Rainy Day Monday Chardonnay Musings

Menu of the Day:

On my iPod: Hard Way to Fall by Ryan Adams

In my glass: Penguin chardonnay.

The Best Thing: Brian's band played again at The Swiss last night. AND my bowling average is getting better!

Exercise: Just ran for the first time after work where it wasn't dark when i was done! (This should be an added Best Thing.)

*************************************************

I took the rainy picture last night on my way home from The Swiss. (We have a forecast of rain for 8 days in a row.)

1. Have i mentioned how very much i love this new D90 Nikon? I know i have, but i can't get over how much i love it. It's right up there with my iPod. Here is another photo of Seattle windows that I took a couple of weeks ago. I like it for the simplicity.

2. Something that touches me, because it's a small kindness, is when i drive down a road and see that someone has carefully propped up a lost hubcap in the hopes that the hubcapless car owner drives by and finds it.

3. I have never lost a hubcap on a car, but if i did it would so TOTALLY mess with my feng shui that i would immediately have to go out and buy a new one. (Or take off the other three. )

4. I sort of wish the Academy didn't honor posthumous Oscars. Why can't they just give a separate kind of award for the recent dead? I really liked Heath Ledger's performance (without loving the movie) but in a way it makes me more pissed off at him at his stupidity for dying so young and i don't feel like rewarding him. He robbed us of many other good performances. So i feel ripped off. I knew when i saw him in "Ten Things I Hate About You" that he really had something.

5. Anyway, i also wanted Brad Pitt to win best actor, though i would probably like Sean Penn in Milk, if i had seen it.

6. I haven't watched the awards but i do have them DVRd. I didn't like Angelina's black dress. I'm glad Kate Winslet won. I don't much care for Penelope Cruz though. I don't know why she doesn't do it for me. I can't stand her in the same way i can't stand Nicole Kidman. (Funny that they both used to be with Tom Cruise, another actor i love to hate.)

7. I just started tutoring at school again. (Last year i had to miss because the school was being rebuilt.) I have three really neat kids, i can tell already. One kid, Jesus, is a whiz at multiplication tables. You can toss out any numbers- throw out 6 x 7 and he answers quickly 42. He can multiply any of combination. Better than most adults. But to add 6 + 7, he counts on his fingers. He's adorable. They had trouble pronouncing my name so I said, "call me Miss B." And so we talked about name mispronunciations and I told Jesus "I bet people call you Jesus don't they?" (Pronouncing Jesus without the Spanish pronunciation) and he's is incredulous and exclaims, "HOW DID YOU KNOW?"

8. I had a Letter to the Editor printed in the News Tribune yesterday about all the legislative action in education. It's generated a couple of online comments. The funny thing is i quit looking for it because i had heard the house bill was dead anyway. These are the same editors who printed a very Pollyannish letter from "Donna Reed" a few weeks ago. (They need better researchers. )

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/letters/story/634647.html#user_comments

9. I just finished the West Wing episode where CJ's bodyguard and new boyfriend, Mark Harmon is killed in a convenient store and they played Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" at the end. I thought of you, Barbara. (You have to see that someday. It's so moving.)

10. Aaron Sorkin is a genius. Every episode in the four seasons he wrote are like watching little movies you would pay to see. There is not one wasted line or any filler. He's amazing.

11. I almost can't watch the news about the economy these days. I was complaining about the huge loss in my 401K to my boss in the office recently and then caught myself and felt embarrassed because a school bus driver overheard me and i felt like a total ass because i even HAVE a 401K with my job. (Especially since the bus driver pays my union salary.)

12. So ...lesson to all who have a savings and complain out loud about it: Be careful of your audience....some folks can't even afford to save.

13. Another kindness i like about strangers is how they leave you room when you need to pull out in your car. I wave like a maniac to them to make sure they see how thankful I am when that happens.

14. Did you know oatmeal only costs about 11 cents per serving? I read that today. (I don't have a clue why i just thought of that.)

15. Most people who know me, know that I hate when people talk about their dreams and try to analyze them in my company. (In fact as a joke for my 50th birthday, my nephew Adam wrote out a whole made up dream that went on and on.) Anyway lately i am dreaming about people who have died but are living in the dream and dreaming about living people who are dying. (one friend feel down an elevator shaft, don't worry Julie, it wasn't you.) So these dreams are giving me pause.

16. I think it's a menopause dream thing.

17. Has anyone seen Demetri Martin's new show on Comedy Central? I am so glad he got his own show. He's alittle bit like Mitch Hedberg with low tech props.

OK, y'all...what's on your mind? Come on lurkers too. Tell us your random thoughts! and if you watched, what are your thoughts about the Academy Awards?

Anti-Valentine's Day Chardonnay Musings

Menu of the Day:

Best thing that happened this week: My brother's bowling league just started again this week. I bowled a 153! This is a photo of my bowling bag which my friend Julie found for a buck at a thrift store. Obviously, the stickers are my own.

My favorite song this week: Thanks to Barbara, needtobreathe's song "Washed by the water"

Wine: just poured my second glass of a cheap Australian chardonnay called Little Penguin. It's good!

Latest Favorite YouTube: Those eTrade baby commercials. Seriously i could watch them over and over (and i have). Here's one 30 second link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhfl4mFH1No&feature=pyv

1. Let's talk about Valentine's Day, shall we? I hate this contrived and obligatory holiday. (Maybe if i liked chocolate more i would be into it.) I hate how it sets up men to be FORCED into being romantic. (And i also hate how it makes anyone feel who is totally single.)

2. My husband and I have an agreement not to celebrate it, not even with a Hallmark card. (ESPECIALLY not at Hallmark card, actually.) He might always forget to put out our recycle every other Wednesday, even as he walks by the soldiers of big blue bins from the neighbors on his way to his car, but the man brings me coffee every single morning (even during the 6 month period when he wasn't drinking it for awhile). That's enough Valentine-ing for me.

3. Can we talk about this woman with the octuplets for just a minute? I wish the doctor who agreed to inseminate her could be brought up on criminal charges and i also don't believe we should be expected to pay taxes for her kids. Let me make myself clear: I do want someone to pay taxes to take care of those kids because this is not their fault. (She's gotta be crazy so she can't exactly be held accountable.) So I vote that the doctor pay ALL of the taxes. Him and only him. And he should be made to pay for all 14 of those kids. (I also think maybe the 8 babies should be put up for adoption so they have a real chance to grow up in a healthy environment.)

4. I never thought i would be into this, but i have to admit that I love bowling. AND I love American Idol. They both happen on the same day. So i really love my DVR!

5. And yes i did indeed bowl a 153 (It was a fluke, but so fun!), my first two games were 92 and 95.

6. My husband shot a video of me bowling with my new D90 Nikon. I got to see that I DO have good form as people have told me. But i am still a pretty bad bowler.

7. It's sort of important to me to at least LOOk like i'm good at what i'm doing, even if i am not. I think i have come clean here before (or maybe that was on the Gumbo board) that i won't pretend that i am a person without ego and I won't act like I am humble either.

8. You know what though? I can't stand false humility. I would so much rather be around someone who is cocky and full of themselves (as long as they don't go overboard or get into drama). I was in hair salon today reading all those trashy US magazines (I LOVE THOSE, but i am too snobby to get a subscription.) I read a quote today from someone defending why they really liked Courtney Love simply because they loved being around "anyone with personality".

9. It made me think of people who truly seem to be without personality - because some are. They have no opinions, they try not to rock the boat too much or they have this incessant need to be liked. The more you need to be liked, the less i like you.

9. Tonight. for ummagumma.

10. American Idol is somewhat disappointing to me so far even though there is talent. (No rocker stand out so far.) The funny thing is the most interesting contestant so far is not even that serious because he is more like singing comedian, (he even has an AKA, "Norman Gentle", a name which totally cracks me up) - he is the reason to watch so far for me. I do love the show, but I am getting sick of their formula. The show is more set up than a plot in a bodice ripper paperback. For me Idol is much about Simon. I wrote down this quote from him last night after he booted one of them: "If it's any consolation, you wouldn't have won anyway."

11. HEY.....I think i should change my name to jojo Gentle, because i think it suits my personality.

OK, y'all. what are your coffee/tea/wine/water/koolaid musings? And what do YOU think about Valentine's Day. I want to know.