Summer Weekends

I'm sitting at my desk, looking out at the sun shining down on the freshly cut grass of my front lawn. I'm listening to the birds singing, I'm watching the weeds on the edge of the corn field across the street waving in the breeze. My cat Gracie is napping on the desk next to my computer, her sister Zelda is on top of the TV taking a bath. Bernie is sleeping on the floor behind my chair and Willow is, at least for the moment, being quiet laying on her bed. I've had another great weekend - not doing much of anything, but getting to spend time with someone I love, hanging out yesterday and just getting groceries today. And I'm thinking about how wonderful summer weekends are, and how great it would be if we all got to have summers off, like we did when we were kids.

Imagine it! Sleeping in everyday. Hanging out with your friends everyday, because you don't have anywhere you have to be or anything you have to do, so why not? Going to the pool to swim (in my backyard, if I had gotten it open this year), hanging out on the couch (in this fantasy I have one) watching movies while you eat popcorn and drink sodas. And going to bed late every night, knowing that tomorrow you get to get up and do whatever you want again, because it's summer, and that's what summers are for.

It's a really nice fantasy. But of course we all have bills to pay, so we have to work, and the summer fun is relegated to two short days a week, for the three short months that summer lasts. But you know what? That's okay too. It may not be the carefree months of fun that we had when we were kids, but every week of work is followed by a weekend, and summer weekends are the best. Thanks for sharing them with me, some of you by physically spending time with me, and the rest of you by just stopping in to see what I've been up to. I hope you all have been enjoying your summer weekends as much as I have. And try not to let the idea of Monday get you down. Because Monday is only five short days away from the next weekend.

Reading Update

I'm still on my quest to read all of the books listed in the lists I linked to here. I'm making slow but steady progress, and am discovering some great books along the way. Here, partly in case you care and partly because I want to keep track for myself, are the ones I have read so far.

The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
My Antonia, by Willa Cather

Funny, I didn't realize until I wrote those down that all of them so far have been written by women. Interesting. I enjoyed all of these books, which gives me great hope for the rest of the ones on those lists. Of the five I've finished so far, I think To Kill a Mockingbird was probably my favorite, and Middlemarch was the hardest to read by far. The story isn't hard to understand, but the language is old fashioned and harder to get through. I enjoyed it, though.

On deck to be read next:

Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence (there goes my streak of women writers)
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

This quest is going to take me years - even though there are overlaps on some of the lists, there are still hundreds of books listed. It's a good quest, though, and I look forward to every single book I'll encounter along the way. Although I have to say I may skip a couple, namely Schindler's List, because I saw the movie and it depressed me so much that I don't know if I can take the book, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, because they just don't interest me at all. I don't know - I might make myself try with that one, though. Millions of people loved them, so they can't be bad, even though I didn't find the first movie at all interesting, and never saw the other two. It will be put off until the end, though, so I don't have to think about it for a long time.

I feel like I should mention here, too, that most of these books are being taken out of the library, but I'm also reading some of them online - go to www.gutenberg.org to check out their collection. They only seem to have older books, most likely because of copyright issues, but there are a lot of older books on these lists, so it's working out for me. It's a great resource if you don't want to purchase the books or make a trip to the library.

Movies and Books and Thunder, Oh My

I was going to mow the rest of the lawn tonight (I did half of it last night), but a thunderstorm came through, so I wasn't able to. Instead, I've been sitting here all night, pretty much bored to tears. This is what happens to me when I don't have my Sims to keep me occupied - my Simming computer is currently in the shop. I'll have it back soon, but in the meantime, I'm spending time reading and watching movies and TV. Which is normally fine, but tonight I'm just antsy. Sarah told me to jump on the bed, but I didn't. I should have - she said it would help. Sigh.

I hate when I get like this, though. When I'm in this mood, I pretty much don't want to do anything. Reading? Fun for a few pages, but then no. Watching one of my birthday movies (thanks again, Sally)? It took me about three hours to get through an hour and a half movie, because I kept pausing it and wandering off. And I haven't even had the TV on since right after I got home.

What I should have done tonight was watch some Netflix stuff. I've got three discs that I've had for a week, and for me that's a long time - I try to watch them and get them back in the mail as soon as possible. If I'm going to pay the money, I want to get as many movies as possible per month. But not this week - they're just sitting there. I also have Jamie's copy of season one of Tru Calling, and his copy of King Kong to watch. I'm putting off the Kong because I'm afraid of remakes. I liked the originals of the Kong and Godzilla movies too much. They ruined Godzilla when they remade it, what if they do the same with Kong? Plus, the ending makes me sad. Anyway, maybe I'll get some DVD time in this weekend.

And now even writing in here isn't keeping my attention, so I'm off. I think I'll go watch some of that Netflix stuff. Party of Five season one, coming right up. It's fun to see them in the very beginning, knowing where they're going to go through the years. And then sleep, and then tomorrow is Friday! Yay! And of course I'm just working for that weekend. Hee. I know, that was a horribly cheesy song reference. And now I'm out of here. Have a great night!

Umm...

This is happening in the chat section of a solitaire game of yahoo mah jong right now. I'm changing the user names to protect their anonymity, although since they're having this chat in a public forum, I'm not sure why I'm bothering. There are two people involved - a girl, who I'll call Skank, and a boy who I'll call StupidButt (hereafter SB). Abbreviations and misspellings are all their own.

Skank: do u have a girlfriend StupidButt?
SB: no
Skank: do u want 1?
SB: yeah
Skank: how bout me?
SB: i don't even know u
Skank: so i don't now u
SB: do u have myspace?
Skank: yes
SB: well add me minne is (myspace name deleted)
Skank: but you can send me pics of u in the mail
Skank: k
SB: u can look at my pics on myspace
Skank: k
Skank: so wat r u wearing?
SB: nothing but boxers
SB: u?
At this point a less morally deplete person pops in and asks them to take it elsewhere, because they have kids in the room. To which SB responds: no (He is such a class act. But hey, this teen loser is getting some action! He ain't going nowhere.)
Skank: bra & thong
SB: kool
Skank: i know huh
And their conversation pretty much ended there, with the additional exchange of myspace addresses. And now Skank is trolling for more guys:
Skank: ANY GUYS WANNA TALK
Skank: HELLO
Skank: A HOT GIRL WANTS 2 TALK 2 A HOT GUY

Skank? If you were all that hot, you wouldn't be on Yahoo trolling for strange guys. But thanks for the little bit of fun on this boring Wednesday afternoon. I hope you find the troll of your dreams.

My Number

Stolen from Deals. This is pretty accurate, I think.

You Are 2: The Helper

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you. You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know. Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere. You connect with people who are charming and charismatic.

What Number Are You?

(Probably) The Last Birthday Post of 2006

So, I had my last birthday celebration yesterday. A birthday that lasts five days! I love it. Jamie, Sarah, her fiance and I spent the afternoon out. We went and played mini golf, which was fun. Sarah has a lot of power in her swing! Too bad you don't really need that much power in mini golf. :) None of us were lucky enough to land a hole in one, but that's okay, because we had fun.

After golfing we went to Applebee's for dinner. I had a crispy orange chicken bowl, and only ate the chicken, but it was really good. Well, all except for the one bite that was inexplicably spicy hot, which set my tongue and lip on fire. Stupid chicken. And when we were done eating, I started hearing the waitresses coming out singing, and I was all like, "Oh man, someone is going to get embarrassed. Ha." And of course, they were coming to sing to me. I never saw it coming. The whole time they were walking towards us, I was thinking that they had to be coming to someone else, because how would they know to come to us? Jamie hadn't had time to talk to anyone about it. But I was wrong - he mouthed it to the waitress somehow while he was giving her the menus back. He was very pleased with himself, I could tell. And apparently, my face turned all kinds of red. It was kind of fun, though, and we had free dessert! So that's pretty cool.

Jamie is just lucky that his birthday is six months away, though. :P

And on a totally non-birthday related note, I'm sleeping again! I got a really good night's sleep on Saturday night, and another one last night. I'm very happy about that. Of course, I have been kicking Willow out of the bedroom at night because she won't stop growling so that I can go to sleep, so we have to work that out still, but whatever. I'm sleeping again. I'm a very happy camper.

And now I must get back to work. I hope you all have great Mondays!

Not quite as tired, but almost

Well, your good thoughts last night (if you read the last entry and sent me any) worked to an extent - Willow grumbled a little, but she wasn't as loud as the night before. I, however, had a raging case of insomnia going, and it wasn't ready to go away. I shut the TV off at 9:00, fully expected to be asleep by 9:15, I was so tired, but I was still awake at 1:00 in the morning. So not fun. I got a few hours sleep, but woke up at 5:00 again and was awake until later in the morning. I did finally manage to catch four more hours then, and woke up feeling much better, but still a bit tired.

Now I just have to hope that I'll be able to sleep better tonight! If I have to go through that three nights in a row, I just may lose my mind! So keep those good thoughts coming!

Tired

I am so stinking tired right now. I went to bed last night at about 10:00, and slept fine from about 10:30 or so until 12:15. Then I had get up to use the bathroom, and when I came back, I couldn't get back to sleep, mostly because Willow was growling. Like, growling non-stop for hours on end, keeping me awake. I yelled at her, I got up and tried to make her stop, but nothing worked until finally, at about 3:30, I got up and put her in her crate in the living room. She stayed quiet for about two hours, so I managed to get a couple hours of sleep myself. Then she started barking, so I had to get up and get her.

Anyway, so all told, I was in bed for about 8 1/2 hours, and managed to sleep for about 3 1/2 or 4 hours. Fun! I called in late to work, because I was so desperate to get a little more sleep, but it didn't work. This time it wasn't Willow's fault, it was just that I couldn't get to sleep. So I got up and went to work. And somehow I made it through the day and now I'm home, waiting for it to be late enough to go to bed. I could go to bed right now (it's 7:30), but if I do, I'll be up way too early. So I'm making myself hold out until 9:00.

Wish me luck for sleeping tonight. Willow has been grumbling the whole time I've been home. I don't know why she feels compelled to growl all the time. Her life before I adopted her may have been horrible, I don't know, but she has a good one now, and has had for almost a year. What does she have to be so unhappy about? Anyway, if she keeps me awake tonight, I may just lose my mind, which would be very bad for both of us, so think good, quiet dog thoughts, okay? Thanks.

This dog needs Prozac.

Birthday continued

Well, my birthday is about over for this year. I had a great day, too. I spent a lot of time relaxing, but I got some stuff done around the house, too, so I wasn't a total slug. I had an ice cream sundae for lunch, which is really the best kind of lunch to have on your birthday. I went to my sister's house and had my boiled dinner, which was yummy, and chocolate cake with boiled frosting, which was also yummy, and that combined with the sundae left me feeling absolutely stuffed. Oh man. I came home and put my pjs on so fast! My belly was way too full for jeans.

And of course I got a gift. I got a bouquet of very pretty flowers (I love flowers, and almost never get them, so they're very special to me when I do), and I got a sisters thing which is very cool - it's two figurines carved out of willow wood, and their hands connect. It's very nice.

I came back home an hour and a half or so ago, and my phone rang, and the birthday surprises kept coming, because it was my brother! This was the brother who lives in Virginia, who is closest to me in age than anyone else. I don't hear from him much - he has mostly seemed to like to pretend he doesn't have any family at all. But he called me today, and he sent me a card with pictures of his kids, and he even told me he loved me! The world may be ending anytime now, because those three things have to be a sign of that. It was a very nice surprise, though.

And now the day is almost over, and I'm relaxing for a while before bedtime. I love birthdays - they're usually a great day, and this one was no exception. I also got to chat with Sally for a while today, and she sent me a gift card for amazon.com, which I already used, so I'll be getting a package in the mail sometime soon, and really? That just means the birthday fun will last that much longer. So it's cool. And now I have to go relax. Good night!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yay! My birthday is here! The celebration started yesterday for me, on my pre-birthday, as my brother called it. Jamie gave me presents! I got Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich and Must Love Dogs. I love them both, James, thank you. I also left an hour early so that I could go get groceries and still be home at my normal time, which I did. The one downside to that is that it was a million fucking degrees outside, so even with my air conditioner running in my car, I was still all damp and sweaty by the time I got to the grocery store. This heat can break soon. Please? For me? It is my birthday, after all.

Today I am off from work, because I have never worked a birthday in my life, and I don't see any reason to start today. And I celebrated by sleeping in! Until 9:00! That, my friends, is something that NEVER happens. I'll sometimes make it to 8:00 or 8:15, but that's usually the limit. Not today, though. I did have to get up and make Willow get out from under the bed at about 5:30 this morning, though, because Bernie had crawled under there too, and she was on a steady grumble. You try to sleep in with a dog underneath you, going grrrrrr, grrrrrr, grrrrrr on repeat. Once she got out from under the bed, though, she shut up and was fine. Which is good, because I am NOT a pleasant person when my sleep is interrupted. Not that I would have done anything to her, but I would have been in a pissy mood all day, and who wants that? Not me.

Anyway, so I'm going to spend the day doing not much of anything. I'll be playing the Sims, eating brownie sundaes (if I actually bake the brownies today - I bought the stuff yesterday, but it was way too hot to be running the oven - if I don't bake them, then I'll just have ice cream with chocolate sauce, like I did last night, which is still pretty damn good) and hanging out watching TV until about 3:30, then I'm going to my sister's house. She is making me dinner - I requested boiled dinner, which I absolutely love. And for any of you people who don't know what that is, it is ham, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, all boiled together. It sounds kind of gross, I know, but the flavors all come out and merge and it tastes really good when it's done. I don't eat the cabbage, of course. :) She'll probably also make me a cake and I know she got me something too, so I'll have a present to open. I love my birthday.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll most likely update again later today with more birthday news. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

What Really Annoys Me

...Getting so used to fast forwarding past commercials while watching shows on my DVR, that I automatically try to fast forward past them even while I'm watching live TV! And then, because once isn't enough, I try it during every single commercial break! Ugh!

July Rocks, Reason Five, I think

Two movies, five hours in a movie theater + lots of time spent with good friends = an excellent Saturday. Today, Jamie and I went to see Superman Returns (I liked it, but wasn't blown away, I think Jamie got a little bored - the new Superman is pretty cute, though), and then an hour after that he, Sarah, her fiance Jeff and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest (fun, I really liked it, but going to a movie and being surrounded by loud talking kids with annoying laughs frustrates me, plus we got in the theater late, so we had to sit up front, which about killed my neck). It was a fun day.

Also? For the second time in less than a week, a complete stranger complimented me on my smile. Jamie and I were sitting in a booth at McDonald's having lunch, and the people in the booth behind Jamie got up to leave, and the lady told me she had "been noticing my smile, and it's very pretty." How cool is that? Compliments are fantastic.

See? July rocks. And it's only the 8th! There are a lot of rocking days ahead.

Tired Now

How can a work week that is only three days long make me so tired? Seriously. I worked harder the last two days than I usually do in two weeks, much less one. The college I work for is having orientation, and I've been helping out at my old office's booths, telling hundreds of kids and their parents about the laptops we have for sale. So many people came through between 8:00 and Noon yesterday (and the day before) that I almost lost my voice from talking, and couldn't get enough water - I was guzzling it whenever I got a break.

What the heck is that kind of work load about? Man. You'd think they expected us to earn our pay, or something. :)

July isn't rocking as much as it was the first four days, sadly, mostly because of going back to work. Although I have gotten to work with my good friend Sarah, though, so that rocks.

The month will start rocking again pretty soon, though, because my birthday is only 11 days away! Get used to hearing that, people, because I LOVE my birthday, and look forward to it like a kid looks forward to Christmas. I'm not sure why, since every one that goes by makes me older (but I've never cared about age), and since my parents are gone, I don't get showered in gifts anymore (but then, I just appreciate what I get that much more). But it's a day about me, and I get gifts from at least two people, usually, and I get a cake at work and another one from my sister, and that really does rock. Birthdays rule.

Also? After two and a half days of sitting in a hard folding chair at orientation, my cushy desk chair pretty much rocks, too. My butt and back are much happier this afternoon. Aren't you glad I shared that?

And that's really all I have to say for now. Two more hours and the weekend officially starts, and I am very happy about that. And the new Pirates movie starts this weekend! Johnny Depp as a gay pirate - what else could you ask for in a movie?

July Rocks, Reason 4: Independence Day

I've already written here that July 4th is my favorite holiday - it beats Christmas hands down, and comes really close to beating my birthday, too. I wanted you all to be able to see why I love it so much, so I brought my camera with me today. Aren't you lucky?

I live in an area where we have the very classic small town 4th of July. The festivities start in the morning, when we go to the town green and walk around all of the vendor booths that are set up, offering everything from fruit and vegetables to silver jewelry. And, of course, pies.

Somehow I always end up being broke on the 4th, so I can never afford to buy anything. Which is sad, but somehow I survive. :) As you're walking around the green, you are surrounded by all of the people who live in the area, almost all of whom come out to enjoy the day. You'll see lots of red, white and blue clothing, flags on shirts and shoes and vests, and lots of kids and even quite a few dogs. And to set the mood, there is a jazz band playing in the middle of the green.

You'll see people selling balloons, and if you have a child with you (which we did), you'll of course have to buy one. We bought this one below - we didn't know at the time that it was an evil balloon. First it kept hitting us in the faces, and then it popped right next to my little great niece's head and scared the wits out of her. Bad balloon.

Then the parade will finally start to come through, and you'll see lots of fire trucks and ambulances, some old tractors, some people on horseback (and if you're lucky, like we were, one of those horses will poop right in front of you. Cool!) and a few bands. The bands, of course, are the best part of the parade, and it ended this time with a very cool one. Three of the schools in the area joined their bands together to form one large band with (from what I heard) 300 members. It was very impressive.

(I was going to include more pictures here, but blogger decided to crap out on the picture uploading, so that's all I can include. Go a few posts below to find my flickr link - you'll find some more pictures there.)

After the parade, if you're lucky enough to be in a family like I am, you'll go back to the house and hang out for a while. At my sister's house, my nephew was waiting at the house to bombard us with water balloons, a fight that ended with him tossing his girlfriend and himself into the kiddy pool in the backyard. Silly kids (well, he's almost 19, but still). You'll talk and have fun and then there will be a barbecue, with hamburgers, hot dogs, marinated chicken, macaroni salad, fruit salad and of course chips.

If you're me, once the barbecue is over you have to go home to let the dogs out and spend some time with them, which is exactly what I did. Then when evening came, I headed back to my sister's house and had a still warm from the oven brownie (yum), hung out for another hour or so, and then we headed back to town to watch the fireworks. If you're like my sister and I, you'll sit in lawn chairs on the grass and talk (and read a little, in my case), and watch the people slowly pile in while the kids play on the grass. Then, at about 9:30, the fireworks start. In the town we go to, they set off the fireworks over the local college, and they're really very nice. I took video of the finale - if I can figure out how to upload that here, or on flickr, I'll let you see it.

And then they're over, and you go home, and you sit up and post entries about the great day on the Internet for the world to read, even though you should be getting to bed because you have to get up and go to work in the morning (and I have to be at work at 7:00, so I really need to hit the hay - it's 11:02 right now. Eek!) And there you have the perfect small town 4th of July.

And in two weeks? Birthday! July really does rock.

July Rocks, Reason Three

Yesterday? After a long day of editing boring papers? I had chocolate soft serve ice cream for dinner. Oh yeah, you're jealous, I know.

And of course, today is parade day, so I'll be back later with pictures, if my camera batteries get done charging before I have to go. I heart July 4th.

And it's exactly two weeks until my birthday. Woo! :)

July Rocks, Reason Two

Today I had planned on sitting at home all day, editing papers. Instead, I went to a movie with my sister - we went to see The Lake House. It was a pretty good movie, and a great distraction. Editing those papers isn't particularly hard, but it is boring as hell. No offense to the people who wrote them, but research papers aren't exactly thrilling to read. But the pay is good, so I persevere. :)

Right now, though, I'm taking a break from the boredom, so I thought I'd write a quick note here to show that July really is rocking. I mean, two days in a row where I thought I'd just be sitting at home doing nothing but working on editing papers, and I got to go do fun stuff instead. Well, at least in addition to. See? July rocks.

The movie earlier really was pretty good, like I said - it wasn't a waste of the $4.50 matinee price. It did, however, like romance movies are wont to do, leave me yearning when it was over. I drove the whole way home feeling once again that hole in my life where a romantic relationship should be. I'm not feeling it with quite the same intensity now that I'm home editing research papers, but the hole is there, like it always is. I'm just waiting for help filling it.

Anyway, I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a little less rocking than today, simply because I have to get the rest of these papers finished so that they're done before the holiday - I do not want to be editing when I should be enjoying the day. Still, even though I'll be working on those papers, I'll be home, and working at home is better than a regular day of work. Always. So it'll still rock a little. And now I need to get back to the current paper. Later!

July Rocks, Reason One

My July 4th weekend is off to a fantastic start. I got up today fully expecting to not do much of anything (except for editing). I did some laundry, I chatted with Sarah, who was up uncharacteristically early for a Saturday, I watched some DVR'ed TV, and about Noon I went in and took a shower and got dressed. When I got done and came back to my desk, I had an IM from Jamie asking me if I wanted to go to Chittenango Falls Park, which is a nearby state park with some amazing waterfalls (Sally, you remember - where we went with Bo when you and Steve were here visiting last year). And we went and walked up and down the trails, and almost killed ourselves because we are too out of shape, and we watched the amazingly beautiful waterfalls (I didn't take my camera, but Jamie did - I stole the pics from him), and we went around to the other side of the water, and we sat on some big rocks and stuck our feet in the water, and we just hung out in the sun and had a great relaxing time.

I am very lucky to have the friends that I have, and I love spending time with them.