jMcJohnson

(Plus a bonus Frank head!)

Ryan and I are at the airport waiting for our flight to Chicago to board. We got up at 4 am, so we are over-caffinated and unnaturally PSYCHED to get there…Happy Thanksgiving!

Apparently, I am re-visiting my misspent youth this week:

Saturday:
Saw “Twilight” in a movie theatre filled with 12 year old girls

Sunday:
The Jonas Brothers make a cameo in my dream (they did my laundry)

Monday:
Huge zit develops on my cheek

Ha! At the rate I’m going, what’s next?

Tuesday:
Buy PePe jeans?
Style marshmallow bangs for myself?
Find someone to buy me beer?

Tonight I accidentally watched the local news and happened to catch the “Winter Weather Forecast” by the Fox 4 Weather Team. They all predicted that it would be:

1. Cold
2. Snowy
3. Icy

After that, the news anchors sat around and talked about how much it sucked that it would be cold and snowy, and how happy they would be if we had no snow and some 70 degree days.

What the fuck?!

It’s freaking WINTER in the Midwest you morons-if you want it to be 70 degrees in January then you should:

1. Educate yourself on weather systems of the high plains.
2. Move to Florida.
3. Wait around for global warming to finish the job.

Seriously, if it was 40 degrees here in August I would be freaked out not doing some kind of happy dance.

Also, the news anchors always want to blame the weatherman for whatever the weather may be-too hot, too cold, too rainy, too awesome, whatever it may be; it’s ALWAYS the weatherman’s fault.

So, screw you news anchors on Fox 4-I hope it snows ten feet this winter!

I worked myself into a pretty healthy panic a couple weeks ago when I realized I am 31 and have no real plan for having a kid.

Let me clarify: Ryan and I most definitely DO want a kid(s). That is not the problem. The problem is that I basically spent my twenties hanging out and having some pretty fun but not serious career-y type jobs, traveling in the summers and generally having a good time and doing whatever I felt like doing. Meanwhile, other people my age (apparently armed with something called foresight) went to grad school, or worked their way up in their jobs, or just generally figured out some sort of loose plan for the rest of their lives. This magical foresight allows them to already have kids or at least be established enough in a job to think about taking a break to have one.

Me?

I actually considered working at Target the other day. (NOT that there’s anything wrong with that; I just didn’t think that I would be considering that at this point in my life given my interests and skills.)

I also-after spending this last weekend in Salina-thought about buying the old Coaches place and turning it into a bakery called “Sugar, Sugar” that specializes in cookies and serves pizza on the weekends.

Clearly my interests are varied.

I have been weighing my life options over the last few months and I have come up with a few, including going back to school. But. If I start school next year, I will be 34 when I graduate. Not old in the sense of life; but in the sense of just thinking about starting a family? It’s old-er. Plus what would I do? Get my masters and then have a kid immediately? Work for a few years? Gah. Stupid ovaries and their stupid timetables.

Now. I know it’s not IMPOSSIBLE to have kids at that point. I know it’s very, very possible. I know people who have done it. And if we find out that we can’t for whatever reason have kids, we are pretty cool with any other options that may be available to us. I guess I am just developing some mental block about being an “old” parent. About Ryan and I being old (er) when our hypothetical kids leave the house (I love how I haven’t even conceived them yet; and already I am planning our lives when they leave…how very me).

I don’t regret anything about my life. It is going exactly the way it is supposed to be going, I know that. And it has been a hell of a lot of fun. I just don’t know what sort of decisions I should be making right now…I feel kind of shocked into this awake-ness; like I either have to continue to be selfish and do what I want or…not.

How do you decide this stuff? Ryan and I have always been two people who have done jobs and work to make money and live; not because (in most instances) we have been exceptionally passionate about what we have been getting paid to do. For us, it has always been more about having freedom to do what we want to do and not being tied down. It actually felt weird not to move this year since we have never really stayed on one place more than two years (including moving apartments in Chicago). But when I start to think about the future it does become more about being in one place. At one job. Supporting your family. And I definitely don’t want a future of uncertainty-of piecing together money and jobs here and there and hoping it all comes together. That is a tiring life. It is freedom, but at the same time it doesn’t really afford you a home.

I know the answer will appear. I know we have time, I know nothing has to be decided today.

But right now, all these decisions feel closer than ever.

The guys played two nights at the Paramount last weekend. Madness ensued.

Smoking is bad, mmmkay?

Sometimes, you have to buy two Orlando Bloom posters at Goodwill, fake autograph them and tape them to the bathroom walls in the bar. Awesome!

Somebody turned 40! (but not Nathan)

Joe looks so handsome/scary in my dad’s awesome corduroy blazer, doesn’t he?

My happy husband

Do you ever find yourself doing the same idiotic thing over and over again even though all it does is leave you wondering why you did it in the first place?

Sigh.

I need to get a grip.

Watch out, white people!

Ha!

Just trying out a post from my phone…
And posting a cat pic. Because I am that person.

So, maybe you saw the Perspectv website during the election. It basically showed Twitter mentions, blogosphere mentions and news stories about all the candidates and showed graphs comparing who had the most buzz.

Now that the election is over, the comparison search engine is open to whatever you want to compare-check it out here.

I compared chickens to cows and was shocked to see how shafted cows are in terms of Twitter mentions.

You can still, of course, look up McCain and Obama if you are still obsessing, too.