Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight

1. Have you ever lost a lover and spent way too much time wondering what they were doing? Good goobies, yes! I recently found photos of my favorite ex and downloaded them to my desktop. I'm happy he's doing well professionally, hope he's happy personally, and think moving him to desktop trash would be sad.

2. What was your favorite vacation ever? A trip to LA to visit my best friend. He was on assignment with a client and I came out to keep him company. We went out on the town, talked late into the night every night, and saw my beloved future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux pitch at Dodger Stadium.

3. Do you like surprises? If yes, what kinds? Or are you one of those people who absolutely has to know what's going on before it happens? I don't really like surprises. I like to have plan.

4. Have you ever written a poem? Feel free to share one. Or even a dirty limerick is OK. I won a writing award in high school for a poem I wrote about Carly Simon. She had recently recorded a song called "Alone" that really spoke to me. The first lines of the poem were, "Sight unseen you read my soul. You know my thoughts before I think them." I don't recall any more of it, though.

Alone lyrics found at elyricsworld.com

5. Did anything interesting show up in your mail lately besides the bills? I still love reading glossy magazines, and I'm happy when my Glamour, Allure, O, People, Time, US or Newsweek shows up.

6. How many of your friendships have lasted more than ten years? Which of your current friends do you feel will still be important to you ten years from now? Family members don't count. Kathleen and Barb have been my friends for 15 years, John for 30 and my oldest friend for 45 years. I don't foresee any of them fleeing.

7. Do you own a pet? If so, do you buy them presents for holidays? Do you consider your pet(s) spoiled? If you don't own one, do you think you will one day? I have three cats. And no, we don't celebrate the holidays together. They get a lot of attention and affection each and every day. Does this make them spoiled? I consider them loved and cared for.

8. It's Friday afternoon and you're planning your weekend. What's on your agenda on a hot August night? Grocery shopping and the local library book sale. I know, I know ... you're green with jealousy, aren't you? I've had so much going on that emotionally I'm running a little low. I need serious alone time to recharge.

9. What's your worst nervous habit? I can't sit still. I jiggle and bounce and shift in my seat.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 5

People coming through. My oldest friend has offered to fly in to hold my hand during surgery. I'm not taking her up on it. Even though her son is now 21, he's too angry and messed up to be alone with her daughter and I don't want to be worrying about my friend's chaotic family while I'm healing. Still, it's enormously touching that she wants to do this for me.

My friend Kathleen not only wants to drive me home from the hospital, she thinks it would be great to have a shower for me. She wants me to go to Target and register for things to enjoy while I'm recuperating from "giving birth" to my "stapler."

John wants to be there for me, too, to repay the kindness all of his friends -- including me -- showed him during his illness.

Barb has been checking up on me, too. That's not really like her. I appreciate it.

I didn't expect all of this, and I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I'm sorry. Have we met?

My boss gave me my annual performance appraisal today. Most of it was good. He actually even praised me for my willingness to own my faults and shortcomings, which surprised me because I often get the impression that some coworkers think I'm an overwhelmingly willful diva. He singled out certain projects that he believes I did well on and said he'd do what he could to get me a raise -- my first since 2008 (which was my first since 2004; that means I've had one raise in 7 years). I told him about my upcoming surgery and that I'll probably out for between 4 and 9 weeks. He responded positively in that he's confident he'll be able to get freelance help in my absence, something that wouldn't have happened when the agency was struggling more.

I was amused, though, when I found he wrote of me: "She needs to learn that she doesn't need to do everything by herself. All the time. She can and should ask for help." That's so completely not me! But I guess it's something to carry with me as a I worry about what will happen at the office during my forced absence.

The saga of Vivi and Sidalee

Tonight kicked off our community's book fair, a 2-day event to benefit the public library. Every year there's a book that you see time and time and time again. The book that many locals enthusiastically bought and then decided (almost in unison) that they were done with it and would never read it again. I always make a mental note of the title that wins each year's dubious honor.

In 2006, it was The Corrections.
In 2007, The Nanny Diaries.
In 2008, The Da Vinci Code.
In 2009, My Life by Bill Clinton.
In 2010, Scarlett, the Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with The Wind.
In 2011, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

This year, most of the books I picked up were for the troops (yes, one of them is the Ya-Ya Sisterhood). I'm pleased by how gently used they are, and I like thinking of the escape they will provide our soldiers.