Category Archives: me!

Keeping busy somehow…

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The only day I worked this week was Monday. Tomorrow, exams start, so I’m probably done for the year.

I’ve been applying for a bunch of freelance writing stuff, hoping to avoid doing any kind of temp work…it’s only a few weeks, really (I’ll be getting paid through the end of this month), and I think I can make it through. The freelance work would help, though. *fingers crossed*

I’ve been meaning to write at least short posts about the books I’ve been reading, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Today, I finished reading a graphic novel, which I’ll post over at Required Reading in the next day or two.

I also went for a walk, helped a friend with a short story she’s working on, applied for some writing jobs, briefly chatted with a couple of people, cooked lunch, hunted down some books in the basement (harder than it sounds!), and caught up on blogreading.

Tonight, I have yoga…we’ve been off for two weeks, so I’m really looking forward to getting back into it!

Getting to know yoooooooou…

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I’m a few days late on this, but this is my response to this week’s “Getting to know you” post at Create a Connection.

Where were you in 1987? In school? Working? Single? Married? Attached? What was important to you?  What were you doing creatively? Tell us a bit about your life then.

In 1987, I was 13 years old. I was attending middle school in St. Marys, PA. I was discovering boys, and discovering how mean girls can be.

Where were you in 1997? What would you like to share about the nineties?

In 1997, I was working my first real job as a newspaper reporter in DuBois, PA. I was also getting over the heartbreak of losing my first real love. The late 90s–my early-to-mid-20–were a pretty rocky time for me. Everything was uncertain in a way that was really hard for me to deal with.

Where did you plan to be or think you’d be in 2007?  Have your realized your goals? What is one thing about your present life you love and one you’d like to change?

Plan to be? Hmmm…I can’t say I ever planned to be where I am now, but I can’t say I wish it had turned out differently! I probably assumed that I would be married with kids by now. I definitely assumed that I would be working a full-time job of some sort, and I didn’t think that I would be teaching. I didn’t think I would be in Buffalo, either, but I have no regrets about the direction my life has taken.

How do you see your life in 2017?   Do you have any goals or dreams for your future?

I guess I don’t expect any radical changes. Personally, I hope to be married and perhaps own a house. Career-wise, I’m not sure…perhaps gainful employment in secondary ed? A freelance career? An MFA in writing, or possibly a Ph.D., with a full-time university position? Decisions, decisions…

Retail therapy

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So, what does a girl do when she’s about to be out of work for a month? Why, she goes shopping, of course…

I didn’t mean to, really. But I’ve got that reunion coming up…and yeah, I’ve got things I could wear, but who wants to wear something old to their class reunion?

I ended up, among other places, at Ann Taylor Loft. And I walked out with this:

It fits beautifully. I was afraid the straps would be too long, but get this–they’re adjustable. Genius.

And it’s even something I can wear to work, if I can find a little sweater or shrug to wear with it (which I think is going to be harder than it should be. I wish I could knit or crochet).

They also had a cute little black eyelet skirt in my size for $15, so I got it. No photo online…I’ll have to take one.

And curse eBay and its evil ways…although I don’t have any occasion to wear this (yet) I keep looking longingly at this. It is stunning. It is exactly what I’ve always wanted. It is CHEAP, even with overseas shipping and insurance. And it’s whispering “Erin, buy me. I can hang in a closet until you need me…” What, you don’t hear it? 😉

You can’t take the sky from me

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Okay, so here’s the story.

I was a fan of Buffy/Angel. I got into Buffy late, but with some coaching from my dear friend Stephanie, I was able to catch up. I watched Buffy faithfully through to the end, but missed the last season of Angel (scheduling conflicts).

I’d heard all the buzz about Joss Whedon’s new show, Firefly, but never did get the chance to see it when it was on the air. Partially because, as we all know, it didn’t last long, and partially because the premise didn’t sound all that appealing to me. (A Space Western? Really? Hmmm…)

Well, I finally watched it, and I’m SO glad I did. It seemed like everywhere we went, someone was telling Rand and me that we had to watch Firefly and we had to do it now. Recently, the series was selling on Amazon for cheap, so we picked it up. And since our regular season shows were dying down, we found the time to watch.

Spoilers may follow. Proceed at your own risk. 😉

Continue reading →

More oldness

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So yesterday, the same day I got mistaken for a 14-year-old, I had a class that was working on a handout. One of the sheets in the handout asked the students to imagine what they would be doing at age 30.

“I’ll be in a retirement home,” one girl snarked.

“Hey, watch it,” I said jokingly, but apparently not jokingly enough. She looked vaguely horrified.

“Relax, I’m kidding,” I said. “I’m 30.”

You know, -ish.

Man, that’s rough. I realize that to a 12-or-13-year-old, 30 is ancient, but ouch!

Old?

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Okay, I may be 15 years out of high school…but yesterday, I got carded, and today–

Well, today I got mistaken for a student. A middle school student. That’ll teach me to walk around without a substitute teacher badge. 😉

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Current read is Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, who so happens to be a sorority sister. Cool! I should finish that today.

Recently finished Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, the first in her “Heather Wells Mysteries” series. As I’ve said many, many times, Meg Cabot is always a great read.

I also finished Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. O’Dell writes stories that are set in the general area of PA where I grew up…not precisely where I grew up, but in the “hey, we played them in football” area. She writes really well about tragedy and dysfunction, creating flawed but utterly human characters.

Also continuing to read and enjoy Daredevil.

Watching: I finally watched the last few episodes of Veronica Mars that TiVo saved for me. I liked the last couple of episodes for an end to the season…but if the show doesn’t come back for another? (the CW is still dangling a shred of hope over our heads…) Then the last episode was unmercifully cruel. Bah.

Movies…I haven’t seen a new movie in the last little bit, but Rand and I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated over the weekend. It seems like we watched a whole bunch of stuff, but I’m having trouble remembering what…oh well.

Listening: As you may have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a Dixie Chicks kick. TiVo recorded their appearance on Austin City Limits, which was pretty cool. I’m still loving “Taking the Long Way.” 🙂

Memorial Day weekend wrap-up

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Well, it was a long and relaxing weekend here–I hope it was the same for you!

On Saturday, Rand and I visited with one of his friends in the Rochester-ish area. We had pizza, listened to music, browsed around Barnes and Noble (where I was sucked in by the bargain books after deciding not to buy anything), and generally had an all-around groovy time.

The rest of the weekend was spent reading, watching DVDs, eating junk food, walking in the park (we saw baby ducks!), sleeping too much, and doing various household-tidying tasks.

I’ve also been up to some writing-related tasks…nothing terribly exciting, but I’ll be giving you more details soon.

I got the invite to my 15-year class reunion, which makes me feel all kinds of old.

That’s it for now. Look for more detailed posts on what I’ve been reading and watching soon. 😉

Once, there was this girl who…

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During the summer of 1994, I was driving around the country teaching cheerleading to middle school and high school students. I worked for Elite Cheerleading Organization, based in Pittsburgh. The company sent us out around the country in groups of 2, 3, and sometimes 4.If you were lucky, you had someone in your group who was 21 or over. You got a nice, shiny, reliable rental car.

If you weren’t, you drove one of the “Elite Fleet.” These were crappy old used cars. IWewere warned about making sure the oil was always full, and told horror stories about what would happen if the oil leaked, drained, or burned away to empty.

The rental cars usually had cassette players in them. The Elite Fleet, well, you were lucky if the radio worked.

When the radio did work, we usually listened to the Top 40/pop stations. Because, well, it was the best compromise. And Top 40 stations are repetitive enough under ordinary circumstances, but y’know, we were driving across multiple states. That means switching the Top 40 station to a NEW one every time we lost the signal. And we were trapped. I mean, sure, sometimes we turned the radio off, and sometimes we got lucky…I remember one trip with a girl named Cindy. Our conversation went something like this:

Cindy: So, what do you want to listen to?

Me: Um, I dunno. Whatever.

Cindy (tentatively): Well, I kinda like…um...country.

Me: No way! Me too! Squee!

Not that we didn’t get sick of that eventually, too…but at least it was something different.

As a result, most of the songs that were on the radio that summer make me want to run screaming from the room. I browsed through the weekly charts from that summer to jog my memory. Here’s some of what I’m talking about:

All I Wanna Do (Sheryl Crow)
Fantastic Voyage (Coolio)
Here Comes the Hotstepper (Ini Kamoze)
I Swear (All 4 One)
I’ll Make Love to You (Boyz II Men)
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm (Crash Test Dummies)
Wild Night (John Mellencamp)
Mr. Jones (Counting Crows)
Regulate (Warren G)
Shine (Collective Soul)
Baby I Love Your Way (Big Mountain)
Don’t Turn Around (Ace of Base)
Crazy (Aerosmith)
Round Here (Counting Crows)
Tootsee Roll (69 Boyz)

Now, whether or not I would have liked these songs under ordinary circumstances is irrelevant. Some songs from that summer didn’t stick with me…I can barely remember them. Others, I don’t mind so much. These, for whatever reason, have been burned into my brain until the end of time. That All 4 One version of I Swear? *shudder* 5 weeks at number one.

So, what songs have you wished would get sucked into a black hole of oblivion, never to be heard from again? 🙂