Saturday, October 27, 2007

Things I Can Do in a Kid-Free House

1 - Stay up ridiculously late blogging.

2 - Practice the piano at an ungodly hour of the night.

3 - Realize that after 1:00 a.m.? My playing sucks more than usual. And that likely my fingernails are a bit long.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Alphabet Meme

Well, Scott over at Forging Iron Man tagged me with this meme, I believe partly in response to my shameless meme-begging. MBA from Addicted to Medblogs also gave me a ton of memes from which to choose, so really, if I don't post?

I have no excuse.

The instructions say that each player starts with some random facts/habits about himself/herself, starting with the letter "A" and working through the alphabet. As you are tagged you need to post the rules and your responses on your own blog. At the end of your post, you need to choose some people to tag, list their names and, of course, leave them a comment, telling they have been tagged and they need to read your blog for more information.

Hmmm... okay, so here goes.

A - It's cheating to say Amanda, isn't it? Sheesh... okay, okay...
No, actually I'm sticking with it unless something better comes to mind.

B - Blogger. This is likely also cheating, but I've been staring at this letter long enough. Although I'll admit that "Bite me" is one of my favorite comebacks... and pretty much signifies that I can't come up with any better retort.

C - California. It's where I was born. Also C for Chantix, which I'm on again.

D - Divorcing. Yep, I'm still with the very boring "stuff you likely already know" theme.

E - E-mail. This would be what you should send me if you want access to the link directly above.

F - Food. I'm a fan :)

G - Goofy. Because occasionally, I'm a huge goof. But I'm good with that.

H - Hurry hurry hurry! That would be the morning refrain around here.

I - Intelligent. Relatively. Okay, I'm fairly certain my brain cells have at least met.

J - Juveniles. Two of them live in my house.

K - Dammit, I already used this one on the "J" item. K... K... Klutz! Heh... how could I forget this? I guess I haven't nailed any door jambs recently. Having said that, of course, I'll walk into every piece of furniture I own tonight.

L - Library. I think I could open one with all the books I have here.

M - "M-o-o-o-o-m!!!!!!!!!" The way "Mom" is pronounced in my house on certain occasions. Okay, several.

N - NaNoWriMo. I'm in this year -- are you? Obviously a talent for writing in a clear, concise, cohesive manner isn't a requirement. Nor is the ability to write believable dialogue. Plot bunnies, however, are essential.

O - Opinionated... me? Surely you jest.

P - Pink.

Q - Queen of All I Survey. Naturally, this is a rather small realm as my vision without glasses is rather poor.

R - Rantalicious. At times? Youbetcha.

S - Sarcasm is just one more service we offer. I generally try not to be cutting with mine, though. Words can wound as surely as weapons... and are more insidious, as the damage isn't readily apparent.

T - Torture. What I experienced today as I sat and burned through piles of adding machine tape while bonding with the books at work. Those books and that same damned adding machine came home with me. Bleah.

U - Unbelievable. What??? That I brought work home? The kids aren't here, like I have anything else to do?

V - Visitation. Yeah, speaking of the kids not being home... they're with their father. I'm trying to figure out the whole "What do I do in a kid-free house?" thing. Obviously, I'm being so productive, working on the books from the office (eyeroll).

W - Work. What I should be doing right now. But it's Friday night, for pity's sake! Feh.

X - Xanth. One of my favorite fantasy realms. Piers Anthony rocks.

Y - Yawn. What most of my poor readers will be doing trying to plow their way through this thing.

Z - Zzzzzzs.... which are something I will actually catch some of tonight and tomorrow morning as no short people will be bouncing on my bed at 6:00 a.m.

I think I can live with that.

I'm not tagging anyone. I'm sure this comes as a huge shock.

An Open Letter to the Person Who Pours the Coffee at Dunkin Donuts

Dear Person Who Poured My Coffee This Morning at Dunkin Donuts,

One extra large coffee, black.

This is not a difficult order. You grab the cup, dump in some coffee, put on the lid, and poof, you're done!

Things you do not do would include a) add cream, or b) add sugar.

If I wanted these items, I would not have ordered my coffee, say, black.

My order really makes your job much easier. Just give me the damned black coffee next time, okay?

Undercaffeinatedly yours,
Amanda

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Meme Beg

Okay folks, I'm going to be really pitiful here and beg for a memeing.

Yes, I *want* to be meme'd. I have absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING original to say that can go in this blog at this point, but I have to write SOMETHING, dammit! I can't stand sitting here watching this thing just languish.

So please, brothers and sisters, can you spare a girl a meme?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Wearing Pink

Today I'm wearing pink.

My mother just got home from a trip to the funeral of a friend today... one she's had since back in junior high. Peggy left behind a husband, two daughters, and a grandchild.

She died from a recurrence of breast cancer.

Today as my mother mourned her friend, I mourned Wendi.... a friend from back in junior high who died this past March. She left behind her mother, sister, grandfather, husband, and three children under the age of five.

She died from a recurrence of breast cancer.

As all of you whose heads aren't stuck in the sand know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please, women, go get those girls checked. And men, please remind the women you love to do the same.

So today, I'm wearing pink.

Tomorrow my husband moves out of our house.

And Tuesday I will quit smoking.

Again.

Life is worth it.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Ouch.

I hate my car.

The air conditioning isn't running worth a flip, it idles at over 2000 RPMs, and today I got very close, personal proof that the hydraulic thingies on the trunk lid aren't fully functional anymore.

Damned thing landed on my upper back, right between my shoulder blades.

My brain's fuzzy, a migraine is looming... so yeah.

Ouch.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Cranky? Eh, Not So Much...

The hormonally based rant will have to wait because I went and got in a good mood again. Sorry to disappoint.

Well, not really.

But I'm relatively certain I'll be in a foul temper at some point this week, so I'll spew then.

---------------------

Angel and I went out to lunch today. Our plan was to go to this Thai place yesterday but one of her evil headaches whapped her upside the... well, the head (ouch, even typing that hurt), so we rescheduled for today.

The food was good. The company was even better.

And then right when I got into the car for the drive back to the office, Nickelback's If Everyone Cared came on the radio.

"Singing Amen, I, I'm alive."

Damned straight. And happy to be this way.

Krispy Kreme

Next town over has a Krispy Kreme shop. I know this because the sadistic folks at my local news channel just tormented me with an entire segment on the KK's grand opening.

Us? NO freaking Krispy Kreme.

Bastards.

(yeah, I'm cranky and hormonal... more on that later, as work permits)

Monday, October 08, 2007

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

To lighten things up a bit, the 2007 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have been announced (hat tip to Matt G.).

If you haven't heard of this contest before, bear in mind that the subtitle on the main page is "Where 'WWW' Means 'Wretched Writers Welcome'."

This year's winning entry, by Jim Gleeson of Madison, Wisconsin, is quite lovely:

"Gerald began--but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash--to pee."

Continue to the 2007 results page to read more interestingly worded opening lines.

And yes, I know some of my sentence structure would do well there. :P

That Whole Smoking Thing

Think I'm going to try the stupid gum again rather than the Chantix. I just can't handle the Chantix insanity with everything else that's going on.

Don't worry, you won't be missing the "Amanda's Freakishly Weird Dreams" posts. Those get plenty freaky if I fall asleep with a piece of Nicorette in my mouth.

God, I hate this crap.

(I'm having a lovely day... can you tell?)

Sunday, October 07, 2007

More Blogthingies

Because I'm killing time before going out to lunch with my sister (and because online quizzes are totally addictive), here are more scores to more tests I took linked from the "Name That Disease" quiz.

First, I just wanted to let you know that on the open market at humanforsale.com, I'm worth 2.05 million. Apparently the fact that I'm not (yet) blonde, not male, and am creeping up on forty nuked my score somewhat.

I am, however, relatively bright it would appear:
How smart are you?
Am-I-Dumb.com - Intelligence Test

And apparently highly delusional, considering the current state of my life:
    67/100Rate My LifeRateMyLife.net - Find out if you suck at life

I'm not entirely certain what conclusions can be drawn from this... humph.

Name That Disease

Becuase I saw this on both Babs's and AD's blogs, and am admittedly a total lemming when it comes to crap like this, here are my results:

NameThatDisease.com
NameThatDisease.com - Test your disease knowledge

Not bad for a chick whose last biology class was nearly twenty years ago.

Friday, October 05, 2007

One More Thing...

I am so embarassed. Truly.

Y'all, thank you so very much for all your support in my "Changes" post. It really meant alot to me. In fact, I can't begin to tell you just how much.

You all are so appreciated...

Dang, stupid teary eyes.

Now someone crack a joke or something, willya?

Seriously... you people are the best.

Seven Random Facts

Well, since I've been good and depressing today, let's try to lighten things up just a tad, shall we?

I can't be as interesting as AD was with this... but I'll give it a shot.

1. I am, shamefully, one of those women you see rapidly applying their make-up at traffic lights during the morning commute. Yep, that'd be me, mascara wand in hand, one eye on the mirror, the other eye on the traffic light or, failing that, the bumper of the vehicle directly in front of me.

It's either that or I don't have enough time to adjust the delicate caffeine-to-blood ratio in my body.

You wouldn't like me undercaffeinated. It's ugly.

2. I'm also apparently somewhat absent minded. This past Monday I couldn't find my make-up bag (I'd left it in by the computer where I'd needed to use the eyeliner sharpener to sharpen one of the Elder son's pencils -- I am a GOOD mother, dangit) and got terribly flustered and upset, likely exacerbated by the interesting emotional state in which I'm currently residing.

Anyway, I put on my shoes and left the house sans make-up. We reached the Elder son's school and the Younger and I walked him all the way across campus to the on-site daycare, then went back to the car. When we arrived at Ms. P's place, I looked down at the ground before getting out of the car...

... and saw I'd managed to put one blue sandal with a toe loop on the left foot, and one brown sandle with horizontal straps on the right foot.

Not only were they not the same color, they weren't even the same style, and I didn't even notice during the trek across campus some 15 minutes earlier.

Sheesh. So anyway, got to work, gave the guys a laugh, went home, found the make-up bag and the other brown sandal, then went back to the office.

Where the boys were still giggling.

3. I was given the "Megaphone Mouth" award every year in Junior High Orchestra by my conductor.

I might have been the slightest bit chatty. Possibly. Perhaps.

4. Although I'm still pretty talkative in my blog (well, in more normal circumstances I am) and in other other online venues, in real life I tend to be pretty quiet. Until I get to know you? Prying more than one word at a time out if me is going to be a bit difficult.

On the flip side, once I do get to know you, I don't shut up.

Ever.

Well, maybe to sleep.

5. Speaking of sleep, my family used to go on family vacations every summer as I was growing up. As soon as we'd stop driving for the day (five people in a station wagon -- my parents are wonderful, yet mildly sadistic), we'd eat dinner then hit the hotel room to crash out.

My mother and I would always race for the beds and try to go to sleep first, because if we were awake when any of the others fell asleep we were in for a long orchestral production in which the performers were my father, my brother, and my sister.

My father snored. LOUDLY.

My brother ground his teeth. LOUDLY.

My little sister talked in her sleep. With great clarity, I might add.

One of her roommates in college apparently took notes and would read them back to my sister in the morning. By all reports it was quite enlightening.

6. I hate to drive. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I was nearly eighteen years old before I got my license.

And in the first four years I had that license? I was in four rear-end collisions.

Three of which were my fault.

One was into the rear end of a semi.

So, yeah. Hate driving.

7. I have periodically put a picture of myself up in the sidebar here, then freaked and took it down post-haste.

Okay, that's about it (plus it's nearly 4:30 here and I need to be thinking about shutting down and running out the door). I won't tag anyone specific, but if anyone wants to go ahead and play, please do so!

Happy Friday, y'all :)

"Miracles"

Herman and Rosa Rosenblat, be blessed.

From Babs's blog.

Thanks for posting that, girl. I needed it.

Well, duh ;)

Please Pardon Me While I Have a Moment Here...

Hallelujah, by Jeff Buckley

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord,
But you don't really care for music, do you?

Well it goes like this:
the fourth,
the fith,
The minor fall and the major lift;
The baffled king composing "Hallelujah."

Hallelujah... hallelujah...
Hallelujah... hallelujah...

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the rooof.
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.

She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne
And she cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah.

Hallelujah... hallelujah...
Hallelujah... hallelujah...

Baby, I've been here before.
I've seen this room
And I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.

I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
But love is not a victory march.
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Hallelujah... hallelujah...
Hallelujah... hallelujah...

Well there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below;
But now you never show that to me do you?

But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too,
And every breath we drew was hallelujah.

Well maybe there's a God above,
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you.

It's not a cry that you hear at night.
It's not sombody who's seen the light.
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Hallelujah... hallelujah...
Hallelujah... hallelujah...


Thanks, y'all. It was one of those cathartic needed-a-good-cry kind of things.

Now that little depressing bit is done, I'm going to find some stream somewhere on the web where it's All Nickelback All the Time. Or Alice Cooper's Poison.

That ought to take the edge off.