help! i need somebody…
You know, when you teach your children that 9-1-1 is only for serious help calls, you never know what a 4-year-old might consider as ’serious help.’ For some (including me), math is a subject that requires bringing in the reinforcements…
caught
As a single person, I’m prone to hate weddings. Now before you judge, hear me out. I don’t hate the weddings because they are celebrating the life of those being married; in fact, I love being a part of the momentous occasion. I hate weddings because of the end of the reception: the tossing of the bouquet.
I think it’s so strange how women have evolved. When I was a teenager, I always wanted to catch the bouquet, because it meant, that just maybe, I’d meet the man of my dreams. All of the older women would tell me about how the next wedding could be my own, or how I wouldn’t just be a bridesmaid anymore. Well, even though I’ve caught the bouquet a few times as a teenager, my knight in shining armor never appeared.
Even now, as I’ve caught the bouquet once recently (thanks to Marly’s trick of combining the one bouquet to split into three), there’s a few weddings that I’ll attend before my own, contrary to all of those wives tales. As a single woman, I hate the bouquet-tossing tradition, because I hate being a part of an incredibly small (and still dwindling) group that is brought to the attention of everyone else in the room. I don’t like everyone staring you down, or feeling the transparent pity they feel for those who are ’single and alone.’
I hate how that feeling is protruded out for all to receive. Because, while I may be single, I’m not alone… or unhappy… or hoping to not only catch a bouquet, but maybe a single groomsman. I’m living my life. I’m doing what I want to do. I refuse to sit around and only hope for Mr. Right to drop in and save me from the ‘tragedy’ of the single life. Without an attachment, I can travel to D.C. on a whim, or New York City for a show. I can try new recipes and not worry if it’s horrible. Better yet, I alone have control of my TiVo remote.
yawn
I officially hate the new Diet Pepsi MAX commercials… they cause me to begin an abnormal amount of yawning, thanks to the contagiousness of yawns.
Thanks to you, Diet Pepsi, I will NOT drink your soda… it’s a matter of principle, and those commercials are cruel and inhumane. Torture, you might say.
timeliness
Well, after citing contempt to both Harriet Meirs and Josh Bolten, it seems that Congress has the opportunity to possibly cite contempt on another Bush cronie: Karl Rove. He’s been subpoenaed by the Dems in light of the continuing probe of the fired counsel in the DoJ.
Let’s see if the dominoes might start falling…
the institution
I’m not sure how it fell off my radar, but the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is going to be an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. This means that Birmingham could have some great things happening before too long, getting the BCRI on the national radar… or moreso than it is now.
If you’ve never been to visit, it is worth the trip. I’ve never seen such a collection of materials. It’s one of the greatest civil rights history museums, if not THE greatest. I could be partial, though, since my historical fields focus on civil rights, and I have been a volunteer there…
shark deflation
Last year, residents of Silver Spring, Md., or wanderers from Washington, D.C., got to see the shark growing out of the Discovery Building HQ. It was quite a sight… especially when they lit it up at night and had water reflections on the building.
Sadly, I just read in the Silver Spring Penguin that the shark, ‘Chompy,’ won’t be making an appearance this year. Discovery Channel gave no explanation, but did mention that there was a shark-related incident in New York.
I can understand how it would seem a little un-PC to do that, but still… that inflatable shark is freakin’ awesome! I hate that it won’t be coming out to greet one and all.
internets round-up: 07.25.07
- Attention McCain camp! You’ve got a double agent! Alabama McCain chair Troy King was spotted at the latest Thompson fundraiser in Alabama held by Jim Cooper of Mountain Brook. You could have a traitor on your hands, McCain… you know, your staff is dropping like flies.
- Speaking of going to the other side, the Politico’s latest story shows that many GOP donations have now gone to the Dems because of the power shift.
- In a shocker, liberals (such as one of my favorite Southern historians) are peeved over the latest activities of the president…
- The state legislature has slated public monies to revamp the Alabama-shaped pool at the governor’s mansion in Alabama because of the embarrassment of having to show off a raggedy pool to tourists. And here, most of us were trying to wonder where all of the water is going during the drought… it’s obviously going somewhere!
- The Hill has announced its ‘50 Most Beautiful People on the Hill’…
- Debate liveblogging…
showdown
Uh-oh… the House Judiciary Cmte has approved a contempt resolution involving the claims of executive privilege from the White House over White House CoS Josh Bolten and Former Counsel Harriet Meirs… You know, since they were absent from their subpoenas to testify.
This means a showdown between powers between the Legislature and the Executive branches. Man, I love fights over constitutional principles
cat-astrophe
When it comes to hospitals, emergency rooms, and illness, I’m not very good at handling it. For years, my grandfather has been in and out of the hospital with heart or lung problems. He’s lived longer than the smoking should have let him. He quit when I was 10 or 11, but the effects have almost killed him several times. It was the terror of not being able to be there if something happened that keeps my phone on at all times. In fact, that is the case with my entire family. I always want to be reachable in the case of an emergency.
This is why I endeared hours of the emergency room for a family member last night. My friend, Sassy, knows exactly how it feels to sit alongside me when I’ve been in… but last night, I got to experience the on-edge feeling of not knowing what will happen. And to tell you the truth, I’m not sure why I acted so strongly… it was my mom and dad’s cat, Suzy Jane. Well, she’s my cat too… she’s our family matriarchal cat. She’s definitely loved.
I went out to my parents house last night to go eat at my brother and sister-in-law’s house, as well as to check on SJ. Her mouth was gaping down, and she was drooling a lot. Her mouth, including her tongue were favoring her right side, and she was really lethargic. My mom, being the nurse that she is, guessed that she might have had a stroke. When I asked my mom what would happen if she did have a stroke, she said that the cat wouldn’t have much of a life, and they would probably put her to sleep. So, after a phone call to my vet-to-be cousin for a possible prognosis, we took SJ on into the emergency clinic.
After the triage person checked her out, they put her in a room, awaiting the doctor to come in and check her out. We sat there for what seemed the longest eternity, fearing the inevitable words from the vet. When the doctor finally came in, she checked out SJ and quickly gave a diagnosis: a rotten tooth that was hanging on by only a small root. When they took her back to abstract the tooth, they found 3 others that were in bad shape and pulled them as well. The end result? A poor cat with no remaining top molars. And, amazingly, the cat with previously horrible breath, had quickly lost the cause of it.
Because it was almost 3am when we headed through downtown, my parents dropped me off at my apartment. And, this morning, I arranged for my brother to pick me up on his way home from church to take me out to my parents’ house to get my car. I checked in on SJ, and she was a totally different cat… playful and incredibly affectionate. Which, for SJ, is strange to me, because she usually doesn’t like me because I have my own cat. But, she sat right beside me all afternoon while I visited.
While it seems trite to accuse people of loving their animals too much, I remember what I felt when I heard that SJ may be in poor health. And, I love that cat… I love my cat. I guess that I take great responsibility to make sure to hold onto what I have when I have it. I guess that is why I went to the ER vet last night. If something worse had happened, I wouldn’t have coped well if she had been put to sleep and I didn’t get to give a farewell.
I’m just a softy, I suppose. But, those that I love and hold dear know how I feel, and I’ll never change that for the world.
scariest hours
Don’t freak out… but, you should know that for 2 1/2 hours tomorrow (Saturday, July 21), VP Dick Cheney will have ‘the power’ as stated by Constitutional precedent of the 25th Amendment, while President Bush is having a routine colonoscopy. Seriously, who makes one of those a routine? And, WTF, Dick Cheney will be the most powerful man in the world. It may only be 2 1/2 hours, but that is some scary stuff.
Tonight also opens up further scary hours for millions that will be in line for the new Harry Potter book. I’m not one of those… I’ve never read them or seen the movies. But, I can’t believe that there are actually grief counselors set up for tonight in the case that Harry Potter dies in this book. You’ve got to be kidding me. Grief counselors for a fictitious character? I believe the world has gone batty.
In the last of the scary news, one report in the WaPo shows that D.C. water is safe to drink from the tap, while another paper states that there are unsafe toxins in the water. Of course, the latter is easier for me to believe, especially in light of the fact that the Potomac River is home to male-reproducing fish.
Breaking news from Birmingham: Driving amid SUV soccer moms on the cell phone while on the interstate could lead other drivers to a plea of insanity. Seriously folks, people here can’t drive… and the ’southern kindness and charm’ quickly disappears once a southerner enters a vehicle.
It seems that all of this would have been a lot funnier were it last Friday (July 13). It would’ve put a nice spin on things…
