A fucking bitch?

That's what I was called today by a woman at the nail salon. I asked her if she had headphones to use with her phone cause the video she was watching was annoying. She had been on the phone the entire time she was getting a pedicure so I already thought she was rude. When she left she started off with "Have a nice day" and soon progressed to calling me "a fucking bitch". It seems that the video she was watching was of her nephew who had died yesterday. That didn't stop her from getting her nails done. I should have known I was in trouble when she called someone from the dryer station and asked if the person hadn't received her text. Then she said over the phone, "I'm not going over there, cause if I open my mouth, I'm gonna punch her in the fucking face". Such a high class of person we have in Vineland, New Jersey. How can I escape? I should have just ignored her or put in ear plugs.
It just occurred to me that she was probably talking about ME!

Discovered a new author, about whom I am wildly enthusiastic. Unfortunately, none of my local libraries have any of his works, other than this audio book, Let me be Frank with you, by Richard Ford. It is the fictional meanderings in the mind of Frank Bascombe, age 68, living in New Jersey. These stories almost sound like a novel which takes place the Christmas after Hurricane Sandy. I enjoyed his cynicism and social satire. I am going to have to work to find his 3 or 4 previous novels.

Noisy people in the library. Trying to keep my mouth shut, although I feel like giving them a librarian-like shusshing. Also trying to block them out with my Youtube. Finally discovered that Youtube problems can be overcome by using CHROME to get on the Internet. Crafty little devils, aren't they? (Google) Shall I make a separate French and Spanish list on Google? Then I could more easily share with lovers of the language.

Good book titles...

Well, I only have one that I just saw at the Cumberland County Library:
- I'm on Facebook. Now what?
Perhaps I should read it!?

Destroyer angel, an Anna Pigeon novel (book), by Nevada Barr. The usual elements of an Anna Pigeon novel are here...the great outdoors, the nightime adventures, the threats. I must say that this one was rather more scary than most, quite the page turner. Essentially, it is a battle between four women and the four men who abduct them, as they journey through a forest. Anna is the "wild card". There is a great deal of physical discomfort and damage and general unpleasantness. Let's just say it is quite a "revenge fantasy." One of the women is handicapped and two of the women are teenage girls.

Things that annoy me:
- the sound and the look of people chewing gum
- traffic
- change

I was unnecessarily rude to the woman who answered the phone when I called to complain about my paper not coming this morning. They are trying to have "better" customer service, but it riles me up when I have to answer so many questions each time that I call. I really PREFER to just leave a message. Especially when I have to call one or more times each week. I hate the message that "representatives are assisting other customers". I just don't like the big conglomerate feel of that.

Erasers that don't work

This is one of my pet peeves. Can't think of any others at the moment. I am also very unhappy when the temperature goes below freezing as it did today. Plus there was wind. It is really HAT weather.

Was asked to work this weekend. I said yes since I only work one day a month and I didn't have one scheduled for the month of December. Yes, it will inconvenience me, as I was supposed to go to a funeral. (It is amazing how working only ONE day a month can still feel incommodious when it rolls around). But I am barely employed and so want to be agreeable and able to be counted upon.

Feeling kind of busy over the holidays but not with parties. Just with scheduled events that are distracting me from getting ready for gift shopping and wrapping. I am very bad at all that anyway. I don't shop for myself so it is not so fun to shop for others.

Job titles I would like to have

Wouldn't it be nice to tell someone at a party that you were an "Equine portrait photographer"?

One of my pet peeves is people who talk on their cell phones WHILE THEY ARE WORKING, especially when they aren't even speaking English. I think it was a Cambodian nail technician that brought on THIS rant. Then one of the other workers turned on his MAC and started blaring some program in another language even though the TV was on. Grrrr.... The manicure was OK but the ambiance was terrible. Won't be going back there soon or ever.

I fear I am getting early-onset Alzheimer's. (Also have been unable to resolve the issue that once I heard that there was no longer an apostrophe in Alzheimer's but that seems to have been a DREAM). I went to get my haircut and couldn't remember which side I parted my hair on. Can I blame it on the mirror effect? A few days ago I went to pick up a friend at the bus station and had trouble remembering exactly what exit and which road to turn around on. Is it NORMAL aging or ABNORMAL aging? I do feel somewhat foggy even when I am NOT taking a pain pill or a Xanax.

You ain't prejudiced, is you?

This question was followed by a request for money, making me doubt the veracity of my NOT being prejudiced. The other thing that happened as I was hanging around in downtown Bridgeton, was observing a very Black woman crossing the street and muttering, "Fuckin' white people!" Was I the cause of this muttering? Just made me realize why no one likes to come downtown.

I should be thankful for being ALIVE today, as I took a very nasty tumble last night. You think that you are going to be careful and that nothing bad is going to happen to you and the next thing you know you are one step from the bottom of a flight of stairs, upside down and wedged in. If I hadn't recently lost some weight, I would STILL be there. It was rather a feat to get myself extricated from that situation but I was all alone and it was dark. What other choice did I have? AM starting to feel a bit better, but don't know WHAT or WHO to thank....my doctor? the ice? the Naproxen? the pain pill? my massage therapist? my chiropractor? All I can say is THANK GOD. I do not need a broken hip. This is why I like to get home before dark and STAY THERE. I took a step, it was dark, I misjudged the step and suddenly was flying through the air.

Before this occurred, I drove over to the local high school stadium to take a walk/jog. All along both sides of the street there were signs posted "No parking this side". This is what is wrong with America. NO ONE is allowed to park in a convenient location!

Neighbors from hell

  Looking forward to a trip to PARIS.  Trying to get all of my ducks in a row.
Not sure how I am going to handle all of that WALKING.  I am used to car to house to car to library to car to store to house.  Also I have to resort to WHEELS to lug all of my crap around.  It will have to be a new and lighter me to get around Paris.

Not so light today though.  Gained weight overnight.  Probably cause I ate hors d'oeuvres all day.  Need a new approach for that.  Can't eat everything in sight just cause it is going to be my "meal".  Next time I should try one of everything and only have seconds if it is something HEALTHY.  We had Cinco de Mayo snacks after church and more delicious food offerings after an author lecture.

Boy, do I need a change of scene.  The scene directly around my house is really getting on my nerves.  I have a letter I wish I could send to the landlord of my neighbors.  I haven't written it yet but it details about 10 things they have done to annoy me in the month that they have been there.  Now, I know they are not doing it specifically to annoy ME, but how can people like or not notice trash all over the place and loud dog barking?  I was only home for two hours on Saturday and that d*&^ pitbull was barking for at least one of those hours.

Things I am tired of hearing about

- gay marriage (or any kind of marriage)
- Justin Bieber's escapades
- how people need guns to defend themselves AGAINST the government

Life is getting very complicated as far as the social calendar goes.  It is REUNION time.  Reunions are being promoted for residents of ASH, Women of Bridgeton (these are all things which happened 3 or 4 decades ago).  Then I have the Girlfriends of the 70's group and the French Group and the Mes amies group and the Book club.

Book - The importance of being seven (the new 44 Scotland Street novel), by Alexander McCall Smith.
This series is about all the people who live in a building in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Bertie Pollock is the only child we know.  His mother is very controlling and not very likeable (even her new baby does not like her).  Other characters are Matthew, the owner of an art gallery and his new wife, Elspeth, who is newly pregnant.
Three of the the single people go on a trip to Italy and a couple emerges. I borrowed it from the Vineland Public Library (LT FIC McCall Smith Alexander)

Pet peeves

It is annoying when many of the library computers are "down", the handicapped access button on the front door continues to not work, young girls walk by talking about someone's "birfday", and people were talking during a good portion of the movie today (Les miserables). On the plus side, the weather is gorgeous and it was $2 popcorn day at the movies.

Kind of rushing.  The PRESSURE of having to complete all of my computer tasks in ONE hour.  I do have my laptop in the trunk of my car....just too lazy to bring it in.  So, in addition to catching up with my email, I must think of a few topics to write about on this blog and look up a bunch of stuff, like the French revolution and what that big stone elephant was doing in the movie, Les miserables.  Left over from a world's fair, or something?  Plus I have a Princeton folder full of stuff to do on the computer and a couple of plastic folders full of papers.  So I will BEG for more computer time (that is the policy at the Millville Public Library).

Is today the day I am going to stop by Staples and invest in a calendar system for 2013?  Still have not been able to make the switch to the electronic life.  It is a slow process.  One of the things I have to tweak today is my list of features I desire in my new phone, to which I am "entitled" as we speak.  It is nice to be "FREE" of Sprint, but not nice to be indecisive and want to save money.  If the sky was the limit, what would I get?  Not accustomed to thinking like that.

Zoom zoom zoom, boom boom boom, the end

This is what my visually impaired friend thought about the new 007 movie, Skyfall, which we saw last night. She has trouble following the action, and there was a lot of it. It was grim. It didn't make me want to go to Scotland. Very minimal sex.

I never saw so many people at the movie theater. There was a Twilight marathon including the new one. I am planning to see it, but I do not like crowds. They even had those ski lift dividers for the snack area! It was quite a festive atmosphere.

Just had to get out the headphones. Annoying patrons in the library. I remember it well. People show up and demand that you make copies for them due to their lack of knowledge about the equipment and their disabilities. Then a loud litany of all their problems. The security guard was participating in the conversation about the government and how some people can get disability even though they never pay into it but this guy can't get it. He does not seem to be aware that his job is to SHUSH people, not to encourage them in their rants. (Alright, I realize, I am not very compassionate.)

Splash park and other travesties

They are finishing up the new "Splash park" in my local zoo. Just in time for winter?
My only problem with this splash park is that they ripped up a perfectly lovely section of azaleas to replace it with concrete things. And isn't it awfully close to the animals? They keep messing up the zoo. We had a charming little white bridge in the park. Some politician drove across it and thought it was too curvy and dangerous so they replaced it with an ugly rusty metal rail thing, totally spoiling the only charming thing in my town.

Just watched America's heart and soul, directed by Louis Schwartzberg in 2004. I am not very good about watching movies or DVDs at home, but I drove all the way to Ocean City to watch this documentary with about 10 women as part of a series at the library. There wasn't much of a plan to it...showed a bunch of interesting characters, real Americans, and some great scenery. I have been to a lot of the places, but I wish he had been more clear about exactly where we were. It seemed to start off with some regular working folk, then some really odd characters, then some extreme athletic types and finished up with some heart warming tales of people helping others. I think I may have met the cowboy named Roudy in Telluride, CO. I remember we went riding past the Elk which, amazingly, do not bolt when horses come by. The most interesting segment was zooming along with the bicycle messenger in New York City. I wish Ben, of Ben and Jerry, had more time. Then we saw a blind man climbing icy peaks (why?) and people dancing while dangling over cliffs. I cried when the guy with cerebral palsy was pushed by his father running in the Boston Marathon.

Someone loaned me the book Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadephia, by E. Digby Baltzell.
In theory, I was interested in this topic, but this was one nonfiction book that I just couldn't stick with. I am trying to get interested in history but sometimes it is just in one eye and out the other.

High times, the Playboy of the pot world

Not that I would know. I just thought this was an amusing comment. Very interesting program on the legalization of marihuana in Colorado. This was on NPR today with Terry Gross. I thought the segment on 60 minutes on medical marihuana a few weeks ago equally fascinating. Today there was a description of the dedicated, devoted indoor growers, some shirtless and shoeless and playing rock or classical, depending on the what the plants want. The growers even SLEEP with the plants. It is all very controlled and measured and I wish it would come to New Jersey.

Drove all the way down to the shore today. Not a very pretty day. But the weather was varied on the way down and beautiful in spots. Don't think I could live down here in the winter. It plays on my feelings of loneliness. Kind of sad right now. Only a few signs of the recent tragedy of Hurricane Sandy, but I only perused a few blocks. There were some piles of brush, some uprooted trees and sidewalks, and some sofas out on the street. I came down here to renew my library membership and see a film. Don't really like being home on these long, cold evenings. Of course, I don't really like driving around in the dark, either. Oh well.

How can people talk on the phone so much? Many times I see these people in the library with headphones on and they seem to be carrying on a constant conversation with someone. I don't get it.

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!

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.

People I would like to meet, or, Why I no longer like 60 minutes.

In a class, we were supposed to think of someone we admire or would like to meet and picture them coming over to our house. I couldn't think of anyone, so I stole Johnny Depp from another student. Now that I am pondering this issue, here are a few people that fit the bill:

- Michelle Obama
- Queen Latifah
- Terry Gross
- Serena Williams
- Johnny Depp
- Meryl Streep
- Judi Dench
- Anderson Cooper

I used to love 60 minutes. Then I got a bit tired of all the repeats during the summer. So, I tuned in last week and saw that it was pesky football season and that the show was delayed. It seemed annoyingly repetitious and showed two segments of people I really never want to meet....NFL super agent Drew Rosenhaus and The Spymaster, Meir Dagan. It also seemed suspiciously repetitious...maybe due to football season? (I am still going on the OLD TV schedule where Summer was for repeats and Fall was for new shows. I think the schedule is different now).

Yesterday I went for a walk to the local library SO I COULD SHARPEN MY PENCIL. I am on vacation and doing my Sudoku and my crossword puzzles. Saw a about 20 people bicycling and perhaps 3 walking. I stopped and asked this bus driver if she could give me a ride back home. There I was, needing a ride. There she was, with an empty bus. But, NO, she said, "You have to have an appointment". I know it is the same in my town, but think about it.