Reasons to be happy

1. Family relatively unscathed in Hurricane Sandy
2. Took two pain pills
3. Listening to Rachmaninoff piano concerto #2 in car
4. Gorgeous clouds and sun and fall leaves on ride down to Greenwich
5. There is no five, but things sound better in fives

Actually, that was Ellen's joke which I heard last night as she got Mark Twain award at John F. Kennedy center in DC. I adore Ellen DeGeneris. I would love to go to her show, even. I think I tried to enter a contest to get tickets but you had to submit a picture of yourself and that stymied me. She just gets more adorable as the years go by.

I have always hated our Governor, Chris Christie. Have never been able to watch him complete a sentence on TV, even. But, now, I have been obsessively watching Hurricane coverage for five days and I am glued to his every word. He really does seem to CARE about New Jersey.

Fishing in the firehouse

Two feet of water in the Avalon, New Jersey, firehouse and they were FISHING in there! I am taking the lazy man's approach to storm investigation...watching it on TV. My sister and her boyfriend went out in the car to check on status of boats which were pulled into dry dock in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. 10,000 Atlantic City Electric customers are without power in Cumberland County. 7.4 million people woke up in the dark this AM, Tuesday. Luckily, not us. I am looking out the window onto Clark's Pond which is relatively calm and drizzly. We might even see the sun tomorrow.

Worried about the beach. My worries about Sea Isle seem to have been well founded. Bridges are out or closed between Avalon and Ocean City and Avalon and Sea Isle City. That means if anyone wants to travel between the towns, they have to go inland to get on the Parkway. And all of the lovely libraries I hung out in this summer. I spent more time at the beach this year than any other summer, because I was retired and had time during the week. Between the death of a young man last week and the storm this week, I am very struck by the fragility of everything.

Have never been able to watch our Governor Christie even complete a sentence prior to now. I must admit I was glued to his every word during the crisis and he seemed to be doing a good job.

Things to do when the electric goes off

Just trying to get my lists together:
- Things to do while the electricity is on: watch DVDs, cook, enjoy the heat
- Things to do when the electricity goes off: read, eat the ice cream

Went down to my sister's to try and distract myself from Hurricane Sandy. We have been watching the approach on TV and getting ready for DAYS. If it is going to leak at home, it is going to leak and there is not much I can do about it. I'll just have to clean it up when the storm is over. I just got BORED with my home activities and thought I would come down to where there is a fireplace and they live on top of a hill. We watched a really great DVD called Page eight, a British spy caper that I missed on Masterpiece theater.

I'd like life to get back to normal, but I don't really know what normal is any more.

Dazed and confused

Life somewhat crazy lately, what with a friend from out of town around. Maybe the storm is telling me it is time to stay home for a few days? Did get to the grocery store today. I was running around doing NON-essential preparations for the storm such as going to the movies and getting a manicure. We have several days of anxiety-building news to get us all worked up about the storm. I detest rain, especially a hard rain and don't like the fact that I have no Internet at home.

I am lagging behind. Now I have a laptop but I can't live off my phone like many people and I still pay my bills the old fashioned way, by writing a check and mailing it. My friends look at me like I am a dinosaur, but they send me incomprehensible texts such as, "Matchwood is on". He meant Marshwood, which is some town in a British series called Midsomer murders. He texted me from the sun room, I was in the kitchen.
Earlier, I had texted another friend to say it was gorgeous at the beach and to ask if it was sunny. The message I got back was, "It is dark and sample". I STILL don't know what she really meant. There seems to be an awaful lot of sloppy texting about.

It appears to be the night for walking around for Trick or treat. I seem to have missed that whole scheduling, costumy experience. No one comes to my house anyway cause they can't find my door. I'm not good at costumes and only party was tonight. I am going to the Symphony instead. Killing time in Starbucks cause tired of driving all over the county for this and that.

He was far from being gruntled

I love P.G. Wodehouse. I know his politics are doubtful, but I enjoy the clever repartee between Bertram Wooster, gentleman, and his manservant, Jeeves. Just started reading "The code of the Woosters" since I am spending the night with a friend and forgot my "travel" book. Luckily, "the green room" was well supplied with books and I found a few Jeeves books in there. I laugh when I read sentences such as," He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled, so I tactfully changed the subject."

My friend just handed me a cup of coffee in a cup from Bob's Bunz in Islamorado in the Floriday Keys. A reminder of a fun vaction we took in a big house on "The gold coast". It was sort of a 1950's affair, with many outbuildings, right on the Ocean. We had our own osprey, peacocks (mating), parrot and quite a few more creatures.
They really did have delicious sticky buns. Their slogan is "Bite my bunz" and you can find them at www.bobsbunz.com. We "won" this house at an auction to benefit something or other. A delightful excuse to investigate yet another part of Florida.

Yesterday attended a very sad funeral for a 19 year old. One of two unrelated adopted Brazilian boys, he and his brother had many wonderful opportunities growing up. Hundreds of students were there dressed in black and weeping. He was taken, suddenly, tragicly, in a motorcycle accident on his way to college. He was an adventurous, happy, energetic, daredevil, smiling, friendly, lovely, old soul, according to his dads and many other friends. I knew him hardly at all, but it was one of those services where you get to know him, love him and miss him all in one day.

So many books, so little time

Starting to collect more papers about books I would like to read. I was forced to clean up my office a few months ago and I had to let go of four Princeton file boxes full of papers and one big box piled full of paper....more books than anyone could POSSIBLY read in ONE lifetime. And those were all books which were available in the library where I was working. I threw them all away and went to a list system, losing most of them in the process. Ran across a good quote about reading this AM, will try to paste it in here: Norman Rush (1933- ) wrote, "The main effort of arranging your life should be to progressively reduce the amount of time required to decently maintain yourself so that you can have all the time you want for reading."

Finshed State of wonder, by Ann Patchett. It was an ebook I borrowed from the library on the Overdrive program, so it has just vanished into thin air. Usually I keep the hard copy of the item to remind myself to write a "review". Maybe I didn't quite yet finish it. Perhaps 6 pages to go. I liked it, but it was weird. A lot of physical discomforts, like bugs, snakes, malaria, etc. About medical research in the far off Amazon with strange tribes and rituals. Her new book has been recommended to me.

Must return my other book to a library about an hour away from me. I would like to go through it page by page, cause it is full of gems. I probably mentioned it already, Blogging for creatives : how designers, artists, crafters, and writers can blog to make contacts, win business, and build success, by Robin Houghton. Evan Williams had something to do with the founding of Twitter and also Blogger. In an interview with the author of my book in 2001, he said, "To me, the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity and Personality". Well, I've got the first two...not sure about the third.

A mistress of the sedentary arts

I just breathe a sigh of relief when it is time to SIT DOWN...and use the computer, drive the car, watch a play, read, etc. OK, I guess I am just lazy...but I have a lot of pain and discomfort moving around, climbing stairs, lugging all of my stuff around. I really should carve out a comfortable space at home and get the Internet, but then maybe I would never leave!

My calendar for 2013 is getting out of hand. Feeling the yearly anxiety...what kind of calendar should I get for the upcoming year? Of course, this decision should have been made in JULY but I am a procrastinator of the first degree. Shall I go electronic, get a bigger paper one or a smaller paper one, go back to the one-page-a-day or the two-page-a-day. I have a lot of things to record...all the possible events, things I should do, things I accomplished, good and bad things that happened to me.

Yesterday I came across a lot of people trying to apply for jobs online. They all looked frustrated as hell. One young woman had been having trouble with the phone giving her all these choices, none of them the appropriate one. Someone had told her she had to go online to apply for a job up at Carll's Corner for Bank of America but wherever she went online, she just went around in circles. Another woman I overheard at the library said, "When I ask for a job near Vineland, New Jersey, they give me jobs in Pennsylvania". The guy to the right of me was being quiet about it, but I could see from the red sentences on his application form that he was having trouble advancing to the next page. The new online application process is just nature's way of weeding out 90% of the people.

I admire your ability to nap

I don't get it. How can people fall asleep at the drop of a hat? I hear them snoring in yoga during the relaxation (which I don't know how to spell), I see them looking oh-so-comfortable on airplanes, I am watching a DVD with someone and he falls right off. I have been retired for almost four months and I haven't taken a nap yet.

I'm tired of getting home after dark. Tonight again, but I won't be so far away. It befuddles me at times remembering how to get home! Just spending too much time ON THE ROAD. Drove over an hour Saturday AND Sunday for my various excursions. Think I need to go back to my alternate-day-stay-near-home plan. It is a gas-saving plan and a sanity-saving plan.

Course now there are GUYS working on my house, so am maybe not so anxious to be home. I came out this morning and one of them said to me, "La casa es muy vieja!" (the house is very old)

Finished up a book, which was a bit of a disappointment. I keep wanting to read memoirs. Well, they are SHORT, which is one good thing. Memoirs by funny people are not always so funny. This one I read is of the genre, "non-famous people with diseases". It just irritated me, more than anything. It is called Monkey mind : a memoir of aneity, by Daniel Smith. It has some positive things said about it on the back and it apparently was a New York Times bestseller, but it didn't do much for me.

It's a jungle out there

Just finished a class on DRIVING for senior citizens. It was enough to make one paranoid. Even if I don't DO any of those things, there are a lot of people out there who are not yielding when they are supposed to and who are making crazy left hand turns. Those are the two biggest causes of accidents with the aged. We learned about how it becomes more difficult to SURVIVE an accident after age 75. I'm not there yet, but it was somewhat depressing to contemplate. Also learned a bunch of curious facts, such as you can be booked for a D.U.I. if you take your medication wrong. I know I drive other people crazy by driving too slow (the speed limit) but they drive me bonkers by turning out in front of me when they are going 10 miles an hour and I am going 50. So which is greater...the people who HONK at me, or the people at whom I would like to honk? I try not to honk, as much as I may want to. Teacher advised us not to encourage ROAD RAGE but to avoid it at all costs.

I tried to COOK the other day. It was pretty much a failure. I tried to make tuna casserole with a recipe with no measurements, just a list of ingredients. I may try it again with some adjustments. Or, maybe I will just rip up the recipe and forget about it. I had just suddenly gotten an urge for an old fashioned casserole with potato chips on top. I don't have the patience for cooking. Although, as the driving instructor pointed out, we have all EARNED the right to be patient.

My local paper is going to regionalize. I HATE that. It started out being the Bridgeton Evening news. I still call it that even though they changed the name to The news of Cumberland County. Now, any day it is going to become The South Jersey times. Libraries and newspapers and social service organizations do not IMPROVE when they regionalize. They just get more out of touch with the local needs. But of course freeholders and politicians LOVE regionalization. My paper drove me nuts the other day. A guy got murdered. Instead of James Penn III, they wrote James Penn!!! on the caption. Lame!

Feeling kinda rushed

Don't have the Internet at home yet, and am having trouble getting my work (and play) done at our local public libraries, including the one I used to work at! They all have different rules....some of them only allow ONE hour per day online. Now, how in the world do they expect a person to function with THOSE rules? Guess I should investigate how to get online at home. A friend kindly pointed out that I am probably spending as much on GAS to get to all of my hangouts as it would cost me to get online at home. Not to mention the shoulder pain I have what with lugging all of my folders, binders, file boxes, calendars everywhere with me. That comes to MORE than one bag per shoulder.

Hmmm...just imformed that the SWAT team is in the neighborhood. What a day! Bad accident this AM forced me to go way out of my way to get where I was going. Road was entirely shut down. Had to get the heaphones going. Annoying patron chatter around me. Playlist not working, as is often the case, so fell back on Youtube.

Really enjoyed this book, Blogging for creatives : how designers, artists, crafters, and writers can blog to make contacts, win business, and build success, by Robin Houghton. I need to examine it page by page but can't really due to FEELING KINDA RUSHED. I could actually spend four hours a day on the computer to feel fulfilled.
The book is a good how to do it but also lists a lot of cool blogs I would like to look up. I am equally passionate about READING blogs and WRITING blogs.

I hate neck tattoos

Chris Brown got another one. Facial jewelry is a pretty disgusting second, in my book.

I saw a funny sign in a library yesterday. "Persons engaging in inappropriate restroom behavior may be denied restroom privileges". There was also a limit of ten minutes in the restroom. I got it. I have worked in a library and there is no limit to the wacky things which can occur when you are working with the public. Every time something happens, a new rule/policy is devised. Then they do something ELSE you have never seen before.

"The GOOD news: the library got the DVDs I requested
The BAD news: They were stolen"

"Do not CHEW on the headphone cords. These headphones are provided as a courtesy so your child can play the games with sound. If they are damaged, they will no longer be provided".

I wrote a note to myself: "The mother load blog". But when I looked it up, there were several such blogs and spellings and I do not remember WHY I wrote that note to myself! And WHY would I be interested in a blog about motherhood, anyway? I am single and childless. Not sure why SOME family blogs are entertaining and some just plain boring. So, I just added one of them to my read list and tore up the note.

The market's gonna do what it's gonna do in spite of the victor on November 6th

Someone (?) said this this morning on CNBC (?) I am very worried about the election. I am not a safety investor and thought one should be very concerned if the president changes. I am not buying any more stocks. I have my own little mutual fund but the losers always equal the winners and I never get anywhere.

I love rice pudding. When we were at Indian Chaat and sweets in Berkeley, California, I got all excited cause it seemed they were serving rice pudding WITH RAISINS. Raisins in your rice pudding are very hard to come by. Now, this rice pudding WAS really delicious, but when I bit down on the raisin, it turned out to be a cardoman pod. According to the Internet, they are edible, but you should have seen the look on my face.

Got in a panic this morning cause I thought I lost my water bottle. Who cares, you may ask? Well, I haven't had a new water bottle since the dangerous stuff was discovered. And my sister had bought it for me, I think for last Christmas. I just got it when I was at her wedding. But I had to go all the way to the top of the Berkeley Hills to get it. So, I even called the airport cause I thought it had rolled out of my bag on the plane. I know, I know, it was a long shot, but hope springs eternal. After called the 800 number for Virgin Air, I was referred to Philadelphia airport lost and found and thence to the "local" Virgin America number where I had to leave a message. Then I found the gosh darn water bottle. I was very heppy. I also brought home another water bottle cause it had touristic information on it about the San Francisco Bay. And a really cool Diet Coke container that we don't have in New Jersey. This is why I have a problem with STUFF.

Other people's TVs

Just returned from 12 hours of traveling to get back from San Francisco. Traveled by car and then train and then plane and then bus and back to car again. Finally broke down and bought the headphones to fully appreciate the interactive screen on Virgin Air. I enjoyed listening to songs by Bob Dylan and Jay Z. Strange juxtapositions of artists on the list...Bach or B.o.B., Brahms or Bo Diddley? Catching a glimpse of all the other people's screens, I also wanted to be watching Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Sex in the city and Vanguard, this (illegal) American life.

I have a new brother-in-law. He does a good demonstration of someone trying to use a computer while sitting in those cramped airline seats. The trip home was a bit better than the trip out in some ways. There were more noisy kids, but the trip is an hour shorter coming East and I think the headphones helped.

I was also intrigued by the books people brought on the trip:
- Me: Monkey mind : a memoir of anxiety, by Daniel Smith
- My sister: Parallel communities, the Underground Railroad in South Jersey, by Dennis Rizzo
- Her boyfriend: The nautical chart, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
- Guy behind me - Beyond the wall, exploring George R.R. Martin's A song of fire and ice, edited by James Lowder
- Woman beside me - The men they will become : the nature and nurture of male character, by Eli Newberger

Stuff people ask the concierge

Lady wants to know why there is a discrepency between two different weather sites and what is the weather really going to do? Cripes!

Had a decent little breakfast at the Super 8 Berkeley. Found out it is reunion weekend at U.C. Berkeley. Ear plugs tonight! Am having a SECOND breakfast at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza where my sister is staying. Walked from my hotel to her hotel admiring the variety of stores and restaurants. Even the homeless people seem to have something "deep" to say when you are away from home.

All of my pills fell out of their containers in the airplane. I may or may not have gotten them back in the right places.

People and their phones

Really, MUST you talk on the phone when you are in a stall at the Philadelphia airport!?!?!

Am really enjoying being out of town. I hate packing but once I get going...look out.
Getting up before the crack of dawn is not my idea of a good time, either. When I went into the tiny cubicle they call a bathroom on the airplane, I discovered that I had my blouse on INSIDE OUT. That is what happens when you get dressed in the dark.

Had a great time flying Virgin Air. Now I LOVE Virgin as much as I HATE Spirit. They leave on time, the seats are somewhat roomy, they serve Diet Coke, they have a cool interactive screen you can play with, and the stewards are friendly. I am fortunate to be DRIVEN for a change, TO the Philadelphia airport and FROM the San Francisco airport by my sister. We drove over the University Avenue Bridge into Berkeley and almost slammed on the brakes to stop at the first Indian restaurant we came upon. I think I deserve an extra meal today due to the three hour time difference, don't I?

A cool and crispy day

Guy on Rowan University radio made me laugh this AM. I have heard of a CRISP day but never a CRISPY day. That is quite an eclectic radio station if you happen to be in the Southern New Jersey area (89.7).

Going away for the weekend. Being away from my car makes me anxious. I know fear of leaving home is agoraphopia. But what is it called when you are afraid of being far from your car? Also wondering whether I want to bother taking my laptop with me for a four day trip. Wishing I was the sort of person who knew how to live only from the phone, but I am not that person. I don't even have APPS.

Just finished another book, This is how you lose her, by Junot Diaz. Another book of short stories. I seem to be drawn to them. The stories may have involved the same protagonist, but they certainly weren't in chronological order. A lot of cursing and unpleasant thoughts about women but nicely put. Also a lot of Spanish, some of which I did not know. But I was happy about the Spanish words that I DO know! It was an easy read and gave a good flavor of ethnicity (Dominican Republic), poverty, young men coming of age, relationships, New Jersey, and ghetto life. I love Dominican people so I make a point of reading everything by this author.

I liked this description of a woman from the story The sun, the moon and the stars..."She's the nerd every librarian in town knows, a teacher whose students love her."

About another woman in the story called Miss Lora: "There were a lot of these middle-aged single types in the neighborhood, shipwrecked by every kind of catastrophe, but she was one of the few who didn't have children, who lived alone, who was still kinda young. Something must have happened, your mother specultated. In her mind a woman with no child could only be explained by vast untrammeled calamity. Maybe she just doesn't like children. Nobody likes children, your mother assured you. That doesn't mean you don't have them."

Trying to be more sensible about eating

Had a Greek yoghurt with a cereal mix in it. Somewhat sensible. No clean pans for making French toast. One day here is what I ate:

Breakfast: donut
Lunch: Subs
Dinner: kettle corn

No wonder I feel like crap.

Things I don't like about yoga:
- the boat pose
- balancing on one foot with a strap holding the other foot
- seated forward bend cause I can't GO anywhere
- the smell of those mats (sort'a chemical?)
- the IDEA of those mats (all over the floor)

I could be happy doing "legs up the wall" for the entire class. In fact, I am quite partial to any poses you can do LYING DOWN. I also like:
- woodchopper's pose
- forward bend (I can touch the floor)
- the relaxing part at the end
- knees over to the side stretch
- windmill pose

Someone just asked me to do some serious research. I haven't done too much of that lately. Yesterday, I DID help with a reference question in a library (I was just being a patron but I overheard a need). How would you know that you could get something notarized at a taxi stand unless you had personal experience? I get around and I find stuff out!

I can't believe I didn't wear a coat.

All last winter that is. I was paying the AIR CONDITIONING bill yesterday and my fingers were FREEZING. On the news the other night, they were interviewing a young boy who was snow boarding. He said that the previous week, he was WATERSKIING. I guess I shouldn't complain as the conditions were much worse (colder) in the interior of our country. I love fall, don't get me wrong, it is the touch of WINTER in the air that has really got me down. Also the realization that, now that I am retired, I will be paying for my own heat during the daylight hours.

Have been finishing up books like crazy. Soon, I will have so few books by the bed that it will be time for an ANXIETY attack. Any less than five and I start to feel deprived. I will write down some thoughts before I return these books to the library. The two books of essays BOTH had an essay about CRYONICS!?!?
- The mansion of happiness : a history of life and death, by Jill Lepore, included topics such as parenting, aging, and when does life begin and end. My favorite essay was called The children's room and discussed children's literature authors, such as E.B.White, and the beginning of separate juvenile collections in libraries. And the conception of librarians battling over Stuart Little and other books! This book wasn't really such an EASY read, but it brought forth a lot of interesting tidbits of facts. Jill Lepore is a columnist for the New Yorker, which is why I made my librarian buy her book.
- Don't get too comfortable, by David Rakoff. Ever since I heard a bit on NPR about the death of David Rakoff, I have been obsessed with reading his work. I "discovered" him after his death. He is "that guy who sounds like David Sedaris but isn't". He is Canadian and has been on NPR and written for various magazines in a humerous fashion. He also appeared in a Broadway show with Amy and David Sedaris. He's Jewish, gay, prematurely balding and died too young of cancer. My favorite part is in an essay called J.D.V., M.I.A. (Joie de vivre, Missing in action) about a late-night scavenger hunt played in the streets of lower manhattan called Midnight madness. "I am not fun at all. In fact, I am anti-fun. Not as in anti-violence, but as in anti-matter. I am not so much against fun -- although I suppose I kind of am -- as I am the direct opposite of fun. I suck the fun out of a room. Or perhaps I'm just a different kind of fun : the kind that leaves one bereft of hope; the kind of fun that ends in tears."

Boy, am I glad that I am retired and that I speak English and Spanish!

In "my" McDonald's, listening to a conversation with some prospective employees. They don't speak English and one of the workers is translating. The prospective worker is balking at the possible schedule because she wants to spend time with her family and doesn't want to get assigned every Saturday and Sunday. Also, it would cost more for a babysitter than she could make at McDonald's. I've been there, baby. I have worked SO MANY Saturdays and Sundays but, of course, I don't have a family to spend time with. And, naturally, the "new kid on the block" does get all of the worst of the schedule. That is why I don't feel like looking for a job, myself.

I said I was over 60 minutes, but now I am into it again. Lasy night learned about the dangers of Chinese computer companies and the monopoly of eyeglass companies. But the one story that made me CRY was about a guy I never heard of (shame!), Rodriguez, who wrote some songs and put out an album about 40 years ago called Cold facts. It went nowhere and he went to work as a day laborer. Somehow, he was a huge star in South Africa but he never knew anything about it. Then there was a connection and a young adorable Swedish guy decided to make a movie about him with a Super 8 app he bought for $1 for his iPhone! The guy and the film are famous now. I really want to find the movie which won at Sundance and is called "Looking for Sugar man".

It is cold and grim today. I dread the coming of winter and having to pay for my own heat all day long. My house expenses are going to put me in the poor house.

The peripatetic librarian

As part of my obsessive record keeping and list making, I record where I go every day to access the computer. I try to go somewhere DIFFERENT daily day so no one will think my life is TOO pathetic. This week I have been to:

- Monday - Sea Isle City Library, Sea Isle City, New Jersey
- Tuesday - Vineland Public Library, Vineland, New Jersey
- Wednesday - Little mama's cafe, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Thursday - Cumberland County Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Friday - Bridgeton Public Library, Bridgeton, New Jersey
- Saturday - Paul Robeson Library, Camden, New Jersey
- Sunday - Starbuck's - Millville, New Jersey

Today I volunteered at Wheaton Arts crafts festival. It used to be called Wheaton VILLAGE but now we must refer to it as Wheaton ARTS(dumb). It was kind of fun, although raining at first and the temperature dropped precipitously. It sounded like a good idea at the time I signed up. I kind of forgot that I am not really a fan of being on my feet for four hours at a time. Then church lasted too long due to COMMUNION and I was a bit late. My job was "booth sitter". I had to walk around, introduce myself to the artists and offer to babysit their booth while they went to the john or to get a snack. Met some nice people, saw some real creativity, felt bad that I didn't buy stuff but shopping causes me anxiety. Got my kettle corn and saw some friends. Decided nex time I should take my envelope of cash from my drawer so I don't always feel like I CAN'T BUY ANYTHING. Sometimes I take this frugality thing too far. Why do I always have to DECIDE between crafts or gas? Why can't I have BOTH? Just askin'.

Now a report on an audio book and a book which I have just finished. The book is Faithless : tales of transgression, by Joyce Carol Oates. I read it because it is the One book selection of the Cumberland County College this term. The 21 short stories do involve a lot of sex and violence and other weird stuff. Some of the topics listed in a New York Times book review were, "loneliness, divorce, revenge and not a little gun ownership". It kept my interest at least. I will try and attend the lecture they will schedule with the author.

Was very glad to get to the end of my audio book called Last lessons of summer, by Margaret Maron. I did not like this book. It involved an old house down south, a family business of children's books, a suicide and a murder and trying to figure it all out. Boy, but this women had one annoying family. Amy goes down to North Carolina to clean out her grandmother's house after her grandmother is murdered. Many boring and bothersome family members are waiting for the house to be sold so they can get some money. Add an irresponsible, cursing sister and a jar of poisoned fig preserves.

I read banned books!

Happy Banned books week, September 30th - October 6th. Celebrate the freedom to read. Just to name a FEW of the banned books I have read:

- To kill a mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Once, when I was a librarian, a patron asked for a book, HOW to kill a Mockingbird...

It is also Gluten free month (October). This is the latest trendy disease. Perhaps there is something to it, but I have not yet had the discipline to investigate it.

Working today. I have a job. It is only one day a month. And not EVERY month! I tried to get here early to make sure everything was working right and that I could remember all the passwords to get things going.

Passwords are quite an annoyance. Luckily, here, there is a list of the needed passwords for all to view. BUT it is password protected. My PERSONAL list of passwords numbers 44. Then I had a big long list for my main job and then another list for my part time job. I won't say where they all are kept, but some people recommend a booklet where you write them all down. Problem with that is I like to keep them in alphabetical order.

Unsavory denizens of downtown

Attended a cooking demonstration down at the pocket park today. We are supposed to call it the "Culinary Park" but I think that is a bit pretentious as well as a misnomer. I picked up a recipe for Broccoli cakes which I don't know if I will ever make. It involves frying in a quarter of an inch of hot oil. I am know for my passion for picking up recipes and my lack of interest in actually cooking. We were advised to bring our own lunch as the demo was just for TASTINGS. Some sort of homeless-looking guys were scarfing up the samples. They had not received the memo. The cook was actually reprimanding one of the guys for his language and his manners.

Word of the day: DENIZEN. It means inhabitant, or someone who frequents a place.

Returned a book to the library today that I did not really enjoy. The dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman, is a historical story of four women a very long time ago when Jews were being done away with on a mountain called Masada in ancient Israel. It was confusing and too violent for me. It was a book club choice and I already missed the discussion about it. So many books, so little time!

Stop making sense!

Ok, it was a movie with the Talking Heads. The title came up in my brain in regards to all my complaining about the various things which don't work in my life. I should keep it to myself because everybody else wants to tell me how to FIX IT. Especially men. Yeah!? Well, maybe I don't WANT to fix it. Maybe I just want to COMPLAIN.

Had breakfast out. I really like that. Mainly because I have not had a working coffee pot for perhaps years now. A dear friend gave me an individual cup one from a major brand and it just didn't work out. I finally had to THROW IT AWAY! I kind of soured me on the whole making coffee at home thing. Today I had the satisfaction of using COUPONS at the local Dunkin' Donuts. Now that the FREE coffee weeks are done at McDonald's it is time to go back to my other coffee methods (oh, how I miss the days when our dear adorable maintenance man used to make us coffee every morning at work). I can get the CHEAP coffee along with the visit to a small business owner or the expensive coffee trying to support another new business or the cheap coffee at McDonald's AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE CAR. See how much more fun this is than drinking alone at home?

I am enjoying a book about blogging. Really, I am reading about ten books at once.
Some I DREAD and some I look forward to. This one has gems on each page. First, it has about four pictures of creative blogs on each spread. Some I have heard of and some not. Then there are the fascinating statistics, such as that most blogs are abandoned after three months. I'll share more when I am finished and have the book and the computer "in hand" at the same time.

Why did I order flavored coffee?

I don't even LIKE flavored coffee. But, in the quest for NEW EXPERIENCES, I was lured into ordering Red Velvet coffee this AM in the coffee shop. Now I have to load it up with cream and sugar. I have managed to train myself to get back to black but I like just plain old delicious coffee, not too strong. I am not really well set up this morning. In order to get the airconditioning, I had to give up the view and the table is too small. Also the chairs are uncomfortable. Perhaps I should develop an evaluation system for computer usage spaces.

Was reviewing my notes on CLUTTER this morning. I took two series of classes. One was on organizing and one was for your more serious clutterer (that's me). I learned that there are four clutter syndromes:

- vicarious clutterer
- comfort accumulator
- hunter-gatherer syndrome
- sentimental keeper complex

I am the comfort accumulator. She mentioned people who gather many objects in order to replace something missing in their lives (alright, she didn't say what). Also, single people who have collections which are over the top, such as too many cats or CDs. My personal pecadillo is paper clips. (why doesn't blogger have spell check?) I also have quite a collection of SCRAP PAPER. Entire sheets of plain paper which I am not even fond of using for scrap (I prefer lined paper). In addition to being a hoarder, I am a recycler. I can't bear to throw out anything that could be RE-USED.

Screwed by Sprint

Sprint is winning. I have visited two stores and called customer service 4 times and I give up. Guess I am not getting Sprint navigator back. Can't even THINK about the cell phone, it gets me so angry. The problem is I WANT stuff, but I don't want to PAY for it. Since I do not see any inheritances coming my way, I guess I will just have to try and not WANT so much. The irritating thing with Sprint is I LOST something I had had for 22 months and now they say I can't get it back.

Junk drawers - one person advises never to have one. My sister's junk drawer consists of keys, suntan lotion and bug spray. So I guess it is not really a junk drawer!

Things I need in every room - scissors, wastebasket, stapler, handiwipes, kleenex

Had lunch with the retired persons from my job today. It was funner than I was anticipating. Only four of us today. Of course, I am the youngster. We had fun talking about technology, change, libraries, bosses, coffee pots and people we worked with.

My assistant is the only one following me on Twitter...

OK, I STOLE that headline from an ad for Lucky in Vanity Fair. I'm not really even ON Twitter but I can see the appeal. When you have a THOUGHT, you want to share it. Instead, I have a bazilion scraps of paper here and there. But, that headline made me laugh, as it reminds me of the disconnect between wanting to have a blog and wanting it to be SECRET and ANONYMOUS.

Forgot my headphones today. I really regret that. Have an intense desire to listen to PSY Gangnam style. Suddenly, now, it is on the RADIO. Note to self: look up the translation of what he is saying (it is in Korean, with a few English words thrown in like "sexy lady"). I also have a need to listen to Playlist.com and see if the miracle which occurred the other day is still happening. I have been engaged in a love/hate relationship with this website for many months now. A bunch of months ago, I lost the ability to play down the list. Suddenly, it came back, making me not just a HAPPY camper, but an ecstatic camper.

Down at the beach again for the last class of Home organization 101. Actually, I have already taken this class, accidentally, twice before, due to some personal DISORGANIZATION. But, I like the teacher and the classmates and I like having a reason to come down to Sea Isle City. The boardwalk was kind of buggy, though, and the fudge shop was CLOSED. So, now I am just appreciating the great view from the library, overlooking the Intercoastal waterway. We had homework which I am rather BEHIND on. But, I DID get a few extra bags of trash down to the receptacle this week. Not as many as I SHOULD have, but more than the usual two bags weekly.
I am paying for this ginormous trash receptacle so I might as well FILL IT UP.