Caterwauling

I’m probably doing this wrong, but here goes nuthin’ …

Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, United States, Alexandria, VA, Fairfax County, Dawn, Female, 26-30!

Not sure if I like the new look, but I thought it was time for a change. 🙂 Your thoughts?

Maddie’s page!!!

It’s destined for bigger and better things, but check out my baby’s new page on my server:

I Crap In a Box

Photos and a lot more nonsense forthcoming!!!

The character formerly known as 420 Boy treated me to an amazing and much-needed “girls’ night out” last night, stopping at a party to see his beloved at this incredible house in D.C. with about six pieces of furniture in it. lol. The place was gorgeous, but albeit pretty expensive, because all the guy had was a hot tub, a couch, an entertainment center, a fireplace and two beds, all told … and most of it that could come from IKEA, did. But it was three doors down from the ghetto; it’s weird how neighborhoods change by merely crossing a street.

As the journey continued, we ended up at Wet, home of all male, all nude dancers. Woo hoo! Sure, every last one of them is more queer than yesterday’s news, but I was desperately in need of some eye and ear candy, so the sight of bouncing balls and the sounds of Kylie Minogue, Cher and No Doubt made for quite an easily enjoyable few hours.

420 … I’ll call him IKEA Boy from now on … was actually approached by one of the dancers. Lab Rat and I were laughing that it’s kinda the equivalent of a hooker giving back the money after the act … these are things that just don’t happen in this lifetime! But IKEA Boy is adorable, I think so anyway, and I know he’d put all those other “butterfaces” to shame if he got a part-time job there. I think I’ve almost convinced him to show up for amateur night, and let’s face it, as a graduate student, he can CERTAINLY justify moonlighting!

At any rate, the music moved our feet across the street to Nation, where it was “velvet” (aka, “gay”) night. (Mental note: HFS-FM broadcasts from there on Fridays … MUST LISTEN!!!). Didn’t see Crackhead David there (surprise), but as usual, I found me a boy to hook up with (it has happened every time I’ve gone there!!! I LOVE Nation!). This visit’s young lad was Kenny from New York. I of course left without him, which was weird ‘cuz IKEA Boy and I saw him leaving at the same time we were (IKEA Boy had mercifully rescued me from Kenny before things got too out-of-hand). But all was good … I’ve officially become a D.C. girl … love ’em and leave ’em, all within the same hour or two. 🙂 But hell, it’s the safest way to work it. No muss, no fuss!

At any rate, in thinking about the Friday Five, and what I would want to do with unlimited funds, I swear, I just want to hit clubs and drink till I drop (in addition to working as a consultant, of course!). There’s just something magical about being in dark places with smoke and flashing disco lights with a Miller Light in your hand, laughing with friends and having strangers grind up against you. 🙂 Today’s hangover was SO worth it!!!

1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?

My current occupation is as a writer for a monthly publication with a controlled circulation. At this point in my life, I thought I’d be higher up the management food chain, but considering that I’ve already been an executive, I guess I’m ahead of the plan, in that respect. I don’t know … I always wanted to make it big in marketing or public relations, but what I’ve learned is that sometimes, you’ve got to let the wind move your feet for you. Will I be doing what I’m doing for much longer? I hope not, because I’m destined for bigger things, and of course, more money. 🙂

2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?

I’d be collecting coconuts on some tropical island and selling them to tourists. lol. I’m living on a shoestring again at this friggin’ job, yet I like what I’m doing right now. But because the money ain’t there, it’s not where I step off the career merry-go-round. If time/talent/money were no object, I’d definitely live alone or with a significant other (or with a maid) in a huge home where I run a consulting business … helping clients with media relations, fundraising, book editing, website design (only from an aesthetic standpoint), relationship advice, etc.

3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?

No particular influence as far as occupation. I look to my grandfather’s work history, which is the most extensive of the family’s, and he’s done everything from paratrooping during WWII to driving a bakery truck to working in factories to god only knows what. He’s done a variety of different things, and likewise, I’ve done p.r., journalism, program development, fund-raising for charity, sales, etc. Hell, I even designed an Xmas ornament! But if anything from my grandfather’s life inspires me, it was the fact that he was in a country-and-western band for many years. He was a wonderful singer, guitarist and songwriter, and I guess that’s where I acquired my own passion for the arts. Now, he’s too frail and uncoordinated to play anymore, but I know those songs are still in his heart and in his head, but he figures nobody wants to hear them anymore, so he keeps them to himself. I hope I at least find a way to share my work before I get to that point. 🙂

4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?

Yes. I had just started my executive job when I found out that single motherhood was looming. But I needed the job, with its big pay hike, and I knew the workload and the pressure, if it didn’t kill me first, would not allow for me to have any quality time for an addition to my life. And with the daddy living 300 miles away with a mountain of issues of his own, well, that was the deciding factor. And while I know it was the best decision at the time, I wonder how different my life would be today.

5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?

I don’t think there ARE easy jobs … just because someone isn’t making any money doesn’t mean that they aren’t pouring their souls into their occupations. Assuming that “being a cat” doesn’t count as an answer, I’d say I want to be a relative of HRP so that I can collect a paycheck at Two Strikes without ever actually having to earn it!!! lol. The hardest job is probably being a rescue worker or a therapist … dealing with everybody else’s problems all day and then coming home to face your own … it seems like they have no escape.

I was just watching Maddie, thinking what an adorable, furry little muppet she is. She’s just lying on her back, waving her tail ever-so-languidly, with one paw above her head. I just said, “Puss!” and she looked at me and cooed. Maddie is quite the vocal cat, a “tweeter,” as my cousin Carole calls it. She’s always yapping about something or other. She’s so friggin’ sweet right now that I can’t hate her for the inch-long bloody scratch on my toe that she gave me this morning in a fit of un-catlike klutziness. 🙂

Call Me Carrie (Bradshaw, that is)

(Although I am most like Samantha, the spirit of “Sex and the City” sexpert columnist Carrie has seeped into my veins today.) Today’s topic: Friends and Blogs.

Lately, the blogs I faithfully read — of friends I’ve met and those I haven’t yet and may never — have moved into a phase of self-medicating through the most effective yet dangerous drug of all: introspection. I think we’re all dancing around the obvious: while we want to share ourselves with the Blogger community from the sanctity of our one-sided soapboxes, we find ourselves holding back. Are we afraid of being held accountable for the words we ache to write?

Instead of commenting about others’ blogs, I’ll take the leap and say it about my own: that which is in writing becomes an expectation, on the part of the reader as well as the writer. If you want to say that someone and/or something is driving you nuts, the person in question or someone who is likely to be impacted by your statements may be affected by a variety of factors that they can only infer: tone, facial expression, intent, etc. Just like career coaches tell you, smile when you answer the phone, ‘cuz people can tell when you’re not. Smile when you blog, and your readers smile with you. Or something like that.

Likewise, once you’ve mapped out your heart in black-on-white text (or whatever stylesheet you prefer), it’s there, staring you in the face every day, waiting for you to not necessarily own up to it, but rather own up to the responsibility for making a change because of it, even if that change is to simply accept it at face value.

Two weeks ago, I made a list of everything I need to do to make my life a success for me. And while I have debated posting it, it remains in the top drawer of my desk at work. My rationale: if no one has seen my private goals, no one can ask for a progress report. And if I want to change the goals, so what? Nobody will know about it.

I think it was Peter Drucker who said that if an organization has more than five goals, it has no goals. I learned this at Two Strikes, believe it or not, where HRP sets 45 unachievable goals a day for six (well, five, without me) overachievers to accomplish with full staffs of underachievers. Why are the goals unachievable? Lack of focus, and lack of faith in those who are supposed to execute those goals. And maybe even the lack of resources to accomplish those goals should round out the top three reasons.

And maybe, those three reasons (lack of focus, faith and resources), are precisely why I haven’t held myself accountable in the blogosphere for my own goals, of which there were about nine, but maybe I will narrow it down to five, in honor of Drucker, a man who made sense even in an organization that didn’t. 🙂

1. Supplement inner beauty with a commitment to improving the outward appearance (through regular gym visits, modified eating habits and small indulgences that mean the world such as manicures, flattering clothing and other girly pamperings).

2. Work for my own dreams in the form of starting side business(es) to enhance income and overall well-being until I can stop working for other people’s dreams and/or machines.

3. Write the novels and poems that are simmering beneath the surface of my psyche, because ignoring the need to share my story doesn’t exactly make it go away.

4. Maintain Inner Poise. I will admit to taking this one straight out of “Bridget Jones’s Diary” — but the girl was on to something. Inner Poise enables me to be gracious and pleasing in all areas of my life when I’d much rather prefer to beat somebody over the head with a scorching hot saucepan. Whether at work or with friends and family, I keep my temper and cattiness at bay and realize that I am the one who must live with all of my actions. Maintaining Inner Poise plays upon Goal #1 in that a girl needs to indulge herself spiritually as well as physically, and while some find that peace in church or in a cooking class, I find it with an episode of “SATC.” It incorporates realizing what the small pleasures are in life and not sacrificing those “dates” with yourself.

5. Maintain home. Now this might sound strange on such a list, but think about it … when all else is crazy in life, the home is where things should be free of chaos. Maintaining the home means, to me, a spotless kitchen and bathroom and an otherwise tidy rest of the place (I’m no neatnik by any means, but clutter really does make me berserk). And I know the household is not my responsibility alone, but it has to meet my own standard, at the very least.

These are my lifelong personal goals. SM has a list of her own, and earlier this month, I posted our shared goals (i.e., attract and keep Mr. Right, etc.). But I felt the need to share my personal goals for the exact reason I stated above: accountability. I neither need nor desire feedback from anyone on the quality of the goals, nor do I owe status reports, excuses or explanations for any of my words or pending actions. Further, goals are subject to change at any time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a hot date with my beautiful little Calico, who is waiting for me to play “Fucker Mouse” with her. :::smile:::

Why I Love My Hometown

(Thanks to Leslie for the email!) …

PITTSBURGH FIRSTS – Pittsburgh was the first city in the world to do a lot of neat things! Here are a few of the most well known.

First Heart, Liver, Kidney Transplant – December 3, 1989 The first simultaneous heart, liver and kidney transplant was done at Presbyterian-University Hospital.

 

The First Internet Emoticon – 1980 The Smile! y -) was the first Internet emoticon, created in 1980 by Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Scott Fahlman.

 

First Robotics Institute – 1979 The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University was established in 1979 to conduct basic and applied research in robotics technologies relevant to industrial and societal tasks.

 

First Mr. Yuk Sticker – 1971 Mr. Yuk was created at the Poison Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh after research indicated that the skull and crossbones previously used to identify poisons had little meaning to the children of today (for most children it means exciting things like pirates and adventure). Covering 27 counties and 33 percent of Pennsylvania’s population, the Pittsburgh Poison Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is the largest such center in the United States.

 

First Night World Series Game – 1971 Game 4 of the 1971 World Series was the first night game in Series history. Pittsburgh tied the series i! n that game with a 4-3 win and went on to win the series, 4 games to 3. This was one of the last big moments in the career of well-loved Pirate, Roberto Clemente. Fourteen and a half months after the 1971 World Series, he died in a plane crash off the coast of his native Puerto Rico as he attempted to take food, clothing and medical supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 

First Big Mac – 1967 Created by Jim Delligatti at his Uniontown McDonald’s, the Big Mac debuted and was test marketed in three other Pittsburgh-area McDonald’s restaurants in 1967. By 1968 it was a mainstay on McDonald’s menus throughout the country and, eventually, the world. First Pull-Tab on Cans – 1962 The pull-tab was developed by Alcoa and was first used by Iron City Brewery in 1962. For many years, pull-tabs were only used in this area.

 

First Retractable Dome – September 1961 Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena boasts the world’s first auditorium with a  retractable roof. (currently under consideration for demolition)

 

First U.S. Public Television Station – WQED – April 1, 1954 WQED, operated by the Metropolitan Pittsburgh Educational Station, was the first community-sponsored educational television station in America and was also the first to telecast classes to elementary schools (1955).

 

First Polio Vaccine – March 26, 1953 The polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, a 38-year-old University of Pittsburgh researcher and professor, and his staff at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

First All-Aluminum Building – ALC! OA – August 1953 The first aluminum-faced skyscraper was the Alcoa Building, a 30-story, 410-foot structure with thin stamped aluminum panels forming the exterior walls.

 

First Zippo Lighter – 1932 George G. Blaisdell invented the Zippo lighter in 1932 in Bradford, Pennsylvania. You can even find the name of the manufacturing location, either Bradford or Niagara Falls, Canada, stamped on the bottom of every Zippo lighter. The name Zippo was chosen by Blaisdell because he liked the sound of the word “zipper”- which was patented around the same time in nearby Meadville, PA.

 

First Bingo Game – early 1920’s Hugh J. Ward first came up with the concept of bingo in Pittsburgh and began running the game at carnivals in the early

1920s, taking it nation-wide in 1924. He secured a copyright on the game & wrote a book of Bingo rules in 1933.

 

First U.S. Commercial Radio Station – KDKA – November 2, 1920 Dr. Frank Conrad, assistant chief engineer of Wes! tinghouse Electric, first constructed a transmitter and installed it in a garage near his home in Wilkinsburg in 1916. The station was licensed as 8XK. At 6 p.m. on Nov.2, 1920, 8KX became KDKA Radio and began broadcasting at 100 watts from a makeshift shack atop one of the Westinghouse manufacturing buildings in East Pittsburgh.

 

The First Gas Station – December 1913 In 1913 the first automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company, opened in Pittsburgh at Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in East Liberty. It was designed by J. H. Giesey.

 

The First Baseball Stadium in the U.S. – 1909 In 1909 the first baseball stadium, Forbes Field, was built in Pittsburgh, followed soon by similar stadiums in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and New York. Forbes Field closed in 1970 when Three Rivers Stadium opened. PNC Park is the newest replacement, which opened in the Spring of 2001.

 

First Motion Picture Theater – 1905 The first theater in the world devoted to ! the exhibition of motion pictures was the ‘Nickelodeon,’ opened byHarry Davis on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh. First Banana Split – 1904 The banana split was invented by Dr. David Strickler, a pharmacist, at Strickler’s Drug Store in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

 

The First World Series – 1903 The Boston Pilgrims defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in baseball’s first modern World Series in 1903. The Pirates lost the final game 4-3, before a crowd of 7,455 in Boston. Four of the series’ games were played in Pittsburgh.

 

First Ferris Wheel – 1892/1893 The first Ferris Wheel, invented by Pittsburgh native and civil engineer, George Washington Gale practical air brake for railroads was invented by George Westinghouse in the 1860s and patented in 1869. In the same year he organized the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. With additional automatic features incorporated into its design, the air brake became widely accepted, and the Railroad Safety Appliance Act of 1893 made ! air brakes compulsory on all American trains.

Oy.

Next time I bemoan my lack of luck with dates, particularly those met online, remind me of this story:

After Telephone Courtship, a First Date Ends in Death

And here I’ve been upset over RK for NOTHING!!! Look how much WORSE off I could have been!

NOT a Geek!

The results should surprise no one. 🙂

You are 21% geek

OK, so maybe you ain’t a geek. You do, at least, show a bit of interest in the world around you. Either that, or you have enough of a sense of humor to pick some of the sillier answers on the test. Regardless, you’re probably a pretty nifty, well-rounded person who gets along fine with people and can chat with just about anyone without fear of looking stupid or foolish or overly concerned with minutiae. God, I hate you.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

I can’t do this anymore.

I don’t want to date. I don’t want to feel like I am rejectable and useless, when frankly, I know better.

SM always says, in general, that people value money the way they should instead value time. We have no problem wasting time doing things (like jobs) that we aren’t particularly thrilled with, yet we worry that we are spending money irresponsibly when, let’s face it, we can always earn more money yet we can’t replace the time that slips through our fingers.

I IMed RK this a.m., against my better judgment, for pretty much the sole purpose of asking the name of an open-mic comedy club he had mentioned. He talked about work in the same way I remember talking about Easter Seals. He’s down and depressed, I can tell. I attempted to be upbeat and tell him he’ll be fine when he gets laid off in December. Sounds kinda hopeless, and I know the feeling entirely too well.

And that was it. Didn’t ask about me or what I’m up to. Nothing whatsoever. Not that I’m shocked, mind you. As soon as I got the info about the comedy club, I said thanks and closed the IM screen. He can feel free to continue the conversation, today and any other day, but presently, I’m over it — and him. If and when he gets chatty again, he can feel free to see if I might want to respond. (If I can sound totally girly and stupid for one second, today could have been our one-month “anniversary,” if you will, if we’d actually started dating. I know he had told me from the beginning that he was in the dumps about his job and that it was draining his energy from him, but come the fuck on … when one area of your life totally sucks, it would be nice to have another area totally working in your favor, right?)

I gave some more thought to the whole issue about being “the one who got away.” I decided that the yo-yos who LET us get away are probably too self-involved to ever realize what they were too blind to see when it was right in front of them. Further, it kills me how the game must be played … damn those people who wrote “The Rules” and all the other books like it … damn them to hell!!! But then again, let’s look at the Brat debacle … there was nothing in this world that I wouldn’t — and didn’t — do for him, and notice how alone I ended up. Maybe there IS something to treating a guy like an old pair of socks. But the question is, can I do that?

Grrr. I’m just irritated because I was brought up to treat people well and to be patient with their idiosyncracies. I thought you were supposed to support people emotionally wherever possible and reach out to them not only when they need it, but when you need it. This shit about waiting around for men to call was NOT presented to me in my upbringing as a feminist — damn it, if I want a date, I have the right to ask a guy out, don’t I? And if I don’t want to date a guy, I don’t have to go out with him, right? According to all these self-help books, they say to date the mediocre guys till something better comes along, and with the “right” guy, make him beg for your affections. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? Shouldn’t I pursue the ones I want and not waste my energy on those I don’t?

In recent years, I’ve become a pseudo-feminist. I like for guys to hold open doors for me, but I am not about to stand around waiting for it to happen, either. Then again, from what I understand, guys think you’re a bitch when you open the door for yourself. You know what, this alone makes me want to become a lesbian … not because I have any real desire to sample a slice of hairpie, but because I can at least UNDERSTAND women!!!

My horoscope today told me to literally “end the conversation.” It also said to leave things up to chance, as there is nothing left for me to do. How appropriate! So much for transcendentalism, though. Look, I totally believe in going with the flow and going through the doors that open along the way, but once I go through those doors, I am not going to stand there and look pretty (although I just can’t help doing that!!!). lol. Like a good little transcendentalist, I believe in running through those doors at full speed and seeing what’s inside — and ultimately, making my own miracles, if you will.

I guess my parting thought is that I refuse to wait for happiness; I’d rather know now if I am going to find it with a particular person or not. We have to learn too many dances in the workplace; why is it necessary to play games with someone you might end up spending the rest of your life with? I know, all the girls who write the self-help books would drown me for thinking this … obviously, there’s a need for such books, because all the authors are happily married to romantic men who went to desperate measures to win their affections. Aaarrrggghhhh.

I s’pose the argument can be made, though, that while we girls are waiting for men to make the first/next move, at least we can say we have something interesting going on in our lives. By losing faith in RK, I will lose that hope that something wonderful might just be around the corner. On the other hand, by accepting the possibility that this ain’t goin’ nowhere, I can remove my head from my butt and see what else may be in front of me that I might have been missing. (of course, right now, that seems to be a whole lotta nuthin’ … I might as well shove my head into the clouds and keep dreaming that Mr. Right exists.

I know, I know … when did this supposedly independent woman turn into a pathetic slob? Last year at this time, believe it or not. It was when I realized that I want the happiness that I see all of my friends experiencing … I want to love and be loved, to experience that great unknown. I know that everyone says that you find love when you’re not looking for it, but damn it, I’ve been not looking for it for nearly 15 months! Where is it?!?! lol.