Even Sicker

So as if last week's death cold wasn't enough, right as I was getting better I was struck down with a really fun flu that involved a lot of middle-of-the night puking and left me six pounds lighter. I swear, I am not usually sickly. Am I being punished? The good news -- I am feeling much better. I still don't have an appetite, but hopefully that will come soon so I can regain my lost weight and then go back to work losing it at the gym.

Meanwhile, I am sure my co-workers are having serious questions about me since I have used three sick days in the last two weeks and left early on two other days. Oy. I am sure I am more paranoid than necessary, but I hate using sick days and using this many is unprecedented.

Not much else to report seeing how I have been in bed and asleep for the majority of the last 48 hours. On Sunday -- one of two days of relative health -- I saw the new Star Wars with my dad. My Star Wars fandom mostly ended when I was little and got tired of playing with my action figures. I did go to Episode I and it was so lame that I skipped Episode II, but Episode III was good. I now know the answers to all of the lingering questions I had, and I got to watch some exciting action sequences.

More videos will be posted soon, as soon as I can leave the house.

Sick

Aaak. I am so annoyed! I'm sick and it's like 80 degrees and sunny out. We were supposed to drive to El Paso this weekend to meet Christina and Bobby's new baby -- Jacob. But there's no way I'm giving the baby this cold. So there goes the plan for the weekend. I left work early yesterday with a fever and proceeded to spend all afternoon sleeping. Today I got up at 1 and finally took a shower. This seems a little weird for a plain old cold.. but that seems to be what I have now that the fever is gone. Ahh what fun.

Meanwhile, I have a bazillion things to get done at work and home and I've barely ventured from the couch for the past 24 hours.

Baah. I just heard an ice cream truck go by in my neighborhood! It is so inappropriate to be ill in the spring and summer.

In other news, my dad told me yesterday that since we were in Italy last month, my brother has taken up smoking. This makes me really mad. What an idiot he is! I also feel like a jerk for being so mad. I don't get mad at friends who smoke. I have smoked in the past (but never to the point of addiction..) But because he is my little brother and I have this crazy protective instinct when it comes to him, I am upset about this latest development. I started worrying about whether or not he will attract the right girls, will be able to be as fit as he has been in the past and whether I'll be able to stand being in a room with him if he's all stinky and smoker-like. So, I made a video about the smoking (which is, perhaps, less articulate than this blog post) and you can watch it and hear my whiny sick voice and see how neurotic I am about my brother.

Here's hoping my cold goes away fast and my brother quits smoking and some little magic elf has been at work doing my work for me for the past day and a half.

Dustin Smokes



Click to watch


I apologize for my sick voice... also, I am aware that I need a real camera instead of my digital camera. Does anyone know about the clicking noises my camera is making?

Doggie Dinner



Click to watch

My dogs have some strange eating customs... yes, we have tried feeding them out of separate bowls -- no go.

Music: The Meters -- "They All Asked For You"

Click here to watch

Finally, after many months of watching other people's video blogs, I have made my first video and figured out how to post it on my blog... or is it now a vlog? Thank you to Michael Verdi and Ryanne Hodson for the site Free Vlog which walked me through all the steps.

So, the video is from my trip to Italy in March. Be kind since this is the first time I ever tried editing video... I am sure I will improve with more practice.

The song is "Another Traveling Song" from Bright Eyes.

The video was shot in (in order) St. Peter's Basilica, on top of St. Peters, a piazza in Rome, the Trevi Fountain, a political press conference in Salerno and the coloseum in Pompei (that's my little brother waving his arms around).

Fascinating Spam

I got some really interesting spam today in my work e-mail. It's from someone named Neateye and the subject line says "Gouranga". Inside, the message reads:

Call out Gouranga be happy!!!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga ....
That which brings the highest happiness!!

This seems to me a fairly harmless piece of spam. It is not filled with expletives or sexual references (as far as I can tell). Also, a big bonus, it doesn't have a virus attached to it. And, what the heck, it's telling me to be happy.

So, I looked it up and apparently, Gouranga is a word of great significance to the Hare Krishnas. So, the spam was religious spam. But, it was still more pleasant than the ads for penis pumps.

Apparently, there is a Gouranga problem in Europe...and that's pretty funny to me. Funny for a few reasons... one, it's sort of like the Jesus graffiti/bumper stickers/clothing etc. you find all over the U.S. -- you know, people using their freedom of religion but also cramming their religion down my throat...and two the Gouranga thing is sort of bringing people together across the world -- in a weird way. We're all getting these e-mails, or seeing the signs and wondering what the heck that weird word means. Here's a good explanation.

In any case, I will take a cheerful religious spam any day over the more disgusting spam I normally receive. And now, I know one more thing about the world, so thanks Hare Krishna spammers for providing a distraction this afternoon.

Observation

When I am driving in my car in the late afternoon, after the car has had all day to soak up the heat from the sun and my window is open but I'm going slow enough not to mess up my hair with the wind, and I'm listening to upbeat music and I know the words so I can sing along, I am, somehow, able to let go of all the minutia and think only of the exciting things on my horizon. I breathe in the fresh air, feel my body surrounded by warmth and embrace the freedom of the road ahead of me and in moments like these, I really like myself.

Confession (tee hee)

I, the intellectual snob with a degree in journalism and a graduate degree in writing, am completely addicted to one of the trashiest magazines around which is, coincidentally, written for readers at a sixth grade level. I buy this magazine every week at the grocery store and read it cover to cover. I do not always even read more than one article when my New Yorker arrives. (Please note, it takes the same amount of time to read one New Yorker article as it does for me to read the entire trashy magazine.) I buy the trashy magazine at the grocery store because I was hoping my addiction would go away and because I did not want my name on the subscriber list. BUT, last week I caved and signed myself up for not one, but two years of the wonderfulness that is US Weekly. (Please don't tell anyone -- I am addicted to celebrity gossip.)

The Thank You Note

Last week, I received a thank you note in the mail for buying my pink dress. This at first seemed really funny to me. I went to a department store, bought a dress and they mailed me a thank you note. This is just not normal. But actually, it was really nice and now I want to go back and buy more ridiculously priced things. Sometimes being old-fashioned can be a really good marketing strategy.

Garage Sale Day!

Tomorrow is garage sale day! Neil and I are selling a bunch of junk with our friends Ryan and Shay. We had to pay $8 for a classified ad and tomorrow, bunches of strangers are (hopefully) going to arrive and give us money for things we don't want anymore -- or in the case of some gifts, never did want in the first place. We did all the item pricing last night and we'll be lucky to make $100. But, hey, that's more than the junk is making for us sitting in our closets.

Tomorrow, I am also going to be elected to the board that has previously been mentioned on this blog. I thought I was going to be elected last month... but it turns out the election is tomorrow at the annual meeting and then the board takes a vacation for June and July and reconvenes in August. Given the fact that I am moving in October, I will realistically only be able to attend two board meetings. When I realized this sometime last week, I called the two women who are orchestrating my election to the board and, while it was a bit of a risk since one woman is connected to my work, I told them I was moving and felt that it would not be fair of me to get elected given the fact that I would not be around long. To my surprise, they both said it was fine and they could use my help even for the short time I will be on the board. And so, this is how I came to spend $65 on a year-long membership to the group and the ticket for tomorrow's brunch and annual meeting where I will be elected to a board for which I will only be able to attend two meetings. In my opinion, this is a bit silly, but I guess I'll do what I can. The bummer: I have to leave the garage sale early to go get elected... sheesh!

Half-Birthday, Teacher's Day, Illness and Mother's Day

Yesterday was my half-birthday. I know it's silly to be 26 (and a half) and still want to celebrate my half-birthday.. but, that's just how I am. I am a birthday fanatic and that includes half-birthdays. Of course nothing happened for the half-b-day, other than a water glass toast with Neil at lunch yesterday. But, I still woke up with that old feeling of excitement, the one you get in the morning before a flight to someplace exciting, or first thing on Christmas, or Chanukah. "aha," I thought, "There's something special about today." And I realized that sometimes, all you have to do to make a day special is decide that it is.

Apparently May 3 was also Teacher's Day. I didn't know there was such a day, but it makes sense. While driving to work, the morning show I listen to was having people call in and talk about their favorite teachers. I thought, "I should call in!" but then I tried to narrow it down: who was my favorite teacher? And I got stuck. Here's the list I made in my head: Katie from preschool, Ms. Pong from 3rd grade, Mrs. Garcia from 5th grade, Zsolt from ballet and piano, Sparky from middle school history, Ms. Wampler from 9th grade algebra, Mr. Schiff from 10th grade history, Jay from high school science, Mr. Lang from 10th grade English, Mrs. Fischer from 12th grade English, Mr. Kurth from Humanities, Gene Aker from high school Journalism, Marda Dunsky from college journalism, Mike Rilley from college journalism, Carl Phillips from senior year of college poetry seminar, David Protess from college journalism, Fran Paden from Women's Studies, Susan Cheever from grad school, Sven Birkerts from grad school, Bob Schacochis from grad school. And I am sure, that if I could remember the really intelligent TA who taught the feminism seminar senior year of college his name would be on this list too.

So then I got to thinking about how incredibly influential teachers are. I realize that I am stating the obvious, but then again, is it that obvious? The teachers listed above not only helped shape how I think and how I understand the world, but they also helped shape how I see myself. They shared with me their knowledge and they let me know that they learned from me as well -- that I was valued. And now, nearly 20 years later (what has it been, 18 or 19 since I was in 3rd grade?) I can still remember how Ms. Pong made me feel and what she taught me. Perhaps I should be a teacher?

Illness: Neil got really ill again this week. It was the second time since I've known him and the first time was only about a month ago. On Wednesday night, I woke up to the sound of puking and spent the next couple of hours taking care of Neil and cleaning the bathroom -- not good. Please oh please, let this be the end of illness for the two of us for a while.

And Finally: This weekend is Mother's Day. I am dreading it. Not because I don't love my mom and my grandma. I do, very much. But I hate the politics that have recently entered my family. It makes me ill just thinking about it. Hopefully, however, we will have a good Mother's Day brunch and all of the stuff I am worried about will remain under the surface where I won't have to deal with it... Wish me luck...

Here is what my new dress looks like. It is very pink and I know that can be a bad thing, but I think that, in this case it is good. Shoe color suggestions are welcome. :) 

Pink Dress

Ever since my bridesmaids wore pretty pink dresses to my wedding, I have been wanting a kick-ass pink dress. Not just any pink dress mind you, it needed to be a just-right super-flattering I-picked-it-out-myself pink dress. Last summer, I got to pick a dress for Jenn's wedding and out of the two colors, I chose pink and the dress was very cute, but it wasn't the dress that I was fixated on -- you know, the made up one in my head. I found the dress yesterday after a failed attempt to purchase a couple on e-bay. Neil and I went to the mall and there it was. Not only was it really pretty, but it also fit me in two sizes smaller than I thought I would wear. Can't get much better than that right?

Now I am fixated on finding shoes to match (I have no idea what color would go well) and wearing it! I think it might even be a tad too formal for some of the events I plan to wear it to this summer, but I am not sure I mind. I am just over-the-top excited to wear my new dress.

All of this dress excitement is welcome at the moment as it is helping to distract me from: a) the cold and cloudy weather b) the mountain of work at work c) the fact that I need to start looking for a job in D.C. d) the fact that my family is seriously lacking functionality.

Thank you pink dress...