the challenge

The players: Peter, Laura, me.  There might be others… in Atlanta.  

Why am I playing this game from NYC? 

Objective: The first to get a boyfriend/girlfriend wins.

Reason: The three of us are somewhat tired of being single.  Plus, Peter thinks almost everything is a competition – so this is our way of playing into that strange part of his brain.

Prize: A significant other.  And bragging rights – if you’re actually jerkish enough to brag. 

I’m not really sure how I got pushed into this competition; I wasn’t an original player.  This was strictly an Atlanta initiative.  Unforutnately, since I’m oddly connected to Peter’s Atlanta posse (just because I know them), I was dragged into this game during my visit.  

If Peter and Laura really wanted me to feel like crap, they’d just date each other and call it a day.  There’s no way Peter and I could date each other, for a variety of reasons.  Laura doesn’t have to worry about that. 

The game just can’t be that easy.

march wrap up

I’m still around.  Barely.  Weekends aren’t enough for me to rest my bones – I need a nice, long vacation to somewhere. 

Anyway, here’s what I’m looking forward to in April: 

1. April 30th – it’s the beginning of the end of the craziness that is my job (for the 2009 cycle). 

2. April 18th – Adam is supposedly planning something for my birthday.

3. Possibly going to see 9 to 5 with Adam (don’t hate)

4. Doing my taxes. Maybe getting a W2 from Murky. 

5. becoming a better tap dancer.

6. Reading great books.

7. Becoming a more competitive player in the challenge (I’ll explain later). 

And here’s what I’m not looking forward to in April:

1. Ending my 24th year of life. Turning 25. 

2. The potential hell that could be April 30th. 

3. Many late nights at work starting April 13th.

4. April 18th if Adam gets strippers for my birthday.  If he doesn’t want to be in a hospital on April 19th, he won’t let that happen.

already

Alexis went home tonight. 

Thus, my projections list is already screwed. 

I fail. 

But I’m kinda glad Alexis is gone.  She butchered Jolene last night and it made me sad.

randomisms

Ha.  I just made up that word.  Anyway, the past 2 days have been filled with more random things than usual.  I think I’ll document some randomness here. 

Random #1:  This is Ed.  He’s a former stray cat.  On Monday, one of my colleagues found him roaming around the street and rescued him from the dangers of city life.  Yes, she brought Ed (a stray cat) into the office for the day.  Not only did we give him a safe place to stay, some people bought him food, kitty litter and a couple of toy mice.  We even named him.  By the end of the day, we had to take him to the vet to get checked out.  Of course, it was sad for the cat-lovers at my job, but it had to happen.  If anyone is interested in adopting Ed (I’m serious) let me know.  I’ll get you in contact with the right people. 

Random #2:

I discovered a new flavor of Vitamin Water!

(This is a very big deal)

It tastes just like pineapple water, which I guess is the point.  Very tasty.

Random #3:

Remember that shot I had last week when the needle came out of my arm?  It left a very nasty looking bruise on my arm.  I rarely get bruises, so this is really strange for me.  I sorta feel like I have an alien marking on my arm.  I’m on day 6 of the bruise.  It’s not going away any time soon. 

Awesome. 

PS: It’s really hard to take pictures of your right arm with your left hand (when you’re right-handed).

Random #4:

My money jar is almost filled!  I try to use whole dollars as much as possible so I can add to my money jar (also called the laundry bank).  Originally, this was my Amazon.com money jar, but I think I might do the fiscally responsible thing and put the change into savings.  It’s not much, but it’s something.  Every little bit counts.

workaholism

I work too much.  I know this, and I’m not okay with it.  

Believe it or not, I’m at work right now.  I should be at my tap class, but I’m not – I’m too busy working. 

Honestly, I’d rather be at my dance class, but that’s mostly because I’m so freaking stressed out.  Work is stressing me out.  What else is new?  At least I’m doing an excellent job (I think) at covering up my anxiety. 

In my first job, it kinda stinks to be this bad of a workaholic.  This is setting the standard for the rest of my working life (which could also be the rest of my actual life).  It was bad enough being a quasi-overachiever in college – this is a whole different level. 

I wonder if this kind of stuff looks good on a resume: 

My name is Deva and I’m a workaholic.  If chose to work for you, I will work 12 hours a day AND work from home.  Did I mention I work weekends when needed?  I also have a hard time thinking of things besides work.  

What ever happened to work-life balance?  It’s totally not happening right now.  I don’t want to be a workaholic. 

Someone save me.

idol projections

From bad to awesome: 

• Jorge
• Jasmine

(thank God they’re already gone – they were definitely at the bottom of my list) 

• Anoop

(I actually like him, so it will be sad to see him leave)

• Scott

(Anoop and Scott could be swapped – I’m not sure)

• Michael
• Megan
• Lil 

(now I’m not really sure)

• Alexis
• Danny
• Matt
• Kris 
• Adam 
• Allison

If Adam wins Idol, I’m going to drive to Hollywood and punch Simon in the balls. If anyone else wins, I will be happy. I’m rooting for Allison – all the way. 

***Publishing this list is probably a bad idea – I’ll probably fail immediately and everyone will know how terrible I am at predicting these sorts of things. Clearly, I’m willing to take that risk.

back to giving (blood)

Today I gave blood for my cholesterol and glucose check ups. And I have 2 battle scars to prove it. 

Something you may not know about me: I have super tiny veins in my arms. I’m one of those patients nurses dread because it takes forever to find a vein in my arm that is willing to give up some blood. 

Of course, today was no different. I warned the nurse (who was super cool, by the way) and she started the hunt. We sorta found one in my arm, and it actually did a decent job at giving us some blood for my cholesterol test. Unfortunately, in the midst of celebrating the helpful vein, the needle popped out and blood started spilling all over my arm. It was almost a mess. 

So, onto plan B for the glucose test. 

FYI: I don’t have veins in my  hands either. 

She sorta found a vein in my left hand; however, after stabbing me with the needle, the blood wasn’t flowing. Of course, the nurse had to wiggle the needle around under my skin to try to find that vein… it was pretty painful. I wouldn’t recommend it. Anyway, she didn’t find it. And we gave up on the glucose part of the blood test. I’m about 99% healthy so everyone figured it wouldn’t be a huge deal if I went without it.

me and idol

FYI: I love American Idol. I can’t not watch it.

Secretly, a small part of me longs to be on that show.  I’d probably get kicked out in Hollywood week, though.  Not because I’m not awesome – probably because I would get sick of the super hardcore people.  I love singing for the joy of singing… not to become some big superstar diva. Sometimes.

Anyway, I watched tonight’s episode with 935 zillion other Americans.  I can’t say I’m satisfied with this year’s line up, but here are my thoughts.

• Overall, there are a TON of young parents on this show.  Like, a ton.  It kinda freaks me out.  I have no idea when I’ll start having babies.  Maybe in 5 years.  Alexis is 21 with a kid.  Lil is 23 with THREE kids!

• And what on earth is the name “Lil”?  I can barely say it.  Is it short for something?  Basically, I’m not a fan of her name.  After tonight I can already tell she probably won’t make it very far in the competition – which is good because her name sucks.  And her outfit tonight was a disaster.  I want to smack whoever told her that looked good.

• Kris is MARRIED?!  He just lost my vote.  Simon was right to say he should’ve saved the “married” thing for later in the show – My heart is broken. PS: the matching aprons bit was so sickening, in an adorable way.  I threw up a little bit in my mouth.  Ugh.  And also – his song was so Maroon 5-esque.  What was the point of the guitar?  For show?  No one actually heard it.

• Scott is cool.  Tonight he reminded me of a twist between Billy Joel and Elton John.  It was alright.  I liked the piano thing.  He won’t last very long on the show, but I hope he stays longer than Lil.

• Who in the hell is this Jasmine girl, and why is she in the top 13?  She needs to go back to her family in Mississippi and look adorable.  She could’ve been like Paris Bennett, but no – Jasmine can’t really sing.  Oh well. Go home.

• I love Puerto Rico, but Jorge just needs to stop.  He shouldn’t be there.  I might be in love with him had he sang “She’s Out of My Life”.  Paula finally had a good suggestion.

• Don’t even get me started on Adam Lambert.  I really don’t like him.  He’s the “Chris Daughtry” of the bunch.  Ugh. I really don’t want him to be there.  Watching him perform makes me want to rip out my eyeballs.  I have yet to see his talent.

• I love Anoop!  He’s the underdog and he’s totally adorable.  He’s probably the contestent I’d most like to friend on Facebook.  I hope he stays this week – Jorge was so much worse.

• Megan is meh.  Why did she sing Rockin’ Robin tonight?  That’s not even a Michael Jackson song.  It’s not even a Jackson 5 song.  SHE DIDN’T EVEN STICK TO THE THEME.  Whatever.  Her voice is kinda weird, but it works – sometimes.  If she quits singing stupid songs, I’ll like her more.

• Alexis, Kris and Allison are probably my favorites.  Allison probably tops that list, actually.  Kris lost me with the “marriage” thing.  Alexis lost me with the “baby” thing.  Allison has an amazing voice for a 17-year-old and her hair is so freaking awesome.  I want that.  Sadly, my hair could never look that cool because red probably doesn’t look good with my complexion.  Oh well.  Alexis surprised me with her version of Dirty Diana.  I was kinda into it – even if it was “pitchy” at times.

• The rest of the guys aren’t interesting enough to be mentioned.  Well, except Danny.  And Matt, I guess.  I enjoyed their performances.

Finally – WHAT IS WRONG WITH PAULA?!  Honestly, I’m convinced Paula is sick of being on that show and Fox drugs her so she will stick around.  That’s why she always looks stoned on TV.  There’s no way she’s not drugged during the show.  What an absolute hot mess.

According to Urban Dictionary, hot mess is defined as:

Someone or Something that is such a mess… the level of it, is off of the charts. It’s past pathetic, past pitiful. It’s to the point you almost have to walk away to keep from bustin a gut. Hot messes can exist in levels.

That is TOTALLY Paula Abdul. I was bustin my gut throughout that entire show.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll give my projection for the entire season.

birthdays

On March 10, 2008, I started this blog.  Wow.  It’s kinda hard to believe that I’ve been around for an entire year.  I feel like so much has happened in the past 365 days, but that’s not actually the case.

Let’s see: I got a master’s degree in international development policy (I’m basically awesome), moved back to New York City, and got a job.  That’s about it.  I’ve taken a few trips, but nothing lifechanging.  Life since July 21, 2008 (my first day with a real job) has been mostly lame. 

But anyways, my blog is 1 :) 

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and leaving comments about my not-so-fulfilling life! You all are super fantastic.  I promise to make things more interesting this year. Maybe. 

To start, this blog is in serious need of a facelift.  I’ve been all over random blog design sites, but I can’t figure anything out.  My job will probably continue to consume my life until May so I might have to put this off until the summer.

last night…

I drank too much wine and things got pretty ugly (for me). For some reason, I can only vomit in train stations (last year, I got sick from taking cold medicine on an empty stomach and threw up in the Potomac Avenue metro stop at 6 in the morning)…

Remind me never ever to do that again. Especially not when I go to Atlanta in 2 weeks. Especially not when I have tons of work to do the next day.

FYI: BYOB restaurants are both a curse and a blessing.

PS: We went here. It was pretty good. The food was slightly overpriced, but at least we didn’t have to pay (much) for drinks.