Dear Blog,

Sorry I've been ignoring you. Hopefully I'll have some time to give you the attention you deserve soon. In the meantime, try not to be so needy.

Love,
Busy Fish

Things I Hate

• People who call frozen yogurt Fro-Yo
• Actors who try to have singing careers
• Babies with earrings
• People who wear socks with sandals
• Anyone who takes Valentine's day seriously
• The smell of fish cooking
• People who say irregardless
• Strangers who smoke next to you
• Muzak
• 6am construction

I Wish I had Balls

In general, I avoid adult sports teams at all costs. To me, it's just a bunch of formerly mediocre, overly competitive jocks who take it as an opportunity to brag about their heyday. I always enjoyed playing on teams, but only as the comic relief. I always assumed that once you reached adulthood, sports teams only existed so you could stroke your own ego.

And yet, I really want to join an Adult Kickball League.
I wasn't so sure about it, until I walked by a game being played at the park and saw the outfielders struggling to get the keg set-up behind first base. My kinda sport. Besides, anything that I can wear loudly colored knee socks to is my idea of a great afternoon.

Husband wasn't so into the idea, so I left him. Not in real life, just in kickball terms. You do what you have to for the game right? The sport is life... or something like that (I'm sure Gatorade said it at one point or another, back-off)

So I've left him to build my own team. And since I'm still relatively new in town [sidenote: will i still be able to say that once i've lived here a year? Its fastly approaching...], I decided to call upon my co-workers.
I've almost convinced them that this is a brilliant idea. Of course, we were all drinking pitchers when I suggested it, but still, they seemed on board.

We will find some bar to sponsor us...and hopefully provide us with complementary refreshments afterwards (it's all about hydration right?), my stripey knee socks will prove to be the good luck charm than clenches the pennant for us (if such a thing exists), and my red hair will temporarily blind all opponents, thus rendering them unable to see the ball, and me being elected VIP of the season!

A girl can dream right?

and if any co-workers read this [cough,cough] i think they still need teams for the fall

Sensory Memory

The smell of Aveda products will always remind of when Husband and I started dating...back when Husband was just New Boyfriend, and Apathetic Fish was merely Intoxicated Guppy.

Oops

Every dish in our house is dirty! For lunch, I ate cereal out of a coffee mug for two reasons: 1) it was the only food we currently have, and 2) it was the only clean vessel we had... and I used the last spoon to devour it.

Husband is in crazy mode as he finishes his papers and finals for the semester, and I am battling a wicked sinus infection that has caused me to be on lots of drugs and sleeping all the time... not unlike Courtney Love (geez, could i BE more outdated with my examples?!?!)

Anyway, Today's my day off and I decided to do ALL the dishes. It's a huge undertaking! Since I got married, I have 12 piece sets of highballs, old fashioned, pedestal glasses, salad plates, bowls, dinner plates, all kinds of silver/servingware (i could go on and on....and on)

Our cupboards are bare. There isn't a single clean dish left in our house, and we live in a shoebox. tiny! so of course there's no dishwasher! I have been handwashing dish after dish in our tiny sink. And i decided that for every load I wash, I get a glass of wine. Well, since we didn't have any clean wine glasses, i decided to use a beer mug (i didn't fill it, but still, it's a significant amount). I've done four loads of dishes, and am about 60% finished.

I am drunk.

This in itself is not a bad thing, but I have dinner plans tonight...

it's my day off, ask me if I've showered today? NO
Have I even brushed my teeth? washed face? course not
HAVE I EVEN PUT ON PANTS? umm, no. that would have required me to do laundry...

So now, I have to get ready while quite tipsy. It's not like this is the first time*, but I usually give myself beer (wine) googles and assume I look hot when actually, I look more like this:



Here's hoping tonight doesn't result in an epic fail.,

(and yes, it was really difficiult foe rme to type this correly c, I didn't spellchekc ihis part just so you wonuld know how i was atcually typing...)


*elle, if you read this, do you remember the night i showered THREE times since i didn't remember the first two?!?!

Decisions Decisions

**WARNING** I will be needing a little cheese to go with this whine

Let me preface this note by saying, I love my job. I am good at it. That being said:

It's time for me to grow-up. I've been out of college for 4 years, and I've never had a "real" job. No salary, no business cards, no nice clothes required. Right before I graduated, I decided that I didn't want anything to do with the degree I had worked so hard to earn. It left me with almost zero skill set and a communications degree. All I could apply for was anything in the "general lemming" category. Most of the jobs sucked, I quit them within a few months.

Then I moved to Madison, and found this job. I adore it. It adores me.
However, every time I meet someone, the inevitable questions always follow:

idiot: "What do you do?"
me: I work in tourism at [blankity blank blank]
The stare at me
idiot: "Oh, ok. But what do you plan on doing, you know, for a living?"

I MAKE AN EFFING LIVING! I GET A PAYCHECK DON'T I?!!?!
sure, the amount on the paycheck is laughable, but I knew that going in. I really enjoy where I work, the people I work with, and this is the first time I've ever felt appreciated for the work I do.

However, they have a point. It would be ridiculous for me to think I could do this my whole life. There's not enough money, and there's really no where for me to advance.

Fortunately, I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life: Graphic Design.

Unlike all the things I would be miserable doing, I can actually see myself slaving over a computer 8-10 hours a day making beautiful things. I am thrilled to finally have a direction I want to take my life in, and once you know a piece of information like that, you want to start the next stage of your life immediately (yes, I paraphrased from When Harry Met Sally)

Enter Roadblock: Husband

Sweet, wonderful, adoring Husband, through no fault of his own, has made my plans inconceivable at this current moment. He's halfway through grad school with another year to go. Financially, it just doesn't make sense for me to go back to school right now. Sadly, my paltry income makes me the breadwinner, and we can't afford for me to cut back on hours. I refuse to do an online program, I want to be hands-on in the classroom. My graphic design degree will take 4 semesters. So if I wait, it will be 3 whole years before I can start my new career.

I can't decide how I feel about that. Like I said, I enjoy my current position, and I could probably be happy doing this another 3 years. But I would love to be a graphic designer. I would love to have an actual answer when people ask me, "what do you do?" I love would to have a business card, a desk, an inflated sense of accomplishment, and most importantly, I think I would be happy.

eh, it will still happen...eventually.

Gratuitous Narcissism

• I am deathly afraid of birds
• Gravity is my nemesis, I fall down constantly
• I attended 3 different colleges, and loved my time at all of them
• I make the best green bean casserole you've ever tasted
• I hate feet
• I returned my wedding china to buy diamond earrings, best.decision.ever.
• I judge people instantly upon meeting them, I am correct 86% of the time
• I've lived abroad once, and would do it again in a heartbeat
• Onion powder is the secret to my delicious eggs
• My entire family has red hair
• I am so pale, that they don't even have a foundation light enough for me
• My first car was a stick shift. It had less power than a leaf blower, but still, I loved it
• My last 4 college courses were: tennis, weightlifting, bowling, and walking
• I quote Anchorman at least once a day
• My walls are covered in pictures
• If crabcakes are on the menu, I'm ordering them
• I played lots of sports in high school, but merely as the comic relief
• I've always fallen for the big, dorky, intelligent guys. Husband is perfect for me
  

You Know You're Married When

1. Wife gets a flat tire.
2. You realize the tire is stuck to the car
   (wife learns that it's necessary to rotate the tires... not just good advice)
3. You and Wife try for an hour to pry the tire off.
4. Wife announces, "OK! Whoever gets this tire off gets [something inappropriate]!!"
5. 30 minutes later, you finally get the tire off.
6. Wife, thinks for a moment and asks, "Would you consider a pint instead?"
7. You have a delicious brewsky (you are, after all, tired from changing the flat)

If you haven't yet seen this website, you're missing out:

badpaintingsofbarackobama.com

A Glimpse into My Life

Just wanted to share with you that Husband is currently sitting in bed, in a darkened room, wearing a hockey jersey and no pants, staring at a computer, and shouting things like, "OH, YES! Get in there!"

He's watching hockey :)

And the thing is, I love him for it, since that means he's willing to watch it on a tiny computer screen so that I can watch TV in peace. I am a lucky girl.

My Attempt at being Artsy

Just Call Me Crafty

I've never had curtains. I've always wanted curtains, but laziness and poverty always prevented it. Recently, I figured out a way to make a set that I could afford.

I found a pair of matching rectangle tableclothes. Mine happened to be donated to me, but you could find a set at goodwill, or a tuesday morning-esk place (flat bed sheets would also work if you don't mind how sheer they are). I bought sewing tape since I can't sew, and bought an inexpensive rod and finials. Isn't that word fun? finials, finials, finials!

2 Tableclothes= free
Fabric Tape= $1.99
Curtain Rod= $19.99

Total Cost= $22.00

It took me 5 minutes to assemble the drapes, and about 20 for Husband and I to get them up on the window, and viola! instant curtains:

I could get used to this

Sure, winter sucked, but Madison might just redeem itself:

The Road Less Traveled

On Sunday, I had two choices:

1. Do Laundry
2. Buy more underwear

Guess which one I chose...

My Father, The Hero

Apparently, my dad is now trendy...

We have been passing out Green Guides to the visitors at work. In it, you can find tips for adults and children on simple ways to alter your life style to help save the environment. On the front cover it reads, "It's cool to be green!"

Here are some examples of the handy tips:

• Instead of turning on the heat, put on a sweater
• Borrow books from the library instead of buying new ones
• Don't drive when you could walk or ride your bike
• Clean your yard with rakes instead of a leaf blower
• Turn off lights when you leave a room
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth
  
• Rather than turn on the AC, open a window

Seriously?! These are things my dad was fervent about throughout my childhood, not because he was particularly earth conscious, but because those were the cheaper options! He would follow us from room to room, turning off lights as we go (sometimes while we were still in the room). He had several motto's:

• Why buy a new movie, when you could rent 15 yr-old ones for free at the library?
• No reason to turn up the heat, here's a perfectly good robe (a hand-me down from my brothers no less).
• We don't need one of those fancy leaf blowers to get rid of pine needles... that's what our kids are for.
• Sure, this [electronic] looks broken, but let me tinker with it for a [month-year] and it will become partially fixed.

Not that he was negligent. We didn't want for anything (except maybe cable tv, and a less embarrassing car...), but somewhere in between my childhood and now, he went from stingy (although he prefers frugal), to trendy.

This is the guy who still owns his 30 year-old pair of madras pants*, the guy who always dug his cut-offs out of the trash every time mom threw them away, the guy who has been known to tuck his tee shirt into his sweat pants, and now he's on the cutting edge of trends?!?

Lord, save us all.

*sure, madras has made a come back lately, but consider how fashionable they were those 30 years in between

All Aboard the Bandwagon

Just call me trendy. I finally signed up for twitter. I have a feeling I am either going to grossly neglect this, or become so obsessed that I can't go 5 minutes without a tweet.

Anyway, if you truly care to read my random thoughts throughout the day, you can follow me: twitter.com/ApatheticFish

Trust me though, i've been inside my head for 25 years, it's no picnic...