good night from portland

In the home town, in the home town! 

 

Rejoice with me: chimney smell is in the air and there are still some bright orange and red leaves hanging on tree branches.

 

I'm ready to collapse under quilts...!

general slackery

Though I leave on Monday for Portland, I wanted to be all packed by tonight.  Didn't happen!

Now, I'm too sleepy to do anything but sleep.  

date night

Paranormal Activity & Five Guys.  Mmm, scary.

i swear

County salaries are public record; therefore, I know a certain admin in my building makes $93,000 a year.

 

She just asked me to help her find an address that she could NOT find in the phone book.  Literally, the task was giving her a migraine.  So, putting my Master's degree to hard work, I went to Google, typed a few more keystrokes and her answer magically appeared. 

 

"Oh, I could have done that."

 

Yeah, but you didn't.  And, you're welcome.

 

Also, you'd think I'd encounter more full-blown lunatics in the library but I really don't.  I work in a bubble.  But I met one today.  Do me a favor and picture a large-chested woman with no bra and a low cut tank top and glossy eyes that can only see one thing: the mothership.  Now, here's what went down:

 

Zoolulu Quartz Rainbow:  "I need to know where the bibles are."

 

Me:  "We have them in two places; would you like to check one out or do you want to look at one while you're here?"

 

ZQR:  "I asked you a simple question and I am not going to repeat myself."

 

Me:  "I'll gladly show you where they are because I'm going to pull out the heaviest one and smash it over your head."

 

I took her to the bibles and then showed her that they were on two shelves. 

 

ZQR:  "EXCUSE ME. WHERE ARE THE BIBLES. I ASKED YOU A SIMPLE QUESTION AND YOU JUST TOOK ME ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE."

 

Me:  "..." and again, "The bibles are right here."  I showed her. 

 

ZQR:  "Yes, I see."

 

Let's see.  Do I love my job today?  Do you love my job today?

the worst of times

Whoops, forgot about yesterday's post.  I was up late and everything but it was past midnight when I realized I'd forgotten to post, so I bypassed the computer and hit the hay.

You know, I never found that library book.  So I'm not reading anything at the moment.  I have a few books I'm saving for the plane ride - not that I'll read all of them when I'm gone but I'd like to think so.  Mary Karr's Lit is the #1 candidate...

And now, this is why my blog is almost never daily:  daily is BORING.  I'm freaking tired and uninspired.  I have to be to work an hour early tomorrow *whine*.  I see a pillow and snuggly dogs in my very near future.

bedtime story

Eyelids = unbearably heavy!  Crashing.

Goodnight, moon.

high rolla

My JCPenney splurge of the night.  With coupon, $50.99:

the 14th

I just erased a few paragraphs.  You'd probably disown me if you read them.  The gist:  omg, the weather! omg, I didn't blog last night 'cause I'm 30 and old and like, ty-erd at 11:00 p.m.!

I like to find places that were made for people, but that people don't ever hardly notice.  Benches in the middle of a Target parking lot, alcoves in airports away from gates and food lines, deserted courtyards with tables and chairs, fountains with ledge seating, etc.  This is probably because I notice places where "play" is encouraged in spots otherwise thick with work and commerce.  And I'm not talking physical play -- more imagination, reading spots, introspective timeouts, etc.  Not work.  And then there's the part where I'm not much of a people person; my introverted self must recharge away from people.  So today we spotted a courtyard near downtown West Palm Beach - empty, canopied by huge oak trees and bougainvillea.  It was like a small vacation - a rejuvenation picnic - we stopped and had lunch in it.  

And then we forgot to go to the vegetable stand for sugar snap peas.  We must have been too carried away in the sunshine.

the here and now and later

Let's start with the weather and pretend November 12th never happened.  It has been beautiful today.  60  degree temps, breezy, all blue and sunny.  The dogs love when it cools down and spent a lot of time out in the backyard with some newfound energy.  The kitties were bouncing toward every open window and basking in the sunshine. Yours truly was loving it, too.

I'm headed soon to a play starring a co-worker.  I'm going to blog when I get back.  Because weather posts only count for so much.

nonono

I fell asleep at 9:30 last night = no post yesterday.

when locals are not locals

Unbelievable: this is post #1001.  How did that happen?

My day off was a small luxury.  Sleeping in...pet cuddling...it was gray and rainy for most of the day and tonight it's finally supposed to cool off...the wind is over and I'm happy about that.

We were driving around tonight in the neighborhood looking for a cheap thrill, trying to find a crazy cat lady house (45 feral cats removed) we read about in the paper (one neighbor said he could see cat feces "oozing out from under her doors" -- sensational!).  On one street, the wrong street, a middle-aged couple had their flashlights out, pointed toward the sky.  They were in the middle of the street and came running over to Steve's open window.  "There's an eagle up there!  There's an eagle up there! Oh my god, an eagle!"  Steve was politely nodding - he saw it, and then the eagle flew away.  I saw nothing.  But I felt like they were blaming us when the eagle flew away, because they said "oh my god, it was there all night and now it's just gone."  We slowly drove away and Steve said, "that eagle was an osprey."  It should be back soon.  It doesn't have any United States Postal Service photo shoots to do tomorrow.

The house with the cats looked like any other house.  I've run by that house.  I never saw oozing feces.

not here

I'm having this problem lately where I lose the book I'm reading.  I last remember reading on my break yesterday here at my desk, but today the book is nowhere to be found.  I'm devastated!  Perfection was getting so juicy. 

 

So tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I get a day off right smack in the middle of the week.  Which I'm simply thrilled about!  I propose Wednesdays off for life.

 

And there are things here and there to organize for work but truth be told, mentally, I'm not here today.  Upstairs I'm a complete zero.  I keep looking at my calendar and daydreaming about tomorrow's day off, Thanksgiving, my holiday vacation…ahhhmmmm.  In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through Kimberlina's deliciously vivid travelogue posts on her recent trip to California. 

good morning

For my last few breakfasts, I've been making one hell of a breakfast sandwich: an egg over medium, prepared in olive oil; sharp cheddar cheese toasted on an English muffin and cracked black pepper to taste.  Mmm.  I could probably eat seven of them, but I just make one and it keeps me well fed through the morning.  I also broiled a grapefruit this morning, drizzled with local orange blossom honey (this might be the only locavore meal anyone could make in FL; okay -- there are more) but it wasn't as good as I was hoping.  Something in the chemistry didn't go WHAM! (last christmas i gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away gave it away. this year to save me from tears i'll give it to someone special ecial).  By the way, that is exactly how my brain works, with the music.

And here's Jane, as she appears right now (like a live pet cam, only not) to my left:

charged

Yay! An upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in Portland...I haven't been since May...which in Madge months = 24 months.  

Steve is out in the garage installing a new sink for his darkroom -- whoa; she's a real stainless beauty!  It came from a police crime lab via Craigslist.  Did I ever mention my desk came from the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement?  Someone didn't clean the desk out so well...there was a lot of paperwork wedged in between the drawers, and one miniature cassette tape that I've never played.  A confession?  Top secret evidence, lost in the ruckus?  Hmmm.  

Speaking of law enforcement, I'm hear to say I watched America's Most Wanted last night so you didn't have to -- and let me tell you -- I was either scared out of my pants or crying or both.  John Walsh is like the new Chuck Norris or something.  I hadn't seen the show in a long, long time.  I was tougher when I was 13, I think.

I feel compelled to write that the wind is still OUT OF CONTROL.  What the heck!  I'm extremely surprised we haven't lost power yet.

i hate your t-shirt.

when will the t-shirt-as-communicator-of-the-deep-self fad get run over by a train and die already? 

there's only so much bad poetry you can type up in helvetica and silk screen on homegrown cotton.  

you think you've seen it all (and that was in 2003) but it just keeps coming.