Monday, March 3, 2008
I spent the day trying to find the bedroom rocking chair. It's buried under a 4' stack of sewing. My neck and back killing me now, from peering over the top of my glasses to rip seams, and from hunching over the sewing machine.
Way back in the mists of time, when I first graduated from college and started teaching, my very first purchase was a used sewing machine. I made all of my clothes (except underwear), curtains, bed coverings, slipcovers, pillow covers, etc., and I knitted or crocheted all my sweaters. (BTW - I hated knitting sweaters in sections and sewing them together. I used to rewrite patterns so I could do them all in one piece on circular needles. No seams.)
That used sewing machine served me well for almost 30 years.
Now, I buy everything, but almost all my clothing still needs altering - hemming, taking in here, letting out there. If anything has wrist cuffs, I have to take the cuffs off, shorten the sleeves, and then put the cuffs back on.
My own mother didn't know how to thread a needle. She was tiny, and took all her purchases to a tailor for altering. They say some characteristics skip a generation - Daughter is like my mother. When Daughter went off to college, and I wouldn't be available to do her tailoring for her, I bought her a sewing machine and taught her how to use it. With all her engineering and math skills, she couldn't seem to understand the concept of equal top and bottom tension. She and the machine just didn't get along. She also refuses to learn how to knit, crochet, or embroider.
She's tiny. She's maybe two inches taller than I, but a good 50 lbs lighter, with my deep hips and short legs. I KNOW she needs pants and long skirts hemmed, if nothing else. I don't how she gets them done, and I know better than to ask.
Well, 14 hours sewing today, and the rocking chair is still a theory.
-------------------------------
Today is the first anniversary of friend and I meeting, and trading contact information. I sent him an e-card.
When you're dating someone, what does one consider the anniversary? Is it the first meeting (with instant attraction)? First unchaperoned date? First kiss? First overnight? And for us, there's the evening that Daughter interviewed him for two hours, and then approved him for dating her mother.
I think probably first overnight, because that involved a serious decision and commitment. (I'm old fashioned. One man at a time.) Not that it really matters. I'd be willing to celebrate each and every one of the milestones.
.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
1712 Aggression in Turkeys, and Others
Sunday, March 2, 2008
I have dinosaurs in my front yard. The wild turkey flock (I keep wanting to call it a herd) is getting big. I counted thirty yesterday, and some of those birds are huge - footprints seven inches long! I have several wild cherry trees, and every time it snows, the turkeys come and scratch away the snow under the trees, right down to bare ground. They look like a herd of velociraptors, and if they've found a lode of dried cherries, they're about as docile.
I briefly searched for an uncopyrighted turkey photo that had something for size reference, that I could stick in here. No luck. Just look at the chair you're sitting in. When they are bent over pecking at the ground, their back is higher than the chair seat.
Now put thirty of those monsters pecking cherries between you and your mailbox.
---------------------------------
A good point was made on a talk show this morning - that when a primary campaign gets negative, that gives fodder to the other party for the later campaign.
---------------------------------
Blogger spellcheck is back! Welcome. I missed you.
---------------------------------
I have a younger male friend who has had bad experiences with women. They tend to go a bit nuts on him, do crazy things when he tries to break up with them. One after another. Not just getting mad, but damaging property or even him. Police intervention on some. I think I know him well enough to know that he doesn't lead them on excessively or mistreat them, to where even sane women would want revenge - they just overreact and get vicious.
Well, maybe he does contribute. He tends to shut down, become impenetrable when he doesn't want to talk about something. That can drive a woman mad. But still, we don't all pick up bricks when we're angry.
So now he's woman-shy.
I told him that not all women are like that. Maybe he just selects for that type. Maybe one of the things that attracts him is passion, assertiveness to the point of aggression. Maybe he finds off-kilter intriguing. He's a bit of a nerd, so a woman would have to be a bit aggressive to get his attention. A sane less aggressive woman could flirt with him all day and he wouldn't notice.
So that got me thinking about my own selections.
Under "What I'm looking for" in my online dating profile (moribund for the past year, by the way), I said "bigger, smarter, and faster" than I am. (Which, by the way, I seem to have found, and not through the profile.) Anyway, in my dating history, I have always fallen for men whom I found very masculine. Someone who is strong and will take the lead, who can reason circles around me, but who is smart enough to appreciate my own smarts. I like men who are strong and definite and protective. I like to feel ultra feminine around my man. I need to smell the testosterone.
But in all the men I've chosen, there's always been one thing that ends up distressing me, and yes, I realize now that I initially chose that man precisely because of that. I reject men who don't have that quality, that characteristic. Pretty much the same way the young man above chooses women with a characteristic that ends up distressing him.
Wow. This is a stunning realization! Maybe I'm on my way to fixing it.
The problem? I tend to end up with men who are not sexually aggressive. Oh, they want it, and like it, and are very good at it, and hope all the time, and respond well, and all that - after all, I choose very sexy men who reek of testosterone blah blah blah. But the men I choose almost never initiate. I have to reach out and invite. And I hate that. I know that if I initiate, he will respond, so I feel like it's up to me to decide whether he may be too tired, or not in the mood, or needs his sleep for tomorrow, or ... whatever. And I can't ask, because - the men I choose - no matter what, if he thinks I want to, he'll accommodate me. I don't like having to make that decision all the time. I have to think about what's best for him.
I feel a little guilty now, because I let Jay sleep a lot in 2000, thinking he needed his sleep, what with all the chemotherapy and so on, not knowing that the surgery in January 2001 would end even the possibility. I suspect he may have wanted more. But he never would have made the first move. That decision was always mine, and I wonder now if I made the right one.
What I want is to be taken. To be "owned". Once we're intimate, I've always said "any time, anywhere, any way", and that torn clothing is just fine as long as they're willing to replace it. In fact, I'd rather like torn clothing. Sexual aggression, being passionately taken, is what I want, and I rarely get it from the men I choose.
Of course it's been obvious all along why this happens. I just never realized that I was actively rejecting sexually aggressive men, choosing more ... passive? no ... sensitive? no ... something-or-other men.
What happens is that early in the dating dance, I lose interest in a man as soon as he touches me without permission anywhere except my hands. Even just an arm around my shoulders will turn me off. He can't put an arm around me until I have snuggled into his shoulder to signal acceptance. Any man who touches me in any intimate way (and with me that's pretty much anywhere but the hands) before the first date will never get a first date. I never knew, until now, why I'd lose interest. Some guy would grab a quick hug, and I'd think "well, he's a nice guy, but I don't think we're compatible", without thinking about why we "weren't compatible". I guess because it's not reasonable for me to be turned off by a hug, I couldn't recognize that as the problem.
The men who passed the test were those men who were sensitive to and respected those signals. Gentlemen.
And then later, after we're intimate, I'm dissatisfied when he still waits for and respects the signals.
Hmmmmm. Where did that come from.
This probably goes back to my twenties, when I was emotionally fragile, and was taken advantage of by unscrupulous men. Many. It's like they can smell weakness. Wolves. Men who have no respect for any women in any way. Then in my mid-thirties, after several years of psychotherapy, I found me, and I got strong. I insist on respect now. And I guess one indicator of respect, in my mind, is that you don't touch me without permission.
So I select for men who demonstrate the proper respect. That turns out to be men who wait for me to initiate.
How do I fix that? I don't want to trade in the man I have now, but would it involve changing a basic part of his personality? I've already made it pretty clear verbally that he doesn't need specific permission, anywhere, any time, and I know he's capable of it. He surprised me once. I loved it! And I didn't even make him replace anything. How can I make that happen more often? Maybe I can suggest we take turns, and hey, it's your turn!
.
I have dinosaurs in my front yard. The wild turkey flock (I keep wanting to call it a herd) is getting big. I counted thirty yesterday, and some of those birds are huge - footprints seven inches long! I have several wild cherry trees, and every time it snows, the turkeys come and scratch away the snow under the trees, right down to bare ground. They look like a herd of velociraptors, and if they've found a lode of dried cherries, they're about as docile.
I briefly searched for an uncopyrighted turkey photo that had something for size reference, that I could stick in here. No luck. Just look at the chair you're sitting in. When they are bent over pecking at the ground, their back is higher than the chair seat.
Now put thirty of those monsters pecking cherries between you and your mailbox.
---------------------------------
A good point was made on a talk show this morning - that when a primary campaign gets negative, that gives fodder to the other party for the later campaign.
---------------------------------
Blogger spellcheck is back! Welcome. I missed you.
---------------------------------
I have a younger male friend who has had bad experiences with women. They tend to go a bit nuts on him, do crazy things when he tries to break up with them. One after another. Not just getting mad, but damaging property or even him. Police intervention on some. I think I know him well enough to know that he doesn't lead them on excessively or mistreat them, to where even sane women would want revenge - they just overreact and get vicious.
Well, maybe he does contribute. He tends to shut down, become impenetrable when he doesn't want to talk about something. That can drive a woman mad. But still, we don't all pick up bricks when we're angry.
So now he's woman-shy.
I told him that not all women are like that. Maybe he just selects for that type. Maybe one of the things that attracts him is passion, assertiveness to the point of aggression. Maybe he finds off-kilter intriguing. He's a bit of a nerd, so a woman would have to be a bit aggressive to get his attention. A sane less aggressive woman could flirt with him all day and he wouldn't notice.
So that got me thinking about my own selections.
Under "What I'm looking for" in my online dating profile (moribund for the past year, by the way), I said "bigger, smarter, and faster" than I am. (Which, by the way, I seem to have found, and not through the profile.) Anyway, in my dating history, I have always fallen for men whom I found very masculine. Someone who is strong and will take the lead, who can reason circles around me, but who is smart enough to appreciate my own smarts. I like men who are strong and definite and protective. I like to feel ultra feminine around my man. I need to smell the testosterone.
But in all the men I've chosen, there's always been one thing that ends up distressing me, and yes, I realize now that I initially chose that man precisely because of that. I reject men who don't have that quality, that characteristic. Pretty much the same way the young man above chooses women with a characteristic that ends up distressing him.
Wow. This is a stunning realization! Maybe I'm on my way to fixing it.
The problem? I tend to end up with men who are not sexually aggressive. Oh, they want it, and like it, and are very good at it, and hope all the time, and respond well, and all that - after all, I choose very sexy men who reek of testosterone blah blah blah. But the men I choose almost never initiate. I have to reach out and invite. And I hate that. I know that if I initiate, he will respond, so I feel like it's up to me to decide whether he may be too tired, or not in the mood, or needs his sleep for tomorrow, or ... whatever. And I can't ask, because - the men I choose - no matter what, if he thinks I want to, he'll accommodate me. I don't like having to make that decision all the time. I have to think about what's best for him.
I feel a little guilty now, because I let Jay sleep a lot in 2000, thinking he needed his sleep, what with all the chemotherapy and so on, not knowing that the surgery in January 2001 would end even the possibility. I suspect he may have wanted more. But he never would have made the first move. That decision was always mine, and I wonder now if I made the right one.
What I want is to be taken. To be "owned". Once we're intimate, I've always said "any time, anywhere, any way", and that torn clothing is just fine as long as they're willing to replace it. In fact, I'd rather like torn clothing. Sexual aggression, being passionately taken, is what I want, and I rarely get it from the men I choose.
Of course it's been obvious all along why this happens. I just never realized that I was actively rejecting sexually aggressive men, choosing more ... passive? no ... sensitive? no ... something-or-other men.
What happens is that early in the dating dance, I lose interest in a man as soon as he touches me without permission anywhere except my hands. Even just an arm around my shoulders will turn me off. He can't put an arm around me until I have snuggled into his shoulder to signal acceptance. Any man who touches me in any intimate way (and with me that's pretty much anywhere but the hands) before the first date will never get a first date. I never knew, until now, why I'd lose interest. Some guy would grab a quick hug, and I'd think "well, he's a nice guy, but I don't think we're compatible", without thinking about why we "weren't compatible". I guess because it's not reasonable for me to be turned off by a hug, I couldn't recognize that as the problem.
The men who passed the test were those men who were sensitive to and respected those signals. Gentlemen.
And then later, after we're intimate, I'm dissatisfied when he still waits for and respects the signals.
Hmmmmm. Where did that come from.
This probably goes back to my twenties, when I was emotionally fragile, and was taken advantage of by unscrupulous men. Many. It's like they can smell weakness. Wolves. Men who have no respect for any women in any way. Then in my mid-thirties, after several years of psychotherapy, I found me, and I got strong. I insist on respect now. And I guess one indicator of respect, in my mind, is that you don't touch me without permission.
So I select for men who demonstrate the proper respect. That turns out to be men who wait for me to initiate.
How do I fix that? I don't want to trade in the man I have now, but would it involve changing a basic part of his personality? I've already made it pretty clear verbally that he doesn't need specific permission, anywhere, any time, and I know he's capable of it. He surprised me once. I loved it! And I didn't even make him replace anything. How can I make that happen more often? Maybe I can suggest we take turns, and hey, it's your turn!
.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
1711 I Hate ... Something, or Somebody
Saturday, March 1, 2008
We haven't had a lot of snow this winter. It has snowed often, but not a lot all at once. However, I've had a lot more trouble handling the snow this winter, more even than the year that we had several 2'+ storms. I'm starting to hate snow, or forecasts, or forecasters, or something. It's the expectations that have messed me up.
Like, the snow a week ago yesterday. I was away for the weekend. When I got home Sunday evening, I figured I'd have to clear the driveway on Monday. But Monday was warm and sunny, and the snow was melting, the lower part of the drive was partially clear by mid-afternoon, so I decided to let it go. You can't use a snowthrower on wet mushy snow, anyway.
Snow was predicted Tuesday to the north of us, but all the maps, and weathermen, and the government weather radio assured me that we would get none, so I figured it would continue to melt in the sun.
Instead, surprise, we got several inches. That wouldn't have been too bad, except that it didn't warm up, so the slushy weekend snow froze into uneven ridges of schlice where I had driven over it, and then it rained after Tuesday's snow, so I had crusty new snow on top of the schlice. It remained below freezing, in the teens in fact, for the rest of the week.
So last night we were supposed to get 8-12" of fluff. I canceled my plans for the weekend because I knew I'd be spending today throwing fluff. AND, knowing that I wouldn't be able to run the snowthrower through the ridged frozen stuff already there, I paid a man $50 yesterday to plow the frozen stuff off, BEFORE the storm came, so I'd have a fresh surface to clear today.
We got all of 2 or 3".
And by noon it was already getting heavy and wet, AND it was drizzling rain, which tonight has frozen into a crust. Sigh. You ask why I didn't get out there early and throw it? Because (you'd think I'd know better by now) all the maps, and forecasters, and government weather radio reports said this morning that we'll have temperatures in the 40's starting Monday, and then for at least the next six days.
I've about had it. I'd rather we got snow, and then COLD until I can blow the fluff away. This thawing and shushing and crusting is miserable. Like it's toying with me.
------------------------------
My laptop or connection or something is also toying with me. Screens usually load quickly. I click on a link, and in a second or two, I'm on the next screen. Today, it's been 10 or 20 seconds of that slow "loading bar" across the bottom. Something is very wrong.
I have it set up to automatically clear temp files and ...uh... I forget the word, but when it moves pieces of files around on the hard disk so they're all together and easy to access? ... anyway, all that stuff gets done on the fly once a week or so.
I also run virus etc. scans on the fly, and started a scan manually this morning as soon as I noticed the slowdown.
Nada.
Fooey.
.
We haven't had a lot of snow this winter. It has snowed often, but not a lot all at once. However, I've had a lot more trouble handling the snow this winter, more even than the year that we had several 2'+ storms. I'm starting to hate snow, or forecasts, or forecasters, or something. It's the expectations that have messed me up.
Like, the snow a week ago yesterday. I was away for the weekend. When I got home Sunday evening, I figured I'd have to clear the driveway on Monday. But Monday was warm and sunny, and the snow was melting, the lower part of the drive was partially clear by mid-afternoon, so I decided to let it go. You can't use a snowthrower on wet mushy snow, anyway.
Snow was predicted Tuesday to the north of us, but all the maps, and weathermen, and the government weather radio assured me that we would get none, so I figured it would continue to melt in the sun.
Instead, surprise, we got several inches. That wouldn't have been too bad, except that it didn't warm up, so the slushy weekend snow froze into uneven ridges of schlice where I had driven over it, and then it rained after Tuesday's snow, so I had crusty new snow on top of the schlice. It remained below freezing, in the teens in fact, for the rest of the week.
So last night we were supposed to get 8-12" of fluff. I canceled my plans for the weekend because I knew I'd be spending today throwing fluff. AND, knowing that I wouldn't be able to run the snowthrower through the ridged frozen stuff already there, I paid a man $50 yesterday to plow the frozen stuff off, BEFORE the storm came, so I'd have a fresh surface to clear today.
We got all of 2 or 3".
And by noon it was already getting heavy and wet, AND it was drizzling rain, which tonight has frozen into a crust. Sigh. You ask why I didn't get out there early and throw it? Because (you'd think I'd know better by now) all the maps, and forecasters, and government weather radio reports said this morning that we'll have temperatures in the 40's starting Monday, and then for at least the next six days.
I've about had it. I'd rather we got snow, and then COLD until I can blow the fluff away. This thawing and shushing and crusting is miserable. Like it's toying with me.
------------------------------
My laptop or connection or something is also toying with me. Screens usually load quickly. I click on a link, and in a second or two, I'm on the next screen. Today, it's been 10 or 20 seconds of that slow "loading bar" across the bottom. Something is very wrong.
I have it set up to automatically clear temp files and ...uh... I forget the word, but when it moves pieces of files around on the hard disk so they're all together and easy to access? ... anyway, all that stuff gets done on the fly once a week or so.
I also run virus etc. scans on the fly, and started a scan manually this morning as soon as I noticed the slowdown.
Nada.
Fooey.
.
Friday, February 29, 2008
1710 Friday. More snow.
Friday, February 29, 2008
We're expecting 8-12 inches of snow this evening. Daffodils are blooming in Oregon. Disconnect!
-----------------------
I tuned in to "The View" a bit late this morning, so I missed the first part, so I may have it a bit wrong, but they seemed to be talking about some study that said diets and weight maintenance work better if the mental set, the goal, is to "avoid being fat" rather than to "get thin". Some of the women seemed to understand the difference, but Whoopie didn't.
At first, I saw the difference, but then, after I thought about it a while, I didn't.
Then someone (who doesn't have a weight problem) said something that was very significant, but no one pounced on it. She said, "I think I'm thinner than I am. Maybe a bit of body-image distortion."
That may be the difference between "to aviod being fat", and to "get thin". If you think you're thinner than you are, you're more relaxed about the whole thing. Your goal then is to avoid putting it on, not to "be thin".
I think I think I'm thinner than I am. Except for the belly pad and thighs (which in my opinion are more more leftover loose skin than fat), I'm pretty satisfied. I figure I'm about 10 pounds over where I'd like to be, but I'm not fussing over it.
And then I see photographs, and I'm horrified. Take a good look at the behind on the lady over there in the right column. What shows in photos just isn't what I see in the mirror.
The ladies were talking about how if you were overweight as a child, and lost the weight, you continue to think of yourself as overweight even when you're not. I was not thin when I was young, but everything I had was muscle (I had a well-defined six-pack and powerful legs) and lady-stuff (and lots of that). In the same vein, Barbara Walters talked about how she's been bottle blonde for many decades, but she still thinks of herself as a brunette, like when choosing clothing colors that would or would not look good on her.
That's strange to me. I was born platinum, and was blonde until about third grade, when my hair started to darken. From junior high right up until Jay got sick, my hair was medium dark brown with red highlights. I went "pale ash blonde" again during Jay's illness (yeah, it was really fast. I'd had a white spot on the top of my head since high school, and when Jay got sick it expanded exponentially.)
When I had dark hair I looked best in bright jewel colors - emerald green, ruby red - and rust browns. Pastels (except pink) just didn't work on me. I've had less than a decade to get used to the light hair (which, incidentally, I like, and which really does feel natural to me), but I have easily and naturally moved into pastels.
A side benefit - pastels bring out my pale eyes.
Ok, so, my seeing myself as thinner than I am, and my easy adjustment to changed coloring, is that because I was the recommended weight and blonde as a child? Has the child within come out?
-------------------------------------
I thought today was Sadie Hawkins Day. I sent a note to my friend asking him how fast he can run. Then I looked it up. Sadie Hawkins Day is in November, every year! Today is just leap day. Duh! (Friend replied that he's pretty spry, but I'm allowed to use roller skates.)
-------------------------------------
Go to http://www.tatuagemdaboa.com.br/ . Wait for the lady to appear, then write your first name on the first line, and your last name on the second line. No need to give an email address. Then click VISUALIZAR. Cute, but probably cuter if you're male.
--------------------------------------
A Mountain Dew commercial presents as fact that the yo-yo was originally invented as a weapon. That's not true. Very annoying. There are some cartoon characters, notably Japanese, who use yo-yos as weapons, but hey, that's CARTOON! Yo-yos were invented as toys a few thousand years ago.
It would be more accurate to say that baseball bats were invented as weapons.
.
We're expecting 8-12 inches of snow this evening. Daffodils are blooming in Oregon. Disconnect!
-----------------------
I tuned in to "The View" a bit late this morning, so I missed the first part, so I may have it a bit wrong, but they seemed to be talking about some study that said diets and weight maintenance work better if the mental set, the goal, is to "avoid being fat" rather than to "get thin". Some of the women seemed to understand the difference, but Whoopie didn't.
At first, I saw the difference, but then, after I thought about it a while, I didn't.
Then someone (who doesn't have a weight problem) said something that was very significant, but no one pounced on it. She said, "I think I'm thinner than I am. Maybe a bit of body-image distortion."
That may be the difference between "to aviod being fat", and to "get thin". If you think you're thinner than you are, you're more relaxed about the whole thing. Your goal then is to avoid putting it on, not to "be thin".
I think I think I'm thinner than I am. Except for the belly pad and thighs (which in my opinion are more more leftover loose skin than fat), I'm pretty satisfied. I figure I'm about 10 pounds over where I'd like to be, but I'm not fussing over it.
And then I see photographs, and I'm horrified. Take a good look at the behind on the lady over there in the right column. What shows in photos just isn't what I see in the mirror.
The ladies were talking about how if you were overweight as a child, and lost the weight, you continue to think of yourself as overweight even when you're not. I was not thin when I was young, but everything I had was muscle (I had a well-defined six-pack and powerful legs) and lady-stuff (and lots of that). In the same vein, Barbara Walters talked about how she's been bottle blonde for many decades, but she still thinks of herself as a brunette, like when choosing clothing colors that would or would not look good on her.
That's strange to me. I was born platinum, and was blonde until about third grade, when my hair started to darken. From junior high right up until Jay got sick, my hair was medium dark brown with red highlights. I went "pale ash blonde" again during Jay's illness (yeah, it was really fast. I'd had a white spot on the top of my head since high school, and when Jay got sick it expanded exponentially.)
When I had dark hair I looked best in bright jewel colors - emerald green, ruby red - and rust browns. Pastels (except pink) just didn't work on me. I've had less than a decade to get used to the light hair (which, incidentally, I like, and which really does feel natural to me), but I have easily and naturally moved into pastels.
A side benefit - pastels bring out my pale eyes.
Ok, so, my seeing myself as thinner than I am, and my easy adjustment to changed coloring, is that because I was the recommended weight and blonde as a child? Has the child within come out?
-------------------------------------
I thought today was Sadie Hawkins Day. I sent a note to my friend asking him how fast he can run. Then I looked it up. Sadie Hawkins Day is in November, every year! Today is just leap day. Duh! (Friend replied that he's pretty spry, but I'm allowed to use roller skates.)
-------------------------------------
Go to http://www.tatuagemdaboa.com.br/ . Wait for the lady to appear, then write your first name on the first line, and your last name on the second line. No need to give an email address. Then click VISUALIZAR. Cute, but probably cuter if you're male.
--------------------------------------
A Mountain Dew commercial presents as fact that the yo-yo was originally invented as a weapon. That's not true. Very annoying. There are some cartoon characters, notably Japanese, who use yo-yos as weapons, but hey, that's CARTOON! Yo-yos were invented as toys a few thousand years ago.
It would be more accurate to say that baseball bats were invented as weapons.
.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
1709 Thursday
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I started in the graduating class of '66 at my Pennsylvania college, and graduated early, with the class of '65, so most of the people I knew were in those groups. When I registered at the alumni website, I requested notification for classes from '63 to '68, since that would include just about everyone I knew. It was a small college (it's now a medium university), graduating about 200 people each year. I knew everybody who majored in math, and everybody who played pinochle, and between the two, that was probably half the school.
Over the past ten years, there have been announcements on the alumni site of awards, promotions, honors, grandchildren, and, uh, something odd - only once has it been someone I knew. It looks like the math and pinochle folks never did anything, or they just didn't announce it.
Over the past ten months, a disturbing trend has started, and seems to be increasing - black-bordered announcements - and this time it's names I recognize. There have been five so far this year from my graduating class. (If the alumni group was notified of five, how many more have we not heard about? Not all the class is registered online.)
It feels so odd. I feel young and healthy. Nine months ago I walked seven miles in high-heeled boots and didn't even notice. I'm dating a much younger man. I'm still waiting for grandchildren.
They never mention the cause of death. I wish I knew. I'd like to hear that his bungee line broke, or a lion ate her on safari. I don't want to think that they just plain fell apart.
--------------------------------------
This is funny. I'm not imbedding it because it's Adults Only, and not suitable for work. But if you're over 18, follow the link. Warning - it can turn into an earworm. You may find yourself singing it at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2s1AiGSxzA
Of course I'm going to send it to a few female friends.
----------------------------------------
On the kitty front, Jasper's probably heading into his first birthday, and he's still a little bird. He is now fascinated by the toilet, stands there peering into it as it flushes. I hope he never figures out how to flush it, like Gizmo here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA#]
He's so curious about the toilet that now he wants to stick his head between my thighs when I'm sitting down, so he can see what's going on in there. Cracks me up. His ears tickle.
Water in general seems to fascinate him. I had been using one of those automatic water containers that consists of a jug upsidedown in a bowl. The jug holds about 2 quarts of water. I had to switch to a small ordinary (unspillable) bowl, because he paws and splashes at water, and was emptying the full 2 quarts all over the floor every other day.
.
I started in the graduating class of '66 at my Pennsylvania college, and graduated early, with the class of '65, so most of the people I knew were in those groups. When I registered at the alumni website, I requested notification for classes from '63 to '68, since that would include just about everyone I knew. It was a small college (it's now a medium university), graduating about 200 people each year. I knew everybody who majored in math, and everybody who played pinochle, and between the two, that was probably half the school.
Over the past ten years, there have been announcements on the alumni site of awards, promotions, honors, grandchildren, and, uh, something odd - only once has it been someone I knew. It looks like the math and pinochle folks never did anything, or they just didn't announce it.
Over the past ten months, a disturbing trend has started, and seems to be increasing - black-bordered announcements - and this time it's names I recognize. There have been five so far this year from my graduating class. (If the alumni group was notified of five, how many more have we not heard about? Not all the class is registered online.)
It feels so odd. I feel young and healthy. Nine months ago I walked seven miles in high-heeled boots and didn't even notice. I'm dating a much younger man. I'm still waiting for grandchildren.
They never mention the cause of death. I wish I knew. I'd like to hear that his bungee line broke, or a lion ate her on safari. I don't want to think that they just plain fell apart.
--------------------------------------
This is funny. I'm not imbedding it because it's Adults Only, and not suitable for work. But if you're over 18, follow the link. Warning - it can turn into an earworm. You may find yourself singing it at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2s1AiGSxzA
Of course I'm going to send it to a few female friends.
----------------------------------------
On the kitty front, Jasper's probably heading into his first birthday, and he's still a little bird. He is now fascinated by the toilet, stands there peering into it as it flushes. I hope he never figures out how to flush it, like Gizmo here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA#]
He's so curious about the toilet that now he wants to stick his head between my thighs when I'm sitting down, so he can see what's going on in there. Cracks me up. His ears tickle.
Water in general seems to fascinate him. I had been using one of those automatic water containers that consists of a jug upsidedown in a bowl. The jug holds about 2 quarts of water. I had to switch to a small ordinary (unspillable) bowl, because he paws and splashes at water, and was emptying the full 2 quarts all over the floor every other day.
.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
1708 Bored on a Nothing Wednesday
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
TV, "NCIS". Cops arrive at the apartment door, guns drawn. Yell, "NCIS! Warrant!", pause one second (I counted), violently kick door open.
That disturbed me a lot. What if they had the wrong door? It happens.... What if innocent little I was on the other side of that door, about to open it, or about to ask, "Who? What? Huh?" I'd get the edge of the door right smack full in the face.
I hope that one second timing was poetic license. Or if they have to go in fast to prevent escape, they should yell "Get away from the door!"
--------------------------
There's a bit about the candidates that could make an enormous difference to me, but it's not information we'll get until it's too late to matter to the election.
I'd love to know who they intend to (or would like to) appoint to cabinet and executive positions. That might tell me a lot about what the next few years with them would be like.
(Some people would like to know who'd be their choice for vice-president in time for primaries, but since I can't vote in primaries, only the general election, by the time that matters to me it's known.)
.
TV, "NCIS". Cops arrive at the apartment door, guns drawn. Yell, "NCIS! Warrant!", pause one second (I counted), violently kick door open.
That disturbed me a lot. What if they had the wrong door? It happens.... What if innocent little I was on the other side of that door, about to open it, or about to ask, "Who? What? Huh?" I'd get the edge of the door right smack full in the face.
I hope that one second timing was poetic license. Or if they have to go in fast to prevent escape, they should yell "Get away from the door!"
--------------------------
There's a bit about the candidates that could make an enormous difference to me, but it's not information we'll get until it's too late to matter to the election.
I'd love to know who they intend to (or would like to) appoint to cabinet and executive positions. That might tell me a lot about what the next few years with them would be like.
(Some people would like to know who'd be their choice for vice-president in time for primaries, but since I can't vote in primaries, only the general election, by the time that matters to me it's known.)
.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
1707 Selling and Settling
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Business meeting followed by lunch in the pub with Piper today. Piper had met my friend on Saturday, when friend and I had passed through the village and stopped for lunch, and we ran into Piper, and I was interested in his reaction. He approves. Says he got "good vibes". That's nice. Piper is a very good judge of people, and he's not going to sugarcoat for me.
My driveway was full of snow when I returned on Sunday, but I didn't clear it yesterday because it was melting nicely. There was a storm predicted today, but ALL the TV maps and all the online maps showed the snow to the north of us. We absolutely weren't supposed to get anything more than a little rain.
When I left the house this morning to meet Piper, it was snowing heavily. After lunch, Piper had to drive south to a meeting in Fishkill, and I was worried about it, so I asked him to call when he got back. He called at 5, and said that as soon as he got out of the village, it turned to rain. No problem. He went on to say that the snow had now stopped in the village. I looked out the window, and it was still coming down thickly here at my house.
There's something strange about this place. I've mentioned before that when I drive north from NJ, I get depressed as soon as I get within three miles of home - because the snow is so much deeper here. It's a three mile radius circle around my house. Even north of here has less snow.
I don't understand.
--------------------------------
There's a commercial, I don't know exactly for what brand, but it tells us about a girl in South Africa who is "forced to miss school as much as one week out of four" because she doesn't have sanitary supplies. Buy our product, and we'll contribute (pads or tampons, I forget which) to girls in African villages.
Um, forced?
I went to high school in a very economically depressed area. Very few girls in my high school could afford to buy a commercial product that they'd use once and throw away. That would have been seen as the height of extravagance. Profligacy. Stupidity. They used the same thing their mothers and grandmothers had used - rags. Skillfully folded, pinned or tied, washed, bleached and then boiled, and reused.
Nobody is going to convince me that a girl is FORCED to miss school because she doesn't have access to rags and boiling water. Sorry. I don't buy your sob story. You don't have to have something just because someone is selling it.
Ok, I'm tough. And yes, I have used rags. That's where the expression "on the rag" comes from, you know.
-------------------------------
"Settling", for and against, has been all over the blogosphere this past week, after an article written by Lori Gottlieb in The Atlantic. She says that women should settle for “Mr. Good Enough” before it’s too late.
A lot of men don't want to marry these days. They'd rather have serial long term uncommitted relationships. Stay while it's good, get out when it isn't good any more, without all those costly legal entanglements. The number of younger men who have a genuine desire to get married is dropping. Women's clocks are ticking, and men don't have a clock, until they start to fall apart, and then they want to marry a nursemaid. So Ms. Gottlieb's point is that if your standards are too high, you may never find the perfect man, the soul mate, the passion, who will ALSO be willing to marry you, and so you'll have to lower your expectations. Settle.
I haven't heard anyone else say this, so I will: It's women's fault. We have made it too easy for the valuable men to get anything they want without having to make any committment. It's Nature for woman to want home and family, and for man to want woman. But the old expression is "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"? We're giving too much away. We've made it too easy for men. Female sexual freedom came with a price, and now we don't want to pay it.
This has a deeper effect that no one has mentioned (not in what I've read, anyway). If there are children (and even in an uncommitted/temporary relationship, an unmarried woman in her mid to late 30s is hearing the clock ticking), when the man leaves the children will most likely be left to the woman's care. Sure, he'll likely pay support, but it's the woman whose career takes the hit. Raising a child takes more than money. It takes time. She can't put in the overtime, go on the business trips, take evening classes, she has to stay home during measels and mumps and childcare glitches. She becomes professionally undependable. He goes on with his life. His career progresses and hers stalls. He can afford the damn child support! He's getting raises. (Not to mention time for dating.) She is slowed down for the rest of her life.
Damn it ladies, stop giving your lives away! Stop making it so easy. We old feminists worked hard to get you younger ones an equal chance for the good-paying jobs. You're letting the men take it all away! And they're chuckling about it. They know they have you over a barrel.
Make him work to deserve you. Make him share the responsibilities and effects of the fun times.
Stop giving yourselves away!
---------------------------
The "Silken Touch" is turning into a riding crop lately, eh?
.
Business meeting followed by lunch in the pub with Piper today. Piper had met my friend on Saturday, when friend and I had passed through the village and stopped for lunch, and we ran into Piper, and I was interested in his reaction. He approves. Says he got "good vibes". That's nice. Piper is a very good judge of people, and he's not going to sugarcoat for me.
My driveway was full of snow when I returned on Sunday, but I didn't clear it yesterday because it was melting nicely. There was a storm predicted today, but ALL the TV maps and all the online maps showed the snow to the north of us. We absolutely weren't supposed to get anything more than a little rain.
When I left the house this morning to meet Piper, it was snowing heavily. After lunch, Piper had to drive south to a meeting in Fishkill, and I was worried about it, so I asked him to call when he got back. He called at 5, and said that as soon as he got out of the village, it turned to rain. No problem. He went on to say that the snow had now stopped in the village. I looked out the window, and it was still coming down thickly here at my house.
There's something strange about this place. I've mentioned before that when I drive north from NJ, I get depressed as soon as I get within three miles of home - because the snow is so much deeper here. It's a three mile radius circle around my house. Even north of here has less snow.
I don't understand.
--------------------------------
There's a commercial, I don't know exactly for what brand, but it tells us about a girl in South Africa who is "forced to miss school as much as one week out of four" because she doesn't have sanitary supplies. Buy our product, and we'll contribute (pads or tampons, I forget which) to girls in African villages.
Um, forced?
I went to high school in a very economically depressed area. Very few girls in my high school could afford to buy a commercial product that they'd use once and throw away. That would have been seen as the height of extravagance. Profligacy. Stupidity. They used the same thing their mothers and grandmothers had used - rags. Skillfully folded, pinned or tied, washed, bleached and then boiled, and reused.
Nobody is going to convince me that a girl is FORCED to miss school because she doesn't have access to rags and boiling water. Sorry. I don't buy your sob story. You don't have to have something just because someone is selling it.
Ok, I'm tough. And yes, I have used rags. That's where the expression "on the rag" comes from, you know.
-------------------------------
"Settling", for and against, has been all over the blogosphere this past week, after an article written by Lori Gottlieb in The Atlantic. She says that women should settle for “Mr. Good Enough” before it’s too late.
A lot of men don't want to marry these days. They'd rather have serial long term uncommitted relationships. Stay while it's good, get out when it isn't good any more, without all those costly legal entanglements. The number of younger men who have a genuine desire to get married is dropping. Women's clocks are ticking, and men don't have a clock, until they start to fall apart, and then they want to marry a nursemaid. So Ms. Gottlieb's point is that if your standards are too high, you may never find the perfect man, the soul mate, the passion, who will ALSO be willing to marry you, and so you'll have to lower your expectations. Settle.
I haven't heard anyone else say this, so I will: It's women's fault. We have made it too easy for the valuable men to get anything they want without having to make any committment. It's Nature for woman to want home and family, and for man to want woman. But the old expression is "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"? We're giving too much away. We've made it too easy for men. Female sexual freedom came with a price, and now we don't want to pay it.
This has a deeper effect that no one has mentioned (not in what I've read, anyway). If there are children (and even in an uncommitted/temporary relationship, an unmarried woman in her mid to late 30s is hearing the clock ticking), when the man leaves the children will most likely be left to the woman's care. Sure, he'll likely pay support, but it's the woman whose career takes the hit. Raising a child takes more than money. It takes time. She can't put in the overtime, go on the business trips, take evening classes, she has to stay home during measels and mumps and childcare glitches. She becomes professionally undependable. He goes on with his life. His career progresses and hers stalls. He can afford the damn child support! He's getting raises. (Not to mention time for dating.) She is slowed down for the rest of her life.
Damn it ladies, stop giving your lives away! Stop making it so easy. We old feminists worked hard to get you younger ones an equal chance for the good-paying jobs. You're letting the men take it all away! And they're chuckling about it. They know they have you over a barrel.
Make him work to deserve you. Make him share the responsibilities and effects of the fun times.
Stop giving yourselves away!
---------------------------
The "Silken Touch" is turning into a riding crop lately, eh?
.
Monday, February 25, 2008
1706 The War Between the States, Take Two....
Monday, February 25, 2008
"CSI Miami" just started. Some guy got murdered by a pool, surrounded by other people, and no one noticed because they were all staring at a solar eclipse - with no eye protection, just staring straight up at it. Sheesh! I don't believe it! You'd think somebody on the show would know better!
That's in the same class as the way nobody on TV wears a seat belt.
-------------------------------
This is cute. The Georgia legislature has passed a resolution that the border between Georgia and Tennessee should be redrawn 1.1 miles to the north, to allow drought-stricken Georgia access to water from the Tennessee River. (Chris's take on it is at http://inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings.blogspot.com/2008/02/blue-green-planet.html.)
The rationale is that "Congress in 1796 designated that Tennessee's southern borders should stretch along the 35th parallel, but surveyors in 1818 missed that mark by about 1.1 miles to the south."
They JUST noticed?
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia would gain land (Mississippi would acquire a piece of Memphis), and Tennessee and North Carolina would lose land.
The Georgia legislature (singing "This Land Is Your Land") is serious, say they'll take it to the Supreme Court if a compromise isn't reached.
These are the people for whom the soup can instructions say "Step 1: Open can".
.
"CSI Miami" just started. Some guy got murdered by a pool, surrounded by other people, and no one noticed because they were all staring at a solar eclipse - with no eye protection, just staring straight up at it. Sheesh! I don't believe it! You'd think somebody on the show would know better!
That's in the same class as the way nobody on TV wears a seat belt.
-------------------------------
This is cute. The Georgia legislature has passed a resolution that the border between Georgia and Tennessee should be redrawn 1.1 miles to the north, to allow drought-stricken Georgia access to water from the Tennessee River. (Chris's take on it is at http://inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings.blogspot.com/2008/02/blue-green-planet.html.)
The rationale is that "Congress in 1796 designated that Tennessee's southern borders should stretch along the 35th parallel, but surveyors in 1818 missed that mark by about 1.1 miles to the south."
They JUST noticed?
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia would gain land (Mississippi would acquire a piece of Memphis), and Tennessee and North Carolina would lose land.
The Georgia legislature (singing "This Land Is Your Land") is serious, say they'll take it to the Supreme Court if a compromise isn't reached.
These are the people for whom the soup can instructions say "Step 1: Open can".
.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
1705 Warm Weekend
Sunday, February 24, 2008
I had a very nice weekend. I drove south on Friday through the snowstorm, and he drove north through the worst part of the storm, and we met halfway. I learned a few more things about him, and about myself, and I'm more comfortable now than I have been so far. I no longer feel like I don't know what's going on. I am content. Probably just for now, until I get antsy and want reassurance again, but for now, I love, I am loved, I understand more, and I am content.
When I got home this evening, there was snow on the driveway, but I felt courageous, backed up and got a head start, and bulled up the driveway. Actually made it all the way up. Wow!
.
I had a very nice weekend. I drove south on Friday through the snowstorm, and he drove north through the worst part of the storm, and we met halfway. I learned a few more things about him, and about myself, and I'm more comfortable now than I have been so far. I no longer feel like I don't know what's going on. I am content. Probably just for now, until I get antsy and want reassurance again, but for now, I love, I am loved, I understand more, and I am content.
When I got home this evening, there was snow on the driveway, but I felt courageous, backed up and got a head start, and bulled up the driveway. Actually made it all the way up. Wow!
.
Friday, February 22, 2008
1704 Weather Pixie
Friday, February 22, 2008
I have a little weather pixie over there on the right, just above Dilbert. She's dressed for the weather, and right now is standing in a snowstorm - just like me. She shows the current temperature, humidity, pressure, wind direction and speed, and the time that she was last updated.
Well, she claims to be dressed for the weather, but if she were my daughter, she wouldn't be leaving the house in that skimpy little jacket....
------------------------------
I've been getting a lot of semi-spam email from merchants with whom I have done business. They all contain the "to unsubscribe" link, and so one by one I've been unsubscribing.
What gets me is that they all, on the unsubscribe screen, say that it will take up to 10 days to get my email address off their lists. And they seem to mean it. I removed myself from a particular sewing supplies list a good ten days ago, and I'm still getting every-other-day emails from them.
Bull poopy!
It's not like they have ten days worth of already-addressed envelopes lined up in a mail room somewhere. Come on! When they are about to send their advertising emails, the address list is used then, on the fly. It's "real-time". So search for my email address in your lists, remove it, and it's immediate. What's with this ten-day crap?
.
I have a little weather pixie over there on the right, just above Dilbert. She's dressed for the weather, and right now is standing in a snowstorm - just like me. She shows the current temperature, humidity, pressure, wind direction and speed, and the time that she was last updated.
Well, she claims to be dressed for the weather, but if she were my daughter, she wouldn't be leaving the house in that skimpy little jacket....
------------------------------
I've been getting a lot of semi-spam email from merchants with whom I have done business. They all contain the "to unsubscribe" link, and so one by one I've been unsubscribing.
What gets me is that they all, on the unsubscribe screen, say that it will take up to 10 days to get my email address off their lists. And they seem to mean it. I removed myself from a particular sewing supplies list a good ten days ago, and I'm still getting every-other-day emails from them.
Bull poopy!
It's not like they have ten days worth of already-addressed envelopes lined up in a mail room somewhere. Come on! When they are about to send their advertising emails, the address list is used then, on the fly. It's "real-time". So search for my email address in your lists, remove it, and it's immediate. What's with this ten-day crap?
.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
1703 Hot Stuff
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Know how you don't think about a certain whatever, ever? And then all of a sudden it's everywhere? Well, I'm not a big fan of hot peppers in any form. About the only time I even think about them is when I'm in a restaurant, and I verify that nobody's going to bring me anything that's got them.
Seems like the past few days, that's all I'm reading and hearing about. Recipies. Studies of how hot various varieties are, and studies of how much the human body can take. Recommendations for keeping squirrels out of bird feeders. All kinds of stuff, a couple times a day for the past few days.
Today I came across the only information that REALLY interests me - how to kill the burn if you accidentally get bitten.
The active ingredient is capsaicin. I never thought about it before, but capsaicin is alkaline, a base. So what you want to neutralize it is an acid, like milk. (Another thing I never thought about - that milk is an acid. Yeah, ok, milk has lactic acid, yeah, I knew that, but somehow it never registered. I always thought of milk as alkaline, without thinking about it. I guess because of the way it reacts to vinegar.)
Anyway, that's why hot Indian foods are served with yogurt. Soy milk is not the same. Skim milk won't work, because the capsaicin is carried in the oils from the peppers, and you need the fat in the milk or yogurt to lift and dilute the oil so the lactic acid can get to the capsaicin. Even better is condensed milk, or cream. If you get the burn in your eyes or other sensitive areas, soak a washcloth in milk or yogurt, and apply. After handling peppers, wash with soap and water, then soak your fingertips in milk to neutralize anything that might remain under your fingernails.
Other things that will work (but not on the eyes) are orange juice, citrus slices, beer, or vinegar, although the last two don't do as good a job of diluting the oil.
Cool, eh?
Nobody said anything about Coke, but given the way it eats the hard water salts in my toilets, I bet that would work, too.
.
Know how you don't think about a certain whatever, ever? And then all of a sudden it's everywhere? Well, I'm not a big fan of hot peppers in any form. About the only time I even think about them is when I'm in a restaurant, and I verify that nobody's going to bring me anything that's got them.
Seems like the past few days, that's all I'm reading and hearing about. Recipies. Studies of how hot various varieties are, and studies of how much the human body can take. Recommendations for keeping squirrels out of bird feeders. All kinds of stuff, a couple times a day for the past few days.
Today I came across the only information that REALLY interests me - how to kill the burn if you accidentally get bitten.
The active ingredient is capsaicin. I never thought about it before, but capsaicin is alkaline, a base. So what you want to neutralize it is an acid, like milk. (Another thing I never thought about - that milk is an acid. Yeah, ok, milk has lactic acid, yeah, I knew that, but somehow it never registered. I always thought of milk as alkaline, without thinking about it. I guess because of the way it reacts to vinegar.)
Anyway, that's why hot Indian foods are served with yogurt. Soy milk is not the same. Skim milk won't work, because the capsaicin is carried in the oils from the peppers, and you need the fat in the milk or yogurt to lift and dilute the oil so the lactic acid can get to the capsaicin. Even better is condensed milk, or cream. If you get the burn in your eyes or other sensitive areas, soak a washcloth in milk or yogurt, and apply. After handling peppers, wash with soap and water, then soak your fingertips in milk to neutralize anything that might remain under your fingernails.
Other things that will work (but not on the eyes) are orange juice, citrus slices, beer, or vinegar, although the last two don't do as good a job of diluting the oil.
Cool, eh?
Nobody said anything about Coke, but given the way it eats the hard water salts in my toilets, I bet that would work, too.
.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
1702 Tuesday 2/19
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I am on a "budget plan" with the electric company. This means that I pay a set amount every month, based on my average usage. They review it every so often and reset the amount.
So, I got a letter from Central Hudson. Last year I sent them $1,660.54 in payments. My actual usage was $1,572.51. Therefore they are raising my monthly payment by $7.
Therefore?
I don't understand.
------------------------
I got an email from a friend this evening. He had heard that "a North American dictator had stepped down, and Floridians were celebrating", got all excited, and was terribly disappointed when he discovered it was Castro. (Giggle.)
-------------------------
Naturally, I had to check that "North America" part. Opinion is divided. Some consider Cuba geographically part of North America, politically part of South America. There are arguments for Central America. And there are those of us who think the assignment of "continents" is pretty arbitrary anyway, like Europe and Asia are different continents? North America and Central America are different continents? Huh? ...and prefer to call Cuba part of "The Americas".
.
I am on a "budget plan" with the electric company. This means that I pay a set amount every month, based on my average usage. They review it every so often and reset the amount.
So, I got a letter from Central Hudson. Last year I sent them $1,660.54 in payments. My actual usage was $1,572.51. Therefore they are raising my monthly payment by $7.
Therefore?
I don't understand.
------------------------
I got an email from a friend this evening. He had heard that "a North American dictator had stepped down, and Floridians were celebrating", got all excited, and was terribly disappointed when he discovered it was Castro. (Giggle.)
-------------------------
Naturally, I had to check that "North America" part. Opinion is divided. Some consider Cuba geographically part of North America, politically part of South America. There are arguments for Central America. And there are those of us who think the assignment of "continents" is pretty arbitrary anyway, like Europe and Asia are different continents? North America and Central America are different continents? Huh? ...and prefer to call Cuba part of "The Americas".
.
Monday, February 18, 2008
1701 New Scheme
Monday, February 18, 2008
I'm going to try something. Instead of multiple posts per day (can you tell I have no one to talk to?) I'm going to start one post per day, file it as a draft, update it when I feel like it, and post it at the end of the day. That'll make for some long entries, I guess, but only one a day.
-----------------------
Today I went to an art exhibition, at the invitation of one of the artists. It ran for four days, Friday through today, in a historic building housing a legislator's offices. The advertised hours, both on the postcard I received and the personal email I got from the friend, were 10 am 'til 5 pm. Today was the first day I was able to go. It was a 45 minute drive, through the mountains, and I got there at 3:42 pm.
The place was cleared out. Exhibitors had packed up their cars and were leaving. A few people were moving furniture back into place when I arrived. There wasn't one piece of art anywhere. My friend said that they'd had no visitors since 2 pm, so at 3:00 they started shutting down.
He then "apologized", "I'm so sorry you were too late."
I about exploded. I looked him in the eye to make sure he understood what I was saying, "Bull. I wasn't too late. I was here in plenty of time. You guys didn't uphold your commitment to me and others like me. Your advertised hours were until 5!"
I've seen at lot of that lately - people just don't consider others. Back when I ran the monthly dinner, when we canceled because of snow, when we asked for RSVPs, I made sure everyone who had responded was aware we'd canceled. Sometimes there were no RSVPs required, just show up, and on several of those occasions I drove through a flippin' blizzard to make sure there was at least a note on the door.
Nowadays, it's not unusual to arrive at the appointed place and find no one there. I went to a dinner in Tivoli a few months ago and found the restaurant had closed suddenly a few days before. I was 5 minutes late. No one was there, and there was no note on the door as to a change of venue. I was hungry, so went to another place down the street, and found five other Mensans sitting there. They had all arrived before seven, found it closed, and moved - without leaving a note or waiting to see if anyone else showed up. One more person joined us, a result of the note *I* had left on the door. Hey folks, it really wasn't that difficult....
Bugs the hell out of me.
----------------------------------
Driving to the aborted exhibit, I passed an impressively huge mansion off to the side of the road, turrets and porches and bays. It was abandoned, grey unpainted wood rotting and falling, windows all broken. In person, it looks a LOT bigger than this photo implies.
(There are more of Lucas's photos of the exterior here: http://lucas-photography.blogspot.com/2007/12/bennett-college-in-millbrook-ny.html.)
When I got to the gallery I asked what it was. Until 1976, it was the Bennett College (Millbrook, NY). A very fashionable college (read finishing school) for women (no relation to the Greensboro, NC school of the same name). They ran out of money, and closed, and the building has been empty since. It's a shame. On the way home, I stopped for a closer look. I found another photo online, at http://www.opacity.us/site11_bennett_school_for_girls.htm#gallery17 (scroll UP to see the exterior photo), taken about 2 or three years ago.
Interior here: http://www.opacity.us/gallery17_close_calls.htm. Click on the first photo, then just keep going "next". Below the photos are comments, some very interesting comments from alumni.
A photo of an interior during its heyday here: http://www.hrvh.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/mfl&CISOPTR=44, and more can be found at that Hudson River Valley Heritage website - search for "Bennett College".
I hate to see wonderful old buildings rotting away like that. The stonework is all still in perfect condition.
------------------------------
Howcum calendars that feature landscape photos always have winter photos during the winter months and summer photos during summer months and so on? When I open a new calendar to January, when it's cold and snowy and freezing outside, the last thing I want to see is a snowscape. If I were designing those calendars, I'd have snow scenes in the summer, and summer scenes in the winter.
.
I'm going to try something. Instead of multiple posts per day (can you tell I have no one to talk to?) I'm going to start one post per day, file it as a draft, update it when I feel like it, and post it at the end of the day. That'll make for some long entries, I guess, but only one a day.
-----------------------
Today I went to an art exhibition, at the invitation of one of the artists. It ran for four days, Friday through today, in a historic building housing a legislator's offices. The advertised hours, both on the postcard I received and the personal email I got from the friend, were 10 am 'til 5 pm. Today was the first day I was able to go. It was a 45 minute drive, through the mountains, and I got there at 3:42 pm.
The place was cleared out. Exhibitors had packed up their cars and were leaving. A few people were moving furniture back into place when I arrived. There wasn't one piece of art anywhere. My friend said that they'd had no visitors since 2 pm, so at 3:00 they started shutting down.
He then "apologized", "I'm so sorry you were too late."
I about exploded. I looked him in the eye to make sure he understood what I was saying, "Bull. I wasn't too late. I was here in plenty of time. You guys didn't uphold your commitment to me and others like me. Your advertised hours were until 5!"
I've seen at lot of that lately - people just don't consider others. Back when I ran the monthly dinner, when we canceled because of snow, when we asked for RSVPs, I made sure everyone who had responded was aware we'd canceled. Sometimes there were no RSVPs required, just show up, and on several of those occasions I drove through a flippin' blizzard to make sure there was at least a note on the door.
Nowadays, it's not unusual to arrive at the appointed place and find no one there. I went to a dinner in Tivoli a few months ago and found the restaurant had closed suddenly a few days before. I was 5 minutes late. No one was there, and there was no note on the door as to a change of venue. I was hungry, so went to another place down the street, and found five other Mensans sitting there. They had all arrived before seven, found it closed, and moved - without leaving a note or waiting to see if anyone else showed up. One more person joined us, a result of the note *I* had left on the door. Hey folks, it really wasn't that difficult....
Bugs the hell out of me.
----------------------------------
Driving to the aborted exhibit, I passed an impressively huge mansion off to the side of the road, turrets and porches and bays. It was abandoned, grey unpainted wood rotting and falling, windows all broken. In person, it looks a LOT bigger than this photo implies.
(There are more of Lucas's photos of the exterior here: http://lucas-photography.blogspot.com/2007/12/bennett-college-in-millbrook-ny.html.)
When I got to the gallery I asked what it was. Until 1976, it was the Bennett College (Millbrook, NY). A very fashionable college (read finishing school) for women (no relation to the Greensboro, NC school of the same name). They ran out of money, and closed, and the building has been empty since. It's a shame. On the way home, I stopped for a closer look. I found another photo online, at http://www.opacity.us/site11_bennett_school_for_girls.htm#gallery17 (scroll UP to see the exterior photo), taken about 2 or three years ago.
Interior here: http://www.opacity.us/gallery17_close_calls.htm. Click on the first photo, then just keep going "next". Below the photos are comments, some very interesting comments from alumni.
A photo of an interior during its heyday here: http://www.hrvh.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/mfl&CISOPTR=44, and more can be found at that Hudson River Valley Heritage website - search for "Bennett College".
I hate to see wonderful old buildings rotting away like that. The stonework is all still in perfect condition.
------------------------------
Howcum calendars that feature landscape photos always have winter photos during the winter months and summer photos during summer months and so on? When I open a new calendar to January, when it's cold and snowy and freezing outside, the last thing I want to see is a snowscape. If I were designing those calendars, I'd have snow scenes in the summer, and summer scenes in the winter.
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1700 Why WalMart?
I'll tell you why.
On the errands list:
- dry cat food, grocery store
- packing tape and box cutter, hardware store
- oil, gas station
- Prilosec OTC, drug store
- deposit checks, bank
- leather cat collar, pet shop
- seam ripper, fabric store
- inexpensive white turtleneck, nowhere within ten miles
If I shop local stores, that's seven separate stops, in and out of the car, and no turtleneck.
If I go to WalMart, it's one stop. And even though the nearest is ten miles away, it will probably be less gas, because I'll start the car only twice.
That's why.
.
On the errands list:
- dry cat food, grocery store
- packing tape and box cutter, hardware store
- oil, gas station
- Prilosec OTC, drug store
- deposit checks, bank
- leather cat collar, pet shop
- seam ripper, fabric store
- inexpensive white turtleneck, nowhere within ten miles
If I shop local stores, that's seven separate stops, in and out of the car, and no turtleneck.
If I go to WalMart, it's one stop. And even though the nearest is ten miles away, it will probably be less gas, because I'll start the car only twice.
That's why.
.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
1699 Schlice 2
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Wow! It's raining outside now, and the prediction for tomorrow is 55 degrees! Go, schlice, go! Go away!
.
Wow! It's raining outside now, and the prediction for tomorrow is 55 degrees! Go, schlice, go! Go away!
.
1698 Schlice
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The last storm we had (last weekend?) dumped seven inches of snow on my driveway, and then RAINED all over it. I didn't want to go out and clear the snow while it was raining, and then after the rain stopped I had four inches of wet slush, which the snowthrower couldn't handle. Folks with shorter driveways found it easy to push it off, but there's no way I could do my 4000+ square feet by hand.
That night it froze into "schlice" - snow slush become ice. I don't think even a plow could could clear it. I wasn't worried because a few days of warmer weather, or a nice long rain, would take care of it. No such luck. I may be schliced in until the end of March.
So for the past week the car has been at the bottom of the driveway. I walk up and down the schlice-covered hill to get in and out, which isn't too very bad except when I've been shopping. Hauling kitty litter and groceries? Yuck. My feet go like mad but I make no headway. I look like a cartoon.
I've driven the car over the schlice at the bottom, and the car didn't even crack it, but weirdly, the turkeys do make imprints. My yard is covered with huge turkey tracks.
When I drove to Saugerties yesterday, I was amazed at how little schlice they had, only two inches or less. Saugerties is north of here.
I don't understand.
I thought I'd be reprieved today. The prediction was 45 degrees and a good solid rain.
Nope. Upper 30s, and a short shower. Sigh.
.
The last storm we had (last weekend?) dumped seven inches of snow on my driveway, and then RAINED all over it. I didn't want to go out and clear the snow while it was raining, and then after the rain stopped I had four inches of wet slush, which the snowthrower couldn't handle. Folks with shorter driveways found it easy to push it off, but there's no way I could do my 4000+ square feet by hand.
That night it froze into "schlice" - snow slush become ice. I don't think even a plow could could clear it. I wasn't worried because a few days of warmer weather, or a nice long rain, would take care of it. No such luck. I may be schliced in until the end of March.
So for the past week the car has been at the bottom of the driveway. I walk up and down the schlice-covered hill to get in and out, which isn't too very bad except when I've been shopping. Hauling kitty litter and groceries? Yuck. My feet go like mad but I make no headway. I look like a cartoon.
I've driven the car over the schlice at the bottom, and the car didn't even crack it, but weirdly, the turkeys do make imprints. My yard is covered with huge turkey tracks.
When I drove to Saugerties yesterday, I was amazed at how little schlice they had, only two inches or less. Saugerties is north of here.
I don't understand.
I thought I'd be reprieved today. The prediction was 45 degrees and a good solid rain.
Nope. Upper 30s, and a short shower. Sigh.
.
1697 Flirting with the band
Sunday, February 17, 2008
I went out last night with a friend (male, but platonic). Another mutual friend was singing with a band. He also plays harmonica and acoustic guitar, very well, and writes music. Back in the 80s and early 90s, when I was still going to the annual local Mensa summercamp weekend, he used to lead a sing-along around a campfire (with marshmallows!) on the Saturday night of camp.
(Since I've been more active the past few years I'd been stopping in at the camp just for Saturdays, and I've been very disappointed that they don't have the singalongs or even the campfire any more. They sit in the dining hall and play cards and board games. It's like a different group, or something. Like maybe they got older, and I didn't.)
Anyway, way back then, he had a slightly John Denver look, and every year he tried to get me into his tent. It was playful flirting, and fun. (His wife never accompanied him to camp.) One year he and his wife were separated (temporarily, as it turned out), and the flirting almost got out of hand. But only almost.
He has aged well, has acquired an almost Paul Newman look now. He's actually pretty darn sexy.
So, anyway, my date and I arrived early for dinner before the band started.
Now, something I don't understand. When a restaurant/bar has entertainment on late Friday and/or Saturday nights, why do they always put the band (or karaoke, for that matter) in a tiny room in the back, or in an alcove off to the side of the seating area? And why, when the band is in a tiny room, do they still have the volume up high enough to rattle fillings?
The place was packed, so we asked to be seated for dinner in that back room. The room had only seven two-to-four person tables, and the far end was open to the bar. I ended up three feet from the microphones.
When our singing friend arrived (oh foo, let's call him X), he stopped by the table and spoke with my "date" (oh foo, let's call him "Roman") for a few seconds. When X left to help set up, Roman asked me if I knew X other than just to recognize him. I shot my eyebrows up, and said oh yeah, I once knew him well, that I've known him for almost twenty-five years. Roman smirked.
Roman and I have pretty much settled into an understanding, so I don't know why his superior attitude still bugs me. You'd think I'd just shrug it off. I guess last night I was still a bit annoyed about the animusic thing. Two years ago I discovered animusic, and tried to tell Roman about it, I had bought the DVDs and tried to show them to him, and he wouldn't even look at it. He just knew it wasn't "his thing", and my enthusiasm carried no weight. Like I have no taste or something. Terribly low class. Last week, he called all excited about this "animusic thing" *HE* had discovered. He has no idea how much that pissed me off. When someone is enthusiastic about something, if you respect them, you at least listen to them and consider it.
So, I decided to steal X from him. I flirted. I ended up with X's playlist tucked into my décolletage, and X sitting next to me during his break, whispering into each other's ears to be heard over the band. So there. Yeah, I know him.
For your viewing pleasure, I give you Animusic:
(If the first is too mechanical for your taste, you might enjoy the second more.)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vS3LGH5gs&feature=related]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1hqF9nqabQ&feature=related#]
And for something entirely different,
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g5uL1Z764o]
Lots more on Youtube.com. Just search for "animusic". "Harmonic Voltage" is one of my favorites. Their website is http://www.animusic.com/, where you can buy the full DVDs.
.
I went out last night with a friend (male, but platonic). Another mutual friend was singing with a band. He also plays harmonica and acoustic guitar, very well, and writes music. Back in the 80s and early 90s, when I was still going to the annual local Mensa summercamp weekend, he used to lead a sing-along around a campfire (with marshmallows!) on the Saturday night of camp.
(Since I've been more active the past few years I'd been stopping in at the camp just for Saturdays, and I've been very disappointed that they don't have the singalongs or even the campfire any more. They sit in the dining hall and play cards and board games. It's like a different group, or something. Like maybe they got older, and I didn't.)
Anyway, way back then, he had a slightly John Denver look, and every year he tried to get me into his tent. It was playful flirting, and fun. (His wife never accompanied him to camp.) One year he and his wife were separated (temporarily, as it turned out), and the flirting almost got out of hand. But only almost.
He has aged well, has acquired an almost Paul Newman look now. He's actually pretty darn sexy.
So, anyway, my date and I arrived early for dinner before the band started.
Now, something I don't understand. When a restaurant/bar has entertainment on late Friday and/or Saturday nights, why do they always put the band (or karaoke, for that matter) in a tiny room in the back, or in an alcove off to the side of the seating area? And why, when the band is in a tiny room, do they still have the volume up high enough to rattle fillings?
The place was packed, so we asked to be seated for dinner in that back room. The room had only seven two-to-four person tables, and the far end was open to the bar. I ended up three feet from the microphones.
When our singing friend arrived (oh foo, let's call him X), he stopped by the table and spoke with my "date" (oh foo, let's call him "Roman") for a few seconds. When X left to help set up, Roman asked me if I knew X other than just to recognize him. I shot my eyebrows up, and said oh yeah, I once knew him well, that I've known him for almost twenty-five years. Roman smirked.
Roman and I have pretty much settled into an understanding, so I don't know why his superior attitude still bugs me. You'd think I'd just shrug it off. I guess last night I was still a bit annoyed about the animusic thing. Two years ago I discovered animusic, and tried to tell Roman about it, I had bought the DVDs and tried to show them to him, and he wouldn't even look at it. He just knew it wasn't "his thing", and my enthusiasm carried no weight. Like I have no taste or something. Terribly low class. Last week, he called all excited about this "animusic thing" *HE* had discovered. He has no idea how much that pissed me off. When someone is enthusiastic about something, if you respect them, you at least listen to them and consider it.
So, I decided to steal X from him. I flirted. I ended up with X's playlist tucked into my décolletage, and X sitting next to me during his break, whispering into each other's ears to be heard over the band. So there. Yeah, I know him.
For your viewing pleasure, I give you Animusic:
(If the first is too mechanical for your taste, you might enjoy the second more.)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vS3LGH5gs&feature=related]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1hqF9nqabQ&feature=related#]
And for something entirely different,
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g5uL1Z764o]
Lots more on Youtube.com. Just search for "animusic". "Harmonic Voltage" is one of my favorites. Their website is http://www.animusic.com/, where you can buy the full DVDs.
.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
1696 Wasted Morning
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I was supposed to volunteer at the free tax clinic again today. The notice said to be at the Saugerties High School at 10 am.
I remembered it wrong, and rushed to Saugerties (45 minutes away) to be there at nine. When I arrived and found no one there, I dug the notice out of my purse, found that I was an hour early, and drove around Saugerties a little to waste some time and look at houses. Got back to the school at 9:45, found the front doors still locked and no other cars in the lot, and so I waited. And waited. Luckily I had brought a book and had plenty of gas. By 10:20, the only other people to show up were the other two RSVP/SWAT volunteers.
We went around to the back of the building and found an open door. Hunted down a custodian. He knew nothing of any tax clinic.
I left. Went to the village diner and had French toast and tea, and headed home. I am thoroughly pissed. Either we were told the wrong address, or the wrong date, or the clinic was canceled and no one thought to tell us. The notice we got didn't have the name or phone number of the tax clinic contact, so we could not have checked for ourselves.
I'm supposed to do this again on March 1, and I'm tempted to cancel. That happens to be the 1-year anniversary of meeting my NJ friend. I've already alerted him I'm not available that Saturday, so he may have already made other plans, but if there's another no show with the tax people, I'd be spitting nails. I'd rather cancel out and take the chance of just sitting home. At least I wouldn't be angry AND sitting home.
---------------------------
On another front, I was curious about the C-string (back view here). I didn't see how they could possibly work. They supposedly are sweeping Europe, and are next to impossible to find in the US. So I shopped online to find the best deal, found a reasonable seller in Canada, and bought one. It arrived today.
It actually is very comfortable, barely there, and stays on while walking around the house, bending, sitting, and so on. I gave it the acid test of a belly dance shimmy - and it fell off. Oops. If I ever have the courage to actually wear it (doubtful), it will be with slacks or panty hose only. Something there to catch it if it attempts to escape.
I think it's going to be one of those gee-whiz things that everybody has to buy one, and then they will disappear - except for the "ahem"s who will insist they are proper bathing suit bottoms.
Actually, one may as well just go commando.
.
I was supposed to volunteer at the free tax clinic again today. The notice said to be at the Saugerties High School at 10 am.
I remembered it wrong, and rushed to Saugerties (45 minutes away) to be there at nine. When I arrived and found no one there, I dug the notice out of my purse, found that I was an hour early, and drove around Saugerties a little to waste some time and look at houses. Got back to the school at 9:45, found the front doors still locked and no other cars in the lot, and so I waited. And waited. Luckily I had brought a book and had plenty of gas. By 10:20, the only other people to show up were the other two RSVP/SWAT volunteers.
We went around to the back of the building and found an open door. Hunted down a custodian. He knew nothing of any tax clinic.
I left. Went to the village diner and had French toast and tea, and headed home. I am thoroughly pissed. Either we were told the wrong address, or the wrong date, or the clinic was canceled and no one thought to tell us. The notice we got didn't have the name or phone number of the tax clinic contact, so we could not have checked for ourselves.
I'm supposed to do this again on March 1, and I'm tempted to cancel. That happens to be the 1-year anniversary of meeting my NJ friend. I've already alerted him I'm not available that Saturday, so he may have already made other plans, but if there's another no show with the tax people, I'd be spitting nails. I'd rather cancel out and take the chance of just sitting home. At least I wouldn't be angry AND sitting home.
---------------------------
On another front, I was curious about the C-string (back view here). I didn't see how they could possibly work. They supposedly are sweeping Europe, and are next to impossible to find in the US. So I shopped online to find the best deal, found a reasonable seller in Canada, and bought one. It arrived today.
It actually is very comfortable, barely there, and stays on while walking around the house, bending, sitting, and so on. I gave it the acid test of a belly dance shimmy - and it fell off. Oops. If I ever have the courage to actually wear it (doubtful), it will be with slacks or panty hose only. Something there to catch it if it attempts to escape.
I think it's going to be one of those gee-whiz things that everybody has to buy one, and then they will disappear - except for the "ahem"s who will insist they are proper bathing suit bottoms.
Actually, one may as well just go commando.
.
Friday, February 15, 2008
1695 Sleeping With Pets
Just a quick question for any visitors who have pets. Do your pets sleep in/on your bed with you? I'm guessing it's a 90% yes.
Ex#2 was from farm stock, and not only were animals not allowed in the bedroom, they had to go outside at night. I always felt so guilty about that.
Gypsy, you're exempt from this question. If your snake sleeps with you, I don't want to know! How big is Bindi now, anyway? Last time I saw her she was about two fingers wide.
(I just drank a glass of Grand Marnier. Is it showing?)
.
Ex#2 was from farm stock, and not only were animals not allowed in the bedroom, they had to go outside at night. I always felt so guilty about that.
Gypsy, you're exempt from this question. If your snake sleeps with you, I don't want to know! How big is Bindi now, anyway? Last time I saw her she was about two fingers wide.
(I just drank a glass of Grand Marnier. Is it showing?)
.
1694 They Cut Me Off!
Friday, February 15, 2008
My internet connection is provided by the same folks I have my cell phone contract with. There's this little dohickey I plug in the laptop, and it acts like a cell phone. Locates a route and dials in. It's (as far as I can tell) as fast as a cable connection, and I've been mostly happy with it, especially since it can travel with me.
This morning I told it to connect, and it came back and said it was "unable to establish a connection, try again later." I tried again later for about an hour, and then wondered if maybe there was a problem with cell service in general. I turned on my regular cell phone and tried to call my house phone (a different phone company).
And got a strange message.
My cell service, including the internet connection, had been turned off. Um, it sorta looks like I haven't paid the bill since early December.
I know I've been a bit lax lately, but I didn't realize I'd been THAT lax.
The strange message gave me the opportunity to pay the bill right then, over the phone, by credit card, so I did. I had service back within minutes.
I guess I'd better visit my other desk, the one where all the bills go, and find out what else I've neglected.
.
My internet connection is provided by the same folks I have my cell phone contract with. There's this little dohickey I plug in the laptop, and it acts like a cell phone. Locates a route and dials in. It's (as far as I can tell) as fast as a cable connection, and I've been mostly happy with it, especially since it can travel with me.
This morning I told it to connect, and it came back and said it was "unable to establish a connection, try again later." I tried again later for about an hour, and then wondered if maybe there was a problem with cell service in general. I turned on my regular cell phone and tried to call my house phone (a different phone company).
And got a strange message.
My cell service, including the internet connection, had been turned off. Um, it sorta looks like I haven't paid the bill since early December.
I know I've been a bit lax lately, but I didn't realize I'd been THAT lax.
The strange message gave me the opportunity to pay the bill right then, over the phone, by credit card, so I did. I had service back within minutes.
I guess I'd better visit my other desk, the one where all the bills go, and find out what else I've neglected.
.
1693 Decisions
Friday, February 15, 2008
I've been a bit blah lately, and I've finally figured out why. I'm not supposed to talk about him here, but I will anyway, 'cause he's why, and it's my story, and I can tell it.
I'm "waiting for the other shoe to drop" because we're coming up on a year, and I will have to decide what I want to do, and I don't know. I absolutely adore him. He fascinates me. His mind amazes me. His enthusiasm is infectious. His body is just plain beautiful. He's very protective. I feel so very small and feminine when I'm with him. That's unusual for me. I am very strong and willful, and will kick and spit and prod and push. I don't with him. I look up to him.
Yeah, there are lots of times when he has said stuff or done stuff that just didn't fit (I think sometimes he forgets how smart I am), and he likes secrets, and if it were any other man I'd challenge him right off, but with this man I just nod and let it go. I accept, or withhold judgment. Very unusual for me. I don't know if it's because I've mellowed, or if I'm simply too infatuated to chance angering him. Or maybe it's because I know he really is honest and faithful and all that, and the inconsistencies and half-truths I've seen are a self-defense mechanism - things have happened in his past that he's begun telling me about that explain a lot, that make it difficult for him to be completely open - and as he trusts me more the subterfuge is abating, whatever, anyway, I trust him. He is opening to me, and if I can be patient, he will be more comfortable exposing more of himself to me. He's a little like an abused animal.
Anyway, the thing is, I'm getting older. I can't afford to waste time on something that may not be more than extended dating, a "this is good now" kind of thing, no matter how wonderful and exciting it is. I have to plan for the future. I want a life companion, someone who will still be there when I start falling apart. We've moved slowly, and that's good. It was seven months before we used the L-word, and I believe him completely when he tells me now how much I mean to him...
...and some of his emails could bring back the old word "swoon"...so very romantic...
...but...
There's the age difference. We're at different stages in our lives. I'm ready for travel and recreation. He's wrapped up in work and career. (But it's cute that I'm not a grandmother yet, and he's a grandfather twice over.) I have lots of free time, and he has next to none, what with the job, the responsibilities of a large extended family, and some activities that he seems to obsess over. I'm not seeing enough of him. I'm alone a lot, still. I don't understand why he can't share some of those activities with me. The distance (2+ hour drive) doesn't help. The last few times we've been together my frustration leaked out.
So, that's what's bugging me. I may need more than he can give me right now. I don't know where this is going, and I need to figure out whether it's in my best interests to stay on the ride or get off.
It's not a decision I want to make. I could give it more time and see what happens, but I don't know how much more time. How much do I need? How much can I afford? I would like this to be forever, but ... I don't know.
Maybe it's significant that I don't feel like this is something I can bring up with him. Not yet, anyway. (Like many Aspies and geeks in general, he doesn't seem to see time passing. He'd see it as pushing. As not caring enough to hang in there and let it develop. Sigh.)
I need a man's advice, and my only close male friends would prefer to see him dead.
.
I've been a bit blah lately, and I've finally figured out why. I'm not supposed to talk about him here, but I will anyway, 'cause he's why, and it's my story, and I can tell it.
I'm "waiting for the other shoe to drop" because we're coming up on a year, and I will have to decide what I want to do, and I don't know. I absolutely adore him. He fascinates me. His mind amazes me. His enthusiasm is infectious. His body is just plain beautiful. He's very protective. I feel so very small and feminine when I'm with him. That's unusual for me. I am very strong and willful, and will kick and spit and prod and push. I don't with him. I look up to him.
Yeah, there are lots of times when he has said stuff or done stuff that just didn't fit (I think sometimes he forgets how smart I am), and he likes secrets, and if it were any other man I'd challenge him right off, but with this man I just nod and let it go. I accept, or withhold judgment. Very unusual for me. I don't know if it's because I've mellowed, or if I'm simply too infatuated to chance angering him. Or maybe it's because I know he really is honest and faithful and all that, and the inconsistencies and half-truths I've seen are a self-defense mechanism - things have happened in his past that he's begun telling me about that explain a lot, that make it difficult for him to be completely open - and as he trusts me more the subterfuge is abating, whatever, anyway, I trust him. He is opening to me, and if I can be patient, he will be more comfortable exposing more of himself to me. He's a little like an abused animal.
Anyway, the thing is, I'm getting older. I can't afford to waste time on something that may not be more than extended dating, a "this is good now" kind of thing, no matter how wonderful and exciting it is. I have to plan for the future. I want a life companion, someone who will still be there when I start falling apart. We've moved slowly, and that's good. It was seven months before we used the L-word, and I believe him completely when he tells me now how much I mean to him...
...and some of his emails could bring back the old word "swoon"...so very romantic...
...but...
There's the age difference. We're at different stages in our lives. I'm ready for travel and recreation. He's wrapped up in work and career. (But it's cute that I'm not a grandmother yet, and he's a grandfather twice over.) I have lots of free time, and he has next to none, what with the job, the responsibilities of a large extended family, and some activities that he seems to obsess over. I'm not seeing enough of him. I'm alone a lot, still. I don't understand why he can't share some of those activities with me. The distance (2+ hour drive) doesn't help. The last few times we've been together my frustration leaked out.
So, that's what's bugging me. I may need more than he can give me right now. I don't know where this is going, and I need to figure out whether it's in my best interests to stay on the ride or get off.
It's not a decision I want to make. I could give it more time and see what happens, but I don't know how much more time. How much do I need? How much can I afford? I would like this to be forever, but ... I don't know.
Maybe it's significant that I don't feel like this is something I can bring up with him. Not yet, anyway. (Like many Aspies and geeks in general, he doesn't seem to see time passing. He'd see it as pushing. As not caring enough to hang in there and let it develop. Sigh.)
I need a man's advice, and my only close male friends would prefer to see him dead.
.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
1691 Socks
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I spent most of last evening and much of this morning doing laundry. It's a chore because the super-hard well water has glumked up the valves, and I can't let the washer fill itself because the valves won't shut off completely and water will fill the washer, the laundry room, and half the kitchen before the cats let me know there's something wrong. So I have to fill by hand with a hose from the utility sink.
I put laundry off as long as possible, so when I do it, it's a lot. In the past 24 hours, I've washed
- 3 loads of white
- 2 loads of dark
- 1 load of red
- 1 load of pastel
- 1 load of fragile
- 1 load of colored
- 2 loads of sheets
- 2 loads of towels
That adds up to 13. Maybe that's what jinxed the socks.
There are two net bags hanging on the laundry bin. When I take socks off, I put them directly into a bag. They don't lie around. They're either on my feet or in the bag, as a pair. When it's laundry time, I tie the bags closed. The bags go into the washer and the dryer tied. They do not come untied. When they're dry, I dump the bags out on the bed and sort the socks into pairs, carefully guarding them from Jasper.
So howcum I ALWAYS have at least three stray socks? Two I could almost understand - maybe the last time I sorted and paired them I mixed up two sets and there's another mismatched pair in the drawer. But three?
Whenever I see one of those escape artists get out of a locked bag underwater, I think of socks.
I don't understand.
.
I spent most of last evening and much of this morning doing laundry. It's a chore because the super-hard well water has glumked up the valves, and I can't let the washer fill itself because the valves won't shut off completely and water will fill the washer, the laundry room, and half the kitchen before the cats let me know there's something wrong. So I have to fill by hand with a hose from the utility sink.
I put laundry off as long as possible, so when I do it, it's a lot. In the past 24 hours, I've washed
- 3 loads of white
- 2 loads of dark
- 1 load of red
- 1 load of pastel
- 1 load of fragile
- 1 load of colored
- 2 loads of sheets
- 2 loads of towels
That adds up to 13. Maybe that's what jinxed the socks.
There are two net bags hanging on the laundry bin. When I take socks off, I put them directly into a bag. They don't lie around. They're either on my feet or in the bag, as a pair. When it's laundry time, I tie the bags closed. The bags go into the washer and the dryer tied. They do not come untied. When they're dry, I dump the bags out on the bed and sort the socks into pairs, carefully guarding them from Jasper.
So howcum I ALWAYS have at least three stray socks? Two I could almost understand - maybe the last time I sorted and paired them I mixed up two sets and there's another mismatched pair in the drawer. But three?
Whenever I see one of those escape artists get out of a locked bag underwater, I think of socks.
I don't understand.
.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
1690 The Snake
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A beautiful snake:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KdC1zDKUn0]
It's interesting now, but when she hits 50, she's gonna have pain when her knees, hips, and spine revolt, just like belly dancers who used to do a lot of floorwork in their youth. Tiny injuries and overstretching builds up.
.
A beautiful snake:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KdC1zDKUn0]
It's interesting now, but when she hits 50, she's gonna have pain when her knees, hips, and spine revolt, just like belly dancers who used to do a lot of floorwork in their youth. Tiny injuries and overstretching builds up.
.
Monday, February 11, 2008
1689 Online auction addiction
Monday, February 11, 2008
I can tell I'm a bit depressed lately by the contents of the mailbox. I've been shopping online. I do that when I feel like I need pampering. Shopping online is more satisfying than shopping in stores, because when packages arrive in the mail, or when the big brown or yellow trucks come up the driveway, it feels like someone sent me a gift. Somehow it gets disconnected from the money spent.
Some of the shopping has been on eBay. I hadn't visited eBay since the fall of 2005 (except once to buy something from a friend), but since last July I've been indulging far too much, in spurts.
There's a method to get the best deals on eBay. I don't understand people who bid early in an eBay auction. It's not at all like a live auction, when you want to register interest with the auctioneer so that you don't get left out when the bidding gets hot. Registering early interest on eBay is NOT a good thing, and it's completely unnecessary, if you understand automatic bidding. If you want to make sure the seller doesn't end the auction early, just ask a question. That tells the seller you're interested without alerting other bidders.
I'll see a nice sari, with three days to go on the auction, and six or seven bids in on it already, invariably from people with less than 80 in feedback count. They obviously don't understand eBay's automatic bidding and they're just bidding each other up. I don't bid until the last few seconds of the auction, and I almost always win at the lowest possible winning amount. If I had placed the same bid earlier, someone would have "nibbled" my bid all the way up.
(Bidding in the last few seconds is called "sniping", and it's despised by people who don't understand automatic bids. The explanation of automatic bidding is complicated, but once understood, the concept is simple.)
So I do a little research on the other bidders who have revealed their interest. I look at what they've bought ("won") lately, and how much they paid, how much they're willing to go for an item of this type. I look at what their interests seem to be. I look to see if they have a habit of "nibbling" up automatic bids. I look to see if they ever snipe.
And frankly, I look just because I'm snoopy and I want to know what they bought. Sometimes I find some good stuff, good sellers, that way.
One woman I researched today had a very strange buying history. She was buying all kinds of pure junk. Then I realized it was all very cheap junk, and she was getting it at the starting price (often very low) as the only bidder. It looks like she opens with the lowest bid on a LOT of junk (we're talking like $.50 and $1.25 shipping), and then either gets outbid, or wins for a pittance. She has bought and got feedback on about 50 items in the past two weeks. I suddenly realized that she isn't buying stuff - she's spending a little money to build a good feedback rating. I'll bet that if I look back in a month, I'll find her listing all that junk for sale, along with some of her own stuff that she wants to sell.
She's smart. A lot of people won't buy, especially expensive items, from someone who has less than 50 feedbacks, or less than 99% positive. Most people won't notice that her perfect feedback is all from buying piddly things.
She's the one I'd worry about. The sari she has bid on is already higher than she has paid for anything else. It's obvious she's smart, and she's specifically interested in this particular sari. This means I should bid very close to the end of the auction, leaving only seconds. Super snipe.
And that's the lure of eBay. Not only do I get "gifts" in the mail, but I get the thrill of the hunt, chase, and kill.
Of course, the question is, why do I need that boost now?
-------------------------------------
A sari? Yeah, I wear them occasionally. And where else can you get six yards of bordered silk for $25?
The best sari seller out there is Bee Patel [http://stores.ebay.com/Bee-Patels-Sari-Palace]. Her saris are always in perfect condition, described accurately, well photographed, and priced right. My only complaint is that she doesn't sell the sari together with the matching blouse (choli). They're separate auctions, and it's possible to win one and not the other, which is maddening.
--------------------------------------
Later: I was just wandering around eBay, and I found a seller, Everydaysource, who has a feedback count of 710202. That's over 700,000 individual eBay ids he has sold stuff to. Not 700,000 sales, the sales number is at least 1,035,309 (feedback from any id is counted only once). That's mind boggling!
.
I can tell I'm a bit depressed lately by the contents of the mailbox. I've been shopping online. I do that when I feel like I need pampering. Shopping online is more satisfying than shopping in stores, because when packages arrive in the mail, or when the big brown or yellow trucks come up the driveway, it feels like someone sent me a gift. Somehow it gets disconnected from the money spent.
Some of the shopping has been on eBay. I hadn't visited eBay since the fall of 2005 (except once to buy something from a friend), but since last July I've been indulging far too much, in spurts.
There's a method to get the best deals on eBay. I don't understand people who bid early in an eBay auction. It's not at all like a live auction, when you want to register interest with the auctioneer so that you don't get left out when the bidding gets hot. Registering early interest on eBay is NOT a good thing, and it's completely unnecessary, if you understand automatic bidding. If you want to make sure the seller doesn't end the auction early, just ask a question. That tells the seller you're interested without alerting other bidders.
I'll see a nice sari, with three days to go on the auction, and six or seven bids in on it already, invariably from people with less than 80 in feedback count. They obviously don't understand eBay's automatic bidding and they're just bidding each other up. I don't bid until the last few seconds of the auction, and I almost always win at the lowest possible winning amount. If I had placed the same bid earlier, someone would have "nibbled" my bid all the way up.
(Bidding in the last few seconds is called "sniping", and it's despised by people who don't understand automatic bids. The explanation of automatic bidding is complicated, but once understood, the concept is simple.)
So I do a little research on the other bidders who have revealed their interest. I look at what they've bought ("won") lately, and how much they paid, how much they're willing to go for an item of this type. I look at what their interests seem to be. I look to see if they have a habit of "nibbling" up automatic bids. I look to see if they ever snipe.
And frankly, I look just because I'm snoopy and I want to know what they bought. Sometimes I find some good stuff, good sellers, that way.
One woman I researched today had a very strange buying history. She was buying all kinds of pure junk. Then I realized it was all very cheap junk, and she was getting it at the starting price (often very low) as the only bidder. It looks like she opens with the lowest bid on a LOT of junk (we're talking like $.50 and $1.25 shipping), and then either gets outbid, or wins for a pittance. She has bought and got feedback on about 50 items in the past two weeks. I suddenly realized that she isn't buying stuff - she's spending a little money to build a good feedback rating. I'll bet that if I look back in a month, I'll find her listing all that junk for sale, along with some of her own stuff that she wants to sell.
She's smart. A lot of people won't buy, especially expensive items, from someone who has less than 50 feedbacks, or less than 99% positive. Most people won't notice that her perfect feedback is all from buying piddly things.
She's the one I'd worry about. The sari she has bid on is already higher than she has paid for anything else. It's obvious she's smart, and she's specifically interested in this particular sari. This means I should bid very close to the end of the auction, leaving only seconds. Super snipe.
And that's the lure of eBay. Not only do I get "gifts" in the mail, but I get the thrill of the hunt, chase, and kill.
Of course, the question is, why do I need that boost now?
-------------------------------------
A sari? Yeah, I wear them occasionally. And where else can you get six yards of bordered silk for $25?
The best sari seller out there is Bee Patel [http://stores.ebay.com/Bee-Patels-Sari-Palace]. Her saris are always in perfect condition, described accurately, well photographed, and priced right. My only complaint is that she doesn't sell the sari together with the matching blouse (choli). They're separate auctions, and it's possible to win one and not the other, which is maddening.
--------------------------------------
Later: I was just wandering around eBay, and I found a seller, Everydaysource, who has a feedback count of 710202. That's over 700,000 individual eBay ids he has sold stuff to. Not 700,000 sales, the sales number is at least 1,035,309 (feedback from any id is counted only once). That's mind boggling!
.
1679 Not Hot, the movie
Monday, February 11, 2008
Reviews of the Paris Hilton film, "The Hottie and the Nottie", from http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/hottieandthenottie?q=nottie:
Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman
The Farrelly brothers could burp out a movie funnier than The Hottie & the Nottie, a farce of corrupt stereotypes that's never more grotesque than when it pretends to be more than skin-deep.
Washington Post, Desson Thomson
Like Nate, we are mere Notties. And we are supposed to feel oh-so privileged for getting to watch Paris through the glass.
The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck
Ultimately best suited for the confines of late-night cable.
New York Post, Kyle Smith
Great actors make the craft look easy. In the Paris Hilton comedy The Hottie and the Nottie, acting looks very, very difficult.
New York Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman
You've got to admire Hilton's complete conviction in herself as the center of all that is beautiful and good. And maybe such unwavering self-regard is actually kind of hot. Or not.
Boston Globe, Ty Burr
You've seen dozens of movies like this on cable in the wee hours.
Inquirer, Carrie Rickey
Though Hilton may be a model, if her work in Hottie is any indication, she is no actress.
Rolling Stone, Peter Travers
That generous half star rating I tacked onto this comedy abomination is all for Paris Hilton. Come on, it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) to appear on screen again after "House of Wax."
Chicago Tribune, Jessica Reaves
Verdict: not so hot
ReelViews, James Berardinelli
A cinematic excursion so horrific that it's an insult to bad movies to call it a bad movie.
Variety, Dennis Harvey
Paris Hilton has already ushered a remarkable three features into the Internet Movie Database's "Bottom 100." The Hottie and the Nottie will make it an even four.
The Onion (A.V. Club), Keith Phipps
How is Paris Hilton in her first starring role to receive a national release? Pretty bad, actually. She's limited to a single, all-too-familiar expression of smug self-satisfaction, and she delivers her lines in a tone somewhere between "seductive" and "dish-soap commercial."
TV Guide, Maitland McDonagh
Preposterous, disingenuous, remarkably unfunny and genuinely distasteful.
Village Voice, Nathan Lee
Crass, shrill, disingenuous, tawdry, mean-spirited, vulgar, idiotic, boring, slapdash, half-assed, and very, very unfunny.
Miami Herald, Connie Ogle
The most astounding thing about this abysmal comedy -- aside from the fact the studio actually allowed critics within a mile of it -- is that it's so ghastly it is beneath even the meager dignity of Paris Hilton.
Los Angeles Times, Sam Adams
It's not like Paris Hilton to rise above her material, but The Hottie and the Nottie sinks so low that all she has to do is stand upright.
The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis
Custom designed for its smirking star (who is also an executive producer), this tasteless train wreck asks only that she preen and prance on cue.
Gee, these reviews actually make me want to see it. No, I'm serious. Very bad movies can be fun, especially when you can yell at them.
.
Reviews of the Paris Hilton film, "The Hottie and the Nottie", from http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/hottieandthenottie?q=nottie:
Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman
The Farrelly brothers could burp out a movie funnier than The Hottie & the Nottie, a farce of corrupt stereotypes that's never more grotesque than when it pretends to be more than skin-deep.
Washington Post, Desson Thomson
Like Nate, we are mere Notties. And we are supposed to feel oh-so privileged for getting to watch Paris through the glass.
The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck
Ultimately best suited for the confines of late-night cable.
New York Post, Kyle Smith
Great actors make the craft look easy. In the Paris Hilton comedy The Hottie and the Nottie, acting looks very, very difficult.
New York Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman
You've got to admire Hilton's complete conviction in herself as the center of all that is beautiful and good. And maybe such unwavering self-regard is actually kind of hot. Or not.
Boston Globe, Ty Burr
You've seen dozens of movies like this on cable in the wee hours.
Inquirer, Carrie Rickey
Though Hilton may be a model, if her work in Hottie is any indication, she is no actress.
Rolling Stone, Peter Travers
That generous half star rating I tacked onto this comedy abomination is all for Paris Hilton. Come on, it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) to appear on screen again after "House of Wax."
Chicago Tribune, Jessica Reaves
Verdict: not so hot
ReelViews, James Berardinelli
A cinematic excursion so horrific that it's an insult to bad movies to call it a bad movie.
Variety, Dennis Harvey
Paris Hilton has already ushered a remarkable three features into the Internet Movie Database's "Bottom 100." The Hottie and the Nottie will make it an even four.
The Onion (A.V. Club), Keith Phipps
How is Paris Hilton in her first starring role to receive a national release? Pretty bad, actually. She's limited to a single, all-too-familiar expression of smug self-satisfaction, and she delivers her lines in a tone somewhere between "seductive" and "dish-soap commercial."
TV Guide, Maitland McDonagh
Preposterous, disingenuous, remarkably unfunny and genuinely distasteful.
Village Voice, Nathan Lee
Crass, shrill, disingenuous, tawdry, mean-spirited, vulgar, idiotic, boring, slapdash, half-assed, and very, very unfunny.
Miami Herald, Connie Ogle
The most astounding thing about this abysmal comedy -- aside from the fact the studio actually allowed critics within a mile of it -- is that it's so ghastly it is beneath even the meager dignity of Paris Hilton.
Los Angeles Times, Sam Adams
It's not like Paris Hilton to rise above her material, but The Hottie and the Nottie sinks so low that all she has to do is stand upright.
The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis
Custom designed for its smirking star (who is also an executive producer), this tasteless train wreck asks only that she preen and prance on cue.
Gee, these reviews actually make me want to see it. No, I'm serious. Very bad movies can be fun, especially when you can yell at them.
.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
1678 Debt Enlargement
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Wow! Amazing news! Hard to believe! You know "Smiling Bob", the idiot of the Enzyte commercials? The ones where all the women look like '50s housewives? Well, turns out the stuff doesn't work! No kidding! It's a scam!
The advertising and sales departments made up all the testimonials and studies. Wow! Who'd a thunk it!
And that's not the worst.
Folks figure if the company is giving out free trials, then it must work, since if it didn't, nobody would order more, and they'd go broke. Right?
Wrong.
If you called to get the free trial, they wanted checking account information, or a credit card number. Even though you never authorized it, they signed you up for automatic delivery, and before the free trial was even over, they had hit your account for another month or two's supply. They'd keep doing that, and it was next to impossible to cancel.
They guaranteed satisfaction, but if you said it didn't work and you wanted to return the pills and get your money back, they'd ask for a notarized statement from your doctor saying that it didn't work. In the meantime, they kept charging your account.
So, the company officers are in federal court. One of the ex-officers is testifying against them.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a complaint with the FTC on September 23, 2004. That's more than three years ago. Jury selection started the middle of last month. Now they're in federal court, charged with stuff like committing wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and misbranding.
And - the commercials are still on, and that's ok, presumption of innocence and all, but what confuses me is that they're still offering the free trial. If they're not still making unauthorized debits to checking accounts and credit cards, how are they avoiding bankruptcy?
Unless ... it actually works ....
.
Wow! Amazing news! Hard to believe! You know "Smiling Bob", the idiot of the Enzyte commercials? The ones where all the women look like '50s housewives? Well, turns out the stuff doesn't work! No kidding! It's a scam!
The advertising and sales departments made up all the testimonials and studies. Wow! Who'd a thunk it!
And that's not the worst.
Folks figure if the company is giving out free trials, then it must work, since if it didn't, nobody would order more, and they'd go broke. Right?
Wrong.
If you called to get the free trial, they wanted checking account information, or a credit card number. Even though you never authorized it, they signed you up for automatic delivery, and before the free trial was even over, they had hit your account for another month or two's supply. They'd keep doing that, and it was next to impossible to cancel.
They guaranteed satisfaction, but if you said it didn't work and you wanted to return the pills and get your money back, they'd ask for a notarized statement from your doctor saying that it didn't work. In the meantime, they kept charging your account.
So, the company officers are in federal court. One of the ex-officers is testifying against them.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a complaint with the FTC on September 23, 2004. That's more than three years ago. Jury selection started the middle of last month. Now they're in federal court, charged with stuff like committing wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and misbranding.
And - the commercials are still on, and that's ok, presumption of innocence and all, but what confuses me is that they're still offering the free trial. If they're not still making unauthorized debits to checking accounts and credit cards, how are they avoiding bankruptcy?
Unless ... it actually works ....
.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
1677 Sprouting, Part 2
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Becs has noted in a comment on the previous entry that my "sprouts" sound a lot like Morgellon's Disease. Naturally that sent me off on Google trails. I didn't link any site because you really have to read several to get a sense of what goes on in Morgellon's.
Briefly, there are a lot of symptoms, major among which are sores that don't heal, and knots of hair-like growths that sprout from the sores or build up under the skin, and a constant feeling of bugs walking around under the skin. Also, "black nodules, long and short fibers that can't be pulled out, and great pain, are all highly effective in destroying relationships between couples. Put another way, the suffering is so great that participating in sexual acts are the last thing that victims of the disease will think about doing."
Well, I have no sores, my sprouts look slightly shorter and fatter than what they show in Morgellan's (not "hair-like" at all, more sliver-like, slightly longer than a comma on this page), they pull right out with no difficulty, there's no pain whatsoever, no bug-under-the-skin feeling, and the only day I itched was the day after I was at the tech school. That day was very bad with the itching, but it was only that day - last Sunday.
And I'm still very interested in sex.
Who knows. Maybe this is a very early stage of Morgellan's. But I think not. I still think it's fiberglass or something like that. I pulled out about seven or eight more since this morning. No big deal. Just strange.
.
Becs has noted in a comment on the previous entry that my "sprouts" sound a lot like Morgellon's Disease. Naturally that sent me off on Google trails. I didn't link any site because you really have to read several to get a sense of what goes on in Morgellon's.
Briefly, there are a lot of symptoms, major among which are sores that don't heal, and knots of hair-like growths that sprout from the sores or build up under the skin, and a constant feeling of bugs walking around under the skin. Also, "black nodules, long and short fibers that can't be pulled out, and great pain, are all highly effective in destroying relationships between couples. Put another way, the suffering is so great that participating in sexual acts are the last thing that victims of the disease will think about doing."
Well, I have no sores, my sprouts look slightly shorter and fatter than what they show in Morgellan's (not "hair-like" at all, more sliver-like, slightly longer than a comma on this page), they pull right out with no difficulty, there's no pain whatsoever, no bug-under-the-skin feeling, and the only day I itched was the day after I was at the tech school. That day was very bad with the itching, but it was only that day - last Sunday.
And I'm still very interested in sex.
Who knows. Maybe this is a very early stage of Morgellan's. But I think not. I still think it's fiberglass or something like that. I pulled out about seven or eight more since this morning. No big deal. Just strange.
.
1676 Sprouting!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
A few days ago I mentioned itching after spending a day at a tech school.
Today, I'm sprouting.
My skin is extruding something weird.
Know how when you get a tiny scratch that pushes up a bit of skin, and the tiny skin tag hangs on until you feel it catching on silk or sweaters, and you pull it off? They're sort of like that. It's teeny tiny sticking-out bits of what looks like skin. They are all three parts, a larger central piece with two smaller pieces on either side, looks almost like a microscopic tuft of grass. They are stiff, like whisker hairs, and I find them when they brush against fabric or things.
There's no scratches. They seem to be coming out of pores. So far the ones I've seen have been mostly on the sides of my hands (fingers and the outside of the palms, probably because that's where I'm most likely to feel them, when the sides of my fingers touch each other), and around my waistband. I can pull them out with tweezers or my fingernails.
I've pulled about ten of them since I noticed them this morning.
I really think I picked up invisible fiberglass slivers at the school.
.
A few days ago I mentioned itching after spending a day at a tech school.
Today, I'm sprouting.
My skin is extruding something weird.
Know how when you get a tiny scratch that pushes up a bit of skin, and the tiny skin tag hangs on until you feel it catching on silk or sweaters, and you pull it off? They're sort of like that. It's teeny tiny sticking-out bits of what looks like skin. They are all three parts, a larger central piece with two smaller pieces on either side, looks almost like a microscopic tuft of grass. They are stiff, like whisker hairs, and I find them when they brush against fabric or things.
There's no scratches. They seem to be coming out of pores. So far the ones I've seen have been mostly on the sides of my hands (fingers and the outside of the palms, probably because that's where I'm most likely to feel them, when the sides of my fingers touch each other), and around my waistband. I can pull them out with tweezers or my fingernails.
I've pulled about ten of them since I noticed them this morning.
I really think I picked up invisible fiberglass slivers at the school.
.
Friday, February 08, 2008
1675 Frozen Friday
Friday, February 8, 2008
Outside, it's slightly above freezing. Inside, the thermostat says it's 75. I'm wearing closed shoes, socks, jeans, the usual underwear, and a long-sleeved heavy cotton t-shirt. And over it all, Jay's big heavy terry robe. Which is floor-length on me, and wraps around almost twice.
And still, I'm freezing.
My hands are cold. My feet and legs are cold. My nose is cold. I can't get warm. About the only thing that works is to crawl into bed.
This happens every so often, and I don't know why. Back when Jay was alive and I got this way, he'd have me hold my hands in hot water. It worked then, but it's not working now. Maybe because then he had his arms around me while I ran the hot water over my hands.
It's not like I don't have calories to burn. So far today I have eaten one container of yogurt, a huge honey ham cheddar cheese lettuce tomato sweet pepper bacon wrap, some potato chips with horseradish dip, several cups of sanka with vanilla sugar-free creamer, two cups of tea, some rice crackers, a handful of raw stir-fry veggies, and 180 calories-worth of Starbucks frappuccino. Plus there's that extra 15 pounds I'm carrying that my body is welcome to burn whenever it wants to.
But I'm freezing.
Back when I went through menopause, I had very little problem with hot flashes. I had them, but seldom, and mild.
I'd welcome one of them now.
I'm off to boost the thermostat. Maybe it's broken and lying, and it's actually 50 degrees in here? Nah. It's right. I'm wrong. My internal thermostat is broken.
----------------------------
Slightly later - Something I'd noticed: I don't feel cold in the house when the sun is up, no matter what the thermostat says. It's always after the sun goes down that I start feeling so deep bone cold. And it's worse on an evening when the day had been cloudy. Today was cloudy. I don't know whether I'm sensitive to the heat the house collects from the sun, and notice when it's not there, or whether I'm sensitive to the sun itself. But it's definitely lack-of-sun-related.
----------------------------
Even later - How do I know it's dark out, or cloudy? The lights are on in the house! When do I get cold? When the lights are on! That's it! The lights are sucking the energy out of me!
.
Outside, it's slightly above freezing. Inside, the thermostat says it's 75. I'm wearing closed shoes, socks, jeans, the usual underwear, and a long-sleeved heavy cotton t-shirt. And over it all, Jay's big heavy terry robe. Which is floor-length on me, and wraps around almost twice.
And still, I'm freezing.
My hands are cold. My feet and legs are cold. My nose is cold. I can't get warm. About the only thing that works is to crawl into bed.
This happens every so often, and I don't know why. Back when Jay was alive and I got this way, he'd have me hold my hands in hot water. It worked then, but it's not working now. Maybe because then he had his arms around me while I ran the hot water over my hands.
It's not like I don't have calories to burn. So far today I have eaten one container of yogurt, a huge honey ham cheddar cheese lettuce tomato sweet pepper bacon wrap, some potato chips with horseradish dip, several cups of sanka with vanilla sugar-free creamer, two cups of tea, some rice crackers, a handful of raw stir-fry veggies, and 180 calories-worth of Starbucks frappuccino. Plus there's that extra 15 pounds I'm carrying that my body is welcome to burn whenever it wants to.
But I'm freezing.
Back when I went through menopause, I had very little problem with hot flashes. I had them, but seldom, and mild.
I'd welcome one of them now.
I'm off to boost the thermostat. Maybe it's broken and lying, and it's actually 50 degrees in here? Nah. It's right. I'm wrong. My internal thermostat is broken.
----------------------------
Slightly later - Something I'd noticed: I don't feel cold in the house when the sun is up, no matter what the thermostat says. It's always after the sun goes down that I start feeling so deep bone cold. And it's worse on an evening when the day had been cloudy. Today was cloudy. I don't know whether I'm sensitive to the heat the house collects from the sun, and notice when it's not there, or whether I'm sensitive to the sun itself. But it's definitely lack-of-sun-related.
----------------------------
Even later - How do I know it's dark out, or cloudy? The lights are on in the house! When do I get cold? When the lights are on! That's it! The lights are sucking the energy out of me!
.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
1674 Internet Cable Map
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Betcha thought internet natter whizzed around the world by satellite. Nope. Cable. Most of it, anyway. Good old fashioned old technology undersea cables.
This map shows breaks in the cable, notably the recent one that took out most of the Middle East. Click on the map to enlarge:
[http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2008/02/01/SeaCableHi.jpg]
.
Betcha thought internet natter whizzed around the world by satellite. Nope. Cable. Most of it, anyway. Good old fashioned old technology undersea cables.
This map shows breaks in the cable, notably the recent one that took out most of the Middle East. Click on the map to enlarge:
[http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2008/02/01/SeaCableHi.jpg]
.
1673 Overdose
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The medical examiner's report is out on the young actor who recently died (I'm not using the name because I don't want search hits), and they're calling it an accidental overdose. That means "no blame assigned".
If anyone should take the responsibility, it should be the doctor who prescribed all those narcotics he was taking.
In my opinion, if you're going to hand someone that many medications that whack the brain and depress the systems, you don't put the patient in charge of dosing! You also prescribe a nurse, who can count. The patient, in despiration, will take one, it doesn't work immediately, he takes another, gets foggy in the head, forgets how long it's been, takes something else, gets foggier, and next thing you know he's counting pills like Ex#2 used to count booze: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 ....
And, oxycontin? WTH?! For the pain of coughing with pneumonia? Oh, come on! Oxy-anything is overkill. That's something you use for like cancer pain, or surgery involving nerves and other heavy-duty stuff. With everything else he was taking, the stuff they give for arthritis should have been more than sufficient for the cough.
Whoever prescribed those meds without foreseeing what was likely to happen is responsible for what did happen. In my opinion.
.
The medical examiner's report is out on the young actor who recently died (I'm not using the name because I don't want search hits), and they're calling it an accidental overdose. That means "no blame assigned".
If anyone should take the responsibility, it should be the doctor who prescribed all those narcotics he was taking.
In my opinion, if you're going to hand someone that many medications that whack the brain and depress the systems, you don't put the patient in charge of dosing! You also prescribe a nurse, who can count. The patient, in despiration, will take one, it doesn't work immediately, he takes another, gets foggy in the head, forgets how long it's been, takes something else, gets foggier, and next thing you know he's counting pills like Ex#2 used to count booze: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 ....
And, oxycontin? WTH?! For the pain of coughing with pneumonia? Oh, come on! Oxy-anything is overkill. That's something you use for like cancer pain, or surgery involving nerves and other heavy-duty stuff. With everything else he was taking, the stuff they give for arthritis should have been more than sufficient for the cough.
Whoever prescribed those meds without foreseeing what was likely to happen is responsible for what did happen. In my opinion.
.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
1672 Dogma
"The only thing wrong with Christianity is the Christians."
"The key difference between Spreading the Word of God and Spreading the Word of the Church can be summed up thusly: the Church is the shoddy house that was built upon the perfect earth. I'm not saying that the Church is bad; I'm saying it was built by men (and women) and because of this, it's weak and frail. The earth, on the other hand, is organic and natural, strong and durable.
Like God."
Kevin Smith
Dogma, liner notes
.
"The key difference between Spreading the Word of God and Spreading the Word of the Church can be summed up thusly: the Church is the shoddy house that was built upon the perfect earth. I'm not saying that the Church is bad; I'm saying it was built by men (and women) and because of this, it's weak and frail. The earth, on the other hand, is organic and natural, strong and durable.
Like God."
Kevin Smith
Dogma, liner notes
.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
1671 A Unique Geek
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
I went to NJ yesterday, to visit a friend. My cinematic experience is sorely lacking, so on our last several dates he has been introducing me to his favorite movies. Last night was Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life". The e-card I had sent him for his birthday last year was the song about how unique we are in the universe (I forget the name, but Eric Idle sings it). I sent it because I thought it was beautiful. It cracked him up because of the connection with that movie, which I didn't know about. He thinks I'm lacking in geekiness, and he's working on fixing that.
I had commented that I always get more out of anything on the second viewing, so after we watch them he gives me the DVD. Not lends, gives. I'm building up quite a collection.
This is the first time I've seen him directly after work, before he has had a chance to decompress. Usually there's a long drive before he joins me. Last night he was mentally bouncing off walls, and I loved it!
Daughter and Hercules left for Florida today, to visit my sister and to see a shuttle launch (Thursday, I think). I'm jealous.
--------------------------
Is America to become an obamanation?
.
I went to NJ yesterday, to visit a friend. My cinematic experience is sorely lacking, so on our last several dates he has been introducing me to his favorite movies. Last night was Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life". The e-card I had sent him for his birthday last year was the song about how unique we are in the universe (I forget the name, but Eric Idle sings it). I sent it because I thought it was beautiful. It cracked him up because of the connection with that movie, which I didn't know about. He thinks I'm lacking in geekiness, and he's working on fixing that.
I had commented that I always get more out of anything on the second viewing, so after we watch them he gives me the DVD. Not lends, gives. I'm building up quite a collection.
This is the first time I've seen him directly after work, before he has had a chance to decompress. Usually there's a long drive before he joins me. Last night he was mentally bouncing off walls, and I loved it!
Daughter and Hercules left for Florida today, to visit my sister and to see a shuttle launch (Thursday, I think). I'm jealous.
--------------------------
Is America to become an obamanation?
.
Monday, February 04, 2008
1670 Brag
Monday, February 4, 2008
I just joined Intertel. Sent my score in about six weeks ago, and finally got the invitation. All it really means is that I can take standardized tests better than half the people in Mensa. The only people who will be impressed are other Mensans. But ... that alone makes it worth the dues! Heh heh heh. There shall be some consternation....
Next - the Triple Nine Society! According to their chart, I qualify. I shall single-handedly prove that IQ tests have no meaning!
.
I just joined Intertel. Sent my score in about six weeks ago, and finally got the invitation. All it really means is that I can take standardized tests better than half the people in Mensa. The only people who will be impressed are other Mensans. But ... that alone makes it worth the dues! Heh heh heh. There shall be some consternation....
Next - the Triple Nine Society! According to their chart, I qualify. I shall single-handedly prove that IQ tests have no meaning!
.
1669 Words, again
Monday, February 4, 2008
Loose does not mean lose.
Formerly does not mean formally.
Peak means neither pique nor peek.
Site does not mean sight.
Conversate is not a word. Try "converse".
And how the heck did "called her out of her name" happen? Why the weird construction? The person from whom I heard it was being formal, and was very careful to enunciate the "of", as if that made it more proper.
.
Loose does not mean lose.
Formerly does not mean formally.
Peak means neither pique nor peek.
Site does not mean sight.
Conversate is not a word. Try "converse".
And how the heck did "called her out of her name" happen? Why the weird construction? The person from whom I heard it was being formal, and was very careful to enunciate the "of", as if that made it more proper.
.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
1668 Procrastination
Sunday, February 3, 2008
I'm supposed to be paying bills and shoveling paper out of the house today. Instead, I've spent almost the entire day listening to music. I keep about 20 CDs in the car, and I'm tired of the collection out there now. I want to select another set, and I'm having a bit of trouble. Nothing seems exactly right.
-----------------------
Blogger spellcheck isn't working for me today. I click on it and nothing happens. Anyone else having the same problem?
.
I'm supposed to be paying bills and shoveling paper out of the house today. Instead, I've spent almost the entire day listening to music. I keep about 20 CDs in the car, and I'm tired of the collection out there now. I want to select another set, and I'm having a bit of trouble. Nothing seems exactly right.
-----------------------
Blogger spellcheck isn't working for me today. I click on it and nothing happens. Anyone else having the same problem?
.
1667 Itchy Skin!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
I ITCH today! I itch everywhere. When I run my hands over my skin, especially on the sides of my waist, my neck, upper back, upper chest, and forearms, I feel like I'd fallen into a cactus patch. Little electric shocks, like there are tiny spines stuck in my skin that stab me when I touch them. I can pin some of them down to a specific spot, and when I look, there's nothing there, but when I run a finger over it, it bites me. The nerves fire.
Yesterday's volunteer gig was at a vocational school. They have all kinds of workshops there, and I'm wondering if I've picked up some tiny bits of insulation or something, floating in the air. Sitting next to the door as I was, I'd have been in a high-flow area. I have showered since, but if they're stuck in my skin.... I tried applying and pulling tape, like you would for cactus spines, but it didn't fix it.
It's driving me slowly crazy.
My grandmother had the most amazing skin - smooth and soft and very pink and white. She credited Ivory soap, but my mother's skin was similar, so I think it was genes. Gramma's skin wasn't particularly sensitive, except in one way. She couldn't be around fiberglass, in any soft form.
In the 50s it was fashionable to cover Christmas trees with a web of fiberglass. Before she entered any house, Gramma would have to ask what they'd used on the tree, and if it was that fiberglass, she couldn't go in. She'd swell up all over, even if she didn't get near the tree. The stuff was in the air. (You have to wonder about people's breathing it.)
Once house insulation was installed and closed up, it was ok, but she couldn't enter a new house, or one that had just had insulation work done. In the 60s, fiberglass drapes were popular. Gramma could be in a room with them, but they couldn't be touched while she was there.
She was the same way about peaches. If Gramma was touched by a peach, she'd swell and itch. The peach fuzz got into and irritated her skin. I remember my grandfather chasing her around the house with a peach one day when I was very young, and I was afraid of "poison peaches" for a while after.
And that was about it - just fiberglass and peaches. Weird, huh?
People have said that Marilyn Monroe photographed so well because of the reflective quality of her skin. She had a thin outer layer, with white fat under, so that her skin reflected light, and she seemed to glow.
Mom's skin was like that. She glows in photographs. She showed me an old yellowed newspaper clipping once, a photo of her high school class at graduation. There were several hundred faces, caps and gowns, rows and rows in auditorium seats. No face was more than 1/4 inch high, if that. She said, "Find me", and I pointed to her, about a third of the way back, without hesitation. She glowed. Her face was the cream in a sea of sepia.
So, then there's me. Gramma's itch, without the glow. Shuffle the cards again, please.
.
I ITCH today! I itch everywhere. When I run my hands over my skin, especially on the sides of my waist, my neck, upper back, upper chest, and forearms, I feel like I'd fallen into a cactus patch. Little electric shocks, like there are tiny spines stuck in my skin that stab me when I touch them. I can pin some of them down to a specific spot, and when I look, there's nothing there, but when I run a finger over it, it bites me. The nerves fire.
Yesterday's volunteer gig was at a vocational school. They have all kinds of workshops there, and I'm wondering if I've picked up some tiny bits of insulation or something, floating in the air. Sitting next to the door as I was, I'd have been in a high-flow area. I have showered since, but if they're stuck in my skin.... I tried applying and pulling tape, like you would for cactus spines, but it didn't fix it.
It's driving me slowly crazy.
My grandmother had the most amazing skin - smooth and soft and very pink and white. She credited Ivory soap, but my mother's skin was similar, so I think it was genes. Gramma's skin wasn't particularly sensitive, except in one way. She couldn't be around fiberglass, in any soft form.
In the 50s it was fashionable to cover Christmas trees with a web of fiberglass. Before she entered any house, Gramma would have to ask what they'd used on the tree, and if it was that fiberglass, she couldn't go in. She'd swell up all over, even if she didn't get near the tree. The stuff was in the air. (You have to wonder about people's breathing it.)
Once house insulation was installed and closed up, it was ok, but she couldn't enter a new house, or one that had just had insulation work done. In the 60s, fiberglass drapes were popular. Gramma could be in a room with them, but they couldn't be touched while she was there.
She was the same way about peaches. If Gramma was touched by a peach, she'd swell and itch. The peach fuzz got into and irritated her skin. I remember my grandfather chasing her around the house with a peach one day when I was very young, and I was afraid of "poison peaches" for a while after.
And that was about it - just fiberglass and peaches. Weird, huh?
People have said that Marilyn Monroe photographed so well because of the reflective quality of her skin. She had a thin outer layer, with white fat under, so that her skin reflected light, and she seemed to glow.
Mom's skin was like that. She glows in photographs. She showed me an old yellowed newspaper clipping once, a photo of her high school class at graduation. There were several hundred faces, caps and gowns, rows and rows in auditorium seats. No face was more than 1/4 inch high, if that. She said, "Find me", and I pointed to her, about a third of the way back, without hesitation. She glowed. Her face was the cream in a sea of sepia.
So, then there's me. Gramma's itch, without the glow. Shuffle the cards again, please.
.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
1666 Volunteer day
Saturday, February 2, 2008
I volunteered at a free tax clinic today. I was assigned to the intake desk, right inside the front doors of the votec school where the clinic was held. I took names & addresses, and handed out forms and materials. It would have been a pretty good assignment, except for a few problems.
There were two sets of double doors between me and the outside, but one of the inner doors wouldn't close when anyone opened it. And if someone pushed it partially closed, it crept wide open again. This meant if I didn't get up and close it everytime anyone went through the door, I was blasted by a constant cold draft. The door was about 15 feet from my desk.
I did manage to get hold of a building custodian. I explained the problem. She looked at the door hanging open, pulled it closed, and said "There, all fixed." I gave up. I considered blocking the door with a garbage can or something, so people would use the good door, but I was afraid I'd be breaking some fire regulation.
I noticed something really odd. The door with the attitude was on the right as you look at it from inside, on the left from outside. You'd push it to exit and pull it to enter. Everyone who exited pushed that door open. Ok, that makes sense. We automatically keep to the right in the US. However, about nine of ten people who entered, pulled on that door! They all reached out with their left hand to open the door, and pulled the door on their left open! They did not reach with their right hand to pull the door on their right open. About the only time anyone entered through the "good" door was when someone else was on their way out the "bad" door. How odd is this?
There were adult classes going on in the building, so there were literally hundreds of people going in and out.
The actual tax assistance was going on in a large room elsewhere. I think they forgot me. I was there for almost six hours, and nobody came to see if I needed a potty break, or a drink of water, or lunch. I couldn't leave the post because of the papers there, and because we couldn't have un-checked-in people wandering around the building looking for the tax room.
Luckily, I didn't need a potty break because I was so thirsty.
I'll be doing this again in two weeks at a different location, and I'll make sure I don't have the same problem. I'll make sure someone is assigned to relieve me occasionally.
I was surprised at the number of people who came in for tax help with all the kids in tow, mostly one-a-year ages. Like, three toddlers, or five preschoolers. I can't imagine what it was like in the tax room.
Most people left happy, and smiled and waved at me on their way out. That was nice. There were only three people who left in a huff - two because there weren't enough Spanish speakers to help them and they'd have had to wait, and one woman because "They're too impersonal in there!" Whatever that meant.
.
I volunteered at a free tax clinic today. I was assigned to the intake desk, right inside the front doors of the votec school where the clinic was held. I took names & addresses, and handed out forms and materials. It would have been a pretty good assignment, except for a few problems.
There were two sets of double doors between me and the outside, but one of the inner doors wouldn't close when anyone opened it. And if someone pushed it partially closed, it crept wide open again. This meant if I didn't get up and close it everytime anyone went through the door, I was blasted by a constant cold draft. The door was about 15 feet from my desk.
I did manage to get hold of a building custodian. I explained the problem. She looked at the door hanging open, pulled it closed, and said "There, all fixed." I gave up. I considered blocking the door with a garbage can or something, so people would use the good door, but I was afraid I'd be breaking some fire regulation.
I noticed something really odd. The door with the attitude was on the right as you look at it from inside, on the left from outside. You'd push it to exit and pull it to enter. Everyone who exited pushed that door open. Ok, that makes sense. We automatically keep to the right in the US. However, about nine of ten people who entered, pulled on that door! They all reached out with their left hand to open the door, and pulled the door on their left open! They did not reach with their right hand to pull the door on their right open. About the only time anyone entered through the "good" door was when someone else was on their way out the "bad" door. How odd is this?
There were adult classes going on in the building, so there were literally hundreds of people going in and out.
The actual tax assistance was going on in a large room elsewhere. I think they forgot me. I was there for almost six hours, and nobody came to see if I needed a potty break, or a drink of water, or lunch. I couldn't leave the post because of the papers there, and because we couldn't have un-checked-in people wandering around the building looking for the tax room.
Luckily, I didn't need a potty break because I was so thirsty.
I'll be doing this again in two weeks at a different location, and I'll make sure I don't have the same problem. I'll make sure someone is assigned to relieve me occasionally.
I was surprised at the number of people who came in for tax help with all the kids in tow, mostly one-a-year ages. Like, three toddlers, or five preschoolers. I can't imagine what it was like in the tax room.
Most people left happy, and smiled and waved at me on their way out. That was nice. There were only three people who left in a huff - two because there weren't enough Spanish speakers to help them and they'd have had to wait, and one woman because "They're too impersonal in there!" Whatever that meant.
.
1665 I Want to Do This!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
All I need is a few hundred volunteers, some people with video cameras, and a large crowded venue. Maybe the county fair? Anybody want to join me?
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo]
All I need is a few hundred volunteers, some people with video cameras, and a large crowded venue. Maybe the county fair? Anybody want to join me?
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo]
Friday, February 01, 2008
1664 Still Waiting
Friday, February 1, 2008
I'm still waiting for that shoe to drop, I guess. Maybe it's winter blahs. I'm just not doing anything or getting anything done. I look at the local events calendars and mark things I'd like to attend - lectures, "evenings", openings, coffee house discussions, whatever - and when the time comes, I'm just not willing to make the effort to go.
I'm skipping something tonight that I had been looking forward to. But at least tonight I can blame it on the weather. We've had alternating snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain all day. The roads are a mess. I've been waiting for the electricity to drop, but I guess no sliding cars or falling trees have scored yet.
I spent the past Sunday and Monday in NJ. They have no snow. It was so nice on Monday I left my coat in the car while Daughter and I were shopping. I felt good there, even with the poison air and lethal roads. Then I drove home Monday evening, and when I crossed the river and neared home, I got more and more depressed, in direct proportion to the depth of dirty snowbanks along the road. The ice on my driveway was the final blow.
I want Spring.
.
I'm still waiting for that shoe to drop, I guess. Maybe it's winter blahs. I'm just not doing anything or getting anything done. I look at the local events calendars and mark things I'd like to attend - lectures, "evenings", openings, coffee house discussions, whatever - and when the time comes, I'm just not willing to make the effort to go.
I'm skipping something tonight that I had been looking forward to. But at least tonight I can blame it on the weather. We've had alternating snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain all day. The roads are a mess. I've been waiting for the electricity to drop, but I guess no sliding cars or falling trees have scored yet.
I spent the past Sunday and Monday in NJ. They have no snow. It was so nice on Monday I left my coat in the car while Daughter and I were shopping. I felt good there, even with the poison air and lethal roads. Then I drove home Monday evening, and when I crossed the river and neared home, I got more and more depressed, in direct proportion to the depth of dirty snowbanks along the road. The ice on my driveway was the final blow.
I want Spring.
.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
1663 Depraved?
The way they scored this test is a bit confusing. I think the way it works is the lower the percent, the "better" you scored in that category. Like, I'm slightly less shameless than average, but I have a higher sex drive, and I've got a smaller gay side than average (I have seen other women naked, and have been seen naked, but that's all). And apparently I have a LOT more experience with the opposite sex than average.
It's easiest to just look at the comments on the right. If they're under the right column, well, wait. Eventually more posts will move it down past the obstructions.
I am amused that they can't compare me to anyone in my age group, because there's no one else in my age group in their data base. Sheesh. That alone should get me some extra depravity points!
It's easiest to just look at the comments on the right. If they're under the right column, well, wait. Eventually more posts will move it down past the obstructions.
I am amused that they can't compare me to anyone in my age group, because there's no one else in my age group in their data base. Sheesh. That alone should get me some extra depravity points!
| Your Ultimate Purity Test 2.0 Score Is... | ||||
| Your Score: | Average For All Users | Average For All Straight Moderate Single Pink-Skinned 60 to 66-Year old Females (1 total) | ||
| Dating | 19.23% | 34.13% | 19.23% | Gone steady |
| Self-Lovin' | 46.97% | 60.89% | 46.97% | When I think about you - or anyone - I touch myself |
| Shamelessness | 77.42% | 77.34% | 77.42% | Has yet to see self in mirror |
| Sex Drive | 61.9% | 75.01% | 61.9% | A fool for love, but not always |
| Straightness | 9.26% | 39.22% | 9.26% | Knows the other body type like a map |
| Gayness | 94.44% | 78.14% | 94.44% | Repressed, are we? |
| Dominant | 76.67% | 86.69% | 76.67% | Afraid to cross at "Don't Walk" signs |
| Submissive | 82.54% | 87.06% | 82.54% | Submits to no one... almost |
| Fucking Sick | 90.82% | 89.82% | 90.82% | Refreshingly normal |
| Total Score | 67.3% | 73.72% | 67.3% | |
| Take The Ultimate Purity Test 2.0 and see how you match up! (By The Ferrett) | ||||
1662 More Cat Stuff
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I forgot to mention that when I was putting the collar on Jasper, I noticed a small lump on his head, about a half inch above one eye. I had noticed the bump over the past several days, but had assumed it was just a tangle of fur.
Today I decided to find out exactly what it was.
You know how cats' claws shed, and you'll find claw tips wherever they like to "sharpen" them?
It was a claw tip stuck in the top of Jasper's head.
Miss Thunderfoot apparently scored a good one.
.
I forgot to mention that when I was putting the collar on Jasper, I noticed a small lump on his head, about a half inch above one eye. I had noticed the bump over the past several days, but had assumed it was just a tangle of fur.
Today I decided to find out exactly what it was.
You know how cats' claws shed, and you'll find claw tips wherever they like to "sharpen" them?
It was a claw tip stuck in the top of Jasper's head.
Miss Thunderfoot apparently scored a good one.
.
1661 Escape Artist
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Well, today Jasper got his first collar. He accepted it with no fuss or complaint. A half hour later, it was lying on my bed - unbuckled.
I put it on him again, with two finger's play, and again within a half hour he had unbuckled it. He didn't slip it over his head - he unbuckled it. Again I found it on the bed.
I put it on him a third time, tighter, and then went into the bathroom where I could see him on the bed without being right there. The little sneak immediately tucked his chin under, and pulled the band around until the buckle was under his chin. Within about 15 minutes of rolling around and amazing contortions, he'd managed to catch his lower teeth under the band next to the buckle, and he pulled on it until he had unbuckled it! Exactly the same way I would unbuckle it with my fingers.
What was cute was that his gyrations trying to get hold of the collar had spilled him off the bed, so he had removed the collar on the floor. The little stinker picked up the collar and deposited it neatly on the bed, so I could find it and put it on him again.
We have a new game.
.
Well, today Jasper got his first collar. He accepted it with no fuss or complaint. A half hour later, it was lying on my bed - unbuckled.
I put it on him again, with two finger's play, and again within a half hour he had unbuckled it. He didn't slip it over his head - he unbuckled it. Again I found it on the bed.
I put it on him a third time, tighter, and then went into the bathroom where I could see him on the bed without being right there. The little sneak immediately tucked his chin under, and pulled the band around until the buckle was under his chin. Within about 15 minutes of rolling around and amazing contortions, he'd managed to catch his lower teeth under the band next to the buckle, and he pulled on it until he had unbuckled it! Exactly the same way I would unbuckle it with my fingers.
What was cute was that his gyrations trying to get hold of the collar had spilled him off the bed, so he had removed the collar on the floor. The little stinker picked up the collar and deposited it neatly on the bed, so I could find it and put it on him again.
We have a new game.
.
1660 Things I've found
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (just after midnight)
I've been playing with http://www.pandora.com/. It's free. You set up a "radio station" by entering the name of a group or singer you like. Pandora analyzes the music, and then picks other artists you might like, on the basis of similar characteristics. As they play, you indicate whether or not you like what they've chosen (when there's something you especially like or hate), and that's input to further refine the selections. It doesn't seem to use lot of bandwidth to have a tailored "radio" playing the whole time you're on the computer.
Pandora has permission to play the stuff, and if you especially like something, they have the links for you to buy it. I discovered the contract bit when I was skipping some bad choices, and was informed that "under contract with the distributers" one is allowed to skip only a certain number a day. When you hit that limit, you have to listen even if you don't like it.
Try it. It's free. You just have to give them an email address, but in the four months since I registered, I haven't got any email from them.
-----------------------------
Sunday evening I introduced my friend to Billy's Balloon and Salad Fingers (both mentioned in previous posts). In return (or maybe to teach me a lesson) he showed me the Toyota Scion commercials. Now, these are vile! I couldn't believe they're real, but they are.
[http://www.youtube.com/v/dTeC9fKlHSk&rel=1]
[http://www.youtube.com/v/MZqOxxgUYsc&rel=1]
Just what I always wanted - a vomit green car.
There's also a game based on these commercials. You kill sheeple and use the green blood to fuel a Scion factory. If you don't mind, I won't give you the link, but Google will.
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I may or may not have mentioned this before, but it has become one of my favorite cartoon sites and is worth mentioning again: "Basic Instructions - your all-inclusive guide to a life well-lived" at http://www.basicinstructions.net/.
I've been playing with http://www.pandora.com/. It's free. You set up a "radio station" by entering the name of a group or singer you like. Pandora analyzes the music, and then picks other artists you might like, on the basis of similar characteristics. As they play, you indicate whether or not you like what they've chosen (when there's something you especially like or hate), and that's input to further refine the selections. It doesn't seem to use lot of bandwidth to have a tailored "radio" playing the whole time you're on the computer.
Pandora has permission to play the stuff, and if you especially like something, they have the links for you to buy it. I discovered the contract bit when I was skipping some bad choices, and was informed that "under contract with the distributers" one is allowed to skip only a certain number a day. When you hit that limit, you have to listen even if you don't like it.
Try it. It's free. You just have to give them an email address, but in the four months since I registered, I haven't got any email from them.
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Sunday evening I introduced my friend to Billy's Balloon and Salad Fingers (both mentioned in previous posts). In return (or maybe to teach me a lesson) he showed me the Toyota Scion commercials. Now, these are vile! I couldn't believe they're real, but they are.
[http://www.youtube.com/v/dTeC9fKlHSk&rel=1]
[http://www.youtube.com/v/MZqOxxgUYsc&rel=1]
Just what I always wanted - a vomit green car.
There's also a game based on these commercials. You kill sheeple and use the green blood to fuel a Scion factory. If you don't mind, I won't give you the link, but Google will.
------------------------------
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but it has become one of my favorite cartoon sites and is worth mentioning again: "Basic Instructions - your all-inclusive guide to a life well-lived" at http://www.basicinstructions.net/.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
1659 Back, and Recovering
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I hadn't realized I hadn't posted since Friday. I guess because I had a draft out there from Saturday that I added to on Sunday morning, and it registered in my head as having done posting duty.
I went to NJ on Sunday, spent some quality time with a friend, and then on Monday visited with Daughter. It was all good.
Now I'm playing catch up.
And, well, that's about it.
.
I hadn't realized I hadn't posted since Friday. I guess because I had a draft out there from Saturday that I added to on Sunday morning, and it registered in my head as having done posting duty.
I went to NJ on Sunday, spent some quality time with a friend, and then on Monday visited with Daughter. It was all good.
Now I'm playing catch up.
And, well, that's about it.
.
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