It’s been quite a week, right? I don’t know what’s been going on in your part of the world, but here, it’s UTTER CRAZYTOWN.
So this week kind of kicked my ass six different ways, and then a seventh for good measure. SO MUCH ASS-KICKERY. But now it is the weekend. Well, kind of the weekend. I still have one more day of work and THEN I get my one day off. Watch out, one day off! I’m coming for you!
So here was my week in a nutshell. Ready for the craziness? I know you are. It’s going to be the most exciting.
So at the beginning of the week, I had TWO FULL DAYS OFF! I spent one of those two days cleaning the house. Not JUST cleaning. DEEP-cleaning. SEVEN FULL HOURS of cleaning. I threw away – are you ready for this? – SEVEN BAGS OF GARBAGE. Don’t ask too many questions about how exactly I had seven full bags of garbage in a very small place. NO, I am not a hoarder. I just haven’t done a huge purge in a while. Sometimes you just need to get rid of shit, you know?
Casualities in the great cleaning of 2013 = my lava lamp, which FLEW OFF THE TABLE and COMMITTED SUICIDE ON THE RUG (or maybe I smacked it with my hip, I never said I was graceful) and then all the lava juice started leaking out and I don’t know if that’s poison or not, so I had to throw it away. Sigh. Goodbye, purple lava lamp, you were just too cool for me. Also, I blew up my brand-new vaccuum, but my mom assures me that I didn’t really blow it up, I just probably clogged up the filters and I need to clean them and all will be well. I did find one of my favorite necklaces that I thought was lost to the ages; I didn’t, however, find a missing letter that I’ve been looking for, which was disheartening. Who knows where that ended up. Dumbcat hid for most of the day because there was just too much going on for him and things smelled like citrus. He HATES things that smell like citrus. Citrus makes him make cranky faces. Once I was done and he realized I’d found a lot of his favorite toys under the couch, though, he was VERY pleased. (And randomly, today, he somehow found a way to put one of those toys on the bookcase? I have no idea how he got that there. It was a feat of wonder.)
Then the OTHER day off, I did NOTHING. Well, no. I did lots of things, but they were all very relaxy. I wrote, I read, I watched television, I played on the internet, I ate a lot of popsicles. Oh, and also snowcones. I totally bought a snowcone maker. SUMMER YOU WILL NOT CONQUER ME THIS YEAR! Well, no. It’s not really a snowcone maker. It’s a shaved ice maker. Which is LIKE a snowcone maker only the ice is a lot finer. And I got delicious snowcone juice. But I think snowcone juice makers need to step it up for those of us who want things that are sugar-free because we don’t just want cherry and fruit punch flavors. I randomly found a blue raspberry flavor at Bed Bath and Beyond but SERIOUSLY, people, there are a BILLION flavors that are sugary, GET WITH IT, YO.
Seriously, best purchase ever.
Anyway, my shaved ice maker is the best thing ever. It makes a gigantic bowl of shaved ice and then you dump all the flavoring over it and it is the MOST DELICIOUS and also the most cooling. It was a very good purchase. I don’t regret it in the least.
(Oh, I was shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond because I had to buy a bridal shower gift. Were you aware that when someone gets married you get them a shower gift AND a wedding gift? This is the best scam ever. I’m going to marry Dumbcat just for the gifts. Can I do that? You guys will give me gifts, right? TWO TIMES THE GIFTS? Anyway, I bought a good shower gift and then also bought myself some things like snowcone juice and a new Pyrex measuring cup since I dropped mine in the sink and glass went EVERYWHERE and I’m still finding it in random places and I go to use it at least once a week and curse the day I was born clumsy.)
Oh, measuring cup, I miss you. Why are you so shattery?
OK, so anyway, then the week happened. Work was busy, blah blah blah, and there’s this thing happening that I can’t talk about because chicken-counting so I’ll just say it’s a thing that’s equal parts scary and exciting and leave it at that, and if you want to cross your fingers for me, or whatever you do to pass along the good vibes, it’d be appreciated.
THEN, ready for this? I don’t know if you are, because it’s terrible-awesome-scary.
WE HAD TWO TORNADOES!
Real photo of a real tornado here! Whoo!
Is that really how the plural of tornado is spelled? Goodness, that looks terrible. But then again, so does “tornados” and the internet says either are right but both look like I’m illiterate.
On Wednesday, the weathermen started creaming themselves. First they were all “thunderstorms coming, y’all.” Then they were all “SEVERE thunderstorms!” Then they started running around like weirdos. “POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODS!” “ZOMG MAYBE A TORNADO!!!!”
I thought they were full of shit. We never get tornadoes.
We totally got TWO tornadoes.
I went grocery shopping – no rain. No thunder. Nothing. Bleh. Got home. Put away the groceries. Called Mom and Dad. Dad was all, “It’s raining there!” (Dad always believes the weather channel rather than me.) “No, it’s not, Dad,” I said. “IT SAYS IT IS!” said Dad. I assured him I was actually IN the weather and there was NO RAIN. He sounded skeptical.
Then. THEN! Out of NOWHERE! BAM WENT THE THUNDER! WHOOSH WENT THE WIND! My phone made the emergency broadcast noise and told me to STAY IN THE HOUSE FLASH FLOODS ARE A’COMIN’! (Phones do that? Good grief, that scared the bejeebers out of me.)
We had about 45 minutes or so of the craziest storm ever. The windows rattled. I planted some things and put them on the porch this past weekend and one of them just blew RIGHT off the porch and down onto the lawn. It was a casualty of FORCES OF NATURE! No strawberries from THAT pot! I forgot the window was open in the bedroom and when I ran in to close it the curtains were SOAKED! The power went on and off and on and off! Dumbcat freaked out and attached himself to my leg!
Then everything settled down and I ventured out onto the porch and everything was weirdly golden outside and some aluminum came off one of my neighbors’ buildings and hit their car but other than the flying pot of strawberries, all was well here.
However, we actually had two tornadoes in the area (one picked up a man and THREW HIM THREW THE WALL OF A BUILDING!) and so many trees were down and someone on Facebook reported (so take it with a grain of salt) 25,000 people were without power when it was done. On my drives to and from work the past couple of days, I’ve seen lines down, a ton of National Grid trucks, and, in one case, a tree in the middle of someone’s roof.
Look at this! Seriously, that was one whopper of a storm, you guys.
As long as I’m safe, I’m totally invigorated by crazy weather. And other than being afraid I was going to lose ALL my plants I’d just planted from my porch, I was safe. Dumbcat didn’t think he was, but he was. Silly boy. I will not let the twister take you to Oz.
Then, FINALLY, on Thursday night, the whole office (give or take half of the office) went bowling. I like bowling, but I’m not very good at it. Dad tried to teach me how to bowl when I was younger and he yelled “FOLLOW THROUGH!” so loud I got upset and left the bowling alley and sat in the car until they were done. (Dad says, “You always say I was yelling at you. You just weren’t listening, so I had to talk LOUDLY.”)
FOLLOW THROUGH!!!
I was, as expected, not very good. We bowled two…what are they called, sets? Frames? I don’t even know. There were four of us on the team and we got to bowl two complete times twice. Sets, I think, but I could be wrong. The first time I didn’t do terribly and got two strikes and two spares and then totally got to bowl in the special bonus round at the end. (“That’s just the tenth frame,” Dad said. “No, the special bonus round! No one else got to! Because I got a strike, I got to go again!” “Yes. That’s the TENTH FRAME, that’s how that WORKS,” said Dad. “Well, no one else got to do it. It was therefore a bonus, and SPECIAL,” I said. This made Dad laugh until he choked a little. Dad used to be in a league. He has awards and everything.) I ended up in second place with a 113 which I think is very respectable since I don’t know that I’ve ever broken 100 before. I tried to take a photo but the screen was too bright so it didn’t work. The SECOND time I apparently broke my arm and every time I bowled it went to the left and I got a 76 which I think is what kids get who need those bumpers in the gutters. I told Dad I lost that round to make everyone else feel better. He agreed that was very nice of me.
I was telling Dad about bowling and he got VERY upset. Why? Because of this.
Me: So the lanes tell you how fast you’re bowling.
Dad: What? No they don’t.
Me: Yes they do. The screen says how many miles per hour you’re throwing the ball. A. was the winner of that. He threw it 20 miles per hour.
Dad: Is that all? I think I could throw it MORE than that.
Me: OK. Anyway, he was all, “I want to beat my record!” so he had one pin standing, and he just PITCHED that ball, because he didn’t think he had any chance of knocking down that one pin anyway. And guess what happened?
Dad: I can’t even guess. He killed someone.
Me: That’s a very terrible guess.
Dad: I told you I couldn’t even guess.
Me: His ball went in the gutter at the very end, and then POPPED OUT and knocked down the pin. SPARE!
Dad: No, that doesn’t count. That’s not a spare. Once the ball goes in the gutter, you’re done. He cheated.
Me: No, it is. The computer said it was.
Dad: What computer? You brought a computer?
Me: NO, Dad. The computer over the LANE. That keeps SCORE for you.
Dad: Wait. Wait a minute. What? Something that keeps SCORE for you? No. YOU keep score. With a pencil and paper.
Me: Where would you even GET a pencil and paper?
Dad: They give it to you with the shoes.
Me: No, they just give you the shoes. This isn’t 1977. A computer keeps score for you now. You put your name in it and it tracks your score. No one even KNOWS how to keep score anymore.
Dad: I can’t believe this. I. CAN. NOT. BELIEVE. THIS. I am never bowling again. I would bring my own pencil and paper and keep score. This is RIDICULOUS.
Me: Dad, I don’t think anyone’s kept score for themselves since…well, the last time I kept score for myself was probably the early 90s. That’s like 20 years ago.
Dad: I can’t believe this. WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO?
Me: It’s the relentless march of progress. You can’t stop it. It even comes to bowling alleys. There are also strobe lights and they play Katy Perry songs while you bowl.
Dad: I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW. Who the hell is Katy Perry.
Now I am going to bed so I can deal with the billions of “MY AIR CONDITIONER IS BROKEN” and “WE HAVE NO POWER” calls I’m bound to get at work tomorrow. Happy Saturday, people of the bloggiverse. Hopefully you are somewhere a little cooler than here, where it is in the nineties. THE NINETIES. In MAY. Well, it’s June now, but it was in the nineties this week, and this week was May. I find this as upsetting as Dad finds computerized bowling.
June 1st, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Ha! Conversations with your dad are the best.
I don’t really like bowling. Yes, that’s entirely because I suck at it. I’ll go with people who are bowling, but haven’t bowled myself in a long while. The way I see it, most of bowling is just waiting around and talking anyway, so by going but not participating, I’m just taking the occasional roll of shame out of the equation.
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:59 pm
It was fun while I was not embarrassing myself, but when I started doing so poorly people were sad to look me in the eye, it was no longer good times, it’s true.
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June 1st, 2013 at 1:05 pm
I think tornados is better, though I am getting the wiggly line under it, so what do I know?
When I got back from holiday Ten had done a whole lot of cleaning and tidying, which was very nice. Then I went in the garden, and in one week it seems to have gone from dormant to triffids. So there you go. The moral of the story is don’t get a garden.
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:59 pm
I planted THINGS this year! And some of them are growing! In little pots on the porch! It’s all very exciting. There might be GROWING THINGS! I already have little green shoots! I feel like I’m very of the earth right now.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 5:17 am
Growing is very satisfying, it has to be said. Anything which survives my appalling abandonment and Poppet’s digging deserves to live.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 10:07 am
I planted 6 pots of things on the porch. Three are growing things right now. Two seem to be duds, and one flew off the porch in the storm and committed suicide on the lawn. So that’s like a 50% success rate. I feel very good about this. I think the things that survived are all flowers, not produce, like I’d wanted, but oh, well, the flowers will be pretty.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 10:20 am
I just checked and there are FOUR pots of growing things – forget-me-nots, alyssium, sunflowers, and tomatoes! VERY exciting!
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:08 am
That is an excellent success rate.
I recommend spider plants since they are almost impossible to kill, for indoors, and hardy herbs for outdoors because you can EAT THEM and many thrive on neglect.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:44 am
I have a spider plant that needs to be repotted. It’s outgrown its home. I have two plants that need new pots, actually. Maybe this week I’ll go to Target and get pots and soil. This year the plants were just TEST plants, to see if I could actually grow anything, but next year I’m going to actually grow things and plan a whole balcony garden. Herbs and flowers and maybe some produce. I miss being able to grow things. I used to be very good at it.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:00 pm
You can split spider plants at the roots as well as grow them from babies, by the way!
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:09 pm
I keep waiting for baby spiders to come out, but none! I think maybe it’s because the pot is too small. I really need to give it room to stretch its legs.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 2:39 pm
I think it makes babies when you under water it, trying to escape the pot – but that might just be my fantasy.
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:36 pm
This was given to me at my old job – it’s in a big coffee mug, and it long ago outgrew its home. It needs a nice big pot to stretch out in. I’m going hunting for one this weekend, I think!
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June 4th, 2013 at 3:43 am
I’ve just been given Rose Geraniums by my neigbour. They will be ok outdoors in the summer but want bringing in for winter, so need to give them a pot. Got plenty pots, but my compost is home made and frankly only half rotted, so I might treat myself to a bag. LIKE A ROCK STAR!
This weekend I am going to see a flat in central London. It’d be a total change from here. I have NO idea if it’s a great idea or a shit one, but am hoping I will know when I get there. It’s lovely here, but with limited energy it’s all I ever see, at Leather Lane I could go swimming, galleries, possibly even work in the theatre again, or if I swing a PhD it’s close to universities. Not as lovely for dog walks, but then Pops is a bit of a flaneur as well, she’s not just a country dog.
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June 4th, 2013 at 7:39 am
Ooh, Elaine! That’s an exciting plan! I know you love where you are scenery-wise (and that you can have a garden) but I know you miss the buzz of the city (and I totally understand that.) I’m all for this. I think this is a very good idea. What are Ten’s thoughts? (Also, THEATER! GALLERIES! Oh, yes. I like this very much.)
I’ll take some photos of my plants once I repot them to show you my handiwork. I’m sure I’ll make a total mess but at least they can stretch out and hopefully be happy again!
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June 5th, 2013 at 7:31 am
Ten hates it because he can’t see beyond the horror of moving. I don’t blame him, but bloody hell! Leather Lane! It’s famous! It’d have to be horrid for me to not want it.
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June 5th, 2013 at 7:49 am
Oh, moving is the worst. But what’s on the other side will be worth it. I have never heard of Leather Lane, but I imagine it to be filled with wonder and mystery!
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June 5th, 2013 at 7:56 am
It dates back to Sam Peyps’ time, though the flat is new. There’s a market on it, and it’s the side of the City that’s nearer the West End than the East End. Bit less leafy for the Pops, but then, she likes a shop or a pub doorway to sniff at just as much.
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June 5th, 2013 at 8:05 pm
Oh, please take photos when you’re touring it? I’d love to see!
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June 6th, 2013 at 2:49 am
I will!
So exciting – I will be horribly disappointed if, well, disappointed, since I have already moved in in my mind.
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June 6th, 2013 at 7:51 am
I know how that is. I’m a terrible counting-chickens-before-they’ve-hatched person. I’m trying to be better but it doesn’t always work.
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June 6th, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Those pesky chickens! Always looking so damn NUMEROUS.
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June 6th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
OMG, I know. Those chickens. They’ll be the death of me, sincerely. I have a number of them running around at the moment and I keep telling them continue running, otherwise I’d be tempted to start counting ’em.
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June 7th, 2013 at 4:45 am
; D
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June 1st, 2013 at 1:08 pm
also
I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW. Who the hell is Katy Perry.
I am with your dad on this one.
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:57 pm
I don’t hate all Katy Perry songs. She’s fun enough. I think she might be a bit of a train wreck of a human being, but she’s easy enough on the ears.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 5:18 am
I hadn’t even heard of her when I read this http://www.vice.com/read/take-a-stroll-with-rob-delaney-dear-katy-perry
Might be an idea not to show your dad, he’d go ballistic.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 10:06 am
This made me laugh. A lot. (I haven’t heard this “TGIF” song. I know it EXISTS, but I haven’t heard it. I’m terrible about knowing one or two songs by an artist, and nothing else. Unless it’s Brandi Carlisle. I have THREE WHOLE ALBUMS of her songs. I know, fancy!)
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:10 am
He’s a funny guy. I follow him on twitter, and found Megan Amram and some other funny folk through him.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:42 am
I think I used to follow him on Twitter but something happened. I don’t remember what it was. Sometimes I unfollow for various reasons. But yes, he is funny, and I like his Tumblr, too.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:04 pm
Yes. He hasn’t made me laugh lately, but he did get me into people I wouldn’t have otherwise heard of, this side of the pond. He did an amazing interview for The Mental Illness Happy Hour http://mentalpod.com/Rob-Delaney-podcast
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:09 pm
That’s why I do like him – I read something he wrote about depression, and whatever made me unfollow (I have to think he offended me, somehow) couldn’t make me hate him. I related too much to what he wrote.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 2:38 pm
His humour is often purile, but his heart is in the right place.
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:36 pm
Agreed!
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June 1st, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Wish we had a little of the warmth you got over there – we just get the rain here :( I have my heating on – IN JUNE …
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Oh, you can have it! It’s been 90 for three days in a row. We are WILTING.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:30 am
Thank you – I take it – in July, please … Have the whole of July off, so I could really enjoy it ;)
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June 1st, 2013 at 5:06 pm
I am completely freaked out by tornadoes. I am just supposed to have bad thunderstorms here and the occasional coastal hurricane. And I do not live on the coast. I am not supposed to have tornadoes.
I bowl a solid 65. That would be my guess.
Tell your Dad for me that he’s a firework, he should let his colors burst
Make ’em go, oh, oh, oh and leave falling down.
Boom, boom, boom!
Now it’s raining. Thank goodness. So hot.
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June 1st, 2013 at 5:07 pm
leave THEM falling down. Not your dad. As, I’m assuming, you know. As you probably heard this song bowling. (Educated guess.)
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:55 pm
I totally know. I secretly love this song. Shh, don’t tell Dad.
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June 1st, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Secretly? This song actually makes me cry. Double shh.
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June 1st, 2013 at 11:41 pm
Yep. I totally understand that.
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June 1st, 2013 at 8:56 pm
We’re supposed to get another thunderstorm tomorrow, if not another tornado. Good grief, this weather is insane.
I think Dad knows about music from the 70s and early 80s and then he stopped paying attention. Which might not be the worst thing in the world, honestly.
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June 1st, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Aw, except the ’90s were full of women-centric awesome. (I just finished reading Love Is a Mix Tape, and it was really good and reminded me of some great ’90s bands.)
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June 1st, 2013 at 11:42 pm
Oh, I loved that book! It made me so reminiscient. And want someone to make me a mix tape. Not a CD. A tape. I miss those so much.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:53 am
Me too! The last mixed tape I got was from an ex when she was courting me ;) I can tell you for sure that it was made in either 1998 or 1999. I’m pretty sure 1998. I transferred all the songs on to my iTunes and have it as one of my playlists (along with most of my other mixed tapes) so I can time travel.
Now, if I were going to do this for someone, I’d make them a mix-iPod. (One of the little tiny ones.) Which is totally different. I know. (I actually have the capability to make a mix tape because I have an old Sony boom box, one of the roundy ones. Hmm.)
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:11 pm
I’m trying to think of my last one. Probably 1995? A friend (who I lost touch with, and I think of her often, and wish her well) made me an amazing one for my trip to London. She introduced me to so many indie singers/songwriters/bands on that tape. I lost it, but remembered most of the songs and have downloaded them since.
I’ve gotten CD mixes since then, and appreciate every one, of course (anyone spending time to pick out music for me and organize it – well, that wins, in my book) but something about that tape, you know? That tape really was special.
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June 1st, 2013 at 9:46 pm
“Hopefully you are somewhere a little cooler than here, where it is in the nineties.”
The nineties were always cool.
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June 1st, 2013 at 11:43 pm
I am confused by this video. I’ve heard the song, but I guess I never saw the video. Oh, the 90s. So angsty, right?
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:33 am
It was more for the song and accompaniment to the play on words. Watching music videos isn’t really my jam, but it had the music in it. There are some good times attached to it, for me at least.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 10:12 am
I like music videos, but don’t see them much anymore. I’m surprised they still make them, actually. When I look for songs I like on YouTube I always think, huh, people are still making videos, isn’t that quaint. Because where else do people watch them but on YouTube anymore, sadly?
I’m trying to think of my favorite 90’s song. Or at least the one with my best memories attached. I’m going to have to give it to Nirvana, but for the life of me, I can’t pick just one of their songs. Nirvana kind of gave me hope that music could be better than the crap I grew up listening to, you know? That I could actually connect to music.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 1:15 pm
I’m not necessarily upset about the antiquity of music videos, as it’s all part of the life cycle. This is probably why MTV, and later, MTV2 became more the Nickelodeon for late teens and early twenty-somethings. For people to complain about never seeing music videos anymore is to acknowledge they are no longer a part of the target audience. I remember them promoting an in-house concert featuring Chevelle. They started off by saying “If you are under the age of 25…”
The first thing that came to my mind was, “haha, I’m old.”
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:37 pm
I’m honestly surprised they still make music videos. They seem expensive to make for so few people seeing them. (Although I guess some of them get millions of views on YouTube, so that’s decent viewership?)
Oh, I think “ha ha, I’m old” CONSTANTLY. About almost EVERYTHING. Most recently when I noticed that my random strands of gray became a whole gray patch almost overnight. Hello chunky gray highlights, nice to see you!
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Hey, it worked for Bea Arthur and Rogue. Party on, Wayne!
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June 4th, 2013 at 7:41 am
I think I’m more Bea Arthur than Rogue, as much as I’d like it to be otherwise.
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:25 am
You can be my Rogue. Forget the internal haters, man! All we’ll need now is a blackbird and Patrick Stewart in a wheelchair.
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
Hmm. I know some bald guys that might sit in a wheelchair for us for a little while, and I think there’s a fake crow with light-up eyes in the prop area of my theater.
Whoo-hoo! I get to be someone’s Rogue! The internet tells me Rogue can absorb the memories and abilities of people she has skin-to-skin contact with. Huh. Sometimes that would be nice, I think. But I think it would make casual sex kind of awkward for her, no?
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Oh, yeah. There’s a whole story line written for her romantic encounters over the years. Comic books are soap operas for nerds.
“Awww, moooom, do I have to? I’m readin’ mah stories!”
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:26 pm
I love that you know that. That makes me happy. You are a most excellent addition to the comments here. I highly approve.
I’ve only recently started to dabble in graphic novels. I’m reading Buffy, The Walking Dead, and Locke and Key. I kind of stalled on Fables. I also took out a billion (give or take a billion, so like 5) new ones from the library recently and they’re waiting for me.
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:31 pm
Why, thank you kindly. It’s good to be approved. ;)
I should be reading my books right now, or transcribing my chicken scratches but they also waiting for me. They’re on the kitchen table though. I just took a shower and don’t feel like doing much of anything.
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:34 pm
I’m doing the same thing – trying my damndest to get to bed to get a little reading in before I conk out. New Stephen King book waiting for me and no time to read it! Urgh, WHY IS LIFE SO HARD?
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:47 pm
It’s hard because it knows you have Joyland in your possession. Life is a very jealous entity, Amy. It hates your freedom.
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June 5th, 2013 at 7:53 am
Why do you hate FREEDOM, life? It’s very anti-Merkan of you.
(I got through 47 pages last night and I would have read more but I fell asleep. It is VERY good!)
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June 1st, 2013 at 10:39 pm
That weather was mighty funky for those 45 minutes. Glad you came out of it ok! But you are right the afterglow? Yeah that was creepy.
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June 1st, 2013 at 11:40 pm
It was the weirdest afterglow! But also kind of cool. We might get another storm and tornado tomorrow. What is happening around here?
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:23 am
End of the world. Or ya know global warming…
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June 2nd, 2013 at 11:47 am
For some reason wordpress doesn’t think I responded to your response enough…it keeps telling me there is a new reply from you…this does not bode well for the rest of the day…
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Heh. Sometimes my notifications go haywire. I think they haven’t fine-tuned that function yet, maybe?
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Perhaps or maybe it is a sign of the storms we are to get this afternoon/evening…
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:38 pm
I’m so glad they weren’t as bad as predicted. Just some rain. I can handle that.
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June 8th, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Agreed!
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June 1st, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Ok…two things:
I prefer the spelling “tornados” because that “dos” means two in Spanish….also, dos is an operating system known for crashing. So, either way! DOS Tornados! (Or, you could add a “u” and have Tournadoes….but that would be a delicious beef dish. I digress.)
Lastly, cats are known to hate the smell of citrus. So if you buy a cat repellent spray, like to keep them off your furniture or keep them from peeing on things, it usually contains orange oil.
So, if you want to keep a cat away from something, the cheap and natural way would be to keep your orange and lemon peels….grate them a little to release the oils/chop them up a bit, then set that out in little dishes around those areas that you don’t want the cat.
It doesn’t always work, some cats don’t care. But you get the idea.
(Yes, this is a rambly comment….muy rambly, no? And no, I don’t speak Spanish. How did you know? Ha!)
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June 1st, 2013 at 11:40 pm
Hee! I don’t speak Spanish, either, but I sure do like to say the word “muy” whenever I can.
Dumbcat makes such a face when there’s citrus. But he also makes that face around other things, like human-food of all kinds and perfume and when I pet him and he wasn’t prepared for petting. He’s special, this guy.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 7:43 am
I’m glad you’re okay. That was some freaky weather! And I have to admit I’m with your dad on the scoring thing. I miss how you’d keep your own score and it would show up on the overhead thingie, and you could make shadow pictures with your fingers. Oh, is that just me?
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June 2nd, 2013 at 10:02 am
I don’t remember the scoring with a pencil and paper very well – I think I’d only been a couple of times when they did that, and then they switched to computers. Shadow puppets DO sound like fun, however. They always do.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:07 pm
Yeah, I grew up with the old way; my mom was in a league back in the ’70s. She didn’t appreciate the shadow puppets as much as I did for some reason.
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June 2nd, 2013 at 12:08 pm
I’m sure Dad wouldn’t have, either. Bowling is SERIOUS BUSINESS!
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June 3rd, 2013 at 1:58 am
Can’t sympathise with the desire for shaved ice, as it’s freezing here, but I’m glad you’re okay and that the wild weather didn’t take you and Dumbcat to Oz (it could’ve been the sixteenth (?) book in the series!) :)
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:35 pm
I totally read all of those books in high school! Every last one! I’m a weird series completeist when I like something. I of course remember none of them now, because I am old and my memory’s slipping.
Sending you some warm vibes! It’s actually cooled off a lot now – supposed to be down to the 40s at night here this week, and in the 60s and 70s during the day. Fine with me!
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:45 pm
I’ve never read any of them, but I was thinking about it. Maybe read them to my sisters (aged 8 and 10). What do you reckon? I mean, you said you read them in high school but would they still be suitable for younger people? If you remember…
Yay, warm vibes! They must be stuck somewhere, because it’s still cold :P
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June 4th, 2013 at 7:46 am
I don’t remember them well at all – I remember the first two very well (the first one of course everyone loves, and the second one has a mystery and was excellent) and I really don’t remember the rest, but yes, I think they’d be completely suitable for a younger audience. (When the girls get a little older, I HIGHLY recommend the His Dark Materials trilogy, though. Maybe when they’re in their early teens? Don’t know if you’ve read those, but they’re brilliant, and I can’t recommend them enough. Pretend the movie of “The Golden Compass” doesn’t exist, though. It’s an embarrassment compared to the book.)
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June 4th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Sounds great! I love to read to my sisters, and I think the Oz series would be nice :)
I have read the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy!! It’s one of my favourite series ever. ‘The Subtle Knife’ is utterly amazing. I’ve been meaning to reread them for a while now, but just haven’t got around to it. As a Christian, a lot of people get confused when I say it’s one of my favourite series (you know, with the killing God and all that), but for me I know its fiction, I know it’s set in parallel worlds, and it’s just another character, really. One with the name of ‘God’, but it’s not like Pullman can’t use the word.
And yes, the movie was terrible. That ending!
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June 4th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Oh, see? I *knew* we were sympatico! I love that you love the “His Dark Materials” trilogy. That makes me so happy! And the God part was one of the most touching parts of the series for me, honestly. So well-written!
Urgh, the movie. I sat there horrified that most of the people hadn’t read the book and thought that’s what HAPPENED!
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June 5th, 2013 at 3:46 am
Yay for similarities! I had dreams for weeks of cutting through to other worlds, and especially of having a dœmon. One particularly vivid one I remember was in the land where there were no adults, and with all the palm trees.
I had to explain to anyone I knew who saw the film that it has to be one of the worst novel-to-screen adaptations EVER, and that the ending was the saddest, most tragic and beautiful part — and it wasn’t even put in!
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June 5th, 2013 at 7:52 am
I wanted a dæmon for the longest time. Still do, actually. And I LOVED Iorek Byrnison. And Lee Scoresby! And Hester! Oh, now I’m all fired up for a re-read and I have no TIME for one, dammit! *shakes fist at being too busy*
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June 5th, 2013 at 8:10 am
Yes, that would be the greatest! Lee Scoresby and Hester were the greatest…ah, good times, good times. Yes, I want to reread it too now. Dang it. As if I don’t have enough books to read :P How come books are so alluring?
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June 5th, 2013 at 8:05 pm
They’re so alluring because they’re constant and consistent and no matter where we are in our lives, they stay the same. It’s very comforting, isn’t it? It is for me, at least.
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June 6th, 2013 at 5:50 am
Well said!
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June 3rd, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Wow… this is like Texas weather. I spend most of April and May in the bathtub under a mattress. Do you think Dumb Cat would feel safer under a mattress?
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June 3rd, 2013 at 9:27 pm
He might think it was an adventure under the mattress, but only for a few minutes. Then he would start thinking about his food dish and start squirming and making noises like he was being strangled by an octopus because that’s what he does when he’s unhappy about things. So in the short-term, yes. In the long-term, no, probably not.
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June 5th, 2013 at 10:01 pm
I didn’t know the plural of tornado was spelled “tornadoes.” I thought it was “tornados.” But now that I look at it, “tornados” looks like it should be an item on the menu at a Spanish tapas bar.
I would find it hilarious if they had radar guns to measure how fast your bowling ball went down the lane. Mine would probably clock in at a very impressive 1 mile an hour or less.
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June 5th, 2013 at 10:14 pm
The grammar site I consulted said either “tornados” or “tornadoes” was correct, but they both look like an illiterate person wrote them, to me. I think from now on I’m going to say “We had more than one tornado.” Or I’ll put a foreign spin on it. “We had DOS TORNADOS!” and no one will know if I’m spelling it that way on PURPOSE or out of a sense of SPANISH WHIMSY.
I was kind of embarrassed my ball was only going about 10 miles per hour and friend A.’s was going 20 miles per hour. I had enough trouble aiming the damn thing, I certainly couldn’t concentrate on speed. I do enough speeding on the highway, I think that counts. (What, going 80 in a 55 is totally valid when everyone else around you is going even faster, is my justification.)
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