I am in love!

Irreversibly, unequivocally...in love with my little nephew Evan!!!

I cannot remember when there has been a finer weekend. Friday night, the whole family there at my sister's house. Mom and Dad arrive, and Sue (my sister) tells Dad to stand out in the mud room, that there's a big surprise waiting for him. He closes his eyes, stretches out his hands--and Rob puts baby Evan into his arms :*) It could not have been a sweeter moment for all of us. At last, all of us together, and Evan is the star attraction!

He is the most laid-back, pleasant, adorable baby! Even after being passed around from hands-to-laps and having innumerable kisses planted on his soft little cheeks, he remained calm through it all! And the kids just doted on him. Dylan gave Evan his beloved Thomas the Tank Engine. He said "Evan needs it now. It's time for me to give it up." :*) I cried. I couldn't help it; I cried because of my son's giving heart and because he will never be a baby again. Maggie was making her crazy faces at Evan, trying to coax giggles from him, LOL. Tara just held him and gazed into his sweet face, talking softly, the way she tends to do.

It's funny, though--Evan looks more like Rob, and that's surprising. I remember the servicemen at Ft. Ritchie who had Asian wives, and their children were predominantly Asian looking. Even Myung's sister's child looks just like her. It will be interesting to see who he really resembles in the future!

So right now, I'm sitting here enjoying a steaming cup of chicken bouillion, and missing Rob, Myung and the baby. They want us to come to Texas in the summer. I think I'll take them up on that :*)

Love, the world's most Grateful Aunt.

I am NOT Barney!

You Are Barney

You could have been an intellectual leader... Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps Your life philosophy: "There's nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Another Useless Farking Blogthingy Psycho-Anal-Ysis. Enjoy.

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Ad astra per aspera...and all that happy horses#!t...

Glósóli lyrics.

Nú vaknar þú
allt virðist vera breytt
ég gægist út
en er svo ekki neitt

úr-skóna finn svo
á náttfötum hún
í draumi fann svo
ég hékk á koðnun?

með sólinni er hún
og er hún, inni hér

en hvar ert þú....

legg upp í göngu
og tölti götuna
sé ekk(ert) út
og nota stjörnurnar
sit(ur) endalaust hún
og klifrar svo út.

Glósóli-leg hún
komdu út

mig vaknar draum-haf
mitt hjartað, slá
úfið hár.

Sturlun við fjar-óð
sem skyldu-skrá.

og hér ert þú

fannst mér.....

og hér ert þú

Glósóli.....

Lyrics by Jónsi Birgisson. Read about Sigur Rós @ www.sigurros.co.uk

Am I really this easily swayed?

On Average, You Would Sell Out For

$1,062,105

At What Price Would You Sell Out?

Dad.

This is a picture of my Dad with my niece.

Dad turns 70 tomorrow. And aside of the fact that he's winding up another decade, this birthday is particularly a milestone because my brother and my SIL are flying in with Little Evan, and Dad gets to meet his second grandson and namesake. It's a big surprise and I cannot wait to see the expression on his face. I also can't wait because I will be meeting my first nephew. I think it's going to be a fight between my mom, my sister and me as to who should be holding Evan!

Dad is the most wonderful person I know. Never has there been a harder working father and husband; totally devoted to family. He was born and raised dirt-poor in the coal regions of West Virginia; his father,a painter by trade, was an alcoholic who frequently drank up the money, so Dad was helping to support the family at an early age. He had five brothers, and had no meat during the week. His main staples were field greens and pinto beans, both nutritious and cheap. He used to barter for food; he'd do handy work or ran errands for some change and a meal. He has the most amazing stories about his childhood. He had it hard, but I think that's what turned him into the man he is today. He and Mom just worked hard all their lives, were careful financial planners, and now can retire in comfort and ease.

Dad has been married to my mom for 43 years. He had three children--my sister, my brother and me. All the time I was growing up, I thought my Dad was the kindest person in the world. Everyone who meets him instantly likes him. He never hit me ( that was Mom's thing.) When he yelled at me I always cried because I was sorry that I upset him. I am the youngest child and I was always closer to Dad; by the time I came along, he was making more money and didn't have to work as much. Of the three of us, he says I am the most like him. That's a compliment of the highest order, especially since I know deep down I could never be the person he is. I have such fond memories of Dad--the time when I was 7 and got sick Christmas morning, he stayed home with me while Mom and Sue and Rob went to my grandparents. My Christmas dinner was a steak that he cooked :) Dad was always generous with everyone but himself. For years he drove crappy cars so that his family might have what they wanted first. Finally, he drives a much-deserved Mercedes. When Jim died, he tirelessly handled all my financial affairs and the funeral. He is the best granddad. He would play endlessly with the kids when they were small, and will drop anything to play a board game with them today. If I ever needed money, he was more than happy to give me a loan. Heck, when I was a teen, he'd give me cigarette money. I really realize how *wrong that was now, LOL.

I really worry about Dad's health. He's a diabetic with heart problems. A few years ago he had to have an angioplasty that literally saved his life. Essentially, he should be healthy. He's not overweight, and he's been physically active since childhood, a star basketball player, eats healthily, but diabetes can take a little problem and accelerate it. That's why it's such a killer. I know it's going to happen someday, but I can't bear to think about it. You always assume that your parents will be around forever, that you're forever 10 years old and Dad is still going strong too. I will be so lost when he goes.

Here's to you, Dad. May this be the happiest birthday ever!

Girl games.

I bought myself a new toy at Target. It's a Namco plug-in game console that has 5 of the great games of yesterday. Particularly Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man. It didn't have Frogger, but that's all right. I was the Galaga *champ* when I was a kid. Today when I got home from class I plugged that sucker in and played for an eternity. These are the greatest games; I don't care what anyone says. Sheesh--am I one of those nuts who never gets over the notioon that "their decade" was the greatest? The 80s rule, and rock, man. Cool beans.

As much as I love English, I'm glad I'm now in IT...

... thanks to Kath, one of my dear loopies.

Reasons why English teachers die young:

Actual Analogies and Similes Found in High School Essays

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a
guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of
those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are want to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil,this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.

27. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

I HEREBY DECLARE...

...that I am remaining celibate and totally single until 20 February 2010. I'll be 38.

OK, back to my movie.

Chocolate with Nuts.

Last night around 10:30 pm, I got a knock on my door and about 10 people streamed in loaded down with bags of food and booze! I love my friends :) Seems word had gotten around that I was feeling a bit down and so they assembled a cheer-up party for me. Wish I'd had advanced notice because when I answered the door I had a cucumber facial-peel thingy stuck to my face and my hair was sticking up like Struwwelpeter's. No one seemed to mind; that is, after they were through laughing. I got to make Bloody Marys (something I'd never done before) and my friend Stephen made the most delicious appletinis! I was in heaven. They were the shit. And......bless them......they brought me mozzarella sticks. With marinara. Oh.....my. So my head hurts today but it was so worth it :-D

I got an A on my speech!!!! W00T!!!!!!!!! I am hot shit!

The Most Not Fun Thing To Do In The World:
Giving all 9 of your cats ear mite medicine. Cats are surprisingly strong and aggressive when someone is squirting oil into their ears. I tried being gentle and explained in a soft voice that was meant to be soothing that is was for their own good, that I loved them so much I didn't want them to suffer with itchy ears. Fiona took it the worst. The minute the drop landed in the ear canal she shook her head so vigorously that oil splattered on to my glasses, into my hair, all over my face. Then, without ceremony, she bit the shit out of my hand and yowled like I'd just sold her to a Chinese restaurant. Now, I am in coventry. Fiona keeps staring at me all cold-like, as if she's contemplating which ancient Oriental torture would hurt me bestest. Tux, Hermione and Tabitha's whereabouts are unknown. Booger's sorrowful expression's like "How COULD you?!" Zippy's sleeping it off and Squeak looks stricken with terror. God, they can hold such a grudge @@


The phone woke me this morning and I had the hangover of a thousand winos. Checked the caller ID and said "wireless call" but didn't display the number. Didn't answer it. Then the voicemail light began blinking so whoever it was thought it was important enough to leave a message. I get the message, and there was no voice, just a long-distance wave of static and a series of chirps and whirrs. The message went on for over 4 minutes and I'm sitting there, rubbing my scalp, trying to figure out what the noise was. And then it came to me.....it was a call from space! Someone from another solar system dialed Earth and tried to contact ME!! That's what all the chirping noises were--the radio static from the transmissions long trip across space! Oh my gosh, another civilization called my house. I saved the message and hung up, thinking how exciting it was and wondering if they would meet me when we made arrangements for me to be their ambassador on Earth. The phone rang again, and it was the same caller ID--"wireless caller." My heart began to race and I just knew it was "them" calling me back. Turns out, it was just the guy who cleans my gutters asking if it'd be OK to do my house this morning. He said he'd called before but was having trouble with his cell phone. (It could HAVE been space calling!)

A friend once told me "You know, Jules, for an intellectual, you're a bit of a flake." Outer space called me this morning and certainly proved her correct.

Louder than a Ted Nugent concert.

Left to right: Peepi, Poopoo, Poopy and Poppy. We didn't get to bed until after midnight and we LIKED IT!!

Dylan's social studies project:

I'm better than bald, almost-50 and stupid!

Turns out that we are not going to Katsucon 12 :: February 17-19, 2006 :: Washington, D.C. this year. Things are just too busy for us and what with my having classes on Saturdays and needing to spend time with the Smeets, we are skipping it this year :*(

Rikki and Tavi, we will miss you.

I was pondering my coupleless existence in the Valentines Day aftermath. And looking back--well, makes me happier than ever that Walter is gone. I found a couple of his t-shirts and a crockery-type bowl that he left behind and I didn't get all weepy and nostalgic, just felt a faint ripple of nausea. And the more I think about men in general, the relief I feel that I'm free is tremendous. If I don't date again until I'm forty-four, that's hunky-dory with me.

Look at me in this picture--how can a young lady like me be with this disgusting guy? I am happier than ever that my pregnancy never made it past two weeks. It would have been cruel to the child.

Nothing is as it seems.

"--It is clear, said [Pangloss], that things cannot be otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the best end."
Voltaire, Candide

I remember reading French literature in one on my classes, and enjoyed it very much. I really liked Voltaire and Moliere. Tartuffe was really amusing and had a slapstick quality to it, and when I saw the play at the Arena Stage I laughed my head off. Candide was rather gory in retrospect, but Voltaire pulled it off in such a way he may as well been writing about a little league game or, say, My Little Pony.

This is NOT the best of all possible worlds, by the way. I think Pangloss was a loopy asshole for saying that. Not by a long shot. Every day on the news there's just another report or breaking story to just disgust and depress the hell out my faith in humanity. I hate people. I really do. I hate the ones who commit crimes against living creatures. I don't even bother to read the papers any more, other than the Style section of the Washington Post. Why should I? It's not going to change anything. Although I'm still holding on to my dream of having an official cat rescue one day. It keeps me partly sane and viable.

Phil, I hate yooooooooooooooooo!

/O.UPG.KLWX.WS.A.0003.060211T1100Z-060212T1100Z/ /O.NEW.KLWX.SN.Y.0003.060211T1100Z-060212T1100Z/ WASHINGTON-FREDERICK MD-CARROLL-AUGUSTA-ROCKINGHAM-SHENANDOAH- FREDERICK VA-PAGE-WARREN-CLARKE-NELSON-ALBEMARLE-GREENE-MADISON- RAPPAHANNOCK-FAUQUIER-LOUDOUN-ORANGE-CULPEPER-HAMPSHIRE-MORGAN- BERKELEY-JEFFERSON-HARDY- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...HAGERSTOWN...FREDERICK...WESTMINSTER... STAUNTON...WAYNESBORO...HARRISONBURG...WINCHESTER...FRONT ROYAL... CHARLOTTESVILLE...WASHINGTON...LEESBURG...CULPEPER... MARTINSBURG...CHARLES TOWN 231 PM EST FRI FEB 10 2006
...SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SATURDAY TO 6 AM EST SUNDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SATURDAY TO 6 AM EST SUNDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DEVELOPING ALONG THE GULF COAST THIS EVENING WILL TRACK NORTHEAST TO THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST SATURDAY EVENING. LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL WILL INTENSIFY THROUGH THE MORNING AND AFTERNOON...WITH THREE TO FIVE INCHES EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF SATURDAY EVENING AND NIGHT.
A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

Me. Me me me. Truly.

This is a pic of me. Since I can't get the thing to upload to the AOL siggy board I'll do it here. Have a nice day.

Death to Twisted Sister...

I swear to the good Lord above that I am going to the Asshole Neighbor's house and cut his power with a rubber-handled bolt cutter. I have to go to school tomorrow and he's blasting out the greatest metal hits of the 80s on his fucking stereo. I might add there is no noise ordinance in my town. Shit shit SHIT!

Emergency.

Last night, I ran out to the store for dishwasher gel-pacs, and when I got back, I saw a house was on fire. My neighbor's house, three doors down. Smoke was pouring from the bedroom window and the guy was trying to hose it down. I ran over to him and asked if everyone were OK, and a woman said 911 had been called. Thank God no one was hurt or were there kids and/or pets involved.

So the fire trucks arrive, and the ambulance crew were standing by, and all the gawkers up and down Mimosa watched the team extinguish the fire, vent the house--there was a LOT of smoke--and chuck the burned materials into the yard. What had happened was the guy had been asleep and had woken up to find his mattress on fire (!) I don't know if he was smoking in bed or what (another good reason to not smoke, as if one needed any more.)

I have a zit in my armpit and it hurts.

Remind me to post about my fun weekend with my kids and my nieces.

Bite me, Punxsutawney Phil.

AOL News - Punxsutawney Groundhog Sees His Shadow
Much as I love the darling fat lit'l critters, the whole shadow thing is ass. But we knew that. It's been so warm here that my gladiolus bulbs are popping up. I just hope that any impending chills don't kill them off. But, seeing how God has a pretty sick sense of humor, he'll probably dump a stratosphere's worth of snow on the Eastern Seaboard. It has to be said that I hate winter. With a passion. Gaaah! My earth is just *screaming to be raked, dug, harrowed, altered to suit my aesthetic. Every year I add another little piece of manicured greenery to my flora: this year, I will expand the patch around my mailbox to include a crapload of wild flowers. Neato!

That said, I have to give an informative speech on Saturday. I'm still tryng to decide on a topic. What the hell am I going to speak about---Invader ZIM, life with nine cats? breastfeeding? Emily Dickinson? hibachi cooking and nuclear disarmament? Whaaaaaaaaaaat??

Recently I was emailed with a direct demand to answer these questions or I will inflict my family with psoriasis and buck teeth. So...here ya go.

1. Name one thing you've set out to accomplish that is done.
I own my own home free and clear.

2. Name one thing you're still trying to accomplish.
Getting my &$*#(%*@ degree.

3. Are you where you wanted to be 10 years ago?
Heh heh.

4. What has been thus far the hardest thing you've accomplished?
Piano competing.

5. Where do you think you'll be in 10 more years?
Hopefully either in Europe or running my own cat rescue.

6. Send these to five friends or [you know what'll happen...etc...]
Done, and if you read this blog, you have to answer these too or you'll sufferrrrrrrrrr! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

~Jules