I'd Still Own the Film Rights and Be Working on the Sequel

Here are the remnants of a stone building.

While I was reading that book Shadow Tag last week, I realized that Louise Erdrich was the first author I ever saw read in person before. Then I started thinking about all of the readings/speeches I've been to and decided to make a list - kind of like those things on Facebook where people list all the concerts they've been to, but WAY nerdier. Ready?

Fiction:

Louise Erdrich
Maya Angelou (twice)
Denis Johnson
Dan Chaon
Dave Eggers
Tom Barbash
Ethan Canin
Lorrie Moore
Michael Cunningham (Pulitzer winner)
TC Boyle
Lan Samantha Chang
Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer winner)
John Irving (twice)
Michael Chabon (Pulitzer winner)
Paul Harding (Pulitzer winner)
Colm Toibin
Toni Cade Bambara

Poets:

Derek Walcott
John Ashbery

Non-Fiction/Speakers:

Ralph Nader
Walter Mondale
Jesse Jackson
Angela Davis
Noam Chomsky

I'm sure there are a few that I've forgotten, but I think I've caught most of them there. I sorely regret missing Kurt Vonnegut read the million times or so he was on campus and I'd still really love to see Joy Williams and Toni Morrison at some point if they ever come here, that is. Looking at these lists, I do feel pretty damn lucky to live in a community so rich in literature.

Wiped Out. No Concentration.

Here is a rolling hill.

Well, kids. I don't have much to write about today. Things are good, good, good. Last night I gave plasma while the guy rode his bike. Then we met at home and cooked and ate and drank wine. Then we had a great talk until it was time to pick up Stinky. Sure, it sounds rather mundane, but I like that. I also like that The Guy is as open and honest as he is and we can pretty much talk about anything. It's so refreshing.

Tonight The Guy is going to his mom's house and Stinky will be at her youth group. I will have the house to myself. I plan on running my 6 mile route and then doing a couple of quick cleaning projects. Then I have the option of working on the painting/drawing I want to start, reading my book or watching a movie. I love being presented with those kinds of options.

All the Things I Care About (Are Packed Into One Punch)

I'm out of recent pics, so I'm recycling this one from a couple of years ago.

Wednesday's are becoming nice reprieve nights for me. Coadster goes to her dad's and Stinky is gone most of the night at rec league basketball games and then to her youth group. There was a time, before I was so house poor, that I would meet a group of friends at different restaurants around town for Supper Club on Wednesdays, but I haven't done that for many, many months.

Lately, I'm probably most happy spending Wednesdays by myself, anyway. That might change if the weather ever gets better and I tire of hibernating. But right now, my solitary evenings are exactly what I need in the middle of the week. It feels weird to have even a few hours to do with whatever I want. Yes, I did some chores and worked for a bit on the kitchen, but I also want to make sure I give myself time to read and listen to music if I can. I've got about a hundred pages left in The Sun Also Rises. It's been a quick read and such great escapism. I can't imagine a life where people spend most of their days and nights drinking and socializing. I couldn't do that every day without it making me really, really unhappy, but it sure is fun to read about. It's funny how I don't remember that they drank so much when I read it in high school. And as much of a drunken misogynist as he was reported to be, Hemingway sure could write the hell out of a novel.

Of course, as soon as I finish it, I'm moving on to Cormac McCarthy's The Road. The only book I've read of his was Blood Meridian and if The Road is anything like that, it will be about the opposite of The Sun Also Rises. I'm sure I'll be ready for it after a hundred more pages of frivolity.

In Your Satin Tights, Fighting for Your Rights

Here are two of my Halloween costumes of yore. Last year I made a last minute decision to go out on Halloween and was stuck with the default girl Halloween costume - the witch.

Today I called the lender to ask about the FHA inspection/appraisal. He said it did happen on Monday, but it usually took a couple of days to get the info. Because he's still kissing my ass for screwing things up last week, he told me he'd call the guy and see if he could get some basic info right away. Sadly, the guy didn't answer his phone. The lender guy said that he'd let me know what was going on as soon as the guy got back to him. Needless to say, I'll call him again on Wednesday if he doesn't call me first.

The realtors told me they thought the loan was supposed to be okay'ed by October 30th. God, I hope so. I just want to know one way or the other so I can deal with it. I guess Halloween could be interesting. I'll either be sad that I didn't get what I wanted or super excited and ready to celebrate.

Two years ago I went as a zombie Catholic school girl. unfortunately, I couldn't find the picture that showed my awesome slit throat scar. Damn.

Which leads me to my next thing - my Halloween costume. My friend K. keeps telling me I should go as a superhero. My excuse the last few years is that I would only do it if I were in excellent shape. This year I finally feel like I could get away with wearing tights with superhero undies over them...Well, maybe if I wore a REALLY long cape anyway. I'm kicking around the idea of being Wonder Woman and making the special bracelets and everything. I just don't know where the hell I'll find an invisible jet, is all. My lame-out option is a flapper - which is kind of the other default girl Halloween costume. It looks like even my Halloween costume will depend on whether I get that house. I doubt I'll want to be a morose Wonder Woman. Wait. Does anyone know if Wonder Woman had a Goth twin sister at all?

The Dignified Don't Even Enter In the Game

Here is the tippy top of a teepee.

Well, kids. This week has officially wiped me out...For many reasons. Some of it was just not having any time anymore. I got so spoiled over the Summer. But now we're back to me running the minute I get home from work, then taking off to Coadster's time trials or to pick someone up from weight lifting or dropping them off for some student ambassador activity or choir practice...It's never ending. Anyway, I'm tired and this post should be short, but not necessarily all that sweet.

On the positive side, I got out of working the football game tomorrow night. I plan on giving my perfect nerd girl evening another try. Of course, I have to get up at 6 am on Saturday to get Coadster to a bus at 6:15 that will take her to her first cross country meet. Then take Stinky across town to work hawking Hawkeye paraphernalia at the college football game. So, my nerd girl evening will have to end much earlier than I'd like, but if I'm this tired tomorrow night, I'll probably fall asleep reading by 7 pm anyway.

Okay, you know the drill. Let me know your three day weekend plans. Will you finally catch up on sleep or will you continue the frantic pace of the work week?

Good News Will Work Its Way to All Them Plans

Here is me dancing like a total dork. I will be doing this throughout my post to celebrate my upcoming, week long vacation.

Sooooo, one more day until my week off. What I didn't tell you guys, is that after I asked for the time off, I found out that Stinky had basketball camp out of town and then Coadster got her job. Coadster now works four ten hour days and gets one day off. On that day, she and I will make a college visit to UNI. I haven't been there since I was a student in 1983. It should be pretty weird. I wonder if it will look familiar at all.

More dorked-out dancing. Apparently, I never get tired of it.

The rest of the week will be mine. I'll see Coadster a few evenings and Stinky will be back on Thursday, but then they leave for the Quad Cities for most of the weekend with their dad. I can't remember when I've had that big a block of free time without work or my girls. I'm calling it my hibernate and reevaluate week. I plan on cleaning and organizing my life. Yeah, I know. A year would be more realistic, but I'm taking what I can get. The plan is to make a list for every day. I'll clean and organize one area of my house, then spend the rest of the day doing something for myself. It could include writing, drawing and painting, reading, watching movies, riding my bike, getting my massage or playing video games. The point is not just to try and get some work done, but to also spend quality time with myself. I know it sounds totally weird, but I'm one of those people who can't process things as I go. When I get busy and things get too social, I get kind of off-kilter. So, I know myself well enough to slow down and do things that I love, and get my feet back on the ground and my head back in the game. I can't tell you how much better I like myself when I make that effort.

I think I'm doing some kind of bizarre windmill maneuver here....Uh, yeah. Who the hell knows.

Tomorrow when I get off work, I'll run if it's nice, then I think the girls and I might watch Coraline with 3-D glasses. Yes, my whole family is just THAT nerdy. Thank you very much.

Saturday begins my Churlita mental wellness celebration. I'll write my list at the beginning of the day and run and do my chores and spend time with the girls. Saturday night I'm supposed to meet G.'s friends who will be in from Europe. She wants us to go to a show at a bar called Kandyland, but we're leaving things open to see how it goes.

Now, what are your plans for the weekend? Will you be celebrating your mental/metal health or will you be geeking out with your family?

Don't Want to End Up a Cartoon in a Cartoon Graveyard

Stinky took this photo of some African daisies I planted a few years ago that want to take over my garden.

So, I came home from work and couldn't get my computer to open. Since my first instinct is always to spaz, I freaked and just assumed my computer was dead and that I'd have to figure out if I could afford another one and if I couldn't, I might actually have to talk to people in person during the week and not rely on a certain social networking site to provide me with a life and then the whole world would explode and all of humanity would die off, leaving nothing but rubble, dander, and feces to remember us by...Then I got a paper bag out of the counter to breathe into and collected myself a bit. Once I did, I realized that it was just that our mouse was dead. Ahem. It was the one we got with the computer, so it should come as no surprise to a rational person....So, Stinky and I took a little trip to Best Buy and bought ourselves a new one for cheap. I don't know if you're aware of it, but in the last 5 or 10 years they came out with these new fangled things called wireless mouses, and they sure are neat-o. In other words, I love my new mouse.

On the way to the mall, Stinky was prattling on and said, "So, I guess Ellen's mom has gone totally crazy lately..."

"Uh oh. Is she okay? What is she doing?"

"Well, she's making Ellen turn her computer off at 9:30 every night to read for an hour," Stinky explained.

"Scandalous!"

"No. But I mean, it's Summer. You shouldn't have to start doing homework for at least another month."

"Didn't you say Ellen slacked-off last trimester and got really bad grades? Her mom is probably getting all crazy trying to help her daughter do better in school next year. Damn. They ought to get her in a straight jacket, where she can't do anymore good for herself or others...." I said and could almost feel Stinky's eyes roll.

While we were at Best Buy, I did make a little purchase. I'm not sure if you've heard of it? It's called the Watchmen movie? I never got a chance to see it when it came out in theaters. It was the first graphic novel I ever read way back in the 80's and so I've always had a soft spot in my heart (and head) for it. I didn't get a chance to watch it tonight, but I'm taking a whole week of vacation next week, so I intend to spend an amazing day reading my new graphic novels by a pool somewhere and then watching my new graphic (from what I've heard about the large blue appendage) movie at night. I should be in geek heaven whatever day that falls on. Woot!

This Band's Curse Inflicts All Its Members

So, here's one thing I forgot to mention yesterday. On Saturday the girls and I went to Trek Fest in Riverside, Ia. - the future home of James T. Kirk. It was the 25th anniversary. We missed the parade in the morning, and weren't about to go to the casino and pay $25 or more to see Uhura, Sulu and Chekov. We, did however, catch enough Star Trek kitsch to last a lifetime. Oh yeah, there was also a car show at the same time, so we had lots and lots to look at.

Here I am getting attacked by the Horta on one of the floats leftover from the parade. Trek Fest can be very, very dangerous, you know.

Here is Coadster getting ready to board the Starship Enterprise...

...And here she is on the bridge with her finger on the contols.

Apparently, being in charge of all the controls really freaked-out Stinky. That was not the only time she made that face while we were there.

Eventually, we tried to escape the oppressive heat and humidity by entering the Star Trek museum place. Only in Iowa, do Trekkies and farmers co-exist so peacefully.

The girls were hanging with Spock and Kirk for a while, but then we quickly moved on. As far as I'm concerned, I don't trust the captain around my daughters.

I thought we'd be safe when we entered the next room, but were suddenly faced with a gigantic shrine to The Shat. This photo doesn't do it justice. I wish I had one of those panorama cameras, to show you all the crap they had in this room to pay homage to the man.

The rest of the day, I spent running and showering and dying of heat exhaustion and dehydration after my run. Then I got the girls to their respective places and headed out into the night.

Here are the Meat Puppets seriously kicking ass.

At first, I went to the Dublin to hang out with a few friends. We were having a great talk and watching baseball, when a bachelor party arrived, in an advanced state of innebriation. I was invited to the corresponding bachelorette party, but was too lazy to go to all the bars with them, so we were waiting for them to show up at the Dublin too. They eventually did, right when I was supposed to go to the Meat Puppets show. My doppleganger who also shares my name, kept trying to get me to stay. She told me the show was canceled because the whole band had diarrhea, but I didn't believe her and finally took my leave.

The band didn't have diarrhea (that I could see, anyway) and they were so awesome, I could barely stand it. Like the temp in my office said, they looked old, but they didn't play old. It was one of the best shows I've been to since Dinosaur Junior last year.

Here is Dexter and LN.

The show was sold-out and packed and hot and suffocating. Lucky for me, my friends Dex and LN, found the very best seat in the house. It was booth with really bouncy seats, located directly under the air conditioner. Basically, I jumped up and down with the air blowing on me for over an hour. If you ever get to see the Meat Puppets, I highly recommend bringing a mini trampoline and your own air conditioning unit. It's truly the best way to see them.

I Think I Thought I Saw You Try

Here is some graffiti of a boy.

I think tonight I'll just talk about a few of our obsessions. The first one is Stinky's cell phone. She is so obsessed with texting, that she made a fatal error last night. I've told her a million times NOT to bring her phone into the bathroom. There's no need for it there and there are too many things it could drown itself in. Of course, since she's 15, she didn't listen to me and it fell into the bathtub as it was draining. Oops!

Then I told her to take the battery out and put both the phone and the battery in front of a fan to dry out over night. Her sister suggested putting it in the toaster oven to dry out. She said it was faster. I told her that didn't sound like a very good idea. Guess which one of us she listened to? That's right. Stinky put her phone into the toaster oven until both the battery and the phone were starting to melt and turn into Shrinky Dinks. Um, duh. Of course, Stinky was horrified and started trying to shame and blame her sister. I told her to knock it off. She had made two bad decisions in a row. She was allowed to be upset about it, but not to direct that anger at anyone else who was mistaken, but still just trying to be helpful. Stinky told me she couldn't see anything positive in the situation.

After she went in her room and calmed down, we were able to come up with a solution. We do have insurance on our phones (I know how we all are). It still costs $50, which I refuse to pay, since I wasn't the one who made the wrong choices (that time, anyway). Stinky had $25 that she was going to bring with her to her church group's trip to Adventureland to pay for her food there. I told her I would spot her the rest until she could pay me back and we bought a bunch of healthier snacks for her to sneak into the park when she goes. I also refused to deal with the cell phone insurance company, since I hate doing that kind of practical stuff, and again, I didn't kill my favorite obsession (that time, anyway). So, Stinky had to go on the website and figure out how it all worked. She did a great job and her phone should be delivered to my place of business tomorrow.

Here is some graffiti of a girl.

LauraB. from What Fresh Hell is This blog, turned me on to the show Nurse Jackie on Showtime. It stars Edie Falco, who I've always loved and it is awesome. I watched the first 5 episodes in one sitting and am jonesing for more. It's about a woman who is really great at taking care of everyone else's needs and fucked-up situations, but not her own. It looked a little familiar. Hmmmm...

I've also started watching the first episode of the first season of Dexter and it looks really great too. It's a damn good thing I don't have anything else to do, or I would be in big, big trouble. Ahem.

Oh, and one last obsession. FMDM has been bugging me for a while to try a game on XBox called Peggle. It's kind of like pinball, but so much better and bigger and gayer. When you finish a level, there are fake fireworks noises, and giant rainbows and they play the Hallelujah Chorus and I get to celebrate my wonderfulness at video games again and again and again.

Okay, those are enough obsessions for now. Laura B. tagged me to do a meme about obsessions, but I'm not very good with the structure right now, since I've apparently been piddling all my time away staring at glowing boxes. I still may try to do that meme, but if I don't get around to it, this is my lame-ass attempt.

It's a Small Crime and I Got No Excuse

So, on Friday morning I saw this guy kind of dressed-up, carrying a bag and riding a unicycle on my way to work. Then on Friday afternoon, I was walking home and saw another guy with full-on clown make-up but dressed normally and with no crazy rainbow fro wig. I always thought there was nothing creepier than a clown, but now I know there is. It's a half-dressed clown. Shudder, shudder. The other thing I thought, was that if I'm going to live in a town full of freaks, I really need to bring my camera with me to work more often to document them.

This morning I actually remembered. The only problem is, that I'm way too stoopid when I first wake-up. So, I see the unicycle guy coming toward me and I take my camera out of my pocket. I realize it's on the viewing tab, so I try to set it on just the regular picture taking tab, but go too far and hit the video thing. By the time I get it to the right place, the unicyclist has turned down the street and is almost in an alley. Here is the photo I got. If you enlarge it, I think you can see him. I'll try harder next time.

For the sake of randomness, I'd like to thank Nate for giving me the info about how to download my songs from my iPod to my iTunes. The only problem, was that I had no idea which songs I had added since October, so I just loaded all of them and now I have to go back and delete all the extras. I've been working my way down the alphabet a little at a time. I'm on the D's, and just cleaned-up the Damien Rice songs.

Since I'm thanking people, I might as well thank FMDM for turning me on to the Puzzle Quest game (I think that's the name) on XBox. It is sooooo addictive. You can do all these puzzles, and save them if you don't have time to finish them. When I was a kid, I loved puzzles and put together all those hideous puppy photos - you know, the ones with the gigantic eyes? Yeah, and what's even more embarrassing, is that I used to glue them onto poster board and hang them on my wall when I finished. Wow. Can you believe I actually admitted to that? Anyway, the puzzle thing is super cool and addictive, without the embarrassment of my previous '70's behavior.

Okay. I guess I'll call that good. I'm trying really hard (again) to sleep better this week. I guess that means I have to try to get to bed before midnight then.

You Put Your Passion Out Under the Pressure Pin

Here is a very grainy photo of Coadster's choir that I took with my phone. They worked with singing in different spaces and sang on either side of the audience at one point.

Hey, kids. It's almost Friday and it's also almost Valentine's Day Weekend. Last year at this time I was in a relationship, and getting ready to go down to Bourbon, Missouri with my ex-boyfriend and some other people to shoot guns, eat food and do some drankin'. It was a great time, but it was also a lot of time and bother that I don't have to worry about now. This year, I'm single with no real plans and totally fine with it. Really. I'm not just saying that either. Somewhere in the last couple of weeks, I got in the spirit of hibernating and I've been so happy at home hanging with my girls, cooking, watching movies and geeking out. If I can find time to get a run in, then I'm even happier.

Here are some people with the graduate students' union rallying outside of my office. Another camera phone photo.

So, I guess I don't have any concrete plans for this weekend, and I kind of like that. There are plenty of variables. One is that it may or may not snow up to six inches tomorrow evening. I also may or may not get my income tax refund tomorrow. I've heard a rumor that my girlcrush was thinking about visiting on Friday night. If she does, I may try and meet everyone for a drink. Of course, that all depends on what my daughters are doing.

I do know a couple of things for sure. One is that Coadster will be gone all day on Saturday for a show choir competition. Two is that my ex-husband's play is finally ending this weekend. I'll have the girls both nights this weekend, but starting Monday, their dad will actually be able to start spending time with them again.

For that one "holiday" that some of you like to refer to as Valentine's Day and that I prefer to call Singles Appreciation Day, right now I'll probably celebrate by hanging out by myself, being all comfortable in my lounge pants and geeking-out as I see fit. Hell, I might even treat myself to that bottle of wine and really whoop it up.

How about you all? Do you celebrate Valentine's Day, and if so how? Do you celebrate Single's Appreciation Day, and if so, how? Or do you completely ignore it all and look at it as just another Saturday?

We Were Running All Around and Having a Blast

Here is a picture of my girl crush with her ever faithful fanny pack.

Okay, kids. This will be a lot of pics and few words. Just the way you like it. This weekend was insanely busy again, and I haven't had time to process anything yet. It was great. I watched movies with Coadster on Friday night, it warmed up enough on Saturday for me to run my six mile route, I went out Saturday night, and after some cooking, I went to my Superbowl party this evening. It was a kick-ass game and the Steelers won. Yea!

So, on Saturday night, my friend G. made us homemade pizza and then took us to a party her old college roommate was having at the Hills Community Center.

Hills is a town outside of Iowa City. I love going to small town bars or parties. I meet such interesting people, and it's great to go somewhere that isn't full of college students. At this thing in Hills, there were actually people who were older than me. Can you believe it? I sometimes forget that those people even exist.

I don't think we ever found out exactly what the party was about or for. There were a lot of people wearing pink and blue bowling shirts and there was a band playing oldies covers. We were a little different than most of the people at the party, but all the folks we spoke with were very nice. They took us to the back room and offered us shots. I can't really drink hard liquor, so I just documented the shot taking.

Apparently, the people in Hills are very authentic, or their clothing is, anyway.

The band was really fun and played songs everyone would know.

We got out among the bowling shirt clad kids and danced.

Eventually, we got tired and decided it was time to head back to Iowa City.

At the Dublin, we encountered some of our friends back from a wedding reception.

It seems many of our friends were a bit wine drunk from the reception and brought out their party tricks. The best one hands down was our friend's ability to balance almost anything on her head. I don't have that skill, but if I did, I would be so much more popular than I am right now.

All the cool kids wanted to be just like her and soon everyone in the bar was wearing their drink on their noggin...Except me, of course.

At last call, we ran upstairs to hail a cab and go back to our friend J.'s house. Just so you know, I really am wearing a skirt, it just doesn't look like it in this photo.

I stuck around for a few minutes and watched the Guitar Hero tournament, but I'm old and can't hang with the young'uns. I braved the icy sidewalks and went home and crashed. The end.

Everything's the Same Back in My Little Town

Here is a picture of a recording device on a tri-pod.

Tonight I need sleep. I haven't been getting much, what with being so busy and all and now I'm pooped as pooped can be. Soooooo. Hey kids, what time is it? That's right, it's time for another installment of my old blog. This post I wrote in January 2006 and it is partly about how my town in high school was given the prestigious title of video game capital of the universe, or some weird shit. Anyway, it ties in with all my talking about King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Just know that I wrote this before that movie came out, so there might be some ignorance there. it shouldn't shock you too much, if you've ever read my blog before. In the other documentary who's name I can't remember, they talked about what those gamers were doing now, and none of them seemed all that accomplished or happy or sane really, so I guess I made some bad assumptions in this too....Yeah. story of my life. Okay, dig in:

I graduated from Ottumwa high school in 1983. When we first moved there from Chicago, I was really into making fun of the Ottumwa accent. A lot of people said warsh instead of wash, they did the deeshes instead of the dishes and the city's motto was "Ottumwa someplace special" except they pronounced it, "spatial" and that always amused me too. I only lived there the four years I was in high school, but in those four years, a lot of cheesy shit happened. We were on the Today Show, in Life Magazine and we were on That's Incredible! several times.

It's odd for such a small town to get that much publicity but there were a couple of factors that went into it. The biggest was probably the proximity of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. The Maharishis, more affectionately called Gurus or Fuckin' Rus, in general have a lot of money and come from either of the coasts. They used to have representatives come to our high school and try to talk about reaching spiritual enlightenment to a bunch of red necks whose only previous aspirations were trying to get laid in the back of their pick-ups. I always loved it when some guy in my class would raise his hand and ask, "So, if you guys can fly, then why don't you just jump out this window right now and show us?"

Maharishi International University also brought Andy Kaufman to Ottumwa. In the early 80's he used to hang out at Happy Joe's and ask the high school girls to mud wrestle him at the Ottumwa Coliseum. We all knew who he was, but no one wanted to take him up on it.

Another guy from Maharishi, gave us the title of, "Video Game Capital of the Universe"in order to promote his arcade. He started keeping the highest scores from all over the country and that first picture (I just posted that photo two days before, so you know what I'm talking about) of the post is from the 1982 year in review in Life magazine. The cheerleaders are from my grade but the nerds behind the machines were the best gamers in the United States at the time. I'm sure they all have WAY more money than I do right now (and probably an XBox in every room of their house).

We were on the Today Show for something totally unrelated to MIU. Somebody had a brilliant idea: they would take a bunch of men from Saudi Arabia, bring them to the heartland and teach them about computers. What they didn't count on, was that the Saudis would get corrupted by Western culture and start buying the high school girls cars and diamonds and all kinds of shit that their boyfriend's Wayne and Kinny probably couldn't even spell. Those girls may have taken Andy Kaufman up on his wrestling offer if he had offered to buy them a car. One of the young girls happened to be the sheriff's son's girlfriend and one day he and some of his boys shot up the house where the Saudi's were living. No one was hurt but it brought the Today Show to our town and believe me, they made the whole town look really tolerant and accepting. HA!

They solved the Saudi "problem" by moving them all down to Texas where there were no guns and people were much more accepting of other cultures. HA! HA! A girl in my class moved down to Texas with them, married one of the Saudis, found out he had other wives, divorced him and is now richer than god. I'm not really sure why I wasted my time going to college when there were so many eligible young men in my town. If I had only played my cards right, I could have an XBox in every room of my house. Hell, I'd be happy to own a house.

Well That's One Way to Lose These Walking Blues

A recycled photo of the Life photo shoot that took place when I was in high school.

Lawd Jaysus, but I'm tired. It was a crazy busy day at work and then there was all that snow to shovel and all that cold to get ready for, by gassing up my car and buying enough food so that I don't have to leave the house for next month. Whew! I suppose the good and bad news is that my ex is directing a play, which means I'll have the girls almost every night for the next month. It's bad in that I won't be able to go out socializing much for a while and I'll miss seeing my insane and wonderful friends. It's good in the fact that I won't be able to go out socializing much for a while, and I think the slowing down and hibernating just might do me some good. I could use a little rest after the holidays.

I went into the weekend knowing that it might be the last time for a while that I have that large chunk of time without my girls. It's not like I'll never be able to go out, I just won't have the freedom of not being responsible for making sure my girls get home safely on a Saturday night.

I went over to FMDM's house around eight to watch the second documentary about the video game olympics in Ottumwa. For some reason, I can't remember the name of it. It was pretty interesting. They basically expanded on King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. There was a lot more footage of Twin Galaxies, but I never could really tell which was my favorite Centipede machine. In the movie, they tried to make it seem like Twin Galaxies was the premier Video game arcade in Ottumwa, and they did have more machines than any other place, but as my sister says, it was where all the scurves hung out. I did a little brain exercise at one point to try and remember all the names of the cheerleaders in the photo shoot, and realized that three out of the five were named Tracy. Weird.

After the movie I went downtown to meet some other people. It was kind of an odd night. A lot of people converged on the Dublin, but not all at the same time. So, FMDM and his friend Adonnis (as far as I know that's his real name) showed up earlier and then left before my hot crazy friends showed up. Their loss.

I was very good about just having a couple of beers and then drinking water the rest of the night. Luckily, a little bit of alcohol goes a long, loud way with me. By last call, people were using their gloved hands to help others stick finger guns in their mouths, and that was my trigger to take off.

Just as we were stepping outside, this group of crazy, cuckoo kids stopped us. The guy had one really ugly blue shoe and was trying to get women to step into it and become his Cinderella. It was one of the few times I've ever been glad that I had freakishly large feet.

My friend, Dr. Lyd fit into the shoe just perfectly and the guy was spastically happy, until she informed him she was already married. He and his friends wandered off bemoaning his rotten luck and I finally went home and promptly fell asleep. So, the story had a happy ending...Well, for me anyway.

How about all y'all? Did your weekend stories have happy endings too.

But Friday, Never Hesitate

Coadster during her show choir performance.

I cannot wait for tomorrow night. I'm really embracing my Friday night couch potato movie night. It's been a busy, busy week. Tuesday was the only night I didn't have to go anywhere, except to run at the rec building.

Coadster after the show. Still smiling.

Tonight was the second show choir performance of the week. I have to get up at 6:30 on Saturday morning to take Coadster to the bus for their first competition in Wisconsin. They stay the night there, so I won't see her again until Sunday afternoon. Wah.

I think this has been the best year for them. They finally seem to have it all together and with as kitschy as it is, I thought it was pretty damn entertaining. They had a photo shoot after the performance and it seemed to last forever. I got bored waiting, so I just kept taking photos. As I said in the last post, Coadster is extremely expressive and I tried to capture as many of those expressions as I could.

She's starting to get a little fidgety here.

I already said that I'm vegging out and watching movies with Coadster tomorrow night. (Stinky almost always has plans, so I'm assuming she'll be at a friend's house) I wanted to stay home on Saturday night as well, but a friend that I didn't get to hang with on NYE, has the night off with her husband to go to a belated Christmas party. She wanted to get a drink after that, since they already had a babysitter. We've both invited other people, so if everyone shows, it could be crazy good times.


Her patience is wearing thin.

I might also go see a movie at FMDM's place before that. He he has a documentary that's a counterpart to King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. He said it's more about everything surrounding the first video game olympics and the Life magazine photo shoot with all the gamers in the early 80's. I guess there's a lot of film of Twin Galaxies and interviews with the gamers in the competition and the cheerleaders in the photoshoot. Since I graduated with all of those girls, I think it could be pretty interesting. I also want to see if they show the Centipede machine I always used when I was in high school.

Completely and totally over the photo shoot. Can I go now? How about now? Can I go now?

So, that's the plan right now and the plan usually changes some between here and Sunday. How about you? What's your weekend plan? Will you be watching documentaries about your hometown or going out with your crazy hot friends or both?

She Said There is No Reason and the Truth is Plain to See

So, I've kind of sucked at keeping up with my blog the last few days. Frankly, I haven't been doing anything all that exciting instead, I've just been cutting myself some slack and spending time with my girls as much as possible, watching movies, going to the mall to spend Christmas money and playing lots and lots of Rock Band. On Christmas night, the girls and I laughed for almost an hour straight making our Rock Band characters as deformed as possible. Yeah, we're pretty much all HUGE dorks in my family.

Anyway, Mr. B. canceled because he said his family Christmas got moved. It was actually better for me, since I've just really been in a lazy mode lately. It was nice not to have to worry about entertaining anyone. I went out for a bit last night and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to leave my house tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow what I decided.

I am going to buck up and do the Saturday Scavenger Hunt word tonight. Mr. Manuel chose white. Since it's been snowing on and off for a week and is snowing right now, I had no trouble coming up with a photo for it.

Happy weekend, and I'm going to try to be better about the whole blog thing here in the next week.

This Indecison's Bugging Me

This is a photo of the fountain downtown. The weather here has been so amazing. Kids are still shirtless, and playing in the water.

Kids, my mind is all over the place. I know it's something we're all used to by now, but I can think about a hundred things I could write about, but just not very well. Of course, if I worried about the quality of my writing, I wouldn't have a blog. So, I'm just going to plunge in and write about all different kinds of random bullshit. 'Kay?

First of all, I'd like to thank FMDM and DJ Sassy for the loud hoots and woo hoos! as I ran by their apartment this evening. They made me feel almost as pretty as I do walking past a bunch of drunken frat boys at bar close or when jogging by a gaggle of migrant roofers. And with my frizzy braids, enlarged pores and flared nostrils I was sporting near the end of my run, I'm sure it was deserved.

Now, I have a question. To any of you who use Firefox, is it just me, or is it sporadically really slow the last couple of days? At first I thought it was my work computer, but it's been just as wonky at home too. It could also just that I'm a big virus magnet, and my internets are running slow because they are encumbered with them.

Hey, remember when I told you that I got the red ring of death on my XBox? Well, I called FMDM and whined to him about it, and he said it happened to him twice and they sent him a box to get it to the XBox fixer people and it took a while and there were whacky mishaps, but they eventually sent him a good one. When I called them, the guy in whatever country he was in, told me that I had to get my own box and he would email the packing slips and I would have to get it to them. How sucky is that? I think if a company pushes a product without testing it well enough to know that there is a HUGE defect, then they should be kissing my ass to make it as convenient as possible to get it taken care of it. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of things about my XBox 360, but after all this crap, I understand why Wii's are so popular.

My friend J. called me tonight to ask my advice. He had been seeing a girl for the last three weeks and decided to end it with her. He has been talking to me about her, and has had reservations with her from the git. He said their first date was great, but the more he got to know her, the more he wondered if he could get serious about her. She had some depression problems, but the main thing for him, was that she didn't seem to like herself at all. It also bothered him that on a couple of occasions early on, she showed up unshowered and wearing sweatpants. J. is a little fussy about his appearance and that kind of stuff really bugs him. Because he's J., he didn't know how to talk to her about that. Then last weekend, she finally admitted to him that she had an STD. (they hadn't done anything yet) She was really down on herself about the fact that she had it too. About the same time, he told her he couldn't see her anymore. He felt like shit, because she thinks it's because of her disclosure, and he wasn't so sure she was wrong. I told him that if he really liked her, he would work around it, and wear a condom, like he should be using with everyone anyway. So, even without the STD, they probably wouldn't last very long. I also told him he should write her and tell her (diplomatically, of course) that he didn't think their personalities meshed very well, so she didn't feel even worse about her STD. Because, honestly, I think the only reason a lot of people don't have STD's, is because they were either meticulous about wearing condoms, or they just got very, very lucky. Or maybe I just worked at a clinic for way too long.

Speaking of boy/girl interactions, I got some drunk texts from the wedding date guy last Thursday. Basically, he's coming into town this weekend, and he wanted to see me. Since we're going to be at the same social events, I'm sure we will. I have no idea what will transpire. I really like him and am still physically attracted to him, I just can't do the non-relationship thing we tried this Spring and the early part of the Summer. I've decided to just see how it goes. He may not be interested in me that way, or it might be just too hard for me to go down that road with him again - even if it's just a little ways... Did I mention he does triathalons? Yeah, so. What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I'm just going to see how it goes.