Evidently

Wait. . . Is That My Lung?

Dec 4, 2003 | This Life

Wait… is that my lung?

It seems the cold I had over Thanksgiving decided to take a vacation to points more Southern. Liking the weather so much, it has decided to take up permanent residency in my bronchial tubes. *hack**hack* Any day now I expect to cough up a lung. Oh well… don’t really need those, now do I?

They say it’s all in the timing. Damn baby, this virus is gifted. Nothing like being ill beyond my usual mental state during Finals. My way of dealing with this is the patented “on again, off again” approach. In class one day, in bed the next. I’m managing. Really… I am.

I have nothing witty to say today. Ok. I never really have anything too witty to say–but this time, even I don’t find myself funny. You know you are sick when you can’t laugh at your own jokes for fear of hacking up soft tissue. I did get an email today from “POPS” who made gave me my first honest laugh in awhile. Ordinarily, this would be a good thing–but considering my state of agony, he will be forgiven, eventually! Check him out.

And now, for your giggling pleasure, his comments…

Greetings:

You know I am deeply worried that I have offered strong drink and encouraged lying to some one with an email that starts “futureclergy.”

Am I a bad person?

Later, Pops

Yeah, yeah, yeah… save all your crack-pot comments about how I was already corrupted for your own blog site. *pfft*

‘Splainin’

Dec 2, 2003 | You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Toothpicks?? You have some ‘splaining to do, Lucy!

Hey… thanks for all the lovely talkbacks… apparently, I need to explain the toothpick line. Which, baffles me… I thought it was common idiom. Evidently, this is not so. Could be that it is just a Southern thing or maybe even just a family thing? But my daddy used to say when we would get so tired that our eyelids wouldn’t stay open that we needed toothpicks to hold them up. Leave it to a Southern Man to find yet another use for the things. So, go out and impress your friends with your newly acquired Southern slang! “Wow, you could use a few toothpicks!” It might go over especially well if you use your line after lunch!

Now… onto “slogging“. It is a “publishing” term. Or at least all my friends in the book word use it religiously when referring to new books. Typically said: shlogging… as in, “how many pages did you have to schlog through to get to the good part?” But “slogging” rhymes so much better with “blogging.” Not to mention you don’t spit as much when you say it that way. All around far more sanitary. And now, I’m officially a dweeb.

And last but not least… I think… the nifty little icon in the post below. That was one of those really clever posts I never got around to writing but accidentally posted. OOPS. As it turns out, you can now blog by mobile phone and this cool icon will appear to let the world know your post was so important that it couldn’t wait! Never mind that you caused a minor fender bender and backed up the expressway during rush hour using your mobile phone. Gives new meaning to the phrase, “Phoning it in!” I find this really funny. Since I just copied the code, I too can look like I have something important to say(despite the fact I don’t have a cell phone.) Which, in the long run, makes my “non-post” a bit ironic. Yeah, I meant to do that.

Toothpicks

Dec 1, 2003 | You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Hand me the toothpicks…

It’s crunch time people! Probably won’t be an HUGE amount of blogging activity on my part (or sleeping for that matter) but you can help by posting comments and posting often. I make NO promises as to when I will reply, but it would be nice to know you are out there while I’m sloggin away at these papers. Happy Trails… Wende

Barricade

Nov 29, 2003 | Boy Wonder

Barricade

Sadly, I was in no condition to write yesterday. Which means that I am about to be barricaded at my work space for the next 8 hours pounding out the Polity take-home exam. More tedious than difficult… I’m still smarting from the last exam. Historians can be so… picky!

So, yesterday I tackled the other pending reality (read fiasco) in my life: party for the little man. He is turning seven (yes, I was a teenage mother… heh) and frankly, I think I deserve a party for making it this far. But alas, I doubt anyone is going to be bringing me presents for surviving 2800 days of parenthood. (I can hear it now, all the J’s out there are saying, but seven years is only 2555 days! Yes, well, you trying puking on the hour every hour during the first half of your pregnancy and see if you don’t count those days too!) So, a party for the little man it is.

I called the bowling ally first. If you are going to be in charge of 10 kids for two hours you might as well keep them busy, right? Why not arm them with miniature cannon balls and let them loose? However, it turns out that the day after Thanksgiving is National Drop the Kids off to Bowl While I go Shopping Day, here in the US and getting someone to talk to me was no simple chore. After three phone calls and no real help I pulled out my secret weapon. (have you noticed all the violent imagery I’ve been using? hmmm…) Yep, I put IZ on the phone. He lasted 45 seconds. Flat. He did manage to get vital information from the bowling ally, however. Hang on to your wallet, this gets good. As it turns out, to let 10 kids bowl for two hours it costs a mere $240. American. GASP. Now, with that you get a table to put all the food you bring in. And shoes. That’s it. Needless to say, the Bowling Ally just rolled a gutter ball.

At this point, you are probably wondering why not have a party at home. That would be oh so feasible if Little Man’s birthday was say… May. They could play outside, eat Ice cream… have a water balloon fight. Pinata… the works. But since the little bugger decided to be early and come three days before Christmas, this parent has to be far more clever. If you throw a party after school lets out… no one comes. Evidently, people celebrate Christmas around here. Who knew. As well, our tiny Seminary house hardly holds the three of us, so… no indoor party here. And then there is the little matter of finals for me–I can either plan and throw a party or take exams. Trust me, I’d rather party. Which leaves us with little choice but to hold this shin-dig off site. And that raises the issue of just where.

I guess what gets me most is I’m hardly cheap. I’m not loaded with cash… but I’ll spend when I can. To take my kid bowling at any other time is under $7. I’ve always wondered how those businesses stay in business. The answer is: desperate parents. You want to throw a party in Marin, be prepared to be held hostage! It’s not just the houses in Marin that are over-inflated. Evidently, the price of bumper bowling is too!

So, we are on to plan two. We found a place. Same money, but the kids at least get cake and balloons and they get to paint and make art work. I don’t have to do anything but mail out invitations (done) and show up and supervise. It’s worth all the money in the world to see the kid happy on his big day…or, so I’m going to tell myself when the Visa bill comes in.

I Yam

Nov 28, 2003 | You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I Yam What I Yam…

A sweet potato! They are sweet potatoes. Stop calling them Yams, you weasle. Ok… here’s my proof:

Are those yams or sweet potatoes on your Thanksgiving table?
Unless you bought them at an ethnic grocery, they are sweet potatoes. Although they are a tuber that resembles sweet potatoes, yams are popular in African, South American and Asian cuisines. Very few true yams are grown in this country. –Chuck Martin

Achoo!

Nov 28, 2003 | This Life

*sniff* *snort* *Achoo!*

I’m avoiding the crazy hoards of people converging on America’s malls today. I’m not sure why, but malls scare me, especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I make it a hard and fast rule not to shop in a mall during December. Go, visit… walk around… Maybe. But go there seriously looking for a gift for someone… NEVER. It’s just too dang stressful. It may be the season of good Cheer, and these people have been told a thousand times that Santa sees them even when they are shopping, but it doesn’t seem to stem off all the anger and greed. I figure, I’m better off not being part of an angry mass of “humanity”.

In other news… Sweet Potato Day was fine. We headed out to friends in the East Bay around mid-day. However, all three of us were under the weather. Too sick to really eat, sadly. Too sick to do much of anything. The up side is, we didn’t commit the sin of gluttony this year and there are tons of left-overs.

Today, I find myself trying to get motivated to work on the remaining projects of the semester. I have two major papers due next week and another on the 11th. However, feeling like I do–this is proving to more difficult than usual. So my dilemma: go to bed and rest and then have to hustle on Saturday and Sunday to finish or… work through today and run the risk of getting sicker. Choices!

Well… time to re-medicate.

Something

Nov 25, 2003 | This Life

Something

I’m not sure, but I think I’m coming down with something. I just finished my paper for tomorrow… and now am going to go curl up with a hot cup of coffee… or, an Eggnog Latte if I get motivated. sniff sniff… achoo!