Pay Attention to This!

I know I've gushed about some of the awesome DC bloggers in the past, but this is a particularly important blogger-love post.  So grab your barf bags:

The amazing and talented LiLu has a chance to become the first MTV "Twitter Jockey".  (She has a detailed post about it here).

Let's make this happen! Put this in your Twitter status (oh, yeah, and follow her on Twitter, too, if you're not already):

Follow @LivitLuvit, my favorite contestant in the @MTVTJ search for MTV’s first Twitter Jockey! #zyncmtvtj

That is all... for now.

My Dad Rules, Too

My father is the king of perfectly timed one liners. And, sometimes, that means only one word.

For example: Two years ago at my parent's Thanksgiving dinner, I was entertaining our guests with a story of an awful date with a guy who, unfortunately, also was known as "Jess" (this was not, in it of itself, the reason for the date being awful. Edited to Add: I remembered last night that one of my first blog entries was about that date).

I was recalling how, on our way out the door after dinner, this young man commented on our use of the same nickname, and asked "Well, if you go by 'Jess' and I go by 'Jess', what am I supposed to call myself?"

Dad chimed into my story to suggest: "Shmuck?"

The room dissolved in laughter to the point of tears. Which ended that particular story, but on a hilarious note that was far better than how it actually wound up closing. (I had said "You need to call yourself something?")

My father has an amazing sense of comedic timing and excellent storytelling skills. So much so that his long-winded stories and jokes were among the first I tried to retell to my friends as a little girl.  However, I never garnered on the playground the same roaring reception that his stories received at my parents dinner table, crowded with their friends and colleagues. I'd try out his shaggy-dog stories with the same mannerisms and pauses he used. But my poor, benighted elementary school classmates just did not appreciate the humor in his story about a Russian-speaking guest-conductor who explains to his American orchestra: "Bad. Not good."  (Yes, that is the punchline.)

I know my sister has inherited his comedic timing. I like to think I've inherited some of his storytelling skills -- although my delivery isn't quite right in telling the one about the Jew Who Won The Lottery. But if you get to know my Dad, he'll tell you the joke himself.

Am I Mean?

Learning to date again....

He seemed charming enough. I mean, I did arrive an hour before my friend, and he didn't kick me out of the booth I'd snagged. And he was cute, so I left my business card with the receipt.  How very DC.

His first email came two days later, and despite that the subject line was "Hey Kiddo!" (a term of endearment that I reserve for my younger sister and, therefore, assume that others only use it for siblings, relatives, children, pets, and the like) I responded that it was nice to hear from him. He wrote back asking for my number so we could make plans; I obliged; then he responded saying that we should "deffanately" hang out soon.

This gave me a moment of pause. I'm a stickler for correct spelling and grammar. I can understand and forgive errors in text messages, but in this world of spell-checking smart phones, how does one get away with sending "deffanately"? (And the emails did say 'Sent From My Mobile Device').

His next email came in the form of a Facebook friend request. It was accompanied by a message that he was new to Facebook, and was he doing this right? Almost simultaneously, he sent me a text message to say that he'd sent me a Facebook friend request and had he done it right?

I ignored both. Not only do I tend to avoid making FB friends with people I don't really know (and to say that I 'know' someone includes exchanges on Twitter, regular message board interactions, and posting comments on each others blogs. Basically, if I don't know you in the real world, we at least have a sense of each other online.) but I also wondered why he didn't have any friends on Facebook to explain the rather simple process to him.

This was right before Memorial Day weekend, which included my birthday celebration, a date with another guy, spending a lot of time with friends, seeing my parents, and significant amounts of time spent doing absolutely nothing.  Then I got slammed at work. This is all to say .... two weeks passed and I'd forgotten about "Mr. Deffanately."

Then, last Wednesday night, I got a text message from him: "I thought we were gonna hang out."  I thought about it briefly, felt no desire to respond, so I didn't.

The next night, he called me at 11pm. I didn't answer the phone. I consulted with friends and asked the Twitter world for advice; the majority responded that I should continue to ignore him if I wasn't interested. And then he texted me again: "Whats up?"

I quickly typed, "Please don't call or text me again. Thank you."

His response: "I'm sorry... I thought you wanted to hear from me... Won't do it again."

Thank goodness, I thought.

Then my phone buzzed again: "Why the hell did you give me your card then?!"

I sighed and wondered the same thing. I clearly need a screening process.

Quote Of The Day

“Get up and dance, get up and smile, get up and drink to the days that are gone in the shortest while.”

~ Simon Fowler

Deep Thoughts

Feeling unmotivated to work this morning, I decided to catch up on a few blogs. Including a more recent discovery, the eloquent words of Emily Jane.

Holy inspiration, Batman.

In reading two of her most recent posts, I realized that I'm not pushing my own boundaries enough.

Even though I've made important changes in the past six months, taken steps towards self-improvement, and made my 31st birthday resolution to have more confidence, I haven't been testing myself. There hasn't been any need to leave my comfort zone. Sure, work has presented me with some interesting challenges -- but other than that, I think know that I'm in a bit of a holding pattern.

Granted, I've already survived the "Quarter Life Crisis" that a few of my fellow bloggers have been writing about lately. That time in my life resulted in my changing jobs twice, going to graduate school, moving out of my parents house, and ending a five year relationship. This is all to say that I've already been through a significant period of wondering "what the hell am I doing with my life?" and then making changes to answer that question.

But now what? I'm in a good place in my life, in many ways: I live on my own, I have my Masters degree (and have no interest in any more grad school, thankyouveddymuch), I have no desire to leave my beloved DC, and I love my job.

So what, then, would challenge my status quo?  I'm not really sure what needs to be challenged in my life -- but it's increasingly clear that something needs to change.