habitat and hammers, evil olive and battle scars

mmm how i love me my saturdays. this saturday was a little different than normal because a few weeks ago, kind of on a whim, i signed up to volunteer with habitat for humanity. sometimes i really do wonder what thoughts are going through my head with some of the decisions i make "on a whim". i feel like this happens more often than not. and quite frankly, i was more than a little anxious about what to expect with this project. why anxious, you ask?

when you include sentences like "I have never done [Habitat] before, nor am I the most "handy" person (ie: lifting heavy things, etc) but I would love to help out in any way possible." (straight outta my gmail, i swear) in emails to the project organizer, you really have to wonder what is going through that organizer's head as he is emailing you back. i mean, on the one hand, they do need people. on the other hand... if you cant lift heavy things, why in the world would you want to be volunteering for a project like habitat??

sigh. thankfully there are people in the world less judgmental than i, so i was delighted to hear back from the organizer indicating the project details. anyway, whatever, at the crack of dawn saturday morning, i was up and at 'em. okay, granted i was about ten minutes late and the last person to arrive at the meeting point (oops), so that didn't really add anything to the initial impressions i was bestowing upon the group but whatever. i am sorry, but 6:45 AM on a saturday? i actually kind of judge the others for NOT being late. haha juuust kidding.

anyway, it actually turned out to be pretty fun... yes, there was a lot of lifting (i have since learned about the dangers involved if if you have no sense of dimension and are hauling around long pieces of plywood with people standing around nearby... whoops) and hammering (oh GOD, the hammering. when they first handed me that hammer, not going to lie, i just kind of blankly looked at it), but at the end of the day, it actually WAS a fairly rewarding experience. maybe it wasn't necessarily the work that we did (although it WAS pretty spectac to see some before/after snapshots), but the habitat organizer also turned out to be one of the sweetest grandfatherly sorta men ive ever met. his eyes literally sparkled when he talked about the habitat projects he's worked on... and that, my friends, pretty much did it for me. haha. with that, this man TOTALLY reached Papa V status in my mind. hahaha. doesnt take much, apparently. (for those who don't know what "Papa V status" is, just think of any exponentially adorable person you have met in YOUR life, and that should pretty much suffice).

anyway, i turned down drinks with the group afterwards because i was totally falling asleep on the car ride home (no worries, i wasn't driving. obvi.) but THEN, one of my friends who i hadnt seen in AGES called me about going out later that night. and, while im a homebody/old soul at heart, i cant turn down a night out if it's more a REUNION than anything else. WHO are we kidding here. haha. so i take a napper when i get home, awaken feeling all refreshed and energized just thinking about the good karma i helped instill in the world from the day's events (haha just KIDDING, people), and start getting ready for this night out.

okay, so i lied. i wasnt exactly refreshed and energized... i was still kind of exhausted. but whatever. off to evil olive (a bar/club in wicker park... which plays FANTAST music, just SAYING) i went.

so there we all were, drinking, dancing, making merry, you know, the usual. anyway, i was delighted to have met one of my friends' friends who i self-designated my male twin in life (hmm. i was going to detail WHY he's my male twin but i actually forget the reasoning behind this oh-so-privileged designation. eh, oh well.) who informed me that he loves him some MJ. sigh. in an act of gusto, i decide to take the opportunity to make my way to the deejay to request a little MJ because im only like the nicest person ever (and, let's be honest, the dude said he would read my blog going forward. well, duh. you tell me THAT and OBVI ill do whatever you want... well, within reason.) when, out of the clear blue, some CHICK just took me OUT.

i was shellshocked. granted, it was all very accidental in nature (let's just say i was the victim of some really awful, flaily arms that this girl apparently called dance moves...), but STILL. she totally hit me smack in the MOUTH. and it. HURT. i actually lost feeling in my lip for a few minutes. it was all very touch and go for a while there ("a while" meaning like 2 minutes, because that's just about how long this whole tragedy played out).

anyway, in the midst of all this raucous (where she was apologizing profusely and i was kind of giving her My Look- more out of shock than out of anger... it was totally an accident), of course, of COURSE, the only thing i could think of was...i simply cant have these accidents happening if i want to copyright my smile at some point (another new years goal of mine. oh, have i not mentioned that one yet? whoops). yup. superficiality at its finest, people. but whatever. i mean, i was lucky to come outta there with a mere bloody lip! what if she'd knocked a couple of my teeth out?! heavens. i could've just said farewell to that new years goal right then and THERE. and we just can't have that happening, people.

anyway, i say all this when, sadly, very sadly, i wake up this morning and look in the mirror... and actually kind of admire that bloody lip of mine. i mean, i've NEVER had a broken bone or anything before! now, omg, my very own battle scar! hip hip hooray!

oh saturday. a roller coaster of a day, if you will. from helping to build houses for needy families to getting knocked out at a club... a study of contrasts if you will. story of my life.