See Gina Blog

Packed, originally uploaded by Brian Auer.

1. No more melted ice cream.
2. Quick trips will truly be quick.
3. Hours will not be wasted waiting for buses and trains.
4. Waiting in the cold, rain, snow, and sleet will be a piece of the past.
5. My arms will not be stretched and sore from hauling groceries home.
6. Dressing cute for an evening out in the winter will be a possibility.
7. I will be designated driver extraordinaire!

The media seems to be consumed with making up “new rules” for our techno-centric culture.  I have my own list of rules for the techno-centric culture in which we live.

Texting

1. If your partner sends a text to you, reply at some point
2. Mass texts? Prayer chains? Forwarded texts? Don’t.  No one likes to receive them.
3. With your partner? No one texts an SOS message – trust me, your friends’ texts can wait.

Cellphone Use (That unrelated to texting)

1. Do not play music, without headphones, on your cell in public.  It’s obnoxious.
2. Talking on your cell at the office? Occasionally = permissible. Constantly = unacceptable.
3. In a waiting room? Be kind and silence your phone, and keep use to a minimum.

Googling

1. Thou shalt not Google your date or mate.  It’s creepy.  Don’t be a stalker,
2. Googling your own name? That’s smart.  You should be aware just what is out there.
3. The world may not in fact revolve around Google – branch out. Other resources exist too.

Social Networking

1. If you add someone from your job, remember this before you rant about an office drama.
2. Don’t be “that” person who adds people just to have the largest number of “friends.”.
3. People read the things you forward, tweet, or publish.  Consider your audience.

To be continued…

Top Ten of Summer –

1. Attended two Midwest burns and am officially captivated by the culture.
2. Learned I really love camping and can in fact put up a tent by myself!
3. Met an incredible person who may be the most positive influence of my entire life.
4. Moved from a studio apartment to a one bedroom in a garden neighborhood.
5. Watched Jasper come back to a happy place when we moved to our new home.
6. Decided to stop drinking and have happily remained sober since.
7. Shot some of the best photographs I have ever taken, one week ago.
8. Modeled for a photographer who took some of the best shots of me ever.
9. Found myself shaking hands with the past and moving on.
10. Learned much about myself.

Much has happened since I last posted. I became fear’s bitch.  I shook hands with the past.  I learned a little patience.  I gained a lot of perspective.  Gratitude and I became good friends. Busy became second nature.

This July I was literally a week from homelessness.  It had never occurred to me that a college-educated professional could end up living in a box on the side of the road.  I was *this* close to that point.  It terrified me.  In one of the scariest times of my life, people came through for me and I was reminded that I am not alone and I am very, very blessed.

Even after this, the generosity of my friends continued to reveal itself.  People came out of the woodwork offering to help me move, including one person I had not seen or spoken to in months. More people than I could have hoped for helped me move, complete with cars, trucks, trailers, SUV, and man muscle.  I smiled from the start to the finish, so thankful to have such great people in my life.

The past made its way into the present this month when I returned home for my fifteen year high school reunion.  It was a surreal experience.  I enjoyed conversation with international travelers, an editor for Popular Science magazine, an entertainment lawyer living in New York, a Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator, amongst many other interesting individuals, all of whom I had graduated high school with fifteen years ago.  It occurred to me on this weekend that I need to make more of an effort to go after my dreams.

I’ve begun to spend more time at the office and less time (awake) at home.  I have become – thanks to being prescribed the right ADHD meds – exceptionally productive at work, determined to get everything done in a day (which, honestly, is not possible).  I am tired more than not these days with little time for much more than sleep after hours.

I am a different – and I would like to think, more positive – person because of the past couple of months’ challenges.  I’ve grown a little more patient, gained some perspective, and am much more thankful.  Life is not easy, but it is pretty damned good.

• Big Changes – At the end of July my lease is up.  To prepare for the move, with location still to be determined, I am packing like crazy.  I packed something like 18 boxes on Tuesday evening, in fact.  Most plans have been canceled or postponed until I am entirely packed – that, or people have to be okay hanging out while I am packing.  I look forward to be out of the current digs.
• Celebrity Deaths – So in the past week or so we have had news that Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett both died.  It boggles my mind how upset people are about individuals dying who they do not know – and deaths that simply were not a shock.  Old people die; cancer takes good people every day.  That simple.
• Drama, Drama, Drama! – My office has become a cesspool of drama in recent months, complete with fits, gossip, pettiness, and rumors.  It is a knot of negativity that is leaving me stressed out and, quite plainly, exhausted. I have enough stress at present, thanks.
• Father’s Day Foolery – This Father’s Day I came across many people who could have cared less that their fathers are still alive or hated their fathers altogether. This makes it that much more unfair that I adored my father and he is not here, but others have their fathers and do not even appreciate that theirs are alive.

An updated about me page.

Gatto Mimmo gufo, originally uploaded by Maccio Capatonda.

Friday evening I was at the metro station waiting for my train when I discovered (thanks to another caring soul calling across the tracks) that a kitten was stuck inside a wall.  I heard the meowing all the way across the tracks.

I called the Humane Society of Missouri.  They told me to call animal control. I tried the APA and they were closed. I tried Stray Rescue and was sent straight to voicemail (they are a volunteer-run organization after all).  I called animal control and they were closed; the message stated to call the police.  I did so, but they stated that they could do nothing.  I went to the other side of the tracks at the station to see what I could do.  The kitten was meowing in fear and so far as I could tell there was no way to reach him.

The other woman there trying to help and I were desperate to get the kitten out but unsure how to do this.  She had put out pieces of Fig Newton in hopes of getting him to come to her, but he did not.  We continued to wonder just how stuck he may have been inside the wall.  There was a way under and into the wall, where the kitten evidently had found his way in, but no way for us to get to him.

I decided to call my vet and see if she had any suggestions.  She said to call the fire department.  I called the fire department and the individual who answered was rude with me and said “We don’t deal with animals,” gruffly and dismissively.  I called my ex-boyfriend who is also concerned with animal welfare to see if he had any tools we might use or any ideas for how to get the kitten out but he evidently was too busy with his evening to be terribly concerned and had no suggestions either.

The kitten continued to meow, terrified, and we were at our wit’s end at how we could help.  We had informed, via an emergency call box and a Metro employee who came by as she noticed our situation at hand and no Metro staff were of help or came to our rescue, though we were told twice that they would send someone to help.  Eventually, 45 minutes to an hour after first coming across the tracks, I laid my head on the ground, looked up from the floor and into the wall space and saw that the kitten was actually free in there.

The kitten was simply terrified, of people and of the noise of the train and announcer system, and did not know where else to hide.  We decided to just go back to waiting for our trains as he clearly was okay and would come out eventually when it quieted down (once the trains stopped).  I worried he would end up harassed by drunks or dumb people, but needed to go home and he seemed okay.

It appalls me that people were so ignorant and passed the buck so much.  Even animal welfare organizations passed the buck.  I find it just sad that people could care less if a living being – a cute lil’ kitten, no less! – dies than doing anything to help it.  What has happened to us that we as a society think nothing of abandoning, abusing, and neglecting living beings, much less care nothing if living beings die. (And yes, I know, my vegan and vegetarian friends, that cows, pigs, sheep, and fish die every day so that carnivores can fill their bellies… I am not ignorant to the farm animals’ plight).

I do hope that the kitten has found its way, or will find its way, into a warm, loving forever home.  I have to believe he did, just to sleep at night.

Self-Portrait Sunday., originally uploaded by gina.banina.

So baseball season has begun as has wifebeater weather. It is good to have spring here.

Self-Portrait Sunday., originally uploaded by gina.banina.

Temp tattoo a very cute guy put on me.

IMG_4489-1, originally uploaded by gina.banina.

:)