Hunger Games- my thoughts

So now that I have a Kindle, I have been reading books in record time. Finished the Hunger Games books.

I thought they were entertaining, but, as usual, overrated. Especially the last book.

I think the thing that bugged me the most is how... whiny... the main character is. She's not a very strong female character. I kept waiting for her to man up, stop feeling sorry for herself, and kick some ass. She was pretty much forced to kick any of the ass she did kick, with people coddling her the whole way.
The way she keeps blaming all the deaths on herself... it's a freaking revolution, bitch. People die in revolutions. It was going to happen eventually anyway. They are not all directly related to you. So stop being such a weenie whiner and start being a leader.

And then I got to thinking, maybe that's what the writer wanted- to portray the other side of this type of character. To shed light on how hard it is so be in that kind of situation and still care about and worry about your loved ones, and how a support system is crucial.

But anyway, the books were entertaining and, apparently, thought-provoking.

be nice to people

So this is Christmas... Eve. When did this sneak up on us?

Things are new this year. We're starting new traditions. I have to work tomorrow, and so does my brother in law. Instead of waking up hungover at the ass-crack of dawn and tearing through presents with one hand and sipping spiked coffee with the other, we are waiting until the evening to have a nice dinner and open gifts. How very adult-ful of us.

It's a little sad that this is the first year we have to break tradition. But, it was bound to happen eventually, with all of us growing up and moving away and whatnot.

Instead of feeling the Christmas cheer, or even greed, I find myself a little detached- standing back from it all and just feeling incredibly grateful. I'm surrounded by an un-falteringly wonderful family, an amazing fiancee who returned from a war zone unharmed and ready to marry the shit out of me, understanding friends, supportive coworkers...

There are plenty of shithead people in this world, but there are also a ton of incredible people. It feels like I'm surrounded by all of them.

And I feel like I don't deserve it.

I'm not an especially kind person. I used to be, before the stresses of the world made me crabby and tired, and, overall, I slowly started caring a lot less about people. I used to be the girl that was always smiling, always had energy, always went out of my way to help or listen, always ready to give, always had a way to brighten someone's day.

Now, I'm the one who's flicking you off when you're driving too slow, scowling when you've held up the line at the grocery store, blowing you off when you need a hand. Holy crap, when did I become such a bitch? What happened to the kindness of stangers?? When and why did I become this person?

I was browsing pinterest the other day and caught this: 

The pinner had placed it next to her door so she'd see it on her way out every day, as kind of a daily motivation.

And I thought of how I'd change things if I had that near my door. I certainly work hard, but I'm not especially nice to people. I've noticed the harder I work, the less nice I am to people. And I also decided that there's no reason I can't work hard and also be nice to people. It's just got to become a habit again.

Maybe it's time to re-learn how to be one of those incredible people that I'm surrounded by.

sickly

Do I know my body, or do I know by body? I knew I was going to get sick.

I woke up this morning about 30 minutes before my alarm went off, in a state of fever-induced shivering. Still, I forced myself out of bed and figured that I might feel better once I got to work and started moving around.

Nope. Awful decision. I spent the most miserable hour and a half of my life at work before my boss got Andrea to come in- on her day off. I felt so bad making her come in. But I haven't been this sick in a long, long time.

When I got home I took my temperature (103) and fell into bed. I woke up a few hours later and took some medicine, and I could literally feel the heat leaving my body as the fever slowly went down.

I'm feeling ridiculously better now that it's under 100, and I'm not sure if it's run its course or if the medicine is just still working. I still can't shake this headache though.

I figure it's just a random bug that I happened to catch. Hopefully it's a 24-hour thing, because no one wants to be sick around Christmas.

hey ya

Christmas party at work today. I may bitch about my job, but at the end of the day I've got some amazing coworkers and a kickass boss.

I feel like I'm definitely going to get sick. That achey, tired, slightly headachey feeling that comes the day before you get a massive cold or flu. Drinking tons of fluids and plopping some airborne into my drinks, lots of vitamin C. I don't want to get sick!

Reading the second Hunger Games book on my new Kindle. I love that thing. One-handed reading and page-turning. Diggin' it.

Still smitten every time I get a glimpse of my ring. Reaching for something, making a turn in the car, putting it back on after a day in the lab. I'll just notice the sparkle when I'm doing everyday things.
It's not only that it's absolutely stinkin' gorgeous, and sparkly and so damn perfect, it's the thought behind it, the idea that it represents. Still takes a few seconds to sink in. Gah, I'm so happy. I'm so lucky to be so happy.

Anyway, enough shmoop.

I just overheard my mom talking to my sister: "This year is going to be epic. People are going to be going apeshit over this 2012 thing. I can't wait to see all the crazy people!"

here & there

You know it's time to shave your legs when your boyfriend  fiancee gets a good look at them and says, "Good Lord, woman!" To my credit, this is the first time he's noticed and I haven't shaved them in several months.

Like most of us, I've been trying to get my Christmas shopping done. I've still got a few stragglers, mostly because I have no idea what to get a few people. I usually don't have this much trouble trying to find gifts.

Nothing much else new. Only been working 3 days a week so there are no crazy work stories. Been spending as much time as I can with Chris and it's so nice. This morning I woke up sandwiched between him and Pumpkin and feeling quite content. I could get used to that.

Meh, have to get up for work tomorrow. Meh.

oh, happy day.

This weekend was fantastic.

Chris came home a day early and surprised me. I came home from work Thursday and when I opened the door, I saw a camouflage backpack on the floor and some boots. And just like that, he was home.

We planned a trip to San Antonio just to get away and take a mini-vacation. So we spent some time on the riverwalk and had a fun, relaxing weekend. It was like he never went away; again, he just fit right back in where he was supposed to.

And, also, because it's late and all of the details aren't that important anyway...

Someone got engaged this weekend!

Completely caught me off guard, wasn't expecting it. Absolutely thrilled.
I adore that man, for so many reasons.

Requisite picture of the bling:

click to enlarge-- do it!

The picture does not do it justice. It's absolutely gorgeous. I love it, it's perfect. I never want to take it off. It sparkles like a holiday. Holy crap, I'm engaged. I love it.

My family's reactions were awesome. Amazing. Champagne on the back porch on a Sunday night- that's how we roll.

I just... no words are happy enough to describe this.

yeah babay

Today I ran. My goal was 6 1/2 minutes. It's in the 50's, nice and cold, so I learned from past experience and put on chapstick beforehand, covered up my ears, and stuck a couple of tissues up my jacket sleeve.

I warmed up with brisk walking to a peppy song. Then I started to jog.

At first, it wasn't bad. Then at about 3 minutes I felt like I wanted to die. I was tired, I was chilly, my muscles were stiff, it was hard to breathe, every part of me was yelling- no it was more like whining- stopppp. There was no way I'd make it to 6.5 minutes. But I kept going. This feeling continued up until about 5:45, when I started to feel less like I wanted to die and my body got warmed up and started running on autopilot.

Then as I hit 6 minutes, I knew I'd be able to make my goal. Then I hit my goal, and didn't immediately feel like I needed to stop. So I kept going, feeling good. I'd zone out and check the time every 30 seconds or so, assessing how I felt and deciding if I wanted to stop or not. At about 8 and a half minutes, I really, really wanted to stop. But I figured I went this far so I kept it up until I had ran an even 9 minutes. Then I slowed to a brisk walk, and felt like I wanted to barf. But I didn't. I breathed instead.

And I felt proud that I had run that long.