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Whiskey Notes and Parachuting Fish
the ups-and-downs and sides-to-sides of the little things that make up life
The Underdog
There are a few things you always have to believe in – love, impossible things and the underdog. Here’s to the underdog in all of us, here’s to the results not adding up and here’s to passion trumping logic.
The theory of evolution claims that only the strong shall survive. Maybe so…maybe so…But the theory of competition says just because their the strong doesn’t mean they cant get their ass’s kicked. Thats right. See what every long shot, come from behind underdog will tell you is this. The other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds maybe stacked against you, fair enough. But what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where PASSION has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clock starts ticking. Just remember out here the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say, and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on all bets are off. Don’t be surprised if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling uncle. And then suddenly as the old saying goes, WE GOT OURSELVES A GAME!
2011
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors and let each new year find you a better man. – Ben Franklin
2010 was an interesting year to say the least. I’m not sure what 2011 has in store for me, but I have a feeling it is going to be one hell of a good ride.
Posted in Event
Top 10 Lessons of 2010
I learned some good, hard and silly lessons in 2010. Like I mentioned in my 10 Cool Things of 2010, it’s fun to look back.
So, here’s the top 10 things I learned in 2010:
- I still love cards and stationary. There’s nothing quite like a handwritten note
- A great bra is priceless
- I’m a hopeless romantic at heart
- The hardest thing to do is get out of bed. If you can do that, you can make it through the day
- I love hoodies. If I could wear one to work every day, I would
- The human spirit, if you let it, is indomitable. You can get back up again and again even when it seems impossible
- You can’t erase the past even when you know it’s wrongly coloring the future
- Reality is perception no matter how hard you try to get people to see the “truth” or what you see
- Connecting digitally pales in comparison to face to face time and phone calls vs. text messages. There’s nothing quite like connecting in person or hearing someone’s voice. It truly changes the entire dynamic and feelings
- Love doesn’t conquer all, but I still believe in it and impossible things
10 Cool Things of 2010
Yes, ladies and gentleman, it’s that time of year again… bring on the Top 10 lists! I used to get annoyed at all these lists, but I have to admit, it’s pretty cool to look back and remember the cool things, events and what was important to you in year’s past like 2008 and 2009.
Here it is, ten cool things of 2010 (in date order):
- Got a new job
- Traveled overseas (to Madrid) for the first time
- Got promoted and headed up marketing and public relations for a Las Vegas Strip hotel; the youngest marketing head in the industry by at least 10 years.
- Got a cat
- Fell in love with my best friends even more and made a few, unexpected new ones
- Got a real mentor
- Learned more about what I don’t like than what I like
- Took some big risks and made some changes in the relationship department
- Experienced the opening of the last hotel on the Las Vegas Strip
- Joined an online dating site. For realz
Mystique
We always want the unknown, what we can’t have, the mystique.
Trust me, I do it all the time too. The unknown is exciting, thrilling and gives us butterflies. If we’re the slightest bit bored or disgruntled we automatically want a new job, a new city, a new significant other, etc. Why? Because we always think the grass is greener elsewhere. Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. We strive for perfect, interesting and beautiful, but if you think about it, a beautiful thing is never perfect. Seriously… would you really want a relationship where the other person always yes’d you along, never disagreeing, never pushing you from your comfort zone?
Yet, as Jimmy Fallon explains in Almost Famous, we will never stop chasing the unknown.
Sometimes, I think this is sad. Sometimes, the best things are right in front of our faces and we can’t see them because what’s behind the curtain seems so much better. But, what happens when it’s not? What happens when your perfect is staring you right in the face and you’re too busy chasing “the nothing” that you fail to see your perfect?
Grand Gestures and Little Things
I’m a big fan of grand gestures even when they’re not grand. To me, grand gestures are not necessarily the boombox over the head like John Cusak in Say Anything, but they’re more about the little things that are meaningful to the other person. It’s sunflowers on a Tuesday and a puzzle box with Disney characters on it. They’re QR code cufflinks and a box full of Redbull Cola. Okay, I guess who could say I like all the “little” things that really add up to a grand gesture.
I’ve always believed that actions speak louder than words. Funny coming from a writer, but nine times out of ten my words come out wrong. But actions are a bit easier, as long as the other person gets them 🙂
And that’s the rub. Like gift giving, a grand gesture has to be about the other person. You can’t give your wife a lawn mower (really the gift you want) and think you did good. Same for lingerie. These are really gifts to you, not the other person. That’s what’s tough about grand gestures. As much as we try, as much as we plot, plan and think to make it the best gesture ever, if the other person doesn’t get it, then our gesture means nothing.
So how do you get the other person to see your meaning; your good intentions? Or better yet, how do we put our emotions aside, step into their shoes and create a grand gesture they can understand and appreciate?
After writing this, I started to plot my next grand gesture. But more so than ever, I’m struggling to find the right one. And maybe, just maybe, it’s more about lots of little things than one big, grand gesture.
Posted in Event
The Dream
I remember little about how we met – iMedia. I threw a business card at him and he said he was done hunting.
His first text to me? “Maybe I’m not wearing pants.”
iMedia again. The first time I had a flight that was delayed. He saw me, twirled me around and that night was the first and only picture we have together. The kiss? I remember it like yesterday. A flurry of white shirt as he swooped in. And after, me disappearing in the night. He said good morning to me the next day. Mojitos by the pool where he said he was amazed how well we “fit” and then an afternoon rendezvous. At the party someone asked if were married. The sparks just flew when we were together.
Las Vegas, DC, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Ft. Myers, San Diego. All amazing. Maybe because they weren’t real. Maybe it was the thrill of the chase, secret rendezvous never lasting for more then a few stolen moments.
Instant messages, text messages, video chats. It was the honeymoon phase. He would say, “I want you,” and “I hate myself because I think I could love you.” I laughed. It wasn’t real. It was simply a thrilling game. But then, he said it enough and I started to believe. And, I wanted to make it real. I wanted more.
I asked.
Months later I would learn he couldn’t see “the plan.” I could. To me, it was simple.
More months passed. Lives changed. And then, they changed again.
I asked again. I asked wrong. I pushed too hard.
While “the plan” may be different, I still see it. I worry that he can’t, yet he won’t ask. For he is always right. But what happens when you can’t see what is right in front of your face?
And the truth? Well, the truth is I am just a girl. Waiting for a chance. Just a chance- not a promise, or 100% investment. Just one real date where both parties keep an open mind, are willing to see things in a different light. In a light where anything is possible and grand gestures like this mean something.
Posted in Personal
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
I remember the year I almost stopped believing in Santa Claus. In fact, I remember it more than the year when I came to the adult conclusion that Santa was really my mom and grandparents.
The year I almost stopped believing was the year we read The Polar Express for the first time. I must have been about six because Christmases were still spent in New York. I don’t remember how it happened or what I said. But, I do remember coming back to Florida after that Christmas walking into my room and finding a sleigh bell in the track of my sliding glass door. In that moment, Santa and the magic of Christmas lived on for another year. You can never quite describe the magical moments, the feelings you get, but walking into my room and seeing that sleigh bell was one of the most magical moments I had growing up.
Maybe it’s silly, but I still believe that your stuffed animals come out to play at night, that there is a Santa Claus and impossible things can happen.
On this Christmas Eve, may you still believe in the magic of a white Christmas and impossibilities.
Posted in Event
10 GDW’s: Week 10 – Just the Right Amount of Wrong
I’m always experimenting with something. This post happens to be part of the 10 Guys, 10 Drinks, 10 Weeks experiment. You can see the others here. Enjoy the laughs, I sure am!
Guy #10. Drink #10. Week #10.
I wanted #10 to be him. At the very least, I wanted it to mean something. I wanted it to be special. But when I told him my feelings, what I wanted, he, in most unkind words, basically said he’d give me a date when pigs fly & hell freezes over. Ouch doesn’t do it justice, but ouch. The words cut deep.
What hurt the most? He’d invite the random girl he met in an elevator to Greece, but he wouldn’t even give me a single chance; a few hours to look at things differently.
So? C’est la vie. When you give it your all and that’s the response, what else do you do? I wish I knew.
Nevertheless, #10 was just the right amount of wrong and an unforgettable experience of firsts. And lasts.
The drink? Champagne. A must for an opening. The dress? Gold. The boy? Different, cultured and impeccably dressed. A modern day Bond, James Bond.
We stood thisclose to the first dice roll, bet it all on black, ate, drank, looked out over all of Las Vegas and reminded ourselves of the magic of the Vegas lights. We ended the night with a live performance by Brandon Flowers, a Vegas local and lead singer for The Killers. It was an excessive, indulgent night.
The drink? Not my speed, but just like putting on a little black dress, exciting. The boy? Well it’s not him. But, one day I won’t compare everyone to him. I won’t want to text him to share in the night.
And the project? Albeit I didn’t find what I was looking or hoping for, it was fun as hell. Who knows, maybe I’ll do it all over again until I find the guy who wants me 🙂
Posted in 10 Guys
Lighting Candles
I’m lighting candles. In this crazy, mixed up world you have to believe in something. You have to give yourself over and believe that whatever happens is exactly what was meant to happen.
