Christmas Eve, polish style

our family is Polish so our christmas celebrations begin on Christmas Eve. we call Christmas Eve "Wigilia" (pronounced Va-lee-ya...i may not have the correct spelling). traditionally, Wigilia begins when the first star is spotted in the sky and lasts until well after midnight mass. we usually have some traditional food like Pierogies and Kielbasa, but never fish soup! this year, we are having meatballs. we don't celebrate it up like we used to. Hino is grown and Dzadzu has died, our pets have all passed away. Maniac Mike is in prison and he has never experienced a Polish christmas but i know he will love it.

we used to have a hell of a time trying to explain to Hinoserm why Santa comes a day early to our house and on the 25th to other kids' houses. we told him he goes to the Polish houses first and to explain how Santa knows which houses belong to Poles, my sister made up a story about the magic light in the window that signals Santa to come to our house first.

we also had a hell of a time getting Hino to believe in Santa. we had a particularly hard time one christmas. he didn't believe. then he woke up christmas morning to find that one of Santa's reindeer puked on the special Santa rug by the firepace. we left out carrots for the reindeer and the puke had carrot bits in it, so Hino believed Santa (or atleast the reindeer) stopped by to fill the stockings (we opened stocking on christmas day).

one year, Hino's uncle dressed up as Santa but Hino knew who it really was. we asked him how he knew and Hino said "Santa" was wearing Uncle's watch!

another year, i convinced my boyfriend to don a Santa suit to deliver his gift of a soldering iron (i think Hino was 6 or 7 years old and he wanted a soldering iron real bad. a geek even then!). so, Santa stopped by and dropped off the soldering iron. when Hino opened the box, it was a Chia Pet. damn, he was even excitied about that! anyway, we had to call Santa to tell him he left the wrong present and Santa came back and delivered the soldering iron. the iron was used, so we told Hino that that was a special soldering iron, one that the elves usued to make toys and stuff. ha!

poor Hino. we really gaslighted that poor kid!

four things

a list of "four things":

four movies to watch over and over again:

• It's a Wonderful Life
• Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (w/Gene Wilder)
• The Wizard of Oz
• Miracle on 34th Street

four places i've visited on vacation:

• Maui (Haleakala Crater)
• Italy (Rome, Genoa, Venice)
• The Statue of Liberty
• France (Quimpere, Nice, Paris)

four pizza favorite pizza toppings:

• black olives
• artichoke
• mushrooms
• green peppers

four costumes i've worn for Halloween:

• vampiress
• snow woman
• witch
• clown trampled by circus elephants

four favorite beverages:

• IBC Creme and Rootbeer Soda
• Newport Creamery Vanilla Cabinet
• Johnny Rocket's Cherry Cokes
• Chi Chi's (only in Hawaii)

four favorite resaurants:

• Newport Creamery (RI)
• Johnny Rockets (everywhere)
• Steak and Shake (Florida)
• Pattie's Chinese Kitchen (Hawaii)

four websites i visit daily:

• Unknown Country
• Coast To Coast AM
• Happyville Library
• CNN, MSNBC, Turn to 10, BBC (news)

four favorite desserts:

• Hot Fudge Banana Sundae at Newport Creamery
• Eclairs fro Wright's Dairy Farm
• Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts
• that hot fried cheescake thing at Applebee's

idea stolen from I'm Thinking, I'm Thinking at www.imthinkingimthinking.blogspot.com

Jackass penguin

this is a jackass penguin, so named because they bray like donkeys. this would be Toga fully grown. i understand that $13,000 has been raised as reward money. i don't have much hope. Maniac Mike told me that he has seen Toga's parents on the news. the father keeps looking in the nest. what must they be thinking? the poor things!

when they find the creep who stole the penguin, i hope they do nasty things to his testicles with a fork!

dreaming about bad patrons

i had a weird dream about a patron that does not exist. even while dreaming, i am still 'working' in the library.

a man of middle eastern origins walked into the library. he walked over to a large reading table in the back of the library, between new non-fic and new fic. i didn't see what he was doing. i didn't care. the man approaches the circ desk and asks me if we have any paper plates we can give him. i fibbed and said we had no paper plates (of course we do...in the STAFF room). he asks again and again i said, "no. sorry." "you're not sorry", he replies. hurumph

i watch the man walk back to the table wondering what he needs plates for. i see that he is walking around the table setting places with a paper plate, and plastic knives, forks and spoons. he has a couple of Coke bottles on the table as well. i ask him what he is doing. "i'm giving a seminar and i am serving food afterwards. that is my custom." he looks at me like i am an imbecile. i explain to him that food is not allowed in the library and, furthermore, seminars can be held inthe program room not out on the floor of the library. he shoots me daggers and i tell him i will see if the program room is available. i check with the secretary and it has been booked (by the library...us...for our christmas party). i tell the man that our room is booked. he refuses to pick up the plates and accuses me of being a bigot. right. not letting you eat a full course meal with 12 other men in a public library makes me a racist. he starts spitting words at me and accusing me of having a lot of paper plates but not giving him any because he is Iranian and all americans hate Iranians and he's a man! how dare i tell him what he can and can't do.

so,i did the only thing i could do. i got the director.

unfortunatley, i don't know how the dream ended. i DO know that the director would not let anyone eat over her 'new' carpet...which is 4 or 5 years old. that is 'new' to us compared with the original orange and gold carpeting of the early 80's...which has not even been shampooed in the last 13 years!

so, even in my dreams i cannot escape rotten patrons!

Every Person on the Planet

oh, damn that 'search inside'! i read about this book on Reuters. the complete title is: Every Person on the Planet: an only somewhat anxiety filled tale for the holidays. Rosemary and Edmund and their cat, Delia, invite every person on the planet to their home on a quiet street in Brooklyn for Christmas. i have not read the book, but the write up is hilarious. check it out.

stolen penguin

a baby jackass penguin named Toga was stolen from a British zoo. zoo officials say the baby will die because it needs a special diet fed to him by his parents. they also say that the penguin will not make a good pet as he will bite anything that is not another penguin. they say they will look the other way if he's returned.

what miserable fool would steal a baby animal from a zoo? sure, i want a penguin...they are so damn cute...but why would i risk harm to an animal i love? what happened to the good old days when crooks stole cash and jewelry? listen, if you stole that baby, you'd better bring it back!

food for fines

another young lady...early twenties...came to the library tonight to pay off her fines with food. i explained that food would not pay off old fines but i figured i'd check her card and see if it was only a couple of bucks, since she brought in two food items (one expired box of stuffing and a can of cranberry sauce). sigh. you know what's next. she had $16 worth of fines from the summer. video fines, of course. so, i told her i was sorry but she didn't have to pay the fines just then anyway if she wasn't going to be using the library in the near future. so, she took her food and left.

on the other hand, another cocircworker got a patron who brought in a case of spaghetti'o's and bags of canned goods to pay for an old fine of $11. in this case, my supervisor gratefully took the food and waived the fine. she was just so happy that someone had the spirit to actually GIVE. we are collecting food for the women's shelter and to thank patrons we forgive overdue items. but Food For Fines has become a way for the public to pawn off their Knorr Leek Soup packets and expired cans of black beans on us and expect us to waive substantial fines...most of them video fines. sheesh.

patriot act cartoon

asteroid headed our way

an asteroid is headed our way and will hit the earth in 31 years. The asteroid, named Apophis after the ancient egyptian spirit of evil and destruction, was discovered in June. the impact, which could occur in 2036 (or as early as 2031) would release 100,000 times the energy of the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima during WWII. no area of the earth would be unaffected. we would all experience the effects of a nuclear winter.

just spreading some christmas cheer!

thieves in the library

yesterday, after i left work, the children's librarian caught a kid stealing candy from the program room. the children's librarian was setting up for a program, going in and out of the program room, so the door was not locked as it usually is. she walked into the room and saw one of the regular brats (that we have to babysit) in the room. she saw that he had his pants pockets stuffed and she saw that candy that was set out on the table at each child's place setting, was missing. she asked this kid, who is a glib, fast-talking little prick who thinks he can charm his way out of every situation, to empty his pockets. he did and, low and behold, there's the missing candy.

now, i would've called the cops, because i am not nice. the librarian didn't even take the candy away from him. the Prick told her some big fat lie: the bus driver of bus 39 gave him candy. right. all the children's librarian did was tell the kid to have his mom come in when she picked him up.

once again, i would've called the cops.

so, now we have a known thief in the library and frankly, i am leery of keeping my locker unlocked. we have never had locks but i am thinking of getting one now.

i am also sick to death of babysitting other parent's brats. the middle/high school is right across the parking lot and all the tweens come over after school and cause us nothing but grief. i HATE THEM! but, i hate their parent's more.

big fat mark

yesterday, i found out that an inmate Maniac Mike loathes went to seg (segregation, solitary). MM calls the inmate Big Fat Mark. today, we learned why he went to seg.

Big Fat Mark (a Chester) is a favorite of one of the guards in MM's mod, Brookes. Big Fat Mark is Brookes' snitch so BFM gets to eat lunch with Brookes in the guards bubble (small, glassed in room where they can watch the whole mod). it was also known that Brookes let's BFM use the COMPUTER! we don't know if it offers internet access. can you imagine letting a known child molestor use the internet!!! well, it now appears that BFM went to seg because asshole Brookes let the INMATE do the count (counting inmates while they are locked in their cells for the night) over the weekend. that is absolutely absurd. this fucking guard is do damn lazy anyway, but to let an inmate call the roll is totally messed up.

MM is waiting to see if Brookes returns. so far, he's a no show.

by the way, these guards make more money than God, do shit-nothing for work and bitch and moan that they have "the toughest beat in RI". right. tell that to a REAL COP!!

typos and brain farts

here are my worst typos:

• to= too, two
• half=have
• know=no
• asshole=Bush
• and=an
• the=they

there are many more, but these are my most frequent typos. i also cannot spell and i don't know how to use the spellcheck (i don't know which is more pathetic). so, bear (bare) with me.

poptart update

it has now been 6 visits in a row that Maniac Mike has eaten poptarts. today, however, he ate strawberry poptarts and we had a 'discussion' about them. i say that strawberry poptarts will cause a raging fire if left in the toaster to long and are superheated. he thinks i am crazy. i am sure i saw a Dateline or MSNBC or 60 Minutes on flaming strawberry poptarts and he thinks i'm crazy. he had the nerve to say to me, "yea, right. i'm sure Mike Wallace did an expose on the dangers of poptarts and toasters." huh! well, i didn't say Mike Wallace was the reporter now, did i? sheesh.

happy holy moly day

we had an older woman walk into the library this morning bitching and moaning and looking like she just ate a shit sandwich. she started complaining to my cocircworker that the clerk in the Target store had just wished her a "Happy Holiday". "well", said patron, "i TOLD her that it WASN'T a happy holiday, it was the day Jesus was born!" oookkkkaaaay. she insisted, to the clerk, that it was a Merry Christmas. "Christmas!", she spat. i saw my cocircworker take a couple of steps back.

patron selects some books and as she leaves the library she SHOUTS (yes, shouts), "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"

okay, all you morons out there who are offended because someone wishes you a happy holiday, get over it. i know this will come as a shock, but not everyone in this fundamentalist ridden country is a christian. in this state, atleast, we still have Jews and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and, ohmigod! Atheists! *runs screaming, jumps under the bed to hide*

so, have a Freakin' Happy Holiday and a Fuckin' New Year!

food for fines

it was a pretty good day at the library. it started off slow and then started to grow right after my cocircworker commented that it would be 'dead' in the library for the Christmas week. it is a little known theory of quantum physics that things will 'get busier' in direct proportion to how many times the words 'it's slow' are spoken. we went from 1.00023% busy to 65.99325046% busy within the space of 20 minutes and 22 seconds. very difficult mathematical acrobatics...don't even try it.

we are holding the annual and terminally depressing 'Food For Fines' until December 23. FFF works like this: if you have an overdue item, no matter how long it has been 'overdue', you can bring in one canned good (or, as the director wrote in the flyer "can good") for each overdue item and have your fines waived. we hope this will raise food for the local women's shelter AND help us get back some long overdue items. even if your fine has maxed out to $15, bring in one canned good and we call it even. simple. not really.

patrons have a way of making something simple terribly complex. so, we had one patron, whom we all know to be LOADED with $$ come into the library with a box of pasta and 3 canned items to waive an old fine accrued in November. she does this every single year. we expained how FFF works. the funny thing was, she only had a fine of $3.30. she paid the fine and let us keep the food. that was cool.

we had a young lady come in with 2 boxes of spaghetti and 2 canned items. she wanted to pay off her fines AND, by the way, could she also get a new library card. i told her the charge to replace a card was only $1 and, unfortunately, we could not take food for it. i looked her up and YES she had fines from 2000, 2001 and 2003 totalling $18. she thrust the food at me, "here ya go!" and i patiently explained how food for fines worked. AGAIN. well, she was very pleasant, paid her old fine (i told her she didn't have to until she planned on using the library) and let us keep the food. so, not a bad day.

this year, we had to make a point of telling people that we would not accept expired food items and we printed it on all our flyers, in the newspaper and on our sign outside! in the past, we would receive so much expired food, we would through a third of it away! ah, such middle 'class' patrons.

tennis ball lady update

well, tennis ball lady's husband has been moved to a different mod in the prison so i won't be sharing visits with her anymore. i feel curiously saddened. she was the best of the worst and i'll miss her. her husband was moved because he will be going home in january or february.

we still have some other strange inmates and visitors...No Neck (lady), Buckwheat (inmate with big, ratty hair), Sirius Black and his odd little munchkin of a nephew (slow, large, short teenager) and, of course, Big Bible Lady and her Holy Roller hubby, and Mustache Girl. oh, and then there are the guards...Captain Corn Cob, Lurch and One and a Half Push-ups.

we won't run out of characters. when one leaves, another steps right in to fill their shoes.

Sirius A and B

this is a NASA photo of the brightest star in our night sky: Sirius A, with it's companion star, Sirius B, the tiny little dot in the left lower quadrant. awesome!

big bible lady (not for the easily offended)

i had a visit with Maniac Mike this past friday. one of the visitors is an Amish man that will come and visit with a couple of inmates in one visit, one after the other. he's got the typical Amish beard...no mustache. for some reason, a guy with a beard and no mustache kind of creeps me out. like, he's unfinished or something.

Amish man walks over to the games cupboard and takes out the Big Bible. hhmmmm.

in comes Big Bible Lady. she has to settle for a smaller bible because Big Bible is taken. poor thing.

later, MM and i see the Amish man get up to leave. he brings the Big Bible back to the cupboard. MM says to me, "Look at this!" Big Bible Lady jumps out of her seat and practically runs over to the cupboard to get the Big Bible. she gets back to the table where her Holy Roller is waiting eagerly for 'his' bible. he puts his arms out and grabs the Big Bible (gimme gimme gimme!) and places it, momentarily, on his lap (near his dick? is that strange or what!?) MM says, "Look, he's jonesing for that bible!" i bust out laughing. i couldn't see their table, but MM could and he kept me abreast to what was going on behind me. Holy Roller put the Big Bible on the table and stroked it! then he opened it, put his glasses on and began to look like he was reading it. my theory is that he is lecturing his wife through the whole visit because that's what Holy Rollers do best. the worst part is, this guy is here for a sex crime! but don't worry. he's forgiven. all a sinner has to do is say the magic word, 'Jesus!' and all his sins and crimes and wickedness is wiped away. so don't worry. if you're a Chester (child molester) just say the magic word and God will forget all about your kiddie-diddling!

question of the day

which do you find more offensive: clerks wishing you 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holidays'? or do you find both or neither of them offensive? how about 'Season's Greetings'?

question of the day

what's your addiction?

christmas comping

well, another looong day. i went to work 9 to 5 and after that Hinoserm and i went to do some light but desperate christmas shopping. desperate because i have to have something to mail out to Maniac Mikes mom on monday (say that five times fast). we found everything which is a major relief. we even found the Seraphim Angel that MM always gives to his mom on major holidays...you know, christmas, easter, mom's day and birthday. i have know idea what she does with these angels, she must have 30 by now! when MM finds a good thing, he sticks to it and never waivers. like poptarts. the last 5 visits there have been poptarts in the vending machines and he has eaten them each day. the last time i ate a poptart was, oh, fifteen years ago. poptarts five days in a row is called an addiction! step AWAY from the poptart, back up slowly, admit you are weak and give it up to a higher power.

my mother is getting a Pope for christmas.

so, what's up with CompUsa? why is it every time Hino and i, or Hino and his aunt go anywhere Hino always has to stop at a compusa? i swear, we'd be out in east japeepee and he'd say, "i need to stop at CompUsa" and i'd think that there couldn't possible be a CompUsa within 25 miles of here and low and behold, around the bend is a CompUsa. like he has all the locations memorized OR the store miraculously materializes to fill his need. this is also and addiction...step away from the CompUsa, back up slowly, admit you are powerless, etc.

pervert alert

we had a creepy patron in the library today. some guy, looked about 59/60. seriouly pale with a feeble, greasy gray ponytail. he was using one of the computer terminals. he came up to the desk and asked me if he could have the library's password to the computer. we need to log in the computers in the morning with a password and whenever some yahoo turns them off (inspite of the mega signs and stickers that read "DO NOT turn off computers!!!!") we have to retype the password to log on again. so, i looked the guy square in the eye and said, "NO!". dipweed. like we just casually hand over the password...here, take the keys to the front door, too. anyway, he didn't want the login password, he wanted the password to unblock the filter (that screens for kinky websites, etc). yeah, i'll hand that right over. so, i got the reference librarian to remove the filter because i can never remember the damn password...we are rarely asked. later, we learned that he was looking at a website called "sex search" or something like that. creep.

yes, i believe people have the right to look at anything they want on the web BUT our monitors are out in the open, for the public to see as they pass by and children use the library, too. if he was still there when the middle school let their brats out (they meet at the library every-freakin-day), i was going to ask him to leave. but, he left before then. one patron, who was using the computer next to him (they are shoulder-to-shoulder as we have NO SPACE FOR ANYTHING!) complained.

creep.

Dummies for Dummies

i have just read the latest posting on my favorite blog www.librariesfordummies.blogspot.com. L.I. must stop using Libraries for Dummies or risk being sued by the jerks that publish those lame ass (insert word here) For Dummies books. does anyone actually read these books and think they will learn anything from them? aargh! this just pisses me off. pretty soon, someone will trademark the word "the" and we'll all be screwed. (oh! seriously funny Monty Python memories...remember the Knights who say Ni? hahahahahaha. love Monty Python!)

good luck !

question of the day

in honor of McCain and Bush signing a "no torture" agreement...what kind of torture should be applied to New England weathermen who can't tell a "light snow" from a damn "blizzard"? i say they should be forced to strip and stand on the side of the road when the snowplow passes by. no boots, either.
i anticipate hell freezing over for the morning commute tomorrow...since they are now predicting rain, temps in the 40's with thunderstorms, maybe an inch of snow...or 100% "chance" of rain, sleet, ice. who comes up with this stuff? i invision a Twister spin card with triangles labelled "snow", "partly cloudy", "pigs flying", "frog spawn falling from the sky". spin the arrow, that's the forecast. it would be more accurate, too

patron

a skinny, drippy, dyed blonde walks into the library and stops at the desk. she wants to use the internet. each of our 70 RI libraries has their own policy of computer access. i ask the woman for her card and she hands it to me. i see she has not been informed of our policy (we put a sticker on the card to show the policy has been signed and agreed to). i ask for her license to register her and she says, "oh, i gues this library isn't up to speed. i don't have to do this at all the other libraries. i just enter my card number at the terminal". well, i shot her daggers. well, lah-di-dah for you, miss thing. i'm sure you have been to ALL the libraries (ALL 70). i happen to know the policies of 5 area libraries and only ONE allows you to sign in at the terminal. but you STILL have to stop at the desk and be ASSIGNED a computer. boy, what i would give to say what i want to these "people" and still be able to keep my job. i tell my coworkers, if i ever get a terminal disease, every one of our most miserable patrons will get an earful from me.

well, i did get some degree of pleasure after all. the bitch forgot to pick up her library card when she was through using the computer. HAHAHAHAHA! -snort- HAHAHAHAHAHA!

aaarrrghhhh!!!!!!

i am so fucking mad! i just spent 20 minutes writing a damn post and my damn internet fucking crashed. i fucking HATE fucking COX CABLE and their cheap ass fucking modems! Fuck!!!

brain fog

i have big time brain fog. can't remember much of what happened today at work so i have no work related stories to share. Our secretary brought in 4 Mrs Prindable's caramel/chocolate covered apples. MMMMMM-MMMM Good!

i got a card from Maniac Mike. it's a yuletide card made by another inmate. it's really good. it has Mickety Mouse on the cover dressed as the sorcerer's apprentice, waving his wand and wishing me a Happy Yuletide. neato!

you might want to check out this blog www.boredatwork.com. also an excellent site www.freewayblogger.com. for liberals, you might want to try www.huffingtonpost.com and Margaret Cho's website and blog at www.margaretcho.com. i saw her Assasin DVD and i was disappointed. i still like her work though.

for comics, check out www.comics.com. that's where i find Get Fuzzy. i think that strip is Mike's favourite and mine, too though Opus is i close second. not only does this site have comic strips, it also has editorial cartoons.

see you tomorrow!

question of the day

do you prefer to read paperbacks of hard covers?

Bush in a bubble?

today, Bush said he did not live in "a bubble". he knows what's going on. he reads newspapers, but "not every single article". he watches news "clips". well, i think the President should be watching more than 30 second clips and soudbites. just because that's all he can manage to spit out of his mouth doesn't mean he's excused from doing his homework. when are we going to impeach this asshole? i am HOPING for a draft because that is probably the only thing that will wake up the American population. you thing all the yuppie, white, young american republicans would go for a draft? you think all the Bible colleges want to lose their students? hell no! so, dear W, try and draft our asses and you'll finally get yours kicked.

question of the day

what's your favorite kind of bagel?

long day

it's been a long day. i went to work for 9am. around 11am, an elderly man broke out his harmonica and played 'we wish you a merry christmas' for the staff while his wife checked out books. oookkkaaayyy. we laughed. it felt a tad awkward...what do you say to a man that breaks out a harmonica before noon in a library? we said thanks.

i left work early to get down to Sears to purchase 2 tires, get an oil change and winter wipers put on the car. i was there for 2 hours.

from Sears, i went right to the prison for our 6pm visit. i was only 10 minutes late. we had a nice visit but there wasn't really anyone there that we could talk about. sigh. Maniac Mike did point out the mother who only visits her son twice a year...on her way from Martha's Vineyard to her daughter's house in Florida. yep. she drives to Florida to visit her daughter but can't get to RI to visit her son the rest of the year. then there was Lying Bill, an inmate, who has never gotten a rumour right since MM has been there. when he says that they'll be 'locked in' for the night, they aren't. when he says they are showing 'a porno-type movie' on tv, they don't (come on dude! it's a prison!). he told MM that they weren't offering Christmas-type snacks this year, and of course, they are. MM actually fell for that one and i ragged on him for that. he really is far too trusting. so, anytime MM tells me something that he 'heard' might happen, i ask if Lying Bill told him.

i got home around 9:30pm, unwrapped a new bar of handmade, luxurious Maine Woods scented soap, took a shower and planted myself infront of this computer to read more of Libraries For Dummies...(www.librariesfordummies.blogspot.com).

now i am super tired, wired and i don't know how i'll get to sleep. y'know how you get overtired, so tired you feel wound up? i hate that feeling. luckily, i have meds and i don't have to get to work until 2pm tomorrow.

nighty-night!

cute fuzzy honduran white bats

oh come on! they are cute!

question of the day

when you flush the toilet, do you keep the lid up or do you close the lid first?

snow hater

the snow brings out the worst in me. there are two things i hate about people and snow.

i hate it when i shovel out my parking spot, all by myself, then pull my car out so the snowplow can clean out the snow...and some asshole pulls into my spot. this has happened to me three times while i was waiting to pull back into my parking spot. the first time, it was a woman and the next two times, MEN pulled into my spot. able bodied young men. all three times, i cursed and swore and got my spot back. who would think it is acceptable to wait for someone else to clean out a parking space and then pull into it?

and the other thing that bugs me big time...why don't people clean off their cars before they drive on the road ways and highways? i have seen cars covered in snow, with only the front window cleaned off. both yesterday and today, i was driving on the highway behind snow covered cars when all the snow slid off their roofs and smacked into my windshield. i have been able to avoid a dozen other snow laden cars and vans. jeezus people! get your lazy asses a broom and clean off your cars! i would like to know how many accidents are caused by these assholes.

tennis ball lady update

well, old TBL has her tennis balls back! yep, she's back on the walker. seems she had a spill...fell flat on her face. the rumor is she fell while leaving the hospital after some procedure... some sort of injection to the kidneys. it's hard to get any real information and i'm sure i was too late to the visitor center to hear her full story. apparently, she was exiting the hospital and fell down the stairs. splat! on her face. she does look pretty bad. she has two raccoon eyes and a big round gash on her forehead and i heard her nose was broken. Maniac Mike got that last bit of info from TBL's husband. dear God, i am sooooo not-nice that the first thing i said to Mike was, "damn! i wish i was there to see it!" okay, so i'm going to hell...ALREADY KNEW THAT.
another regular visitor...Big Bible Lady...said she felt sooooooo sorry for her. the Captain, Captain Corn Cob Up the Ass, stood behind both of us while we waitied in the alcove for the second sliding door to close, and Big Bible Lady said to him, "doesn't she look awful, poor thing." the Captain grunted. BBL added, "she must have had a bad fall." and the captain said, "i'm glad she didn't fall HERE!"
yep. because she would have SUED the department of corrections. i wonder if she plans on suing the hospital?
when Mike first told me that her husband said she had a fall, i thought that was a cover story...it may still be. one of her sons likes beating on her and the last time she came in black and blue, it was because he "pushed" her against a wall. she had big, nasty, crusty round marks on her arms. i'm curious to hear the story from her own mouth.
by the way, Big Bible Lady is so named because, at each visit, she runs to the books and games cabinet in the visitor room to get the biggest bible. it is BIG. her husband is the old twerp (5'4" and maybe 110 lbs) who was going around telling eveyone Maniac Mike is a devil worshipper. Mike is a witch, a Pagan who does not even believe in the christian devil. and the last thing MM would do would be to spread unfounded rumors about anothers religious beliefs, preferring to be left alone himself. however, MM is not adverse to punching the twerps lights out. boy, i would like to see that.

Strange Brew

air marshal shooting

what do you think about the shooting? my husband and i discussed this last night at our visit. he is firmly against the actions of the air marshals. i am firmly in their corner. if my son was on that plane and someone was acting aggresively and said he had a bomb on him (in his backpack or whatever), i would want the cops to take him down...fast. true, i wish they hadn't killed the guy but he was reaching into his bag and the marshals had to make a split second decision. what if he DID have a bomb? we would be calling the cops heroes. Mike thinks they should have listened to the wife who was screaming that her husband was bipolar. come on! listen to a screaming women who, for all they would know, might be an accomplice?

now we are hearing from mental health activists who are criticizing the feds and think they should be trained for these scenarios. what? now they need a degree in psychology? sit a raving lunatic on a couch and carefully question him, ask if he took his medication today, before acting? COME ON. listen, i have a lot of sympathy for people who suffer with mental illness. i have posttraumatic stress disorder and i have had many crazy episodes. i know that i have to stay on my meds. i take that responsibility very seriously. if that passenger did not take his meds, well, who's responsible? not the other passengers who were in real danger...let's not forget the other, innocent passengers. if someone has an mental illness that would put others at risk, that individual MUST take responsibility for his actions.

i have read that the guy and his wife were arguing on the plane. maybe he wanted to shake her up, or be a big shot, so he says the first BIG thing that comes to him...the MOST dreaded words you could hear on a plane nowadays..."I HAVE A BOMB!" how would you react to those words?

i hate snow

well, today was a snow day big-time! we got atleast 7" with a few small drifts. at one point during the storm, i thought i heard thunder but it was just the wind whipping around. luckily, i did not have anywhere to go today...no work and no visit. i called the library around 2pm and asked if staff was going to be dismissed early. Nope. of course not. the director has a big old SUV, so why should she worry.
i shovelled. i hate shovelling. i hate snow. even when i can stay at home, i hate it. last winter was FULL of snowdays...so, listen up God! i don't want another winter like that!
like He listens to me. right.

prison visitors

i'll admit it...i like making fun of people. i like wondering what their lives must be like. i like it when someone i truly dislike has a bizarre sob story. something along the lines of 'i lost my tennis balls in the van and had to crawl around and look for them and my no-good grandaughter was too lazy to help me find them!'
that is an actual line from one of the visitors that comes to see an inmate at the prison. Maniac Mike and i have dubbed her The Tennis Ball Lady because she had tennis balls stuck to the legs of her walker. when i first met her, i had no idea why she needed a walker as she walked much faster and steadier than i did. turns out she falls a lot from diabetes or something. she has fallen out of bed on many occasions and she just loves to regale us with her "i'm so sick, poor me" stories. whenever she gets even the slightest boo-boo, all her doctors confer and agree that she's a remarkable specimen and they can't figure out why she is still alive. "i should be dead" is her rallying cry. a few months ago she graduated from walker to cane to nothing and now she has a cane again. she does seem shakier than ever.
this lady has been trying to get me into a conversation for the 2 years i've been visiting Mike. whenever she does manage to catch me next to her and without a book, she tries to talk to me. TO ME. not with me. her conversation is all about HER and HER problems and medical maladies and her fucked up sons who want nothing to do with her and how she thinks having to come to every visit is too much and she doesn't like to drive at night...blah, blah blah, blah, blah. i hate her.
she reminds me of the old witch in Hansel and Gretel...the one who ate the children. yuck.

i hate mechanics because they LIE

triple A arrived 15 minutes after i posted the last entry. i arrived at the garage around 9:30. i did not leave the goddamn place until 4:15. i cannot even begin to tell you how pissed off i am. i could spit fire. at 1:40, i was told they got a wrong part...the MAJOR part from the parts store which is in Providence. the mechanic said he called for a new one. i asked him if 20 minutes was fair (to wait for the part) and another 1/2 hour to replace the part and he said yes. so, at 2:30, i ask if they were almost done. almost, he said. then, at 3 o'clock, i saw a man hobble in with a box that looked suspiciously like the box that held the wrong part i was shown earlier. i went up to the mechanic and asked, "is that the new part!!" and he sheepishly said, "yea." well, i freakin' flipped! FLIPPED! i told him this was not the first time i was lied to about how long a repair would be and that this was a FULL DAY missed of work...i had missed a full fucking day the last time. he tried to blame it entirely on the autoparts place but i told him it was HIS job to get on the pbone and say, "hey buddy, where's the part i'm waiting for?!" aaaaarrrrrggghhhh! nobody can fucking do their fucking jobs anymore. nobody takes any fucking pride nor responsibility for their work anymore. we are a country full of fuck-ups who only care about the paycheck and not the quality of the work we do. granted, millions of people do not get paid for the very real work they do but many millions more get paid for doing NOTHING and even doing THAT wrong. and it starts with the president and his fucking cronies and the billions they make off of US.

anyway, i got 100 bucks off my bill and i told them, if i do return for any reason, i want the time any work will take written down as well as the estimate for the labor. i don't mind waiting for work, but don't tell me i'll be done in an hour and them make me wait another TWO and a 1/2 hours. assholes.

AAA

i'm waiting for triple A to tow my car. last night, the control arm on my car "went". i missed my visit last night and i'm missing work this morning. another circ worker called in sick, so there is only one circ clerk on the desk this morning. oh, well. i can't drive my car and i haven't got a ride since Hinoserm is at my sister's house and he's not allowed to drive after crashing her Jaguar and causing $6800 in damage. my sister is really too sick to go out. so, i can only hope i can get to the garage and get it fixed today ASAP. oh happy day.

christmas "party"

truthfully, i believe the words 'Christmas' and 'party' do not belong together, sorta like 'hell' and 'happiness'. tomorrow is the library christmas party. oh, joy. see how i dance around, singing festively, twirling on my toes and smiling from ear to ear. not. i have no desire to go, but i will. the last thing i want to do is spend even more time with coworkers and worse, the boss. why? i see them 32 hours a week...far more time than i spend with either my husband or my son. no, what i want to do and what my body wants me to do is go home after working 8 hours and chill. plus, i have work saturday morning to look forward to. i guess i am a bit of a scrooge, eh? yes, i agree. but i am not a party person, prefering to be alone most of the time. i can entertain myself quite well, thanks.

anyway, we have secret santas this year, which was a good idea. we should have done it a long time ago. i usually spend close to $250 at christmas just for staff gifts...money i could use on family. so, this year, we spend $25 for our secret santa. not bad. i hope. i had to buy for the children's librarian, whom i do not know too well. she has mentioned that we got her hooked on candy, chocolate, so i bought her a bunch of chocolate items...chocolate body wash, chocolate body frosting (edible. she's married), chocolate candles and votive holder, chocolate bath fizz, chocolate lip gloss and white and milk chocolate covered gummie bears. do you think that is a good gift basket? i wouldn't mind getting that myself. oh, and chocolate incense, too. i wrapped everything in pink and brown and arranged it all in a basket and tied a chocolate lollipop to the handle. i includes some sparkley icicles to decorate it. i hope she likes it.

two lovely cats

this is Paris....................................................................and Midge. www.amandajchastain.blogspot.com.

10 items or less or No Shop Shaw's

i was standing behind a women in the express checkout at Shaw's supermarket today. this women was about 65, had a fur trimmed coat and make-up on. she was slack faced and dumb as a stone. i know this because i, unfortunately had to stand behind her for a good fifteen minutes while she made a mess of cashing out. first, she tried to use a Sierra Mist coupon to buy Coke. it was a Shaw's issued coupon that clearly stated (i could see it from where i was standing) that it was good for $1 OFF Sierra Mist. so, the women GRUNTS and the cashier asks if she wants to get the Sierra Mist. the dumbell women asks "what kind soda is(sic throughout)?" so, the cashier tells her it's like Sprite and the woman says, "Well, for one dollah, i try it". hmmmm, i think. so, cashier sends bagger to get the 12 pack of Sierra Mist. then the cashier rings up a super large bottle of Coffemate and the old dumbell sees it rings in at $3.19. "No. only one-ninety-nine!" cashier checks sale paper and doesn't see it. sends bagger to check the shelf. the woman behind me says, "i'm going to kill her!" and i wasn't entirely sure if she meant the oldie or the cashier. I want to kill the old woman myself. bagger comes back and says that someone dropped a sale tag on the same SHELF as the Coffemate but it's not on sale. cashier asks if the old dumbell if she wants the Coffemate. "how much?" cashier says, "$3.19". the woman says okay, she'd buy it.

now the cashier has finally rung up the order and gives the old bat a total of $11 and change. "why dat?", asks Bat. cashier tells her, adding that the Sierra Mist was $3.99. "No, one dollar. i have de coupon". "no", explains the cashier, "the coupon is for $1 OFF." "oh. i no want it den." the woman behind me says even louder than before, "I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" and now it is clear to me she wants to kill the old woman and come to think of it SO DID I! cashier has to void the soda. pages for someone to come over to do a void. pages again and, one more time. finally someone comes over. the lady behind the lady behind me groans and looks very angry. i shoot daggers at the old woman who pays no attention and just stands around, slack jawed and oblivious. cashier now tells her her order comes to $7 and change. woman pays WITH A FIFTY DOLLAR BILL...cheap fucking daughter-of-a-bitch won't buy a $3.99 cas of soda because it costs too much but she pays with a stinkin' fifty. woman behind the woman behind that woman says, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING?" so now, the 3 of us and the cashier are fucking pissed. we really, really want to see this woman drawn and quartered. i want to bash her over the head with her supersize Coffemate and ram the damn Sierra's down her throat. finally, the bitch-bat pays, takes her bag over to an empty register line and CHECKS OVER THE SLIP! the cashier had put the Coke and Mist on that register's belt to get them out of the way. dingbat, packs up her bags and TAKES THE FUCKING UNPAID FOR SIERRA MIST and puts it in her carriage and walks out. cashier sees and runs over to get her manager and tells her the woman just stole the soda. manager DOES NOTHING! i finally check out and tell the manager that i just spent an eternity waiting for that woman to check out and "you let her get away with stealing the soda." she mumbles. i say, "you should give each of us a case of soda." no response. i am seriously thinking of writing a letter to Shaw's to tell them that i don't appreciate paying higher prices for groceries because that let damn fools steal from them right under their nose and they do NOTHING. oh, i saw the damn Bat get into a car in the parking lot. it was a Lexus.

sunday

well, it's sunday and my last day off. i have:

• eaten a handful of monterey jack and pepper Doritos. too spicey for me.
• talked with my husband on the phone, twice.
• drank one bottle of IBC creme soda.
• worked a crossword online. took me 15 minutes but i chose the easier level.
• briefly browsed through some blogs on Blogwise.
• read 1/2 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. i can't believe how much of it i have forgotten.
• debated whether i should go out for a burger as i'm having cravings for one. very rare of me to crave meat. i may just pop over to Wendy's later but right now, i am too lazy to get dressed and wander out into the cold.

fascinating life i have. yesterday, before my 6pm visit, i purchased some christmas cards at Hallmark. i was surprised that i got 6 bucks off my purchase. have no idea why. i must spend, easily, a couple hundred bucks a year on cards and stationary and another couple on postage. i TRY to send a letter or two a day to Maniac Mike and he writes me everyday, too. stamps are going up to 39 cents in january and i'm just a tad pissed at that. but i really can't complain about the service. i go to the Manville PO exclusively. i have a box there, for one thing and for another, and more importantly, the staff is wondeful. they know their patron's by name and are always friendly and accurate and willing to help.

i'm going back to my reading. maybe later, i'll blog browse and look for kitties. see ya.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

excellent! just got back from watching the film. it WAS dark...darker than the book in many ways. lots of stuff never made it into the film, but as it was, it was 2 and a half hours long. this was probably my least favorite book next to the last one, which really pissed me off. but the movie is probably my favorite. my favorite book was Prisoner of Azkhaban, and i also like Order of the Phoenix a lot. i am looking forward to Order as a movie.

this is pretty embarrassing but Daniel Radcliffe is a little hunky. certainly, the bathtub scene was meant for all the swooning preteens...i was wondering how they would handle that in the film. showed a little too much skin and Moaning Mirtle was a little too lecherous. the graveyard scene was pretty awesome and those damn Deatheaters damn frightening. could Snape really be one of them still? please, please let the answer be "NO!" Krum was far too good looking...nothing like the hook nosed, heavy browed ogre in the book. i liked Cho Chang far better in the movie than the book. i hate her in the books.

i hate to think it, but i will probably read the book yet again to see what exactly was left out. then i'll read the Half Blood Prince again. i've only read that the one time. i think i have read all the other books 4 times, maybe 5 for Order as i was looking for clues.

i guess i will give the movie four out of five stars just because some things were not covered...but five stars alone for the Quidditch World Cup arena. worth every bit of the $8.50 ticket.

dumb patrons

we say it like it is:
we have a policy at the library that states patrons must rewind their videocassettes or be charged 25 cents. (why is there no damn cents symbol on my keyboard?). the scene: patron steps up to the counter to check out materials. card is scanned. "you have a small fine of 25 cents for an unrewound video." "oh", says the patron, "aren't these new videos self-rewinding?"

patron steps up to the return desk and hands me 4 DVD's. "i rewound these", he says.

we have a policy at the library that patrons must present their library cards to use our internet/computers. thirteen year old girl steps up to the counter, "can i use a computer?" card is scanned. "you have $2.75 in fines, just to let you know". "what?", shouts the girl, "that's not a credit card. how can i have money on it?" "no, you have fines." "what are fines?", asks the twit. "you returned some books late and we fined you for them." "oh, i'll bring in the money on monday, if i'm here."

i kid you not.

mermaid dream

last night/this morning i dreamed about pregnant mermaids. there was a race of mermaids/mermen living in our oceans. my dream took place in the Atlantic. there also were river and pond mermaids, kind of like ocean and river dolphins. mermaids would come to live among humans for the sole purpose of getting pregnant by human men. apparently, mermen are sterile and are all tail, no dick. so, to keep the race going, mermaids come to live among us, searching for sperm donors. they don't just 'get laid', but form relationships with men and even marry them. then, when the maids get pregnant and are close to delivery, they leave the humans flat and return to the water. these pregnant mermaids must then present themselves to the merking, who then decides if the merbaby is worth keeping. merbabies worth keeping must have the mergene that allows them to live underwater (as well as on land) and grow a tail. if the merembryo is more human then merman, the kid is aborted or murdered upon delivery.

the merking was a real bastard. he was cruel and saw mermaids only as babymaking machines. he had no problem killing babies or mothers. sometimes, a mermom would fall in love with the human and decide to stay on land. they would be summoned to the king under pretense of well-wishes and then be tortured and killed for falling in love with a human. sometimes mermoms would want to keep their human babies. they would also be hunted down and slaughtered. the merking was a ruthless son of a bitch. i hated him in my dream and i hate him even now.

if the merembryo was 'worth' keeping, the merking would blow his spirit into the womb of the mermother. this would 'make' him the 'father' of the merbaby and ALL the merbabies that have been born since he became king.

yes, a truly fucked up dream. i have no idea why i thought of mermaids. it may have something to do with The Goblet of Fire, which i plan on seeing tonight with Hinoserm. mermaids played a role in that book.

sex slaves nyc

hi. here i am on a saturday afternoon, working on my blog. oh, i guess i could be out shopping (NOT!) with the crowds...who the HELL would find that enjoyable?

before i go way off tangent...i wonder why i called this blog "punk penguins", 'cause i never write about punk or penguins. Hmmmmmm. i will have to fix that.

my hubbie sent me 3 new CD's this week. the one i am listening to now is Sex Slaves NYC. they are much more 'pop' than 'punk' but i like them a lot. heavy emphasis on catchy lyrics, music sorta substandard but it works. i like a song i can scream along to. the Slaves remind me a little of Black Flag...i'm thinking of TV Party and Rise Above. the Slaves are best known for their wicked floor shows...naked or nearly naked women making out and writhing and all kinds of wildness, none of which i have seen. Hinoserm would never agree to go to a punk show. he's conservative. oh, and a geek. very happy about that!

you can find the Slaves at www.sexslavesnyc.com or at Radical Records, 77 Bleecker St, NYC 10012. they are sssslllllooooowwww to respond. my hubbie ordered this CD more than a month ago. it was worth the wait.

Hayabusa-The Falcon

it is believed that Hayabusa, the Japanese asteroid probe, has collected debris but we won't know for sure until it's return in 2007. the debris could contain material from the birth of the solar system.

weeping Mary

this is a photo of a statue of Our Blessed Mother which has wept red tears. the statue is on the grounds of a Vietnamese Catholic church in Sacramento, California.

i have always been fascinated with Marian Apparitions and weeping statues and stigmata and all that Catholic mysticism. personally, i am devoted to the Virgin as she has helped me all my life and it was because of Her help i got through a really rough childhood. having said that, i am not the religious type though i am fascinated by Religions. i am a Catholic, but not a very good one. i hardly ever attend mass and i observe meatless fridays most of the time (i usually forget) and i pray for the saints to intercede for me and i do pray the Rosary but that's about it. my faith goes deeper than these trappings. my very basic belief is that there is a God (or Creator or One Being) and we are all under His/Her care and hopefully, we will all return to the One when our lives here are done. simple. i also believe in a purgatory where are souls go after death to be purged. i believe we are shown our lives, our goodness and wickedness, which helps us to better understand our souls. maybe some of us reincarnate, i don't know. MY goal is to NOT ever come back here and to be at one with God, oh, and to see all my lovely "pets" again. actually, that is a BIG one...i won't rest in heaven if my pets aren't there.

male bordello

i realize i haven't been writing anything of any substance lately. i have fallen into the trap of happily posting pictures on this blog. i love it, it's fun but i realize i need to write more often. as it is almost 2am here in Rhode Island, this will be a short one. i just had to comment on Heidi Fleiss opening a male bordello in Nevada. she'll have gorgeous men to service women for a price. YYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAA! alright! it's about time, too. see, men can go out and find a "date" for the night, no strings (but cash) attached but women have to end up in a relationship before they can play because society has told us time and time again that we are not supposed to desire sex without commitment. sometimes, i just want sex and not a relationship...not even a date. so, Heidi dear, go for it! just don't stock any guys that look like Mel Gibson. try for the Johnny Depp types, okay?

alien bumper sticker

turkey day

well, here is one blog that won't be showing dinner spreads and roasting turkeys and people with huge stomachs, burping and watching football. you would not believe how many of them i have blogged through today. some bloggers who have not blogged in weeks and months have rushed to their computers to upload their turkey dinner pictures. i'm sure we will have a repeat of these for Christmas with zillions of little kids unwrapping presents and sitting on Santa's knee. oh, how precious. NOT!

okay, so we know you are not starving and have a tv and family that gives a shit about you. so fucking what. i want to see pictures of turkeys splatted on floors and food fights between in-laws and wives smacking their lazy ass husbands upside the head and yelling at them to get in the damn kitchen and help clean up the mess.

i am bitter, yes. i had an Nestle iced tea in a can and peanut M&M's with my husband at our thanksgiving day visit. of course, i am happy we HAD a visit...it just so happened to fall on today. then, i went home and had Green Giant rice pilaf from the microwave for my dinner. i was invited to family dinner, but i hate the arguing and i hate the fact that i am never really able to participate. my mother always says something hurtful to me, and she still doesn't know that i am MARRIED so i have to hide my wedding band. yes, i have a fucked up family life and yes, i am depressed about it. i am sure that i am not alone here. if you have a similar or even WORSE family life, then i give you big Kudos for hanging on. keep hanging on, okay? and, if you, like me, get seriously depressed during the holidays...they pass. just hang on with me and we'll make it through this season as we always have. maybe with a few too many pills and a little too much alchohol and some illegal drugs and, in my case, lots of shiney razorblades, we'll pull through. if no one else will, i will give you LOTS OF CREDIT just for plugging along. you are thought of even if it's from an anonymous blogger in cyberspace...and i'm hear to listen. thanks for listening to me!

cat ans cupcake

www.tears_of_darkness.blogspot.com.

cats in sink

www.heykaren2.blogspot.com.

cat picture

www.verabthomas.blogspot.com.

make poverty GO AWAY

okay...small rant here. while blogsurfing, i often come across blogs with the Make Poverty History.org banner in the right upper corner of their blog. this stops me from hitting the "next blog" button to go forward to the next blog. so, i have to backtrack and hope the next blog doesn't have a banner. also, why do folks get rid of the buttons altogether? this is a pain in the ass. does anyone else out there just like to browse?

videocassettes to go bye bye

i heard a rumour that videocassettes wil no longer be produced starting next year. is this true? if it is HURRAY! normally, i am not one to taut new technology, having a suspicious mind and believing the government uses all new tech to spy on us (what? me paranoid?) but this is a good thing, no?

eye exam

cat picture

this is Beaches from www.ameribritbaby.blogspot.com.

cotton candy

i'm addicted to cotton candy. lately, it is my favorite late night snack. i got hooked on it while renting movies at Hollywood Video. they sold tinfoil bags of cotton candy and i would buy one each time i rented movies. then, i discovered that WALMART sold buckets of cotton candy in various flavors for a dollar a bucket. so, i buy my cotton candy there. my favorite flavours are banana, green apple and blue raspberry.
do you remember the days at carnivals and amusement parks where cotton candy was spun infront of you, spun onto a white paper cone? that was magical to me. pure delight. i could've done without the sticky fingers, but i managed! now don't get me started on candy apples.

i dare u 2 look at this pic & not feel warm & fuzzy

betcha can't do it! this prairie dog is almost as cute as Queequeg.

cat picture

kitty picture, unnamed from www.mango08.blogspot.com.

blogging questions

home from work...yadda, yadda, yadda. same old thing, same old patrons and same old coworkers. sigh. lately, i haven't had any desire to do much of anything. i get to work and i have no ambition. i kind of walk throught the day, do what i need to do without much enthusiasm. i have been feeling weird since i started on the Cymbalta but this may just be a coincidence. i miss my husband every day. i have no energy to do anything that i want to do let alone what i need to do. i'm sure there are many of you that feel the same. isn't it a bitch? i would really like to be able to stay home and play on the computer, finding photos and stories to use on this blog. i have a question: How much time do you spend on your blog each day? also, how much time do you spend reading other blogs each day? do you wish you could spend more time blogging or are you satisfied with the time you have? i know, that's more than one question, so sue me.

cat picture

this lovely little kitty is Nala. check out her 'owner' blog at www.richardsonzoo.blogspot.com.

can i see your kitty?

i would really like to post some pictures of your cats on this blog. if you'd like to share a photo of your cat, please direct me to your site. i will mention your cats name and i will add a link to your site. if you haven't read the book already, i recommend "Bad Cats". i will post more info on it later. it is hilarious!

joke

doesn't it bother you when people litter? the most creative rational for throwing an apple core out the window is "it will plant seeds for other trees to grow". and of course, our highways are lined with apple trees--right next to the cigarette bush.

---Nick Arnette

reading

this is a wonderful children's book all about mobile libraries for children around the globe. books are delivered by boat, camel, elephant and 1,000's of books are trekked long distances through jungles just to get them in the hands of children who LOVE them! we don't know how lucky we are in the western world, to have access to so much information...and not just the internet but BOOKS. real, honest to goodness paper books! if you have a kid and love libraries, please check this book out!

reading

this is the seventh book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Laurell K Hamilton's writing gets better as she writes more books. i am reading this series mostly because my husband is a big fan of Hamiltons. there is so much action in these books that it actually tires me out. and almost all her men are "beautiful"...not handsome, but girlishly beautiful. i'm not big on beautiful men. i like my men to look like MEN. still, these books are fun and easy to read...no thinking required. it bothers me that the likes of JD Robb aka Nora Roberts would praise these books. normally, i would not read anything associated with the junk Nora Roberts writes. all those old- lady- reader writers suck...Danielle Steel, Maeve Binchey, Fern Michaels, Jackie Collins, Barbara Delinsky...nothing i would ever, ever read. god, if i am ever seen reading Danielle Steel, someone please pluck my eyeballs out because i'd just be abusing then anyway!

visit these blogs

this is a picture of Ziggy from www.cacaricago.blogspot.com.

www.stringbeanjean.blogspot.com has a super cool blog called Haunt Me. lots of lists and haunting pictures and words.

www.nakedwisdom.blogspot.com weird news...did you know Vermont suceeded from the union in October? want to know what MIT found out about tinfoil hats? go here!

www.ruthiesky.blogspot.com not sure what i think of this blogger, but she is leading an interesting life trekking/hitchhiking around the country.

visit these blogs

Lithuanian crosses
www.yamanba.blogspot.com

bush falling among bubbles

check out this eerily relaxing "bush falling among bubbles" webpage. you can click on Georgie and drag him around. lots of fun.http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm . i found this link on a cool blog www.jasonfeather.blogspot.com.

joke

Everything is going to be automated in the future. Even Emergency 911: "Thank you for calling Emergency 911. If you're being murdered, press 1. If you're suffering from a split personality, press 2, 3 and 4. If you're battling Satan, press 666. If you are being assaulted, press pound, pound, pound. If you're already dead, stay on the line, and an operator will be with you shortly."
---Adam Christing

power vampires

NY TIMES....according to a recent NY Times article, consumers in the United States spend $1 billion a year to power electronic devices that have been turned off...such as cell phone rechargers, large screen tv's and cable boxes. i don't think it mentioned computers but i haven't read the whole article. i do not ever turn off my computer unless we are having a thunderstorm. it's on all the time. Hinoserm told me to do this and he explained why but i forget why. when it comes to computers and electronics, i just do whatever he says. he could say, "stand in front of your monitor and twirl around three times and say 'work, work,work' to turn the computer 'on' " and i would do it because, yes, you've heard it before...i an THAT computer illiterate!

alaskan bird rescue

this is an Alaskan bird rescue site. i love the work they are doing even though i have a nasty hawk problem. my prairie dog's house was on a table by a large window and one day a HUGE hawk smashed into the window. the hawk did this three times. we called animal control and were told "it's illegal to shoot them". duh. didn't want to shoot it but did want to know if it would break through the window. the animal control officer told us to put X's of masking tape on the window and move "the guinea pig". well, we put tape on the windows but fuck, why should Queequeg lose his prime viewing spot because of a dumb, hungry hawk? we pushed him back from the window and left the blinds down until someone was around to keep and eye out for the damn hawk. now that queequeg has passed away, guess what? the hawk flew into the window again! just a dumb bird after all. see this site www.birdtlc.blogspot.com.

check out this blog

love this picture. please check out www.astcote.blogspot.com.

the Devil's Rejects

i just got through watching the Devil's Rejects unrated version. i can't see why it was pulled from theatres. it wasn't any worse than House of a Thousand Corpses, really. i'm not sure whether i liked the movie or not. i can say i liked House a hell of a lot more. that clown is so gross, it made me sick watching him. i kind of like Otis, though. if he cleaned himself up a bit and stopped sleeping with rotting corpses, he might not be that bad. i would love to hear what you might think of the movie and especially whether you prefered House or Devil. on a whole, i give this movie ///.

the Devil's Rejects

i haven't watched the movie yet, but i bought it and House of a Thousand Corpses at Best Buy. it cost me $20 for both of them. my husband really liked the movie...they showed it at the prison. has anyone seen it? i am saving it for a night when i have the movie bug and i need a great movie. let me know if you liked it and if you thought it was better or worse than House of a Thousand Corpses. that movie was awesome.

hello again, hello

well, it's been along time. i have been fighting gallbladder pain and trying to keep from getting operated on. i have also had no desire to do much of anything but read the Laurell K Hamilton "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series. i'm now up to book number seven called Burnt Offerings. in the previous book, The Killing Dance, she finally slept with one of her boyfriends...it's either the vampire or the werewolf but i won't tell you which in case you decide to read them. i would prefer the werewolf if he wasn't such a namby pamby in human form. the vampire is too 'pretty boy' for me.

i have also started writing my own book. i've had several ideas in my head and have written down many many notes but i have never actually sat down and "begun". so, i have begun. i won't be sharing it here, atleast not for long while. i don't fell confident enough to share.

well, Halloween has come and gone but i still live in a halloween bedroom. the decor doesn't change...it's halloween all year round. we finally finished off the halloween candy at work. we had pounds and pounds of it! i'm sure this contributed to my gallbladder trouble somewhat. also, i was drinking coffee like mad with lots of cream. i have given up coffee for a month. i did it for my deceased prairie dog who is not happy with the lack of attention he's getting in heaven. i warned them that he was extra demanding. so, i've given up coffee to commiserate. i can have it again on December 10th. it's just a mini-lent kind of thing.

house with bride

for those who are interested: a woman is selling her house for $600,000 and she goes with it. here is her picture and the picture of her home. i wonder which desperate slob will "buy it"?

three movies

three movies:

Undead...excellent! a unique zombie/alien adventure set in Australia. this movie was even better than the trailer suggested. funny, with great characters. it never stops. rent it. you won't regret it. /////

Nothing...two loser friends wish the world away and have Nothing to cope with. a great script, interesting story. makes you think. not really resolved at the end but the turtle lives on. ////

Day of the Dead 2: Contagion...slow, no story, no characters to care about. more nothing than Nothing. i watched 30 minutes worth before i got bored. steer clear. /

mommie blog madness

i was reading a mommie blog. this mommie had a new baby. she listed one of the things she did not like about mommiehood was the late night shit explosions. i think she said poop explosion, but shit is shit. let's not sugar coat it. (yuck! sugar-coated shit!) according to her, a late night shit explosion is a diaper full of runny shit, that leaks up the babies back and down the legs and out onto the sheets and mattress. this entails a late night bath and cleanup. see, this is why i HATE mommie blogs. i did not need to read this. yes, i had to deal with shit explosions, but i did not write about them, EVER, or even discuss them with another human being. they happened, so? and any new mommie who has time for a blog is not suffering enough. new babies take up ALL your time. every single second. there is rarely time for a shower, especially if you're a single parent or your husband is a jerk. even if you have a spouse to help you with the new baby, you still won't have time to blog. so i am suspect of all the "new mommie" blogs. i think they are just making them up, trying to gain sympathy or something. a mommie with a new baby would only have enough time to blog, "Help, i'm drowning in....." (laundry, poop, formula, puke, etc). trust me. been there.

where's my muse?

i am bone dry. my writing muse has departed. i can't think of a damn thing to write about. don't you just hate the dry spells? how do break the writer's block?

i spent Halloween at my sister's house with Hinoserm. we got about 15 trick-or-treaters, so we have tons of candy left over. i'm surprised by how few treaters there were considering the night was beautiful and relatively warm. oh well. more candy to bring to work. we are overloaded with chocolate and it's wonderful. the three of us watched Bewitched. we put out a dead supper for my beloved prairie dog, hoping he'd come and visit. we had no lasagne, his favorite, but we did have his favorite cookies. god, i miss him terribly. someday, i will tell you all about him and post pictures, but his loss is still too hard to deal with right now. i forgot to ask my husband how his Samhain ritual went. we had a visit Halloween afternoon. short but sweet. i wore a little black dress with fishnets and put on lots of make-up which made him happy.

Hinoserm's website was shown on Fox news...Ginkosoft. he had know idea that it would be. i still don't know exactly what he does. i do know he's going to a convention in january. don't know what he does at these conventions, either. they probably have geek strippers with heavy black eyeglasses talking all technical and giving them laptop dances. geeks will rule the world next, right after this era of the fundamentalist yahoos. it will be a much better era, too. we will all be wired!

Halloween Movies

i watched three movies on Halloween.

Bewitched...cute, but not like the tv series. hated the actor who played Uncle Arthur but the actress who played Aunt Clara was not too bad. i can't stand Will Ferret (sic) at all! my favorite part of the movie was Kidman's wardrobe. ///

House of Wax...the original. i'm a sucker for Vincent Price movies. i grew up with them. this HoW still stands the test of time. don't expect much gore. ////

House of Wax...2005. excellent movie. loved the special effects and the concept of an actual house made of wax. creepy, gorey, decapitation...an excellent Halloween movie. also, Paris Hilton gets skewered in the head!!! for that alone, i give it /////

Ice Queen...an ancient woman is found. Pleistocene era chick. she's kidnapped and the plane goes down in a ski resort village. the crash causes an avalanche and the resort is covered in snow. several people are inside. the Pleistocene bitch turns into an ice woman/creature that goes on a killing spree. this movie is terrible. in one scene, the "hero" fights the ice queen in the kitchen. they have already been in a frozen building for over an hour yet the hero find a pan of boiling hot water to throw on the creature. no electricity...so why is the water so hot? also, the ancient ice queen knew how to use a doorknob and knows that milk is in a carton and she knows how to open it and drink from it. there were cows and dairies in the pleistocene? right. this movie gets NO SLASHES for stupididty.