Fellow Blogger Published On-Line

One of my faithful readers, Scott just had his short story "Damned Carnival" published at deathlings.com. You can check it out here. Good for you, Scott!!! Be warned, if you don't like clowns, it's a little freaky.

Euphoria - Rabbit in the Moon's Divine Gothic Disco Mix

My buddy FreakMagnet Dave's last post dealt with his BIL's psycho ex-girlfriend. It gave me the idea of telling you all about the LB's (Little Brother for those new here) PsychoBitch Girlfriend, who is finally an ex, although there was fear in the family that she would never be an ex.

I was living in SF at the time and the LB moved out a year or so after me. Some friends down in the peninsula were having a party the day he arrived (drove out with the YS) and invited all of us. Wait, why was she there? I could have some of my details messed up, because I can't figure out why she was at one of my friend's houses. Anyway, we saw her and didn't really think anything, except that YS liked the dress she was wearing and said so. PsychoBitch's response was, "Yeah, so?" So, you can tell she's chock full of manners and correct behaviors. The LB is cute and girls really like him. And just like wife beaters are really good at finding women who will put up with him hitting her, PsychoBitches are really good at finding the guy who is too nice and malleable for his own good. In other words, my brother.

I hung out with the LB and PsychoBitch a few times and didn't really think much about her. She was okay. Nothing to write home about and certainly not a "cupcake" – LB's terms for a cute girl. But whatever. I didn't think it was going to last that long because she was pretty insanely liberal, while he's very conservative. Wow, was I wrong.

She slowly took over his life until the few friends he had made in the SF area (it's really bloody hard to make friends out there) faded away and she was literally all he had – other than my aunt, uncle, cousins and me – and she tried really freaking hard to get between us, too. In the years that I stayed out there, I can't remember one time when I actually got to spend time with my brother without her calling him a billion times or keeping him on the phone for hours while she yelled at him.

One time LB was supposed to meet me up at my favorite bar in SF to watch the Red Wings game (he preferred the Kezar Pub down in the Haight because it was owned by a Detroiter and there was Red Wings stuff everywhere, but I preferred The Bus Stop up on Union Street, because I knew everybody there and it was very comforting to me). On this particular night I gave in to LB and went down to Kezar. He was late (as usual, but with SF traffic, it's hard to blame him) and when he got there I reminded him that he was supposed to spend the night because he had to take me to the airport early in the morning. He had forgotten, of course, and had made plans with PsychoBitchfromHell to watch South Park. He immediately headed off to the pay phone and tried to get a hold of her, leaving messages with her parents. He spent damn near the entire time at the bar in the back on the pay phone trying to let her know because she's so controlling and nuts she was going to be PISSED.

After the game we went back to my place, where he continued to call her ad nauseum because a message wasn't good enough for her. He finally gets a hold of her and she goes off on him like you would not believe. No, I couldn't hear her side of the conversation, but I heard his, which was dead silence and a clear indication that she was yelling at him. He would try to speak every once in a while, but he would get cut off before he could finish a sentence. I was LIVID!!! My evening with my brother was nothing of the sort. He hung out in the dining room listening to her yell at him while I watched TV, finished packing and finally went to bed.

That year J-man was having an NYE party. It always started out as a pre-party before heading out into the night, but rarely did anybody ever leave. Anyway, the LB wanted to come up and hang with TAS, Joyce and me at J-man's, but the Psycho Bitch from Hell didn't really want to, but did "for a little while." LB got pretty drunk and was having a good time at the party, while PBfH didn't, because it's not what she wanted to do. I was hoping that this was the beginning of the end, but I was oh so wrong, as this went on for YEARS. Back to NYE, she got all pissy and wanted to go to another party and she wanted my brother to drive her there. Thankfully, he is smart enough to know when he shouldn't drive, and he told her that. She was insisting on it, until we all got on her case. I had had a fair bit to drink that night and I was feeling no pain. I was, however, feeling a deep and fiery anger at this wench. Sometime after midnight, we all headed to my apt. where we informed PBfH that if she wanted to go home, she should call her dad for a ride, because my brother was no in any condition to drive. She didn't like it, but she didn't really have a choice (we had suggested she take a cab earlier in the evening to the other party, but she wasn't about to lose her control over my brother). She decided to go outside to wait for her father, long before he was going to be able to get there, so Joyce & I went with her so that she wouldn't get mugged. I'm sure it was Joyce's idea as she was sober. I would have let the bitch get mugged. Trust me, I'm normally not hostile even to complete strangers, but this woman pushed my buttons.

While standing out there waiting for her father to get there, I decided to let her have a piece of my mind, something TAS had already done inside. I told her how she manipulates my brother and how I hadn't had a good visit with him since she showed up because every time he's at my house she keeps him on the phone bitching him out for some perceived wrong. I brought up the South Park night and pretty much how much I hated her and how evil she was. I was on a freaking roll, just screaming at her. Joyce finally stopped me and said, "Kathleen, I think it's time for you to go in now." Darn sober people. ;-) I went in and TAS went out and she apparently lit into PBfH as well. LOL! PBfH bitched to my brother about it at some later date that although she didn't like it, she could understand that I was his sister and felt I had the right to say those things (damn straight, bitch), but she didn't think TAS had any right whatsoever. Maybe not, but I thanked TAS for joining in.

My last run in with the PsychoBitchfromHell was a few months later. I thought the LB was getting smart and he might have attempted to break up with her. All I know is that I had bronchitis, so was home sleeping (it was a Saturday, of course) when my phone started ringing. I got out of bed, walked through the living room into the kitchen and checked my caller ID. It was a store, but I answered it and nobody was there. I went back to bed, but within 30 minutes the phone rang again. Same store phone # on my caller ID, nobody there. After the fifth time (or however many times), I called the number back, but it was a fax line. I called Information and got the direct line to the store which I dialed and then proceeded to ask, "Do you have a PsychoBitchfromHell's name who works there?" "Yes, we have two." "Is there one working right now?" "Yes." "May I speak with her, please?" "Yes, just a moment." Well, it took forever for her to get to the phone, so I finally hung up. Seconds after I hung up, the phone rang again with the store's number showing up yet again.

I got a hold of the LB who was coming up to spend the evening with me and he told me that she was calling my aunt and uncle's house as well. By the time, the LB showed up in The City, I had a good 30 calls from her and I found out that she had called my aunt & uncle a similar number of times. Can we say OBSESSED? I turned my phone off and we decided to head upstairs to J-man's apartment to watch TV, as he was going out with the current girlfriend anyway. That way we could enjoy a night of movie watching w/o having to listen to the phone ring every other second. The PBfH called my aunt's house one too many times that evening. PBfH didn't hang up once and actually asked for the LB. My uncle had answered the phone, but my aunt overheard him say that the LB wasn't there and she said, "Is that her? Give me the phone." Now, anybody who knows my aunt knows that she is the quietest, most pleasant, most laidback person on the face of this earth. I've asked her if in her job as a pharmacist she had developed a valium patch because she's just so damn calm all the time. Yeah, not this time. She grabbed the phone from my uncle and proceeded to rip the PsychoBitchfromHell a new one. "Why are you calling here looking for LB? You know he doesn't live here. Do you know that you've called her 30 times already today? Do not call here ever again." This was the abridged version of what my aunt said. According to my uncle, she went on for a while and was obviously PISSED. My uncle was impressed and scared all at the same time as he had never seen my aunt like that and they've been together since 1979 (or so).

When LB and I finally returned to my apt late that night, I had over 40 calls from her. I unplugged the phone so that we could sleep w/o the answering machine clicking all damn night and when I plugged it in the next morning (8:00-ish), the phone rang immediately. Yup, it was her. I don't even remember if I answered the phone that morning and let him do it, if he even wanted to, but I really thought it was going to be over then. Sadly, it was years before he finally got rid of there and then it was because she found somebody else to boss around. When I first met her and heard that she had been engaged, but her fiancé had dumped her via e-mail, I felt sorry for her. After dealing with her for only two years, I completely understood why he did it. Every time my LB tried to dump her ass, she would threaten suicide. Her father actually offered my brother ten thousand dollars to marry her (because she was here illegally). I had reached the point where I didn't fucking care if she killed herself, I just wanted my brother to be free of her, as did the rest of the family. I was actually *this* close to turning her into the INS because she was allowed to stay in this country as long as she didn't work, but she was working and I found out where she was working (nothing nefarious, my brother forwarded an e-mail from her work e-mail), but I was too wimpy to do it. TAS was ready to do it for me, but I never forwarded her the info and then PBfH found somebody else's life to ruin so I didn't have to do it. I am glad that I found the (Dutch) courage though to tell her what I thought of her at least once. I just wish I weren't so opposed to violence because I would have dearly loved to smack her upside her stupid head. ;-)

The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove

I've been out every night this week, so I haven't had a chance to write up my weekend activities (and they were myriad). In lieu of not posting, I've decided to tell you the story of when I used to sleepwalk. I've been trying to figure out how old I was and I would have thought I was pretty young, until I remember that the LB is involved and he was old enough to be in his own bed and talking, so let's assume he's 5 or 6, which makes me 9 or 10. As far as we know I sleepwalked (sleptwalked) three times.

It was summer back in 1973 or 74 (I think) and one night, after watching Johnny Carson's monologue, Mom and Dad were walking through the kitchen doorway (TV was in the family room on the other side of the kitchen) and saw me walking in the front door. After a couple of mini-heart attacks, they discovered I was not actually awake. The story goes that I had walked out the front door (definitely unlocked, and probably open as it was summer), gone next door and asked if Lisa could come out to play. I'm not sure if that actually happened, because I can't imagine Mrs. L would have just sent me home at 11:30 p.m. and in my PJs. I would have to think she'd have walked me back and made sure my parents knew what was going on.

I'm not sure of the time frame but the next time I went sleepwalking (could have been the next night), I discovered that the front door was closed and locked. This caused my sleeping body to crash into the door. I remember waking up sitting on the bathroom vanity and crying as ice was being applied to the bump on my head.

The third and final time was a bit more eventful, at least for the LB. He woke up to find me pulling down my undies and about to sit on his bed. "Kathleen, what are you doing?" "Going to the bathroom," was apparently my reply, which sent the LB into hysterics. "MOM! DAD!!! Kathleen's peeing on my bed." Although we weren't allowed to say "peeing" so he probably said "going to the bathroom." We also weren't allowed to use the word "fart."

I believe Mom and Dad got there in time to rescue the LB and his bed, and keep me from peeing on his bed. A doctor's appointment was made and whatever he said or did worked because I believe those are the only times I ever sleepwalked. I think I've asked Mom before what the doctor told her, but she doesn't remember. Sometimes it's truly hell being the middle child. ;-)

Stopwatch Hearts

I borrowed this from Heather as I started a post about my weekend at home and will tell you all about it once I get it finished. I even have pictures!!!

Have you ever been in a fantasy league?

I guess so, although we just call it a hockey pool and we don't jockey around with our teams every other second. You pick before the season starts and you're stuck with those players until the halfway point when you can dump the underperforming or injured or players who retired two days into the season. My kind of "fantasy league."

What was the first sports jersey you ever owned?

Red Wings Away (it was the Away Jersey when I got it) #8 Igor Larionov jersey. My only other jersey is my Igor Larionov Russian jersey.

10 favorite athletes:

Gates Brown
Aurelio Rodriguez
Igor Larionov
Gordie Howe
John Wockenfuss
Mario Andretti (yes, race car drivers are athletes, so deal with it)
Dan Gurney
Brandon Inge
Manny Legace
Joe Dumars

Three Athletes I secretly admire but am ashamed to admit it for fear of ridicule.

This is hard. I generally don't admire people if I think they're worthy of ridicule. And if I like someone who others don't normally deem worthy I'll take whomever on and explain why I admire the person.


Three people (outside family) you would pay to have coffee with:

I don't drink coffee, but I'd like to have a cup of tea or a Guinness with:

Clarity
Kyle Mills
Danny Elfman

One Thing You Could Change If You Could:

The state of my company because that would make everybody's mental health much better as hovering on the brink of extinction is not fun or happy.

I Just Wanna Stop

Trivia for today: Woodward Ave. in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M - 1, because it was the first paved road anywhere.

About 15 years ago or so, when I was working at the U, I had to attend a department wedding. This was in the height of my Black Wardrobe days, but the bride felt it necessary to ask that I not wear black to her wedding. Puhleeze, people. This isn't the 1950s! Who gets offended when black is worn to a wedding anymore, especially when you know that person wears only black? It's obviously not meant as a statement of some sort against the wedding, although it should have been. *eyes rolling* You'll all be happy to know that I didn't wear black, but my dress was extremely olive with black print, so there. ;-)

The wedding was for one of the profs in my department who was almost old enough to be my father and the secretary (a few years older than me) in another department. He left his wife of almost 30 years for this woman. In fact, his wife came to the office one day (I must have been at lunch because I missed it, but heard all about it), stuck her head into our office and asked, "Where's Humanities?" in this "take no prisoners" voice. Tricia said, "Oh, hi Karen.: and gave directions to Humanities, knowing full well why Karen was looking for Humanities. We all wish we had been a fly on the wall in Humanities that day.

The story really happened at the wedding. Being a bunch of academics there were no dancers in the group and they certainly weren't playing anything I wanted to dance too, so a bit into the evening (after dinner), we were all standing around in a circle outside as it was a nice evening and chatting. One of my Economists who was (probably still is) Indian and about my age. He might have asked me out previously, but I had always said No as he was very right wing and not my type at all. He's standing next to me and at one point reaches behind me and pinches my ass. He thought he escaped unnoticed, except for my friend Pat. She saw his arm go behind me, me jump and my eyes get really big. I didn't say anything as I didn't want to cause a ruckus at the wedding, but Pat came into the office on Monday and said, "So, Parth pinched you on the butt?" I looked at her and said, "You saw it?" She acknowledged that she caught the gist of his movement. I still didn't want to make a fuss, but then Pat said something to Parth, he denied completely and then turned around and immediately called me and essentially threatened me telling me that I better not be telling anybody because nobody was going to believe a secretary over a professor. I WAS PISSED then. Up to that point I was willing to let it go, but don't threaten me, asshole. Everybody in my department believed me, of course, particularly, since Pat saw it happen, but I knew if it got elevated to Personnel that I wouldn't have won because it's true that at the U, a staff member's word will not be taken over a professor's.

Parth and I had many run-ins over the years that we both worked there. He was a definite chauvinist and didn't like that I spoke my mind or give in to him because he was male. In my last year there, I had my own office with a door that closed and everything. I worked on salaries and such things, but rarely closed the door, just because that's not my style (not like the admin for a different department who would lock herself in her office for HOURS to do the semesterly payroll, even though we had departments of a very similar size and I could do my payroll in about 30 minutes). One day though I was changing clothes to go out walking or something and obviously closed my door. Someone knocked and I said, "Just a minute." When I opened the door, it was Parth and he proceeded to yell at me for closing my door, as if I were doing something nefarious and as if he were my boss. I just looked at him, and said, "I was changing my clothes. What do you want?" The stupid thing is that even after he pinched my ass and generally treated me like dog dung, he would ask me out occasionally and get offended when I'd say No. Bloody hell, I was single, not desperate and stupid!!!

For The Good Times

Yesterday was hellish. I got the damn budget back on Tuesday and even though it was supposed to be returned by COB on Tuesday, I didn't even get the first of the updates from any supervisor until 8:00 p.m. that night. Glad I didn't stick around waiting for it. I spent all day yesterday working on it, except for the hour I went out to the campus (for lack of a better term) picnic. It was extremely lame this year, and as usual the food sucked. One of the food workers told me that the vegetarian table was at the far end and that there were veggie hot dogs. Yeah, veggie hotdogs made from turkey. Dumbasses. Sure, I could have had a veggie burger, but our cafeteria buys the cheapest (and hence, nastiest) veggie burgers in the history of the world. I didn't waste the calories on it. I did get ice cream, though. That was lunch. I'm so healthy!!! Darla and I wandered around enjoying the beautiful weather and that was the extent of the picnic. It was thrilling. My ex-stalker was there, as always, wandering about all by himself because apparently nobody with whom he works likes him well enough to spend time with him if they don't have to.

I had to take the kids to the vet yesterday (they were overdue for their annual shots by about 3 months – oops) and can I just tell you what a freaking joy that is? I managed to get Igor first, which was huge because I've had to chase him around the house for 30 minutes before trying to get him into the carrier. He almost escaped at one point, but I was determined!!! Boris was actually tougher than he usually is, but I caught him the former computer room and then had a minor tussle getting him into the carrier. You'd think the vet was Josef Mengele the way they fight!!! Igor is quite vocal about his dislike of leaving the house and he cried the entire freaking way to the vet. He was quite vociferous. Everybody at the vet's office cooed about how cute Boris is, especially because they have a stray there right now (female) who looks quite a bit like him. They were trying to convince me to take Lolita home, but I held strong. Nothing like fighting to get TWO cats to the vet to make you realise three would be ridiculous, although how sweet is he? Okay, I just wasted time looking at all the adult cats who need homes. I will never understand this insane desire people have to adopt kittens. Kittens are manic and insane and race about the house all freaking night long and climb the curtains or dig their claws into your leg as they climb your jeans. I got Zapata when she was still a baby and Dear God, she was lucky I didn't kill her. I say that God made babies, puppies and kittens cute, so that you don't kill them. The ones that break my heart are the 8 and 10 year old cats who have been abandoned by their owners for whatever (lame-ass) reason. A year or so ago, they had a 17 year old cat that had been surrendered to the shelter, because "it didn't play with the kids anymore," so they got a kitten to replace her. OMIGOD! I almost lost my mind on that one! I was PISSED because I only had Tikal for 11 years and felt cheated but this bitch voluntarily gave up her cat just because it was too old to play with her kids. I dearly wanted to slap that woman and I don’t know how the people at the shelter were able to contain themselves. I called about adopting the poor sweetie, but they had her in a foster home and weren't going to adopt her out since she was so old. I'm glad there was a foster home for her to go to.

Tonight the Incredible and Fabulous Ursamajor is taking me out for Indian food for my b-day. It's too bad our birthdays are so close together (being both lovely Leo women – I thought about Ladies just for the alliterative effect, but couldn't bring myself to do it) because we exchange birthday dinners within two weeks of each other. Oh well! I never complain when I get Indian food. YUMMY!!!

The weekend has gotten crazy. I have two friends coming into town from the Toronto area for the baseball game. HRH, my racing buddy, is coming in early on Saturday and wants to go to the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village. Suzy, one of my friends from SF, is showing up just in time for the game but staying until Monday and she wants to go to the museum/village on Sunday. I've lived here for over 16 years and haven't been to either place in that time (they're right across the street) and now I'll be hitting it twice in two days. I'm hoping one will be happy with the museum and the other with the Village, so I'm not doing the village twice in two days, especially since I've never been to the museum, but have been to the village (just not in recent memory). There's a big baseball exhibit at the museum through Sept. 5, and I definitely want to see that. Suzy likes baseball, so I might be able to con her into it. The only problem is that there are cars in the museum (particularly Dan Gurney's – and some other guy's – Le Mans winning GT40) and HRH might want to do that. Maybe I'll end up at the museum both days, although if it's nice, I'll be tempted to do the Village as it's all outside. Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions!!!

I guess that's it for now. I can't think of anything else to bother you with. Have a tolerable Thursday!

Really Really Cranky - Read at your own risk

I'm very cranky this week, people. Very cranky! Beyond cranky! Best to stay home and not mix with innocent people cranky! And it doesn't help that I got yet another meeting notice from the Big Big Boss' secretary reminding us of The Mandatory Department Golf Outing. This is my favorite line from her e-mail "This is a yearly event and we all have had a good time in the past." Yeah, right! Do you really think that anybody would dare to tell the Big Big Boss that they didn't have fun at his mandatory golf outing??? And if you don't golf? You get to sit inside the clubhouse (after a 7:00 a.m. department meeting) and play cards. I'm tempted to declare myself Baptist for the day. Or waste a vacation day. Yeah, I have a badass attitude about this, and so what? What are you going to do about it?

My question is "What happened to the Department Picnic?" You know? Where there were choices of activities? You could play Frisbee if you so desired, or volleyball, or catch (I was a great source of amusement for the men in my department last year), and if you didn't want to do any of that, you could sit and socialise whilst sitting outside and enjoying the sun and fresh air.

Make no doubt about this, I'm pissy!!!

And do you know what this week is? It's my birthday week (as opposed to when August was my Birthday Month and I celebrated all the freaking time, because now that I'm old people don't think I need to celebrate) and not a single person has called to say they want to take me out to dinner or otherwise celebrate. I'm so pathetic. I have ZERO plans for my birthday week and this is not cool. I realise that to a certain extent, it's probably my fault because I have a big group going to the baseball game to celebrate on Saturday (actual birthday), so they probably think that's sufficient. Well, they're wrong, it's not! ;-) The YS took off for VA today to visit The Boyfriend ("who's really very nice") because she hasn't seen him in eight whole days, besides she's still mad at me for not liking him. Martha leaves tomorrow for Up North and won't be back until Saturday, just in time to go to the baseball game. I think I need a vacation, but unfortunately, I got The Budget Project back again for further edification, so no taking time off all willy-nilly. I have made plans with one of my co-workers whose birthday is a couple of days after mine and I'm working on getting a group together to join us. And to be fair, my friend Marianne and I have made plans for next Monday to celebrate both our birthdays. She has two kids, so she has to work out when she can go unlike me who can always go.

The weekend was fairly uneventful, went for drinks with Martha on Friday (in bed by 10:00 p.m.), fabulous massage on Saturday morning, followed by a lovely nap, a pool party at Grandma's where Grandma commented that she liked my current bathing suit better than "that string thing you wore the last time." Picture me looking completely and utterly befuddled as I have never even owned a thong bathing suit, much less worn one to Grandma's clubhouse pool. She was adamant and actually pretty pissed at me while I just stood there confused. Mom and the YS defended me but there was no dissuading Grandma from her story. She's positive that I wore a thong bathing suit in her presence. Saturday night I was out with Martha and Pamela to hear a local band (Pamela is dating the drummer). They were good but we had to suffer through two other bands to get to the headliners. The first band played well, but all their songs were, well, to be blunt – boring as hell. The second band was very good and lively and interesting, but louder than necessary for the size of the place and the metal ceiling. Damn, but I'm old. The headlining band didn't even go on until midnight. The lead singer told me that when we got there around 9:30. "You do realise that we're old, right?" He said, "Hey, I'm old too." I survived but I was yawning the entire damn time. This whole getting old thing kind of sucks canal water. Sunday was a nothing day – Mass, lunch with Mom and YS and then home to watch the race. It was another crazy Champ Car weekend with another little mini-fight after PFT took out yet another competitor. I swear the only time ESPN pays any attention to us (they do own the rights to broadcast our main enemy series) is when there's a spectacular crash or a fight, so I think we might have gotten coverage for the second race in a row. I wouldn't know since I can't be bothered to watch ESPN since they can't be bothered to cover the sports about which I care (hockey and Champ Car). Hell, the Tigers have the best record in baseball (I think even after the five game losing streak – longest of the season, broken last name with a win over Boston – Sorry, Schprockie) can't even get a game on ESPN. They were discussed on BTL or one of their stupid let's talk about sports because we can't actually play any of them yesterday because of their losing streak. They couldn't be bothered to talk about them before the losing streak, mind you.

Okay, I'm sorry, I'm done bitching. Mostly because I've given myself a headache! I'll try to be a bit more cheerful in my next post.

Worthy Cause

I just got done reading an article by Rick Reilly at Sports Illustrated about the need for bed nets in Africa to help stop malaria. Normally, I find Rick Reilly to be a bit of an asshole, but not this time. My friend gave me the heads up on this and he's already donated. He also wrote to Rick to find out how much had already been donated to this very worthy cause. SI wrote this back to my friend:

Thank you for your email to Rick Reilly. Please allow us to reply on Rick's behalf since he is on assignment.

As of July 31st, the UN Foundation has indicated that there have been 17,334 donations, with $1,159,061.08 total raised.

We hope this information is helpful, and appreciate your interest in this worthy cause.

Sincerely,
SI LETTERS

Blue Meany's "The Magical Mystery Mix Chain CD"

I received The Magical Mystery Mix Chain CD from Blue Meany on Monday and listened to it on Tuesday but then got completely sucked into the Budget Project From Hell With The Twenty-Four Hour Deadline. Here are my Non Guesses On Songs I've Never Heard Before In My Life (at least most of them).

Song 1 – I know this song, but I have no clue what the title is or who sings it. This is where my complete non-listening to the radio is going to hurt me.

Song 2 – Very Country Twangy and since I couldn't name a country song other than "Achy Breaky Heart" (and dear God, don't we all want that one stuck in our heads?), I'm completely clueless. The title could be "Queen of my Double-Wide Trailer."

Song 3 – Another "Absolutely No Clue" song. I'm pretty sure this song doesn't get airplay as the FCC would have a heart attack – a tad suggestive.

Song 4 – My notes on this one say "Voice sounds familiar." I'm really good at this game, aren't I?

Song 5 – Mexicali Blues, that's all I wrote.

Song 6 – I actually know this song, knew it within the first few notes (I Practice Santeria), but sadly, I couldn't tell you who sings it or the actual title of it if you put a gun to my head. I so suck at this.

Song 7 – All I wrote down for this was ANC – Absolutely No Clue.

Song 8 – This one started off with growling, and I wrote "No Freaking Clue – Definitely Never Played on the Radio."

Song 9 – "Another song that I know but couldn't tell you the title or band – I'm so pathetic."

Song 10 – Sounds like The Beatles, but since I hate The Beatles (yes, I know, get over it), I have no idea what this song is. Of course, it might not even be The Beatles.

Song 11 – Woohoo!!! I know this one! Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls. This song made me so happy. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to be able to name any of the songs.

Song 12 – Crimson & Clover by somebody…

Song 13 – Just another song I don't know.

Song 14 – Actually pretty happy I don't know this one. This is the only song that I would skip on subsequent listenings (when at work, I put in one CD and it plays non-stop for 8 hours, so I listened to this CD a good number of times on Tuesday.)

Song 15 – Mathilda by Harry Belafonte – Thank you for putting on some oldies for those of us over the age of 40. I love Harry Belafonte. The FF had the album and it was a TREAT when he would play it.

Song 16 – This singer has a voice I hate – sounds like Bob Dylan.

Song 17 – This song has to be from Blue Meany's time in Iraq. It was pretty amusing. I liked the sounds of the guys laughing in the background.

Song 18 – "I really liked this song, although it only lasted something like 30 seconds." (It's actually 1:41 long.)

Song 19 – Another army type song – 1940s maybe.

Song 20 – Oh CRAP! I know this song!!! "Oh Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz." SHIT!

Song 21 - Hair Band Sounding – wasn't overly fond of it.

Song 22 – She ended on a high note with one of my favorites – Sid Vicious singing "My Way" from The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.

Now I have to wait for the remaining people (of the 9) who received the disk to post their guesses. I'm betting everybody is better at this than I was, eh? Bloody hell, I sucked.

Beautiful

I have been completely swamped at work which is actually a good thing. Yesterday flew right by! And today went quickly up until I finished my assignment (the best I could) and then the last three hours dragged ass!!!

I basically have nothing to say because my life is boring. I worked, I drove my friend Darrell (I'm too lazy to link) to the airport, I stopped at Home Depot to discover I still hate them, then I went to the gym where it was jam packed and I did only 20 minutes on the elliptical. The highlight was watching Stargate SG-1. How exciting is my life!!!

Today was pretty much the same - budget, elliptical for the full 60 minutes but I had zero energy and then home to shower. I'm watching SG-1 right now and then it's on to bed, because my life is more exciting than yours. Or maybe it's not.

Pray that my life gets better or you'll all stop reading me.

That's the way I like it

Here is a lovely article about Cristiano da Matta from one of the best racing writers in the world. Please check it out.

I'm trying to remember the weekend. Friday I had an 8-hour mandatory meeting during which I was hungover and knitting. The knitting was the only thing that kept me awake as I had gotten very little good sleep (if any) the night before. Why, oh why, do I drink four Guinnesses when I know I'm a lightweight??? Yeah, and I was really stupid in that I didn't eat any dinner either. I'm a dumbass.

Friday night I was so bloody tired that I went to bed shortly after 7:30. I tried to stay up until 8:00 p.m., but it was NOT happening. I got more than 12 hours of sleep that night and it was utterly fabulous!!! I got up and walked to the fruit market and bought stuff for the soup recipe I got when I was in Mexico and since there was fresh basil there I decided to make this really yummy tomato-basil-mozzarella pie thingy that I got from my dear friend Railroad.

I then went to Michael's to get blue beads for a rosary I was planning on making for a friend at church who has breast cancer. From there it was on to Kroger to stock on veggie hot dogs, Boca burgers and the other necessary ingredients for the soup (which I still haven't made). It was still hot so I didn't cook that day, but found that TCM was having a Humphrey Bogart day and that was just too exciting for words. Yeah, I live a scintillating life. I watched High Sierra and then went outside to get some sun while they showed To Have & Have Not again. I missed most of The Maltese Falcon, but I caught the end which is too cool - "The stuff dreams are made of."

The highlight of TCM's day was The Treasure of Sierra Madre that night. That was my first Bogart movie and I totally didn't appreciate it the first time I saw it. This is the movie that brought us the famous phrase "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges." which is not completely accurate, but we'll go with it.

Sunday brought me Mass in a freaking hot as heck church which had me feeling as if I were going to pass out and also brought me nauseau from which I'm still suffering. I seem to do better when I don't eat, so tomorrow I'm going to ignore food, if I still feel so crappy, and just drink my mint tea, because I was feeling not too horribly until I ate lunch today.

Since I felt so crappy on Sunday I cranked the AC and crashed on the couch under a blanket and semi-listened to the Tigers game. I don't think my head ever stopped sweating. I wonder if it was a mild form of heat stroke.

Yesterday's excitement was that Pamela came over and gave me a haircut. YAY!!! I was DESPERATE for a haircut. My hair hasn't been that long in years and I was HATING it. I'm so much happier when my hair is short. Then I did laundry and I know you're all exceptionally jealous.

Today I got a very exciting budget project at work with a deadline of tomorrow. Not generally a problem if I didn't have to rely on others to get information to me. I have faith in one of them, the other? Not so much. I gave them a deadline of tomorrow morning to get me the info - we shall see. And then I have another very fun project (no stated deadline as of yet) which might drive me to drink...at the office. Good thing it's illegal to have alcohol at work.

I think I've caught you up on everything that's happened since my last update.

Please keep Cristiano in your prayers

UPDATE: Da Matta In Critical Condition
Written by: Robin Miller

Elkhart Lake, Wis. – 8/3/2006 Da Matta (that's him in the yellow firesuit on the left) clinched his first podium finish of '06 last weekend at San Jose. (LAT Photo)

Cristiano da Matta suffered severe head injuries Thursday after striking a deer during Champ Car testing at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

The 32-year-old Brazilian was airlifted to Theda Clark Medical Center hospital where he underwent surgery Thursday night. His condition was critical.

"After arriving at Theda Clark Medical Center, a head CT scan showed Cristiano had suffered a subdural hematoma," stated Dr. Chris Pinderski, Champ Car Director of Medical Affairs. "He was urgently taken to the operating room for surgical removal of the hematoma and is now being observed in the intensive care unit."

The next 24 hours will be crucial for the 2002 CART champion as doctors try to reduce the swelling in his brain.

According to an eyewitness, da Matta was heading for Turn 6 at Road America when the deer ran out in front of him and struck the right front of his RuSPORT Lola. The deer caromed into the cockpit as da Matta smashed into the tire barrier with his foot still planted on the throttle.

Safety crews extracted him on a backboard and applied an oxygen mask as he was taken to a helicopter. In the wake of the crash, RuSPORT announced that Justin Wilson and the No. 9 team will not participate in the final day of Champ Car testing at Road America.

Known as "Shorty," the good-natured veteran was coming off his first podium of the season, a second place last Sunday at San Jose.

I know most of you don't follow racing, except when I bore the crap out of you with accounts of my racing weekends, but please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He's a good guy and I was so happy for him to get the chance he got to drive for RuSport and for his podium this past Sunday.

Song for the Dumped

I love my couch, I really do, but it's not really designed for sleeping. Igor spent a good 15 minutes trying to get comfortable with me, but gave up when I had trouble getting myself comfortable. I think I got a whopping four hours of sleep. I'm really hoping to sleep in my bed tonight.

I just checked the forecast for today and the lovely 81˚F that they were saying yesterday we were going to get tonight seems to have dropped off the map. High today looks to be 89˚F. If Martha thinks we're sitting outside for drinks this evening when it's 90˚F (God only knowing what the RealFeel is going to be), she's crazy. Yahoo! Is still saying it's going to be 81˚F, but I think I'll trust the Freep since they're actually here. DAMN!!!

Last night I did something I've been threatening to do for the past year – started a locked diary at my old diaryland site. There are things I want to write/discuss but don't want all and sundry to know about, especially since I know there are people from my real life who discovered this place without me telling them and that doesn't make me happy, especially when they leave snarky anonymous comments. So, if you are interested, please send me an e-mail or leave a comment and I'll e-mail you (if I have your e-mail address) with the password.

Trina did a whole entry on food yesterday and since it made me hungry, I decided to borrow from her shamelessly and do the same. I hope I make you all hungry, too.

The Food Meme

How do you like your eggs?

I have to go with Trina's answer on this one: Medium. I want the yolk runny, but the white hard. If the white is runny, it grosses me out. Although I don't mind if the yolk is a little hard.

How do you take your coffee/tea?

When I drank coffee, I drank it black, but I never drink it anymore. I figured out after college that I didn't really like it. I only drink decaf/herbal teas now, but I take them straight.

Favorite breakfast foods:

IHOP used to have a Breakfast Burrito (they still might but the one by me closed) and that was quite yummy. I can eat breakfast food any time of the day or night. I love omelets with hash browns (well-done), as well.

Peanut butter: smooth or crunchy?

Crunchy, of course. Smooth is boring.

What kind of dressing on your salad?

I never used to use salad dressing on my salad, always got lemon wedges, but then one day my taste buds changed and I discovered that I liked bleu cheese. Lemon wedges were so much better for me, but I don't care.

Coke or Pepsi?

Neither, generally. I can taste the difference between the two, but I can't say I prefer one over the other. If I pick one up, it just has to be caffeine-free and NOT diet. Other than that, whatever.

You're feeling lazy. What do you make?

If I'm feeling lazy, I make nothing.

You're feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
Either Marco's or Pizza Hut (Pan, of course) with Mushrooms & Onions. If there were a Papa John's near me (within delivery range), I'd get theirs since I think it's the best of the chains.

You feel like cooking.

Soup, generally, in the winter. I rarely feel like cooking. My specialty is grilled cheese, however. I rock on the Grilled Cheese.

Do any foods bring back good memories?

Tacos – my mom's specifically. I loved it when we got tacos. And even though I was a skinny kid, I could eat them as if they were going out of style. I remember eating 12 once. I was in charge of grating the cheese and dicing the tomatoes. I'm still trying to figure out what the OS did to help get dinner ready. We seemed to get tacos when people came over, and I loved it when people would come over.

Carrots – not because I like them, but because the LB hates them and Mom seemed to serve them all the time, cooked. Now, I'm not overly fond of cooked carrots myself, but I can eat them. When Uncle Chuck would come over for dinner, he would always sit next to the LB and sneak carrots onto the LB's plate which of course once it was on his plate, he had to eat them.

Dunkin' Donuts Crème filled donuts – Again this is an LB & Uncle Chuck memory (LB sat across from me at the dinner table – assigned seats - so I had a front row seat). Uncle Chuck used to come over every Sunday for brunch and bring a dozen doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts. Somebody would hide them (the FF or maybe UC) and then after brunch the LB and YS would go looking for them. The crème-filled were the LB's favorite, particularly the crème-flower that decorated the hole where they pumped the crème into it. He would take it off and save it on his plate for after he was finished with the doughnut. And Uncle Chuck would do one of two things (or both): wait for the perfect moment and then smash the doughnut into the LB's face or try to swipe the crème flower. LB was very defensive of his flower. UC would wait for that split second when LB's attention wasn't on him and go in for the kill.

Those were fun times.

Do any foods bring back bad memories?

Creamed corn – enough to make me gag – and Campbell's Tomato Soup. It's the only time I did NOT finish my dinner before everybody else. I had to sit there until I ate it and let's just say that as bad as I thought hot tomato soup was, cold tomato soup was so much more vile and disgusting. I only remember Mom serving it the one time.

Do any foods remind you of someone?

If anyone were ever to make a dinner of fried chicken skins, it would remind me of my Great Grandma. She made them one night (when she was 80-something or in her late 70s) for Uncle Chuck (her son) because he had said once that he liked the skin on the chicken. He wasn't overly excited about it. Not sure it's a food, but if you say chicken skins to most people in my family, everybody will chuckle.

Is there a food you refuse to eat?

Being a vegetarian, obviously anything meat-related. Other than that, there was the dessert served to us at the Indian restaurant the other day. None of us liked it. One small bite was enough for me to grab the spoon out of my entrée (already transferred to the styrofoam container) and lick it clean. My Indian co-worker told me what it was and I was relieved when she said she hated it too.

What was your favorite food as a child?

Ham. I chose ham damn near every birthday.

Is there a food that you hated as a child but now love?

Fried eggs. The runny yolk grossed me out. When we had fried eggs, the yolk had to be rock hard and even then it was all I could do to eat it.

Is there a food that you loved as a child but now hate?

Chicken hearts. Definite full body shiver on that one now.

Favorite fruit?

Blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. YUM!

Favorite vegetable?

It's a tie between asparagus and artichokes.

Favorite junk food?

Cheetoh's, good dark chocolate, good ice cream

Favorite between meal snack?

Popcorn with my Valentina salsa from Mexico.

Do you have any weird food habits?

Probably, but I don't think they're weird. The only one I can think of is that I have to have butter on my sandwiches, especially PB&J. Oh, yeah, my favorite sandwich is actually Peanut Butter & Lettuce.

You're on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?

Diet? Popcorn.

You're off your diet. Now what would you like?

Reese's Pieces Sundae from Friendly's.

How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?

Medium or Medium plus

Can I get you a drink?

Regular margarita over ice, absolutely no salt

Red wine or white?

White, but could I just have a beer?

We only have beer:

Guinness or a lovely India Pale Ale

Favorite dessert?

Double Berry Crisp from The Traffic Jam & Snug

The perfect nightcap?

Crackers, ibuprofen and water to take care of the pain in my knees & feet so I can sleep.

I See The Rain

The oppressive heat continues. The low temp for the past two nights has been 79˚F which IMHO is not an adequate low. I gave in last night and slept on the couch in the living room with the AC on pretty low. I love my new air conditioner! Of course, now my neck feels funky and I need a good massage, but I'm sure a couple of stretches will be sufficient (although I'd prefer the massage). It's 7:57 a.m. and the temp is 89˚F with a RealFeel of 94˚F. It's not even freaking 8 o'clock in the bloody morning!

Tomorrow, however, the high is supposed to be 80˚F! Woohoo!!!! So exciting! COME ON, COLD FRONT!!! Be my bestest friend in the world!!

I was good and went to the gym yesterday afternoon. I ellipticalled for a full hour, but my knees didn't like the idea of Trail Blazer, so I went for a nice Forest Walk to keep the knees happy. On Monday I went for X-rays of the knees (and the regular – I guess – annual physical chest X-ray). Two of the positions I had to get in for the knees caused me pain for the rest of the day. Damn knees. I hate my knees. When I walk up stairs, I feel like I'm 90 and my knees crackle with every step. I don't know if I want the X-rays to show that the knees have deteriorated since the last X-rays (2-3 years ago) and that they need surgery or if I want there to be no change. I really don’t want surgery, but bloody hell, I'm tired of my freaking knees hurting all the friggin' time. It's bad enough that my feet give me trouble. *sigh* I'm not even 42 and I'm falling apart.

Yesterday's highlight was dinner with Ursamajor at our favorite Indian restaurant. We were joined by a friend of hers and OOMA's. The food was yummy and even better, I have lunch!!! We hadn't been in FOREVER, so I went with my usual, but was so stuffed after the appetizers that I didn't even taste my entrée (palak paneer). I did have a bit of dal with one piece of naan, but the rest came home with me.

Oh, and I forgot a movie that I watched in July.

The Muppet Movie at the midnight show. I think I discussed it after I went, but to me this is a classic and always will be. There's a reason I have it on video and DVD! I did think the print we watched was a little washed out, so I hope someone decides to restore it to its original glory like they have done with other classics like My Fair Lady and Rear Window.

Oh yeah, last night on the way to the restaurant, we saw a pack of bicyclists (mostly kids) out and about. Bloody hell, who thought, "Hey, let's round up the kids and go for a bike ride on the hottest freaking day of the year in the middle of a Heat Advisory!"?

Sushi Girl

Happy August aka Kathleen's Birthday Month, Everybody!

If you know me, you know I love summer and heat, but I have to say that this is ridiculous! At 5:00 a.m., it was 80˚F and I just checked the weather after my wilting walk into work and the RealFeel temp is 89˚F at 6:00 a.m. Un-frickin-believable! I should have slept in the living room last night.

I didn't do such a good job on my reading list in July, I'm only halfway through my fourth book. Pathetic! But here's the list anyway:

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich – I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I'm wondering if maybe she's getting tired. It was a little predictable, although I have to say it was nice that Stephanie's car did NOT get blown up in this one.

Dead Watch by John Sandford – I'm a big John Sandford fan and have read everything he's written under this pseudonym. This was not, as you can tell from the title, not one of his Prey/Lucas Davenport books, but still very enjoyable. Dead Watch took place in the DC area, as opposed to Minneapolis/St. Paul like his Davenport books, and had a political bent. Very interesting.

Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter – If you plan on saying something bad about Jimmy Carter in my presence, I highly recommend you don't do it. I absolutely adore that man and that's all there is to that. I think it should be read by everybody, but know that won't happen because if people don't like him, they're not going to be inclined to read this with any degree of seriousness. It was a very quick and easy read (took me a little over two hours) and I found his take on things very interesting – including his Presidency.

The book that I'm halfway through is Mark Donohue's The Unfair Advantage, which I will tell you all about in September.

On to the movies I watched. I did better this month, even with the Tour de France taking up three solids weeks.

Y Tu Mamá Tambíen (G) - I had heard a lot about this movie over the years, and I have to say that it didn't really live up to the hype. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't utterly fabulous. I liked it, but I wonder if I would have liked it better if there hadn't been all the hype. Not for the faint of heart or easily offended.

Babylon 5: The River of Souls (N) - Although I was getting to the end of the Babylon 5 series with these movies (including the next one on the list), and I was actually ready for it to be over, I did like this movie. They had touched on the Soulhunter idea back in one episode of Season One, although I did have trouble with Martin Sheen as the Soulhunter. Still, it was a good movie.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (N) - I was way over B5 by this time and just wanted to get to some other movies, so I did not give this one my full attention. It was probably as good as the rest of the show, but I was literally just watching it to send it back and get another movie. I was not fair at all to A Call To Arms.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (G) – I was very surprised by this movie. As most of you know I have serious Jim Carrey issues (he drives me stark raving mad in about a half second when he's doing his comedy schtick. (There's still no chance of me ever watching Dumb & Dumber.) This movie, though? WOW! The premise was different (How nice of Hollywood to try something different and not just remake movies) and I have to say a little disconcerting, although having all memory of the ex- erased doesn't sound like a bad idea at all!

Les Choristes (The Chorus) (N) - I loved this movie. It was a bit To Sir, With Love & The Blackboard Jungle, but I don't think that took anything away from this movie. It had been recommended to me by my family in Mexico and they were so right. I definitely recommend this movie.

To Have & Have Not (TV) – I watched this movie sometime last year when I was in my Bogart phase, but it was on TCM one night and I decided to watch it again. Before last year I was not a Bogart fan at all, now I love him. (Maybe there is hope for Jim Carrey after all. Heh) This was the movie which brought us the tagline "You know how to whistle, don't you?" Fabulous!

His Girl Friday (N) – Without even knowing it I was on a Howard Hawkes' jag last week. I had this movie way down in my queue, but got an e-mail from Netflix saying it was going out of print or something, so I moved it to the top. I am a big fan of 1940s comedies, apparently. This was fast-paced and a little bit on the ridiculous side, but that doesn't bother me. Cary Grant is Cary Grant and I love him.

Amelie (K) – I hadn't watched this movie since the first time I saw it, and it was just as good the second time around. If you're one of the few people who have yet to see this movie, do yourself a favor and rent it (or Netflix it). It's quirky, but in a good way. And most men I know seem to have a thing for Audrey Tautou. Factoid: Amelie was directed by the same people who did The City of Lost Children (a movie I love) and Delicatessen (a movie I abhorred).

Syriana (N) – I discussed this one yesterday and nothing has changed since then. I wish it hadn't been so darn confusing.

Confession (TCM) – I watched this last night, although I hadn't planned to stay up that late. Robert Osborne did his usual great job in setting it up and it sucked me in right away. I kept saying I was going to bed, but I had to find out how it ended. In the end, it was worth it. Another old, B&W film but I find I like them more and more.

Five Netflix movies for the month, although they think it's six as I sent Andrei Rublev back w/o watching it. I'm planning on watching it with friends and we've been having trouble coming up with 3+ hours to devote to it, especially with a key person heading off to Egypt on vacation. So, I hope to have a review of that come September.

Tonight I'm sleeping on the damn couch.