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. 

What, you don't do all your confessing on Wednesdays? Weirdo.

I confess // that I am LOVING this fancy new confession button. I have thought he was pretty cute ever since he dropped into Mystic Falls as the hottest bad-boy-vamp around, so I am all about having him on my page. 

I confess // this is the first time in a REALLY long time that I have posted twice on the same day. I usually can't even handle posting twice in one week. But I mean.....there were link ups I wanted to do. So I had to. :0 

I confess // I have tried and tried, but I still can't get myself to actually like eating eggs.. The yolky egg sandwiches Boyfriend makes are pretty good, so that's the only exception.. But eggs in general are just gross. 

I confess // I saw something on Twitter on Father's Day that made me really sad.. A blogger (who I have really admired, and followed for quite some time) made a comment that I found really disappointing, and now I feel a little bit disenchanted with not only the blogger (which sucks, because I had always found this blogger to be both funny and real, two of the best qualities a blogger can have, I think), but somewhat with the whole concept of blogging in general. That may be a little bit of a dramatic reaction, I'll admit...but it's still how I feel. 

I confess // I haven't gotten a pedicure in a while, and even though I know that I can cut and polish my own toe nails, I still feel like my feet are gross if it's not professionally done. Vain? Probably. But I don't like feet generally, so I like to do whatever I can to make my own feet prettier. 

I confess // I kind of wish that I had grown up watching more Saturday Night Live! or whatever it was called, so that I could have known it when it was awesome and actually funny.. But I wasn't really allowed to watch much TV of any kind when I was growing up, so Saturday nights on NBC were definitely off-limits. 

I confess // I definitely need to make more time in my life for reading for fun. It's such a wonderful, relaxing thing. I also need to make more time in my life for laying out by a pool somewhere, since that's pretty dang relaxing too. 

I confess // I actually really enjoy the HR portion of my job. Payroll, employee onboarding, etc... I am finding that I totally like doing stuff like that. 

I confess // sometimes when I reach out to people (other bloggers, mostly) I get really freaking nervous. I don't know why - when I am thinking rationally, I generally assume that other bloggers respond to unsolicited emails like the "hey, just saying hi" ones I sometimes send in much the same way I would.. A smile, a moment of feeling appreciated and noticed (always nice things), and then a response to whoever wrote. But I still get nervous, because I'm reaching out to someone I admire, and people are unpredictable, and it can be really a let down when people don't respond the way you wish they would. 

I confess // studying is not my strong suit. I love learning, but like..mostly I just wish I knew all the stuff, and that I didn't find the actual "learning" part of knowing stuff so hard sometimes. 

I confess // I have a really strong desire to go stand-up paddle boarding sometime. I was looking at a website of a company in San Diego that offers paddle boarding training and tours, and hot DAMN, I wanna go. 

I confess // that I am generally terrified of water if I can't see through it....except when I'm in the ocean. Lakes and rivers? No thanks, but the ocean (home to WAY more things that can kill me, and also has the ability to kill me all on its own without the help of its inhabitants)? Yep, take me there. Paradoxical, I know. 

Aannnnnd now my brain is tired, so that's all you get. Peace out!

I don't have big hair. And other confessions.

What up, world? It's Wednesday (well technically right now, it's like late on Tuesday night, but whatever, close enough), so I'm linking up with Kathy and Liz because all the cool kids are doing it. 

Confession: I just googled "all the cool kids are doing it" gifs, and was greeted by some truly horrifying images that have nothing I can see to do with the topic at hand. What gives with that, Google? 

Confession: My hair is finally starting to get a little bit longer, but it's still so fine like baby hair that I can't hardly do anything with it and it's really annoying. Seriously, I'm pretty sure my 1 and 3 year old nephews have better hair than I do. They certainly have cuter faces, either way. 

Confession: Either the Zumba workouts lately are getting easier, or I'm finally getting myself into some kind of reasonable shape.. When I started Zumba, I would have to take breaks at least once per class, but tonight, I didn't have to take any breaks, and I was only a little bit winded in class. Not sure if it's me or the dances we did, but I'm just going to go ahead and take credit for it, because that's more fun for me. 

Confession: Despite the fact that I am really good at rationing Oreos,I completely failed at rationing Thin Mints today. Okay, that's only half true..I've had a whole box of Thin Mints sitting in my pantry just patiently waiting for me to lose control for a couple of months now. I opened it today, and I think I've had like, eight. Which isn't even a whole sleeve, so in that sense, WIN, but also, it's still eight Thin Mints, which means lots of fat and calories, so I feel like I'm supposed to feel guilty, but uh, they were delicious, and I just can't really bring myself to care that much, so again, WIN. 

Confession: If I could live in maxi dresses or Lululemon workout clothes and nothing else for the rest of my life, I'm pretty sure I'd die comfortable and happy. 

Confession: I live in the desert, it's summertime, and I'm still operating on ghost mode over here because I'm so pale. Someone tell me to get it together. And then kick my butt outside to get some Vitamin D (after properly applying sunscreen, naturally. Skin cancer ain't no joke, kids). 

Confession: My dad's birthday was yesterday (or by the time you're reading this, day before yesterday). And there's probably not much to say about that, other than that my dad is the dang coolest guy on the planet, and that's just all there is to it, and I'm the luckiest daughter ever because I get to call him Papa. 

Confession: I have not much else of interest to report this week. Somebody should tell me some post topics to write about, since my brain is hardly functioning as max capacity of late, and I mean..I could use the help. :) 

Humpday Confessions!

It's that time again. And by "that", I of course mean that since it's Wednesday, it's time to link up with Miss Canadian CrazyPants herself, and get real. Word, yo. 

Today I confess...

...I am legitimately worried that I will seriously injure myself on Saturday. I mean, it's going to suck to do this race anyway because of the running and the obstacle course, and the sun that gets insanely hot at insanely early times... But apart from that, my body is just a general mess, and I tend to get injured pretty easily when I'm not exerting myself or going through a bunch of obstacles. Fingers crossed, people. 

...it's been one of those days where literally everything is bothering me. I have been powering through work stuff all day, but still don't feel like I've gotten anything done, my house is still a mess (or way more of a mess than I'd like it to be), my to-do list is a mile long, and my anxiety is through the roof. Today I wished more than once that I actually took medication for anxiety, because every once in a while (like today), it comes swooping in like a freaking freight train, and completely takes over my brain. 

...I have discovered a couple of bloggers lately who, while I really don't care too much for what they have to say, I find strangely fascinating. It's a weird thing for me to be completely uninterested in someone, and yet so completely interested at the same time. The only way I can explain it is that it's sort of like a car crash - the kind where you don't know anyone, so it doesn't affect you at all, but still, you can't look away. And even that isn't quite right. Either way, it's just weird. 

...sometimes having a really good understanding of spelling/grammar is frustrating, because it's annoying when people get it wrong.. Especially the really simple stuff that EVERYONE should know....which happens ALL THE FREAKING TIME. I'm not saying that in an "oh look at me I'm so smart" way, but more in like a "seriously people, get it together and be better than this".  

...I really hate Times New Roman or Comic Sans fonts. I know resumes are "technically" supposed to be written in TNR font, but I just can't bring myself to do it because I think it's really ugly. 

...my desk is a complete and total disaster right now. I can't work well in chaos, so I know that it's probably having at least a tiny impact on my productivity, but it seems like no matter what I do right now, I can't get it organized to save my life. I don't know what's wrong with me. Other than the aforementioned Stage 5 Clinger anxiety I've got going on. 

...I really can't think of anything else right now. My brain is fried, and all I want to do is go to bed and sleep and forget about stress and work and most of life in general for like, a whole solid week just so I can reset myself. First class passenger on the struggle bus, right here. 

What are your confessions? Link up with Kathy and tell me secrets, it will make me feel better. And also my hair will have more volume. #science

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Also linking up with Liz for her blog hop - please make sure you head over and check it out!  

on wednesdays, we wear pink

it's wednesday and that means confessin'. rumor has it that's good for the soul.

here we do go:

// i am not at all the mood to capitalize stuff right now. is that terrible? probably. don't care.

// i woke up this morning totally thinking it was friday. don't ask me why. but then i got my coffee and sat down at my desk, and realized it was tuesday, and that really freaking sucked.

// sometimes i watch "the office" in the background while i'm working, and it's the only thing that makes me not feel like throwing my computer out the window.

// when i was younger, like in my really early twenties, i used to have this stupid dream to be on MTV's "the real world". totally stupid, right? nevertheless, the wish was there. i actually almost went to a casting call when they were in chicago one time, but uh....i couldn't find the place, sooooooo. that's how that happened.

// sometimes the scar on my eyebrow still really hurts/itches, twenty years later. and there is no way to fix it really, save for hitting myself like i've got an eyebrow weave. not ideal.

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// also, i'm not actually wearing pink. #rebel

// i am super annoyed at a lot of things, but right now, my main source of irritation is the fact that it's been ten years - TEN YEARS - since "friends" ended, and that is just a travesty. that was one of the most perfect, well-written, hilarious shows ever aired and i wish there was more new stuff to it. 

// i used to hate coffee. now my mornings just don't feel complete without it. and also kick starts. because holy deliciousness, batman. 

// people kind of weird me out a little bit. blogging is weird, because you can meet a lot of really cool people, but then also there are a lot of crazies that show up. and then there's drama, which just seems weird. aren't we all (mostly) adults here? can't we all just get along, and live and let live? 

// i lead a very boring life. which is why i really don't have a whole lot to confess today. sorry to be a complete lameo. 

make sure to check out kathy and liz and all the amazing people who link up with them on wednesdays!!

but i mean really, why do we have to title these things?

It would appear that I have been on a very regular posting-only-twice-a-week kick lately. Not sure what that's about. I always have more to say, but it seems as though I can never get it down on paper (or on..interweb, I guess). And work has been really busy lately, so I have gotten behind in stuff, and I have emails I need to write to people, and other people I need to talk to, and LOTS more stuff to do for work than I think I even remember, and just good grief people, I am not loving all the busyness! I just want to sit down and spend my time reading good books and eating cupcakes. Honestly, is that really too much to ask? 

Whatever. 

Anyway, so I'm linking up with this charming Canadian again for some hump-day confessions. And also with Miss Fitness for the blog hop. 


// I have been doing a lot of watching The Office lately. I'm almost finished with the whole series, actually, which kind of bums me out a little bit. The whole thing definitely went downhill after Steve Carrell left.. That man is comedic genius. And also, watching it always makes me think of my friend Kaylee who loves it too, so sometimes I will send her pictures of what I'm watching just to make her jealous. Apparently I'm a brat. 

// I re-arranged my office again over the weekend. I pretty much do that every weekend.. Does that mean I like to change things up regularly, or that I just refuse to be satisfied?? Hmmm. 

// I cried yesterday for absolutely no reason at all. Sometimes being a girl is basically the most annoying thing on the planet. 

// I made a goal earlier to read 75 books this year. And while I do think it's completely doable, I'm really behind on that. If people have any book recommendations, please send them my way!

// I bought a subscription to PhotoShop because I need it for some work things, and I am loving it. If you follow me on the Twit, you know that I figured out how to make glitter letters with this awesome PhotoShop tutorial from Sarah. I'm kind of ridiculously excited about that. 

// I made a frozen pizza for lunch on Monday and I could only eat like 3 pieces total, and then I was just not interested in it at all. So now the leftovers are sitting in my fridge and I either have to eat them or waste the pizza, which would be bad. I should probably just stop buying them. 

// I made a pasta/chicken/feta cheese thing last week....and it was AWFUL. I don't know how in the world I managed to make it so disgusting, but it was seriously terrible. So that was unfortunate. And also embarrassing, because even though I don't always make the most delicious or pretty dishes, they're usually at least passable. 

// I signed up to run the BadAss Dash at the end of May with Dedra, Zack, Jolynn, Dad, and Boyfriend. It's a 7k race with anywhere from 25-32 obstacles in it, and I'm fairly certain that signing up for it was one of the stupidest decisions I have ever made because I will probably die. On the bright side though, I will have to start training for it, which means that I have built-in workouts ready to tackle for the #1800MinuteChallenge, so that's definitely a win. 


And that's all she wrote, folks. What are your midweek confessions?

hump-day confessions

I have to say, Miss Kathy is quickly becoming one of my favorite bloggers to read. I mean, A.) she is funny, B.) she doesn't take herself too seriously (or like, seriously at all, which is awesome), and C.) she is a straight-up, no-holds-barred, "I make no apologies" type of person...which is also awesome. And also rare, especially in the blog world where it seems like so many people are busy trying to make their lives look totally perfect and amazing. So anyway, moral of the story is that I'm joining her little hump-day linkup today for a little confess sesh. 


Also linking up with Liz for the Hump Day blog hop, because I just freaking adore that girl. 

MOOOOOOOVING ON...

....I tried to be an overachiever and go to both PowerFlow and Zumba last night. Epic fail. I made it through exactly half of the PowerFlow class before I had to go running outside so I could dry heave over the bushes instead of in the studio. And then when I got sick of kneeling over the rocks on the sidewalk, I went back inside and the studio manager had to get me some lollipops so I could get my blood sugar back up because apparently I looked like a ghost and was shaking. Cool. #embarrassing I did make it all the way through the Zumba class though, so I feel like I redeemed myself at least a little bit. :) 

....I also made this delicious egg dish after class last night, which was bomb, and it was amazing because usually I hate eggs, but this time, I thought they were really good. 

....I worry about things like ALL. THE. DANG. TIME. And like 90% of the stuff I worry about is completely outside my control. I tried to convince Boyfriend last night that my overthinking/worrying is a good thing, because I end up being prepared for almost any contingency because I've already thought/worried about it.... He didn't buy it. Gee, I wonder why. 

....Speaking of Boyfriend, I love him a lot. Which isn't really like a "confession", since I say it all the time, but it's still true, so there you go. 

....Sometimes, I have really really productive days where I just power through stuff and then at the end of the day, I'm all like, patting myself on the back for being a rockstar. And then there are days like today where I honestly wonder if there's any hope for me at all, and I sincerely doubt that I could be forced to be rockstar productive even if someone was poking me with a cattle prod or something like that. WHAT IS THAT NONSENSE ABOUT????

....There are some things in life that really freaking scare the ever-living out of me. Not usually things like creepy crawlies (though I will admit that if I find a centipede anywhere, I will scream and go running in the opposite direction..and I would probably do the same thing if I found a snake in the house or something), but like bigger things. Things like where in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks this country is going (nowhere good, from the looks of things currently)...things like whether or not we are going to end up in another Cold War because Putin is being a jackass and acting like he owns the world....things like whether or not people in America will have individual freedoms and rights in 20 years like we have in the past, and will be taking responsibility for themselves, or if we will just have a society full of mindless drones who are completely dependent on the government. 

....I drank 11 bottles of water yesterday. That is 185.9 ounces of water, folks. And I was NOT running to the bathroom every four and half seconds, even though you'd think that with that much water I'd just be floating there without even thinking about it, but nope... Apparently, I was dehydrated or something. Maybe that was my issue with PowerFlow. 

....Shutterfly.com is offering a FREE 8x8" photo book today only with the promo code STORYTIME. Get to it, folks. (No one asked me to include that link, and I am not being compensated to do so. I just wanted to share.)

What's up with all of you fine folks? Got confessions?? LET'S HEAR THEM. 

Writing fiction

Well hello, lovlies. How's Wednesday treating everybody? Good? Great. Faaantastic.

So far, my day today has been a lot better than yesterday.

Today I got Starbucks.

Today I have a to-do list prepped and ready to go, and I've already crossed some things off it.

And today, I saw this.

And first of all, let me just say that I have only recently discovered the gem that is Jen's blog. It's no secret that I love reading, and I'm always looking for recommendations of new books to discover. Honestly, I think that my absolute ideal job would be getting paid for reading and writing about books. Anyway, I digress.

When I was little, I used to write little fiction stories every once in a while. And at any given time, I usually have about four or five plot lines and character possibilities swirling around in my head. But I haven't actually written a fiction story for years... And I can pretty much promise that I won't have anything ready in time for publishing with the link up that Jen is doing so even though I'd love to, I won't be participating.. but I will admit that the idea of writing fiction, even of taking things from my own life, and rewriting the endings, saying what I wanted to say instead of what I did say, etc., the ideas that Jen mentioned, really did make something inside of me perk up and take notice. 

So even though I won't be posting a fiction story in the link up, and even though I can't guarantee I will ever post any kind of story, this is my public confession that I would LOVE to write fiction. Whether it's a story of my own that I change, or one of some character I invent completely, it doesn't matter. I just want to do it. 

Aaaaaand we are linking up with Liz today for her blog hop! Because it's hump day. And because it's fun. 

P.S. Liz could use some encouragement right now, so please go check out her blog, and make sure to say hi! :)