i find myself under a cloud lately...a cloud of negativity...well, at least a partial cloud. i'm not trying to be negative or wanting to be negative, but i've recently felt (and it has kindly been brought to my attention by good friends) that i'm struggling with this. i'm usually quick to point out when someone is "yeah, but"ting me a lot (for instance, "it's going to be a beautiful weekend!" "yeah, but it's supposed to rain all next week." the phrase that usually is just a cover up for determined focusing anything but positive thinking.) i hate the "yeah, buts" but recently, i even hear myself doing it. and i hate it. and i'm trying desperately to break the habit.
when i hear myself doing it, i wanna say, "yeah, but i've had a rough time being 'home' and being unemployed. don't i deserve a little pity time?" part of me feels like the answer is yes, but another part of me says fight the pity and focus on the positive. again...i'm trying. and i even think i'm succeeding...just slowly. and somehow writing this...as a sort of "sorry. i'm on it and trying" - even if into the etherworld of blogging - makes me feel a little better. (sort of like confession is supposed to feel, i suppose. not that i've participated in confession in LONG time, but it's what i imagine some people get out of it.) so, i guess....forgive me blogger, for i have "yeah, but"ted.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
what?!
who's with me on this: what?!
this was headline news on yahoo today:
BERLIN (Reuters) - A swan has fallen in love with a plastic swan-shaped paddle boat on a pond in the German town of Muenster and has spent the past three weeks flirting with the vessel five times its size, a sailing instructor said Friday.
Peter Overschmidt, who operates a sailing school and rents the two-seat paddle boat on the Aasee pond, said the black swan with a bright red beak has not left the white swan boat's side since it flew in one day in early May.
"It seems like he's fallen in love," said Overschmidt. "He protects it, sits next to it all the time and chases away any sail boats that get anywhere nearby. He thinks the boat is a strong and attractive swan."
Overschmidt said the swan will figure it out sooner or later but hopes he won't be too heartbroken.
"I'll wish him all the best and hope that he doesn't make the same mistake again," said Overschmidt.
this was headline news on yahoo today:
BERLIN (Reuters) - A swan has fallen in love with a plastic swan-shaped paddle boat on a pond in the German town of Muenster and has spent the past three weeks flirting with the vessel five times its size, a sailing instructor said Friday.
Peter Overschmidt, who operates a sailing school and rents the two-seat paddle boat on the Aasee pond, said the black swan with a bright red beak has not left the white swan boat's side since it flew in one day in early May.
"It seems like he's fallen in love," said Overschmidt. "He protects it, sits next to it all the time and chases away any sail boats that get anywhere nearby. He thinks the boat is a strong and attractive swan."
Overschmidt said the swan will figure it out sooner or later but hopes he won't be too heartbroken.
"I'll wish him all the best and hope that he doesn't make the same mistake again," said Overschmidt.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
hello again
so, i'm not even sure anyone is reading this anymore but i was in a writing mood, so here i am. unfortunately, i have nothing new to report about my life. i am still in jersey and still job searching, a process which is proving to be quite different the second time around. i go through ups and downs...sometimes i'm quite patient with the process and sometimes i feel completely anxious. though i'm anxious to have a job, i'm overly anxious to have a good job in a good location, which is much easier said than done. so, today is a patient day. but we'll see what tomorrow brings.
in the mean time, i love that warmth is beginning to return to the northeast. after sailing to predominantly warm locations in the fall, and spending three of my six weeks in spain in warmer spots of the country, i was really dragging through the crummy weather. at least now, i can go out for a walk or bike ride without bundling up. today i even strolled through the ocean city streets for a while, and it reminded me how much i love beach towns. it's a shame none of my search is bringing me closer to such a location.
i'm missing many of my favorite friends, so if i haven't seen you recently, i hope we catch up soon!
in the mean time, i love that warmth is beginning to return to the northeast. after sailing to predominantly warm locations in the fall, and spending three of my six weeks in spain in warmer spots of the country, i was really dragging through the crummy weather. at least now, i can go out for a walk or bike ride without bundling up. today i even strolled through the ocean city streets for a while, and it reminded me how much i love beach towns. it's a shame none of my search is bringing me closer to such a location.
i'm missing many of my favorite friends, so if i haven't seen you recently, i hope we catch up soon!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
a travesty
today on the radio, a caller referred to music from the 80s as the oldies. what?????!!!!!!!!
Monday, March 20, 2006
i left my heart in new jersey
so, no matter where i go or how long i'm gone, i'm always happy to return to jersey. it's a nice little place that will always be "home." a comfort zone, really.
so i've been back from spain for under a week, and i've been dealing with my jet lag as i baby-sat my brother's girlfriend's puppy. i've also spent some QT with my favorite eight-year-old. it's been a good time, and i am finally getting myself back into the east coast time zone. the rest of my time in spain was good. shannon and i were definitely tired by the end of the visit, and i was ready to not be living out of a suitcase. and now, my latest adventure is over. *sigh*
what's next? my job search is under full swing, so that'll be my main focus until my next job is secured. hopefully that'll be before june 1! i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
in the mean time, if you're looking for an escape, please, please, please come and visit atlantic city. i'm here and would love to have some company. and as for the blog...i'll update it as necessary so if you're curious as to my job search, then check back soon!
so i've been back from spain for under a week, and i've been dealing with my jet lag as i baby-sat my brother's girlfriend's puppy. i've also spent some QT with my favorite eight-year-old. it's been a good time, and i am finally getting myself back into the east coast time zone. the rest of my time in spain was good. shannon and i were definitely tired by the end of the visit, and i was ready to not be living out of a suitcase. and now, my latest adventure is over. *sigh*
what's next? my job search is under full swing, so that'll be my main focus until my next job is secured. hopefully that'll be before june 1! i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
in the mean time, if you're looking for an escape, please, please, please come and visit atlantic city. i'm here and would love to have some company. and as for the blog...i'll update it as necessary so if you're curious as to my job search, then check back soon!
Sunday, March 12, 2006
i´m sorry mrs. snyder
this has become one of our quotes from this trip between me and shannon. it´s a strange one, i admit, but it is very appropriate. you see, for those of you who aren´t familiar with the many stories of our clumsy childhood, shannon and i are notorious for injuring ourselves or having some minor mishap when we´re together. some examples include:
·riding our bikes when we were kids...shannon hitting a rock or something and ending up flipping over her handlebars on to the street
·taking a walk in the woods on friday the 13th only to be followed by something, which made us run, which made one of us fall down (i can´t remember which one of us anymore)
·going through the drive through of some fast food joint, forgetting to pick up our drinks and having to back up without hitting the drive through window and hang out of the window of the car to get them
oh goodness...there are so many more, but i´ll leave you with those to catch you up on some of our newest adventures.
first of all, for all of you who have indulged in a ¨sex and the city¨ episode here or there, you might recall carrie and samantha´s trek across country via train. well, their travels have nothing on ours. fortunately, shannon and i are not self-obsessed women who have no grasp of life outside of the upper-class new york city existence, so that probably helped us deal better with our accommodations, but it was still quite the experience.
our night train from bilbao to barcelona was spent in a car with six seats, two of them occupied by us and two of them occupied by an older woman (approximately 75) and a younger man (approximately 30). we don´t know for sure what the relationship was between these two travellers, but we have our theories. anyway, that´s besides the point. we tried desperately to make ourselves comfortable on the three seats on our side of the car, but we were not very successful. at one point, i woke up to find my face looking directly between the open legs of the male traveller across from me. when i decided to switch directions, my face ended up by the feet of the female traveller, because she decided to prop them up on my seat. needless to say, it was a LONG ride.
but, made it we did to barcelona. we were tired but laughing, and ready to explore this new city. oh wait...not so fast...first we have to get ourselves and our luggage from the train station to the hostal. we thought the subway was a good option, but what we didn´t know was that there are no elevators and very few escalators along the way. we only had to switch trains once, but it felt like a million times because of all of the stairs we can to climb. AND...to add to the festivities, when we switched lines, the subway car was very crowded. i got on with my bags and turned around to help shannon. we got her bag on, with little room to spare, and i had a moment of picturing shannon standing on the platform as i rode away with all of our luggage. that would be the first ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ incident cause how would i explain to shannon´s mom (who has been telling me since i was in fourth grade to call her gerry, but for some reason, i always default to mrs. snyder) that i lost her daughter in barcelona. fortunately, that didn´t happen. instead, someone climbed on to the metro behind shannon and immediately shoved her forward to make space for himself. i turned to see shannon falling face forward toward me. (the second ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ moment). it was like watching it in slow motion because there was nothing i could do to stop it. luckily for shannon (who is currently crying because she is laughing so hard as i recount our travels), a nicer man caught her arm and didn´t allow her to fall to the feet of all the other travellers.
so, eventually, we made it to the hostal. (only after climbing a million more steps and spending 15 minutes walking in a circle around plaza urquinoana trying to find the right street). we walked in the front door rejoiced at the sight of an elevator only to be told by the woman at reception that the elevator was broken. so up another flight of stairs we went, ready to check in and relax. but, being that it was only 10 in the morning (yes, all that before 10 am...we couldn´t believe it either), our room was not ready. so we dropped our bags off and made our way into the streets, ready to take on whatever barcelona had to throw our way next.
fortunately, the remainder of the day went pretty smoothly. we headed off to see ¨la sagrada familia¨ deemed the world´s most famous construction site. this is a church that was begun by the artist gaudi in the 1880´s (pardon my possible descrepancies with history here, i´m just basing this on memory after another night on a train...more on that later). it really is a beautiful sight...stunning really. we enjoyed exploring the church and taking in the views from the upper towers.
after a one hour nap (okay, okay...we planned on only napping for an hour, but after two failed alarm issues...yes my issues with time here in spain continue...it turned into a four hour nap. woops!!), we showered up and headed down to the waterfront to have a belated birthday celebration for me. we found a perfect restaurant with a perfect waiter who treated us like gold all evening. it was a great way to end a very hectic day.
day two began with ANOTHER mishap with the alarm clock, but once we were finally out of the door, we made the most of our time. we took the bus to the northern part of the city to explore parc güell, a beautiful landscape of treats and paths, decorated with buildings accented with mosaic art, all of which was designed by gaudi as well. it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and it was so nice to spent time outside. we encountered more steps, but we endured the pain and made our way to the highest point so we could take in views of the city of barcelona and the mediterranean sea (yas, i thought of you and your green boogers...and if you weren´t on the ship, that probably sounds very weird to you, but trust me, it´s not what you think!) after, we walked down the passeig de grácia, window shopping in boutiques and glancing at more modernista architecture. eventually, we found ourselves at the top of la rambla, which is a pedestrian walkway full of vendors, street performers and a whole lot else (kate, there is a whole section selling exotic birds. i felt your would-be fear for you). after lunch, we explored the picasso museum. it was a great day, and we really packed in the sights. i was EXHAUSTED that night. but before heading to bed, we did head out to have ourselves a meal. while waiting at the bar of the restaurant, a guy from england, celebrating a ¨stag party¨ with his friends, entertained us with his knowledge of american pop culture (aka his obsession with the simpsons and tennessee) and bought us a drink.
our last day in barcelona (yesterday) was another beauitful one. our train for madrid didn´t leave until 11pm, so we knew we had to find a way to fill our day since we couldn´t go back to the hostal to rest. so we wandered, stumbling upon many nice silver jewelry stores. MANY nice silver jewelry stores. after a long while in those stores, we finally made it to port olímpic, so that we could splash around in the med sea (just our feet. we thought it was a bit cold for swimming, but apparently the topless sun bathers did not feel the same) and find some yummy food. we accomplished both...in fact, we might have accomplished the second too well...by 5pm, we had stuffed ourselves with yummy italian food, one bottle of wine and one pitcher of sangria. by 7pm, i had lost 10€ in the gran casino and shannon had won 100€. and by 8:30pm...well, we´ll leave that part of the story for a later tale...maybe.
we got to the train station, and climbed on to the train. fortunately, we had a private room booked for this trip. we climbed into our beds and settled in for the night. both of us had bumpy nights of sleep (shannon literally found herself bumping her head and feet against the wall because of the movement of the train), but we´ve made it here to madrid okay. of course, we arrived only to find out that the subway station at the charmartin train station is closed for repairs, so after being ripped off by a taxi driver, finding out it was WAY too early to check in to our hostal, we are here in a very expensive internet cafe (but there isn´t any other ones open on sundays...in fact, NOTHING is open on sunday morning here). we´re very excited to nap before trying to find some inexpensive ways of spending our last two days in spain.
so that´s that. but before i sign off, let me share with you one of my favorite highlights from the past few days:
i have sighted a dreadlocked mullet. yes, that´s right. a mullet of dreads. who does that??!! and, after spotting a few more mullets and other 80s fashion trends that need never be repeated, shannon said what might be one of my favorite new quotes: ¨the 80s are definitely back. mullets hit europe, mullets hit the US. you better find a man before the hair gets bad.¨
alright...i don´t know if i´ll have another chance to blog before returning home. i´ll be back tuesday early evening, so once i recover, i´ll catch you up on the last leg of the trip...hopefully there´ll be no more ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ moments to report!
·riding our bikes when we were kids...shannon hitting a rock or something and ending up flipping over her handlebars on to the street
·taking a walk in the woods on friday the 13th only to be followed by something, which made us run, which made one of us fall down (i can´t remember which one of us anymore)
·going through the drive through of some fast food joint, forgetting to pick up our drinks and having to back up without hitting the drive through window and hang out of the window of the car to get them
oh goodness...there are so many more, but i´ll leave you with those to catch you up on some of our newest adventures.
first of all, for all of you who have indulged in a ¨sex and the city¨ episode here or there, you might recall carrie and samantha´s trek across country via train. well, their travels have nothing on ours. fortunately, shannon and i are not self-obsessed women who have no grasp of life outside of the upper-class new york city existence, so that probably helped us deal better with our accommodations, but it was still quite the experience.
our night train from bilbao to barcelona was spent in a car with six seats, two of them occupied by us and two of them occupied by an older woman (approximately 75) and a younger man (approximately 30). we don´t know for sure what the relationship was between these two travellers, but we have our theories. anyway, that´s besides the point. we tried desperately to make ourselves comfortable on the three seats on our side of the car, but we were not very successful. at one point, i woke up to find my face looking directly between the open legs of the male traveller across from me. when i decided to switch directions, my face ended up by the feet of the female traveller, because she decided to prop them up on my seat. needless to say, it was a LONG ride.
but, made it we did to barcelona. we were tired but laughing, and ready to explore this new city. oh wait...not so fast...first we have to get ourselves and our luggage from the train station to the hostal. we thought the subway was a good option, but what we didn´t know was that there are no elevators and very few escalators along the way. we only had to switch trains once, but it felt like a million times because of all of the stairs we can to climb. AND...to add to the festivities, when we switched lines, the subway car was very crowded. i got on with my bags and turned around to help shannon. we got her bag on, with little room to spare, and i had a moment of picturing shannon standing on the platform as i rode away with all of our luggage. that would be the first ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ incident cause how would i explain to shannon´s mom (who has been telling me since i was in fourth grade to call her gerry, but for some reason, i always default to mrs. snyder) that i lost her daughter in barcelona. fortunately, that didn´t happen. instead, someone climbed on to the metro behind shannon and immediately shoved her forward to make space for himself. i turned to see shannon falling face forward toward me. (the second ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ moment). it was like watching it in slow motion because there was nothing i could do to stop it. luckily for shannon (who is currently crying because she is laughing so hard as i recount our travels), a nicer man caught her arm and didn´t allow her to fall to the feet of all the other travellers.
so, eventually, we made it to the hostal. (only after climbing a million more steps and spending 15 minutes walking in a circle around plaza urquinoana trying to find the right street). we walked in the front door rejoiced at the sight of an elevator only to be told by the woman at reception that the elevator was broken. so up another flight of stairs we went, ready to check in and relax. but, being that it was only 10 in the morning (yes, all that before 10 am...we couldn´t believe it either), our room was not ready. so we dropped our bags off and made our way into the streets, ready to take on whatever barcelona had to throw our way next.
fortunately, the remainder of the day went pretty smoothly. we headed off to see ¨la sagrada familia¨ deemed the world´s most famous construction site. this is a church that was begun by the artist gaudi in the 1880´s (pardon my possible descrepancies with history here, i´m just basing this on memory after another night on a train...more on that later). it really is a beautiful sight...stunning really. we enjoyed exploring the church and taking in the views from the upper towers.
after a one hour nap (okay, okay...we planned on only napping for an hour, but after two failed alarm issues...yes my issues with time here in spain continue...it turned into a four hour nap. woops!!), we showered up and headed down to the waterfront to have a belated birthday celebration for me. we found a perfect restaurant with a perfect waiter who treated us like gold all evening. it was a great way to end a very hectic day.
day two began with ANOTHER mishap with the alarm clock, but once we were finally out of the door, we made the most of our time. we took the bus to the northern part of the city to explore parc güell, a beautiful landscape of treats and paths, decorated with buildings accented with mosaic art, all of which was designed by gaudi as well. it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and it was so nice to spent time outside. we encountered more steps, but we endured the pain and made our way to the highest point so we could take in views of the city of barcelona and the mediterranean sea (yas, i thought of you and your green boogers...and if you weren´t on the ship, that probably sounds very weird to you, but trust me, it´s not what you think!) after, we walked down the passeig de grácia, window shopping in boutiques and glancing at more modernista architecture. eventually, we found ourselves at the top of la rambla, which is a pedestrian walkway full of vendors, street performers and a whole lot else (kate, there is a whole section selling exotic birds. i felt your would-be fear for you). after lunch, we explored the picasso museum. it was a great day, and we really packed in the sights. i was EXHAUSTED that night. but before heading to bed, we did head out to have ourselves a meal. while waiting at the bar of the restaurant, a guy from england, celebrating a ¨stag party¨ with his friends, entertained us with his knowledge of american pop culture (aka his obsession with the simpsons and tennessee) and bought us a drink.
our last day in barcelona (yesterday) was another beauitful one. our train for madrid didn´t leave until 11pm, so we knew we had to find a way to fill our day since we couldn´t go back to the hostal to rest. so we wandered, stumbling upon many nice silver jewelry stores. MANY nice silver jewelry stores. after a long while in those stores, we finally made it to port olímpic, so that we could splash around in the med sea (just our feet. we thought it was a bit cold for swimming, but apparently the topless sun bathers did not feel the same) and find some yummy food. we accomplished both...in fact, we might have accomplished the second too well...by 5pm, we had stuffed ourselves with yummy italian food, one bottle of wine and one pitcher of sangria. by 7pm, i had lost 10€ in the gran casino and shannon had won 100€. and by 8:30pm...well, we´ll leave that part of the story for a later tale...maybe.
we got to the train station, and climbed on to the train. fortunately, we had a private room booked for this trip. we climbed into our beds and settled in for the night. both of us had bumpy nights of sleep (shannon literally found herself bumping her head and feet against the wall because of the movement of the train), but we´ve made it here to madrid okay. of course, we arrived only to find out that the subway station at the charmartin train station is closed for repairs, so after being ripped off by a taxi driver, finding out it was WAY too early to check in to our hostal, we are here in a very expensive internet cafe (but there isn´t any other ones open on sundays...in fact, NOTHING is open on sunday morning here). we´re very excited to nap before trying to find some inexpensive ways of spending our last two days in spain.
so that´s that. but before i sign off, let me share with you one of my favorite highlights from the past few days:
i have sighted a dreadlocked mullet. yes, that´s right. a mullet of dreads. who does that??!! and, after spotting a few more mullets and other 80s fashion trends that need never be repeated, shannon said what might be one of my favorite new quotes: ¨the 80s are definitely back. mullets hit europe, mullets hit the US. you better find a man before the hair gets bad.¨
alright...i don´t know if i´ll have another chance to blog before returning home. i´ll be back tuesday early evening, so once i recover, i´ll catch you up on the last leg of the trip...hopefully there´ll be no more ¨i´m sorry mrs. snyder¨ moments to report!
first of all...
before i continue my babbling on about my time in spain, i thought i´d take a minute to say THANKS to all of those who have tuned in to share your opinions about where i should end up. i heart you all lots.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
bye bye bilbao
today, shannon and i leave bilbao. =(
it has been a great time here, visiting with family and seeing the sights. our train leaves at 10:30 tonight for barcelona, where we will spend three days before heading to madrid to fly back to the united states. i'm not sure what kind of computer access i'll have for the remainder of the adventure, so i may not be able to post more pictures. but, no worries! i'll definitely post pictures when i return to jersey, as i'm procrasting from searching for a job.
it has been a great time here, visiting with family and seeing the sights. our train leaves at 10:30 tonight for barcelona, where we will spend three days before heading to madrid to fly back to the united states. i'm not sure what kind of computer access i'll have for the remainder of the adventure, so i may not be able to post more pictures. but, no worries! i'll definitely post pictures when i return to jersey, as i'm procrasting from searching for a job.
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