free dinner

One item fueled my Friday and got me through the last day of the work week - DINNER! French fries and a beer at Red Robin with Casey and Dave was my agenda. I was in major work mode so when the invitation came, at first I passed. But as I took a bus to my car, I decided I deserved a Newcastle and I joined them at the restaurant. Red Robin didn't serve Newcastle, however, so I ordered water and a spicy chicken sandwich. They brought me the wrong meal, though.

The waitress took it back and when Casey and Dave's finished their meal, my dinner finally arrived. So, they gave me my meal for free - deservingly free as I sat their slurping my pint of H20.

The moral? Don't have quirky, high expectations for a Friday night pleasure.

My brain is dead. I'm good for only one liners

I started thinking about cheesy lines to go with my sexy, Zoolander face (these are the quirky PG-13 ones):

Can I buy you a drink, or do you just want the money?

You must be from Pearl Harbor, because baby you’re the bomb.

You look like a girl who has heard every line in the book. So, how bad is one more going to hurt?

Can I borrow a quarter? I want to go to your mother and thank her.

Do you have a map? I just keep getting lost in your eyes.

If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put U and I together.

Do you have a Band Aid? I just scrapped my knee falling for you.

linked

I read an article once where a Ph.D student lost her wrists and suddenly became paralyzed by the process of writing. I still have my wrists, but I did lose my wireless system and, for two days, I felt numb. I'm so used to multitasking from whatever room I inhabit that when I had to plug into the wall, I sort-of short circuited. I am happy to say that I am back in wireless land and can do more than one thing at once, including browse the net while writing and creating. Phew.

62 days left of 2009

Yikes. I saw this was my 303rd post of the year. Where's the time go?

Like the sands of the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.

Seriously, it perplexes me I'm twenty years out of high school, heading towards twenty years out of my undergraduate days and, fudge, thinking about pushing forty. Is that possible? And that song! That song from my mom's soap brings back haunting yet precious memories - the perfect soundtrack for a Wednesday morning of desperation and despair.

Believe it or not, I just learned that Victor Kiriakis is not dead. He was held on an island by Stefano Denero and, through amazing cosmetic surgery, transformed into a canine being. Marlena, my dog "Baby" is Victor Kiriakis and Eugene and Calliope have been turned into Cynde's two dogs, Rocky and Chipper. There's no escaping the evil of NBC at 1 p.m. everyday.

It's not the Library of Congress

When I completed my undergraduate days, I left thinking I'd like to one day have a library like so many of my professors. I'd walk into their offices and think, "They read all this crap?".

Fast forward. Almost twenty years later, I find myself this morning still without my wireless service and consequently in the room with all my books. I've acquired quite a few over the years, and as quirky as the truth is, these are the ones I've kept and not returned to libraries or given to someone else to read, only to never be seen again. There were many, many more.

There are days when I look at them all and think, "This is all within me." There are other days when I look at it and think, "You're going to have to move all this crap if, and when, you leave Syracuse."

I wonder if books will remain a part of our species as we grow more and more digital. I hope so. I still love reading and even if I do embrace technology, it can't replace getting lost in a story. If it can, I haven't found that online story just yet.

PS: See the Adidas sneakers on the shelf? They're signed by Missy Elliot!

Crock Pot Crack Head

My brain is fried and it's only Monday of the work week. I think I killed it last night when, for some reason, I lost my wireless internet capabilities. I'm so used to multitasking via internet searching and textual composing on my own, simultaneously, that I get totally frazzled when I don't have wireless service and, hence, can't kill multiple birds with one keyboard. I had to use the ethernet chord and that is not comfortable. It is like walking through life still attached to your mother via an umbilical chord. It works, but it isn't as convenient as it can be.

Still, I do not wish to complain too much because I stewed beef, onions, gravy and potatoes in my Crockpot last night. I added a lot of chives, too, and a little chili sauce. I sat down for a meal last night, although by myself, and had a quirky Sunday dinner.

Now, if only my wireless system will kick itself back into gear, all will be well. Ugh. Until then...I roll my eyes.

Congratulations, Gabriel

Gabriel Bol Deng's film, Rebuilding Hope, had its premiere last night in Syracuse. It was wonderful to see the large crowd there to support his work to rebuild a school in Sudan and that his efforts in America are paying off. It was also a wonderful gathering of several of my new friends in Syracuse who align to support such efforts of such hard work.

I always feel blessed to be a part of something that transcends the everyday work that we do. Gabriel, and the other two men who also are doing their best to support their villages, deserved the standing ovation they received.

As Brendan Kennally writes, once again, "I Love/To Believe/In Hope." It is all Pandora left us in her box.