hello*

I’ve really enjoyed saying that recently. A simple statement that means so much. hello. I’ve gone so long without posting that I figured I’d just post something random; stream of consciousness if you will. A couple points I’d like to just get out of the way off the bat:

1. I have an uncanny ability of running into the last person in the world I want to see at the time when I would least like to see them. Does this happen to others as it does to me? Last week I broke down and called New Guy. Yes, New Guy who I dated about a year ago and who I haven’t spoken to in months. Why I called him I have no idea, I suppose it is tough working in the building next to his and being reminded of him daily. Anyway, I missed him and I called him. He never returned my call. Okay that’s fine, figured he was out of town or something. No. Next day I go up to the cafeteria and he’s eating lunch with his new girlfriend, who just so happens to work on the 7th floor of my building. I dare you to find someone who has worse luck than me. I really don’t think that person exists. But the story gets worse. I’m a little bummed about it, but instead of going home and moping I figure I’ll meet a friend of mine at Redline that night who I hadn’t seen in a while. Great idea! Think again.  I walk into Redline, looking for my friend…and who is sitting at the bar? Are you kidding me? New Guy. What the hell are the chances of this happening. Even worse is that he acts like he doesn’t see me. Wonderful. New Guy if you are reading this, I really don’t care anymore. Eff it. Hello.
2. Bad luck number two: I got a new job. However, I have yet to get the “official” offer from the new gig. It has a been a month, but that is besides the point. I am just biding my time away here, and yesterday was a fairly stressful day. How do I explain this…let’s just say the day finally ended, and I just wanted to get the heck out of work and not be reminded of how stressful the day was. I’m waiting for the metro, and notice the person in front of me is the last person I want to see…the man who tasked us with this lovely project for the day. I had to make small talk, he apologized for being mean on a call, and then thanked me profusely for getting the work done. Not the worst thing in the world, definitely no worse than seeing New Guy last week, but really…I have bad luck. The only thing you can do is shake your head and laugh.
3. I’m just waiting for the 3rd strike here – who will I run into at the most inopportune time?
4. I’ve been seeing 21. Do you remember 21? I use the word “seeing” loosely, mind you. I ran into him over New Years after a four year hiatus. Great find I must say (see prior Puma posts). He’s a cutie, and now he’s 25. But I still call him 21 because no one would know who I was referring to if I used his actual real name.
5. Penis pic is also back in the picture, since he’s 21’s best friend. Kid is a real trip. I may have missed him more than I did 21 for the past four years.
6. I got off eharmony. It was a total drag. But then started getting these random emails from okcupid, apparently I signed up 3 years ago but do not remember doing so. So far, it has been entertaining. I have nothing on my profile but have gotten a few hits from some cuties after only being on the site for a day. Maybe the key is to put as little into your profile as possible, but a picture or two. Gets them every time.
7. 21 is on okcupid. He’ll be sitting next to me at my place and I see he has the site pulled up on his phone, he always shuts it right away so I won’t see…but my eagle eye spots it. His “looking for” age range on the site is like 22-28 (Mo tracked him down on the site…she really is the master investigator). Did I mention I am 32? I suppose I don’t fit into his ideal age range.
8. I’m a little too obsessed with Foursquare recently. My activities sometimes revolve around retaining mayorships and checking in for badges/points. This is a problem.
9. Got another rose last night from some bartender. I may try to post a pic of it later. It was a sweet gesture. But I have to wonder why I get lots of fake roses, but never the real thing. This one is made out of a napkin.
10. I wear a nice ring on my left hand, strategically placed on my middle finger. It is not on my ring finger. I am leaving that open for an engagement ring, God willing. However, it is frequently mistaken for an engagement ring. Are guys this stupid? The answer is yes. Clearly I need to start wearing the ring on my right hand. However, something tells me that even then my relationship status will be up for interpretation.
11. I had a dream that UConn lost last night in the Final Four. That doesn’t bode well for us. What I want to know is why the hell I am dreaming about basketball.

Tis all for now. More later. Talk to you soon. Missed you.

* this post is all true even though it’s April 1st.

moving on

[Spoiler alert: this is a semi-depressing post. I know everyone wants the upbeat, funny posts all the time…but you gotta take the good with the bad. I am a Leo afterall…I have a flare for the dramatic. However, not to worry, I will post some 2010 highlights or something to cap off the year and bring in the new one soon. But writing this helps me sort things out, so here you go.]

You know what? I have a problem moving on. This must be rectified in 2011. It is soon to be a new year…and it’s time to move on. No one likes change; change is hard. But it is time for change.

I haven’t posted in a while; I haven’t posted about Christmas, how I went home for the holidays, how I avoided the storm in order to be back to work on Monday, even though I love snow…I love acting like a kid and sledding and not having to go to work. And there have been funny things that have happened to me that are worth a post…I mean, this is my life afterall…but recently I’ve really been thinking about how I’ve messed things up.

I know I’ve been posting a lot about going on eHarmony dates. You know, I really just got on that site in the first place to get over someone. Well, it’s not working. No matter what I do, I always realize how much I miss him and wished I hadn’t messed things up in the first place. But you can’t change the past. I did what I did at the time, and I did it for a reason, and I can’t change it. Maybe it was right, maybe it was wrong. At the time it felt right, sort of, but something was off. I always questioned if I had made the right decision. And now I don’t believe that I did. Regardless, I did make a decision, and now I need to move on. There is no more ‘us.’ He has moved on, and I need to as well. I don’t know why I thought I could just go on eHarmony and I’d find the love of my life. That is not even possible if you haven’t gotten over someone. I know this. Maybe I figured it would take my mind off him; and it has. But when it really comes down to it, right now I can’t even imagine myself with anyone else. I know that sounds crazy, it’s been forever since we even officially dated; but I am still in love with someone else.

So…this is a new year. And I’m moving on. I made a mistake, and I forgive myself for making that mistake; it is a lesson learned. No more dates, no eHarmony. I’m just going to forget about this person and be happy, because I am happy. I have an amazing group of friends and family, a great job, and love my life. The only source of negativity in 2010 has been this, because I haven’t been able to let you go. But I have to now, and I will. I want to be happy, and I want you to be happy. I love you and I miss you, but I am letting you go.

Saturday night post

Yep, I’m actually home on a Saturday night. This may be difficult for some to believe. I can barely believe it myself. But here I am, chilling on the couch. Went a litttttle too hard last night. Need to gather my thoughts and recoup. Plus I have a ton of work to do before Monday so figured this was as good a time as any to knock that out. So of course I’m procrastinating here and not doing it.

I’ve been wanting to post about this for about a week now. I put it off because New/Old Guy claims that I have a thing for my hot yoga instructor. I don’t know where he’d get that idea. Regardless, he’s married so anything happening is completely out of the question. But since he seems to be all I’ve been blogging about recently, and in order to continue on with the hot married yoga instructor saga, I’d like to give a download of last Monday night’s happenings. Nothing major, but this story just keeps getting more juicy so I will update you now until my next encounter.

I try to avoid hot married yoga instructor these days. Why? Because he’s married. And effing hot. So instead of going to his class, I go to the class before his class in order to avoid him. Although, deep down I know I’m really not avoiding anything because he’ll be there when my class is done. So, as luck would have it, class ended – and there he was. We exchange hellos, how are yous…the use. I figured it would end there. No. Hot married yoga instructor literally says to me,

I was thinking about you today.

Excuse me? Time came to a screeching halt. I had to pause, gather my thoughts, and try not to choke, “What did you say?” [I’m so smooth].

He then explains what he meant by that ridiculous statement. In planning his class, he was thinking about what he would have me do if I showed up. Apparently, he had planned that the class would do inversions, and as you know from my last hot yoga instructor post, my disabled ass can no longer do inversions. Acceptable. But opening up with a line of “I was thinking about you today” had my mind doing kartwheels. Speaking of, I wonder if I can still do a kartwheel. Anyway, we ended the conversation by him asking me if I was taking care of myself, i.e. not doing inversions to protect the neck. Yes, I’m taking care of myself! Hot married yoga instructor, I trust your judgment. Not just because you are hot, but because you clearly know what you are doing.

Okay now that I’m done getting that out of my system, perhaps I’ll get back to work for the remaining 15 minutes that I will be up. Nothing like a little procrastination.

Until Monday night’s class,
Sara

my new obsession

Biking. Yes, since I can’t run for a few weeks to allow my shinsplints to heal, I’ve decided to take up a new sport to fill in the time. Well, two new sports really…swimming as well. These two new activities should successfully allow me to stay in cardiovascular shape so I can kick it back into full gear with the running obsession in a few weeks. On Saturday, my running partner (L), her friend and I decided to try to treck out to Mt. Vernon from DC on a ridiculously long bike ride. Since I have yet to purchase my own bike, L let me borrow a friend’s mountain bike for the trip. Yes, I rode a mountain bike for 30 miles on Saturday. Yes, my crotch is about to fall off because the seat was so ridiculously uncomfortable. And yes, mountain bikes should just be used on the mountain. Tonight, my extra cash will start being spent on biking instead of running gear. Stopping by a new bike shop in my hood to check out a hybrid/road bike. Not sure which is the best option for me, but all I know is that riding a mountain bike on pavement was pretty much torture. I want to go fast!!! Will let you know how that turns out.

Swimming is another thing I’ve been spending my money on. Dude, swimming is tough. I can pretty much excel at the breast stroke, but crawl stroke? You can’t be serious. That thing is difficult and might take some work. If I could perfect that, then I might be able to sign up for a triathalon. But right now, not happening. I’ll stick with my 10ks. Oh, and I’m thinking a half marathon might be in the works as well. Will keep you posted!

And just a quick note on my last post – I am fine kids! Thanks for the concern. Sometimes I get emotional, and it’s good to get things out. New Guy [should he now be called ‘Old Guy?’] and I will remain friends and it’s all good in the hood. In fact, I went to a wedding with him yesterday (since we had planned it a month or so beforehand). Don’t ask. LOL

Later!

update

Hey guys – sorry I’ve been MIA for a while. Been completely swamped at work and between that and training for this race, I’ve had zero time to think, let alone write a blog post. I haven’t even had a chance to read up on my blogs…such as DCist, Prince of Petworth, U Street Girl, 14 and You, and other city necessities. I have a list of about 20 or so blogs I read at this point. I should really upload them to the homepage so you can read them as well. On the to-do list!

So…what can I tell you. U Street Music Hall has again proved to be flat out AMAZING. So amazing, that it made the hair on my arms stand on end from the incredible power from the speaker systems. However, when I got home that night – my ears weren’t ringing! It’s a miracle folks! I went, I think it was last Thursday night and saw Plant Music and then Stretch Armstrong. AMAZING! So hard to tear myself away, but I reluctantly did – at 1am on a school night. What am I, in college?

Sunday, I run this damn Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I can’t wait to get this crap over with. My shin is really about to fall apart, I am just praying that it’s not fractured at this point. The race has been ruling my life. I go to bed early (minus that 1am debacle), don’t stay out late, don’t drink. Okay, so maybe it’s actually been good for me. Who knew I would feel this good not drinking and getting some sleep? I admit, I am a bit Nazi-ish about it though. I don’t even let New Guy stay over anymore for fear that I won’t get my 8 hours of prized sleeping time. Okay, yeah…this whole race thing needs to end. I’m done with you, Cherry Blossom! Bring it!

apartment living

How many times does it take for me to go upstairs and kindly ask that my neighbor turn down his music for it to get drilled into his head that his MUSIC IS TOO LOUD???!!! This guy must be dense. The walls, ceilings, and floors are pretty much made of cardboard. Just the other night, New Guy and I were laying around and kept thinking we heard a phone vibrating. Thinking it was mine, I checked. Not mine. Thinking it had to be his, we checked. Not his. That led us to believe that we could actually hear the phone vibrating IN ANOTHER APARTMENT. Yes, that is what we are dealing with here folks. Cardboard. So please, buddy, have some common courtesy. It boggles the mind when people don’t understand that blaring your music at 11pm at night during the week (or any time for that matter) would bother your fellow neighbors. What, you don’t love hearing base vibrating through the walls when you are trying to go to sleep? I do.

tone it down perhaps?

My apologies, but here I am going to be forced to playfully poke fun at the guy I am dating, New Guy. All in good fun, of course. Again, he asked me not to blog about him, but there is just too much material to work with here.

New Guy works near me, and by “near,” I mean the building next door. This is a problem. You thought I was unproductive in the past? Today I met him for over an hour long lunch (not something we should be doing on the regular here), then proceeded to continue to be unproductive upon returning to the office. Spending this much time outside is not good for me. I come back in, and all work product is lost. Note to self – eat at your desk as often and frequently as possible.

So back to lunch this afternoon. New Guy has this lovely habit of speaking very loudly. He has a deep voice, which tends to…how do we say this…project? I don’t think he is capable of bringing the pitch down at all. So, he will talk loudly in public as well, on our lunch breaks. Now, at lunch, there are a range of topics that we will sometimes discuss. One would think that talking about something in public as personal as your sex life would be toned down. No, apparently this is not on New Guy’s agenda (until now…mwahahhaaaaa). Even if his co-workers happen to be right next to him, it is no matter. Yesterday we met for lunch too (overkill?), and I heard the word “SEX!” blurted out on one too many ocassions. What’s next? “MAGNUMS!” (inside joke), “FOREPLAY!”, “YOU ARE ON YOUR PERIOD?”??? Given that he’s already blurting out something as personal as “SEX!”, I am scared to hear what he might say in the future. It can only get worse.

The people we meet

In my day, I have met some interesting characters. Last night, however, may have taken the cake. We were at a work happy hour at Vapiano in Chinatown, in which the guy who planned the happy hour did not show up. To this day, I still have no idea who this man is. He is this imaginary happy hour planner who gathers people together for drinks but then doesn’t show. But this is besides the point.

I am dating this new guy, let’s call him New Guy for now. He asked me not to blog about him, but oh well. Lucky for him I have nothing excrutiatingly bad to say (yet), so he’s in he clear. Anyway, New Guy brings his roommate to this happy hour. Roommate met a girl a few days ago; he doesn’t really know her yet other than the fact that she is very skinny, but cute. Skinny Girl meets us at Vapiano. You know things are going to be comical when Roommate introduces me to Skinny Girl saying, “this is New Guy’s girlfriend.” Really? To my knowledge, we have only been going on for about a month. We all had a good laugh, Roommate profusely apologized, and we moved on.

As the night progresses, we are starting to realize that Skinny Girl is, well, crazy. She won’t tell anyone where she works, so automatically we think she is a stripper. She proceeds to touch everyone, clearly not grasping the concept of personal space. After some time, Roommate comes to the conclusion that she is crazy, so proceeds to make a getaway. Skinny Girl was having none of this. She follows him into the mens bathroom, into the stall even, and won’t leave until she finally gets kicked out. She proceeds to talk to him while putting her hands around his throat in the strangling position, scratching him on the neck and everything. And I thought I had gone on dates with some interesting individuals.

Let’s get to the punchline.

Before this psycho strangling scene unraveled, a few of us were sitting around eating some pasta. Clearly, Skinny Girl must have been hungry, because she hadn’t even met my friend Rachel, but that didn’t stop her from asking Rachel if she could have a bite. Rachel so appropriately told her that she could, but only if she got her own fork. Skinny Girl got her own fork and dug in. I knew things were about to get ugly when I saw Skinny Girl eyeing my plate. No less than five minutes later, she is behind me, sitting entirely too close to New Guy. Next thing I know, I see her hand grabbing the fork off my plate. It was like slow motion. She prods the chicken but doesn’t want that, moves onto a few frigatelli curls at nine o’clock. I hear New Guy gasping and making an attempt to stop her. I hear Mo to my right telling my friend V, “this is not good, Sara is incredibly OCD.” After prodding around in my plate a bit, this is when Skinny Girl decides that it is appropriate to ask me if she can have a bite. How does one answer this question? She must have seen the look of utter devastation on my face because this is when she reassures me by saying, “don’t worry, I don’t have germs…I just went to the doctor.” Well phew, that clears things up for me – dig in!

Skinny Girl has a small bite and then continues to stalk other pasta dishes. V, realizing I am OCD, was kind enough to get me another fork. We tried to slyly switch forks so that Skinny Girl wasn’t offended. No matter, she saw it anyway. Regardless, I am happy to annouce that I did finish the meal, thanks to a few kind hearted individuals.

A friend who had left earlier did not finish her entire pasta dish, and this was still on the table. The dish had been sitting there for at least a good hour. However, this did not detract Skinny Girl from going in for the kill on that dish. Roommate, at this point, was devastated and managed to stop her. This was actually right before the strangling scene proceeded. Maybe now it’s more clear to you why Roommate was trying to get away from her.