Weather is Here. Wish You Were Lovely.

Just wanted to send out my love and affection before I go off on my quasi-vacation. I wish that I were actually going away for a genuine vacation, but I guess just time off from the mills will have to do. I am going to need a book or two to tide me over, but haven't made a choice yet. I have been reading lightish stuff lately...seems to be what is appealing to me right now. While I'm off, I hope to catch an actual movie, watch some of the stuff I've Tivo'd, and maybe treat myself to a new CD or two.

Okay, okay...I got a chance to peruse the shelves and I picked up The Perfect Play. I also grabbed After You'd Gone. Those should give me something to chew on for the next few days in the wilderness of the homestead.

Loves all y'all and will see you soon.

Who's My Famous Blogger Twin? Another Quiz :-)

Your Famous Blogger Twin is Wil Wheaton

You're a friendly, funny guy (or girl) next door With more than a touch of geekiness

Who's Your Famous Blogger Twin?

How Weird Am I? Not Very.

You Are 30% Weird

Not enough to scare other people... But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

Almost Vacay Time!

I am so in need of some time off from this gig. As usual, I am extending the long Labor Day weekend into something approximating a vacation. I end up getting six days in a row off, for the price of three. At least one of those days will surely include some sort of private mom celebration for the kids starting back to school. It has been a good summer for the most part, but it will also be nice to feel that my kids are doing something productive each day. Not that a little R'n'R can't be productive, but you know how kids can be....
My son in high school and my daughter in middle school have gotten their schedules and are happy. Now, I just have to see what teacher my third grader will get. Fingers crossed that through fortuitous happenstance he will get a kind, nurtuting educator who will engage him in the learning process.

Just picked out a new book. Its called Goodnight Steve McQueen. I was willing to give it a try for the title alone...plus the blurb on the front references High Fidelity, so there you go!

More Lunch, Not So Random

Just got back from a nice lunch with a couple of my girls. Nice spicy arrabiata penne at this new place we wanted to try. It was right tasty, I tells ya. As a bonus in the category of "Eating" in today's game, we will be having rootbeer floats for our monthly staff event this afternoon. Guess I'll be able to skip dinner tonight....
And, hey! Guess who could possibly join the staff here? My #2 son! He has a job, but doesn't adore it. We're recruiting for a "shelving management" position right now, so I encouraged him to apply. Yesterday he took the written test (with about 25 other people), so we'll see what happens next. It would be so cool to see him here! I think that even though the work is kind of tedious, he would probably like it better than what he is doing now.

Draggin' @$$

Feeling all worn down today. I stayed up too late and probably haven't had enough stimulation today. Plus, I sat downstairs in the nap room, in the semi-dark, eating peanutbutter crackers and reading at lunchtime. Its all working against me. Even the bottled frappuccino isn't helping at this point.

Yesterday's lunch, as it turns out, was very nice, very pleasant. We actually didn't talk about work specifically much at all. We ended up going to Mimi's Cafe. It was crowded, the service was a bit slow, but the food was pretty delish...except for the coleslaw...bleck! I am all about KFC's coleslaw. Others are weak imitations.

I have just begun reading Love Monkey Its looking like one of those 'can't put it down' books! As you know, I do like to keep my mind occupied.

I am missing, so much, what I had with Long Distance Guy. We still email, but it isn't like it used to be. I miss feeling loved, even from afar...and I miss having someone to feel love towards. Not that I don't love him...it is just different, of course, when it is not reciprocated in the same way.

Lunch with Random People

Today is our departmental lunch outing in celebration of finishing the Summer Reading Program in one piece. I like going out to lunch and I like the people in my department. It is just that I'm not all stoked about spending my lunch hour talking to the people I see all day about the stuff we talk about all day. Maybe I can guide the conversation astray.

In other news, to use the term loosely, I saw The 40 Year Old Virgin I thought is was very funny and really enjoyed it. Steve Carrell is my new comic idol. I actually find him really attractive too....

As for reading, right now I am quickly and with great pleasure reading Plain Jane.

Days like today...

...are what make the world go 'round for me. Big thanks to Team C. You're awesome and cool and you know who you are! xoxo

Quiet Time

It has been nice here at work to be able to have some quiet time. One of the main reasons for that isn't that the public has stopped coming in (not a chance). It is more that we don't have round-the-clock shifts of teen volunteers wandering around back in our offices trying to look busy.

Nice lunch today at the fabulous LeRoy's. The tots were extra crispy - yum!

Hoping for good stuff tomorrow. Fingers, and nothing else, crossed.

Call from the Governor

Not in a Terminator kind of way. I just meant that I have gotten a reprieve, in the form of a phone call. Team C will be meeting this week for some highly covert maneuvers. If not for these secret missions I would fall even more deeply into the pit of despair. Not to be dramatic or anything....

Plus, lunch tomorrow with Little Bear and another Friend of Ours.

Plus, plus, I just finished Dating Big Bird. Nice light reading. Today, I began How to be Good. Yeah, working my way through the Hornby oeuvre :-) Couldn't properly be called work as I enjoy it so much...

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day

*whew* I am decompressing still from Saturday's madness. It was crazy busy at work, but it is over, over over! Brought my daughter to work with me and she was actually a huge help. My oldest and his little 'family' dropped by also, luckily at the end of the day when it was winding down.

Yesterday was fine. I did get to see a great movie. Broken Flowers I am so, so into the mature Bill Murray. Damn.

Today, I am fighting with WTG. If there were a way to remove him from my life, it would be done. Everytime I think of my alternatives, though, I see myself living in a room in someone else's house and "visiting" my kids and I just shrivel inside. I just have to get through the next few years. Sometimes I am filled with such regret about decisions that I made, or things I let happen to me. What is the use of that, though. Better just to try to find pleasure in the here and now.

Soooooo Tired

I need to go to bed at a decent hour at some point. I am incredibly tired today. Tomorrow is a day off, but I suspect it will be jam packed with other people's activities. I just feel so guilty when I fall asleep too early. There is so much that needs to be done, and sons wandering in and out until fairly late....

Had my big Tween Party at work yesterday, and can safely call it a rousing success. It did go well, and was not all too strenuous to put together. Now that I am past that, there is just this Saturday (with 3 performance times offered) to get through and SRP is more or less over. Just dealing with incidental fall out for the next couple of weeks. Actually, next week I am scheduled to call in for possible jury duty. I am hoping I won't have to go in at all, but if I do I plan on just making it the one day. If I go in one day and don't get put on a jury, I'll be finished. If they try to place me on a jury, I plan to make it impossible to accept me there. I just have no desire to do my civic duty at this time, sorry.

I started another book by an author that I usually like. It is called Blessings So far, I am not loving it. It is okay...not unreadable, so I will finish before passing judgement. It could just be a slow starter.

Listening to: Queen's Greatest Hits (yes, I love them) at this moment...Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy....
~/o Oooohhhh, let me feel your heartbeat grow faster, faster!~/o

Life

Sometimes, it isn't what I hoped it would be. Not even close.
Sometimes, it is more amazing than I could have imagined. By far.
Sometimes, it is like some horrible, out of sync, jerky dance.
Sometimes, it flows like water, cool, clear, and deep.
Sometimes, it frightens me and makes me feel empty.
Sometimes, it brings me such joy that I feel full to bursting with laughter/tears.
Sometimes, it is this.
Sometimes, it is that.
But, it is always Life.

Almost....Over...Finally!!!

SRP is down to its last week! I am in awe of us for making it through with no major problems or breakdowns. What an incredible relief.

On the home front, I am trying hard to maintain my even keel, my serene facade. All in all, things are okay. It is just the daily little irritations that threaten my peace, nothing major at this time. For example, on Sat., I took my two youngest to visit with my oldest at his new place. WTG calls us up, all indignant, telling me the house is falling apart without me there tending to things. Right! Whatever. Such a miserable person. I just pretty much blew it off and we went about out business...didn't get home until around midnight. The next day, yesterday, nothing was really said about it. He had to know that he had been an ass. He had more bitching to do about other things, but I am getting better and better at just tuning him out :-) Boy, the things we do for the sake of our children....

Just finished the Murakami short stories and really enjoyed them. I'm not sure what I'll read next, but fully intend to take someone home with me tonight. Yes, its true, I am such a book slut.

Ooooohhh, I know what else! I talked to a key member of Team C on Friday. That always helps me feel better. Looks like another secret mission may be at least a week away, but I can deal with that. Just knowing the possibility exists is useful to me and my sense of well being.

Happy Birthday, Dear #1 Son

My oldest son is officially no longer a teenager. Does this mean I'm getting old? Unquestionably, yes. However, I sometimes still feel like a slip of a girl, and those "sometimes" will surely get me through the days...

My exciting news is that I finally got TiVo! It is the funnest, easiest thing. I have already gone through and using my favorite actors as starting points found lots of things to record. And just because I record them, doesn't mean I have to actually find time to watch them. And I probably won't :-) Its just cool to have.

I'm reading another short story collection. This one is called The Elephant Vanishes. I have only read a couple so far, but I'm enjoying it. Big Murakami fan here.

Detente

My LD guy and I seem to have reached a sort of pact. We will be friends, exchanging more casual emails instead of having more like conversations. No expectations, because, as it turns out, I expect way too much. I know I would rather have him in my life as a friendly pen pal than not at all, so I guess that is how it will be.

Just finished reading A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You. Just loved it. Short stories can be such perfect little gems at times. When they are good, they are soooo good. I feel an affinity for the short story, too, because it seems more like something I could do. Truly, though, I am so obviously not an actual writer. It is one of my favorite fantasies though! Since childhood, I have liked to think of myself as a writer. It seems a harmless indulgence :-)