Schadenfreude Really IS a Bitch But Happy New Year Anyway!

I have a Facebook account. It's like having a superpower, really. I get to peak into all of my friends' lives as though I had x-ray vision, except people are willingly putting up information and the little gossip-monger in me could not be any happier. But I find that sometimes I use this power for evil instead of good.

Shamefully, there are a few people out that provide me with a lot of personal entertainment. When I read that something difficult has occurred in their lives, my mean little heart does a happy dance. If something positive happens to those same people, I feel a vile twisting jab of irritation in my belly. I subversively want to see these people have an epic fail, just so I can laugh and feel vindicated.

Some great person I turned out to be.

In all honesty, sometimes I catch myself doing this and it turns my stomach. I'm a nicer person than this. I can be better than this. When I get really mean, I think about what's going on in my own life and remind myself that bad things can happen to anyone at anytime. Hell, my car just got bashed up by a deer, it's gonna cost me some money to get it fixed...not to mention, I owe $400 to my condo association on January 1st. These are all things I wasn't counting on. It definitely puts a crimp in my 2009 plans for global domination.

Here's the point in my post where I talk about a New Year's Resolution. (...I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good...) I haven't made New Year's Resolution in many years and if I do they are generally something nonspecific about going to the gym more often without any clear goal (that way if I fall off the wagon there's no associated guilt). I think this year, or at least for the first few weeks of January (heh), I should strive to be a nicer person, think more positively about my fellow man, and wish for good things to happen to everyone I know. Here's to a safe, healthy, happy and lucky New Year.

Eh, That's Life!

The other night, I drove down to Youngstown to see some friends I hadn't seen in a very long time. It was fabulous. One of my friends was having her annual Christmas party, and as usual the food was delicious. Her two kids are getting SO big, talking up a storm, and just so friendly.
I ran into a few other friends while I was at her house, so I caught up with them for a little bit and then I left to go meet some other friends.

My friends now live mostly all over the place. Arizona, California, Kansas City, New Mexico. And I live near Cleveland now...and we talk all the time about if we win the lottery, where will we go? Someplace with a better climate, I'm sure! Anyway, it isn't very often that so many of us are in one place at one time and I'd like to thank Matt and Kelly for hosting all of us. I wished that I didn't live so far so I could've indulged in a little bit more wine.

And, further, how grown up is that? You know, drinking wine instead of beer? My boyfriend was going to come down with me but he's been under the weather over the Christmas holiday so unfortunately he stayed home...it was a good thing too because I didn't make it home until about 2:30am.

I would have been home sooner but I had a little incident involving me and a deer going up route 11. That road is dark. I know you can hit a deer in broad daylight but my accident occurred in the dead of night. I saw a deer in my headlights, stomped on the brakes, and still I'm pretty sure my car won...I say this because I didn't stop to check on the deer. I feel badly about that, but what could I have done? I couldn't see anything!

I was about five miles south of 90 at this point and so as soon as I was able to, I stopped at the nearest rest stop, in Austinberg. Just as I was pulling into the gas station, a cop swung in behind me, lights a-flashing. Great. I got all the required items together, rolled my window down, and watched the guy saunter up so he could ask me the questions: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"

I so wish I could've said "GEE, probably because there's a gaping hole where my headlight used to be!" but instead I told him I'd just hit a deer and was pulling in to check the damage. He still ran my license even though there were tufts of deer hair stuck in the shards of my headlight. The front hood is a little crumpled and dented and there are dents on the front and side fenders. But my car still runs. I was hoping to limp it along one more year and buy a Honda next Christmas...We'll see how much the repairs will be and what the insurance company says.

And still, I can't really get that upset about it. My car is old. I just saw friends I hadn't seen in some cases for several years. It could've been a lot worse. I'd had some good coffee and hilarious conversations. I played euchre. I parked on the front lawn of Kelly and Matt's house because there were so many cars. It was still a great night.

Somehow He Knows Too!

The other day, Chris and I were going to do some Christmas shopping. I wanted to go to Target, but there were a couple other stores on our list, most of which were further away. As we were driving down the road, Chris asked me which store I wanted to hit first. I said I didn't care but he persisted and I said that we could go to Target or any of the other stores. I mean, it really wasn't a big deal, but really, I wanted to go to Target.



So he says, So you really want to go to Target first. And I said, Well, yeah, but it doesn't really matter. (But it really did, I don't know why) So Chris said that we would go to Target first. I laughed after we had this exchange. How did he know I really wanted to go to Target? Why hadn't I just told him I wanted to go to Target in the first place? Did I somehow luck out (I like to think that I did)?



I guess, logically, it didn't matter where we went but in my irrational little heart it really did matter. And my boyfriend was smart enough and astute enough to pick up on small vocal cues and other nonverbal hints to be able to discern my true intent.



I remember dating my first serious boyfriend years ago. While he was an extremely nice man, he just didn't have that much insight. I wonder now how much that had to do with age and just basic life inexperience as opposed to who he actually was. Is this something men develop after years of studying women? Do only a few men actually get it? Is this something that varies like eyecolor or musical ability? Did I somehow luck out? (I like to think that I did.)



I was tickled by this whole exchange between me and Chris. And I was very pleased. I'm not always the best at communicating what I want because sometimes I don't know what I want right away. But oftentimes I'm leaning in a particular direction. It's nice to know Chris is able to somehow see this.

Plans for the Next Few Days

I have a trip this afternoon. I've got to leave the house by 12:30 to make my check in of around 2pm...seems like a lot of time but the weather can be a little crazy around here, the roads aren't always clear, traffic around Dead Man's Curve and thru Cleveland, I could miss the empoloyee bus that goes from the parking lot to the airport - any number of things could happen on the way to work, so I like to give myself some extra time to make the 50 mile drive.

I went to the gym yesterday and did an ab workout. I'm a little sore today. I was planning on going again this morning, but it is really cold outside and I've got some packing and organizing to do before I leave. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow when I wake up. There's a great little independent coffee house in Edinburgh that I like to go to - yummy chicken, brie, and cranberry paninni with excellent fries. Plus, they've got free wifi. I may run to Marks and Spencer to see if I can throw together a salad and I'm going to try to hit the gym at the hotel. Another thing I want to do is go to The Elephant House cafe.

This cafe is where JK Rowling wrote her Harry Potter novels. And I only recently discovered this! I always regarded the HP books as kind of English and imagined Rowlings as a single mother in England writing these books. It just never occurred to me that she was from this lovely lovely city and now as I sit here dreading yet another trip to EDI, I'm excited all over again. It is not that I hate Edinburgh, quite the opposite. It's one of my favorite places in the world. I'm just tired of it and would like a hot layover in the easter time zone where the sun does not set at four. Never mind. I've done plenty of griping about my schedule, haven't I?

Anyway, my agenda for tomorrow, if I can get my act together, is to find this cafe and take pictures. I have to be sure to pack my camera again too because EDI decks itself out for the Christmas season. I'll need to take a walk to capture all the photo-worthy scenes around the city - it's cold so I'll be sure to pack some warm clothes.

I suppose I should start packing.