Tuesday 31 December 2013

So That's That Then?

It's incredible to think that another year has come to an end. Oh, to be a kid again when time seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to pass. Now, another year is over faster than I can drink a keg of Pinot Noir. How did that happen?
Cersei needs to start the first AA in Westeros.

On the whole 2013 was a decent year. There wasn't a whole lot of great amazing moments that will make up the highlight reel of my life when the time comes, but it wasn't a bad year.

The highlight of the year was travelling to Germany and Switzerland to see my friends and visit the old familiar places that I love (as well as visit a few new ones)!

Hanging out in Thun, one of my Swiss "homes", during a rare break in the rain.
And it pissed with rain the entire time I was there. In fact, it even snowed one night. Snow!! In May!! As I said to my Swiss friends "I didn't get to see the mountains I love so much because of the clouds so, obviously, I'll just have to come back." They were all very amenable to the idea. Sadly, my back account just laughed and walked away with a credit card statement.

Stumbling home from the pub in wet cold St. Gallen.
A close second for highlight of the year was finding Chikara Kickboxing and Bootcamp through my friend (and devil-on-my-shoulder), Katie. I can find kickboxing at many gyms, what I can't find is such a welcoming, friendly and supportive group of women. Also, I've found that I really like kicking and punching things. Like, if I didn't know me, I'd be worried about how much enjoyment I get out of it. As it is, I know me. I know that the idea of hurting someone (outside of my or someone else's life being in danger) doesn't sit well with my conscience. Kicking them when they're holding a pad? Well, they're just asking for it.

If Dean Winchester punches you, you deserve it... probably.
I credit the kickboxing for why I actually want to set down some resolutions this year. The past few years, I haven't bothered with resolutions. What's the point in writing down a couple of goals when I know that by the end of January, I will have stopped one half and not bothered starting the other? Generally, that just seems like a waste of paper and I quite like trees.

But this year, I want to set goals not to start new things but to build on what I'm already doing, to hold myself accountable to the changes I've already made. It might like seem like a small difference from writing resolutions to start something new, but mentally it's a whole different ball game. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

Obviously then, it would stand to reason that if I'm talking about resolutions that I would share them. And I will. Tomorrow. Right now, however, it's time to celebrate the coming of the new year!


Happy 2014 Everyone!

Friday 20 December 2013

If She Mentions "Ironman" I'm Out!

Those of you who know me IRL or follow me on any sort of social media (and even on this blog) are probably aware that I have a very good friend named Katie.

I recently joked on Twitter (because she's not on there) that I have to stop drinking with Katie because every time we have a girl's night, I end up agreeing to another ridiculous idea.

"You should totally come with me next time I go to Ireland!"

"Kickboxing sounds like a fantastic idea. I will totally start going with you!"

"Help you train for the TC10K with lunch time runs? Run it with you? Why not!?! Let's do it!"

Out of the blue after kickboxing this week, Katie said "I need to get you drunk so you agree to train for a marathon with me."


Shit! She's on to me!

Sunday 17 November 2013

I Shook Hands with an Astronaut This Weekend

In my head, I have written about 5 blog posts which  have not actually seen the light of a computer screen. In my head, I am an awesome blogger. As soon as Mac or Google or some small start-up company develops that thought to text blogging patching for my smart phone, I am going to be amazing!

After all that, this isn't really a full post either because I have dishes that need to be washed, clothes that need to be put away, a carpet that needs to be vacuumed and an apocalypse that has to be watched. What? My new obsession is Supernatural. Two seasons in one week... hence all the housework I need to do.

I did, however, for the total of no readers of this blog who aren't my friends IRL want to let you know that I met Chris Hadfield yesterday. 
Luckily, I got all of this out of my system before I actually got to him.
If you have no idea who I'm talking about, I am leaving this video here for your viewing pleasure.


He was in Victoria signing his book so I lined up with my friends at a ridiculously early time for a Saturday and waited four hours for the signing to start.

Worth.

Every.

Minute.

Cmdr. Hadfield shook hands with every person who came to get their book signed, asked everyone how they were doing, and seemed genuinely interested in our answers.

That's my book he's about to sign.
To fully drive home how excited this made me, I stopped in to see some friends on the way home and it took them 3 minutes to understand that I was saying "I shook hands with an astronaut!" Granted, English is not the first language of any of these friends but I think the inability to understand completely lies with my excitement level. It's 24 hours later and I'm still getting shaky just typing this.

I feel like a six year old at Christmas!

Thursday 7 November 2013

The Simpsons Can Explain Everything

"How are things going with [a guy]?"

I sigh.

"I don't know. To be honest, I'm starting to feel like Gil on the Simpsons."

"Who?"

"Gil. He thinks he's going to sell a car to Homer only to have someone swoop in and steal the sale at the last minute. In my dating life, it seems to happen to me more often than not. I'm seeing someone, nothing serious but I think it's possibly heading that way, and then they meet someone else. I should probably start using C'mon, help ol' Gil out here? as my pick up line."

She laughs as she raises her pint glass to take a sip.

"Next thing you know, I'll be a real estate agent in Scottsdale."

"What?"

"Still a Gil reference. It's where he turns his life around. Obviously, you need to watch more Simpsons."

"Perhaps the fact that I don't is why I have a love life."

I pause, the pint halfway to my lips. I look at her and smile.

"Fair point."

Thursday 24 October 2013

Nakutamani

You know when you wake up from a dream and you're so convinced it's real that you're confused about waking up in your own bedroom? You try to align where you just were in your mind with the reality of life? And you hope to fall back to sleep so you can continue the dream? Except it's a work day and apparently they get angry when you don't show up? I know, so selfish of our employers, eh?

Wednesday morning, I thought I woke up here:


That far bed? For four months, that was my bed in Tanzania. When I awoke on a cold and foggy Wednesday morning to realise that my dream about being back there had been nothing but a dream, my heart ached a little.

Adding to the realism of my dream was the fact that it was about going back to Tanzania to visit. I saw my friends in their new jobs, I brought gifts of items I knew they loved but were hard to come by in Tanzania, and we caught up on our lives over nyama choma at our favourite restaurant. It was so real.

I spent the remainder of the day missing Tanzania.

I missed bartering for food in the markets.
Lushoto Market
(Not my 'normal' market. I don't have any pictures of Tengeru Market.)
I missed my coworkers.
Grace, Hadija, Rachael, me, Mama Musa (Fatima)
Just a few of my awesome coworkers!
I missed holidays that looked like this:
Morning coffee in Nungwi
Or this:
Elephants in Tarangiri NP
I missed seeing Mt. Meru every morning.
Sunset on Mt. Meru
You can keep Kilimanjaro, this is the mountain I long for.
*sigh*

I will be forever grateful that I got to live in Tanzania and that I live in an age where I am able to keep in contact with many of my friends from there through the magic of the internets and social media, but why can't I live in the era of Star Trek where I could just beam over there for some nyama choma and a Tusker beer while I dust off my rusty Swahili and we catch up on the going on in all our lives?

Do you have a place that you miss? What do you miss the most?

Note: The title means is "I miss you".

Sunday 20 October 2013

Elaine - Part Two

I wrote about Elaine on the anniversary of her disappearance. Based on her past, it was assumed that she had committed suicide.

Roughly a month ago, her remains were found along with evidence that it was not suicide. Other than an amendment to my original post, I chose not to mention it directly other than to a few select friends.

This past Friday, a man was arrested and charged with her murder.

It is a surreal feeling to read a newspaper article about something so grisly and know the person in the story. While I am both elated that there is a strong chance of justice in a situation where we thought there was little, I am angry that one person could have altered so many lives with the senseless taking of Elaine's life.

No amount of justice will bring her back.

So, in memory of Elaine, please hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.  Do it now and do it often.

Friday 18 October 2013

The Happy Dance of Life

[Source]

The sign above pretty much sums up my view of life. It is rarely the events of a day that determine if it is bad or good, but my attitude towards them. Obviously, some bad days are just bad days regardless of your attitude - my cousin's death is a bad day no matter how bloody cheerful I was prior to getting the news - but someone else's attitude in a meeting? That will only ruin my day if I let it.

I am, generally, a very positive person. I find that it makes life more enjoyable.

It also means that when life starts coming up roses, and you're already a happy person, it's really hard not to walk around doing this all day long:
Oh dancing Nathan Fillion, how I love thee!
What has been so fantastic? Just every day life, to be honest.

I know I said I wouldn't talk much about work on here, but work has been great. I grow to love my job a little bit more every day.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this happened last Friday:


If you don't know who Eddie Izzard is (what's wrong with you?) then you need to watch this:


Oh, November 29th! You can't come fast enough.

I joined my brother's Yahoo Fantasy Premier League this year. I did it for various reasons but I honestly expected to spend my time at the bottom of the pool (I even named myself GunningforLast FC), stumbling through my picks and hoping that I (re)learn something about a league I love but haven't actively followed in about 10 years. It's early weeks yet, but I've done better than I expected.


That, my friends, is me sitting in 5th place. And that little asterisk in Week 7? That's indicating I was the points leader for the week. Week 6? I was 1 point behind the point leader. I'm feeling pretty darn pleased with myself right now.

Hopefully, I'm still sitting so pretty after this weekend.

On the flip side of feeling 'woo-hoo', Ireland is officially out of World Cup 2014 in Brazil and I can't even blame this guy:

Thierry Henry's handball, seen by everyone in the world except the ref, allowed
France to win against Ireland and knock us out of a spot in South Africa 2010.
Still bitter.
While I'm disappointed about Ireland, both Germany and Switzerland have qualified which means I still have teams to cheer for and will not have to wear a France jersey (because sometimes I have issues keeping my mouth shut) so...


Despite messing up my left tricep and bicep three weeks ago, I continue to love kickboxing and bootcamp. I was seriously bummed when I couldn't make class due to a cold-flu-breathing-issue last week. Unfortunately, I was so excited about getting back at it this week and kicking butt in kickboxing, that I left the gym after class in a haze of euphoria and failed to see the Pothole of Doom so I'm out until next week or whenever my knee scab heals and I can bend my leg again.

*sigh*

The Pothole was totally that goalie.
Finding a gym that has a built in support system (the other girls) and a trainer that holds you accountable has made all the difference in keeping me going back.

That and finding an activity that taps into my hidden desire to kick people's asses.

I guess that's what it really comes down to: I'm happy because I get to punch and kick things and no one gets mad at me.

I'm sounding really well adjusted right now.

Thursday 10 October 2013

So...

There was supposed to be a full post going up today except the internet connection has been pants and now I have to run to catch the bus to concert band practice. Yes, a grown adult just typed that sentence.

I did want to say that life lately has been pretty...




Also, the Walking Dead starts on Sunday, so after the turkey dinner...


I'll have some good stories to share. I promise.

Saturday 21 September 2013

The Week That Was

I disappeared from the blog this week for personal reasons. For those friends reading this who let me babble on about random things this week while I processed what happened, thank you. 

In happier news, tomorrow is the All-Ireland Football Final (that would be Gaelic Football, by the way) at Croke Park in Dublin. What a treat to see my cousin on a Sunday Game TV spot:

Good on ya, Patrick!

What is the Sunday Game? It's the GAA version of "After Hours" for you hockey fans. As much as it pains me to say this: Up Dublin! Kick some Mayo arse!

As for the things that kept me going in amongst the random babbling? Well, one was that we had a successful launch of a new series at work. Sound oddly vague? Yes, but that's all you get. All you really need to know is that we knocked it out of the park.

Knocked it out. Just like Luther.
The other is that I joined a kickboxing gym... and I love it! I honestly did not expect that. At least, I didn't expect to love it as much as I did.


I got a two week free trial pass to Chakara Kickboxing and Total Fitness from my friend, Katie, who has been trying for a while to get me to come with her. K attends a combination of kickboxing and bootcamp classes four nights a week and was determined that I should attend all of them with her. ALL OF THEM! Sorry, Katie, but you be crazy! There was no way I was going to do all four days and not die.


Well, I did four days. I didn't lay down and die. In fact, I've signed up for more. I think I owe Katie an apology. 
.
.
.
But she's not going to get it.

(I spent this week watching season 3 of Luther, hence the Luther gifs.)

Sunday 8 September 2013

Sunday Snippets: September

Well, it only took 10 years of not being in some sort of schooling for me to finally stop thinking of September as a new year. Now it's just September, killer of summer dreams and bringer of longer nights. Thanks a lot, September.

September is pretty much Omar in month form.

Many years, September is just a continuation of August weather-wise, but this year it is definitely the beginning of Autumn. While the days are still warm, nights are downright cold here at the moment. We also had some crazy freak rain storms over the last two weeks which left me with two very cuddly cats because, dude, thunder!

This year seemed to be the summer of out-of-town visitors which was a good thing.

It was also the summer of macarons which was a good thing for everything except my waistline.

It was the summer of a missed DietBet because it takes forever to set up PayPal. Lesson learned.

And it was the summer of setting up a bedtime schedule due to sleeping issues. For the first time in years, I turned down social evenings specifically because I wouldn't be home in time for bed.

Yup.
But summer is actually my least favourite season - go ahead, mock me all you want for that fact - so I'm not too sad to see it go. Autumn is my second favourite season and the rest of September is shaping up to be an awesome month. The only thing I'm not looking forward to? All the bloody pumpkin love on the blogs I read.

The only thing I like about pumpkins is carving them and roasting the seeds. I don't care for the Pumpkin Spiced Lattes at Starbucks, I actively avoid pumpkin pie as an option for dessert, and I will roast every other type of cucurbita there is but pumpkin. Every recipe posted on a blog between now and American Thanksgiving is going to have pumpkin in it. To be honest, it makes me a little stabby.


Sorry, pumpkin. It's not me, it's you.

It was also, in case it's not already abundantly clear from the gif choices, the summer that I bought and (re)watched all five seasons of The Wire because it is arguably the best show to have even been broadcast. It is the show that ruined all other cop shows for me because it is so good and it is rooted in reality in a way that no other cop drama is. Fair warning: there is strong language, violence and nudity - hey, it's HBO! - but if you want to know why the war on drugs will never be won then this is the show to watch.

Plus, it has Idris Elba in it; do you really need another reason to watch?


Yeah. I didn't think so.

Saturday 31 August 2013

Pop Culture Made Me Want To Travel

During a conversation about possible travel destinations with a friend - yes, I know. I actually have one of those! - I realized that a lot of my desired travel destinations are inspired by movies, songs and books from my childhood. This is just a small sampling of such destinations.

Petra, Jordan - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade


The Last Crusade was the first Indiana Jones movie I saw. When I saw it, I assumed the temple at the end was created for the final scenes. While the inside was a sound stage, I was really excited when I learned that the outside facade actually existed. Jordan quickly found itself at the top of my travel list, if only so I can stand in front of the Treasury (pictured above)  and say:


If you haven't seen the movie, both these things happen.

Also... I'm totally buying a fedora for that trip.

Paris, France - Les Miserables


I was 11 when I discovered the music of Les Mis. Within the year, I had read the book (and not some abridged version, the whole massive book) and you better believe I saw the live stage version when it came to Vancouver! It became my travel goal to wander the streets of Paris while listening to the soundtrack. When I backpacked around Europe in 1999, my trusty Walkman and I did just that.

We won't talk about the Les Mis musical movie version. My issues with it is a post unto itself.

Meteora, Greece - For Your Eyes Only (James Bond)


I don't remember exactly how old I was when I saw this particular Bond movie, but I do remember we watched it because my brother convinced my mom to rent it. Much of the film is set in Greece, but all I really remember was near the end when they went to break into the mastermind evil dude's house and Bond had to scale one of the cliffs of Meteora while fighting off a henchmen because... of course! While childhood me was disappointed to learn that the buildings on the top of these hills were monasteries, not the secret lairs of international ne'er-do-wells, I still want to visit it.

And if I happened to meet someone who looked like any of the Bonds while I was there, I'd be okay with that!

Prince Edward Island, Canada - Emily of New Moon


Confession time: I don't like Anne of Green Gables. I read it around the age of 11 or 12 and just didn't get the appeal. I reread it in my 20's and I still don't really get the appeal. Despite this, I got Emily of New Moon out of the library and loved it! I raced through all three books and then reread them almost immediately.

Combine this with that fact that PEI is known for its potatoes - my favourite food, what can I say? My family's Irish - and was the epicentre of the creation of Canadian democracy - what can I say? I'm a giant dork - and it created a longing in me to visit the small island. Now, if only it wasn't so f*$%ing expensive to fly across Canada. *sigh*

Casablanca, Morocco - Casablanca


I stumbled upon Casablanca on TV one night when I was babysitting. It instantly became (and still remains) my favourite film of all time - I watch it at least once a year - and kicked off a huge habit in my life of watching old films. While the movie was not filmed in Casablanca, this small fact didn't stop me from dreaming of some day going there. Over the years, this desire has morphed more into going to Morocco than Casablanca specifically, but regardless of where in Morocco I end up I fully intend to look at my travel partner and say:


Yes, Humphrey, we always will.

Love that man!

Istanbul, Turkey - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)


Whether you listened to the original The Four Lads version or one of the many (MANY) re-recordings, who doesn't know this song?


I am not ashamed to admit it; I want to go to Istanbul simply to say I've listened to this song there.

Tunisia - Star Wars (A New Hope)

I couldn't very well claim to be a nerd and not have a Star Wars reference travel destination on my list. If the above photo looks oddly familiar...


The buildings in the ground that made up Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's compound are also in Tunisia and part of it has been turned into a hotel! YOU CAN SLEEP IN THE STAR WARS SET!! Plus Tatooine/Tunisia is where we met this lovable rogue:


The chance that another one of him might be kicking around is reason enough to go to Tunisia, right? ;)

Question: Any travel destinations inspired by pop culture?

(All photos are on my Pinterest with links to the original creator. All gifs and video were stolen appropriated from various internet sources.)

Sunday 25 August 2013

Sunday Snippets

Being the anniversary of Elaine's disappearance, I took Thursday off work. The last place I wanted to be was surrounded by people who a) didn't know about her and b) I didn't want to get emotional in front of. It turned out to be the right choice as I cried twice before 10:00am.

I spent some time with my dad, went blackberry picking with my mom, and then baked a blackberry pie with said berries. All in all, it was a much better way to spend a day remembering Elaine then feeling alone and weepy in a soul-crushing cubicle. (This is not a commentary on my work place specifically, all cubicles are designed to be soul-crushing. In fact, I'm pretty sure the word 'cubicle' means 'four wall soul destroyer' in Sanskrit.)

Say hello to my mom, the woman who taught me how to bake.
Home Ec Teacher Moms for the win!
I love to bake but living alone (and not having a dishwasher), I don't do it very often. When I do bake, I tend to keep one or two pieces of the baking for myself and then give the rest away to family, friends, co-workers and the employees of my favourite coffee shops and restaurants.

If you are a proprietor of such an establishment and you see me coming, you want to befriend me. So far this year, I have given out Sansa's Lemon Cakes, Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Cream Cheese Icing, Zopfe (a type of Swiss bread), and Blackberry Pie. Plus, there's another round of the cupcakes already in the works thanks to a certain beloved employee's imminent return to Dublin. I pay you to serve me and I give you food... not a bad deal.

My younger brother is significantly younger than me. This means that for the releases of 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz', he had to patiently wait until they were available on DVD. With the release of 'The World's End' this past weekend, we finally got to a Cornetto Trilogy movie in the theatres together. We decided to forego a sunny afternoon outside for the confines of a darkened theatre in which we proceeded to laugh our asses off. According to my text messages, we made our plans to see this together on June 21st. It makes me happy to know I'm not the only geek in the family.

Thursday 22 August 2013

Elaine

On August 4, 1996 I became a hurling fan.

Visiting all the way from Canada meant that I got the 3rd ticket to the hurling semi-final between Wexford and Galway. As we disembarked from the DART at Connolly station, we joined the lively and jovial throngs of people headed towards Croke Park. All around us, the fans were decked out in purple and yellow for Wexford or maroon and white for Galway.

When we took our seats, I was sat in the middle with Frank Sr. to my right, his ear pressed to his handheld radio, and Elaine to my left. I had a rudimentary knowledge of hurling thanks to my dad - he had passed on bits and pieces of the rules of the game as he taught me how to pick up a sliotar (ball) from the ground using only the hurley (the stick) – but I did not know enough to follow the game that was unfolding in front of me, and that’s where Elaine came in.

While Frank kept his ear to the radio to update us on the on field calls we couldn't hear, Elaine broke down the game for me and pointed out the various rules as they occurred in front of us. She was knowledgeable and patient, obviously loving the topic we were discussing. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher to have sat beside me.

We were cheering for Wexford as Frank is from there, and they won 2-13 to 3-7. (That's 19 to 16 for you non-GAA people.) By the time the final whistle blew, I was mad for hurling. It was, as I have often described it, field hockey played by rugby players and I loved it. On my last weekend in Dublin, we all went berserk as Wexford defeated Limerick in the All Ireland Senior Hurling Finals.

On August 22, 2012 Elaine left her dad’s house, stopped to buy a packet of cigarettes, and then visited the park where her mum, my dad’s youngest sibling, is buried. Her car was found there the next day. She has not been seen or heard from since, nor has a body been found.

Elaine struggled her whole life with depression.

Every time I check my GAA app for hurling results, my heart aches a little.

I miss her.

Update: On September 17th, 2013 Elaine's remains were found dumped in the Wicklow Mts. After a year of assuming she committed suicide because of her history, we learned that she was murdered. It is an odd sense of relief to know that she didn't voluntarily leave her life, but it just leaves us with more questions.

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Is It Only Tuesday?

You know those weeks where it feels like it should already be Friday but it isn't? In fact, if you're really unlucky, it's only Monday? At least I made it to Tuesday before I started ugly-crying about my desire for it to be the weekend already. During one of my meetings, we were talking about setting up review sessions for next week. Plans for next week?!? It must be Friday!!!

Lying bastards.


For my next (and last) meeting of the day, however, my coworker brought each of us one of these:


I totally stole this picture from Bon Macaron's Facebook page without asking. So, if you're in the Victoria area, please visit them and tell them Andrea sent you so they don't get mad at me when they find out. Or Jennifer. Or Claire. Any of those names should work.

I raved to my coworker about the awesome blackberry not-really-a-macaron creation from Bon Macaron during a meeting on Monday (my picture here). Obviously, my powers of persuasion are amazing if she bought three of the blueberry ones today! Best. Meeting. EVER!

(Just to be really clear, I'm getting diddly squat for raving about the macarons so when I say this is my honest opinion, this is my honest opinion.)

***

Once upon a time, I attended university in Freiburg, Germany and lived in a student residence called Ulrich Zasius Haus or UZH. The UZH had a magical Pepsi machine in the foyer/mailbox area. What was so magical about it, you ask? Well, two buttons dispensed Pepsi but the other six buttons dispensed beer! BEER, PEOPLE! Even more magical? It was cheap beer. Our building became the meeting place for nights out... which often became nights in.

My older brother and two friends came to visit.
They were also amazed by the magic Pepsi machine.
I was reminded of this fact while I stared at the Coke machine in my current apartment building. Sadly, all its buttons are for non-alcoholic beverages and no amount of fake spell casting would change that.

*sigh*

As much as I made fun of the UZH and called it 'the ghetto', I do miss some things about it.

***

I try to remain vague about my job for various reasons (not least of which because it's the professional thing to do when you work in my field and have a personal but public blog) which means that it's hard to explain why finding this picture online today made me so damn happy. Just know that it put a huge, goofy grin on my face for the rest of the day.

If you don't get this poster, click this link.
And then ask to borrow my DVD so you can watch the whole movie.

Now to figure out where I can put it up in my cubicle without it being noticed...

Question: Any work pet peeves of your own to share?

Sunday 18 August 2013

Asking for Help Already?!?

Now that I've officially been blogging for a week, it seems only fitting that I'm already asking for help. That's how blogging works, right? "Look at me! I'm typing words, now give me ideas and shit!"

(If you haven't seen Despicable Me 2 yet, we have to have words.)
Around the same time that I stopped blogging, I was working on an idea for a (semi) regular series that combined a historical event with food. As clear as the difference between the Etruscans and the Romans? Example: a post about an event or period in Ireland's history could be combined with a recipe for Irish soda bread... and a comment that no one's soda bread is as good as my mammy's because every Irish offspring says that on a monthly basis, it's written in our genetic code.

I love this idea because I love history, I love food, and let's be honest, I love being a know-it-all. It's a match made in ego-heaven! While it was always my intent to use this idea on this blog, I decided to expand it to include politics because a) most historical events are political and b) of this exchange on Twitter:


And that, my dear readers, is where you come in. I've got a few topics already written down that I'm starting to do research on, but is there a historical event or a political question you've ever wondered about? Let me know in the comments or send me an email, text, tweet, dm, telegram, smoke signals, whatever. I'm hoping to do this roughly once a month and I want to get ahead of the game because the last half of my 2014 work year looks like this:


Need to have a few posts in the pocket before the jelly hits the floor! (2014 is not a typo. I don't normally know my workload this far in advance, but I know next year's because we have a massive project launch.)

I'm also currently playing around with possible titles for the series so feel free to pass along any suggestions. I'm not above letting you do all my blogging work for me.

And just because it makes me laugh, one more gif for good measure.