Sunday, December 31, 2006
Rousing Orchestral Fanfare Playing.....
That's what the closed captioning on a Fox Searchlight movie says at the very beginning. We watched Thank You For Smoking last night and accidentally had the CC on when it started. It seems like a good omen for 2007. I hope. I hope. I hope.
I feel like I was a complete putz in 2006. And now today is the last day. THE. LAST. DAY. OF. 2006.
I'm not ready to post any resolutions for 2007 yet but I have a few things I've been thinking about. The question is, "How seriously? How seriously are you really thinking about the things you want to do in 2007?" I was a complete putz in 2006.
Sure I did a few things. I went to Prague. I went to California. I knitted. There were also the sad/bad things that happened in 2006. My cat died in January. I wrecked my car in June. My dad's brain went awry in July. I had a mental breakdown in Texas in September. Isabel moved away in October.
Sheesh, I'm such a "glass-half-empty" jerk. The cat went quickly, he didn't suffer for long. He had a good life. And I haven't had to clean a litterbox in 11 months. I got a new car. One where the check engine light isn't on all the time, causing me much consternation and terror of breaking down. My dad is doing much better and we have an improved relationship. I didn't really want that stupid consulting job anyway. Isabel is happier and we probably talk just as much as we used to.
Fanfare complete.
I feel like I was a complete putz in 2006. And now today is the last day. THE. LAST. DAY. OF. 2006.
I'm not ready to post any resolutions for 2007 yet but I have a few things I've been thinking about. The question is, "How seriously? How seriously are you really thinking about the things you want to do in 2007?" I was a complete putz in 2006.
Sure I did a few things. I went to Prague. I went to California. I knitted. There were also the sad/bad things that happened in 2006. My cat died in January. I wrecked my car in June. My dad's brain went awry in July. I had a mental breakdown in Texas in September. Isabel moved away in October.
Sheesh, I'm such a "glass-half-empty" jerk. The cat went quickly, he didn't suffer for long. He had a good life. And I haven't had to clean a litterbox in 11 months. I got a new car. One where the check engine light isn't on all the time, causing me much consternation and terror of breaking down. My dad is doing much better and we have an improved relationship. I didn't really want that stupid consulting job anyway. Isabel is happier and we probably talk just as much as we used to.
Fanfare complete.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Happy Holidays....
....subtitle: My Holiday Rant.
I'm not a fan of the holiday season. I like New Year's. Because its my anniversary. Because its a new start. And because I can be sloppy drunk if I wanna. But most of December is pretty sucky for me.
Yeah, I fake it fairly well. I come up with ridiculously complicated baking projects to give as gifts to my neighbors. I make stuff, including my holiday cards. I put white lights on my front bushes. But deep down inside I dread the holiday season. And ironically for the very stuff that I do.
A good deal of it is due to leftover bitterness from my many years in retail. You can't imagine how ugly and evil the general public really is unless you have worked in retail during the holidays. I guess the rest of my Scrooginess comes from the fact that Christmas (and Hannukah too, I guess) have turned into trumped up secular holidays that are really about consumerism and not much else. Actually even that sentiment is hard to separate from my history in retail.
There is all this hooplah about spreading holiday cheer and people getting infected with the holiday spirit, etc. Why can't people have good cheer and spirit all year long? Why can't people feel good about giving to charities and to each other and all that the rest of the year?
And oh, God... the consumerism. Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Christ. What exactly does that have to do with buying diamonds, electronics or a new Range Rover??? I think I would feel much less offended if big box retailers and the rest of the capitalist world would just invent a big bogus holiday and call it as such without attaching themselves to a religious event. Afterall, isn't that what Halloween, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are all about???
Of course it goes without saying that, while I believe in God and all that, I don't consider myself a Christian so its almost hypocritical for me to "celebrate Christmas" (insert actual finger quotes and sarcastic tone). I guess I comfort myself in celebrating togetherness with my family and reaching out to friends who I haven't done a good job of keeping in touch with throughout the year.
And finally my crusty black-hearted cynicism can't help but mention the evidence that Christ wasn't even born in December and that the holiday is acutally reinvented history.
OK. Rant over.
I'm not a fan of the holiday season. I like New Year's. Because its my anniversary. Because its a new start. And because I can be sloppy drunk if I wanna. But most of December is pretty sucky for me.
Yeah, I fake it fairly well. I come up with ridiculously complicated baking projects to give as gifts to my neighbors. I make stuff, including my holiday cards. I put white lights on my front bushes. But deep down inside I dread the holiday season. And ironically for the very stuff that I do.
A good deal of it is due to leftover bitterness from my many years in retail. You can't imagine how ugly and evil the general public really is unless you have worked in retail during the holidays. I guess the rest of my Scrooginess comes from the fact that Christmas (and Hannukah too, I guess) have turned into trumped up secular holidays that are really about consumerism and not much else. Actually even that sentiment is hard to separate from my history in retail.
There is all this hooplah about spreading holiday cheer and people getting infected with the holiday spirit, etc. Why can't people have good cheer and spirit all year long? Why can't people feel good about giving to charities and to each other and all that the rest of the year?
And oh, God... the consumerism. Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Christ. What exactly does that have to do with buying diamonds, electronics or a new Range Rover??? I think I would feel much less offended if big box retailers and the rest of the capitalist world would just invent a big bogus holiday and call it as such without attaching themselves to a religious event. Afterall, isn't that what Halloween, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are all about???
Of course it goes without saying that, while I believe in God and all that, I don't consider myself a Christian so its almost hypocritical for me to "celebrate Christmas" (insert actual finger quotes and sarcastic tone). I guess I comfort myself in celebrating togetherness with my family and reaching out to friends who I haven't done a good job of keeping in touch with throughout the year.
And finally my crusty black-hearted cynicism can't help but mention the evidence that Christ wasn't even born in December and that the holiday is acutally reinvented history.
OK. Rant over.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Is it French, or is it Italian...?
......Perhaps Fritalian..... hehehe. I love that Dunkin Donuts commercial. Someone told me They Might Be Giants does all the songs for them.
Anywhoo. I had a VERY productive day. I finally assembled the bookshelf I bought at Ikea a month & 1/2 ago and moved all my art, craft and design books & magazines to it. I spent almost 2 hours culling books from all over the house - from our built-ins in the living room, from under the sofa, under the side tables, beside my bed, from the shelf and mantle in our bedroom. My back is going to be feeling it tomorrow.
It is repulsive how many books I have. Of course the built-ins and the bedroom bookshelf are still full. There are just less books stacked in dangerous piles everywhere.
And much to my dismay, there is only room for about 3 more books on the new bookshelf..... simply not enough for everything on my Amazon wishlist. Yipes! What to do??? Maybe buy a new house with more room for books and art supplies???
Monday, December 11, 2006
Humanity Continues to Disgust Me
Sure, I've been in a cantankerous mood lately. Peevish. Easily inflamed. But yesterday seemed to take the cake. I know I shouldn't get all wound up about stuff like this but it's so damn irritating!!!! It makes conducting yourself like a decent member of society feel like an outrageous waste of time and energy.
We went out to take our annual holiday picture for the Xmas cards but the sun was still to bright so we ran to the grocery store to get some steaks and salad stuff for dinner. We also had to swap out our propane tank because our grill was empty.
We went to the richy-rich Giant that is close to the park where we were going. The parking lot is filled to the brim with Lexi (Lexuses?), Beemers, Mercedes, Escalades, etc. And the only empty parking space is piled with empty bags and Happy Meal containers from the McD's at the top of the parking lot. Depsite the fact there is a trash can within 20 feet. Disgusting.
The fire lane is also full of the vehicles of people who can't be bothered to walk from the parking lot but rather leave their car right at the curb because they are clearly more important than us plebes who follow the rules. Buncha lazy bastards.
And on the side of the back road leading to the shopping center (which winds through an undeveloped area owned by the State Park system) is a sofa and a TV. Why? Because it was Sunday. Because someone needed to get rid of that crap RIGHT THEN and couldn't be bothered to wait until the landfill was open. Or more likely they were too lazy to drive to the landfill in the first place. And it was nice looking stuff. Not some broke down junk from some trailer trash house.... it looked like it came right of of one of the the quarter mil condos from up the road.
So today, some poor park employee and/or a state highway worker is going to be responsible for getting that stuff to the landfill. It would be true justice if the dumper's cable bill was found in the couch and it could be returned to them. Perhaps left on their front lawn with the same care and thought that they left it on park property.
People have no shame. Or pride. Or respect. Or common decency. People suck.
Nothing warms your heart during the holidays like unabashed triflingness.
We went out to take our annual holiday picture for the Xmas cards but the sun was still to bright so we ran to the grocery store to get some steaks and salad stuff for dinner. We also had to swap out our propane tank because our grill was empty.
We went to the richy-rich Giant that is close to the park where we were going. The parking lot is filled to the brim with Lexi (Lexuses?), Beemers, Mercedes, Escalades, etc. And the only empty parking space is piled with empty bags and Happy Meal containers from the McD's at the top of the parking lot. Depsite the fact there is a trash can within 20 feet. Disgusting.
The fire lane is also full of the vehicles of people who can't be bothered to walk from the parking lot but rather leave their car right at the curb because they are clearly more important than us plebes who follow the rules. Buncha lazy bastards.
And on the side of the back road leading to the shopping center (which winds through an undeveloped area owned by the State Park system) is a sofa and a TV. Why? Because it was Sunday. Because someone needed to get rid of that crap RIGHT THEN and couldn't be bothered to wait until the landfill was open. Or more likely they were too lazy to drive to the landfill in the first place. And it was nice looking stuff. Not some broke down junk from some trailer trash house.... it looked like it came right of of one of the the quarter mil condos from up the road.
So today, some poor park employee and/or a state highway worker is going to be responsible for getting that stuff to the landfill. It would be true justice if the dumper's cable bill was found in the couch and it could be returned to them. Perhaps left on their front lawn with the same care and thought that they left it on park property.
People have no shame. Or pride. Or respect. Or common decency. People suck.
Nothing warms your heart during the holidays like unabashed triflingness.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
That really has nothing to do with this entry. I've been blogligent. I haven't posted in 2 months. Tons of things have happened that I could have written about but honestly in retrospect absolutely nothing has happened worth writing about.
I'm not sure where the time goes these days. I'm sitting here trying to get some work done. It's just after 3 pm. Seems like I put Connor on the bus 5 minutes ago but in fact it was 6 hours ago and I can't really account for much that I've done in those 6 hours. Other than take a shower and eat lunch. And make some phone calls. And look at some stuff on Flickr. And do some half assed work on a project.
I did finish two major projects in the past week that I had been working on for awhile. One was a video about knitting and the other was a flash based web training for business owners. I feel very good abou those.
I've also been knitting a lot. And felting some of the stuff I've been knitting. Felting is really gratifying. Particularly when you are a crappy knitter! :o)
I'm not sure where the time goes these days. I'm sitting here trying to get some work done. It's just after 3 pm. Seems like I put Connor on the bus 5 minutes ago but in fact it was 6 hours ago and I can't really account for much that I've done in those 6 hours. Other than take a shower and eat lunch. And make some phone calls. And look at some stuff on Flickr. And do some half assed work on a project.
I did finish two major projects in the past week that I had been working on for awhile. One was a video about knitting and the other was a flash based web training for business owners. I feel very good abou those.
I've also been knitting a lot. And felting some of the stuff I've been knitting. Felting is really gratifying. Particularly when you are a crappy knitter! :o)
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