Hello!
I hope your holidays have been joyous and terrific.
In the last week to 10 days, I have:
1. Spent far too much money.
2. Eaten way too much food.
3. Drank oh so much booze.
4. Been so very mad at myself for all of the above.
5. Enjoyed letting friends and family know how much they mean to me, not at just this time of year -- but every single day!
STILTS managed to get his most wanted present, a Sony PSP. I have to admit, they are tres cool. If you have a big enough memory card in them, you can download lots and lots of stuff to it and make it...well, a portable entertainment system!
I managed to get a new digital camera. I like it very much and after I learn to work it, I will post more and more photos on this very blog, yes indeedy.
I get to spend New Year's Eve with E and her family and A too! E's here visiting her Mom and her Mom is having a big party, with KARAOKE no less! Woo Hoo Hoo....I am excited.
I hope you all have a terrific New Year and I'll be posting again very soon.
NASTY BUGS!Good grief. I had done my best to avoid getting sick and thought I had done a groovy job. Last week though, I had a mild to moderate cold that only lasted 4 days -- presumably because I was so full of shtuff that would combat those nasty old cold virus germs.And I had a few days of wellness.Yesterday, they came back with a VENGENCE! I shivered in bed last night without the ability to relax and warm up under the 3 feet of blankets I was buried under. My body was racked with pain. My voice comes and goes. But I haven't got a fever or any green mucus. I have a cough and my chest feel filled with fog but that's it.What planet did these germs come from?
I met E and A my Freshman year of high school. They had already been friends years earlier and whenever I saw the two of them together, I was envious of that strong bond. They weren't in the popular cliques but they weren't looked down upon either. Any time they were hanging around together, they looked happy and like they were having F.U.N.My best friend from elementary school and middle school was going to a different high school and whenever we spent any time together, I could see drastic changes in her that made me uncomfortable. In the summer leading up to high school, LSL had become more willing to "experiment" with boys, drinking and other activities I decided I wasn't really ready for. By Christmas break she was earning straight A's in all the WRONG extra-curricular subjects and our 5 year friendship was dying. Sadly, I never really talked to her any more and despite the differences between us, I really missed her.When classes started back up in January, I would spend my lunch eating red licorice or one of those fried burritos high school cafeterias excelled in marketing. Our campus was one of the very first built in the city and had it's own large auditorium with a connecting 3 or 4 story classroom building. Flanking the entrance to the auditorium were 2 sets of fire escapes, made of lovely concrete with just enough shelter at the top for a bored and very lonely me to sit and freeze. My rear end had had enough of it and I decided I was going to crack that pair open and wedge my way in!!I haven't seen E since she moved away in 1997. She's coming out at Christmas with her daughter and her boyfriend/significant other/great-sounding-guy. It's going to be terrific to get together after all this time. I can't wait to see her daughter, who in pictures is the INCARNATION of E.A and I have had our hot and cold spells when it comes to communicating. Our lives have definitely changed from sitting in her room late at night plotting how we'd win Mtv's Spring Break contest with the Beastie Boys in Daytona Beach. But when we do get together, she can still make my ribs ache from laughing so hard.You know, thinking back to that fateful time when I realized I wanted to be their friend, I also remembered how they were as sweet then as they are now and I didn't have to try very hard. They welcomed me into their hi-jinx faster than you can pull on a pair of fishnets and high heels...yeah, much faster.
High speed montage through the years with lots of laughs, tears, triumphs, disappointments, scares, uncertainty, boyfriends, secrets, careers, husbands, children thrown in. Oh........ and love. Don't forget the love.
I can cast stiches onto the knitting needle, but I cannot wrap my brain around the actual knitting part!I'm going to get a crochet hook. At least I'll be able to DO something.
There's lots of shit going on in the world to make a person fume. Plenty of injustice and horror everywhere, every minute, every second.Last night, on the way home I witnessed one right in front of me.I was in the car at a signal light, waiting my turn when I saw a mother and her two daughters waiting for their turn to use the crosswalk. Work has been going on at this particular intersection for a while and it's finished for the most part but the crosswalks need to be repainted.The mother looked to be in her mid to late 40's and the girls were 8ish and maybe 4. The older girl was carrying bags of something, possibly groceries. The mom was also carrying one similar bag in one hand. The other hand looked to be free.The little toddler girl -- honestly, 4 years old is pushing it -- was holding a big book out in front of her.So they start to cross and the older girl has her head down, like her only care is to get to the other side of the street. The mother starts to make her way across and calls to the toddler to get in front of her. The little girl warbles off the sidewalk and quickly walks ahead of her mother, but I could tell she wasn't really sure where she was supposed to go. Then, she takes a few more steps, and she's nearly heading for the middle of this VERY BUSY INTERSECTION! Her mother yells at her, "Nuh uh...THIS way!" So she starts to head back in the general direction of her mother's voice but she didn't know that cars were mere feet from her!The mother makes no effort to have the little girl walk right by her, she does not take ahold of her hand or clamp on to her little head or GRAB ahold of any part of her body that would shepherd her SAFELY across the street. Miraculously, she gets to the other side.When the mother was walking past my car, her free hand was illuminated by the headlights. She had a cigarette between her fingers. She carried her hand all jutted out at a right angle, away from her body as if she was afraid it was going to get damaged.When for the love of GOD is a cigarette MORE important that the safety and well-being of a child? WHEN?? A child who isn't capable of knowing that's she's supposed to follow her older sister or stay by her mother, is left to fend for herself for the sake of a cancer stick.
Isn't it great to know that she's got people looking out for her at such a young age? I bet she gets to breathe plenty of fresh, second-hand smoke too!
My office building has four entrances. One is a back door, mainly used by employees or people who come here regularly and know it's there. Another one is the entrance to the insurance agency in the North half of the building, and the there are two are on either side of my work area.
The owner of the insurance agency needed a temp receptionist and when the lady showed up, she came through one of our entrances.
Her accoutrements preceded her.
Get your mind out the gutter people, I'm not talking about THOSE accoutrements! DANG.
Anyway, she was lugging a very large, red leather tote bag that was disguised as her purse. It was large and obviously full of something. I mean, it was big enough to hold her belongings plus a few small dogs, their puppies and several loaves of bread. Like the one in this photo, but wider -- MUCH wider.
THEN, on the same arm (no less), she was carrying what looked to me like a ginormous Longaberger basket. Like the one in the picture, but with a handle going across the basket and not so deep. Are you getting a mental picture yet?
It too was laden with plenty of stuff, and for a moment, when she came through the door, I thought perhaps she was from a bakery or sandwich shop and had decided to come out to the barren side of town to peddle her wares! I was this close to fishing my wallet out to buy something from her when she asked if I was the insurance agent. I begrudgingly smiled and let her through the hallway to where she was supposed to go. I couldn't help but peer into her basket hoping she was hiding maple nut muffins wrapped in that clingy, saran-cello crap.First of all -- what, What, WHAT could you POSSIBLY need to bring to a temp job with you that you couldn't live without for 8 hours? You know, it wasn't like she was toting a baby, she looked financially capable of having a babysitter even if she had been young enough to be a recent mother. Good grief, her CADILLAC DEVILLE was parked less than 20 yards from the insurance office door. If she needed something THAT bad, couldn't she just slogg on out there and get it?Secondly, I realize you're temping for one entire day - which would be no big RISK of getting fired or anything. But if you're going to an office that you have no prior knowlege of how big it is, or if there's a lot of room where you're going to be, or if there's even SPACE to stow your luggage....um, wouldn't you want to bring as little as possible in with you?I'm sure she's a very nice person, and the bag and basket were in lovely condition....but let's leave the parcels on the chuck wagon, especially if there ain't no maple nut muffins in em!
