Shenanigans

I'm calling Shenanigans on my hair and all my clothes today.

SHENANIGANS.

Something to think about...

We all know people that we feel the need to walk on eggshells around (or just plain don't want to be around).  Heck, I'm sure people feel that way about me sometimes, but most of the time? Nope.
You know the scenarios:

• You call to talk to said person, said person is cold and distant from the beginning of the call. They snip at you, so you end the call quickly, all the while thinking, "WTF did I do to you?"  In all likelihood, nothing, but it still leaves you feeling stung.  (This can also happen in person.)  This typically has nothing to do with you, and often in these situations I've found out after the fact what the real issue was (and 9 times out of 10, it had nothing to do with me).  We're all crabby sometimes (me more than others).  With that being noted, be careful how you address people. If you don't feel like talking, don't pick up the phone. 

• You are talking to others, minding your own business, when said eggshell jumps into the conversation, basically tells you you're a crappy person, and then walks away.  Or talks about you behind your back.  The people that do this generally don't like themselves or their lives, and want to take it out on you.  Even if you try to avoid them, you can't because they're like a heat-seeking missile.  They're going to find you, even if it's just behind your back.  If they're not happy, you're not going to be either. So there.

• There are also people I like to call the one-uppers.  Anything that you're talking about, they've done it better (or worse, depending on the situation).  Again, we've all done it, but I typically don't make a habit of it.  Some people do it as a way to relate to others and don't realize they're one-upping, but others do it because they have no self-esteem and want to make themselves feel good. 

• Also, the ditchers.  They make plans and then ditch you at the last moment, feigning illness, etc.  This is something that happens to everyone on occasion (because, hey, we don't always feel good), but this isn't something to pull more than once or twice a year.  We're all tired. We're all busy.  We all miss our mommies.  Get over yourself.  If you don't ever want to do anything, don't make plans.  Pretend to be spontaneous.  We'll all like you better.

I read part of an article yesterday that said we don't like the things in other people that we don't like in ourselves.  I can sort of agree with that, but then the article said that if it's something we can't name, it's because it's not part of us, but if we can, it is.  Now, that's just a bunch of BS.  Just because I can formulate a word for something I don't like about someone, doesn't mean I do it, too.  It just means I understand people and have a decent grasp of the English language.

I've lost my creative.

I used to be really creative.  I'm not sure if that's the word I'm looking for, but it's going to have to work for now...because I cannot find my words.  
I used to write poems as a child, and then later, when I learned how to play guitar and took voice lessons (Thanks, Mom!), I wrote songs.  I wrote songs ALL the time.  It was constant. They were just pouring out of me; I couldn't even control it.  Sometimes I think it's because I'm happy (Thanks Bryan!), because it's so much easier to write sad songs than happy songs.
Sometimes I think it's because other than summer, I don't have any time to myself to just think and be me.  Teaching and directing take a LOT out of me creatively (and otherwise ;), so I think my brain doesn't make the connections to the world/life like it used to.
It's not that I haven't tried to write (or sing and play guitar for that matter), because I have.  I get frustrated very easily and I give up. 
Sometimes I'll have an idea or a thought that would be perfect, but by the time I can write it down or do something about it, it's gone.
I feel like I've lost a part of myself and I want it back.  I feel like there has to be a happy medium.  It was always so much fun and I got so much out of it.
That's kind of why I started blogging (and we all see how very good I am at keeping THIS going)...to maybe find my creative again.
Here's to trying!

Books

I read "The Art of Racing in the Rain" yesterday.  More like the Art of Making Gretchen Cry. Anything with animals and people dying and I'm pretty much toast.

That book is so freaking sad!  It was good, but I'll never read it again.

I'm looking for something else to read since I've already read "Bossypants."  Hilarious.  I would read parts aloud to B on our road trip (after laughing hysterically out loud). I'm sure it came out just as funny when I read them. Ha!

Any suggestions for a new, light read?  I can't cry my way through another book just yet. I was going to read "Water for Elephants" (I've owned it since last year, just haven't read it yet), but I hear that's pretty intense. I also have "The Kite Runner."  I'm noticing a pattern.  I started my summer last year with "A Prayer for Owen Meany," which I LOVED, but it ruined me for any other book that summer.  I couldn't commit to anything else. I should have ended with that one.

Things I learned while on a road trip with my husband, etc

1. I am freakishly afraid of other people's dirt.

2. Bryan will clean every surface I have to touch with a handi-wipe...without being asked.

3. I need to stop watching Dateline or whatever show it was that featured all the disgusting things you can find in a hotel room.

4. Thanks to the movie "Four Rooms," I also always think there is a dead body in the box spring of every hotel I encounter.

5. I've actually checked.

6. I haven't found any dead bodies. Yet.

7. I sleep in a bed bag that B bought me. It's a protective sheet sewn into a sleeping bag.  I love it.

8. Whomever invented this is a genius.

9. I tried a crab cake for the first time in Boston.

10. And clam chowder.

11. Both weren't too bad.

12. I don't like hotels that open your doors, take your bags, and suck up to you.  I can carry my own bag. (and I don't expect a tip when I get the bag to the room).  I much prefer to be left alone.

13. Baltimore is one of the coolest cities ever.

14. Boston is one of the coolest cities ever.

15. I would love to move to either place...but probably Baltimore, because they don't get nearly as much snow.

16. I checked.

17. I touched a sting ray!

18. It was at an aquarium, but I think it still counts.

19. It only took me 45 minutes of standing next to the tank.

20. Considering I won't swim in the ocean, I'd say that's not too bad.

21. I think I have forgotten how to drive, since B did all the driving.

22. Thank goodness.  I'm not sure we would have made it otherwise.

23. Pressing the detour button 87 times while driving from Virginia Beach to Connecticut is a bad idea.  Instead of taking the REAL expressway, it will take you on US 1.  Through 37 tiny little towns with 100 traffic lights each...that are always red when you need them to be green.

24. Always go to the bathroom when you get the chance.  See #23 if you don't believe me.

25 The Melt Bar and Grilled is amazing.  We've been there four times.

26. Twice on this trip.

27. There's a place called Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

28. That's pretty awesome, too.

29. We planned a lot of our trip around food.

30. Weddings planned by event planners are FABULOUS. Gorgeous.

31. Photo booths should be mandatory at all occasions.

32. Especially ones with lots of drunk people.

33. States with turnpikes have the best rest stops/bathrooms.

34. Road trips are not for relaxing.

35. I believe Road trip is actually defined as being on the road more than anywhere else.

36. Tina Fey's book Bossypants is hilarious.

Well, that's probably enough list-making for me. I have a pile of laundry calling my name.  What's your favorite road trip experience?