DISCLAIMER: This is not me judging you, or your life decisions.

Last night at my company Christmas party, I took a figurative bullet for the new guy who works there. Upon discovering he's been dating his girlfriend for two years, the older ladies all started squawking over him, asking what his plans were for the future.

I jumped in and commented on how two years wasn't that long. And it's not. Not when you're 21, and your girlfriend is 20. They're both in college. Why the pressure? They need to grow up, discover who they are, and where they want to be.

Anyway, that made all the ladies all turn their attention to me. It seems unfathomable to them that I could date the same guy for more than seven years and still not be married. Or have plans for marriage. Or even want to get married.

But really, aside from better health insurance, what does being married get me? This isn't 1965. Being married isn't my only chance at being at to make a living for myself. I don't need a man to get things done.

What does marriage even mean anymore? With the rampant divorce rate and the utterly repulsive denial of equal rights to everyone, marriage isn't something that means that much to me, especially if marriage is defined as "the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc" I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound like something I'm dying to do.

Whenever someone changes their relationship status to engaged, people comment on their wall with things like "Welcome to the club!" or "Now you're one of us!." So, I could also join a cult and get the same sort of reception.

This is not me judging you if you're married. In fact, I think it's great that you're married. I'm happy that you've found someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.

I'm just tired of being judged because I haven't followed the same path.

I get the sense that a lot of people are getting married because it's what you're supposed to do, and because they don't want to be left behind all their married friends.

Why is it so unacceptable of me to be comfortable in my relationships as it is? I don't doubt our commitment to each other. I love our partnership. I don't think what we have deserves any less respect just because it hasn't been verified by the state of Missouri.

I'm not saying I won't ever get married. In fact, I probably will. I like to experience new things. But it's not the end goal for me, either. And I don't get what's so wrong with that.

I've been having a lot of health problems recently.

I've been rundown, tired, and sick a lot. Every cold I came near, I contracted. I couldn't sleep. I slept too much. I could barely keep my eyes open in the afternoon. I had no motivation. I was bruising easily. My hair and skin were dry. The former was falling out, the latter was flaky.

Along with a few other issues I'm having, Dr. Google told me I had a thyroid problem.

Okay, I can handle that. So I went to a real doctor (because, really, have we even seen Dr. Google's credentials?) and got lots and lots of blood drawn to test.

I don't have a thyroid problem. Suck it, Google.

What I do have? Malnourishment. I'm anemic, vitamin D deficient, calcium deficient, and a bunch of other types of deficient.

Which is nothing, really. I mean, when it comes down to it, I just need to start eating.

I guess I probably don't eat enough pretty often. I forget to eat a lot. If I'm alone, it seems like too much hassle to make food. Plus, if you drink enough coffee, you hardly get hungry at all.

I have a dodgy history with food. I was bulimic as a teenager. I had issues with malnourishment even earlier, in middle school. I was anemic and had to take supplements and get blood drawn regularly, due to my crazy dieting at such a vulnerable age.

I can't eat a lot of food. Dairy and gluten make my stomach hurt. Meat grosses me out. I eat it, certainly. But I can't think about it or look at it too closely.

But I need to start eating.

To borrow from a cliche, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I hate getting my blood drawn, which I apparently am supposed to start doing again.

I have a bunch of prescription strength supplements I have to take. Crazy doses, like 50,000IU caplets of Vitamin D, where the normal supplement amount is 100IU.

I'm struggling with this. I made a hamburger for lunch today, which is not my favorite, but I need protein. I used beef and veggies in dinner, too. More protein. Even with all that, I didn't even clear 1,000 calories. More than 300 of those were from my coffee and whiskey (not at the same time).

I'm also going to see a therapist. I've never had counseling before, but my first appointment is on Thursday.

I've started tracking my food again, which I had stopped doing. I'm using MyFitnessPal this time, mostly because I'm a follower.

I need to break my bad habits. I've been failing at this for more than a decade, and it needs to stop.

I can't resist these things, I don't know why. Thanks, Avitable!

Q: How does the world see me?
A: Ridin' Solo- Jason DeRulo

Q: Will I have a happy life?
A: Shape of My Heart- Backstreet Boys

Q: What do my friends really think of me?
A: Gorgeous- Kanye West

(I swear I'm not making this up)

Q: Do people secretly lust after me?
A: Love Is An Action- The Hours

Q: How can I make myself happy?
A: Call Me What You Like- Keane

Q: What should I do with my life?
A: Pantomime- Incubus

Q: Will I ever have children?
A: Blood- Editors

Q: What is some good advice for me?
A: She Says- Howie Day

Q: How will I be remembered?
A: All In All- Lifehouse

Q: What do I think my current theme song is?
A: Steady As She Goes- The Raconteurs

Q: What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
A: Gold Soundz- Pavement

Q: What song will play at my funeral?
A: I Wanna Get You Alone- Joseph Arthur

Q: What type of men/women do I like?
A: Rocket Man- My Morning Jacket

On Sunday, we headed out of Orlando to partake in a Florida EcoSafari. I'd always wanted to try zip-lining, and figured my birthday would be a great time to try something scary. They were booked up on my actual birthday, but Sunday seemed like a great day to try. Mike was nervous and thinking I had lost my mind wanting to do this. Until we got there, when things between us switched drastically. After climbing the first set of stairs to the first platform, Mike declared his love of heights. I, however, felt like I was going to throw up. I'm not usually scared of heights, but this was a whole new animal.


I was getting queasier and queasier.

Totally terrified. The zips themselves weren't so bad. It was the climbing the rickety looking (but I'm sure totally safe) stairs and standing on the swaying platforms that got to me.
The worst of all, though, was the horrifying "skybridges." You may notice from my death grip below, I was not liking those AT ALL. I don't like that they moved when you walked on them. I didn't like that the next person started walking on it before you were done, which made the whole thing bounce like a trampoline.
I also didn't like that pretty much every time I zipped I got turned backwards, somehow, so in this lovely video you'll see what I was doing to try to right myself (which is the completely wrong way to do it). And if you look really carefully, you'll notice where the rope knot hits me in the face when I land. Not on video is where I ran into a tree. Well, my arm anyway.

How Not To Zipline from Amanda Hall on Vimeo.

I survived it. And I didn't throw up until after I was safely in their lobby bathroom. It's my new deal: You scare me, I puke in your bathroom. It wasn't a horrible experience, because at least I can say I did it. I didn't do it gracefully, but I finished, without crying. Mike had a fantastic time, at least, and that counts as a lot for me.

After I spent the rest of the day recuperating, we met up with Avitable for dinner at the Hard Rock, where he took my meeting a blogger virginity. I've never had the opportunity to meet up with a blogger before (because for some reason, people don't vacation here often. I just can't see why not.)

Then on Monday, it was time for the reason we went to Orlando: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There's not a lot I can say beyond that it was fantastic. If you're a fan of Harry Potter, you must go experience this. We arrived well before opening time, and the lines weren't ridiculous. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.
The food at the Three Broomsticks was so good, we ate there for lunch and dinner. I will say, I found Butterbeer to be horrible. I guess if you like cream soda it's good, but I couldn't choke it down. I didn't like the pumpkin juice, either. I did enjoy the beer they have specially brewed for them, though.
The attention to detail was amazing. It legitimately felt like you were walking through Hogwarts. It helped that we were early enough to avoid super long lines, and could walk through the building at our own pace. The paintings talked to you (of course) but it really looked like oil paintings were speaking.
I was particularly taken with the charm of the buildings in the Hogsmeade portion. It was bustling just like a city, too, so the only decent shots I have are just of the rooflines.
I think the Ollivander's part was not worth waiting in line for an hour for a 5 minute performance where a kid you don't know gets chosen for a wand, but we did purchase a few wands at the end. One was for Mike's sister in law, the other was for "me," but it's the wand Mike thought looked the coolest (Sirius Black's). Now I just need to figure out what the hell to do with it. I assume it will stay in it's box in a closet.

After we had thoroughly toured the area, we did the rest of Islands of Adventure, then went to the regular Universal Studios part (per the recommendation of Avitable) and had a great time with all that as well. We went back to the Harry Potter part when the sun went down, and it was just as pretty at night. Our camera didn't have a great night mode, so the pictures don't capture it very well.

And that was it! The next day we flew home. None of our flights were canceled, so I'll consider that a win.

We just got home from a quick long weekend in Florida. It was my birthday on Saturday so we decided to get away for a little bit to celebrate. We chose Orlando because I've been dying to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We flew in on Friday and didn't have anything to do specifically, so while driving around slightly aimlessly, we found an Ikea. I've never been to one before since we don't have one here, but I've always wanted to see it. And man, did I love it.

The next day was my birthday, so we decide to drive to the beach and have lunch at Crabby Joe's (the yellow building on the pier)

Then we went for a long walk on the beach. It was cold and windy, but beautiful (especially since the beach was deserted) (please pretend I don't look pregnant in this picture. I'm not. I just arch my back in pictures for no reason)

Since we were in the area, we decided to check out the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. Which, while beautiful...
was a horrible thing to do. Who want to climb all these stairs on their birthday? My legs were screaming at me by the time we reached the top.
We took it easy that night and had a pleasant dinner and many dirty martinis. We walked by Wonderworks after dinner and decided to give it a shot even though I had read horrible reviews for it.
And you know what? It wasn't bad. It was definitely overpriced (and it takes a LOT for me to think something is overpriced) but it was fun. (That could maybe be the dirty martinis talking). Or at least, it was fun, until we reached the ropes course portion. I climbed to the first platform and immediately turned around and came back down. My boyfriend, however, enjoyed playing around.
Then I tried to switch memory cards in my camera because mine was full, and stuck the wrong card in it. It's wedged in there now and I have no idea how to get it out. Mike will be doing exploratory surgery on it tomorrow. So I don't have the pictures from the rest of the trip because they were taken on his camera which I assume is in his luggage somewhere, which is no with me. So hopefully I'll get them soon and be able to recap the rest of the trip (it gets way more interesting from here).

I'm so amazed at people that blindly follow people on Twitter. Do you really want to follow just anyone? It's no fun in your stream is filled with people who are annoying. I follow people all the time because my friends are friends with them. Then I unfollow them because they are irritating, or too negative, or whatever.

Even weirder are the people that search phrases on Twitter, then follow them because a person said a certain word.

The other day when everyone on Facebook was posting that Ellen video about how gay teens are committing suicide at an alarming rate and how we need to do something about it, a friend of mine posted it saying that this is a free country, and people should have the freedom to choose to be gay. And while I appreciate the vaguely supportive sentiment, that's so wrong. You don't choose to be gay. You are gay. Or you are straight. Or you are bisexual, or you have sex with horses. Whatever. You don't choose to be gay anymore than you choose to be straight. (and if you chose to be straight, you're probably gay.)

So anywho, I made a comment about this on Twitter, and all these conservative news story Twitterers started following me. I'm not sure if they saw the word "freedom" and thought I was one of them? Or if they thought I was saying it was wrong to be gay? Which certainly wasn't what I was saying. In fact, it's the opposite of what I was saying.

I also said something a few weeks ago about how I don't care about football, and a bunch of football enthusiast tweeters started following me. The same happened when I complained about hiking.

I guess people just follow people in hopes that they'll follow them back to raise their numbers?

I don't care enough about my numbers to blindly follow whoever starts following me, or to start following someone just because they mention a word that's on my radar. That's not what Twitter is about for me. That's why I follow so few people. If you're not popping out quality tweets, I don't want you clogging up my feed.

I'm blatantly stealing this idea from Avitable.

My Bucket List (I tried not to make them all travel oriented)

• Move to a different country. Or at least a very different region of this one. I’d love to pack it all up and move to London. That’s my dream. Mike wants to move to Seattle or Vancouver… I guess his dream is easier to obtain. Either way, we were both born and raised here, and we need to explore more.
• Spend time in a country where I don’t speak the language. We went to Paris for a day and I was SO UNCOMFORTABLE. We stuck to London and Dublin because they’re English speaking. I want to ride a gondola in Venice and the tour the south of France, or go to Russia or Brazil. Somewhere where English isn’t the most prevalent language.
• See the Northern Lights in person. Something about this phenomenon has always fascinated me, but I’ve never been anywhere it’s visible.
• Drive across the US. I’ve seen a fair amount of this country, but I’d love to be able to take a lot of it in at once.
• Go to Mardi Gras. We tend to avoid holidays and festivities like the plague, but just once I’d love to go to a big huge party celebration. I’m uncomfortable in crowds, so this would be a test for me.
• Start running, for real. I go for a jog once or twice a week, but I never really get into it. I need to establish a routine. It’s not going to get any easier to lose weight the older I get.
• Get a tattoo. I know what I want, and where I want it, but I’m a chicken. I need to man up and just do it.
• Try more “extreme” activities. I haven’t done anything dangerous. I’m not even scared, more apathetic. Sky Diving, Parasailing, and Zorbing are all things I’d love to try.
• Learn to Sculpt. I’ve taking painting, drawing, and photography classes, but sculpture isn’t something I’ve gotten to experience very often. I’d love to really learn the skill. My mom still has a bowl I “sculpted” in Kindergarten.
• See the Shins and Editors in concert. They don’t have to be together, obviously. I’ve seen all the rest of my favorite bands live (Radiohead, Death Cab, Snow Patrol, The Decemberists, The Killers, Starsailor, etc.) but I’d really like to see these two as well.
• Learn the difference in wines. I know if I like a wine or not, and I can tell you if it’s dry or sweet, but that’s it. I can’t blindly taste the difference between a malbec and a cabernet, or pick up the hints of apple or Edam or whatever.

What's on your list?