4 times in a century

In the last 100 years, Christmas and the beginning of Hanukkah have fallen on the same day, so I felt it was necessary to post today to both honor that and wish all my readers, my friends, and anyone who stumbles upon this post a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Merry Christmas!!!

Goddamn Pop Tarts

I guess I got what I deserved, since I'm 28 and still eating kids' foods like Pop Tarts. I made a PT in the toaster this morning, set it on low since they cook very fast, and lo and behold - I got a fucking blister on TWO fingers when attempting to remove the said pastry vessel from the toaster. Apparently, some of the delightful strawberry filling can secretly ooze out of the bottom of the PT and burn the shit out of your fingers. 30 minutes later, fingers are still stinging, but mmmmm - love those pop tarts. Other childish foods I (and my husband) still indulge in: (yes, I'm trying to get really fat before the new year so I can vow to lose more weight for a resolution)

1) Lucky Charms (these colored marshmallows can mess with your bodily functions big time)
2) Brownies - baked from the box
3) Fruit by the foot - I only get these about 3x a year; you mean it's not part of the fruit food group? My bad.
4) Super pretzels - 4 minutes in the oven; such an easy snack

I guess the good news is after being married about 1 1/2 years ago and hitting my all-time lowest weight since I can remember, I weigh only 5 pounds (ok, 6. well really 7 but that depends on the time of day) more than I did then.

A true transit tale.

You're probably aware of the transit strike in NYC. No busses, no subways. It literally crippled the city to the point that it looked like a summer weekend when everyone goes away. In a way it was kind of delightful - I usually hear honking off the West Side Highway and today was peaceful. If you don't live here, you don't realize that EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE, relies on mass transit to get around. Workers from restaurants, employees, teachers, students... and to top it off, all cars were restricted from coming in unless they had 4 people from 5am-11am. No commercial vehicles could come in. I bet a lot of people didn't get their Big Macs for lunch because no truck could deliver them on time.

My husband works with this guy Brad who lives around here and has to get to the office, which is here. This is a 2.4 mile walk. Brad had to do the walk to get to work today, or so we thought. At around 20th and 6th Avenue, Brad sees 3 kids, about high school age, line up to board a big yellow school bus. In an instant, Brad decided, "Hey - I'm gettin on the bus. 6th Avenue goes North, I'll see where it takes me." So Brad gets on, goes to sit in the back (of course that's where all the cool kids sit), and pulls his hood up over his head so no one recognizes him, or doesn't recognize him, for that matter. He starts talking to the kids about where the bus is going, and one tells him, "Our private school in the Bronx". The Bronx is the borough north of Manhattan, which means about a 25+ minute DRIVE out of Manhattan to get there. The bus turns west, heading even closer to the office, and the kids tell him the next stop is 52nd/10th. So what does Brad do? He goes to the front and says to the bus driver, "Hey - I got on the wrong bus can you let me off" to which the driver replies, "I can only let you off at the designated stops". The bus continues on, Brad sits behind the bus driver tapping his shoulder every time a light is red and the bus stops, and eventually, Brad gets off right near the office at 41st between 8th and 9th Avenue.

How scary is it that a 24-year old man could get on a high school bus without anyone asking who he is, sit in the back for 10 minutes, talk to the driver and then get off? AND - all the students were in UNIFORMS, so picking out a stranger would be pretty easy to do... Or - the way I see it, how cool that, despite the transit strike, Brad got to work only 45 minutes late and for FREE?

I think this story deserves a "hell yeah".

The decisiveness of Mrs. Indecisive

So, I said here that I was going to leave my singing group. I pushed up the date today after a whole lot of undue stress that the group was causing me and that I was probably causing the group. I had my last show, my last solo on Monday with the group. Don't you hate it when you make decisions that you're not 100% certain about, but you still feel like you have to make them now?

I have to start learning to take my husband's advice about "Once you have made a decision, it's made and you should never look back on it."

How busy can you be? Damn, I'm shallow today.

Disclaimer: this is a bitchy post; granted - I am a complainer by nature, which is not my best quality, but this one might make you think I'm shallow, which I'm not if you know me personally. It's a really stupid post but just got my blood racing a little. Speaking of complaining, a good friend of mine just told me that every time he calls, I complain about my health, like my back hurts, I'm tired, I don't feel so well. Am I really a negative person?

I have a group of friends that is exchanging Secret Santa gifts tomorrow (well, Santa and Hanukkah, too). We've known about it for 2 weeks. One person said she wants to postpone it for a week because she hasn't had time to get a gift. If she lived on a remote island off the coast of Alaska and had to take a boat and sled full of dogs to get to the nearest store, I'd be fine with it. But no - she lives in NYC and in a very populated area. Our gift has to be under $20. Let's see - she could've bought a candle, jewelry, food, stationery or even a purse all within about a 10 minute walk from where she lives and had two weeks to do it. This person does not deal with stress well (what is a typical day of work for anyone to her is the end of the world) and though Secret Santa is not a big deal at all, I'd like to buy her a clock and teach her time management for Secret Santa. Too bad the person I have isn't her. I bet she has me.