How long will you live?

I just took a "Life Expectancy Calculator" on msn.com ... you know, trying to figure out how much I need to save in order to have decent retirement savings. My results: If you continue maintaining healthy habits, you'll want to plan for a maximum life expectancy of 102 years or more. I gasped so loud that my next-door coworker asked me if everything was OK. I mean, WTF?! Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of the fact that I live a pretty healthy lifestyle, but geez ... I don't wanna live that long!!! Goodness gracious. Here, try the calculator for yourself.

Inconsiderate men are from Mars, irate women are from Venus

I am soooo pissed off at Mike. He went for a company dinner last night and ended up staying out late. The inconsiderate POS didn't even have the courtesy to give me a call so I could go to sleep and not worry. At 1:30 in the morning, I was calling 911, the police station, all the major hospitals ... I even tried the detention center! At 2am, the POS comes waltzing through the front door. My first words to him were "YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" He started apologizing profusely, but I was so pissed I wasn't planning on giving him the time of day. I locked myself in the bedroom and yelled "Go away! You're sleeping on the couch tonight!"

This morning he sends me an apologetic email, after trying to get me to speak to him again while we were getting ready for work this morning. He asks me to forgive him. I write back and said "If you read the two John Gray books I left on your nightstand, I will forgive you." :) My jasminlive coworker just told me he thought that was the worst punishment ever! Muahahaha!!! Mike says he will read them ... we'll just have to see how much he loves me, won't we?

Electronic Friendships

To answer Elaine's question. I'm definitely more of a face-to-face person. Don't get me wrong, I feel perfectly comfortable chatting online, but words alone somehow are not enough for me. I like to feel people out, see their gestures, see their quirks, feel the chemistry. It also feels like it takes more effort to make face-to-face contact with someone, and thus more meaningful. I think that even if people are not really acting like different people online than they are in person, they will still have a different perceived personality.

However, I can definitely see how someone who is usually intimidated in social settings will feel less inhibited/ more comfortable online... Live improv is definitely more difficult than a written out act. To me, emails and blogs are a really great way to post messages. They're also great when you need to get information across to a whole bunch of people and need to word things very carefully. But I don't feel that daily electronic chatter makes up a real effortful and meaningful relationship. Like when I'm happy about something, it's not the same when someone emails me to tell me that they are happy for me, than if they would call me or come over to share the joy. Or if I'm pissed off or upset, comforting words on the web or an electronic apology just doesn't cut it. It's almost insulting. It's like trying to have a personal heart-to-heart conversation with someone, and they put you on speaker phone in a room full of people and turn up the volume.

I do realize I'm posting a blog (Oh, the irony!), and I'm not trying to preach about principles or whatever. Maybe I feel this way because I rely so heavily on electronic communication at work because of the 24-7 operation. And I'm constantly having to deal with misconstrued emails and problems surmounting from the lack of contact. It's also why I try to work crazy hours so I get to see people at least once a week. I'm finding out that complicated or personal problems can't be fixed through emails or web postings alone. Don't get me wrong, this website is great, and I am not trying to block the emails or anything like that. It's just that I think an occasional phone call or house visit from a friend would do me more good than the everyday emails. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Are you who you are?

Are you more of a face-to-face person, phone person, or email/internet person? I left a comment on Mae's website and basically said that I feel that I'm more of an email/internet kinda person, since I like myself more that way. I find myself easily intimidated or pressured whenever I'm face-to-face with another person. As far as phones go, I've stopped being a phone chatterbox since I left high school. But I can't figure out if my real personality matches my email/internet personality. Can you be one person when you're emailing/blogging/online chatting on https://www.chaturbaterooms.com/, and be another person when you're hanging out with a bunch of people?

Friday Food For Thought

Items in A's office:

2 cans of Sprite in drawer, together with bottle of Tums

Toy ball in drawer

Map of world on back wall

Display of golf things on second desk

Picture of ownself in bar, followed by picture of random statue

Mini-calendar directly in front of keyboard, contributed by insurance agent named Robert Goh (not related to me, by the way)

Who was Bingo?

I'm sure you all know the timeless kid's song, Bingo.

There was a farmer who had a dog

And Bingo was his name-o

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

And Bingo was his name-o

Cast your vote: Is Bingo the name of the farmer or the dog?

Make sure you read the first couple of sentences thoroughly before you cast your votes. And also, don't discount Bingo as not possibly being the name of a farmer -- in redneck-ville, there could be worse names to farmers than Bingo.

My thursday lunch buddy

Background: I was complaining to my lunch buddy last thursday that someone accidentally scratch my car bumper and left a red paint mark... and then monday morning, we were on the same stretch of north highway drive.

The emails later that morning:

Hey there,

Saw you this morning zooming down the road on your RSX, you were doing what?, 70 mph before making a sharp right into the parking lot? hahaha.

Ok, let's see now

math was never my strong point, so I could be wrong here...but I feel it necessary to note that I did see a gray blur go by me -- or should I say I felt the jetstream caused by your wake as it rocked my vehicle -- so if I was indeed marginally infracting on the speed limitations set by the good citizens of Missouri by "doing 70", then I can only imagine what a judge in traffic court would say about the landspeed record you were setting as you blew past me at 90+ mph...

So do geese make a mess when you hit them head on at 90? At least now I know the true story of how you got that ding in your front bumper, and why there's some "red" on the scratch. Gross. :)

-P.C.

Hilarious. Tomorrow's thursday. Yippie!

Morning non-routine

The windows were left open last night before I went to bed. Despite the down comforter, it was freezing when I got up this morning. Finally haul my behind to the shower after the snooze went on and off for about 5 times. Had the shower on full heat. It's weird how the hot water is hotter than the cold water is cold. Heh.

All these hot vs. cold evil business is no good for me. I feel a fever coming down.

One of my task this week is to help train Scott who's office is diagonally across from mine. At the corner of his desk there is a huge bowl of salted peanuts. On the floor at the same corner is the trash can.

Since Monday, I've spent more time in Scott's office than I ever had in the past 3 months. Most often than not, I'm in there wrestling with the peanuts to get it out of its shell. I don't think the cleaning people are very happy about the amount of 'leftovers' that I accidentally dropped on the floor because it missed the trash can.

Speaking of which, peanuts have a very intense flavor zone, it's when the saltiness hits your taste bud. Goes perfectly well with the hot chocolate I'm having now.

Time Zone

I was recently put on a jasmine live project that requires a huge amount of collaboration between our office in St. Louis and the one in So.Cal.. Scheduling conference calls is a huge pain in the rear, no can do before 11am CST because it's 9m PST over there, and these people just started rolling in at 9. Then there is lunch time. They love to schedule calls during their 9.30-11am period, which runs smack into the middle of my lunch time. Grrr. Looking forward to lunch time is the only thing that gets me through the morning, and if you're gonna take away my lunch time, then I might as well stay at home because I ain't gonna get stuff done. Or, they'll schedule something at 2-3ish their time, which then, is time for me to go HOME over here!

To add fuel to my fiery schedule, I'm now consulting a design team that works out of our U.K. office. Gosh, I don't even know the time difference off the top of my head. We haven't had any official full blown meetings yet so I'm waiting to see if this will flip flop my work schedule once again.

I'm in a bitchy mode this morning. Gotta go get some hot chocolate now. I'll be forced to miss lunch today because of a dang conference call with So.Cal.

It's all up to me

Was reading Erin's blog and to quote her 11/12 entry, "I've learned that some people like having fun dropped at their feet. Others have fun in seeking it out. Saint Louis is a seek out kinda' town. It has everything you could want but it's not in your face."

That is so true. I remember when I first moved to St. Louis from Lexington, I was glad that this is a bigger city, but as months, years flew by, I find myself complaining bitterly about the lack of activities and happening places in the St. Louis city and county area. I was craving for a differently life in NYC, Philly, D.C.... But recently I find that there are actually pretty fun things to do and places to hang out at if you can find the right crowd, and I just happened to stumble upon some pretty fun-loving people for the past couple of months. Erin's blog literally voiced out how I felt, and really, it's all up to me to want to go out and experience St. Louis, and not just sit back on my couch on saturday nights complaining that there's nothing to do.

So right now I am happy. Happy to know all the people I know here, and happy that I'm coming to terms with myself and my lifestyle. It's all good.

Family Affair

I was at the West Olive AMC 16 theatre this weekend, sitting in the back row, waiting for 8 Mile to start. Now, bear in mind that this is an R-rated movie, so I really didn't expect a bunch of star struck giggling high school girls at the theatre. None within the 4-row radius. Good.

But imagine my horror when I saw an entire family of dad, mom, a 3-4 year old girl, a teenage girl w/ her date (both looked like they were barely 14 years old) walking into the theatre. I guess in Missouri it is okay to admit underage movie-goers with parental consent? Since when is it okay to have a 3 year old girl sit through a movie that's filled with cursed words, middle fingers, violent behavior... etc.