Giving Into Temptation

Like probably 95% of the rest of you out there, I'm trying to get myself a kick-butt body. The only think kick-butt about mine at the moment is that anyone looking at me can see how wimpy I am and say to themselves, "Yeah, I could totally kick her butt."

That particular resolution started a couple of days late this year, and so I'd consider this Day 2 1/2 of my new lifestyle. So far, so good. I'll periodically mention successes, I'm sure, but I'm not your life coach, so don't get mad if I don't. Actually, I'd prefer that you just forgot those last couple of paragraphs so one of these days when I post a new picture on Facebook or you see me in person you can say, "Wow. Good job."

That's not what I wanted to talk about anyway. It's not cool to brag about how awesome you are when you're only 2 1/2 days in to a lifestyle change. Instead, let's talk about failure. Not mine, everyone else's.

KIDDING AGAIN!

Well, kind of.

You know, any old Joe can have a blog, and there's a mighty temptation to pretend someone is reading it. And sometimes there's a mighty temptation to pretend no one reads it anyway, so you justify saying whatever you want. Either way, it's tempting sometimes to rip somebody a new one (though, usually I abstain, because, as was previously mentioned, I'm wimpy and anyone in the world could beat me up). So, in an effort to make other people feel better about their own failures, I'll add mine to the list by complaining about annoying people and things that have bugged me in the last week or so.

If you need to take a cheese break to go with my whine, feel free to pause.

1) There's a woman who works for one of our customers. It's not professional to tell you who (and actually, it's not professional for me to vent, but there you have it). She called me today to tell me there was a check ready for us. She is super-duper rude, though. She never returns my calls or emails when I need something from HER but she wanted to complain that I'd not got a lien release back to them yet. I couldn't-- I was waiting on a release from my supplier. When it came in later this afternoon, I sent it along. Not really what I'd call a big deal, but this lady likes to act like everyone is always bothering her. She reminds me of a co-worker I used to have who struck fear in the hearts of everyone at ___ ______. It wasn't because she was impressive, she was just a snot. I think these two are related. If I ever meet her in person, I'd be sorely tempted to kick her in the shin, but then again, there's the problem of everyone in the world being tougher than I am.

2) I was recently reminded Jane Austen's brilliant novel, "Emma." No, I didn't meet my own Mr. Knightley. No, I'm not coaching my own Harriett Smith. Unfortunately, I had a run-in with a modern-day Mrs. Elton. So I was talking to this woman at a casual gathering of holiday cheer, when she kept mentioning her fingernails. It was very odd, but I'd just had a pedicure, so I can understand the good feeling of having at least SOME part of my body feeling good and presentable. But this woman didn't really want to talk about her nails. She wanted to talk about her enormous diamond ring. It was very vulgar. I'm all for women workin' their bling, but to call attention to it is gauche.

3) And because it's a day ending in "y," I recently had ANOTHER man tell me that I was in love with him. No offense to my male readers, but REALLY, members of your gender think rather highly of themselves. I thought of a half dozen snappy responses, but I ended up just shaking my head and not saying anything. If it makes him happy to think that, then fine. No skin off my beautiful nose.

Stay tuned for me to wax poetic about people talking to you at the gym. Seriously, if I've got my headphones on, I'm not interested.