Thriller

If you're looking for a fun and night out to get in the Halloween spirit go see Odyssey Dance Theatre's production of Thriller. Click HERE to watch a clip.

The dancing was great but one of my favorite parts was before the show even started. While people are getting seated and waiting for the show to start, the "zombies" from the production wander among the audience. One of the girls was actually climbing over seats and people. Others would come right up to you and stare you down. The best part was after our whole group was seated, a boy zombie crawled along the empty row behind us on the floor and snuck up on the the people in my group at the other end of the row. When he got to them, he slowly popped up and made a growling noise which scared the crap out of my friend. Ah...so funny!

old news, new news

This is old news to anybody I've seen throughout the week, but I don't think I've seen any of you readers during the week, so it will be new news to all of you. Drum roll please! Da, da da da! I have a new haircut. Well, kind of. It's just my bangs that are different. I went to get them trimmed Monday night. I meant to get them the same as last time, but right there, on the spot, I decided to do something daring, something fun, something new--et voila! I am so glad I did.
So, my cowlick is going a little nuts here in this picture, but it's much better now after almost a week of "training." Amazing how a small, good change to your hair can make you feel like a new person, but yourself at the same time. Very refreshing.

You know...

...you've been staying up way too late when it feels so good to go to bed at 11 o'clock.

Just do it, okay?!

It's bad enough that I have to work with someone who walks around like he's "too cool for school," but why does he have to fight me on something miniscule that I ask him to do for a huge project I've been working on for the past 4 months? In the time that we've gone back and forth about whether this teensy but hugely important change should be made, he could have made the change a dozen times already! I know you're busy, but I'm the customer here. Don't argue with me; just do what I ask and we can both get on with our lives. Please and thank you.

Monday, Monday...

Look what a nice note I found in my email inbox on this monday morning:

Dear Rebecca,

You are always so nice to send follow-ups and I am so grateful for your diligence and faithfulness. It’s my great pleasure to work with such an outstanding
Person and I thank you Dear friend. Clay

Sometimes kindness like this touches me so much that I get a little choked up--which is what just may have happened this morning. Feeling appreciated is also good motivation.

Thoughts on Motivation

Thanks to those of you who provided some helpful ideas on motivation in response to my post of a few days ago. Thanks to Kate for dedicating a whole post about it on her own blog! All these ideas are much appreciated and I am going to try them out.

I had a thought on motivation myself this morning. Maybe it's not so much about being directly motivated to do better at work, but about helping myself feel better at work and thus perform better.

I have church at 11 a.m. Which means I usually have plenty of time to get ready on Sunday morning. This means I usually feel like I look pretty good--having had plenty of time to put together an outfit that I like and do a really good job on makeup etc. I was driving to church this morning feeling pleased with my outfit and the outcome of my new eye shadow color experimentation, therefore feeling good about myself and looking forward to being at church. This feel-good attitude also usually means that I am more alert, I engage more with others and participate in discussions etc.

But on most work days, I sleep in until the very last minute, put on the first thing I can find that is clean and in which I don't feel like a stuffed sausage and rush to work--which means I also often feel frump-tastic, unstylish, not confident, unprepared and tired. No wonder I feel so unmotivated about my job!

So, another tactic I'm going to try is to dress for work more carefully. I think this goes along great with Kate's idea about playing a role (see #4 in her entry about Motivation). I mean, if you're going to play a role properly you have to dress the part, right? So I'm going to look at my work clothes as costumes that help me dress the part of someone who enjoys and is good at her job (note: I am good at my job--ask anyone I work with--I just don't always enjoy it).

Wish me luck!

The But Clause

it's never a good thing is it? and nobody ever likes to hear "the but clause," do they?

Last night my roommate had a second date with a guy she was first set up with about 2 weeks ago. After the first date she told me he was nice and good company but she didn't feel any attraction or connection. So when she got home last night I asked if she liked him any better after a second date. Her response was the same. So then we started talking about how you let a guy know that you don't want to go out with him anymore. Do you keep avoiding and making excuses until he gets the hint? or do you tell him straightforward that you don't want to go out again?

I'm pretty sure I've heard multiple guys say they prefer the straightforward approach--but this is hard especially when you avoid confrontation like my roommate and I do. So I offer to practice with her and we start coming up with the exact wording she can say if this guy calls to ask her out again. Basically we came up with something to the effect of "I really enjoy your company, but I'm just not feeling it." This is where my roommate says, "I'm fine saying the first part, it's the second part I don't like." To which I respond "yeah, nobody likes the but clause," and she says "no. the but clause is never good."

And then we laughed and laughed...