brief and simple

Howdy all.

I hope everyone is having a blessed new year.

Here is a brief and simple update for now -

House - Kitchen is finished, pictures soon.

Family - Saw most everyone just a couple weeks ago, with the exception of Louis, Robin and Jason. Everyone is doing well. Scott has been promoted to manager of a lovely restaurant that probably has the best pretzels anywhere (just a touch irrelevant). Robert is fine and dandy. He just made homemade chili yesterday. And it was pretty stellar.

Work - GAH. Still no promotion. But I love the folks I work with. And I am appreciated. No one makes me cry or gives me crap. And I'm not physically or mentally injuring myself. I enjoy what I do, and I adore most everyone I work with. Who can say that? But, yes both Robert and I are not giving up hope. We're talented and awesome and apparently patient. : )

Various - My tennis racquet has been giving me crap - causing pain in my arm and ungodly blisters. But today I talked to someone and I am on the right path to fixing the problems which is a big deal because tennis is third after family and writing. I am writing, but in bits and pieces. I have a few Kapows up my sleeve, but am keeping them mum for now. I hope you all are keeping an eye on Poem Bouquet and Biblio Yak. I have been finding some extraordinary pieces. Just extraordinary.

Hopefully all is well with you. Wouldn't mind a brief (or extraordinarily long-winded) update from some of you. . .

I leave you with

Jason Mraz

and The Tallest Man on Earth

Smells Like Teen Spirit (and also cat pee, vicks vapor rub, and tuna slathered armpits)

Today there was an interesting email at work (the library job that is).

The message?

"Please don't nuke the books."

Apparently a man had been microwaving his books in order to "sterilize" them.

Well, guess what our library is doing right now? We're RFID tagging.

Sounds like somebody got a nasty little surprise.

Insert cackling here.

My top 2 favorite songs right now:

All is well here.

Mac Woes

Currently I am having trouble editing the pieces for Poem Bouquet and Biblio Yak. I just got a Mac, and it doesn't have a program for successfully cropping images. I am working on resolving the issues, but until they are resolved posting will be spotty.

It's fall too, and that certainly doesn't help.

I will leave you with a song that I've kept on repeat.

Park the Truck

At the library the other day I was pushing a cart of books to the stacks when a lady asked for help. I abandoned the cart and helped her. As I returned to the cart I noticed an 80 something year old lady thumbing through the books. I waited patiently, but after a second she noticed me and said, "Oh you need to shelve these." Before I could tell her, "no problem," she reached out and patted my butt and told me to get back to work.

!!!

Yesterday I had training at another library, and as I approached the building a mentally challenged (but only in some ways - I despise our characterizations of special individuals) young man (about my age) started singing "pretty girl, pretty girl, pretty girl," and as he sang it was apparent that he initially said what came to mind, but as the two words slipped from his mouth he realized how much fun they were to say. His caregiver looked towards the ground with a red face, but I grew inside. I understand those feelings. To want to blurt a sudden thought, and to taste a word more than once, but unlike this man, I am usually imprisoned by fear of embarrassment. I smiled at him before entering the building, and wondered why I hadn't said thank you.

Later I realized I didn't want to interrupt him.

In a few days there will be something very special on Waldo the Line Tamer , but because it is so special to me, I am going to claim it first.

With His Stability and Her Agility, They Were Perfect Dance Partners:



Why does this mean so much to me? Because it describes Robert and I so perfectly.

And finally, to jazz up your bones, or jumble them, here you go.

Any time it sounds like someone is trapped in a song I get all jittery and souped up inside.





Waldo the Line Tamer

Drip. . .

At my nonprofit job I work in a large building composed of many little businesses. On each floor is a john with three stalls (the men’s bathrooms are different I’m sure). After much research I figured out which stall sees the least amount of action. This is where the tired argument concerning other people doing the same research and therefore all clamoring for the same potty comes in, and yes if all of us researchers are using the same toilet then the research is rendered slightly invalid, BUT (no pun intended), and there is a but, even if the toilet is seeing more tushes, I’d like to think that these tushes are using the seat covers, or in the very least, because they’re the type to do the research, are slightly cleaner than the rest.

Today my research was tested. Upon my first visit to the restroom I discovered quite a bit of water on the seat. Dismayed, I used the toilet ranking second on my list of toilets that see the least amount of action. Every preferred toilet has its bad moments and disrespectful users. I didn’t think very much of it until the second time I used the restroom and discovered a different array of splashes on the seat of the preferred toilet. Shocked, I begin questioning not only the carefully compiled data, but all the other facts and figures in my head. Suddenly all the graphs and numbers of my life were before me, turning into squiggles and mocking faces. If this toilet was the wrong one, what else had I miscalculated? Was my preferred parking spot at the library suddenly going to produce a tree teeming with birds ready to drop their bowels?

As I stood in the once preferred stall, with the door open and my hands raised in desolation, a tiny drop of water pinged my face. Horrified, I looked up. There, above the stall, was a tiny water stain. For a moment the self doubting eased, and relief set in. But once I regained composure I suddenly became aware that I was on the first floor, and that it was likely that there were other bathrooms on top of the one I was standing in, and that the water that just fell on my face. . .

Lately I have been listening to. . .

In Response to Momalu's Post

My mom just posted the top ten songs she listens to most.

Here are my top ten:


1. Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues Reprise

2. Matt & Kim – Daylight (this song makes me feel incredibly happy)

3. Flame – Alive (After running I will usually stretch, and this is the song I always listen to. It reminds me of that time in my life when I broke through. It gives me power)

4. George Winston – Graduation (This song makes me feel free)

5. Mariah Carey – Always Be My Baby

6. St. Petersburg Radio Symphony – The Four Seasons, Op. 8, “Summer”: III. Presto (I listen to this a lot when I'm writing. Most of my poems are written to this and big pimpin')

7. DJ Rekha – Dhol, Dark & Handsome

8. Mumford & Sons – The Cave (I adore the lyrics to this song, and typically I'm not a lyric person)

9. Tinie Tempah – Let Go (The last time I went to Tucson I listened to this song on repeat when I ran in the mornings)

10. The Civil Wars – Poison & Wine (Don't even get me started. It would take me a very long time to tell you why I love this song)


Interestingly enough I haven't listened to the Mariah Carey song in at least a month. However there are days when I come home and Robert is shaking his booty to it. So that explains it.