Well, HELLO there!

My heart is all aflutter, and I simultaneously feel like I just awoke from one of those dreams where I am on the Metro and suddenly realize that I'm not wearing pants.

It turns out that there ARE more people reading this blog than my family and two best friends and Jules' mom. And if it weren't for the lovely Keenie Beanie, who, I have just learned, lives on the whoooole other side of the country, I would never have known it. So, hello Krys, and hello to Helen from Postcards from the Edge (of the West Country), who apparently led Krys (and, presumably, others) in my direction! And also to whomever else out there is reading Unagi that I'm unaware of. Welcome! I hope you'll stick around.

I cannot tell you how exciting it was to click over to Postcards and see my humble little blog's name in a list with my fave, Nothing But Bonfires, and several other of my must-read sites, so many thanks to Krys, for commenting and leading to this little revelation. Guess I need to step it up a bit and put on some pants. Metaphorically.

It also seems that Helen has "nominated" me for this “Kreativ Blogger” thing, which I don't really understand, but hey, I'll take it. (I'm so surprised! I didn't even prepare a speech. I'd like to thank the Academy...) And as part of the "rules" for that (wow, so many "quotes" in this "paragraph"), I am supposed to share a few things about myself. So without further ado…

1) I will eat nearly anything, but I strongly dislike olives, anything banana-flavored (except actual bananas), Indian food, and anything blue (except blueberries).

2) I quote Friends and The West Wing kind of a lot. One or other is nearly always applicable.

3) There is something about the shape of pigeons that makes me kind want to kick them. Not repeatedly or anything, but punted like a football, which is exactly how they are shaped. I expect that it would make a rather satisfying thwok sound. I should clarify that I have never actually kicked a pigeon, and I’m unlikely to do so unless I have just caught it pooping on my car.

4) The #1 place on my very lengthy to-visit list is Greece. It has been since I was ten years old, when I marked off the previous #1—New York City—which I visited while dressed like a young Amish girl. At the time, it seemed like the height of fashion. But a denim dress and a scrunchie were involved, so I’ll leave you to make your own judgment.

5) I get highly irritated when people pronounce “Appalachian” like “App-a-LAY-shin.”

Anyway, hello, nice to meet all of you, wherever you are. Please comment away so I’ll know who you are, too!

*****

In other news, G and Beth were here this weekend, and we had a grand old time. Basically, we went out for brunch (multiple times), introduced G to IKEA, watched WVU beat UK (word) and Tennessee lose to Michigan State (bummer). Oh, right, and went to see BON FREAKIN’ JOVI last night—the whole reason for their visit. I thought G was going to burst a blood vessel waiting for “Livin’ on a Prayer,” which, naturally, they played last. And, besides being awesome, the concert was also quite the cultural experience. It was as if all of rural Virginia and Maryland had put on their old Slippery When Wet tour t-shirts and ventured into the big city, though there were also a fair number of cardigans (we had three of them) and pearls in the hizzouse, too.

Incidentally, I had no idea how polarizing Bon Jovi is. Reactions to the news that I was attending the concert ranged from “SWEET!” to “Ew. Why?” But whatever, dudes, we all have our own cheesy musical proclivities, and mine lie squarely with Mr. Jon Bon Jovi and his apparent allergy to buttoning the top four buttons of his shirts.

Coming up for air

For approximately six weeks—from the beginning of February (pre-Snowpocalypse) to March 17—I did three things: eat, sleep, work. Get up, work a ten hour day in the office, come home, eat dinner, work until bedtime, lather, rinse, repeat.

Oh, and I destroyed my office. So much so that I had to bring in a second desk and computer because I couldn’t find the first one.**

Old desk:

Additional desk:

**That was mostly because my computer died and I had to use one of the office laptops for a few days, but there was no room on my actual desk, so I brought in another one. And during the last week of the work craziness, I had entered something akin to Finals Mode in college. At one point, I realized I had papers piled on every flat surface, three half empty coffee mugs, assorted food items, and a pair of socks in the corner.

And, okay, yes, the Olympics happened in there somewhere. But did you know that the Olympics make for a great background distraction while working? They do.

Since March 17, I have done the following:

• Read an entire book.
• Mentally composed an entire blog entry/rant about F***ing Republican Tourists and Their Incompetent Driving and Parking Habits, which I did not publish because it involved too many swear words for a blog whose limited readership includes grandparents, great aunts, and my mother. (And before I get yelled at for generalizing, yes, I am sure they were Republican, due to the McCain-Palin sticker on the back of the Escalade.)
• Become obsessed with spring scarves.
• Gotten lost in IKEA.
• Went car shopping for someone other than myself. (Note to Dad: you’re handling my car purchases forevermore. Thanks.)
• Discovered that the OnDemand feature of my cable also includes current TV shows, which led to my devouring of nearly the entire Burn Notice series.
• Had a one-woman dance party to Lady Gaga in my apartment. (That was the evening that I finally was free of my work restraints….and also St. Patrick’s Day. Surprisingly, green beer was not a factor.)
• Mentally composed a blog entry extolling the virtues of The Good Wife in general and Josh Charles in a leather jacket in particular, which I did not publish because it would’ve contributed nothing to public discourse. (If you’re wondering, it went something like this: “Josh Charles: more attractive as Will Gardner or Dan Rydell? Discuss.” ....Perhaps you can see why I did not post it.
• Bought a new purse. It’s yellow. And awesome.
• Spent several hours watching C-SPAN and thinking up pithy things to say about the healthcare debate as seen through the eyes of a West Wing fan (If you’re not on Twitter, you probably missed them. My work-obsessed mind could not handle anything beyond 140 characters, unless the subject was Yo-Yo Ma.)

And that is where I have been, lest you think I have abandoned cyberspace for greener pastures. They were not green, I assure you, but rather covered in stacks of paper and discarded Post-It notes. But I'm back. Hello.