so little time, try to understand that I

Why ease into something when you can just jump in, eyes closed, fists clenched, head first? Sometimes it feels like this question recurs in my head over and over in my brain. I should remember the answer, considering I always seem to choose the latter over the former. Experience should teach me not to go to such extremes, but that is where my convenient selective memory lapses come in handy. The bigger issue, I think, is that I am actually not much of an extremist. I do not have the stomach for that unsteady excitement. And yet, time and time again, I swing from one side of the pendulum to the other.

Last night, after a weekend of channeling Howard Hughes- okay, forget it, I have been channeling Howard Hughes for a lot longer than that, with my lock myself in my apartment approach to studying- I took one grueling exam. Here is where I win the Geek of the Year award. I like a good exam. Not an easy exam, a good one, one where you appreciate the questions as either being thought-provoking or as important questions you should know the answer to. This test was that sort of exam. So, regardless of how I did, I cannot complain about it. After that was behind me, a few of us went to a relatively new lounge-y place nearby. I had a much-needed Grey Goose & Tonic, and all was right with the world for a solid forty-five minutes.

Forty-five minutes later, I was frantically trying to force myself to get to sleep. See, the problem with being GOTY is that taking exams actually elicit something akin to an endorphin-release in me. Even after the drink, and a brisk walk home in the cold, I was bouncing off the walls. Normally, I would just go with that, but this morning, I had an 8 am meeting with three VPs at our company. Yeah, not something you can really blow off, per se.

Tonight, I have a business dinner to attend (yes, that sound you heard was my eyes rolling viciously). Tomorrow night, I am having dinner with friends at a new restaurant in my neighborhood. On deck for Thursday night- a birthday dinner for my pseudo-bro PG at a new South Indian restaurant. Friday night, hot date at another new eatery in my neighborhood.

Here is what I find amazing about this schedule- last week, I was a total hermit. In fact, I have been acting quite the fool for the better chunk of a month with my anti-social behavior. And yet, quite inexplicably, it's all Foodie's Delight with this week's schedule. Is this just because I bought a planner last week? Much as I would like to attribute a planner with such magical qualities, no. Face it, I am just one lucky b*tch. There are peeps who have been consistently putting up with my inconsistent behavior, and planning things around my schedule without much of a fuss. And for that alone, I lurve them.

Sorry, I am just not feeling the Scroogey McGrumpyPants today. Actually, I guess I could mention two Scrooge-inducing items, just so you do not think this blog has been kidnapped by some cheery Sister Mary Sunshine. First, Poplicks does an excellent job of summing up (in a much more articulate way than I ever could) why the soon-to-be unleashed Memoirs of a Geisha is causing smoke to come out of my ears. Second, I just have a request for all the musicians out there: could you please, for the love of all that is good and decent in this world, stop trying to cover Last Christmas? Stop! I have already heard Jimmy Eat World, Manic Street Preachers, Hilary Spawn of Satan Duff, BTH, and The Cheetah Girls all cover this song. Stop it! It's George Michael's, dudes. Seriously, leave it alone. I am begging you.

Since I just inadvertently confessed that I like George Michael and a Christmas-themed song, let me up the humiliation by mentioning that I, for a very long time, believed that there was a line in the song that went: crowded room, friends with tie-dyes. Seriously. Because nothing says the holidays like a hippie/stoner?