Sunday, April 27, 2008

I miss you; and your secret exploits. Get in touch, OK? I'm kind of needing the Murphy touch right now.

Go Nats!!

I know what you're thinking. How can a Red Sox fan possibly find it in her heart to pull for the Nats. Well, you have to live here and have seats 20 rows behind the Nats dugout. You have to pull it together to sing "God Bless America" & "Take me out to the Ballgame" at the beginning of the 7th inning Stretch with two 6 year olds sitting in front of you that know EVERY SINGLE WORD. Trust me. That alone would bring a tear to the most hardened non-Nats-fan eye.

peace

I shopped alot. Nothing fit.....



Thursday, April 24, 2008

I shopped for new summer clothes....



Friday, April 18, 2008

Moving On....

A very good friend of mine is in recovery. He has been on the bright side for almost 12 years. I call him on his Sober Day every year to congratulate him and wish him "Happy Anniversary!" He is always appreciative since, typically, your friends that still take a drink every now and again don't remember your Sober Day. This is someone I met one year after he went to Rehab. It just so happens that his sober day is the day that my best friend died in a skydiving accident. Of the same year. He doesn't know this, but, the first few years, that's how I remembered it.

"Steve died this day and it's also Donny's Sober Day". The last couple of years, I've remembered it as being Donny's Sober Day first. The memories of Steve are still there. I will never forget him. But, I have to put a positive spin on the day.

I like to think of that day as one incredible person losing his life; and another incredible person getting a second chance.


_____________________

I'm all maudlin today because I had a very freakin' hard day. And I could just put my little head down right now and sleep til Sunday. One of my regulars died on Tuesday. She had cancer. She was in remission and for whatever reason; she crashed. Her parents came in last week, they put her in Hospice on Monday and she died Tuesday night. She was 6 months younger than me. Which doesn't really mean anything. Cancer likes you no matter how old you are.

In either case, her co-workers had a memorial gathering for her at my bar tonight. I felt really bad because I had a certain impression of her. I only saw when she was by herself and drunk. As far as I knew; she didn't have any friends. She came in almost every night somewhat sober or half-way lit. If she was sober; we'd give her a couple. Otherwise, we would serve her straight Coke with her thinking there was Rum in there.

She was in Law Enforcement. The Big Kind. We knew that. Long story short: About 70 people turned out for her memorial. And alot of Big people turned out. Suffice it to say; you couldn't swing a cat in that room without hitting a badge and/or a gun/and or an ear-piece. (And/or a pair of cargo pants with a little radio in the pocket that had a wire that went up to said ear) . Everyone had great things to say about her. Apparently, she was in charge of the people in charge of guarding the people that run our government. As in, "Make sure Bush turns left at the corner & greets the people there before we take him into the car".

There were people there that had trained her and people that had been trained by her. There were ALOT of tears. I was so happy to see that she had another life outside of what I saw.

I always liked Stacy. I had the opportunity to have a real conversation with her a couple of times outside of work. I found her to be very engaging and incredibly intelligent.

I will miss her.

peace

RIP Stacy

Monday, April 14, 2008

Open letter..

Dear New York Yankees,

You heard...
You denied...
You relented...
You dug...
You found the proof...

________________

I hear there's a Ramirez jersey buried under the home dugout!

peace

I am lame.

I know this because my neighbor insinuated it.

I live in a row house in an up-and-coming community. By "up-and-coming", I mean a community that was really Hot when it first opened (50's), fell to the derelicts, and in the last few years started being bought up by double-high-income-childless couples. Who went on to renovate their houses. Which, I guess, makes it very Diverse for right now. (I think there is a crack-house on the corner.) I'm lucky. I live in a renovated house surrounded for the most part by other renovated houses. (Not to confuse you; but, I am renting. My immediate neighbors own. My owner was smart to just renovate and charge me his mortgage.)

If you are familiar with a row house; you know that I have a wanna-be lawn out front. 10' x 10' of a really weird grass/weed mixture. I am responsible for keeping this area cut. To me, this little space does not scream, "Lawnmower!!". So, I got a Weed-Eater. Alot of people told me this was the way to go.

So, I'm out there today after work with my Weed-Eater. The neighbor to my left is watering his real grass. He interrupts my work and tells me to not hurt myself. I say OK. He interrupts me again to comment on how loud it is. I say I'm sorry. He interrupts AGAIN to ask me to just wait a couple days and he will mow my grass for me when he does his. I tell him that, although I think that is a very generous offer, it's not necessary. I can do it myself. He insists to the point that I say, "Ok. And Thank You!". He's going into his house, turns around, and says, "And by the way, that is a really lame way to cut your grass." (Did I mention that I don't know him that well yet?)

Now, I know the equipment I was using is really loud. But, it's only going to be for about 5 minutes. Once a month. And I really don't understand what he's offering up. Is he going to cut my grass FOREVER?

I'm sure it seems I'm being over-sensitive. It's one of those situations where you really had to be there. I've only lived here 5 months and I'll go ahead and say it: I want my neighbors to like me!! I don't want to be that girl that doesn't cut her grass! (Or, that girl that has a loud Weed-Eater.)

Please tell me that your day was more interesting...

peace

Friday, April 11, 2008

I remember...

being at Lower Richland High School. It was the late 70's. I remember being kind of pissed at one of my girlfriends. Because I thought she had said something bad about me. I confronted her; we worked it out. We're friends to this day. It NEVER occurred to me to bring in 7 of my other girlfriends to work out a plan to get her alone and beat the shit out of her.

You all know what I'm talking about. The crazy story out of Florida where these kids literally beat this poor girl unconscious. Because she bad-mouthed someone. They are now all being treated as adults with charges that range from kidnapping, false imprisonment, and assault.

One more time for me to say, "I am SO glad I didn't have children!". It's sad, but something happens almost every single day that makes me think that.

Being a bartender; I hear alot of stories. Alot of them pertain to kids and their stupid, stupid behavior. The majority of my regulars are people that are somewhat affluent. Their kids want for nothing. Go to the best schools (30 Thou a year for High School?? What??) , wear the best clothes, brand new BMW at 16. It boggles the mind. But yet, they do stupid shit like this. I haven't heard any stories that touch what happened in Florida; but the mob mentality is out there in other situations.

I wonder where things crossed the line. Used to, if a kid was bad, you could say, "Well, his dad's in prison, his mom is working three jobs and never at home." You could write it off as the kid just not having a good living environment. Noone to look up to. It's not like that now. It seems that the kids that are doing the worst things are the kids with the best opportunities.

I caught the tail end of the newscast today when the kids from Florida came in front of the judge. I seriously wanted to grab one of them, SHAKE them HARD and say, "What the FUCK are you doing??? DON'T YOU GET IT??"

I'm so happy I didn't have children.

peace

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Charlton Heston


10/4/23 --- 4/5/08 RIP

What an amazing man. If I attempt to give this incredible person any kind of Blog eulogy; I would fall short. There is no way I could cover everything that he has done.
Go to this link and read for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston
In either case; I think he was incredible for several things. One of which was his activism against racism. Another, and equally important; was his belief in our Right to Bear Arms.
I do know that he has given conflicting statements relating to issues he purported to support. Some of them make me uneasy. The biggest being his stance on Abortion. The bottom line is, he used his celebrity to bring about change in the areas that needed it. He got results. Alot of people are much better off because of it.
___________
The best you can hope for is that people will remember you when you die for the good things you did when you were alive. If you never try to do good things; chances are, you won't be remembered at all.
peace

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Love/Hate Relationships

For the record; I love my country. But I really dislike my President. For alot of reasons. All of which involve governmental issues. I don't dislike my President on a personal level. I think that if I would have the honor to be in my President's presence, I would stand up to the task and conduct myself in a mature manner. Because that 's what you should do. As an American. You may not agree with his politics; but the majority got him there. And the rest of the world is watching.

With that said; I thought that it was incredibly tacky that our President was "booed" BY OUR OWN when he threw the first pitch out for the Washington Nationals in their new stadium. This was not a political forum. There were young kids there asking their parents, "Why are they booing the President, Daddy?" How sad is that?

Save your jeers for the news conferences, rallys; what have you. Show your political choices at the polls. Where they belong.

In the big picture, we're all on the same team. Remember that.


peace

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