Tue 25 Mar 2008
On food:
Yesterday after work, I saw that a supervisor who usually has a variety of cookies in his clear pastic cookie jar (how he lures us into his office) had individually wrapped Ding Dongs in there instead. “OMG, I haven’t had one of these since I was 8!” I exclaimed, and he told me to enjoy one. Since I’m an obedient little girl, I grabbed one on my way out. I guess I’d expected my childhood food preferences to be tainted with kid-like ignorance, like when I thought Pixie Stix, colored rock candy, and button candy were cool. As adults revisiting these things, Pixie Stix is just sourish sugary sand; rock candy is just hunks of sugar crystals, and button candy was RETARDED with the amount of paper you had to spit out after ripping those little tasteless sugar dots off the strips. But that DING DONG…omg…it had a thick chocolate coating, the inside chocolate cake was moist, and that white cream in the center added the “MMM!” to “YUMMM!” It was a good thing I was in the car leaving work when that thing was finished, or I would’ve gone back for more.
On drinking:
I was emailing with Dardy and he mentioned that he didn’t like hearing about girls getting drunk, because it made them seem irresponsible or something. He wondered if it was a double-standard, since he’s fine with guys drinking. I told him that I don’t think much of girls who get drunk either, but that it was more of a safety issue to me. I think safety has to always be in the forefront of a woman’s mind, and when she’s hobbling and being stupid, she can’t defend herself in a situation and she doesn’t have the good judgment to remove herself from a bad situation before she steps in it. (That, and you don’t see men getting wasted and jumping into bed with a stranger then waking up the next morning crying about how lonely and cheap they feel.) I think it’s more responsible of women to drink when they’re in a secure safe environment, not like at a bar or out at a party with rowdy strangers when they need to drive home hours later.
On safety at work:
Today while my judge was engaged with some attorneys in a closed-door settlement conference in our jury room, I heard a big boom and crash, then lots of metallic jingling. The noise came from the back hallway behind the courtroom, right outside the door that’s 10 feet away from me. I gave the commotion 2-4 seconds to settle before I realized from the cussing and yelling in the hallway, as well as the continued banging around, that there is a struggle between our bailiff(s) and an inmate. I stood and hit the “emergency!” red button, only the 2nd time I’ve had to do that in my entire career. The loudspeaker instantly came on, connecting my courtroom to the sheriff’s office downstairs, and a female voice asked what was happening. I announced the struggle and location into the intercom. I then moved away from the door. My court reporter gave some time to pass before she opened the far end of the courtroom door to peek into the hallway, and by then she described 5 sheriffs trying to contain an angry hostile inmate who was already on his knees on the floor. One sheriff was saying over and over to him in a soothing tone to calm down, calm down. By the time all the sheriffs who were available in the building responded to the call, there were probably 12 deputies in the hallway and only minutes had passed. Impressive. One of the female deputies who was there first hurt her arm and elbow when the inmate tried to kick and rush her. This deputy came by after things settled down and thanked me for calling for help. I’m glad I wasn’t drunk at work, or I may have opened the door and walked out in the hallway to see what all the noise and banging was about!
On wedding etiquette:
One of the black belt instructors from jujitsu (who’s become a friend over the years) is getting married in 18 days. I know this because that’s what his wedding website ticker said when I visited online yesterday, due to his email urging me to visit his site. It was a very well-done site, entertaining and all, but it’s like, “18 days? I guess I’m not invited.” That’s not a big deal, tho, especially since he soon emailed me after sending me the website, to explain that he’d wanted to invite us but had limited capacity at 120 people. As it was, he said, even some family were not invited. I told him I totally understand and am dealing with the same thing myself, and that I didn’t take it personally. Today, I get another email from him. He writes that he really does want Mr. W and I to attend because we’re “fun” but that there’s no room for us, so how about we go and crash the wedding? There’s no seating room for dinner, but come after dinner, after 7pm! All the information’s on the website! Come anyway!
Now that puts me in an awkward situation, cuz altho it’s nice that he seems to genuinely want us there, to ask us to CRASH? After dinner? What if people we know there think we’re rude for being soooo late, or if they know we weren’t invited, think we’re rude for crashing? And are we supposed to bring a wedding gift when we crash a wedding? I suppose I have another 2 weeks to think about this. There’s no RSVP to mail back when you’re crashing.
Ding Dong, I haven’t had one since I was a lil girl. I can remember, but are they made from Hostess? If so, I can’t eat them cuz they have beef fat as a food preservative.
Girls are know for getting real stupid when they are drunk and some even “pretend.” I see Dardy’s point.
Nothing exciting ever happens like that at my work. I do hear cussing tho… a lot of it!
And I can’t believe they are getting married! Crazy how the two of them met. I didn’t get invited either, but it’s not like we talk all the time or as if I go to class anymore. I say if you have nothing else going on, why not crash it! 🙂
I agree that safety should definitely be considered more (by me too) when drinking. Interesting – there have been 4 separate cases here, where 4 MEN/BOYS have been found buried under snow, by or in frozen water, etc. All were intoxicated… of course women also saunter off, but some guys think they are brave enough to walk to their next destination in below freezing temps, getting lost – while drunk, ultimately freezing to death.
as for the wedding etiquette – I think it’s ‘crashing’ the wedding, when you don’t necessarily know the groom or bride and come in for the booze; tagging along w/ other folks that were invited. If you and Mr W are comfortable to join after dinner, I don’t think anyone else will think anything of it?
ok this seems totally unlike me but i told one of my co workers to do the same thing, if he didn’t have anything better to do that night. i don’t even think the expectation of a gift crossed my mind. he did not end up going though. hope that helps.
Vanessa – I think Ding Dongs ARE made by Hostess. 🙁 But there are tons of imitation brands, I’m sure. Like Li’l Miss Debbie or something like that?
Well, our instructor and his new fiance met the same way we all met.
k – I’ve never thought of drunk people getting buried under snow and freezing to death. I’m trying to keep my funny bone from being tickled, because this is a hideous pointless way to die. I guess it’s a snowy-area thing that just doesn’t happen much here in SoCal.
anny – yup that helps…
everyone – I’m not sure that I WANT to “crash” the wedding, altho ‘k’ makes a good point, and the groom told me the same thing in an email, that it’s not technically “crashing” cuz we’re invited to “crash.” (But “crash” was his word to begin with.) So it’s not about justifying why it’s okay that I do it, I’m more about whether or not I want to bother getting dressy and driving over an hour to the wedding site just to hang out for a couple hours with people who didn’t invite us to the actual wedding or reception, and whether that obligates me to bring a gift. Plus, we’d have nowhere to sit. (How petty do I sound? But I do feel bad about even turning down an invitation to crash.)
Maybe it’s better that if you feel like it, on the day of – go. Otherwise, since you never ‘RSVP’ed’..you can get away with not showing up. The gift is kind of ‘sticky’, in my opinion. But if you do go, I’d bring something. It sux to show up empty handed (even if you were not initially invited to the dinner/ceremony). If you don’t go, you don’t feel obligated to bring a present next time you see him… ???
Thank goodness for imitation brand… but it won’t be the same!
k – I don’t feel obligated to bring a gift to a wedding I wasn’t invited to, no. Not even if I see him afterwards. I’d feel I owe him a “congrats!”, and that’s it. I think if people bring presents for weddings they weren’t invited to, the receiving couple would feel pretty sheepish and awkward.
busykitty – I probably wouldn’t ever be able to tell the difference, cuz I don’t eat enough of it. I’ll probably not let myself eat another manufactured cake treat for another 10 years.
See you are better then me. I just wait for the next PMS period and treat my cravings! That’s probably why I gainned so much weight. 🙁