Loathe:
* Seasonal gym crowders. They’ll start showing up next week and either thinning up and sticking to it (yay!), or thinning out to return next January (boo!), by February. Please, if “getting in shape” is on your resolution list, stick to it! It’s so worth it. Don’t be a seasonal statistic.
Love:
* Theme parks without crowds. I read, horrified, that Disneyland closed twice this week due to reaching maximum capacity. Hard to believe how few people were there when we went last week (4 popular rides in the 2 hours we were there, walked right on 3 of them and a 5 minute wait for 1), and how many people “maximum capacity” might be (2 hour waits for each of the rides we rode) in a place so big. Disneyland on a day like that does not sound like the happiest place on earth to me.
* Well placed encouragement. Fish Whisperer says my female cichlid is well on her way to being better and commended me on doing a great job. I’m not usually needy for praise (yes, I am!!) but sometimes, like in this situation, I had been feeling very discouraged and overwhelmed, and his encouragement meant a lot to me.
* Snug is feeling better. I came home last night and he was out from his self-isolation, weaving himself around the kitchen table legs. I scratched his ears a bit, which he leaned into, and then I went upstairs to change clothes. (Back story: For the last couple days, I had been storing a special bowl of food in my rolltop desk that I would bring out and feed him from to keep his sick face out of the “public” food bowl.) When I went upstairs, Tony said he started hearing weird clinking noises and he couldn’t figure out where they were coming from — you see, I had forgotten to close my desk, and Snug took it upon himself to hop up there and feed himself. Snug had been so sick, I wasn’t even certain he had known where I was hiding it. Obviously, he had noticed. Even funnier, there had only been about four morsels of food left in that bowl. Tony pointed out succinctly, “Not anymore…”
* Holiday euphoria. I love the relaxed and easy attitude that everyone has at work when a short work week is book-ended by 4 day weekends. I really wish it could be like that throughout the year. I’ll miss it next week…
* Unused sick time and cool bosses. Both of my bosses told me to leave early, but I fully intended to work my full day today. Then I discovered that I had two hours of unused sick time leftover for this year. Sick time is a “use it or lose it” deal. So, I gave them a heads-up, finished up my work, and after 6 hours on the clock told them that I suddenly felt unwell. They both laughed and encouraged me to please “take care” of myself.
* Facing a 4-day weekend. I love this moment right now and wish I could stop time just to hold this anticipation in my hands a bit longer.
One Last Thing:
It’s been quite a year here in the House of JammieJ. When I looked down the binoculars last January toward the end of this year, I saw something completely different. In fact, those pretty pictures I saw in my binoculars turned into an upside down kaleidoscope with pieces everywhere. Several times throughout the year.
Hope and joy have actually been pretty difficult for me to hold onto this year, which eased open the doors of depression and anger. Oddly, last night driving home from work, I felt something that I’m vaguely thinking might be… hope. Hope that next year will be different for us. The cynic in me is standing back, arms crossed, with a bit of a nasty weathered smile splitting its face, trying to stamp it out like wineries do to their grapes. But sometimes the cynic is wrong and, sometimes, through the stomping comes the greatest juice that an oenophile has ever tasted.
That’s what I’m hoping 2011 will be for all of us.
Tony somehow scored free tickets to the Lakers game tomorrow night. Assuming that they’re legitimate (they should be, but I’m always suspicious of free), looks like we’ll be trying to touch the back of Kobe’s head on New Year’s eve. If you watch the game, look for us. We’ll be the two goofheads wearing purple jerseys in honor of our team. I’m sure you’ll recognize us!
With that, I wish you a Happy New Year!
Jammie J's Quest 