Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Love via Facebook


OK, I'm just as surprised at this as anyone. But I fell in love via Facebook, and I'm damn glad that it happened. And I'm also surprised that I'm like a giggly teenager whenever my boyfriend and I exchange text messages throughout the day. Life is full of surprises -- some are horrible, and some are wonderful, and some of them are middle of the road. This happens to be one of the wonderful ones.

Robert and I actually met on Facebook several months ago. I had created a Facebook profile, and a doctoral student from Texas Women's University had spotted me and began to pursue me. He was a nice guy who was incredibly intelligent, but he was coming on in such an intense way that I immediately began to backtrack. I was checking out his Facebook friends list and noticed Robert. I thought Robert seemed like a nice guy who was really damn cute, so I sent him a request to add me as a friend. Robert accepted, and we began chatting with each other. The person who had contacted me from TWU eventually got frustrated with both Robert and me and de-friended us both, but Robert and I stayed in touch. I found that he was great to talk to, and that we shared many common interests. After a while, I started to flirt a bit with him, and he seemed like he was responsive to that. After all, I still had a little crush on him. Finally, I worked up the nerve to just ask him out, and he said that he'd love to meet me. We went out on June 17 and had an incredible evening. We had some follow-up dates very quickly thereafter that confirmed my initial feeling, which was that I had found someone truly special. Fortunately, he felt the same way about me, and we've begun spending as much time together as we can.

He is a sweet, wonderful guy who is beyond cute, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this adventure is going to take us. I'm not seeing anyone else besides Robert, nor do I want to. I've canceled all of my subscriptions to dating sites. He has captured my heart. This all happened very quickly, I must say, but we're both completely fine with this.

Now that I'm thinking about him again, I'm turning into a giggly teenager again. I didn't really get to do this when I actually was a teenager, so I'm enjoying it now.


Monday, June 8, 2009

So, you're 39?

When my mom called me on Friday to wish me a happy birthday, I could hear my dad in the background saying, "Tell him he's working on 40." Well, I guess I am. Though I prefer to say that I'm sitting under the shade tree of 40. I'm saying the same thing, but taking the Southern prerogative of expressing it a bit more lyrically. Today, I went to my aunt's and uncle's for a family cookout. She and I have birthdays that are fairly close together, and I think we had some other events to celebrate, but it really doesn't matter too much. What matters is that we got to eat hamburgers and hotdogs off the grill! And Mom made me a birthday cake! How cool is that??

Actually, I think 39 is an interesting age to be. I'm still young enough to have goals and dreams, yet I'm old enough to have -- hopefully -- learned from my past mistakes. I have a friend who turns 56 this year. She and I are most likely going to be roommates come September, but to me, she seems ageless because she's always up for new experiences and is always looking to broaden her horizons. I hope I can age that gracefully. They say life begins at 40. But isn't 60 the new 40? So, do I have to wait for 60 for my life to begin? I think life begins when you want it to begin.

I'll have to get used to saying I'm 39 now, after finally getting used to saying I was 38. Do you know what I think? I think it would be really cool to get in awesome shape and say that I was in the best shape of my life in my 40s. By the time I'm 40, I will have finished one graduate degree and possibly started another one, so I'm expanding my mind as well as my student loan debt.

So, I guess the point to all of this reflective mish-mash is that I'm perfectly okay with turning 39. And I'll be okay with turning 40. I'm curious to see what's in store for me each year that I'm here.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Stingy With Napkins
















If I were Greta Garbo and if I were visiting my local Subway sandwich shop for my early afternoon sandwich of choice, I might say something along the lines of:

"Gimme a turkey sandvich...
Extra napkins on the side...
And don' be stingy, babee"

Movie buffs will recall Garbo's first words on-screen in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1930).

I don't know if it's a 'think green' thing, or a 'think cheap' thing, but I've been displeased to note that fast-food places have become rather stingy when it comes to napkins. I don't know about you, but I need a few napkins when I eat some meals. For instance, when I get my favorite turkey breast sandwich from Subway, it invariably falls apart at some point and the light mayonnaise tends to get everywhere. When I eat at the new Subway downtown, they give out one napkin per order unless you specifically ask for more, and you can only get them from the people at the counter. One time, I was feeling rather reckless, and right when I was handed my change at the Subway counter, I reached around past the cashier and snatched an extra napkin or two, and I thought she was going to slap my hand. She had that look in her eye and I swear I saw her hand twitch. I've noticed the same thing at Taco Bell. They'll give you an entire sack full of hot sauce, yet just one or two napkins. And the napkins and sauce are in their own little plastic sack, as though they were prepackaged so employees couldn't get napkin-crazy and just pass them out willy-nilly. Maybe it is a good way for them to cut costs, but jeez... would one or two extra napkins really hurt anyone? If so, I think they should make the food less sloppy.

A Return to Silliness

To celebrate my dear friend Cristy's birthday -- not that she asked me to do this -- but I'm going to return to silly, entertaining blog posts wherever possible. I've lot some of my zing with this blog and I'd like to get it back. So, hold on to your socks!