What I've Been Up To: Closet Transformation

It's about the time of the year when a lot of people in the northeast embrace the coming of fall and the impending doom of winter. Football season to northerners means hooded sweatshits and sweater season, and people get pretty excited about it. I'm not one of those people.

Having lived in the south for 3.5 years, I basically abandoned my former love of fall and grew to love extended summer, with 80 degree days in October and flip flops into December. (It's true. I definitely did the previous year's Christmas shopping in flip flops in December.) I would much rather be hot (and bothered) than cold. Seriously. Especially now, since this past summer wasn't much more than spring. I think we may have had two days in the 90s and a helluva lot of rain. It didn't much feel to me like summer just ended; I was still waiting for it to fully arrive.

Regardless, the weather has changed. Today, I had to bust out a hooded sweatshirt to venture off for the day's errands. Tomorrow, the high is supposed to be 55 degrees. Depressing.

Knowing this seasonal change was due to hit this week, I used some time last week to tackle my closet. While I don't always like the change of seasons, I do like the two times a year where I dedicate a whole day to closet transformation. This process involves packing away the items that are no longer needed for the upcoming season, determining what clothes won't make it to next year for a variety of reasons but usually because they have lost the ability to fit properly, and pulling out the packed-away items necessary for the upcoming season. I do love this process.

I love organizing, and I love throwing things out. There's something therapeutic about both things for me. I like finding a way to put things in order, and I like the letting go of items that no longer serve their purpose. I love donating unwanted items to charity. And, I love having the time to do unnecessary but enjoyable organizing like color-coordinating the clothes in my closet. I know, I know. I have way too much time on my hands, and you probably think I'm a huge loser with borderline OCD issues because this is fun for me. But it's true. I love it. I'm now on a mission to find other things to organize.

What I've Been Up To: Errands

I run a lot of errands. Some of these errands are obviously for myself; often, though, the errands are run for others or with others.

For example, last Monday I took my grandmother and my great aunt to their doctor's appointment. I dropped them off at 10:30am and parked the car. When I joined them in the waiting room, I discovered that my grandmother had the wrong date for her appointment and my aunt didn't actually have an appointment scheduled. Apparently, my aunt just wanted to speak with the doctor. Oh brother. Thankfully, the doctor was able to see them both. We had a nice lunch afterward at a local diner. That was a pretty good errand because I was rewarded with food, and I do love food.

On Friday, I accompanied my aunt to the Harrisburg area to run some errands. I had a few things to get for myself, so this was convenient. We even ended up with a free lunch because the restaurant screwed up our salad portion of our meal. The only thing better than a reward of food is a reward of free food.

Running errands with my aunt, though, has its compromises. See, the day usually ends with a stop at a casino. This was the case last Friday as well as today. Unlike the majority of women in my family, I am not a big gambler. I'm especially not a big gambler now as I don't have the funds to support gambling. My aunt did buy me a milkshake on our way out of the casino, so that was a nice way to end the experience. Free milkshakes are just as enjoyable as free food.

I think I'm a pretty good errand-runner. I mean, it's not really difficult. My brother says I remind him of Elaine Benes when she worked for Mr. Pitt in that one season of Seinfeld. That could be a good life. I'd love to work for some rich dude and buy his tube socks. Anyone know of someone looking for a personal assistant?

What I've Been Up To: Netflix

I haven't blogged lately, mostly because I'm still "trying to figure out what to do with my life"/job searching and there's nothing exciting about this process. So I figure it's more exciting to write about some of the random things I've been up to, while I try to sort out that "real world" stuff. I decided to do some installments that cover some of the things I do to stay busy (read: get out of bed every morning).

I joined Netflix back in February, when I was committed to watching the entire series of Lost as quickly as possible. I wrote about this back in the day. Since then, I've used Netflix as a way to see the plethora of films I've missed over the past few years.

Specifically, in recent weeks, I decided to watch each of the 2009 Oscar nominees for Best Picture of the Year. This list includes: Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, Milk, Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Usually, when the Oscars are awarded, I've only seen one of the films in this category. This was true this past year as well, as I only saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in the theater back in December. So I had the remaining four films to watch.

Each of these films is a must-see for any avid movie-goer. Honestly. Each was extremely different in content and context, and each made for a pleasurable viewing experience. I would highly recommend each of them if you are looking for something to watch. I was really glad I took on this endeavor because these were some of the best films I've ever seen. Seriously. Ever.

In this spirit, I've also started to back-track and I've started to watch the 2008 Oscar nominees in this category as well. I'm really pleased with this idea of mine, as the films have all been great.

The only thing missing is a good neighbor/friend who would want to watch these with me, and then discuss incessantly over a burrito or coffee or ice cream.

Dear Employers:

An employer is someone who meets these characteristics:
A. deemed responsible enough to hire a new staff member
B. capable of screening job applications
C. interview selected candidates via the telephone
D. interview selected candidates in person
E. decide to select someone for a position
F. decide to reject other people for the position

So, if you are an employer who does the above, you should have the decency to PICK UP THE TELEPHONE AND CALL the person you have rejected from said employment. I posted about this in July. For the love of anything, it's human decency. MAN UP. Make the phone call. It only takes two minutes:

"Hi Carol. This is Such-and-Such from Where-and-Where. It was a pleasure meeting you on your interview, however, we've selected a more qualified applicant and he/she has accepted our offer. Thank you for your time. Good luck to you."

How hard is that? Honestly. It's easier than making dinner. It's easier than putting gas in your car. It's a two-minute phone call.

I deserve better.

Everyone deserves better. It's called being a functioning member of society.

Get it together, employers.

Well...

holy f*$#. it's september.