I
AM
PISSED!!!
And not in the good "UK" way.
My cats have this rubber fetish. No, not that way, you pervs. They like to chew on things that are rubbery. Rubberbands. Hair Ties, electrical cords...
So last night I'm having a case of the "clean up this dump" insanities and I decide I'll get more done if the Stones help to "Start Me Up". I plop the CD into the CD machine. I turn on the amp, crank the knob to 4, and .... silence.
I check to make sure the amp is set to play CD's. Silence.
I check to make sure the CD machine, amp and all other devices that should be "on" are "on". Silence.
I check the speaker cords. Chewed through.
I check the cord that connects the amp to the CD machine. Chewed through.
I wonder if there is a Korean restaurant anywhere near my house...
542 days
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Mother Nature's Flashing Lights
I love thunderstorms. Even the scarey ones where you get strikes near the house and the dishes rattle in the cupboard.
Last night we had a gully-washer - one where the rain just poured down in buckets for well over an hour. Lake Sewmouse is slowly draining out of my back yard again - at least I didn't get my feet wet on the way in to work. But the light and sound show was nice. No big bangs, just delicate lavendar flashes lighting up the entire night sky for a few seconds, then a quiet rumble, as if an extremely large, heavily-laden truck had passed by.
Soothing and peaceful, as the lawns soaked up the welcome moisture, and cool breezes wafted in through the open window, smelling of damp earth, wet air, happy plants.
This morning I plucked the sweetest, most wonderful tiny "cherry" tomato from the vine on my way to the car. Still damp from being washed in rainwater, more flavorful than anything you will ever get from a supermarket, almost sugar-tasting in its ripe sweetness. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
543 days
Last night we had a gully-washer - one where the rain just poured down in buckets for well over an hour. Lake Sewmouse is slowly draining out of my back yard again - at least I didn't get my feet wet on the way in to work. But the light and sound show was nice. No big bangs, just delicate lavendar flashes lighting up the entire night sky for a few seconds, then a quiet rumble, as if an extremely large, heavily-laden truck had passed by.
Soothing and peaceful, as the lawns soaked up the welcome moisture, and cool breezes wafted in through the open window, smelling of damp earth, wet air, happy plants.
This morning I plucked the sweetest, most wonderful tiny "cherry" tomato from the vine on my way to the car. Still damp from being washed in rainwater, more flavorful than anything you will ever get from a supermarket, almost sugar-tasting in its ripe sweetness. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
543 days
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Men who cook
They were married for over 50 years. She cooked almost all the meals, with the rare camping exceptions. She had learned to make things he liked, and they ate well, well-balanced meals with sufficent variety to make dinner and lunch interesting.
Mom wasn't a gourmet cook, but she was a good, solid meal-maker. We seldom left the table hungry, and she had a way with a few things that was nothing short of a miracle, especially meatloaf and spaghetti. Considering that Dad won't eat anything with noticable garlic in it, the spaghetti thig WAS a miracle.
My grandmother, (Dad's side) was a wonderful cook, and a baker. She baked bread so fluffy and tasty and soft and yeasty... I've not found a recipe that matches what she could create in that big striped bowl of hers. Maybe I need to find a striped bowl.
Anyhow - Dad is now struggling to come up with meals on a daily basis since he has to do all the cooking himself. When I'm down there, I try to make "too much" so that he has frozen leftovers to microzap when I leave. At one point, I made him a lasagna (sans garlic!), a pot of senate bean soup and an entire double-recipe of chili. Froze it all in tupperware-esque containers, and he used them up over the course of probably 3 or 4 months, interspersed with his own new cooking skills.
Interestingly enough, Dad can make a mean apple pie, and is better at cooking fish than I am. I'm just plain BAD at cooking fish. But we talk about cooking a lot now, and the 1950's/1960's child inside me laughs at the thought of the "Daddy" doing the cooking. Ward Cleaver never cooked!!! (Except BBQ!)
When I went down to Fla last year I stopped in Tennessee to visit my friend "S" and her kids. "S" was in a play at the local community theater and it was their last night. After the show, they had a wrap party at the director's house (mansion...) and the director had put on a buffet spread for the cast and their guests. I was utterly amazed - home cooking, but freaking GOURMET home cooking. Tiny meatballs in savory sauce, stuffed mushrooms, slices of some kind of meat-in-pastry concoction, all smelling utterly heavenly and tasting even better.
I guess it is a bit sexist to think of men cooking as being odd - but my first initial "gut reaction" to any guy who manages to pull off non-BBQ cooking is to be surprised - and very, very positively impressed.
Upbringing? Some. Sexism? Maybe. The fact that my ex-husband needed a recipie for ice cubes? Probably.
545 days
Mom wasn't a gourmet cook, but she was a good, solid meal-maker. We seldom left the table hungry, and she had a way with a few things that was nothing short of a miracle, especially meatloaf and spaghetti. Considering that Dad won't eat anything with noticable garlic in it, the spaghetti thig WAS a miracle.
My grandmother, (Dad's side) was a wonderful cook, and a baker. She baked bread so fluffy and tasty and soft and yeasty... I've not found a recipe that matches what she could create in that big striped bowl of hers. Maybe I need to find a striped bowl.
Anyhow - Dad is now struggling to come up with meals on a daily basis since he has to do all the cooking himself. When I'm down there, I try to make "too much" so that he has frozen leftovers to microzap when I leave. At one point, I made him a lasagna (sans garlic!), a pot of senate bean soup and an entire double-recipe of chili. Froze it all in tupperware-esque containers, and he used them up over the course of probably 3 or 4 months, interspersed with his own new cooking skills.
Interestingly enough, Dad can make a mean apple pie, and is better at cooking fish than I am. I'm just plain BAD at cooking fish. But we talk about cooking a lot now, and the 1950's/1960's child inside me laughs at the thought of the "Daddy" doing the cooking. Ward Cleaver never cooked!!! (Except BBQ!)
When I went down to Fla last year I stopped in Tennessee to visit my friend "S" and her kids. "S" was in a play at the local community theater and it was their last night. After the show, they had a wrap party at the director's house (mansion...) and the director had put on a buffet spread for the cast and their guests. I was utterly amazed - home cooking, but freaking GOURMET home cooking. Tiny meatballs in savory sauce, stuffed mushrooms, slices of some kind of meat-in-pastry concoction, all smelling utterly heavenly and tasting even better.
I guess it is a bit sexist to think of men cooking as being odd - but my first initial "gut reaction" to any guy who manages to pull off non-BBQ cooking is to be surprised - and very, very positively impressed.
Upbringing? Some. Sexism? Maybe. The fact that my ex-husband needed a recipie for ice cubes? Probably.
545 days
Monday, July 23, 2007
OMG - Can you just IMAGINE???
I've come to the conclusion over the years that there are 2 types of people in the world. Those who think with their brains, and those who think with their genitalia. Ok, most women come to this conclusion fairly early on, and I will say that I did as well, but unlike most women, I came to the conclusion based on a conversation with a female (at one time a friend, but that's another story).
Most women realize this concept about the time they realize that 1) He doesn't really love them, he just wants to get in their pants, 2) He won't respect them in the morning because they LET him get in their pants and/or 3) Letting him into your pants is one of the best ways to get rid of a pushy boyfriend.
I, however, realized this one day when my former friend pointed out a man and woman in the mall, and asked me "Oh Jeez - can you imagine THEM having sex?"
No.
I don't.
Ever.
To me, it seemed so crass, so uncouth, so much an invasion of privacy. What other people do (or don't) in the privacy of their own homes is not only none of my business, but something special and private that just they (or anyone they invite) should be privy to. I lost a great deal of my respect for this woman that day. Over time I came to realize that she spent a lot of time working sex into conversations as well. It seemed it was not enough for her to just go for the voyeuristic imaginings, she wanted everyone to know that she was a sexually active individual.
I think this is one reason I, and probably others like me, are made uncomfortable by folks who insist on bringing graphic talk about sex into all or most of their conversations. I am as uncomfortable about this as I am about talking regarding money. I don't need to know, I don't want to know, and I don't like to know. Keep it in your own brain/bedroom. PLEASE!
One of those strange things about money and sex - folks who are getting enough of either don't usually feel a great need to discuss them.
Just sayin'.
Anyhow, along these same lines I began to think about one of the pet catch-phrases of the far-left "You're a racist!". Apparently if you notice someone is physically different from you, you're a racist. If you speak out against crime, you're a racist. If you are offended by criminals that illegally trespass in our country - you're a racist. If you think that drug dealers and hookers don't belong in close proximity to schools or childrens activity centers, you're a racist.
What I don't understand is this - if I'm such a racist, how come I am pretty much "color blind" when it comes to racial differences? If you have 2 arms, 2 legs, opposable thumbs, a head and walk upright, I really don't think of you as "hispanic" or "black" or "asian". The reason I think of Sudo-san as Japanese is (besides the fact that he is, in fact, Japanese) because he would sometimes speak to me in Japanese - or come to me and ask how to say something in English. (Or "What means...." when a new slang term was said)
But Luther was always just Luther, and Jose is just Jose, and Bill Cosby is just that funny guy who had the mischievious brother and now sells pudding cups.
Isn't this exactly what equality is all about? Where we realize that while people are, in fact, a bit different in their social or cultural attributes, and but although Artie is tall and Hubert is short and Gordon is fat and Oscar has a nose like an anteater, and Suzie has big bazoombas and Felicia has long hair and Martha has a wart on her elbow... we are all just PEOPLE? We all bleed red.
Some of us are going to be great at driving fork lifts (not me!!) and some will be good with numbers and some of us will be able to pass the bar exam, and some of us are just going to have to be doctors, nurses, lab technicians, bartenders...
And it shouldn't matter what color or size or height or gender. All that should matter is if you can (and will!) do the job.
With the resources available at this time in this country, it should not be a problem for ANYONE who really WANTS to learn and advance themselves to do so. There may be hurdles to overcome, financial or mental or even social, but if someone really wants something, and is willing to WORK for it, the end result should be favorable barring something like a physical handicap or mental incapacity. Taking personal responsibility for your future is key. The fact that there ARE black, hispanic, asian, etc. Doctors, lawyers, Senators, baseball players, life insurance salesmen... shows that it CAN be done, if the kids are willing to give up the "Whitey owes us, anyone who studies or gets good grades is an Uncle Tom - an Oreo..." attitude.
I'm babbling. What prompted this was a post by The Future Was Yesterday in which he also mentioned the concept of taking personal responsibility, where a couple of his commenters (far left, I believe) took issue with the concept, along with a couple comments by my cousin "J" during lunch yesterday about a totally unrelated topic. Strange how that happens.
546 days
Most women realize this concept about the time they realize that 1) He doesn't really love them, he just wants to get in their pants, 2) He won't respect them in the morning because they LET him get in their pants and/or 3) Letting him into your pants is one of the best ways to get rid of a pushy boyfriend.
I, however, realized this one day when my former friend pointed out a man and woman in the mall, and asked me "Oh Jeez - can you imagine THEM having sex?"
No.
I don't.
Ever.
To me, it seemed so crass, so uncouth, so much an invasion of privacy. What other people do (or don't) in the privacy of their own homes is not only none of my business, but something special and private that just they (or anyone they invite) should be privy to. I lost a great deal of my respect for this woman that day. Over time I came to realize that she spent a lot of time working sex into conversations as well. It seemed it was not enough for her to just go for the voyeuristic imaginings, she wanted everyone to know that she was a sexually active individual.
I think this is one reason I, and probably others like me, are made uncomfortable by folks who insist on bringing graphic talk about sex into all or most of their conversations. I am as uncomfortable about this as I am about talking regarding money. I don't need to know, I don't want to know, and I don't like to know. Keep it in your own brain/bedroom. PLEASE!
One of those strange things about money and sex - folks who are getting enough of either don't usually feel a great need to discuss them.
Just sayin'.
Anyhow, along these same lines I began to think about one of the pet catch-phrases of the far-left "You're a racist!". Apparently if you notice someone is physically different from you, you're a racist. If you speak out against crime, you're a racist. If you are offended by criminals that illegally trespass in our country - you're a racist. If you think that drug dealers and hookers don't belong in close proximity to schools or childrens activity centers, you're a racist.
What I don't understand is this - if I'm such a racist, how come I am pretty much "color blind" when it comes to racial differences? If you have 2 arms, 2 legs, opposable thumbs, a head and walk upright, I really don't think of you as "hispanic" or "black" or "asian". The reason I think of Sudo-san as Japanese is (besides the fact that he is, in fact, Japanese) because he would sometimes speak to me in Japanese - or come to me and ask how to say something in English. (Or "What means...." when a new slang term was said)
But Luther was always just Luther, and Jose is just Jose, and Bill Cosby is just that funny guy who had the mischievious brother and now sells pudding cups.
Isn't this exactly what equality is all about? Where we realize that while people are, in fact, a bit different in their social or cultural attributes, and but although Artie is tall and Hubert is short and Gordon is fat and Oscar has a nose like an anteater, and Suzie has big bazoombas and Felicia has long hair and Martha has a wart on her elbow... we are all just PEOPLE? We all bleed red.
Some of us are going to be great at driving fork lifts (not me!!) and some will be good with numbers and some of us will be able to pass the bar exam, and some of us are just going to have to be doctors, nurses, lab technicians, bartenders...
And it shouldn't matter what color or size or height or gender. All that should matter is if you can (and will!) do the job.
With the resources available at this time in this country, it should not be a problem for ANYONE who really WANTS to learn and advance themselves to do so. There may be hurdles to overcome, financial or mental or even social, but if someone really wants something, and is willing to WORK for it, the end result should be favorable barring something like a physical handicap or mental incapacity. Taking personal responsibility for your future is key. The fact that there ARE black, hispanic, asian, etc. Doctors, lawyers, Senators, baseball players, life insurance salesmen... shows that it CAN be done, if the kids are willing to give up the "Whitey owes us, anyone who studies or gets good grades is an Uncle Tom - an Oreo..." attitude.
I'm babbling. What prompted this was a post by The Future Was Yesterday in which he also mentioned the concept of taking personal responsibility, where a couple of his commenters (far left, I believe) took issue with the concept, along with a couple comments by my cousin "J" during lunch yesterday about a totally unrelated topic. Strange how that happens.
546 days
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
