Ate too much chocolate

I asked a friend to get me some salted dark chocolate from Something Sweet, a chocolate store in the front of Bogart's books. I should have just eaten ONE square. Two are making me feel a bit overstuffed.

A spool of blue thread (book), by Anne Tyler. I like her. Liked the book enough. Stories of an aging couple, their children and their house in Baltimore. Back stories tell how they came to have the house in the first place. Now, they will be aging out of it. The blue thread reminded me of the blue paint argument of some of their ancestors. He wants the porch swing to show the wood grain and she wants to paint it blue. (Millville Public Library - F TYLER)

"The thing about caller ID is," Red said, more or less to himself, "It seems a little like cheating. A person should be willing to take his chances, answering the phone. That's kind of the general idea with phones, is my opinion."

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"

"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.

You want weapons?

On NPR this AM I learned that there have been 12 guys who have played Dr. Who and that Dr. Who is the hero of the millenial generation. He is a pacifist and a cerebral guy. Not really familiar, myself, but I liked this quote:
"You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!"

Just ate a peach. A white peach from a local farm market. It was pretty delicious. Cantalopes rumoured to be mostly tasteless this year. And I paid $3.50 for one.

Things I would like at the moment:
- a vacation (but I have too many appointments)
- to live on a cliff alone overlooking the water
- more classical music in my life (finding it very restful)
- to be surrounded by well-spoken, informed people
- some new and more friends

Speaking of accomplishing nothing...

My sister complained that her son accomplished nothing over the Spring break from college.  I saw a great quote last night at Fibre Arts Cafe at the Village on High, in Millville, NJ. "My goal for today was to accomplish nothing.  So far I am ahead of schedule."

Maybe I am missing something, but...here is what I am NOT into:
- Facebook (barely)
- Twitter
- Tumblr
- Pinterest
- Memes
- Avatars
- Video games

How do I have the time when I am reading so much?  I don't even have time to watch TV or DVDs.  Here is what I am reading:
 - Current newspaper
- Old newspapers
- Current magazine
- Old magazine
- The man in my basement, by Walter Mosely
- Eccentric glamour, by Simon Doonan
- My beloved world, by Sonia Sotomayor
- Insane city, by Dave Barry
- The uncommon appeal of clouds, by Alexander McCall Smith
- Beautiful ruins, by Jess Walter
- The importance of being seven, by Alexander McCall Smith
- The blindside, by Michael Lewis
- Luka and the fire of life, by Salman Rushdie

Good news and bad news

Well, I finally found a disc to clean my CD player in the car.  The bad news is, it cost $21.37 and it didn't work. (Just desperately trying to find an alternative to the expensive options which have been told to me)

Someone near me is coughing.  But I can't hate them because I have a bit of a cough myself. So much for my cocky attitude towards illness (as in I never go there).  Laid around in bed for most of the day, even though my health book said you should keep moving..  Nothing really on my calendar today and the cold and clammy weather is getting me down.  Did various errands on the way to Vineland to pick up my library book.  Went to Wawa and had some chicken noodle soup for therapeutic reasons.  It was DELICIOUS.  I really should eat soup more often.  I have been coughing quite a bit and now it HURTS when I cough.

Finished a paperback book by Anne Rivers Siddon, Sweetwater Creek.  I didn't really enjoy it.  I thought I would as it takes place in the low country of South Carolina and I do enjoy Southern writers.  Emily is a young girl whose mother has left her and her twin brothers and father living in a big mansion of a house.  They raise hunting dogs.  Another young girl comes to board there and the girls become friends.  Lulu hates her own parents but has a cool grandmother who the girls visit.  I thought the book was overwrought and overwritten.  I did like this quote from Colette ( in reference to Emily's dead brother) - "When one we love dies there's no reason to stop writing them letters."

The ruins

Am listening to an audiobook by Scott Smith called The ruins.  Everything is ominous.  A bunch of friends are in Cancun and they go on an adventure to find the missing brother of a guy they ran into.  The story is fraught with confusion and dread.  The Americans are traveling with a Greek who speaks no English, and a German, the brother of the missing guy.  They run into unfriendly Mayans who speak no English.  There are flies and snakes and unhelpful people and secret paths and it is all making me very nervous;

Speaking of The ruins, I feel like a bit of a ruin myself.  Think I am going to have to make an EFFORT to lose weight.  I can't think of another way to stop the inexorable march of time.  I am feeling decrepit.  I look around at some of my women friends who are over 70 or over 80 and they look great.  I feel like crap and feel like I look the same way.  I have tried exercising and I don't feel any better.

Finished another library book, Started early and took my dog.  I love that title.  The book is by Kate Atkinson.  I found it enjoyable but very confusing.  Many characters moving around.  A  murder, a snatched child, a social worker, a detective, many car trips.  From the flap I learned that the author has written several other books featuring the same former private detective Jackson Brodie.  I liked this quote, "Now, like so much else in Jackson's world, videos were obsolete".  I liked the Britishness of this book.  "He came to the end of every day feeling as if he had failed somehow.....He lived his life in a state of guilt, every day waiting to be found out.  He wasn't even sure what it was he had done".  "Speaking truth to power.  That was what the Quakers said, he'd had to arrest a few in the eighthies, peaceniks, yacking on about "direct action" and Cruise missles.  For people who worshipped in silence they seemed to talk a lot."

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.

Unnecessary car inspection

I went to get my car inspected today. It had a sticker on it that said 1 year extension. Somehow I didn't really get it and it seemed like I hadn't been to the car inspection in forever. But after I got into the building (after waiting in a short line) I found out that I did not NEED to come there until NEXT year. But since I was already in the building, I had to wait my turn.

Went to pick up some drugs and saw new parking signs. 11 spaces are now reserved for the Bridgeton Tourist center parking. That is a laugh. We don't have much tourism going on in our town and the thought of needing all of those parking spots boggles the mind. Two were occupied today. Another example of how the rules of the world keep changing in more strict and annoying ways every time something happens.
I dread all the new rules insurance companies are going to make after Hurricane Sandy.

Oh dear, I logged onto my work email and it was something new. It is called Roundcube - free webmail for the masses. Now, if the masses can just figure it out!
I knew they were threatening to close down the access point I use in December....I just hadn't figured out where else to go or how to proceed. I need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future, that is just how I am. I relate to the poster of the cat falling down the wall that says, I never left anything that didn't have scratch marks all over it.

Small business Saturday

I think this is my favorite. I wouldn't be caught DEAD shopping on Black Friday. That is cause I am not much of a shopper and usually my family is hanging out and going for a walk on that day. Article on Yahoo today discussed a boycott of Cyber Monday due to sweat shop conditions in some of the online warehouses.

Happy National toilet day. It is also National peanut butter month.

I am sleeping later and later in the AM. Took a nap after church yesterday. Am getting slower and slower. Perhaps I am grinding to a halt? To inpspire myself, here is my quote of the week....Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - M. K. Gandhi

"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.

Tailgating, the sport of idiots

Funny thought posted on the back of a pickup truck. Reminds me of all the times I wish I could put up some signs out the back window of my vehicle telling off the jerks that are the other drivers.

Voting morass. Every day wondering, are they going to postpone the election? Good when Christie and Obama shake hands. Bad when residents are desparate and complaining already about FEMA (or the lack thereof). Good when Obama takes charge. But states in Hurricane area were already "blue" states. People are going to be too distracted to vote. Some polling places were washed away. My mind is a mess hearing all of this.

So many fortunate (me) and unfortunate (you) hurricane stories. Feeling sort of superficial. All I care about is, "Will my Vietnamese nail technician be able to get back from Vietnam?"

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.

What is a blog? An online diary that serves as a welcome diversion from working, meeting people or having sex. Ever.

This is on a magnet I purchased at a GREAT bookstore in Lewes, Delaware. I go there once a year with some friends and I was delighted to see that Biblion was still in business. Truthfully, I don't BUY many books, as I am FRUGAL and a librarian and a retired person. Librarians are specialists in getting stuff for FREE. This is a USED book store, but with oodles of other cool stuff like bookmarks, magnets, greeting cards, etc. Also, the owner leaves little notes around the store calling your attention to things and she makes cool arrangements of items. I got a couple of good quotes there (another one of my addictions).

Wow, it is really hard to blog and listen to the Eagles football game at the same time.
I am listening to the local radio station on the computer. Also I am a bit chilly. I am sitting at a picnic table in front of the Bridgeton Public Library and drinking a Diet Coke and the day is waning. I refuse to admit that I am COLD. After all, I am the person who never put a coat on all last winter. Oh dear, now it is starting to get BUGGY.

Sunday is such a drag of a day. Nothing is open. OK, that is a bit of an exageration.
But, I needed a library and an electronics store. That is why I am sitting OUTSIDE a library in order to get wireless access.