The security gate is broken (again) at my condo.  There's a small sign posted that reads:

The security gate will be fixed 31 Feb1005

I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm in the market for a new digital camera.  Looking for something lightweight and pocket-worthy, at least 5 mp, auto and maual focus and easy editing from the view screen.  I'm looking to use it more as an everyday camera, rather than just for quickie pics on the web.

Here are my choices so far:

HP Photosmart

Olympus C-60 Zoom

Canon Powershot SD20

I'm still doing my homework, but I thought I'd see if anyone has some good advice for me.

I'm thinking Fridays should end with a funny story.  I'm a writer, right?  I need to work on my funny.  So (hopefully) each Friday I will post a little funny story about me. 

So far, I got nothin'.

Let's go back to my college days.  Bound to be some funny there.

I went to a state school, but we didn't have dormitories.  The living situation I chose was a dorm at the nearby Christian college that was relatively strict.  No boys in the rooms.  Front doors locked at 10 (no curfew - we had keys) and no boys in the building after the doors were locked.  I mainly chose it because it was the first dorm that I saw that didn't require a trip down the hall to go to the bathroom.  Our rooms had a full bath and were much larger.  Plus I didn't think the rules were out of the ordinary - you never know what kind of roommate you're gonna get and what type of people they will bring in.

Anyhoo....  We had a penchant for practical jokes.  Once we played hide n seek in our cars through the neighborhood.  Racing around nice little surburban communities chasing one another.  We lost the other team buy pulling into a driveway, turning off the car and the lights and ducking. 

There were a group of guys we particularly loved to joke with.  One had an old car that didn't lock.  One night we stuffed it full of newspaper.  I mean FULL of newspaper.  He was ticked because he had a big time date. He got to his car and had to dump all the papers.  Fine.  He left for his date.

He had a job where he worked late so he got home kind of early from his date so he could change clothes.  We were waiting.  With more newspaper.  We filled up his car again.  This time he was really mad.  He thought he knew who was doing it, but he couldn't be sure.

Over the next 24 hours we proceeded to fill his car a total of FIVE times. 

Here's what he didn't know.  We had people working in shifts.  People he didn't even know.  The three most likely suspects only filled the car the first time.  The second time two other girls and myself filled it.  The third time he saw us all in the lobby and three girls who didn't know him filled it.  The fourth time we were all playing games in the lobby ("Geez!  Don't be so suspicious!  Why are you hanging out here all night?   Your buddies are probably out there right filling your car with newspaper!") One of the girls who lived on the first floor called me to her room to ask me something and together we hopped the balcony (another bonus to living there) and ran out to the parking lot with four giant trash bags of newspapers to stuff his car full in, like 30 seconds flat.  We were back before he could finish a thought.  The fifth time we needed a decoy.  One of the girls he suspected the whole time took out her trash.  He actually stopped her and looked through her trash!  She dumped the trash and came back in less than a minute.  The other top suspect went out to her car.  He walked with her.  Checked his car and it was empty. She left, he walked back to our dorm and we all sat and talked.  Meanwhile we had loaded up more bags of newspaper and tossed them over the second floor balcony, this time poolside (yet another perk) and our friend with the car made a circle, picked up another girl, grabbed the bags and stuffed the car.  The last three episodes all took place within about 2.5 hours.  And he never suspected it was us.  In fact, he finally "realized" that his friends (who were helping him out by keeping us occupied in the lobby) must have been in on the act and got mad at them.  Didn't talk to them for like two whole days!

To this day, Joey M. has no idea who pulled that prank. 

Haven't been 'round much lately.  Lots of writing and work to do.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, I found this site today and thought it was intriguing.  Have a look see.

Postsecret

Was at Best Buy and found the first season of Coupling.  Wow!  That's a funny show.  Can't wait to get the other seasons.  Does anyone else watch this show?  I used to catch it on PBS.  But now, since I don't have TV, I'm really behind.

Speaking of DVDs, the other day I bought Dance With Me at Wal-Mart.  I admit that I have a certain fascination for dance movies, so the fact that I got this one is nothing unusual.  Problem is I had a little difficulty opening it.  It had like four security strips on it.

It's a movie with Vanessa Williams, Chayanne and Kris Kristofferson.  It could have won an Academy Award if the other 9,498 movies made that year were suddenly sucked up into the vortex of space.  Why all the security strips?  Seriously, I don't think I could pay a crack whore $100 to go in to Wal-Mart and steal this movie.  She'd be all like, "no, I got my limits."

Consequently, Coupling?  One security strip.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?  One strip.  How many security strips are there on your movies?

Dear Cyclists,

First and foremost, let me commend you on all the good things you do.  You save the environment from pollution.  You lessen the congestion on the busy highways.  You teach us to be more cautious drivers.  You are in good health.  I am sure you are all wonderful human beings (except for the guy who slapped my car because he was too stupid to slow down when cutting across an intersection he should have stopped at.  You sir, should get an incurable, voracious tapeworm....but I digress...)

In light of all the good you do, please know that this is a suggestion that is only for your own good.  Really.  Your mama would want me to tell you.  Because she loves you. 

Please, please, please oh please, check your little cycling pants before you put them on.  If you are an avid cycler you are prone to wear the lycra to some degree of thinness and poor, easily distracted drivers such as myself will have braking problems as approach the full moon that is your naked bum peeking through the stretched thin fabric.  Bike shorts are not underwear, meant to be worn until there is little left than the waistband.

I don't care what kind of physical shape you're in, I do NOT want to see your crack at ANY time EVER, not to mention before I've had my morning tea.  So, do this for me please - hold up those bike shorts to the light.  If you can see not only the shape of the bulb, but can read the wattage...take a deep breath and let them go.  They've served their purpose. 

I thank you.  The lycra thanks you.  The world thanks you.

Meadow inquired, so Meadow gets answered.

:lol:

I slept for 30 hours once when I had brochitis and they gave some kind of cough syrup with codeine that I was supposed to take every 8 hours.  I'd have to set the alarm to take it - each dose would have me sleep for about 12 hours or so.  I timed my last doasge to see how long I would sleep. 

I was in a local newspaper (live in a small enough town, and everyone gets in the paper eventually) when I was about 10 or so and in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof.

And my favorite toys were always books and I love collecting my favorite stories from when I was a kid.  I need one more in my Raggedy Ann & Andy series, I've got Harold and the Purple Crayon, I still need Sendak's In the Night Kitchen and someday soon I'm going to start on the Little House series. 

Aren't ya sorry you didn't ask more? :wink:

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula.
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ˜I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten my own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars

21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse

41. Rode on a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice

61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it.

81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman (my own..took fencing)
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Rode a gondola in Venice

101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship

121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone (not a fist fight - does that count?)
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication

141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone's heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Rode on a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Rode a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet

161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad

181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

I'm off to a party tonight.  It's a thank you party for all the people who help out at church.  It'll be fun once I get there, but right now nothing sounds better than cozying up under the covers and watching a good girly flick.

Speaking of movies, I just returned from watching The Life Aquatic.  It was strange.  I'm not sure if it was good or bad.  And I'm not sure if I will ever know.  The thing I liked about it is, since I grew up watching all those Jacques Cousteau underwater documentaries, that it had kind of the documentary feel to it.  And it makes you wonder, with the pressure to provide increasingly fascinating and unique footage, did some of the professionals make it up.

Yesterday my friend treated me to a full-body deep tissue massage at a salon.  It was heavenly.  I'd never had a full-body massage before unless you count watsu - which is shiatsu massage in a body temp pool (beyond heaven).

Now, I guess it's time to start getting ready for the big soiree.  Sigh.  Are sweats considered semi-formal? 

I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship these past few days.  It seems weird that random people in your life can come to be so close and so important.  And then through crisis, you learn how deep that friendship goes.  During this past month, I’ve seen many sides of friendships as I adjust to life without my grandmother.

I had a good, long talk with a new friend last night.  We are both transplanted New Yorkers and we seemed to hit it off very well.  She’s my mother’s age, but my friends all tend to be several years older and younger than myself, so I’m not surprised about how we connected.  What I really appreciated is that she was able to verbalize my relationship with my grandmother.  Other people have been great, but this sort of empathy isn’t everyone’s everyday, run-of-the-mill milieu. 

Just after the funeral, one of my very distant cousins (I didn’t know who she was, I’m not very familiar with that branch of the family) and told me the coming months were going to very hard for me.  That I would just cry for no reason and to just let it happen.  I really appreciated her advice and it’s been true.  Instances where I expect to break down – cleaning out my grandmother’s room, picking out the clothes she would wear – those are the times where I held together pretty well.  Seeing her jewelry box sent me off in a torrent of tears.  Grief is strange.  

Anyway, I spent the evening talking with Ginger and she was so kind.  I had mentioned that the last time I saw her over Thanksgiving my grandmother ended each night by telling me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me.  I was a little puzzled by this and assumed she thought I was leaving to return home.  She did it each of the four nights I saw her.  It dawned on me that she was saying goodbye.  But it still didn’t really register because she was doing so much better; I thought we’d be together again at Christmas.  I was also really impressed with the things that she remembered: my new car, for one.  And I said how strange that was and Ginger said that I was my grandmother’s whole world.  Not like I was the special one, but that from the point of view of a grandmother, your grandchildren are the very best of everything.  They have no faults.  And I guess I always thought of how much she meant to me, and never how much I meant to her.

Sigh.  I was supposed to be talking about friends here.  Right.  So this past month has been amazing in terms of my friends reaching out to me.  I’ve gotten cards, phone calls, letters, emails – it’s made me feel really cared for.  Even here, where you guys have never seen me before, and wouldn’t know if I crashed though your roof, the support has been so great (*waves* to Meadow).  So you would think my very best friend in the whole world, whom I’ve known since 1982, would call me.  Send me a card.  Call my mom, maybe.  I get a rather tersely worded email: Sorry to hear that your grandmother passed away.  Call me if you want to get together while you’re in town.  What the????  

Who skipped the friendship train?  Was it me?  Should I have called her first and told her?  Is that why she pulled away?  Or is it something else?  Perhaps I am expecting too much?  

My friend married a man I was not particularly happy about.  He had some serious issues and an overabundance of heavy baggage.  Not that it was insurmountable, but something that really should have been dealt with before they said ‘I do.’  Basically I kept my mouth shut after she informed me that she knew what she was doing and this was what she wanted.  What can you say after that?  I knew how their relationship would run.  He would uproot her from the familiar, from her support system, and leave her wholly reliant on himself.  He is a very insecure man. 

They have changed churches several times and she has a hard time fitting in.  She said one time that she just doesn’t have time for her personal friendships anymore (not just me, her other close friends have dropped off the radar) and whenever I talk to her now it‘s just a series of what they’re going to buy, what they’re going to do, where they’re going to vacation – pretty much either look how much money we’ve spent or I’m married now and you’re not.  And all they do for entertainment is eat.  Never about what she’s feeling or good stuff.  And I can’t be the sole caretaker of the friendship anymore.  Especially when I am currently at the point where I need to take more than give.

So now I know I have to sit back and wait for her to come to me.  My going to her obviously didn’t work, so I have to be patient. But I can’t say as that didn’t hurt me right to the core that she didn’t call me.

So I haven't been able to log on for two days.  Now of course I forget what I wanted to say and I'm sitting here now with my brain as blank as a check.  Anyhoo - tblog apparently moved to a new server. Looks like my archives are STILL missing.

On another note, I saw a white crane this morning.  In the golf course across the street from my house.  The last time I saw one was when a friend of mine died about seven years ago.  That one was sitting in the eucalyptus tree right outside my front door.  Cranes are not the typical birds you see 'round here everyday.  And definitely not pure white ones.  I've seen 2 or 3 grey ones, but usually closer to the water.

My friend that died was Japanese, and he was an illustrator of cranes and other Japanese images.  Even though I was definitely struck by the appearance of the white crane, I didn't associate it with his death.  When I looked it up on the internet, I found that in Japanese mythology a white crane would bear the departed soul to heaven.  I liked that story so it kind of stuck.

Now, on this day - the first complete month of my life without my grandmother - I see a white crane.

Final snarks of Snark Week:

• Patricia Heaton - does her whiny voice get on anyone elses nerves but mine?  When she's "acting" you don't hear it so much but when she's being interviewed, ugh!  How'd she ever get a job?


• People who make right hand turns from the middle of the driving lane so everyone behind them has to wait until they complete the turn.  MOVE.OVER.


• People who don't ever email you or call but send those email chain letters that promise good things if you mail it to five others in the next fifteen minutes


• People who believe that Bill Gates or Disneyland or Gerber's Baby Food is going to send them money for passing along an email.  And you wonder why you get so much spam?


• "Friends" who all of a sudden stop talking to you but don't say why.


• Speaking of Friends, let's add Matt LeBlanc.  He holds his mouth like a chimpanzee.  Drives me nuts.  And not in the good way.


• Beyonce and JLo.  Beyonce for saying she doesn't want people to look at her butt.  Um Beyonce?  Then you should never have told the world you were so bootylicious.  And JLo for being tired of being called JLo.  Get over yourself honey.


• Britney Spears.  OMG - WHO, I mean WHO, in their right mind walks into a public restroom with no shoes?  Eeeuuw!  And then comes out saying she's not trailer trash.  Let's look back:  dumps out on most of her concert tour, disappoint kids at her little kiddy camp, marries a dude for 55 hours while drunk in Vegas, hooks up with a man who is cheating on his pregnant girlfriend, has a pimp and ho wedding, claims that the music industry took advantage of her (hey! wasn't it her parents job to keep that from happening?), shows up in provocative t-shirts, skanky outfits, does skanky things like flip people off and grab her he-ho husbands crotch then gets mad at the media for following her around.  Yo, when you're outta the trailer, that just makes you trash, Brit.


• Parents who don't parent their kids.


• And finally, "designers" that charge an arm and a leg for shoddy goods that have their name/logo plasted all over it.  I'm not talking about the brands like Etnies or Roxy, but have you ever been to Juicy?  They charge like 80 bucks for a tshirt with "Juicy" emblazoned across the chest and the seams aren't even done right.

Had problems posting yesterday and so Snark #3 and #4 are coming today.

Today I'm pissed at the people who like to congregate in front of obvious pathways.  You know, they stand and chat in front of the elevator door or the escalator or in front of the entrance.  And when you say excuse me for the sixth time, they look at you like YOU'RE the rude one and then move about 3 centimeters out of your way.  Or they'll laugh and go "oh! Are we in your way?" as if they've suddenly been declared the Patron Saint of the Obvious. 

They've also started doing this in cars.  They'll stop in front of a building entrance and let someone out or pick someone up OR just sit and chat about which direction they should go.  Meanwhile cars are waiting behind them, someone can't pull out of their parking space and I get irritated.  It so would not kill them to PULL THE HECK OVER!  Does it make me a bad person if I want to just ram them senseless like Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes?

Don't get close to people.  Getting involved in their lives puts them in the very fabric of your own life.  And then, when they're gone, you're a little lost.  The world seems somehow less than it once was.  More grey.  And just when you think you're doing okay along comes a huge reminder, disguised as an innocuous piece of business, that slaps you in the face with all that you have lost.  And it leaves you breathless and bewildered.

People who know and love you and have been through it before call it grief and tell you that it's normal.  But grief seems like a cartoon word compared to what's going on in your heart.  In you head.  It feels as though something vital has been cut out of you with a jagged and rusty knife.  Grief?  No, it's bigger than that.  Worse.  Whatever the word is should be multi-syllabic, difficult to pronounce and sound like screeching tires, leaf blowers at 5am and creaky doors.  Grief.  When you say it is sounds gentle, like a suggestion, not something gut-wrenching that has the ability to stop you in your tracks when you least expect it.

And then something funny happens.  And you laugh.  And you think, "I shouldn't be laughing."  But you do.  Because life goes on.  Even though a piece of you is missing.  But still, a little stupid piece of your brain tells you it would have been better to have closed yourself off from the world altogether and never let anyone in.  Never be touched.  Because you know this thing called grief is going to come around again and again until you yourself are exacted from mortality. 

Snark week continues:

Paris Hilton.  I know I'm in the minority but I think she kind of looks like an alien.  I think it's cuz her hair is the same color as her skin and when it's all pulled back she looks bald. 

My main snark on her is why is she famous?  I think Kato Kaelin deserves to be famous more than she does.  I mean all you ever hear about her is either she was at some party, she snogged someone or she had sex on tape.  Is that grounds for fame?  She should at least have a whack job of a mom like Melissa Rivers or supermodel personality like Linda Evangelista.  As it is now, she's just the female Pauly Shore.

So I spent a good number of hours making the perfect default cd to keep in my car.  Thought I was being really smart.  Got just the right mix of music and ordered just right.  151 tracks of goodness, mp3 style.  Perfect for long road trips or when I forget to return the cds to the car.

Then I decided, this should have an ordinary hand-written cover.  No it needs something special.  Yeah.  Let's dink around with that Nero Cover Art for the first time.  Make a great cover.  Manage to get all 151 tunes listed so I can actually READ them.  And I am in anticipatory heaven!

Relish the moment of my pure genius.  Pop that puppy in the cd slot and BAM!  Nothing.  Car won't play an mp3 file.  Duh.

My life is an endless series of brilliance gone wrong.

Hey, due to my increasingly tempermental mood of late, I'm declaring it Snark Week.  This means I can get my snark on for the next 7 days and hopefully, get all the neg vibes outta my system.

What's rocking my nerves today is people who don't wash their hands in the bathroom.  Come on!  That's just plain old, up-the-funk nasty!

We have a list of folks who are non-washers here at work and it's pretty astounding.  It's a good thing one of them doesn't ever bring anything to a potluck (sure can eat, though!) because no one would eat it.

Which leads me to this.  If you don't bring anything to the potluck, don't be first in line to stuff your face.  We had this girl in our office and I don't think I ever saw her bring anything. Ever.  Yet she would practically knock you over to get to the table first.  It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't yakking it all up 30 minutes later in the loo.

She was anorexic.  Weighed about 98 pounds and she wore layers all the time.  Of course she couldn't hide her face.  She had that icky ana look - really gaunt, pasty skin and her mouth always looked funky because her face was so thin that her jawbone jutted out in a weird way.

She'd always be in the bathroom, and her feet would be facing the wrong way.  We told her boss about it and she went and found another job.  She had this really controlling boyfriend and she never really did anything without him - you know the type, doesn't have and friends, outside interestes or anything because he takes up all her time.  She was really down for  awhile, heard they were fighting a lot and we thought they were on the outs.  Next thing you know they had this little wedding.  She was knocked up.

She was a no-soaper.  Washed her hands but didn't use soap.  And she wasn't very motherly.  She brought the kid in this summer and she is just so cute!  But she just let her wander around getting into things while she barely noticed.  But I guess when you have that type of eating disorder for so long and you live with a man who wants to control your every move, your primary goal is just to survive.  But it drives me nuts when parents don't watch their kids.  It's one of the reasons I always hated babysitting - I was always afraid the kid would stick a bean up his nose or something and I would be exhausted from watching them every single minute.

Although my co-worker was probably just ecstatic not to have to mind every thing she said and did every second her husband wasn't around.  He was just plain creepy.  And he treated her like she was dirt.  That marriage is doomed.

Y'know, when you're standing by the tracks you can always see the oncoming train wreck, but when you're on the train, you think you're just headed toward your destination. 

Okay, I'm really not happy with the new banner.  Gonna have to load up the 'shop and come up with a new one.  New Year, New Look, I guess.  We'll see what happens in the next few days. 

Are you writhing in anticipation?  Yeah, I thought so.