Leap Day

So i feel like I should do something special on Leap Day. Like somehow I should embrace that 24-hour period since we only get to enjoy it in its entirety every four years.

But what to do..... Eat frogs legs? Not likely. Maybe try something new. Not sure.

I love where I live

I decided to take a walk today instead of go to the gym. Here's one reason I love where I live:

The second reason I love where I live today: The Tacoma Film Club. I met with about 25 other men and women tonight at a local bookstore. We talked about three films, laughed and even argued. Everyone was so welcoming. Can't believe I haven't joined them before and can't wait to meet up with them again.

I also had an amazing view of the lunar eclipse tonight. Thank you cloudless night. Even though I've seen an eclipse before, I'm always amazed by it.

What're your thoughts?

So.
I may soon have the opportunity to find a job/adventure that could be anywhere and really could be anything....and could last for about a year. Honestly, I would like it to pay me some cash and it'd be nice if I felt like I was helping people while I'm doing it. I have a few ideas..... but I'm wondering what you would suggest that I do?

(for those in UT - we already know that's one idea. let's think outside the bubble....er box)

Talk to me people.

A caucus virgin no more

For the first time in years, the WA primary vote counts. It's amazing how excited people get when they realize their voice can be heard. Thanks to it, thousands of people showed up to caucus today. We overwhelmed the caucus locations. Many, including myself, had never been to a caucus before and didn't know what to expect.

It really was amazing. Neighbors came together, sat down and actually discussed issues that face our country and that are important to them. We talked about health care, the war in Iraq, poverty, electability of the candidates.... People are so excited for change. So passionate about being a part of that change. An older gentleman who I met today said he hadn't seen anything like it since JFK.

We were given 2 chances to voice who we wanted to choose for our precint's candidate. After the debating and the tallying, our overwhelming support went to Barack Obama. After the vote, we elected delegates to represent our precint at the county level and perhaps all the way up to the national convention. Somehow, I was elected as one of those people. I'm actually really excited about being an active part of the election process. It's an amazing feeling.

I wish that all the states had something like this. Something where people can feel like they've had a chance to voice their opinion at the very least. It also brings a certain sense of community. Something I haven't felt for a very long time.

Here's what it looked like today:

Emotional Intelligence

Do I have any?
Not so sure.

I've always known that I had a weak understanding of my own emotions - to the point that I sometimes couldn't name what I was feeling. Sometimes it was as if I was a 2 year old trying to put words to things. Now that I'm beginning to understand why I've been a slow learner, I wonder if an ol' dog can learn new tricks. Can I really get in touch with my emotions to the point where I can not only recognize my own emotions, but realize the impact they have on others AND choose to interact certain ways so I impact people emotionally in ways that I consciously choose? Seems like a lot. And seems like something I should have learned a while ago. BUT I suppose we all learn certain things in our own time and better to learn late than never.

Let's hope my brain doesn't implode.

Can it be?

I realized last night that my birthday is this week. The big 31. Funny how when I was a kid I'd count the days to my birthday and have week-long celebrations. ok, so I did that in college too. Still, now I barely even remembered it was coming up! What's up with that?

Think if the weather's good I want to go up to my favorite beach/park in Seattle and have a bonfire. Roast marshmallows. Have s'mores. Maybe go out for sushi. Go dancing. Finish off the night with a movie and popcorn at home. Although, there is a monster truck rally in town that day. Never been to one of those. Might make for a memorable birthday. Seriously.

Gave my resume a serious overhaul last week. Now I'm on the job hunt again. Think I'll go for something I actually care about this time instead of a job I take because I can do it or because it's there. Might mean I don't go for a straight writing job, but I think I'm ready for a change.

Was talking with my mom last night. She's had 3 or 4 big things break in her life over the past month and is convinced it's the Universe trying to tell her something. She might be right. Do you think the Universe talks to us in ways like that?

Am I Really Old Enough to Have "Old Friends"?

I have issues with using the term "old friend" because I think both my friend and I would agree that we're not OLD. *sigh*

Anyhow, as I was making our Christmas card list this week I realized there were some friends I wanted to add to my list that I couldn't because time and distance and inconsistency had lost their addresses. No working e-mail address, no working phone numbers....Nada. I've been thinking a lot about mending relationships as I've been reading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." So I decided to do my own investigative work and try and reconnect with some of my favorite people who I miss.

I'm constantly amazing (and frightened) by how easy it is to find information online. But in this case, I was so excited to find at least one of the people I've been missing. A couple are still eluding me, but I haven't given up hope yet. There's always that Christmas miracle.

It might sound a bit morbid, but death has been on my mind a lot lately. Not my own. But the idea that life is short and that people are always gone too soon. We realized this all too viscerally last year when we lost 7 of our family and friends. Now I feel this deep need to let others know what they mean to me - to not allow life's complications & frustrations get in the way of loving people and letting people know what they mean to me. There's not always time for a second chance or to tell someone later or to wait for an argument to clear. And not being able to tell that person when it's too late is almost worse than the death itself.

Anyway, I'm so excited to find my friends and share life with them again.

money makes the world go around

So. I finally finished and turned in my paper for my economics class. Who knew that you had to write a paper in economics. Go figure. It was about the South Korean economy and ended up being much longer than I'd expected. Still, after learning so much about it I must say I'm impressed with the little country. Can you believe that in the mid-50s the country was poverty-stricken, had basically no infrastructure and was almost completely dependant on foreign aid? Now their cell phones are in millions of American hands and they have one of the largest ship-building industries in the world. Crazy.

Anyway. I've moved on to the next chapter in the book and have just learned that I didn't know what money was. There's actually a definition of money in my book. Check it out: Money is a highly liquid financial asset that's generally accepted in exchange for other goods, is used as a reference in valuing other goods and can be stored as wealth. Whatever happened to just calling them bucks, clams or smackaroos?

Camo couch

What to wear when you're trying to avoid

doing chores around the house.

It was Swell

I went and saw an amazing concert this week.
If you haven't seen the movie Once than you need to. It's about an Irish musician and the connections he makes through his music. It's a simple film, but the music is really powerful. The musicians, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, are now touring with their small acoustic band and performing music from the movie as well as new music they've produced on a new CD.


There were no sets, no crazy light shows and no costume changes. It was a pianist, guitarist/lead singer, bass player, cello and violin. I have never been to a show where I felt so connected to the music and the musicians. They took requests from the thousand+ audience, let a guy who e-mailed their MySpace page propose to his girlfriend on stage, told stories, told jokes....it was awesome. Their band is called The Swell Season. Listen to their music at The Swell Season's MySpace page.
Enjoy!

Seeing red

I dyed my hair back to red today. Have really missed it. Not sure the color I picked is red enough actually. You can barely see the red. Not that I want fire engine red hair or anything, but still. I also painted my nails red today. Been a while since I did that. Both are in an effort to reclaim girlie-ness. Have sort of ignored my female side as of late. Time to bring it back. Truly, red heads have more fun.

Dots not feathers

Feeling a bit Indian tonight. Went and saw the Darjeling Limited after walking down by the shore. Liked the movie. Even though it's about 3 brothers who try and find an emotional connection after their father dies, I found a lot of funny similarities between them and me and my 2 sisters. I suppose we all have our roles to play. Finished the night out with some Indian food (my all time favorite: samosas. although the coconut ice cream we had for dessert was pretty tasty).

Overall it's been a good weekend. Good conversations. Emotional connections. Good times.

Now onto this week.....

South Korea Way

Ever since John started learning Korean, it seems like I've been inundated with all things Korean. Not that I mind - it's a culture I never knew much about growing up (in our house everything Asian was Chinese). Now that John walks around the house mumbling things in Korean (still don't know what he's saying), we've started bringing more of Korea into our lives. The most recent addition is this great Korean grocery store on a part of a main street that's lovingly called "South Korea Way" - it's really called South Tacoma Way. The market it awesome. Not only are the prices great but there are SO many fruits, veggies, fish, sweets....so many things I've never heard of, let alone seen. Usually we're the only non-Asians in the place and sometimes John has to translate the signs for me. But I love it! I've grown to love the sesame balls and red bean donut things in the bakery. It's great. Although they can keep the kimchi. No thanks.

So now my South Korean addition to the house is my economics paper. Ya. It's on the history of South Korean economics. Like I ever thought I'd be writing something like that. Ah well. I'm learning a lot. For such a small country, it has been ravaged with war and economic craziness for the last 100 years. And why they don't teach more about the Korean War in school, I'll never know.

For now I'll just enjoy my sesame balls and fresh coconut. Yum.

Cup a tea

Nothing like a warm cup of tea to soothe a sore throat. It finally turned chilly on the Northwest. Trees are changing color - I'm still amazed at the number of trees here. The water is a deeper blue today. The chill is seeping through my old, rickety windows and making my nose cold. Time to break out the wool socks.

Death and taxes

Ben Franklin's saying "nothing is certain but death and taxes" rang more true than I would like this weekend.
Worked on my taxes and still am not sure what all these tax cuts are that the government keeps talking about. Whoever they're supposed to help, I'm not one of them. I've never payed so much in taxes. Lame.

The death part came in three. First, my mom had to put our family pet, Madison, to sleep Saturday. She was 12 years old and a special member of our family. Then my husband and I found out that two of our friends were killed on Friday by a suicide bomber in Iraq. One other was critically injured in the same incident and might not make it. We've been in the military for just over five years and have lost four friends to the War on Terror. It never gets easier to lose a friend. It's hard to be such a part of the military and be so against so many things they are made to do. Our friends' deaths only make me more angry at the situation they were in. They were some of the best trained special operations soldiers the Army had - both had been to Iraq and Afghanistan a number of times. In a firefight they would have stood a great chance of coming out alive. But when a suicide bomber blows himself up six inches from you .... nothing is left. They didn't even have a chance to defend themselves. What good does it do? What good are we doing? Will it ever end?

To stroll or not to stroll

I heard a woman give advice about life to her grand-daughter this morning on NPR. She said "It's not a marathon, it's a stroll."
It's so easy to get caught up in the "race." In reality, I hate running (both on the track and metaphorically). I love the idea of enjoying life as we go through it and although marathoners may say they enjoy the result (crossing the finish line) they never really seem to enjoy the run itself. But then...the end result (where you end up) can be pretty important I suppose. So the question is, can a person be in the race, not kill themselves in the marathon and still end up where they want to? Why not. In fact, I think it'd be fun to be one of those people that dresses up in the Boston Marathon. They still cross the finish line and are incredibly happy even though they may not have come in first. And really - the people who come in first are usually covered in diarrhea from not stopping to take care of business. Ew.

Close call

The sun was out in full force this morning. Love the sun - hate it when it blinds me in the middle of rush hour traffic. It was so bad this morning, that I couldn't even see the car in front of me (if there even was a car - I couldn't tell). I saw one woman pull into the center lane to drive for safety, I suppose. But what she didn't know is that the lane became the turning lane of ongoing traffic. Luckily she moved over before anything scary happened. Just a few blocks away, there was a fender bender on an overpass. Just as I passed the accident and came to a stop light where I found that there were indeed cars in front of me - saw them just as I came to a stop - thankfully I was going slow enough to stop. The car behind me was going slow enough and stopped also, but the car behind her was not as slow and hit the car behind me. So now there were two accidents on the overpass - in morning traffic. That was the THIRD accident that has happened one car in front or behind of me since I moved down here. This town is SO accident prone. i think that perhaps I'll start teleporting to work. Beam me up Scotty!

DA

Hello, my name is Zoe and I am a Dish-aholic.
It's true. For years I blamed my distaste for washing dishes on my lack of a dishwasher. I seemed to instead have no problem with seeing the dishes sit out for a while - usually until I needed one. BUT now that I have a dishwasher and the same thing is happening....I think I'm addicted to seeing the dishes out and so I just can't bear to put them into the dark depths of the dishwasher. Some may call it laziness, but that's too boring and not always true - I am a freak about keeping the rest of the kitchen clean - just not so much with the dishes. Are there places who can help people like me?

super ego man

There is a guy that works in my office that I have now had enough of. He's one of those "i'm so great that everything I say should be inscribed in granite" kinds of people. He also likes to crack inappropriate jokes or wise cracks about any and everyone (as long as they're not in the room). yesterday in our weekly staff meeting, he went too far. It was like I was in one of those human resource movies they show you when you're a new employee - the one about sexual harassment in the office. At first when he cracked the joke (which involved a women far above his rank and her needing knee pads) I wasn't sure what he meant. I couldn't believe that anyone would say that about someone else - especially in the middle of a staff meeting with four women sitting at the other end of the table. By the time I figured out that he was serious it was too late to jump in and call him on his lameness. SO it bothered me most of the night and today I spoke up. Told his supervisor and was told that "I will talk with him about it" - now, this is the second time I have had to talk with his supervisor about inappropriate behavior in the office. I feel so wierd having to talk to anyone's supervisor about this sort of thing. But the truth is that they guy is a jerk. He should be told he's a jerk over and over again until he realizes that the pedastal he thinks he's standing on is really just his ego.

Where is it all supposed to come from?

Was listening to NPR this morning and heard that NASA is planning a $100 billion trip to the moon. My first reactions was "cool - more moonrocks" but then I wondered...where is all of that cash coming from? We're paying hundreds of billions of dollars to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and we just promised at least $200 billion to help those hurt by Hurricane Katrina. Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure that we don't have THAT much money to spread around. I'm not saying the $ shouldn't go to help those hurt by the hurricane. I am saying that something's got to give. With a federal deficit more than $410 billion dollars we can't really afford everything. It's simple budgeting. It's no wonder why so many Americans are having credit problems. Just look at the example the federal government sets for us. Ridiculous.