I don’t know what it was I did to piss off The Internet Gods, but for the past few months I’ve been unable to comment on several of my favorite Wordpress blogs, such as Frectis, Friday Playdate and Slackermama. I’ve always been able to comment on Kim Says, but only if I used that godforsaken IE, which… ugh. But even that seems to be fixed, at least sorta kinda.

There were some blogs that still let me participate. I was still able to enter the contests on Want Not, for example, even if I didn’t win anything. *sob* And I was still able to pop in on Caterwauling, which has the distinction of being the first ever blog I started to read regularly and I’ve still never told its owner how I found her originally. All I know is that I totally hold her responsible for the state of my life as it is now.

I’m not always so good about the link love. I’m going to try harder. I think I’m deliberately putting a little bit of distance between me and some blogs these days because I’m not able to go to BlogHer this year and it’s K-I-L-L-I-N-G me. The closer it gets, the more people talk about it, the more envious I am about not being able to go.

*sigh*

But I will be attending the 2008 Ohio Library Support Staff Institute at the end of July, and I’m looking forward to it. Thanks to our Director of Library Services, I’m able to go for free. (We’re hosting it and we get one free registration.)

And in other news… completely unrelated to anything I’ve already mentioned… tonight marks the return, after TWO LONG YEARS, of The Boyfriend’s band, playing live at the Longhorn Saloon. It’s almost time to start getting my party face on.

I wonder if I have time for a pedicure…

* Apt descriptive title provided by Frectis

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Newsflash! If I’m in the market to get my roof redone, I am NOT going to select the guy who comes knocking on my door, wanting to give me an estimate. In fact, if you show up on my doorstep for any reason, for your sake, I hope I invited you. Because if I didn’t? And I don’t know you? Don’t expect me to be friendly. Don’t expect me to listen to your little speech. This may be what you do for a living*, but when you interpret my open front door as a potential sale, rather than the access to fresh air that was intended, as far as I’m concerned? You’re trespassing.

Now stop looking in my screen door and get the hell off my land!

*Also, you religious types who feel the need to preach to me? I’m already going to hell, so please go “save” someone else. Thankyouverymuch.

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** UPDATE :  My friend is alive and well and had been meaning to write even before I wrote this post. You are forgiven, friend. Not that there was anything to forgive, but hey, if you mention guilt, I think it’s only fair to mention forgiveness.  :)  **

Soooooo…. let’s say you had a friend. And let’s say that the friend was rather notorious for not staying in touch with various other people, but that you and said friend had always maintained pretty good contact with each other. And let’s say that the friend came into town for a visit and that when you said goodbye at the airport the next day, it was the last time you ever heard from the friend. No email to say the flight was ok. Nothing.

And then let’s say that you emailed the friend a little while after that and never received a response.

And then months went by. And still nothing. Even when you referenced the friend in a blog post, something that generally at least elicited an email from said friend in the past.

So, you decided to try again and send another, “Are you alive?” type emails, to which you again have received no response.

What of the following options would YOU choose?

A) Assume friend is now including you in group of people rarely contacted

B) Assume friend is dead and mourn appropriately

C) Assume friend no longer wants to be friend and mourn appropriately

The thing is, option C just doesn’t sound like my friend. But who knows? Maybe I didn’t know my friend as well as I thought I did. Still, I’m leaning toward option A. I’m just a little surprised that I didn’t get a quick “helloI’mstillherejustreallybusy” kind of reply.

Notice I’m really not devoting any time at all to Option B. I’m pretty sure I’d have heard something by now.

Oh well. Seeing as this post is “sooooo junior high,” if my friend is reading this… YOU’RE A DORK! EMAIL ME, YOU DORK!

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I’m in one of the modes where I have all SORTS of things that I want to blog about, but there are so many that they’re all spinning around in my head and overwhelming me, so that all I’m really capable of doing is collapsing into a heap on the floor.

I’m aggravated (big surprise there, eh?), amused and feeling guilty all at once. And then some.

The guilt comes from the fact that I haven’t talked to my dad since the night my mom arrived. I want to call him, but then I’ll feel guilty for not going out to visit him and quite frankly, I can’t afford the gas right now. I can’t afford to get my hair cut either, which I also usually do when I’m out there since my stepsister is the one who does it. But alas! I go without seeing Dad AND I do so with long, shaggy, unmanageable hair.  It’s a real bitch.

So, Dad? If you’re reading this, HI! Sorry you haven’t heard from me. It’s the guilt. Having said that, now you’ll probably  call me and work that guilt trip a little more. And I’d deserve it. (But I’m screening my calls, HAH! Just kidding. You know I’ll pick up.)

I’m aggravated because… oh really, there are so, so many reasons. Local politics. National politics. Having a sister who has experienced bigotry indirectly firsthand, since her husband looks Latino, and yet finding out that she’s opposed to having Obama as president because (in so many words) it might cause an uprising among the black voters. HUH? You’ve been a collateral victim of racism and yet, it’s ok to be racist? (Incidentally? My view is that it’s NEVER ok to be racist. Are we clear on that?)

Having another sister who has made pretty much NO effort to spend any time with my mom, without being prodded. Having that same sister attempt to get me to visit a church that “has a great message.” And when I started my response, I was met with a “I knew it. Preconceived notions.”

Excuse me? Isn’t that essentially what YOU just demonstrated? And can I finish my sentence?

I did go on to try to explain my position on organized religion. I think spirituality is a very personal thing, and personally I don’t have much use for the particular church she mentioned seeing as I’m acquainted with several of its members and we definitely don’t agree on some important core issues. And it bothers me more than a little that my sister might fall into that category as well.

But hey, nothing is for certain right?

Except for the thing that is amusing me today. We have declared today to be National Bite in the Ass Day. You know what I’m talking about right? When you go out of your way to be nice to someone and it just comes back to bite you in the ass? Yeah. That’s today. We’re hoping that Google will come up with some clever little graphic for it, something along the lines of two nekkid butts being chased by Pacmans. With fangs.

Chomp.

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You may have noticed I haven’t been around much lately. No? Well, there is that possibility as well.

It’s not that Zola is keeping me hopping (though she DOES have her moments) or that I’m so crazy busy with work or even that my mom is consuming all of my free time. If you’d seen us yesterday, in completely separate rooms for the majority of the day, you’d know that one isn’t true right off the bat.

The truth is, I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a follow-up visit and to get the results of my blood tests. My cholesterol was good and my glucose was excellent, but it turns out I have hypothyroidism. Huh. Who knew?

He rattled off a list of symptoms which I quickly discounted and then I went home and researched it some more and started wondering. Several of the things on the list could conceivably be blamed on the normal aging process. Perhaps all this time it’s been my thyroid instead?

He put me on medication and I have to say that I’m feeling better. More energetic. Less irritable and definitely less apt to wallow in self-pity. I’ve actually been getting things done around my house. Yesterday morning, I went out in the horrible heat and humidity and thinned out my day lilies, digging out the rest of the grassy area next to my garage, where I want the day lilies to fill in and digging up and replanting a half dozen of the plants. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and just haven’t had the motivation. And yet, there I was, in action - and on a day where lifting even a finger resulted in near dehydration.

And there have been numerous other things that I have attempted. Saturday morning found me cleaning the living room and dining room. Both are now presentable for company, which is good because I’ll have some of that on Wednesday when Kat brings Miss Laurel over to meet my mom and the diva kitty. I’m sorry, make that The Diva Kitty.

So, apparently, I’m feeling better when I didn’t even realize I wasn’t feeling great. Again, who knew?

In other news, Zola goes back to the vet today. Please cross your fingers that she’s not pregnant. Because there are ominous signs that she is….

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My mom is coming up from SC tomorrow, to visit various friends and relatives for a month. She’ll be with me initially, but I’m not sure how long she’ll actually be here.

In preparation for her visit, I’ve been slowly trying to put my house back together again for the first time since JL came home from camp last fall. In the process, I’ve damn near had an asthma attack with all the cat hair and dust I’ve managed to kick up. Mom is no more of a housekeeping genius than I am, so I’m not terribly worried about her reaction when she gets here. This is, quite frankly, more for me than for her.

I miss the days of chat challenges. I used to be on this discussion group (still am, but I never visit the website anymore) where occasionally, a couple of us would get on AIM and set timers for 15 minutes, then go off and see what we could get accomplished in the meantime. When we came back, we’d tell each other what we managed to get done. Some people scoffed at the idea, wondering aloud how I knew the other person was actually doing anything. Clearly, they didn’t grasp the concept. The only purpose the other person had was to provide the “Atta girl” feedback that was sometimes needed to keep going. The main focus was keeping myself accountable. And sure, I could have provided a fake list of things I’d done. But talk about a waste of time! I can certainly think of better things to say while IM’ing than, “I did a load of laundry, swept the kitchen floor and unloaded the dishwasher.”

I have two minutes left of my 15 minute break before I move on to the next group of tasks. It’s not a chat challenge, but it’s the best I can do for now.

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