Wherever You Will Go

I've spent the last week on vacation, basically checked out of my own life. I tried to stay up late, tried to sleep late, hung out (briefly) at the beach and spent a lot of time at the hotel pool. I had wonderful weather and really got to relax and just be quiet. It was a little lonely, but I enjoyed myself.

Driving home from Wilmington, I got on the opening onramp to I-40. The first mile marker sign I passed said Barstow 2554. Soon after I passed another that said Raleigh 123. The shorter path would take me home, but I quite liked knowing that if I missed the exit and drove and drove I'd still be headed towards home.

No Sacrifice

I listen to some music that no one else I know listens to. I am often sad that great bands who aren't celebrity driven don't always seem to make it into the public consciousness, so I buy album after album so they will know they have at least one fan out here. Sometimes, my little secrets end up turning into the Next Big Thing (see John Mayer five years ago).

Anyway, I recently got the new Theory of a Deadman cd (Scars & Souvenirs, barely in stores now). I first became aware of them several years ago during the hockey playoffs when reading a song listing on a Canadian hockey website (I really, truly am a dork when it comes to hockey. I told you.*). As a result, their music tends to put me in a hockey mood. The last track on the new cd is an absolutely perfect hockey song. Some of the lyrics:

Everybody expects me to break but I'll never break down again
Everybody expects me to give up but you'll never see me giving in
Everybody wants me to lose but I'll never lose who I am
No I'm sorry to say There'll be no sacrifice today

Really athlete-ish, isn't it? I even thought about emailing the Canes and suggesting they add this to the rotation during games (they play the same 20 songs every game and I'm a little sick of Cotton Eye Joe). I was so happy today when I saw a commercial for the OLYMPICS that used No Sacrifice. Someone else with a little pull must have heard the same thing. It just brought a smile to my face. Maybe I'm not their only fan.


*Please note it has been exactly 2 months and 1 week since my last hockey mention. I am trying. However, I'd like to point out the Canes drafted two guys named Zach this weekend, and one more named Michal Jordan. I suspect he'll play his minor league hockey for Carolina, then be traded to Chicago as soon as he makes the big team. He'll end his career playing for the Caps.

Good Stuff

In searching for the perfect post title I sometimes have to dig through my cd collection of my mp3 player. Because I was posting about girls I knew in high school I was looking for something time and place appropriate. A little web searching brought up a lit of the top 100 songs in those years (1989 wasn't such a bad year). I was horrified to be reminded of such lyrical magic as "The Humpty Dance," "I Wanna Sex You Up," and "I Touch Myself." Good times. There is also a whole lot of Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul and New Kids on the Block. Everything old is new again.

Deadbeat Club

I read an article recently that discussed how school reunions (and as a result, alumni fundraising) are hurting because of sites like My Space, Facebook, and blogs. If you don't lose touch with people in the first place, there is no mystery to push you to go to a school sponsored event, where they can then pump you for money. It's an interesting problem but I always thought reunions were more of a high school thing, and not necessarily about fundraising. Then again, I didn't go to mine and don't know if they passed the hat. My college doesn't do them.

This morning, a friend I haven't seen in 15 years or so proposed the idea of a bunch of us getting back together. (Of course, we all found each other again on My Space.) I think it would be fun -- except for the 3000 mile trip to get there -- and hope it comes together and that I'll be able to go. Most of us were in different classes so we wouldn't be going to the same reunions anyway.

It's an interesting idea, getting together with a bunch of people you haven't seen in so long. How do you catch up 15 years in one night? Or more importantly, how much weight can I lose first?

[Note: High school was all about the B52s (for dancing) and Depeche Mode (for kissing) -- I think I've since seen them both at least 5 times. The most memorable was a trip with Eddeane and Michele and 2 other random people to someplace in Hollywood. The opening act was Love Tractor. We had to leave early for my mom to drive us home. I think I got in trouble because we were late meeting her at the car.]

Every Breath You Take

Back when I was in high school Kim and I had one way to find out what everyone was up to -- you drove by their house, over and over, hoping for someone to come outside or walk past a window so you could see if they were home. OK, so it sounds like stalking but it really wasn't, and I don't think we were the only people who were doing it. For years after we would run the same path across town, going by Kari's house and Tressa's house and Jimmy's house and David's house and Gino's house (always, always Gino's house).

Age everyone a dozen years or so...people come and go and move on to the next stop in their lives. None of my friends (or non-friends, or ex-boyfriends) live in those houses anymore. I'm sure no one's parents live in those houses anymore. We've gotten past that now and when I'm home we no longer stalk the citizens of Anaheim. I don't think Kim, who still lives in the same neighborhood, ever gives a second thought to who used to live where. For me, it's the only think I think about....Deaner lives a couple of blocks over there, Jason lived in that cul-de-sac and that's the house (on a very busy street you can't avoid) where someone once asked me to marry him "someday" -- we told our parents and everything -- we were 17. The city is full of memories and when I go home I look around an wonder....

With the evolution of Google, and My Space and all those other networking sites, you no longer need to drive around wondering where everyone went. As my old friend Shelley said (who I haven't actually laid eyes on since 1992), My Space has turned into Loara Space. Eddeane still has the same car, and a half-grown son. Carrie's hair is still curlier than mine (if you can imagine that). A boring afternoon Googling random names turned up both my ex-bf's little brother's impending wedding (complete with picture of ex-bf...and his wife), as well of the wedding site of my college roommate (complete with pics of this girl I now barely recognized). The boy from half a lifetime ago is married and expecting a baby girl of his own.

Friends come and go. Some are meant to always be in your life -- you grow with each other and little disagreements are just that. Others are in your life for just a short while and serve a purpose -- for one night, at a job, for a summer, for just one year. A misunderstanding can end the whole relationship, like a collapsing house of cards. It used to be that was that -- hurt pride and days go by, a friend gets lost for good. Until a few years go by and suddenly they're back. No more wondering.


PS Will someone please post some more wedding pictures? I want to see more!

Walking in My Shoes

I walked 3 miles for all the women I care about...

...and then I came home and took a 5 hour nap.

Fixing a Hole

"Who is going to explain everything to us now?"

That was my mother's reaction this afternoon when I asked her if she had heard the news about the death of Tim Russert. She was so upset she all but hung up on me.

When I got the "breaking news" email this afternoon I actually gasped. Beth asked me, what's wrong? I almost couldn't tell her; I knew she would be as upset as I was. We sat in our office, stunned, for the rest of the afternoon. Wendy called from home once she found out about it -- all of us interested in the world, in politics, in the personalities at NBC News.

For months I've gone to my class at the gym on Tuesday nights with an eye on the clock, knowing what time that day's primary polls were closing, knowing I was going to go home and spent a cozy evening with Tim, Keith, Chris and cousin Brian.

I've had a love for politics and policy for about 16 years now -- I can trace it back to a certain day in a certain class in another life of mine. Watching MTP wasn't really a cool thing to do with my college friends -- I always felt like it was my dirty little secret. Sunday is always my "sleep in" day and somehow I am always awake in time for Tim (and on a slow news day, the Sports Reporters). It's like dessert for breakfast. Sort of like how other people like to spend Sunday morning reading the New York Times or working on a crossword puzzle. Every week I get an email telling me who is going to get grilled on Meet the Press and I announce it to anyone who I think will care. My DVR has been set to record it for a couple of years now, just in case I oversleep.

How will this ever be the same? It certainly won't be as much fun.

Blonde Over Blue

I've had this hair all my life.