bistro

sunday mornings in manhattan are the best part of my whole weekend. no offense to anyone and anything i saw and did, but those few hours before i head back to lawrence are amazing. now, i'm sure you're asking yourself, "why would anyone consider a few hours on a sunday, the last day of the weekend, the best part of their whole weekend?" it's pretty simple, if you think about it.

bluestem! duh. it's the one part of the weekend that's completely chill. no crazy situations. no potential for drama. no drunken fools bumping into you. it's the perfect time to sit, drink coffee with good friends, and reflect on the weekend's activities. granted, the discussions wouldn't be as great if there weren't good times to be had the previous days/nights. but there's a difference between doing something fun, and sharing that experience with other people. especially people who know you very well.

there's nothing better than recounting the night before for someone who wasn't there. you get to paint them this vivid picture of what went down, in the best way you can. there may be a few embellishments here and there for dramatic effect, but for the most part, it's a legit rundown of events totally worth mentioning (within reason, that is).

craig and nikki are my coffee buddies. it's become tradition at this point to meet up at bluestem sunday morning. no matter where we end up at the end of saturday night, we always make sure to meet at the bistro the next morning to compare notes and catch each other up on what's going on. by this point, it's typically craig and i making fun of each other while nikki sits back and watches. it's fun banter we have, craig and i, which does nothing to harm our friendship in the slightest, because we know we're completely kidding (for the most part, anyway). nikki loves it because we spend so much time jabbing each other, she remains completely unscathed. though she does get hers every now and then. that's fun.

another great part about the bistro that carries over from our own rapport with one another is the judgement. yes, we judge. we're not monsters. everyone does it. calm down. don't get me wrong. we don't just sit around and hunt for innocent victims to ridicule. though there are the occasional few people who venture in who are just asking for it. you know the type. for the most part though, we poke fun at each other as opposed to random strangers. that would be a little too mean. even for us. it's all in good fun though and helps maintain a level of sanity. for me, at least.

unfortunately, she's moving in a few weeks, so unless we both happen to come back to manhattan the same weekend, our sunday coffee dates will be no more. that will suck, for sure. though i'm positive we'll manage to make it work somehow. i'm in lawrence, and she's in kansas city, so that will be easy enough for us to meet up. the only hard part will be getting craig to drag himself up to see us. ugh!

atmosphere, food, and judgement aside, i just really enjoy getting together with these two and talking. i don't think that i have enough people in my life that i do that with, or that i can do that with. there are those friends who i talk to daily, so they don't count, because we already communicate well. then there are those who i talk to every so often, have intimate conversations, but don't really amount to much. craig and nikki though, are two of the few friends i have that really get me, and can talk about anything. i don't have to be afraid of saying something stupid in front of them, because they'll just laugh at me and move on. they'll probably bring it up later at some point, but it's all good because that's how we are. i honestly can't recall how this little trio came about, but that was definitely a good day when it did.

grammar

we're all adults now, right? that's something we can all agree on. we may not all feel grown up, but in all actuality, we are grown-ass people. most of whom have gone to school and/or earned at least one degree (so far). congratulations.

how is it then, that so many of us (and by "us", i mean "you") still have such difficulty spelling the simplest of words? it's baffling! i just cannot comprehend it. not one little bit. maybe because i am a journalism major (ok, public relations, but it's in the same school) that i find this phenomenon so hard to believe. or maybe it's because i never really had that much trouble learning how to spell common words. either way, i constantly find myself wanting to run out to barnes and noble or borders or whatever bookstore you frequent, purchase the largest dictionary i can find, and then throw it at those people, forcefully. i don't even want to yell something witty like "learn something," or "what you're feeling right now is pain. p-a-i-n." i just want to hurt them for being so lazy, and not learning the correct spelling of "lightning". (seriously! lightning accompanies a thunderstorm. lightening is to make or become lighter. one is a noun, the other, a verb. learn something!)

the irony here is that during my rant about proper spelling, i will have somehow overlooked a very simple word and thus, be hoisted by my own petard. that would suck. fortunately, i have a handy little spell-checker, so if i was in fact to spell something incorrectly, a red, dashed line would appear beneath it, warning me of my error.

but honestly, how hard is it to educate yourself? it's embarrassing that college graduates still can't tell the difference between "your" and "you're". "their", "there", and "they're" is a completely different story, so please don't get me started. i hate to repeat myself, but i honestly cannot fathom how people get these words confused. yes, they sound alike, and even look alike, but i don't know. maybe i'm just so well-versed in grammar that i can't even imagine for a second being the type of person who writes "their going to meet us at the park." no, no, no! it hurt my brain just typing that. i do not understand.

and i try, i really do, not to correct the misspellings of those around me. it pains me not to comment on someone's facebook status for all to see that they spelled "a lot", "alot". in my effort to teach them a little something, it would come across as more along the lines of "damn, how stupid are you that you don't know that "a lot" is two words?" and that's not fully my intention. it's merely a way to get them to realize their fault, and to hopefully humiliate them just enough that next time, they will double-check themselves before hitting "share" and receiving the same consequence again. man, being a word nazi is fun!

solo

i never fully realize how lonely i am until the weekends. during the week, i have to work, so that takes up a sufficient amount of time. and when i get off work, i'm usually not surrounded by people, but even that's ok because it's a week day, and who wants people around while you're watching quality tv? (just kidding. i do, that's who.)

but come the weekend (ie. friday), if i find myself with absolutely no plans for the evening, it makes me fairly depressed. not in a "woe is me" sort of way, but more like a "damn, this sucks" sort of way. now don't get me wrong. i'm definitely not knocking staying in and relaxing on a friday night. i know plenty of people who do that and might i just say, congratulations on not thinking you are totally friendless. please teach me how to think that.

*side note*

most of these people are either a) married, b) have kids, or c) all of the above.

i can't help feeling though, like a super huge failure at making new friends if i'm stuck inside, by myself, on the first "fun" night of the week. i hate to say i'm lame, but i really can't think of another word that better sums up this lack of social prowess. this could easily be taken that i'm referring to anyone who doesn't go out and get shit-faced on friday night as "lame", which would be wrong. and shame on you for thinking that. i can't judge anyone else's actions as easily as i can judge my own... ok, that's a lie. i can actually do that quite well. however, in this instance, i'm merely describing myself.

it's definitely not for a lack of trying. there are plenty of people that i want to hang out with, and i really do have a good amount of friends in lawrence but they're always busy or have other plans, which puts me no where but at home in front of the tv. everyone's like "oh, just go out by yourself and make new friends," to which i respond "no. that is creepy." could be the best experience of my life, but if i saw some rando walking the bars on a friday night, alone, i would think that's very strange and walk the other way. and is it too much to have someone else want me to go out with them? i hate always being the initiator of plans. it got me through college just fine always planning things, but now that i'm in a new place with a new set of friends, it would be nice to get a call/text saying "hey, a few of us are going out. wanna come with?" to which i would graciously reply, "yes, friend. yes i would."

i don't want this so sound like a pity party, because it's not. why, just thursday night, i went out with some co-workers and their friends and had a great time. but that was thursday. i'm talking about friday here. now, i know there's no rule that says you have to go out on friday or you're a huge pile of suck. and yes, i know that it's society's expectation that one must have the best time of the week on friday night. yet, i can't help but feeling that if i don't follow those unwritten rules, i am indeed becoming someone that no one really needs (or worse, wants) around. sigh. there's always next week.

pilot

well, here we are again. time to take another stab at the old "writing on the internet" thing. fortunately, this time there's nothing to lose. though was there really anything to gain the last? seriously though. a penny per view? are you kidding me?! yeah, examiner. that's a great way to motivate people to write for you. pay them one tiny copper coin for the hours of effort they put into creating something they think is worthwhile journalism. why not pay in shillings, or buttons even? all are worth so much these days.

but i shouldn't begin anew with such a negative tone. this blog is going to be about me. no recapping. no reviewing. it's just about me. honestly, i don't have that much to say about a lot of things, but there are things that i'm sure i could manage to express, and you'll probably find yourself saying "hey, i've thought that same thing." or maybe you won't, but will at least humor me by saying you did.

for a while now, i've tossed around the idea of keeping some sort of journal (insert 'doug' theme song here), because i've had a lot on my mind. with my new job, the move to lawrence, living on my own, relationship bullshit, there's a lot rolling around in my noggin. for those of you who are "lucky" enough to hear about it on an almost-daily basis, it's your lucky day. now you have the option of also reading everything i've already told you! just what you've been hoping for, i'm sure.

in all seriousness, this is going to be a creative outlet. working behind a desk five days a week doesn't do a whole lot for someone with a vivid imagination, so to come home and unload my thoughts, and to do it in an exuberant way, will be a welcomed change. not saying that what i have to say is anything worth writing home about, but if you know me at all, you know how i can take a normal situation, add a bit of snark, a pinch of wit, and an ass-ton of judgement, and make it brand-spanking new (in the best way possible, of course).

while i'm semi-on the topic of "creative outlets" and all that jazz, wouldn't you think a blog, that's supposed to be comprised entirely of your thoughts, be more inclined to let the author design said blog from scratch? what's with these pre-determined layouts, blogspot? and such boring colors, too. not even an opportunity to change the whole page layout. just one or two boxes here and there while leaving the rest to look identical to every tom, dick and harry out there in cyberspace. yeah, that's great. maybe i need to learn a thing or two about this before being too harsh, but until then, harsh is the way to go! good luck getting discovered by oprah now. not gonna lie, it's a bit of a letdown. but i suppose i have to take what i get and go with it. but just know, i'm not happy about it.

oh, and i should mention that it is my dream that some famous hollywood publisher/director/celebrity will stumble across my lowly little blog and turn it into a must-read novel/summer blockbuster/hit tv show. no, really. i dream big.

but for now, this is my start. i'm not doing this for anyone but myself (and that hollywood bigwig). i will write like i talk - mostly truthful, often jumbled, confidently sarcastic - only now, there's no censor. like i said: this time there's nothing to lose.