It's Raining, It's Pouring...

To misquote my friend David, "Where the hell is the snow???!" Yes, I realize that most of the time (lately) winter doesn't even start in truth until January/February, but this is ridiculous! It's January 5th and it's raining out! It's not even close to snow-like temperatures. We're not even getting sleet...!

Well, whatever, my rant is over. It's five days into 2005, and after nearly 6 days away from my apartment, I am ready to start some of my post-holiday "resolutions." Despite the rain, tonight I am going to the gym and I promised myself I would run at least five miles. Tomorrow I will try again to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn (i.e. 6AM - way before dawn these days!) and hit the gym before work - there's a yoga class I want to take that starts at 6:45AM on Thursdays (and Tuesdays, actually). We'll get to see how flexible I am not and go from there (must I remind you that I believe I am the only female in the history of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to actually fail the flexibility test??!!!).

Everything else should come into place once I actually purchase some groceries and have the stuff of life to live on...

Did I mention that I saw Scarface for the first time all over again this past weekend? What that means is that the movie didn't really make an enormous impression on me as I put it on my Netflix list as if I had never really seen it. Out of five stars - five being "I loved it!," four being "I really liked it," three being "I liked it," two being "I didn't like it," and one being "I hated it!" - I give the movie a three. I don't know what all those rap moguls are about, all trying to emulate Al Pacino's character. I really didn't find the movie that compelling.

I also saw one of Pedro Almodovar's classic movies, Atame! (Tie me up! Tie me down!), which stars Antonio Banderas as a mental patient who is finally declared "normal" and leaves the institution only to kidnap a porn star so she can get to know him and decide she wants to marry him. It is one of the few movies that I think Banderas actually shines in - it's probably because it's entirely in Spanish. I've heard before that Banderas is a much better actor when he acts in Spanish... In any case, I won't ruin the ending for you, but I thought it was fairly implausible and I wasn't overly impressed, like I have been with Almodovar's other work. Again, I give this movie 3 stars.

The other movie I managed to see was "The Door in the Floor" with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. If you waited your whole life to see Kim Basinger naked, then this is your movie. My thought on it is that it somehow managed to stay on my movie list after Vincent and I broke up and it was one of his selections, dammit! Any movie with a premise of a husband hiring an assistant who looks exactly like one of their dead sons so his wife can have sex with him is a bit underwhelming, and a lot deviant. I think that if they were going for sick and twisted, they could have pushed the envelope more. Again, not truly compelling. I rated it 3 stars (again).

So that was my movie weekend (other than Monty Python's The Holy Grail, which if you haven't seen it, you don't know what you're missing!). Which is in fact about all I did this weekend: watch movies. I don't think I moved from the couch in Anthony's apartment until Monday night, when I started suffering from cabin fever and needed to get out of the shoebox...I mean, apartment!

So, Christmas with Anthony was quiet (the one we had in New York on Friday morning), New Year's was quiet, even Michael coming over to drink like a fish was quiet... A generally dull, quiet, long weekend...mmmmm....

Happy New Year!

The name says it all, folks. I am on my way out the door at work, having taken off Friday so I could avoid the mad rush of drunken louts on public transportation to New York City on New Year's Eve. So I will not be back online until next Tuesday, at the earliest - and by then it will already be 2005!

So Happy New Years, baby!

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...