Don't be these people.

I sometimes think that the world needs a penalty box. For committing a 'life foul', you have to take a break in the penalty box. Maybe just a few minutes, but you'd be sort of 'sent off' for a time out, so to speak. Some examples of things that I'd like to send folks to the box for committing would be:

• Purposely swerving your car to run over box turtles on the road.
• Talking on the phone while using the toilet. (No conversation is important enough to have over a poop. Please hang up and dial again.)
• Name-calling, especially an adult calling a child mean names. But children calling adults mean names is also a 'foul' in my opinion. Being a bully is a major life foul.
• Taking your full-size grocery cart overflowing with items through the Express Checkout lane.
• Animal abuse.
• Tampering with someone's food.

Captain America

Been a while, eh? I'm really lacking on this blogging thing. Last time you heard from me, I had run a 5k! I haven't done that again. I did try running a bit more and managed to jog a couple of times each week for about a month after that. Then I got into a car accident and felt bad for a while. I feel better now but don't really want to run any more.

I helped out with the Special Olympics aquatics event at the end of last month and it was, by far, one of the coolest and most joyful experiences, ever. I highly recommend volunteering for the Special Olympics. I really enjoyed it and it got me really wanting to go swimming. And, happily for me, there's a pool at my apartment complex that I've been meaning to use for a long time. So, I went one evening and tried swimming for the first time in years....and it was hard! Like, waaay harder than I remembered. I was never one for being able to swim laps or anything, but even just swimming from one end of the little kidney-shaped pool to the other was a challenge. I was both disappointed and happy about my swimming re-entry. Disappointed that I sort of suck at swimming but happy because I really enjoy swimming, even though I'm terrible at it. I ended up doing a hybrid doggie-paddle meets backstroke kind of twirling thing through the pool, laughing and enjoying myself but really pleased to be the only person at the pool that evening. I've been scoping out the pool for another time to go, but last night someone vandalized the pool and so it's closed until further notice. Living in a college town with students as your neighbors can be such a bummer sometimes. We can't have even semi-nice things.

If you live under a rock, I'll let you know that the World Cup is happening! Exciting, exciting! I sort of look forward to the World Cup forever. I love it. Last night was the USMNT's debut against Ghana and it was a characteristically nail-biting experience. The men won but spent most of the time on defense and we had some instances where things should have been called against the opposing team (i.e. the Radio City Rockette kick to the face of Clint Dempsey from a Ghana player who was going for a header. I mean, what?! Card him, Ref!). It was tense the entire time. I think the last couple of minutes of the game I spent with my hands clasped tightly and my eyes glued to the game clock just wishing it would speed up a little. There was a decent crowed watching the game where I was, which was really nice to see. I wish the US would become more of a soccer country because we would all be happier and have more fun if we were. The drama and the enthusiasm of the fans of other countries will probably not be matched by the United States, but I do think soccer is growing with MLS expanding and heightened media coverage as some of the really good European players start to come play here in US clubs.

Every four years I have to laugh at the soccer-haters that erupt from the woodwork. Everywhere you go, you hear people whining about soccer. It's not even whining in some cases as much as ranting. I just want to stop them and ask why they're so mad. What did a soccer ball ever do to you to make you hate it so? It's a game. No more, no less. Do people flop on the ground to draw fouls? Yes (like in basketball). Do people fix games and cheat? Yes (like in baseball, and American football, and cycling, etc.). I hear the complaint that soccer is too low scoring and there's not much action. That's the most ridiculous complaint. There's more movement and action in soccer than in any other popular sport except perhaps hockey. Hockey is the only other sport I can think of off the top of my head where the athletes have to constantly go go go non-stop (although they do get to sub quite a bit so the athletes get a breather). Soccer players move constantly for 45 minute halves. They don't get timeouts. There aren't team challenges where the refs take 5 minutes to look at instant replays before they are confident that, yes, someone broke a rule. The game lasts 2 hours, tops. There's none of that irritating winding down the clock that happens at the end of basketball games where the team with the upper hand will slowly dribble the ball around, wasting time. Soccer is whistle to whistle, non-stop. Any injury or dramatic flopping time that's wasted by either team gets tacked on to the end of the half. I love that, it's one of the most honest rules in all of sport. It is a drama-filled game, but that's part of the beauty of it. People go to hockey games to see the fighting; people go to soccer games to see the dramatic-selling-of-fouls. Yeah, it's low scoring, but it's not slow. I hear this complaint a lot from people who like baseball, of all things. Talk about slow games and no action. You spend the majority of your time at a baseball game watching grown men stand around doing nothing. (Don't get me wrong, I like baseball. I've wasted a lot of hours watching baseball games. I love my Redbirds. I think the season is way too long, but that's not where I'm going with this.) Don't give me the excuse that there's too little action in soccer for you to enjoy the game, when I know you watch baseball all the damn time. If you need "expert weigh-in" on the topic of playing time, here you go: according to a Wall Street Journal study, baseball games average about 18 minutes of actual playing time and those games can last 3 hours minimum. American football averages even less playing time at 11 minutes per game. So, if you're going to trash soccer around me, at least find a more creative excuse than these tired comments. In the end: you only have to deal with soccer mania once every four years. Chill out. It will all be okay. Try watching the just the first minute of a USMNT game and maybe Captain America will give you something to cheer about, like he did last night:

Nom nom. Steak n shake. Nom nom.

This past month has been exciting and sometimes exhausting all at the same time. I was offered the job I interviewed for in New York City, but ended up turning it down. I'd never turned down a job before. I learned that turning down a job is not easy. Turning down a job that could open doors for you career-wise is even more difficult. For me, the job was an opportunity to work at a legendary place, but for hardly any money. Plus, uprooting a life (no matter how much I'm looking forward to leaving it for the right opportunity) and moving to the largest city in the country where I really don't know anybody and try to figure out how to make ends meet is a lot to consider. It's a strange balancing act between deciding how much you can sacrifice and for how long you are willing to sacrifice it. For librarians, I think this is a pretty common balance considering our very low pay and the rather nomadic lifestyle that we tend to operate under. I did a lot of research based on cost of living and commuting to and from work, plus the ability to pay off loans from school and if I could save any money each month so I could visit family who would be on the other side of the country... well, the outcome was just not in Manhattan's favor. The people were really nice and it would have been an interesting opportunity, but ultimately wasn't worth the other sacrifices I would make in order to work there for a few years. Still, I feel more confident in my abilities after getting an offer for a job. Especially from an organization who I thought would never consider a girl from Missouri.

 So, I'm still searching for the right opportunity and it will come along, I think. Somehow. In the meantime, I'm trying to just enjoy my time outside of work here. Over the weekend I went back to Jefferson City to take part in a 5k ColorVibe run through downtown. It was a blast, of course! This was just my second 5k, but it was more fun than the one in St. Louis because I ran with a buddy this time around. We went pretty quick for two non-runners whose idea of training was running twice along neighboring streets over the last month (me) and running on a treadmill a few times in the last month (buddy). We finished in 40 minutes and the after party had barely gotten started when we got to the finish area. We were both suitably colored by the time we were done. Steak n Shake was the popular after-run stopping point for lunch and was full of color runners, which was also fun. I love Steak n Shake. So gooood. I wish the one here in town wasn't so far away...and was more clean...and had a more friendly wait-staff...and a more comfy atmosphere... I basically wish the one from JC would move up here near my apartment. That'd be super.

The other night I saw the movie "The Secret of NIMH". I don't think I'd seen that since I was a little kid. I forgot how good it was. Mrs. Brisby! What a mouse! I haven't seen many of the newer animated family movies, but I have to think that the classics will stand up better to the test of time than some of these newer releases. *sticks nose in air*

Big Apple

So, it's officially Spring even if the weather doesn't cooperate. Last week I was in New York City for the first time, ever. I went by myself, rather spur-of-the-moment, but it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be! I feel pretty happy about the entire experience and saw lots of stuff and met with people who were not nearly as scary as I thought they would be. All-in-all, I feel like it was a great learning experience. Also, I feel like New Yorkers should be given a bit more credit for their friendliness than their reputation allows.

I managed to do a little sightseeing on the trip and went to WTC memorial and Freedom Tower, which was really something to see. You have to get reservations to see the 9/11 memorial, and since I wasn't actually planning on this trip, I wasn't prepared. However, if you go down to the site and go in St. Paul's Church, which is directly across the street from the site, there's plenty to read and see there as far as memorials go. The church was known as the Miracle Church because it was undamaged, despite being directly across the street from the twin towers. It turned into the sanctuary for the first responders to get some rest and some food during the search for survivors. If you go to NYC, I recommend checking out St. Paul's.

I also saw the Statue of Liberty (from Manhattan, I didn't take a boat out on the water), Central Park, saw the Chrysler Building, the arch in Washington Square Park, went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building a la Meg Ryan in "Sleepless in Seattle", Times Square, Radio City Music Hall (which is supposed to have a fantastic tour for $20.00 a pop, but I didn't have time to do it. Next time I will...), the first Macy's on 34th Street (a la "Miracle on 34th Street") was totally overwhelming and I wandered in and up a few escalators before just trying to get the hell out, NYPL (the reason I was there, actually was for a job interview with NYPL) with the famous lions out front, 5th Avenue shops, Herald Square, etc. It was a great time, although I'm fairly positive there is no way I would ever actually live in NYC. Bob Dylan was right when he said "New York was a city where you could be frozen to death in the midst of a busy street and nobody would notice." I'm not an overly social person, but I think NYC could be one of the most lonely places on Earth, despite there being so many people in such a small space. Nobody talks to each other, nobody looks at others like they are humans. They basically racewalk down the sidewalks and I actually found myself forgetting there's actually anything outside of these looming buildings and skylines. It's like when you are on the streets of NYC, you're surrounded by robots running from one place to the next. Nobody stopping to chat, nobody smiling at anybody, nobody nodding in recognition... Of the few times I actually talked to people, they were really nice, but it's like you have to break down this wall to get people to talk to one another. It was pretty crazy... I know the midwest is reputed to be overly friendly and welcoming, but I didn't expect the difference to be so extreme. Still, I loved my visit. NYC is a great place to visit and I really look forward to returning sometime, but I need a better sense of humanity in where I live.

A few photos? Of course:

Central Park on the First Day of Spring, still looking very Winter-ish.

Midtown Manhattan

My pigeon buddy at the top of the Empire State Building. He was so into my camera phone it was ridiculous.
Cheese!

Home = gone!

Last week the sale of my house went through and I handed over the keys to the new owners. It felt very bittersweet at the time, but within a few hours of closing the sale, I felt a lot of relief and joy. I've not been this financially free in ages. I already paid off my car, which is another relief. And, I've finally been able to focus on turning my apartment into more of a home. It was never really a 'home', just a place to stay near work. Now, it's much more homey. I enjoy going there after work and spending time in it now. I also just have loads more brainpower to fixate on things other than home ownership, realtor communications, contract negotiations, inspections, etc.

So, I'm catching up on some Olympics (short track speed skating is really the only Winter event I get excited about), I'm reading a fantastic book about the spread of contagious diseases (whoda thunk I'd find this interesting, but it really is fascinating...), and getting fixated on trying to change the layout of my local grocery store to better serve people in wheelchairs. Also, I've always been hooked on logic puzzles, but I'm especially hooked lately. I tend to do at least one before bed now...logic puzzles and reading about Ebola outbreaks is sort of my nightly routine the last few evenings...

I like www.logic-puzzles.org as an online game site.

Without the house stuff, I also have so much free time and since I don't spend my weekends constantly going to Jefferson City to work on the house, I find that I have plenty more time to socialize. It's amazing! There's life outside...

Welcome to the new age.

Hello from 2014! It's been a very chilly start to this year here in Missouri. We've only been officially in Winter for barely a month, but we've had snow, ice, and bitterly cold temperatures so far. Winter is definitely making itself known around here. I saw my heating bill for this month and nearly had a conniption when I saw the amount. Polar vortexes certainly make the furnace work overtime.

2014 isn't terrible, so far. It's begun interestingly enough with a buyer for my house. My house came off the market in early December, but there was a family who really liked it and had seen it in the Fall. They came back after Christmas with an offer and I decided to accept it and so, this month, have unexpectedly been going through the home-selling process. It is slightly less frustrating than the home-buying process, but not too much less, I think. I've definitely had some sleepless nights and frustrating days. But, the house is good and passed its inspection with flying colors, needing only some flashing and a couple of minor repairs to shingles on the roof. For a nearly 110 year old house, I was beaming with pride through its inspection when the 2 inspectors (Yes! Two!) kept showering the house with compliments. Aw, shucks. I know my house is awesome and amazing, but it's always nice to hear strangers compliment it, too. It's not at all what people expect when they hear how old the home is, or even when they walk up to it from the outside. It's a gem. I hope the new owners will take care of it. I can tell that they love the house. It has to go through its appraisal  now, and we're supposed to be closing in February if all goes as planned. It's bittersweet to let my house to go to a new family, but I am coming to terms with it. When it didn't sell in the Fall, I had gotten myself psyched up for spending more time in the house again and enjoying it as my own, with no strangers coming and going through it for a while. So, after doing that for Christmas and then finding myself in the situation of needing to detach from the house again, clean it out, and come to grips with letting it go to a new owner, I'm hoping the sale doesn't fall through. My emotions are exhausted. To try to get over the irrational fears of letting my beloved home go to new ownership, I drove over to the neighborhood outside of Jeff City that I grew up in. The house my dad sold a couple of years ago. I hadn't driven over there since he sold that house. I'm so glad I did. The house looked so happy. The family has put up a big playground in the back yard, the house had Christmas lights strung up on its roof (which my family didn't do at all in at least the last decade, if not two decades). And it still had its cheery yellow mailbox that I painted out front. It looked so good. Everything was so happy and cheery. They also fenced in the back yard. Perhaps they have a dog or something that would make the fence necessary. The fence was the only thing I was sort of sad about because our yard was the neighborhood sledding hill starting spot. You started at the top of our backyard and went down the next door neighbor's yard (dodging trees), and hopefully were able to stop your sled before hitting a tree or sliding into the street. It was great...Maybe the kids have found an alternate hill in the old neighborhood. I hope they have. Still, driving by the house was a really good thing for me to do because I realized that new owners can take care of the houses you loved and spent a good part of your lifetime in. It's not really throwing away those years when you sell a house, it's just moving forward and trusting that the house will go through a rebirth of sorts and the owners will change it to suit their needs and hopefully, the house will bring joy to them, as it did to you and your family.

In light of the developments of possibly having no connection to the town I grew up in after next month, I've started looking around my new town for new things to do/places to visit/restaurants to try. I realized that I haven't really focused much on the neighborhood around the apartment or this town in general, because I focus everything on my "actual" neighborhood of my house in a different city and costs to maintain the house and I still do my laundry at the house, etc. I'm amazed at the options I'm seeing around me that I hadn't ever really seen before. We're getting something called a Pita Pit a few blocks from my apartment, which sounds neat. I love the Greek restaurant right next door to me, although I don't go as often as I could. I've only been once this year so far. There's a well-known restaurant with jazz music in my neighborhood that I've never been to, plus a chinese buffet that people seem to enjoy (I'm usually snobby about my chinese food, though. Chinese food is one thing I have explored in town, with very poor results. There is only one place in town that I go for my Chinese fix... although, I suppose I could try this other place since it's so close to the apartment.) There is plenty of exploring to do.

Assuming that the house sale goes through, and my ties to Jefferson City are cut for good, I thought I'd put up a few pictures:

Willow Creek Drive, the street of the house I grew up in.

Watson resting while lovingly keeping watch over the neighborhood of the house I grew up in.

Pretty snow-covered intersection.

Jefferson City's annual pet parade for National Pet Week.

Fourth of July food trucks in Downtown.

Chez Monet bakery, which is no longer in business, was a staple of downtown Jefferson City for decades. So many good cookies were eaten here.

Iris spent her whole life in Jefferson City and lived in three different living situations with me, always adapting to each one better than any other cat I've had.

Goslings being taken for their first swim at Binder Lake.

Downtown Jefferson City as seen from the top of the dome of the Capitol.

Floods take over the downtown parking lots periodically.

The old St. Joseph Cemetery on West Main Street.

The little front yard of still-mine-until-next-month house and its historical renovation award signage. Woot!

20) Have a kick-ass Halloween costume for this year's Halloween event at work

My work does a really fun halloween event each year for kids. It's free, it's fun, it's the one family-friendly event we do and I've loved it each time I've worked it. So, last year, I couldn't think of a costume so I ended up just wearing lots of clothing and being a gypsy. This year I wanted to put a bit more effort into it and gave a lot of thought to a costume. I really enjoy working a certain part of the event that is a kid's cave, which means my costume has to allow me to crawl through a cave and also not be too terrifying for kids. This year, I decided to be a little scary. I creeped myself out with it a bit, actually. I decided to be a mime (although, a talking one...which took some explaining. I made up the mime rule that mimes can speak on special occasions to really special people, which is why I could speak at the event to each child...because they were really special people.)

I only terrified one child into not wanting to crawl through the cave. But, I still think it was a good costume. I painted my whole face in the whole mime thing, had the black and white striped shirt, the black pants, the red beret...the whole deal. I was proud of myself. Of course, I didn't get a picture of me because I was really busy with setting up the cave and dealing with everything of the event, but I consider it a successful kick-ass costume.

I sort of looked like this, except without the blond hair. My face was very similar to this one.

12) Apply for a job I think I'd enjoy, whether I feel that I'm qualified for it or not.

I don't have a photograph to prove this, but you just have to trust me that I've completed this one!