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.

Things I noticed in Atlantic City yesterday

- quite an intercultural mix - gorgeous bikini clad white folks - ethnic families - tattooed and pregnant folk - elderly casino lovers
- Hispanic woman wearing a silver revealing bathing suit covered with chains and necklaces
- Hispanic woman wearing a skimpy t-shirt that said "I (heart) black guys"
- Indians taking pictures of themselves in front of Trump Taj Mahal
- Italian woman participating in the World series of sand sculpting

Tuscany (book), photographs by Sonja Bullaty & Angelo Lomeo, text by Marie-Ange Guillaume. Since I did not take pictures in Italy, I enjoyed reading this large nonfiction book with many photographs of Tuscany. Siena was the only city I was in and I loved it. There were a lot of photographs of other cities and beautiful countryside much like what I saw.
- "The old haystacks, true works of art, can still be found but are gradually giving way to more efficient methods of storing hay." I think I only saw the big round bales of hay and not the old haystacks.
- "There are in blocks of marble images that are sumptuous and essential, if only we have sufficient genius to extract them. - Michelangelo"

The Keillor reader (book), by Garrison Keillor: I say I don't appreciate him as much in the written form as I do in the talking form, but some of these essays make me want to own the book. I especially like the final essay on Cheerfulness.
- From the introduction: "There is nothing like good material. You only had to say NEW YORK and there was an awestruck silence. You went, you saw, and now you tell the others." and: "The living wander away, we don't hear from them for months, years - but the dead move in with us to stay"

Niggas vs. Black people

This is a VERY FUNNY routine on the Chris Rock album Roll with the new. Today I went to a talk on Laughter as the best medicine. So, I got this album on Hoopla to assist me in getting laughter in my life. It is really doing the job.

It is a gorgeous day outside but I have been spending a lot of time indoors. Breakfast at the Amish market, lunch and a lecture at the health club, lifting weights at the health club and now stuck in the library using the Internet.
Looking forward to getting home tonight and staying there. I love being home when it is sunny. I have quite large windows and I enjoy the sun coming in them. When I get kicked out of the library, I will take a little "Vitamin D bath".

Found out that the wildflower workshop I signed up for tomorrow is OUTSIDE. I guess that is better than inside.

Bacon cupcakes?

Someone offered me a bacon cupcake, but I declined. Am trying to get back to my sensible eating because.....a woman I used to work with looks and feels FANTASTIC....I am going on a trip with much walking and MOUNTAINS.

I'm not much into April fool's pranks but here is what they did at my health club to the boss...put yellow crime tape across his door. When he opens the door to his office he will find it FULL of pink balloons. They were blowing up the balloons when I was there for exercise this AM.

Book of ages : the life and opinions of Jane Franklin, by Jill Lepore: A biography of the youngest sister of Benjamin Franklin. She lived a life quite in contrast to her brother and they did not spend much time together but did correspond throughout their lives. She was not very literate. She loved to read but had limited access to books. Her spelling was a bit iffy as she was never schooled. She spent her life bearing children, many of whom died young. She kept a Book of ages, wherein she recorded the births and deaths of family members.

Get rich carefully, by James J. Cramer: I like Jim Cramer and the way he yells his advice on the TV. The book is much more serious and I just scanned it for ideas about companies. There is no way I am going to take the time and energy required to be as careful as he is figuring out where to invest. I think that I would rather just follow his advice! He recommends listening to conference calls of CEO's and doing complicated charting.

The burglary : the discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's secret FBI, by Betty Medsger: This book was recommended by a friend and it all happened 40 years ago in Media, Pa. Really near me, but I didn't know any of the people. I was involved in the peace movement and the anti-war movement and these were the groups targeted by the FBI. The burglary brought to light the actions of the FBI quite reminiscent of the NSA revelations of today. The identity of the people involved in the burglary has remained secret for many years, but is exposed in this book. I still don't know any of them. Ended up skimming a bit near the end. I think I am more of a fiction person.

Robin Thicke and Nora Ephron

Listening to CD Blurred lines by Robin Thicke. That is about the only single that appeals to me.

Greatly enjoyed The most of Nora Ephron. She died in 2012 at the age of 71. Good to reread things such as Heartburn and When Harry met Sally. Her later essays are quite poignant, like I remember nothing and What I won't miss and What I will miss. Painful AND funny reading her thoughts about aging and death.

I can't believe I read the entire 618 pages of Joyce Carol Oates newest book, The accursed. It was a mess and I didn't really enjoy it much. It jumped all over the place, including historical references about New Jersey, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson, Grover Cleveland, the New Jersey devil, mesmerism, Prebyterianism, Upton Sinclair and more. I did read carefully to see if Mother Bloor was mentioned. She was a Socialist who used to live in my town, unhappily, at my actual address. She helped Sinclair with research for his book, The jungle.

It was kind of confusing. I read many books at once and I was reading one called The accused and one called The accursed.

Aged goods

Spotted this sign on an abandoned bar as I drove through Millville, New Jersey, today. It used to say PACKAGED GOODS but the "pack" got torn off.

So happy whilst walking on the Ocean City boardwalk today. The sun! The breezes! The unseasonably warm weather! The polite and quiet people! I am so hating my town (Bridgeton) these days. I think I could live at the beach or somewhere far, far away from annoying people. So many beach towns within an hour of my house. But it seems more and more people are heading to Ocean City, America's family resort. Maybe because there are so many rentals there? Or because it is a dry town? Last September I was a bit lonely while renting there, but maybe it depends on my mood? I like peace and quiet and I am surrounded by LOUD people with bad grammar and lots of cursing. Also yapping dogs. Even if the dog is houses away from me, it bugs me to no end. I have this week taken to wearing earplugs but they don't help that much. And you can only use them when you AREN'T listening to NPR. Have added earplugs to my really long shopping list.

I guess the other alternative is to be home less. Or travel more. Or sleep elsewhere. Only slept away from home ONE NIGHT the whole summer.

"Something smells like it is burning.....

Oh, it's sawdust". My sister's partner has a wood shop and they are serving coffee in the front part. This is the third day of regular hours and they are already thinking of what else to do. I tried to look up business licenses in the code of the City of Bridgeton, but I couldn't get anywhere.

I had a good experience yesterday. Well, first a BAD experience. Unbeknownst to me, my credit card fell out of my pocket and was laying on the street downtown. A kind, honest lady picked it up and called the bank. They called me and I walked downtown to get it from an employee of the WIC office. The buildings were very poorly marked. Crazy numbers and old names of organizations. I guess you have to KNOW about it to find it. A lot of security. Can't get into any buildings without ringing a buzzer. I snuck into a preschool along with a lady and her tiny daughter. They rang the buzzer and when questioned, she said (in Spanish), "I'm here to pick up my baby". Had to ask various people and be personally led by a person I remembered from my old job. Along the way to the very-well-hidden WIC office, I discovered a fruit and vegetable market. I think it is for poor people but I am going to go. It is sort of hidden halfway down a parking lot and is there Tuesdays - Fridays (not sure of the hours). All this within a few blocks of my house!

Not feeling really great. Allergies for one thing. A variety of rashes, digestive difficulties and general tiredness round out the picture. Seems like I am slowing down every day. Weather went from HOT to COLD. I guess it is just the usual shock to the system that another season is coming upon us. I thought I would be so happy when the heat ended. A friend was very jealous when I told her I couldn't remember the last time I set the alarm.

I miss bumper stickers

I saw two good bumper stickers today. There were quite a few on this car and you don't see THAT any more either! 

- "I listened to NPR before it was cool".
- "Are you hearing voices of crazy people?  Turn off FOX news".

Holiday weekend approaches.  I don't like holidays.  Nothing is ever happening due to the holiday.  I never have any plans.  I emailed my sisters and none of them have any plans either.

Torrential rains yesterday.  Ceiling leaking again.  I guess a leaking ceiling never gets any better, only worse.  (One can always HOPE, can't one?)  So here are my main problems today...

- a leaking ceiling (roof)
- a dead bat somewhere in my house
- a barking pit bull next door
- cell phone battery is inexplicably dying and I need to make some phone calls
- rash on my leg is starting to itch again

Other than that, life is just hunky dory.  I will try and think of some GOOD things now...

- the competition at the health club is almost over so I can stop feeling inadequate
- I am starting to walk better due to losing weight
- everybody is very well behaved over here at the Vineland Public Library
- I rebooted my laptop and overcame the nonfunctioning
- Serena Williams is one hunk of a woman (I just perused Tennis magazine)

Low productivity today

Can't get focused today.  Day looking increasingly threatening.  I think it may have finally started to rain.  August has been amazingly pleasant, as Augusts go.  It got to 90 degrees the other day for the first time since July.  I have been enjoying the pool.

Book review: Neighbor law, by Cora Jordan (c2006). Read this fascinating book on my Nook.  Actually borrowed it through the Overdrive system at the Vineland Public Library.  Chapters on dogs, fences, boundaries and other topics of interest to me.  Also learned about things that other people could sue ME for, such as my falling down fence.

Book review: Quite enough of Calvin Trillin : forty years of funny stuff, by Calvin Trillin (c2011).  My sister gave me this book for Christmas and I greatly enjoyed it.  Short essays and poems, just right for my attention span.  The offerings are divided up under topic headings, such as "English and some languages I don't speak".  The very first story is called "Chubby" and relates to a story about a collie dog and finding out the real truth about what happened to him later in life.  He didn't really "go to the farm".  I had a very similar tale about Mandy the lamb so I loved this story, which was really about memory.  I also enjoyed the story called "Paper trails" about the difficulties of composing a note to put on your car.  As the essays and poems are dated, it serves as a bit of reminder of our history.

No body drying with the hair dryers

A funny sign at the health club.  I like the one at the Cape May Court House library that says, Please remember to flush.  I wonder if that would work at the Vineland Public Library?  They don't tell you in library school that you will have to spend time FLUSHING TOILETS.  That was one of the 35 things I had to do every night when we closed down the library.

Came into the Millville Library today and saw a guy with sagging pants and jewelry in both sides of his bottom lip.  My heart sank.  Then he stepped forward to open the door for me.  My heart soared!

A friend is having a book signing tonight.  I am going over in honor of the longest day of the year.  Lots of daylight I mean.  Anyway, Sally Willowbee is a very creative woman who I have known for decades.
Here is the book she wrote about OTHER creative people in the South Jersey area, Found artists : on country roads, side streets and back alleys of South Jersey. 6 PM book signing at the Renaissance Riverfront gallery in Millville, New Jersey.

http://www.rrcarts.com/book-signing.html

Blogging humor

    
I should give credit to the New Yorker.  I have been carrying this page around since February 6, 2006.  I come from a family of New Yorker readers.  My father used to get all of us a subscription each Christmas, my mom, himself, and his four daughters.  Now that he is gone, we keep up the tradition, on a rotating basis.

Lovely morning listening to NPR and trying to get the humidity out of my house.  I even left the air conditioner on while I'm out.  Can't really justify that now that I don't have pets.  I love the sunshine but hate the humidity.

Yesterday I had a delightful birthday.  Breakfast at my sister's, gifts, flowers, dinner with my "girlfriends of the '70's" (aren't those the best kind?), phone calls, email messages, Facebook remembrances, singing.  Couldn't have asked for a better day except that the weather could have been better.  Torrential rain and drizzles with occasional brightening.

Camera displays people naked

Guy next to me on the computer is looking at that on Youtube.  I am using my free headphones I got on the airplane to use with the ipad they loaned me.  I need headphones EVERYWHERE, just like I need scotch tape, staplers, telephones and waste baskets everywhere.  Have misplaced my special ones yet again.  But I got TWO new pairs....on the way to Paris and on the way back.  And they are nice and LONG....I don't have to check out the headphone extender cable like I had to with my regular earbuds.  I had to give back the ipad but they didn't want to headphones back.

I like this cartoon in the New Yorker,since I am laboring in obscurity on this blog.

Book review: Murder, she wrote, a slaying in Savannah by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain.  Actually, I have listened to this audiobook before, narrated by Cyntha Darlow.  Amazingly, the narrator manages to almost SOUND like Angela Lansbury, who played Jessica Fletcher on TV.  As a former cataloguing librarian, these kinds of books used to drive me crazy.  Jessica Fletcher is a FICTIONAL character so how can she be writing a book?  Jessica is called to Savannah upon the death of a good friend.  The friend left one million dollars to a literacy foundation she ran with Jessica.  The money is contingent upon the solving of a murder by Jessica.  So she stays in the big house of the deceased, along with fortune-hunting boyfriends, ghost-chasing "tenants", servants who have been around for decades.  She solves the murder with a clue that sailed completely by me. 

Anonymous blogs

Wrote to a guy who HAD a blog to ask some questions.  I liked his sense of humor and his self revelations.  He immediately responded with a long email which helped me.  He started off with an anonymous blog.  The more his friends discovered it, the more he had to censor himself.  This is my problem.  So, I am going to make my blog public again but STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.  I have learned that I really don't want criticism.  That is why I don't work!

According to statistics, most people abandon their blogs after 2 or 3 months.  I still feel like writing, despite my recent crisis of purpose.

It was so great to see so many friends over the weekend.  Since Monday things not going so well.  Spent an entire afternoon struggling with the tax stuff at the library and they didn't have a calculator to lend me.  Finally had to send off an extension form even though I do not believe in extensions.  Now that the post offices all close at 5, that was my deadline.  After spending 5 hours on it, I ended up brain dead, pissed off, confused, and a bunch of other negative emotions.  Then I went to my book club and couldn't think of much to say about the book, Zuka and the fire of life, by Salman Rushdie.  Today I woke up with noises of butchering of trees.  Went outside and found out it is MY neighbors with three types of heavy equipment going a bit overboard, if you ask me.  They proceeded to destroy a quite lovely fir tree because the owner wants to put a DUMPSTER back there, so he can renovate the downstairs apartment (and thus give me DOUBLE the trouble).  I had to take an anti-anxiety pill and leave home to get away from the noise and the thinking about it.

I love this New Yorker cartoon

Trying to remember to post a picture every day.  A teenager reminded me that even if you aren't TAKING pictures, you can always steal them off of the Internet to make your Power Point presentation.

It is just so hard to remember to do the things I have to do to get more fit, like exercise (almost) every day and spend many hours NOT eating.  Scary going to events such as I went to this weekend: a British tea, church refreshments and a girlfriend reunion with LOTS of yummy things to eat, many of which are not on my eating plan. Combine that with the fact that I had no time to exercise over the weekend due to too many events.   And like the guy above, I spend too much time sitting.  I think that is why my favorite activities are driving around and reading (not at the same time.)  I like to SIT!

Audiobook review:  The ten year nap, by Meg Wolitzer, narrated by Alyssa Breshahan.  Perhaps the first book by this author that I have read.  Four fortyish women living in the New York City area find that their lives have not really turned out the way they thought they would.  They meet, they talk, their lives change, they move, they get new friends, they get disillusioned with the new friends.  I always find myself criticizing the readers of these books.  For instance, one of the women's daughters sings the song, Greensleeves.  The reader pronounces it like Greens-leaves.

Maybe they don't WANT us to know

Had to go to the Post Office and get another letter filled with gobbledy-gook from the City of Bridgeton.  They had been charged $6.11 to mail it and it came "postage due".  The last time they sent one it cost half that amount.  I HATE certified mail.  Just makes me worry unnecessarily. And then you have to get to the Post Office and wait in a big long line to get it and then it is incomprehensible and you wish you had never gotten it.  I called the city to complain and ask why they couldn't just give us a few "bullet points" about what it really means to ME, the man on the street.  We went around and around and I really learned nothing except that they mailed these change in zoning letters to 700 people.  "It's the LAW'", the head of Planning told me.   What a waste of time and money!  I guess I SHOULD have said, "What are you trying to ENABLE and what are you trying to PREVENT?"  Of course, there is another possibility and that is that they REALLY DON'T WANT US TO KNOW!  All he really said was that it is so complicated that it would take en entire huge volume to explain it.

Had a mouse emergency today.  First time my wireless mouse has failed. It has been working perfectly for  9 months.  Thus, I don't know what to do.  I don't have the instructions with me and even if I did there is no phone service down here in Greenwich.   Thank goodness one of my gentlemen friends down here at the Cumberland County Historical Society came up with a mouse which I could plug in.  (The first one he gave me could not be plugged into my laptop due to no compatible hole).  But at least I didn't have to face a DAY WITH NO COMPUTER (it's like a day with no sunshine).  Yesterday I was online for THREE hours and I thought THAT was not enough time.

Saw a bound book of the Dollar weekly news lying on the table.  So I checked out what was happening on April 8th, 1938.  The was a humorous debate at a grange meeting on this topic: Resolved - that a wife is more useful than a wheelbarrow on a farm.

Lessons learned about food

Was invited to lunch yesterday at the Centerton Golf Club.  When we got there I found that the cost was $38!  Gulp... So, even though I am on a diet (I mean life long eating plan) I HAD to get my money's worth!
That is the problem with the BUFFET.  I should have just eaten from the hors d'oeuvres table....they had gigantic, delicious shrimp, roasted vegetables, cheese (my favorite food) and grapes.  The hot buffet was ho hum compared to that.  I ignored most of the desserts because I eat there once a month and am overly familiar with all of their offerings.  Was quite captivated by the three tiered chocolate fountain.  And, naturally, I had to completely cover my strawberries, pineapple and pretzel sticks with chocolate.  I think it would have been better (and more sensible) to just put a BIT of chocolate on those things.

Insane city, a novel by Dave Barry.  I love Dave Barry but I prefer his humerous essays.  This novel was way over-the-top Florida insanity.  There are a few Florida authors who take it too far.  And I know that Florida CAN be crazy.  It involved some madcap adventures with a family preparing for a wedding and running into lost luggage, marihuana brownies (medically approved), an escaped orangutan, Haitian refugees, hired henchmen, snake wranglers, Russian gansters, drug dogs, angry strippers and more.  There is an overemphasis on coversations.

Now, TODAY would have been a good Easter day.  Yesterday, it was somewhat cloudy and cool.  At least, the rain held off until after the egg hunts were done.  Got to see some kids, dye some eggs, eat some chocolate, sing some songs in church, receive some compliments about the singing.  I wore my same Easter dress from last year.  Luckily, no one seemed to notice.  Two shades of purple, with pink kneesocks.
Someone gave me some eggs, someone STOLE my eggs, someone gave me some daffodils.  Found out my neighbor stole my eggs because a friend of his said go outside and look for the eggs I left for you.  He said they were delicious.

Water bottle envy

Everyone has these NEW kind of water bottles, large, see through, with all kinds of fancy drinking arrangements.  Me, I still have a collection of the plastic ones made before they discovered the bad stuff in them.  But, it is part of my heritage that I can't get rid of something that still works. Me and my father before me, we use an appliance until the very last feature breaks.  My sister did give me a NEWER type, very nice, but I seem to have misplaced it.

Why don't my socks match?  For all practical purposes, they did when I put them on this morning.  But, in the midst of yoga, I saw a yellow part on the toe of one and a slightly different cable stitch.  Now I see why my brother-in-law asked for a BUNCH of socks all the same for Christmas.  Reminds me of the old Jules Feiffer cartoon where one day, in the clothes dryer, Bernard finds a note that says, "Bring the machine more socks!"

Starting to weigh myself every morning.  The goal is to be DOWN or stay the same.  It is very slow.  I am trying to exercise every day, but some of my exercise is not that strenuous and the eating is really hard to manage.  I am feeling slightly better, but many things still bother me....tiredness, balance poses in yoga. (Boy, I sure use the word BUT a lot!)

A satisfactory spread

I only watched the end of the Academy awards and, of course, I was only rooting for the films I had SEEN, such as Silver linings playbook (twice), Amour and Lincoln.  I liked the fact that it wasn't a sweep by any one film.  That always makes me feel bad for the losers.  Seth McFarland and Kristen Chenowith sang a song "To the losers" as the closing credits went by.  I'd like to watch that again on Youtube?  Was happy about Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence wins.  (I'm in love with her and he is AMAZING)

Missed the first part of the awards as I went to a comedy show with a friend from work.  Paula Poundstone did not disappoint.  There was a good audience which always helps.  You never know when you live in Cumberland County.  We have TOO MANY VENUES right now, a lot of competition in the performing arts.  She was hilarious from start to finish and it totally seemed like ad-libbing, with a lot of audience interaction, especially the front row (but she didn't get down to us)  She talked about being bad with computers.  She likes the laptop cause "you can go door-to-door begging for help".

Audiobook review: Hand of evil, by J.A. Jance, read by Karen Ziemba.  This was a browsng choice as I never read J. A. Jance before.  Not sure if I will again.  There were two stories going, an interaction with an old friend who is acting weird and a runaway teen daughter of another friend.  The runaway was highly annoying and I found myself getting frustrated with a lot of the behavior of the characters and their lies and just not saying what was really going on.  Also a lot of saying one thing and doing another.  I got this audiobook at the Bridgeton Public Library (AUDB M JANCE)

Laughter yoga

Just took my first laughter yoga class.  I couldn't imagine what that could possibly entail!  Also, I was feeling very grumpy and resisting the idea of laughing.  We did do some fun and interesting little exercises and even worked up a sweat!  I like the laughter pill exercise, where you take a pretend pill and it sends you off into laughter and silliness.  Each pill that you take causes MORE hilarity.  I could really use a pill (pretend or otherwise).  So, we did stuff for one half hour and I called it exercise.  Laughter meditation, done with the eyes closed, almost made me want to cry, not laugh.  I was thinking about my mother at the time.

Americans are exercise maniacs, at least the ones who are bothering.  Read an article about somewhere in California where the outdoor classes are annoying to other people.  The oceanside park is filled with mats, equipment, emoting and sweating people and the cries of instructors.  They are obstructing running traffic, messing up the grass and being noisy.  So, they are thinking about charging more money for instructors to use the outdoor space or limiting the number of people per instructor.

Playlist working TOO well today.  Playing songs in order.  Usually I have to select each one, but I am used to that method now.

No body drying with hair dryers

This sign is posted in the women's changing room at the health club.  Does not this bring up a lovely image?

Made a date to meet a friend at the Megabyte cafe.  When I got there (loaded up with all of my computer stuff, naturally), it said "Closed until further notice".  Dang!  News from the world of small business.  I am getting a bit tired of schlepping my STUFF all over and finding no room in the inn, as it were.

Always feel like I am rushing and overwhelmed with too much to do.  What the heck did I do when I was actually WORKING?  I was laying in bed pondering the day and which direction to go in when my girlfriend called and said she was going to be in the area.  So, all I got done today was about an hour of home essentials, 45 mins of walking alternating with lifting, lunch, and now about an hour of computer stuff.  Then only enough time to get picked up to go look at a friend's 9 foot tall Christmas tree.

Just noticed that there IS spell check on Blogger.  Only became aware as I was using a friend's computer the other night and she had it turned on.  Thank goodness for friends!