My neuroses spills over into completing every online survey imaginable

Usually I don't post all the survey results that I take - my OCD won't allow anything to destroy the formatting of my Blog, and a lot of these things kick my right-hand menu o' stuff to the bottom of the main page. Soooo, we can't have that, can we?

In this case, I am hoping this new linking thing will help.

You are Strength

Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.

This is a card of courage and energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted, and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot, which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It can also stand for a steadfast friend.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

10 hours to go...

I am one hour into the second to last Accounting class I have this semester. I cannot believe we are going to spend the next two hours reviewing our homework assignment from two weeks ago. It is KILLING me. As if I were being slowly carved up with a rusty serving spoon. A finger here, a kneecap there... You know how it goes. It's accounting, after all.

However, I am pretty damn excited that my semester is almost over. Just eight hours of class tomorrow, and 11 multiple choice questions on my final exam - and I'm done! I can't believe how overwhelmed I've felt all semester, and I am so perfectly relieved to be free of all the stress in just a few short hours. This summer will be absolute bliss for me.

Meanwhile, my friend Burly is in town this weekend. He traveled out from London to attend this conference in Baltimore last week and he decided to come hang out with lil ol' me! To be more precise, he is actually spending some quality time with lil ol' Anthony, but who's keeping track? It's exciting to have someone around that you can corrup---I mean, show things. Lots and lots of things. Like the Smithsonian. Yeah. Thaaaat's the ticket.

And that is really all I have at the moment. I would be more exciting, but I'm trying to keep pace with the same level of enthusiasm that accounting inspires.

Dragon Ass

I have done nothing lately other than eat, sleep, go to work, walk the dog, and read for class. Or write for class. Or attend class. In fact, to be really precise, I breathe, eat, and dream of class at this point.

Meanwhile, Anthony is laughing it up in Norway.

Accounting for nothing

I'm in the middle of my accounting class and am wishing that I bought a much larger Earl Grey tea. I'm also wishing that I was able to sleep much later. Eleven hours of class - in fact, of the same class - in a two-day period is mindblowingly painful.

In other news, I am spending the portion of this weekend that I am not in class in writing my final paper for Public Policy Process. Yes, the rest of my weekend will be devoted to seriously studing the process of passing the 19th constitutional amendment. Good times.

You may now feel deliciously good about your life in comparison to mine.

Absenteeism

You know those resolutions you make at least once a day, every day? Take my resolution not to swear anymore, for example. I wake up in the morning and I tell myself seriously, “Ryan, you are not going to swear today.” And then I trip over one of Anthony’s flip-flops and yell FUCK! loud enough to scare the cat. So dies that resolution. And somehow it becomes F-bomb Friday all over again. (Yes, I called that F-bomb Friday – terminology we started at work when one Friday everyone was letting loose the four-lettered F-bomb for no particular reason. Now it just seems as though F-bomb Friday is every day.)

So, with all this talk of failed resolutions, my resolution to keep up this Blog is another victim of failed-resolutionism. Every morning I tell myself, “I will write more.” Especially after I peruse all my friends’ Blogs and note that they haven’t updated in at least 3 months. And then I remember the internet policy at work (we are allowed personal internet usage for only 9 minutes per hour for an 8-hour day, or 15% of your total work day), or get busy doing something else and…well, nothing. The end of the line is always nothing but an entry that sits on this page for days, weeks, months at a time.

And I know that you guys are sitting out there wondering what it is that I am doing that is so time-consuming that I don’t have the time to write a few lines. To clear that up, my present excitement is as follows:

1. I work 40 hours a week, M-F, 7AM-3:30PM.
2. I attend classes on Tuesday nights until 7:30PM (Public Policy Process), Thursday nights until 10PM (Refugees in Contemporary Society), Friday nights until 9PM, and Saturdays from 9AM-4PM (Public and Nonprofit Accounting and Finance, both Friday & Saturday).
3. I read and I write, so that when I attend one of my aforementioned classes I a) have something intelligent to say, or b) have a homework assignment to submit.
4. I occasionally slack off and watch America’s Next Top Model or Dancing with the Stars (without commercials) on DVR.
5. I also do the requisite dog-walking, selling-of-crappola-on-Craigslist, setting-up-of-the-condo, lunch-making, cleaning, eating, sleeping, yadda, yadda, yadda of daily life.

Now go ahead and try to hold back your enthusiasm for my exciting life.

To be more particular, last night my Refugees class had a field trip to attend a panel discussion on human rights abuses committed by North Korea. There was a Professor Kim there, who had grown up in North Korea. He is second only to the Dalai Lama in the cuteness factor. I seriously contemplated asking him to come home with me to sit in my living room and giggle. It would give the place such atmosphere.

On a more adult note, what is happening in North Korea is serious and nearly impossible to change. The panelists asked us to review the information on this site and become activists for the cause. I am not yet supporting this because I haven’t really reviewed the site, but I thought I would at least present the information for your inspection. The North Korean regime is incredibly insular so it is very difficult to get even basic information about the structure of the country. A large portion of what is known is derived from those refugees who are able to cross the borders. While many of us have seen Team America, that movie doesn’t even begin to touch on the megalomania and barbarism of Kim Jong Il.

On Teen-Sitting

For those of you who know me best: you didn't think it was possible, but for the past six days I've been watching someone else's kids. And not just any kids, but teenagers.

So I'm living out in Reston, VA, and doing my best not to beat my coworker's kids for not waking up on time for school or walking the dog before she pees all over the carpet. It's been a truly illuminating experience, filled with thoughts like, "If I had a fourteen-year-old kid, SHE wouldn't act like this." (Followed quickly by, "Because I'd beat her.")

I feel compelled to say that the girls aren't really bad kids. Just overindulged. Spoiled. Undisciplined. And full of the I-know-everything attitude that seems to describe every last teenager on earth.

I've come to understand that being a teenager is one of the few times in your life when you are fully convinced that everything IS ALL ABOUT ME. I mean, the sun actually rises just to please me. Isn't that a wonderful feeling?

Martha and I were talking about this on Sunday. She is the expert here, having taught high school Spanish for the past million years. And she and I both agree: we just don't get it. Like in those movies where the hormonal teenager starts screaming, "You just don't understand!" at her parents... Yeah, that's me. I don't.

And honestly, I don't want to. What an insufferable line of thinking teenagers have. The world is out to get them. Nobody cares what they think. No one understands what they're going through. Know what? They're right. Been there, done that, like to pretend it didn't happen. We all grow out of that stage and at some point realize: a) how selfish we were; b) that life isn't all that bad (it's worse); and c) your parents and teachers worked hard to take care of you and help you live to some ripe old bill-paying age.

So here's a story: the youngest girl is responsible for taking care of the dog - giving her medicine, walking her 4 times a day, feeding her... However, she refuses to go to bed at a decent time (sleeps around 1-2AM) and is an absolute monster to wake up at 6AM. So Tuesday she was really late. I had half driven them to school when she tells me that she didn't give the dog her seizure medicine that morning. And then she has the gaul to say, "I didn't have time. You didn't set up the crate for Miso (the dog)."

My god. I didn't take care of the responsibility for her. Whatever was I thinking???

(Breaking into old fart talk for a moment here) In my day, my mom would have slapped me silly. First, for failing to take care of the dog. And then again for trying to blame someone else for my failure. I think something about sarcasm might have been screamed at me while I was being slapped.

And while this sounds extreme, I appreciate the way my mom brought me up. We didn't get hit often, but when we did we definitely deserved it (and probably deserved it more often than we received it). And she made damn sure that I could take care of myself. I'm not afraid to get dirty, pitch in, and get the job done. Better yet, I don't blame other people for my shortcomings. It's called being an ADULT.

So yeah, I'm an adult now. It feels all kinds of warm and squishy on the inside when I say that. Adult. Adult. ADULT.

I am a homeowner

The deed is done. Anthony and I purchased a condo in the heart of Adams Morgan, U Street, and Dupont Circle. It comes with our newest most prized posession: a parking space. And it is GLORIOUS.

I have recently been told that I could not top Eric's email update with pictures, but I want you all to know that I have been running this site for a million-bazillion years and (gasp!) it contains pictures. Real, honest-to-goodness digital photos of my boring life.

And to prove that to you, here are some from the move:

This is our new office:















Isn't it pretty?

Oh, and here is Grace, busy hating us for crating her while the moving men walked in and out with all our things:




















Ah yes, and Anthony unpacking the kitchen, like the true-blue dork that he is (and I love him for this):




















Finally, the new home:
















Isn't it wonderful???