Sassy Black Friend

Thanks… Strom Thurmond?

It’s rude to speak ill of the dead, right? What if the dead totally deserve it?

Former senator Strom Thurmond died in 2003, but I’ll always remember him as the racist jerk who had a daughter with his black teenage maid, tormented Thurgood Marshall during his confirmation hearing, and won the record for longest filibuster in the Senate – 24 hours and 18 minutes – protesting the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Swell guy, really.

But, aside from impregnating one, Strom has finally done something nice for black people. Well, this black person, at least. The filibuster fact (stuck in my head for reasons unknown) won me 5,000 Entrecard credits from People You Need to Know‘s Trivia Tuesday. Thanks, Strommy!

Now, what to do with all of those credits… Maybe a contest or giveaway for Black History Month. Heh.

Too busy to eat?

I used to be one of those people who scoffed at anyone who said things like “oh, I forgot to have lunch today.” I mean, I forget lots of things, food is never one of them. But lately I’ve been working 18 hour days and not doing a very good job of feeding myself. More often than not I’ll cook, but get distracted by something before I eat. Or I’ll have a plate of food in front of me, but not really eat it.

Me not eating is like heaven for the boyfriend because it means lots and lots of leftovers when he’s here. Even with the added holiday booze pounds, I’ve dropped like 12 pounds in a month. It’s funny, because when I first started working for myself I lost 15 pounds without trying. I think it was the lack of office snacking and stress eating. Then I gained it back from sitting on my ass too much. I’d been at a happy medium for about six months, then this.

Honestly, I didn’t really notice how big the change was until I went to the doctor for my annual checkup. I don’t own a scale, and all of my winter clothes are already huge this year. Now, I’m not complaining really, it just freaks me out to lose weight quickly when I’m not trying. So while in some ways it’s nice to get mental weight loss pills, I do need to take better care of myself.

So, I am going to do better. Even when I’m working in the evening, the new plan is to take a full 90 minutes away for dinner. Including cooking time. That means no eating in front of the computer, or editing printouts, or anything else that could be considered productive.

Monday Morning Crazy Party

Good crazy. The Gnarles Barkley kind. The next ten days in this town are going to be good crazy, so might as well prepare.

Inexplicable happiness

Did you ever have one of those days where you’re happy for no reason. Not happy in the face of tragedy or anything, just smiling and you don’t know why? That’s me today. Nothing interesting happened, good or bad.

I did a little cooking, a lot of cleaning and some research for my Dad, who has decided that being retired is boring and wants to start a business. Yup, in this economy. He’s a brilliant doofus sometimes. It’s part of his charm. Anyway, he keeps asking what I think about a bunch of products I’ve never heard of, so I’ve been looking into them.

I like having things to share with him, and I love him asking my opinion, so I’m trying to know what he’s talking about. Plus I’m learning about new things like how to pick the best chess clock and what a Rackmount monitor is.

Anyway, all that is just to say that I am inexplicably happy right now, and I don’t want to go to bed for fear that it will go away.

In defense of platonic crushes

I’ll admit it, I have a huge crush on someone. My boyfriend’s boss. Not that kind of crush. it’s completely platonic. I just want to be best friends with him. They’re very close, so we hang out pretty often, and he’s amazing. One of the smartest funniest people I’ve ever met. Plus, he has the most ridiculously loud laugh. In a restaurant the whole place is silent once he starts going. Love that.

Last night we ran into him and his girlfriend at a bar and had the best time. He’s from Australia, but spent 15 years in Brooklyn, so he has the weirdest accent I’ve ever heard. As soon as they walked in my boyfriend said “oh boy, here we go. Try not to crawl into his lap like a 5-year-old.” Hmm, thought I’d been a little more subtle with my obsession. Guess not.

Later we talked about it, I was a little worried he was pissed, but he wasn’t. Here’s the thing. How often do you meet someone who is just amazing? Very rarely. I’m not physically atracted to him, and even if I was I’d never do anything about it. But it’s like being a kid again. You know when you made a new friend and they were the whole universe to you for a while? Very exciting. And embarrassing, because I’m not a kid. I find it hard not to clap and bounce when he talks sometimes. I am such a dork, but I don’t care. V, you’re the shit and I’m not afraid to say it.

Going to the beach in winter

I think I wrote a bit about this last year (heh), but one of my favorite quick vacations is going to the beach in the winter. It’s fantastic. So beautiful. I usually manage to get to do it every couple of years. The boyfriend and I were going to go between Christmas and New Year’s but it didn’t work out.

Then there was a small movement to avoid the Inauguration craziness by fleeing the city, but that was a terrible idea. So there are going to be 3 million extra people in a city of 800,00. big whoop, right? Yikes. Anyway, everyone has to work and there are going to be good parties so that fell apart too.

Fortunately, my friend J is a sad girl these days, and easily swayed. So, we’re going to hit the beach for her 30th birthday in February, just a few weeks before mine. But to be clear, this is not a shared celebration. All of the joy will be pointed her way. Right now we’re trying to find a place big enough in the Outer Banks because going to Delaware just doesn’t enough like a vacation. J has some kind of weird North Carolina trauma involving a plane and a hurricane, but she’s dealing with it. I just wish we didn’t have to wait until next month.

Now I just need to make sure I can work from there. Being self-employed sucks sometimes.