Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Carbiener Vocabulary

I took Brea shopping yesterday and today. I just wanted her to have a nice pair of jeans. Referring to one of the pairs she tried on, I told her later that they were very sexy. I asked her if she felt sexy in them. She said she did if I thought she looked sexy in them.

I started thinking about a text message I got the other day from a friend, making fun of me for referring to the new gunmetal grey Kitchenaid as sexy. But it is. I started thinking about how much I use that word. The thing is, I don't use it just for the sake of using it. I genuinely see the world like that. Sexiness just seems to surround me. I'm not exactly sure what my parents did, and I am grateful for it, but I don't know if you could converse with me or either of my sisters at any given time for more than an hour without hearing some reference to "sexy".

Everyone sees the world how they want to. You read any Stephen Covey book and you will find chapters and chapters about personal paradigms. Everyone has their own black or yellow or rose colored glasses they see the world through. I'm not sure which color mine are, but I do know that they have a protective sexy coating on the lenses.

Follow the Leader

Everyone who really knows Christin or I at all knows that we are almost genetically identical. We have oddly similar brain patterns. For more info on this, see here.

We also tend to be very similar in our relationship patterns. We get bored easily with people and often stay emotionally aloof. A few weeks ago, after a several year hiatus, she went and got herself a boyfriend. Several weeks later, after nearly three years of single life, I am actually in a relationship again. And I love it. Her name is Brea, or Brealynn. Tom brought her over and not too long later we ended up together. Luckily Tom wasn't in love with her so he doesn't hate me.

I have my worries and concerns, the things that come with a relationship. And we have really nothing at all in common. But we get along great. And I think she's so cute. And I have no idea where things will go. But for right now I am very happy.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Breaking Up Sucks

... however, the songs about it are excellent. I love a well written love song, but almost as much, I love a good break up song. Something about being able to translate the emotions of a break up into a song impresses me greatly. And movies? Have you seen The Break-Up? Cause there are a lot of excellent movies about love, but not very many that are about how crappy it is to end that love. Here are a few of my favorite songs of this sad variety:

Garth Brooks - Not Counting You

I know I'm going to post this and then remember six more excellent ones. But. This is a decent list.

It's Almost Time to Party

I met Jeffrey years ago. The first time I really remember speaking to him, he had come over for dinner for one of Christin and mine's dinner parties. And he was funny. He had come over a few other times, for games nights or whatever. The thing is, I didn't really think I would like him that much. I certainly thought we were far too different to ever really be close friends.

Three and a half years later, here I am planning his bachelor party. Somehow, I am the best man at his wedding. I'm grateful for this, for the friend that he is and for the friends that I have surrounding me right now. I feel very lucky that I have the social group that I do. However, planning this bachelor party is a bit stressful. Especially when I found out that it would be impossible to get penguins to the party legally. It is probably going to be a bit messy and expensive to drain our pool and fill it with green jell-o, Devo is way too booked to come and play for us, and it is probably not very practical to stage a Spain-esque tomato fight in the streets of Mesa. Whatever it is, it needs to be epic. And I need to get on this.

Safety-Conscious Asians

Walking around ASU campus, your eyes and ears are inundated with a myriad of sounds and images. You gaze upon girls dressing in not nearly enough clothes, policemen speeding along on their trusty Segways, people who are far too large to ride a Razor scooter that was designed with a six year old girl in mind, people who decided to learn to ride a skateboard (poorly) amidst a throng of rushing students, street preachers telling the students that they're all going to hell, smokers, environmental campaigners, people exercising in a far too public environment, etc. And of course, Asians.

This is not meant to be a racist post. More of a simple commentary on my observation of the amazing phenomenon of Asian people protecting their bodies. Most of the Caucasian females you see on campus are walking advertisements for melanoma. They have far surpassed the desired brown and now radiate a carrot like color. Asians on the other hand, not only do not care about their skin color, but they actually appear to be frightened of the sun. Dressed in cardigans, hats, and sunglasses to protect their exposed skin from the ultraviolet rays, armed with umbrellas for added protection from the glint of vitamin D that might have otherwise passed through their barrier, they carefully walk from class to class. They do not text, or even use their phones very often as they walk. Not only will they never ride a bike without an approved safety helmet, but they will use the same precaution if they are using one of the aforementioned scooters. If their backpack comes with a waist buckle, rest assured it will be buckled.

No, there really was no point to all of this rambling, except that I should maybe look to learn a bit from this cautionary culture. My body might thank me for it one day.