flip a coin, will ya?

Indecisive people give me a rash and today I'm in need of some cream. One of the girls I work with - our editor - is great and fun and blah blah blah. However, she is seriously lacking thre ability to take charge of any situation or make any decisions that she fears others will dislike her for. So instead of doing something, she does nothing. Even when faced with the question "What exactly would you like me to?" she turns to wish-wash and sighs and says "Oh, whatever, I don't care." Argh! Perhaps I will bring in a coin for her to flip, so that something will get done without the fear of the indecisive rash.

Nature's alarm clock

There's one thing I missed when living in Seattle - REAL rain storms. Very rarely did we have the tumultuous downpours, thunder and lightning that made the ground shake. I've found them again here in North Carolina. I was woken up this morning by a huge CRASH of thunder followed by what sounded like buckets of water falling from the sky. It was most excellent. Granted, I was indoors....I'm hoping that John, who is in the field right now, was inside barracks rather than out under the stars this morning. If not, he was most likely not as happy about the rain as I was. I say come on inside and bring on the rain!

Self-made holidays

When I was young and holidays came around, I just assumed, things would happen. There'd be some sort of Christmas tree, the Easter bunny would come, there'd be fireworks on the 4th of July... I never really stopped to think that do-it-yourself kits weren't mailed out to all the families so that holidays would be celebrated. When I moved away, I found that holidays obviously take effort to celebrate. Things to plan, to cook, people to invite, things to make or buy.... Although these days you can walk into Wal-Mart and pretty much buy a self-made holiday kit equipped with everything one may need to celebrate a stereotypical holiday - is that really what these days are about? Do we celebrate out of tradition, self-importance or just to break up the monotony? A lot of the meaning and history behind the celebrations get lost in the shuffle - that's nothing new. People have been saying that ever since Santa Clause became part of corporate marketing schemes. Still....when or IF we celebrate, do you make it our own or do we just go through the motions? Is it really celebrating if you're just going through the motions? I'm not so sure.

Satan's mutant ninja turtle

In an attempt to avoid all news media regarding Teri Schiavo, which has proved most difficult, I found this "Pet store owner: Satan's image on turtle's shell." HA! It seems the turtle was the only thing to survive an intense store fire and when he came out of the flames, he had the image of what this guy thinks is Satan on his shell. I say, add him to the mutant ninja turtle league. And so what if your turtle has Satan's face on it (as if anyone knows what that really is). Now, perhaps the store owner could market the turtle as fire-proof. Check it out: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/evil.turtle.ap/index.html.

Fo shizzle

Check this out: www.gizoogle.com. Type whatever you want into the search engine and it'll come up translated. It was a good laugh for a gloomy Monday.

the sounds of Fayetteville

Last night I was able to hear a tried and true professional symphony for the first time in far too long. The National Symphony was in town (a miracle in this place) and played to a packed house. The music was amazing both in sound and theme. Everything from a world premiere of a contemporary piece to good ol' Hayden filled the rather sad-looking theatre. (sad, but it's the best this town has to offer, so it's better than nothing at all!) Aside from the lady across the aisle whose cell phone went off THREE times and the baby who started crying in the middle of Hayden's piece. (she and her mom were escorted out by one of the ushers).... it was a welcome respite.

The Twilight Zone part was coming home from the concert to be greeted by sounds of heavy artillery. One of the unsung "perks" of living next to one of the largest military bases in the country is that the surrounding community is treated to a weekly barrage of artillery sounds, building-shaking vibrations and overall happy times. My apartment shakes as the "booms" thud through the clear evening sky. Sometimes it feels like an earthquake, but other times it just sounds like the aliens are invading. Ah well.... had the symphony known, perhaps they could have incorporated the sounds into the show.

she's baaaack

The media has been inudating us with Martha, Martha, Martha. She's out of jail and apparently richer than ever. With a new TV show (Martha's Apprentice) and all sorts of goodies heading her way it seems tha jail was the best thing for her. Hey, it worked for Snoop Dogg, why not Martha Stewart?

march magic

March is my favorite month. Nature starts to come out of the deep freeze (well, at least certain parts of it), leprechans dance, people wear green....good times. This March, for me - already happy times. In a matter of 2 days I've gotten free ice cream thanks to yahoo.com, gotten a credit at my favorite craft store, and found out I can get into our local botanical gardens for free on Saturday. let the good (and hopefully free) times roll.

witch hunt?

I was listening to NPR this morning on my way to work and heard a story about a program they're using to keep track of aliens in the US. I was hoping it was referring to little green men, but sadly no. It talked about how many non-citizens in the country are wearing electronic anklets and have to check in with some security company "or else". I guess they have a choice between being detained or wearing the anklet and being able to go home. I guess it's a trial run program, but they were saying that if it's "successful" that all non-citizens might be required to wear one. WHAT? I'm all for keeping the country safe, but since when was America about treating people who come here like prisoners? Not cool. There has to be a better way.