Friday, June 19, 2009

Observations & Random Musings about Life While Drinking Purple Cowboy Wine

MENU OF THE DAY:
On the iPod: "Your Life is Now" by John Mellencamp
In my Glass: this Purple Cowboy "Tenacious Red" wine. It makes me wonder if this translates to mean "Gay Cowboy", given all the hooplah about purple = gay.

Last Netflix: "Gran Torino"

The Best thing happening: I will be on vacation this time next week.

The Worst thing: I have a colonoscopy appointment the Thursday before my last day of work.

***********************
1. People who know me have heard me say this before: Something I notice is that nearly every time I drive by a bus stop, the person waiting for the bus is smoking a cigarette.


2. And then I think of how if they never smoked they could be driving a red hot Honda Accord like my own for the money they spend.

3. When people tell me in the union office (and in my life outside of work too actually) that they give 110% (or any amount over 100%) , I always know they are full of shit. Not once have I been proved wrong yet in my 20 years of union work.

4. I will probably be more attracted to people who drink syrahs than I would be of people who drink riesling or vouvray.

5. I never went to college though I wanted to but my family didn’t have the money. I don’t think everyone who went to college is smarter than I am. But I used to.

6. Now I just think they had smarter parents.

7. The relative you like the least is always the one who will break your good wine glass or china plate during family gatherings.

8. I always think I need to own good kitchen gadgets, like a mandolin or a Cuisinart but I rarely use them. I think that makes me a kitchen snob.

9. I have to admit to add to my kitchen snobness, I have more cooking magazines subscriptions than any other kind.

10. I am going to cancel my music one, the Paste magazine, and I’m going to cancel the Real Simple one after ten years. I think I am already simple enough and the Paste magazine quit giving out the free cd mix.

11. I can’t help but love on sight babies with hair more than babies without hair.
Though that is not to say that babies without hair don’t grow up later and makes me love them. (My nieces come to mind.)

12. Seems like it’s always the girl babies without hair.

13. I am too vain to be a true bohemian, but there is a part of me that wishes so much I could just be exactly that. Speaking of bohemians. Here is a photo i took yesterday at the Farmer's Market. in Olympia. Olympia is home to Evergreen State College a very liberal arts school. Brian's band played outdoors at it and this kid was really into their music. He was pretty good.

14. However, I would rather be vain than be a fraud.


15. I would also rather be vain than falsely humble.


16. I don’t watch the cable news channel anymore very often. As Obama said in his interview with Brian Williams, he doesn’t learn very much from them.

17. I have to agree. But I have to admit I still like Anderson Cooper sometimes.
18. I watched Gran Torino last night and can’t believe how entertained I was by that movie. It was so overdone and over acted , but because it is Clint Eastwood I gave a pass. It’s not Mystic River and it will make you cringe and it is implausible, but it moves you too.

19. And i think if I were a minority I would rather be face to face with an Archie Bunker type, as Clint Eastwood is in this movie, than the subtly racist person, that one you can’t read. At least with Clint’s character you knew what he was about.

20. I read the best book today. It’s my second favorite behind “Little Bee”. It’s called “The Help”. I want everyone to read it. I am not going to say too much because I might do a special blog post on just books and I will elaborate further. It’s about black maids working for Junior Leaguer white woman in Mississippi during the early 60’s when JFK was assassinated and Medgar Evans was killed.

21. For Barbara and Grace who are traveling in Japan as i speak! I hope you experience all the best of Japan in a way i never did as a military brat living in Zama. I look forward to hearing about your experience.

Okay, what are you observing these days and what is on YOUR mind?


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

My Obituary....As Written by My Niece, Kylee, AKA Modern Hippie


MENU OF THE DAY:
Listening to: "Green River"by M.Ward
In my glass: Gnarly Head chardonnay
Quote: "You can't see tomorrow with yesterday's eyes" by Ryan Adams
Mood: pissed about work, but i'll get over it
Exercise: ran at lunch
Weather report: the kind that makes you want to sit outside with a glass of wine looking out over some body of water with some Amos Lee playing on the iPod.
********************
On my birthday, Kylee asked me what i wanted. Because she is a college student with little money I told her i wanted two things: her gray hoodie that i once kept for awhile before mailing back to her at school and for her to write my obituary. She came over on my birthday with the hoodie and just recently finished my obituary and posted it on her blog: http://dontspeaktype.blogspot.com/
I was quite touched by it and told her to be sure to hang on to it for 42 years because it is exactly what i want. She and i have talked often about our obituaries because i put her in charge of making sure my mom doesn't have a big ol' Catholic mass funeral if i die young. And she knows that I want my blurry blog photo above to be the photo used.
Anyway, here it is - with the blurry dancing photo, sure to be one of the most original obituaries you'll ever see in the newspaper:
***********************
Saturday, June 6, 2009

Jo Benedetti, Age 94
Obituary for my fabulous Aunt Jo.

She had blonde straight hair

She loved to read
But she hated the library

She preferred bookstores

She was opinionated, stubborn and passionate

She was thoughtful, caring, and passionate

She ran everyday

Even in the snow and ice

Her family thought she was crazy

She loved her red Honda

She loved her iPod, American Idol and Lost

She would buy new books even though she had 20 others to read

She was a Democrat in her soul

And had politics running through her veins

Ignorant people pissed her off

And intelligent people inspired her

She fought for what she believed in

She loved to stay home and not attend a party

She loved wine

She had a slight OCD for cleanliness

She would do anything for you if she loved you

She did a lot for her community

And she supported campaigns & organizations

She liked slow music because she appreciated lyrics

She had a select group of people in her life

And hopefully you were one of them

**********
Posted by Modern Hippie