sunny blizzard

~E~ It started as just background noise in my head, and by the end of the day had grown so loud that I had to look it up on youtube. I found it. Since then I have been obsessed with it. I suspect it's partly because the guy is reminiscent of what Al looked like before I met him, long hair and a beard. As with all obsessions, I searched the internet to see what I could find. These two are Dutch. He is known as Big Mouth, but his real name is Willem Duyn. He was born a really long time ago, in 1937. He is dead now. Her real name is Sjoukje van't Spijker but she goes by Maggie Maclean. She is still alive and singing. This has been the first installment of Obsession Corner.

~E~ When I see old people, I see myself.

~E~ So there.

~E~ When I was a kid I had a few classmates ask me if we were 'poor'. I felt vaguely ashamed and I really can't remember what I answered. It seemed, though, that more than a few of my classmates were in the same economic class. Looking back, damn straight we were poor. I really don't know how my parents coped. My mom added up the price of food as we went grocery shopping so she would stay in her budget; even a candy bar was a big deal to us back then and it was a rare treat, as was fast food. Dinners often consisted of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinner. Period. Or pancakes, or rice-a-roni with a few breakfast sausages tossed in. My mom had a few really horrible recipes that I could barely choke down but it was either that or nothing. One thing she called "Collinsburgers" was especially gross. She'd mix cheap hamburger with catsup and mustard, spread a thin layer on a bun and broil it. Gag. She also did this thing where she'd line a cake pan with meatba

~E~ How cool is this - bees can count to four? Check it out! "We find that bees can count up to four objects, when they are encountered sequentially during flight." What does this mean for humans? We are not the only intelligent species on the planet. Even bugs are smart! And even bugs who we claim should not be able to fly , according to the laws of (human) physics!

~E~ I thought this was funny. Be patient and watch it all the way through.

~E~ I would make a terrible pioneer woman. Get up at the crack of dawn, start a fire, feed and water and milk the cow, make hotcakes, haul water, do laundry on a washboard, hoe the garden, can some vegetables, churn butter etc etc etc. Nope, ain't gonna happen. Secret service agent? Nah. I'd scan the crowd for five minutes, then get really bored and distracted and start putting together a dance routine in my head for KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the way I like it". And I'm not taking a bullet for anyone not related intimately to me. Artist. I have these great ideas in my head that I can never translate into any sort of attractive or meaningful medium. Stuff always comes out ordinary or ugly. Big sigh. Although who knows, maybe that's the next big thing? I used to think I would suck at being president, but now I think I'd do a bang-up job compared to... some. I'd really suck at being a religious leader because I'm a terrible liar. Al

~E~ A post about psychics, or 'side kicks' as Number One Son used to say when he was five. Do you ever just know something? Can you predict the future? Every now and then it happens to me, but I can't say that it happens with anything that matters. I'll be 100 percent certain I'm going to win this game of Solitaire that I just started, but I haven't yet predicted who will win the next election. So not especially useful. Recently a coworker's birthday was coming up. I knew she would be wearing green that day, despite having no reason to have a clue what she would wear so I did wore green as well in her honor. And yup, she was wearing green. I amaze myself, I swear. haha Another Incredible Future-Predicting Incident happened with my niece when she was about three. I had a favorite pair of sunglasses and as we were sitting there playing I suddenly just knew she was going to break them. I didn't freak out, I knew it was inevitable - it's weird, it'

~E~ My friend R sent me an article that seeks to report on how women are doing at the office. The author began with the premise that women are hindered in their communication on the job for various reasons and wanted to figure out how women are hurt and how they could improve. She quickly realized that women seem to be doing much better than previously thought and changed her direction. Ultimately, Ford says women don't need to "improve" their ways of speaking because they are already strong participants. It's interesting, give it a read . Thanks, R.

Sigh.

~E~ This is a dining table. The top is made of river rocks embedded in acrylic. I Want This Table.

~E~ I'm sitting here listening to Rudy (911) Giuliani saying that it is appalling the sexism that S@r@h P@lin is being hit with right out of the gate. It's unprecedented. No, it's not. Have you not been paying attention since Hillary Clinton entered the race? I knew the Republicans would stick up for there own in a way that the Democrats would not. Thanks, Democrats. You have proven you are not the Big Tent party.