On "Pop Culture"

It's all over the news, Heath Ledger died. Apparently this is some kind of tragedy. Not that dying isn't always a tragedy to your family and friends, but this is supposedly a newsworthy tragedy - and I'm sure other than a very short and inexpensive Obit in the local rag, I'll not get much in the way of news if it is me kicking the proverbial bucket.

I have no real clue who this "Heath Ledger" was. An actor, apparently, as they keep bringing up that he played a gay cowboy. I had no interest in seeing "Brokeback Mountain", so I really have no idea if he was such a talented actor as to make his death an international newsworthy "Tragedy" or not.

Caffeine "Energy Drinks". Bleh. They taste like warm, flat lemon-lime gatorade. Eugh. Even when they are cold, they taste warm. Why not just drink coffee? I'm unimpressed - and the fact that a model who bears a very striking resemblence to Paris the Drunken Sleaze is used advertising one of them on a billboard on my way to work is reason enough to NEVER buy one!!!

Speaking of the Drunken Sleaze - why do we care? Why do we see her name, or that of the Drunken Bald Mommy, all over Yahoo News every freaking week? Granted, she has a shapely little skinny body - but other than that (Grampa is NOT giving her his billions), what is so fascinating about this brainless twat? Or is that the point, boys? *snicker*

It's getting to where I feel like a stranger in a strange land... the world I knew is gone, and there is this cellophane-wrapped neon-colored strobe-lighted fantasyland that is replacing it.

I'm unimpressed.

353 days

Strange things on the way home from work

You know those little dangly "air freshener" things that hang from rear-view mirrors in cars?

Usually shaped like dolphins or pine trees or flowers?

This guy behind me had one. Not unusual. What was unusual was the "saying" that was on it. It was just a white square... You know how people use a "heart" symbol for "love"? Like "I (heart) my Rottweiler" bumper stickers?

This guy was advertising that he (heart) his penis.

Right.

Ok.

Yes.

Ahem.

So.

I stop at my favorite store on the way home to buy a telephone cable because I'm going to do some furniture-moving in the livingroom and will need a longer telephone cable. In I go, and out I come with a cable, a packet of "Twinkies", a DVD, 2 air-fresheners, a candle and a package of socks.

And parked not 10 inches from my driver-side door is a fucking grey Hummvee.

There isn't enough room between his fucking tank and my door for a fucking anorexic supermodel to get into my car, much less pudgy lil' me.

And this asswipe is on his cellphone in the driver's seat - rather POINTEDLY ignoring me.

So he gets out, and starts in to the store, at which point I say loud enough for the folks in the next county to hear "So, I guess I'll have to wait for him to get done shopping to move his TANK so I can get in my car"

He comes back "It's just a big car..."

"You've parked it on the line - I cannot possibly get into my car with your TANK there - could you please move it?"

General Patton got into his tank in a huff and moved off 6 slots further away from me. Worked for me. Fucking asshat. What, just because HE doesn't care about the environment means I have to wait for him to get done shopping in order to drive home?

Not bloody likely.

I'll try and download that "Trillian" thing tonite after work, V. Thanks.


354 days

Another Cold Day in Paradise

I type this at lunch at work. The home computer is doing strange things with the internets.

For instance - my Vonage VOIP works fine - except when I call my Dad, when it cuts in and out. Dad swears it is NOT his hearing aid. My blog lets me log in from work, but only about 1/2 the time from home.

My IM programs only stay "on" for minutes - sometimes seconds - at a time. Then they make me go "offline" - even though the modem looks fine and I can still look at webpages and blogs and stuff.

I am thinking this may be a "drivers" or compatibility issue (I haven't upgraded the IM software for years...) - but the last 2 weeks I've been too sick to deal with it - upper respiratory infection, laryngitis and the cough that rocked so much it's a good thing I wasn't near the San Andreas Fault or they'd have to make a new 49 state flag.

It's been cold and miserable, cold and clear, cold and snowy - and cold and cold.

I swear my local Starbucks has decided to take a page from the "Office Space"/T.G.I. Friday's handbook. The baristas are wearing lots of little "bling bling" pins and stickers on their aprons - and the guy at the drivethru window treats me with the kind of familiarity you'd expect from a guy who thinks he's trying to get laid...

All I want is my fucking coffee, please - and a blueberry scone.

Bah.

Went to Jewel Foods to pick up a few odd items - NO MORE!! They have TELEVISION at the checkouts now.... EUUUGGGHHHHHHHH.


357 days

Measuring Contests

Most women have known since they were teenage girls that most of what (most)Men do is really nothing more than a glorified penis-measuring-contest.

My car is faster/larger/fancier/more phallic-looking than yours...

My house is bigger/in a better neighborhood/has a better shed than yours...

My job pays more/is more prestigious/gets me more girls than yours...

Like Capt. Jack Sparrow and Capt. Barbossa in PotC III comparing the size of their spyglasses - it seems that everything guys do is a big contest to see who is bigger/better/shinier... in essence, who has the bigger peen.

I suppose this is a throwback to the stone ages when well-hung would be more evident due to somewhat less well-tailored apparel (swing that loincloth, Og!!)

What I find horrible is that they've taken to extending (pun intended) to religion. "My God is better than YOUR God" has been going on since those same almost-prehistoric times, this isn't something new. IIRC, it was either Elijah or Elisha who had a "Burn the Sacrifice" contest between "Baal" and the god of the Israelites.

This is all well and good - have fun, burn cattle - but when it becomes so serious that folks are willing to murder other folks simply because they won't admit that their God has a bigger peen... well...

And they've all done it! You got your Jews in the Old Testament running roughshod through their "promised land" killing all the folks because their G_D is mightier than the godless heathen gentiles...

Then you have your Romans, doing the Crucifiction and lion-wrestling thang to wipe out those pesky new-age Xtians...

So of course, in time, the Xtians turn around and go postal on the godless heathen Native Americans - and harmless lil' pagans - and anyone the Spanish Inquisition just doesn't happen to like....

So now why are we surprised that the Moslems want to get in on the act, screaming " Allahu Akbar " and then whacking off people's heads that they don't like?

I can tell you one thing....

Senator Obama has a larger peen than Senator Clinton.
*smirk*

368 days

I got gas last nite....

Shaddup, Lea.

I got GASOLINE - not digestive upset from the nice Mexican fiesta meal I had. *burp*
(excuse me)

I haven't bought gasoline at Shell for quite a while, despite them being directly across the street from the entrance to our subdivision, because they are pricey and always crowded. But I was in a hurry yesterday because I had a sore throat and it was flurrying and I wasn't about to go gasoline shopping when I felt like death warmed over from the shoulders to the chin.

It will be a LONG time before I go back to Shell.

Technology is not always a good thing. The Shell station has this new "feature" - TV while you Fill-Up. Apparently the network with the Peacock has done a deal with Shell to provide "entertainment" while you pump gas. Oh joy. (*puke*)

I do not watch television. I own two television sets, one may not work anymore, I'm not sure, as it has been years since it has been turned "on". (SHUT UP, LEA!!! *giggle*) The other one I use only to watch DVD movies. I do occasionally - VERY occasionally - watch a sports event, and every Xmas I watch the Nutcracker on PBS (shaddup, Visionary...) I do this quite deliberately as I feel that Television is... horrible. Boring. Stupid. Trite.

Television at the gasoline pump is mind-numbingly ghastly.

I also note that one of the billboards on the way to work has become a hugeongeous television set as well. Sickening. It's like living in an old "Future Shock" novel. STOP THE MADNESS. We don't need no more stinking television!!!!!!

371 days

New Years Resolutions and Tears

Your New Year's Resolutions

1) Get a pet hedgehog 2) Eat more gummy bears 3) Travel to Russia 4) Study finger painting 5) Get in shape with capoeira

What Should Your New Year's Resoluton Be?

WTF is "Capoeira"??? Apparently some brazilian martial arts thingy, according to Google/Wiki. Yeah, right. Like my knees and back would allow that. And I hate to travel. However... finger painting, gummy bears and a hedgehog sound do-able. LOL

***************************************

Patricia Schroeder - former Congresswoman from Colorado.
Been trying to remember that name for ages.

I bet almost nobody remembers her. In 1988 she ran for President - briefly. If I recall correctly, she also had a tearful breakdown, sobbing that she couldn't manage to run for President and also take care of the concerns of her district, as she quit the race.

Didn't work for her - won't work for Senator Clinton, methinks. The whole "emotional female" routine pretty much fucks things up for women in government - in fact it's been 20 years since one ran for President, thanks to Patty's little tantrum. I suppose it will be another 20 years now that Senator Clinton has done her crying female act. *sigh*

Interesting side-note:

I own the metal-frame trundle bed that Pat Schroeder's kids slept on when they visited Grandma. When I was preggers with Manda, I had been scouring the classified ads to find a used trundle bed. I loved the idea of being able to pull out an extra bed if Manda had a friend sleep over or if I needed to stay close when she was sick.

There was an ad in the paper for one, about a month before Manda was born - and we went to see it and pick it up. The people there had this great huge plate on display in the china cabinet that was US House of Representatives commemorative type deal. I asked about it and they said their daughter was in the Congress.... Only after I got home did I make the connection.

Still have the bed. In fact, it's in one of the quilt photos, I think - under the quilt, of course.


377 Days

Cats!

Mindi and Kili are two old kitty ladies that live with me. Old in kitty years. Over 15 yrs old now. Mindi has some trouble with a hip - I suspect arthritis - she's rather fat and lazy. She is, however, a snugglebunny and manages to get up onto the sofa whenever I sit there and snuggle in the crook of my knee.

Kili, on the other hand, while looking "old and wise" - actually still has the physique of a young cat, thin, muscular - she still plays "string" with an old shoelace, and bats her stuffed-felt mice around and tosses them into the air.

Kili, however, has developed a very strange habit the last few days. I don't understand it.

She has taken to sleeping with her head and shoulders (only) under my "Rubbermaid©" plastic stepstool. It's the oddest thing in the world - rather ostrich-esque.

Cats. Go figure.

379 Days

Happy New Year

I sincerely hope everyone has a really great new year. Except George W. Bush. And Senator Clinton.

Not likely they read this, however, so I suppose I'm safe.

Well, it was a New Years to remember. I don't think I've had a year that ended on such a sour note as this one in ages, and I'm not going to go into it, so phlllhhbbbhhhttt to those who are morbidly fascinated with emotional traumas and the stamping-out of burning ducks. Suffice it to say that "Learning has occurred".

One of the things I learned was not to buy a roast beast from Butera Market. I love the Butera. Nobody goes there. There is always plenty of breathing oxygen, the food is good and fresh - but their meat department is wretched. The meat LOOKS great - but I've had 2 instances of late where standard preparation of ordinary meats has resulted in extraordinary failures. Meat from Caputos from now on.

This was a bit of an issue, as I had planned a nice dinner for two for Jan. 1 - Roast Beast, veg, orange AND white potatoes, and onion soup.

Fortunately, I had a couple of pork chops in the fridge, and had made extra on the soup, so the meal was adequate regardless the roast-from-hell.

I've never had a roast do this to me before. It got all hard and uncuttable on the outside, and was farking RAW on the inside. So I cut off the hard part, and tried again to cook it and it grew a hard shell again with THAT inside being raw. (and no - the meat was NOT previously frozen)

Enough is, in fact, enough, so I gave up and thawed out the chops and did a quick broil up on them. With a bit of bruschetta on top they were excellent.

S came over for lunch on the 29th (30th?) and we went to Applebees. (Yes, I realize I have just skipped around chronologically - deal with it) They have drastically changed the menu at Applebees since the last time I was there. This can only mean 1 of 2 things - either Applebees is being quite daring and innovative..... or it has been an awfully long time since I was at an Applebees. I suspect the latter.


381 days

(P.S. - Congratulations, Senator Obama!)

Balanced

On the tip
of the point of a needle
Arms outstretched
One tiny breeze can break the spell

balanced on the tip
of the point of a needle
like a dancer en pointe
untried, fragile gossamer wings spread

one breath can tip the balance
to soar and fly
or to fall and fail
never having flown, fear of breathing

Balanced on the tip
of the point of a needle
to fall without trying
to try and possibly fall

Antici..........



................




pation. (Sorry, Dr. Frank...)



I choose.
I fly.



387 days

End of the year...

Been away a bit again, sorry about that.

Lots of hassles around the hacienda - made for a rather tense Christmas weekend. Almost all sorted now, however. Few more days ought to bring things back to "normal" - as normal as it gets around here.

Got a few presents, sent a few presents. Have a couple more to send. In all, despite the hassles, not a bad thing.

I want to say something here... I'll probably regret this, but maybe it's time to comment on the comments and stuff.

Many years ago, I met a guy online who rather surprisingly became a dear friend very quickly. We have an extraordinary friendship, one that has withstood a lot of challenges and issues. We've "been there" for each other through some awfully rough shit in both of our lives. This isn't a "romantic" thing - (not that he isn't attractive that way, but we both have other "commitments") - but rather a soul-bonding friendship that transcends mere physical desire. We have both felt that we can tell one another "anything", without being judged or condemned. He's one of the few people who can bluntly tell me to get my head out - and have me listen, rather than telling him to piss off..

He's pretty protective of me - although he knows I'm capable of being Bitch of the Week on my own and has called me on it more than once. He knows what will make me laugh, and he knows me at my best as well as my worst. He's gone by a LARGE number of nicknames over the years, in many venues - but lately he seems to have settled in my blog as "Visionary."

A relatively short while ago, I also met online a guy whom I enjoyed sparring and teasing around with. Again, not in a romantic or physical sense, but someone I enjoyed talking with. While I didn't agree with everything he says, nor he with me, we had good times talking and discussing. He had started to learn about me, but didn't know everything - especially the bit about how I really am able to completely write off what I consider to be a toxic situation. You folks know him as BBC.

A few months ago, BBC made a comment about me that was based on partial truth - but more on his own assumptions based on those truths. I'm not going to go into it here - but it was enough for me to say to him "Goodbye" and stop reading/commenting on his blog or responding here.

In the midst of all the hassles and turmoil this week, one thing I got was an e-mail from BBC, with what I firmly believe was a very sincere apology. I respect that.

Bill - I accept your apology - thank you for it. I am trusting that you, unlike others, are smart enough to know that "sorry" doesn't count if you plan to do the same thing again, and I'm certain you won't.

All the rest of you? I suspect that BBC and Visionary may well continue to spar and spit in comments. I'm ok with that. I'm certain my "readers" know the difference between MY opinion and that of those who comment. With only a VERY few exceptions, I've always let comments stand.

Merry Christmas, All.
Happy New Year.
Bright Blessings to each and every one of you.

Sewmouse.


389 Days