'Pop me!' and Other Weekend Adventures

Okay. Much to my surprise and excitement, two amazing friends came to visit this weekend. Josh and Adam do not live too far away, and I have had my fair share of visits to see them since moving to Florida. A year and half later, they finally came up my way. (Yes, I enjoy giving them a hard time about it. Last time, promise.) Woot!

The weekend was pretty typical, one could say. They met me at work so I could give a quick FSU union tour, we rallied the troops that were still at work with me, and we met others at Andrew's for dinner and drinks. This set our tone of hanging out, catching up, and relaxing for the weekend. Yesterday we lounged around, Josh made my favorite breakfast (biscuits and sausage gravy), had a late lunch at Cabo's (as seen on ESPN's College Gameday Taste of the Town), grabbed desert from the famed Lucy and Leo's Cupcakery, hung out, hit up Rummy's for pizza and beer, and ended up at Miller's for late night drinks and more friends. This morning we rolled out of bed to have brunch at Jenny's Lunchbox before they guys had to hit the road. Yea, we are all suckers for local food, drinks, and good conversations with good friends.

You may be asking if that is all we did. Right. Well...we also started down the dangerous road of playing New Super Mario Bros. on the Wii (thanks to Kins for having it) on Friday night, which continued on Saturday afternoon. The participants: myself, Josh, Adam, Meredith, and Kinsley joined us on Saturday. The result: a long, long list of hilarious, inappropriate, and extra hilarious quotes that must be written for posterity. If you have played, you will understand. If you have not, this should certainly encourage you to do so. Keep in mind this is not a complete list as some quotes have been omitted due to censorship or lack of recording because I was too busy crying laughing. Ready? In no particular order, here you go:

• Just stay still and I'll eat it...I'll eat it!
• Pop me! Pop me!
• Don't pop me! Don't pop me!
• Now we're both horning.
• I did not give you permission to pop my bubble.
• If you'd have just waited, we would have both finished!
• You clearly speak Mario.
• Let's go pizza roll!
• Stop jumping on my head!
• Here, jump on me.
• I don't know where I...fuck! (perhaps one of the favorites...)
• I was trying to get on your head to bounce off.
• Statement: Stop throwing me! Response: Well if you'd walk, I wouldn't have to pick you up.
• I was heading down that hole.
• No. That's an exit pipe.
• 1...2...3...bubble!
• Statement: So it would kill a small person. Response: That would be a hate crime.
• Just stand still and expect it.
• Statement: Do we want to use something before we go in? Response: Yea, can we? I'm tiny.
• Shake your yellow mushroom...shake it.
• Can someone slow down long enough to pop me?

Needless to say, this is only a short selection, and I have not labeled who said what not only to protect ourselves, but because we were just all equally guilty. We also followed up with a little MarioKart on Saturday before heading to Rummy's, which we all know ended just as well. "Fall off!! FALL OFF!"

Clearly, it was an awesome weekend. I loved having Josh and Adam visit and getting to hang out with amazing people with no worries and good takeaways. Thanks guys, and hurry back. :-) And shoutouts to Meredith, Kinsley, Mike, Ian, Adam G., Aimee, Regina, Billy, and Aaron for helping make it great.

Sidenote: I love late night chats with good people.

It's a Girl Thing!?

When looking for a new game for my Nintendo DSi, I was browsing the Nintendo website when I came across a new game for young girls: "It's a Girl Thing!: My Boyfriend."

The description: "Create the love story of your dreams – choose from 5 amazing guys. Which gorgeous guy is the one for you? Charm, chat up and chill out with each different guys. Will you find your true love?

• Put on your coolest outfit and make-up and dance the night away!
• An active life is a healthy life! Have fun working out with your friends.
• Meet up with your best friends to catch up on the latest fashions and hot gossip!
• Enjoy this fun time—with a lot of flirting, relaxing and fun waiting for you…

Okay. Here we go. REALLY? Maybe I should not judge this without actually seeing the game, but somehow I do not think I really need to see it. Let's prepare our young girls to scrutinize themselves to find a relationship. Better yet, let's give them five options of the ideal man. I would be almost afraid to see what the game considers an "amazing guy." REALLY?

I remember when I was younger playing Dream Phone with my sister and cousins (the game that was a warped version of Clue that involved an electronic phone that gave you clues as to which dreamy guy liked you...oh, and any bad moves involved you getting a zit sticker to wear on your face...yea). That was bad enough encouraging girls to giggle and obsess over being liked by a guy. Hmm. And technology continues to make it worse.

Adding to the list of Bratz dolls and poorly written stories of unrealistic young love (read: Twilight...maybe that will be another post), this game cannot possibly be a step forward for image and relationship issues. I am not saying we should never pass along some tips to date within what is consider socially normal. I am saying girls have enough pressure in the world. Can we not keep video games out of it?

What time is it?

Is timing everything? When I stop and think about it, I feel as though I can account for a number of missed opportunities in life by saying, "The timing was just off." Really. How many times have you said, if only this happened at X time, things could have been different? Is that really what it comes down to?

Okay, this is a simplification, but I find it almost disturbing how easily it can be used. So many other things go into life occurrences and how we use them to become who we are. But I could almost drive myself crazy with it. Hopefully that does not happen. I'm crazy enough, thanks.

It's Just Habit!

I find it almost comical how easily we fall into habits. Good or bad, they can get to the point where they may even control our lives. Then, when something disturbs that habit, we almost do not know what to do with ourselves. Until we realize a whole world exists outside of what we are used to doing. Again, sometimes better, sometimes worse. I remember in college learning about what it psychologically meant to form and even break a habit. However, I think it is rare we stop to think about what habits mean in our lives. Even simple things like your morning routine to get ready for the day, the first thing you do when you get to work, your rituals before bed. Of course, habits spread much further than our daily routines, but challenge yourself to really think about what habits mean in your life and how you react to them. (Oh, and heed the fine line between habit and addiction.)