Getting Closer!
The Illinois House Committee advanced a bill yesterday that will hopefully legalize same-sex marriage in this great state I call home. Woohoo! As much as I want to break out the party hats and rainbow streamers, it still needs to pass a full House vote, as that’s the final obstacle before this bill becomes a much-needed law. Our Governor, Pat Quinn, has already vowed that he’ll sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
There’s not a firm date yet as to when last step could be taken but it’s looking like early March, so hopefully within the next few weeks. Then Illinois would become the 10th state in the country to recognize that people who happen to love other people of the same-sex deserve the rights that heterosexuals have and often take for granted. I’ve been watching this whole bill with anticipation and while I don’t want to celebrate too early, it looks like ordering those rainbow-colored streamers might not be a bad idea.
And it’s about damn time!
Smelly Fridge, Smelly Fridge…
…what are they feeding you?
Great idea.
So there’s a mini-fridge in the corner of our office that my boss uses for Diet Coke and a few others use for snacks/lunches. I personally use the large fridge in the break room since there’s never much room in the smaller one, even though I’m the person who sits the closest to it out of the whole office. For the past week or so, there has been a horrible, awful, no good smell emanating from the fridge every time someone opens the door, which is often. To be honest, yesterday I even double checked my gym bag because I was afraid the smell was coming from somewhere near my desk (it wasn’t). Unfortunately, none of the people who use it take it upon themselves to clean out whatever foul, nasty thing in there that is causing the odor. Because surely if they all leave it like that for long enough, someone else will take care of it. Right?
Wrong. I am not your mother, nor does she even work here.
What’s so difficult about cleaning up after yourself? Is it some sort of power play, where they feel like they’re too good to do the dirty work? Or are they really just that lazy? I have no idea, but I do know that I will not bend over and clean it just because it’s annoying me.
IwillnotbreakIwillnotbreakIwillnotbreak. But I may get a nose plug.
Book Club Review
I was actually unable to make it to our book club meeting last night but I did read the book and I loved it. We read Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward and I must admit, I’ve never read anything like it. It’s a murder/mystery but the premise is that Lisa wants to collaborate on the book with her ex-boyfriend, David. She sends him a letter asking for his help and says that she’ll write the first chapter, he can write the second and they’ll switch on and off. They have to stick to plot points created by the other but can obviously add their own twists, and they make it up as they go along. At the end of each chapter, when they send the newly finished portion back to the other person, they write a little note at the end basically saying what they thought of the others latest contribution. Sound confusing? It’s really not. They include these notes to each other in the actual book so we, the reader, get to see how frustrated they become with one another along the way. It’s pretty entertaining in itself and I laughed out loud a few times when they started to bicker in their letters or better, kill off characters the other had written that they didn’t much care for. It was a really interesting premise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The writers in question
I also enjoyed the actual book – my only complaint was that it was too short! I sped through it in just a few days and even then was trying to read as slowly as I possibly could. The plot focuses on a brother and sister who lost their parents and now live together on a piece of land in California, growing pot plants. They find a dead body on their property and promptly freak out but since their business prohibits them from calling the cops to their place, they relocate the corpse and hope that’s the end of it. Nope, the body re-appears in their driveway and all hell breaks loose. They begin to look at everyone in the town as a suspect as they try to determine who the killer was and why they were chosen as the dumping grounds for the dead guy. Throughout this all, Lisa and David write their notes at the end of each chapter and basically fight like siblings themselves as they make fun of each others plot devices and characters. When the killer is finally revealed, I was honestly surprised and thought the entire thing tied together quite nicely.
Now, I don’t know how much of the written animosity between the writers was truth and how much (if any) was embellished for the story, but either way I think it worked. This is a great book for anyone looking for a quick, entertaining read and I think it was a perfect book club book!
Maybe I Should Change Professions
I’m sure everyone has random dreams now and then about pulling off a huge robbery and living like a king (or queen) for the rest of their lives. Hell, I’d be happy to just loot enough to pay off my student loans. However pesky things like my morals and jail have always stood in between me and my fantasy of re-enacting Ocean’s 11 and I’ve just had to deal with that. But that doesn’t make me any less fascinated with the news that a group of eight masked men (or women, because really who can tell when they’re wearing masks?) dressed as police officers stole roughly $50 million worth of diamonds on an airstrip in Brussels.
I should note that I don’t actually condone stealing but this is still just too interesting not to think about. How did they get away with it? How much planning and preparation actually goes into something like this? How many times did they crap out of pure nervousness before the heist took place? The world may never know. Chances are it was related to organized crime, since it was such a well-orchestrated job and all. I know that even if I had a decade I wouldn’t be able to successfully pull off anything on such a scale, so yes, I’m impressed. Not that I’m seriously thinking about it (I promise, FBI).
A girl can dream.
But it is kind of cool, I have to admit.
Well Isn’t That Embarrassing
I had one of those publicly embarrassing moments this weekend where my debit card didn’t work at the register.
How rude!
This wasn’t my fault, mind you, as I had plenty of money in my account. The whole demeaning debacle started when I got carded for my bottle of wine at Trader Joe’s. I showed my license and the girl called me out on the fact that it’s expired (yes, I know this and I am waiting for a new one to arrive in the mail any day now. I promise). So Scott had to show his and then I thought things would be business as usual. No such luck. We split the total in half so I could put half on my card and Scott could put the other half on his and this is something we do all the time at Trader Joe’s and every other grocery store, with no problems. Well, it apparently confused the sullen Check-Out Girl and she wasn’t able to split it the first four times she tried. It eventually showed up as half so I swiped my debit card, which is when she first told me it came back declined. What? I had cash in my account and even if I didn’t, my card never declines, it just overdrafts. But that wasn’t even the point since there was plenty of cash in my account. So we run it through once more and it declines once more. At this point there’s a line forming and I’m getting flustered so I pull out my credit card. Check-Out Girl has more problems getting the bill to split again but she finally manages and I swipe the new card. The machine asked me for a PIN number and I told the girl it needed to be run as credit. She looked at me like I was an broke-ass idiot and told me to then run it as credit. I told HER that there wasn’t an option for that anywhere on the screen and when I swiped it, it automatically brought up the PIN screen. At this point people are moving to other lines and rolling their eyes while Scott has his hand on my arm to prevent me from grabbing Check-Out Girl by the hair and showing her the screen I was looking at. She just looked at me, didn’t say a word and crossed her arms over her chest. Because that will magically fix everything. Scott eventually just put the whole thing on his card and I walked out, biting my tongue the entire way.
I know this isn’t a huge deal and my debit card worked perfectly fine at Target later that night so I realize I didn’t do anything wrong. And while I know working at a grocery store probably isn’t all sunshine and giggles all of the time, I think maybe the Check-Out Girl could have at least apologized for whatever she did in her system that screwed it all up to begin with, or something. Not treating me like a piece of crap on her shoe would’ve been a start. I have NEVER had my card declined ANYWHERE and wow, it sure is a demoralizing experience. I can’t imagine the drop-kick to morale people get if/when it happens on a regular basis. My situation all worked out in the end though and when I got home, I truly savored that bottle of wine.
Getting Closer
Almost there! The Illinois State Senate voted yesterday to legalize gay marriage and now it’s on to the House. If it passes there (and hopefully it will), then we will be the 10th state in the country to recognize that same-sex couples have the same right to marriage as everyone else. It’s my own personal opinion that this is just plain common sense and shouldn’t even need to be voted on but alas, that’s not the case. However, hopefully by the time my children (should I choose to have them) are old enough to understand what the fuss is about, there won’t be a fuss anymore to begin with.
Bring on the equality!
I’m proud to live in a state that is moving forward with this type of equality and am excited to see this bill become law. Everyone deserves to be happy and it shouldn’t matter what genders are involved. And if I ever have kids, I can tell you that I’d love them no matter what – even if they turned out straight.
Love is in the Air
My heart is just so full of happiness and mush that it could very well burst and spew gooey redness all over the place!
Why? Well, my best friend since freshman year in high school just got engaged! Her ahem fiance organized a flash mob with a local radio station this morning and surprised her outside of her office with a song and dance routine. It was ADORABLE. And it couldn’t happen to a better girl. Both she and her man spent a few years battling a serious addiction problem but they both came out on the other side and are doing better than ever. It seriously makes me want to cry when I think about what she’s been through and how much better off she is now. I couldn’t be prouder of her and the relationship she’s in has endured a decade’s worth of addiction and illness (even cancer) but thankfully they are both sober and healthy and now they’re engaged! I’m about to vomit from the cuteness.
Also, another close friend of mine will be getting married in exactly 9 days in Florida. Scott and I really want to be there but since it’s not in the financial cards for us right now, we’ll be sending our well wishes from afar. I spent a few hours last night helping the soon-to-be-bride with some wedding stuff and I’m super excited for her as well. Insert more gooey sentimentality here.
Seriously though, it makes me happy when those I love are happy and that’s all I want for my friends and family. And while I’m in no hurry to walk down the aisle anytime soon, I know I’m lucky to have someone in my life who genuinely wants to listen to how my day went and will clean the toilet if I ask.
Seriously
ALSO – Illinois is voting to legalize gay marriage TODAY! If this happens, my heart might legitimately explode. And I’d be happy to let it!
And here’s hoping your Valentine’s Day is more enjoyable than cleaning toilets!
Fun and Fancy Free
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Perhaps Bill Gates or Donald Trump don’t search out great deals but most everyone I know loves a freebie. And luckily for me, this week has been full of them!
I love free stuff!
I guess technically my streak started on Friday and Saturday, since I got those weird free issues of Forbes (thankfully, no more since then). However since I didn’t really want them, I’m not counting it. Officially (in my book), things began on Sunday when I went to the annual Volunteer Brunch for the food pantry I help out at. It was held at an Irish restaurant and the food was delicious, as always. I enjoyed fruit, pancakes, eggs, potatoes, muffins and some more fruit, all without shelling out dime. Then on Monday a coworker gave me a Valentine’s Day cookie she made over the weekend. It looks store bought (as you can see for yourself) and tasted better than most anything I could have purchased. She also used the healthiest ingredients possible so I feel just a tad less guilty for enjoying it so much!
Tuesday started off with another free treat as the Corner Bakery, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks have all been handing out free beverages in the lobby of our building this week. It’s a “sweet treat” also in honor of Valentine’s Day and I’m not complaining. I would’ve grabbed something Monday morning but my train ran a little late and I didn’t have the time; however, I made up for that yesterday and today. I nabbed a delicious hot chocolate yesterday morning and it was one of the very last they had left, so it was extra chocolate-y since it had been at the bottom of their thermos.
Last night, Scott and I went to a couples massage class at a local massage therapist’s office to learn some techniques and strategies for good, old-fashioned back rubbing. It was all PG, I promise. We, along with a few other couples besides ourselves, picked up some good tips in the hour and a half long class, all for the low low price of nothing. Again, score!
Today I managed to get a free Starbucks hot tea from the gal in the lobby (though to be completely honest, it was kind of gross). Then my lovely coworker gave me another heart-shaped cookie, which is definitely not so gross. All in all, not a bad haul for it being only Wednesday! Now if only I could somehow manage to get a free envelope containing hundred dollar bills…
ANOTHER Mysterious Magazine
Okay so remember how I’ve previously received free issues of US Weekly and some random cooking magazine whose name I can’t remember? Both of these were delivered for months
Apparently this guy owns Instagram…I barely know what that is.
on end to my specific name and address, and I never did figure out how either of them managed to come my way. If I’m going to be completely honest, I never made a single dish from the cooking magazine though I did read the celebrity gossip from the “entertainment” mag. US tried to rope me into purchasing a subscription but I didn’t fall for it and they eventually (after like a year) quit sending me issues. The cooking magazine still sends me something every few months and I look at it while envisioning grand displays of Betty Crocker-dom in my kitchen but I never get beyond the whole imagining stage.
Anyway, I received yet another random magazine on Friday, directly addressed to me. It’s Forbes. What in the hell? How does a magazine like Forbes even know I exist?
I guess technically I am a businesswoman, since I work in a business and am a woman. But I really have no interest in finance news, the top businesspeople in the next year, how to diversify my non-existent stock portfolio or any of the other stuff that I imagine this magazine talks about. I rolled my eyes when I came home to it on Friday and then cringed in horror when I received an entirely new issue on Saturday. Wikipedia tells me that this magazine is published biweekly – is that every other week or twice a week? I’m a little nervous about this and am kind of worried I’m going to come home today to like 12 more issues. I guess I’ll rip off my address and take them to the gym because it’s possible someone there would enjoy them. Personally, I got bored just reading the cover.
Why can’t I get free things like candy or money in the mail?
Frosty the Slushman
Here was my view last night as I walked home from the train:
Temperature not included.
It looks fairly tranquil until you notice the creepy, shrunken snowman in the foreground. Also, this picture doesn’t do justice to the three inches of pure icy slush that covered just about every surface. That was fun to walk in and it taught me a valuable lesson in the need for waterproofing shoes.
Still, it was kind of peaceful and pretty.
Happy Friday!
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