Dreams - Trust me I know you don't want to hear them...

What is it with dreams? They are these little movies in our heads yet are impossible to remember. I can wake up briefly have a finger on the edge of what I was dreaming about and then slip, it's gone. So weird!!

Don't you hate it when people corner you at work & tell you way too much detail about the dream they had last night? "...and then I was in this room and my mom was there, no wait it was my Aunt, and she was wearing clown shoes and suddenly, oh this was weird, my brother turned into a baby"....um, no one cares about anyone else's dreams. They're boring. I don't know why they're boring - maybe because there is no plot, we can never see them ourselves and we have our own weird dreams to think about if we can remember them.

I have a harder time remembering my dreams lately than I used to. I also can't keep peoples names in my head anymore. If I'm introduced to someone - BOOM - their name is gone a second later. Unless I see it written down. And if I'm introduced to two people that's even worse. I can sometimes remember one name but not which person it belongs to. Yikes.

Celebrity Look-alike?

Is it just me or does this look a bit like Paula Abdul?

Half a Christmas Tree

Our living/dining rooms are smaller at the new house so we've only put up 1/2 the Christmas tree. You can't actually tell because we've pushed it up against the dining room wall. It was David's idea and I think he's going to be one of those annoying guys like you see in movies - he's going to ask everyone that walks in "notice anything about our tree?". Of course no one will notice.

We've had a to adjust a bit by not using all of our decorations and it already seems kind of full under the tree where I've been putting gifts for the nieces and nephew, etc already. There will be significant overflow by the 25th, that's for sure.

We're hosting 19 for dinner on the 25th - I have the Christmas playlist made on my ipod, dinner planned, a tablecloth purchased (do I need to iron it?), napkins taken care of. I will have to plan a trip to the beer/liquor store before the last minute because I can't stand lines....Okay time for me to go make myself an actual list so that I don't forget anything.

When did being the birthday girl get to be so embarassing?

I'm not embarassed about my age but I feel so self-conscious when it's my birthday and everyone is paying attention to me. I guess I've always been most comfortable having attention paid to me when I do something to make it happen. Sure I make jokes in meetings and everyone turns and looks at me like I'm crazy or funny or about to lose my job - but that's my choice. It's weird to have people wishing me happy birthday simply because I successfully navigated the birth canal oh so many years ago. My mom really did all the work, not me.

Not that it isn't nice, having friends and coworkers take a moment to wish me well. It is nice. And I guess since it only happens once every 365 days it isn't something that I will likely get used to...especially since I'm still finding it odd after 41 years!

Maybe I'm still on Denver time....

It's almost 3 am and I can't sleep. And as I lay there (lie there?) trying to get to sleep I keeping rehashing things from the past that I'd rather not think about. I used to be so proud of myself for being someone who kept a journal, someone who confronted her own thoughts and fears. Now, I push so much to the back of my mind because I don't want to deal with it. I'm constantly saying to myself "I'll deal with that tomorrow" and then I say the same thing when tomorrow comes. I wonder what happened to the introspective me? Did I simply become weary of my own self-indulgent navel-gazing? The last thing I want to do is go back and read the 20+ years of journals that I kept until perhaps 1999 or even later but I'll hang onto them.

I'm lucky no one actually reads this blog so they won't have to deal with this boring post. Going back to bed now. Maybe I'll read a book.

Sidewalks are there - use them!

I've heard from runners that they run on the road, not the sidewalk because the road is easier on their knees...but what's with all the people I see walking on the road when there is a sidewalk? And pushing baby carriages on the road when there is a sidewalk? Know what belongs on the road? My car! And bikes...those are way too often on the sidewalk! Do we need a refresher, people?

Bad! Bad Driving Man! Bad!

Okay, picture this scenario: There I am driving home in my sporty black car, listening to tales of Mormon strife in the 1800s on my CD player. As I drive north on Bayview past Sunnybrook I notice a black BMW SUV kind of shifting a bit closer to my lane just ahead of me, to my right. So I keep my eye on this gas-guzzler and proceed cautiously. Then I pass the SUV, not because I've sped up, but because it has slowed down. As I pass I glance to my right, the guy at the wheel has his hands on the wheel with his blackberry in his hands, texting madly - his eyes totally on his blackberry. I move on, frustrated, yet keep my eye on him, as he falls into traffic behind me, still in the lane to my right.

Eventually we end up side by side again. I notice again that he's slowing down because he is texting and is not looking at the road at all! So I slow down a bit (first making sure no one is right behind me) and honk frantically trying to catch the jerk's attention. Does he react in any way to the sudden blast of honking? Nope. Either his music was up to high or he just chose to ignore it. Didn't check his rear view, didn't look sideways at me, nothing (unless I missed it when I looked forward)...so I had no choice but to drive on. And you know if he crashes into someone he's likely to come out okay in his monster-mobile.

AWKL 223 - that's his license plate in case anyone knows the jerk.