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Tuesday, December 30, 2003 ( 12/30/2003 12:49:00 PM ) DN One last post before 2004. A kiddie site to recommend. There's a million things to do there, although they seem to promote gambling a bit: Welcome to Neopets! Get a pet of your own. I got back to reading the Post political news this week and have decided that any/all Democratic candidates are acceptable to me, as they all will be better than Bush. Gardening season is only about 8 weeks away. In the French text of Jane Eyre, I've just gotten to the part where Jane leaves Thornfield and Mr. Rochester forever, she thinks. She's out in the fields crying, praying, and hoping for la mort. It's shocking how often Jane's youth & stature are mentioned (by Rochester): ma femme enfant, ma petite Jane, etc. I knew it was there, but not so prominently.... What could he have been thinking? She is right to run. One new O'Brian book this Christmas: Treason's Harbour. Master & Commander, the movie, was excellent. I am sure there may be others out there who could do Aubrey as well, but Russell Crowe did a fine job. This has been a big year for me in movies: I've seen two at the theatre. I know, I don't get out much. # Tuesday, December 23, 2003 ( 12/23/2003 02:56:00 PM ) DN Work from Home! I earned $2.12 today by selling a book on Half.com and have decided on a new career. Listed three, so two to go. Got to get rid of those 1,000s of books in my basement. And, after all, everyone who sells part-time on Ebay makes about $1,000 a month. Oh wait, that's a new urban myth. The Hillbilly Sophisticate has got me on a "WV in the media" watch. Actually, I was already on the job, cringing as the liberals in the Bartlett administration spouted compassionate junk about the folks in the heartland, yet let the writers make WV a scapegoat more than once. We're not more likely than average to have white supremacists living here, I think, but not less likely than average, either. It's another media myth that only Southern states have rural populations (rednecks, farmers, & country folk). I saw plenty of them in California & Oregon, and I'm pretty sure they're all over. But in the movies, they're only in the South. (Excuse the rampant generalizations.) But.....the photos in the Jessica Lynch story that appeared two Sundays ago in the Sunday magazine of the Herald-Dispatch were fantastic. Her hometown was positively bucolic--country roads, little white church, and all. I'd have guessed Vermont. # Saturday, December 20, 2003 ( 12/20/2003 08:20:00 AM ) DN It wasn't my fault I haven't been able to get to my weblog because the games of Spider & Spiderette are hijacking my free will every time I go near my computer. The only solution is not to go there. I've been making to-do lists for weeks on every available scrap of paper: Water tree, call doctor, buy magazine, dish soap toilet paper red pepp., cook for party, Blockbuster, find shirt, photocopies, get RMA, buy bike pump, party Sat., etc. Whew. Almost done now. The house is scheduled for disaster recovery this afternoon. I have unwrapped presents hidden all over the house, but finding and wrapping them is my last Christmas task. Except for last minute gifts for a Sunday afternoon event, Christmas dinner planning, and cookie baking. Wait. I've got to go make a list. I've been listening to Rufus Wainwright. The music makes me feel like crying, but in a good way. Reading: bitter-girl.com. Makes me want to keep up. Get a better life or just be more amusing about it. Viewing: The Good Girl. Watching the chain of action and reaction was fun, but there was something implausible about the whole that I can't put my finger on. The store clerk from the PA booth stole the show. Emotional state: how do people just go on and on, getting through the day, over and over again? Also, I think I have a fear of cancer. As if anyone in this house needed another phobia. Weather outside: frightful. # Thursday, December 11, 2003 ( 12/11/2003 04:28:00 PM ) DN Insomnia All night (it seemed) the trains rolled through, calling the crossings. Third Avenue, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh. One, not the first one I woke to, jazzed it up a little: dahhh dahhh de dahhhhhh. Giant hammer taps from WV Steel, I suppose, sounded in the intervals. There was rain splattering in a slow way outside. I've got early morning insomnia. Today I used it to finish I Know This Much is True, by Wally Lamb. It's a great page-turner. Haven't been interesed in keeping up my weblog lately. I don't know why. I know it's unfocused....what was I saying? Oh, my, it's interesting to see the search terms people use to find my site. They're all unintentional hits, I know, but I've enlightened three others who also thought those song lyrics were, "Give me the Beach Boys to free my soul." What else I've been doing. Christmas shopping, mostly at Amazon. I surely hope they aren't an internet Walmart, because I have rejected major Walmart shopping due to their labor policies. If I can't shop at Amazon, I'm in trouble. Trying to stay anxiety free about the flu season. I have a very bad feeling about this year's flu. I took the kids for shots & got one myself. Now I'm trying to find out where Tom can get one, since the Health Dept. is reserving their supplies for high risk folks. He works in a different public elementary school every day of the week, so I think he's high risk. Thinking about not selling the house & how to make it work for another 10 years. Maybe they'll gentrify the 'hood by then. # Friday, December 05, 2003 ( 12/05/2003 04:42:00 PM ) DN Getting Older. A saga. This week's episode: A visit to the dermatologist for removal of unsightly skin thingys. I probably should just get on a monthly schedule now, but I'm still partly in denial. (To counteract that speeding downhill sensation I've been having, I recently discovered that contemplating your future death--just think, you're living in your corpse!-- has a dilatory effect on time, making it seem very, very long, especially at night.) All right. I've had this splotch on my nose for five years at least. Makeup just won't stay on it and it annoys me, being right there smack in the middle of my face. When I described the red splotch to the the receptionist, she said, "Oh, you want sclero." "OK," I said. To find out what "sclero" was, I did a a full 10 minutes of internet research after I made the appointment. Yesterday, I was shown into the sclero room at the doctor's office, where the nurse directed me to a dental-style chair and said, "Did you bring some shorts to change into?" What? Well, no, I hoped I could control my bowels through this supposedly minor procedure. The look on my face sent her off to get the doctor and we resolved the confusion in a moment. I got zapped instead by a different kind of laser, leaving, well, a slightly redder spot just where the original spot was. So, I'm glad that's all done. Also this week, Katie had her cast removed, leaving this: 
Phantom Arm # Monday, December 01, 2003 ( 12/01/2003 01:58:00 PM ) DN Which Founding Father Are You? And I am.... an also-ran. Found this on Jimformation.com (link at right) # |
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