Caterwauling

Dear cat who pissed in my beloved and so-not-cheap Samsonite rolling luggage thingy: I’m never coming home once I leave. Ever. Love, Mommy.

I don’t suppose any luggage stores are open at 8 a.m. on a Sunday? *kick*

Because these days, I am conditioned to think in 40-character bursts.

* Decided I wanted a whole new set of luggage. Reality set in and I picked up a cute Nine West weekender bag instead.

* Drove away from the luggage set I wanted, went to another store and bought the weekender bag, and returned to the first store to look at the full luggage set. You know, just in case it was put on sale in the interim. It wasn’t. 😉

* The “cheap” gas in my ‘hood is at $3.17/gallon.

* I’ll be leaving my tank unfilled in hopes that the crude and gasoline futures drop sometime soon.

* Why yes, I am a dreamer — why do you ask?

* Piece-of-shit laptop from work, well, NOT working. Haaaaa.

* Debating exchanging couch/loveseat for MacBook.

* Tried to buy an iPod at Best Buy. No one would wait on me. Good thing, as Comcast bill arrived. $345! Installation was $120, and I don’t even have digital or premium channels!

* HATE Comcast.

* HATE.

* Had insomnia last night. Woke up in time to see Bon Jovi’s new video on VH1 at 3 a.m. *sweet dreams* Ironic how my body shook awake out of a dream to see Jon!

* Wondering where things stand.

* Wondering whether they’ll still be standing.

* Wondering just what that look really meant.

* Wondering just how many outfits I can shove into that little weekender bag.

* My suitcase is still packed from the last time I went away. Yeesh. Although that probably explains where the outfits are that I’ve been searching for. …

I was just looking at my checking account and wondering how I’m even going to afford the gas to drive to Dulles for my upcoming escape, and my lucky stars must have heard me.

I got my security deposit back from the old place in the mail today. They only took out $15 — for what, I have no idea — but it was nice to have $600 to deposit for gambling expenses and stuff.

But wait, there’s more. I got another $200 for the use of one of my Flickr photos, too! I knew it was coming eventually, but I’d sort of given up hope on it.

I have one more check coming soon (I hope) from a $100 deposit I put on an apartment I didn’t take because I was smoking crack, thinking I’d move to Silver Spring. Hah. Staying in D.C. was an economical decision — sure, I am paying more in rent, but I sure as hell think the money part is worth it, to keep from having to invest the time and frustration to register my car in yet another municipality.

So, all told, my new hire started, I got nearly $800 in the mail and various other weird but wonderful moments took place. I’m ridiculously behind in my work, but fuck that — I feel like I’m on top of the world!

And don’t THINK I’m not wondering whether I should learn Blackjack or whether I can actually dump all that money in the slot machines and see if I can double it. 😉 …

My new theory is that I am not going to let anyone drive me crazy, but they can sure as hell be a passenger during the journey there. I just reserve the right to strap them to the sunroof.

I was in my new hire’s office, showing her how the magic happens ’round these parts, when one of our consultant-types ran into the office (as it used to be his and all), looked at us and ran out.

And just as she was saying, “Hello, random attractive man!” as he ran out, another male colleague was running in. Ha!

She repeated her earlier statement to our next visitor, as it applied once again. I think it made him blush. Either that, or he was terrified. Whichever. 🙂

The other day, a colleague of mine was singing an old Prince song (“The Beautiful Ones” — one of my all-time FAVORITES). And of course I was inspired to load it into my MP3 player.

Wouldn’t you know, I was getting on the elevator this morning, listening to my headphones, and the same colleague got on with me. The irony? Not two seconds later, that same song started playing. Strange but true.

Notice: All instant messages sent to and from this buddy name will be logged by the IMAuditor and are subject to archival, monitoring, or review and/or disclosure to someone other than the recipient.

C: are the Web sites down?
Me: does a bear poop in the woods?
C: kanks
Me: sure
Me: The fun never begins!
C: eggzactly
Me: while I have you, can I bug you for a word-choice conundrum?
C: of course

(actual professional discussion)

Me: that works
Me: kanks!
C: ahhhh
C: awhhhhh
C: yeah, awhhh
Me: what’s sad is that we can differentiate among the different grunts around here
C: hunh!
Me: quack
C: hunh?
Me: snarf
C: this is redickalous
Me: snort
C: uncle!
Me: ack
C: aaaarrrrggggghhhhh

Me: seriously, though — you’re a lifesaver
C: does that make me a sucker?
Me: I can’t answer that on company IM 🙂

I don’t get it.

I just, don’t get it.

At all.

I’m mad.

Bullying has gone from a simple “yo’ mama” joke and a shove on the playground at recess to catastrophic, life-or-death scenarios. It spans the ages from pre-schoolers right on up to working adults. But the more advanced technology becomes, the more sneaky and strategic this act of terrorism becomes.

I have a lot of friends who are moms, and I know their teenage kids. Good kids, too — ones full of love and as-yet-untapped brilliance and amazing amounts of potential. And they’re facing the repercussions of terrible acts on the parts of others.

Right after the Virginia Tech shooting, I heard of one of these good kids being called in to the principal’s office because his asshole peers spread vicious rumors that he had brought a gun to school. So he’s introverted and isn’t a typical captain-of-the-football-team type. So what? I celebrate his individuality, I understand him for all the things he’s gone through in his short life so far. I celebrate him for the man he’s trying to become.

And for kids to prey on the nerves of an already-frantic administration and embarrass this poor child in front of his peers and teachers? Ludicrous. This is a time when, even if you can’t ask everyone to band together and be there for each other, we should at the very least not exclude people. We’re all going through this life, these tragedies, these times together — to not only ostracize someone, but to do it in a way that there are formal investigations being done and reputations being ruined, damn. Makes the case for home-schooling, doesn’t it?

Then another kid I know got the scare of his life today. His mom is a teacher at a local high school, but she has to start her day about 45 minutes earlier than him. So, they drive in together and he waits in the car, playing with his BlackBerry until it’s time for homeroom. He’s a senior at that school — and graduating from it in less than three weeks. Meaning, he’s shown that he’s a responsible citizen.

But remember the sitting in the car thing? He got hauled into the principal’s office and was told that he is to never, ever sit in that car again on school property because it creeps people out. The HELL? Someone made claims that he’s shooting videos from his BlackBerry — read: stalking people and recording it. Yeah, sure. Whatever. He’s sitting there surfing the Internet, killing time.

The clincher is that he was told to not sit in the car but to walk to the local store (which is closed when they get there at 6 a.m.) or to go walk around the local park. (Yeah, that’s safe. I know he’s a boy and all, but I’ve heard too many scary stories about people being attacked there to list THAT as a viable time-killing option.)

What they’re basically telling him is to not use his phone. No text messaging, no nothing. And they demanded to see his list of recently dialed calls, recently sent text messages and recent Internet use. And here’s the fun part — when he handed over his phone (as asked, because he’s a good boy like that), they told him to show them how to use it. He laughed and said nope, I’m not enabling you to accuse me of something lewd that I didn’t even do.

Almost makes you miss the days of having someone throw gum in your hair or steal your lunch money or call you a stupid name, eh? OK, not really of course, but how freaking insane that people think you’re a terrorist or a perp just because someone out there has a problem with the way you look or how you spend your free time.

I hated high school. I couldn’t wait to get the fuck away from it. And that’s my advice to them both — life does go on, and it gets better. Everyone who bothered me in school is now shitting out babies every nine months and living in poverty while I’ve got a job (and maybe even a life) that they’d give anything to have instead. You don’t have to go back … you don’t have to LOOK back. It’s all onward and upward from that moment on. Leaving high school is the ultimate do-over — you don’t have to be the person you leave behind, and you don’t have to associate with the people who did nothing but waste your time.

I feel bad for these kids, though, in the interim. Individuality is anything but celebrated, and the torture is more intense than any of us could have imagined dealing with at that age. And now that torture comes from not only those in your age group, but anyone in power who can make your life miserable. Which, I suppose it always did, but I mostly stayed out of trouble so I was spared of the latter.

But yeah, my mom had her fair share of “Harper Valley PTA” moments when she was called in to rescue me from school because of something or another that I’d said or done. But what I always loved about her was that she was always on my side — no matter what others did to make me hurt or to get me in trouble, she always believed in my rationale, my reaction, my right to react (or to not).

I know it sounds hokey, but love is what gets us through the insanely impossible times. And I hope it will be enough to heal them and make them forget these terrible events that are being forced upon them to deal with at such young ages.

Lots of people don’t get over stupid shit like that, or they grow up and take out their aggressions on the people they date or end up supervising. Every day, I’m conscious of not making people feel small and unloved. (Unless they REALLY deserve it, and even then, it’s not worth my aggravation.) Just goes to show, though, that even though people might have some authority, they’ve never really actually grown up enough to handle it.

Decided I really wanted to go see “Fashionistas.” It was eitherh that or “Zumanity”, and one cost $60 and the other cost $100 per ticket. You figure out which one I went for. 😉

I know “Zumanity” bills itself as the “sensual side of Cirque du Soleil,” but “Fashionistas” caught my eye because it’s sort of the poor man’s version of it. The soundtrack of “Fashionistas” includes Evanescence, Madonna, Tool, Lords of Acid, Crystal Method, and Led Zeppelin, so I’m down with that. Besides, a show that bills itself as an “erotically charged Las Vegas adult entertainment production of fetish and fantasy” is completely up my alley.

I watched the trailers before I made the purchase and, well, that sealed the deal.

In perfect timing news, my new hire starts tomorrow. I won’t be able to give her adequate training, but I’ll be available and working. It’s just nice to be able to work from anywhere instead of from the confines of an office.

It’s neat to suddenly have a life again. I’d forgotten how it feels. I basically spent the money I was planning to spend on, oh, a dining room set on a quick weekend getaway instead. And I think I made the better choice.

I’m looking SO forward to escaping. I’m also taking in a comedy show, a day at the spa because I need a facial (no, not THAT kind! Well, maybe … heh) and lots of exotic meals. Yay for life being good to me right now. I am a happy and grateful girl.

I was just wishing this were Bon Jovi week on “American Idol.” (Every week should be Bon Jovi week, but I digress.) The four finalists are doing two songs each, and it’s the music of Barry Gibb this week. We’ve just seen Blake, Melinda and LaKeisha, and it’s just “dreadful,” to quote Simon Cowell. Ugh. Last week, everyone was able to shine with Bon Jovi tunes. So far, all I’m hearing is noise. Hope Jordin can pull it off — but hell, if Blake couldn’t, I don’t think anyone can. …