Ramblings

1. My husband is as vain as a peacock. Yes, I know that's cliched and trite, but he IS! We went out to dinner on Saturday night, and I made him stop at Old Navy for a few minutes. See, I've decided that I'm going to start picking out his clothes. He has a great sense of style for his stage wear, but not so much for daily wear. He doesn't have a bad sense of style, you understand, just not great. So I grabbed a pair of snug-fitting black cargo pants, a black thermal Henley shirt, a black wool blazer, and black wash sneakers with the white toes, and shove them at him with orders to try them on. He did, and dang! The man looked hot! So it took absolutely no persuasion my part for him to decide to buy the outfit. Here's where the vanity part comes in. We hadn't eaten yet, as I made him stop at Old Navy before we went to dinner. So he goes back to the dressing room to change into his new outfit so that he would look chic. At Red Robin. He also wore it yesterday when he went to the grocery store to get me a salad and some vitamin waters (I have been having really bad muscle spasms in my back, and he was pampering me). And I noticed this morning when he stopped by my office for a minute on his way to work that he was wearing the blazer over his work shirt (not a good look, but I wasn't going to argue with him).

2. I joined Trista's Crazy Mixed-Up group. The first mix CD arrived last week, and I am in love with the first song on the mix. Have you ever heard "One Angry Dwarf and Two Hundred Solemn Faces" by Ben Folds Five? It's a great song! It's always a good day for me when I can add a favorite to my songs list. There are actually several on that CD that I really like, but that's got to be numero uno. So yay for Briar! Oh, and while I'm talking about this song, I have the CD in my car stereo. I don't have much headache today, and I had it really cranked when I zipped out at lunch to get a bottle of salad spritzer for my salad. The line "kiss my ass" is repeated several times in the song. Well, as I pulled into a parking space at Tom Thumb, the line rang out just as a little old lady was walking by. She looked at me, gave me the big hairy eyeball, and then looked away from me and determinedly sped up and raced to her car. I'm sorry, ma'am. I really didn't mean to offend you with my raucous music.

3. Back in June I paid my $150 registration fee to go to the World Fantasy Convention in Austin on November 2-5. When I finally got hired at my job, I figured I'd just bag it, since I can't take vacation time for 6 months. But the registration fee isn't refundable, and Joe just about flipped his lid at the thought of my throwing away $150, even though I can't take the time off. I asked my sister if she wanted to go (memberships are transferrable), but she can't afford to. So today I talked with my supervisor. She agreed to let me work extra hours on the preceding Saturday, which is part of that pay period, and through Thursday the 2nd, and will let me be off on Friday the 3rd. So I'll only miss the first day of the convention. I'll just drive down to Austin as soon as I get off work on Thursday, 11/2. Back last November, when I first decided to go, I'd hoped to have my manuscript ready. I won't, oh, all kinds of I won't, but on the positive side, I've done a whole lot of fantasy reading, and have a far better understanding of how to write this manuscript. So when I do go back to the keyboard, it will be a much better manuscript than it would otherwise have been.

4. Taste of Arlington, an annual event that benefits Theatre Arlington and the YMCA of Arlington, takes places this coming Thursday, October 12th. My sister works at Theatre Arlington part-time, and I volunteered to work a shift that evening. I'm looking forward to when she and I get off our shifts, so that we can go see all the exhibits and taste all the yummy foods. I'm going to crash at her place that night. Hmmmm . . . wonder how productive I'll be at work on Friday!

5. I went to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning, but I refused to weigh in. See, I weigh every morning at home, just to keep myself on track. Every morning last week I weighed about the same. But on Saturday morning, the scale was 3 POUNDS HIGHER! I was really ticked off. By this morning it was back to where it had been. I was really dehydrated, and have been drinking a lot of water since then, so maybe that's why the scale was so high. I don't know. Anyway, I don't know how much I really weigh. So I'll report that next Saturday morning. I promise I'll weigh in next Saturday no matter how obnoxious my home scale is. Although if it pulls that stunt again next Saturday morning, I may hurl it out the window before I go to WW.

6. I e-mailed Trista an idea for the next S-Project theme, and she liked it! And she said she wants me to post it. So I will, tomorrow. I lay in bed yesterday (because I couldn't move, because of those nasty back spasms--maybe because of being dehydrated?), and tried to think of a story I could write around that theme. And I realized I have a positive genius for thinking up the most disgustingly schmaltzy schlocky ideas. But hey, at least I realize they're schmaltzy and schlocky. That's got to count for something, right? Needless to say, I'm not going to write any of those. And if you see the theme, and wonder WTF I was going to write about that could possibly be schmaltzy and schlocky, email me. I'll tell you in private. I think I finally came up with a decent idea, if I can only remember it. So when you're reading the theme and cursing and wondering how you're going to come up with a story or a poem about it, don't blame Trista. Blame Canada!

7. If you drink a full glass of water before each meal, during each meal, and after each meal, you'll eat less and feel less hungry. You'll also pee a lot, which means you'll get more exercise. See, not only will you have to go to the bathroom much more often, but some unknown corollary of Murphy's Law will set in, and the urge to go will hit you when you are the furthest possible distance from the bathroom. So you will have to go further, and you will either be walking at a very fast pace or you will be outright running, so you'll get more exercise in. Ask me how I know. On second thought, don't ask. I've got to go. Now.