Contemplative Thursday

Found these guys behind my work when I was leaving tonight...

So exactly how lame is it to think that my dad sent the geese I've been seeing so much lately?

I'm walking out to my car this morning. Humidity 93%, temp 75F, overcast, damp, feels warmer, and should get to mid-80s today. It's not pleasant weather. Key out, I cock an ear because I think I hear them. I strain my eyes to the sky where the honking is coming from and within 30 seconds, I see them...an entire flock in 2 sections, close to a dozen fly right over my head, with a 2nd contingent off to the right, flying over the neighboring apartment complex, breaking the morning silence with their honks. And it dawns on me, why I've been seeing them so much lately...Dad sent them because we're not having autumn here this year.

The thought brings happy tears to my eyes. I laugh and cry and drive to work with a buoyant spirit.

Guess it's not too lame after all, huh?

Wordless Wednesdays

Carolinas...a love story.

Full of Hope Mondays

I have two kinds of Mondays: the kind normal 9-to-5ers have (::grumble, bitch, moan, complain:: and see cat above) and Full of Hope Mondays. On the latter, my brain wakes up to new possibilities and I spend the day pondering craft projects, reorganizing the apartment in my head, and looking ahead to the future, all while editing the occasional website.

Today was definitely a Full of Hope Monday, and it was a welcome change after about 2 weeks of hormones and depression. I looked up sewing patterns, pondered holiday gifts for family, and even looked at Gastonia, NC, as a possibility for us, but thankfully tossed it pretty quickly out of the pile - just too many lousy memories.

Saturday was lovely...hung out with Lil Sis and Mom for Lil Sis's birthday. We did lunch at Friday's, wandered St. Johns Town Centre, enjoyed Starbucks at B&N, wandered some more, did dinner at the bar at PF Chang's, and then hung at Mom's and watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. I was surprised! I don't watch too many romantic comedies anymore, because a) don't need 'em as much when you're living the dream (pause so readers can barf), and b) I've seen enough of them to be bored of them. But this one was smartly written and had some great lines...we laughed out loud and rewound at several spots.

Sunday, woke up surprisingly not hungover (imbibed several adult beverages the night before), so I tackled the kitchen and baked cookies for Lil Sis to take back with her. That felt great, as it's been a while since I've baked, and popping the zucchini bread out of the freezer this weekend too, got me in the mood to get baking again. Just in time! I'm making lists for baked goods that are going in people's holiday gift bags this year, and this week, I want to try my hand at apple butter bread.

Got my birthday pressie!! Tried taking a picture, but point-and-shoot doesn't do well against glass, so here's the link. Don't know when I discovered Selina Fenech, but her art is delightful and I look forward to purchasing some more incarnations of it in the future. She's a 20-something breast cancer survivor too, so I'm kind of blown away by her ability to live off her art...reminds me I'm behind in my dreams. Love listening to Garrison Keillor, but it reminds me that I still want to publish - dude's got, like 4 books coming out this year! I'm rereading the Mitford books, and something's stirring in my creative psyche...we'll see if it turns into anything, though I'm betting the holidays will help it take a backseat once again. Got a lot of hand-making of stuff to accomplish...

Friday

I may hate my desk job, planting my ass in a chair 8 hours a day while my body atrophies from lack of use, but I do love working on a "normal" schedule. Mondays may suck occasionally, but Fridays are great, full of hope and promise. Never was able to manage that when my days off were Tuesday and Wednesday...just ain't the same.

Should've known we wouldn't have any sort of autumn down here this year...summer was mild in my book, not sure we even had any days in the 100s. So I'm still working on ignoring the weather...shake my head at the mugginess and 80s, and head out with my brain firmly in a cooler place, trudging through wet leaves, dreaming of next year...yes, it's gotten a pinch milder here, but it sure ain't the same...

My heart goes out to the Thompson family...Orange Park is a community right down the road from Jax, so we're all feeling the loss of that little girl Somer. Saw another story in the paper about a guy wearing no pants who chased a girl home from school yesterday. Lovely.

I'm recognizing that we can't start saving for the move until after the holidays, so I'm preparing a budget for the minute the holidays are over. It'll take me about a month to accrue fresh PTO after the first of the year, so I'll plan our first trip to Charlotte sometime in February, just to sniff the place out.

Lil Sis is home to celebrate her birthday this weekend! I'm so glad...she's had friends moving away from her right and left lately, for jobs or other life changes, so I love being a phone pal with her and any extra opportunity to smother her in hugs :)

Hiya!

Been dropping off on here for a bit, and can't always blame the camera...though I admit I'm still getting used to finding things to snap. Didn't realize the moon was setting instead of rising last night, so missed a great shot...must've been in perigee or something because it was fingernail and really close-looking at my location. Ah well...the cauldron shot's an oldie from our CT trip last year. Didn't want to leave you hangin'...

Weather gave us bliss this past weekend, and now it's creeping up again, so I'm just trying to ignore it. Highs in the low 80s...grumble, grumble...

Caught a wild hair the other night and picked up a needle and thread...wanted to remove the snaps on a favorite purse, because it's Target cheap and was tearing the fabric. So I did that, sewed the holes shuts, and then repaired two more things of Les's that were in a pile that's been ignored for quite a while. One thing needs a patch, so I may search for some flannel that'll match it. It got me in the mood to sew, which is funny because I haven't been knitting lately...which gets me bummed and throwing in the towel about handmade gifts for the holidays...but I really can't afford to have that mindset, because we can't really afford the holidays this year, so people are just going to have to deal with baked goods and handmades.

So last night I went looking for the embroidery goldmine (aka stitch encyclopedia) I found at Chamblin's and I ended up rearranging the stash area again...funny how those things happen. I finally have access again to my crafting books, which have been buried on the bedroom coffee table for way too long, and the holiday brainstorming can resume!

Autumn and goose love

I have a love affair with Canada geese. Ever since my childhood in Warren, CT, where I've romanticized laying on the grass in our field watching them pass by overhead from south to north. Their honks sound in my soul when I hear them, and I love their solid coloring. One of my favorite movies still, is Fly Away Home.

These guys I feel sorry for, as I see them year-round. These poor critters have no business being in Florida past, like April. It bothers me that they could be suffering from climate confusion. I suppose, depending on their intelligence, they could've elected to be snowbirds year-round, but somehow I doubt that's likely. We have several flocks in the area, two that I'm aware of nearby...there's a dozen or so that travel between St. Luke's and Baymeadows, and there's a batch that live in my business district off of St. Augustine Road near Bayard. I'm cynical enough to wonder if some outfit trucked them in for decoration. Ah well...I love spotting them and when I see them, I talk to them briefly and tell them I enjoy their company. Yes, I'm a little tweaked.

I spent the afternoon thinking of stuff for this next bit, and it put me in such a good mood! I'm hitting the Southern Women's Show with Mom on Sunday (an orgy of brochures, free samples, and free food), but I hope that Saturday can be a day filled with baking, organizing, doing something with apples and pumpkin, and hanging curtains in the bedroom. The temps are finally dropping for a pinch this weekend.

Autumn is...

Apples and pumpkins

And leaves on the ground

Wood smoke and chill nights

And family gathered 'round.

It stops rhyming here, so don't get your hopes up...

Curling up by a fire sipping hot cider

Raking leaves for the sole purpose of then jumping into the pile

Crisp air

Digging out the woolens and boots

Finding a knitted cap for long walks after dinner

Cold noses and toeses

Extra blankets on the bed and not needing AC

The smell of leaf rot

Trying to dig and realizing the earth is cold

Jesus, how'd I survive as long as I have in Florida?!

Grabbing a jacket before you step outdoors

Rosy cheeks and wind cutting through your slacks

Soups and stews for dinner that have spent all day in the crockpot

Colors and colors and colors in the trees!

Hot cocoa with little marshmallows

Jack o'lanterns and the last harvests, finding new ways to use squash

That last one's a biggie...I start planning my side dishes for Thanksgiving a full month ahead.

Making sure the car tires are in good shape

(and keeping a window scraper in the trunk for good measure)

Contemplative evenings

Fall festivals and foggy mornings

Dreaming of eggnog

Walnuts to snack on, and apple butter on English muffins

Starting holiday gifts

Smelling the air, straining your eyes against the grey sky for a glimpse of flakes

And the warmth of wrapping yourself in a woobie when you come in from the cold.

10 months 'til Charlotte...I WILL make it happen this time!

Not-so-tense Tuesday

My lapsed-Catholic-turned-witch self doesn't believe in JC anymore, but I still think of God (as in Father, Son, Holy Ghost) every time I see the sun burn through clouds like that.

I definitely have different views now. I'm starting to reread "Twelve Wild Swans" by Starhawk, and there's that coming-home feeling that I haven't had in a while. It's good that I'm digging into it now, so close to Samhain...best time I can think of to renew my faith.

I'm jonesing for autumn and no help for it here...temps dropping as rain threatens, but the humidity's still kicking our asses. Today was cooler, but I see blogs of snow starting in the north and I ache a little. So I must content myself with clouds, clover, and random cat pics :)

Got demoted...well, not really...they just finally took the extra work away from me, the work they've been having me do for the better part of a year now as a stop-gap. The relief I've been feeling since hearing this is notable. Yes, I'll be bored out of my skull again as a regular editor, and it'll be tough getting back to focusing on one or two projects vs. like, five...but I'm in a position to make money, and the stress of that extra work, I will not miss. For the first time in quite a while, I went to work in a decent mood.

Geez, that last shot's kind of cat porn...sorry, Figaro!

Monday, Monday...

nah, nah...nah, nah, nah, nah...

Carry my camera in my purse now, but remembering it's there is still a trick. Spent half the day Saturday hanging out with Mom and Lil Sis and didn't take one picture, even though I'd love to capture more of Lil Sis, who after almost-26-years still radiates light in my book; and Mom's adorable mutt is all round n' cute and not barking as much (so the urge to drop-kick her has waned considerably). We hung curtains and imbibed Bud Select while Mom napped (she just had carpal tunnel surgery), which resulted in quite a bit of silliness and nice bonding. Then we enjoyed dinner at Carrabba's, which was so scrumptious and filling, and they were so heavy-handed with the garlic I'm pretty sure the vamps will steer clear of our apartment the rest of the week!

Sunday was a wash, darn mood swings...there's nothing quite so frustrating as wanting very badly to change your lot in life and lacking the energy or motivation to do anything about it. It bothers me when I'm so whipped by life I don't even want to knit.

So armed with orneryness and a firm desire to be elsewhere, I trudge into work today, determined to change things somehow. 10 months til Charlotte...

You take what you can get

This is a glimpse of fall. Live oaks don't change color much, the leaves are probably browning, but I'll take what I can get this week...temps are in the low 90s. Just not right.

The clouds are a great example of how I stay sane in this tropical unseasoned state...how I keep from missing mountains...the one cool thing about Florida for me is that there's so much sky! We're flat here, so it's just friggin' everywhere, and the clouds, especially during hurricane season, can be spectacular in their different colors and densities.

It's interesting, having to remember to take pics...I'm first and foremost a writer, but it's finally dawning on me that all the blogs I love are picture heavy, that there are many other forms of communication besides the ole written word. My apologies for the droning journal-like nature of this little blog up until now. I get it finally, and will be giving you glimpses of me, how I think, what I see, what I hope to pass onto you, not just in words, but in pictures now. I'm enjoying trying to find interesting things to shoot, especially when my dang day/week is so repetitive (get up, grab breakfast, go to work, sit at computer 8 hours, regain sanity, go home, feed, chill...). Lil Sis has a really good point with her brand of restlessness lately, reminded me how we only hang on this planet in this body the once, so might as well make it memorable, purge the drudgery from your life if at all possible. That frame of thought's been really prevalent since we lost Dad, but doing something about it is quite another story. But I'm quite tired of falling back on the drudgery in the name of responsibility. That needs to be my motivator to getting us the hell out of FL...there's so very much more I intend to accomplish.

Cleaning fool

Something weird's happening...I guess I've never been a spring cleaner, more of a fall cleaner. Fall means back to school and new notebooks and clothes...but since I have notebooks and can't currently afford new clothes, I'm cleaning. Obtained boxes from Mom's move last weekend. Saturday was kind of a wash, though I did clear out around a key catch-all chair in the bedroom. Woke up clear-headed on Sunday though, and dug into the dining room. It's definitely a work in progress...I'll be digging into old boxes in the coming weeks and purging some stuff. But something funny happened...I had an OK day at work today, because I was looking forward to getting back to the cleaning in some form. Tonight I had to make dinner and do some old dishes, but once TV time hit, I tackled a project...reorganized my yarn stash. The above pic is the result. I hope to keep adding pictures as the mood strikes, whether they are of my surroundings outside or in. It's just that the apartment's still such a disaster, that you'll only get those in glimpses at first.

Sunday was fantastic...I plunged into the dining room, just started someplace rather than look around too much and get overwhelmed. I knew I wanted a fresh Goodwill box, a fresh Chamblins box, and to get some more stuff stored. That took me toward the bookshelves, where I discovered at least 10 shoeboxes of mementos and "stuff." So after I'd done a piece of sorting in the dining room, I took the shoeboxes into the bedroom so I could relax with the tube and sort. Purged a bunch of stuff, kept a nice amount, and managed to fit it into a single smallish box. It's interesting how at this age o' mine, you look at things you've kept and are able to say, I don't need this because I have my memories and they're enough.

Hopefully I can keep this mood going...geez, shouldn't say it like that, like I'm already setting myself up for failure. I'm not. It feels so great, and I've barely even started. When I have TV I want to catch, I'll drag a box into the bedroom and see what I can get done. Tomorrow night I'll hit another corner of the bedroom, because I think we need to get the other coffee table out of there too...that one's nice, solid wood. It has 2 funny little drop leaves on the sides and it's scratched to hell - it was another dumpster acquisition. But we honestly don't need it at all, and we won't refinish it, so I'll be talking up its removal this week.

Work's about to get harder, as the copywriting/design team undergoes some supervisory transitions. I'm keeping my chin up and my eyes on the future...I look to December, when I'll hit my 10-year mark with the company, and then I'll look further and see we're going to be able to move next year like I want, and if not, it'll be time to hunt here.

Mini rant and random thought

When did we stop driving while driving? I headed to work today in back of a guy who couldn't leave his bangs alone while studying himself in the rearview, and I was followed too closely by a broad in an SUV yacking away on the phone. Would've loved to have slammed on the brakes to teach her a lesson, but I love my car too much. I just don't get it. I guess I'm just lucky that my life isn't busy enough to have to talk to people while I'm driving. And I can't judge some folks...like I know my LilSis gabs away on drives, but she usually uses speakerphone or a hands-free...and she's a very social creature who's currently lacking a bit in the friends department, so I'd never begrudge her her phone time. The ones who annoy me are the ones who clearly don't have the IQ to be multitasking like that. I'm fairly proud of my smarts, but I don't talk on the phone while driving because a) speakerphones annoy me and where the heck would I put the silly thing without it sliding someplace while I drove?, and b) I drive a stick and know my limitations. There's plenty of people out there who could use a dose of my self-confidence.

And, off subject, it just figures that I'm contemplating a career change when unemployment just jacked up to 9.8% and the pundits are thinking it'll definitely go beyond 10% before it goes down...perfect time to be thinking about kids too. Geez, I love my timing.

Autumn Color Week: Orange

Yeah, like we'll ever have orange leaves in Florida...

So you get a shot of the log cabin blanket I started a while back, that's been abandoned until I get the xmas socks done...colors so far are burnt orange, burgundy, green, and off-white. I'm hoping to build it to king size, using all acrylics, like Red Heart. Hate the stuff and it's hard on the hands, but I just can't afford something that size in the good stuff.

What else is going on...not a whole lot. Work's hard. I'm thinking about how moving may mean a career change for me, which would be fine - I really can't stand how much time I spend sitting on my ass every day - but I also know that my current unhappiness is fueling that idea, so we'll see how things pan out.

I'm praying that payday tomorrow means we can pay rent without having to borrow from family. It's going to take a small miracle though.

Keeping it short...not in a great place still this week...looking forward to weekend. Got a bunch of book-sized boxes from Mom's move, planning to put them to use this weekend, consolidating stuff.

Read some Starhawk this afternoon and it boosted my spirits...going to dig back into my Reclaiming/Feri books, start thinking about Samhain and renewing my faith.

Autumn Color Week: Green

So all I ever see around here is green, so I ain't giving you green leaf pictures...instead I'm posting a wishful-thinking pic in the hopes I'll be wearing these things soon. The snood I made last spring, and the scarf was a gift from the MIL from her trip to Scotland this past summer.

Keeping this short, because work is harder to take when the humidity has vamoosed, so I'm ornery...I ache for cooler days, colder nights, and I'm living in the future again, dreaming of Charlotte and a yard to plant things. At least I'm finally feeling more like it's autumn, about time since tomorrow's October.

Autumn Color Week: Yellow

Yeah, OK, i'm a day late...and technically I ain't posting yellow.

Looks pretty, don't it? Don't be fooled...just the view of the retention pond behind my apartment. I liked the way the sunset shined off the fountain. The right pic below: I was trying to catch the moon rising over the pines. I'm working with a simple point-and-click Canon PowerShot A460.

Dawned on me while driving home tonight that one reason we don't see the leaves change down here is because the northeast corner of Florida has mainly three kinds of trees: pine, palm, and live oak. Four if you count the crepe myrtle that abounds in the landscaped business districts. Live oak is a remarkably hardy tree with small leaves, very different from the oaks you see up north. Live oaks are those sprawling trees that you see in pictures of the old South, their tall branches reaching across streets draped in Spanish moss, so that it's like you're driving down some arboreal tunnel...they're a valued tree down here, their limbs supported with wire and lumber when they grow beyond their own strengths...we have a Treaty Oak downtown that has a boardwalk you can frickin' walk through...it's the damnedest thing to witness.

Ironically, the tree in the forefront of that left-hand pic is some kind of maple...

So I finally took the camera out of its case tonight, because there's suddenly an oh-so-subtle lightness in the air, a slight change in temp and humidity that promises an almost-fall-like forecast the next couple of days...I may not get my colored leaves this year, but I'm going to be more present in the seasonal change. As I transported laundry tonight, I watched the sunset shine off sea oats, and the moon rise above the pines.

Also switched out the top graphic...would love to find something autumn-y, but haven't yet, so you get Figaro...one of those pics where you say afterward, holy crap, I nailed it without red eye or anything! Looks innocent, don't she? Again, don't be fooled. Sweet when she wants to be, but also enjoys flying around the house when you're trying to sleep, screwing with the vertical blinds, and rarely comes when you call her. Saw another cat outdoors tonight and mused that if we ever lost her, if she ever got out of the apartment, the "Lost" posters would have to say "Doesn't necessarily answer to Figaro".

Manic Monday

Have no business posting right now...enough work at work to keep me busy for 3 days...and just overheard that our paychecks took another hit this period. I really want to make it to 10 years at this job, but survival will dictate starting the search early, I think.

Mom's move went smoothly...think she probably spent too much on gratitude food for Les and I, but those expenses naturally come up in moving anyway (not like you can easily cook when you're in limbo like that), so I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it. Movers showed up just after 8 a.m. and were gone from the new place before noon. Punctuated how we'll definitely need to save for movers when our time comes...Mom's new place is right down the street, so we had her almost completely unpacked by 4 p.m. Of course, I hope not to be in the same shape as I am now when the time comes, but I do hope to have a small person to tend to, so it just makes sense. Speaking of shape, even with the movers, holy crap, does my body hurt! Went to her old place Sunday and cleaned, and that I'm feeling today in my hands. Then we did lunch and hopped to Home Depot and PetSmart for some necessities...nice, relaxing day after the craziness. Then I went home and lay like a numb lump for the rest of the evening.

I miss Autumn, will be trying to get in the spirit more this week. No point today, we're getting up in the 90s, but the rest of the week will be milder. Patience.

Vent

So we had an assignment for work that asked us to suggest how other departments could improve, so that overall productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction could improve...

I'm leaving this part off the memo, because I still value my job, but I'm so frustrated I had to stick it somewhere...so why not here!

If only Operations management could see how much an incentive pay system hurts productivity rather than encourages it, then perhaps we could increase Customer Satisfaction.

I don’t have an answer to that last one. If I did, I’d be in management, banging my head against the wall at a higher level than I do now. But recession or no recession, until Copywriters and Designers are given the time necessary to build quality sites, sites that don’t have to be sent back two and three times before making it through Quality, thus negating the productivity factor in the process, our departments will continue to work in a circle while management scratches their heads.

ahhh...thank goodness it's Friday...

Life goes on

It's been a week. Finally feeling like me again. Wanted to hold off and add pictures, but that's just not a habit I've been able to embrace yet.

Hormone imbalance, my ass...it's basic cause and effect. When I eat healthy foods, I feel good. When I eat crap, my metabolism and mood plummet. I turned another corner recently, probably from watching Biggest Loser or something (first eps of a new season deal strongly with how you're shortening your life if you're morbidly obese), and I'm starting to remember the downsides of what I'm putting into my body. If I inhale Peppermint Patties at bedtime, I'll wake up with a blood sugar headache. If I grab a quick bite out at lunch that translates to 2,000 mg of sodium in one sitting (yeah, pulled that one just yesterday - yuck!), my increased blood pressure will also give me a headache. It's like 40 was a magic number for my body, and I'm really seeing how I need to change.

Not pregnant, and that's the other reason I think my hormones are pretty OK on their own...being on the damn things sends me 'round the bend. It's like I was back in college or Fort Myers (my Prozac and Risperdal days)...spent the last 2 weeks screwing up at work, high on life or deeply depressed and frustrated, and boy did my paycheck reflect it (ouch!). The damn hormones made me far more bipolar than I've ever naturally been.

Meantime, been turtling a bit, letting myself heal...knitting at MIL's sock and brainstorming for xmas/solstice gifts for others, enjoying the new TV season...have had new shows to watch every night this week, which is nice, as some of the newbies have potential in my book ("Mercy" stood out last night...The Forgotten and NCIS:LA were OK.....and while I normally wouldn't watch fluff like "Eastwick," the casting of Paul Gross as the male lead combined with Matt Dallas as Rebecca Romijn's boy toy has piqued my interest, or my vicarious libido, sufficiently).

Samantha: "He's supposed to be my ideal."
Molly Ringwald, Sixteen Candles

::sigh::

Ehem...ah...now then...anybody seen autumn, because it sure ain't here. Muggy and high 80s during the day, because it's been threatening to rain and not doing so. I don't know yet when I'm going to find the time in October to get us up to SC for an inlaws visit, but I do know I'll be itching to drive a little further, see some leaves turning. I ache for the Carolinas these days, but that also has to do with my unhappiness at my job.

This weekend is all about helping Mom move into her new apartment, slightly larger, better layout...organizing Friday afternoon/evening, transporting some stuff; Saturday, moving; Sunday, cleaning...should be a sweaty blast :P

Ever. So. Slowly. Rallying...

Made a point of reading blogs this morning, and it's helping my mood...when you can't motivate yourself, a peek into how others live can bring inspiration.

Definitely need to start putting pics on this sucker. No wonder I can count my readers on one hand. This has always been just a journal for me, I'm not trying to inspire folks, but still...

I'm ok, nothing new here, the depression...just knocks your wind out every time. You wander along thinking you're fine, and you are, but if circumstances align to make you not ok for a piece, then WHAM, and didja get the license number of that thing? I stared at dirty dishes last night and couldn't lift a finger. I wandered the apartment at times, because there wasn't enough on TV to hold my interest and I couldn't bring myself to knit. You're lost in your body, and the map stores are closed. Lonely business. Josh Groban's HILarious guest stint on Glee helped last night, and I slept hard, so maybe my body's taking the steps it needs subconsciously. Consciously, I'm wearing my meditation goddess earrings today. I'm treating myself to a half-price Vivianno at Starbucks. And maybe, just maybe, some knitting or fabric touching or dish cleaning will occur later.

Keeping it short

You know that part in Home Alone, when Macauley Culkin runs screaming around the house with his arms flailing over his head....?

That's where I'm at. So I'll keep this short. It's been a shitty week, and I'm pretty sure the progesterone negates what little Paxil is in my system, because the way my moods have been swinging, I may as well be back in college...except I'm a 40-year-old married person, so I can't ride my bike at 1 a.m. any more or enjoy the endorphin rush of slamming my wrist into something...I should be grateful. Knitting, Husby...I have things at my disposal now that help me ride out the worst of it. Still, I'm stretched pretty damn tight this week. So I look forward once again...Pagan Pride this weekend, maybe the farmer's market. The little things.

Then again...

Jordan: I mean, how would you like going from unbelievably horny to clinically depressed 6 times a day?
Dr. Cox: Gimme a break, willya, I can knock that out on the way to work.
Paraphrased from Scrubs

After Toby has spouted a meaningless diatribe...
Will: Toby, either get Andie to marry you, or kill yourself.
Paraphrased from The West Wing

Jumped on my mood swing this morning and haven't stopped yet...was regular mopey when work started, and the black mood has thwarted rather ably the happy feelings my music was giving me. We've got a meeting tomorrow to discuss how we can do our jobs better, to improve customer satisfaction. I couldn't give less of a crap. How about a little employee satisfaction?