TWC

i. love. the weather channel.
i'm obsessed.
call me weird, but i have to know what's going on and i don't care that it's unpredictable.
nevertheless, i love that little zing of adrenaline when you know a storm is coming.
but besides loving weather in general, (my backup plan is to be a meteorologist. nevermind that i have zero training/knowledge in the field. minor details.) there is something particular about the official "the weather channel". the combination of jim cantore, l.l. bean gear, local on the 8's, and a plethora of storm chasing shows just makes me the happiest girl on earth.

and now that hurricane season is officially off and running, you know they are going to have an obscene amount of ridiculous "on the scene" coverage that i am going to eat right up. speaking of, i think i'll go check on t.s./hurricane alex.

-blur.

p.s. i don't watch al roker and i think he should go back to the today show.

traditional role?

i've always had the classic idea of romance, but the women in my family have put an interesting spin on it. here are some examples of michalsky-bloodline-ball-busting:

my grandma - she went to a dance with a date. there, she saw another guy who she was far more interested in. she then proceeded to dump her date off on one of her sisters in order to get with the other guy. end of story, they got married.
my mom - she was on her way to a date, when she stopped by the fire station. instead of going to meet the original guy, she picked up someone else, and they had an impromptu date, driving around crosby talking. end of story, they got married.
my sister - an old friend of hers was sort of off and on/convenience dating a newer friend of hers. well, she realizes he's the one and "breaks them up". end of story, they got married.

see a pattern?
i'm not sure what's happened with me. it's not that i want to get married tomorrow, more of just being a little weirded out about being nearly 22 (yikes) without any prospects of even dating someone. i suppose it will come in time.

wal-mart

is always such an interesting experience. this past week has been particularly entertaining.

example one:
i went in for cold medicine, kleenex, and a ddp. the ddp took me a good five minutes to find. i looked in every check-out point/aisle to no avail. the coolers were all coke or pepsi! as i peeked into each aisle, a cashier surprised me and asked if i was ready. the reason for my surprise is obvious: since when do walmart employees practice customer service? it was just so unexpected, i felt stupid and stammered, "umm.. no? not yet" because i hadn't yet found my ddp. so, needless to say, the dr pepper cooler was on the last. aisle.
annoyance.
so as i grab my much needed drink, and i hear someone call my name in a distinct accent. it was my friend nadia's mom, who is either columbian or moroccan, i'm not sure which. we then proceeded to have a lengthy conversation while i was checking out (well as lengthy as one can get while buying three items).
questions included: have you met nadia's dog? did you know that she moved? don't you think nadia and chechi (chelsey) were good roommates? do you have a boyfriend?
it made me laugh quite a bit.

example two:
meredith was getting our supper at charming cafe, while i ran to walmart to get a ddp (it's getting bad. i'm aware.) and some ping pong balls for mer's house warming party. i was in line and this little old lady was almost cutting me out of the long check-out line. well, first a girl i had a class with in high school recognized me and said hi (i recognized her, but cannot for the life of me remember her name), then started talking with the old lady. after their conversation, the old lady started talking to me, which i didn't mind at all, as older people 9 times out of 10 brighten my day.
first she pointed to the starbuck's double shot display and said because of her diabetes, she could never have something like that.
then, she told me about her 3 yr old granddaughter had great manners, at which i told her i was glad to hear that.
then, she patted the depends in her buggy and whispered to me that she wears them to church, as you never know. i told her that was a smart plan. she agreed and said that it is better to be safe than sorry.
lastly, she asked me if i played golf, nodding toward the ping pong balls in my hand. i chuckled and said no, and that i was getting ping pong balls for ping pong. the guy in line in front of me laughed, as it was fairly obvious these balls were not intended for table tennis.
i checked out, and told her to have a good day. she had just made mine, so i can only wish that hers was well.

if you know me, you know i don't just walk around smiling. but i'll have you know, i smiled the whole way back to my car, then burst out laughing.

so i find it rather interesting that a place a loathe more than most, has provided me with two experiences that brightened my day.


something else i find interesting is that some items are called by brand names rather than the product name.
example - chapstick for lip balm, kleenex for tissues, coke for any soda.
weird.


-blur.

I don't do politics

but today, i just have to climb atop my soapbox and rant.

i saw on the news a few days ago that some british official is getting lip about a comment he made on the oil spill. in summary, he simply said that all this political banter, arguing, and finger pointing does nothing to help the situation at hand. well sir, i agree.
i don't understand why all these politicians are running their mouths about who's "at fault".
GET OVER YOURSELVES.
two examples that really ate my lunch:

• obama saying he's going to "kick some ass". ummm, first, who's ass, and what exactly is that going to solve?
• fox news essentially blamed it all on obama. while i don't think he's handled it to the best of his ability, there is no need to spin some sort of twisted conspiracy.

to both of these parties i say, get your head out of your butt. why not let the engineers continue to problem solve while the rest of us do something more constructive, say, like help the clean up efforts? call me crazy, but i'm sure the animals wouldn't mind a few extra hands cleaning the oil from their bodies or their homes.

this concludes my rant.

thanks for reading.

-blur.

sorry guys. it's summer, so you'll have to forgive me forgetting to blog!

i sometimes worry because what i like to do and do fairly well, aren't really things people notice/can be displayed. here's a story that might better describe what i mean:

monday night i went out and shot pool with some friends. i wanted so bad to be able to go in like a bad ass and be really good, despite never playing before in my life. needless to say, i was TERRIBLE. i hit one ball in. this had me thinking: what on earth am i good at?

• well, i'm decent when it comes to pilates, but let's face it, unless i wanted to be a freakshow, i'm never going to do that in public. nor would i say to someone: hey let's see who can hold their v-sit position longer.
• i'm confident in my design abilities, but again, i'm never going on one of those crazy tv design shows. and like the pilates thing, i wouldn't say: hey, i bet i can "outdesign" you.
• when given choreography, i'm not a terrible dancer, but put me on a dance floor sans choreography, and i ooze awkwardness. so despite having rhythm, i could never "show off" in a dance situation.

it would be nice, just once, to do a competitive activity well. it can be anything: pool, darts, any sport, cooking, blowing bubblegum bubbles. really, anything would be fine! maybe it's just that i'm so easy-going, that i just don't fell compelled to be publicly competitive. don't get me wrong, though, i push myself to do my best at things that truly matter to me. i guess it's just those things can't be publicly displayed?

i think my sister got all the competitiveness between the two of us. it's bad sometimes, especially when it comes to nintendo games.

oh well, i suppose the world needs balance, so i'll keep supplying those competitive natured people someone to beat!

-blur.