One Gal's Musings: 08/28/15

Friday, August 28, 2015

Saturday 9

1) The song refers to the singing of choirs. Have you ever been in a choir or a vocal group? No. I'm utterly tone deaf.

2) Chris Martin sings of when he "ruled the world." If you were in charge and had infinite power, what would you change right away? I'd make hogging space a criminal offense. If you take up two seats on the train, but you only paid one fare, then you are stealing that second seat and should be arrested. The same goes for sloppy drivers who take up two parking spaces. You're going down!

3) Chris used to be married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow. USA Today, The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph have all run articles about how Gwyneth seems to annoy so very many people. What celebrity gets on your nerves? That horrible Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond. Shrill, bossy and humorless, both on her TV shows and in her RWNJ tweets.

4) Coldplay's first big hit was, "Yellow." What color are you wearing right now? White

5) Sam remembers when she used to hear this song everywhere and can't believe that was 7 years ago! When is the last time you had a similar "my, how time flies!" moment? Every time I see my nephew. He's a sophomore in high school now, taller than me with such a deep voice. Yet it seems like just last week he was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. In reality, that was 7 years ago, too.

6) In 2008, when "Viva la Vida" was popular, John Grisham's latest legal thriller, The Appeal, was jumping off bookshelves. What have you read this summer? An okay mystery, a lovely and light biography of costume designer Edith Head, and now an exhausting biography, Being Nixon. I'm learning a lot about him and it's fascinating, but it's not an easy read. Complex and tragic. (I know, I know ... it's summer so I should be reading chick lit.)

7) Thinking of books: Let's say a biographer has taken the task of writing your biography. What would you title your life story? The Determined Heroine. I take this from my favorite Nora Ephron quote.

8) 2008 is also the year Paul Newman died of cancer. Name a Newman movie. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The film that will always define cool for me.

BTW, Mr. Newman was as good and decent offscreen as he was cool onscreen. After he died, I learned how much he helped a children's home right here, next door to where I live. The kids who live next door are in foster care, and the unfortunate reality is that the system separates siblings. Every summer, Newman's Own sent a bus to collect the kids next door and their brothers and sisters also in foster care so they could enjoy a day together at an amusement park. No charge. The only request was that the children's home not publicize it or use his name in their fundraising. I live next door, and didn't know this was happening until after he had passed. A class act.

9) Random question: Do you like garlic? Not especially.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 28

Today's Happy Cone goes to a new discovery. This is a very little thing. But then, it's been kind of a crummy day, and I take my joy where I find it.

I was stuck in the bathroom (she said euphemistically) so long that I couldn't get to the office before 10:30. Since we have Summer Fridays, where the office closes at 12:30, it was hardly worth it to go in. So I called in sick and went back to sleep. Finally, at about 2:30, I felt well enough to go out and face the world.

I walked to the vet to pick up the new prescription catfood now required by Reynaldo and old Joe. On the way back, I stopped at a new, independent grocery store. It replaced the mom'n'pop that had been there for 28 years. Under previous ownership, the prices were really low but the selection was disturbingly small and the shopping experience was unpleasant. The new owners brought in new freezers and added an island salad bar and a revamped meat/butcher department.

The prices went up, but I still managed to find a nice sale item (a box of mac'n'cheese, perfect for the food pantry, for just 69¢). I picked up favorite Brawny paper towels, with full sized sheets (!), a treasure I can't find anywhere else around here anymore. And it's always satisfying to support a small, independent business. (The new owners own another store in downtown Chicago, but two locations are hardly a chain.)

What's that you say? What's the August Happiness Challenge?

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

If you want to play along, just come back here (meaning to this blog, not this individual post) each day in August, looking for the happy chocolate cone. Every day I will try to have a post with the headline: August Happiness Challenge: Day [X]. Leave a comment and then post your own daily happiness, with August Happiness Challenge in the title to make it easy to find.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 27

Today's Happy Cone goes to mlb.com. I was able to listen to Thursday's game right there, from my desk, when I was working. The outcome isn't what I would have wished, but that's not the point. I got to hear Pat Hughes, the delightful voice of the Cubs, through my headphones while I worked on The Big Project and it helped keep me sane.

Really, The Big Project is totally taking its toll. My stomach is a mess. My right eye twitches. It's a battle to keep my temper.

If there were more day games, and I could take advantage of mlb.com more often, I believe I'd be doing much better. I'm always happier when I have baseball, and Pat's voice is like a tonic to me.