The Friday Five

1) Yesterday, I did the unthinkable: I shut off my cell phone. It's back on now, sure (was, in fact, on within five hours of my self-imposed power outage), but the fact remains... I did it. And I survived. I am a bit attached to my cell phone. I don't go anywhere without it. It's always always attached to my hand. Without it, I feel a disconnect from the world at large. No Google, no Facebook, no text? What's a girl to do? Usually, I'm all about being connected. Yesterday, though, I just wanted some space. I feel smothered by my cell phone, strange as it is to say. When I can't go more than three minutes without glancing down to check if I've received any messages, I know there's a problem... It may only have been a few hours without it, but hey, it's all about baby steps, right?

2) An editor friend at work left me a surprise yesterday after I'd left the office for the afternoon. Came back last night out of boredom (yes, when I have nothing to do at home, I drive the half-mile distance between my apartment and my office and try to at least look like the uber-busy newspaper reporter/editor I pretend to be). Upon my return, I found an envelope with my name scrawled in green highlighter...(ooohh! Intrigue!). Its contents -- a collage of photos/captions from one of the company's papers -- made my night. I've been on a crusade these last few weeks at work to clean up some of the sports' section photo captions. The lack of creativity that goes into writing them (as highlighted in the collage so thoughtfully put together for me) is a huge pet peeve of mine. Take for example these three captions...all from the same paper (yes, same issue!) in a nine-photo spread. I don't need to bother showing you the pictures, I'm sure you can figure them out for yourselves. Caption One: "Dalton steps into a big kick with his right foot." UGHHHH...Really? How about Caption Two: "Ethan steps into a kickoff with his right foot." You've got to be kidding me with this. And finally, Caption Three: "Dillion steps into a kickoff with his right foot." Wow... Bad, right? And yet, not nearly as bad as this gem, which I found in the pages of my paper this week: "[She] pumps her right arm into the air as she stands over the ball." I died a little inside when I read that one... no wonder print journalism is a dying art.

3) Started reading Jane Eyre last night. How is it possible I've managed to live these 27 years, an avid reader and English/Literature major in college, without ever reading Jane Eyre? I should probably admit I haven't read Wuthering Heights either, so clearly I've been ignoring the Bronte sisters. Unjustly, I might add. I am a big fan of female writers (probably because I aspire to be one of the greats) but even today, I feel they get treated poorly compared to their male counterparts. Think of some of the greatest women writers in history: Austin, the Bronte sisters, and Wharton to name a few... theirs are some of the most powerful stories, written in intelligent, imaginative language. Look at the content, though. If those novels were written today, they'd fall in the "Chick Lit" category, I'm sure. So why are contemporary female writers not revered like their classic female and even contemporary male counterparts? The books written by some of my favorite authors today are categorized as "beach reads," something mindless to read during summer vacations at the Cape. Yet books by the likes of Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, Jonathan Franzen or James Patterson are listed as must reads? I'm not at all implying that they can't write well, I'm just pointing out the discrepancy. I'll come out and say it: I like the chick lit novels... both the classics and contemporaries. Perhaps I'm just nerdy like that...

4) Coming off two weeks of intense writing/reporting efforts on my part for the mass-marketing editions of my newspaper, I find myself exceptionally rundown. The truthfulness of that statement hit me hard last night when I went home and passed out on the couch for a good two hours...Oreo contented himself with sleeping on the small of my back and I was too exhausted to move him. Today, I sit at work counting the hours until a respectable time at which I can head home to nap. What is going on here? I can hardly think straight I'm so tired. Exhaustion is so not conducive to good writing...

5) I suddenly have an intense craving for onion rings. I ordered some with my sub yesterday at lunch, and that didn't so much quell them as it did exacerbate them. I love onion rings lately, which is funny because at one time I couldn't stand them. And yet, I can't help but salivate a little at the thought of them. It's not even noon and I'm in the mood for fried food... Sadly, though, I just can't justify eating them for breakfast.