So, the pool at the gym is FINALLY back in working shape and I am beyond ecstatic about it. Christine and I did the requisite 25 minutes on the treadmill and then it was race to the pool to float for thirty minutes. I was in heaven. Heaven I tell you!

My inner two-year-old is so happy now. I didn’t know just how much I missed it.

And I’ve discovered something called Windows Live Writer which makes it MUCH easier to add cool stuff to the blog like pics and videos and whatnot. After I write and preview the entry, it imports it right into Wordpress and voila! A new fancy ass post! YEY for technology. Now if I can just figure out how to move all my files and music over from my old laptop, I’ll be in business. That’s for another day, I suppose.

I love him so. He played a show last night somewhere and a great photographer (only known to me as Livehead16) got this shot. Just gorgeous.

Off for a day of family visiting (in-laws and Aunt Nellie this time!) – catch you all later.

Saturday 9: Should I Stay or Should I Go

1. Have you ever been on a date and you had to tell the person to just go away?
Not while I was on the date but I have had ones that I wished were over more quickly than they were. Once I got into meeting people from the online world, I didn’t have that issue overly much.

2. Do you wish you were someplace else right now? If yes, where?
I’d like to be at a spa of some kind, getting pampered, rubbed, pedicured, and finish the evening with a glass (or 30) of wine. Might you know where I can find such a place?

3. Do you have any pet peeves?
More like do I NOT have any? That’d be the quicker answer, I think. I do have some quirks, yes. Off the top of my head, I CAN NOT STAND people standing by my desk having a chat fest. Move your ass over to the corner. I also am not fond of know-it-alls who try to make others feel stupid. Then I worry that I am one of those know-it-alls. Can someone reassure me I’m not?

4. Tell us about a guilty pleasure of yours.
Just one? Poots. I like eating the crusts of leftover slices of pizza. I’m like a little rat who likes to gnaw on them and will steal them from any piece I see around.

5. If you could change places and become a celebrity, who would you’d like to be?
Hmmm … I’d like to be Michelle Obama – she’s a strong, intelligent woman, accomplished in her own right. I have a feeling she’d take no shit. I like that.

6. What do you consider your biggest talent?
Besides conversing with people’s Spirit Guides, you mean? I think my ability to communicate in writing is what I’m known for, at least in my family. (I’m also quite good at deciphering someone’s feelings through their words but that’s probably the empath part of me working.)

7. Do you have a favorite actor/actress that is not a big star, yet they are your favorite?
Not really – Cookie isn’t an actor so I can’t claim that and Sparkela is already somewhat well known, so can’t claim that. I did, however, love Prince before ANYONE had ever heard of him. Does that count?

8. Name your five favorite rock bands of all time.
I don’t think I have five – but I’ll try: U2, Steely Dan (not really a band but close), Heart – that’s all I’ve got for now.

9. If you were to start a new relationship (for whatever reason), how much of your sexual history would you share? Would you resort to lying?
I’d share whatever I deemed appropriate. I have no diseases or other pressing medical issues and would happily share that but otherwise, I’d share on a “need to know” basis.

In the “Better late than never” category, I present: Songs in the key of (my) life.

It’s a simple NAME THAT TUNE meme with a Mimi twist.

The Rules : Once you have been tagged (or commanded by the Queen) you are supposed to write down the top 25 SEVEN songs you cannot live without. The ones you can listen to over and over and never get tired of. They don’t have to be in any particular order. These are the songs that make you laugh, cry, think of an old friend, whatever the reason. I know it’s impossible for many of us to narrow it down to seven. There are just too many songs. Instead, make a list of seven songs that move you personally and tell us why. What memory does the song evoke? What emotion? Where were you when you first heard it? We’d like to know what’s in your musical memory bank. Name seven songs and tell us about your emotional connection to the song.
Fair enough?

Let’s get started!

1. Heart of Gold / Neil Young
My dad used to call me his “heart of gold” and whenever this song came on, he’d always say “that’s my girl”. The last Christmas he was alive (1974), he gave me a lovely gold heart with the inscription “my heart of gold” on the back. I still have it and love it and every single time I hear that song, I think of him and smile.

2. Babylon / David Grey
This song speaks to me big time with these lyrics: “Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feeel it now ….” –> that’s me in a nutshell kiddies. Love this song with a passion. Will never, ever not love it.

3. Sweet thing – Chaka Khan and Rufus
Happened to hear this song today and realized how much I love it. It’s got soul, it’s got longing, it’s got the sexay … “ohhh sweet thang, oh you know you’re my everything ….” The version I saw today was Prince and Chaka singing (well, he accompanied her mostly on guitar but also on voice a bit) and it was such a fabulous performance. (This song is my sensual side that stays on the downlow. If I could put voice to it, this would be it. Keep that a secret, k?)

4. Float On – Modest Mouse
Lauren’s theme song for the last months of her life. She had an amazing spirit and this quirky little song helped her keep moving forward when it was difficult. Always this one for my sweetie.

5. Time after Time – Cyndi Lauper
This one reminds me of my mom – back in the MTV heyday, I would force my poor mother to watch hours and hours of videos with me (don’t ask why – I have no idea other than I was a goof even then.) The woman who played Cyndi Lauper’s mother in the video looked like my mom a bit so I sort of associated the two somehow. This sort of became my song with my mom - “if you fall I will catch you, I’ll be waiting … time after time.” That was how it was with my mom. She caught me when I stumbled. That’s what moms do. (Love this song – played it for her at my wedding.)

6. “Wish you were here” – Incubus
Love this song for several reasons – one of them being the imagery of this line: “the ocean looks like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue blanket” - I just love that. Also too – it has major sentimental meaning to me.

7. Knocks me off my feet – Stevie Wonder (speaking of Songs in the key of life)
My nearly perfect high school boyfriend played piano beautifully and learned this song just so he could impress me with it. More than that, though, at his senior prom, I recall us dancing to it and he sang the chorus to me: “Oh but I love you, I love you, I love you … more and more” – Can you imagine a 17 year old singing that truly from his heart? It was a sweet, sweet moment – one I remember 33 years later.

Oh hello there …

I should probably start keeping track of this recurring feeling because I seem to think that I experienced this exact same thing not so long ago. It’s not my meds, it’s not what’s going on in my life (or even what isn’t), it’s not work. I just don’t know what the deal is. Oh well. This, (also) too, shall pass. Perhaps once the pool at the gym is repaired, life will go back to normal. One thing my coach pointed out to me was that since water = emotion, being in the pool (for me, emo gal of the world) is where I feel most safe and comfortable. Take that away and my spazzy two year old (let’s call her Fifi) throws a fit. And Fifi has been making her presence known of late. (I think she’s the one getting all pissy at work. I will blame her entirely.)

Am still getting used to the fancy new laptop. One stray thumb out of place on the mouse pad and that cursor just goes all over the place. Plus, the screen (if not my future) is so bright, I should wear shades. Gotta love these stupid first world problems.

Decided to bail on “Breaking Bad” – I’m sure it’s a good show but I don’t need anything to drag me down right now. Maybe I’ll revisit it in the future. Oh holy cow! I just saw “Thirtysomething” available on Netflix – and I don’t even have to wait for it – it’s one of those streamable ones! YEY! I used to love that show. On Tuesday nights, with “Moonlighting” at nine and “Thirtysomething” at ten. I used to watch it on my little black and white television. (Feels really old just watching it. Before computers, cell phones …. wow.)

Now that I’ve bored you to death, I’ll stop here.

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It’s Sunday night and I’m doing a weekend head dump here. Try to slog through as best you can, mmkay?

1. Max is still doing the “Mommy, I want something.” action to me and it is frustrating. I’ve tried to connect with him telepathically and I’m not getting anything upfront. I guess I need to call in my Seminary buddy, Dana, who is a magnificent animal communicator. He just feels all needy to me. Sophia is the only one of my animals who isn’t like that and I’m pretty sure it has to do with my not having raised her.

2. Interesting coincidence(?) on Facebook – I have been following a cool weather site made up of meteorology students who have been doing a kick ass job of forecasting the MD weather this winter and follow their FB feed. They recently posted about rain coming and there were about 80 comments under that post. The first one on the list was the name of a guy I adored in college. We worked together at a local department store and also attended Towson State at the same time. I messaged him and sure enough, it was he. Married now (for 25 years!) to the woman I tried desperately to steal him from with one daughter they adopted from China. It’s just really neat to re-connect with him again after so long. He was smart, funny and I just genuinely liked him.

3. That led me to think of a mutual friend we had who I haven’t talked to in forever and sure enough, she was on FB also! I got to chat with her a bit and find out she’s had a rough couple years with breast cancer. She and I were very tight back in the early 80s – she also worked at that same department store – and shared a lot of life challenges. I’m glad to see her again.

4. Hockey on a hi-def 46″ television set is amazing!! It is much easier to see, for one thing, plus I get to watch as the players blow snot out of their nose while on the bench. This, my friends, is what HD was made for! heh

5. I rented the show “Breaking Bad” from Netflix and watched part of the first episode but it left me feeling very sad. I couldn’t finish it. Maybe my meds need to be upped in order to watch it but I’m not sure I want to even finish that ep. I felt sad and hopeless after just 30 minutes of it. (Energetic shields UP!)

6. I briefly thought about giving up complaining for Lent but realized I’d have to tape my mouth shut and this blog would go silent for 40 days. (Also too – not a big Lent follower but I did give some thought to it this year.)

7. As much as I seem to you all like some crazed stalker Cookie fan, believe me when I tell you that my engagement in that world is about a 2 on a scale of 10. I’m glad there are hardcore fans because through them I get lots of goodies: videos, articles and more.

Okay, that’s all the ponders for now.

Saturday 9: Don’t Stand So Close to Me

1. Who would you like not to stand so close to you?
I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be in the vicinity of “Dick” Cheney. He has really, really (and I mean REALLY) bad energy and I just couldn’t stand being in that for very long.

2. Which of the following aspects of your life would you think rates the highest: mind, body or spirit?
Of those three, I’d have to say Spirit but intertwined very closely with mind and finishing a sad, sad third is body. I’m working hard, though, on bringing it more into balance.

3. What is your favorite movie line?
It’s from “Bridget Jones’s Diary” – Bridget says to Mark Darcy “Nice guys don’t kiss like that.” and he responds “Oh yes they fucking do.” – he’s so proper and dignified that hearing him say “fucking” like that makes me giggle. That movie is my all time favorite. No highbrow fancy pants foreign films for me. Just give me Bridget, that wanker Daniel Cleaver and my love Mark Darcy and I’m happy for a couple hours.

4. What is your favorite movie title?
It’s not my favorite but this bit of conversation between me and my Godmommy from my childhood always stuck in my head.

ME: There’s a movie called “The night of the following day” – why don’t they just call it “Tomorrow Night”?

GODMOM: Would you want to see a movie called “Tomorrow Night”?

So, that’s my favorite movie title: Tomorrow Night. heh

5. What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
Hmm, that’s a good question. I could go all woo-woo on you but I won’t. I’ll stick with the mundane. After years and years of both feeling like a fat girl and being a fat girl, fitting into size 10 jeans was truly a miracle to me. In fact, it would feel like one now if I did that again. I have a magnet on my fridge that says “Miracles happen. Save the skinny jeans.” (They’re buried deep in a drawer but I still have them.)

6. What do you try to stay away from?
Places (even online) with very low vibration – fighting, mean-spirited comments, cruelty. In fact, I cannot even look at any stories of hurt and/or mistreated animals. It almost kills me.

7. What is it too late for?
Baby having. (Well, it was too late for that about 7 years ago when I found out that part of my body just decided to give up the ghost.) I felt really sad for quite a while, a good part of that sadness was that I felt I let my mom down. She said that was not the case but I still carried that around for a couple years.

8. Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.
I’m gonna call out the Sister-in-law of Love here … when Duty and I were engaged, she was not very happy about it for a couple reasons. In fact, she and her husband didn’t come to the ceremony. (They did, however, make us a wonderfully yummy wedding cake. MMM!) Whatever the issues were, she has put them aside and has become a wonderful friend and for that I am thankful. So, a big ass shout out to my sister-in-law of Love, Becky. I loves ya!

9. Would you rather be famous now & forgotten after you die or forgotten now & famous after you die, forever? And why?
Oh hell! I want to be famous NOW!! NOW I say! When I’m dead, you can move on but while I am here on this earth plane, I want to be adored and worshipped. (Oh no. Did I say worshipped out loud? Hee! busted!)