jessteronimo

Road Rage

I can now say that I actually know someone who was a victim of road rage. One of my friends was with his girlfriend who was driving home him home on Friday night in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah. They were stopped at a red light when the car behind them started honking at them. Since the light was still red, they didn't move, but the car drove around them and pulled in front of their car to cut them off. Then the guy got out of the car, approached the passenger side where my friend's girlfriend was sitting, and started yelling at her. It's still unclear what the couple did wrong, but the guy obviously wasn't going to stop, so my friend got out of the car (in hindsight, probably not a great idea) and went around to confront the other driver. At that time, the other guy spun around and stabbed my friend in the back between the shoulder blades, knocking him to the ground with the force and the pain. Then the adrenaline kicked in, and my friend got up and proceeded to kick the crap out of the other driver while his girlfriend called the cops, both of which scared the stabber off. So a small group of my friends spent the night at the hospital while my friend went through medical observation and a series of tests to determine the extent of the damage. Lucky for him, the wound didn't cause lasting or potentially fatal damage, and he was released later the next day to recover at home. He's still hurting a ton today, and the wound was deep enough that it couldn't be stitched and is still bleeding slightly. What the....? This ain't Philly. This is Salt Lake City! And not far from my workplace. Un-freaking-believable, huh? It seems that no where is safe anymore. I am soooo glad for my karate training, but I really want to kick up my weapons training now!

By the way, if you're local and interested, I can get you a free month's pass at my studio. ;)

B-Bye, Laptop I Love

My laptop lease expires at the end of the month, and I determined that it wouldn't make sense for me to buy it out for roughly the same price as a new one. So I've spent the weekend cleaning it off, moving and deleting files, programs, and settings. It's a big task cleaning off a computer. There are hidden files and settings everywhere. Plus, my archive drive is nearly full, and I'm pretty sure that it's mostly with duplicates of music, videos, and pictures I haven't had time to sort through. I could probably free up a few gigabytes if I had the time to organize the files. But every time I try to start sorting, I keep getting sucked down the rabbit hole of memories and ideas that interrupt the task at hand. It's fun and all, but I have to go back to work tomorrow, and before I know it, it'll be time to send the computer back but I won't be ready if I keep this up. So now I'm resisting the urge to organize and instead am backing up whole folders without looking in them and removing installed programs, with all their settings and histories. It's nerve-wracking and sort of bittersweet.

For example, when I removed the desktop background that I've had for a while because I love it so much, I had a moment of panic thinking I hadn't backed the image up. A quick look on the archive drive didn't produce the image, and I spent the next 20 minutes combing through the images on digitalblasphemy.com looking for it. I didn't find it, but I found one I liked a lot. While downloading that image and saving it to my archive drive, I saw the other image safely backed up. Whew! I'm sure I'll have more moments like that, unfortunately.

Even with the knowledge that I'll be buying a new laptop (one with the new Windows 7 operating system that I'm anxious to try out), but I know I'll miss my old machine and even its Vista OS. Ain't it funny how we get attached to things? *sniff sigh*

Matching

My daughters and I were shopping a few weeks ago for a girls' day out, and we spotted some cute T-shirts we all liked. We each bought one in a favorite color. Today, we all wore them. Funny bonding goes on when you're corny together, huh?

Kracken & Glowing Dragons

I was watching a movie with my daughters in which the bad guy fell into the ocean and began to sink. Just before the shot cut away from him back to the good guys, my youngest daughter said, "Wouldn't it be cool if some kracken came up and grabbed him?" The oldest chimed in, "Yeah, he could get attacked by a glowing dragon, or a sea serpent." How cool is that? How many kids do you know would even think of creatures like that?! Or adults, for that matter? My kids are so awesomely creative! They are so entertaining that I could just listen to them for hours.

Facebook Is Killing My Blog

Sorry, those who have been following my blog. I am having trouble keeping up with both blogging and Facebook on top of all the other responsibilities I have. I'd vow to do better, but going into a busy season at work, I'm not sure that'll happen until the new year. So, be patient with me--or follow me on Facebook.

Cultured, Educated, and Happy

I got this "motto" in an email from a coworker, and I love it, so I thought I'd share:

"We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, 'Good grief, look how smart I am...'!"

30 Days Has September...

Thank the Light it's no more than that! It's raining today (I love the rain, so that's a good sign that October just might make my life better), and it's supposed to snow tonight (which has my girls wiggling with the joy of anticipation--which I love to see, of course). I'm thankfully kissing (or kicking) September good-bye today and moving on.

September Sucks

Today I received one more in a long string of reasons to truly hate September. Maybe my mom was on to something.

Call Your Mom

The phone buzzed rather loudly as it vibrated against the table. My friend picked it up and glanced curiously at the screen's caller ID. "Oh, it's just my Mom," he muttered in a tone that suggested that her call was a familiar event, not terribly important or special. Quite unexpectedly, I felt an overwhelming wave of jealousy and grief consume me, to the point that I struggled to function for a moment. I tried not to think it, but it came anyway: I'd give anything in this world to get a phone call from my mother. Alarmed that I really and truly could have a breakdown on the spot, I quickly and viciously recovered myself; I doubt he even noticed the need for it. By the time the waitress brought our meal, I'd already pushed the experience into my memory--it was just one more experience to add to the collective parade of atrocities that is September for me.

I know I wasn't the only one who sobbed today over my mother's lonely collapse into a private hell 14 years ago, but I wish I had been, especially since I can't literally hold onto my hurting brothers and sisters tightly right now.

Call your mother, I beg you. And your father.

Head's Down

Hi, remember me? Sorry I've been so quiet; I'm wrapped in my world and totally in my head right now. I've spent the last few weeks buried in work, karate, family and friend troubles, and minor health issues. I've had a ton of major and minor IT problems and challenges to deal with, I'm trying to prepare to test for my brown belt in karate next weekend, I've been trying to help several of my friends and family whose lives have been in turmoil, and on top of fighting off a minor cold, I battled the first bad migraine I've had in year--for three whole days. Plus, I'm just trying to make it through another September alive, a task which isn't as easy or as flippant for me as it may sound. I've kept a grueling schedule with little sleep and even less rest or peace.

I sort of came up for a breath yesterday and looked around. I was slightly awed by all that has happened already this month and how much I still have to endore. It scared me enough that I'm headed back down huddled in my head again. I'm truly thankful for my support system; undoubtedly, I could not do this repeatedly without these people I love. 

I wonder if I'm destined to fight September for the rest of my life.