Thursday, October 30, 2008

A long post, just like make-up sex

So I haven't been posting much on my blog lately. I think it's not only because I'm so swamped at work and then so tired out when I'm home, that the little free time I seem to have at home, I end up doing work at home, and then my brain is too tired to feel creative at all... so writing a post, even logging onto my home computer seems like too much work... And I enjoy this blog, so then it's just more negativity in my life. And then it seems like just one more thing on my 'to do' list. And then I feel like I miss it. And then... well, ya get the picture.

So here's a long post for today, and I promise a joke at the end. A joke! At the end! So maybe not so much like make-up sex (I hope, for your sake).

My dear, dear Sony is currently sitting in my LaSabre at a garage while my car is getting repaired... we took it in for a $400 pump thingy and it's turned into a $2,000+ whatever thingy. Shit.

We dropped the car off yesterday afternoon late, and I was home before I realized my camera was still in it. I am missing my Sony. I take it with me everywhere I go, usually. Since I've had it since May of 2006, it's basically a really old fart of a digital camera now... and she's been through some rough times. I lost the button to push to take a photo over a year ago, and handily set up a paperclip to work instead. Works fine, and cheaper than what they wanted to repair it. But this past Saturday morning, while at Sammy's last football game of the season, I dropped my Sony. From the very top of the bleachers all the way down to the bottom underneath onto pavement. So now I'm missing the wheel to change selections and the push thingy for zoom. But the stem of the wheel thingy is still in place, and I can turn that, so that's ok. And another paperclip can be utilized to zoom in and out (I used a safety pin at the game).



Seriously, is that one helluva camera or what?! Still works great. I took a ton of photos at Sammy's game... here's our Big No. 68 on the team...





And in this one, he's the one nearly horizontal, next to No. 24 on top of some opponents dressed in blue.



Go Sammy! It was an awesome game. The team they played has remained undefeated for the past 3 years we've played them and all this season... until Saturday when our boys beat 'em. Whoo hoo.

After the game, Sam and Kev left for Ann Arbor to go to the U of M and State game. They had a blast. Kev wore his Michigan garb and Sammy his State, and they watched State win. I stayed home, alone because Joycie & Mike were with Mike's family at a wedding in Kalamazoo. So I made a cake for Sammy...



Then Sunday, Kathy called me on her way home from Mt. Pleasant, heading west on a rainy, stormy cloudy day, shot with sunshine here and there. She was fortunate to see one of the most outstanding rainbows she's ever seen, vibrant colors. Plus a triple rainbow, and then further west, the vibrant rainbow from end to end, the whole arc. I told her, see that's why I take my camera with me everywhere I go! And I ran outside into the cold wet grass and out by the pond, but no rainbows to behold at our house. It was pretty, though, and windy. Sunshine came through for a little bit.



And Reilly came out to greet me...



But I could almost hear him thinking, are ye daft, girl? it's freezing out here. Right you are, old boy. In we went.

Kev bought me a present this past week, as a sweet surprise. This is my new CO2 BB gun.



Works great and I can pop those chipmunks and squirrels in the butt and they know I mean business now. I love it.

And I have a funny story with Kev... the other evening we sat down to watch a recorded episode of CSI, it was Episode 2 of Season 9, and I was reading the description about it, how a girl jumps to her death from a tall building and lands on a bus... and I said something like, well, this sounds... and before I could finish, Kev says, "flattering?"...

Well, it cracked me up.

The other day, I had this e-mail conversation with a guy I work with... something else that made me laugh...
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      JT & A. , I need to skip today's update meeting. Sorry for the short notice. I was out sick yesterday & Tuesday, and now have some urgent catching up to do.
      Thanks,
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Hi Julie - I hope you're doing okay now. Was your dementia acting up again? Ugh :(
      Try not to press yourself, k?
      I know I have a ton of things to respond to you on; just have to unbury myself from qtr end & that transfer I did for ya.
      Talk to you soon
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      Oh, JT, you just provided me with what will likely be my only laugh of the day!!!!!!
      I have vertigo, not dementia! Though maybe dementia ain't that far away in my future.............
      I think I had a stomach flu, combined with the still present vertigo. It was yukky.
      I owe you stuff, too. Maybe we can talk one day next week.
      Have a good day!!!
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Y'know, as soon as I sent that reply, I knew it was wrong - duh!
      Hee-hee; glad you're better though :)
      You have a good day too!
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      I wonder if I could retire early if I have dementia..........
      What were we talking about?
      Who are you, again?
      Where am I?
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Can you hear me now?


And now for the joke I promised:
A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies: 'I have a question to ask you but I don't want to offend you.' She answers, 'My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive. ''Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.' She responds, 'Well, let's see what we can do about that: first, you have to be single and second, you must be Catholic.' The cab driver is very excited and says, 'Yes, I'm single and Catholic!' 'OK' the nun says. 'Pull into the next alley.' The nun fulfills his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush, But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying. 'My dear child,' says the nun, 'why are you crying?' 'Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish. 'The nun says, 'That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party.'

Friday, October 17, 2008

Lists and research

Some things I cannot do without:
  • Coffee - I've been trying to cut down to 2 cups per day (always first thing in the morning), but I cannot. I can give up a lot of things, and I thought an excess of coffee was one of them, but sadly... it is not.

  • Vicodin and valium

  • Text messages from my kids

  • Kisses goodbye from Kev

  • Advice from my Mom & Dad

  • TV & the big, green recliner

  • Lists... to do lists, grocery lists, recipes to look up online lists, books to read lists, pottery ideas lists

  • Time at Space Studios

  • Spectacles... my eyesight sucks now, well, really I should say it sucks more now

  • My memory foam pillow


Some things I would love to rid from my life:
  • Lists

  • Vicodin and valium

  • Stress from a certain person at work

  • Some particular procrastination

  • Excessive salt

  • Certain hair follicles, skin tags, and other unsightly sights... seriously I am so getting old

  • My obsession lately with MegaMillions and Classic Lotto 47... coz I truly believe it ain't gonna work, no matter how many prayers I send out, which belief I believe jinx my prayers, so it's doomed, right?... get it?...*sigh*

  • My focus on a coworker's use of "y'all" so often... seriously, now that I've noticed how often he uses it, I can't stop listening for it, and it's kinda driving me nuts... yesterday on a phone call, he used it like 5 times in 2 minutes and it made me batty... not him using it, my listening for it... get over it already, self...

  • Chipmunks at my bird feeder



Whirling Dervish

I have been hearing 'whirling dervish' a lot lately. It's kinda weird. Sammy didn't know what it was, so I tried to explain it to him. I remember the first time I really looked into what a whirling dervish was... I read it in one of the "Mrs. Pollifax" books (the Reader's Digest Condensed version) and I looked it up. I heard it recently on the new TV show, "The Ex List" (great show by the way!). With my vertigo thing happening, I find myself thinking of it... and telling myself STOP! because it does not help to think of that.

If you do a 'net search, you'll get tons of hits. It's a very religious thing, but has now also become a tourist attraction. Kinda sad, that. But maybe not. After all, what's the biggest tourist attraction in Italy? Um, yeah, the Pope. Makin' money from religion ain't no new thang.

Dervish whirl, that is, spin in place, slowly at first, then increasing in speed, to achieve some kind of spiritual high or state of mind beyond their bodies or something like that.

I can hardly stand to even think of doing that. No thank you. However, I do like to say it... Whirling Dervish, whirling dervish...

Ankh

Remember when these necklaces were so popular?

Oh, wait, they still are...

I had one back in the 70's... like the peace sign, it was mostly just fashionable to me and my friends. We were alive in the 60's but didn't live through it like some people to whom the peace sign is much more important. Like the ankh, which was not originally a Christian symbol.... apparently, there is some debate on what it truly represents. But like many pagan items, rituals and dates, the Christians took them over and own 'em now.

I also heard "ankh" on the TV show, "The Ex List." Which got me thinking... those characters are pretty young... they just seem too young to me to be mentioning things like "whirling dervish" and "ankh"... but the writers are Rick Eid and Matt McGuinness, and I don't think they're very young... but quickly finding info on Eid or the other guy was kinda difficult... and I just don't care that much to spend any more time on it. But I suspect they're both around my age or so, i.e., old.