Anyone who hates Holden Caulfield is ok by me


I have got to get out of customer service. I spent nine hours today answering the telephone and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I have too artistic a temperament (that means I'm neurotice as hell) to deal with the general public day in and day out. They all ask the same things over and over again and I end up feeling like the substitute teacher whom none of the students will listen to.

But anyway. No one wants to hear about a bad day at work. Any fool can write about that.

I have a birthday coming up, one where I will become 23. I'm glad, because 22 never felt right for me. I never really felt 22. 21, yes, 22, not so much. 23 feels like it's going to be a good fit...

[CSY]

Killed With Kindness



I have this group project in one of my classes that has driven me crazy this past week. Absolutely crazy. I got very frustrated with one of my group mates in particular. She is incredibly sweet and nice, but English is not her first language and there was a failure to communicate all around. We had to have a last minute meeting this afternoon (on a Sunday! A beautiful, sunny Sunday! My one day a week when I have absolutely no where to be and nothing to do!) in the school computer lab, and I was not pleased. In fact, I was so not pleased that I was extra bitchy and sour to both of my group mates, and Failure to Communicate in particular.



Once we got everything pretty much sorted out, and I was about to bolt out the door, Failure to Communicate says, "I have something for you two."



Oh no, I thought, here it comes. She then handed me an invitation to her wedding reception.



Oh my god. I almost cried. I felt like the most hateful, horrible person in the world. I wanted to take back all the horrible thoughts I'd had and all the impatience I'd exhibited and hide it under a bushel somewhere. Failure to Communicate had completely killed me with kindness, and I was incredibly humbled.



I guess this is a reminder to slow down and keep working on the whole being a good person thing. And to never underestimate the power of a killing kindness.

[CSY]

It was one of those days where no one seemed to hear anything I said.



Customer: Tell me about the such-and-such arrangement.



Me: The such-and-such arrangement comes in two sizes, $48 and $58. The $48 one serves 2-3 people. The $58 one ser---



Customer: How much does the such-and-such arrangement cost?



Me: (almost shouting) $48 and $58!



And so on and so forth.



Things did get better once I left work, but I'm mostly sleep deprived at the moment, so it's been loopy and surreal. I'm forcing myself to stay up until at least 9 so I don't end up wide awake at 3am.



And if I can get my mobile phone tool program to work correctly, I'll post a picture or two from Easter and Rob's birthday real soon.

[CSY]

Today was pretty much pointless.

You?

[CYS]

I met a guy last night who shares an exact birthday with my husband. Same day, month and year. I have two friends who share my birthday, but we all belong to different years. And when I was IDed last week at Front Page News the waitress said, "May 21? That's my birthday!" But again, she was a different year.


The weird thing about knowing someone with your birthday is that you already feel a strange cosmic connection to them. Like you already know half the things in their brain, and vice versa. And it really is sort of true to an extent. This guy who shared my husband's exact birthday and I totally hit it off, even before the big birthday reveal. Which makes you start to wonder about all the unknown and unexplained cosmic forces in this world, and what kind of pull they really have.


I'm just saying.

[CSY]

Power is my drug of choice

Yesterday I spent quite a few hours down at the Capitol, waiting for the photo op with the governor (and shy girl that I am I made sure I was standing right behind his chair) and participating in a “press conference.” Except, you know, there wasn’t any press. So it wasn’t really a press conference, just about fifty people milling around in the rotunda listening to “Able” Mable Thomas speak. It was, to be perfectly truthful, an embarrassment.



Rob got the first four episodes of “Big Love” for me to watch, and I am totally loving that show. Entertainment Weekly (EW) has proclaimed that we are living in the Golden Age of Television, and I have to agree. There’s some damned good writing on a lot of shows right now; sustained story arcs and character development---the very things that make me swoon. Maybe it’s because I don’t really read fiction anymore that I’ve come to rely on television to provide me with engrossing make-believe, or maybe it’s because television has the most engrossing make-believe out there. Regardless, Everyone: Go watch television! You won’t be sorry.



But back to yesterday and my day at the Capitol. I got to shake Governor Perdue’s hand and tell him my name before the photo was taken, and I have to tell you, as much as I may not be a Republican or an Old Guard Southerner or a Neo-Con or any of the many other things you can say about Georgia’s governor, I did, in that moment when our hands met, get the sweet little thrill of having touched a powerful man.



I love power. I’m ambitious, and ambition is power foreplay.
I get a thrill from being around power, and an even bigger thrill when I get to touch power, and the biggest thrill of all when I am in power. I love all kinds of power, including, but not limited to, the power of authority, the power of knowledge, political power, celebrity power and, in our culture, the most powerful power of all, money. I’m distrustful of anyone who claims not to care about power. They are either a) lying or b) have always had enough power that they don’t even know they possess it, and would probably be very inconvenienced and upset if they suddenly found themselves truly powerless (see: privilege, white or male). A love of power is not a polite thing to profess in progressive or liberal circles, but I can’t help it. I love power.

[CSY]

Much Ado About a Hairdo


Yes, I live in the 4th District of Georgia, the very district represented by the Honorable Cynthia McKinney (D). No, I did not vote for her; she ran unopposed in 2004 and so I was able to conscientiously abstain by leaving that portion of the ballot screen blank. Yes, she has always been this way. No, I can’t explain her appeal. Yes, she will probably be reelected. And yes, the “much ado about a hairdo” is a direct quote from McKinney. I saw it on the news this evening.

Elsewhere in the world of politics, I’m gonna be in a photo with Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue tomorrow morning.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Yeah, that's what I thought.
Originally uploaded by casetheplace.

This is what I'm looking like these days. And yes, I do have that much attitude.