I should probably stick to my day job...

Yesterday's Blogtember prompt was interesting: Write about a time you screwed up - a mistake you made. I read a smattering of posts from bloggers participating in the challenge, and I started to notice (what I felt was) an interesting theme. Most of the posts went something like this:

• Blurb about how everyone makes mistakes
• Blurb about how I (blogger) make mistakes
• Blurb about how what is important is learning from mistakes
• Optional: blurb about how God loves us anyway and thinks we are perfect no matter what

See the trend? Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this kind of post - open-ended, non-committal, generalizations... I just found it really, really intriguing that, of the majority of posts that I read that went along with this prompt, none of the bloggers were willing to actually throw out a concrete example of a mistake that they've made. It's like no one wants to burst that bubble and admit to doing something wrong. The Sociologist in me found this fascinating. Anyone else notice a similar trend??

Anyway. I know I'm a day late with this, but I figured I'd go ahead and answer the prompt anyway - I'm more than willing to share a mistake, and I know there are about a million I could write about. (As someone with a horrible sense of direction, I could get lost trying to get out of a paper bag, and therefore have lots of wrong turn / missed exit / make a U-turn kind of stories...) The one I decided to go with is one that I still get shit for to this day... and it's probably well deserved!

Best I can do, because there is no photo proof that this occurred...

When C and I had just started dating, maybe 6ish months in, we were in college and he used to cut his own hair. It wasn't a big deal - he just took the clippers to it once a month or so and trimmed it all down. Once he decided he could trust me, he started asking me to do the back and clean up his neck for him... pretty simple. So, one fine day, he's cutting his hair, and yells for me to come into the bathroom. In I go, and he hands me the clippers and turns around. I notice that, on the back of his head, there are several patches where he missed chunks of hair because he couldn't see the back, so I think to myself, "self, you should go over those spots first and clean them up." What I fail to notice is that C has handed me the clippers with no guard on whatsoever, with the intention of doing his neck first... and (I see this in slow motion in my head now) I swipe those clippers straight up the back of his head, up from the hairline for about 4", before his reflexes (and mine) kick in and he jerks away, cursing. The damage is done, though....... I have created a giant bald spot right up the back of my sweet boyfriend's head. Ohhhhh jeez, he was mad. So mad! And so bald in that spot. There was absolutely no fixing it. I had removed all the hair from that section! There was no way to cover it up. In the end, he went to the barber, and had them cut all the rest of his hair suuuuper short, like as short as they could go without just shaving his head, and he wore a baseball hat for about a month while it grew back out. Lots of jokes were made on my and his behalf. Whoops!!!

More than five years later, I still hear about that one. (he kept me around, though, and married me in the end, so I think we're all good!)

Lessons learned from this mistake? 1) Check the guard on the clippers before I do anything. 2) C is now very, very clear with the instructions when he asks me to help with his hair (or he just goes to the barber!)

Anyone else want to 'fess up to a mistake? :)

Activ-ain't

Considering the fact that I consider myself a bit of a fitness fanatic (I know, I know, that's still weird to me, too), it's been decidedly quiet around these parts re: the topic of fitness lately. And personally, I hate it.

This back issue is the first "major" injury that I've ever had to deal with, outside of shin splints. This is the first time I've ever found myself truly sidelined from an injury. This is the first time I've been told, "do not do anything." I know that, in the grand scheme of things, this little back twinge is hardly a "major" injury, but for someone who's just never experienced anything like this, it is really changing my perspective. My perspective is currently coming from the couch. Humph.

And seriously, truly - this is killing me. I am not good at being injured. I am not good at being patient and resting and healing and sitting around doing nothing. Honestly, it's been fun to make some dinners that require more effort in the evenings, and spend more time with C watching TV (my couch-potato status gave us plenty of time to watch all of Season 1 of Homeland!) and snuggling my cat. But I am so over it. I want to be in the gym. I want to go to yoga and BodyPump and my abs class. I want to run. I want my normal routine back.

I know that if I push too soon or jump in too fast, I'm going to hurt myself again, and probably worse. I know that I need to be gentle and take my time and blah blah blah. But when I'm sitting on the couch feeling squishy because I had a week of FIVE REST DAYS (blerg), I tend to forget those things and just feel like I want to jump up and put on my tennis shoes and run. I haven't been this inactive in years. Seriously - years. Ever since that first day in January 2010 that my mom and I signed up for Gold's, I've been religiously, fanatically going to the gym and getting in workouts every single time I possibly can. This couch-potato person is who I used to be, not who I am now. I'm getting antsy. I'm looking in the mirror and can practically see my muscle definition evaporating (dramatic, perhaps, but it's cool). I was feeling good a few months ago. Now I feel squishy.

I'm going to have to start back at square one, and I'm not looking forward to it. That means light weights and short runs. That means gentle classes and easing back into what I used to be doing. It means listening and taking those rest days that I need and continuing to be BFFs with my ice pack (we've gotten to know each other reallll good). It means I have to be patient (not something I'm good at). 

Feeling a bit like Debbie Downer today, but I needed to get this off my chest. And I figure that, if I write it all down, I have to stick to this plan of healing and working my way back into my old routine. Once the words are out there on the page, it has to happen, right? Whether I like it or not.

I do not like it, Sam-I-am.

Here's baby otters, to make up for the Moaning Myrtle post today:

[google images]

Scheduling 101 - I get an F.

On Monday, I bought two tickets for C & I to go see the Hunger Gamezzz movie on Saturday.

On Tuesday, I checked my calendar for Saturday. 

Typical.

You can probably see where this is going.

In all my excitement over the movie coming out this weekend, I committed a fatal error in entertainment – failure to check for previously scheduled events. And what did I do? Purchased movie tickets for smack-dab in the middle of when C & I are supposed to be out to dinner celebrating a good friend’s birthday. OOPS.

Bah. Therefore, my mission yesterday was to figure out if I could correct this error. While I figured this would not be easy, I didn’t think it would be very hard… I can't possibly be the first person who's ever done this, right? Plenty of people buy movie tickets for times when they can't attend movies, right? RIGHT? Yeah well. Live & learn!

I purchased the tickets from Fandango, so I went to their website for assistance. After searching all over the site, I finally found the link for contacting the company. Went there, and found a list of FAQs. Found the one regarding “refunds/exchanges.” Learned that Fandango can’t refund or exchange because all the tickets are related to the actual theater you purchased them for, but if you call their customer service line, they’ll help you figure out how to do whatever you need to in order to remedy the situation. OK… good. Called the customer service line. Went through the automated options, the second of which is “if you are calling regarding a refund or exchange for tickets you’ve purchased, please press ‘2’.” Pressed. And then I was launched straight into hold music. Very, very bad hold music. Where I stayed for 18 minutes before a recording finally came on and said, “All representatives are busy; please hold and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.” Seriously?! 18 minutes in is when you feel it’s necessary to share that with me? Shockingly, I’d already figured that out… and was starting to ponder exactly how many calls Fandango gets. Or perhaps, how many people are sitting there answering calls. And then I started picturing one little old woman with 27 phones surrounding her, ringing off the hook. Because I’m pretty sure that was the only possible scenario for why I could have been on hold for 18 minutes already.

**disclaimer - I was doing work with my phone on speaker, listening to the hold music. I swear I did not just sit at my desk for that long twiddling my thumbs. I can multitask!

Unfortunately, I had to disconnect that call as I had some work to do away from my desk. Sigh. 18 minutes down the drain. That’s fine, I thought, I’ll call back later this afternoon. Surely, I’ll have better luck…

HA. Followed the same procedures a few hours later, and sat on hold for 27 minutes before I finally hung that call up. That’s a total of almost 60 minutes on hold! Are you joking?! Fandango, fail.

While I was on hold the second time, I started researching my options. Eventually, I found a posting that said that essentially, Fandango was going to be useless, and that any calls for refunds or exchanges should be directed straight to the theater the tickets were purchased for. OK… I can do that. I found the phone number of my theater (which is a Regal, in case you’re wondering), and, at the 27 minute mark, hung up on Fandango again.

I was nervous for the next call – I was pretty sure this was going to be even more complicated. I foresaw an angry theater worker judging me for buying movie tickets to a movie I couldn’t attend, and arguing with me because the tickets were purchased from a third party. EEK. I dialed the number… and the phone rang once before Dan answered. Nice, sweet Dan, who only let me get halfway through explaining my issue before telling me it was absolutely no problem to exchange; all I had to do was bring my tickets to the theater when I actually want to see the movie, and they could do the exchange on the spot. He also informed me that while it’s going to be busy, they’re showing the Hunger Games on eight different screens, and have the movie starting every 20 minutes all weekend, so I should be good to go any time I want to see it. He wished me a nice day, and that was that. DONE! No problem at all!

I could not believe how helpful and nice the man at the theater was, and how useless Fandango was. Chalk that up to a win in the Customer Service department for Regal, and a giant failure for Fandango. I will now be seeing the Hunger Games on Friday night, and enjoying a lovely birthday celebration on Saturday night, and all is right with the world. Hooray!