Insomnia

I don’t really have insomnia, but I feel that way on nights like this. We hit Beta 1 ZBB on Friday, and I had the most amazing night of sleep last night: slept like a brick for 8 hours and woke up feeling refreshed and alive. I feel like sleep is an undervalued experience by far too many people. I think that good untroubled sleep is truly a luxury. I got into bed around midnight tonight, ready to go to sleep and repeat the same lovely experience as last night.

Regardless, I had a phone conversation shortly thereafter that totally screwed up the whole sleeping well thing. I tossed and turned for a little while, and finally got up again. I seriously considered heading off to this 24 hour starbucks out in Kirkland for a while, but I realize that jazzing myself up on a Latte at three-sixteen in the morning while I’m feeling this distraught really won’t do me any good.

I think it bears mentioning for anyone finishing up their undergraduate degree that they are in the midst of a terribly hard transition. I suffered quite terribly with it last year. I was incredibly depressed for at least two months just before and after I graduated from school. Seriously, I would go to work for a couple hours a day, and then drag myself off to a coffee shop where I would literally smoke an entire pack of cigarettes over the course of the next few hours. It sadly seems to happen to everyone.

The important thing to keep in mind during this whole phase is that it is just a phase. We’ve been trained since the age of five to wake up, go to school, and go back home only to start the cycle again all over the next day. Graduating from school is usually the start of real adult life for most people. Prior to that you don’t need to work 40 hours a week (nor can you), and you always get your summers off. After you get that magical slip of paper from your place of higher education, you’re harshly dumped into the real world in a sink or swim-type situation.

This is what happens. And it sucks. We’re totally unprepared for what really comes after school ends. No one ever teaches us how to live our lives, we’re only taught how to learn (a seeming contradiction in itself). The first few months of flailing around are the hardest. After that it gets easier. Much easier.

For the sake of doing something I modified the front page on brethorsting, here. I had been looking at a website my boss mentioned to me yesterday, and I ended up modeling the new brethorsting front page after seattlehappyhour’s creator’s personal website (the guilty party knows who they are ;-) ).

I think I am going to try the sleeping thing again now. Peace, love, and rock-and-roll, everyone.

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April 25, 2004

Lincoln Park Trixies

My friend Jen, executive administrator extraordinaire, goes by the name LP Trixie on MSN Messenger. I asked her about this a week or so ago, only to discover Chicago’s most elite social organization: the Lincoln Park Trixies.

What is an LP Trixie? They drive Jettas, drink double tall non-fat Lattes, and show the world who’s boss. They’re the women you want.

The LP Trixie website addresses such serious concerns as what to do after you let slip to your crush that you think Dave Matthews is overrated, how long you should put off buying an Afghan hound in support of our war on terror, and other such pertinent, important issues.

Thanks, Lincoln Park Trixies! You’ve made the world a better place!

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April 25, 2004

Steel Shipping Container Politics

Mickey Kaus writes: “If I were a Democrat–oh wait, I am a Democrat–if I could keep Kerry in a sealed steel shipping container until November 1, I would.”

Kaus definitely has a point. Bush is doing a bang-up job tearing himself apart. Strangely enough, Kerry is alsodoing a bang-up job of tearing himself apart. At the same time, Kerry is entirely capable of being kept under lock and key until election day — or at least until he’s formally nominated. It seems like less face time is key for Kerry, not more.

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April 16, 2004

The end times are nigh

Instapundit just bashed Bush and praised Kerry. Holy cow! Seriously, though. The Bush Administration’s “War on Porn” is the most ill-conceived plan I’ve heard about since just before Sept 11 2001. This feels like more of the really weird, hare-brained schemes they came up with just before Bush redefined himself as a “War President.”

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April 6, 2004

Dissecting our Heroes

Rory, in a fit of East Coast U2-induced despondency, decided to dissect his childhood heroes. My personal favorites:

– George Lucas, he man responsible for creating my childhood, also destroyed it That’s definitely true. I hate you George Lucas! Go let someone good finish Star Wars! Please, for the love of god, don’t destroy your best creation!

– Michael Jackson used to be able to dance, but his later life as a scrawny white woman hasn’t turned out as well as it could have True dat. Although he seems to do pretty well when he dresses up as “Janet.” Wait, this just in: they appear to be different people. That’s a creepy thought.

I have one of my own to add to this list. I met Don Box yesterday for the first time while basking in the sun and enjoying a Full Sail Amber (ahh, the joys of ostentatious PacNW microbrews are many). I was horribly upset to discover that:
1. Don does not have a photographic memory.
2. Don is incapable of shaking my hand while carrying several large objects (he had to shuffle the laptop around in order to accomplish this task).

All was not lost by this discovery of Don’s imperfections. He also:
1. Has a good, firm handshake.
2. Actually pulls off the facial hair thing without looking creepy.
3. Is perfectly willing to take 30 seconds out of his busy, Friday afternoon, jet-set lifestyle Architect job to chat with a front-line PM.

I salute you, Don Box; you rock!

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April 3, 2004