2010-05-26
2010-05-25
Gaga Glee quickie
So I'm watching the long-anticipated Lady Gaga episode of Glee and it's the scene when Rachel and her newly identified mom - sorry, mother - are singing "Poker Face" in a slower Glee way... and I'm marveling at the way they adapted it, how I never understood or appreciated the lyrics (which are actually quite nice), and how spine-tingling the harmonies are - when from the east side of the family room, I hear "Oh my god, I want to kill myself".
(beat)
I almost spit a mouthful of rainbow sherbet all over the room.
My husband, the biggest male Lady Gaga fan I know of, who was quietly suffering through the whole episode because I'd insinuated Lady Gaga would actually be on the show, who - like me - probably didn't even realize that song was "Poker Face" until the chorus (which happens to be his favorite Lady Gaga song)... had reached the end of his proverbial rope.
Gotta appreciate the daily compromise that is marriage.
(beat)
I almost spit a mouthful of rainbow sherbet all over the room.
My husband, the biggest male Lady Gaga fan I know of, who was quietly suffering through the whole episode because I'd insinuated Lady Gaga would actually be on the show, who - like me - probably didn't even realize that song was "Poker Face" until the chorus (which happens to be his favorite Lady Gaga song)... had reached the end of his proverbial rope.
Gotta appreciate the daily compromise that is marriage.
2010-05-21
Interesting Taste of the Day
Rainbow sherbet with cold coffee drizzled over it.
Probably not a keeper...
Probably not a keeper...
2010-05-20
Things I can do from the couch
Although I am a self-proclaimed "couch commando", that doesn't mean I'm a couch potato or a complete TV addict (yes, yes, I know what I wrote in my last post). What I'm trying to say is that I do a LOT more from the sofa than just watch tv & vegetate. So here's a list of the many many activities I can do on the couch:
- watch tv (duh)
- watch movies
- play videogames (ok, I rarely do this... but it's been known to happen)
- sleep
- play with kitty (usually fetch - I throw his favorite mouse toy down the stairway, he runs and fetches it, brings it back, repeat)
- look at the beautiful view from our balcony - if I kneel on the couch and use the binoculars I can see so much!
- read books
- read magazines
- read catalogs
- do anything on the computer (mainly job hunt & check email, but also surf, shop, blog, read news & celebrity gossip, stumble)
- do crossword puzzles (with pen/paper & online)
- play sudoku (with pen/paper & online)
- watch kitty play by himself (usually running around if he's in a frisky mood or just going out on the balcony and exploring, walking across the railing, stalking pigeons, eating plants...)
- getting bit by kitty (when he's bored and wants me to get up & play with him or when he wants me to feed him)
- laying with kitty on my belly or lap
- paint nails
- tweeze eyebrows
- braid my own hair (not that it stays - even with my perm)
- do arm exercises (usually arm circles or just pumping my arms in the air like in the Destiny's Child video for "I'm A Survivor")
- do core exercises (I consider trying to sit up straight on a gushy couch until I tire to be core exercises)
- crack my neck
- crack my back
- do leg exercises (usually me, laying on my back, kicking my legs in the air like I'm riding a bicycle)
- do eye exercises (the best way is to focus on something really far away and then gently shift your focus to something closeby in the same line of sight - one eye at a time. I like to look at the coffee machine on the kitchen counter (far) and then at my knee (close), coffee machine, knee, and so on)
- eat
- drink
- talk on the phone/text/check voicemail
- check the time on the wallclock (who's second hand is eerily always on the 9 - it doesn't move - what a metaphor for my life)
- survey how much dust is on the living room furniture
- survey how much cat hair is on the sofa cushions
- think about what errands need to be run (grocery shopping list, target shopping list, do I need to go to the post office, should I just go get my nails done because I'm awful at doing them myself) - make a mental list - promptly forget
- think about what household chores need to be done (cleaning, dusting, laundry, trash) - make a mental list - promptly forget
- wonder what kitty's thinking
- yell at kitty and clap and make weird noises with my mouth to get kitty to get off the kitchen counter
- look at kitty looking at me
- wonder when I'm going to get a job
- wonder what my husband's doing at work
- wonder what my friends are doing at work
- wonder what I'll do if I never find a job again
- try to think of million, no, billion-dollar idea so I don't have to work again, ever
- watch tv (duh)
- watch movies
- play videogames (ok, I rarely do this... but it's been known to happen)
- sleep
- play with kitty (usually fetch - I throw his favorite mouse toy down the stairway, he runs and fetches it, brings it back, repeat)
- look at the beautiful view from our balcony - if I kneel on the couch and use the binoculars I can see so much!
- read books
- read magazines
- read catalogs
- do anything on the computer (mainly job hunt & check email, but also surf, shop, blog, read news & celebrity gossip, stumble)
- do crossword puzzles (with pen/paper & online)
- play sudoku (with pen/paper & online)
- watch kitty play by himself (usually running around if he's in a frisky mood or just going out on the balcony and exploring, walking across the railing, stalking pigeons, eating plants...)
- getting bit by kitty (when he's bored and wants me to get up & play with him or when he wants me to feed him)
- laying with kitty on my belly or lap
- paint nails
- tweeze eyebrows
- braid my own hair (not that it stays - even with my perm)
- do arm exercises (usually arm circles or just pumping my arms in the air like in the Destiny's Child video for "I'm A Survivor")
- do core exercises (I consider trying to sit up straight on a gushy couch until I tire to be core exercises)
- crack my neck
- crack my back
- do leg exercises (usually me, laying on my back, kicking my legs in the air like I'm riding a bicycle)
- do eye exercises (the best way is to focus on something really far away and then gently shift your focus to something closeby in the same line of sight - one eye at a time. I like to look at the coffee machine on the kitchen counter (far) and then at my knee (close), coffee machine, knee, and so on)
- eat
- drink
- talk on the phone/text/check voicemail
- check the time on the wallclock (who's second hand is eerily always on the 9 - it doesn't move - what a metaphor for my life)
- survey how much dust is on the living room furniture
- survey how much cat hair is on the sofa cushions
- think about what errands need to be run (grocery shopping list, target shopping list, do I need to go to the post office, should I just go get my nails done because I'm awful at doing them myself) - make a mental list - promptly forget
- think about what household chores need to be done (cleaning, dusting, laundry, trash) - make a mental list - promptly forget
- wonder what kitty's thinking
- yell at kitty and clap and make weird noises with my mouth to get kitty to get off the kitchen counter
- look at kitty looking at me
- wonder when I'm going to get a job
- wonder what my husband's doing at work
- wonder what my friends are doing at work
- wonder what I'll do if I never find a job again
- try to think of million, no, billion-dollar idea so I don't have to work again, ever
2010-05-17
Couch commando
So I've decided, after a few months, that I'm finally going "public" with my blog... I had started this blog back in February - then tried to delete it - found out that I hadn't deleted it - and then been re-convinced to write a blog by my good friend, a fellow blogger. I had newfound motivation the week before my husband & I went to Korea, on the same day - actually - that I found out I'd have my first job interview in 6 years the day before leaving for Korea. So, suffice to say, the whole blog thing got sidetracked... until now.
Now I'm back, recovered (more or less) from jet lag, to my daily grind of unemployed nothing-to-do-ness. For those who don't know, I was laid off back in early March from my job of over 5 years. It was the classic "blessing in disguise" in that I had been commuting an hour to & from work every day, burning up lots of gas, putting wear & tear on my car, and simply wasting hours of my life away on the road. I was always tired, sleep-deprived, carb-hungry, and feeling rushed. The job was good, don't get me wrong! I loved the people I worked for and with. The work itself was fulfilling, challenging, and dynamic - all the things I want from a job/career. But it was far away - and getting laid off meant I could now look for work closer to home - maybe for a bigger firm.
I had an inkling of an idea of how lean & mean the job market was from tales my friends who had recently graduated from business schools would tell - of how difficult it was to find a job, just to get an interview even. And of course every time I turned on the radio or TV, I heard about how high unemployment was, how thousands of more jobs had been cut this week, how unappealing and dim the economic forecast for the rest of the year was... Yet, I'm a hopeful gal by nature. I've always seen the glass half-full. So even though I knew I'd probably be in for a long haul, I tried to heed everyone's advice about hitting the ground running. I updated my resume, sent it to other professionals in my field, got feedback, revised my resume, and then overhauled my portfolio. I was fortunate enough to get a call from an ex-colleague who was venturing out on his own as an architect. He generously gave me some work that I could do from home to generate some side income. Of course, I filed for unemployment the day after I was laid off as well. Then, as the days after getting laid off became weeks - and the weeks have now become months - I'm still not down in the dumps dejected or depressed. But I'm definitely a lot more sober, and there's a little less spring in my job-hunting step.
In all other aspects of my life, I feel great! I get TONS of (if not too much) sleep, the house is a little neater/cleaner than it used to be, my husband and I eat better because I now have time to cook and actually think about what I'm cooking (i.e. try to be more conscious of our waist lines), I can go to the gym whenever I want and however frequently I want (which apparently is still once a week), I read a lot more, I can keep in better touch with friends, I feel more up-to-date on current events... which leads me to my final point, and the reason for the name of my blog & this post - I now watch a disgusting amount of TV.
I say this, with a mixture of awe, shame, and guilt. I feel like I just got up at a 12-step program meeting and said, "Hi, my name is Allison. And I'm a TV-aholic."
I mean, I always liked TV. I had a knack for the art of becoming a human vegetable on the sofa, losing track of time & space as you watched program after mindless program of comedy, drama, news, infomercials, and documentary. I am very good at just turning my brain OFF and getting sucked into the boob tube.
But.
But, before I was unemployed I simply didn't have the TIME to do it endlessly. Sure, when I lived alone - and even after I was married, I'd come home after work, plop down in front of the TV to eat dinner and watch, watch, watch until it was bedtime. There was something about working in front of a computer all day, and doing things (no matter how much I loved my job) that you HAD to do and talking to people you didn't really WANT to talk to about things you didn't really CARE about, that just made me want to literally "PLOP" on the couch when I got home and completely not-think. In a way, it was like I was trying to un-think - to undo all the knotty complicated b.s. that I had had to spew, tolerate, or digest throughout the day - whether at work, at the store, or on the road.
But now I don't even have that problem. I don't have that daily grind to unwind from - the daily buildup of crud in my ears, brain & psyche that needs to be washed away by mindless game shows and crime dramas. Yet I can still melt away hours on the couch. Sitting up, laying on my side, laying completely prostrate with just my head turned towards the TV and the rest of my body tightly tucked under a cotton throw like a mummy, sitting cross-legged on the floor, sitting in the armchair with my feet on the ottoman... watching, watching, watching. I can get up from bed after sleeping 10 hours, walk up the flight of stairs to our Living Room, plant myself on the couch, and not move (except to go to the bathroom) until my husband gets home in the evening. And even sometimes after he gets home, then we both just sit there for another couple hours until bedtime. Not that I do this everyday. I do have enough humanity and my mother's upbringing (i.e. I hear her voice yelling at me inside my head) to not actually WANT to do that every day. But there are those days...
Hello, my name is Allison. And I'm a Couch Commando.
Now I'm back, recovered (more or less) from jet lag, to my daily grind of unemployed nothing-to-do-ness. For those who don't know, I was laid off back in early March from my job of over 5 years. It was the classic "blessing in disguise" in that I had been commuting an hour to & from work every day, burning up lots of gas, putting wear & tear on my car, and simply wasting hours of my life away on the road. I was always tired, sleep-deprived, carb-hungry, and feeling rushed. The job was good, don't get me wrong! I loved the people I worked for and with. The work itself was fulfilling, challenging, and dynamic - all the things I want from a job/career. But it was far away - and getting laid off meant I could now look for work closer to home - maybe for a bigger firm.
I had an inkling of an idea of how lean & mean the job market was from tales my friends who had recently graduated from business schools would tell - of how difficult it was to find a job, just to get an interview even. And of course every time I turned on the radio or TV, I heard about how high unemployment was, how thousands of more jobs had been cut this week, how unappealing and dim the economic forecast for the rest of the year was... Yet, I'm a hopeful gal by nature. I've always seen the glass half-full. So even though I knew I'd probably be in for a long haul, I tried to heed everyone's advice about hitting the ground running. I updated my resume, sent it to other professionals in my field, got feedback, revised my resume, and then overhauled my portfolio. I was fortunate enough to get a call from an ex-colleague who was venturing out on his own as an architect. He generously gave me some work that I could do from home to generate some side income. Of course, I filed for unemployment the day after I was laid off as well. Then, as the days after getting laid off became weeks - and the weeks have now become months - I'm still not down in the dumps dejected or depressed. But I'm definitely a lot more sober, and there's a little less spring in my job-hunting step.
In all other aspects of my life, I feel great! I get TONS of (if not too much) sleep, the house is a little neater/cleaner than it used to be, my husband and I eat better because I now have time to cook and actually think about what I'm cooking (i.e. try to be more conscious of our waist lines), I can go to the gym whenever I want and however frequently I want (which apparently is still once a week), I read a lot more, I can keep in better touch with friends, I feel more up-to-date on current events... which leads me to my final point, and the reason for the name of my blog & this post - I now watch a disgusting amount of TV.
I say this, with a mixture of awe, shame, and guilt. I feel like I just got up at a 12-step program meeting and said, "Hi, my name is Allison. And I'm a TV-aholic."
I mean, I always liked TV. I had a knack for the art of becoming a human vegetable on the sofa, losing track of time & space as you watched program after mindless program of comedy, drama, news, infomercials, and documentary. I am very good at just turning my brain OFF and getting sucked into the boob tube.
But.
But, before I was unemployed I simply didn't have the TIME to do it endlessly. Sure, when I lived alone - and even after I was married, I'd come home after work, plop down in front of the TV to eat dinner and watch, watch, watch until it was bedtime. There was something about working in front of a computer all day, and doing things (no matter how much I loved my job) that you HAD to do and talking to people you didn't really WANT to talk to about things you didn't really CARE about, that just made me want to literally "PLOP" on the couch when I got home and completely not-think. In a way, it was like I was trying to un-think - to undo all the knotty complicated b.s. that I had had to spew, tolerate, or digest throughout the day - whether at work, at the store, or on the road.
But now I don't even have that problem. I don't have that daily grind to unwind from - the daily buildup of crud in my ears, brain & psyche that needs to be washed away by mindless game shows and crime dramas. Yet I can still melt away hours on the couch. Sitting up, laying on my side, laying completely prostrate with just my head turned towards the TV and the rest of my body tightly tucked under a cotton throw like a mummy, sitting cross-legged on the floor, sitting in the armchair with my feet on the ottoman... watching, watching, watching. I can get up from bed after sleeping 10 hours, walk up the flight of stairs to our Living Room, plant myself on the couch, and not move (except to go to the bathroom) until my husband gets home in the evening. And even sometimes after he gets home, then we both just sit there for another couple hours until bedtime. Not that I do this everyday. I do have enough humanity and my mother's upbringing (i.e. I hear her voice yelling at me inside my head) to not actually WANT to do that every day. But there are those days...
Hello, my name is Allison. And I'm a Couch Commando.
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