Told You So

Last night, I was sitting in the lounge watching tv when Ruth came in.  She was drunk, and giggly, because her drunk is always giggly.  And she had a problem. 
A few weeks back, she had gone out with a guy over dinner.  And then the next week, drinks.  And then the next week, drinks again.  I told her this was all a bad idea, because he was paying for things, and that meant there were certain expectations. 
Ruth was totally thick when I said that, and I tried to explain to her that going out with a guy multiple times, like this, implied they were dating.  Ruth and Jenny decided this was ridiculous, that's not how it works.  Lavvy, thankfully, sided with me, saying that this guy (Ruth won't even give me a name because she's paranoid I'll track him down, which is so strange, because I honestly didn't even think that until Ruth made the suggestion) probably does think they're dating, and that's the important bit. 
I told Ruth she needed to have a face-to-face meeting, gently tell him she's seeing someone else and that she would like to be friends and drinking buddies.  Ruth never likes this idea.  She doesn't want to meet face-to-face, she'd rather send an email.  (This always causes me to wonder what is wrong with her; who the hell sends emails like that in this day and age?  What is this, 1997?)  Then I suggested that she just not-subtly mention her boyfriend, as a way of indicating his importance to her to this guy friend.  No, she just gives another exasperated sigh. 
So last night, after getting drunk together, this guy tried to kiss Ruth.
"I told you so," I said, as I sat there.  Ruth apparently told him, in her flummoxed state, that she had a wife, which she explained to me and made no sense.  It might have been the drunken state. 
Ruth went into a bit of a rant about boys and how stupid they are and how they always manage to find her.  She told me about this guy named Ben, who is coming to visit soon. 
"I'm going to make Ben and this other guy meet, because then they'll see their stupid behavior within each other and then themselves and then they won't chase after me."
I disagree.  I suspect that these guys are not going to get that they are both being ridiculous, and instead, they will just see that the other one likes Ruth and it'll turn competitive. 
(As a side note, what do you readers think about this?) 
She told me some stories about when her Dad had cancer and she was crying and Ben kissed her, even though he had a girlfriend. 
"Wait," I said.  "I though crying was a turnoff for guys."
"Really?" said Ruth.  "I've found it's a great way to get guys.  It probably makes them feel all needed and protective."
Oh great.  It's not enough for a guy to like me, I have to make him feel like he's being a man and protecting me. 
We giggled for a while, talking about other things like our work, and she complained to me about this essay she's writing and we were relatively merry.  Then one of the spazzier women came in wanting to watch a tv documentary about 2012.  (I'm so not even kidding.)  We let her, even though she apologized twenty times and tried to get us to stay.  I explained to her that we were fine and were leaving anyway. 
I wish Ruth would have listened to me and nipped this thing in the bud.  Something tells me there's going to be a lot more drama on the way, even if she does avoid this guy as she's decided to. 

Novel Research

I've been knocking an idea for a novel around in my head for a while.  This afternoon, I sat down and started doing some research for it.  The research gave me all sorts of ideas for things for my characters to do.  I also got some ideas on what kind of setting I want to create.

I think that I am going to have to return to some old classics for some points of canonical reference.  I was thinking of maybe having a certain amount of illness, so I was thinking that maybe I would need to return to the early parts of Jane Eyre where Jane is living in that terrible "Christian" school.  And then I thought about returning to Wide Sargasso Sea, and then after that maybe the Anne of Green Gables novels. 
I've only decided on a few characters, but I know I want there to be a specific group of characters and have all sorts of dramatic things happen to them.  The one character I have decided on has personal motivations and I've already parsed out motivations other characters have concerning her. 
I don't think I'm going to have enough time to write this novel anytime soon, but doing the preliminary work for it is fun.  It sort of feels like day dreaming, only it's all about how I'm going to write something amazing and important.

Because I Don't Have Enough to Do

Reading this cute article about Korean dramas.  Ashley has mentioned in the past that she likes this, and now, I guess, reading this, I will one day have to try one.  You know, in that free time I have so much of. 

The Ongoing Saga of it Being Too Cold

At work today, there was more drama over how cold it's been.  I have been shivering for at least a month.  And apparently I'm not the only one.  At one point, one of the girls across the hall got so mad about how cold it was she just decided to leave and go sit somewhere else. I don't blame her, but I work on a desktop at work so I don't have the luxury of just getting up and leaving whenever.
Then I was talking with someone via email, and there was the implication of needing to do more research. Doing the whole taking the initiative thing, I started working on that.
As I was doing that, there was another conversation (involving the same girl) about how it was warmer but that it should get fixed. And the girl said she was going to call.
I was also thinking about my Mom and how she is clearly suffering from burnout when it comes to taking care of my Grandma. I wish she would ask her brother to take care of my Grandma. It would be difficult, but shipping my Grandma down south might be a good thing for us, especially for my Mom. My Mom has been taking care of my Grandma for over ten years, and, sadly, it could easily be another ten. It isn't fair to my Mom, and quite frankly, I don't think it's okay for her emotional and mental health. I suspect my Uncle wouldn't want to take Grandma, but I have half the mind to write him a letter, emphasizing how much he apparently loves his sister and what a Christian man he considers himself. I actually very much doubt his love for his sister and for Jesus, but there's a part of me that wants to try on my Mom's behalf. My Mom deserves a break, a big one, and she deserves better than such a terrible family (her awful mother, her awful brother, her awful sister-in-law. This whole family is rotten to the core. Everyone talks a big game about responsibility but it's nowhere to be found. I'm disgusted at being related to these people.)
I just realized today as I was sitting here how feminine Mark's voice is. I don't know how I could have missed it. This isn't a criticism, just a weird thing I noticed.
I accidentally got an update on the Mark-the-Landlord drama. Today he was on the phone with someone talking about replacing a stairs and a deck.
I even heard Mark give a giant sigh today. Oh, I understand, I wanted to say. I really have been dragging today. I think I need a nap, though I honestly do not have time for one.
So, basically, out of everyone, I spend the most time with Mark. I'm not complaining, but I guess this wasn't what I expected to end up thinking about all the time.
Then, in the ongoing saga of "It's too cold in this building" today some people came into the office and opened up the ceiling tiles and were inspecting. One of them was saying a bunch of stuff wasn't working. They were right around my cubicle, making me terribly nervous. (Would I have to leave? I was really tired today and was praying that yes, they would let me go home. I needed a nap and had things to do.) They started taking bits of the ceiling near my head out, looking inside and conferring with each other. Then they went into Bella's cubicle and did the same thing. (I don't know where Bella is today, but clearly not here.) "It's definitely zeroed out," Tommy (as he was called) said to his friend.
Just as things were getting really interesting there, Mark came in with a task. It was either an accounting task or a proofreading task. Basically, I needed to make sure that two lists of books sales were together and that their weren't any mistakes. The way he laughed about the construction fun was exactly how Daniel laughs. Exactly. Terrifyingly so. They're so different in age and potentially political beliefs. (I say potentially because I know exactly what Mark thinks about politics, Daniel will be cold in the grave before he expresses his thoughts on this and a wide variety of other subjects.) And yet their mannerisms are so similar, and I find myself being struck by them all the time.
Work went by really fast actually, for all my complaining. I kept doing that thing were I would look up and discover that about another hour had passed.

Butterflies at Rest

Today, I did some work on my photography.  I started fooling around with the camera I have around 2008.  I don't really know anything about photography, I just experiment.  Sometimes stuff works out.  A lot of the times it doesn't. 
I took a lot of decent (though kind of generic) pictures of butterflies.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the names of most of these butterflies are, but if you know the names of any of these, leave me a comment!I am not much of a photographer, but I do occasionally make an attempt to be "artistic."  Here is one of those attempts. I like the way the light comes in.  It's very dramatic.  Another attempt, one that was not so successful.  The only thing that saves it is the background.  Another butterfly. This butterfly is eating, using it's proboscis.  I was really impressed with myself for remembering that from school.  Another attempt at being DRAMATIC.  There's something unintentional Goth about this photo.  (I didn't actually change the colors on this; this is actually the original photograph.)  It reminds me vaguely of a Siouxie and the Banshees music video.  I would apologize, if I was not in love with both Goth and that band.I spent a lot of time being frustrated with my subjects for not standing still enough.  (My camera can manage some movement, but not everything.)  So, most of my pictures had to be butterflies at rest.  Here's another one in chow mode.This butterfly broke my heart.  As you can see, it's wings are all damaged.  It wasn't moving very much, and it probably died.  I hope not, but seeing this thing made me really depressed.  Butterflies are like fairies, they're suppose to live forever. Nearby, another butterfly was enjoying some apple and watching the dying one make sad attempts to fly.  Butterflies are kind of jerks. I also tried birds, just because I figured they wouldn't move so much.  Instead, they mostly made sure I couldn't see their faces, like these two.  I spent a lot of time trying to chase various birds around. This is the most chill otter I've ever seen.  I was actually slightly jealous, because a nap sounded really good to me right about then.  This otter should be in a old film.  I can just see him falling back onto a fainting couch.The only thing not good about this is the rocks.  Otherwise, it might be comfortable.  Like most mammals, mother otters raise their young, teaching them important stuff like swimming and hunting.  Once a mamma otter has another litter, the older kids are on their own.More birds, those these are far more cooperative.  I'm loving the lily pads here. Sometimes I'm just relieved when photos look like something you might see in a copy of National Geographic.  More duckage here.  I was with a friend, and she insisted on feeding them a granola bar.  I've already complained on this blog about how much I hate people who feed animals, so I won't go through that again, just register my annoyance that this time it was a friend.  This picture has kind of a fun angle on it. That would be the feeding frenzy she caused. 
There are some more photos over at my Flikr collection if you'd like to see more.

Dinner with Tori and Lisa

I went out to dinner with Tori and Lisa last night.  We had a nice time. 
We've been thinking of seeing some movies.  I already explained last month how I feel about Marmaduke, which is out right now.  I told Tori that I didn't want to see The Last Airbender the first weekend it came out because there's a boycott against it for casting white actors in Asian roles.  I do want to see Despicable Me, which Lisa, in her never ending hunt for cute things, is totally game for. 
Lisa updated us on all the drama going on in her life.  I feel bad for her, because most of it sounds like stuff she can't control.  Of course, I have, on occasion, way more drama, and most of the time I can't control it either. 
Lisa is such a sweet, well intentioned girl.  She has the sunniest outlook on life.  (For example, Lisa has stuffed animals in the backseat of her car, all buckled into an actually seat.  It's pretty adorable and hilarious.)  Her brother is going to be shipped off to the army soon.  I guess I'll just have to pray for him too, as part of my long list of people I'm praying for (certain family member, Josie, Nick's little brother, Nathan, etc...).
Tori, Lisa and I talked a little out in the parking lot last night.  I don't know what it is about our town, but because there's so little to do, it seems like we always end up in a parking lot somewhere.
We might see each other this weekend.  If not, we've already seen so much of each other.  Ashley's off on vacation right now, so we'll see her again once she comes back.

Dramatic

I was just talking to my Mom, and I asked her if she expected help from me on something. 
She said "I don't expect anything from anyone anymore.  That's how one of my friend lives her life, and it's the right way to." 
A while back, my Mom said that I was "overly dramatic" about things.  Seriously?  Please.  I'm dramatic but you're not?
I am dramatic, but I think a big part of it is that people are so into hiding their feelings all the time that it's just a comparison thing.  What I am is more open about what I'm feeling, no matter how ridiculous it looks to others.  If anything, I'm just not afraid of ridicule.