Strange, drunk question..?

Did you ever have twin friends? When you are an only child, this is a particularly strange breed of friendship to have.

I have an adult friend who is not only a twin, but she (and of course her twin) share my birthday. Strange enough.

But, from a very young age I had a set of twins that I was very close to because they lived next door. But, because they lived next door, we were pretty close for a pretty long time. At least until we were old enough to realize that we belonged to different social castes and then we sort of separated ways.

But, many thoughts linger in my mind. One, when you are friends with twins are you ever close to any one twin? Is there a difference in your relationships and how different is it? But, more pressing -- if it starts at a young age, does it ever go away??

My two closest twin friends lived next door from me from I can't remember when (we moved there when I was only one) til just after they were in 6th grade. It wasn't too far -- just townhouses on the outskirts of my neighborhood, just far enough to be inconvenient to a 6th grader. When we were all in high school at the same time, they said hi to me in the halls and vice versa, but it was clear that we ran with different people. It wasn't spoken, we didn't talk, but it was never awkward. It just was what it was for high school. I would get the random birthday ballooon which was weirder than anything.


Flash was forward. I move back to VB in 2000 and somehow these twins know. I get invited to a last minute bridal shower and wedding -- the events weren't last minute, just my invite.

The thing is... I loved these girls. Neither was ever a favorite for long. It was all just about history. And we had some young, young history. They maybe even knew my mother when she could hear, which they might not remember. But, it was even that they knew that this was a memory that shared a bond. And we walked with different people and spoke different languages, we had this shared fucked up Fairfield life in common...

Anyways... Lots of cheap, pink wine -- I say big hugs to Holly and Jenny and love you both through the weirdness and madness that has been our shared 30+ on the planet together. You'll always be a part of my heart even if we don't know each other's phone numbers, email addresses or new last names..

It is what it is.

La Douleur Exquise

I'm Netflixng my way through Sex and the City. I'm in the middle of Season 2 and this title is a reference to the last episode on disc 2. The exquisite pain. I think I'm going through a bit of that now.

I sometimes think I enjoy putting myself in situations that I feel sad about so I can get to feel sad. Sometimes feeling sad feels good. It's nice to get it out of your system, you know?

On a silly note, watching Carrie and Big break up again and again. It's a sweet pain. I know how it's going to turn out, yet I still feel her pain again and again. And even the simple of joy of seeing the beginning of Miranda and Steve's relationship.

But, worse, sadder... Much sadder... Randy Pausch died on Friday. If you haven't seen or heard anything about his last lecture, I urge you to read it. I have the book on my to-buy list.

Anyways, sad things. I'm blaming it on this depressing Environmental Policy class that is just constantly reaffirming that the world is eating itself and it's not going to get any better...

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. -Doug Larson


I think my other 8 hours have been spent on Facebook. Be my Facebook friend...

Things I don't understand

My health insurance plan
The continued popularity of Survivor -- and I am a Big Brother fan, so I should get it
Phony people
How George Bush sleeps at night
Did I like The Dark Knight because it was actually a good movie or because of the tragic aspect of Heath Ledger dying or because I actually just liked it?
How to have my picture taken and keep my eyes open and not look like I just got frightened
How to have a neat looking Facebook page
....why this is important to me?
My inability to resist eating carbs knowing that my pants won't fit tomorrow
Why I don't go to bed right now knowing that I will be tired and cranky and unfocused tomorrow
(We can summarize these things into -- why I don't learn from my little mistakes but triumph over the big ones)
How the US is going to get out of this big mess we've gotten ourselves into -- even I do not have this much optimism
The continued popularity and interest in Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, et al -- plenty of pretty young women get drunk and trash their lives on a regular basis, even here in Tidewater -- who cares if they're famous?
Quantum physics
How big the universe is
Why it even matters if there is a God
...and it does matter to me, even though it doesn't seem like to some people
How to get my husband to eat at least the vegetables that I will eat -- I mean, this is a short list
how to get motivated to want to lose weight AND keep it off
...or how to just not care
Why I buy clothes assuming that I am always going to like my body as much as I do the day I go shopping
how to end this rambling post

We're doing life baby!

Today's our anniversary. Four years, for those of you taking bets. I thought I would spend it blogging because that would be romantic.

We had Mexican for dinner in honor of our wedding food. Over dinner we re-visited our most recent discussion which is this.

Chickens and eggs.

It started innocently enough. We were reviewing things we needed to get from the store on our drive home from our visit to C'ville (pictures WILL be coming....) and I asked if we still had eggs and if they were any good. Scott stated that since they had not turned into chickens, he assumed they were still okay for eating. I laughed and assumed that he was kidding, because eggs you buy from the grocery store do not turn into chickens.

This is when the discussion became surreal.

Scott: They don't turn into chickens because they have been refrigerated.
Me: It wouldn't matter if they have been refrigerated, even if you left them on the counter they wouldn't turn into chickens because they haven't been fertilized.
Scott: So, you're saying that you don't think chickens come from eggs?
Me: Chickens come from eggs, but not the eggs at the store.
Scott: But, Heather, if the eggs from the store come from chickens, then how can they not be chicken eggs?
Me: (STILL not sure if I am being fucked with or not) They are chicken eggs, but they are not eggs that will be chickens. Again, have not been fertilized.
Scott: What do you think that white thing is? It's a chicken!
Me: So, what you are saying is that when we bring home the eggs from the store under the right light and conditions that we would have chickens?
Scott: Where else do you think that chickens come from??

Sigh.

And he thinks I am silly for thinking that pollen was combustible. Yet, he turns this into I don't think chickens come from eggs. JUST because I didn't think that cows ran, DOESN'T mean I don't know where chickens come from!

Anyways, we're doing life so we'll have time to figure it out.

hpl

The Heather & Julia Short Phone Call Rules
Feel free to adopt for your own purposes...

1. And this is key -- if you have only a set amount of time, inform your call-ee ahead of time that this is the amount of time you have left. This sets a time limit on your phone call in advance, so there is a reduced amount of tension when the phone call needs to end. For example, I am driving home from work (Patrick used to refer to this as my "book on tape" time), and this takes roughly 20 minutes. Julia frequently calls when she is waiting for the train. Sometimes I think she waits until she waits until she sees the train coming down the track, but I'm trying not to be bitter.... Which leads to the next rule.

2. Don't be bitter about the times your friend is calling for a short call. Short calls are better than no calls and really help fill your long-distance friends on the minutia of your life. You waste this short amount of time allotted if you complain about the amount of time that your friend has allotted. It leads to drifting friendships and longer phone calls to catch up and let's face it -- if we had time for long phone calls, we'd be using it for something else. (Long catch up calls are good for long car trips. Really the only benefit to taking long car trips by ones self is the long catch up.) So, focus on how good it is to hear from your friend.

3. So, now that we know it's a short call, because the time line has been laid out and we know that our friend loves us to take this five to twenty minutes of his/her life to call us, then we should try to focus on dividing the time equitably. Try not to let Heather dominate, as she is prone to do. The person with the most prattle rules and vignettes ALWAYS lead. (Like, I really have to tell you guys about the time that the guys stole the prescription drugs from my mom's house and then his dad drove him all the way back from Newport News to apologize -- CRAZY!) Anyone who has recently had houseguests, travelled or had a fight with their significant other also gets precedence.

4. And then finally, this is really key -- the call is naturally going to be short and it gets cut off, then really -- don't call back. ESPECIALLY if you're only going to have a few minutes left to talk when you call back. If we're just talking about general weekend stuff, my drive home from class, your laundry is done, whatever -- don't call back. It's okay. Exceptions to this rule are: if you are in the middle of an important discussion topic (like the fight you had with your significant other or something major medical or whatever), if you are having a disagreement, but the most important one is if the call ends with any form of OH MY GOD, I'M GOING TO... Get robbed, get hit by the train, give birth, whatever.

Well, maybe not give birth because that's pretty obvious, but you see where I'm going. Calls can drop -- more bars in more places doesn't mean your bars always match up.

Anyways, those are the rules. Subject to be adjusted at any time.

big hugs,

me

OH -- I'll try to put up the weekend in C'ville pix soon, promise.

I keep meaning to add this for Julia. I "recorded" the Italian Restaurant song for Emanuele on our way out of the concert. Yes, we were those people who leave early to avoid the horrible traffic. If you had seen the sea of people, you might have developed claustrophobia too.