Archive: November 2008

I was tagged by Ashley! Here we go:

Five memories:

• 10 years ago — I was getting used to wearing contacts.
• 8 years ago — I played Claire in Rumors, and I had to run around the stage in a purple, sequined, off-shoulder dress and slippery silver heels with a wine glass of ginger ale.
• 6 years ago — I decided to change my major from chemistry to English.
• 4 years ago — I was on the way to the mall for Black Friday shopping, where I would find my first pair of flats.
• 2 years ago — I had a traumatic bike-riding experience in Mimi’s driveway, which warrants its own post.

Five yummy things:

• JG’s penne vodka with chicken (or really, pretty much anything he makes)
• Ina Garten’s mushroom lasagna
• Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
• Swedish fish
• Root beer floats

Five songs I know by heart:

• “Genie in a Bottle,” by Christina Aguilera
  It is completely embarrassing that this is the first song that popped into my head, but I went through a major TRL phase in high school, and the lyrics are burned into my brain.
• “Stay,” by Lisa Loeb
  Not because this is one of my standard karaoke numbers, or anything. Ahem. (And neither is “Torn,” by Natalie Imbruglia.)
• “Roll to Me,” by Del Amitri
  In college, this song started playing at a McDonald’s where JG and I stopped during a road trip, and it occurred to us at the same moment that it perfectly summarized my transition from my previous boyfriend.
• “More Today than Yesterday,” by Spiral Starecase
  We played this song during our cheesy wedding slideshow, and I always request it at weddings we attend. It’s such a smarmy lounge song, but I love it, despite the intentional misspelling of band name.
• The theme song to Salute Your Shorts
  “Get it right, or pay the price!”

Five places I would escape to:

• Seattle
• Chicago
• Boston
• Hawaii
• London

Five things I would never wear:

• Skinny jeans
• Stiletto heels
• Gold jewelry
• Giant bug-like sunglasses
• Leggings as pants

Five favorite TV shows:

• How I Met Your Mother
• The Office
• 30 Rock
• Good Eats
• Barefoot Contessa

Five things I enjoy doing:

• Reading: So far, the best books I’ve read this year were The Road and The Hunger Games.
• Playing board games: But I need to work on Boggle.
• Baking: For Christmas this year, I’m thinking mint-swirl brownies, sour cream cookies, and a pumpkin cheesecake.
• Hunting for bargains: Even though I have a strong case of Bargain Tourette’s, wherein I have to share the original and sale price of whatever clothing item I’m wearing.
• Making Ted dance to whatever music is going on: You know, like Target commercials.

Five favorite toys: (I’m not really a toy/gadget person, so this was the best I could do)

• KitchenAid mixer
• LED book light
• DVR
• Picasa
• PDA

Five people who I am tagging to fill this out:

• I don’t usually tag specifically, but go for it if you want to!

Every year before the midday Thanksgiving meal, JG’s family forms a circle, joins hands, and shares what they’re thankful for.* In the past, I’ve mentioned getting to meet the family, a safe car, and a new job, but I’m not sure what I’ll say today. I will probably not cite the following items, even though I am thankful for them:

• Only taking one personal day but getting a five-day weekend out of it
• Getting a 92% on a slide presentation I threw together in all of 35 minutes for my grad class
• My still-feels-new coat
• Virtual Christmas shopping over IM with my sister
• Upgrading my software at work from Office 2000 to Office 2003 — woo! — and feeling comparatively technologically advanced
• Busting out the Christmas music on the way home

I’ll most likely go with something with appropriate gravitas, like, oh, my husband, a relatively quiet year, and the opportunity to host Christmas at our house. But I would probably get a laugh for mentioning one of those sillier things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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* Yes, I know, it’s a preposition at the end of the sentence. I tried rewording, but it sounded affected, so let’s just agree to let it stand.

I had the best of intentions to write a post yesterday, but there was the small matter of being pummeled by work. See, yesterday was a semi-annual, blessed event that caused my boss and me to be away from our desks for hours at a time. The event is very boring to describe, and even more tedious to endure, but basically, we set up a session for in-house scientists to display their research posters, and others circle through to see what kind of work is going on in other departments and ask questions. The worst part about the whole thing (other than gritting my teeth through all of the brown-nosing when the uppity ups came through) was that I couldn’t get any work done while I held down the fort at the food table. I sat with a legal pad on my lap, pen in my hand, since I learned early that if I held a notebook, people assumed I had a purpose. Ha!

After my boss and I cleaned up the session, we had just over two hours to complete a day’s worth of work, and in my case, that included setting up for my time off for Thanksgiving. How is it that preparing for being absent takes more energy than doing my actual job? In an effort to close the loop on everything I could before I left, I ended up drafting and sending out no fewer than five articles for our department newsletter, which has to be some kind of record.

I was also under the gun to finish an assignment for my horrific grad class because I wanted to hand it in before the due date of November 28, that is, the day after Thanksgiving. What is that about? However, when I attempted to sign on to the online class interface, I was inexplicably locked out. I wasted forty minutes wrestling with the password recovery program until a university tech person took pity on me and e-mailed me directly. When I finally managed to access the program, the information I needed wasn’t even posted, and then I saw a message that — oh, happy day! — the due date had been pushed back a week because my airhead instructor didn’t realize Thanksgiving was this week. Hallelujah.

When I finally managed to get out of the office, I headed downtown to pick up dry-cleaning, get my eyebrows waxed, mail a package, and get gas ($1.89 per gallon!), and then it was straight home to walk Ted, heat up a can of soup for dinner, run the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms, and pack for the weekend. During that time, JG came home from a night of parent-teacher conferences, and I regret that I was excessively grumpy from my day of hyperactivity. Once I closed my eyes for the night, I did not open them again until JG’s alarm went off at 5:45am, the signal for him to go in for a half day of in-service at school.

And now, finally, finally, I am off from work. In a few short hours, we will be en route to Mimi’s house for the traditional Thanksgiving festivities. This year, I am determined to transcribe her recipe for caramel brownies and share it accordingly. I am also set on sleeping in and eating excessively, so let’s hear it for goals!

Thanksgiving, I am so ready.

JG and I like to reminisce back to 2003, when the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens made it to the Division 1-AA playoffs and eventually won the national title.  We went to every playoff game, but one in particular pokes out in our memories.  It was the Northern Iowa game, and due to snowstorms and freezing temperatures, the facility was frozen solid on game day.  When JG and I arrived to stake out good seats in the student section, we had to chip out sections of metal bleachers from underneath a layer of ice.  Unpopular calls compelled students to pelt the officials with snowballs.  JG took a digital picture of us at arm’s length, and our faces are just visible amid winter hats and hoods, with rosy cheeks and broad smiles.  Even though I know I was freezing and uncomfortable, the “snow bowl” has nothing but happy memories for me.

All of that is to say that Saturday’s game was not the coldest Delaware game I’ve ever attended, but it was the second coldest.

The day started off well.  We tailgated with our friends and their three boys, and between burgers and hot chocolate, the weather wasn’t bad at all.  Once inside the stadium and sitting still, however, the thirty-degree temperatures sank in all too quickly.  It didn’t help that the team had absolutely no offense, and the reality of ending the season with a record of 3-9 only increased the chill.  I had started the day with the grim outlook that I’d “earn my fandom,” that is, suffer through a potentially embarrassing loss so I could flaunt my colors at some point in the future when fair-weather fans jumped on the bandwagon.  To me, True Blue fans would tough out the poor seasons and come back rallying for more, regardless of the weather.

But, oh, I was so cold.  My two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, six layers on top (long-sleeved t-shirt, thin fleece top, long-sleeved t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, bulky fleece, winter coat), winter hat, scarf, and two pairs of gloves were not enough to keep me going.  My feet ached from the cold and my throat was dry from yelling.  JG and I huddled with a blue fleece blanket over our knees as the loss to Villanova became more and more apparent.

“If we don’t get the first down here, I’m okay with leaving,” JG said during the third quarter.

“But what about being good fans?” I asked, almost piteously.

“Well, at least we didn’t leave during halftime.”

True.  The stands had emptied out considerably after the first half.  I just wasn’t sure if I could make it until the end; if it were possible, the level of play was even worse than the weather.  It was painful to watch.

I sighed.  “Okay.  If they don’t get the first down, we can leave.”

And they didn’t.

During the walk back to the car, JG tried to bolster up my feelings of fan inadequacy.  “It’s not just about us being there for the team.  They have to give us something back, you know?  They just didn’t do it.”

I know, I know.  No one is going to confiscate my jersey because I didn’t stay until the end of the senior game.  Sigh.  There’s always next year, Blue Hens.