I find traffic in the Baltimore-Washington DC area to be highly amusing sometimes. Yesterday, a heard of buffalo/bison (what IS the difference? Is there one?) got loose from wandering on their own range and ranged near I-695 aka the Bmore beltway, where they were corralled into a tennis court by the police. CNN picked it up and was showing clips all day. It was pretty funny. Here it is from the local channel.
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4415797/detail.html
When asked what he learned since starting work Tuesday, Baltimore County Police Cpl. Al Friedman told 11 News: "Buffalo are very hard-headed."
Another amusing happenstance: a local road was flooded. Not because of rain, but because of a BEAVER DAM. They were re-located across the road to a wildlife refuge.
Other funny things I have seen on the beltways (Baltimore's and the Capital beltway): last week, an armored car lost it's load on an entrance ramp onto the Bmore beltway. There was change EVERYWHERE. Even tho I was stuck sitting in the traffic jam it caused, it was still highly amusing to watch a handful of police and the poor guys from the armored car company frantically sweeping change off the highway, while another handful of guys were even more frantically trying to pick up the change and put it back in the little secure bags, all the while knowing that thousands of people are staring at them with ill will as they inched by.
In one week on the beltways a few years ago, there was a truck full of frozen chicken that lost it's load, a Snapple truck that lost it's load, an ice cream truck that lost it's load, and a truck full of potatoes that caught fire. And what do hot potatoes do? They EXPLODE. So there was chicken, mashed potatoes, iced tea to drink, and ice cream for dessert. An ENTIRE dinner (green vegetables be damned! Gimme carbs!) all in one week. That one is my favorite.
4.14.2005
Ch ch changes
The past year in my life has been so full of changes, good and bad, that it's hard to remember what my life was like before. This, again, is good and bad. Will I ever reach the point where I can coast and take it for granted that things in my life, like my mate, my job, and my family will always be at least similar from month to month? Or is that a naive, unrealistic hope?
Let me chronicle what has happened in the past year - all of 'life's major stresses' and then some. This in no way is a 'poor me' post, BTW. Journaling just helps me gain some perspective on where I've been and where I want to go. I know you are supposed to do these in December or January, but hey what can I say - I am chronically late.
Anyway, here it is in a nutshell:
January 2004: left my husband, C, of 9 years and moved in with a good friend M. (hard, but good) The marriage was definitely dead from my perspective after 4 years of living in quiet desperation.
February 2004: C was stalking me, calling, showing up at the house, threatening to sue for everything he could think of... and found out my highschool sweetheart, P, (whom I had been talking to for several months and planning on seeing and maybe trying things out with) was dating someone else, which effectively ended any future plans of us being together (bad at the time, but good in a way, in hindsight. Made me finally let go of a memory of happiness and try to find real happiness instead.)
March 2004: started dating in earnest again. Liked the feeling of getting back out there, but felt very lonely at the same time. Oldest daughter, L, diagnosed with ADHD. Dad resigns job due to health reasons. (very bad) Dad then finds out Mom is having an affair. (very very bad)
April 2004: met and started dating R, my current boyfriend. This is a long-distance relationship from the start, which would be difficult, but force us to get to know each other on a deeper level if we could maintain the communication and not lose interest in each other, so we would therefore visit each other monthly (good then and good now, but with some very rough spots in between, because he is a frog.)
May 2004: Dad diagnosed with colon cancer, on my parents anniversary. This speaks volumes about their marriage. (very very bad)
June 2004: flew home to see Dad in hospital. Dad has surgery and emergency surgery (very bad), but is otherwise ok. Cancer is gone and he is in remission. (very good) R tells me he loves me (very good). Flew to see R for the first time since he left. Good but strange because after all the talking, we didn't know each other in person very well.
July 2004: R comes to see me. Good overall, but tense sometimes because it is the first time he has been home since he left, and when he left, he had just broken up with a long term girlfriend, so it felt odd to him to be here with me and not her.
August 2004: Quit job at TCS to work at much better, higher paying job at CON. (very good) M breaks her leg playing softball. (very bad) Flew to visit R. Good to see him, but a tense trip. Issues with differences in lifestyles had popped up.
September 2004: Turned 32. Decided my 32nd year wasn't really worth celebrating. New job is going very well. R comes to see me. This is the best weekend we have together, so far. Parents get hit by 2 hurricanes in a row. (not good) Youngest daughter, A, has unknown tumor in her cheek. (bad)
October 2004: Things with R are tense, but everything else is is pretty good. I flew to see him. He acts very weird. He's still sweet and attentive, but distant and won't look me in the eye. (bad)
November 2004: Find out WHY things are tense with R - he has been cheating on me. We decide to work things out, mainly because he's persuasive and I'm curious to see how we will get along once he's back in the same state. (very very bad)
December 2004: Laid off from my dream job at CON. This sucks in a major way because I really liked it there, and they liked me. Fortunately, it had nothing to do with job performance and everything to do with the company failing financially, which made me feel much better. I also got a severance package, so I wasn't destitute. Funny thing is, the timing was excellent because I ended up being able to spend 2 weeks over the holidays with R on a 'paid' vacation. A has a CT scan to see what the tumor in her cheek is. C goes berserk on ride home. My parents also visited my sister and I found out that now that my dad has more or less recovered from his surgery, he is not returning to the house with my mom, but is moving into an apartment some 80 miles north.
The year 2004 sums up like this: Move out, I start my divorce, L has ADHD, dad has cancer, meet great guy, A has tumor, find out guy is not so great, get laid off from job, parents separate.
So last year had every major 'life stress' I can think of, except death in the family. Sheesh.
Fortunately, 2005 has been better. I have a new job - the job itself is pretty cool, commute sucks, pay is way better. L is doing much better in school and hasn't required treatment or medication for ADHD this year and hopefully won't in the future. A's tumor is benign and vascular, so it should re-absorb by itself with no further medical intervention. The divorce from C is going - not well and not badly, but it is at least in progress now after a mandatory year wait.
R is home for good now. There's been some drama here and there between he and I, but nothing that was beyond redemption. We get along better than I had even imagined. It is so nice to have someone around who has the same laid back temperament that I do, instead of blowing up over every little thing, like C did.
Anyway, I hope 2005 is a better year. It's looking pretty good so far.
Let me chronicle what has happened in the past year - all of 'life's major stresses' and then some. This in no way is a 'poor me' post, BTW. Journaling just helps me gain some perspective on where I've been and where I want to go. I know you are supposed to do these in December or January, but hey what can I say - I am chronically late.
Anyway, here it is in a nutshell:
January 2004: left my husband, C, of 9 years and moved in with a good friend M. (hard, but good) The marriage was definitely dead from my perspective after 4 years of living in quiet desperation.
February 2004: C was stalking me, calling, showing up at the house, threatening to sue for everything he could think of... and found out my highschool sweetheart, P, (whom I had been talking to for several months and planning on seeing and maybe trying things out with) was dating someone else, which effectively ended any future plans of us being together (bad at the time, but good in a way, in hindsight. Made me finally let go of a memory of happiness and try to find real happiness instead.)
March 2004: started dating in earnest again. Liked the feeling of getting back out there, but felt very lonely at the same time. Oldest daughter, L, diagnosed with ADHD. Dad resigns job due to health reasons. (very bad) Dad then finds out Mom is having an affair. (very very bad)
April 2004: met and started dating R, my current boyfriend. This is a long-distance relationship from the start, which would be difficult, but force us to get to know each other on a deeper level if we could maintain the communication and not lose interest in each other, so we would therefore visit each other monthly (good then and good now, but with some very rough spots in between, because he is a frog.)
May 2004: Dad diagnosed with colon cancer, on my parents anniversary. This speaks volumes about their marriage. (very very bad)
June 2004: flew home to see Dad in hospital. Dad has surgery and emergency surgery (very bad), but is otherwise ok. Cancer is gone and he is in remission. (very good) R tells me he loves me (very good). Flew to see R for the first time since he left. Good but strange because after all the talking, we didn't know each other in person very well.
July 2004: R comes to see me. Good overall, but tense sometimes because it is the first time he has been home since he left, and when he left, he had just broken up with a long term girlfriend, so it felt odd to him to be here with me and not her.
August 2004: Quit job at TCS to work at much better, higher paying job at CON. (very good) M breaks her leg playing softball. (very bad) Flew to visit R. Good to see him, but a tense trip. Issues with differences in lifestyles had popped up.
September 2004: Turned 32. Decided my 32nd year wasn't really worth celebrating. New job is going very well. R comes to see me. This is the best weekend we have together, so far. Parents get hit by 2 hurricanes in a row. (not good) Youngest daughter, A, has unknown tumor in her cheek. (bad)
October 2004: Things with R are tense, but everything else is is pretty good. I flew to see him. He acts very weird. He's still sweet and attentive, but distant and won't look me in the eye. (bad)
November 2004: Find out WHY things are tense with R - he has been cheating on me. We decide to work things out, mainly because he's persuasive and I'm curious to see how we will get along once he's back in the same state. (very very bad)
December 2004: Laid off from my dream job at CON. This sucks in a major way because I really liked it there, and they liked me. Fortunately, it had nothing to do with job performance and everything to do with the company failing financially, which made me feel much better. I also got a severance package, so I wasn't destitute. Funny thing is, the timing was excellent because I ended up being able to spend 2 weeks over the holidays with R on a 'paid' vacation. A has a CT scan to see what the tumor in her cheek is. C goes berserk on ride home. My parents also visited my sister and I found out that now that my dad has more or less recovered from his surgery, he is not returning to the house with my mom, but is moving into an apartment some 80 miles north.
The year 2004 sums up like this: Move out, I start my divorce, L has ADHD, dad has cancer, meet great guy, A has tumor, find out guy is not so great, get laid off from job, parents separate.
So last year had every major 'life stress' I can think of, except death in the family. Sheesh.
Fortunately, 2005 has been better. I have a new job - the job itself is pretty cool, commute sucks, pay is way better. L is doing much better in school and hasn't required treatment or medication for ADHD this year and hopefully won't in the future. A's tumor is benign and vascular, so it should re-absorb by itself with no further medical intervention. The divorce from C is going - not well and not badly, but it is at least in progress now after a mandatory year wait.
R is home for good now. There's been some drama here and there between he and I, but nothing that was beyond redemption. We get along better than I had even imagined. It is so nice to have someone around who has the same laid back temperament that I do, instead of blowing up over every little thing, like C did.
Anyway, I hope 2005 is a better year. It's looking pretty good so far.
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