Weird Links

My sister is wearing a "complaint bracelet". Anytime she complains, criticizes, or gossips over the next three weeks she has to switch her bracelet from one wrist to the other. It made for a fun Christmas. Read all about it at www.acomplaintfreeworld.org.

The Wesleyan University radio station played an interview with Victoria the other day. She believes that aliens are bringing about the rapture soon, or something like that. Very strange.

And speaking of space travel, here's a link for the scifi nerds - Top 100 Reasons Why Kirk is Better than Picard. Enjoy.

Mmm, carbs...

I so want this T-shirt.

Writing

Today I was looking through a bunch of stuff I wrote in college. Some of it is pretty good; most of it is not. The poetry is especially atrocious (I use the phrase "warm summer night" a lot.) There are maybe a half a dozen poems that okay. Two of the poems were actually published, which amuses me because they were poems that I wrote as a joke when I was bored in my anthropology class. I guess that means that I write my best stuff when I'm not trying? Well, I haven't been trying at all since I graduated from college, and of course I have nothing to show for it.

So I am going to start trying again. I used to be a very creative person and I'm really not sure that I am anymore, and that's kind of sad. As my faithful readers know, I took a fiction writing class a couple of years ago but I didn't write anything that I liked. I know you have to write a lot of crap before you turn out something good, but I've never been a fan of revising stuff. I always wanted my first draft to be my final draft. I think it's really just that I'm lazy.

So look for more frequent posts from now on - the more I write, the better chance I will turn out something I like. I can at least write something better than this, which I'm embarrassed to admit I got sucked into for a short time this afternoon. Charles Durning as a matchmaking Santa? I just couldn't turn away.

High School Reunion

So it has been forever since I blogged, because I am lame. Also, I work on a computer all day so I don't usually want to go back on the computer when I get home. Anyway, whatever, here's a blog entry for my legions of fans.

Last week was Thanskgiving, which was fun. It was also "reunion weekend" - Nate's 10 year high school reunion was on Friday and mine was on Saturday. His was at a fancy spa resort by the beach and there were lots of very skinny girls wearing very fashionable clothing and I was very sober. Nate and his buddies referred to such girls as "Voltron" for reasons I can't quite remember. Anyway, it was fun meeting his high school peeps. Their name tags were their senior year pictures, which was awesome. People really change in 10 years.

After Nate's reunion, I was a little reunion-ed out. There's only so much smiling and "so what's your story" small talk a person can take. So I almost bailed on my reunion the next night. But since my best friend, who is pregnant and due in less than a week, was going, I really had no excuse. My reunion was at a micro brewery in my hometown (see this post). Even though I was reluctant to go, I had a great time catching up with people, although name tags would have helped. I embarrassed myself a couple of times by ignoring people I should have remembered. Whoops. People really do change in 10 years, although I am told I look pretty much the same. I like to think I've improved.

The reunion reminded me of high school me, if that makes sense. I used to be more creative, sensitive, dreamy, sentimental, I don't know. Less cynical and practical, I guess. Now I have a very low bullshit tolerance. I think if now me bumped into high school me being all moody and misunderstood and in the clouds about something, I would roll my eyes at high school me and kick my high school ass. But I kind of miss high school me, who did theater and took art class and wrote short stories and daydreamed a lot and thought deep and meaningful thoughts. I sort of want to get back in touch with high school me, which I guess is why I'm blogging. (Also, the last time I was really into blogging, I lost weight because I would forget to make dinner for myself. See, there's an ulterior motive.)

Tom, this one's for you

Ha ha, Tom, I am finally updating my blog! Lisa and Theresa, if you're reading this, here's a shout out to you too. You are the only three faithful who check my blog at all, and you all already know everything that's going on in my life. So what is the point of writing? I think it's just to get you all off my back about updating this blog.


For those of you who don't know the fabulous things that have been going on in the life of Trish, here's a quick rundown of notable things I have done so far this year.

1. Hiked some more of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut. I've decided it's my goal to hike all of the AT in CT (52 miles) and all of the AT in Massachusetts as well (about 90 miles). I've already done about 20 miles on the CT AT, so I feel this is a realistic goal. I'm hoping to knock of some more miles later in the summer.
2. I turned 28. Gulp. I know 28 is not all that old, but it's still 10 years from high school, which is just weird.
3. Got to see the Red Sox/Indians game that marked the return of Trot Nixon to Fenway Park. Also got to see Kevin Youkilis' in the park home run (Yooooouk!)
4. Cross country skied for the first time. It was fun. I fell. I fell while Nate was taking a video of me. I really, really wanted to post this video, but I can't figure out how to. Trust me, it's great. Especially the part where Nate yells "YES!!!" as I fall flat on my butt.

That's all I got for now. I'm also posting some pics of the AT hike I did. We were only out for one night, but it was still a lot of fun, even if I was afraid I'd get eaten by a bear.

Here's a shot of the trail going up Bear Mountain in Salisbury, CT:




View from the top of Bear Mountain, which is the tallest peak entirely in CT (but not the highest point):


We ate lunch on top of Bear Mountain. It was great eating out in the woods and thinking of everyone else at work in their cubicles.


We stayed in Brassie Brook Shelter. Each shelter has a log book, and the people who were there the night before us wrote that a black bear came to say hello.



And last but not least, a picture of the Brassie Brook Shelter Privy, which my hiking partner proclaimed to be the best privy she had ever seen:

Bleh.

No comments on my last post. I feel so unloved. Sigh.

I have been up since three in the morning. I live in a condo complex and they were snowblowing at three in the morning. Argh. I am angrified. I won't go into that here, though.

Sigh.

List of songs I get stuck in my head sometimes:

1. Dreidil, dreidil, dreidil, I made you out of clay/And dreidil, dreidil, dreidil, with dreidil I shall play. (Yes, I know these lyrics are wrong. But it's still what I get stuck in my head. Here are the right lyrics.)
2. The NPR All Things Considered theme.
3. Somebody once told me the world is gonna owe me, I ain't the sharpest tool in the she-ed.
4. Jingle Bell Rock.
5. The "Everybody Goes But Me" song. I made this one up because there is a 5 way stop sign on my way home from work. "Guy in front of me goes, then everybody goes but me..." Move over, Beyonce.

Doesn't my head sound like a fun place?

Forgive me, I've been up since three in the morning.

Happy New Year!

Hello, 2007. I made no New Year's resolutions. Ah well.

A few bits of good news:

1. You no longer get to my blog when you google my name. Last year, Dave mentioned my full name in one of the links on his blog. This was Not Very Good, because I try to keep my blog slightly anonymous so that work peeps can't find it. Not that I talk about work much, but still, I don't want the whole office knowing that I'm a big Star Trek Geek. Hmm...it's probably too late for that.
2. Work is going really well. I enjoy my job. This makes me happy. I have been given the opportunity to conduct some training at work, and it may involve a bit of traveling, which is exciting. Except that I don't enjoy flying. But I'll get over it.
3. I have DSL internet! Wireless, no less! Woo hoo! After so many years on dial up, I finally switched over to high speed. I watched my first You Tube video the other day (Laser Cats 2). I feel so, like, with it.
4. Saturday I went to a bookstore near my house and I noticed that they sell local crafts. I asked them if I could bring some knitted goods in to try and sell and they said yes! I am very excited!

So those are some bits of good news. Yay. The year is starting out on a good note.

Now, I am going to go watch some webisodes of The Office on my new high speed internet connection.