I have given up on PLANNING to go to bed early.
Apparently whenever I say to myself “you need to go to bed early tonight,” my body rebels and says “no, I will not do what you want; I am going to make you feel more awake than you have ever felt”. All day I planned that the moment I got back from Growing Up Loser (a movie series I started at Viterbo) I would crawl into bed. No distractions. No talking myself out of it.
But, here I am, 10:49 p.m., still wide-awake watching The Office and blogging.
The funny thing about this whole situation is that when put the finishing touches on talking myself into blogging for a few minutes, I realized I had nothing to write about. I logged on to blogspot, typed in my username and password, and then sat…for five minutes…with a blank page, a flashing cursor, and absolutely no idea what sort of brilliance to share with cyberspace.
And then, something amazing happened…something that got my creative Spidey senses tingling. I had to go to the bathroom.
I know it sounds weird—the bathroom as my own personal muse, but trust me, it works. Ever since I was little, I have found the bathroom to be a good place to go when stuck for ideas. I can remember bringing a notebook and a book into the bathroom and just sitting on the floor for hours doing my homework or reading. Looking back, I have to wonder what my mom guessed I was doing in the bathroom for all those hours—she never knocked or interrupted me to see if everything was okay.
I’m pretty sure the reason I find so much comfort in the bathroom is because it is the one place that I feel I have the most privacy; it is the one place where no one will bother me or barge into the room without knocking (at least I hope not).
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Buckets: not just for kicking
Hi, my name is Ashley and it has been seven months since my last post.
I would like to say that it has been easy for me to stay away, but in all actuality…well, actually it has been kind of easy. Yes, it’s true, I could lie and say that I have been too busy or that there has been nothing of interest to commit to cyberspace, but alas I would be fooling no one. The first step is admitting you have a problem and I am just lazy.
Apparently the sounds of Talladega Nights and the colors of the TV in the complete darkness of my bedroom were the jumpstarts I needed to update my blog with exciting (for me) new features including my bucket list. For some reason, Mike and I have been all about bucket lists lately. We watched an episode of Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List where she helped her mom create and accomplish her bucket list. Now, we are all about making ours—as if we were going to kick it tomorrow and have a lot to catch up on.
Mike told me today that he started his list last night and already has six things he wants to accomplish. Trying to figure out all the things you want to accomplish before you die is actually a huge undertaking and one I am not up to working on at 12:10 in the morning. I just don’t know what I want yet.
I’m not sure if I ever even considered making a bucket list before. If I remember correctly, the first time I ever heard about a “bucket list” was in the movie A Walk to Remember. Mandy Moore, or I guess I should say Nicholas Sparks, never really called it a bucket list, but the idea was the same. The time I first watched Walk, it was interesting to see what’s-his-name’s character try and figure out how to get Mandy to witness a miracle (which I guess would be his complete 180 attitude change from popular jerk to sensitive romantic; way to go Sparks no one called that one). Plus, she was on a bit of a time crunch so of course she wants to make a list (insensitive? well maybe I will add something about that to my list).
Oh, I know what the first item on my bucket list can be: wait seven months between blogging and then start again. One down!
I would like to say that it has been easy for me to stay away, but in all actuality…well, actually it has been kind of easy. Yes, it’s true, I could lie and say that I have been too busy or that there has been nothing of interest to commit to cyberspace, but alas I would be fooling no one. The first step is admitting you have a problem and I am just lazy.
Apparently the sounds of Talladega Nights and the colors of the TV in the complete darkness of my bedroom were the jumpstarts I needed to update my blog with exciting (for me) new features including my bucket list. For some reason, Mike and I have been all about bucket lists lately. We watched an episode of Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List where she helped her mom create and accomplish her bucket list. Now, we are all about making ours—as if we were going to kick it tomorrow and have a lot to catch up on.
Mike told me today that he started his list last night and already has six things he wants to accomplish. Trying to figure out all the things you want to accomplish before you die is actually a huge undertaking and one I am not up to working on at 12:10 in the morning. I just don’t know what I want yet.
I’m not sure if I ever even considered making a bucket list before. If I remember correctly, the first time I ever heard about a “bucket list” was in the movie A Walk to Remember. Mandy Moore, or I guess I should say Nicholas Sparks, never really called it a bucket list, but the idea was the same. The time I first watched Walk, it was interesting to see what’s-his-name’s character try and figure out how to get Mandy to witness a miracle (which I guess would be his complete 180 attitude change from popular jerk to sensitive romantic; way to go Sparks no one called that one). Plus, she was on a bit of a time crunch so of course she wants to make a list (insensitive? well maybe I will add something about that to my list).
Oh, I know what the first item on my bucket list can be: wait seven months between blogging and then start again. One down!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Real World: Here I Come
It has been over four months since my last post. Wow, I really suck at this game. An entire semester (and a brand new year) has flown by and I honestly cannot believe at how much has changed.
First off, I graduated. I am now the proud owner of a Bachelor’s degree (well, once I get it in the mail). It’s so different to not have to worry about school and homework. I actually feel bored for the first time in a really long time. For the first few weeks, it didn’t hit me, and I’m still not sure if I have really begun to believe it yet. I started working at the box office the Monday after graduation and continued until they closed for the holidays. I spent any free time I had there and after work trying to find a job. I applied at so many places I couldn’t even count them if I had to. My first interview was for an editorial assistant at Kaplan—one of the few companies in my field that is actually expanding, not downsizing. I didn’t know anything about the job—how many hours it would be, how much I would get paid, if I got benefits, if I even wanted to work there—all I knew was that I would be putting my 4.5 years of college to great use. I spent the next few weeks wondering if I got it, applying at any place that I had some experience in. Two days after I interviewed at a temp agency, on Christmas Eve, I got the call saying I got the job at Kaplan and the real world was waiting for me to join it.
On the one hand I was hesitant about the job—I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in La Crosse for a few years while I worked at Kaplan. I saw opportunities others had, and I became upset that they are going to be able to move on from La Crosse while I will be stuck here. But then I thought about it…this job pays well, it is owned by the Washington Post Company and has locations all over the country, with many opportunities to advance. After thinking about it, and talking it over with some people, I began to realize that this is actually a good thing. I like the fact that I know where I will be in a year or two and I like the fact that I will no longer have to deal with living paycheck to paycheck (depending on how much my student loans are going to be). I think the thing that I was so worried about was settling for less than I know I am capable of handling—letting myself stay here without trying to make it somewhere else. But I know myself; I know I will not settle here in La Crosse, unless it is right for me. And even if I begin to fall into the pattern of settling, I know my hatred of Wisconsin winters will give me that much-added boost I hopefully won’t need.
Rereading the top part has made me realize how much this writing sounds like Maureen McCormick’s memoir that I finished reading last night. Wow, I didn’t think it would have that much influence on me, but I guess it did.
My new goal, hopefully one I will follow through with, is to start a new blog—one devoted solely to the stupid conversations I have heard in my life. The idea came about the other night when out to eat with friends and we were making fun of our less than capable waitress when I said something like oh yeah, that conversation will definitely be a part of my book Conversations with Stupid People…or something like that. This has probably already been done (with better results I bet), but who knows, some people may get a laugh out of it. I can already think of three stories, not including the one with our waitress, that I will be able to entertain with, and who knows, maybe that blog will be the next “52 Things Older than John McCain.”
First off, I graduated. I am now the proud owner of a Bachelor’s degree (well, once I get it in the mail). It’s so different to not have to worry about school and homework. I actually feel bored for the first time in a really long time. For the first few weeks, it didn’t hit me, and I’m still not sure if I have really begun to believe it yet. I started working at the box office the Monday after graduation and continued until they closed for the holidays. I spent any free time I had there and after work trying to find a job. I applied at so many places I couldn’t even count them if I had to. My first interview was for an editorial assistant at Kaplan—one of the few companies in my field that is actually expanding, not downsizing. I didn’t know anything about the job—how many hours it would be, how much I would get paid, if I got benefits, if I even wanted to work there—all I knew was that I would be putting my 4.5 years of college to great use. I spent the next few weeks wondering if I got it, applying at any place that I had some experience in. Two days after I interviewed at a temp agency, on Christmas Eve, I got the call saying I got the job at Kaplan and the real world was waiting for me to join it.
On the one hand I was hesitant about the job—I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in La Crosse for a few years while I worked at Kaplan. I saw opportunities others had, and I became upset that they are going to be able to move on from La Crosse while I will be stuck here. But then I thought about it…this job pays well, it is owned by the Washington Post Company and has locations all over the country, with many opportunities to advance. After thinking about it, and talking it over with some people, I began to realize that this is actually a good thing. I like the fact that I know where I will be in a year or two and I like the fact that I will no longer have to deal with living paycheck to paycheck (depending on how much my student loans are going to be). I think the thing that I was so worried about was settling for less than I know I am capable of handling—letting myself stay here without trying to make it somewhere else. But I know myself; I know I will not settle here in La Crosse, unless it is right for me. And even if I begin to fall into the pattern of settling, I know my hatred of Wisconsin winters will give me that much-added boost I hopefully won’t need.
Rereading the top part has made me realize how much this writing sounds like Maureen McCormick’s memoir that I finished reading last night. Wow, I didn’t think it would have that much influence on me, but I guess it did.
My new goal, hopefully one I will follow through with, is to start a new blog—one devoted solely to the stupid conversations I have heard in my life. The idea came about the other night when out to eat with friends and we were making fun of our less than capable waitress when I said something like oh yeah, that conversation will definitely be a part of my book Conversations with Stupid People…or something like that. This has probably already been done (with better results I bet), but who knows, some people may get a laugh out of it. I can already think of three stories, not including the one with our waitress, that I will be able to entertain with, and who knows, maybe that blog will be the next “52 Things Older than John McCain.”
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