Category Archives: Random

10 Unimportant and Relatively Uninteresting Things Going On In My Life Right Now

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1.  Do you like the song “Extraordinary Machine?”

Fiona Apple said that she wrote it as a pep talk to herself. Every couple of years, I find myself in that place where I get nestled into my comfort zone and am loathe to venture out of it.  My best experiences, though, have come from swallowing my fears and going outside my comfort zone. I realized that I have lost my sense of adventure.  I haven’t had a decent “outside the comfort zone” trip since Philly and my marathon.

This is not to say that I have any exciting trips planned (I wish).  I just want to embrace new challenges with acceptance.

2.  Speaking of Fiona Apple – WHEN IS HER ALBUM COMING OUT?  BECAUSE I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.  Apparently she released a single and I am just finding out about it now. WHAT.

3. I painted my fingernails sky blue and my toe nails forest green. Because I can.

4.  I am breaking out on my chin and it is so unattractive.  Not just one blemish, either.  It’s this gross pizza chin and WHY, GODS OF CLEAR SKIN, WHY?!

5. I really, really want this hair.

Except that summer is approaching in Texas, meaning I will be miserable with heavy bangs coating my face.

6.  Speaking of summer coming in Texas, I have been running again but I am not in the condition I was six months ago, i.e. I am horribly out of shape and a once easy 4.5 mile run has been reduced to agony.  I went running the other day and it felt SO HOT and I was saddened to realize that it was only 85 degrees.  I say “only” because the temperature will jump at least 20 degrees within the next two months.

7.  I have to work this weekend, which really, really sucks.  I am not sure if I can see the Avengers but I want to, but mainly because of this man:

8.  I have the show Charmed on mute in the background, and I am instantly being reminded of fashion from 2001.  Super frilly, pink Britney Spears-type sweaters, cheeky hats, bold lipstick.

God, I feel like this show has been on for the past two hours, WHEN IS IT GOING TO END?

9.  My shoulder still vaguely hurts at night and it’s still a little stiff, even over two months after hurting it.  The doctor confirmed last month that it is healing nicely and that the most I could do with it is physical therapy, if I wanted to. He didn’t sound concerned with it and is unsure if I even dislocated it; he said he has no way of confirming it since he didn’t see me after my injury (all I’m saying is I FELT IT POP BACK IN.)

I guess my dad is right; it will never be 100% normal again, or maybe it will after a long, long time.  That’s okay.

10.  Goals for this month – actually learn a song on my guitar, actually learn a couple of songs on drums, actually finish a book.

Thank you for reading these 10 Unimportant and Relatively Uninteresting Things going on in my life right now.

Another Sleep-Deprived Post

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I have been catching up on my sleep a little bit, I promise.  I still feel tired right now, though.  I guess because I should be asleep, right? NO.  OF COURSE NOT.  THAT WOULD BE THE MATURE THING TO DO.

You know what one of my pet peeves is?  Not returning a shopping cart to its appropriate cart return corral.  I mean, seriously, how long does it take? Maybe a minute at the most?  Instead, people are assholes and leave them wandering like lost cows all around the parking lot, crashing into parked vehicles and just being a nuisance.  I fully believe in karma , and I feel like I will invoke tons of bad karma by not returning my cart to the corral. And I park way out in the boonies, y’all.  If I can return my cart to the corral after parking five miles away from the store entrance, then no one else should have an excuse.  Way to be lazy, America.

I went for a run today and it was full of pain. I was trying to work out this week in my hotel gym because running in these small towns is a no-no unless you want to get raped.  I didn’t have my iPod charged, which meant I lasted maybe two minutes on the treadmill before being all, “THIS IS ALL MY BODY CAN PHYSICALLY HANDLE FOR TODAY.” (God, I hate the treadmill).  So yesterday, in a mad effort to do a workout before heading to a casino (more about that in a future post), I ran up and down three flights of stairs for five minutes. That may not sound like much, but I was really sore today, which meant calves were in pain during said run.  I ran so slowly. It was pretty sad.

Oh man you guys, I don’t know if I’m overtraining or if this is just my body reacting to the wimpy Texas winter or what, but all I want to eat is CARBS.  Two snacks I am in danger of overconsuming are Central Market Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and HEB Whole Wheat Crackers. OMG.  I don’t even care how uppity and hipster I sound by saying that I am eating cinnamon agave sweet potato tortilla chips, they are AMAZING and HEALTHY (or, they would be if I didn’t have like five servings already today).  If you live in Texas, check them out without shame.  You will not be disappointed.

In case you are wondering about my “Tom Sawyer” progress, I’m on page 2.  Yep.

Goddamn it, is it Friday yet?

I need to sleep.

For real.

Night night.

This Is a Weird Gas Station, Y’all

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I went back to the Gas Station of Frustration and Despair today out of pure desperation; my truck was running low on fuel, and rather than drive aimlessly looking for a gas station, I decided my best bet would be to go to the one down the road.  Though the gas station was still crowded, I was able to get an empty pump without a problem.

There was a rather uppity woman at the pump next to mine, refueling her truck while chattering loudly on her cell phone about her relationship problems.  It would be so nice if they could just talk about things for CLOSURE, YOU KNOW?  I leaned against my rental truck, trying to ignore her.

As I waited, I heard a loud-pitched, mewing sound.  Turning around, I saw a woman walking through the parking lot, an adorable calico kitten in each arm.  She approached the uppity woman.  ”Do you want a kitten?” she asked brightly.

The uppity woman recoiled as if she’d just been offered meth.  ”I don’t need any of those,” she snapped, getting into her car and hurriedly driving away.

The woman approached me next, holding out a kitten.  ”Do you want one?” she asked.  I smiled and said no thank you.  The woman, undeterred, continued offering kittens to each of the gas station customers.  Each customer declined her offer politely.

The woman returned to her car, still cradling the kittens.  I watched, amused, as the car sped away.

A Baby Bird Post

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I don’t think you guys know how much I love baby birds.

I think it all started when I was ten. My dad used to volunteer at a bird shop, and one night brought home a little baby Quaker parrot.  I named her Fluffy.  We had to feed her with a syringe because she was so little. If you’re wondering what baby Quaker parrots look like, see below:

I got this off the internet, but you get the idea.  Basically the cutest thing ever. (My parents gave Fluffy away after we got a dog, and I was NOT A FAN OF THAT DECISION).

Ever since then, I basically squee every time I see a baby bird.  For instance, while walking downtown this summer, I spotted this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then this weekend, I watched Rio with my family.  It was not a perfect movie – I’m sure the depictions of Brazil were very stereotypical, Autotuned music from will.i.am does not belong on any soundtrack, and all the villains either had a Portuguese or British accent, prompting my brother to say, “They’re just teaching kids that xenophobia is okay!” But I was squeeing from the first two seconds of the movie, which depicted a baby blue macaw:

I mean, seriously.  Is this not the cutest thing ever?  At the beginning, the little baby bird gets kidnapped from Brazil and sent to America, and is shown in various states of sadness and looking impossibly adorable in the process. I was all, “Please, stupid kid’s movie, do not make me sad over a fictional, anthropomorphic character.”

This reminds me of the baby penguin from The Chipmunk Adventure.  Have you all seen it?  It was required viewing for anyone born between 1982 – 1990.  There is this one scene where a baby penguin is separated from its mother, and the Chipettes sing it the SADDEST SONG IN MOVIE HISTORY.

The last time I saw this movie was in 2007, and tears may or may not have been shed during this song.  Seriously, I dare you to watch that shit without a tear welling in your eye. If you can, then you have no soul.  Period.

In this post, I have revealed that I am highly susceptible to cute and adorable things, and that makes me a very stereotypical girl in that regard.

Glimpses of an Immortal Guitarist

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This evening, my brother and I went to go watch my drum teacher Michael’s new band at a coffee shop by the lake.  Though it was already 7:30, it was still ridiculously humid outside.  The band was really good – they played improv jazz.  The guitarist is actually in my running group (small world, right?)  During the break, Michael came up to our table to talk with us.

“You know who I realized was watching us?  Eric Johnson,” Michael said.  My brother’s face shifted to an expression of awed recognition.  ”Wow,” Pat said.  ”Really? Where is he?”  ”He was at that table right over there,” Michael said.  ”Oh yeah, he cut his hair,” Pat replied.

I sat there for a moment, and, feeling like a total idiot, I asked, “Um…who’s Eric Johnson?”  Michael said, “He’s one of the best guitarists to come out of this city.”   I still did not recognize who Michael was talking about.  ”Was he in a band?” I asked.  My brother, a guitarist himself, said, “Jen, he did that ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ song on Guitar Hero III.”  ”OHHHHHHHH I know who he is,” I exclaimed.  And I knew what that song was before Guitar Hero, THANK YOU VERY MUCH).

As Michael left, he muttered, “There he is,” and both Patrick and I whipped our necks over.  I would never have known that a world-famous musician was sitting just a table over from us.  Pat and I didn’t want to be the creepy people staring for no reason, so we took a quick glance and then didn’t look again.

That’s one of the things I love about this city – it’s a place that attracts legit musicians, actors, and artists.  If you keep your eyes open, you never know who you’re going to run into.

Random Music, July Edition

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I’ve been feeling a couple of songs lately, and I will post them for your enjoyment.

1.  

I heard this song on the radio yesterday and completely forgot it existed.  It’s such a nice little low-key number.

2. 

The entire album is really good, but this is the kind of song you can play on repeat.  It’s just so melodic and gorgeous.  P.S. I’m 99% sure that Dave is playing rhythm guitar in the background.

3.  

Question – is this song ever leaving my head?

Answer – NO.

4.  

This song is just ridiculously lovely.

5.  

If there were an audible definition of cool, this would be it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Random Collection of Events

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The first dude to hit on me with my new hair was…wait for it…an old man.  Sigh. Figures.

One day, some lucky man is going to become Mr. Jenny and can look forward to a lifetime of my cooking.  Like the sweet and sour chicken I made today.  MMMMMMM (note inherent sarcasm in this entire paragraph).

It was aight.  I dunno. I used chicken breast and of course it came out dry.

Today I was walking in an HEB parking lot and saw two damaged cars.  The people milled about a police officer and were discussing what had happened.  I could definitely relate, as I got into a car wreck just two weeks after moving to this city and one week after starting my job. It wasn’t a fender bender either; I had been speeding through the parking lot and t-boned another vehicle, totaling both of our vehicles.  The other driver was bloody from the broken glass and had to go to the ER later that night for his leg (I felt so sad when I found that out, and carried that guilt with me for awhile).  The scary thing is, I had been so focused on finding an exit from that parking lot that I didn’t even realize that other car was there until I heard the sound of breaking glass and seeing my air bag come out. It was not a fun day.

As I passed the group of people, I realized suddenly that today was the three-year anniversary of that wreck.  Wow.

In cheerier news: guess.