You are cool, and I mean that in the non-sarcastic way

I like to think that I have a lot of friends. My weekends typically don't end up being lonely, because I usually have someone to hang out with it. I even have a number of friends that I can't easily hang out with because they have moved away from me or I have moved away from them (tear). I'm really one really lucky lady to have so many awesome, sincere, intelligent people in my life.

With these friendships, there is usual a moment that occurred between us, in which I said to myself, "Dang, that person is awesome! I most have them in my life forever." Here are some  highlights:

• Watching someone you had just met, run (soberly) into and bounce off of a closed screen door. Only to watch her follow-up with a Mary Catherine Gallagher "Superstar" pose.  FRIEND!
• Participating in a river clean-up with a friend of a friend that you barely know and getting him to help you make the couple nearby (that is on there first date no less) feel uncomfortable, by serenading them with super sexy renditions of Ginuwine's Pony and Silk's Freak Me. FRIEND!
• Working late one night, and hearing your co-worker start singing the Humpy Dance out loud, alone at his cubicle. FRIEND!
• Your new work friend hiding in the bathroom, while you use her t-shirt to demonstrate to the rest of your co-workers your fancy t-shirt folding trick. FRIEND!
• Being the worst spotter during a trust exercise and letting your friend fall and end up getting a real bad-ass bruise (I was the bad spotter in this situation, sorry!).  FRIEND!

If your story is not in here, don't fret!  It's probably because A) It's too embarrassing to share with the world (not our friendship, just the situation), B) We've friends for so long, that I cannot remember the moment that defined our friendship, you were always just there, I love that you were!

Laundromat is the new bus

In the year and a half that I haven't been updating this blog, I have moved to a new apartment and a new neighborhood.

In my old apartment, I had a designated spot in an indoor garage that allowed me to keep my car parked for long periods of time. I could then take the bus to and from work. The bus trip was quick, free (work paid for my bus pass) and environmentally conscious. Also, as I have mentioned before, these bus trips have led to some interesting stories. At this particular apartment, there was a number of washing machines and dryers which allowed me to do laundry in peace because there was usually no one else doing laundry at the same time.

At my "new" apartment, I do not have a designated parking spot, so I have to drive my car to and from work to avoid getting a parking ticket. I park in my work's garage (for free again, because my awesome employers pays for the downtown parking ramp access). One would think that I would be missing out on the awesome bus-related stories. But with no washer or dryer in my apartment now, I have to use a laundromat, which means AWKWARD STRANGER MOMENTS!  yaaaaaay? Here are some examples of the stories I have collected in my brain jail so far:

I'm sure, for that particular guy, that the door was leading to Narnia 
I have tried the two different laundromats. The first one was closer to my apartment. It was extremely small, and all of the appliances were so old they ended up ruining some of my clothes with what looked to be rust stains . It wasn't more than a few months before I decided to switch laundromats. But before I did, I had the following experience:

Being too lazy to travel back and forth between home and the laundromat, I parked myself on a bench with a magazine, snack and my phone to entertain myself while I waited for my clothes to finish their washing and drying. Early on in the washing period (and I should probably note here that I was completely alone in the building) I notice a man pacing back and forth outside glancing in the window. Finally he walks in, goes to the bathroom, stays in there for a few minutes, walks out without acknowledging me ever. This little cycle of disappearing, reemerging, pacing outside on the sidewalk, jaunt to the bathroom for 3 minutes, exiting , REPEAT, occurred about 3 times during my entire "stay" for the night, which was about 2-2.5 hours.

Just before I left, I stuck my head in the now empty bathroom to see what the big deal was. What I saw with my eyes can only be described by the afternoon specials, or Lifetime Movies, or weird Current TV documentaries as a heroin and/or crack den.  Ok, I will admit it.  It wasn't the rust stains! I'm pretty sure the probable druggie was the catalyst to me selecting a new laundromat.

Maybe YOU make faces when you fold your laundry
At the second laundromat, I was shaking out my clothes and folding them after they got out of the dryer. I could see out of the corner of my eye that a lady was laughing (no, not giggling, or smiling - just full out laughing) at me. 

Me: May I help you (with a hesitant smile)?
Lady (not too much older than me): Your face just looks real funny when you fold clothes (contorts face to mimic what I was doing).
Me: Oh, ok. 

How Rude

Getting down with the adult contemporary
If my phone battery runs low, I will tempt the fates by entering the laundromat without a form of distraction while my phone charges in my car. Which also means I am subjected to listening to adult contemporary which plays overhead instead of sticking my head phones on and listening to music play on my phone.

This one time a woman was seriously getting down to the music being played by the laundromat. Not a fully body get down, but more of a "Holland get down" which involves sitting down, and moving the upper body.  Except this lady's upper body movement was all quasi-thrash metal, quasi-Keith Moon (or name another crazy drummer). She was totally pulling out the bull horns too. And all while there was some Hall and Oates song playing (probably not true, but in my memory it is the soundtrack to this particular event).

Ok, so this entry is getting too long and I am too tired. There is more to tell, and I am sure more to share. But in meantime, adieu!

Things that are better than...

I sit at my desk lightly clearing my throat followed by a swallow when I feel it..the beginning stage of a sore throat. You know that feeling...the feeling that this sore throat will rapidly spiral down into an all out head cold. I sit there imagining myself a few days from now, surrounded by mountains of used tissue. Nose all flaky and red from the nose rubbing and already cursing myself for getting the cheap version and not kicking in the extra few cents for the aloe tissues.

The only way I can ease my anxiety, is to make a list of things that are better than a sore throat (that will turn into a cold):

• Left over baptismal cake brought into work by colleagues (sugary frosting always soothes the hurt)
• When my dad hugs me so hard it cracks my back
• The term "stupid fresh"
• When I go to Sheboygan for the weekend and my Mom makes breakfast and coffee for me in the morning
• Getting that special corner space in the gym where I can do my balance squats without people's judgey "you're doing it wrong" eyes
• Cuddling with my nieces and nephews (who were probably the ones that got me sick, but whatevs)
• Leaving work at 5 pm and it being pitch black outside (I actually hate this, but even this is better than the stupid sore throat)
• Stealing candy from my nieces' and nephews' Halloween stash. Haha, suckas!
• Everything else in the world!

 Excuse me while I chug water, Vitamin C, hot tea, and anything else to ward off the doom!