No..NO, I am not talking about American Idol.  I’m talking about her song Opposites Attract. 

It’s a catchy little ditty from the 80s.  The video had her and an animated cat dancing together.  While one might think the song was about two opposite species being attracted to each other, it was in fact about how she “takes two steps forward� and the cat “takes two steps back.� Don’t worry though, “when they get together they have nothing but fun.�

My question is…how did it work out for her and the cat? 

There was a previous video where she swore that she was “Forever Your Girl� to this little boy (Elijah Wood) in a suit.  And even if another boy “promised the moon and the stars above� he should “remember that she’s forever his girl.�  But given that the cat video came later, I’m wondering what happened.

Perhaps the little boy owned the cat or maybe she was just overtaken by the opposites that attracted her to the cat and she had to dump the 6 year old boy?  Whatever the beginning of the cat/lady relationship, I’ve been left to wonder, do opposites really attract?

I love it.  Sitting somewhere and unobtrusively observing, interpreting.  Making observations, summations, and predictions.  It’s almost like a sport especially when it’s people you don’t know.
What’s awful is watching people you do know or people who are somehow connected to you. There’s just something about watching someone you know, as they are headed right towards disaster.  It’s heartbreaking and infuriating.

I think sometimes I have a habit of getting really caught up in people and their issues.  I get so worked up about what’s going on with them, that when the inevitable debacle occurs, I’ve somehow placed myself right in the middle.  Don’t get me wrong, I cause enough on my own accord, I don’t need to hop onto someone else’s shame train. (more…)

1. I get to leave my current job
In the past 4 ½ months, we had three different Directors and more than 16 people have quit.  It’s no longer a sinking ship.  It’s a sinking ship, someone has lit on fire, that is overrun by termites, and passed over by pirates.

2. At my new job I will have my own office.

At my old job, I had my own office with a huge window and a beautiful view of downtown. That is of course until they changed Directors (one of the times) and I got moved to an old classroom with 2 other people.  In this old room there are no phones, no printers, no desks, only folding tables (between 10-15), old chairs ( 27 dusty, musty, mauve chairs) and they keep putting all of the other broken down furniture in here like a store room (army green broken filing cabinet, top of a desk credenza thingy, old poster of Mexico). It is more than a little reminiscent of Office Space, where Milton gets moved to the basement and they “fix� a payroll error. 

3. I get to buy new office supplies
Upon cleaning out the drawers in my filing cabinet, I counted 36 Post-It notepads; all in an array of colors (traditional yellow, pink, turquoise, and magenta) shapes (square, rectangular, star, and flower) and sizes (extra large, regular, small, and too small to write anything of use). While some may feel that I would not need to purchase any more Post-it notes; 36 being enough.  I instead chose to give away half, so I would have justifiable reason to purchase more…nay, better Post-it notes.  I am also in the process of convincing Zach that my label maker I bought a year ago is now antiquated, and this new job demands labels that are up to par.

4. I get to be a part of an Austin tradition.
Traffic. 

Having to be at work by 7:30am for the past 2 ½ years has left me out of the notorious Austin traffic.  Again, please see Office Space as it was filmed in Austin.  Now that I’ll join the ranks of the 8-5 people, I’ll get to see what I’ve been missing.

  Oh goodie.

5. I get to make new friends.

It’s taken me 2 years to learn to tolerate most of the staff I work with now.  I hate talking to new people, and I almost never initiate conversations with strangers.  Yes, it’s a wonder I have any friends at all.  Now I get to be the anti-social new girl who eats all of her lunches in her office.

6. It’s quite possible I may be someone’s boss.
While some may think the term “bossy� refers to 12 year old girls trying to push around their friends, it could also refer to 25 year old women who delight in being in control.  

Oh man, I can’t believe someone is going to pay me to do this.

7. I get to buy new clothes
This new job, the one where I get to be the boss, is much more professional than my old job.  This means I need “Professional Vida� clothes.  I fear my Army camouflage t-shirt, isn’t going to cut it any more. 

8. I get to wake up much earlier.
I currently wake up with just enough time to brush my teeth, put on my contacts, find my camo shirt, and put my hair in a ponytail.  Now I’ll be forced to put on make-up and comb my hair.  I’m sure a job that requires my hair to be combed is some sort of symbol of adulthood, but whatever.

9.  I’ll get to make new Sonic friends
 While I almost refuse to talk to new people or attempt to make friends, I will befriend the workers at the local Sonic.  Since my Coke affinity has grown to a full fledged addiction, I stop daily at Sonic to get my fix.  It pays to play nice with the local dealers.

10.  I get a new business card.
This ranks somewhere between buying new office supplies and being the boss of someone else.  It’s a status symbol and I love it.  Never mind the fact that any 12 year old can print business cards on an inkjet printer.  The thought of a new card, with the new job logo, and best of all my new title….oh man, I get a little hot and bothered just thinking about it. 

11. I get to reinvent myself
No one will know me there, so I can be whomever I chose.  Hey, maybe Vida at her new job has an accent, or Vida at her new job lunches every Wednesday with her friends.  No one will know that old job Vida keeps Grumpy Bear (Carebear) pens on her desk and Happy Bunny stickers than say “Go away you worthless turd.� 

No one will think she’s cute or just like I was when I was your age.  Vida at her new job is professional, she’s focused, she means business…she does not eat fruit roll-ups for lunch.

I was recently told it was difficult to love me, or maybe it was that I wasn’t easy to love.  Either way, the end result was the same.  I wanted to grab any fleshy piece of skin I could reach and twist until it showed the other person just how hard it really was to love me.   Just another of my lovable traits…violence.

My first reaction, directly after inflicting pain, was indignation.  I am NOT hard to love.  I don’t think he’s hard to love, how could he feel like I was hard to love?  It seems like the person who is going to marry you should think you are easy to love.  Right?  I wondered about his past girlfriends, were they easy to love?  I’ll admit I’m stubborn and opinionated, and outspoken, and I pout, and I’m frequently convinced I’m right, and I may feel as though the gravitational pull of earth has something to do with where I stand….but really, does that equal hard to love? (more…)