blogging
Lost.
Mister is ill - 3 days gone with bronchitis and a wretched cough, poor thing. He’s slept precious little and aches all over. Sleeping with him and the dog is an exercise in patient compassion. He coughs, wakes up, rolls over, groans because he aches, the dog is displaced from his snuggle spot amongst Mister’s legs (under the covers), the dog then rolls over and groans because he’s arthritic. So…it goes something like this:
Mister: *hack*
Mister: *wriggle* *moan* *rolls over* *groans* *hack* *cough*
Taz: *smacking noise* *wriggle* *wrigglewriggle* *flop* *groan*
Bless their hearts. That’s about all I can say, because my man, he is sick, and not just with the man-flu. (OK, I admit it. In his words, as well as mine, he feels like ass. In fact, yesterday he was sitting down, looking like he felt just horrid, and I looked over and said “Ass?” He replied “Yeah.”
Now see, for us, that’s funny as heck. An entire conversation in just two words, and nothing more needed to be said. My poor darling. I hate that he feels, well…. like ass.
The Book of Eli turned out nicely. I do enjoy Denzel Washington. The man can act, and he’s handsome, to boot. Why can’t he run for president? Oh, wait.. because he doesn’t have decent political experience, and he’s a good actor? Well heck! Apparently that’s all you need to get elected these days. Bleargh. Whatever. I joined a FB group along with lines of “I hate it when I get up in the m0rning and 0bama is president.” Again with the bleargh.
Argh. I would love to go see Legion, but must save money. Phooey. Will do next week.
Started back on the hand-written journal a few nights ago. (Dear God, I actually just wrote “a few night’s ago” - WTH is wrong with me?) I have always adored writing somewhat like the journal reads in that Bridget Jones movie. Y’know, all “am v. displeased with weight. Hair vile today. Must have this bushy shag snipped soonest.”
No, seriously…I tend to be more real, I suppose. I don’t know why. There’s a much bigger chance of someone finding my actual journal than this site, and no, it’s not because I’m a complete dolt and think all this is OMG private; it’s because Mister couldn’t be arsed to look for it, and that’s not a bad thing. I don’t say anything in either one that I wouldn’t say to him, so…meh.
Taz is snuggled beside me, curled up in a white blanket older than I am. Abigai1’s on her bed, snuggled up in a pink blanket, again, older than I am. What is up with my natty blankets? Ah well, they’re in good shape, and they belong to the dogs.
God, I’ve written about nothing, haven’t I? Blathered on incessantly about essentially random stuff, which I hate to read, but apparently tend to write.
Mom’s out of the hospital - thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please keep her safe.
Dad’s feeling much better - thank you again, God. Thanks so much, because he felt truly wretched for several days, and is only now able to eat with some semblance of normalcy. Poor thing. =(
My aunt’s doing well in rehab. She broke her hip, and I still can’t believe it. Please be with her, Lord. I do love her dearly.
My other grandmother seems to be doing well with her hip replacement. I’m not close to her (and it’s her own doing), but I am glad she’s not in any pain.
Lord, please be with all those folks in Haiti. I know folks say there’s a purpose for everything, but I sure don’t understand what it is for that awful, awful tragedy.
Time for Mister’s cough syrup. (Thank you, codeine!)
Night!
Argh!
I continue to feel like shite. No neuro consult yet. The headaches have eased, somewhat, though the fact that they have not ceased bothers me. A lot.
Nothing new to add, except for this:
1. The octo-mom is an idiotic twit. What I really want to say is that she’s a stupid b****, but there you have it. I don’t have enough words to describe my disgust at her and her womb. I hope her children are taken and given to others who really do care about raising a child. If you have 3 disabled kids, and you bring 8 more kids into the mix, then you obviously don’t give a rat’s arse about the ones you already have. Stupid, puffy-lipped wench.
2. For God’s sake, who cares what size Jessica Simpson is or isn’t? Just STHU about it, already. Sheesh.
3. Mister and I actually discussed quantum particles, Newtonian physics and Einstein tonight, on the way home from the best Thai food ever in the history of Thai food. Points to me for having a clear head for long enough to do this. As you can tell from points #1 and #2, I apparently don’t have a clear head now, because I just had to ramble on about sensationalist crap.
40 questions. (Plus a few)
(Shamelessly borrowed from Jason at negroplease.com, after he borrowed it from the wonderfully talented amandarin.net. )
1) Was 2008 a good year for you? Yes. Much better than years past.
2) What was your favorite moment of the year? My husband cooking hamburgers for me one night. It was just sorta special, and it makes me smile.
3) What was your least favorite moment of the year? Of this year? Osama. For the next 4 years? Osama.
5) Who were you with? My husband.
6) Where will you be when 2008 ends? At home.
7) Who will you be with when 2008 ends? My wonderful husband.
8. Did you keep your new years resolution of 2008? One, yes. It’s private, but important, and I’m proud of keeping my word to myself. The others? Nope. I was a slacker. I continue to be a slacker.
9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2008? Not many, but I will have to think about this.
- Sleep more. Seriously.
- Treat my eyes and teeth better.
- Continue with the exercise regime (if I live through the pain). (Just kidding. Story for another day.)
- STOP volunteering to be on friggin’ committees, groups and boards. WTH is wrong with you?
- Take my prescriptions every single day.
- If I don’t love it, need it, use it and want it, get rid of it. (I don’t foresee trouble with this one.)
- Go to A’s church.
- Reconnect with God.
- Write more often, or at least recognize when I need to put things down on paper or pixel.
- Forgive easier, don’t hold grudges as long, and try to get past ridiculous things.
- Don’t argue over stupid, STUPID things. What are you, 12?
- Be more humble. You are God’s gift to yourself, and to God, and that’s about it. (generally speaking)
10) Did you fall in love in 2008? No, but I stayed in love, which was wonderful.
11) If yes, with whom? The Mister, AKA my husband of 8 years.
12) If yes, do they know? Hah! He better. As he likes to say, “I have papers!”
13) Are you still in love with them? More, with every single breath.
14) Do you regret it? No
15) Did you break up with anyone in 2008? No
16) Did you make any new friends in 2008? Yes, several.
17) Who are your favorite new friends? S, a beautiful, funny lady with a great smile, P, a precious, inspiring lady who never fails to make me smile, J, a cute, sweet lady with loves to laugh at herself, and several others online.
18) What was your favorite month of 2008? July. Old job went bye-bye, and new one came into view.
19) Did you travel outside of the US in 2008? No
20) How many different states did you travel to in 2008? Georgia.
21) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2008? No. I just missed PaPaw. A lot.
22) Did you miss anybody in the past year? Yes, terribly.
23) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2008? Several! Iron Man, Wanted, Jumper, Hancock, Twilight, Sex and the City, Mamma Mia, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Bolt and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
24) What was your favorite song from 2008? Anything by Jennifer Hudson. I think she’s wonderful.
25) What was your favorite record from 2008? Soundtrack to Mamma Mia, and to Music & Lyrics, which I just discovered this year.
26) Did you see any concerts this year? Mindless Indulgence
27) Did you have a favorite concert in 2008? Mindless Indulgence
28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2008? No, but I had a few dirty martinis. Nummy.
29) Did you do a lot of (not counting alcohol) drugs in 2008? No, not at all. People who do drugs (including pot) are idiots. I’ve helped put too many of the potheads back together after they smeared themselves along a stretch of highway, and it’s heartbreaking and depressing, and makes me very angry. Too many times, I’ve had to tell a sobbing, hysterical parent or spouse that their beloved family member is dead, or will be needing diaper changes for the rest of their life because of drugs, or have to tag and bag a ridiculously young girl who ought to be home shaving her legs and painting her toenails, and nothing anyone says will ever change my mind. So, yeah. I think they are idiots.
30) Did you hope for something you didn’t get in 2008? Yes, but I’m still hoping. It’ll happen. Or it won’t. Either way, I’ll be fine.
31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year? Yes.
32) What was the biggest lie you told in 2008? “It’s fine.” I say this off and on, when really, it isn’t fine at ALL.
33) What was the worst lie someone told you? Don’t get me started.
34) Did you treat somebody badly in 2008? Probably, as I’m human, but specifically, no. I really hope I didn’t.
35) Did somebody treat you badly in 2008? Yes. Out-of-state management that made life miserable for a slew of people. I am so, so glad to be away from the few that made my job miserable!
36) How much money did you spend in 2008? More than I should have, but took out no loans, credit owed is less than $400 (total), and contributed steadily to savings.
37) What was your proudest moment of 2008? Last night, at the Christmas party. It made my night, and my year. I’ll write about it later.
38) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2008? I don’t recall a specific one.
39) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2008 and change something, what would it be? Oh, there’s not just one moment I could pick. I’d change every single time I yelled or was unkind or sarcastic.
40) What are your plans for 2008? To be safe. To feel safe.
(A few questions of my own)
41) What was the nicest thing you were told in 2008? “Have you had one of these? Because you MUST try them! They are the best things I’ve ever had in my life!” To which I replied, “These?” “These things right here?” “Hee! Thank you! I made them!”
42) What was the worst movie you saw in 2008? Pineapple Express. Juno.
43) What was the worst song you heard in 2008? Too many to count. If it’s sung by someone wearing a “grill”, who wears the crotch of their pants betwixt their knees, and doffs a baseball hat so that it stands, erect, 6 inches off of their head, replete with the price tag, chances are very good I think whatever tune they attempted to gargle out was fairly vile.
44) What was the best overall book you read in 2008? The Twilight series, and The Host.
45) What was the worst book you read in 2008? I’ll have to think on this one. I believe it was called Sunshine.
46) What was the last book you read in 2008? Currently reading several. The most recent one finished was Weapon of Flesh, by a great fellow I met at DragonCon. I am at a loss for his name!
Blog Action Day 2008
Kiva is a website dedicated to connecting people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Their words, not mine, and what powerful words they are.
They allow people like you and I to work together in loaning money to the working poor in developing countries. Loans are built up a fraction at a time, by people donating as little as $25 at a time. Little by little, the money is raised, and the person is helped. The recipient pays back the loan on a set timeline (e.g. 3 months), and your money is repaid. You can choose to take the money back, or donate it to someone else’s loan. What a beautifully simple idea, which can have such an enormous impact on someone else’s life.
Some friends and I are donating money to Idalia Hererra Gomez and her husband Sergio. Their story and photo speak to me. Not in a cheesy way, but in a “Wow, these are real people, and I could actually do something to help them build a room for their child” kinda way. It’s awesome, in the original sense of the word.
Kiva.org.
Well done.
Weekly Blog Challenge: Worst Relationship Mistake
Per the illustrious Lorelle on Wordpress, who publishes a weekly blogging challenge.
Without further adieu:
My worst relationship mistake wasn’t within a romance. It was a mistake made with my best friend, Renee. (Name changed to protect the innocent.)
In early 1996, I went back to college, working on a second degree. The first week of school, a friend introduced me to the computer lab, and I was hooked. I discovered the world of email and the internet, and was soon hooked on chat rooms (which, I might add, were much better back then). The first time I sat down at a computer, I fairly giggled with joy, because I could actually see what everyone else was talking about! The first internet site I ever visited was Zima.com. Yes, www.zima.com. I had seen the address on a Zima commercial, and just typed it right in. When I was younger, the library was a fascinating place for me, and I loved - loved - enclopedias. Here, all in one spot, was the potential to study, discover and read about anything. Anything!
OK, so I’d like to say that I became addicted to researching, but that’s quite honestly shite. I found a chatroom, and started talking with folks. How weird it was, just to type, and have someone type back to me. Instant conversation. What a concept!
There were many chatrooms I visited, including Chatropolis, Chathouse, Websplash, and many others. I don’t even know if these exist anymore, and if they do, I’m sure they’re not the same incarnation as they were 12 years ago. Anyway, I began to make online friends, and found myself drawn to a particular room at one chat site. The folks there were from all over the world, and I was engrossed. It was just fascinating that I could talk to several people at the same time, when we were spread out by thousands of miles. I made dear, dear friends, many of whom I still talk with to this day. (Hi Digger! MWAH!)
I became addicted to the instant gratification of these online friendships, and checked email ravenously. I even took a job as a proofreader at the lab so that I could spend a good deal of time there. Eventually, I found myself thinking about being at the computer all of the time, and fortunately for me, I didn’t have one at home. (I’d have never left the house.)
I graduated college with Renee, and we had been close friends for a few years. She was a wonderful, funny, courageous and amazing person, and I still think the world of her. My visits to her became shorter and shorter, and even when we all had a girl’s night at her place, I found myself giving excuses to “run to the store” or something, when in reality I was going to check my email. I ignored phone calls, spent hours at the computer lab, neglected my studies, my health, and my best friend.
Over what? Chat rooms. Email. People I’d never met, and never would. I let a dear friendship wither because I put her on the back burner of my life, and devoted my time to pixels. (Harsh, but at the time, true, however I met my husband of nearly a decade in one of those chat rooms, so while I deeply regret my actions toward her, I can’t regret meeting the Mister.) We grew apart, and she stopped calling. She tried for much longer than I deserved.
I’m sorry, Renee. I’m sorry that I threw your incredible gift of friendship to the side, when I should have taken the time to thank you for being in my life. I’m so sorry that I didn’t recognize what I was doing to you (and most others in my life), and that I let personal gratification interfere with our bond. We went through so much together, and you were the finest person I knew. I’ve never met anyone else like you, and I think of you often. A few years back, I had a terrifying health crisis, and I thought I was going to die. I bargained with God, like many of us do, and swore to myself that I was going to write you a letter. I was going to pour my heart out and tell you how wrong I was, and how so very sorry I still am, and will always be.
I’m a coward, Renee, and that letter is unwritten. Chances are that you’ll never see these words. The truth is, I’m scared to write it. Here and now, I’m safely ensconced behind a monitor, and it’s easier to write these words to the anonymous public, than to you. I’m sorry for this, too.
Windows Live Writer
Per Delicious.com, I learned about a blog-publishing software that’s new to me (but it would seem I’m the last to find out about it). I’m trying it out. We’ll see how it goes.
One month till Dragon*Con. I can hardly wait! Laurell K. Hamilton is one of my all-time, abso-freaking-lutely favorite authors, and she’s going to be there. I am beside myself with joy. I cannot begin to explain how happy this makes me. DH and I have been doing the annual “geek convention” thing for years, but we’ve always gone to GenCon. Last year’s GenCon sucked. It sucked bad. It sucked canal water. The quality of the convention had been going down for a few years, but it’d never been as wretched as it was in 2007. The LAN, which used to be open nearly non-stop (closed at 4AM, I think), was suddenly put inside the exhibit hall, which closed around 5PM. This really stunk for gamers who used to hit up the LAN at night, after everything else was done or seen. The swag was craptastic, for the most part (there was some good stuff), and the celebrity guests were a few folks from Who Wants to Be A Superhero. They seemed nice (Fat Momma was great!), but it just wasn’t up to par with the media guests from years past. (Side note: Hayden Panettiere showed up as a surprise guest, and signed autographs for free. She was simply gorgeous, courteous, and I was truly impressed.)
With that ramble aside, Rachel Caine is also going to be at Dragon*Con! She writes the wonderful Weather Warden series of books. Fantastic, indeed. I can’t wait to meet her!
Edit 08/19/08: WLW is a great software, and was very user-friendly. I ended up going the Wordpress route, but not at all due to WLW.
Rex Smith and Chilean Christmas Cards.
I received a Christmas card today, which is lovely to begin with, but even better, it came from Chile! How nifty is that, I ask? Four came in the mail - One from FL, one from Canada, one from Chile, and one from parts unremembered. Yay for cards!
I am in dire need of party themes for work. I’ll most likely be doing the monthly birthday/anniversary/etc. luncheon for folks in my department. Last year I did several themes that worked out well, but I need fresh material. Relatively simple and cheap - that’s the ticket.
Sooner or Later
(08.21.08 - Herein lies the pitiful beginning of yet another attempt to faithfully journal again. Why I stop, I have no idea, because it truly is an outlet for me.)
Of the multitude of resolutions I’ve thought of attempting for the new year, this one is most precious. I want to start journalling again. Looking through my old written journals, I can clearly picture what my life was like from day to day, and these days, it seems that my memories shift from event to event, rather than moment to moment. I don’t need to etch every bleedin’ second in stone, but a fragment now and then surely can’t hurt, eh? I have the mind of a steel sieve, and feel like I need to at least notate some of my more nefarious interesting goings on, lest I forget all the pretty details. (grin)
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