Random Mutterings about Life (tm)

[dawn_felagund]

Last night, Bobby had his last game as a member of Your Team Name Here. We are pretty good friends with one of his teammates Andy and his teammate's wife Cindy, who is also the scorekeeper at the ice rink. Last night, Cindy came in wearing a big smile and told me that she had good news. She asked me to guess.

"You got a house?" I asked, and I was right!

I asked the usual questions. I looked at her maps and community book and was happy for them. I didn't pretend that; when a friend is happy, I am happy for her, of course.

But the thought kept coming into my mind that I couldn't quite see myself getting likewise so excited. Actually, as she was talking about taking down wallpaper and putting up new paint, I was imagining this awful '70s wallpaper, gave a mental shrug, and thought that I'd probably just leave it up.

I don't know what it is...I've changed so much since last year.

Last year, Bobby and I were the ones excited about getting a house in the next couple of years. Now...well, he's hoping to get a new job, which will mean a pretty big pay cut, and I don't even care. I think of cars and houses and stuff and...*shrug*

I am rarely even motivated to clean the apartment anymore. Not like I used to. I used to vacuum and clean the bathroom twice per week. Now, it seems there are better things to do.

The 2005 model of Dawn Felagund says she doesn't even know the 2006 model anymore. :^P

With this thought in my brain, I went to the pharmacy this afternoon after work to pick up a prescription. Because there is nary a road in Maryland that is not under some kind of significant construction, they have Frederick Road closed and detoured onto Route-40. (Both are pretty busy local roads.) It took me fifteen fucking minutes to turn out of the pharmacy, drive across the street, and drive a half-mile to my apartment community. Why? Because the geniuses who govern the roads closed one of the biggest roads in the area, detoured traffic onto the biggest road in the area, and didn't think to adjust the light so that more than three cars could turn onto the detour at one time.

Argh.

So on top of having in my brain that 2006 Dawn is a drastically different Dawn from last year, I am sitting in traffic thick as mud and cursing the county that I am supposed to love enough to pay an extra $400 a month in rent than if I lived in, say, Harford County. Cursing the whole goddamn area for being friggin' Type-A, corporate-tool, cell-phone-in-the-ear suburbia. Because, really, I know that it's not Howard County. Howard County is honestly a beautiful place to live in a glossy-full-color-brochure kind of way. It's the Baltimore-DC Metro area. Nrgh.

As I sat in traffic, a half-mile from home, the thought came to me: "God or Eru or Whoever-Is-Listening, let this new direction in my life take me the fuck away from here!"

Naturally, because I had definitely caught Murphy's eye, I barely missed the light when I finally made it the hundred feet from the pharmacy to the intersection. I could have stretched the yellow, but Maryland is also the Redlight Camera Capital of the World--yay us!--so I decided not to take my chances. I was sitting there, listening to my iPod and trying not to be grumpy, and a guy pulled up in the car next to me. You know: a hand-draped-over-the-wheel, hat-cocked-to-the-side, rap-music-blaring, SUV-drivin' kind of guy. He was "cool," in other words. Well, his rap music was frankly overwhelming my music, which had just switched to "Evenstar" from the TTT soundtrack. Lovely song, makes me think of Nerdanel and Feanor. Since I was already bordering on grumpy, I turned up my music to match his. So here he is, cool and listening to rap. Here I am--hair to my bum and tangled from blowing in the wind, wearing a tie-dyed shirt and my clunky school-marm shoes from Payless--blaring the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Cool, indeed.

Comments

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

I wouls just paint over the awful 70's wallpaper. ;)

Ok, I think the fact that you don't clean twice a week means you are becoming normal! ;P Or it means you're getting into the college mentality.

"God or Eru or Whoever-Is-Listening, let this new direction in Dawn's life take her to Colorado, which is a damn cool place!" ;)

I hate people with super loud music. I don't listen to LotR in the car usually, especially not "Evenstar" (because this song is too relaxing, and is the song I listen to when I cannot sleep, and I don't want to fall asleep while driving), but still.

Unrelated, but I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Horse lovers are stable people." Hehe! I'm stable.

[rinnor.livejournal.com]

A house that is too clean only invites asthma and other illnesses. Which is probably why I never get sick.

Wow, vacuuming twice a week and you don't even have furry pets. Without my husky around shedding all the time, I didn't even vacuum the other week, and I couldn't even tell.

Yes, you do have better things to do - I hope your writing is towards the top of your list; that would beat cleaning any day of the week. Or hiking would too. Or having a social/family life. Or just about anything else I could think of.

Cities and roads everywhere are getting more and more crowded. Even the rural areas are getting built up so fast, so yes, it makes sense to open the borders to anyone in the world who wants to come here.

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

Oh, good God, I only do a major houseclean every couple of weeks or so. Cleaning twice a week is silly.

Chicago did a downtown disaster-preparedness drill today. They closed down major streets, rerouted the buses, confused the whole city, for a drill that was supposed to start at 9 a.m. and continue till 7 p.m. It actually started at 3 p.m. I think the geniuses who designed the roads where you live designed the drills where I live.

[nienna-weeper.livejournal.com]

Boo boo.

Priorities shift as we mature.

I had to turn my Celtic thingy music waaaaaay up today to drown out Britanny Spears, of all things. Ack.

[ann-arien.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hear you on the priorities change thing. For example, I am now pondering whether to go for a Master's Degree, this fall, or not. Everyone says I should and before graduating there was no doubt in my mind that I would start the three semester post-university classes right away. But now I find myself really not feeling like it. At all. *shrugs*

So here he is, cool and listening to rap. Here I am--hair to my bum and tangled from blowing in the wind, wearing a tie-dyed shirt and my clunky school-marm shoes from Payless--blaring the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Cool, indeed.

Heh! that's kinda like me going on the street, minding my own business, and being harassed by various idiots (i.e. construction workers). I turn to them and shout: "Go to fucking Mandos!" In English, of course. then I giggle, because I realize that even if Mandos' Halls were real, they couldn't go there. This is either cool or insane, you tell me.

I hope that whatever you do and wherever pursuing your passions and your careers takes you, both of you will be happy. *hugs*

[ssotknapsack.livejournal.com]

As I sat in traffic, a half-mile from home, the thought came to me: "God or Eru or Whoever-Is-Listening, let this new direction in my life take me the fuck away from here!"

*Whispers* Englaaaaand... home of Tolkein... don't come to the city... Englaaaaaand...

;-)

[greenknight33.livejournal.com]

You know babe, it's funny about Cindy and Andy's house, I basically had the same reaction. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy for them, but I just don't get excited about that kind of thing anymore. I think modern society is ruled by all of these damn status symbols, and I could personally care less about what type of car you drive, or where you live, or whatever other media-fed crap that people buy in to. Who cares? At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter.

I also think that modernity pushes people to make decisions too quickly. Why do I have to own a house and be in a job that will run my life for the next 35 years when I am 25? To me, the rush of modern life is crazy, people aren't meant to live this way.

Personally, i'll take the little shack by the shore any day over the 5 gazillion dollar home with eight BMWs.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

I don't know what it is...I've changed so much since last year.

Last year, Bobby and I were the ones excited about getting a house in the next couple of years. Now...well, he's hoping to get a new job, which will mean a pretty big pay cut, and I don't even care. I think of cars and houses and stuff and...*shrug*

Ah yeah, I recognise this. Even though you are happy for that person, it feels like a world apart. I am still trying to pay attention not to talk about Kevin with others too much, because.. yeah. He's such a big part of my daily life. But now I have more time to do other things too, but it will never be the same, it just slips in the conversation. Years ago I was happy with a roof above my head and a place to call my home... now I stare outside and look at the jungle that is my garden (can't you send Feanoro over, Maglor is really not interested..), but we're now looking around for a house which will fit our future needs.

Because the geniuses who govern the roads closed one of the biggest roads in the area, detoured traffic onto the biggest road in the area, and didn't think to adjust the light so that more than three cars could turn onto the detour at one time.

Eugh sounds like my town where you can sit for 20 min idle in the car while your home is 5 minutes away.. no wonder that I cycle so much!

Since I was already bordering on grumpy, I turned up my music to match his. So here he is, cool and listening to rap. Here I am--hair to my bum and tangled from blowing in the wind, wearing a tie-dyed shirt and my clunky school-marm shoes from Payless--blaring the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

LOL! I love this visual *grin* I haven't played the soundtrack for months!

But you know, maybe you changed, but maybe that is the exciting thing of life: you go forwards, sometimes unnoticed, sometimes forced, but you learn new things, come across new people, or friends change along with you too.. :)