We’re back from the beach. We did indeed find ourselves in the middle of a fireworks display. For those of you who missed my earlier post, we were on the beach in Washington, where it is apparently legal to procure and fire off anything up to the size of a howitzer. Anyway, we went down and built a bonfire on the beach and the kids shot off what stuff they had and toasted marshmellows, while most of the grownups drank ‘Fresh Boys’. I’m not sure if our recipe was authentic, but it was goooood! Orange juice, cranberry juice, some passionfruit syrup (just a little), and Coconut-pineapple rum. Besides the amateur efforts, we could see the professional show down at Long Beach, and another show up at Surf Side. Good fun was had by all.
We also rented 3 movies, reviews follow. King Kong, great special effects, but the story - meh. An Unfinished Life - pretty much a ‘chick flick’, but it had Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman, Both of whom we like very much. Great acting all around, even Jennifer Lopez. 2 thumbs up. Ice Harvest - Darkly funny, with some nudity in the first 15 minutes or so, and bloody violence here and there. Everybody in the movie was great. If you have a macabre sense of humor, there’s some lines that will have you rolling. We liked it.
I’m guessing not, since no bells are going off at that reference. I wanted a cool-sounding word that meant ‘cat’, and a friend suggested it. I liked it.
I’m thinking of naming my next cat (when and if) something along the lines of Gutekätzchen, in the hopes that it will live up to its name at least as well as Shiva does now.
I’m having a rough night. not really a rant-worthy everything-went-wrong day… just a sort of rough one and a maybe-I’ll-hide-under-the-covers-and-cry night.
I know. it’s so tough to be me, isn’t it? I’m not very good at it anyway.
I missed the outage as well. The SDMB must really need me- my internet went out last night. I guess it couldn’t keep going without me and went out because it was pining. and then somebody gave it a pep talk and a milkshake and it decided to work. And then I begged my daddy to fix it and he did. yay dad! he saved the SDMB!
Ya know, Dot, you’re at a generally icky age. I doubt if any of us who are older would want to go back. I had a pretty OK high school experience, but there was always a feeling of not fitting in and not being sure how to. Ick. Just keep slogging through. It gets better. Pretty quickly, even. And keep venting at us. (Wish I’d had a place like this when I was your age.)
Why does it feel so early? I need to make my lunch and get ready for work. Already! And I have an 8:30 meeting. Oh joy!
Morning! The Dope is never, ever allowed to shut down again. How am I supposed to function on my Day Off without the Straight Dope? Not possible.
For taxi and anyone else who’s interested: I learned how to dance like a trampy low-class Cairo entertainer last night. First I did a class where I found out the my vertical hip slides are insufficiently isolated (must remember to keep my back straighter and concentrate on keeping my arms up) and my three-quarter shimmy walk is pretty good, and then we did Muhammed Ali Street style, which is much like regular bellydance, but less… refined.
It’s important to chew gum loudly while you’re doing it, because that shows that you either have money or connections, since gum is imported and expensive. Lots of shoulder shimmy and butt-wiggling.All done flat-foot, not on toe, and not a lot of isolation. It was hysterical. I had so much fun!
Today I have to move some furniture, sweep, vacuum, and mop, and find a place for all the books on the couches and table.
I dreamed that I had to lead an analysis class on The Lord of the Rings. Oddly, it didn’t bother me. I’m not as gifted (by far) as jayjay or Quadqop, but I could manage a quick lecture and some discussion questions. Asleep, even.
Boy, it sure is hard to jump into the MMP when you wait until Thursday to do it! I’m just glad I waited for the Wild West era to pass - I can’t seem to get the accent down!
By now, the celebration seems like it was a long time ago. Since then, I’ve been to a funeral, had a looonnnng day back at the office, went to the movies (saw the new Adam Sandler – it was very predicatable, but still made me laugh and cry), read half a book (Peace Like A River, and I’m really liking it!), and here I am back at work with a pile THIS HIGH waiting for me.
But it’s Thursday, so how bad can it be? It’s already time to make plans for the weekend coming up! I have a feeling someone asked me to do something on Saturday, but I can’t remember what it might have been…
Dottie - being a teenager ain’t easy - I had a very bad time of it, even after I found my niche. But it does get better. Just savor the good moments, however many or few there are, and that will get you thru the blue patches. And trust me, people WILL miss you if you were gone. So just dive into something fun. Are there any summer theatre groups near you? you seem to have a nack for that. Acting is a great way to distract yourself from the agnst of life. I auditioned for everything I could. And starred in a few things. I always found losing myself in some Gilbert & Sullivan worked wonders.
Dot, being a teenager is both the best and the worst stage to be at. The hell is that you get to go through it not knowing that it’s all that, so you’re either not feeling like dealing with it, or can’t appreciate the good parts while they’re in front of you.
I really have nothing much more to say yet today.
When we bought this house, one of the extras the builder threw in was 4 hours of a handyman’s labor, which we’re getting right now. He’s putting a screen door on the front, hanging my ceiling fan in the bedroom then doing some shelving in the laundry room.
Wife is home, pretending to have a sore back. Tomorrow she’s going to go with me to my chiropractor, which means before long, I’ll be sharing my Jennifer’s massages with my wife. I’m kind of torn how I feel about that.
So, I wasn’t looking forward to today because I had to do more training with New Girl. And then she was late. And I found myself wondering if she had called me last night for a ride, left a message, and assumed I’d pick her up.
After frantically checking my nonexistent voicemail messages, I got an e-mail stating that she would not be in today. So, no training. Which is just fine with me, I hate training for reasons that aren’t very nice, so we’ll leave that alone.
She’s a nice girl, but I don’t think she’ll last long. She most recently worked for a company with a giant mouse as their mascot, and still has that very friendly, sprightly attitude. People like that do not last at this company. We’re all surly and sarcastic, and that’s the way we like it. The roof leaks and the customers are jerks. Don’t give me that happy crap.
Yay, it’s Thursday! And, even better, it’s my “Friday!” Tomorrow I will begin prepping for my vacation over at the beach. I’ll need to do laundry, pack, grocery shop for Mr. Anachi for while I’m gone, shop for the grumpuses and do their laundry. I am SOOOO looking forward to going.
I still don’t have my sense of taste back from this stoopit cold that’s hanging on. I’m better but it sucks not being able to taste the fried chicken you made for supper. Anybody ever have that happen?
I’m almost finished reading Marley and Me, Life With The World’s Worst Dog and I’m really afraid I’m gonna get depressed at the end.
Guess I better get that presentation buttoned up. Later.
I have nice plans for this weekend! Saturday we are driving to see my bestest friend and watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream with her at the Shakespeare Festival. Then Sunday we’re going to a big reptile show down in White Plains. Woohoo!
Pfeh. “Today must be Thursday. I never could quite get the hang of Thursdays.” - Arthur Dent. That’s what today feels like. Oh, I’m fine, and I’ll get work done, but it just feels like the whole day is tilted somehow. Eh, whatever.
Today’s pun is … different. See, this latest series of months has proven more difficult than I originally anticipated. So, I’ve had to get creative and really push the limits of the pseudostyle I’ve adopted. That’s why, to see today’s pun, you have to follow the link here.
Lemme know what you guys think.
Say, Mika, that sounds like fun. Take pictures! I want to see some big reptiles from the big reptile show.
**'mika ** - that sounds like fun.
**drae ** - I’d fit in at your office: perky people piss me off. if she doesn’t make it, you’ll be well rid of her.
I am trying to reverse engineer an old baseball pun - involving an alomost empty bottle of scotch, and two very drunk orchestra players - the punchline is “it’s the bottom of the fifth and the bassists are loaded” - there’s more to it than that, but I can’t of it. Where’s Sean?
Dot, I swear, life gets less horribly emotional and crappy as you get older. Being your age does really suck a lot of the time. Cry and vent all you want to- we’re here, and all of us can sympathize.
I’m listening to Arabic pop music that Mr. Lissar can’t stand, and housecleaning. “Beledi, something something something, iskingaria… beledi, something something something…”
Twinkie, I love you more and more. Peace Like A River is an awesome book. (My Best Friend and her husband lent it to us a couple of years ago, and told us they wouldn’t be friends with us any more if we didn’t read it) Mr. Lissar read almost all of it aloud to me ( finished the last couple of chapters on my own).
To be fair, it’s a constant mutual stream of threats and books. They introduced me to My Name Is Asher Lev, we gave them Deerskin. They gave us Father Elijah, we gave them Brideshead Revisited. They’re coming this weekend (Yay!), and I plan to saddle them with The Dispossessed, The Neverending Story, * Better Off- Turning the Switch on Technology*, and A Wizard of Earthsea.
Oh, yeah- we recently gave them Swimming with Scapulars, too.
Damned if she’s getting her paws on my new Nigel Slater, though. Grr. Kitchen Diaries is mine, all mine!
What do you mean? Thursdays are great! They’re the best days of the week. See, you start looking forward to the weekend, but you haven’t actually gotten there yet so you can think about doing fun things without feeling bad if you don’t actually get around to doing those fun things. That’s the problem with Saturdays. If you don’t do the fun things you thought about doing, then you feel like it’s a wasted day. And Sunday, well, now you’re already thinking about Monday and it’s just a big letdown of a day. But Thursday… well, it’s just a day with all kinds of posibilities ahead of you.
Thanks for the thoughts and wishes about the cats. It’s like they are proximity detectors. They get within half a room of each other, and they start making this throaty, growly noise. They don’t really have to even see each other; they just start making the noise when the other one is sensed anywhere in the region. It’s quite impressive really. Or would be if it weren’t such an og-awful noise.
LiLi, you’re making me nervous about this whole belly dancing thing. It sounds hard!
Rosy, I think the joke you’re thinking about actually involves an orchestra. I’ve heard it before, but it’s quite complicated and I can’t remember how it all goes. But someone or other is out, the bassists are loaded, and something or other else goes wrong. Yeah… this is why I don’t tell jokes.
not really a rant-worthy everything-went-wrong day… just a sort of rough one and a maybe-I’ll-hide-under-the-covers-and-cry night.
