Black people have more fun

Just finished a fun romp of an audiobook...Baggage claim, by David E. Talbert (never heard of him).  Performed by Kim Fields.  "She's got thirty days and thirty-thousand miles to find a husband".  Book was quite silly in spots and I am not really into chasing men in order to marry them, but I learned a lot of black lore and the book was laugh out loud funny at times.   Montana Moore is a flight attendant with best friends at work, a black woman and a gay man.  Due to family pressures she finally caves to the idea of getting a husband and travels the country to "try out" five former beaus, who couldn't be more different.  They all have their stumbling blocks and the book keeps you glued to your seat waiting to see WHO she will end up with.

I am a creature of habit.  Thinking about the fact that I live in the same house where I came as an infant.  Of course, I haven't lived there the whole time, but I am back there.  Saw an old friend today in an art gallery.  Remembering back decades ago when we got friendly at the art opening for a show in which we were both participants at this very same gallery.

Started another audiobook which won't be as good, but the previous one ended up on Christmas eve in Baltimore and this one starts on Christmas eve in Malibu.  They both involve airplanes.  Life is full of coincidences.  Using the computer at the Bridgeton Public Library.  Going to look for an audiobook of Paula Poundstone's book.  Still laughing about HER performance the other night.  This is my SECOND library of the day.  Spent 15 minutes at the Vineland Public Library in between errands today.

Got this nail polish today from my favorite nail person.  Road house blues by O.P.I.

I can't believe that I used to live in Vermont

How did I live and work in snowy Vermont?  I had my very own pair of snowmobile boots with liners.  My car spent 6 months dead in the driveway.  I had to be picked up by a guy from work who offered me a beer at 6 AM.  I drove a Snocat and a Bombardier on Killington Mountain in the early 70's.  I was the first woman to do so.

Just finished a book I read because it was recommended in an article in the New Yorker, from February 13 & 20, 2012.  The custom of the country was written by Edith Wharton during the years she was preparing to forsake the United States permanently (1913).Undine Spragg is ambitious and greedy.  As quoted in the New Yorker, "she anticipates two other hallmarks of modern American society, the obliteration of all social distinctions by money and the hedonic treadmill of materialism.  In Undine's world, everything an be bought, and none of it will ever be enough."  She visits several continents and has a few husbands and is selfish throughout.  I learned a good word..."the auriferous world of the Degens...." (meaning containing gold)

Had an "assessment" at the health club.  I was sort of dreading it, as I feel like my input is always going to equal my output, no matter what I do.  And also because I want to do what I want to do and not what someone else recommends that I do.  But it was an encouraging experience.  The guy made me feel like progress COULD be made if I would just agree to working up a sweat.  I told him that I have a problem with my attention span and that I do not like to sweat.

You can't make this stuff up

Comment when I told the tale of my sister, who dropped her keys down the slit in the elevator on the way to her apartment in Soho on Christmas eve.  The next night she left her car unlocked and running.  No one noticed until we woke up in the morning.  Luckily, that was in someone's back driveway in New Jersey and not in Soho.

Returning this book to the library.  I didn't really enjoy Drift, by Rachel Maddow.  The subtitle is: the unmooring of American military power.  OK, so not too inviting.  I had gotten enthralled with her on TV around election time so I checked her book out of the library.  According to a blurb on the back, "she tells the epic story of how American warfare came to be both never-ending and practically invisible."

Had a nice trip (my annual) to the Reading Terminal market in Philadelphia today.  Got really busy and crowded.  Nice that it is all indoors, once you get there.  A panoply of mostly food stands...cheese, honey, spices, teas, breads, restaurants, meats, ice cream.  It was quite bright and festive.  Bought a few things until. I couldn't carry anything more.  Buying spices in bulk reminds me of when I lived in Barcelona and went to the market every day.

I want you to be my sex slave

These were the lyrics that caused me to turn the dial on the radio in the car. Power 99 out of Philly played this song. Too much. Reminds me of the time I met a guy on a cruise ship. It was a cruise ship where we only spoke Spanish or Portuguese. I met a guy in the club who whispered to me, "Quiero ser tu esclavo" (I want to be your slave). Kind of more romantic sounding in Spanish, don't ya think?
Not to mention that it is the total opposite kind of request.

Better late than never? Was "balancing" my checkbook this AM, reviewing a statement from July 7, 2007. I don't really call what I do balancing, because I can't keep a checkbook balanced for more than a month. I have to keep a big balance in there in case of problems. I DO try to add and subtract various things but it never comes out exactly right. That is why I tell them to not count on me in church to count the money. I count everything three times and if it comes out the same twice, I consider that to be reality.

So much on my mind these days....shopping, wrapping, computers, exercising, appointments. Don't know which way to go first. So much to do at home, but so much to do OUT. Currently OUT and probably will STAY out til bedtime. Don't really enjoy being home in the DARK, cold night. I want to be HOME when it is sunny and nice but I want to be out then, too. See what a quandery my life is? It is so hard being me.

You don't work here no more?

Sat down at the library and was looking at my neighbor, who was watching a L'il Wayne video on Youtube instead of doing his history homework. The guy looked over at me and said, "You don't work here no more?" Nope, I am just a customer, like you, now. Nice to be remembered, anyway....

Someone came to look at my window today. He was rattling off all of this stuff about windows and managed to OBFUSCATE rather than ELUCIDATE. I like a handyman who leaves you with advice and not with confusion. I am easily confounded. My window has been broken for several years now, but the cold is starting to get to me. OK, I am a procrastinator. One day I was taking a shower and a glass bottle crashed into the shower with me. Someone had thrown a pretty-much-empty bottle of spaghetti sauce through my storm window, through my window and into the shower with me. This is on the second floor! I did get a little glass cut on my foot but it could have been much worse. Especially if there was spaghetti sauce in the bottle. No, I don't know who, why or how. But I suddenly got the desire to get a whole new window, since so much of it is broken. I dread the cost, though, as it is a huge and weirdly sized structure. Guy claims they just throw the old ones out as it is too much trouble to get the panes out.

So I am retired. But why do I feel like I am always rushing around and that I don't have enough time for anything? I guess I should say I don't have enough time for EVERYTHING. I forget that I am GLAD that I DO have time for work parties at my old jobs, appointments galore, presentations at 5 PM, and exercise classes whenever.

Cacophony

Time for the headphones again. Stopped into McDonald's to use the computer and they have the TV AND the radio going.

Had a "handyman" stop by today. Makes me nervous due to mess at my house. We just talked about stuff that needs doing and then he went away. Odd sense of accomplishment. Enjoyed getting ADVICE about what to do about certain things.

Good reunion last night of women friends from, oh, 40 or so years ago. Amazingly good turn out, more than 10. Woman from Oakland, CA and one from Cape Cod. Almost felt guilty that I only had to travel a number of BLOCKS to get to the gathering. We were supposed to report on what we had been doing since our days of rabble rousing in Bridgeton area. Here are some of the current occupations of our group...artist, unemployed lawyer, retired librarian, psychotherapist, trophy wife. It was warm and cozy and delicious. I showed some slides of Women of the Sticks activities and we couldn't even remember who all of the people were in the pictures.

Hanging out naked

Just can't picture it, but some men are abusing the open-minded spirit of San Francisco by hanging out NAKED in the Castro District. Just another thing I don't GET. Are they flirting or what? So, of course, as I have noticed before, LAWS ARE GOING TO BE CHANGED to try and put a stop to it. There were actually people on the radio today debating the PROS and cons of hanging out naked. A woman was FOR it.

Being naked in itself is not always so erotic. I worked for awhile at printing press where we published a magazine for nudists. I forget the actual title, but it was billed as "a scientific, educational and cultural publication for the advancement of nudism". I just remember photos of people playing tennis wearing only socks and shoes and nothing else. The people weren't particularly attractive, either.

Hurricane Sandy losses were great. The statistics which come to mind are 10,000 trees in New York City and 100,000 cars. Not a good time to buy a used car. The prices are going to be high and how can you be sure you aren't getting a car that has been FLOODED?

I feel like blogging I said to myself as I was lying by the pool. So I am. That is the nice thing about being retired.

Little known things about me:
- I have a friend who has a moat
- I was the first woman hired to groom the trails on Killington Mountain in Vermont (this was in the early 1970's). I drove a Sno-Cat and a Bombardier.

Things I hate:
- losing my cell phone
- gnats, mosquitoes and their ilk

Things I love:
- my pool. No one is there and they have computers in the lobby and coffee.

Still involved in a Downton Abbey watching marathon. The plot got REALLY crazy last night (somewhere in the middle of season two). There are people we LOVE (Matthew) and people we HATE (Thomas) and it is quite addicting. Maggie Smith plays what must be the best role of her life as the Dowager Countess. The costumes and the furnishings and the rules and the scenery are all mind-boggling and truly fine.
It gives a good view into the changes wrought on English society and country manor life before and after World War I. I enjoy the role of letters in this series. Yes, before texting, there were letters. Season three starts on PBS in January 2013 so you have some time to watch it.

I used to have a boyfriend who was a parapalegic. I met him in a bar in Vermont. I was on one of those weird ski weekends where four couples sleep in two bunk beds. I moved to Vermont to be with the guy I met in the bar.

When researching blog names, I came across so many abandoned blogs. It must be a temporarily addicting pastime. One I like is Stuff white people like.

Hanging out in our new McDonald's again to use the wireless. The other restaurant I was going to grace with my presence today was closed due to Labor Day (I guess). I see some OTHER wackos have discovered this place. One guy came in clutching his mail (bills?) and yet another has a large table covered with his bible, other books, papers, pen, highlighter and coupons. He is reading aloud from the Bible (to himself). Maybe THEY will be blogging about the weird lady filling up a table for four with her laptop, handiwipes, phone, coffee, file folders, calendar, and a copy of South Jersey Journal, (a newspaper) connecting South Jersey's African-American community.

All the black people in my town seem to know each other. I only know the mayor.

I thought life was going to be less interesting after retirement, but it is INCREDIBLY interesting just listening to NPR all day. Did you know that gas costs $10 a gallon in Norway and 6 cents a gallon in Venezuela?

NPR also did a segment on "end of summer regrets". Don't postpone joy, says Dan Gottlieb. There are some things I did't get to this summmer, but, being retired, I can still do some of those summer things:
- kayaking
- The Bull on the Barn Bayshore Crab House

Things I love:
- NPR
- free coffee

Things I hate:
- rain
- sick people

Ok, the bible-reading man behind me just admitted that he is sick. He called someone on the cell phone to ask to borrow five dollars so he could go to the laundromat.

I sure hope it doesn't rain like THIS for three days. Feel like I am in Louisiana. Had to wade through big puddles to even get to and get into my car.

Gathered with friends in "the gazebo" last night. Nice to be with old friends, sort of new friends and COMPLETELY new people. The rabbi and the intern were new. They were delightful and delicious, respectively.

I started to get HUMID after it got dark. Sometimes I have a creepy crawly feeling, like imaginary insects on my skin. I have had it before and researched it before but eventually it goes away. Could it be some sort of allergy?

Little known things about me:
- fotr a few months around 2001 I typed up a newsletter called SISTER NEWS (an occasional publication for sisters and friends of JBG) I found a copy from June 2001 and was highly amused by it. Sometimes I crack myself up.