Archive for October, 2008

Happy Halloween!

{ October 31, 2008 @ 1:01 am } · { Holidays }
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It is officially the holiday season! I won’t even terrify (ha ha) you with the number of shopping days until Christmas… As anyone who wasn’t born under a rock can see, Halloween falls on a Friday, which only makes me speculate on the level of debauchery that will take place this weekend. When Halloween falls during the week is seems like people generally maintain some level of restraint. Not true when it falls on the weekend. I believe the last time Halloween fell on a weekend I was living in my first apartment and the complex management made trashcans full of Hooch. Almost every tenant, young and old, could be found in the clubhouse dancing, humping strangers, stumbling to the grass to puke, or staring in wide-eyed terror (Okay, I was the only one doing that… I was 18! Give me a break!).

I heard that the sale of slutty outfits is up 23.8% this year. (Actually I made that up, but it seems a reasonable guesstimation.) Halloween is like that anyway; a night/weekend that people flaunt their inner fantasies. Like one year, I dressed up as Princess Zelda. Oh wait… forget you read that. And just ask Beth what she was going to be for Halloween this year… And Redden, he is going to be an ice ninja. (Very rare with the onset of global warming). So answer me this my friends, what are you going to be for Halloween this year?

Have a great weekend everyone and keep those cameras close; you know there are going to be great That Ain’t Right photo ops everywhere!

W T F

{ October 17, 2008 @ 4:18 am } · { Life }
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What the heck am I doing up at 6am on my day off? I drank beer, went to bed late (obviously earlier than some… Ariana)and made the bedroom the perfect temperature – everything right to grant myself a fabulously long night of sleep. Yet here I am, wide awake. Those of you who have been talking to me recently or keeping up with this blog, know that I have had a string of early mornings. Celeste recommended Ambien, but I am scared of that stuff. Sleep eating? Yeah, that is what I need… to wake up with my hand stuck to a spoon at the bottom of a half gallon of ice cream. Ack! Lactose intolerant!! But seriously, kind of… does sleep eating also include sleep ordering pizza or China King? See if I did sleep eat at my parents house I would end up sleep eating a salad becaused everything they have around here is healthy. Way to go M&D (who will be reading this later, in horror, thinking Oh gosh… she is LIVING in our house) for protecting my non-existent, future, Ambien use.
The other reason Ambien scares me is because you can have the perfect night of sleep while on it, then the next night you pay for it with the worst night of sleep of your life. The few times I have taken Ambien to help me sleep, the next night I distinctly remember thinking, OMG (yes, I think in acronyms), I am never going to sleep again!
So I am at a loss on what to do… Ari has recommended another sleep aid, yet I think my needs are more basic (or less so, Ha!) – my tempur-pedic mattress, body pillow and the sweet sound of silence.

TGITh

{ October 16, 2008 @ 7:21 am } · { Life }
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Oh that blessed day is upon us. One that is quickly becoming one of my favorite days of the week – Thursday. The buzz of the swiftly approaching weekend is in the air and the sugarplums of happy hours, sleeping in, and weekend adventures, dance in my head. The realm of possibility seems expansive.

Life seems especially sweet this Thursday. Over the past couple of weeks I have begun learning a lot about myself. For example, I am a lot stronger than I thought I was. I always knew that I could be strong for others, I just didn’t realize I could be strong for myself. Ari said it best in her blog in regards to spending some time alone. I was really afraid that I would try to occupy my newly acquired free time with lots face time with friends. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done that, but I have also spent some time being with me, if that makes any sense. And I must say, as Ari found with herself, I found that I am actually a pretty great chick to hang out with. I don’t think I have ever spent the time to discover the depths of my thoughts; to truly, objectively, analyze people, situations, and why I feel the way I feel about everything from friends to french fries. Want to know what I have found out so far? Here are a few:

1. I don’t drive nearly as fast when I am not stressed out. If I am calm, I am content to float around town listening to some Brian Vander Ark or other mellow music.
2. I don’t really like watching TV. I always thought I did because I used to do it so much. When Neil and I split, I was so worried about missing all my favorite shows; well, I don’t. I would just as soon talk on the phone, read a book, cook a meal, play a game, or take a walk. I like doing things.
3. In my world, love is a verb. It is not a description or even a feeling. To know love and embrace love, I have to do love. For me, love is a kiss or a hug, love is a touch, love is holding a door open, love is a smile, love is sharing a bottle of wine and laughter, love is a whispered secret. Love is vulnerable and wouldn’t be worth it if weren’t.

The other reason life is especially sweet today is because I am realizing on a whole new level, how wonderful my friends are. Strong bonds are growing stronger and new friends are becoming closer. As I say over and over again, my friends mean so much to me. I am so excited to have the opportunity to grow these friendships.

Today, I feel like I am watching life in color. I love days like this because they put the pain and frustrations of life into perspective. I hope you all have a great weekend and a great Thursday.

Too Good To Pass Up

{ October 16, 2008 @ 7:13 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Follow this link. It just makes my day – the sidewalk chalk picture in particular.

Creepy Crawly Type Of Week

{ October 15, 2008 @ 9:40 am } · { Life, Work }
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Yes, it is one of those weeks… a creepy, crawly, going-by-too-slow kind of week. And that’s pretty bad because my work week is a day shorter than most. It could be because I have been so tired. For example – this morning I woke up at 3am. It is pretty exhausting sharing a bed with a man who snores, talks in his sleep, steals the covers (and the majority of the bed), and randomly kicks from time to time. Don’t get me wrong, I love him more than anything; but this six year old is hell on my sleep cycle! Okay… so its only a minor complaint.

He and I have had a great week together, adjusting to our new routine. Thursday, he and I went to the grocery store then cooked enchiladas together for the two of us and Dad. Later that evening Redden learned the wonder and fun that is Uno. Saturday was a whirlwind of a day. My nieces spent part of the day with us. We went for a car ride then headed to the playground to play knights (er um, knight) and princesses. The evening we settled in for some dinner with Mom and Dad, a puzzle, a comedy and of course, more Uno.

Our Sunday was especially nice. He and I went house hunting (more to come on that), then went for some lunch and football at BW3’s. Below are some of the pictures my budding photographer took. It seems that currently I am his Muse, and I am so okay with that. :) Later that afternoon I took Redden to a friend’s house for some play time. It was a great day.

So I guess this blog got off topic, but really I was just trying to pass some time. And some time has passed. Not enough, but I’ll take what I can get. Here’s to the work week picking up some speed!

My People

{ October 9, 2008 @ 5:33 am } · { Life, Work }
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I came to a realization this morning. I don’t know if this phenomenon just began or if it has always been occurring and I have just been blissfully unaware. I realized this morning that I attract the socially awkward. Not attract in a romantic sense (although I could be unaware of that as well… I would like it to stay that way, thank you very much), I mean that they feel especially comfortable around me. Much as some women are faghags, I am the happy place for the misfit.

I first noticed it this morning when I stopped at Shell to get a much needed jumbo coffee. The clerk (male) was JAMMING to some Donna Summer, complete with the soulful dance moves and a falsetto that could make glass shudder in pain. The young man had clearly gone over the legal coffee limit. As I approached he said, “Well hey there!! How are we this morning??” He clearly felt in his element with me because he kept on dancing. Yes, this is the point that you say, “Katie, he was just a gay man, high on life!” Thing is, I am pretty sure he wasn’t gay. I know I don’t have a gaydar like Ari or Bradley BUT I do have one, and all I got was one Donna Summer lovin’, socially awkward, dude. So on I came to work, giggling to myself.

As some of you know, most of you don’t, I have been sick this week. I finally went to the doctor yesterday morning and discovered that I had the illness that loves me the most – Strep. I went home after that and got some rest. Anyway, back to this morning. I briefly mentioned a maintenance worker in my previous post, the one who gave me the stupid smile. Well apparently, I’m his new BFF. Every morning he stops in and chats me up. Today was no different. He came by and said, “Where’d you go yesterday?” So I told him I had been sick. All day he has been opening doors for me saying, “Well someone has to take care of you.” (Yes, I know it is slightly creepy. For whatever it is worth, I did tell him that my mom got me some soup, to which he replied, “Moms are good like that.”)

And then there are my “running” buddies. Every morning as I run to meet up with Beth and when I separate from her afterwards, two landscape guys – Chris and Larry, yell from wherever they are, “Hey Katie!!” If they are near me in their golf cart they swerve to pretend like they are going to hit me; and occasionally I will be out and about during the day, and they will see me and come say, “Hi!” then stand there without making conversation.

I know what it looks like, but it doesn’t just happen with men, so don’t go there! :) Socially awkward women gravitate towards me too. Granted it doesn’t happen as often (in my opinion because women are less likely to be socially awkward than men), yet still they flock. Don’t get me wrong, I am okay with this. You all know me, I am a lover of all people, weird and weirder. But I am curious, you all are my friends so I think you at least somewhat similar to me; do you find a certain type of person feels your tidal pull?

CCRP Baby!

{ October 7, 2008 @ 1:00 pm } · { Work }
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As most of you know, 3 weeks ago I took a test that was important for future raise and promotion opportunities in my current line of work. It was a grueling 3-4 hour exam and I left not knowing whether or not I would pass. Each day since then, I have been checking the mailbox at work, contemplating what an approval letter would look like. Would it be a large envelope or regular business size? Would the certifying organization show the credentialing on the front or wait to surprise me on the inside.

Today that letter showed up. It was a very ordinary envelope addressed to Kathleen G Bugg. There was nothing grand about it in size or thickness. A feeling of looming washed over me as I convinced myself that this was the, “We regret to inform you…” letter instead of the one I so wished to receive.

I slowly tore into as I became acutely aware of how long the hallway back to my office was. I did not want to read the bad news in the upright position. As I slumped down at my desk I pulled the letter out and began to read,

“Dear Mrs. Bugg,

You scored a passing grade of 84% on the recent Clinical Research Professional Certification Examination given on 9/16/2008…”

What? I gasped! I passed??? I passed!!! Immediately I jumped up from my desk, ran to my doorway, then ran back to my desk to send Beth an IM and to call my mom. I then ran out of my office to tell my boss, who I quickly realized would not grasp the relevance of this profound occasion. A maintenance man stared at me incredulously as I trotted up and down the hallway in a mild state of mania. I finally looked at him and said, “What? I’m happy!” He got a stupid grin on his face and continued to stare. I was not phased by his confusion – it was not his celebration and he was wearing a stupid hat (which I should take a picture of and post as a That Ain’t Right).

So ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I am now a CCRP (Certified Clinical Research Professional). Just call me Katie Bugg, CCRP.

Maiden Katie

{ October 2, 2008 @ 7:47 am } · { Life }
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I have spent the past few days pondering my current situation. One of the things that has come up is the return to my maiden name. Initially I didn’t think much of it. It’s just what a
divorcée does in most situations, right? It made sense to me and I never questioned it.

I have had time to dwell on this and realized that with this return to maiden status, not only my name will need to change, but also my email addresses and blog title. It has been really hard to come up with a clever blog title revolving around the name, ‘Garrity’ so I began thinking towards something involving the word, ‘maiden’. As I amused myself with blog-worlds called, “Maiden Katie’s Court” or “Maiden Kentucky” (ha ha), I thought it would be best to really dive into the definition of maiden. Strangely enough, it defines my situation more than I thought possible.

According to Merriam Webster a maiden is:
1. an unmarried girl or woman: Okay so this is a given. I will be unmarried. But I do wonder if I can really take the maiden status if I have been married, and am no longer married? Ari, I don’t know why, but I feel like you could help me with this one.
2. a former Scottish beheading device resembling the guillotine: I am pretty sure that this is the definition of maiden that Neil would assign to me. He would probably only change one part of it… instead of Scottish, he would say Irish. (I am fairly sure that he still reads this blog and would see the humor in this.)
3. a horse that has never won a race: And finally, for me, the most philosophical definition. Look at it this way. If love is the race, I lost every race before my marriage, and then I lost that race too. It is the race I want to win most. Heck, isn’t that true for most of us? I will leave you with the Supremes and their infinte wisdom,
“I need love, love/To ease my mind/I need to find, find someone to call mine/But mama said/You can’t hurry love/No, you just have to wait/She said love don’t come easy/It’s a game of give and take/You can’t hurry love/No, you just have to wait/You got to trust, give it time/No matter how long it takes…”

Don’t count this filly out just yet; I’ve still got another race or two left in me.

Ewwww

{ October 2, 2008 @ 7:47 am } · { That Ain't Right, Work }
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Ewww… people are gross. For two years, I have worked in the same hallway, and for two years the level of nastiness people expose each other to makes my head spin. Redden just turned six (happy birthday little man!) (yeah thanks, you don’t have to point out the fact that he isn’t reading this) and he does not create the amount of filth that I have encountered here.

More specifically I am talking about the hallway bathroom. There are no patients in this hallway so we can quickly rule out the feeble cancer patient who can’t control themselves completely. (Although I am fairly sure that they do show more respect for common areas than the average employee of the cancer center.)Any given day I will walk in to urine on the toilet, floor, or wall. Seriously, one almost has to be trying to make that kind of mess. Other days I will walk in and it will look like the previous tenant spent a good 15 minutes combing their pubic hair. Still other days the fumes are so bad, Satan is sitting in the corner, taking notes on how to make more noxious brimstone.

If this is what people do at work, what may I ask do they do at home? Are their homes really immaculate and this is just where they come to let it all hang out? Or worse, does their house look and smell like work to the Nth degree?? EW!

Most days I walk in only to throw up my hands, mutter some expletives, and walk right back out to find a less toxic place to relieve myself. Currently, I am planning my passive aggressive counterattack. Any ideas?