Feeling a Little Guilty

Today was the first day of my last week at a job I have no real attachment to. (trying not to say hate because that's just a bit too strong)  The job is far from perfect.  I've worked a total of maybe 45% of the 4.5 years I've been there.  For almost the first year, I sat at a desk with no one around watching DVDs not knowing a soul. Then someone finally realized I worked there, got me a real desk. ("my" desk was a "hotel" for tele-commuters that randomly needed to come into the office)  While in this desk I was around people but still fairly useless.  Finally, I met people and branched out of my hole in the wall a bit and actually got a bit of work...for about 6 months, then work went down the drain and DVDs came out again.  All I can say is Thank God for YouTube!

But the people I met are fabulous.  They are funny and sweet and willing to help out whenever necessary and fun to talk to.  So leaving has left me feeling a bit guilty.  On one hand, I know this is a fantastic opportunity that I can't pass up that may lead to bigger and better things. But on the other hand, I worry that it'll be another 2 years until I meet super-cool people like those I work with now.  It's like the first day of school all over again.  And for someone as quiet as I am, that's just down-right hard.  But I've been working on staying positive about things, so I'm going to look on the bright side and try to focus on the excitement instead.  After all, even though it meant scary new things, I was always just a little too excited about the first day of school!

Ray-vens Nation

So happy that the Ravens were able to give Big Ray a win for his last home game at M&T Bank Stadium.  You could hear the electric atmosphere in the stadium coming through the TV.  The entire place was behind our team 100%.  I think it was made even more special by playing the Colts and our ex-Defensive Coordinator who has had a rough year as well battling Leukemia.  Even though this was a HUGE game and one team was going to be on the losing side, you could feel the family ties between the players and both coaches.  I would have loved to have been there to join in the fun.

 

Way to go Ray-vens!

Things I've Learned This Week

~It's a good thing I understand military time, because it seems it's used primarily in England.  I've seen it on telephones and in articles.  I just assumed this was a US military thing but I suppose not.

~An ASBO is a sort of disorderly conduct citation in England.  I'm not bright enough to remember what the acronym stands for but I can at least give you the basics (and since I don't plan to ever get one, the basics will be sufficient.)

~Ray Lewis is retiring which is just depressing and a half.  If you are a Ravens fan or just a fan of the NFL in general, you must know that big Ray (we use Big Ray to distinguish him from Little Ray Rice here in B-more) is one of the most influential players to ever play the game.  He's inspirational, a tough cookie and an all around awesome person and we in Baltimore are going to miss him terribly! But I also learned he'll be starting on ESPN as a commentator so at least we'll still get our Ray fix.

~All stupid stinking FICA (not even sure what this is) taxes will be going up ~3% this week.  What the heck?!  I know it has to be done but seriously, can't you just tax the rich dudes that actually have money to spare?

~It is supposedly possible to cut fabric with the Cricut.  This cannot be confirmed as I have not yet tried but I can't wait to give it a shot!

~This is not as easy as the pictures make it seem and it really just looks like a small animal is nesting in your ponytail.

And lastly:

~I am, without a doubt, the most boring twitter-er (tweeter?) EVER. 

Friday Five: Inspiration

I came across this post this morning while desperately trying not to be bored at work and thought it would be a fabulous post idea for my Friday five this week.  Though, mine may not have all the cute pics since most of my inspiration has been culled from a 2012 Mary Engelbreit calendar.

1.  I'm really trying to live dangerously this year.  It hasn't really worked yet but I want to grow a backbone and speak up for myself more.  Although, to follow this one I might just need to tattoo it on my forehead : )

2. "Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it." (Dee Hock): I've had this quote tucked away in my desk since about January of this past year.  I love it!  And since I'm resolving to be more creative this, it's the perfect fit.  Now if I could only decide what information in my jam-packed full noggin of useless facts should be deleted...

3. "If your ship hasn't come in, swim out to it."  That's what I'm trying to do in 2013.  This whole single life with a boring job isn't all that it's cracked up to be, but since no one is handing me anything better, I need to make it happen.  I want to try to say yes more and create some really cool opportunities for myself.

4.  This is most definitely true.  I've never really wanted to leave for good (although London would be for good: )but I've wanted to see what was out there.  There are some amazing places out there that I've been listing and dreaming about for years.  I only hope that I'll have the opportunity to swim out to those ships one day. 

5.  I'm trying to be all about positivity this year so even though there might be cacti around, I want to see the blossoms.  Sometimes this is easier said than done...

Bonus #6: "Brainy is the new sexy." (Steven Moffat) I'm really not asking for much here, any slightly brainy guy will do.  (and if he just happens to be adorable and polished and wealthy, that would certainly not hurt...)

Twitter?

I am saying this as someone who recently joined twitter and thought she would love it: I absolutely do NOT get it.  I thought I would.  I'm a Facebook fiend, Pinterest pack rat and I go ga-ga for google but as of this very second, I can honestly say I'm just feeling perplexed by the whole thing. 

My first issue is the length of tweets.  I must admit to mostly following news-sites (BBC, The Guardian, CNN, NYT Book Review) but the gosh darn 140 character cut-off makes it quite difficult to get the gist of any story.  So you have to click the tweet, then click the link to actually get an idea of what's going on.  And doing that on a phone is just a pain in the neck due to download speed and text size.  It's easier for me to just go to the HuffPost site, or the BBC News site and read any of the darn articles I want to.

My other and main issue is, I'm not that interesting.  Why anyone would be so bored that they will "follow" my 140 character updates each day to see what I had for lunch, or (in today's case) what song woke me up on the radio this morning (which I realize is a bit hypocritical seeing that I'm writing these thoughts on a blog that's also not that interesting), is completely beyond me.  But joining the gosh-darn waste of time in the first place was for me anyway, not anyone else.  It's helping me look for the positive each day which is always a good thing.  For once I just might follow through on a resolution even if I'm completely baffled by whole crazy thing.

Crafty Tech

So I received this for Christmas and finally got a chance to set it up today. Since I'm on a creativity kick for the new year, I thought it would be just the thing to finally help decipher digital scrapbooking.  I haven't decoded all the bells and whistles yet but I have to say I quite like it.  The kit came with Art Rage software that I've not installed yet, therefore I really haven't seen all it can do.  But so far I was able to take notes in a specially designed notebook (by me!), and draw silly accents on a photo and play some game with squares and circles that I'm still not sure I understand but on which I was able to do particularly well.

After some trials and tribulations, I've even gotten the hang of the pen-y thing.  I'm not sure I'll be able to use it as a mouse like some people do, but it works in a pinch (especially if you read the tutorial first...learned that the hard way).  Now I'm all aflutter to get into all the really nifty artsy craftsy stuff.  I must admit I'm not an artist but I'm sure I'll be able to draw some easy little embellishments and liven up some photos.  The feature I'm most excited about is using handwriting.  I've always wanted to create super awesome amazing crafty things like this to use in frames or scrapbooks but have never figured out how.  Now that I have this tool, I'm thinking my scrapbooking fun may finally take off.  That is once I get a printer to actually print my masterpieces... 

Happy New Year!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind.
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.  

***

Happy 2013!