I come back to my desk and and notice that I have a voicemail on my work phone. I despise voicemails. Not for any real reason, I just feel like no one ever leaves a voicemail anymore that just says “hey, I was just calling to chat” and then proceeds to tell you a funny story of something that happened to them that day that make you let out a chuckle. 

Instead voicemails I receive are always on my work phone, and they are always the most annoying thing ever. It’s annoying enough that at work whenever I answer the phone and say “This is Taylor” they always reply by saying my name incorrectly, e.g. Hi Sarah, Hey Kayla, Yes Tara, hello Sheila. Sheila? Really? In what universe does Taylor sound like Sheila. The problem is, people have really shitty listening skills.

But voicemails. Today’s was another gem and the type of person that really makes me batty. The person who leaves a voicemail that doesn’t even have a greeting because they just jump right into what they want, no hello, no good morning, just an “I need this done”. On top of that the guy didn’t even bother to leave the company he was calling from, like by the name “Jim” I was just supposed to know where he was calling from out of our thousands of customers. Jim sounded like he was annoyed that I had woken him up out of a drug induced coma to force him to call me and leave a voicemail. It’s 9:20 Jim, put a little pep in your step, pour yourself a large cup of coffee and throw in some adderall. He then proceeded to not know his own phone number so I had to decipher between three attempts for him to mumble out the correct one. 

Upon calling Jim back, I was in no mood to do him any favors, he was not getting a deal on us moving his copier and I didn’t care. Perhaps if he had just started his message with a “good morning” things may have been looking up for him now.

Phone etiquette, just like any type of etiquette seems to disappear more and more these days. 

Remember, a little bit can go a long way…at least with me.

Happy New Year!

Patrick (me in background)

Colleen.

The Walking Dead is back and oh how I missed it over these hot summer months. We left off with everyone fleeing the farm, Rick claiming the group was no longer a democracy, a mysterious woman with jawless chained zombies saving Andrea, and of course the last image of the finale was the prison off in the distance.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

I’m not going to lie, I had to prepare myself a little bit yesterday. Once I’m into a season, I get desensitized to the zombies, but after such a long hiatus I was a little scared to see them again. 

The opening scene is just a close up of a zombie eye and then the zombie’s face and I remembered just how creepy they can be close up. But then the whole gang comes barging into the house taking out zombies left and right like seasoned pros and I relaxed some. Until I saw Carl hunting them down in the house along with the men folk and kept waiting for one to jump out behind him.

Lori is SO pregnant now! At first I was thinking this episode picked up right where the last left off, apparently they have been wandering the area all winter. Burr! I wonder if it snowed. I wonder if these zombies freeze in the cold like the ones in World War Z. 

I was glad to see they are trying to keep come class about them, way to go Rick for not letting Carl start eating dog food. That’s when you know shit’s getting desperate.

So finally they find the prison, apparently they had been circling the entire area the whole time and just now found it. One thing I love about this show is that when they are in any kind of area that is completely secure from the zombies, I can stop practically holding my breath while watching. 

I don’t know exactly what is going on with Lori and Rick, I thought they had gotten over their issues for the most part. Rick seems very cold with everyone now, even Carl. I am glad to see that Carl is not as annoying as he was last season. Maybe the fact that he basically got Dale killed last season has mellowed him and made him stop being just a brat. 

Did any one else notice Rick look strangely at his bloody fingers after killing one of the armed guard zombies? Because it almost looked like he has gotten scratched or bit the way he looked at them. But then nothing else happened with it so I assume he was fine.

Hershel on the other hand! I almost died. I saw that body on the floor, I knew it was going to happen and I still wanted to scream when it did. What was he thinking! Also something I learned from reading World War Z, it’s the zombies on the ground that always catch you by surprise. Always look where you are walking! Come on Hershel! Such a rookie mistake.

And since when did they decide that if you cut off the limb quick enough then it will stop the spread of the zombie virus? Seems like they would have tried this sooner if so. And Rick sure seemed to take out a lot of his pent up aggression on Hershel’s leg. I mean he hack that thing off like a psycho surgeon. But when Rick started hacking, someone really should have been figuring out how they were going to cauterize the wound, because of course he is bleeding out now! Haven’t you have amputated a leg before people! I mean, Merle (if he’s still alive) was smart and cauterized his amputated hand all by himself. Now that’s a mans man. 

I just don’t foresee Hershel living, and if he does i’m going to be really shocked. First of all, he is the doctor and he’s passed out from the pain, so who is going to tell them what to do? They already lost Patricia who is the only other one that would have known. He’s definitely going to need a blood transfusion, which one of his daughters could give him, but will they be able to do it quick enough? And what are they going to do with a cripple? He will slow everyone down, even a baby wouldn’t slow them down that much. I don’t want Hershel to die, but it looks like this should be the end of the road for him. Phantom limbs and zombies don’t seem like the best quality of life. But who will help deliver Lori’s baby now!? I guess at least Carol has had a baby before. 

I think one of my favorite parts of the episode though, other than when they picked off all the zombies in the big prison yard, was probably the last few seconds when they look up and see the non-zombie prisoners behind the bars. I am so excited for this season! I am so excited for Andrea and Michonne and find the others. And I can’t wait for Rick and Michonne to meet as well! 

Hold on Hershel! I know Rick chopped off your leg because you made a rookie mistake, but it’s fiction and anything can happen!

Til next week…

Bella and Edward, Kristen and Rob…the sweethearts of the new generation, the center of the Twilight universe. If you pay any amount of attention to the gossip sites, or even the news in this case, you heard about the photos published of Kristen Stewart cheating on Robert Pattinson with the director of the Snow White film she starred in. I keep up with celebrity gossip, but usually I don’t really care so much about celebrities breaking up or getting divorced (although Tom and Katie was a bit of a shocker). This one was a little harder to hear about though.

Maybe it was because they were both just so awkward and you got the sense that just worked for them. Maybe it was because I’ve been watching them in the Twilight movies together and it was just nice knowing there were together in real life to. Either way, I felt bad for both of them.

I know I should just be like, “Ahh Kristen how could you be so stupid”, and part of me was.  But I don’t think it is fair that just because they are famous, the media can cross so many lines. It wasn’t fair for her to have those pictures published. It wasn’t fair for either of them to have to deal with this in the public eye with everyone having seen her transgression. It wasn’t fair for the world to get to see Rob get hurt and publicly see his trust get shattered. 

At times, I have found myself making excuses for Kristen. She’s young, she’s been in the public eye for so long. Maybe she was just doubting herself. Maybe this older director took advantage of her by playing on her self doubts and she got caught up in something and just made a mistake. People do make mistakes. But the public has no right to get involved, they don’t know what was going on in their relationships behind closed doors. Also, no one knows what was really going through her head, at that moment or any moment. The truth is, she might not even know what was going through her head. The main thing people should remember is that she regretted it and apologized. They have no right to judge her for it.

Today though, I read a post on PerezHilton that Rob and Kristen were reconciling. If this is true, I hope the media gives them a break from gossiping and lets them work out their problem in peace.

If they are getting back together, it’s not going to be easy on Rob being such a public figure. Now instead of people talking about how awful Kristen is, they are going to be talking about what kind of person he is for taking her back after she broke his trust.

What does it say about someone who forgives someone for this? Does it mean that you are a weak person, that you have no back bone? Does it mean that you are able to see the good in someone despite mistakes they have made? Maybe they still see that person they are in love with, and forgiving them is just worth it.

People will want to solicit their opinions, tell him that he is crazy and that she will just break his heart again. That people don’t change. But I don’t think that is fair, only the two people in the relationship can know whether they can still make it work, to move on to a better place together instead of apart. No one else has the right to judge those choices.

Trust is a hard thing to gain back. But it is not impossible. 

Taken with Instagram

I recently read World War Z by Max Brooks, if you haven’t read it yet I highly suggest it. Especially ever since the Walking Dead start on AMC the topic of Zombies has once again become popular. I have become one of those people that is constantly referring to what I would do in a Zombie Apocalypse. 

The apocalyptic movie genre has always interested me. I love even the terrible ones like 2012 just because I like watching the scenes of the natural disasters. Global warming is not a hoax people. 

The strange thing, is that I find actually WANTING there to be a zombie apocalypse. Almost to the point where I think it would be fun. These can’t be normal thoughts, so I was trying to figure out why I and I think other people have these feelings and I have a theory. 

Back to basics. Today, everyone is so overwhelmed with information and stress about daily activities, the economy, world turmoil. We can’t even escape the information, we are all connected all day every day. Paying bills, finding jobs, affording new gadgets to keep up with the latest technology, keeping jobs, money. If a zombie apocalypse happened, there would be no more of that. We would go back to basic survival skills. Hunting, gathering, shelter, protection. 

I am also one of those people that is convinced I would survive the zombies. Especially if Andy makes that submarine he keeps talking about. I would loot everything I could in the beginning stages. Steal whatever I could to survive. People would go back to living in small tribes instead of having 400 Facebook friends. 

You would no longer have the stress of paying your bills, paying your mortgage. You would no longer have to worry about where you were going to live if the bank takes your house, but finding the safest place. The stress of our lives now would be transformed into violently killing zombies. All the anger we have built up would get to be put into action. 

Deep down on some subconscious level maybe all of us just want the world to be simple again. And zombies would do that. We would all know who the enemy was, and we would all just be physically fighting to survive. Although, a lot of people would unfortunately not survive, at least not as humans.

It’s just a theory. But I will continue learning my survival skills just in case. My next objective is learning how to make a crossbow out of pipes. Be prepared.

Last night I finished watching the two part Miniseries on A&E presented by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. I love a good miniseries but usually miss out on them. When the Emmy’s are on I always end up wondering “when the heck was that on TV?”. 

So of course I got sucked into this one. The main girl in it was the red head from Can’t Hardly Wait and Six Feet Under. It also had James Wood, Gena Davis, Richard Dryfuss, and that one older lady I can never remember her name.

I had a few problems with it though.

Why is it that when people in movies/TV shows are running away trying to escape someone they make them choose the dumbest routes? NEVER GO UP THE STAIRS! Seriously, why do they keep making people do this? All it does is get you trapped. Tell me, what are you going to do when you get as high up as you can go? Call in your magical helicopter to rescue you? Movies are always making the characters find themselves in a stairwell with the option of up or down, CHOOSE DOWN! 

The other problem is hiding in a room with no exit. How many movies have you seen where someone tries to hide under a desk? Unless the person after you is super impatient, once he knows you are in a room it’s not like he is going to just give up. Chances are, the stalker is not a 5 year old playing hide-and-go-seek who is just going to get bored. Now, you’ve narrowed your options once again, just like if you had ended up on the roof of the building. In Coma, she did this so much I thought she would never get out alive. FOLLOW THE EXIT SIGNS! All large buildings that you could find yourself lost in have exit signs and emergency exits…why don’t they just run and follow them? Does adrenaline make you forget what a glowing red Exit sign means?

Now maybe if I was being chased by someone or multiple someones, maybe on some basic instinct level are a told to go up. I find that hard to believe. If my only choices were up or a room with only one way out…I could chose the room. Then you BLOCK THE DOOR. After that, you have to crawl up in the ceiling to get out of that room and into hopefully a hallway to follow your exit signs again. 

I know this one might be hard to remember, but if you find yourself being chased, and you are in a quiet empty building, hiding around corners to get around your stalker YOU MUST TURN YOUR PHONE ON SILENT! It will always ring at the worst time if you don’t. 

Lastly, don’t be afraid to take the defensive if you know your stalker isn’t carrying a gun. If you are in a large building, there are usually plenty of objects that can be turned into a weapon. I’m not sure if they still put those axes behind the glass anymore for the fire department, but that is a good start. A fire extinguisher can be good too, you can really blind and disorient someone with that and then hit them on the head with it to knock them out. Other objects for weapons include, scissors, computer monitors, letter openers, lamps, potted plants…if you have a lighter on you and a can of compressed air you could probably do some damage. But I wouldn’t take this approach if you don’t think you can really commit to possibly killing someone else.

Also…never assume someone is down just because they are on the ground. Don’t let your guard down.

AND NEVER GO UP!

September is finally here, the official start of Fall is so close I can practically taste it. Unfortunately I live in Florida. Enough said. But, I like to go along with the idea that Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer and time for a fashion switch. 

Dressing in Fall/Florida Winter clothes is my favorite. But at this time of year it gets tricky for me because it’s still hot outside, and you don’t want to look like a crazy bag lady by wearing too many layers in 87 degree weather. So I try to follow these guidelines:

1. Scarves. By September I am missing my scarves so much I want to roll around in a pile of them. So because of the heat, I only wear scarves of lighter materials (no wool or yarn) and then if I start sweating at least the scarf will soak it up. Also, pair them with either tank tops or shirt sleeve shirts. It is too early for long sleeves or jackets paired with a scarf…it’s still possible to get heat stroke.

2. Tights. This is another one of my favorites that will start it’s appearance for me in September and last halfway through Spring. This is also a great time to start checking your last season tights to see what condition they are in. If you are like me, there are runs all over. Once you’ve assessed the situation, it’s time to go shopping to start bringing your tights selection up to par. From there it’s easy, wear them with any dress or skirt (I’m personally not a fan or shorts and tights).

3. Boots. My boots were definitely made for walking, and they have been hidden in my closet for far to long by this point. I only try and follow a couple of boot rules during pre-fall time. Wearing your boots with a pair of your new tights always works, whether they are short boots or knee high boots. But because it’s so hot out still, I avoid wearing higher boots with pants (Unless it was yesterday and I wore my new combat boots with a new pair of skinnies). I’m lenient on this rule.

4. Long Sleeve shirts. Usually long sleeve shirts for me don’t make an appearance until it is actually cooling off outside. But if I do decide to put one on, I will only pair them with shorts or skirts. Otherwise, it’s just too hot.

5. Jackets. This is probably the trickiest to get away with. Most of the time I just end up putting jackets on with outfits in my room to see how amazing it will make an outfit three months from now when it is actually jacket weather. If you are going to attempt it, keep it light and probably night. Pair it with a tank top and shorts or skirt, or get in a last wear of a summer dress by adding a light jacket to it. I usually just end up hot and upset that if I remove the jacket my outfit is lacking.

So when people feel the need to remind me that I live in Florida and September and October are still Summer, I ignore them and wear what I want. 

Taken with Instagram

September 11, 2001

I am a senior at Olympia High School. The first plane hits the twin towers while I am leaving my second period class and headed to my third period AP psychology class. During third period we all sit in complete silence staring at the TV. It feels eerily peaceful in the silence despite the tragedy unfolding before our eyes. Class ends and we shuffle to fourth period. 

Fourth period is my English class. My teacher dislikes me, I suspect she dislikes all students deep down. She refuses to let us watch the news. No one focuses on her lesson, no one cares. From that day forward, I will view her as soul less. 

Lunch time and everyone gathers to share the facts they have acquired from classes they were allowed to watch the news. 

The rest of the day goes by with a strange mix of emotion.

I will never forget exactly where I was on September 11, 2001.