Monday Musings

How is it that I had not written a post in almost two months, yet gained two followers of this blog?

A meme that's better than no post at all

From Sunday Stealing last week:
1. Why is your favorite color your favorite?

Blue. It matches my eyes.

2. Do you prefer dogs or cats or do you just hate animals, and want to kill baby seals?
I prefer animal attraction. 

3. How much time do you spend on the computer?

January-May, it's about 10-14 hours per day.

4. Not including porn, what do you do on the computer?

January-May, it's mostly work. Other times it's email, reading news and blogs, shopping, writing, investing, and facebook stalking. Yet I still have a life.

5. Are you a clock watcher?

No, I have this great internal clock that wakes me every morning and gets me to all my appointments on time.

6. What do you/did you look for in a partner?

A penis and a sense of humor

7. What type of clothing do you prefer?

Something that covers 80% of my body. 

8. What is your favorite type of music? 
Almost every type.  Right now I'm listening to the B-52s on a PBS special.

9. Do you believe in the paranormal, Ghosts, ESP, levitation, spoon bending?
Only ESP, and I know exactly what you're thinking.

10. The most important question: Do you have a inie or outie belly button?

I have the prettier type.

11. What kind of car do you drive?

The one that will start on that particular day.

12. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun or The Boys Are Back in Town?

There's no choice.  Girls just wanna have fun when the boys are back in town.

13. Camping or the Ritz?

A vacation must include a comfy bed, private shower, maid service, and a good restaurant.

14. What food are you craving RIGHT NOW . . . did you eat it?

It's the middle of the night and the dog's rawhide bone is looking mighty good.

15. The most thrilling place you've ever visited. Why?

The Acropolis in Athens.  As I strolled down the hill with my friend, we saw a man under a tree that, in the glimpse from the corner of my eye, I thought was twirling a white rope lasso.

Oops. I forgot I wasn't in the Wild West. It was actually a stream coming from his manhood. 

16. If you could slip into the skin of one public figure--celebrity, artist,--who would it be?

Dolly Parton

17. Look up from your computer. What do you see first?

web cam

18. Sum up your philosophy of life in one sentence. You can borrow it from someone else, if you'd like.

No regrets.
 (Yes, I know that was not a sentence.  It was a phrase, but it is now acceptable to use phrases instead of sentences as indicated by current editors of most publishing houses.)

19. Name the one thing you just don't understand about kids today.

Why can't they think of synonyms for the F word?

20. If you could steal one work of art from a museum or gallery, which would it be?
It's those beautifully detailed veins in the arms and those abs.  Do you think they would notice it sticking out from under my coat?

This and That

(I started this post almost a month ago, but at least I finally published it so you know I'm still alive.)

1.  This is my busiest time of year - especially the month of February.  Those of you who have followed me for a while know my posts get fewer and fewer during tax season, but I promise to be back on a regular basis sometime soon.

2.  Everyone around here is talking about this "new" singer Adele who won so many Grammy Awards the other night.  I've been a fan of her for years, and "Chasing Pavements" is still one of my favorites from her repertoire:



It's a shame that the death of Whitney Houston pushed Adele out of her well-deserved spotlight. No wonder she raised a finger in protest a few days later.

3.  And that begs a question: Why does the media go into overdrive when an entertainer with a very public drug problem leaves this world.  There is rarely day after day, week after week of coverage when an entertainer who lived a clean, decent, good life dies.  Personally I am sick of this elevation of troubled souls into hero status.  The media is always more interested in covering stories of those who are weak and have no self-restraint than those who value life and avoid self-destruction.

4.The winners of the four top acting Academy Awards were an interesting group:  two were over 60, one a plus-size minority, and an average looking French dude. It was refreshing to see that perhaps awards were finally being given for great performances of normal looking-people and not for plastic Barbies and Kens.

It's Faux Real

I've been thinking recently about how people today are embracing fake as the norm. 
We all know people with fake body parts:

Breasts -Nature didn't give that many women 38Ds
Hair - Oh, please. Everyone over 50 has grey hair. Not everyone has long thick hair. Some don't have any.
Teeth - Real teeth don't glow in the dark.

Eyelashes - Even the thickest natural lashes don't project 2 inches from the face

Nails - Real fingernails don't look like claws

Tans - Leather skin is only in fashion in Florida

Eyes - Cat eye contacts belong in cats, not humans

Generally they are found on fake people with fake smiles who are fake friends.

Houses have also become fake. Hardwood floors are now made of plastic.  So are fancy stair railings and fences. And Roman/Greek columns are now made of aluminum.  Shake and slate shingles are now fiberglass.  There's fake brick that needs no mortar. The homes are protected by fake security cameras. 

The houses are filled with people watching fake wrestling on television while surrounded by fake plants and fake flowers, fake Christmas trees, fake fireplaces, fake fur, fake diamonds, and fake orgasms.

Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships. — Sharon Stone

Food is also becoming fake.  There's fake sugar, fake fat, fake cheese, fake soda pop.

I mean those patented substances chemically flavored and mechanically bulked out to kill the appetite and deceive the gut — is unnatural, almost immoral, a bane to good eating and good cooking. — Julia Child

Let's not forget fake i.d.s, fake designer items, fake tattoos, fake photos, fake checks, fake money.


Even our language is embracing this phenomena:

"It's like kind of  a big deal." 

"Like it's totally awesome." 

 

Yeah it's not awesome, just like it.

ABC Reporter Bill Weir came up with other excuses for use of the word "like."  (I couldn't embed it in this post so you'll need to follow this link.)  It's like a news report, but isn't real because it's full of fake punches in the face.

Yes indeed, we can even say that there is fake news reporting...unless you're one of those who think The Onion is real news.

My childhood was spent with real men and women with real bodies.  We lived in a real house with real wood floors and real flowers and ate real food. We spoke proper English.

But all that's like history now.

The New Christmas Sweater

My husband has always liked to wear cardigan sweaters.  For a long time that was not something I wanted many people to know.  They were generally put into the same category as ugly Christmas sweaters.  Now that wearing cardigans is cool I'll let the secret out.

I had been wanting to give him a new cardigan for Christmas for several years, but only this season was I able to find an abundance of choices and finally made a purchase.  He was thrilled with the new one and even threw out two old holely ones from his closet.

I thank the hipsters for the cardigan popularity.  Adding an old cardigan from the Goodwill store as an accessory to jeans and a t-shirt can make any 20-30 year old someone look edgy.  Top it off with a soho hat and thick black rimmed glasses and you've really made a statement. Add a loosely tied tie at the neck for even more awesomeness. Who knew that dressing like old men could become popular?

Now that they've started the trend, you can get new cardigans at the mall instead of worn out ones from the thrift shops.

Someone even has a tumbler photo blog of "Men in Cardigans."

OK, so hubby doesn't look quite as cool as the guys in the photo blog, and he doesn't wear his cardigan over a t-shirt, and if he wears a tie it will be worn properly tight around the neck.  So he's not a hipster; he looks more like this:

But, hey, who doesn't love Mr. Rogers?

A New Christmas

My older daughter remarked Christmas Eve that the dining room table at her grandmother's house had different people in different places this year.

My father-in-law wasn't there (died in April).  My niece's fiancee was sitting in the chair that used to hold my brother (died in 2007).  My sister-in-law's boyfriend sat at the end of the table where one of the nephews used to sit. He moved to the other side of the table.  My mother wasn't sitting near the dining room door at the kitchen table with me (died in April). My spouse had taken her place and younger daughter joined us there.  Only a couple people were sitting where they had for 20+ Christmases before.

The traditional menu was the same, the food good and bountiful as usual.  Conversations were lively and merry.

It was just different this year. Good, but different.

Music Monday

A little country to start the week.