let the General Hugfest Series begin...

you know what? i think im going to start trying to blog on a more consistent basis- ive received very positive feedback with my "increased blogging frequency" as of late, and i love doing it, so why NOT update this thing regularly?

unfortunately, my life is not all too exciting, let's be honest here. therefore, if im going to blog at LEAST twice a week, i think one post will be about whatever random shenanigans ive gotten myself into (you know, the usual) and the second post will be devoted to a new favorite person ever. okay, i know that if the "favorite spotlight" is done on a weekly basis, that kind of defeats the whole "favorite" nature of the spotlight, but whatever. im a walking hugfest, what can i say? so much love to share, so little time.

with all that being said, i would like to formally start my General Hugfest Series with the one and only... SUSAN T!!! (obvi, i will not be using last names, since internet discretion is my middle name. hahahaha. how many middle names do i HAVE at this point, given my other blog posts? but i digress.)

sorry to divert. let's get right back on topic. okay, so susan t is only like one of the greatest coworkers ive ever had. and you know what the funny thing is? ive only met her, face-to-face, once! isnt that CRAZY?!?!?! it's really amazing how such a great working relationship (aka friendship aka general team hugfest aka general... well, crazy SISTERHOOD, really) can formulate after one introduction. let's be honest, it wasnt always so... well, lkafdjslkf! (sorry, but that's really the only way i can describe the two of us. hahahah.)

i mean, initially, susan and i only communicated over work email! and man, if i look back to some of our initial email exchanges, i simply cant help but crack UP at how FORMAL they sounded! i mean, who are we KIDDING HERE?

i think the true love formulated around the time we exchanged AOL instant messenger screen names. for those of you who are reading this who are not my coworkers, our work uses AOL instant messenger as a primary mode of communication in order to get things done in a more timely and efficient fashion and... oh, heck, who are we kidding here? for general merriment and entertainment purposes as well. hahahaha. GOD, I LOVE INSTANT MESSENGER AT WORK!!!! it was TOTALLY like a dream come true when i came to this company and realized that it was pretty much mandatory to have instant messenger access. i mean, you do NOT have to tell me TWICE, people! how many of you remember college? who WASN'T obsessed with IM back in the day?! ugh, the neverending barrage of away messages, the constant communication with people about like absolutely NOTHING, the furiously frantic typing speeds which people developed... sigh. those were the days.

anyway, so susan and i initially started communicating on instant messenger about work-related things. i mean, duh. why else would we have exchanged screen names in the first place? but. well. i mean, it was SO apparent right OFF the BAT that we were totally like soul sisters. hahaha. it's really amazing the stories that we've shared over the lovely world that we call AIM. intermixed with our work talk, of course. ugh, it's been glorious, really.

while i know i crack UP at a LOT of things in life (oh, sorry. if you think everytime i type "hahahah" in an online conversation of some sort, you're special and privileged because you are funny... well, you're kind of wrong. i laugh at many a thing in life), susan t is one of those people that oh-so-consistently not only makes me laugh, but actually makes me crack UP so HARD at my computer screen, sometimes to the point that my stomach aches. seriously! i mean, this lady is FUNNY. hahaha.

here is a sample of what a susan t IM conversation could involve (and yes, that IS how her screen name appears on my AOL... per my "instant messenger alias" abilities... can you imagine if that was her ACTUAL screen name?!?!? hahaha):

(3:19:39 PM) SUSANalksdfjlaksjf!!!!: hhahahahahaha just kidding man - are you not wearing your happy panties today???

HAHAHAHAH. i LAUGHED ALOUD just READING that sentence AGAIN. how can you NOT?!?!

but it's CRAZY, right?? to think that we've only met each other ONCE, and yet we're like slightly obsessed with each other. in a good, healthy sense, of course. hahahaha. yeah- i guess that cackly type of "hahahaha" didn't really help in the validity of that statement but whatever.

anyway, i LOVE the friendships that can formulate amongst coworkers. i feel like susan and i come from such different worlds (i live in chicago and am focused on making it through my 20s somewhat intact while she she lives in an cozy, adorable town in missouri and has the most cozy, adorable children and lovely husband... whom i also have never met... but i feel like i SO know simply through susan's wacky stories and... well... who are we kidding here? facebook pictures. haha. OBVI. because you KNOW we became facebook friends like the SECOND we nixed the whole "professional email tone" for, well, the wonderful world of instant messenger, if you will). and yet we have TOTES bonded forEVER. sisterhood and all that. haha.

or just a general hugfest. who are we kidding here. because you KNOW anytime someone from the chicago office goes down to the missouri office for business, i CERTAINLY send along a hug for my dearest susan t. and you better beLIEVE i follow up with said hug messenger to ensure the message (in the form of a ginormous bear hug) has been properly delivered. i mean, hello. i will NOT be tolerating any of this formal, limp noodly huggy-ness. if i know you well enough to trust you with the oh-so-privileged Susan T Hug-o-Gram, i trust you enough to deliver it with the proper christie happiness/merriment/sunshine/well, you get the idea.

so, here's to you, susan t! thanks for making the workplace that much more... well, entertaining, to say the oh so very least. hahaha.

HUGS all around!

"A hug is a smile with arms, a laugh with a stronger grip." - Terri Guillemets

guess what this entry is allllll about? the wonders and delights of... the HUG!!! lakfjlaksjdf!!! I LOVE HUGS!!! giving them, receiving them... the best part about the hug is that there IS no difference. you give a hug, you get a hug! i mean, what better way to spread joy to the world, RIGHT?! (speaking of joy to the world... did you hear that miss mariah's coming out with a new christiemas album?! no worries, just a slight side note. there will be a future blog entry devoted to THAT in its entirety, rest assured.)

okay, so in my twenty-seven years on this glorious planet we call Mother Earth (i know, introspective, yo), i feel like ive seen enough to make some fair conclusions. one conclusion being that there is simply just not enough happiness in this world, gosh darn it. i know, i know, talk about stating about the most obvi of the obvious. BUT i also really think that most, if not all, the world's problems could really be solved if people would just start off and end any potentially tense encounters/meetings with a hug. think about it- who DOESN'T feel good after receiving a hug (well, let's just pretend creepy people don't exist in the world for a few moments)? RIGHT? i KNOW. if people started off every encounter with a genuine, hearty hug, you are pretty much guaranteed to formulate an innate bond with that other person, thus mitigating any tense feelings or potential sources of conflict that could arise in the remainder of your encounter/meeting. and THEN, even if said encounters go horribly awry, if you conclude your encounter/meeting with a grand hug, that innate bond is automatically re-formulated and all is merry again.

man, i really should win the nobel peace prize for this. but seriously, while i do realize i sound like im totally off my rocker with this idea, i REALLY think we're onto something here. i mean, honestly. just imagine if barack obama, mahmoud ahmadinejad and kim jong-il were in one room. i know, right? SCARY- barack, get OUTTA that ROOM! yes, that would be my first thought as well under normal (ie: present day) circumstances. however, imagine if obama, ahmadinejad and jong-il were in christieland, where hugs were mandatory, hugs were genuine, hugs were EVERYwhere! i mean, dont YOU think that these three would more quickly figure out that world peace is simply a mere hug away (and simultaneously figure out that nuclear weapons do NOTHING to help move forward the progress of society and should just be dumped in the ocean and left to rot? no? just me? sigh.)... now, i mean, im not delusional. it's not like i think ONE meeting with a hug will solve all the world's problems. but i DO think that it would increase the rate at which all of the world's problems are solved by, hmm, maybe tenfold. it's all very scientific, naturally.

this may be slightly confusing for some who know me well, as i am certainly NOT a touchy feely kind of person. i mean, im sorry, but personal SPACE, people! but i feel like hugs are in a realm of their own. they're just so powerful in nature. come on, think of the best hug you've ever gotten... omg arent they the BEST?!?! arms WIDE open upon introduction, the warm envelope of the embrace mid-hug, the side to side sway as the hug just continues on and on... lkajsdflkjasdklfjsdlka!!! ahhhhh come ON, if even just the THOUGHT doesnt make you want to squeal and dance in a merry little circle, i just dont know what DOES!!!!

i actually just spent a few minutes reflecting on what could possibly have been the best hug ive ever received. but i cant limit it to just one! there are simply too many different TYPES of hugs that ive gotten that it's simply not fair to limit it. there's those reunion hugs where you do the whole swaying back and forth or get picked up off the ground (okay, OBVIOUSLY it depends on with whom you are reuniting... i mean, never forget the art of common sense here, people), there's those heartwrenching goodbye hugs where one or both of you are crying and you can feel the wrenching sobs (while awful and sad, i still love the hug part itself), and there's those hugs you get from people who are so not huggers on a regular basis and totally catch you off-guard (delicious.). sigh. my heart is so full right now, merely thinking of specific instances of each of these types of hugs ive ever received.

so let's do it. let's start/spread this Hugapalooza. let's make it contagious (and limited to non-creepy individuals). let's make it grand. let's make the world merry again. go on! get out there! give someone (or several someones) a hug today. im serious!!

get ready, world! (and by world, i mean, readers o' the maliyacular, i guess...)

in gratitude of-

HUGS!!!!