Comfort

14 November 2007, 11:32 pm by Giggles
Categories: Musings, Questions

Today I am thinking about comfort things. As I was getting dressed this morning I thought to myself that I wanted to wear my purple shirt to work today because purple is a comforting color. Then I wondered where that thought came from. It is a comforting color though. Yet my favorite color is green. I’ll also put on soft jeans, an old t-shirt, and sport or fuzzy socks for comfort too.
There are several things I do or get when I want some comfort. I have a blanket that I’ll wrap up in. It’s bright tropical colors and I call it “piña coladas in coconut shells.” It makes me think of taking a vacation on a beach.

Ice cream, or chocolate chip cookies, or letter soup, or french fries, or homemade chicken soup, or homemade bread, are all foods I’ll eat for some comfort.

I have some songs I like to listen to that calm me down. There was a time where I watched While You Were Sleeping every day because it was comforting. I grab Purple Kitty sometimes too. Even sewing can be comforting, or grabbing a book I’ve read before.

The smells of lavender, lilac, or Glade’s angel whisper candle are comforting smells. A bubble bath or my bed are comforting. An embrace from someone I love is comforting. Sometimes just hearing from someone is comforting, as is reading what they have said in the past in a letter or email.

I don’t know that any of it makes much sense as to why it is comforting. Some of them seem to be associated with comforting memories, but not that many. What things comfort you?

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Reset

13 November 2007, 11:20 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life

Wouldn’t it be nice if life were like a video game and had a reset button? There are some things that I would like to go back and try again because I know I could do better at them if I had a second chance. I’d like a re-do on certain things, certain days. There are also those things that I’d like to go back and do again just because they were so much fun too.

If anyone figures out where the reset button is on life, let me know.

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A bit of this and a dash of that

12 November 2007, 10:36 pm by Giggles
Categories: Learn Something, Random

While searching for things to write, I decided to go learn something, since I haven’t written anything in that category for a while. This is what I learned about what happened on this day in history:

  • 764 – Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days. This stood out to me because now it’s the other way around, and it’s been that way for a lot longer than fifteen days.
  • 1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic. I’m really glad someone finally figured out how to knock people out for surgeries.
  • 1933 – Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster. And how many unknown photos are there?
  • 1981 – The Space Shuttle Columbia becomes the first spacecraft to be launched twice. Space stuff is cool.
  • Aguste Rodin was born in 1840. I love his Thinker.
  • Pope Boniface III died in 607. Popes are just interesting, I think.

In other news: I like my legs. I have good legs. They look nice. If you don’t notice the knees so much, they work quite well too. I went for a four mile run/jog this evening without any trouble. And the best part about my legs – they’re long enough to reach the ground.

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Well that settles it.

11 November 2007, 10:39 pm by Giggles
Categories: Musings

I have had several thoughts about what to write about today, trying to make it a bit more of a reflective writing since it is Sunday.

The blogs of several other people inspired me in a few directions. Kate wrote about accepting herself, and that got me thinking about the thoughts I think about myself. Maybe I’ll have to write about that one of these days.

Dave wrote about homesickness for things other than home, and that made me think about the Portuguese word “saudades,” which is a concept I love because of all that it entails. But I blogged about that back in June of 2006 when someone had asked me about why there are still things I say in Portuguese when I haven’t been in Brasil since March 2001. I did have to use my Portuguese at work last Monday when I had to call a parent at school and explain a school policy to them. It’s been far too long since I’ve used Portuguese on the phone. I’m sure I stumbled on at least half the words, and I’m almost positive at least ten words actually came out in Spanish.

I also thought about maybe writing about writing letters. And I might still do that.

But as this evening is winding down, I finally decided on something to say.

There are a lot of big changes I’m getting ready to put into motion in my life. Huge changes that don’t exactly seem to make much logical sense, especially considering the timing of them. And a lot of people have questioned what I am doing. It gets very frustrating to have so many people second-guessing me all the time.

So tonight when someone asked me why and I gave them my reason, it was such a huge relief for them to simply say “well that settles it.”

And really, it should settle it. It does for me at least. Yes, I know for those people who have to have a logical or intellectual reason for everything it does not make any sense. But luckily for me, I believe in faith. So I do not have to rely on the fallible logic of man.

I know that this is what I am supposed to do right now. No, I do not know all the details. No, I do not know exactly how I’m going to make it all happen. All I know is that this is the right choice for me right now. And I have that information from the highest authority there is.

So for me, that settles it.

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A few pointers

10 November 2007, 11:42 pm by Giggles
Categories: Relationships

I saw an article on the internet recently about seven ways for guys to show modern chivalry. It suggested such things as having a plan for a date when you ask someone out, calling within a day or two after the date, driving safe, turning off your cell phone while on the date, compliment on things that aren’t superficial, using physical contact appropriately, and being able to handle group dynamics. All of those things are excellent suggestions.

I should like to offer a few specifics to those suggestions.

It is only appropriate to call someone by a nickname to their face if you actually know the person, including their real name. It is not clever or impressive if, rather than asking someone their name, you immediately start calling them a mildly offensive nickname. You earn negative points for doing so, and when I turn my back to you, that should be sign enough that I wish for no further interaction with you.

More than just having a plan for a date, develop that plan more than 30 minutes before the trying to set up the date. I do have a life. I am not available at the drop of a hat. And this is especially true of first dates. Doing things last minute is what you do when you hang out with good friends. It is not what you do for a date with someone you barely know.

Talking on your phone the entire drive to the destination is not only bad driving, it’s rude. And when you are talking to a former girl-friend on the phone the entire drive to the destination, well, that’s just tacky.

While giving a compliment on something that is not superficial is good, make sure that compliment does not insult another thing that is also not superficial.

There are times when I wonder if there is a sign on me inviting all guys who have no idea what they are doing to practice with me. But I have also had some absolutely incredible dates. Those dates showed that there had been thought involved in the preparation because the date involved something that was specific to me. I’ve been to group events with a date, where even if there was a possibility I had already met everyone there, my date took the time to introduce me to everyone again. I’ve been on dates that involved practically no more money than the gas to get there, and I’ve been on dates where tickets to the event we attended were $30-$50 each. The money involved did not make it good. What made it good was the company I was with.

So while there are those guys who cross my path who could use some serious help, it’s nice to think back to the guys who really knew what they were doing. I need to find more of the latter.

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Politics as usual

9 November 2007, 11:10 am by Giggles
Categories: Politics

I decided I would need to add a new category to my blog today – Politics. As I was adding it, I had the option of making it a subset of an already existing category. The thought crossed my mind to make it a subset of my venting category. The thought struck me as funny. So for now, politics will be something specific I vent about. It seems fitting.

The Utah Legislature is giving themselves a raise again. I wish I could do that, instead of waiting for the Utah Legislature to give me a raise. They should only be allowed to give themselves a raise if every other government and public works employee gets an equal raise. So that would mean all police, fire fighters, teachers, all of them.

The newspaper ran an article today detailing the raise, as well as all of the other add-ons the politicians give themselves. For today’s blog, I will go through and detail all the things that seem wrong with that. To read the article: 7.7% Pay Hike is Pushed for Utah’s Legislators.

  • The politicians get $54 a day for food. What in the world are they eating? That’s about half my monthly budget for food. We have how many starving people in this state? It would make more sense for them to just turn in receipts, but only for those meals that actually relate to business. And they need to justify the business that occurred.
  • The politicians get $90 a day for hotels, even if they sleep at home. That’s just wrong right there. I understand that many of them come in from all parts of the state for the 45 days of the session and they could probably use a hotel rather than a 2-3 hour drive each way every day. But all the ones who sleep at home, should not be compensated for something they are not using. If they want the money, it should be specified that they must use it on a hotel, and a homeless person has to share the room with them.
  • The politicians are paid for every day of the 45 day session, even though 2 out of every 7 days (Saturday and Sunday) they aren’t working. I don’t get paid for not going to work.
  • The politicians claim that they work more than just those 45 days and so it really isn’t as much money as it seems. Today is Friday. I do not work on Friday. Yet this is the third Friday in a row that I spent almost the entire day at work, not getting paid for it. Not to mention the evenings I work, also that I am not paid for. Suck it up politicians!
  • Utah politicians’ pay ranks in the bottom half of part-time politicians across the nation. Utah teachers’ pay ranks at the bottom of teachers across the nation. Makes ya’ wonder where their values are.
  • The news station is even reporting that it is a study that recommends this raise. How about if someone studies other salaries in Utah to see if they don’t deserve a raise first? Study Finds State Lawmakers Need Raise. Do they need it because everyone else is getting it or because they actually need it? Do they need to jump off a cliff because everyone else is, or just because they actually need to?
  • If they are given extra money, I think it should be to pay for some math tutoring. Because how they can think they are still in line with what their constituents want by voting for vouchers, when 2 out of every 3 of their constituents voted against vouchers, it’s just beyond me.
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Cheering, Yelling, Winning!

8 November 2007, 11:18 pm by Giggles
Categories: Exercise, Happy Things

In five games so far, I haven’t lost my voice. It seems very odd to me because of how loud and how much screaming I do at the games. Maybe somewhere along the lines I’ve learned how to use my voice wisely to get it to do what I want.

Whatever it is, I’m just very glad that BYU keeps winning. I’m also very glad that it is now two games that I haven’t come home resembling a drowned and frozen bundle. It got cold when I was no longer in the mass of people in the stands, but during the game, I was quite comfortable.

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