November 24, 2008

• Is that thing on?

  I would have entitled the post "Is this thing on?", but that would imply my Xanga site. I want to refer to my phone. Not my home phone, since that things has done a decent amount of ringing, but not actually anyone I want to talk to. (I never bothered signing up for the No Call list, since I have Caller ID, and I just don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. It works wonders.)

  But the cell phone number has been given to all sorts of people that I'd like to call me: friends I haven't spoken to since I've gotten home (or have only spoken to briefly) and whom I've left messages with; my insurance adjuster, whom I'd really like to ask some questions about my insurance claim; hiring managers or whatever for the jobs I've applied for; roofers who I really want to have put a tarp on my roof before yet more water gets into my house during the next rain shower. It's getting really frustrating, and if it wasn't for the fact that I have gotten calls from friends who actually do return my messages, I'd start to wonder if there was something wrong with my phone.

  It's frustrating. I'm doing what I can to get my life moving along in the way I want it to go, but there are a few roadblocks that I have to talk to other people to remove - and they're not talking. Ugh.

  In other news, I'm freaked out that Thanksgiving is this week. Which means Christmas is right around the corner. I have no idea what I'm going to do for gifts this year, since my discretionary income is nil until I find a job. (And even then, it's probably not going to be much...) I have a bad habit of overshopping at Christmas, which is on top of my tendencies to shop 'til I drop under normal circumstances. I'm going to have to be creative this year - but at least I have time on my hands at the moment, and a whole lot of craft-type supplies at my disposal thanks to the aforementioned tendency to overshop. I know it'll be fine - I'm just not quite sure how it'll be fine yet. Luckily, most of my friends are female, so I can make jewelry gifts for them. I just don't have a clue yet what to do for my brother. There's a serious possibility there may be one of those "coupon books" in his future for little manual labor tasks. Which would work much better if he and I lived in the same town, but we must adapt and adjust, mustn't we? Or, well, *me* - not all of you have to adjust, you lucky employed people you.

  My last bit of ramble for the day, I promise: I went to a mixer on Friday for communications-types and met a friend of a friend. In the course of chatting, the topic of my recent sojourn in New Zealand came up, and I ended up talking about my experience with a bridge and a bungy cord, and why I did it when I'm about the last person one would realistically expect to jump off a perfectly good bridge. Basically, it simply boiled down to me challenging myself to do something that scared the living s#!t out of me, because once it was done, I would know I had done something I didn't think I could do, that intimidated me, but I had the guts to do it anyway and live to tell the tale. And this guy said the greatest thing I think I've heard from anyone I didn't know in ages: "Strength is overcoming others. Might is overcoming yourself. You are mighty." He made my night - heck, he made my week. And I warned him I was going to steal that line for myself; I only wish I could claim I came up with it on my own. But I have to attribute it to Ray. I don't recall his last name at the moment, but I have to give props where they're due.

  Have a great week, everyone, and enjoy the short one for those in the States who get a long weekend. And my sympathy to all of you who'll be working on Black Friday - I did it for a number of years, so I know your pain.

  • 12:18 pm
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