Why traveling alone sucks

I love going new places and seeing new things, but I will admit, the traveling via pretty much any form of mass-transit is less than ideal. Give me a car, a playlist, and the open road, and I'll pick the road trip over a plane trip every time, especially because I really don't mind taking solo road trips. Airports on the other hand? Nope. I hate flying alone. And here's why:

Taking all your stuff with you to bathroom and not having any room to open or close the door. 

Falling asleep on the plane and waking yourself up with your snoring. #whoops #notembarrassingatall

Groups of people traveling together. Like a whole big group of teenage boys on an early morning flight, who make teenage boy style jokes really loudly, and also smell like teenage boys. Or the group of like, twenty, who don't all arrive to security together, but budge in front of people in the security and boarding lines because "oh hey, yeah, I know you planned ahead better and got here earlier than I did, but I'm with them, up there, so I'm just gonna cut in front of you." (Yes, that has actually happened to me. More than once.)

Having no control over who sits by you. When you are traveling with someone, yes, one of you may have to share a side with a stranger, but at least you and your companion can keep each other company. When you're on your own, you have no such luxury. 

Really slow people in security lines. I am one of those who is always prepared for the security lines. I plan ahead, make sure my 3-1-1 bag and computer are easily accessible, wear easy to divest sweaters/jackets, and always wear sneakers in airports. I can whip through a security line in like, no time flat. And yet I seem to always end up stuck behind people who somehow manage to forget they have to take stuff out of their bags, they can't have metal in their pockets, they can't wear shoes, etc. 

Having to be really close to people. I don't really like people as a rule (Steph's "10 Best" posts are some of my favorites) so having to spend hours literally inches away from bunches of them does not do anything to lower my blood pressure. 

Trying to get something to eat in airports. The space is always so limited, and it never fails that I either run into someone, or run over their toes while I'm trying to juggle my suitcase and purse and everything else, and that just always makes me feel bad. Plus, everything is ridiculously, stupidly overpriced. Paying $4.50 for a bottle of water is just dumb. 

What do you love or hate about traveling alone? 

Should I write these on a postcard, instead?

Oh hi. Fancy meeting you here. I'm sure everyone no one in the world has been totally missing me and wondering where I have been.. And I'm just here to tell you that "I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere...I've crossed the deserts bare, man, I've breathed the mountain air, man."

Johnny Cash? Anyone? *sigh* I love him.

Anyway, moving on. It's been a while since I've hung out here on this little white space, and while part of me was like, super-mega-ultra geeked about the (actually quite unintended originally) break, another part of me kind of missed it. So when I decided to get my ish together and make a list of goals for the month of September, starting to blog again made the cut. And maybe some time I'll write down the list for all you nosy people who are interested. But then again maybe not, because if I write them all down here and don't complete them all, well then I've just failed in front of the entire world maybe seven people who might actually read this, and well..,that would just be embarrassing.

But I digress.

My grand comeback is happening on a Wednesday, so I'm confessing with Kathy, because all the cool kids are doing it, and I am nothing if not wildly susceptible to peer pressure.

Haec sunt de me confitentem:

// Yesterday I forgot to eat anything all day until almost 2pm. I'm really not sure what that's about.

// Sometimes life is difficult and confusing and complicated and stressful, and like, you're barely hanging on as it is, but then something comes along that just BAM knocks the wind right out of you and then you're all like, "wait, what in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks just happened?". And that, in a nutshell, is the story of my life currently.

// I have no idea how to resize gifs. Does anyone know how to do this? 

// I have a very serious love affair with books in the genre of murder mysteries and psychological thrillers. The more messed up the villain, the better, apparently. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I'm hoping it doesn't make me seem like a raving murderous psycho to anybody just because I love reading fiction about them. (And sometimes some non-fiction, but still usually about raving murderous psychos - Devil in the White City, anyone?)

// PostSecret is the bomb. I love going to it every Sunday to see the new secrets. What is that about??? 

// I need some serious Photoshop help. I have like, eleventy bajillion project ideas up my sleeve, but almost all of them involve things like resizing photos and then printing them out on photo paper, and while I could easily resize photos in PicMonkey, I still don't know how to get a bunch of them to all fit together on the same sheet of photo paper so I can print out more than one at a time, and I don't know how to do that and you guys, life is really hard. 

// I turned 30 at the end of July. That was rough. I haven't quite been able to figure out how to put into words why, exactly, being 30 is so difficult for me. It just is. I kind of mostly feel like a giant failure, and even though rationally, I know I'm not, it's still what I hear every day from the voice in my head, and it's hard to ignore.

// Oh, speaking of love affairs...I have another one going with quotes. Life quotes, productivity quotes, love quotes, relationship quotes, independence quotes. YOU GUYS, I LOVE THEM ALL. I have a whole Evernote notebook dedicated to quotes, PLUS a whole big note on my phone, PLUS a bunch of them written down in random places, PLUS a whole folder on my desktop of quotes that I have turned into some sort of printable something-or-other that like, maybe, one day, if I feel so inclined slash less lazy slash not too cheap to buy frames, I will actually print out and put up on my walls. Apparently, I express myself much better when I let other people do it for me. 

// On Monday, I rode a stationary bike for four whole miles (which made my behind hurt - bike seats really should be designed better, because those things are AWFUL) and then went to a Zumba class. I know that's like a total "yawn" workout for some people, but for me, it was kind of a big deal. And Juliette said she was impressed, so that was awesome. 

// In the time I've taken off from blogging myself, I have still been reading blogs, and commenting when I felt so inclined, but since I have been reading more than commenting, and certainly not partaking in the conversation with any of my own posts, I've kind of felt like a bit of a creeper. 

// The sentence right before my first confession is in Latin so I look smarter than I am. I mean, I know some Latin, and could maybe muddle my way through reading it (kind of, not really, but sort of), but I don't know enough to just casually throw it into every day writing. So it was kind of cheating to put it here, I'd imagine, but I'm not sorry about it. Oh, and the sentence is "These are my confessions" in Latin. #themoreyouknow

And that's all I've got for you today. 

Your turn.

Blogmopolitan - Number 3

Part 1 // Part 2 

Confession: I'm annoyed.

...but I have seen some stuff lately that has really irritated me, and thus merited a post of some sort. And apparently, if I do it #confessions style with Kathy, nobody can judge me. Or judge all you want, whatever. I'm too pissed off about nonsense and the abject, ignorant stupidity and bandwagon mentality of so many people to care.

Real quick disclaimer: let me preface this by saying that these rants are not directed at any people in particular, unless specifically mentioned. People who believe differently than I do are completely and totally entitled to their beliefs, and I am in no way insinuating that I am smarter/cooler/better/whatever than anyone else, regardless of whether we agree or disagree. I would encourage people from both sides to comment (if you're interested), because I like the conversation, but I'm not trying to start an argument or put anyone down by what I'm about to say. 

Commencing.. 

I confess // There is an article on Buzzfeed right now wherein 22 female employees answer why they take birth control. FIRST of all...WHO THE HELL CARES? No one, that's who. SECONDLY... I am sick and tired TO DEATH of hearing people bitch and moan about how birth control is their own business, and people do it for themselves blah blah blah, and "hey government/employer/everybody who doesn't agree with me, stay out of my business!" while simultaneously DEMANDING that government/employee/taxpayers actually get all up in their business and PAY for their birth control. Seriously?! Seriously. Shut up, you're contradicting yourself and making absolutely no sense. 

And for the record (pay attention here, folks, because this is the biggest thing everyone is ignoring here): Hobby Lobby is NOT saying, nor have they ever said, that they refuse to pay for birth control because of their religious beliefs (which, by the way, is their RIGHT, as guaranteed by the First Amendment). They simply did not want to have to pay for the IUD or the morning-after bill. There are a lot of other kinds of birth control that they are very happy to cover with their insurance plans. 

And also...if you so desperately want to be in control of your own reproductive health and rights, then take control of all aspects of it yourself, including paying for it. Freedom of religion is freedom of religion, even if you don't agree with it.

I confess // all this nonsense about raising the federal minimum wage is stupid. As someone who has spent a pretty significant portion of their working life working at minimum wage, do I think it would be easier if it were higher? Well of course I do... But where is the money supposed to come from? 

If a company has 8 employees who work 40 hours a week, and are paid $7.25/hour, that means the company is spending $2320.00/per week on their compensation. That doesn't even take into account the additional cost of potential benefits like vacation time, retirement savings or profit sharing, sick leave, health insurance (the cost of which is skyrocketing, by the way, thanks to the president and his dumb plan), etc. Nor does that take into account the overhead costs of running a business - building space, liability insurance, utilities, equipment, cleaning costs...and the list goes on and on. 

If the minimum wage gets raised the 39.3% up to $10.10 that has been proposed, that means that compensation costs alone for the aforementioned hypothetical company will go up $911.76/week, or $47,411.52/year. Where, exactly, is that extra $50k supposed to come from? All that will happen is that companies will be forced to lay off or otherwise let go of employees because they simply can't afford to keep them anymore, thus reducing the amount of service they could provide, which in turn will most likely result in a decrease of customers since the service and/or product has suffered, leading the company to make even less money, meaning they have to let more people go.....and the cycle continues. How in the world is it that people don't see this? 

The beauty of capitalism is that it allows people to work hard and do whatever they can to better themselves, rather than reducing people who are successful down to a lower level, so that other people can benefit from their success. It's not a perfect system, but historically speaking, it does tend to be the most fair, and sustainable system. 

I confess // the fact that people actually believe that Obama's healthcare plan is a positive thing because it reverses "job lock" kind of blows my mind. That fact that people can't see that it's a blatant call for people to just not bother having jobs so they can instead just depend on the government for everything blows my mind even more. Since when is having a job and supporting yourself as best you can ever a bad thing, even if the job isn't all that enjoyable? I personally would much rather work and know that I'm supporting myself, even if it's not fun for me, than be dependent on the government for my needs. But hey...maybe that's just me. 

I confess // I cannot stand Jay-Z and Beyonce. Like, at all. Jay-Z has always irritated me, but I used to like Beyonce, back when her music was fun, and showcased her talent, instead of her ability to dress in next to nothing and shake her ass. I find it so sad when people who are so ridiculously talented sell out just to stay in the headlines. Like really, what's the point? 

I confess // my blood pressure has gone up while I've been writing this post. I can feel it. Whoops. I'm going to go walk around the block a few times to get it back where it's supposed to be. 

Peace out. 

Also linking up with Liz, because it's Wednesday. 

....and what a week it's been.

Can we all just breathe a big huge sigh of relief that it's Friday, FINALLY? I don't know if it's life, or just me, but man alive, this week dang near killed me. But it's over (or at least it will be in a few hours), and there are supposed to be some big things happening in my world this week, so we are just going to be excited for those things, and cross our fingers that nothing gets in the way. Mmmkay? 

Other things.. 

1 // I had a really difficult assignment that was due this week. I have been working on it a bit for the last month, but the final part of the project was due today. I'm an overachiever though, and turned it in yesterday, so booyah to me. I'm just hoping that I did it correctly the whole way through though. I didn't get much (read: any) direction on it, so I was kind of flying blind, and it would really suck if I got the whole dang thing wrong. 

2 // I'm going to Zumba tomorrow for the first time in almost two weeks, and I am ridiculously excited. I was planning on going on Monday and Tuesday this week, as is my general habit, but when I got back from vacation, I was feeling kind of yucky and sick/achy, so staying home and resting seemed like a much better idea. But it's been a long time since I've been to a class, and I'm itching to just go let loose on the dance floor. 

{Handmade print by ashleyg, found here}

3 // I turn 30 in two weeks from today, and even though I have been freaking out about turning 30 since right around my 13th birthday (apparently 30 was my "scary age"), the closer I get to it, the less I am worrying about it. I think my main issue now is just general disappointment in myself for not being where I had always wanted to be in my life by the time I got to this age. And even though I do know that my life is pretty damn amazing just as it is, missteps and everything, it's tough for me to let go of the image I've had in my head about what my life is "supposed" to look like at this point. 

4 // Apparently, someone in blog world faked their own death yesterday. I just don't understand. If you want attention, okay, I get that...but if you fake your own death, all that happens (at least from the way that she did it) is that people will make fun of you and then completely forget about you. How is that productive? I don't know. The whole thing just seems weird and really sad. I think anyone who would stoop so low as to do something like that must be really sad, and that makes me sad. 

5 // It's only July (also, holy crap, it's already July!), but I am already getting excited about my planners for next year. I know I'm going to have a Whitney English planner again for work, because man alive, has that done wonders for my productivity. And of course, I will also have an Erin Condren for daily life happenings. I keep thinking up ways to become more and more organized in my life, and I absolutely LOVE looking back on used planners that have lots of stuff written down, and stickers, and different colors. There's just something about that that makes me really happy. I know, I'm a total nerd for getting excited about next year's planners already, but I'm too psyched to care. :) 

Cheers to the freakin' weekend, people! :)