Road Trippin'

As I briefly mentioned in a past post, my office is going through a reorganization. If you've never had the pleasure you should try to keep it that way.

Since the office is ripe with doubt, frustration and misery I'm quite anxious to be distracted. The new car has distracted me beautifully (oh my god, I got into work early this morning because I couldn't wait to get up so I could drive my car. I am lame. That's an actual quote from a friend when I told them that story.) but it can't last forever. My new distraction is the fact that I'm going to the mountains this weekend! Yeah!

Let me interrupt this excitement by saying: I love living in a state where I can drive to both the mountains and the beach in mere hours. I actually went to the beach a few weeks ago and now I'm hittin' the hills. Beautiful. Back to the point.

My excitment is tempered by the fact that this is a trip that has the potential for plenty of trouble. The people I'm going with have some family issues brewing and I'm having a few concerns about the dynamic of group in general. Plus it's camping. The last time I went camping my brother barfed in the backseat (yes, I was in the backseat too) and my parents almost divorced after my dad abandoned the flooded tent for the car. Yeah, the puke car. The tent was really wet.

But I said no more whining plus I really am very excited to get out of town. Lots of drinking and playing cards and spending time with people I like. Did I mention lots of drinking? This camping trip may come with puking too. I'll keep you informed!

Marit 2.0

While I'm pretty sure that no one cares what I ate for lunch today, I have begun to think that the best blogs detail the day-to-day lives of ordinary people in an interesting and entertaining way. No one reads this blog as far as I can tell so it's hard to tell if I'm entertaining, but I know that up to this point many of my posts have been about thoughts, theories and moping: some brought on by circumstance but most just personal musings when I realized I hadn't written for awhile. I'm pretty sure that last sentence wasn't entertaining.

So here's my new leaf- I'm going to use this more as a journal of significant events. I can't promise less whining; I may occasionally ruminate on these events but generally I'll try to keep the word count and angst down to a minimum.

I would appreciate feedback. Especially if it's nice feedback.

Ode to my Honda

I bought my 1992 Honda Accord in September of 2001, (not a difficult time to remember). When I bought it it had 180,000 miles on it and my expectation was that it would get me through my college years. If I recall correctly I paid $3250 or thereabouts; the lean, college years and all that.

Two weeks from now would have marked my six year anniversary with that car (it lasted me two years past a long overdue end of my college career). I hit 225,000 miles on it last week. Both of those are great statistics. My car (Angel) has been all over the south and as far north as Ohio. I have had important conversations in that car, sung songs, cried and sweat (a lot- there was a AC but it struggled in the summer). I left that car with little paint and lots of bumper stickers, a nice and nearly new stereo and a very large and blood-like ketchup stain on the back seat (shout out: Cassie). It was truly a wonderful automobile.

And since the sincerest form of flattery is reusing an idea (or something like that), I traded in my 1992 barely blue Honda Accord for a snazzy, shiny 2001 green Honda Accord. I know, no imagination.

Before I sign off a quick note: I feel incredibly guilty buying this car. Even though it was past time to upgrade, this new car seems like ridiculous luxury and excess. And I'm sure I'm going to crash it first thing tomorrow- if it doesn't get stolen tonight.

upheaval

There's been a great deal of upheaval, or more accurately, potential upheaval in my life lately:

• The office is being reorganized (one of the mostly stressful things you can go through in your job according to some survey-- or possibly it's a made-up statistic).
• I'm trying to buy a new (used) car but have been unable to find just the right one (leading my friends to comment on how this pickiness may have something to do with why I'm single).
• I'm about to start classes again but this time as the Vice President for the professional society associated with my masters program (yeah! biting off more than I can chew!).
• My brother has arrived at my university as a freshman (that's not upheaval per se, just another person to worry about).
• And finally, a really good one: my cousin/sister found herself pregnant (and since I'm the god(less) mother, that's lots of upheaval for me!).
  

This final one was by far the biggest- obviously. She had been trying for awhile and the news was incredible. I was speechless. You don't know me but that's a feat.
I didn't tell anyone this, but my very first reaction was fear. There was joy aplenty but mainly I was overwhelmed by the fear that she would lose it and that she wouldn't be able to take the loss. It haunted me all week and I had just begun to get over the fear and start planning the baby shopping and Lamaze classes when she lost the baby.
It hurts me just to write those words. I was so worried about her dealing with the loss of the baby (still am for that matter, but this is my blog so it IS all about me) that I never thought about how I would take it. I had irrational anger and sadness, and pain when seeing baby things and pregnant women. We lost something very precious and while it will make the destination that much more precious it's a really sucky part of the journey.

So that's one upheaval off my list. In the end it may be for the best - for everyone (it's not ALWAYS all about me). We can get through this one day at a time and deal with the next upheaval whenever it comes - good or bad.