Sassy Black Friend

The piercing thing

First off, I have to mention that I got my ears pierced when I was 14. I got my tongue pierced in college, but hated it and took it out a week later. So, aside from ears, the only piercing I have is a navel ring that I got a couple of years ago. It was completely random. I was just walking around one afternoon and ended up getting it done.

I have a small silver ring, even if my navel is showing most people don’t notice. The boyfriend and I had been dating something like two months before he mentioned it. When it comes to jewelery I am a creature of habit. I wear small diamond posts in my ears that my father gave me for my 16th birthday, a ring I bought in Mexico two summers ago, the navel piercing, and a tiny heart pendant that belonged to my maternal grandmother. Now typically, heart jewelry isn’t my thing, but she was my favorite grandparent and it was the one thing she made me promise to keep before she died, so I did. I wear it pretty much everyday. Read more »

Hiding from work

I spent the last two days hiding from work. I didn’t completely slack, of course. I sat in on a couple of conference calls and made a few deadlines, but that was it. Anything that didn’t have to get done didn’t get done and it was great. I spent some time shopping and even more just wandering around. This morning I spent 2 hours in a park watching kids in the playground. The slide, the swing sets, good times. I didn’t just stare, of course. I brought a book.

For some reason hot weather makes me restless, instead of wanting to lay around like normal people.

Not everything is political

I know, I know. Blasphemy for someone who lives in DC to say that, but it’s true. I should say everything isn’t fair game for political scrutiny. Sometimes shopping is just shopping. If I want to buy non-organic whatever. If you want to shop at a certain store. If she wants to buy diet pills. If he wants to vacation in a particular place.

I do believe that any action can have political implications, I just don’t believe in driving yourself crazy trying to avoid them. Try to be a good person and do the right thing as much as you can, and I think you’re fine. Don’t walk around afraid to undermine everything and unknowingly oppress everyone. Relax a little.

A “real” vacation

The boyfriend and I are talking about going on a “real” vacation at the end of this year, for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. By “real” I mean involving an airplane and just the two of us, not a group thing. It would be the first time we take a trip that meets both criteria.

He wants to go somewhere cold, I want to go somewhere hot. I reminded him that outside our house will be somewhere cold in December. He says he wants to go snowboarding. Great, like I want to spend 5 days watching him fall on his face. Not going to happen. My friend T suggested a cruise. She and her husband have gone on a few and had a good time. I like the idea of being able to pay for pretty much everything upfront and getting to see a few different places without having to worry about planning multiple trips ourselves. We’ll see.

Partying?

Had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance this afternoon. She’s been having some issues with a guy she’s been dating for a few weeks. I was having lunch with a friend when she walked by, and we invited her to join us. When my friend left I asked her how things were going and thus the discussion.

Apparently the guy she’s seeing likes to party a lot. That term can mean different things to different people, but generally among the people I know it means going out a lot, drinking maybe a little drug use. Partying is very different from going to a party, as I tried to hilarious effect to my mother recently.

Anyway, this acquaintance was concerned and unsure what to do. I told her you have to figure out two things. First, is this something that is putting him in danger in any way? Like, is he going to end up in alcohol or drug rehab, or jail? And if not, is it something you can deal with. Can she hang in there if he doesn’t stop? If the answer to that is no, then there’s no real point going on. People only change when they’re ready to, not when you want them to.

Thoughts right now

I’m typing this in an all-day meeting with one of my clients. Thank goodness this only happens twice a year because I cannot take it. J does this kind of thing all the time and I don’t know how she keeps from screaming. I’m trying to do anything I can to keep myself entertained. So, I thought I’d share some of the random things I’ve been thinking about today:

• Everything bagels are a miracle. A beautiful miracle.
• I don’t understand the difference between low ans high thread count sheets, they all feel the same to me.
• I like hot coffee black, but can’t stand iced coffee without milk in it.
• You don’t see a lot of people with PDAs anymore. Except one guy at this meeting who has one and a smart phone. That’s geeky badass.
• I think I’m supposed to be making dinner tonight but I don’t want to. I’m craving Thai food.