LOL, all by myself

Got up at my usual time, 9 AM. Made breakfast and was not happy with the $2.97 coffee I bought yesterday at the C-town.
Like most every day, I sat in front of the TV to eat, even though I know that is a big NO-NO. Jon Stewart making fun of John Boehner and other Republicans and Tea party people during the President's speech was HILARIOUS and Oh-so-right-on!
Then I read two pages of a David Sedaris article in The New Yorker. My day was off to a good start!

Returning this book to the library today. It was a bit ridiculous. The tapping solution for weight loss and body confidence (book), by Jessica Ortner. There were some helpful suggestions in there but the idea of tapping various parts of your head and neck while you recite affirmations is just too dumb.

Today is my "self-indulgent" day. On Thursday, I come to Vineland and get a manicure and a massage and use the best library in Cumberland County. Heard a good story the other day. My doctor said that her father wanted her mother to move to the Friends Village in Woodstown. Her mother wouldn't go because the libraries over there are limited.

On the turntable

In my case, it is on YouTube....Listening to the top songs on iTunes to see if any of them are worth adding to my playlist on YouTube (I am too FRUGAL for iTunes). So far have only added Royals by Lorde. Enjoying my two hour stint on the public computers at the Cumberland County Library. Had to turn on the headphones due to the incessant re-dialing of the FAX machine. They put it on automatic redial and it redials immediately after it finishes dialing.
And it is REALLY loud.

Have accomplished yoga and getting online already. Can coast for the rest of the day. Even had a sociable coffee with friends down at the Cohansey Cafe in Bridgeton before yoga. Almost hesitate to buy coffee cause then I won't have an excuse to patronize my sister's cafe every weekday.

Rain today causing me great shock. We have been waking up to sunshine every day for weeks now. I even forgot about the fact that my roof leaks. Am too frugal to get new gutters and new windows. Can I get through another winter? Dreading it. Uncomfortable at home when it is real cold. Must plan some trips?

Way too late to go home early now

I thought this was a clever tune title by the Grassy Knoll Boys. They sang it on Prairie Home Companion, my favorite Saturday night radio show. It SEEMED like a new show, but I'm not really sure. My favorite singer was on (Jearlyn Steele) but I have heard him talk about her grandchildren and her degrees previously. I worry about Garrison Keillor retiring as I recently learned he turned 71. But, I suppose I could go on happily listening to reruns and not even notice. I am allowed to retire but my doctor and my radio show hosts are NOT.

I was the first customer at my sister's coffee shop today. Conveniently located several blocks from my house, it provided me with coffee and a croissant, neither of which I have currently at home. Perhaps I should start a new list for a person (or persons) I tell about it every day. Not sure how they are really going to commit to a schedule nor what hassles are involved in getting permits for this, but fun to dream.

Physically not up to par lately. Today did yoga which helped not hindered. But now I just feel like taking a NAP.
Conditions and pains in several locations.

Weird Hawaiian music

Trying to fit everything in today. Exercise is getting short shrift. Starbucks not so enjoyable. It was too hot outside even though it is a BEAUTIFUL day. My favorite (big) table became free but it is too sunny in here and they are playing a really weird Hawaiian album. Drinking an unnecessary decaf skinny mocha tall thingy.

Don't really want to go home because of my new-found hatred of the neighbors. They are flaunting their "right" to have a barking pit bull ruin my life. Every day I have to fight the ANTS and the NEIGHBORS. Did start a new obsessive/compulsive system of tracking the events in the neighborhood. Listing time spent at home (not much) and counting the incidents of neighbor aggravation (16 yesterday). Also counting the amount of trash I pick up daily (7 today). This is all fodder for my future letters and court cases (if any). I was happy that the code enforcement made them pick up trash in their yard. I am on anxiety meds and can't sleep for thinking about how unhappy I am living in my town. Most everyone with money and sense has moved out! No wonder I look on FOR RENT signs with trepidation. At least my sister's tenants and myself are united in our hatred of the neighbors. I am supposed to do something each day on that issue to make myself feel a bit better. Was going to make an Excel spreadsheet but I think I have a better plan.

The weather has been great, wonderful, fabulous for over a week. Summer is not so bad after all. Today sat by the lake in the sun or the shade, felt the breezes, talked to friends and ate hot dogs and snacks. Spectacular clouds and crisp air and scenery. It is good to have friends when I am feeling under attack by the pit bull and the inconsiderate neighbors.

Never too early for Coke

Guy behind me in line at McDonald's was getting a large Coke at 8:00 AM.  I was getting a small black coffee.  Yes, I AM feeling slightly self-righteous.

Names of people are getting quite creative, especially around MY town. Here are some from the police blotter, May 11, 2013 - Jaymere, Purman, Quamane, and Tonetta.

I think what I miss most about work is the opportunity to be on the computer ALL DAY LONG.
Today am working at my part-time job, which is hardly working in the summer.  I like to keep a hand in and keep my library privileges.  I have been renewing one book for more than 15 years and don't know if I can ever get it back.  I loaned it to a boyfriend when he was writing a play.  He returned a lot of them recently, but not that one.  He is married to someone else now, so it is sort of awkward. 

Wishing I was at the beach, where it is cooler.....

It's a gorgeous Mother's day

Except for the crowds and the large lady covered with tatoos.  Made the mistake of going to Bob Evans and Starbucks on Mother's day.  God...the crowds!  The health club was relatively quiet but I was forced to watch CNN, which is really getting on my nerves.  They announce all of this stuff that you heard about two days ago like it is this fabulous new discovery.  They also give wrong info and pronounce things badly.  It is almost more than I can take to listen to the "news" these days.  After you listen to the latest hostage crises and murders, you wonder how there can be any Americans left living.

Yahoo is acting up, yet I am fearful of "upgrading" to the new Yahoo.  Upgrades usually get rid of several features that I liked before.  Upgrades are one of my many fears.  Here are some more:
- fear of getting a new phone
- fear of getting a new camera
- fear of plans going awry
- fear of being awakened in the night
- fear of going on a trip without a phone or computer

Felt better AFTER my workout than I did before.  Went to work out right after eating too much at Bob Evans.  Now I sit at Starbucks being sorely tempted to get a large mocha cookie crumble drink with chocolate whipped cream on top.  I can only imagine the amount of calories in that one.  Was driven inexorably last night to eat stuff I shouldn't and of course, gained a pound this AM.  Feel kind of hopeless about getting my weight down.  Really hard being here in Starbucks constantly confronted with beverages that our populace consumes with narry a thought about it.

Hangin' with the beautiful people

Using the laptop at Starbucks.  Relatively speaking, for this area, here are the beautiful people.  It is a great day for sunshine, but horribly cold and windy. Hmmm...they just started playing a great CD - I think it is Andrea Bocelli.

Last night had a nice civilized grocery shopping experience in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, at Wegman's.  They have a great buffet and I enjoyed spending time there.  Cute babies and polite people.  And the prices are not too bad, either.  Whenever I work, at my job that I do once a month, I like to go to Wegman's or to the Container store afterwards.

The day is waning.  Not much more sunlight left.  I did exercise but now I am cancelling out the benefits by drinking a vanilla latte.  Watching all the people do their President's day shopping.  I bought GAS today, no money left for shopping.  I did feel sorry for the gas attendant due to the weather.  Hope this is the low point for weather this week.  In other words, the only way to go is UP.

The key is not to let go

Highly enjoyed this audiobook by Anderson Cooper. Dispatches from the edge : a memoir of war, disasters, and survival talks about how he got his start in television reporting, chasing difficult situations around the world. I guess he doesn't do that anymore and has settled down with his own TV show. The book was published in 2006. Anderson Cooper narrates the book. His mother is Gloria Vanderbilt. His father died when he was 10, "that slap of silence that reset the clock". His brother was two years older and committed suicide when Anderson was away at college by jumping from the ledge of Anderson's bedroom while his mother pleaded with him to not let go. The author goes to many war-torn countries...Somalia, Niger, and New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. He has trouble relaxing and vacationing, always wanting to be on the go and on the way to the next bad thing. Many good quotes... This one is from the epilogue..."The world has many edges and all of us dangle from them by only a thread. The key is not to let go." I really admire him and his charming good looks. A friend spends a lot of time on Fire Island in the summertime and says he sees him walking on the beach. Another good quote is..."I never understand people who are obsessed about the weather. One of the great joys of living in New York is that I can forget about the small piece of sky that I can actually see".

Drinking my daily Diet Coke. I limit myself to only one. And one cup of coffee. However, I was reading something which detailed at least three benefits of drinking coffee. Don't think I have seen any benefits of drinking Diet Coke.

Feeling very stiff around the shoulders. Even my weekly massage does not seem to have any lasting benefit in this area. Trying to get back to exercise but it is a struggle. Also trying to figure out how to add WHEELS to my lugging stuff around experience.

A man is admiring my ability to type. He asked me if I would type his resume.
I guess that is one thing I got better at working all those years.

"If Pepe hadna' gone bankrupt,

I'd probably be workin' 'til the day I died". Quoted by a retired gentleman I ran into at the Fibre Arts cafe this year. He was a very hard worker and appreciated by his employer, but his employer ran into hard times.

I am sad that this local meeting spot/coffee/fibre arts store and bookstore has left Bridgeton. The bookstore moved to Vineland and the Fibre arts shop to Millville. I enjoyed stopping down for a cheap cup of Community coffee and conversation.

Just finished listening to an audiobook, Just for laughs, for the second time. About 18 comedians which had been interviewed by Terry Gross for her NPR program, Fresh air, were featured. Perhaps Terry Gross is heard all over the nation but I am happy that she lives in the Philadelphia area and is always on NPR. I will just list my FAVORITE ones (perhaps a few names of celebrities will bring traffic to my blog?) Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Denis Leary, Sacha Baron Cohen, George Carlin, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Steve Martin and Woody Allen.

I think I felt some endorphins

Just went to exercise, second time this week. The Arthritis Foundation exercise program is done mostly sitting down. I love the teacher. We do a little bit of Tai Chi too. I am a paying member of this health club, but have only been twice this year. Let's see...at $26.66 per month, that is $319.92 per year and $159.96 per visit. I have been meaning to get back to exercising for several years now. I was afraid if I stopped paying, I wouldn't get back in with the deal. (One of the many things I do which don't make much sense!) But I like the feeling that, anytime I want to, I can walk right in.

Now I am visiting The Megabyte cafe, a newish business in Millville, New Jersey. The cafe is at 110 N. High St. in Millville. Killing time til the library opens and I can make a couple of printouts. Due to budget cuts, most of the libraries don't open until 10 AM now and they close at 8 PM. Have a nice table by the window, having my morning coffee, using the wireless with my laptop, and enjoying a delicious English muffin, heavily buttered, with strawberry jelly on top. Life is good. We didn't get too much snow down here...just enough to make an attractive dusting.

Ran across Rachel Maddow on TV last night. Boy she is great! She is a political columnist on CNBC. Her show is called TRMS, I guess? She showed a chart with pictures of all the nine white men who made rude comments about rape and abortion and pointed out that they ALL lost. It is so easy for liberals to "gloat" right now, but she gave it a very humorous skewering. I only watch TV going around the dial, I never hardly ever watch anything on purpose. If it is on and I am home I may watch it. OK, I take it back, I do watch 60 minutes on purpose.

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.

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.

I think I died and went to heaven. Stopped into NEW shop downtown. (We only get a new shop about once every five years). It is called Little Mama's cafe and is at the same location where I have previously experienced an art gallery, an ice cream store and a restaurant (God, I'm old!) The address is 20 W. Commerce St. and the official opening celebration is this afternoon at 2 PM.

Pros:
- Free wireless access
- coffee
- sweets
- adorable friendly local family wait staff
- it's not McDonald's
- Morning show playing on TV at a reasonable level
- Cool plastic see thru bag for your cupcake take out
- Jamaican me crazy coffee (they actually tell you what kind they have today)
- re-opening of a business which has been shuttered for several years

Cons:
- table wobbly
- prices a bit high for every day
- TV COULD be a con if they insist on playing FOX news or some other disgusting channel
- No plug in view for my laptop

I set out with a half a day of errands on my list and I only got two blocks from home before I had to settle down with the laptop. Did I mention how nice it is to be retired?

Enjoying Chasing life, by Sanjay Gupta. Somewhere I acquired this audiobook which is not even from the library. It got a bit SMUSHED but works fine. It is a struggle to pay attention as the facts are rushing by, fast and furious. Things like, one in 10 people AGE 65 exhibit signs of Alzheimers. Copper is bad for you (I didn't even know copper was in foods). Studies have been done on the MEMORY of FRUIT FLIES! (How do they interview them?)

Finally got on the wireless here. It is different wherever you go. I was the FIRTS ONE to try it. Reminds me of my recent working days when patrons would come in with their laptops and my eyes would just glaze over and I would think, "You're on your own...I don't know NUTTIN' about wireless!"

If I hang out here long enough, it will be time for my mid-morning snack. Now, which cupcake should I have, French toast delight, Cinnamon delight or Stawberry supreme?
Speaking of strawberries, they have a PINK TV and a sign that says, Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude.

"What kind of a Democrat are YOU!?" yelled my friend when she heard that I didn't watch the convention last night. I know I should change my TV watching policy which is, if I'm home and it is on, I will watch it (for five minutes). I know everyone else in the world is DVRing it, but....

One good thing about Facebook: you can see which of your ex-coworkers and ex-boyfriends are Republicans. How COULD they!

School bus nightmare today. It took me twice as long as normal to get around. One bus sat there so long delivering the school children that I turned off my car. Then I backed up and turned around to go another way. Then I ran into a car blocking the road who had tried a similar maneuver but had a fender-bender with another car. So I turned around AGAIN. I swear that bus was holding up traffic for at least 15 minutes.
I was driving along a street which was recently cited as the most poverty-stricken street in New Jersey. The kids were pretty solidly Mexican with a few African-Americans thrown in for good measure. How things change. I tried to just feel good about the fact that they were all getting a fresh start and making progress with their free education.

Strange but true: the song Strange fruit was written by a white Jewish guy from the Bronx.

Addictions:
- one cup (no more) of coffee each day
- one bottle of Diet Coke (no more, but definitely no less)

I have to get the bottle so I can get the code for mycokerewards.com. I have gotten a couple of magazine subscriptions through that. I asked someone downtown if she stocked Diet Coke and she responded, "No, we do not stock ANY of that imperial rat juice". That would be Coke OR Pepsi.

I could spend ALL DAY on the computer. It involves sitting. I like sitting. And it is rewarding for people who are into LISTS, also for people suffering from ADD. Trying to figure out this blogging thing. Why don't people offer CLASSES on it? Sitting in a peaceful library is my idea of a good time on a day when the temperature is supposed to top 90 degrees. Yesterday I joined yet ANOTHER library system so I have even more libraries to sit in. I did do more than just that yesterday. I enjoyed the beach, shopped, ate, tried to take a walk on the "promenade" in Cape May (but it was too hot for me). All this gorgeousity...and only one hour from my house. Don't ask me why I have not been down there at all in 2012 until August 30. Here's my new idea - visit every exit on the Garden State Parkway and explore and write about it. Cape May is at exit 0. Now here is my sister's idea - that I should blog from all the different libraries I visit. Reminds me of my visit to the library of Telluride, Colorado. It is in a small building which used to be a jail. They have a notebook and the patrons bring back stories and photographs of libraries they have seen all over the world. Telluride is that kind of place. Thinking of doing reviews....of libraries, restaurants, books, etc. Still sipping my free cup of coffee from our new McDonald's. You can get a free small coffee through September 8th. Why do I seem to be the only person really excited about this? When you are retired, you LIVE for this sort of thing. Did I say this already on another post? How do people keep track of whether they are repeating themselves?