My favorites…
My favorite sounds: my baby laughing, thunder in the distance
My favorite smells: milk breath, fresh laundry, a barbecue in use
My favorite tastes: greek olives, yellow cake with butter cream frosting
My favorite feels: my husband’s close-shaved face, bubble wrap, a big wet dog nose
My favorite sights: my daughter sleeping, people recycling, the beach at sunrise
Happiness is
A brand new, unopened, pristine package of 24 different-colored Sharpie markers.
OBAMA ‘08 OH YEAH!
Just thought I would send this out to the universe. I believe that Barack Obama has the guts, the integrity, the moderation, the sincerity and the support to run this country and lead us into light where we’ve been in the dark for 7 long years. Bush and his cronies have sank this country into despair. The environment is burning, the markets are crashing, soldiers and civilians are dying.
I think he is doing great standing up to Hillary. She doesn’t have a whole lot of experience herself, so the stones should not be thrown from that glass house. She is elitist, smug, arrogant, calculating and WE DO NOT NEED HER in the White House. Nevermind the fact that there is no way she will ever get elected. People will go out of their way NOT to elect her.
I believe Obama is the best candidate and I hope he will get the Dem nomination.
Fox and their “Experts”
I was buzzing by Fox News today, just after news broke of the stock market stumble. I see a screen divided in three. On the bottom is “ALERT!” On the right, stock market tickers. and on the left….Duff from Guns N Roses. Huh? They had DUFF MCKAGEN on as an “expert.” When I lit upon Fox, he was talking gruffly about how he won’t be able to sell his house in L.A. this year. Awwww, poor filthy rich semi-rock star.
I know how ridiculous Fox is. I know they are completely biased, unfair and unbalanced. But COME ON! There are millions of financial experts out there. Is it because NO ONE wants to go on Fox News? You couldn’t do any better than Duff?
I REALLY hope this ends up on the Daily Show. Pretty Please?
If you haven’t finished the last Harry Potter book, DON’T READ THIS!
OK, I warned you. This is a spoiler if you haven’t read the book. These are my feelings on the last book:
1. I think JK Rowling did a wonderful job wrapping everything up. I think she killed off peripheral characters, but no one that would completely traumatize her legions of little fans.
2. I heart Snape.
3. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so hard reading a book. Especially when I thought certain people had been killed and that everything I’ve feared had come true. But there were also happy tears, like when Dumbledore’s army came to fight at Hogwarts, when the house elves unleashed hell, and when all of the former headmasters gave Harry a standing ovation. Sniff.
Overall, I have mixed emotions about the last book. I thought it was very good, although there was A LOT of backstory. A LOT. I know why she had to do it, but the middle of the book was very slow going. It started to pick up later, and then it grew to breakneck speed towards the end, but that middle section was rough going, because you just wanted to know what the hell was going to happen to everyone. You didn’t want to read Rita Skeeter that much.
I’m also really depressed that there won’t be any more HP books. I hope she writes another series. It could still take place in the wizarding world, and could have Harry at the periphery, but it should be about someone else.
p.s. I still heart Snape.
The dickhead stealing things in my department aka my wish for a weapon
Lately, a guy and his girlfriend have been coming in my department. Very nicely dressed, collegiate, affable. STINKIN’ THIEVES. The guy is so brazen, he tried to steal a Bob Dylan CD while my employee was standing RIGHT NEXT TO HIM. He’s gotten away with a $100 box set. He is so brazen he SHOWED ME his razor. ASSHOLE. Before I could do anything about it, he was gone.
Sometimes I really think that working in retail and being accountable for shrink has taken years off my life. It doesn’t help that I have a totally shitty manager who A) is condescending B) has absolutely no clue whatsoever as to how to communicate with and relate to people C) pretends to care but is really only about the bottom line and whether or not she gets her bonus or not and D) blames you for things you have no control over, ie: no traffic leading to no sales.
But I digress. This asshole that has been frequenting my department needs to be shot on sight. I wish they would let me have a taser. A taser would make my life so much easier. Yes, I would abuse it. I would unleash all of my aggression on the world. But MY GAWD I would be so much happier! I would zap the douchebag before he even made it into my department. Then, as he was lying there in agony, I would kick him in the balls and laugh.
I hate people that steal. They are the scum of this planet. They are probably the same people who voted for G Dub and throw their cigarette butts on the ground and speed up when you are trying to get into their lane with your blinker on. If you are reading this and you have ever stolen something, you SUCK ASS. You have caused so much stress for some poor schlup earning minimum wage who has to explain to his or her boss how they let you get away with that box set DVD. If there is a hell, you should be first in line to be prodded with that pitchfork.
RETAIL IS MAKING ME INSANE.
Nora Roberts is my hero
I’ve been a fan of her for years and years. She is tucked into the “romance” category, but she is so much more than a romance writer. Nora Roberts writes strong, powerful, mindful, likeable, real women characters. They are flawed. They like music and good beer. They stumble. My favorite of these characters is from her latest book, High Noon. Phoebe Macnamara is a GREAT female lead character. She is a hostage negotiator, which is so cool by itself. She has a daughter, and so do I. She lives in Savannah, which is a city I aspire to live in. I love this character. Roberts has a wild talent for eliciting empathy from her readers.
Oh, and one more thing… she once wrote a female character who listened to Nine Inch Nails. c’mon! How cool is that?? I am willing to bet that she is the one and only female “romance” writer who has ever mentioned Nine Inch Nails in a book.
If you want a great story that reads easily with realistic characters and breakneck plotting, you should check Nora Roberts out. My personal favorites are as follows:
1. The Chesapeake Bay trilogy.
2. Blue Smoke
3. High Noon
4. The “Born In” trilogy
Just keep right on “staying the course” to your place in history, Mr. Bush
as the worst president this country has ever known. Even Nixon eventually admitted his wrongdoing and resigned. Before GWB, Nixon was considered one of the most slippery and dishonest of all of the presidents. Well, Bush makes Nixon look like Mr. Rogers.
He had such an opportunity to unite all of us. We were attacked and we looked to him to stand firm and find the person who did it. At first, things were OK. It appeared that Bush would not stop until he found Bin Laden. But all of that trust we had in him, even if we didn’t vote for him, was squandered when he attacked Iraq.
I get that Hussein was not a good man. I believe he needed to be removed from power. But I DON’T believe that it was our responsibility to do that. I don’t believe we had any business invading a nation and setting up shop. All we have to show for it is a cost of billions upon billions of dollars, thousands of soldiers and civilians dead, and an imperial regime in place in Washington that has no regard for law, honesty or integrity.
History will be the true judge of this presidency.
Ahhh…Harry Potter Bliss.
Only a couple more weeks until I don’t have to feel like Mrs. Robinson anymore!! Mr. Daniel Radcliffe will finally turn 18. I’ve felt like a dirty old woman for years, since Prisoner of Azkaban came out. Now I’ve seen the latest movie and WOW. WOW. Isn’t that sick? I’m almost 30 and I completely lust after a poor British kid.
Anyway, the new movie is AMAZING. Best one, hands down, no contest, game over. I saw it in 3-D too, which kicked butt. Great screenplay, great acting, great effects, great treatment of the book, great score… very well done. Part of me was melancholy watching the film, though. I can’t help being a bit depressed that book 7 is coming out (on my birthday!) and there will be no more books. I fear for Harry. I know he’s fictional and all, but I’m terrified that JK Rowling will make a big mistake and kill him in the last book. In my heart, I don’t think she could kill him, but I fear it anyway. I’m a writer too. I understand what it’s like to love a character. To create him, to give him life, to watch him become. She’s been immersed in his life for about a decade. I honestly will be shocked if she kills him, but deep down I fear it anyway.
