youthmystique

My fiancé and I have talked about our hobbies a lot before in the past and we are glad that we both have our own interests. We do have some things in common.

Tonight he’s hanging out with his guys. That’s fine with me. It’s good to have some time to myself to reflect on the day and read. I also like to watch my chick flick shows and movies while he’s away. He usually complains if I want to watch those  kind of things around him. (But he lets me watch them anyway.) I can also call up my girlfriends without annoying him. (I talk loud on the phone. It’s hard to watch TV in a one-bedroom apartment when someone is talking loudly in the other room.)

Time apart from each other is also healthy. It would be bad if we were in each other’s faces all of the time.

Photo credit: musicologynyc.blogspot.com

This is the second election I have been able to vote. In the 2004 election I voted for Kerry because I was not a Bush fan. I came to find Kerry wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box either.

I was watching 60 Minutes last night and the reason I voted for Obama was reconfirmed. I enjoyed hearing that he wasn’t always rich. I learned he worked as a community organizer in Chicago for $13,000 a year. I’m not sure how long he worked in that job and I can understand why he didn’t stay in it.

I’m sure that some things may get exaggerated and issues get spun in Obama news stories like any other, but it was good to see the interview with his wife, Michelle. They admitted that Barack’s campaign has put a bit of a strain on the marriage.

It’s very apparent why Obama is so likeable. He’s very charismatic. When he talks, I want to listen to what he has to say. He’s a family man and last but not least he’s very confident. I am hoping that confidence helps him succeed with the issues in America he has to take care of.

It’s also to see why people support Obama so much. He’s the American dream: someone overcoming hardships like his family not having much money, his parents’ divorce, etc. You don’t really hear about McCain struggling during his childhood but he did have the hardship of being a prisoner of war. I was just ready for a change in Washington and in America. I am glad to take part in an amazing part of history: our first African American president.

I’m excited to see what Obama does during his term. I may or may not vote for him again. We will see.

Photo credit: www.ahajokes.com

In church a long time ago I was taught that Sundays were supposed to be “The Sabbath,” the day of celebrating God’s work. This meant going to church and having some time for reflection.

I admit I don’t go to church anymore. I believe in God but since I was forced into religion it has left a bad feeling with me. Maybe I will go again someday. I will get married in a church.

My mom, grandmother and aunt all go to church. My mom doesn’t exactly follow the “do nothing but think about God on Sunday” rule. She irons clothes, mows the grass, washes and waxes her car.

One time, our cousin came to visit on a Sunday. He saw that my mom was getting ready to mow the grass and said something like “You know today is Sunday. What are you doing?”

I don’t think it’s being a bad Christian by doing work on a Sunday. I believe it is good to pray and to think about God but it doesn’t always have to be on Sunday.

The weekends are really the only time my parents have time to do yard work. They shouldn’t be criticized for that.

Sundays usually mean doing laundry for me. Luckily I did that on Friday so I don’t have to worry about it today.

For me Sundays are all about waking up late, having brunch and relaxing. I used to drive to the office on Sundays to catch up on work. Not anymore. I’ve gotten better at what I do so I don’t have to do that anymore.

I go grocery shopping sometimes on Sundays. Seems like everyone has the same idea I do with that because the store is always full.

Everybody has their different opinions about what they should be doing on Sundays. Do what you think you should do. I’m not going to say it’s bad to do housework or what you feel you need to get done. Work consumes our lives during the week that it’s basically necessary to catch up on errands during the weekends.

Photo credit: heavymetaldrummer.spaces.live.com

My work is having a Christmas party today. This will be my last party before New Year’s.

I had planned on wearing this dress that I had left in my closet at my parents’ house. It had a red pattern if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the dress with me when I left my parents’ house.

I have two black dresses. One of them I wore to last year’s work party. I regretted wearing it because it was a bit lowcut and some creepy guy kept on staring at me.

The other black dress is really cool but lowcut as well so I may save that for a time I go out with my girlfriends.

I  found a classy, cool dress at Banana Republic today. Everything was half off so I only paid $50 for the dress. I figure that I can wear it again at work.

I want to be taken seriously and not have people thinking “What is she wearing?” Sure, I can dress young when I’m around my friends and at weddings. It’s good to cover up the cleavage at work get-togethers.

To top it off, I have red heels to wear with the dress.

I’ve been  MIA lately due to the holidays. I had four Christmas parties the other week.

A while ago I blogged about how I needed my e-mail and it wasn’t working at my job. Well, I’ve been having other problems with technology lately.

One of the folders I needed on my server at work got renamed during one of my deadline days. I thought it was completely gone and had been deleted. It was not a good day.

Then I was driving to see my parents and my CD player in my car spit out my Paramore CD and said it was a bad disc. It does this all of the time but it annoys the crap out of me! It wasn’t a bad disc. It’s just that my CD player gets sensitive to specks of dust or scratches.

This evening I was doing laundry and again, technology has kicked me in the butt. I went to get my clothes out of the dryer in my apartment building and noticed all of the lights were out in the hallway except for the emergency lights. The laundry room lights weren’t working either. And…of course my laundry was not dry at all.

So I guess that’s Technology 4, Loislane 0. Sometimes I just want to take electronics and smash the crap out of them like in “Office Space.” (They smash the fax machine. Or is it the copy machine?)

I’m waiting for my laptop to blow up……

What do I want for Christmas? Well, a lot of people want material things  like an Ipod Touch or a high definition TV. All I want is to enjoy my family for more than a couple of hours.

I love my job. I wouldn’t work overtime and put so much effort into if I didn’t. Problem is since I have moved away from home, work has taken up weekends and holidays.

My parents’ and my brother’s job has also taken up holidays and weekends. It’s hard for us to plan a family gathering where everyone is going to be there because of our crazy schedules.

Life is so short I just wish I had a little bit more time off to spend it with the people I really care about.

The last time our family was together was Thanksgiving so I am excited to see everyone again. I always look forward to the holidays just not the running around and rushing.

I went to four Christmas parties this week and man am I ever tired!

At work we had our office party. Then I went to a Christmas party for the organization I belong to. Then I went to my future brother-in-law’s party Friday and last night I went to our friends’ wine Christmas party.

My advice to those of you that have holiday parties to attend, try to plan your gifts and wardrobe ahead of time. That way you’re not running around and stressing right before the party.

Also, you may want to grab a bite to eat before the party, especially if you are planning on drinking. Drinking water during the party is also a good idea. I should have had a lot more water last night. I don’t feel sick or anything today, just tired and a little dehydrated.

Partygoers should also be careful about drinking different kinds of alcohol. I came across a few people last night that were drinking wine and then beer. They were pretty sick. Watch your shots too. Those can have an effect on you in a hurry.

And always, have a designated driver or stay over at the party.

I slept until 1 p.m. today. That is the latest I’ve slept in a looong time.

Winter is an awesome thing when you’re still in school. A snowstorm or sleet usually means a delay or snow day for children. They get to have fun sledding and making hot chocolate.

Not for us working folks though. There’s not really a snow day when you have work to do.

Sometimes it’s easier to leave from work early if the weather’s going to be bad. Not really for journalists though. The news never stops. Sometimes the weather is the news.

We had some sleet in the area I work in yesterday. I was really nervous about driving but luckily since we had rain, it was just slushy. We had snow earlier in the week and that was scary when I was on some back roads.

Guess it’s time for me to accept that winter is basically here. I just get annoyed because whenever we have bad weather, it’s not enough to keep us inside for two days. It’s just enough to be a nuisance, to make driving miserable.

I’m not a person that exercises all of the time, but I do like to occasionally take walks outside the apartment and go to the park. I can’t really do that in this weather.

What about you? Does winter annoy you or do you like it?

Our work e-mail has been down for the past two days. It finally came back on today.

I can’t explain to you how frustrating it is not to have e-mail as a member of the media. How am I supposed to get news tips, event listings or other correspondence?

Freelancers also submit their by e-mail. I had to call our freelancers and give them my alternate e-mail address.  It wasn’t a big deal because I don’t mind talking to most of the freelancers.

I felt so lost the last couple of days. I’m used to getting at least 40 e-mails a day. Most of the time they are about accidents, road work and Google alerts. And the scams telling me that some rich person died in Nigeria or England or wherever and left me a bunch of money.

E-mail is just so convenient even for our office communication. Managers send us messages keeping us updated on policies and other things we need to know about. It’s so much easier sending an e-mail than walking 10 feet to someone else’s desk.

I pray that my e-mail stays connected so I’m not in the dark again.

MTV usually irritates me but one show I do love on that channel is “The Hills.”

I get wrapped up watching girl drama because I am not involved in it.

For those of you who don’t know, Whitney, one of Lauren’s loyal friends, is moving to New York and is going to star in her own reality TV show, “The City.”

It was hard to watch Lauren and Whitney say goodbye last night. I was tearing up. They’ve been so supportive of each other with their fashion careers and friend drama situations and now they will be on two different coasts.

Whitney is one of the girls on “The Hills” that I have a lot of respect for because she doesn’t get annoyed over little stupid things. I am happy that she’s moving on in her career and trying something new. I am wondering if this reality show of hers will be as popular as “The Hills.”

Is Whitney strong enough for this show? I don’t know about that. I hope that she is. She’s going to be in the limelight a lot more now.

I am also curious on what kind of challenges she will overcome in the new show. I don’t know about other fans of the show, but it seems like a lot of career opportunities just kind of fall into Whitney’s lap. I am excited to see how she handles the new job and if things seem to go as easy.

Player Brody Jenner, another person on “The Hills,” is going to have a spinoff, “Bromance.” I guess it’s kind of going to be like Paris Hilton’s new bff. I don’t think I will be that interested in this show. But who knows.