4.04.07

Category: dribblings

another one of my favorite oldsters from the HCH died. actually two others. it’s sad as all get out. one was a very cool dude named Perry. he’s the one i would call ‘bobo’ and he called me randy-danielle, after those stupid hm freeman commercials. the other was a nice lady we call called mrs. b. we called her this because her last name was something like brzyvickwitzki and not a damn one of us could ever say it. i have a feeling she had been called mrs. b her whole married life.

***

this week has been a very busy work week. big paint job. i’m tired and my back is killing me softly with it’s spine and shoulder pain.

***

the bottles of Lipton’s Green Tea Citrus flavored tea drink are, how should i put this… delicious. REALLY delicious. it’s less sugar than a soda but more interesting than water. i don’t believe for a second that it’s actually green tea or good for my body in any way, and i highly doubt that it fights cancer. but it’s probably easier on the body than say…sunkist.
ooh, i really like a sunkist after a long day of hot painting.

oddly enough it’s thanks to Crazy Margaret who gave me a bottle of the Litpon ice tea green tea citrus flavored drink. and in case you were wondering, yes, the bottle was sealed. plus, i don’t think she’d try to poison me seeing as how she hits me up for money all the time.

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4.01.07

Category: dribblings

happy birthday to all my April Fools, Buddy, Megs, and Mr. Fleegan.

so i was outside yesterday cutting down some more of my tree limbs and of course, Crazy Margaret comes by. she was talking crazy let me tell you. i can’t remember any of it because it was all so crazy. but at one point she was telling me how to shave my dog. i todl her that there’s no way i’m shaving the dog, i pay to have her hair clipped…she’s too much dog for me to handle. so then margaret tells me how to drug my dog so that it will be easier to cut her hair.

“go buy some children’s tylenol.”

“what?”

“jaimie, i know what i’m talking about. a vet told me to do this, it ain’t gonna hurt your dog. now, does she eat bacon and eggs for breakfast?”

“of course not, she gets dog food.”

“jaimie! i’m TRYIN’ TO TELL YOU HOW TO DO THIS.”

“i’m not feeding her bacon and eggs.”

“YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME! when she eats the bacon and eggs what you gotta do is you eat a bite and then she eats a bite and then when she’s done eating her bites then you drink two table spoons of the children’s tylenol.”

“i drink it?”

“YES! and see since you’re both females the medicine will tie into her from you and it won’t hurt her a bit.”

“i can totally see how that would work, margaret.”

eventually the postman came by on his rounds and he looked at me and kinda grinned that grin that we all have when we’re around CM and another normal comes by. only, then he was screwed because she followed him as he walked the street on the way to her house in hopes that her crazy check was in the mail.

then the postman came back (he parks his jeep next to my driveway whil he walks that part of the street) without CM (perhaps she got her check?) and while i was throwing more limbs on the curb he said, “that margaret is something else.” and i said, “sometimes she says the most interesting things i’ve ever heard.”
he laughed and said, “yep, she’s a pistol.”

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March 2007 50 Books

Category: 50 Books

 

15. Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris
I had this book on reserve since January and it FINALLY came in last week and it was FINALLY my turn. I was so excited because it meant that I HAD to stop reading the other books I had (O’malley Series of Complete Waste of Time) and read something sinister. Every time the book was returned I’d ask the person who brought it back if they liked it or not. Most people said, “Meh.” And one old lady was all, “It was about his childhood! Bah!” Which, duh, lady. I guess she didn’t hear ANYTHING about the book or movie and chose NOT to read the jacket cover? I don’t know. She didn’t finish the book because it was about his childhood and that’s not what she wanted to read about. Old ladies, guys. You never know what is going to set them off.

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect what with people bringing it back going, “meh.” and the fact that the last book, Hannibal, was one of the worst book betrayals I’ve ever read. Hannibal was so bad that I wanted my money back, I wanted my time back, and I wanted to have never read the book back. Er, you know what I mean. Not only was it gross for gross’s sake (and I’m okay with gross as long as it adds something to the novel, but this was gross just to be gross, over and over), but it was a COMPLETE betrayal to Clarice Starling’s character.
ASS.

The Silence of the Lambs was like perfection, and Hannibal was the antithesis of that very thing. So the best I was hoping for was that Hannibal Rising would be somewhere ‘twixt the two.

I REALLY liked this book.

It takes place during and after WWII in Eastern Europe and France. Hannibal’s family (very rich) is killed in the war and he and his sister are taken by looters and bad things happen and then the war is over and Hannibal (who is a genius, but also insane) goes to live with his uncle and aunt and then he goes to medical school and then he exacts his revenge on the bad guys who looted him and his sister when they were kids.

I love all the history bits and the art bits. The suspense was good. The chapters were short and had a plain white page before them so it was like you’d finish a chapter and then cleanse your palate before starting the next chapter. Or maybe like, if it was a movie, the blanks would kind of be like camera flashes flashing to the next memory. I dunno, but it didn’t feel like a waste of paper.

So anyway, if you loved The Silence of the Lambs and felt betrayed by Hannibal, worry not. Hannibal Rising is much better.

 

14. The Protector by Dee Henderson
Yeah, same as the others. This time it was about Jack O’malley, a firefighter. It also involved his sister, Rachael a bit. The next book is about her. Anyway, Jack falls in love and becomes a Christian…both in the span of a month….just like the other books…

Only two more books to go. I recommend that you read the first one, The Negotiator and then not read any of the others. The first one is actually novel. The others are complete copies of the first one.

Jennifer’s cancer is out of remission…and it’s spread.

 

13. The Truthseeker by Dee Henderson
Eh, the series is pretty much formulaic by now. The focus is on one of the siblings. They fall in love and become Christian. There’s danger and mystery solving. This one was about Lisa O’Malley. She’s a forensic science person doctor of crime scenes. She ends up with Quinn Diamond, a U.S. Marshal and Marcus’s (her brother) partner. They solve a mystery. And fall in love. And she ends up believing in God. It’s just that easy.

The story is meh, but Jennifer (the one with cancer), is in remission and they get to have her wedding. I cried in some parts. I just know she’s going to kill Jennifer in one of these books.

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3.28.07

Category: dribblings

June died yesterday afternoon. i know she wasn’t having fun anymore (not since December when she fell and broke her head and hip), but still, it’s sad. she was my favorite old lady at the HCH.

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3.27.07

Category: dribblings

i would love to wash my car, but it seems REALLY pointless at the moment seeing as how it will be yellow all over again the next day. pollen season is not only a pain in the lungs and throat, but it makes everything look blech. coupla good rains would fix things….as well as make my grass grow 14 more inches.

myst uru spoiler blah blah blah
last week i finally completed the available ages in URU. i did have some help from people i met in the game. i am very glad that i did the Eder Gira/Kemo ages very last. cos if i had done those first? i know myself, and i know that i would have stopped playing the game entirely if i had played those first. the ages themselves weren’t that difficult or anything. there were no intense puzzles like in Kadish. it was mostly running around collecting journey cloths. however, there was one journey cloth that was impossible to find. this resulted in me checking out the internet and reading forums and such.

now i had an idea where the cloth was…just not how to get to it. i figured it was in this dark cave that i couldn’t navigate because there was no light. i kept going in that cave and clicking randomly in hopes of hitting a light or something. no luck. after hours of not figuring anythig out i hit the forums. so HERE’S how you do it. the cave is in Gira. you gotta go to Kemo and find a swarm of fireflies. you gotta walk through the swarm a couple of times. when some of them swarm around you then you walk WALK because if you RUN they fly away. also you can only jump ONCE. if you jump TWICE they fly away. so you walk to the linking book on the other end of Kemo…Kemo, by the way, has random thunderstorms. if the fireflies get wet THEY FLY AWAY. so if it rains while you have the bugs you gotta wait under one of the gazebos till it stops raining.

so, rules of the fireflies are:
1. no running
2. can only jump once
3. don’t get them wet
4. never feed them after midnight

when you link back to Gira you have fireflies still around you. but see, when you get there you’ve got to cross two patches of water. so you gotta build a bridge out of one of those basket thingies BEFORE you go get bugs. so then you cross your bridge then you jump the other water. then you can see in the cave. there IS a light in the cave after all, BUT THE GAME WON’T LET YOU CLICK IT UNLESS YOU HAVE THE FIREFLIES.

so that’s great. but then there wasn’t a journey cloth in the cave…just some water falls…which also contained more of those baskets. curious. walking on the outside there was a small waterfall to jump over and then see, THE FIREFLIES FLEW AWAY FOR I HAD ALREADY JUMPED BEFORE. this leads to a DARK CAVE. so there i was thinking i was about to finish the age. but NO. you gotta kick the other baskets over the waterfall to make another bridge where you had to jump so that you can get the fireflies to the other cave.

like i said, if this had been the first place i played i would have quit the game SO FAST. so i go BACK to Kemo to get MORE BUGS and wait out a STORM and then WALK PATIENTLY to the linking book, and link back to gira, and….no bugs….but I’M GLOWING. yes, that’s right, A GLITCH IN THE GAME. so i glow my way back to the second cave lighting the way with my glowiness, and there! i see the journey cloth and another light and….it won’t let me click either one of them, because though i went through the whole spiel, i didn’t TECHNICALLY have fireflies.

i know.

asinine. assy. ass.

by this time i was filled with anger. so i quit and played it a day or so later.

so like i say, if that had not been the last world i played i’m certain i would have totally quit the game because that’s not fun it’s aggravating.

***

in real news: laura’s baby is so cute and i can’t wait to see him and hold him again. it’s kinda funny cos i’m totally not one for holding babies, especially a brand new one. but cookie was holding him and she says to me she says, “you want to hold him, jaimie?” and i look at the tiny, wittle fweegan thinking how he’s so tiny and new and i say, “okay.”

it was so easy to hold him cos he was all wrapped up in blankets and also he weighed less than…pretty much anything you pick up all day. and he made little baby sounds. little grunts and things like that. so cute. beyond cute.

earlier in the day while i was at work at the HCH i got a phone call from kris saying that they were in Birmingham and going to have the baby. he was so calm and cool on the phone and i was all, “what?! THAT’S GREAT NEWS! omigod, okay. do you need anything? i’ll feed the cats for you! only i don’t have a key. that’s okay. i’ll break a pane in the door, unlock it, feed the cats, go get a new pane from the glaziers, and have it fixed in less than an hour. no problem. eeeeee!”

“we fed the cats before we left. just calling to let you know…baby.”

“okay! great! we’ll see you tonight! yay!”

as soon as i hung up the phone i started crying. that wouldn’t have been so bad if dad, tinley, and sonny hadn’t been standing there. because they didn’t know what was going on and so we played crying charades.

dad: whoa, hey. are you crying?

me: *nods*

dad: what’s going on…i heard you say “GREAT NEWS!” and now you’re crying.

me: *nods* baby… *sob*

tinley: laura’s having her baby?

me: *nods* *more bawling*

dad: oh no, what’s wrong with the baby?

me: *shakes head* *more sobbing*

tinley: are you sad cos you’re not down there with them?

i shake my head and in a voice filled with tears and snot i say, “no, i’m just so happy!”

dad’s all, “jesus, you scared me to death with all this crying.”

tinley was all, “you a little hormonal today?”

and for the next 4 hours i would just start to cry at random intervals.

my brother was coming in to town that evening and i called to tell him i probably wouldn’t see him that night because laura’s baby was born and we were going to b’ham to see it and he was all, “tell Obi Wan Catoeby i said hi!” which made me laugh. it always surprises me when he refers to the website cos i never think that he (or jimmy) ever reads the site.

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3.25.07

Category: dribblings

things have been busy!
a new fleegan was born!
one of my favorite people and oldest friend got married!
my little bro came to town!
tons of yard work that i’ve barely made a dent in!
book title of the day: Thou Shalt Not Grill

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3.17.07

Category: dribblings

death title: Scrub-a-Dub-Dead
book title of the day: Grape Expectations

lotsa food puns in the book world.

**

the reefer log has me puzzled by the search for “paul newman anal butter scene”…wha?

**

my hair has been cut, my hat fits, i’ve solved two of the URU ages (Kadish and Teledahn), finished the 3rd O’Malley book, started the 4th one, saw 300, and did some laundry.

we spent friday evening with the 3 Nooges in honor of Florrie’s birthday. Florrie makes the best food. Dante killed a deer and we ate pieces of it. we drank wine and talked about the world. and Dante told us of the grossest, most horrible nose-bleed in the whole world.

**

15 days till opening day.

Yanks play Tampa Bay in the opener.

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3.13.07

Category: dribblings

continuing with the “dead” theme, here’s the titles of two books that were returned today:
Yankee Doodle Dead and
Candy Apple Dead.
see? i don’t lie.

book title of the day: Assault and Pepper

you know you love it.

***

my hair is so long that my hat doesn’t fit (too tight means too much hair) and when i’m not wearing a hat it looks like i’ve got a hair helmet. i get a trim tomorrow. eeeeeee!

***

i’m about halfway through the 3rd O’Malley book. it’s become VERY formulaic, but it’s still keeping me reading so…i guess that means we both suck, the author and i. hee.

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3.11.07

Category: dribblings

okay. now i have 4 jobs.

my fourth “job” is Myst Uru Live. hee.

i remember long ago watching my two buddies, laura and liz, get TOTALLY obsessed with some gay computer game called Myst. it was so gay that there wasn’t any actual movement in the game. it was was played one screen at a time. and they would spend actual human time trying to solve puzzles invovling colors and levers and other gay junk like that.

i think the reason i never got into it was because i liked the “regular” video games with “real” plots and “actual” movement like for instance…plumbers who try to save princesses from turtles and dragons…not like that gay stuff they were playing.

you guys are getting the sarcasm, right?
right?

anyway, i’m now addicted to Myst Uru Live because
A. it’s a character (that you design!) that moves around like a “regular” video game
B. it’s online so you play with other people (and let me tell ya, some of the people are really….into the whole Myst lore and whatnot. like, in a not entirely healthy way.)
C. you can’t die. there’s no killing. just collecting light balls and solving impossible, hair-pulling, evil, make you want to hit someone in the throat, eye-stabbing, teeth-gnashing, buck-futting, kick a dog for no reason, wicked hard puzzles.

wait, why is this game fun?

****

i haven’t read a book all week. i did start one, but then see, i had to play uru live, you understand, right? hm? doncha?
you understand that i had to play it all day and skip breakfast and lunch and dinner, right?
it’s okay to eat dinner at 9:30 isn’t it? that still counts. i can survive on doritos and diet coke can’t i?

oh god, someone help me.

***

i did manage to solve the Kadish level. done. DONE. and it ONLY took me 6,000 hours. and…i had to reset it once.
THEN i had to solve the WHOLE thing twice cos i shut a door and i couldn’t open it from the other side NOR could i find a book to get to the OTHER OTHER side and let me tell you i was fit to be tied.
THEN THEN, after i found all the hand cloths, after i solved the vault code, after i clicked the linking book that took me to the same vault only….nothing was in it (except a relto page. and yay! it gave me butterfies in my relto!) and then you can’t get back to the regular vault…can you say ASININE?

URU YOU ARE SO FUCKING ASININE!

THEN THEN THEN after walking across the tiny pipe/bridge that liz and i accidentally found earlier (yay for happy accidents!) and after opening the hand door that is supposed to end the age so you can hear Yeesha tell her whatever story so you can get back to your Relto with a totem….

it wouldn’t work.

no Yeesha.

no end of level hoopla.

no nothing.

i asked around in a neighborhood and they said it was a glitch.

a glitch you say? glitch? i spent 8 hours solving that damn bullshit and climbing up that long-ass ladder at least 40 times and….glitch? glitch!?

i was…depressed.
then angry.
then in denial.
then even angrier.
then i was so angry i wanted a loaded gun to shoot my computer to death.
then depressed again.
sick, even. but that may have been from skipping meals and drinking soda.

then i played the whole damn thing over AGAIN and it finally worked.

payoff!

and now i’m going to eat something and maybe read a bit of my book.

oh! laura! i’m using that cute little notebook (with the spinning dress thing?) and orange glitter pen you gave me to write my uru notes in. hee!

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3.10.07

Category: dribblings

book title of the day: May the Best Man Die

i love how all you have to do is add Die or Death to a cliche and there you’ve got a book title. sometimes when i’m returning books to the stacks and i run across a title that doesn’t include Die or Death in the title i put them in there. and then i say it in that movie announcer guy’s voice all super serious.

“Coming soon. From the 19th century. From the author who brought you Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Comes the story of a place filled with Victorian manners and protocol. Get ready for Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey… of Death.”

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