plumber. Oh, the joys of homeownership. There were some water stains on the downstairs ceiling that have only appeared since I bought the place, so I was concerned. I've had some overdramatic dreams about the ceiling falling down, so I figured maybe it was about time to call.

The plumbers thought that there was nothing to be worried about. It didn't seem like the stains were caused by anything that was currently happening, so we attributed it to a flooding of my bathroom that happened back in January. The toilet went nuts one morning and starting shooting water everywhere, so hopefully the water stains are just from that incident and there isn't a huge problem brewing in the pipes... They cleaned out the drain in my bathtub and there were some plastic parts and random shenanigans in there. I look forward to showering in the morning without wading through the tub. The simple things...

Anyways, the Braves just won their fifth game in a row. WHAT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red roadside wildflower

Well, I just got home from the Braves game where I improved my season record to 5-0. Pretty impressive, I must say. I'm hoping to extend to 6-0 Thursday night. Tonight was fun, although it's the only game I've been to in the last week where I didn't see someone get arrested. Last Tuesday at the Yankees game, there was a fist-fight near us that resulted in intervention from the Atlanta Police Department. Then, Sunday at the Red Sox game, a drunken fan ran onto the field and got absolutely pummeled by the security officers. Wild stuff! I really thought I saw a fan run onto the field today, but I may have been hallucinating.

I had a doctor's appointment today and I was there from 1:45 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. It was absolutely absurd. I'm not even sure how it's possible to wait over an hour and a half to see the doctor. I started to get extremely impatient and confrontational. Thankfully, throughout all of the waiting, I had time to go through the cycle of frustration many times, so I wasn't too rude when I actually got face-time with the doctor.

Hmm, what else?! Improv was pretty fun last night; we had a character workshop. I did two characters for the first time and I think they went over fairly well. I could definitely use some improvement and get more into my comfort zone with the characters, but it was pretty successful. I'm actually pretty bummed because I just read that tomorrow's practice is canceled. It's a long week anyways, so I guess I could use the break.

Well, it's time to get my sleep on because I. AM. WORN. OUT. I hope that accurately emphasized how tired I truly am. Good night, fans.

Hand model

So, I was off of work yesterday for the first of three consecutive three-day weekends. Man, I am loving this weekend! I can't believe there is still one entire day left in the weekend.

Anyways, I was sitting at the pool yesterday when I got a call from an unknown number. Since I'm in such high-demand and have phone calls coming in left and right (ha!!!!!), I didn't answer it. Well, when I listened to the message, it was a casting agent calling to see if I could be a hand-double for Katherine Heigl in the movie Five Killers. Unfortunately, yet fortunately, when I spoke to the lady on the telephone, she realized about the stars, so that was a no-go. While I won't get to do it after all, I definitely got a good laugh out of it.

Tomorrow I am going to the Braves game; the Red Sox are in town. The Braves have lost the previous two games in the series, so I have a pretty good feeling about tomorrow. While I've only been to three games this season, I am glad to have a perfect record so far and I plan to continue it tomorrow. I also have tickets to the Phillies on Tuesday and Thursday. Well, I don't technically have Thursday's tickets yet, but I plan to go. I am going to try not to start any fist fights. :o)

Anyways, today has been the laziest day and it has been everything I hoped it would be. I actually got up early despite staying out until after 3:00 a.m. I hit up the gym, then came home and proceeded to be lazy. I read a lot and took several naps. Finally, around 6:45 p.m., I decided I better run a few errands, knowing that tomorrow will be hectic. Today has seemed sooooo long and I've loved every minute of it!

Hard worker

So, yesterday we had our annual staff retreat. We did an activity where we had 25 adjectives and had to match each adjective with one of the 25 staff people. We then went around the room and wrote the adjective we had selected on each person's respective sheet. My totals were as follows:

Hilarious - 7
Jokester - 6
Word smith - 4
Quick-witted - 2
Life of the party - 1
Out of the box thinker - 1

I am not sure if I should be concerned that I didn't get a single "self-starter" or "reliable" or something like that...A few people may have had 4 of a certain word, but they were fairly scattered across the board. Maybe I should be more dull at work. Or perhaps not.

This is pathetic

Hellooooooooo. Well, today had an interesting start. I was heading to Midtown to meet a friend for a goal-planning session. I was on GA400 approaching the toll plaza, fumbling in my purse for 50 cents. As I neared the plaza, I pulled off on the side of the road because I was having a hard time finding the appropriate amount of change. After I emptied my purse and scoured the car for loose change, I only had 46 cents. I was so annoyed because, at this point, it was too late for me to take a different route considering the toll booth was just up ahead. Anyways, I pulled up and said, "This is pathetic, but go ahead and ticket me because I only have 46 cents." You could tell the lady agreed that I was pathetic and told me just to give her the 46 cents. What a sweet, sweeet lady.

Then, when I got to the coffee shop, I saw a girl get in her car and start to drive off with her cup of coffee on top of the car. I honestly watched it happening and was kind of suffering from the bystander effect. I mean, I thought about getting out of my car and trying to hurry to say something, but I was also slightly amused. She started backing out with it still on the car, and then thankfully a better samaritan ran and waved her down and handed her cup in the window. Then, I turned and saw a woman lose her balance on her bike and fall off. She was able to catch herself by holding on and made it off the bike landing on her feet. I felt like a cameraman was watching to see if I am a helpful citizen or something. Apparently I'm not.

I had Mexican food twice today. I seriously ought to calm down. I'm starting to concern myself a little because I have an addiction. Oh well. I haven't eaten at home lately, so it makes sense to eat my favorite type of food if I'm paying to go out to eat. TAKE THAT!

I'm gonna hurt myself

So, it just hit me why Mr. Willy's warned me about hurting myself... Monday I had Moe's. Tuesday I had Willy's. Wednesday I had Los Loros. Today I had Monterrey and Pozole. I am overdosing on Mexican food and I LOVE IT! I mean, this has got to be unhealthy or something. Bad for the body, wonderful for the soul. Bueno.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 100 degrees. That is absurd. I wish it was my Summer Friday so I could spend it chillaxing at the pool. I will, however, spend it at work. The good news is that the next three weeks are only four days each, considering my Summer Fridays on each side of the July 3rd holiday. HECK YEAH! There's something refreshing about a four-day week.

I went to the Highlands after work with some peeps. We had a swell time. It kind of felt like a Friday night. Speaking of, it's probably time that I go to sleep.

Today my mom gave me a new book called Nudge, recommended by my former former boss. I have only read 24 pages so far, but it seems very interesting. I love books like this! It's so interesting to read about psychology, philosophy, human interaction, etc.

Well, I guess it's bedtime. I have no idea how my stomach could be growling after all that it has gotten to eat this week. Ree. Donk. U. Lous.

Strawberries and creme

Heeeeeelllllllllllllllllo. Today was swell. I felt pretty honored today at Willy's. When I walked in, they literally fixed my order without even having to speak to me. That's called dedication. I was a little confused at the checkout because another guy goes, "Don't hurt yourself." I'm not sure if I was looking especially masochistic or if it somehow had to do with the fact that my nachos were larger than Stone Mountain, but it was pretty amusing.

I met my old boss, Kurt, at Starbucks tonight. It was honestly a night I will not forget for a long time. We talked about everything under the sun and it felt great. We touched on all different topics and it was just incredible. I felt so energized walking out of there. He truly is an amazing person who has worked hard and played hard. Wow - He just emailed. STRANGE! Anyways, he is a great mentor and a great friend. Enough sappiness there.

I wrote the most incredible essay last week and put the finishing touches on it a few days ago. It took a few days for me to remove myself from it, but I am actually very proud of the accomplishment. I think the book on creative immersion really helped me get there. I wrote it during a time of vulnerability and didn't worry about its purpose as I wrote it. It turned out to be pretty freakin' amazing if I do say so myself.

Finally, I received a newsletter in the mail the other day and was surprised to read my article. I mean, I knew it was going to be there, but it was a lot better than I remembered. Yes, I am tooting my horn right now, but I feel pretty successful. Cocky, anyone? :o)

Welcome to Atlanta

Well, I just got home from the beach today. I went to Ponte Vedra for the annual family shenanigans. We had a great time. It was relatively calm. The highlights were probably when my grandmother threatened to take me out of her will during a game of dominoes and when I had an allergic reaction to sunscreen.

The sunscreen incident put a damper on the final day of the trip. I had been using sunscreen every day and used a different tube on the last day. After a short time out in the sun, I started feeling like I was getting stabbed by needles. It progressively started getting worse. My mom and I were on a walk and I started twitching like a crackhead. I came in and tried to scrub it all off, but the damage was done.

They went to the store and got Benadryl for me and I spent the evening doped up on that while they went to church. Thankfully, they picked up some Benadryl anti-itch gel on the way home from church and I was able to discontinue my crackhead spasms. I am still Benadryled right now and am going to keep this gel handy tonight.

I just stubbed the silly out of my toes. Two of them parted ways on the foot of my bed. That caused me to collapse and bang the silly out of my knee on the frame. I am a failure!

Anyways, I know it's early, but I'm about to try to go to sleep. I threw my sleeping patterns off at the beach - staying up until 11:00 p.m. and what not! I've gotta get rested up for the week back at work...

Mr. Sparky

Well, I was a total woman yesterday. A few months ago, three lights in my house stopped working within a week of each other. I tried new lightbulbs and couldn't get the lights to work. Since Mr. Sparky had previously come and done some work on these same switches, he came out again to take a second look. (By the way, I realize his name is not Mr. Sparky, but it's easier that way.) Being the generous woman that she is, my mom met him here so that I didn't have to take off of work.

Anyways, it turns out they just needed new lightbulbs. Somehow I had gotten a 'bad pack' of lightbulbs, so all of the lightbulbs I was using to test the lights were broken. Oops. Sorry, Mom, for having to face the electrician. I bet he was really happy. Lesson learned: Try a lightbulb from another pack.

In other news... Hmm, do I have any other news? Not so much. I am acting like a senior citizen. I'm sitting here watching a game show and there's an AARP magazine and a library book on the couch with me. Sometimes I wonder how I aged so quickly. Every other commercial is about retirement and life insurance and what not, too.

Dang, it's almost 8:00 p.m. I better start getting ready for bed!!!

I'm all hopped up

Today was not the best day of my life. I will go ahead and throw that out there. I am not even afraid to admit that.

The good news was that I had a doctor's appointment that I went to all hopped up on Vicodin, so that was adventurous. My uncle drove me there and got to hear an entirely new side of me as I rambled in the car. I almost couldn't sit still in the car because looking out the window was like an out-of-body experience. I was being so loud in the car and then had to turn on my game face when I walked into the doctor's office. I was just kind of staring off into space. I am still kind of spacey if this doesn't seem as logical as usual. Not that I'm ever logical.

The appointment itself was horrendous, but the narcotics were amusing.

It isn't even 9:00 p.m. and I'm getting ready to go to sleep. I know that's slightly elderly of me, but I'm tired and feel like I might be getting a little sick. My SC joint is actually hurting some, too. I just popped a numbing patch onto that bad boy. Do I sound like an overmedicator? Cool.

Today I had a smoothie AND El Toro. What a swell eating day!