Addictions

Have you ever played Tetris so much that when you lay down to sleep at night and close your eyes, your mind is still putting the falling pieces together? I have...many times.

I have an addictive personality. I get "hooked" on stuff really easily. If I find a new TV show that I am interested in, I can't just watch every episode ever created from the series nonstop with no sleep, food, or interaction with civilization. I can't stop there. I have to go online and research the show, research the actors, the characters, and everything in between. I get obsessed until I'm convinced I know more about the show than the ones who created and wrote it. No lie. Then I have to get my sister into the show and all my friends and people I know, so that I won't feel quite so guilty about spending so much time obsessing over something that's not real.

But it's not just TV--it can be anything. If I read a book I really like, I can't stop until I've read every book written by that author. Or if I find a game I like, I can't stop playing it until I've mastered it. Or even a new website, that has my mind thinking of suggestions and scenarios to offer to the blogger to write about even when I'm laying awake at night. My mind won't shut off. So much so that I start to dream about the things I'm obsessing about.

I'm so thankful that I never tried drugs or alcohol because I'm sure that I would be an addict to all of it. I'd be in rehab for the 8th or 9th time...I'd probably be addicted to rehab. Thank goodness I'm not, or else I'd had to move to Hollywood.

My current obsession is a trial that's been in the headlines for a couple of weeks. It's a pretty gruesome trial, so I'm not entirely sure what drew me to it in the first place, but it did. And I have been obsessed with it for a week. I can't stop watching it. The jury is in deliberation right now, and I am anxiously waiting to here the verdict-whenever that will be. I'm hoping after they make their decision that I can go back to lead a normal life again...that is, until I find something else to obsess about. I need help. :)

Cops

People are afraid of cops. It's in their nature. They can't help it. You are driving down the road minding your own business and you see a cop...your immediate reaction is to press on the break. Even if you aren't speeding.

Unlucky for me, there's a cop in my town that seems to have the same arrival time to work as me because I always seem to follow him into Tulsa when I'm running late. The police precinct is about 5 minutes from my job, so for practically the entire 30 minute drive to work I follow him.

Here's what I find annoying: If I'm running late, the last thing I want is to follow a group of cars going 10 miles UNDER the limit because there is a cop in front of them and they are scared to pass him. There is no written law that you can't pass a cop if you are not speeding. So instead of herding like cattle in all lanes BEHIND the cop, please go the speed limit and pass him!! He can't write you a ticket for going the limit. Seriously people. Get out of my way so I can get to work on time.

Thank you. That is all.

Life changing seasons

Right out of college I went through a season in my life where all of my friends were getting married...including myself. It was a lot of fun-I love weddings, especially when it's a close friend or family member. I did find it ironic though, that the only conversation that a person could hold with me was to ask me about the wedding plans. The conversation was so predictable and would always go something like this:

Person: Hey how's it going?
Me: Pretty good...you?
Person: Good...
(long pause)
Person: So, how are the wedding plans coming along?
Me: Pretty good.
(long pause)

And then they go on their merry way. I thought that after a few years wedding season would stop...or at least slow down. But the truth is, it will never stop. Someone I know will always be getting married. But now I've found, that on top of wedding season, I've now entered baby season. Right now, 8 out of my 100 MySpace friends are pregnant. And that doesn't even include the "dad" friends that I have whose wifes are preggers. That's 8%, which seams like a lot to me. And now the predictable conversation has now transformed into the following:

Me: Hey, congrats on the baby! That's so exciting. Happy for you.
Person: Hey, thanks. We're excited. So...when are you going to have a baby?

It's like word vomit...they can't help it. They have to ask. So it makes me wonder--why do we do that? Why do we feel the need to ask the same question to every newly engaged couple and to every newly married couple? Why can't we just let them offer the information if they choose to? It's not like we really want to know. We just have to ask because we can't help it.

Duh!

My friend bought a new flat iron to take on her trip out of the country and noticed on the safety instructions that says, "Do not use while asleep." While normal human beings like you or I would recognize that to be somewhat obvious...some idiot had to attempt such a feat in order for them to include that on the instruction sheet, right? Which only leads me to believe that there are too many idiots in the world.

This week I

went to Stillwater for a business luncheon.
sang at a funeral for a woman who was a blessing to my family in many ways.
sat inside my car at the car wash while Mike washed it (I'm not lazy-he volunteered so I could keep Simon company in the car...ish).
had dinner with two of my greatest friends!
booked our non-refundable flight to New York City 9 months before we are leaving (ahhh, that makes me nervous).
attempted and successfully made three new recipes. (what an accomplishment for someone who can't really cook-ha)
schemed with my sister's boyfriend to help with the arrangements of his proposal. YAY!!
did NOT get pinched on St Paddy's Day.
finally broke down and bought Guitar Hero for Mike for his birthday.
bought Easter eggs and candy to get excited about Easter.
told Simon if he was a good boy the Easter bunny would visit him...he likes bunnies....and cats...not really, he hates cats.
was thankful the "skunk" got the boot on Idol.
got super excited when I realized there's only three weeks until a new episode of "The Office!!"

Amy Bookout is a bad girl!

When I was younger, coloring used to be one of my favorite things to do. My sister and I would take huge plastic boxes filled with crayons on all of our long family road trips, and I remember how we loved to doodle on the outside (and inside) of the crayon box. We would write words on there that were inside jokes between the two of us. Then we start saying the words under our breath in the car and start giggling like little school girls.

Imagine my surprise and my delight when my sister sent me an email this week of two pictures that she'd taken to show me what my niece had discovered while playing in the nursery at my dad's church:

I'm not real sure what I'm more surprised about...the fact that she found these after so many years...or that I wrote in my own handwriting that I was a bad girl. It does make me wonder what the heck I did that was so bad I felt the need to document it in writing.

I'm how old??

This weekend a group from our church went to "Winter Jam" at the Maybee Center, which included a full line up of Christian artists ranging from mellow and mediocre to full-blown head banging rock. I wasn't real crazy about any of the bands, but went more to socialize than anything else. We waited in line with thousands of other church groups and finally got in only to find a section that would hold us up in the nose bleeds...not ideal, but we'll took it.

Another couple in our church rode over there with us and we ended up sitting by each other on the end of our row. Looking around the Maybee Center, I realized that the majority of the attendees were junior high/high school-aged with the exception of some college students and the group chaperones.

It didn't become clear to me how out of place I felt until halfway through the first sets when the hard rock band took the stage and nearly all of the kids around me were head-banging. Picture this: me trying to be cool and clever and joining in with them. No scratch that...that's a bad thought and I'd like to not be reminded how silly I actually looked, when all it did was give me a headache in the end. I finally excused myself to go to the restroom to get any sort of relief from the noise and it was at that moment that I realized how "old" I really was. I was clearly out of place.

Mike, me and the other couple finally dismissed ourselves after the intermission and the second half began-it was all we could handle. I'm pretty sure we lost major cool points with the kids...if we even had any to start with.

I remember when I was their age, I would have thoroughly enjoyed a band that hard core and would have dove right in on the fun...maybe I would have blended in a little bit more...but then again, maybe not.