“If you can’t stop thinking about
it, you shouldn’t stop working for it”
– Random Internet
Article
This week I have been dreaming of London. Can’t seem to get
it out of my head.
A few months ago I stumbled over a brilliant designer that I
had never heard of… Antonio Riva. I LOVE his stuff. LOVE it. All in satin,
these gowns are completely stunning. At work this week I was wandering through
some of my favorites and found the link again. I noticed that he has showrooms
in Japan, Russia and Italy. That is so NOT a good sign. What makes it even
worse… no prices listed online and no way to purchase. If you have to ask… you can’t
afford it. So I have officially decided that it is time to meet a prince.
Harry? (Is that too much red hair? I have a feeling it is) I somehow have to
pull a Grace Kelly in order to ever get one of those dresses. Also… I would
like to have to wear gowns like this to events. Like the Met Gala for example.
If I ever go to the Gala/a red carpet event… I will wear Antonio Riva. 
The main topic of this post??? Cars in Texas. Ohhh my
goodness. It’s a daily struggle. Literally. It’s hot here in Texas. Oh so very
hot. Poor Lucy sits outdoors for 8 hours a day in the Accenture parking lot.
Every day after work, I emerge from the office, simultaneously blinded and hit
with a wall of oven hot heat. I stumble to my car, fumble with my keys and toss
my bag into the passenger seat. First thing I do is crank the a/c which feels
like someone is blowing a hair dryer on high into my face. Funny thing is that
I go through this ritual every day so, you think I would learn that the worst
thing to do after just turning on my car is to put my sunglasses on my face. I
sear the skin on my nose and sides of my face every.single.time. By this point
Im sweating, in pain and saying nasty things. When I say sweating I mean
sweating. Its gross. On a dress day I unzip, on a shirt and pant day… the pant
legs get rolled up and I strip down to a cami/sleeveless shirt. Whatever I have
on. I am sure I look ridiculous… but I really don’t care at all. (I am pretty
sure that at some point this back fire and I will forget to re-gather myself
when I stop on an errand on the way home) Crystal and I take walks around the
parking lot at work, and the other day I saw the coolest sunscreen:
How cool is that? (the answer is cool… in case you were
wondering). I love Accenture because there are so many nerds like me there. I
get compliments on my star wars lunch box every time I use it. Im seriously
considering the sunshade.
When one gets a car in WNY, one of the first things you do
is throw a blanket and a scrapper in the trunk. The snow brush is self-explanatory…
it snows and therefore you need to wipe/scrap/chip it off your windshield. (the
quality of the job always depended on how cold it was outside, and how late I
was to work) The blanket… courtesy of worried mothers. Their logic: If you go
into a snow bank or get stranded… you will need a comforter. Mine is my
sister’s old one… it’s all rainbow colored and I have never ever needed it.
(Not because I never ever put it in a ditch, but because there was a plow right
there and I didn’t need to bunker sown in Lucy under a blanket.) Here is where
the crazy part comes in…. both objects are still in my trunk. The worst part… I
can’t bring myself to take them out. It would be the nail in the coffin. Me
being a southerner. Also a blanket could come in handy… a picnic anyone?
I grew up with dump trucks, hotwheels and mud. That being
said… if I ever cave and become a crazy, truck driving Texan and get rid of
Lucy for some reason (she would have to be too old to carry one) I would get
this:
Yes it’s a Ford… But TONKA!?!?! Yes please. They also make a
dump truck. A legit, real life size Tonka dump truck. I unfortunately have no
need for one, but maybe Dad and I can convince mom that he needs one?
I feel like it’s time to admit a fact that I have been
denying for quite some time now. I make fun of Texas. This isn’t a secret. It
is an entirely different country down here... and ask basically Texan, you are
Texan first and American second. They put their Lone Star flag on everything (I
still understand the Lone star. Why is there only one? And why is that a good
thing? Last time I checked 5-stars was good…) and they are conservative, truck
driving, gun loving, cowboy boot wearing crazies. Anyone noticing something??
Besides the Lone Star Flag on everything, I just described Panama/Ashville NY
and the majority of Chautauqua County. I see more people wearing cowboy hats
and boots in Busti then I do in San Antonio, and Western New Yorkers are just
as proud to be from that desolate town as Texans are to be from Texas. It’s almost
like I am home at some moments.
Random thought…. Isnt my little nephew the CUTEST?!?! Aunt
Anna had to get him his first national team soccer uniform. England is one of
my favorites (Hello David Beckham!) I can’t wait until he is smart enough to
NOT eat Legos so I can buy him all the sets!
Soccer… I would like to say that I am getting better and
actually playing well but, I cannot. Im out of shape, have zero leg muscles,
and am not using my head at all. (in terms of making good decisions) It is so
incredibly frustrating. The things that have in my head (and used to work and
work well) end with me losing the ball. I make mistakes that I would yell at my
girls for. It’s pretty pathetic. Oh and one more thing… what is it with co-ed
sports down here? In co-ed indoor at home, my goal was worth the same as a guy…
1 point. Down here, it is apparently so miraculous that a girl can score that
they are worth 2 points. WHAT?! So a team can score 3 times and lost to a team
that only scored twice. (a guy scoring 3 times vs. a girl scoring twice) How
messed up is that? Grrrr. Its so annoying.
As of August 12th, I will be gone from WNY for
the longest stretch of time that I have ever been, 228 days. The previous
record was the 227 day span from post-Christmas to August. 20th when
I came home from London. I didn’t miss WNY (or the States for that matter) at
ALL during that stretch. This time around, I am not distracted by an amazing
city simultaneously hosting the Olympics and celebrating Her Majesty the Queen’s
Diamond jubilee. Summer is the best time to be in WNY. Back country roads,
windows down, music blaring…. The lake… and I am craving the food. I had a
dream about a Wegmans sub. How sad is that? Ever since that dream, however, I cannot
get Honest John’s wings, Alfie’s Chicken Wing Soup, Johnny’s Hot Dogs, Tim Hortan’s
Ice Capp, Wegmans Chicken Finger Sub, General Store Similar to a Cuban
sub/wings, and my mom’s brownies out of my head. It’s a good thing I am not
going home right now… I would gorge.
Jan 6th (left WNY after Christmas) - Aug 20th (cried
as I walked got off the plane at gate 8 in BUF. Yes in public. I had to sit in
the plastic chair at the gate to tell myself that I could walk to arrivals
without crying.) = 227 days
Dec 27th (got a plane to come back to San
Antonio) - Aug. 12th (still in San Antonio) = 219 days
This milestone of breaking the “Anna away from WNY” record
has gotten me thinking about the stages in my life, and how much I changed
through them.
Pre-College: Oh how uneducated, naïve and
innocent I was! Clueless about the world ideas, cultures, problems and uneducated
in general. I was in a shell of conservative thinking in a small “don’t ask
questions/question authority” school. We were taught to regurgitate information,
not think for ourselves or come up with our own opinions. Oh and a bunch of
Honor’s students complained that we weren’t learning our in long distance Calc,
we were told it was our fault. Thanks for the help with that one PCS….
HWS/Pre-London: I am getting smarter,
more and more liberal, and exposed to new ideas and ways of thinking. Im
becoming more independent and able to think for myself. I was so eager to
emerge from that place, full of knowledge and drive. I was going to change the
world and make tons of money doing what I wanted to do, live where I wanted to
live, and everything would be awesome. (so maybe I was still naïve)
London: Suddenly I am an adult. Had to
move out/find a flat/set up bills/get a bank account/deal with a landlord and
completely become self-sufficient… all in a new country, alone, in a very
different time zone that limited calls with the USA. It was the best “growing up” period and the
fastest/cruelest I had ever experienced. Lot of tears later, I was completely independent,
much more educated on the world, completely in love with everything British,
confident and did whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted.
Post London: Depressed… reverted right
back to the girl I was when I was in college. Angry at Western NY and the lack
of “worldiness”, mad at customers who saw me as an uneducated retail/customer
girl, and too exhausted from 4 jobs to have time to fix anything. More than
anything I was mad at HWS… for the promise of the great things that were to
come, the amazing thing that we graduates would do in the world, and how we
would use our 4 year academic career, and that prestigious piece of paper to do
great things. (there goes the naivety perhaps, but HWS wasn’t exactly to blame)
Then there was the pressure and the most annoying question… “what are going to
do next”. I got to the point that I was taking deep breaths to be polite in my
answer. The frustration that I lost my independence to living at home just added
to everything else.
San Antonio: I feel like this has the healing period. The “get back
on my feet” period. Im not there yet there though. Take today for example…
spent the day applying to jobs. I have a better job, a mostly independent living
situation and am starting to feel like an adult again. There is that nagging
cloud in the back of my mine saying “It could be better. Don’t get comfy. This still
isn’t it” I think I have fixed everything that was wrong in Ashville in my Post
London period, except for the job.
My stiches have left a scar that no scar cream can help. The
coloring has gotten worse. I don’t really mind it I guess… its just a bit
bright right now. See:
I am going to end this crazy and random post. Next time will
be about San Fran!
No comments:
Post a Comment