A Return to Normalcy (As If)

I've been out of sorts as of late. I'm not sure if it's the holiday season, the cold weather, or just the fact that I'm a basket case, but I've been in a slump the last couple of weeks. This refers mostly to the fact that I haven't really been pushing myself at work and at home either. I've just been too passive. So, well, I'm not going to get ahead of myself. Tomorrow is Friday and it's the day before a three-day weekend so I'm probably not going to push myself any harder than I have to, but it's my Christmas goal to start up fully and kick ass as of Dec. 26. You should all make me do this so I feel like less of a waste of life.

In a completely unrelated matter, I did find a farm story...I wrote about the price of beef and the fact that many cattle breeders are in the process of restocking their herds. I learned that there is a cattle cycle; it lasts 10 years, with six years up and four years of decline. Yeah, that's what southwestern North Dakota has to offer.

I just read this article (I'm all over the map tonight, eh?) about myspace.com. Oh, I recently joined myspace, so if anyone reads this and is my friend and wants to add themself to my list, now would be the time to do such a thing, you know, before myspace falls out of fashion with the cool kids. Um, anyway, it says how tweens are using it even though they're not allowed to and pedophiles get them or something. Anyway, that's not the point (for me); it's funny that even as a 24-year-old, I guess I never really thought about how much you reveal about yourself on a blog or on myspace. I mean, even if you don't list your personal information (like I do), you say things like where you work or where you hang out and when you do these things. If anyone really had a hard-on to find you, it'd be pretty easy if you were listed on these sites. That almost made me paranoid enough to take myself away from these things, but frankly, I'm not conceited enough to think anyone cares so much about what I do that they'd stalk me. I mean, I mostly do this for myself anyway....oh god, no one's reading...sigh...

Moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

My title is a reference to three things I'm going to address in this post. To outline:

1. fruit
2. XM Radio
3. farming

For some reason I've beeen on a fruit kick lately. I think it's working well for me. I'm trying new things even. In the past couple of weeks, I've eaten mangoes, papayas, bananas, grapes, kiwis, pineapples and oranges. I am impressive.

A co-worker of mine lent me access to his XM Radio account. While he did this a month ago, I've honestly just started listening to it. It's great. Since I live in North Dakota, I don't get to hear new things, so I have been listening to channel 43, XMU, and hearing bands I've only read about prior to this. Specifically, I heard Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah. They were actually pretty good. I also heard a couple songs from the most recent Dandy Warhols album, which also weren't bad. I intend to listen more so that I can come across other bands that I've heard good things on. The best part, though, really, is that I get to hear classic 90s songs that I haven't heard for at least five years. I heard "Blackhole Sun" yesterday. I can't remember when I've heard that before yesterday. I heard that song "Little Black Back Back." I have no idea who even does it; I just remember that it reminds me of being 16 and driving along Sullivan (if you're from Bellevegas you'd know the street). Oh, and I heard "Laid" which only makes me think of Shayna, for some strange reason.

Once a month we have to write agriculture-related stories which basically shows that me and all of my co-workers are not rural people who spend a lot of time farming, but we have to write like we know all about it. I literally spent 6 hours scouring various online sources for some ideas and came up with nothing. My lack of knowledge on farming is pathetic, at least considering where I live. But I humbly beg for someone to lend an idea of what they want to know about farming. While I only assume that most of the people who read this live on either the West Coast or the East Coast, it never hurts to cover ones bases.

Other than that, I'm plugging away and work and settling in to the life of a Dickinson-onian. And hoping that soon I'll get to visit somewhere more exciting.

Xmas Party, Xinia Part D

So, this weekend was the office Christmas Party. No, there wasn't an opportunity to get wasted and photo copy my ass. Besides, that would be so cliche. Instead, there was bowling, where I learned that while I am not the worst bowler in the office, I'm pretty damn close and A Lot more awkward. I found out that apparently I bowl better with my left hand, and I bowl better when I keep my wrist twisted. It doesn't hurt, but I probably look ridiculous. What would The Dude think?

After bowling, there was a dinner, but there was 1.5 hours between dinner and the bowling, so I ran errands (yay grocery shopping!) before the dinner, ended up being late to dinner, and sitting with people I've hardly spoken two words to since joining the team almost three months ago. Not that I won't complain, but it wasn't so bad. I learned about deep-fried turkey balls, which I had none of since I have about 10 pounds of turkey residing in my freezer. I had a drink while they gave out Xmas gifts. I am sooooo happy because I got a $10 gift card to a grocery store! (No, I'm not kidding. Free groceries are god-damned amazing.)

Derrick, our resident storyteller, received a gift card to the club we happened to be dining at, so he purchased a round of drinks, which was awesome. So, after the dinner, the editorial staff sat around and bullshitted (bullshat?) over a drink, and that was probably the best part of the dinner.

Since that moment, my life has been consumed with Medicare Part D. If you are not over 65, and if you already have insurance, you probably have no idea what Part D is. Well, consider yourself lucky. All I know is I've written the introduction to the government's first venture into prescription drug coverage, and then written a 6-page follow up on how everyone feels about it. It's killing me. It better win a Pulitzer since I spent so much time pouring over information that affects no one I know. Ugh. Seriously, though, once it's out of my hair, it's definitely an article I'm going to be proud of.

While I'm gloating about my writing, I may as well let you know that twice in the last two weeks, someone has come up to me and said how killer one of my articles was. And, for the first time, when I called to confirm quotes, people said they were fine as they were and didn't try to edit my work, like I don't pay attention to what they say. Hooray for me!

Oh God, I'm rambling, but my weekend was tons of fun aside from just the Xmas party. Cindy and I tried to hit up a new bar on Friday, but it was wicked crowded (mostly because it was so small) so we hit up our favorite dive, the Queen City Club. Derrrick and Pete joined us after they got out of work. Derrick was his normal self but he didn't sing, which was too bad. Another ad person was at the bar this time, so Pete and I went to chat with her, but not knowing her name, we didn't say much.

On Saturday, we went to a scary dive bar. The girl behind the bar seemed to have trouble even serving a pitcher. Not only did it take her 10 years (there weren't that many people in the bar), but it also working the tap apparently confused her. Cindy and I guzzled our pitcher, and got the hell out of dodge. We went to our second favorite bar, the Elks Club. Pete and Derrick joined us. Derrick told a couple of hilarious stories, one of which I'm not allowed to repeat, so you'll just have to hope that someday you meet the kid to hear them. And Pete and I discussed the depth of our shallowness. And Cindy felt a cold coming on, which the rest of the office has. So far, Derrick and I are winning for most disease free employee on the editorial staff. I think I can keep my immune system healthier, as long as I stay away from wine...well, I think I can keep my immune system mostly healthy, anyway.