Gullable

I'm trying to muffle my less than stellar mood with silly thoughts, in hopes of squashing the less than stellar mood. I probably should write about my less than stellar mood, but I probably will later once I get a grasp on it. You ever have those moods when you wonder why the things that tick you off, tick you off? Should I chalk it up to it "just being me"? Or is it something I can turn around to change my perspective where it doesn't tick me off as much?

Eh. Who knows. I'll ponder. Rambling...

Ok, so I'm gullable. Everybody that really knows me, knows that. I will usually try to say after being the victim yet again, "well, it didn't sound right, but I didn't really give it much thought." But, all people hear is that I didn't give it much thought. That's okay.. it usually ends up being humorous, but sometimes I worry myself.

So I was gullable yesterday. Twice. With the same person.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
—President George W. Bush

Sometimes, I feel like that. Except I get fooled again.

Incident #1
Craig and I went to his parents' house in Randleman, NC and had lunch w/ his family. We were sitting around the dinner table and for those of us that could see the TV, were glancing at the Vikings game here and there. Well, the viking mascot (for the non-football watchers, he was an actual man in Viking gear) was on the sidelines talking to a photographer, and then leans over and kisses her on the cheek. Now, they were filming this guy for a good 20 seconds. Random, right?

Me: The mascot just kissed that photographer!
Craig: Haley.. they're dating..
Me: Hmm.. weird.

Like I said, they were focused on the viking for a good 20 seconds. So, I'm thinking "Okay, Craig must've heard what they were talking about while they were filming (including the viking mascot's personal life) and I missed it." I'm an idiot. So I shrug it off, and continue on about my business. Well, a few seconds later... Craig just busts out laughing. Of course I'm puzzled and wondering if I have food or something all over my face, or Lord knows what else.. and he just keeps laughing til he's nearly in tears. It clicks. I quickly give him the evil eye before I punch him in the shoulder. The doofus lied to me.

Incident #2
Later on in the day, we're at my house, watching the CHARGERS!/cowboys game. Of course the Chargers are doing awesome and do something even more awesome (probably via Philip Rivers), and the camera crew pans to Jerry Jones in his posh little box. He angrily throws the pen he was holding and probably mutters some no-no word because he just realized how awesome the Chargers are.

Craig: That's his lucky pen.
Me: Really??
Craig: Yep.
Me: How do you know?.... are you lyi- YOU ARE! You lied to me again! Stop telling me that stuff because you know I'll go tell Joe Schmoe "Hey, did you see Jerry Jones throw his lucky pen in disgust because they still suck in December?" or something and look like a total idiot when they look at me like they just discovered that I may or may not be as dumb as a bag of hammers because I believed you!?

And then I laughed because he's already in tears from the laughter. It is funny. But it gets old being the gullable one. Hmph.

Second Chances

Week 1 with the new/old job and I can officially say that I definitely made the 2nd best decision I've made all year by going back to Horizon. BUT the very best decision I made of 2009 had to be (and I'm sure you're just bursting with anticipation).. giving Craig another chance. No one was more scared/nervous/apprehensive about that decision than I was because let's face it.. after you've tried having a relationship 2, 3, 4 times - it gets more disheartening with each attempt. After a significant break and some serious convincing for months, I finally gave in and gave him another shot. And I can honestly say that he's been the absolute best friend that I've had in a long time. Of course, there's my "bestie" Brookes, who is my best friend from childhood & she always will be that - they're not even in the same category actually. But Craig is the guy that I can count on anytime, any day. No matter where he is, who he's with.. he's always looking out for me, trying to find ways to fix whatever problem I'm having, or just trying to make me smile after a really long day. He was probably the world's best boyfriend when he saw how unhappy I was everyday after my previous job, and he finally just told me to quit and that he'd help me whatever way he had to, but to leave behind the place that was making me so unhappy. That's a good man. Of course, I didn't just drop the job like I wanted to because I'm not going to put him in that position to support me like that and I have responsibilities to take care of (aka bills). But just knowing that I could do that, and he'd still love me just the same, and was actually encouraging me to do so just to improve MY quality of life.. that was the day that I realized how lucky I was. And I still am. :)

Anyway, the job. Still going off on tangents, in case you're keeping tabs since my first blog entry. So back to the REAL subject: my new/old job - I freaking love it. I love the environment that I walk into every morning, I love what I do, and I love that it loves me back. It's so nice leaving work and feeling good about it, rather than running for the exit at 5pm everyday, hating that I'm thinking that I'm already 1 minute closer to when I have to be back in that place. Granted, I've barely got my feet wet (for the second time) where I am now, and I have some challenges ahead, but I'm actually excited about it. Weird! It's hard to believe that I held on for so long at my old job, hating it, thinking I couldn't be doing better somewhere else. Huge misconception and I'm so glad I took the leap back to Horizon. I'm sure I'll still have some days where it's hectic and crazy, and things go wrong.. but that's okay when you're happy doing what you do, and happy working for good people. Because everyday isn't going to be perfect, but in the right circumstances, it sure can come close.

And now I can attest that in both instances of careers and (.. dare I say it..) love, it can always be worse. But things can change if you really want them to - you just have to take some initiative. And people can change as well, but they have to want to. When someone makes changes to their life even though they've been told they just need to give up and that it won't help their chances, that means something. Don't hesitate to give people a second chance... it may change your life. Sometimes, you just need to go against all logic and let it.