sometimes it's not better to be safe than sorry

I read a quote once that said something like, "If you wish to live a life free of pain, you must do without many things."  I think it is saying, in effect, that you have to take risks sometimes, even if you might end up getting hurt in the end.  If you don't ever want to get hurt then you'll live life in a way that keeps you safe, but is boring and doesn't bring you to your full potential.

That's a pretty weighty introduction to the real point of this post, which is that I made the switch to the new iPhone.

My old phone was making me crazy.  It didn't ring half the time.  It sent text messages hours later.  Plus, my contract with T-Mobile was up.  And I'd dropped my iTouch enough times that it was starting to have troubles of its own.  So I just decided to combine the phone and iPod and get the new iPhone.  Yes, I know that some people have antenna problems.  Yes, it is a little bit more expensive than my old phone.  But these are risks that sometimes just have to be taken.  (Yeah, I realized that I'm comparing my iPhone to life.)  And maybe it will end up that this switch will break my heart and make me frustrated and angry.  But sometimes you just have to take a risk in order to end up with a really rocking phone.  Plus, it feeds my crazy need to always check my email and find out answers to questions right now.

So, don't be afraid to take risks my friend.  Sometimes you end up getting burned and sometimes you end up happier than you thought you'd be.

and the last shall be first

Lydia got married a few weekends ago.  I thought I would have more to say about it, but I really don't.  It was very happy because she is so happy with Mr. Wickham.  But it had undertones of sadness because dad wasn't there (in person).  So... I'll just post some pictures.  (That's all people want from blogs anyway, isn't it?)

Hooray for Uncle and Aunt Gardner!

where's that terrible towel when i need it?

I went home to visit my mother this weekend.  We had a lovely time together.  I love my mother.  But that is actually irrelevant to this post.

Here are the relevant bits of information:
1. Mom lives in Pittsburgh.
2. Uncle Steve also lives in Pittsburgh.
3. Uncles Steve (and family) love Steelers football.
4. There was a pre-season Steelers game last Saturday.
5. Uncle Steve had extra tickets to the Steelers game on Saturday.
6. Up until about 3 seconds ago, I thought it was spelled "Stealers" and I didn't know why it was being underlined in red.

Okay, that last one wasn't really relevant, but maybe it was interesting.  (Probably not.)  Anyway, as you are very good at deduction, you have figured out by now that mom and I went to the football game with Steve last Saturday night, plus my cousins Eleanor and Alex.  I'd only ever been to one pro football game before in my life, at I was maybe twelve years old at the time, so it was a interesting experience, even though it was just "pre-season."  I enjoyed the action and seeing the plays from a totally new angle than on tv.

As interesting as football is (which incidentally isn't as interesting as baseball, in my opinion) this post wouldn't be very exciting unless Something Happened at the Game.  In this case, the Something was rain.  Our seats were under an overhang, so we didn't get the worst of it.  Until the wind started.  Then we were in the same boat (ha ha) as everyone else.  We headed for higher ground, along with most of the others in the stadium.  An announcement came on the PA and the jumbo tron that the game was being postponed for now.  We were pretty much stranded in the stands of the stadium.  This is when Alex turned to Uncle Steve and said, "Dad, can we get some nachos?"  Oh Alex.  So innocent and undeterred by the weather.  Luckily he found an unopened bag of chips to tide him over until the rain lessoned enough (about an hour later) to send him and Eleanor out for supplies.  (That is one of the benefits of being an adult - you get to make your younger cousins your minions.)

Okay, so maybe this post wasn't actually as exciting as I thought it would be as I was writing it in my head in the stadium.  But it seemed memorable at the time.  One of those things where Eleanor and I will say to each other years from now, "Remember that Steelers game we went to with hurricane force winds and rain?" And we'll smile at each other knowingly and remember it.

I'll just end with a deep thought by Jack Handy:
"Most of the time it was probably a read bad thing being stuck down in a dungeon.  But some days, when there was a bad storm outside, you'd look out your little window and think, 'Boy, I'm glad I'm not out in THAT'."

life and the minneapolis airport

I was in the Minneapolis airport this weekend; just passing through on my way to my sister Lydia's wedding.  (More on that in another post.) (probably)

For me, life is a lot like the Minneapolis airport.  Sometimes it catches you completely off guard.  Like when I got off the plane and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut because my brain forgot to prepare me for being there.  As soon as I got off the plane I realized the last time I was there was when I was on my way home from Hawaii and I got an urgent message from Big Brother to call him.  I didn't want to because I knew what he'd tell me, so I delayed.  I finished reading the book I was reading.  I shuffled around a bit.  And finally I called.  And he told me the news about my dad.  When I got off the plane this time all those memories rushed back in a second - how I wandered around like a lost soul weeping; wanting to call someone and talk about it but just not being able to.  I was angry at my brain for repressing the memory.  So, sometimes life is hard and sad and it sucker punches you when you're not looking.

As I was walking around, feeling angry at the airport for its past wrongs against me, I realized that I had pleasant memories of the airport as well.  I remembered the time I almost missed my connecting flight to Washington because I had a long layover so I made the goal to walk to every single gate in the airport and I was too stubborn to give up when time was running short.  And the time that I met up with Sleakbean on our way to London and we found the creepy Proactiv vending machine and I accidentally went into the men's restroom.  And the time Lady MacBeth and I changed into our pajamas and Legolas made fun of us when the three of us were on our way to Japan.  (It was worth all the mocking to be in our jammies for the long flight.)  

So, I guess the point is (if there really is a point?) I can't hate the Minneapolis airport because of one bad thing that happened to me there.  I'm still sad about the event, of course, but there were a lot of happy events there too.  And it's still a jumping off place for going to a lot of other places.  The analogy is that in life a lot of sad and bad things happen, but I can't hate that either.  My life isn't just the bad things.  It's the sum total of all the events in my life.  All the good and bad that happen are just part of what makes up the whole experience.  Sometimes things go smoothly and sometimes they're delayed and sometimes you realize that you've been waiting at the wrong gate for an hour.  On the whole, my life is actually pretty great - filled with moving walkways and over priced massage chairs.

But I still probably shouldn't wander into the men's restroom.

i swear, baby, he means nothing to me

Legolas and I were hanging out tonight when he found out that I am an adulteress.  It is never a good feeling to get caught cheating.  I suppose the way to avoid those feelings is to not cheat in the first place.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I really just thought I wouldn't get caught.

He was sitting at my computer checking on something, when he found the incriminating evidence.

"What is this?!" he asked, accusingly, picking it up from beside my computer and brandishing it at me.

I paled, knowing there was no way I could talk my way out of it.  "Listen," I said trying to think of an explanation, "It's just that...."

He cut me off. "This is a thank you note from a dentist!  I can't believe you went to another dentist, Kristin!  Don't I mean anything to you?"

"You do! You do!" I protested.  "It's not from a dentist, anyway.  It's from an endodontist!  Right after everything with my dad I chipped my very back tooth, but of course I didn't feel like getting it fixed then.  I just got around to doing it now and I had to get a root canal to get it fixed.  I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

He was silent a few moments.  "You know that dentists can do root canals, right?"

"Yes, I do know that," I said, desperate to make him understand.  "When I lived in Utah my dentist did a root canal.  But my dentist out here said she didn't want to do it and I needed to go to the endo guy.  He was really nice.  It didn't hurt at all and it feels a lot better."

Legolas looked at me, piercingly.  "So, you went to another dentist first, before you had the root canal.  I see."

I knew I was beat now.  There was no way out.  "I know. I'm sorry.  It's not that I don't trust you - I do!  It's just that the dental school always takes so long and it's hard with my work schedule.  I'm really sorry."  He didn't say anything.  "Can we still be friends?"

He sighed.  "Kristin, you know I'll always forgive you.  It's a low blow, but you mean more to me than that other dentist.  Just... let's talk about it first next time and see if we can work something out.  It's doing better, your tooth?"

"Yes," I said.  "It was really hurting last week, which is why I had to finally go in.  But the endodontist got it all squared away and I'm feeling a lot better."

"Well," he said forgivingly, "that is what's important.  I'm glad you're feeling good.  Let me see it."

I let him look in my mouth and was grateful for my forgiving friend.

But let it be a lesson to you - you'll always get caught in the end if you cheat.