Psyched about a sales possibility

Pride festival is coming up in September. One of the millions of upsides to this is that during the festival we will have booths where vendors can sell their wares. One of my good friends has decided to buy a booth and invited me to use the booth space to sell my photography and possibly my crayons weather dependent(obviously early September heat may not make it the best idea as I doubt melted crayons will be a big seller.). Since I am fairly broke right now, this would be my only opportunity to have wares for sale at any such festivals right now. This is an amazing opportunity and hope I can sell some of my work.

Instruction Manual for Kids?

I am plagued by talk radio thanks to someone else who lives with me. It's not my cup of tea, but I certainly can deal with it. Talk radio though does seem to have different commercials. Tonight, I heard one that absolutely caused me to take pause. It began ever wish your kids came with an instruction manual. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've heard it's not like kids come with an instruction manual especially in therapy. In rehab or therapy, case workers try to remind the participants that kids don't come with instruction manuals and most parents do the best with what they have to work with in general. There are of course exceptions as I heard tales like the one of a man who spent 3 years locked in a basement.

Well, the advertisement continued that he has one for you that will get your kids to be obedient and respectful. Hmmmmm. Not sure that this isn't one of the cases of too good to be true. Sadly as much as I was unable to stop listening to the ad, I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the actual product since someone was busy making jokes in the background while I was attempting to listen. I just caught the end saying it was something like How to Change Your Child's Attitude and a 1-800 number. What a product. Honestly, not sure an instruction manual is possible. No two kids are really alike nor would we want them to be entirely alike or else we might all be pretty boring adults.

Stop standing in the middle of the street

To continue on my Dennis Miller like tone this evening, I live on a quite narrow road which barely has room for two cars to pass when there aren't vehicles parked on the side of the road which there always seem to be ending in a dead end. In fact, tonight as per usual with cars parked along the sides of the street it was impossible for more than one car to easily pass along the road.

Now, possibly some of what I am about to say comes out of my growing up in the country on a dirt road. Cars only came past our house when the people who owned the summer home below us came down for an occasional weekend during the summer. Needless to say I lived on a less than busy street. Due to it being a dirt road lined with shells, it was simply not possible to speed down our road nor was it possible not to be seen from a distance coming down the road often in a large cloud of dust. We were hence pretty safe riding our bikes on our road or walking to the end of the road without fear of being hit or causing much hold up to traffic(Traffic in all honestly was almost a foreign concept to us.).

Tonight being a typical evening especially a Friday night cars were piled up on the side of the road making it difficult enough for me to get down the road. Imagine my dismay when in full cover of darkness to see the road filled with a mass of 20 or so kids which is way more kids than houses filling up the roadway. I always back slowly out of my driveway especially since we have random cats that wander our neighborhood. I know why the kids were standing around sadly. Someone in all their infinite wisdom has decided to place a basketball hoop on the side of the road. I may be the only person apparently who thinks this is unsafe since the kids seem to continue to play unsupervised after dark, and they range in age from I would guess about 2-13. There is no lighting for them to be easily seen. It just all seems dangerous to me. With the parked cars, it makes it hard to see when they dart out to get the ball. I am always so worried someone will hit the kids. I know our yards aren't tremendous, but they certainly seem a safer place for the kids to play especially after dark. Or, there is always the playground to the church which is adjacent to our street. The kids playing in the street just makes me so nervous and a bit annoyed I will admit as well when I am driving. When I am trying to get to work or even just run to the store, the last thing I want to do is wait for them to slowly move out of the street. I swear I've seen turtles move with more vigilance and conviction than my neighborhood kids when they are standing often idly in the middle of the street.

Some people don't know when they are blessed

A local man was charged today with 2nd degree murder as a result of the death of his 7 week old son. The child suffered injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. I do not live in a big city necessarily which is why it seriously irks me tremendously that reports of children dying from shaken baby syndrome seem to be trickling in at an alarmingly increasing rate. And, it always seems like it is a parent not even a sitter who is the one committing the atrocious act of ending the life of the infant. Now, I am not, of course, aware of all the details of the case. I am a believer in the judicial process of innocent until proven guilty. I am just talking about the generalities of the prevelance of shaken baby syndrome not this specific case. What I do know in my heart of hearts is that there is never a reason to shake an infant much less shake a baby to the point of murdering it. There is nothing anyone can tell me that will make this act less vile or despicable. I have never had the joy of being a mother. I have infertility issues and perhaps for this reason find the idea of having a child of my own as so much more of a blessing as perhaps these ungrateful parents do. But really, I can't imagine a level of frustration so great with a tiny, innocent infant that could be so great to bring a human being to harm an infant with the hope of making the crying stop. I know human depravity exists. I am certainly no innocent naive enough not to be aware of it. Somehow in my mind though the insanity that must exist to allow serial killers to do what they do seems less horrifying to me than overtaking a 7 week old child. I can't imagine how people are incapable of seeing a healthy just possibly cholicky baby as anything other than a blessing. I know life can be stressful, but never stressful enough to take it out on a precious baby. And, honestly if you don't think you can handle being a parent there is a guaranteed way to ensure that won't happen; don't do it. I don't know where the mother was. No details were available in any of the news I heard or read about that. There are a million possibilities as to why she didn't stop him like simply not being there(like gone to get medicine or herself being incapacited ie in the hospital). I know the way things work around here and had she in any way been able to stop this murder and didn't, she would have been charged. I just get so rilled up when I hear about the deaths of babies which so easily could have been prevented especially when there are so many people who so desperately want to have a child of their own.

As a sidenote, I must say it was disturbing to read a local news article that was so poorly edited that it read the man was charged in the "alleged death" of his infant son. Really. I mean I doubt the death was alleged. I am sure they mean the alleged murder. I know this was just a local write up, but poor editing like this just drives me up a wall and makes me laugh a bit as well. I know I am sick, sick former English teacher.

Today I feel like running away

It was just one of those days were everything I touched seemed to turn to doo doo at least at the beginning of the day. I walked outside to find that my house had been egged, and the other person who lives in my house had traipsed off to work without giving me any warning leaving the mess for me to deal with. Frankly, I don't get the fun in egging people. I was a kid once, and I guess we were a bit less destructive. We took joy in sporking our band directors yard. While it may have been a bit time consuming for him to remove the sporks that we so lovingly planted in his yard. I don't think it was nearly as damaging as trying to wash away eggy mess off a house before the paint was damaged. And, there wasn't that nasty cooked egg smell thanks to the lovely high heat and humidity we are currently dealing with in this part of Virginia. Maybe I was just cranky about it because it was my Monday morning. Then, due to transportation issues, I was late to work and we had apparently been swamped due to a large carryout order, an unexpected bus, and additional volume due to it being tax free back to school shopping weekend. I'm not really complaining. I wish I had been there for the rush, but it left my coworkers already spent by time I even arrived. So, I see a table sitting already looking quite annoyed when I arrived. By time I found a manager to clock me in so that I could enter anything into the computer since we recently went to computerized everything at my work, I am sure that table had sat another 5 minutes. Of course, the table was passed off to me. Just the way I love to start with customers who are upset. I go to make their drinks and someone knocked over my tray not only spilling the drinks but breaking glass everywhere. When several of the customers had less than legitimate complaints about their food(like the gravy which is never frozen having ice crystals in it) all I could do was fix the problem and laugh(of course, no where that a customer could hear.). It was just the beginning of one of those days.

Things got better I suppose or at least I just didn't let them get to me as much as I could have. Like when a manager telling me my replacement wouldn't be coming in, so I would have to stay late. I could have been annoyed knowing that I am already picking up an extra shift this week. Instead, I just looked at it as another opportunity to make a little extra cash. I am by no means perfect when it comes to this. At one point, I caught myself saying I wish I could run away.

We've all seen episodes of TV shows where one of the kids packs a suitcase with his or her most prized possessions cause they are going to run away with no real intention of leaving. But, I must admit there are moments when the idea of just leaving it all passes through my mind. Starting over in some new town with nothing but the dream of something different then the way things are here. Now, I know wherever you go there you are to be true meaning that you still will bring your emotional baggage with you. But, a change of scenery does seem awfully tempting at times. I wouldn't even know where to go or if I could leave my stuff behind and just take off to no where in particular. I do have some ideas I suppose of my dream towns. I've always looked quite kindly on Athens, Ga, Burlington, Vt, Austin, Tx, Savannah, Ga, Portland, Or, and Seattle, Wa. They all seem to have an artistic, college town vibe. Could I do it? I doubt it especially with only a few friends in any of those towns. But, sometimes it certainly sounds like a good idea.

Being single changes things

Ok, so I'm not technically single. But, I hope to be soon. In this awkward in between time, I have noticed a few differences that I had forgotten about in the 3 plus years of being in a relationship. I doubt this list is inclusive, but just some observations.

1. I need a different cell plan. I have gone over my texting limit now 2 months in a row and am about a hundred texts away from hitting this months limit with still 20 days left in this months cycle. This is not a good thing since the 3 people I talk to the most are big on texting.


2. I watch a lot less TV. I just don't have time for it. I'm spending more time with friends which is of course a good thing. TV was a way for me to kill time while the boy did other things. Not exactly healthy though.


3. I get less sleep. It's not even from going out more necessarily. I still only go out one or sometimes two nights a week. I am on the phone or computer talking with friends until the wee hours more often than not though.


4. I have less of a routine. Before things were comfortably(or boringly depending on my mood) predictable. I came home from work, did household chores, watched some TV and/or got online while dinner was being prepared, then watched TV with the boy before heading to bed. Not really very exciting at all. Frankly, it was enough to drive me to put an eye out just to have something exciting happen. Really, it was my biggest fear come to life as I felt like I was becoming my parents. Don't get me wrong I love my parents. I just think their life is monotonous and boring. I can't do it. I have to have spotaneity in my life even if this is just a sign of self sabotage it is the way I am. These days I spend time with friends more and that leaves me feeling a heck of a lot more grounded. Even when in a relationship, I am not that person that can build my life solely around one person. I need a good bit of friend time. I just do. It's not like they are a backup. My friends are an important part of my life. I am hours away from any member of my family, so to me my friends are my family. Just last night, I was feeling a little off have not spoken to my 3 closest male friends like I usually do on Thursday evenings. I could feel myself perk right up when I did get the chance to chat with each of them.

Some things I don't change. The way I dress tends to be more a phase ie casual for a while then a bit more dressy, but I don't start slubbing around without any makeup and hair in a ponytail simply because I am in a relationship. I firmly believe who you see when you meet me will be who I am in general in terms of the level of dress down the road. I don't stop wearing "sexy" clothes because I am taken either. If I get hit on, it is flattering; but I am loyal. I've never cheated on anyone ever, and don't plan on being a cheater either especially not because my girls happen to look good when I am out with friends.

Karaoke this week was a bit odd. The mood just wasn't right. I'm not sure if its because several of our friend's were on vacation, I was beyond exhausted after working 12 days straight with a good deal of overtime, or the biggoted jerk making racist and homophobic remarks who additionally insulted my friend for being bald and then had the gall to hit on me, or just something in the air. I performed no duets. I even spent a good bit of the first hour watching the World Series of Poker on TV since I had totally forgotten that it was on TV to set it to record. And, yes I watch the WSOP like many men watch other sporting events totally into cheering for my favorite players and ohing and ahing different hands. So, being in such an off mood, very few pictures were taken. And, I don't think there were any taken of anyone after the first few songs. That's right we're the dorks who must be first in the rotation. Some of my other friends went to sign up before me, and I simply made a funny face and yelled to the KJ what I would be singing. Sure enough I got bumped to the top of the list. Yeah, I'm also the pain in the butt who doesn't sign up. I just tell the KJ what I'm singing. There are certain benefits to being friends with the KJ and having done his job too. But, it was good to catch up with my friends who were there. And, I did try out a new song this week; I'll Be by Edwin McCain which is my favorite love song of all time if for no other reason than the line that I'll be the greatest fan of your life. Now, that's my idea of love.

Paul singing and wearing his Karaoke Superstar shirt one of our other karaoke buds gave him for Christmas.

John Lee singing some Annie Lennox at my request.

That's me rocking the hoochie mama earrings and waiting for my song, so I can belt one out.

I know what I'm getting for Christmas

I have been going nutzoid with my phone recently. Someone other than me dropped my phone leaving me with funny lines through the screen and an increasing portion of the screen is black. Missing a portion of the screen makes it difficult to play Bejewelled which is not that big of a deal since I just use that to kill time when I am waiting and don't have a book in tow. But, it is increasinly difficult to type text messages since I have no idea what I've typed below a certain point. I often end up with a word that makes no sense which is pretty embarassing for someone who used to edit reports for a living. The real annoyance to me is how slow my phone is running. My friends and I often send each other text messages when we are out at karaoke. Originally, I found this practice silly and a waste of messaging. These days, I've come to realize with as noisy as it can get especially when someone is singing, messaging someone is a good way to communicate. My friends are always amused watching me wait and wait and wait for the message to open up after my phone has beeped that I have a new message. The kicker is something I am not sure is my phone or my networks fault. Over the course of the last 2-3 months my phone has started having problems sending messages repeatedly giving me the irksome message sending failed message. My phone will have all its bars meaning I have perfectly good service, allow me to receive texts, make and receive phone calls and still this message will repeatedly pop up preventing me from sending what I often feel is a quite important text. This might not be so irksome if I didn't have friends who only use their phones for texting. Combined with my phones repeated messages disallowing me to send text messages twice my phone has randomly cut out in the middle of a phone call and then randomly resent out the messages it disallowed me to send for the previous few weeks bombarding my friends inboxes with what are quite confusing messages especially later. This has lead to me often commenting to friends about my phone hating me. I have no idea what is causing this kerfuffle(not sure if I spelled that right. Am I the only one who has realized through blogging that I have no idea how to spell those words like rigamaroll, etc that I use in speech on a regular basis but never would have had on a spelling test?).

Unfortunately, my cell company penalizes me if I upgrade my cell phone early; and frankly, I don't have the money to pay for a new one anyhow. So, I looked online to see when under my contract I am able to get a new phone thinking it was sometime next April. Imagine my glee when I discovered that I can get a new phone at a highly discounted rate on December 22nd of this year. So, I know what new toy I'm getting for Christmas. I want all the bells and whistles on this new phone as I currently feel like I am in the stone ages using my Razor3 while everyone around me seems to have Iphones or some similar nonMac version.

I still may contact my provider in the meantime to see what is causing the texting issues just in case the problem is something other than my phone trying to play cruel jokes on me.

Now if only my phone can hang on that long.

Fan Me

I went and did it. I created a fan page for my blog on facebook. I know that lots of my bloggy friends have fan pages on facebook and though I have fanned them, I'm still a bit foggy as to what the point is of having a fan page for a blog. Guess it is just another way to get the word out about your blog. Whatever the case may be, I finally took the plunge. Hopefully, some of y'all will fan me. The link to my fan page is on my left sidebar.