Mishmash Musings

I just got done reading Jeffrey Zaslow’s book The Girl From Ames. It had been on the New York Times Bestseller list for weeks, so I decided to find out what it was about. When I read that it chronicled the 40-year friendship of a group of 11 girls from Ames, IA, I ordered it for my Kindle.

The book made for some decent reading, but I didn’t think it explored the nature of friendship very much. That’s what I thought Zaslow aimed to do, but he opted instead to just profile the women of the group.

Anyway, this work kind of brought up some bad memories for me. I keep in touch with just a handful of friends from high school, and the ones I still email aren’t even people I was close to to begin with. For this reason, I’m somewhat fascinated by long, enduring friendships.

The bad memories? Well, there was one group of eight girls at my high school that was similar to the Ames group. They were really close, always together, had been friends long before high school, etc. I was friends with most of the girls in the group, but I wasn’t part of the group. I knew the different members from homeroom, various classes, and sports.

Then in junior year, I thought I was making a breakthrough. I started spending more and more time with the group, eating lunch with them, going to their tennis club after school, going out with them on Friday nights. I thought I was pretty good friends with the two leaders, which is why I ended up spending so much time with them that year.

But I guess they never really accepted me as part of the real group. This was driven home quite clearly one day when they showed up at school wearing custom baseball-style jerseys that they had ordered. Across the front of the jerseys was “The Tribe”, and they had their nicknames on the back.

I was stunned because I had never even heard them talking about the jerseys and didn’t know the plan was in place to get them. The fact that I wasn’t offered a chance to participate made it pretty obvious that they didn’t think of me on equal terms. I looked and felt so out of place when I went to lunch with them that day, the only girl in the group not to have a custom jersey.

After that, I started hanging out with them less and less. I don’t even think they noticed when I finally stopped altogether. If they did, it was probably only to say it was high time I got the hint!

This was another largely wasted day — something that is alarmingly becoming more and more common with me. I had a bunch of things to do, including researching POS systems for a proposal I’m supposed to write for a new client. But for some reason, I just couldn’t get myself going today. Every time I started to research, I let myself get distracted by emails, YouTube, and Facebook. I also started playing my PSP “just for five minutes”. That quickly turned into another wasted hour.

So here I am getting ready to eat dinner without having accomplished a single thing today. After dinner is family time, meaning this has been a completely wasted work day. Ugh. I need to get back on track soon!

Whose idea was it to start putting theme park-style rides atop various Las Vegas hotels? This is actually quite common now, but a couple decades ago when I was a kid, it was absolutely unheard of. I just wonder which hotel was the first to do this.

I have never been to Vegas before, but when I do eventually make it there, I can’t imagine going on one of these rides. I’m scared of heights to begin with, so anything that will put me out there 900 feet above the Vegas strip is simply out of the question.

Check out this video of a ride called Insanity at the Stratosphere hotel:

Yikes! Insanity is a great name for something like that, because that’s precisely what it is! I wouldn’t get on that ride for anything!

Have you heard of the cat-killing rampage out in the Miami area? According to police and community members, 33 cats were found killed, with their bodies mutilated in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay in recent weeks. This disgusting rampage of course sickened neighbors and had everyone fearing for the lives of their beloved pets.

Now, Miami police have arrested a suspect in the killings. He is 18-year-old Tyler Hayes Weinman, a young man who had connections to both communities as one of his parents (recently divorced) lived in each. Tyler has been charged with 19 counts related to animal cruelty, and police said there might be more suspects out there.

Nothing has been proven yet, and I’m not sure what kind of evidence the police have on Tyler or what led them to make the arrest, but if he’s the one, I hope they keep him in jail for a good, long time and get him some counseling. Everyone knows that killing/torturing animals is a precursor to perpetrating violent crimes against humans (many notorious serial killers share this commonality), so is it much of a leap to think that Tyler Weinman is on a similar path now?

Nineteen cats?? That is just crazy. Oh, and I love how he joined a Facebook group of people wanting to catch the cat killer. He probably just wanted to read what everyone was saying about him — another thing serial killers have been known to do.

And look at that photo above. That’s his booking photo, after he was brought to the police station and told of the charges against him. Look at him smiling all smug and pretty for the camera. This is a sick individual. Please get him help.

I really have to buckle down today. I didn’t get a single thing done yesterday because I had a bit of a cold and used that as an excuse to slack off all day long. I ended up playing with my PSP for several hours, taking a four-hour nap, and reading on my Kindle the rest of the time. I didn’t go to the gym, didn’t come close to 10,000 steps, and didn’t touch my kettlebells. Nor did I do any of the freelance writing work I’ve got queued up.

But that’s going to change today. I’m not going to let myself become distracted here. I want to get as much done during the day as humanly possible (no nap, either) so I can finish by 7pm for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. If I knock out all 11 items on my To-Do list by then, I’ll treat myself to some pizza and wings for the game.

Ok, time to get crackin’! GO PENS!!!

I went in for a regular dental checkup and cleaning for the first time in a couple of years. That’s not really as gross as it sounds because I’d been receiving orthodontic treatment in that interval, and my orthodontist usually did some quick cleaning for me whenever he spotted a problem area.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that I have no cavities (this is still a concern because of all the gum and candy I consume), and had no problems with tartar buildup (thanks, Waterpik!!). In fact, the hygienist barely had to do any cleaning at all. Instead, she just went straight to the polishing. That made me feel good!

Now that my braces are off, I can finally get back to visiting my regular dentist every six months. My next appointment has already been booked for December!

U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have both been found guilty of committing a “grave crime” against North Korea and of entering the country illegally. As a result, they have been sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labor”.

This is an absolute outrage, and should not be allowed to stand. I hope the United States government does whatever is in their power to secure the release of these women. It sickens me that North Korea went through this charade simply in order to force America’s hand in providing humanitarian aid or whatever, and ordinarily I wouldn’t want the country to do anything at all to help NKorea.

But these are two innocent women who should not be made to suffer as pawns in this political chess match. If that was me or someone from my family, I would hope and pray that the government would make every effort to get me outta there. Nothing less should be done for these two women.

I hope they can hold on until the government works something out.

Now that I’ve got a second part-time job that keeps me busy 4 days out of the week, I have less time to hit the gym. After eating lots of fast food and not working out for the last month as I tried adjusting to my new schedule, I gained 6 pounds — and am now the exact same weight I was at prior to beginning my 3x/week workout regimen a year and a half ago. I can’t believe it! 18 months of exercise for absolutely nothing!

So I decided to buy a couple of kettlebells so I can keep working out at home even when I have to skip the gym. I spent $50 on a 10lb and a 20lb kettlebell. I decided to go for two because I can’t do one-handed or over-the-head lifts with a 20lb kettlebell, but 10lbs is not enough resistance for some exercises like squats or KB swings.

I’ve been using these things for about a week now and really like them. I definitely feel like I’m getting more of a workout than I did from the 5lb hand weights I’d been using at home, plus most of the exercises are actually fun. If I add in my 10,000 steps per day and maybe some diet pills, I’ll hopefully shed this weight again and get my BMI back down to where I want it to be. And yes, of course I know I have to cut out the junk food… but that’s always the hardest part for me!