Saturday, August 26, 2006

Don't You Forget About Me

While I am incommunicado for the next nine days, please don't think I've forgotten you. It is just that when I am not working, I am not online. Hopefully, when I return on Sept. 5 I will have something interesting to post. I know I will look forward to catching up with all thats been happening at my favorite blogs.
Dang, I'm a-gonna miss my computer, but it is better this way....farewell for now mon amis! xoxo

Haiku #80

Mr. Priest (I think)
You made me cry in P.E.
You should be ashamed

http://x365.org

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Haiku #79

Cute little Davey
Was I your first older crush
When one grade was huge?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Haiku #78

The flat chested girls
Rochelle was a kindred soul
Showering trauma

Haiku #77

She ruled show and tell
Demonstrating her hot comb
Sandra was so cool

Unchained Melody

Okay, total corniness alert. When I am with Team C and right after...that is the song playing in my head. I'm sorry, I can't help it. I don't have enough of him, he doesn't have enough of me, but it works. I just adore him and our little times together.
In other news there is not much other news. I do have my time off to look forward to next week. Not an actual vacation, you'll notice I avoided that term, but rather "time off", which is a different animal.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

l.b Gives Thanks for the Little Things Too!

Such as...a long, late lunch with Team C this afternoon. I can't wait!

Monday, August 21, 2006

l.b. Gives Thanks

My 17 year old son was in a car accident, on the freeway, this past Saturday afternoon. He was with his cousin, who is 15, and they were driving out towards Glen Helen for the Family Values Tour. He heard a bump-bump-bump from the rear of his car, so assuming it was a flat, he began pulling to the shoulder on his left (he was in the car pool lane). Suddenly, his car slid, and the front of his car went towards the right. A car glanced off of his passenger side front corner and went sliding off the freeway and ended up on its side in a shallow ditch a couple feet up a little dirt embankment. As that car hit his front, it pushed him back towards the left, and as he started to slide around another car clipped his rear passenger side corner. This pushed him around until he was sitting in the fast lane facing traffic. Luckily, by this point, the traffic behind was slowing down, realizing something was going on. He was able to pull the car around to the shoulder, facing the right way. While he crossed the freeway (I guess traffic was completely stopped, but I still freak out at this part) to check on the people in the car on its side, his cousin called 911. The people in the car were all okay and got out, but were of course very distraught and frightened. He went back over, and got his cousin. Firetrucks, paramedics, an ambulence, and the highway patrol all showed up eventually. Two of the ladies from the sideways car decided to go to the hospital to get checked out. He called the house and asked for his dad, whose first question was not "are you alright", but "whose fault was it". At any rate, WTG was far too busy to go handle this and didn't see why he should have to as the boys said they were uninjured. Of course my sister and I got right over there, helped the guys talk to the officers taking the report, got a tow truck, and got them home.
Now the waiting. It is pretty much up to insurance what happens now. Our car is really barely damaged. Oh, and what had happened wasn't a flat, but rather that the tread from the tire had fallen off. I just had those tires checked and rotated a week ago and no trouble was spotted then, but these things can, apparently, happen. At any rate, the tire has been replaced, with the three others to be done for good measure once I get paid this week. Those two other cars, who knows what they will try to claim. The accident originated with our car and we can be found responsible and who knows what kind of monetary damage this is going to do. Frankly, though, at his point I couldn't give a tiny rat's ass about any of that. MY SON AND NEPHEW WERE IN AN ACCIDENT ON THE FREEWAY INVOLVING TWO OTHER CARS AND THEY ARE BOTH COMPLETELY UNINJURED. That is the heart and soul of this story. And that is why I give thanks.

Haiku #76

Smart and funny too
Ironic Jeff Shiraki
Cool then and cool now

Friday, August 18, 2006

Haiku #75

To a little girl
John and Olivia were
A perfect couple

A Long Quiz From My Weird Friend in Florida :-)

Non-Scientific Getting-to-Know-You, Personality Profile Questionnaire

Please answer each question honestly.

Some of the questions ask for a "why". However, even on the ones that don't, such as the multiple choice section, feel free to add a brief explanation why, if you wish.

Also, try not to hedge, fudge or duck. For example, if the question is "Who's your all-time favorite U.S. president?", it's better to go ahead and pick a president than to say "I don't like any of them" or "I'm not political" or "I'm not from the U.S." or some other non-answer. Again, if you want to include a little explanation, you can, such as "Millard Fillmore, but I like James K. Polk almost as much."

Same goes for the multiple choice questions. Try to pick one of the given choices.

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If it's morning and you haven't yet had breakfast, put what you had yesterday morning. -Coffee and dark chocolate M&M’s
(Then go eat something before you do rest of this questionnaire. I never intended for this to be done before breakfast.)

2. What was the last book you read? -I Don’t Know How She Does It: the Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson

3. Who's your hero, and why? -My oldest son, for his maturity and grace under pressure.

4. What did you wear to bed/sleep last night? -My big white t-shirt and panties (yes, probably also big and white – haha!)

5. What's your dream job? -Novelist extraordinaire :-)

6. Who's your favorite Disney cartoon character? –Donald Duck (I relate when he has temper tantrums and I like his voice)

7. What's the last movie you saw? Did you like it? What's the last movie you saw that you liked a lot? -The last movie I saw was “The Oh in Ohio”. I liked it a lot.

8. If you could meet anybody in the world today, spend some time talking with them, maybe have a long lunch with them, who would it be and why? -Jimmy Carter because I would like hearing about life in the White House and since I admire him as a humanitarian, he is the one I would like to hear about it from, as opposed to some other President or former President.

9. If you could go back in time and spend a day with anyone in history, who would it be and why? -Einstein. Why not?

10. Which 2 characters from "Gilligan's Island" should have gotten together romantically? –Gilligan and Mary Ann.

11. Name at least 5 of your all-time favorite singers. 1. John Lennon 2. Chris Isaak 3. Nina Gordon 4. Johnny Cash 5. Donald Fagen

12. Suppose you had the opportunity to be a judge in a pageant, which was similar to the Miss America Pageant, except that all the contestants (who would be of the opposite sex from you) would compete totally naked. Would you want to be a judge of such a pageant? -Yes

13. What's your favorite state capital? -Sacramento (especially once Arnold vacates.)

14. Who's your favorite character from "The Andy Griffith Show", and why? Which character from that show do you most identify with, and why? -Andy Taylor is my favorite, because he was a good man. I identify most with Barney Fife, because I feel like a bumbler.

15. Name at least 5 famous people of the opposite sex that you consider physically/visually attractive, in the sense that, if you had to choose by looks alone, you would want to date them (if you were single and had the opportunity). The 5 can be from the past or present, as long as most people would know what they look like. 1. Ben Stiller 2. Jack Black 3. Andre Benjamin 4. Morrissey 5. Jason Bateman

(the following set of questions was inspired by a sequence in the movie "Pulp Fiction")

16. The Beatles or Elvis? -Beatles

17. Batman or Superman? -Batman (I like his dark side)

18. Star Trek or Star Wars? -Star Trek

19. The Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family? -The Brady Bunch

20. Franklin D. Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan? -FDR

21. George Bush or George W. Bush? -Neither. But since I am required to choose, George the First

22. Superman or Spider-Man? -Spider-Man (Peter Parker is sweet)

23. Bill Gates or Donald Trump? -Bill Gates (Married to his first wife and his hair isn’t as scary)

24. Elbows or knees? -Knees

25. Andrew Johnson or Lyndon Johnson? -Lyndon Johnson

26. Ashley or Mary-Kate? -Ashley (Seems less, um, insane)

27. Dogs or cats? -Cats

28. Boxers or briefs? -Boxer briefs…can I say that? Or, okay, boxers.

29. Buck Owens or Roy Clark? -Buck Owens

30. Football or baseball? -Baseball

31. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie? -Jennifer Aniston (Angelina is a hottie, but is also starting to seem a little crazed)

32. Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt? -Brad Pitt (Again, wins on sanity, by a tooth)

33. Oar or ore? Ore (I don’t wanna row my boat ashore…)

Anyone else want to play? Please feel free to post a link to your blog with your own answers, okay? Thanks!

Poor Quality Pictures of My New Room

As mentioned, here they are. I took them with my phone camera, so they are not so great, but you can get the idea.





Thursday, August 17, 2006

What Year Do I Belong In?

You Belong in 1969

If you scored...

1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.

1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all!

1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

My New Room

For the past couple of years, I haven't really had a room of my own. I kept my clothes in one place, my books and miscellaneous stuff in another, and I pretty much slept on the couch or even the livingroom floor. Thats just kind of the way it worked out.
Finally, though, WTG pulled himself together enough to get going on making this one little back patio into an actual room. So, he moved himself out of the "master" bedroom and took over the room the littlest guy had been using, while little guy moved into the very cute, but small new room. And me? Yes, I get the big bedroom all for myself! It will be nice to have my own space at last. With a big family, I have gotten use to living very communally. At heart, however, I do like at least a bit of solitude. I will take a picture and show you my new little digs. I'm quite pleased with the way it looks. I think everyone is happily situated for the time being. Second son likes the extreme privacy of his little converted garage room. It is small, but yeah, the privacy factor is very high, coming and going is pretty unmonitered. At 19, he is all about that. Third son's room is wonderful. His uncle fixed it up for him as a reward for his excellent grades. He has better furniture than any of us and lots of space. My daughter likes her room, but needs to have things changed often to keep the looks fresh and interesting for her. She grows bored easily :-) Little son is adjusting to his new room. It is just right for him, all cozy and boyish. WTG is, I will say, good at taking things and making them his own, so hasn't minded changing rooms too much. And me? I am happy as a clam in My New Room. <(*¿*)>

Haiku #74

I have just recalled
A pretty, somewhat foreign girl
Gordana smiled scared

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Haiku #73

So tall and striking
The sassy Sally Bailey
Who taught us to skate

That Feeling Pt. Trois

I promise this is my last lame installment about my "feeling". I still felt mildly anxious today. Oh, here this is pathetic. I was feeling so sorry for myself because Team C hadn't called. I swear, I was in the bathroom crying a little, looking in the mirror at my dumb sad eyes, composing my thoughts on Team C's obvious lack of feeling for me (it was, like, email formated in my brain). Yes, it was quite the little drama I had going on in my head there in the freaking bathroom...I was only in there for about five minutes or so, though, not long. Okay, so I got back to my desk and of course my little message light was on, and of course I had missed Team C's call and of course he's been sick all week, but called to say that he was thinking about me and all that good stuff...Then I was all touched and sorry I thought bad things about him and I sighed and smiled like a teenager. Ugh, I kill myself sometimes. In any event I am feeling much better. Thank you.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

That Feeling Pt. Deux

Not feeling that feeling so strong now, so I am hoping that means it was just free floating anxiety and nothing more.
I guess my main feeling at this moment is disappointment that Team C never called...

That Feeling

For some reason I have felt this sort of low level dread all day long. I can't figure out yet what it is attached to. Maybe, hopefully, nothing.

Haiku #72

Hung with my sister
At the horse ranch all summer
Kim, brown eye, green eye

Monday, August 14, 2006

Still No DR....

I wish I could have nailed down better when he was going to be back home from his trip. I miss talking to him in a general sort of way, plus I am also wishing to rehash our visit together. Before much longer I will be paranoidly imagining that he has simply dropped out of sight to avoid me, because he was so bummed by the in-person me. No, I don't really think that, do I? Well, no...not yet. I have been sending him little messages to come home to. I took a couple exerpts from this blog and posted them at our private yahoogroup, which hardly gets touched these days. It was going to be this sweet little place where we gushed over each other, but that was sort of happening less and less...I'm looking for an upswing in activity at this point, but again, who knows?
In other sad news for l.b.'s love life (so to speak) no word from Team C yet today. That doesn't bode so well for seeing him this week. If he doesn't call tomorrow then I can assume it's a no go. That kinda sucks, but what are you going to do?
Can't wait for my Nina Gordon CD. I need some sweetness in my life.

Haiku #71

Kingergarten girl
You dipped your head in water
Drippy Head Lisa

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Yoga! It's New and Somehow Threatening!

Things have been relatively quiet and peaceful at home. I get lulled into this false sense of security at times like this. Well, not security exactly, given that WTG hasn't worked in like a month. But the no fighting phases can be deceptive. Yesterday, everyone was sitting around and I was looking through the city fun book for classes and activities that the kids might want to take. I casually dropped that I would sort of like to take a yoga class and I got the weirdest reaction from WTG. He was just flabbergasted that I would be interested in yoga and he was almost frantically worried about how such a notion had come into my head. It was just odd. Freak. I can never let my guard down with him.
I just finished a book recommended strongly to me by my sweetie, DR. I'm Not Really Here was pretty funny and a sort of intro to physics and philosophy. He was disappointed that I hadn't yet read it when he came to visit, so now, I can in good conscience let him know I read and enjoyed it. Now what? Oh, and I am surprising him by sending him a copy of Nina Gordon's "Bleeding Heart Graffiti". I guess she has given us sort of the soundtrack of our relationship. Isn't that sweet? Seriously! I got myself a copy too. I hope he's happy and surprised. DR burned her first album for me and we both swooned over "Tonight and the Rest of My Life", the album generally and that song most specifically.
I will be glad when he is done traveling and back online, because I am missing him terribly.

Haiku #70

Cute Steve Acuna
My best friend's little brother
Your dimples were sweet

http://x365.org

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Does Size Matter?

I hope not too much, cause this is gonna be a shorty. I just wanted to stop in while blogger wasn't doing maintenance work and say "hey". Hey. I wrote a nice email to DR, who is still on the road I believe, so that it will be there when he gets back online. I miss talking to him daily. I miss him. It gets all tangled up with other things, like men who are really here, in person. Swordsman called me today and was...amazing. And I am probably going to see Team C next week. He's pretty lucky, because he's the one who is going to be the recipient of all my free floating desires. He better be saving his strength!
Okay, I'm out of here and off tomorrow. See you soon. xo

Haiku #69

Back when I loved you
The world was a precious place
Dreamy Donny O.

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Call Me Oscar

As in Oscar the Grouch. I am just so cross today. We did finish handling our little poison toy problem. That took about half of mine and everyone else in the department's day. But it is done and I want to forget that time suckage.
Let me cheer myself by mentioning the books I've been reading. First, I read this book my mom gave me by Dean Koontz called Life Expectancy. It was smashing! Then, I moved onto Imaginary Men, which was a cute fluff of a book. After that I needed a little something so I just finished Meat is Murder from the 33 1/3 series...remember how much I liked Let It Be by Colin Meloy? Yeah, this one was really good too....
You know this did help a bit. I am feeling less grouchy than I was when I started this entry!

Haiku # 68

Dear Mrs. Johnson
In First Grade you seemed quite old
I know now you weren't

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Haiku #67

Stacy's weird friend Gene
What was an adult doing
All those times with her?

Dumb Day

This has been a good day for wasting time. We had our departMENTAL celebratory lunch today at the Nano Cafe. That was nice, pleasant. I had delicious pesto. I've been working on next month's calendar, which is rather time consuming, but not terribly difficult or anything. Then we had to start working on these letters we have to send out to every single kid that participated in the SRP. Apparently this one toy we gave out (purchased from a reputable supplier that many of the libraries used) has been found to have a high lead content. Only about 100 of the 1800 kids in the program would have gotten them, but we have no way to know who, so we have to send the warning out to everyone. Such a big job and such a blemish on what was a good program. Ugh. So, I am sitting around typing addresses into the computer and printing up envelops by the dozens. This is going to take forever. Dumb day...one of several to come, I'm sure.

Monday, August 7, 2006

Best Day Ever, I Mean It / Happy Birthday #1 Son

Friday afternoon I finally got a chance to spend time with my surprise visitor, DR. It was one of the best days of my life, sincerely. I left work early and the two of us went to a nearby park to talk. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen in planning out the day. Well, in fact, there was no planning involved. I guess I just wanted to see what would happen. The two of us ended up just talking for four and a half hours straight. It was wonderful. We have "talked" so much over the past few years online and know many, many things about each other. Being face to face was amazing. Being able to watch his eyes and mouth as he spoke to me, being able to touch him. I loved touching him. We did kiss and hold each other, but it felt very tender and not so sexual. It wasn't that I didn't feel attracted to him. I definitely did, but it just seemed like we needed our limited time together for connecting in a different way. After we parted ways I felt sad when I realized that I hadn't told him I loved him in person. Plus, I know this sounds silly, but I sort of wished I had kept the bottle for the raspberry iced tea that I drank while we were talking...or even better, his diet Lime Pepsi bottle....
Later on that evening, I felt this deep pain as I thought of how far away he would soon be and for how long. While it was beyond great getting together, I will now have the ache of missing him in a different way than I ever could have before.
I went home to my oldest son's birthday dinner. It was lots of fun and it served to distract me with the house full of people and everything going on. He is 21 now, officially a man, I guess? A wonderful young man, all in all. I want every happiness for him.
As for DR, we know he doesn't read here, but I send him my love anyway.

Haiku #66

When I think of you
Marina, I think of George
Boyfriend never seen

Thursday, August 3, 2006

Haiku #65

I've just remembered
This tiny gymnast I knew
Little Melanie

Haiku #64

Here are more skaters
Sisters whose mom had big dreams
Darla and Starla

Sometimes Stuff Works Out, Right?

Wish me good luck tomorrow, would you? It's going on, it's happening, and I need for it to go well.
Here is a little picture for you to enjoy, apropos of nothing:
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Oh, and I was so sad when I realized I had posted yesterday without doing my Haiku. I don't Haiku everyday, but up until now, I have been Haikuing each time I post! I am doing two today to make up for it...

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Mea Culpa and More

My apologies for letting a whole week slip by since my last post. I haven't been extra especially busy, but have felt quite distracted and air-headed for some reason.
The Summer Reading Program is drawing to a close here; Saturday is the very last day. I am so relieved. It has been going pretty well, with far more compliments than complaints. Things should be marginally quieter during the month of August, with another explosion when school begins again.
As of yesterday all of the big fans and dehumidifier were finally removed from the house. It is quite a relief. Now all that remains is to step-by-step repair the damage that was done in the process of drying things out. I feel much more up to facing that now that the cords and hoses and NOISE have been removed.
Right now I am re-reading Jane Austen's Emma. I love Jane Austen. Although her books are very much of their time, the humor and the situations feel timeless to me. I don't think you can ever go wrong picking up Miss Austen.
Okay, I have saved the strangest and coolest news for last. You may recall my long distance guy, DR? I know I've documented some of our ups and downs here, including the fact that he, at a couple of points, decided never to read this blog again. Still, we email daily and have a great regard between us (do I sound like Jane Austen? Not the email part...the great regard :-) ) Anyway, I come into work Monday at noon, as usual. I see that DR is online, which is very early for him, even with the time difference. We send a couple of messages back and forth when all of a sudden I get this one:
(subject line) What if I told you...
That I was walking around the corner in a few minutes? That I had been
sitting at the first public pc nervously trying to work my courage up,
but now I am under 4 minutes on my hour? Would you be surprised?
mpwaaaaaaaaaattt!

Somehow I knew right away that he wasn't kidding. Oh. My. Gawd. I sat a minute at my desk, thinking, then got up to scout the place. I didn't see him the first time I circled through the computer lab, but I knew that he was probably on the move too and I'd just missed him. Sure enough, when I came back around into the Children's Room, from the back, there he was standing at the service desk! Regrettably, the first words out of my mouth were, "What are you doing here?!?!" Perhaps not the most welcoming thing to say, but in my defense I was really surprised! I spoke briefly to my co-worker, explaining that I needed a few moments and led him outside. We sat outside on one of the benches and talked a bit...I hope I didn't sound dumb, but I was nearly struck dumb with astonishment. I mean, we've been talking online for so long, and he is so far away, that to have him suddenly there in front of me was amazing! He said he hadn't told me he was coming because he wanted to surprise me, plus he didn't want to disappoint me if for some reason the trip didn't come to pass. He has actually come out to take his mom back to North Carolina. It is a wonderful bonus that she is staying only 40 miles or so away from me, so he just thought he'd pop in and ta-da! My regret is that if I had known ahead of time I would have definitely arranged some more time for him! As it is, being the last week of SRP, I don't have much flexibility in my work schedule and, as always, my home schedule is tightly commandeered. I explained this to him and I think he understands. I mean, if I had my way I would have just taken off right then and spent all this week hanging with him! However, on that day we only got to speak for a half hour or so before I had to send him off. It was lovely though...he gave me a little dolphin that lights up for my car and a sweet stuffed red toad holding a heart that says "Toad-ally in Love" Awwwww! We hugged each other, then had a kiss that got a little, um, involved. But of course, we were in a public place and that public place is where I work, so that didn't last but a brief moment. He walked me back to the door and sort of shook my hand good-bye. We agreed that I would email him later if I could set aside any time to get together. Luckily I was able to work out a little of window of opportunity, so I will be able to see him again before he goes home. I am very excited about it. I mean, getting beyond the surrealness of the whole thing, I am beyond thrilled to have him here! See how life is still full of surprises? I musn't forget that.