Just Talking....

How did it get to be the last week in May already? I swear this year is conspiring to make my head spin!

There's been a lot of tragic stuff going on in the world, and while I'll talk about it elswhere, I'm not going to here. I don't want this to be the forum in which I do that. Mostly because I tend to ramble, and I can just imagine sitting down and looking back up when I'm done with my rant only to have a fifteen page long blog post. That would be annoying and unproductive.

I am going to try to get my butt in gear and get back to this more often. Because I do feel like I've been neglecting the blog, and that's no fun.

It's already ridiculously warm here - has been for over a month. Some evenings there's a breeze and in the shade, Lu's evening walks aren't so bad. I am looking forward to the days when we hop over the 110 degree mark. That's when my nerve endings throw in the towel, go on strike and refuse to work until better conditions arise. Let me tell you... those are actually nice days.

We didn't do much this weekend. I refer to it as going into "bomb shelter" mode. We stayed in, leaving the house only when necessary. Which was pretty nice. I got everything on my house related list done (except two things, and at this point, I'm beginning to think I'm never going to hem the pants that have been on the list for a month and a half) and we spent the in-between times working our way through the clone wars series.

I have mixed feelings about this series. For one thing, I'm really happy that it makes me care about Anakin - who, to this point, I really didn't like. But, it also has a pesky habit of ignoring continuity and bringing random people back from the dead.

Well, I've got to run to work... hopefully I'll yammer at you tomorrow.

When a Stranger Calls

This weekend I got a random call to my cell phone. I – like many people – don’t answer random numbers I don’t know. So, when a number from Tuscon appeared on my cell, I ingored it. Ten minutes later, a “restricted” number popped up on my screen and I declined that one too. Then I saw that both calls had resulted in voicemails.

The first voicemail I listened to long enough to find out it wasn’t for me and moved on to the second. All I knew was that Andy* was calling Angie for one reason or another, and I’m not Angie. So I deleted the message and moved to the next. The restricted number turned out to be Andy – who withheld his number in an attempt to get me, or rather, Angie, to pick up – and this time I listened, because really?

Turns out Andy told Angie she’d gained some weight. At this point I’m not really surprised that Angie gave him a fake number, but as I’m listening to it… I realize the fault might not have been on Angie’s side. Andy sounds like he’s 80 years old, mentally incompetent AND high as a kite.

I deleted them both and thought that was the end of it.

He called twice on Monday – with no messages left – withholding his number.

He called twice yesterday.

The first time he withheld the number. The second time he didn’t. And what came of the second call is quite possibly the strangest voicemail I’ve ever received:

Hey Angie this is Andy, um Suzy’s neighbor, I am sooooo sorry that I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to because it was just that you know I went through the same thing and I just started loosing cuz I  you know stip-but I also wanted to talk to you about me coming off of them an stuff so…. Please call me and I am so sorry.
I Love you. So.

…and don’t say anything but, um, you’re my favorite over you know. I mean I like Suzy a lot and I like (pauses like he’s trying to remember the name) Peg, but… Peg, I like a lot, but not like you an you know  you’re down to earth and you try to f*ck in all these weird  words and stuff. So please don’t tell em that but you are. You’re my favorite. I’m sorry, I really am

Call me. My number is 773-11…8…

Wait

7…3…3

Wait

7…3…

It’s 520 (completes his actual phone number)

I just got up so I’m sorry, Bye bye hun. I hope you’re doin’ alright.

* The names of those involve have been changed to protect the innocent (and incompetent)

Love Is In The Air... Or Is It In The Signal?

I got a new phone!


Let’s start with a little back story. I’d had the “same” phone since august of 2007. It wasn’t bad at the beginning, but like a dead pig in the sunshine it began to stink, and fast. But I’m a ‘survivor’ if something goes wrong… I’m usually the one waiving a hand and saying something along the lines of, “don’t worry about it, I’ll live.”

And then my phone “broke” I tried to answer my phone and I couldn’t hear anything. The person on the other end could hear me – and my annoyed cursing at my stupid phone – just fine. The speaker in my phone’s ear piece had gone out. So I, having the wherewithal to never ditch my full coverage phone insurance (it’s six bucks, how could you pass that up?) dutifully took the phone to the repair shop.

It took a while for the repair technitians to get what I was telling them… I don’t know how hard it is to understand “The speaker in my ear piece went out” when you do this for a living, but somehow, it took me nearly 15 minutes to get them to understand me. They finally printed up the work order, slapped a rubber band around it and my phone and tossed it on the pile of to-be-gone-through phones. I was sent away with no connection to the outside world and was informed that I should return at the end of the next day.

When I returned, the lovely gentleman who’d helped me the previous day informed me that, “The speaker in your ear piece went out.” I refrained from saying, you think?

Anyway, they “fixed” the problem by ordering me a new phone (the same phone) and sending me on my way a week later with said new phone. Problem was, I could no longer use the vibrate function. They refused to give me a new battery and the old battery didn’t fit quite right in this particular version of the exact same phone. I figured I would live and went on.

One week later, the speaker in my earpiece went out.

I weighed my options. Did I want to go through the whole thing again? or could I live with it.

I decided to live with it. I only had a year left on my contract and I wanted to get rid of that phone and the provider. So I lived with it.

My contract was up some time in December. I wasn’t really sure when, so I planned to cancel it the first week of this year… that is until Christmas day when I looked at my bank account and saw that my new bill (off contract) was over double what it had been just a month ago. Needless to say, I called Monday and had the line disconnected and service severed.

That in and of itself was a process. The first guy I spoke with was courteous and did not put up a fuss about my desire to leave the company and I thought, “Great! Smooth sailing.” Boy was I wrong. He had to transfer me over to an account specialist who proceded to ask me the exact same questions that the other guy had “made a note of” in my account. Then when I informed her of the problems with the phone she went on to tell me that the phone I had was a “Great phone” this time I didn’t bother to be polite about that… the comment deserved the “obviously not” she got.

After 10 minutes of me repeating that all I wanted to do was disconnect the phone and no, I didn’t want to switch to an internet card service, nor would an Android phone at the low, low price of $99 get me to stay with them she put me on hold for five minutes.

When she returned she informed me that the phone would be disconnected at the end of the billing cycle and it couldn’t be turned off any sooner, so don’t ask. A spot of rudeness before she informed me that I wouldn’t be billed for anything unless of course there were overages on the phone… And then she asked me if I’d be able to answer yes to all of the questions on the survey the company would soon be sending me… and I stopped. And this is the conversation that followed:

Me: No, I can’t tell you that I would say yes without knowing what the questions are.
Her: They’re just going to ask you whether I was kind, courteous, helpful and if I solved your problem.
Me: I don’t know, probably… (That sounded like a very short survey to bother with sending out)
Her: You’re saying you wouldn’t be able to say yes to all of those?

At this point I’m annoyed. Customer service should not include grilling your caller in an attempt to bully them into agreeing to say yes to a number of survey questions I haven’t actually seen… and I decide that I’m not going to play into that.

Me: Frankly, telling me a phone is “Great” when I’ve told you I’m having problems with it isn’t courteous, so I might not be able to give you high marks on that point.
Her: You need to understand that everyone has their own opinion. And just because you think that I shouldn’t have said that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.

She said some more things, but I’m not remembering them right now. All I can say is that if she was hoping to get a yes out of me that was not the way to respond to me.

I ended the conversation then, thanking her for her time and hung up. Irritated was not the word for how I truly felt.

How I truly felt about her and this phone is better illustrated in pictorial format.

And then Tuesday brought with it a whole new form of happiness by way of anew phone. I was looking at my options and it was between the LG Vortex and another phone… you know what cast the deciding vote toward the Vortex?

It comes in purple.

Now, I don’t know if you can tell or not… but I like purple.
Exhibit A:

(That's right... my purse, my water bottle, my shirt, heck, even my flash drive is poypul!) 

Anyway, the simple fact that I have a new phone that actually works, and that costs less than the phone I used to have while a) did I mention that it works? And b) has a ton more features. So I think I came out on top this time around.

Now… wasn’t that a fun story?

Five Random Wikipedia Articles:

(I’m going to put up my Wordless Wednesday post in a few hours – silly me forgot to do that last night :/ For now, I thought I’d share this with you.)

Here’s the thing. I was bored… and so I decided to go to Wikipedia and click the random article tab on the left sidebar and tell you all what I’d found. Feel free to join in and play a long. Make sure you put a link in the comments to your entry, I’d love to see what Wikipedia gave you!

Here are my five:

1. Ukridge’s Dog College
A short story by P.G.Wodehouse, detailing a man’s – perhaps good intentioned, but ill informed – attempt to train dogs as performers in the music hall and the shenanigans that take place because of it. (First published - April 1923)

(Don’t he know a Mutt ain’t got no manners?)

2. Toma, Hokkaido
A Japanese town with a population of approximately 7,519 people (as of 2008)

(You mean my home town is actually bigger than another city!!! OH BOY!)

3. Stephanie Opal Weinstein
Ex-wife of Phil Anselmo (Pantera frontman). Born in Mobile Alabama in 1973, she is apparently also known as Opal Enthroned.

(Opal Enthroned became Opal Dethroned when she and Phil split)

4. 38 Carat Collection
Released October of 1999, this is a compilation album of Prefab Sprout – a British pop band.

(With a name like that it’s amazing they haven’t sprouted up in front of me before!)

5. IC 4526
A galaxy in the costellation Bootes.

(Pretty stars, ugly name)

I’m a Scheduler

So, I was going to write a review of Tron Legacy for today’s post… but I’ve decided I want to see it once more before I do so. This means that you don’t get it until Friday. (Sorry Katie)


As I type this, my other screen is open to my Google Calander. This nifty little tool helps keep me sane. Because I like to schedule just about everything. Plans keep me from crawling out of my skin. So each week I have a timeline that looks like this:

The fact that I don’t have to break out my color coded pens myself is a life saver.

Pink items are what I’m writing about on my writing blog
Teal items are the posts I write here
Green are Birthdays
Dark Blue are US Holidays
Purple is my writing schedule
&
Red is everything else.

I’ve got most of January scheduled and pieces of February.

Welcome to my head.

Dragonflies, Laundry and Ruski's OH MY!

So, I love the blogger in draft Stats tab. It gives me something to giggle about when I’m bored and there’s nothing to do/my brain needs a break from the needy characters in my head. That being said, I thought I’d lay some statistics on you. (These are all current as of last Wednesday because I’m crazy and write these things out in advance.)

 

My three most read posts:

1.  Yesterday Morning, my greatest fears were realized… (or, Dragonflies Have Super Powers) 7/30/10
2. Better Late Than Never, Rght? 9/20/10
3. Things you shouls save for online forums – A (short) List 7/15/10

 

Anyone want to venture a guess at the margin between the number one and two spots?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
256 views!

 

Yessir. Ladies and Genteelmen, my post on the super powers of dragonflies and the idea of a coconut crab that can fly cutting the top off our truck to kill me has received 274 pageviews according to blogger. Second place clocks in with only 18 views. Amazing. 3rd came in with 17 (not quite as big of a jump.)

 

My three highest traffic sources:

 

1. Google Reader (62)
2. Laundry Hurts My feelings (23)
3. Bye Bye Pie and the Blogger home page (16)

I can’t complain about spot #1… I read all of my blogs on Google reader and then click through to comment.

 

#2 is thanks to my dear critique partner Joann. She’s awesome with promotion

 
Bye Bye Pie’s attribution is due to Typad’s lovely little way of allowing you to link your blog to your name in the comments.

 

The three countries that visit me the most:

1. United states (1,120)
2. Canada (53)
3. Russia (45)

The US holding the top spot isn’t really a surprise. The people I force to read my blog are all from here, so it’s really not surprising.

 

I’m going to give all of the credit for Canada’s #2 spot to Randine. Mostly because she’s the only reader I know for a fact is from that strange and mysterious country to the north! (if you didn’t hear eerie music when you read that, please read the italicized portion again and imagine a dusty organ playing somewhere in the distance.)

 

I honestly have no idea why I’m getting so many Russian hits. Honestly. Does anyone out there want to clue me in on that one?

 

I’m overweight.

Apparently I hide it well, and I’m not at the point where I cry when I look at myself in the mirror naked, but the fact of the matter is I’m 15lbs over what I should be to fall into the healthy BMI range. During the 7 weeks that my body decided to go all loopy and have a ridiculously long period, yes, that was what Let’s see how vague I can be about this was about, I gained 20 pounds.

As you can tell, if you took the time to do the math, I was only 5lbs under the limit for a healthy BMI as it was. Even at that point I would have liked to lose some of the poundage. Now, I would love to get back to my high school weight… I’m sure a lot of us would, but let’s face it... I don’t have first period aerobics with twelvedaysold or birdy anymore.

Up until my doctor’s appointment last Thursday, I was in denial about keeping that weight. In my head, I was slowly losing the weight and just merrily thrumming along blissfully unaware that there was no change whatsoever. But when I stepped on the scale and saw the black numbers on their green backlit screen… I had only lost 2lbs. That’s nothing to be proud of, I can fluctuate either way by a few pounds throughout the day… regardless of what that scale said. I was still sitting at the weight I’d been at during my last visit… three months ago.

So, I’ve made the decision. I’m going to actually work at it. Once I figure out exactly how I’m going to attack it, I’ll let you know. But for now, I’ve made the conscious decision to start. And I’ve told you about it – which hopefully will hold me accountable.

The Big One –Oh –Oh

Due to this being my 100th post, Wordless Wednesday is being cancelled today and I’m going to talk a bit instead. You’re all exhilarated, I know!

Today I’m going to talk about the people who really matter here, the people who follow my blog though in some cases they don’t know me hardly at all.

I’m doing this in alphabetical order, so I hope no one toward the bottom feels like I’m putting them there on purpose. I’m not. On to the readers.

Connie writes a blog on both her personal and writing life over at A Merry Heart. With four teenage kids, two of whom are in college – tackling degrees I don’t feel smart enough on my best day to consider venturing near – Connie’s posts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are often humorous while illustrating the simple truths of life. Thursday’s she posts a writer’s quote to help inspire her readers.

Jenna posts tidbits of her life in Portland every evening over at Little Grey Kitten. For a while there I was a little afraid that she might be my doppelganger and that if we ever met this particular universe might implode. I would hate to think that she and I caused harm to the multiverse. I think I’ll always be thankful to her for introducing me to the substitution of e’s for the vowels in swear words.

I would love to tell you anything about Jmeyers0925, but I’m not even sure who they are, and for that I’m sorry. I looked to see if I could find any clue, but alas I’m not so good with the internet sleuthing. And thus, all I can say is thank you Jmeyers0925 for following and please, feel free to introduce yourself in the comments.

Joann of Laundry Hurts My Feelings is my wonderful critique partner, a woman with more patience than I will probably ever have and a constant source of hope and inspiration. And she is all this while keeping her gaggle of daughters and zoo of animals in line. She has written an amazing novel that I am certain will see its way to the shelves, and her blog posts are an entertaining way to pass the time until her book is available.

Katie went to high school with me so despite the fact that she’s my official biggest fan (hey, she applied and had an awesome resume) and comments more than anyone else, I do tend to wonder if she’s only here out of pity. Just kidding of course. Her blog, twelvedaysold, has me bursting with laughter when she posts. (On a side note Katie, post more. I don’t have enough interaction with you as it is.)

Kristy writes about her life with her adorable little boy at her blog, Pampers and Pinot. I don’t recall what exactly drew me to her blog in the first place, but I know what made me stay. She’s wickedly funny and perfectly poignant often at the very same time. So, grab a glass of wine and let her tell you a story about a sleeping toddler and a very helpful dry cleaning employee. You will be amused.

Just as with Jmeyers, I have no idea who Moh is, but they follow me and they’re awesome for that ;)

Samantha lives in France so it is only fitting that her blog is called: Life, Love and Living in France. I have not followed her for long, but I can say that her storytelling ability is witty and her commentary on emigrating to France is very interesting. Also, how often do you get to read about someone blaming flatulence on a mouse?

Susan over at Spinning a Yarn is dear Katie’s sister. A crafter in every sense of the word, she’s made some pretty nifty things in the time I’ve been following her. Each new entry is like a little ray of sunshine. I can honestly say, Susan, that you somehow manage to always buoy my mood.

[Update:] Jen from Unedited just started following me this morning, via Samantha. Welcome Jen. Thanks for rounding out my following to 10 for post #100.

I would love to know how you found my blog, and if you have any complaints - if you have a minute to comment.

Marshmallows Roasting on an Open Broiler

So… I’ve really been wanting some roasted marshmallows… to the point of actually deciding that if need be, I’d buy a bunch of mini marshmallows and a lighter and I’d go to town. Fortunately, Earl made a suggestion that was aided by the fact that they only had the big marshmallows at the store. This is why I, with a cute little oven mit on my hand, sat in front of the oven with the broiler on and roasted me up some marshmallows. Now… what would have been awesome… Andes mint smores, unfortunately there were no Andes mints to be had! For shame!

Am I crazy? Have you ever gone out of your way for something you were “craving”?

I Could Have Been Killed!

Imagine, if you will, this

hurdling toward you on a collision course!


This morning on our way to work (Earl and I carpool if I have yet to mention that) we were almost hit by the lightrail.

Anyone who lives in Phoenix can tell you about this ill conceived train. It has it’s advantages, yes, but for the most part it wasn’t well thought out. The worst part of it… even after it’s been open for over a year, it’s still not working quite right with normal traffic.

The lightrail, which I believe would have been better in so many ways as an elevated train, apparently isn’t completely synced with the normal traffic control systems (aka: traffic lights). This morning, after pulling off our freeway exit, and sitting at the light to cross west bound Washington and turn onto east bound Jefferson, the light changed. The infinity sedan and the dump truck in front of us began to go, but everyone set off cautiously as the lightrail didn’t look like it was going to stop.

It did.

And then it started to go again… with traffic still in the intersection in front of it, our light glaringly green.

All that I can say is that someone really needs to work that bug out.

Random Thoughts For a Friday

• Yay! The creepy guy at work that I had to file a sexual harrassment charge on 4 years ago is off today. Always a good thing.
• Mmmmmmm! Tea is super good in the mornings.
• I really should go see my tattoo artist again sometime soon... he probably thinks I hate him or something.
• Found out yesterday that Jenna is my doppleganger.
• Watched the first few episodes of season 5 HIMYM... still think they're stupid for starting season 6 the day before season 5 is released on DVD.
• Is enjoying sending two of her betas segments of her novel... it makes it feel very 1940's serial, which is a vibe I was going for. Don't know that that's really the effect I'm getting from the whole thing though.
• Ugh.... time to go to work.

 

I’m getting sick.

This doesn’t bode well for me. When I’m sick I’m not productive and that makes me feel bad. What’s worse is that it’s one of those things where my throat is starting to hurt. I haven’t checked yet to see if it is Tonsillitis by some strange and freakish divine practical joke. I swear, I want those damn glands taken out! Swallowing shouldn’t hurt. Involuntary things shouldn’t hurt, breathing, blinking, swallowing… none of these things should be allowed to hurt. EVER. And yet they do.

However, this does add credence to my belief that the large bump on my forearm is in fact just an enlarged lymphnode (not some strange form of cancer that will quickly eat away at my radius) because it’s begun acting like the nodes in my throat. Movement, including stirring my tea this morning, produces a dull ache.

Grrr! I hate getting sick. Forced days off because you could be contagious are no fun… because you’re ill and can’t enjoy them.

Earl’s cute. This morning I told him he couldn’t kiss me because I wasn’t going to let him get sick. He said that was ok as long as he could still give me hugs kiss my forehead… sometimes I wonder how on earth I got this lucky.

Why Do We Celebrate Labor Day?

Most of us think of Labor day as the end of summer, I know that as a child Labor day signaled the final day before school and I hated it. But why does the holiday exist at all? Do you know? I didn’t.

The holiday was first celebrated on September the fifth, 1882 in New York, but it didn’t become a federal holiday until 1894. Blame it on the railroad or on Chicago. Blame it on Pullman or on Grover Cleveland. Whomever you blame it on, don’t blame it on me, I wasn’t there.

The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between the railroads and labor unions in Pullman, Illinois beginning May 11th in 1894. That was the day Pullman Palace Car Company employees began a “wild cat strike,” meaning they did so without the authorization of their union officials. Approximately 3,000 employees turned to striking in response to wage reductions. This Strike brought west Chicago traffic to a standstill. And, as word spread throughout the country of the strike other members of the union joined in, at its peak, the strike involved 250,000 workers in 27 states.

Pres. Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to step in because the strike interfered with the delivery of U.S. Mail, though his cabinet debated whether he had the authority to do so. The military involvement only led to outbreaks of violence. In the end, official reports concluded that 13 union members died, and 57 were wounded. With inflation to 2010, the estimated property damage incurred by the rail workers is over $8 million.

Cleveland rushed the holiday through legislation after the Pullman Strike as an appeasement to the labor unions. Congress unanimously signed the holiday into Law six days after the end of the strike.

September was chosen as America’s labor day because, while the Pullman strike occurred in May, May Day is seen internationally as a “labour day” and Cleveland did not want to cause negative emotions to arise with any possible relation to the Haymarket Affair which occurred in Chicago in 1886. It is considered the origin of May Day as an observed Labour Day.

And if you don’t care about that at all, for some Labor Day is a great day because it marks the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons. The NCAA traditionally playing their first games in the week before Labor day and the NFL kicking off for the first time the following Thursday.

Are We Losing Our Morality?

Let me tell you a little story:

There once was a girl who, while driving to dinner with friends, saw a dog get hit by a car. It was tragic to be sure and she cried for two full hours throughout the meal with her friends. Upon leaving the restaurant, she passed a car accident and could not crane her neck far enough to abate her desire to witness a dead body.

The point I’m trying to make is that a lot of people are devaluing human life anymore. As with the story above (which is true btw) people have either become desensitized to the idea of death or maybe it’s just that we’ve gotten to the point that we don’t think of people as beings with souls when we live in a city as big as I do. You’re surrounded by strangers for most of your day. When you don’t know a person, does it make it that much easier to consider them to less than human? Or, in the story in question, is it possible that the girl was looking for death that was already there and it had nothing to do with the life that was lost?

You tell me? Are we as a society slowly losing our morality?

Word Cloud Time!

If you'd like to make one of your own, go to wordle I just put in this blog's URL and this is what it gave me!

My Biggest Fan is Awesom (aka. Sorry About the Inadvertant Blog-cation)

I've been busy. Like a little annoying busy bee. And that has, unfortunately, kept me away. But we shall not let it keep us away any longer! Haha! No, we will not!

Let me take this moment to talk to you about a dear friend who has been a saint about that annoying buzzing that comes from her computer almost daily. That's right, the buzzing is an annoying writer who needs to talk to some one and this dear girl is kind enough to let me talk to her all day, even when she has better things to do (though it is in email, so she is able to ignore me when she wants.)

This saint, is my biggest fan... or as I like to call her the gentle lady with eyes of ice and geekdom of might! You might want to call her Katie, its her given name and will turn fewer heads in the super market...

Katie and I have been lovers friends since highschool that's right jesse, I had her first! and that friendship has always been held together by the stringy bonds of wierdness.

(Ah yes, the days of glasses, braces and monkey t-shirts)

Katie is the kind of person you can call up and say, "Hey, we're driving up the coast... think we could crash at your place for the night." (which we have) and undoubtedly, that night will be one of, if not the best, nights of your trip. (and it was)

I think that everyone deserves a friend like Katie (gentle lady with eyes of ice and geekdom of might). Read a few entries of her blog and I'm sure you'll feel the same.

A Day Without Pants Must Be a Good Day.

Today was a day of no pants for me. Dear Earl and I woke up relatively early and proceded to do next to nothing. Alright, so I got laundry done and managed to shower/brush my teeth, etc., but the point is I didn’t do anything productive (though I did try…)

We started to watch the D-Backs game… but things started to go downhill, so we watched the bone collector instead. I can now agree with earl that it is very seven- ish in its tone (aka dark).

Then Earl took a nap and I took a bubble bath. Baths are great for thinking, that is, unless you’re like me and like your water to be the temperature that would boil small shellfish and thus completely clears your mind of all thoughts in general. It makes it much more relaxing to have your head swimming while submerged in water.

I painted my nails too. I love my gunmetal grey fingernail polish… it makes me feel like Lady Death Strike from X-Men. I have to file them down soon too… or else I might be able to gouge someone’s eyes out.

I also performed the dreaded task of plucking my eyebrows. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it’s just easier to look like I don’t know what tweezers are for a month or two until II grit my teath and get to the plucking. So now I no longer look like a caveman and luckily I didn’t over do it too badly (I did that once, it was not fun. Middle-schoolers are brutal. Aside from my lack of desire to pluck, I should also mention that I don’t wear makeup accept for special occasions. I stopped in my junior year of high school.

In an attempt to get ahead on my writing, I turned on Pandora and tried to shut my life out for a few hours. It didn’t work. But I thought I should tell you to add a Tim Barry Station to your Pandora channels.

And now, I’m going to watch a Young Indiana Jones movie! I finally got the last volume of the set, and now can enjoy! I do love Sean Patrick Flannery. SPF hasn’t been enough movies in my opinion.

Before a Summer Storm

(It's amazing, the placid beauty one can find at a rest stop in rural Idaho)

But Mommy! I want a Wampa! (A List)

Let’s take a journey into a fantasy land…. One where I tell you the random things that I want and will (probably) never get to have.




A self-cleaning house – I mean, really… why do things insist on never staying clean?

More Coupling – This is one tv series that I will never understand the removal of… it was perfect! And it only lasted four short seasons.

No more zits – Can I just say that post puberty acne is a cruel, cruel cosmic joke.

A 1937 Talbot Lago T150-C-SS – this car… the car of my dreams has an average auction value of $4 million, but even if I could front the cash for it… There were less than 14 mad, so they don’t come up for auction often.

Endless days of reading – wouldn’t it be awesome if you were paid to read anything you wanted and you could read all day every day…

Chocolate to be slimming – Wouldn’t it be great if Chocolate was like celery? You know, reverse calories, not disgusting and stringy (obviously) It would be marvelous if you could get skinny by eating bag upon bag of chocolate chips…

A bakery – I have the ability, just not the time or resources.

A Wampa – Lucas’s Beast from Empire Strikes back, with his snow white yeti hair, horns and bloody face has wormed his way into my heart and he’s there to stay. Some girls want a pony… I want a wampa.

Memories From Home

(Remnants of the old house)

(Mingus Park bridges)

(Road up past the the orchard)

(Landrith Bridge Struts)

(Dad's ol' truck)p

(One of grandma's first tulips)

(The remains of the old house)