March 4, 2003
5:10 p.m. EST
Just One of Those Days ...
Last night I set my alarm clock for 6 a.m., hoping I'd get a decent sleep and wake up early. I always set the clock for music, not some godawful buzzer; it makes waking up a bit more pleasant. Anyway, the day began quite well. I had managed to get a decent night's sleep, though I'm still doing the 1 a.m. wake-up outta nowhere thing. At 8:30, I took a walk to the local post office to mail some packages.
The latter part of the morning brought some (great) surprises, and at the same time a not-so-great one. Regardless, when I ventured out once again, the sun was shining, it was a bit warmer outside, and I had a bit of a bounce in my step. It was going to be a good day.
Or so I thought.
Hours later, I decided my bathroom needed a good scrubbing. Anything that wasn't bolted down was removed. Sweeping and mopping and scrubbing became my mantra. I wasn't exiting that room until it was as sparky as I was. That is, until I decided to check on the tank for the toilet.
Perhaps my toilet and I don't see eye to eye (or perhaps I mean cheek-to-cheek?) Anyway, I removed the lid for the tank as I planned to pour some bleach in the water and then let that sit for a while. So there I am, standing in my sparkling clean bathroom, and I press the lever to flush so the water in the tank goes down. Well ...
I heard this hissing sound and suddenly I'm being sprayed with water from the tank [ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!] Evidently (no, really?) there is a leak between the ball and the handle and instead of being a functioning unit, it decided to become a water sprinkler, literally. Most of the area of my bathroom that had been freshly scrubbed was now wet. ewwwwwwwwwwwww.
So, that was my late afternoon excitement, tangling with the tank and taking a bath in the process. I'll be sure to post again should some other fantastic thing occur in the rest of my apartment. Wink, wink! :-)
March 10, 2003
5:40 p.m. EST
Birthdaze
My upcoming, end-of-the month birthday was brought up in a phone conversation earlier today. The number this year? Make one up. You have my permission. I don't spend too much time on the number or discussing it because my real age sometimes feels like it's in dog years (7 years to every 1 human year, I think it goes) and other times I feel like I've not even moved out of my early 20s. Therefore, guess all you want. :-)
But back to the point. I was asked what I'd like to receive as a birthday present, and decided I'd have some fun with the question. Hmm...what would I like? Well for starters, I'd like Steve Jobs to show up at my door, promptly bump into me on his way to my G4 laptop, scoop it up and replace it with a brand spanking new one -- a loaner laptop, just until he could fix the other one. Then perhaps I'd like my own server -- why? Well, why not. And I'd want my own sysadmin to be packaged with that dandy little Cindy server. And I'd give the server some cute little nickname.
Moving on past the insanity, let's rip open those floodgates and talk about some other fun birthday things...like, say, having my own little store at the beach to sell my jewelry ... or a general store in Vermont so I can sell cans of green peas ... or perhaps that nice, expensive all-weather jacket from Prada ... or maybe just a little bit of whirled peas. NO, WAIT. This is what I meant, really.
World peace.
Make love, not war. Yeah, that's what I want for my birthday, whirled peas.
March 11, 2003
8:56 a.m. EST
The Basement Archives
One of the things I've managed to keep hidden from my mom (among other, more interesting little tidbits) is my writing. It's not as though I've anything to hide in that respect, it's just that I've never considered the possibility that she'd even be interested in reading what I wax on about.
So it was somewhat of a surprise when she mentioned last weekend that she came across a printed copy of one of the stories I wrote and published on my web site some years ago. The story was titled, SoHopeless, and it addressed my inability to move from attire suited for Corporate America to a more downtown and chic wardrobe. Anyway, mom said she came across this printed copy in the basement of her house (hmm...will that be the burial ground for all my written brain purges?) and she said it was so engaging that she put the laundry aside and sat down to read it. Of course, mom gave her critique of the piece, noting that there were one or two paragraphs in the story that she felt "weren't necessary" -- [this made me smile as it is so typical of my mom to say something like that] but overall, she gave the piece high marks for its amusing tone and storytelling capability. [YAY FOR ME!]
The discovery of my writing (I'll guess my sister left it there?) in mom's basement has given me an idea ... perhaps I'll just print out copies of my writing and discreetly leave them around mom's basement the next time I visit. This way she's got her own form of entertainment while she's doing laundry ...
ION, brother Tommy is becoming quite the little webhead. He informed me that he'd done a search on my name. Makes you wonder what he thought he'd find ...
Donald in San Francisco suggested via email that we page Dr. Freud after he read my posting yesterday. He should know my twisted sense of humor by now!
Today's quote:
It is better to have the right sort of nothing than the wrong sort of something.
March 13, 2003
8:01 a.m. EST
Favorite Quotes About Writing
"Writers have two main problems.
One is writer's block,
when the words won't come at all.
The other is logorrhea,
when the words come so fast
that they can hardly get to the wastebasket in time."
-Cecilia Bartholomew
"I feel very old sometimes ...
I carry on and would not like to die before
having emptied a few more buckets of shit
on the heads of my fellow men."
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
Speaking of writing, I came across an old entry from the days when my dad was in the hospital. This was not the best thing to find on my laptop first thing this morning. Oh well. Sometimes the reality of life just slaps you across the face when you least expect it. *sigh*
Brother Tommy's birthday is fast-approaching. It's truly amazing how time flies; after all, I used to change his diapers. Now he's all grown up, making me feel ... well, I really don't feel old at all ... he's still my baby brother. :-)
March 25, 2003
6:15 a.m. EST
Waxing On, Waxing Off
One of the reasons I've yet to get moving on a real blog is because I've been busy with development of the Web site featuring my jewelry. Although in its infancy, Marie Bernadette Custom Jewelry (name derived from my middle names) doesn't look bad for a homemade site. The only thing missing right now is enabling the e-commerce, but that's on its way once the database is finished. It's a lot of work, but nothing I'm shying away from. As friend Holger would say, "if you don't know how to do something, LEARN!"
Anyway, it is somewhat amusing that I find myself on the other side of the Web development fence, sometimes wishing I had my own team of Web dev gurus to handle it all ... after all, it's one thing for me to design, create and produce the jewelry itself. It's quite another to deal with the business side of all of it. I'm hopeful. Though I've mentioned it to a few folks that perhaps I should just dump the entire idea in the "been there/done that" wastebasket, I've been encouraged to NOT do that. I plod on ...
Working on the site doesn't mean I'm at a loss for words. I sometimes begin to write in this space then ask myself who the hell wants to read this crap anyway? It's a question that has come up often in the almost ten years since I've been doing Web writing. [News note: 24-hour air patrols resume over New York City.] Ten years? Geez.
Anyway, my occasional lack of words in this space does not mean my head isn't overflowing with a backlog of words just waiting to be released from the gates. Most of the time I'm editing in my head, saving those particular items that are way too personal for a medium less public -- meaning, I leave them right inside my little brain. After all, if I sat here typing EVERYTHING that popped into my head, well, that would leave nothing but exposed thought patterns that are better left unwritten. [Wondering if that last paragraph made any sense at all.]
If you happen to visit the jewelry Web site, feel free to email me your opinions, suggestions, critique, etc. Every little bit helps when you're not paying a Web dev company thousands of dollars for development :-)
Waxing off for now ...
March 26, 2003
9:30 a.m. EST
Bummer
If you read this space back on January 1, 2003, I mentioned the fact that I had watched the annual New Year's Day Vienna Philharmonic Concert on television that day. An annual, almost religious event for me, this year I put in my request for 2 tickets with the hope that I'd get them in the electronic selection so I could finally attend it in person on January 1, 2004.
Today I received email from them informing me that I did not get tickets ... though I count my blessings for all the good things in my life, I'm still totally bummed about this -- but also look at it where it just wasn't meant to be.
*shrug*
10:50 p.m. EST
Portly
For some odd reason, all day long I've been feeling like Porky Pig. I mean, I usually don't feel like I'm walking around with an extra 10 pounds or so that don't belong to me ... maybe I unknowingly picked them up while out today? I've no idea. All I know is that I've had this feeling since this afternoon, that some ghost took a good 10 pounds of portliness and slapped it right on my body.
Needless to say, I hope this heavy feeling goes away by morning, otherwise I'll have to bypass that HUGE birthday cake I'll be baking for myself on Sunday ...
NOT.
;-)
March 27, 2003
8:27 a.m. EST
I Am Not Miss Piggy Today
My portly Porky Pig-like feeling is now gone...
ION ...
HOLLYWOOD (Reuters)
"I guess MTV doesn't have a research department, because from Day 1 we've said in interviews that our name is a slang term for the bouffant hairdo Kate and Cindy used to wear --nothing to do with bombers."
-FRED SCHNEIDER, a singer for the B-52's, quoted in The New York Times responding to an MTV Europe memo recommending that songs or groups with military themes not be played during the Iraq war.
March 28, 2003
2:35 p.m. EST
Escapism, Hacking and Hot Dog Rolls
Brother Tommy escaped the annual birthday festivities at mom's house by jetting off to Florida. Nice. I think since our birthdays follow (March 30 and 31) that he could have at least taken me with him (just what he'd want, to have his older sister along while in South Beach. I don't think so.) Regardless, I think I'll deduct a hefty 50 cents from his birthday card money. :-)
In other news, today is Mark's birthday and I tracked him down in Nashville to wish him a happy day. He'll be spending his time working on a butcher block table he's building ... and, he thought he'd missed MY birthday, and began singing "Happy Birthday" until I stopped him -- he didn't miss it, it's not happening until Sunday, and if he continued to sing I'd have to sing to him ... and I can't sing. Yes, it's so bad that I could be sent to Iraq and used as a weapon.
This is the time of year where you're guaranteed to watch me turn into a child again. I try to ignore my birthdays but it's of no use; I can't help but revert back to a 10-year-old, anxiously awaiting presents and surprises and not being able to restrain myself from tearing at the wrapping paper just to see what's inside.
I noted on the CNN.com site yesterday that hackers attacked the Al Jazeera Web site for putting photos of POWs up. Hmm ...
When preparing hot dog rolls for toasting, make sure you don't walk away from the toaster, otherwise you'll end up with some nicely blackened rolls not fit for human consumption. Hey! I've discovered a new dietary tool ... just burn everything you cook. It's guaranteed to make you lose weight.
March 29, 2003
6:30 a.m. EST
It's My #$%* Birthday
It's NOT really 6:30 a.m. I'm lying. It's really, uhm, MUCH earlier than that ... my sleep pattern is off yet again. *sigh*
My birthday is not today but tomorrow. Brother Tommy's birthday is Monday. Since I don't plan to be online tomorrow, I'm writing this today. Is this important? Well, no. It's just fun.
And now that I've completely bored you, would you like another helping of that? Tasty, isn't it? I had a more detailed, wittily crafted missive written, up until I screwed up the entire thing and all of that text went *poof!* This is my attempt to recall what I wrote in the first place ...
For giggles, I'll post something for tomorrow today. See below.
NOT Logging In:
March 30, 2003
All Day Long EST
Happy Birthday to Me!
This is about as pathetic as The Donald's recent email. Donald's been self-employed for awhile now, and recently decided to name himself "employee of the month" and congratulated himself in that email. He also asked that we send some mind-altering medications his way. :-)
If the day ends up to be riveting, I'll post something about. If not, you'll read not another word about it. [big smile]