New Year's Resolutions

Every year, you hear countless people making new resolutions for the new year, promising to lose those 20 pounds, quit smoking, go to the gym more...yadda yadda yadda... and I've never been one of those people. I figure that if you're going to make a life change, then you're going to do it. If you're not, you're not. You don't need a special day to motivate you (unless, I've been told, your wedding date is looming near and you simply must fit into your size 6 dress - whatever that obsession is about!).

However, as 2005 quickly approaches, I find myself making more to-do lists than usual. And the odd thing is that some of the things on my list are the prototypical New Year's happy-go-splat resolution-type deals: go to the gym more, no more self-pity, etc. Honestly, Christmas takes so much out of your average adult that you no longer have time to take care of the details during the month of December. So my gym membership fell to the wayside, and my job search all but disappeared, and my social life simply went "kaput!" and a cloud of smoke appeared where my friends used to be.

For me, I realize that 2004 has been a tiresome year. I'm quite happy to see it go, and am looking forward to working towards some loftier goals in 2005. Even something as simple as working out at the gym is getting an overhaul. I've decided to take up some yoga this year; as I've never been the most flexible woman (technically speaking here, I would wager that most men are more flexible than I!), I think it would be nice to get some good stretching time into my day. Especially now as my body is beginning to age, and certain deficiencies are beginning to show: like getting shin splints when I run, and actually being sore for days after a workout (hmmm, methinks me body is telling me to warm up first...). So, there's that. I am going to become an early-AM, power-bar inhaling, water-guzzling, fanatical yoga queen!

My other big "resolution" (if you want to call it that) is to really put some major effort into my job search. My friends Mark and Toni sent me a really wonderful email earlier this month about career hunting and lending me some emotional support, and it's really inspired me to try harder. My several-pronged plan is to make up several resumes and send them out to all book publishing job openings; to make an appointment with the agency downstairs in my building who find people temporary to permanent jobs in a field of their choice; to prepare for and take the U.S. Department of State foreign service exam; and to apply to the Columbia University Publishing Course, which is a six-week program that starts in June 2005.

I think my 2005 is off to a racing start, don't you?

Post Christmas Post

I don't have much time now that the Board has switched over and the final accountings are due for 2004 at work, but I'm taking a quick mid-morning snack break for sanity.

While for most of you the Christmas season is finally over (or Channukah, etc.), mine is ongoing. Anthony and I are celebrating our own Christmas on New Year's Eve. I even sent him home to New York with the fiber optics Christmas tree at 2AM on Monday morning (by the way, it wasn't my idea for him to leave at that time of day - he claimed he couldn't sleep and didn't want his car/baby to be hurt in the millimeter snowfall we had that evening).

However, we did spend our Christmas holiday with his family, down in North Carolina. Unlike most of the schlepps who tried flying USAirways this past week, I and my luggage made it to my scheduled destination, if not on time, at least eventually. My newfound Christmas spirit even let me forgive the child who kicked my seat for the hour on the ground and the hour in the air (although I still agree with my parents concept of not taking your children out of the house to torture other people).

I spent 4 days and 4 nights in Charlotte, gorging myself on Christmas treats. Everyone and their mom came out to give me presents, and there were lots of tears to be had due to the thoughtfulness of my golden boy, Anthony. Overall, it was a wonderful trip...

Okay, I don't really have time for details. I must run, off to do the accounting!

Sleigh bells ring - are you listening?

What a beautiful (much more live-able) winter day in Philadelphia! Winter is the only time of year I can delude myself into thinking that cities aren't big havens for air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution,etc... For once, the air is crisp and clear - I can even see all the way across the street to the next high-rise building...

Although I really do miss my middle-of-nowhere roots of Clinton, MA, on days like today. We're so close to Christmas and the people of Philadelphia are as cheerless as ever. It's a wonder that they ever adopted City mottos of "The City of brotherly love" and now "The City that loves you back." It is such a visually and viscerally unappealing city.

Then again, nearly all cities are unappealing to me. Some day I'm going to have to find me a job out in the country, where I don't feel like I'm stuck in some dead-end waitressing job and where you can see all the stars at night.

Anthony is happier than a pig in guano (although "guano" is specifically from our winged friends, I would like to make some sort of leap in judgement here) now that he is back in rural Charlotte, NC - I got a phone call at 3AM in testament of that; he let me know that he could, "see all the stars in the sky - at least much more than in New York." Sometimes I am riddled with sheer amazement that he and I can have so many of the same characteristics at times - my first realization that I missed home is also when I get there and take a look at the sky. There's hardly any light pollution (comparatively) in my home town.

For that and so many other reasons I look forward to settling someday in a quiet, backwoods kind of area. Not Clinton, exactly, but somewhere not too far away from home, I think. With each passing year, I realize more and more that I would rather be closer to my family than not - even if we're not exactly of that family mold that MUST speak to one another at least five times a day...

So, like I said, Anthony is a pretty happy momma's boy right now, milking his homestay for all it's worth. He hasn't sounded this deliriously happy in a while...

A Note about Smokers...

Why is it that, even when it's between -5 and -15 degrees outside, smokers still line up in front of their office buildings to smoke? Sans gloves, sans hat, sans sanity...! Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Every mile is two in winter. - George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

Of course I would forget my hat - it's friggin' cold out there today!!! My weatherman says it's about 10 degrees outside, but it "feels like" -9. Yowsa!

I guess I wouldn't mind so much if at least it was snowing outside. All it did yesterday was rain, and now there's this cold front - but no snow! Excuse me, Mother Nature, but I would like to request a white Christmas please...

In other news...Anthony lived through The Muppet Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas this weekend (with only a few complaints). That only leaves A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, two Christmas classics that will have to wait until I get to North Carolina on Wednesday. (And he's also promised to go to the theatre for Polar Express... mwahahahahahaa!)

Of course, Anthony left for Charlotte yesterday at the crack of 8AM - he thought his flight was at noonish so we were very lucky to get him out the door on time for his much-earlier-than-noonish canceled flight. Oh yes, canceled. Just like the second flight on which he got rescheduled was canceled. But fear not!, the third time's the charm... He actually made it into Charlotte only about an hour later than originally planned. Lucky dog!

I have nothing else to report, as I managed to completely miss Jimmy's annual Christmas party (sorry babe!), so I will wander off into my own little Office Space...

Kitty STDs

It appears that my friend Andrew got his panties in a tizzy over the mention of feline Chlamydia from my last post. While I amuse myself greatly by calling Otto "Chlamydia face," feline Chlamydia is actually only a form of conjunctivitis. It is not an STD. Otto's sexual function has long since been taken away...

Cat Update

So, "little kitty, big balls" (as Anne has kindly named the stray due to his not being neutered yet) and Gunner are duking it out for the right to be King. They have now crapped on the bathroom floor, on the rug outside of the bathroom, pissed on Ada's skirt, sprayed the entrance carpeting, and peed in my basket of scarves. That is on top of "little kitty, big balls" giving Otto Chlamydia and him and Gunner being treated for upper repiratory problems. You would think that soemone's head would explode (i.e. "someone" = me), but so far I've taken it very well, I think.

I used to live in Vincent's house on 13th Street, which, if none of you visited or remember, used to be the kitty pee mecca of the Western world. Before I had even moved in, Daisy had a UTI which caused her to piddle everywhere except in the litter box. Vince never had the carpets cleaned, so that meant that Daisy and Chi-Chi (once he moved in) urinated wherever they felt like it, because the whole house smelled like a litter box.

And I can see the two-story apartment as litterbox theory emerging here, but my hopes are up. It looks as though "little kitty, big balls" will be heading off into the great wide yonder on Friday. Vandra has agreed to adopt him and as the medication is running down for the respiratory problems, it's time to say goodbye. So, very much like the children in The Sound of Music, I will sing chorus after chorus of, "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night..."

And where is my Christmas spirit, you ask? Well, my friends, it seems to have dimmed somewhat when I looked at the temperature today and discovered that it was 17 degrees outside and most of my scarves now smell like cat piss. (Oh, what is that you say? You hear that can put a damper on things...? How right you are!)

In other news, Anthony will be here to regale me with his presence tomorrow. We have a whole day and a half to watch all the Christmas movies he can stand! He promises to be enthusiastic, but he may be looking for the nearest exit after several versions of The Christmas Carol... mwahahahahahahahahahaaaa!