Month: May 2009

I guess I should finish writing from my list of two blogs ago about topics I wanted to eventually write about….

These are more photo oriented posts, and I must admit that the new photo management tools from MySpace “seem” like they should make things easier, but I’ve had nothing but troubles with them so far.

So, let’s recap for a second. I made a list of things I wanted to write about, the remaining topics being:

Hands on Grilling – steaming!

Bess on Drugs – Whisker City.

Which Doctor Who are you test – Facebook

Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start… oh wait.. sorry for the musical interlude. Now I’m busy singing do re mi… the first three notes just happen to be… do re mi… ok..get it together, Sharon.

My first photo goes with Hands On Grilling-

Last weekend, Hubby and I were finally able to clean up the gardens and yard some. We never get to this chore until Mid-May, due to my work schedule, but we always enjoy getting out in the yard and cleaning it up. It always lifts my mood and makes me feel better when I pull in the driveway and see the cheery little heads of flowers peeking up at me through fresh mulch.

The day was a bit muggy and I left my gardening gloves and some tools on the steps while I went inside to cool off a bit. As usual, distracto girl got involved in a few other things and forgot my gloves… until she saw the rain. Ugh.  I still had seeds to get started and some other chores left and it wasn’t supposed to rain all day, just a brief shower.

When the rain ended, it was close to dinner, so we figured we’d fire up the grill, clean up the deck, and then go back to work. I walked out to where my gloves were and picked up my poor soaked and dripping leather gloves and looked forlornly at Hubby.

“Here, give me those, goofy girl.”

And plop! He put them on the grill. Within minutes they were steaming. Number 3 came home and walked out on the deck to see what we were doing, took one look at the gloves and said, “Wtf?”

I told him we were channeling Charlie Chaplin and he said he’d had enough of eating boots, but he thought he could really enjoy a nice pair of gardening gloves. I’m not sure he got it.

My Second Subject, is Bess on drugs…

I *thought* Bess had her birthday this month. But when I went looking at pictures to make a movie, I found out that she was born sometime in late June. Doh!  I had already gone and gotten her a new cardboad corrugated scratchy liner, with fresh CAT NIP. She was a very happy kitty. In fact, that evening, after eating as much cat nip as she could find, she raced around the house and then passed out on her new scratchy. She was very asleep when I took the last photo of her in the box. I think I took about 6, with and without flash, and she didn’t move a muscle. In fact, I thought that maybe I had killed the old girl, but no… she was just STONED. Notice her vacant eyes. The first picture of her was before she started running around willy-nilly. I think it was just kicking in by then.

Next- Which Dr. Who are you?

This is self explanatory. I took this test on Facebook. The quiz was pretty hard to answer, since there were multiple ways I could go with my choices, so I bet if I took it again, I’d be someone else. Hubby took the test too. He was Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor. I guess it’s fitting that I’m knitting his scarf, then, isn’t it! (Still working towards being done when we go to England so I can get pictures of him with it on there!!)

Sharon completed the quiz “Which Doctor Who are YOU?” with the result 1st Doctor.

“The Original, you might say.” Sharp witted and clever, it takes you sometime to trust new people but once you take them in you keep them safe and are sad to see them go. Though you are a bit absent minded at times, you are willing to do whatever it takes to make it through the situation and although you have a tendency to look down on others at first, you respect them when they give you reason.

And Finally…..

These are just because pictures. A student’s family gave me the roses. I don’t typically like roses, but these were beautiful. They opened, they didn’t stink up the house and they kept their vibrant color and velvety petals for over a week.

This is a white iris I had bloom for only the second time within the 3 – 4 years it’s been planted in the back garden. I was so happy to see it, I gimped out to get a few pictures. This year, I planted some hyacinths that my daughter gave me and a beautiful lily that my son gave me. More lovelies for my garden!

 

When I was 15 or so, I had a plan. I was going to be an AFS student and live abroad for a year. Then I was going to come back, finish High School and work for a season in a local beach town called Ocean City.

Those were my plans, but what is that saying?

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

Needless to say, my life went a different path, and that’s ok. Now I get to live my past plans vicariously through my youngest, who is busting her rear working in that same beach town while she’s in college.

So far, the weather hasn’t been optimum, but when she has had a hoppin’ night, she’s had a few stories to tell.

First, was the story of the girl, who didn’t look old enough to be in the bar in the first place, who had somehow forgotten to wear any underpants and a scandalously short skirt. Even though Lib’s is studying in a medical field, she’s not going for gyno, so seeing someone else’s cooch was a bit much. While the girl was on her way to the restroom, she passed an older couple, spun around suddenly, and yelled,

“Did you just call me a whore?”

Which, of course, garnered the attention of her young boyfriend who decided to show what kind of a (ahem) man he was, by going up to the older couple and threaten to beat them up! Yeah, that’s the way to shine as the next generation to be sure!! After much to-do, the bar asked the younger couple to leave since they had threatened a patron.
Lib’s take on this?

” I mean, dang, maybe if she wore some underwear, no one would think she’s a whore.”

Sound logic, I say! Score one for her good sense.

Second, there were a bunch of girls who were on the top deck, drunk, discussing another girl at length. Lib said they “put her life, like, right OUT there for everyone to hear!” The whole time, the conversation was punctuated by loud bursts of high pitched voices yelling, “OhMiGAD”.  Each time this verbal exclamation point was bellowed, patrons below visibly cringed. Finally, two older women had had enough. They stood up and made sure they were in view of the top deck and began to imitate the younger girls, screaming “OhmiGAD” and making up some terrible trash talk about someone. They got the attention of the girls, and everyone else in the nearby area. Of course, the girls shouted a few vulgar things at the ladies, but the desired result was obtained. The girls stopped putting their absent friend through the verbal wringer and all was well with the world.
Lib’s take?

“Way to go Grandma!! See,this is why I don’t drink a lot. The thought of getting sloppy drunk and behaving like those girls is just….. (shudder) not worth it.”

YES!! Score another one!! What an awesome young woman!

Lastly, she had a patron who was in his cups to be sure. He called her over to his table and grabbed her arm, telling her to come closer. Lib’s knew what he wanted since another server had told her that he likes to kiss his servers on the cheek. He continued to pull on her and ask her to come closer. Finally she said,

“Sir, I can’t do that. It’s inappropriate behavior.”

After a few more attempts, with her repeated reprimand, he finally reverted to ugly comments, telling her that he wouldn’t leave her a tip because she wasn’t even worth a dime.
Lib’s take?

“Sir, that’s fine with me. If you think threatening my tip will get you what you want, it won’t. Would you like another server?”

Yes! Three for three.

I’m not sure I would have been as gracious as my baby is, so maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t work that summer at the beach. But wait… I’m not taking a dirt nap yet… maybe there’s still time!

http://www.jennsylvania.com/
Jen Lancaster’s website. The site that started it all. Great to pop in and check up on now and then if you are looking for a giggle.

Over the weekend, I went to go see Star Trek.

I remember watching Star Trek as a child and thinking that aliens must be balls of sparkling lights and energy. Maybe I wasn’t so far off, who knows.

I had a few favorite episodes. Who doesn’t like watching grown men act with fuzzy balls of fluff without cracking up? Tribbles have been the name of choice for any kind of overly fuzzy, fluffy, fake fur looking thing ever since.

And then there was Harry Mudd. Or should I say Harcourt Fenton Mudd. On days when I find it hard to compute, stay on track or actually make a coherent thought, I think of Harry Mudd’s android women. Especially the blank looks on their pretty faces when the crew confused the bejeezes out of them, and their circuits began to fry; little smoke curlicues coming from the backs of their heads. Yeah.  I feel that way at times. Then I think of their replacement, Stella, coming from all sides, screeching his name  and I think that James T. Kirk really was a very mean man at times.

What was the topic of the blog today…. (cocks head to one side and looks blindly at the wall… cricket….. cricket….)
Oh YEAH!!

I went to see Star Trek over the weekend. We carefully checked the dates and times and decided the best time to go would be on Sunday. We wanted to go to the IMAX showing. We got there on time, I paid for the tickets and we got settled in to our favorite seats with the bar in front where I can rest my leg.

Not once during the pre-show, nor the previews, did we see anything indicating this was the IMAX showing. Hmm. Strange.  We waited through all the previews and thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but after it was over we both were confused. It didn’t seem to be an IMAX experience to me! Don’t know how we did it, but somehow I must have zoned out and not noticed (Harcourt Fenton MUDD) that it wasn’t IMAX. Oh well, like I said, we enjoyed it, even if I did have to explain a few things to Frank who was SURE he found continuity errors.

And in reference to the word Comedy in my title… while we were waiting for our NON-IMAX experience, we saw a preview for a new comedy show on TV. A loudly dressed, overweight, not too bright, black man was dancing around with his equally overweight wife. I’m curious. Other than The Cosby Show, or a Wayans comedy, why does it seem the formula for all the black sitcoms are based on overweight characters that frequently aren’t that bright? I’m not sure I’d like that to be the stereotype for the typical black family.

Anyway, just an observation.. nothing more, nothing less.

I feel so behind if I don’t blog every few days or so, but I don’t really have time right now. I think I’ll list the few things that were running through my mind yesterday (if I can remember them) and come back to expound when I get a chance.

Ster Trek – Imax?

Bataan Death March – Distressing

Hands on Grilling – steaming!

Bess on Drugs – Whisker City.

Adventures in Libby-land – Panties

Which Doctor Who are you test – Facebook

sigh.. I hate when I can’t remember. I guess I should have written myself a reminder when I have these little epiphanies, since there are times when I have NO idea what to blog about at all.

Which one do you want to hear about first?

I’m going to complain for a minute or two.

Why are some people so nasty? What benefit do they get from making others feel so horrible?

What happened to common courtesy? I know I’ve ranted about this before, but I keep seeing it run rampant and it’s making me nuts. Is it just this area? Is it really so hard to sit through the entire 1 hour concert? Do you really have to come in late or leave early, in the middle of a performance??

Children these days don’t know how to live without their cell phones. Mobile phones are the new pacifiers. It is possible to go somewhere without your phone. Millions of people have grown up without mobile devices and we somehow survived. Unplugging yourself for awhile isn’t a bad thing.

For Pete’s sake, or your own, if you are constantly missing one practice for another event, or if you can’t adhere to schedules you made for yourself, take a look and see what you can do to not be so overloaded! Little Johnny will be just fine if he doesn’t take art, judo, soccer, violin, modern dance, swimming, debate team and softball every week!

Just sayin’….

And if you somehow can keep all the balls in the air with Little Johnny’s schedule, (good for you!!) please don’t be ugly to the people who are trying their best to keep you apprised of what’s going on in each activity. Take some time to read what they had to say to you and don’t assume that you can simply rearrange their entire schedule to suit your own, because guess what… you and every one else had the same idea!!

Whew.. ok, I think I’m done for a bit!

I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard the helicopter hovering over the house. I thought it was maybe the shock trauma helicopter, but I didn’t hear the distinctive whirring sound that copter makes. After I few minutes I was curious enough to go see what was up. I hadn’t heard anything going on and my dog wasn’t barking, so it couldn’t have been much.

I looked outside to see cars converging across the street and armed officers spilling out of the vehicles and swarming the house. Then I noticed the copter searchlight shining one house over and saw them all go stalking off that way. Shortly thereafter, I saw them ‘escorting’ a man to one of the police vehicles.

Most of these vehicles were undercover, none were running their lights or sirens. One had come to a stop on the wrong side of the road and what I thought had been flags attached to the windows, actually separated themselves from the vehicle and ran off into the night. I watched until they came back, standing on the vehicles running boards and holding on to the side of the car. I have a feeling they were looking for one other person.

So, that kinda cured my sleepiness and I stayed up for a bit longer. I watched from my office and saw vehicles zooming into my neighborhood and searching for then next two hours. I haven’t seen anything in the news, so I have to hope that they caught whomever they were looking for.

Monday, my car was ransacked. Someone got in and looked through every part of my vehicle, tossing aside cd’s and tools. (No one but me would listen to bagpipes in the car!!) They didn’t take anything, not even the change in the change cup, and didn’t harm my car, so I didn’t report it. Maybe I should have.

On the one hand, it freaks me out that there was a manhunt in my neighborhood. On the other, the amount of officers, the quiet way they handled it and the apparent success of their endeavours makes me feel better about the ability of my local police force.

How would you feel?

YESS!!

There really has been far too little of it here this Spring. I’m glad to see some this morning. Makes me want to get out my shovel and turn some dirt and plant some seeds and mow the grass and pull some weeds and go for a walk and… oh wait…. that darn boot is still on there.

No walkies for me..   bummer, dude. Hey, did you know that during the civil war there were groups of men that were sent off to go forage and pillage plantations for food for the northern army that were called bummers? I’d imagine this is where we get the term “bum” for someone who wanders around looking for handouts. How cool was that little piece of useless trivia, eh?

K, so here is the lowdown. I’m in the dumb boot for the rest of the summer, or just about. For anyone who was looking for an update, I WILL be in England in my lovely high fashioned footwear. Look out Trafalgar Square, here comes……….hmmmm… a catchy name fails me. I guess this will be your challenge.. try to come up with some super-de-duper catchy name for me. Pegleg Pete has been taken, and Hop-a-long is just too blase. Do it! I dare you.

On another note (yuk, yuk) the chorus is just too darn popular. (yay) We are completely sold out with a wait list for at least another 35 seats. We can’t do two concerts this Spring since the venue is booked up. I know we would have easily sold out both days, since we did in the winter.  I’m really glad that so many people want to come see us on Mother’s Day, but it is frustrating to have to tell them that I can’t give them any more tickets. If I could figure out how to legally and not painfully suspend people from the ceiling, I would. I had a family offering me large sums of money last night if I could just find them a few extra seats. Tempting… but not honest or fair, so I said I’d put him on the wait list. He declined.

Yesterday, I got a package in the mail. I thought it was for Hubby, but he told me to open it up. That sweet man of mine had gotten me a book that he thought I might like to read and a micro sd card. Huh? The book I get, but a teeny tiny little 8gb card? Does anyone else get the feeling there may be more to this than I’m seeing right now? Gotta love ‘im.

I’ve noticed a trend.

Long ago a friend joined Yahoo 360. She told me to join, so I did. I told her brother to join, so he did. Well, sorta. I hacked his page because he never put up anything fun and then eventually he started posting some things there. She also got her mother on board.

Then she gently encouraged us with her whimsical quips and witty repartee into blogging. Made us feel terrible that *she* was writing things and thus, so should we. So, lemmings that we are, we complied.

Yahoo 360 was abandoned by it’s creators and we all had begun to despair over it’s buggy framework, so “The Mom”, who had become quite the blogger, found a new home for her writing. I followed and then the original network organizer.. let’s call her JG… followed suit. Her blogging had become less and less, but we all LOVED to read her stuff. Her brother, Doc, followed over to Multiply as well and there we were all happy for awhile.

Each of us gathered some new friends. The Mom kept writing, I wrote, JG wrote less and Doc wrote even less.

I’d had this page for awhile, since my daughter used to use one here as well. I’d never used it much, just kinda kept tabs on her while she was active here. Then she discovered Facebook and decided to switch her loyalties to them. Again, I hopped over there and registered as well because where she has a page, so do I.

Now, it seems, the latest “hop” in the lemming world is over to Facebook. JG, who has had a page there but it was pretty inactive, is picking up steam. The Mom is there now as well and the Doc, I see, has also made the leap.This lemming effect went through my immediate family as well.. my sons, hubby and daughter all had MySpace pages and then Facebook pages. Really? How many pages do we need? And as if that weren’t enough, we are all twittering away as well.

Stop the insanity!!

The problem is that once you stop morphing and mutating to all the different platforms that are the “network du jour”, you lose touch with the people you care about. No one writes a letter anymore, and heck, a phone call or a personal visit is even a difficult thing to arrange, so unless you just don’t care about what is going on and you don’t mind losing contact, you kinda have to be a social network lemming. And as you gain more friends on these networks who aren’t in lemming mode, you also then find yourself visiting 3 or 4 social networks just to keep up with everyone, the whole time refreshing your page to see if you got a tweet. O. M. G.

At one point JG had made it her personal vendetta against the IT world at her work to figure out a way to still see her tweets because she was missing so many during work hours it was driving her crazy! And Doc logged on after months, only to realize that no one is writing blogs anymore. I could have told him that if he were still talking to me.. lol.

A few thoughts.

First.. what happened to chat? What happened to AIM or Messenger or any of the other chat networks? Do they not work anymore? I mean, you could just make a chatroom and invite all the people you want to pop by and make comments at random intervals and never have to worry about being shut down for an hour because you refreshed your page over 70 times in 60 minutes to “keep up” with a conversation you were having in a platform that was never meant for extended conversations, but was just supposed to be a status update. A quick witty blurb about what you were doing. Heck, they even limit the amount of characters you get!! Talk about stunted communications!!

Do I still go pop over there now and then to see what’s up? Sure! But I also still write blogs, too.

And what’s with Skype?

The whole thing is enough to make your head spin.

I guess with social networking, like with friends, you grow out of certain sites, or the grass looks greener on a new interface. Dunno… they all have things I like and don’t like about them, but some of the sites feel more like friends than others do, so I guess there are some places this lemming just won’t follow to.

You know, while I was writing this, I got notification that someone friended me, I got a comment on my status, my blog was viewed and I got an email. Lol! Guess it’s time to make the rounds.

One down and one to go!

Concert weekends, that is.

I really liked the repertoire this time. There are so many songs I enjoyed and the chorus did a fantastic job on the music. Hopefully, I’ll be allowed to post a few songs, but the powers that be are determining what their policy is towards such a thing. Personally, I think posting a few things would be a great way to expose people to the awesome sounds this group of singers and their director can produce, but I understand that there needs to be some control over content. No one wants the pieces that weren’t ‘just right’ posted willy-nilly on the net.

Hubby and I were team Black and Blue this time. The official color for the oldest group of singers is a Royal Blue. A few years ago, we produced some awesome looking music bags for our students that were a combo of royal blue and black. Ever since then, it’s seemed to stick as the colors of choice for things related to the chorus. Hubby and I frequently wear these colors to events. Since I’m in the background, and never 100% sure where I’ll have to go, I wear my Chorus Ninja black and Hubby – since I’ve made sure he’s the ‘front man’, wears some form of the royal blue. Being the goofy people we are, we now refer to ourselves and Team Black and Blue.

I guess Chorus Ninja Black is really effective. At the end of the concert, the boss said some very nice words of thanks and then, during the applause, I saw people swivelling their heads around looking for me, even though I was sitting right there amongst them. Yes! I’m invisible now!!

However, when I showed up at the reception, I was chastised. Bing, bang, boing… three parents in a row asked me why I hadn’t stood for my applause.

BUSTED!

I usually can quietly hide away in the shadows, but apparently, I’m not going to be able to do that anymore. I’m not really sure how this makes me feel. In one way, I really appreciate the compliments and thanks, but in a much larger way, it makes me feel so strange and uncomfortable. I don’t do this job for the thanks.. though it’s nice to be thought kindly of… I do the best I can do because my name is attached to it and it’s something I care about.

I have a saying on my fridge that all my children have read and know:

” A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”     -Proverbs 22:1

I believe this. It’s not about money or fame.. it’s about doing the best you can do, because in the end, it’s who you are and what you did that you will be remembered by, not what you had.

So, one down and one to go, and I’m sure I’ll don Chorus Ninja Black again this coming weekend and Hubby will be in his awesome royal blue and we will tease each other through the radios we use to keep everything rolling and maybe, just maybe, I’ll stand this time!  Hey, it’s all about what they want, right?