High Hopes

Had to have high, high hopes for a living Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling I was gonna be that one in a million Always had high, high hopes When “High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco came on the radio one morning on the way to work, I thought, wow, that song is definitely going on my workout/running playlist. It’s such a positive song. I even added it to my public “Office Radio” playlist which my office actually plays through the PA to motivate my coworkers. Well, former office. I didn’t know at the time that...
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Beware the Young Girls

Brandon’s niece stayed with us for a week for 4th of July. This bright, tall, almost 15 years old young woman is usually quiet, but she perks up when the conversation is something she’s interested in. Like animals. (14 pets–five cats, one dog, one rabbit, five chicken, and two horses.) Or swimming. (We made a mermaid out of her this trip!) Or Harry Potter. She wants to be a vet tech someday. And see the world. I can’t wait to help her get to wherever she wants to go. It’s going to be a great destination....
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Life with the Beatles

I grew up on the Beatles. When your parents were both educated in England during the 1960s mod era, those would be the records they brought home. (Well, dad did.) There were also Elvis Presley and the Carpenters, but the mainstay was usually John, Paul, George, and Ringo. My parents were so Anglophile-posh with their musical choices that I didn’t know the hippie period of the Beatles until much later on in life. That also means that I also had no idea who the Rolling Stones or David Bowie was. Elton John was introduced into the pool just enough to get us...
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Everybody Hurts

I wrote this originally on June 9, a day after the death of Anthony Bourdain, all on my phone. Something I don’t usually do, but I had to get it off my chest. Entering the Anger stage of grief over here. Getting really annoyed at people talking about depression as if you have to be visibly crying and moping in public all the time, or that they should have reached out for help instead of keeping their problems to themselves. It doesn’t work that way. Depression drags you down, makes you feel worthless, useless, and unimportant so much so that...
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Girl Friends, Giving, and Going Home

2017 has been quite a year for everyone. As we’re looking forward to a new year, I’d like to take a look back at this one. Year of Girl Friends Sometimes you just get so busy with your life that you lose touch with your friends. This year, the Universe has determined that I need to be reminded that I have GREAT friends, and I should be connecting with them. My friends Heather and Monica joined me for my usual OC Race series this year. They’re so much faster than me and I appreciate their waiting for my slow ass at...
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Office Music Hi-“Jack”

Jack FM is our office radio as it has been since I started working here 4 years ago. It’s a great station to have for white noise: classic rock on random rotation. After all, “playing what we want,” is Jack FM’s slogan. However, when it’s the only station you listen to 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, for four years, you’d notice that it’s the same damn catalog playing in different order. We lost count of all the times Hazel would whistle the intro to “Patience,” or I would break into basic “Beat It” moves in the middle of...
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