Today we spent a large part of the day trying to clean out the office/attic room, where there has gathered a ton of stuff, including most of our "keep this forever" fiction. We filled three bins full of books and there's still more in there, and very, very little of it needs to be culled (although some of it I'm hesitant to pack away, since a lot of it is on my "I need to read this" list). Anyway, some of what DID get packed were a lot of beloved children's books.

( Children's Books )

Anyway... The room needs a whole lot more work, mostly because we have way more books than boxes, and I still have to winnow out a lot of crap. I've bitten the bullet and gotten rid of some of it, but it's going to take a lot more biting. Why do I have this desperate need to keep every thing I've ever owned?

( Torchwood, including spoilers )

And because it's Caturday...

We looked out the windows of our office to see this:










We never did find out what caused the fire, but we watched as the police blocked off the street (and routed traffic through our parking lot - some people stopped and got out with cameras) and the firemen came and put the fire out -- it wasn't an accident so it looked like the people in the truck got out okay, there was no ambulance or anything. The truck sat there for several hours, though.

Work has been very light since the holiday, so we might as well get our excitement where we can.

I came home to find my closet had been emptied out since the termite guy had to get in there -- well, forced me to clean up and rid myself of some things. I could probably get rid of some more, but at least it's a start. I know I should do the "if you haven't used it/looked at it for a year" rule, but the minute I DO see something again, I remember why I wanted it in the first place...

When I breed my stripey dragons, I get no stripes; mother, father, doesn't matter. My stripes refuse to give me colored stripes...

* * * *

sillymagpie turned me on to this, and I share it here with anyone who hasn't seen this marvelously silly cat (I thought nutmeg3 might enjoy, since Maru is reportedly part Scottish fold) -- go forth, and watch as many Maru videos as you can!






I was hoping to find Maru vs. the tiny plastic box, but there are dozens of Maru vids and the titles are in Japanese, so it's hit and miss. This cat is seriously addicted to boxes...

Hope everyone has something to make 'em smile today! Maybe I'll be able to write something sometime soon! *grin*

* *

In the realm of ( too ridiculous to believe )

( And the day after the 4th )

Last night Barb and I went over to Indian School Steele Park to see the fireworks. Wandered around a little, got Italian Ice, listened to local group Tramps & Theives (they're good), watched fireworks, rode the Light Rail for the first time (nifty!). Walked past the usual crazies (hand-printed sign reading "When people fear the government, that's TYRANNY!" which lead me to wonder what folks like that would do if they actually lived in a tyrannical society...), considered glowy things but didn't buy any. We had her Mom over, served burgers and beans, corn on the cob and fruit salad. It was yummy. It was, indeed, a good day.

I managed to nab another stripe, but it's the same color as the first ones I got. I want a GREEN one...

* * *

It's been a very busy week that went by very quickly; I wasn't even sure how we got to Friday so fast, and today still feels more like Sunday than Saturday.

I had to work yesterday -- with "had to" being sort of inaccurate since it was, technically, "voluntary," but with the promise of double time and a half, I went in. We had enough work to get us through, but we finished everything early and the whole crew was sent home at the end of my (the early) shift. It did feel like working on a Saturday, since there was hardly anyone there and the roads were basically empty, and then we went out to the Pacific Seafood Buffet for edgedancer's birthday celebration. I haven't actually gotten him a present, largely because I don't really want to ply him with more toys he doesn't need and a number of the things he could really use are very expensive, so I'm just dragging my heels; I did get him a large silly card he doesn't need, but sometimes such things are fun (it's one of those noise-making cards that has Homer on the cover and plays the "d'oh!" montage when opened).

ANYWAY...

Things I remembered I was going to post about in Vegas and shortly thereafter:

On Thursday morning, before the whole Michael Jackson thing started, I was at the gym at the Mirage and while on the ellipsis machine, I watched a couple of episodes of The Golden Girls. This wasn't a show I watched when it was on, but I found it was cute and funny (and created by the same team who did Soap, a show I adored and STILL need to get seasons 2-4 of), but as I watched, I found myself thinking, "These gals don't look so old." Oops. *g* Of course, it WAS twenty years ago (the show about the Cold War with Premiere Gorbachev & President Reagan was a big dating clue)... but Betty White looked pretty young. Ah, well. It does tell me it's probably time for me to actually start looking for auditions again -- I'm now old enough to play the character roles I used to get in high school. And yes, damn it, I'm comparing myself to four of the greatest comic character actresses ever. So there.

Up on Fremont Street one of the "Fremont Street Experience" shows was "A Tribute To Queen," which was basically "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" played over some cool graphics and lots of pictures of the band playing live, etc., etc. Until one of the final choruses of "We Are The Champions" when abruptly the photo montage changed to firemen and policemen and soldiers and the waving American flag, leaving me going "Huh? Don't these guys realize that Queen were British?" It changed my impression of the entire little show...

For some reason I have to re-log into EVERYTHING every time I open my browser. This is frustrating. The security is set to accept cookies, so I'm not sure why it's doing this. It made me miss a stripey egg, which I've been chasing for a week (I should have had it, too, but I got the "you need to register/log in before getting an egg! message...). Grump. They only drop like one an hour, but the drops last all hour anymore because there are always so many abandoned ones.

* *

Barb bought the most wonderful nectarines EVER. She just gave me a slice and while I didn't even think I cared for nectarines much, now I want MOAR.

After Wait Wait Don't Tell Me I think I'll watch Yankee Doodle Dandy and, of course, 1776.

Happy Fourth!

Just before I left for Vegas I received a lovely picture of myself that was taken by the City of Tempe. I was clocked going a mind-numbing 47 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. (On, I'll add, a major street late at night when there wasn't much traffic.) I had allowed myself to pretty much forget about it until this afternoon, while I was cleaning up here and found the citation again. Oh, yeah.

So I started looking at driving school. Now, I realize it's been many years since the last time I actually got a speeding ticket (sheer luck, I assure you -- I AM a safe driver, I promise, but I love to drive fast); but the last time driving school was at least a few bucks cheaper than paying the ticket. Now, not so much.

I realize that people can in fact ignore the photo radar tickets and braver souls than I will just rip them up and toss them out... but I am not brave and I'm trying to figure this out. Normally I'd take the school, but it's a good ten bucks more; and we're talking a $171 fine in the first place. Part of me wants to actually fight it -- I have until the 17th to make arrangements to go to court and say I don't think that 47 MPH on an uncrowded major street in the late evening to be an "unreasonable" or "imprudent" speed. But I don't know if I can pull that off, even though most people assure me that it's easy to get those things dismissed because of course there is no witness against you. But I can't just throw it out because my registration is due next month and it'll still be there.

*sigh*

Stupid photo radar.

Otherwise, a very lazy and unproductive Sunday. I haven't done anything at all today other than clearing out some papers and a couple weeks' worth of junk mail stacked up on the front foyer table. Oh, and read LJ. Also watched five more episodes of Deep Space Nine, I started from the beginning last weekend. I'd completely forgotten a lot of this stuff ("You hit me! Picard never hit me!") -- it was a great show right from the get-go.

Whew. After some 330+ emails (mostly spam) and reading (skimming) quickly through three very newsworthy days of LJ, I'm home.

I know the world (and the Interwebs) exploded on Thursday when Michael Jackson died -- I heard the news from the lady who was selling us tickets to Ka at the MGM Grand -- she asked if we'd heard and we were absolutely shocked. I'm well aware that the man was loopy, especially the last decade or so, but there's no denying he was monstrously talented and it was hard not to enjoy his music and watch when he danced. When he performed he commanded a stage and it was impossible to not be mesmerized by him. It's no wonder his fans are still so very much in love with him, how they support him, and how much they're in mourning.

There were a number of newscasts that made comparisons to Elvis, and I had made the same observation myself almost immediately, largely because of the somewhat shady doctors and overabundance of perfectly legal prescription drugs bringing on cardiac arrest in someone who probably didn't need said drugs in the first place and would have been fine without so many yes-men agreeing to every spoiled, hypochondriac thought said subject had, either Elvis or Jacko. I loved Elvis with all my heart and always stood up for him when he was made fun of, ridiculed, or dismissed because of the way he'd lived to excess and basically killed himself (frankly, after reading a "conspiracy theory" book stating all the "proof" that Elvis had faked his own death, I came to the conclusion from these "clues" that Elvis had in fact committed suicide). So I understand Jacko's fans, even if I don't share their particular passion.

What Jacko was to me was one of the voices of my generation. His albums were the soundtrack of my college years, with Thriller coming out right as I made the move from high school to college. I watched him go through it all, every bit of weirdness, bizarre behavior, freaky ideas; it's been a part and parcel of life since I graduated high school. I remember watching the Jackson 5 cartoon when I was little; Jackson was only six years older than me.

I felt sad when I heard the news, and I watched a lot of CNN in the aftermath; but I'm not hit as hard as I was when Elvis died, or when Johnny Cash passed -- I think I feel mostly sad for the loss of a man who wasted so much. All the people who knew him spoke so highly of him -- not the hangers-on, not the yes-men, but his real friends and family. I was always somewhat skeptical of his "illnesses" and "hereditary disease" (largely because none of his big brothers seem to be having any problems), and I can't help but think he brought a lot of it on himself, but I am sorry he's gone.

As for the other two who passed while I was basically out of touch... Ed McMahon was an old man who lived a good long life and was loved by many people. His dead was sad, but not a shock (after all, Johnny left us some while ago). And Farrah? She's not in pain any more -- the one I feel sorry for is Ryan O'Neal, who never got to marry her; on Monday I actually saw part of an interview with Barbara Walters, where he said they'd be married as soon as she was well enough to say "I Do."

Other Vegas stuff: The Lion King on stage is MAGNIFICENT. Of course, I get teary every time I hear "Circle of Life" anyway -- but the singing, the acting, the puppetry, all amazing. I didn't care for the song they wrote for the hyenas, but the song written for Nala's solo was amazing (hell, the girl who played her was amazing; what a voice! She was mesmerizing whenever she was on stage).

Ka is a WOW of a Circe show -- "O" was the most beautiful, still, I think, but Ka is a majestic spectacle. I did a lot of gasping and "wow!"-ing.

But all in all, it's good to be home.

I never logged in at the Golden Nugget because for some asinine reason, their wireless required logging in through the television??? I didn't bother. But the Golden Nugget has the most comfortable beds in the universe, along with the best swimming pool.

We've been busy, busy, busy. Won quite a bit so far; put $50 bucks into a Double 7s quarter slot and played for nearly three hours on it (until I was staring at the word going "Doob-lee? What does that mean?"), and ended up taking $100 out at the end when we finally decided to call it quits.

We're going to see The Lion King tomorrow, and are dickering on whether to spend some of the winnings on either a) seeing Bette Midler again (Mom's choice) or b) seeing "Love" again (my choice). Or maybe going and seeing "Ka," which neither of us have seen yet.

The Bellagio's summer theme in the garden atrium is birds -- there are cages full of rainbow lorakeets and pretty crested parakeets, fountains and flowers of course, and a big ferris wheel. Very cool. Haven't done a lot of shopping yet, although kept going back to one shop on Fremont Street while Mom dickered on whether or not to buy the earrings that matched her fire topaz necklace (she ended up getting them). Found several presents for Barb, of all things. It POURED while we were in the Bellagio. Cleared up while we ate dinner at Ellis Island (if you like BBQ, and you're in Las Vegas, take a quick cab ride to a little dive out at the Motel 8 a few blocks from the Strip called Ellis Island. The menu has four choices: full slab, half slab, chicken, or sausage. The meat comes with beans, coleslaw, corn, and dense sourdough bread. It's the best meal and deal in town, and that counts the cab fare.

Everyone at home appears to be in a state of crisis. I'd comment on more friends journals but it's one in the morning and now I'm going to bed.

Been working with my new website building program all day. Woof. Not 100% sure I like the program - it is easy, but the templates are all very uniform, and it squishes everything to the far left on a widescreen monitor. Haven't figured out how to fix that one yet. But if you're interested in seeing how it's looking, it's still Cowboys and Vampires.

Also spent most of the day watching the HBO John Adams series. I think it's much better than the reviews said it was; the casting, on the whole, is excellent (although the fellow playing Jefferson is WAY too short, sorry; Jefferson should not be the same height as Adams!). And I can find no fault with Giamatti's acting (still, I can't help it, John Adams will forever be William Daniels in my mind). The makeup department may have gone a bit far with the reality of the dental troubles of the time, though... sometimes there CAN be something as too much verisimilitude. But props to the props department, for the recreation of famous portraits with the actors in them that look almost identical to the originals. Awesome. I now ought to read the McCullough book, though. I have Dearest Friend, the Abigail Adams bio, but I've never gotten around to reading it.

I made cherry pie yesterday, which, if I do say so myself, came out awesome. We watched the first four episodes of Veronica Mars, which I found I rather liked. Cleaned leftovers out of the fridge and now am slow cooking beef ribs for dinner. I ate pie for lunch. It's a good Sunday.

* * *

I haven't posted some of these in a while, but these got me thinking...

( The Big Hate )

( And then Gay Marriage )

In all my overjoyed optimism facing the future I forgot the LAST Democratic presidency...

I was so busy trying to get a stripey dragon I completely missed BOTH a Silver and a Gold in the last egg drop. I'm a pathetic dragon collector...

* *

Curse those who kept talking about pie!

Thanks to everyone who comforted me in my moodiness. I'm feeling much better now.

I didn't get up this morning for a workout because I woke up at about 3 am with a killer sinus headache. I got up and took some sinus meds and went back to bed for a while and slept until my late alarm time. But I was good and carried my gym bag with me and did it this afternoon AFTER work. It's more crowded in the afternoon, but the workout gets done.

So of course I'm thinking about pie.

I watched the final episode of Pushing Daisies last night. *sniffle* I'm going to REALLY miss this show. I'll have to get the DVDs and just enjoy what we had. I hope they do the comic; I WILL read it, even if it's not going to be quite the same.

I was filling out my "television" interests at Dreamwidth and realized that many of the shows I REALLY liked in the last few years have all been canceled -- Chuck just barely made it, thank goodness -- and those that haven't been canceled have started sucking seriously, like Heroes, or just being generally meh, like Ugly Betty. The former I probably won't watch next season; the latter I might, just 'cause there's really nothing else on Thursday night and I do like the characters. It might re-improve. I hope the new Doctor can re-ignite my adoration of Doctor Who -- the episode Journey's End is still leaving a foul taste in my mouth (although I'm still reading the BBC hardcovers and enjoying them, but Donna is still Donna in them).

Am hungry now. The one problem with coming home this late. Dinner not ready yet.

Pie.

ETA: My new writing site. First submission.

Well, Dreamwidth is HERE.

I guess it's all right. I don't see what all the hoopla is about. Looks about the same and it's not as easy to get around. There's not as many mood themes or page themes (for those of us too stupid and lazy to figure out how to design them ourselves), and without pay I only get six icons (as opposed to my normal hundred-something).

Meh.

Kathy is cranky.

I've drunk (dranked, now?) almost an entire bottle of wine tonight. I better not gain any more weight back (two pounds back on, sigh).

There's actually one other person on Dreamwidth who likes Dale Watson. Woo.

I lost my temper at work today for some stupid reason and got called into the principal's office boss's cube to "discuss." If he'd just let it go I would have forgotten it in ten minutes. But because he wanted to know what was "wrong" (I got irritated and snapped, I'm a redhead, it happens once in a while, and honest, a LOT less than it used to!), and I had to assure him over and over that it was unintentional, and I'm SORRY. *sigh* So I spent the rest of the day embarrassed and feeling stupid.

I'm feeling tremendously cranky. I almost stopped at Big Lots on the way home to buy the stupid set of colorful shot glasses I DON'T NEED just for the lame reason it might make me feel better for six seconds. I talked myself out of it.

I has cats. They're fuzzy and nice, even if they are barfy and demanding.

I follow.

Testing, testing, testing. If this crossposts to LJ, I'm AZ_Cowgirl at Dreamwidth.

This afternoon I ate some nice crisp frozen pizza for lunch (from CostCo, better than your average frozen pizza), and then thought I'd have a little ice cream.

I ate almost the entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia. Insidious flavor. Yum.

I need some that give a real sense of "life just plain SUCKS."

I woke up yesterday morning with the honest intention of getting to work on a) my website, and b) my Writer's Link critiques. What I got was a Blue Screen of Death. My wonderful wife (the one thing I'm very grateful for this weekend) spent most of the day fixing it and trying to keep me from being the whiney, pathetic, spoiled brat I can be whenever I'm thwarted. We did a little shopping and I got cranky 'cause I "didn't get what I wanted," and so on and so forth. I really don't know why she puts up with me at all, much less fixes my computer for me.

So I'm behind in everything of course.

At least we watched The Music Man last night because framefolly had never seen it before. That movie ALWAYS make me happy. And so far, knock wood, this computer is working. Let's see if I can get something done today.

My editor has been canned by About.com, leaving all of us who worked as "guest writers" out -- at least, I can no longer access the "Staff" section of the board, so I'm assuming. They have an "apply now" in the guide section, but I know so little about modern mainstream country it's not a job I'd be qualified for (unless they want an editor on the "country music" site who actively despises Carrie Undertalented, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and Toby Keith....).

So I finally wrote back to Roughstock; I'd been meaning to get on board with them some while ago but I neglected to because I'm lazy and also sites like that are really preaching to the choir and I liked spreading the word about the alt-country folks where it might have done some good -- to people who didn't know about them and needed to.

Well, we'll see how it goes. I know I had my quibbles with her (and more than my share of grousing), but on the whole, I liked having the contacts.

I suppose it's time to actually update my website and figure out blogging software, or just link it to my MySpace blog.

I did enjoy the show last night; I'll have to review it somewhere, since I took all the notes and pictures and everything.

In the meantime, the insanity continues.

* * * *

I didn't get up this morning to work out. Feh. Decided for several reasons not to -- 1, Cuervo wanted FOOD NOW at 4 a.m., and when I finally got up to accommodate him, I decided I was too tired to get up in half an hour and my headache was back, and 2, since I'm going out late tonight, I wanted to get a little more sleep. So I did.

Oops, I haven't made the lentils for tomorrow (June birthday lunch at work).

In the realm of memes:

You Are White Tea

You are quite delicate and very sensitive. You are easily overwhelmed. Peace and serenity are important to you. You shy away from intensity of any sort. You appreciate a simple quiet moment. You can relax easily without feeling bored. You take the time to enjoy life. Even when things are busy, you make the time.

I decided against doing the Hugo meme, because there are shockingly few of those books I've actually read. Yikes. I totally suck as an SF nerd. (I've always been a little more of a fantasy nerd, anyway -- I noticed that MOST of the ones on the list I HAVE read tend to be the more fantastical ones or are heavy on the character interaction with a SF background -- like the Vorkosigan books.)

Must cook!

I figure I'm gonna have to actually go and see the upcoming new Halloween 2 movie, despite all; I know the fellow who's doing the soundtrack (as "Captain Clegg & the Night Creatures") personally.




(His real name is Jesse Dayton, and he's probably one of the best guitar players alive, as well as a great lyricist and singer. A little crazy, but a good guy.)

I feel tired and cranky. I DID finally work out this morning, woot. And then blew it all by eating a donut (someone brought donuts in, the evol). I knew I shouldn't have -- and apparently sugar DOES do weird things to one, because I've been starving all day, which I haven't been sticking more or less strictly to proteins and whole grains. Well, I'll be better tomorrow, although I'll be out honky-tonking again so I know I'll have a few drinks tomorrow.

I walked out of the room, it was 1-1 (D-backs v. Giants), when I came back it was 5-1 San Francisco. WHA...??? At least it's only the bottom of the 3rd, I guess there's still some chance. We're apparently 12-20 at home this season. Yikes. Don't these players understand that Phoenix is not as forgiving as Chicago?

They had a special video tribute to Randy Johnson's career (he's reached 300 wins as a pitcher, and the first to have defeated all 30 MLB teams) -- he's playing for SF now, but he pitched his perfect game as a Diamondback. *sigh* I wish they hadn't broken up the old team.

I can't get a stripey dragon egg. Grump. (Yes, I know, I need more dragons like a hole in my head...)

I'm tired.

snagged this from cornerofmadness

1. Anyone who looks at this entry please post this meme and your current wallpaper at your journal.
2. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
3. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on.

( My Wallpaper )

I was going to blog something useful on my MySpace blog, but my brain is currently somewhat dead. I haven't been to the gym in almost THREE WEEKS -- between overtime, being sick, and this morning's "time of the month" fatigue, ARGH. I will go tomorrow, damn it. I did, however, manage to maintain the weight loss I've already gotten over the overeating weekend, especially considering all-you-can-eat Asian buffet and blueberry cobbler (I tried to make it somewhat lower in sugar than the recipe called for, largely because these are REALLY good blueberries).

Yesterday I checked out Craig's List for curio cabinets and found what looked like a very nice one for under a hundred bucks; I called on it and she was willing to come down to $80, so I said I'd take it. We drove out to forever-and-away West Phoenix (80th Avenue) and got it -- turned out to be somewhat cheaper made than presented, but now it's installed and filled with our stemware, and it LOOKS lovely! All the liquor is now in the bar instead of on the floor. Woot! (I tuned in the Diamondbacks game around 3 or so. It was the bottom of the 6th. The score was 6-0. At the bottom of the 9th, the score was 6-1. Then suddenly.... Extra innings. A LOT of them. We finally won, 9-6, in the 18th Inning.)

New curio:









I have had a low-grade sinus headache all day long even with Allegra-D both in the morning and in the afternoon, and Advil isn't doing very much to combat it.

I will go to bed early tonight. I will work out tomorrow. These things must happen.

* * * *