Life's Not All That Bad

I have coffee and coconut creme pie for second breakfast.  Beat that!

Oh, and I now have a blogspot!  I am not sure which one of these posting venues is going to become obsolete first, but in case you're interested in keeping your nose in the thick of it, here's the link: http://adventureswithducky.blogspot.com/

A Night In the Life of Ginger

So, it’s rather fun to be me. Sometimes. Sometimes it’s just insane and I wonder why I do it. Oh well, the point of my existence is another topic for another time. Anyway, last night was one other those nights in which I simply had to laugh at me!

It was a really long day at work. I spent most of it sorting paper and stabbing myself with staples. Needless to say, I was very glad when 5 o’clock rolled around. I immediately hopped off to the kitchen to eat some soup. I was supposed to work on a ticket sales report for my choir and I was going to need the sustenance. On the way back to my desk, I saw Peter looking at pictures from his trip to France and Spain. Looking at them seemed to be a good way to spend dinner, so I joined him.

After a trip through those two lovely countries and then a jaunt through my trip to Greece and Italy, I decided that I wasted enough time. It was now 7pm and I had only half an hour to work on the report. I pulled out what I had brought with me and was dismayed to discover that I didn’t have what I needed and so I couldn’t do the report. Grumpily, I packed up and decided to catch a bus northwards. I was going that way to join some friends for a viewing of House and I needed to get a cake for Peter anyway (it was his birthday today!!).

I grabbed my bag, pulled out my iPod and was getting ready to go, when I discovered that my iPod had spontaneously combusted! Not really, it had just frozen and nothing that I could do helped the situation. In fact, I probably made things worse. So instead of going to the grocery store before House, I decided to go to the Apple Store and see if they could fix the little guy.

By the time that I came to this conclusion, I was well on my way to State Street and figured that I may as well go all the way to Michigan Avenue and see if I could catch a bus to the Apple Store. To my joy and surprise, there came a bus as soon as I crossed to the east side of the street! I hopped on and was winging my way north when the bus stopped and I was informed that after my five block ride, the bus had reached its terminal destination! I think that prompt busses are too good to be true.

That meant that I had to walk for a good long way before another bus came and even if it did come, there was not going to be time to stop at the Apple Store or the grocery! So far, the night was going up in flames! I trudged through the wet streets feeling rather sorry for myself until I looked up and saw a Bed, Bath & Beyond! That meant only one thing-I was by the Red Line! And since I had now given up on the Apple Store, the Red Line would take me very close to where I needed to be for House!

My gait picked up as I tripped down the steps (literally) to the train. As I got closer, I heard music issuing from the tracks. Around the corner was a trio of guys (Jamaican at heart) singing "Stand By Me" with shakers and a guitar! It was great. It was so great that I broke one of my city rules and gave them all the money in my wallet ($1). From there, things only got better! I had enough time to stop at the grocery, get the cake mix, I found chocolate Funfetti Frosting and I still showed up 4 minutes early for House!

When it was time for me to head homeward, I looked back on the evening and realized that it was not nearly as bad as it could have been! And then I realized that I was out of oil for the cake.

Guess you can’t win them all!

It's Complicated

So, for Thanksgiving this year, my sister’s boyfriend, Randy came and spent the weekend with us. Randy and I have a rocky history. When he and Emily started dating nearly three years ago, I didn’t really like him (to put it nicely). But as time has passed, he’s kind of grown on me. Little did I know how much our relationship had changed!

On Saturday night, a family friend came over to help us move a desk out of my parents’ bedroom. Normally I would be doing a good bit of the heavy lifting for this task, but with Randy around, I sat back and enjoyed. After the final push and last farewell, Randy returned to the house with a rather large smirk on his face. Evidently, our helpful family friend had asked Randy "So, are you two engaged?" To which Randy replied "No, we’re just dating." Normal question to ask a guy hanging around a family to which he didn’t really belong, right? Well, the kicker came when Family Friend said: "Well, Ginger is a great girl, you can’t do better than her!" (Naturally I agree). But Randy smiled and nodded.

So little did Randy know that when he started dating my sister, he would supposedly end up engaged to me!

Now that’s complicated.

Sacred Silence

Slowly, we all congregate and settle into our normal spots. As the space fills up, one can hear strains of music floating about. Some people have their heads bowed and eyes closed, others are quietly, intently reading, while still others try to mask the glassy look on their faces. We have all come here for one purpose and though we do not speak to each other, there is an intimate understanding and sympathy among us. As we are guided through the ritual, I am reminded of the still before the storm, the bracing of a will for the harsh realities before us. It is a sacred time-the one whose phone shatters the silence or whose more-than-whispered conversation distracts from the rite is to be anathema.

When it is over, we all file out into the world, into the jostling, rumbling, noisy society for which we had braced ourselves. But we know that we shall meet again and return to that sacred silence and solace.

So is my morning commute.

A Hedge on the Ledge on the Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

I seriously feel for all of you people who are not me. I have the coolest life ever-really! Today, I got a Steve! Yeah, I know, you’re all very confused now, but that’s okay. I’ll explain.

For no apparent reason, I was put in charge of watering and caring for the plants in our office. I do not have a green thumb. My grandma does, my mom sort of does, I do not! I did my best with the plants, I watered them, I trimmed them and rearranged them, but they insisted upon dying anyway. So we got new plants today.

They are Peace Lilies in case you were wondering. I hope that I don’t kill them as well...

When we got the shipment of Lilies, there were six Golden Pothos plants in with them as well. Because these plants didn’t match, they were banished to the outer rim of the office i.e. my desk. So I had six rather large Pothos plants adorning my ledge. Both of my supervisors thought that this was exceptionally amusing and jokes about them not having to see me any more began to abound. I decided that I liked the plants there-it was like a protective hedge more or less. I had a hedge on my ledge...

That’s where Steve comes in. I named the hedge on the ledge "Steve." If you don’t get it, you need to watch more animated movies!