I usually don’t like to share tiny details of my life, but I’m super excited about my new mega mattress! This is my first new mattress since ‘88. Yup, it’s been 25 years so it was definitely time to get a new mattress. Made sure to get a pillowtop mattress so that I could enjoy the few hours of sleep that I get every night. Happy zzz’s! :)
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m socially awkward. I’m terrible at making small talk, which is the same as saying I have little to no people skills. This puts me at a huge disadvantage. Being a social, easy going person can get you far in life because it makes you a more likable person. The more like able you are, the easier it is to get a job, get a promotion, build your network, etc.
All it is is being friendly. Making light cordial conversation with someone for a small amount of time. Even if its for less than 60 seconds, people like to talk even if it’s to fill the silence. When you deposit money at the bank, the teller asks you about your day. I always find it annoying because I dislike partaking in small talk. But I realize it’s necessary for any face-to-face customer interaction.
This wouldn’t be so burdensome to me if small talk came easy. I’m currently reading Blink by Malcolm Maxwell and there was a section on improv. As he was explaining the rules of improv, I realized the rules could be applied to real life. The best way to have small talk is to not deny any suggestion by the other person. That is to say, you should agree with what the other person says in order to “[engage] in the kind of fluid, effortless, spur-of-the-moment dialogue.”
Like when someone makes an outlandish statement in an attempt to make a joke. My only conceivable response is a fake laugh because in my mind, I’m just thinking about how weird this person is. Instead, I should accept the scenario presented by my partner in conversation, and response accordingly.
For example, I was purchasing lunch at the cafeteria at work with a reusable bottle of water in hand. The cashier says to me with a chuckle, “Oh I thought that was a bottle of bourbon.” I just laughed. In the interest of congenial dialogue, I should have said, “Oh I can’t shoot bourbon, this is vodka.” My new rule for conversations: play along.
This is an excellent read on the important role of community pharmacists in preventing drug diversion. What you may not know is that we do NOT get paid for this service (or other services that we provide, for that matter). We use our professional judgment when we decline to fill a suspicious narcotic prescription, and this puts our lives into the hands of drug diverters. Yet, when we fill an illegal narcotic prescription, it’s our license on the line.
Lately I’ve been watching a lot of movies on Netflix. By lately, I mean this weekend. I just worked a 50 hour week and now that I have some downtime, I just want to sit and relax. I dislike cleaning with no background noise, so I turned on a movie. But then I get too wrapped up in the movie to clean at all. I was browsing the list of independent movies on Netflix in order, looking up their Rotten Tomatoes ratings. I select the first movie I haven’t seen that’s (1) a comedy and (2) has at least a 70% rating. Since I’ve never heard of most these movies, that’s the only thing I have to go on. A 70% rating might seem high, but I can’t waste time with worthless movies.
The movie Take This Waltz started out like any ol’ chick flick. Girl’s marriage becomes complicated when she falls for the handsome neighbor. Spoiler alert! She was confused because she didn’t know what to do. She loves her husband, who loves her and treats her well, and couldn’t imagine hurting him. But she also wasn’t completely happy in the marriage. Then the neighbor comes along, gives her life excitement and fills that void. Her decision was made for her when her husband discovered her feelings for the neighbor. She goes to be with the other guy but soon discovers that she still isn’t happy.
This movie has a good take-away message. It’s about the risk you take when you leave a relationship. I recommend it because it isn’t your typical happy-ending chick flick.
I love Mindy Kaling. I originally took notice of her from The Office webisodes where she and Ellie Kemper shoot a hilarious mock pop music video. It wasn’t until after the debut of her self-created TV series The Mindy Project that I saw her true genius. She’s so good at comedy. At first I thought she was just an actress. But she actually wrote and directed some episodes of The Office. Her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) is also hilarious. She has this ability to express in words the things I think—but in a funny way. I find her really inspiring. She’s good at what she does and her passion got her there. I want to be awesome and cool like her when I grow up.
When you’re in high school, people always tell you (or you read a quote) not to sweat the small stuff. That the things you think are important now won’t matter in 20 years. This is true. While it has not been 20 years since high school, I’ve realized that a lot of things I worried about in high school are pointless. And rather embarrassing to admit. I used to worry about my ‘jeanis’. That’s the word I just made up for that weird shape your pants zipper makes when you sit down, and you look like you’re super excited to see someone. Now that worry doesn’t even cross my mind. I also used to worry about my ankles showing when I sit down. I wanted my pants to be long enough so that when I sat down, you couldn’t see my socks/ankles. It’s a super weird thing to be self-conscious about. I’m sure there’s a laundry list of other things I used to worry about. I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t remember!
Yes, another film where Chris Messina plays the leading man. I went through his entire filmography and I only found 2. He needs more leading roles! My second Chris Messina movie was Ira and Abby. It’s an offbeat love story of neurotic boy meets quirky girl. I absolutely hate quirky girl characters (ex. Jess in New Girl, Summer in 500 Days of Summer, or any character played by Zooey Deschanel). They’re not realistic.
While it’s a love story, the movie’s whole premise was to question the institution of marriage. The movie brought up common issues that marriages face and questioned whether or not there was a point to marriage. Below is an excellent quote from the movie regarding marriage:
“Safety? A guarantee that you’re always gonna know someone? That they’re never gonna leave you or find someone they like better than you? I got news for you. You’ll never get that. The best you can do is stack the deck. Build a history, log the years, have kids…Makes it more difficult to leave. But you’ll never really know someone.”
While this quote is wildly pessimistic (obviously said by someone jaded from years of unhappy marriage), I’m still optimistic about marriage. The hopeless romantic in me is alive and well, even if this movie paints a more accurate version of modern day marriages.
On July 1st, student loan rates will double if Congress fails to act.
Tell us why this matters to you with the hashtag #DontDoubleMyRate.
Watch the video at WH.gov/Double.
I was fortunate enough not to have taken out loans in undergrad (thank you academic merit scholarship!). Now that I’m in my last year of professional school and have just accepted my last round of student loans, I know that I owe the pre-interest amount of $137,163. And with healthcare becoming more affordable and accessible, who even knows if the salary of my chosen healthcare profession will be able to support my loan repayment. Let me fight to protect my profession, not to fight student loan rates #dontdoublemyrate
I originally wanted to see The Giant Mechanical Man because ‘Pam’ was in it. To my surprise, Chris Messina was in it too. I fell in love with him because of the Mindy Project so it was a pleasant surprise. The plotline was predictable, But even though you know they’re going to be together, it’s still fun to watch it all play out. It’s definitely an endearing love story and I highly recommend it. Now I’m going to proceed to watch any Chris Messina movie I can get my hands on (i.e. whatever is available on Netflix).
