On August's End

Usually the end of August around my office signals a huge bash about to be thrown. The Harper Cruise usually takes place this time of year, and since my office is right in the middle of the action, my boss finds an excuse to throw a big party. This is the fourth out of the fifth year that we'll have a live band playing... remember Sponge? Well, my boss is childhood chums with Vinny, the singer so he brings his new band over and plays an awesome show every year. With the exception of the second year. We had a DJ... whose equipment didn't work properly, and there wasn't much music at all, the party was for lack of a better word.. lame. I left that party around 8:00 that year.

Tomorrow is the event and there's all sorts of little things to get ready for. Taping off our property for our guests, buying a shit ton of ice for beverages, making signs, setting up tables, etc. Usually when the event ends, around 9:00PM, a bunch of us keep the party going by wandering next door to the bar. It's been an experience each and every year.

This year is looking to be a good one, I'll just have to get through the whiny, angsty, emo goth kids singing before the good band and then I'll have a good time. I imagine there will be time spent in the alley behind my car drinking hooch straight out of the cooler I plan to stow away. It always seems that when my friends stop by, my car is a hangout... I can't imagine why.

The best part is, if the boss gets a little sauced, he usually lets me come in a little later the next day following the party. I can't argue with that.

On The Media

As usual, the media can be counted upon to blow everything out of proportion. Not just with Hurricane Irene but with everything weather related, or otherwise. I'm not saying having a hurricane coming at you is something to laugh at or not take seriously, no. However, if you watch the news long enough, you'll be frightened into thinking you'll be living in some sort of post-apocalyptic state. I don't know about you, but I'm not quite ready to go all Mad Max quite yet.

Then there's the recent earthquakes, one in Denver, one in Virginia, within a day of each other, around the same magnitude (in the 5 area.) Nothing that's going to rip your world apart, but enough to let you know that there's some serious business happening underneath your feet. Oddly enough, the Denver quake wasn't talked about much, in fact, when I told my husband about it, he hadn't even heard about it a day later. The Virginia quake had everyone talking though, and I just had to wonder, why would one get more acknowledgement than the other?

And then there's FEMA. While watching the Weather Channel yesterday, a FEMA commercial popped up saying how you need to have a kit, have a plan, etc... for disaster. Perhaps this commercial aired in conjunction with the hurricane footage, but I can't help but wonder, with everything being stirred around weather-wise, earthquakes, hurricanes, storms, and the comet or brown dwarf star Elenin coming nearer, I'm wondering if FEMA knows something we don't know. Because to be honest, when I was kid, I don't remember ever seeing disaster commercials sponsored by FEMA. I guess I just find it all a bit strange.

On Celebrity Worship & Hollywood Remakes

Yesterday I made a comment on my Facebook page regarding celebrity worship. I'll admit that I am prone to following certain celebrity gossip. I have a handful of celebrities that I actually enjoy as actors, as well as people. Mostly because they exude something about them that seems regular. Their faces are not plastered in the rags or in the gossip columns, they keep to themselves, and who can blame them?

As I was perusing E! Online last night, I came across all the reality stars and the teeny bopper stars. I became so disgusted, I had to disconnect and go for a walk just to disengage. All this press they're getting and having their ugly faces thrown around everywhere is too much. It makes me miss the old days of Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, etc. When Hollywood wasn't a place anyone could get into. My remark was this: Reality Stars and most everyone under 30 really ought to be banned from the public. Not my exact words, but you get the point.

Admittedly, I don't watch much television. When I do, I watch the Weather Channel. There are three shows that are currently airing that I actually enjoy. Two are on the FX Network, and one is on Showtime. (Rescue Me, Justified, Dexter.) Reality T.V. has no interest to me. If I want reality, I'll go live my own. Why would I want to watch some snobby, bitchy, lazy brat get into fights with her roommates? Why would I care who can dance or sing? I don't, so I don't watch. What annoys me the most is one of these child stars complaining about their status and all the attention they get, they just want privacy. Well, you idiot, if you want privacy, maybe you should go live in remote Idaho and stop whoring yourself out to the public. Do the rest of us a favor, and disappear already.

Another thing I'm mildly disgusted with is the lack of originality in modern Hollywood. What's with all the damn remakes? Isn't there an original idea left out there on the Coast? You've got writers and directors taking an epic or least great movie and revamping it to something new which turns out to be crap. The list of remakes is endless, and remaking a movie isn't a new thing, but the latest remake talk is that of Dirty Dancing. Anyone who grew up in the 80's remembers this flick and thinks it's fine the way it is. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey did a phenomenal job. Now there's talks of redoing it and adding people from the cast of Glee as Johnny and Francis (Baby.) If only Patrick Swayze knew what Hollywood is going to do to this classic movie, he'd be spinning in his grave.

In any case, I feel that I've adequately vented my feelings. What are your thoughts on reality stars and Hollywood remakes?


Photo Credit To: Salvatore Vuono. http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

On Speed Limits

It seems like most people in my neck of the woods are idiots when it comes to driving.

When I first started noticing this unnerving pattern, I thought maybe it was a fluke. Maybe I was just unlucky enough to be on the road with people who chose to drive incredibly slow at whatever particular time of the day.

This is not the case at all. It seems like people over here cannot drive at any time of the year! Whether there's snow on the ground, a little bit of wet pavement, or even if the sun is shining, these people are all too cautious!

I'm talking about people who consistently drive at least 15 mph under the posted speed limit! It's not just one or two people, it's a whole mess of people. It always seems as though when I'm in a hurry, ie: driving to or from work, that I get stuck behind these people, and the people next to them are driving equally as slow, creating a box on wheels if you will, trapping me within it, driving me out of my head!

Yes, there are far more important things to stress out about in life besides traffic, but since I've been dealing with this pretty much all summer, I feel the need to vent. I can only hope that people around here learn how to read and drive, or I might have to move to another part of the state.

On Hangovers

I'm old enough to know better, but last night I threw caution to the wind and discovered what a lightweight pansy I really am.

My friend is in town for a very short period of time. He spent the last year across the sea working, and how he's moving to Arizona! Based on current circumstances last night was my last chance to see him, so I went out on a work night and I stayed out much later than I care to on a work night and I drank.

Now I know what you're thinking, I must have been really having a wild time if I'm talking about hangovers, but I want to let you know, I drank two glasses of wine last night, and that is all. Now I'm knowledgeable with wine and its hangovers but of course I wasn't thinking of that last night since I only had 2 glasses, however, when I went to bed and the ceiling was spinning, I knew I was going to be in trouble.

It was a rough start this morning, since I didn't sleep well or very long to begin with and I really had to drag myself around the house to get ready for work. When I walking into the office and sat down at my desk, everything was reverberating, sights, sounds, smells, you name it. Now that I'm getting on into the afternoon, the morning sluggishness seems to be tapering off. Of course now, I have no desire to touch the poison for a while. Did I mention I've got a party to go to this Friday, plus a weekend up north with some friends? We'll see how steadfast I am with this statement.

The moral of this story is, don't underestimate the power of wine. It will kick your ass before you even see the boot coming.

On The Simple Things

There isn't much I get excited about anymore. Nothing is as nearly intense as it was a decade ago. That being said, here are a few things which delight me:

• Being on vacation (the planning part and the actual vacation are what I enjoy. I hate leaving my pets. I always feel guilty.)


• Sleeping in until 9:00 (when the cat lets me.)


• Receiving new books!!!!

Yes, it may be nerdy, but it's like Christmas when I see that little Amazon box arrive with my goods inside. As I pulled into the driveway on Friday, the UPS truck was pulling up simultaneously, and I thought... maybe he's got my books. And he did. He walked right up and handed me my package. I was utterly geeked out. Not only was it the end of the day Friday, but I had three more books lined up in my quene. EEK!

What are the books I've gotten so excited about you ask? Well to be honest, I don't remember the name of the other two, as I found them on a whim, but one of them is Gerald's Game by Stephen King. I'm sort of a huge King fan. The other two are supposedly true haunting stories a la The Amityville Horror which thoroughly creeped me out and I enjoyed, so I'm hoping these other two deliver. The reviews were good, with only a few not so stellar comments, so I thought I'd give them a chance.

Which reminds me, while my husband and I were on vacation, I found this adorable little used book shop in South Haven called Black River Books. It was the coolest bookstore I've been in in a while. The stacks were high and close together, it felt like another world, a world a could get lost inside for hours. However, it would have been torture for my husband, so I think I spent a max of 15 minutes in there. I did find a couple of King books. One, I already have on e-Book, The Dark Half but since I loved it so much, and it was so cheap for the hardcover, I bought it. I love older hardcovers with their dust jackets, I don't know why. There were some other ones, but I've got the paperbacks and couldn't justify buying them. The other one is also a King book, but it's essays on writing, and I've never seen it before, so I grabbed it. Two hardcovers for $15.00, can't beat it.

One would think that since I love books so much that I should work in a book store, and I've thought about it, but I don't think I'd want to work in a chain book store like Barnes & Noble, though I love Barnes & Noble. I'd rather work in some small little Indie store, but I know I wouldn't make diddly squat, so... here I sit. So, instead of selling other people's books, I'll write my own and sell those. Same difference right? Ha.

On Vacation

Vacations are always too short aren't they? Mine garnered an extra bonus because my birthday took place over my vacation, so what did I do? I spent the day on the beach, that's what. I followed it up with some sort of delicious Sangria concoction during dinner.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We headed to an area outside of Lansing for a friend's wedding. The location was idyllic, at a nature preserve, however, the temperature was topping out at around 95 degrees that day and there was no A/C inside the building where dinner was being served. Yes, it led to a hot, sticky mess. But it seemed as though the party goers had a fair enough time.

We trekked along the Shore of Lake Michigan, from South Haven to Muskegon, making Holland our Home Base of sorts. It's a wonderful little town filled with genuinely happy people, not like over here on the East side, where everyone is angsty and pissed off all the time. They're progressive with their electric car plug ins and scooters scooting about town. It almost made me want to drop everything at home and move over there.

We cut the trip short because we were supposed to experience some pretty wicked storms for two days (which we did) so we headed home, regrouped, and headed up to Lake Huron, which is just over an hour away from our house. More beach bumming ensued, with friends even, making for a perfect end to a lovely vacation week.

I don't know when I'll see my next vacation, some time in 2012 I imagine.

Probably the best looking lighthouse of them all, the Whitehall Light which is currently a museum, except we couldn't figure out how to get to the other side of the channel to actually enter the museum, so a photograph must suffice.
The Grand Haven Light, which looks just like the South Haven Light minus the rather colorful graffiti.

We drove over to Holland to start the official vacation/lighthouse tour. Below is what the Hollanders call Big Red! Which isn't that big in person, so it left me rather baffled.

You can't go to Holland and not see the only working windmill in the U.S. imported directly from the Netherlands. Yes, you can go inside and walk up onto the deck and view the whole park, which would probably be more breathtaking during the Tulip Time Festival.

On Heat Indexes Near 110 Degrees

Another hot day here, still not going to complain about it. I mean, what good would it do right? It's going to be got nevertheless. The silver lining is, today is going to be the hottest day of our heat wave with the temperature reaching 101 today, but then it's going to drop going into the weekend, back into the low 80's. You know it's hot when the low to mid 80's sounds like a relief.

Something that's been consistently bothering me as of late is other drivers. I've been known to go at least 5-10 over the posted speed limit, not exactly a good practice, but it's what I do. I don't exactly get pissed off if I can't speed, but I do happen to become quite flustered when I'm forced to go 10-15 UNDER the posted speed limit. These slow pokes seem to be running rampant, it's not just one person here and one person there, but gobs of people. I usually end up getting boxed in by these yahoos, so I'm stuck shaking my fist and trying to keep the vein in my forehead under wraps. Since it's been so hot, and I happen to drive a Wrangler with barely working air, my only solace is to keep moving to get some sort of breeze. Well, when it's 100 out and I'm going 20-25 mph, there's not nearly enough breeze to cool me off. So here I am going out of my head, baking to death in my car because some people think they by going slower, they're conserving gas. I beg to differ.

However, I'll be going on vacation next week, where I'm hoping to just lay on a beach with a cocktail and a book and not worry about such trivial things such as traffic.

On Summer Heat Waves

Well, here we are almost a week into 90+ degree temps in the Mitten. There's been a lot of complaining about the heat, the humidity, and so forth. Most of the complaints I've heard come from people who have central air in their homes. To them I'd like to say: "Put a sock in it, you whiny bastard!" I'm fortunate enough to work in an office building with central air, so when the heat swelters during the hottest part of the afternoon, I'm super cool, almost frigid. However, when it's time to go home, I dread hanging out in my hot box of a home. I'm one of those people without central air you see. Now before you go feeling sorry for me, I will state that I have window unit in my bedroom, so at least during the night I'm cool. The rest of the house however has been getting up 90 degrees which makes relaxing at home somewhat uncomfortable. Watching the Weather Channel while sitting in a puddle of yourself is none to fun, let me tell you.

My one solace is my hillbilly blow up pool that I acquired for $20.00 last summer. Yes, I find it trashy, but I at least have the decency to put it in my BACK yard where not too many people will see me wading in 2 feet of water attempting to stay cool.

On the plus side, the weather will be breaking sometime this weekend. We'll be back into the lower to mid-eighties by next week and all will be well in the land of Summer. While it's hot now, I'm trying not to complain about it because I know come January when it's bitter cold, we'll all have something else to complain about.

On Google +

Yes, I've accepted an invitation to Google + thank you very much. Rumor spreads that Facebook will start charging this summer. If that so happens to be the case, you can bet your bottom dollar that I won't be sticking around. There isn't much I care to pay for, and social networking is one of those things. Of course Google + is still in its infancy, so there's not too many of my fellow friends on the Google front, so it's quite honestly a little lonely, but they've got the same basic concept as the Facebook. It's interesting, and I believe if Facebook does start charging, a lot people will make the leap over to Google + or possibly even hop back on board with MySpace. Personally, I miss the days of Livejournal (which I still have) where a handful of my closest friends posted every day and we stayed connected that way. Which was sort of silly since we saw each other every, but that's besides the point isn't it?

In other news, I'm feeling myself slide into a little bit of a slump, which is really great for my writing. I find I write more often and better when I'm in a lousy mood. It must be something about the angst, though sadly I'm far from suffering from teenage angst. Can adults suffer from angst I wonder? Or is it just general depression? Who knows? I worked a little on Rogue this evening, not much, just over 500 words, but at least it was something. Since I've been letting sit for weeks while I've been out gallivanting in this wonderful summer weather. A writer has to experience life to have something to write about right? That's the excuse I'm using anyway.