Share This

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

Share This

** 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!

Share This

I just submitted my final exam work for my Photoshop class, effectively bring spring semester to a close. Lest anyone think that Photoshop was an easy class, well… you can just bite me. :)  It was a hell of a lot of work every week, and sometimes the directions just weren’t that clear.

I have to say, though, that I actually enjoyed taking the final. Turns out I learned more than I thought I did. I’ll be taking the intermediate class next spring, since I have a couple other classes to knock out in the meantime.

More moving took place across the street today. The chairs on the front porch are gone, and it looks like the curtains in one of the upstairs windows have been taken down. I joked at work today that when they’re officially gone, I’ll be heading over to the neighbor who lives next door to them with a bottle of champagne and glasses. I know it sounds harsh, but if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I’m not the one who started the war. There’s such a thing as common courtesy and T doesn’t know the definition.

I think that S has respect for other people, but I think when T is around, everything gets tossed out the window. Everything seems to be about him and what he wants. Hence the big screen TV and the motorcycle instead of the mortgage and homeowner insurance payments. And oh yeah, the property taxes. The smartest thing that woman could do for herself would be to get rid of him. The house was never in HIS name, but now her credit is absolutely shot.

The scary part now? Who will buy the house next? Or worse, how long will it remain empty and will the bank take care of it in the meantime?

Share This

Unless they were contributing stuff to a garage sale, it certainly looks as though the asshat neighbors were loading moving boxes and assorted household items into the back of their truck today.

I won’t truly relax until I see furniture being carried out.

Share This

Today’s mail brought me the title to my car. And the promissory note stamped “PAID.” Which was signed on March 28, 2006. Not even two years later, I own my car free and clear. Sure, I used my income tax refund to do it, but as Princess and TOTO pointed out, I still did it. And I should be proud of myself. (I am.)

It’s proof that I can achieve something if I really want to badly enough. For some reason, it’s easy for me to forget that. I get caught up in second-guessing myself and before I know it, I’ve talked myself out of doing whatever it was that I wanted to do. I don’t want to be like that anymore.

I worry about everything. I worry about needing new tires on my car and then I worry that my mechanic lied to me and I don’t really need new tires at all. (I need new tires.) I worry that something else is wrong with my car and that it’s going to end up costing me the rest of what’s in my savings account right now, which would be a problem because I’m trying not to spend any of that money until my eye doctor appointment next month. (BTW, WTF??? The eye doctor can’t see me for more than a month??? It has NEVER taken me that long to get into that office.)

I need new glasses. My prescription didn’t change enough last time around and most of the time I wear contacts anyway, but I know this time will be different. So, I’m trying to stay prepared for that expense.

But I need to get tires and soon. I found out today that I’m going to a workshop in Columbus later this month, for ILL people. No, not sick people… Inter Library Loan people. The library paid for me to attend the workshop, but I’ll be driving myself down there.

I’m excited about the workshop. Is that geeky? God, I love my job. It’s amazing how much I love it. It scares me, too, though. We keep hearing about cutbacks and reallocations and wouldn’t it just suck if I finally found something that I love and that I feel I do well and then something ends up happening and I lose it? Or get bumped? After five years at the university, I’ve built up some seniority, but I’m still pretty low on the totem pole at the library.

So, in other good news, I saw the fall schedule of classes last night and made a lovely discovery. There is one class that I have to take (Flash Animation) before I get my degree. I’ve been putting it off because it’s never offered through distance learning and it’s never offered on main campus. Finally, they’re offering it online this fall! I’m jumping all over that.  That and Desktop Publishing.

Will someone smack me upside the head for thinking about fall already? Sheesh! It’s not even spring yet. I can barely wait for summer to get here (though I’ll feel differently once the house heats up again). But still… thunderstorms… barbecuing… baseball games… outdoor concerts… warm summer evenings, friends and cold beverages… *sigh*

Is it here yet?

Share This

What little sleep I had on Monday night was fitful and full of dreams about Linda.

This seems strange, to me and probably to everyone else. Of the people at work, she was certainly closer to others than me. She came to my house once for the first Toys for Tots that we had after I started working at the library. Somewhere, I have a photograph of the two of us sitting next to each other in my living room.

And there was one single time that we went out to lunch together, along with Princess and e-Best. We had Chinese and I remember it because Princess drove and we all laughed when she spontaneously cursed at someone else on the road. Because that’s just not like Princess.

But other than that, and the employee functions that took place during work, most of the time I spent talking to Linda was just in passing. I’d see her in the mail room, or she’d stop for a moment on her way into the Dean’s office.

That’s why it seems unusual to me that I would be so strongly affected by what’s happened to her. I’ve been told that she’s not going to make it; that it’s only a matter of time and that they’re waiting for family to have time to say their goodbyes. And this rattles me. My only experiences with death have been those that were expected; with weeks or months to say the things that need to be said. But I just saw Linda last week. None of this makes sense to me.

Monday night, in the midst of my dreams, I sat up in bed, wide awake with the realization that the journal I’ve been writing in, the hardback book that I just found again after months of it missing, was given to me by Linda. It was an out-of-the-blue and unexpected gift. I don’t recall ever telling her that I write. And with the exception of one other hardback book, most of my journals are written in spiral notebooks that I buy at the dollar store. It’s not that I don’t like the hardback books; it’s that I feel the content should have more significance than most of the stuff I jot down.

But that other hardback book? It was also a complete surprise. It was several months after my husband died, when there was a knock at my door one evening. On my front porch was Kristy, one of his hospice nurses and the one who came the day Mike passed. She had in her hands that other hardback journal.

Am I crazy to think that there’s something more at work here? Some connection?

I am a skeptic who isn’t quite sure about the afterlife, with an utter disdain for anything resembling organized religion. I am generally the first person to rationalize things that seem a little weird. But I’m having a really tough time wrapping logic around this whole thing. And I’m starting to think that maybe I’m not supposed to be rationalizing it. Maybe I’m just supposed to have… dare I say it? Faith.

After all, I can’t rationalize what’s happened to Linda. I can’t explain why, given the casual nature of our acquaintance, I have the sound of her voice stuck in my ears. All I really know is that I don’t want to forget how she sounds, because I’m starting to think she’s trying to tell me something.

There are people that I work with who will read this and probably think I’m crazy. (Then again, they already do.) For some reason, I’m ok with that. I’m not ok with what’s happened to Linda, or with the pain her family and friends are feeling. But I have this distinct feeling that Linda herself is ok. And that feeling brings a bit of peace. I hope those close to her are able to feel the same soon.

Share This

If anyone out there could keep our colleague and friend Linda in their thoughts, I would appreciate it. She collapsed on her way into work Monday morning and was rushed to the hospital, unresponsive. She’s in intensive care and they’re running tests and that’s basically all we know right now.

Things are very busy this week with the end of the semester, so I might not be around much for a few days. Bear with me. I’ll be back soon.

Share This

Well, I made it this year. That’s something accomplished, yes? Last year, I missed a couple of days and was out of the running for any prizes.

Truth be told, I’m a little relieved that I don’t have to post anything tomorrow if I don’t have time. There’s much that I wanted to do this weekend, and unfortunately, I had an extremely late start today courtesy of some late night drama regarding The Boyfriend. It’s all good and definitely not worth blogging about. At least not yet. Maybe later on down the line. We’ll see.

Thanks to Eden Kennedy for her fantastic job of organizing this whole thing. It’s such a great idea and I’ve enjoyed the challenge. I’ve also enjoyed reading the other participating blogs. I’ll be checking out the Randomizer for months to come. I hope others will as well, and if you happen to venture in here, please say hello. Because even though we don’t all admit it, we all appreciate the comment love.

I feel like I should have something profound to say, to close off this month of continuous posting. But it’s Friday evening, the holiday season is just kicking into gear and quite frankly, I’m a little drained.

Besides, having been inspired by Kaleigh and Melissa in the Blogosphere and by my friend M in real life, I suddenly have the desire to go make things of the food variety. Baby, it’s cold outside, and some soup definitely sounds yummy. With some pumpkin muffins.

Maybe this time next year, I’ll be a food blogger….

Share This

Ever since the neighbor’s house was broken into, I’ve been trying to be extra vigilant. I have a pretty good idea of who is regularly coming and going to and from the houses within site of me. So, when I saw a vehicle sitting out in front of my elderly next door neighbor’s house in the middle of the day (and I know her son doesn’t stop over until later) I went to the door to get a better look.

Turns out it was a truck from our local gas company. The person responsible for parking it there was nowhere to be seen - at first. But I noticed this:

And also this:

All down the street, in front of each house.  They’re marking their lines, obviously. Which means someone is probably going to be doing some digging. Since the gas company just replaced all of the lines on our street two summers ago (and seriously, my lawn out front hasn’t been the same since), I’m relatively certain they’re marking them for somebody else.

And I’m guessing that somebody else is the city’s division of water distribution, because we’ve had a few issues with our lines and have had service interrupted multiple times over the past several months. That’s always fun, since after it’s back on we have to do the whole “boiling water” thing for four or five days.
I have no idea where all they’ll have to dig, but I’m betting that wherever it is, it’s going to be a pain in the ass for those of us who live here. I just hope we can still park in our driveways. Given the problems in the neighborhood lately, I like my car where I can keep an eye on it.

Share This