I just wanted to make a quick post here to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! I hope you have safe travels during this time and get to spend this evening and tomorrow with the people you love and care about. I’ll be staying off the computer tomorrow (one day won’t kill me), so I’ll catch up with all of you on Tuesday. Be safe and have a wonderful day!
Even though I live less than 30 miles away from where I went to high school, I rarely run into any of my former classmates. Well, maybe I have but just didn’t realize it because I didn’t recognize them or whatever. But today was very different. I (quite literally) bumped into Matt B., who I had a HUGE crush on from 7th grade all the way through high school! He was a year ahead of me and just the cutest guy ever! He was also very nice and said hi to me in the halls even though I wasn’t part of the “cool crowd” like he was.
Anyway, we didn’t have much time to chat since we were being crushed on all sides by other shoppers. He’s gained a bit of weight and isn’t as cute as he was back in H.S., but that’s to be expected. I’m just happy that he remembered who I was!
Well, I’ve had my braces on for two weeks now, so I think I’ve got a good feel for how things are going to be. First of all, they hurt for the first week, but are completely fine now. I had almost forgotten this whole cycle of pain/nothing, pain/nothing that occurs after new wires are put on. Eating is kind of a chore because I can’t really bite into anything. So I have to use a knife and fork for practically everything — even sandwiches!
I miss being able to floss quickly, and can’t manipulate these underwire floss thingies very well. That’s a major negative in my book. In addition, because I have ceramic braces and white rubberbands, I can’t eat any foods that could potentially leave stains. My orthodontist specifically warned against ketchup, curry, spaghetti sauce, and coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but I do drink a lot of diet Coke, which I’m now taking in through a straw — another annoyance.
Overall, having braces hasn’t been too bad thus far. But I can’t wait to get them off!
I do a bit of freelance writing in the early mornings and late evenings when I’m not busy with my son. It used to be an ideal situation for me because I’d spend a couple hours pounding out articles or whatever and make a bit of money from it.
But recently, I’ve been more active in online forums frequented by other writers, and I’ve realized that it’s just sucking the life right out of me! I spend a lot of time there, reading threads, adding to them, and then refreshing the page to see who else has commented. When I do that, it’s very easy for an hour or two to go by without my realizing it. Pretty soon, I was feeling as though I had spent all day on these writing assignments because I was talking about them all day with other writers. It got to be rather exhausting.
In addition, I let myself get caught up in some of the drama that usually surrounds Internet message boards. In fact, I let some of the other posters get to me and upset me. That’s going way too far, so now I’m taking a self-imposed break from all these forums. I’m just going to do my work and be done with it. It’s not worth getting myself all worked up for a few bucks a day.
About a month ago, I told you about some friends of mine who live in Raleigh. I’ve been emailing them a lot recently, and the way they talk about life out there really makes me jealous. I’ve been wanting to move out of the Chicago area for a long time now, and 2007 could be the year that I finally do it. I was checking out Cary NC real estate listings today and saw some very nice properties in my price range. I could definitely get a lot more house for my money out in North Carolina, so this is something I’m seriously thinking about.
I just read over on Yahoo that 20th Century Fox will be auctioning contracts, memos, and other documents related to some of their most famous stars. For example, would-be buyers can bid on a memo that states Norma Jean Dougherty would be known as Marilyn Monroe from that point forward, or they can bid on Marlon Brando’s contract for the movie Viva Zapata.
I’m a huge film buff, so I think this auction sounds very cool. I’d never be able to buy any of the items, of course, because some of these things are expected to fetch more than $100,000! The good thing is that all the proceeds will go to charity.
I have a friend who absolutely drives me nuts. Like most people, she owns a lot of electronic appliances, equipment, gadgets, and devices. Of course electronic components break down from time to time — we know these products won’t last forever.
But whenever one of my friend’s items starts acting up or not working, she doesn’t bother trying to find someone that specializes in circuit board repair to evaluate the problem. She just throws these items away and purchases new ones! That’s an incredible waste of money, if you ask me. I always try to get my things fixed first before running off to buy new ones. More often than not, the repairs are simple and cheap so I always recommend this route to people.
If you’ve ever listened to Eminem’s music, then you’ve undoubtedly heard the way he raves about Kim his on-again off-again girlfriend/wife. Well, I just read an article saying that the couple have divorced for the second time. Yes, this time around, their marriage lasted less than 90 days before Eminem (Marshall Mathers) filed for a divorce. Now the settlement is final, though the terms were not disclosed to the press. Look for TheSmokingGun.com to have copies of the papers on their site in the near future!