"The Anonymous Way to Send a Helpful Message"

Have you ever wanted to tell someone what he/she is lacking?  Or at least give that person a helpful hint on improving himself?  That's where NiceCritic comes in.

NiceCritic.com's mission is billed as "a way of communicating difficult thoughts comfortably."  The website comes with categories that provide one-liners for the many people you interact with: coworkers, neighbors, classmates, etc.  What are some of the messages?  Here are ones that I would use:

"Washing you hands after using the bathroom is a wonderful way to not spread germs."

"Please refrain from talking on your cell phone so loudly."

And the one with the most hits:

"It seems like your thong is showing."

The site also has a category for "Anonymous Praise" and many of the other categories also have nice things to say, so it's not only messages of irritation.

Even though the idea intrigues me, using the site isn't something I'd consider.  Anonymous or not, I don't feel comfortable in doling out criticism.  And I know that I wouldn't feel particularly thrilled if I received one of these messages.  So tell me, is NiceCritic.com something you would use?

Why Not Just Live?

The silence in the room was betrayed only by the subtle scratching of lead weaving across crisp, white paper. For minutes he wracked his brain for a thread of insight into the word that was openly mocking him. A word blazing across the chalkboard in thick, bold strokes.

One by one, fellow students heaved sighs of relief, stretched their cramped muscles and banished their semester to three pages of physiological babble, yet he remained. Silent. Still. Staring.

It stared back.

Why? Why? Why?

Frustrated, he tapped his fingers along the desk, ran his hands through his tussled hair and groaned inwardly. Anything to break the silence. To break the hold.

Then it came.

With a grin that put the Cheshire cat to shame, he jotted down two simple words and rose to his feet.

Why not?

Okay, so, we all know the story of the smart ass student who aced his college final with only two words. Lucky him, but what about the rest of us? There are so many things we have yet to puzzle out. So many mysteries and possibilities, can they be solved with just two simple words?

I can't tell you how many times I've lain in my bed trying to quiet my frantic mind before the peace of sleep stole my thoughts. Sometimes it happens in an instance, others, I greet the sun as an old friend. Most times I'm puzzling out my future and trying to find out just where I belong in the shadowed pieces.

I've come to discover that I don't know.
I may never know, but what I do know is this:

Life is a journey. A path trodden with failures and forked with choices. It is a dare, a discovery, a destiny. We were created to go through life seeking an answer to question that we will never find. The answer to who we are.

We seek it in ourselves. In our relationships. We try to find insight in our successes and lessons in our mistakes. Failures may curve our paths. Faith may lead us home, but still we find the question that haunts our minds, drives our purpose and consumes our being so frustratingly out of reach. And to what end? What is so important about self identity that people will scour the world just to find themselves?

Maybe we are looking in the wrong places. Maybe we are looking for the wrong reasons. Or maybe, just maybe, we are never meant to know.

Why?

I have no idea.

So I say - why not?

Bonjour! and Love, Of Course

Hello, everyone! I'm the newest member of the LOMB team, OhMyFancy. I've known the other LOMB girls since college and also live in the D.C. area. A common theme of this blog is love and relationships, so here's my outlook/problem with this popular topic.

It's rather befitting of my name, OhMyFancy, and my literature majors, that I write my first post on this: the unattainability of fictional men.

I know. It sounds silly. But I also know that many people have this problem. Why else would classics like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice be so popular? It's not always their literary value. There's just something about the strength of Rochester and Mr. Darcy...

I really started thinking about this problem when this past weekend I found myself completely engrossed in Shannon Hale's novel, Austenland. It's about a single woman, Jane, who goes on a trip to Pembrook Park, a vacation spot for die-hard Jane Austen fans. The Regency world is recreated with actors playing Austen-like characters: the overbearing mother, the charming rake, the proud and distant gentleman, etc. It totally sounds like a place I would be interested in.

Then Hale brings up a very good point: Jane and the other two clients are surrounded by actors who are paid to ensure their happiness. This includes the men being paid to "fall in love" with the clients. The feelings therefore that Jane has for the Mr. Darcy guy are based in fantasy. None of it can ever be real because he doesn't really feel anything for her. (Although because this is chick lit, we do get a real romance by the end.)

I easily succumb to these fictional men. I've been ready to marry Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables since I was thirteen. Since high school, I've been holding on to my imaginary ideal of a duke or an earl falling in love with me (I've always wanted to be titled). I rarely find someone I'm swept away by. Of course if I do, I'm always too shy to make the first move, so I end up building the guy up on a pedestal in my imagination, thinking he really could be the perfect guy for me, though I barely know him! I have basically created a fictional character out of a real person.

I know. Characters in books and movies are impossibly unrealistic. There are articles on how chick flicks give us the wrong idea about romance. There's the Facebook group called "Disney Gave Me Unrealistic Expectation About Love." (I just did a Google search, and there's another one similarly titled, but about men. And another about hair. Thanks a lot Disney.)

Yes, it's fun to have fictional men to distract me when I'm not even close to finding anyone suitable to date. But I need to get past this before I end up alone and with a hundred cats thanks to my inability to find total satisfaction in real men.

Oh well. At least I don't have to worry about my expectations on hair. That is one area of my life that I'm quite happy about its real world outcome. :)

OhMyHeart's Conversation Hearts

Okay, so OhMyHeart put those “conversation hearts” in her last post but didn’t mention where they came from. [I Love You More Than Paris. I Love You More Than The Music We Create. I Love You More Than Diet Pepsi, Donuts, and Sleeping In. I Love You More Than Listening to the Beetles.] If you were paying close attention while reading the last post, you would have noticed that the picture has a link to the following website:

http://iloveyoumorethanblank.com/

Meaning you win, I lose, because I definitely didn't notice the link. (I think I was too distracted by her blogging skills.)

Anyway, OhMyHeart typed out the website address on her g-Chat away message today. Which, I stole and made my own away message when work got boring. This is perfectly acceptable since I gave her a shout out. I have to say being away message twins kind of took me back to freshman year of college. Wasn't the sign of an activity being worthwile...if its status graced the away message of multiple friends on AIM? My how we've grown. Atleast in our migration to g-Chat if nothing else ;-)

Tonight as I logged into LOMB I thought to myself, why not yet again start spreading the news of this fun website?!

Guys, I’m not exactly sure if this is an entertaining website for you? I could see some of you submitting something ridiculous just to see if that heart actually makes it onto the website. Am I right? And oh yeah---It probably will.

Girls, SERIOUSLY, “Is This SUPER Fun or What?!” Besides being a good boredom buster, your hearts really will show up on the website!!!

I thought it would be a selective process that weeded out the duds, so I submitted a few… they are ALL actually up there.

I Love You More than PB&J. (If you actually knew me, this is really typical.)
I Love You More than Jimmy Buffett. (I’m a bit of a parrothead. Going to my first concert this year!)
I Love You More than Taylor Swift. (I thought a lot of people would like this one)
I Love You More than Kenny Chesney. (And my country kick just keeps going from here on out.)
I Love You More than Cold Beer on a Friday Night.
I Love You More than a Pair of Jeans That Fit Just Right. (Yeah.. Zac Brown bandx2)

And, I Love You More than Hal Higdon actually popped up there too. Wasn’t expecting that one AT ALL. In case you were wondering, DUH, I was thinking of all you loyal readers as I wrote these.

So, what are you waiting for? What Conversation Hearts do you want to share with the world?
Make history. Kill Time. Embrace Love, Love, Love, Love.

Dreaming of a love-filled future

So, today is inauguration day. We are all D.C.-area girls here at LOMB, but I know for certain at least four of us are not crazy about the area. Politics, shmolitics. Get me to a show biz area any day of the week. Or the beach. Or mountains maybe? Anything, really, besides politics.

But I must admit that I did tear up a few times while watching NBC's coverage. As a dancer, I most appreciated John Williams's piece "Air and Simple Gifts," which used Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" as a melody theme - which Copland originally created for a Martha Graham piece of the same name in 1944. It was so beautiful to watch the musicians get into it so much.

As a sorta-occasional poet, I didn't really enjoy the poem by Elizabeth Alexander. I thought she had some very bland, everyday images (maybe the point?), until this line:

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

This sort of brings me to the real point of this post. I am not that deep when it comes to national politics and power struggles. And though I have many ideas on how love - beyond martial, filial and national - can save us all, that's for another post. This post is about my literal in-my-head-while-sleeping dreams Saturday night.

In the first dream, I found myself married to one of my coworkers. He is not my normal coworker crush, and is one of my few coworkers who is actually already married. But in the dream, I had no recollection of our courtship or me saying "yes," or our marriage ceremony. But I knew that I had to have been committed to him, and he seemed perfectly content being in love with me and trying very hard to provide a good life for us, so I accepted making the rest of my life work with him.

In the second dream, I essentially put myself in Bella's shoes in the Twilight series. (I finished the whole series, by the way, and cried SO HARD over their fabulous love. So it's not real? A girl can dream, right? heh heh. Also, I think a lot of the time Bella was very over-the-top and stupid. But this is not the point.)There was a lot of lining up and defending my Vampire family in my dream. I don't really remember the storyline like I do in my first dream, but this image has been sticking to my body the past few days:

Edward (ew it feels weird calling him Edward, he was more like my own personal version of Edward, especially because I don't want to steal him away from Bella, obvi, and also, I kind of always thought Jacob was sexier) and I are standing on the railing of my deck, forehead to forehead, caressing each other's cheeks and alternately staring into each other's eyes and at each other's lips. I close my eyes, and we start waltzing/pas de bourree-ing/slow dancing down to the very edge of my deck's railing. I am not afraid for one second, partly because I know his unnatural strength and grace, but mostly because I am so so SO in love.

That feeling of love - of trusting, of being so physically affected by a presence, of not being able to let go for one second, of moving together in perfect balance and harmony, of knowing you're going to make a positive difference in each other's lives and the world - oh man, that feeling of love has almost haunted me these past couple days. I've never felt something so acutely in a dream.

But even more important than that feeling was the contrast with the first dream. So while I've said before to many of my girlfriends - "You know what's scary? I'm such an easy-going person, so easy to please, that honestly, there are probably at least - at LEAST - 10,000 different men in the world I could have a very happy rest-of-my-life with. That's weird, but also comforting. I don't have to look for 'the one!'" - Maybe I do want to find that something special. I'm sort of hoping that feeling will haunt me and remind me what I'm looking for. Of what I'm hoping for. Of what I'm dreaming.

Here's to a love-filled next four-to-eight years, girls. Here's to love filling all of y'all in every aspect.

Geographically Unavailable (Also) = Idiotic Decisions

So, this weekend I was contemplating getting out of DC due to the flood of people coming here. A friend suggested a road trip to Florida which we seriously considered before throwing the idea out. Typically when it comes to travel I can be pretty spontaneous (Okay… very spontaneous.) Our reasons for not going included: One fourth exhaustion, one fourth need for training runs, one fourth having a bit of work to do (lame), and one fourth excitement about the Inauguration events.

The hype leading up to this week has been: 5 million additions to the city will turn it into a living hell for residents. To be honest the feeling I got walking around downtown DC yesterday was that there is finally more of a New York City vibe here. DC will NEVER have the same vibe but with the additional limos and crowds of confused people in the metro stations…it felt almost as busy as NYC. My final answer is that having all of the visitors is Exciting. NOT HELL. But…I also don’t have to physically go into the office until Thursday so that is probably helping me to embrace the “Change.” My opinion may not be the norm among residents because I tend to take the Half Full perspective on life.

I was trying to figure out what to do with myself this weekend when I learned that OhMyGoodness! and OhMyDrama had decided to escape DC for NYC… and OhMyHeart, OhMySarcasm, and …OhMyFancy (more about our new addition later!) were pretty busy.

Besides run, I had the chance to hang out with friends living in the area that I don’t get together with regularly. It was a lot of fun. The one friend that I spent the most time with was a girl I met Freshman year of college. I am about to gush about all of the amazing things about her…but let me preface it with the fact that her boyfriend of almost three years just broke up with her in December. What an IDIOT.

Geographically… things were not good. They used to live in the same city, but now he is in Arizona and she is in DC. She was willing to try to make it work, and he decided it was just too tough. Other than the distance they really had a strong relationship and friendship.

This fall I blogged about all the reasons you might fall for someone who is geographically unavailable. I wasn’t planning on a follow up post, but clearly after this weekend there needs to be a discussion about the obstacle created by Geographic Unavailability.

Exhibit A: My friend from college.
First of all, she is one of the most attractive girls I know. Blonde, tan, skinny-yet-athletically ripped body; she dresses really well. On top of that she is extremely down-to-earth, laid back, has a good sense of humor, and friendly. (Guys are you drooling yet?) She is adventurous (Spent a semester of college in Australia and will take impromptu vacations), loves hiking/snowboarding/basketball/running (yep, of course she has done a half marathon…NBD), anything related to the beach, and enjoys a dark beer. Oh yeah… she’s not ready for marriage. She has a very chill perspective on life.

FYI--When we girls get mad at you boys… we can concoct lists like this in an INSTANT about our friends.

I have met her ex a few times and he also was a really nice guy. Smart, preppy, athletic, funny, cute, and seemed to care about her a lot. According to my friend he was her best friend. I think the time zone difference and not being able to physically be around her was too much for him. Okay, I get it, it’s hard. It’s also hard to make a visitation plan with all of those states in the middle of the US getting in the way.

In my opinion, he will NEVER, EVER find another girl that is on her level. He’s not the type of guy that girls drool over. He’s sincere but pretty average. And, as of December, an idiot.

She already has boys knocking on her door. I really think he is going to wake up sometime down the road and be like “WTF Have I Done?”

………….

Guys do you always see it as too much of an obstacle when in your 20’s to have a serious relationship with a girl who does not live in the same place as you? Or even casually date a girl that lives hours away from you? Would you avoid doing so unless the chemistry between the two of you is strong?

I think as girls if the guy is amazing enough, we are at least up for dating. Seeing someone occasionally to us is better than not at all. (But girls if you feel differently, please correct me.) I would probably be more in favor of a distance that can be traveled by car than by plane, but again if the chemistry was excellent, I would probably try to make anything work.

A year ago I think I would have said that geographically unavailable guys were too much of a hassle. Today I can say that the two greatest guys I met in 2008… were (of course) geographically unavailable. Post-college life is tough in general because you have less free time and less people your own age in your immediate proximity. Bottom line…depending on the guy… I think being geographically unavailable is a “speed bump rather than a road block/deal breaker.” (Just to give credit where credit is due… I stole and edited this analogy from OhMyHeart.)

Anyway….What do you readers think about the obstacle of being Geographically Unavailable?
I’m dying to know!

Like, As Promised

I do not think there could have been a more appropriate comment on our blog than the one I just read asking about the MIA status of the LOMB girls.



Personally I can tell you "All I wanna do" is "Get High Like Planes." Even after seeing the footage from the Hudson River crash yesterday. I just love traveling and flying... and wish that was the reason why I haven't been posting: Gallavanting all over the country.

But (Le sigh) it's not. I have been doing some serious clean-up on the other blog that I started...and IF you would like some inspiration to keep your New Year's Resolutions going strong. Or just keep your workout routine going strong (I personally don't really like workout resolutions, any workout goal I've ever set has NEVER been on January 1)... then check this out: (drum roll please.....)

http://inspiredtorun13.blogspot.com/

It's a bit more journalish, but still humorous...especially in comparison to some workout blogs I've seen. Hopefully I will convince even one reader that running is fun and worth a try ;-)

In other news... DC is the PLACE TO BE THIS WEEKEND/NEXT WEEK (Or not be.. depending on how you feel about crowds of 5 million people). All I can say is, I hope Barack's daughters behave themselves more-so than Miss Bush did. Geez.

Haha...I somehow stumbled across this photo near the election. In all fairness, she was doing the Texas 'Hook-em-Horns' symbol... and someone altered it in photo shop. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a father that is El presidente de Los Estados Unidos. And how crazy things are going to be here over the next week!

Like, a sleepover!!!!! hehehehe

Tonight, the Like, Oh My Blog girls will be getting together - ALL together - in PERSON. (gasp!! Even though we're all close by, we hardly see each other, let alone ALL of us together!)

Get excited, because there are good things coming to LOMB. More focused posts (without losing any giddiness about boys), much more unique design, and maybe a cheeky photo or two.

Also, there will be lots of wine, margaritas, cookies, white russians, and chips and dip. Maybe some kettle corn if we're feeling saucy.

We hope your mouths are drooling like us - and that your Friday night is just as classy fun!

xoxo,

LOMB gals

an interesting Perspective

So, I am reading a book right now entitled The Shack. Its a book that strives to redefine the relationship between man and God. Its interesting, and entertains those with an open mind regarding God and the state of His, or in the book's case HER being.

Although I really don't like the book all that much, I read a page yesterday that is worthy of my comments and hopefully yours as well. The book gave an interesting perspective on the desires of men and women. I'm going to give an excerpt from the book. In this particular section, Jesus and a man named Mack are literally chatting up a storm on the bank of some random lake. Jesus talks about gender roles: "That's because like most men you find what you think of as fulfillment in your achievements, and Nan, like most women, find it in relationships. It's more naturally her language."(Young, 146) So, that is somewhat "old news" to us females, we know that women are more into relationships than men are...but Jesus delves into some interesting territory shortly thereafter. He goes on to say this "The woman's desire--and the word is actually her 'turning.' So the woman's turning was not to the works of her hands but to the man, and his response was to rule 'over' her., to take power over her, to become the ruler. Before the choosing, she found her identity, her security, and her understanding of good and evil only in me, as did man."(Young, 147)

So, women search for that comforting secure feeling from a relationship with another man. That makes a lot of sense. Every single human being is born with a need to be significantly and passionately fulfilled. God created that void, as well as His ability to comfort us and give us that sense of security all by Himself. As humans it is difficult, however, to trust that a God whom you cannot hear nor see to give that love in an intangible way. His love transcends human understanding, and therefore is not quite as accessible as say physical touch, or quality time with another human being. As a woman, there is nothing more desirable than that feeling of security and love from a man...and for men, I'm assuming they desire that relationship as well...but instead of filling that void with a relationship, they pursue success in their work and career...which to me, explains a lot.

So, what did I learn from all of this? I'm going to fill my void by eating more banana cream pie!!!

Like, All Things New Years

So, as I posted before, I went to NYC for New Years. Now that I’m back in DC, I can say that this is an experience worth having at least once in your life. We went to the Canal Room (a club/bar) rather than Times Square. I can’t imagine Times Square being any fun unless there is a heat wave on December 31 or global warming kicks it up another couple notches. (BAM!??) It’s just too many hours standing out in the freeing cold. FYI--I would recommend the Canal Room if you are looking for a place to celebrate NYE in New York next year.

There was no action with either of the guy friends/co-workers…which is probably more than okay. I am of the opinion that unless the feelings are strong for a co-worker its better to stay friends. We danced and that was it. I also danced with a couple NYC boys. I exchanged New Year’s kisses-on-cheek with this guy named Will around 1am. (Lame, I know). But there is a reason why January 1 is just one day out of 365 ;-)

The mystery guy (friend of my friend) was not cute. It seems like he had the time of his life though… he said he drank more on our vacation than all of last year and is pretty excited about alcohol now. WHAT?! Lol. I’m a responsible drinker…if he becomes an alcoholic I would feel bad. Although I doubt we will hang out again, so I would never even know if that happened.

So that was New Year’s.
Pepsi was a big sponsor this year. The Pepsi logo was on my wristband. I really like this commercial:



I also wanted to provide some INSPIRATION for all you New Year’s Resolutioners.

1. This video has 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 minutes. If you ever get discouraged this should help you get back into the swing of things for sure.





2. Coming Soon:
My Half Marathon Blog address (I’m still working on some finishing touches.)

It doesn’t really have the same tone as LOMB. If running isn’t your thing, this probably won’t be as entertaining. However, if you are trying to get in shape or considering training for a race… I hope you will be inspired.


My two “resolutions”…. may or may not count as official resolutions.

The first is to run this half marathon. I was told by a friend this is a goal, not something in my life I am changing. I say I am changing the distance I am able to run. It counts!

The second is not really a resolution… but a lifestyle I want to continue. I try to take as many opportunities as I can in life. Be a “Yes, Girl” unless I have a legitimate reason not to do something, I am up for it! I’ve been living like this ever since I finished college and 2008 was probably the best year of my life so far. Hopefully 2009 will be that much better.

Please share your resolutions with us! Happy 2k9 everyone!

I'm just an aluminum can: BEING recycled

OhMyDrama brought "recycling" of boys up a few weeks ago. It happens. When there was an attraction to someone in the past, it's natural for there to be a attraction weeks, months, or even years after the original flirtation.

But something interesting has happened to me lately. I've become the aluminum can.

I'm being recycled!

The first guy - we'll call him Number Guy in a nod to my old blog post about him - I met on the Metro two and a half years ago. We went to different schools, so we never really followed up with each other. But here we are, both graduated with big-kid jobs, and what happens but I run into him on the metro again?

I didn't even notice him. He actually texted me something like "Holla!" When I picked up the phone and giggled at this random text from this random guy from two years ago, that's when he came over to my seat on the Metro and said, "I thought it was you!"

We chatted tipsily for a while, and now I think every time he's on the metro tipsy, he texts me. Last night it was, "What up emma?!?!....waiting for the train!"

I decided to call him out on it, and he admitted that he did think of me every time he rode metro. So I told him to call me at some point when he is sober and it is the middle of the day. He said he would. We shall see....

The second guy - we'll call him Follow-Through in a nod to my old blog post about him - I met through a singing event my high school choir teacher put together. Our flirtation started via Facebook when he messaged me a few weeks later, still "intrigued" by my "beauty" when we "met."

We made out, we never hung out in the day light, we made out some more, and I watched him sing at his concerts sometimes. And, oh yeah, we made out. And then we just stopped making out, and therefore we stopped talking. Whatevs, no big deal. He fulfilled his purpose: I got to cross "acapella singer" off my to-date list. And I fulfilled what I guess my purpose was: non-commital makeout buddy. It happens.

Out of nowhere, I got a (surprise surprise) Facebook message from him on New Year's Day:

"hey beautiful long time not talk"

No punctuation = no emotion in my witty writer's book. And so I have no emotion or smiley faces to give back to him.

I probably won't answer. What do I have to say to him? Why did he decide to message me all of a sudden?

One of my new coworkers is a guy who was in his acappella group. So my best guess is that he saw that I posted pictures of my coworker on Facebook, and decided I was just as recycling-worthy as the next girl.

Afterall, isn't it easier to revisit someone you already knew than to make all the effort of finding someone to meet those qualities you're looking for? Just because they're empty of soda and a little dinged up doesn't mean they can't still be a good makeout buddy, right?

Maybe if I were being recycled for something other than that lame, I would be intrigued. But I'm just an aluminum can, after all, and I'd rather go be smashed up and made into a better, shinier and newer container for some delicious and syrupy beverage.