31 July 2002, 4:55 peeyem
31 July 2002, 12:36 peeyem
Also...
my nephew is having some very serious tests run tomorrow morning. Your kind thoughts or beams or prayers or whatever intercessory method you use would be most appreciated.
31 July 2002, 12:33 peeyem
Now I've had my lunch. I'd like a little nap because I didn't get in until nearly midnight last night.
I'd also like to have gone to the grocery store so I don't have to go this evening, but I haven't. And I likely won't go on the way home, either, because I'm like that.
My office looks like I've been playing war in here. To aid this, I took myself to the bookstore to buy two more technical books to add to the mix. I need a big hutch or something.
31 July 2002, 10:30 ayem
Last night was Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Raitt. There was some confusion in getting there, as it was a last minute plan that all fell into place, one of those rare instances where things fall together instead of fall apart. On the way there, Nancy and I couldn't decide if we should swing by Leanne's and see if she wanted to ride with us or go straight to Chastain. We were nearing Chastain when we changed course and went to Leanne's. Meanwhile, Debbie and Adrian were waiting at Chastain for us. There was a righteous hailstorm, but nonetheless, by the time we all got in, Lyle was done with his part. Great show and a great time anyway, though.
I'd wrestle you to the ground right now for a Tahitian Treat.
30 July 2002, 12:47 peeyem
1. Bruce Springsteen was on The Today Show this morning. I very nearly passed out from the excitement of it all.
2. Scarab bracelets that aren't gold-filled are surprisingly hard to find.
3. Leanne is closing on her house today.
4. My lunch joint closes at the end of this week for the rest of August.
29 July 2002, 5:01 peeyem
For some reason I am giddy with it all.
And I'm sleepy. Which perplexes me, because I've been getting a lot of sleep lately. When I was in college, I was up for eight days in a row once and I don't think I've ever made it up.
29 July 2002, 10:00 ayem
When I was a child, I was easily led.
This is not to say that I'm not still easily led, just that it's a lifelong thing with me.
One of my older girl cousins, who will remain nameless, and I used to go up on top of my Uncle Charles' camper shell and smoke. This was before people willy-nilly bought camper shells, so it was homemade, of plywood and lumber and hinges and what have you. Charles had been killed in a wreck a few years prior, so the camper had been on blocks out in the backyard since then. It was sloped, the front end was higher than the back, and the front end was toward the house, and it was tall enough that if we laid down flat on it, we couldn't be seen from the house or the ground.
We had been pre-emptorily told not to go up there, but then, we had been told not to go lots of places.
One afternoon, we were lying up there, 'long about 4:45 or so, smoking. 4:45 was about what time my mama came home in the afternoons, and as she crested the hill near the house, she saw us up there. She pulled into the yard and came over there and asked me how I had gotten up on top of it. Inexplicably, I lied to her and told her I had climbed up the front. She told me I could just get myself down the way I got up, so I jumped, and in the process, sprained my right ankle.
My ankle has never been the same since. I have been to the emergency room more times than I care to remember because I have rolled it and been in searing pain thereafter. I keep going, thinking it's broken, but it never is. It's just a nasty sprain, and that old tendon is so stretched out now as to be practically worthless. A few years ago, I was in Savannah for Labor Day weekend and sprained it falling out of the liquor store, sober as a judge. I was on a mission of mercy, so I guess that makes me a martyr.
Saturday, I was innocently going about my bidness, running errands. I stepped out of the car at Target, walked about three feet and happened upon a piece of gravel that was just big enough and just oddly shaped enough that I felt myself pitching forward, waiting to hear something snap or crack.
Naturally, I also have a corresponding scar on my opposing knee. Now it's not a scar anymore, it's a most unladylike quarter sized scab that burns like a sumbitch.
I considered crying, but there was no one there to pat my head, so I picked myself up and hobbled around the store, buying shave cream and light bulbs. Then I had to take myself home and have a little lie down.
I did other stuff this weekend, too, but that's what stands out for me, because it certainly derailed my plans for finishing the bathroom.
27 July 2002, 4:50 peeyem
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes...
I think I have an unnatural fascination with my shoes. I'm going to start a shoe photo gallery, right here on my site, for the entire world to see.
26 July 2002, 10:09 ayem
Omigod. This morning I saw a mustard colored Cadillac modified to be like an El Camino! It was driven by a woman wearing a muumuu. She was sitting way far back (though I think this might have been due to necessity) and had her elbows locked, and her hair was in some weird ponytail. I bet she was wearing flipflops.
It tickles me to start my day that way.
I think I'm becoming one of those muttering women, wandering around the house like a haint, looking for something but not knowing what.
25 July 2002, 3:02 peeyem
You know, this is just one of those days. Nothing's particularly wrong, but nothing's particularly right, either.
It's gray outside, but I don't think it's going to rain. The sky is just going to hover kinda close to the ground and trap the heat underneath it. And my hair will get ever bigger.
I have a list about as long as my arm of things I need to do around the house. I need some things from Target, but I don't remember what, and going there without the list is cataclysmic, because then I need one of everything.
I am having a most enlightening and entertaining conversation with a friend of mine.
Poor mishie is not feeling well. You could think happy thoughts for her.
24 July 2002, 3:27 peeyem
Last night at Lenox Square, I saw a young man wearing one of those things around his neck that credentials belong in. But he had condoms in his. He was maybe 16. Is this some new thing that I haven't heard about yet? Announcing to the world (or at least the world at the mall) that I'm prepared to have safe sex right now?
I am going to stop by and visit my friends the Georges this evening. I have known their children, the Georgelets, since they were all infants. I haven't seen them in nearly a year. I hear that Chip is nearly as tall as I am (a dubious achievement, to be sure).
You know, I could go for some seltzer right about now.
23 July 2002, 12:55 peeyem
Sometimes the answer is just I don't know. And often when that's the answer, it doesn't really matter why, it doesn't matter if you see the math or not, it's enough to know that it's like a helicopter...it goes up and down and it goes side to side, but not all at the same time.
I seem to spend a sizable portion of my time trying to explain that, trying to explain that even if you don't understand it, that's the way it is, that it's like new math, it just works, really it does, and you just have to accept it and move on to the next thing.
I will never understand as long as I live how people who can accept and trust a God they can't see can't get their minds around the basic, day-to-day things and the inscrutability of it all.
And I'm not talking about children with questions, I'm talking about grown-ups, people who have as much, or more, data than I do.
One of my favorite lines I've ever read is It's like that little seed in the plastic cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up, and nobody really knows how or why, that's just the way it is.
I am clearly in somewhat of a swivet here.
22 July 2002, 6:04 peeyem
Things I'm bad about:
My
teeth are floating, yet I am too busy to walk the 50 or so steps to the
ladies room.
I am pretty sure it's going to rain in a few minutes,
but the sunroof is open.
I bothered myself to make my lunch today, and threw
my sammich away after two bites because it tasted like bad.
I put off things that I don't want to do, only to find
they weren't so bad once I buckled down and did them.
Feh. I'm leaving. I've had enough fun and excitement for one afternoon.
22 July 2002, 4:55 peeyem
Mixed doubles season is finally over. Hot damn. We're playing too high. I have a great team, but we're just outclassed. Very stressful losing all the time.
About six months ago, I realized I had about 70 pairs of panties, which would explain why it was so hard to close the drawer. I decided that I should cull my collection. If I wore a pair that crept or didn't fit right or was otherwise offensive, I would summarily throw them away. Of course, you tend to wear the ones near the front most of the time, and for some reason I never shuffled the drawer around, so frequently didn't go through the ones in the back. Then about three weeks ago, I saw that I had managed to get myself down to six pairs. Six pairs! That's not even a whole week's worth. I don't especially like buying them, because I don't like cheap ones, and the ones I do like rarely go on sale. I had to suck it up and get some, however, lest I find myself going Navajo more than I would intend.
Today was review day. I am quite pleased.
19 July 2002, 12:23 peeyem
I made it just fine (and on time!) to my study yesterday. I'm quite pleased with myself. And I'm not having any side effects. They called me the perfect subject. Well, of course.
They also asked if I have any physical anomalies, like six toes or something. Thank the lloyd, no! I am pleased to not stand out in any way discernible to the general population.
My good friend Doy sent me a ream of coated paper. It's cool and shiny, and I do evermore luv writing on slickstock paper.
Do you know that some idiot is selling frozen toast? And that other idiots are buying it? This beats out Diet Club Soda by a mile and a half.
18 July 2002, 1:32 peeyem
I have to leave here in a little bit for a study I'm participating in. I'm not nervous about the study, I'm nervous about parking. I have no idea where to park and I tend to get turned around once I do finally get to a spot.
Later.
17 July 2002, 4:19 peeyem
It is hot outside. The vice president came by today. He did not say anything important.
That is what Leanne had to say. Leanne can say in 4 words what it takes me all day to say.
I am having the website agita. My company's, not my own. I don't feel like screwing around with it at all.
Also, I have managed to consume the USDA-recommended 5 fruits and vegetables for the day and I am miserable. My body doesn't know what to do with all those nutrients.
For my new trick, I have taken to gagging first thing in the morning when I'm trying to take my prescribed medications for migraine prevention and congestion and my over-the-counter fiber pills. I gag when I'm getting them out of their bottles and putting them on the counter. Brenda thinks it's psychological. I think she's right. Actually, I think Brenda thinks I'm a nutburger, in which case she still might be right.
Finally, my good and great friend, Brantley, is in the country. Brantley mostly lives in Taiwan, where he teaches English and, I think, records books on tape. I wonder if he's on the covers, with his blue-eyed blond self? I have been friends with Brantley longer than practically anyone I'm not related to. I can't remember not knowing him. I never know when he's going to show up, he just does.
16 July 2002, 4:11 peeyem
Today is David Botters' birthday.
David is one of my newest friends, and one of the best things that's ever happened to any of my other friends. He's really funny and genuinely nice. I like him.
15 July 2002, 1:46 peeyem
If you only remember one date in history, let it be THIS: July 14, 1789. The fall of the French Bastille! A day that changed history! – David Franklin
Happy belated Bastille Day.
Bookmobile! Bookmobile! I saw the book mobile this morning. As a rural child, the bookmobile was a great big fat deal. Ours was pink and had golden maple innards. They used to park it under our pecan tree near the big FFA mailbox and other kids would come to get books from it. It made me feel very important to be the bookmobile hostess. I would check out as big a stack of books as I could tote at one time and spend the week reading them on the porch swing when it was too hot to play.
As a matter of fact, in our house, reading was always a safe pastime, insofar as if you were reading, no one really wanted you to stop. Reading in the bathroom was the big double-whammy of being left alone. Our bathroom had a window beside the toilet and you could stand outside and see the head of whomever was enthroned at the moment (unless it was me, because I was too short). I don't know why we thought it was so funny to see people in the bathroom, but it sent me into gales of laughter. Maybe it was because you could taunt them and they couldn't really do anything to get back at you at the moment.
But you never see the bookmobile anymore, or at least I didn't until this morning. I wonder why they don't do that so much anymore? It would seem to me to be A Very Good Thing, taking books to children.
I picked up a copy of The Best of The Oxford American on Saturday. If you've been keeping up with the class, you know that The Oxford American is no more. Or so I thought. The editor's email address was in the book, so I sent him a note expressing my sadness. He sent one back saying that while nothing was definite yet, things are moving along and he expects to be sharing very good news with readers shortly. I will do the hully-gully dance if they stay in publication. What I was going to say about that is that YOU NEED A COPY OF THIS BOOK. And then you need your very own subscription to the magazine, yes, you do!
12 July 2002, 4:01 peeyem
Some woman just called here to complain that she hadn't received anything but her binder. She had a terribly nasty tone right from the start and didn't want to give me the information I needed to help her, preferring instead to berate me and say that she had already called once before.
I finally said, "Please don't take that tone with me."
She continued to be ugly, muttering under breath about how it wasn't worth the money and what have you.
She told me what I needed to know and I assured her I would fix the problem. When I told her I would hand mail it to her, she asked if that was all she was getting. I told her yes and she said that the brochure had promised 12 issues. Uh, yes, it does promise 12 issues. One each month, dimbulb.
She asked for my name. I hope she does call back, because I will be delighted to send her a refund and tell her to shove that binder up her ass.
Does anyone really think that being nasty garners good customer service?
12 July 2002, 2:05 peeyem
Heidly ho...
It's actually cold in my office. And it's not so bad outside either.
I succumbed to my inner pressure and bought green paint to add to the festival that is my bathroom. I think it's my biological imperative to paint and repaint.
About that thing yesterday...I'm never back directly. I always intend to be, I just never am. It's a real struggle for me to hurry along. The only time I really worry about being late is to lunch at that place, because I know if I'm not there by 11:30 there will be a gigantic line and I'll get annoyed. And traffic court...I try to be on time for traffic court.
11 July 2002, 3:31 peeyem
Oops, there goes the neighborhood...
Leanne is officially under contract and is moving in down the street. Praise the lloyd and pass the peanut butter! People don't generally move to my neighborhood on purpose. Well, they haven't previously, aside from me, and I've just been sitting there waiting for the gentrification to begin.
Uh-oh. Time to go get my brows waxed. Back momentarily.
10 July 2002, 3:11 peeyem
A lady just called from Oxford, Mississippi to subscribe to one of our newsletters. It made me kind of sad because it reminded me that The Oxford American is no more. That was a great magazine. However, like many publications that don't pander to Maybelline and Guess Jeans, it has gone the way of the dinosaurs.
It's really amazingly hot. I don't know why I act so surprised about this, or why it's on the news every night like it's something new. I've lived in Georgia my whole life and I don't remember even one summer that wasn't a sweatfest. At least here, in Atlanta, there aren't gnats. When I was growing up, we used a foul smelling product that came in a metal tube and twisted up like a chapstick to put around our eyes and around any scrapes or bites to keep the gnats away. It was called 6-12, and I have no idea if you can even still get it. It was probably a pure carcinogen and my cheekbones are going to fall off any second now. I looked it up on google it, and it's not there. Maybe I should find some of it, just for the humor of the tube of it.
9 July 2002, 3:08 peeyem
I do not want to work today. I want to take a nap. I want to watch television. I want to talk on the phone. I want to go to Target. I want to do anything else.
Saw, last night, a car with a large sign posted in the rear window:
NEW DRIVER
why would you do this? Why would you announce to the world that you might be a little bit nervous in your Hyundai, as though this would not become crystal clear to anyone who pulled up alongside you and saw you with your deathgrip on the steering wheel and the look of utter terror on your face?
I might be a little bit jaded about driving, since I started doing it when I was 8 years old. Ah, the joys of growing up in a rural area.
Still haven't programmed the new cellphone. Don't reckon I'm going to, at this rate.
8 July 2002, 4:34 peeyem
I gots nothing to say and too much to say.
My nephew might be ill. I'm worried about my sister.
I'm closer to done with the bathroom.
I had some, er, interesting news from a friend today.
It's really hot.
And I tore my favorite short skirt.
3 July 2002, 3:26 peeyem
I am done (for the moment at least) with my company's site. It's been checked and rechecked and tested and uploaded and tested again. Surely joy and happiness will follow me all the rest of my days.
Someone just asked me what I'm doing for the 4th. I think I might need to sleep late is what I think. I am worn out.
Also, I don't normally post photos that I didn't take myself, but I got one this morning from Gid that I couldn't pass up. It's at the bottom here.
I think I have to lie down on the floor for a moment.
3 July 2002, 11:30 ayem
Today is Rob Wilson's birthday. I bet he would like a bunch of birthday greetings. Heh. Tell him I sent you.
2 July 2002, 3:46 peeyem
It is 104 degrees on the sign across the street.
I found this article last night, and as a result, tried peeling my banana from the other end this morning. I am going to peel from the bottom for the rest of my life. Who knew?
My feet are sweating. Ick.
Gid and Robby in their muumuus, just prior to tipping over the portapotty.
1 July 2002, 4:05 peeyem
Happy Canada Day.
The Declaration of Independence is at the Carter Center Museum until Friday. If you're in the Atlanta area, you should go see it. This is not one of the handwritten and signed copies, but one of the printed copies (of which there are 25 remaining...I am told that this one belongs to Norman Mailer, but I'm not sure about that), which are older, actually, than the signed ones. See, what happened is they printed a number of copies that were dispatched to all the colonies and read to everyone. Then the delegates were finally convened in Philadelphia to put their signatures down. It is mounted in glass under a sheet of plexiglass that's about an inch thick and bulletproof on a gigantic cast aluminum scroll that is kept at a very precise temperature and humidity, and no flash photography is allowed, as it is damaging to the linen laid paper.
I have also seen the handwritten one, but I think any time you get a chance to see a chunk of history, you ought to do it. That said, it was amazing, but not nearly as amazing as the Gutenberg Bible, at which I burst into tears.
Something's wrong with the grammar above, but you know what I mean.
If you're paying close attention, you'll see that there's a new button over to the right. It's not operational yet, but give me a day or two and it will be.
From my Montgomery sojourn:
This cracks me up. Read it and figure out why.
Read June here.
Where's May?
I'm still reading April
I wasn't done with March!
Hey! What happened to February? It's Right Here.
