Yeah, but ...

Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday is a big deal at my church. Service is our sacrament, and Dr. King certainly inspires us to do our part, and then to do more, to make the world a better place. I get it.

Today's sermon was not only about Dr. King but Sister Simone Campbell, one of the "nuns on the bus," who encourages us to "walk toward trouble," not away from it, as we strive to serve. A laudable idea, to be sure.

But my heart was hurting when I entered church this morning. I wanted someone more learned than I to put the events in France of this past week into perspective for me. I didn't get that from today's service. I was disappointed.

My regular minister was on vacation. Maybe the associate just isn't fleet and flexible enough to rewrite his sermon in time.

I wish Dr. King was with us today. I'd love to hear his feelings about Ferguson and Garner and George Zimmerman being arrested for violent acts yet again ... and Paris.

I don't know what to make of the world I find myself in. I need help. I didn't find it within my house of worship today. This doesn't shake my faith in God, but it does shake my faith in our ministers.

Sunday Stealing

2014/15 Meme, Part 2

26.What experience would you love to do all over again? I really enjoyed my birthday trip to Las Vegas

27.What was the best gift you received? Definitely the purse from my coworker. It was such a lovely and unexpected gesture!

28.How did your overall outlook on life evolve? I am trying to relax more. I don't want to waste my life on worry.

29.What was the biggest problem you solved? Solved? Instead I'll say I've made progress toward improving my bathroom.

30.What was the funniest moment of your year, one that still makes it hard not to burst out laughing when you think about it? The night my oldest friend and I spent seeing Donny and Marie in Vegas.

31.What purchase turned out to be the best decision ever? Signing up with my personal trainer.

32.What one thing would you do differently and why? I'd be more positive at the office. I'm working at it. But our "clown car" open seating arrangement is very hard on me. I like privacy, and I have none.

33.What do you deserve a pat on the back for? I have been supportive of my friends.

34.What activities made you lose track of time? Farmville!

35.What did you think about more than anything else? Worry.

36.What topics did you most enjoy learning about? The 19th century is my new obsession.

37.What new habits did you cultivate? Nothing comes to mind

38.What advice would you give your early-2014 self if you could? Watch your pennies!

39.Did any parts of your self or your life do a complete 180 this year? No

40.What or who had the biggest positive impact on your life this year? MeTV. I'm not kidding. I have found sliding back to a simpler time very comforting when the going gets tough.

41.What do you want the overarching theme for your 2015 to be? Serenity

42.What do you want to see, discover, explore? I want to learn more about myself and how I can make myself better

43.Who do you want to spend more time with in 2015? Kathleen. I think she needs me. She has a lot on her plate -- her own family, her parents, her siblings, her career -- and I hope to remind her to take care of herself and enjoy herself amid the tumult.

44.What skills do you want to learn, improve or master? I want to regain control of my surroundings and finances.

45.Which personal quality do you want to develop or strengthen? RESOLVE!

46.What do you want your everyday life to be like? No drama

47.Which habits do you want to change, cultivate or get rid of? I have promised myself to take a bag of stuff to Goodwill every month.

48.What do you want to achieve career-wise? Hang on to this job!

49.How do you want to remember the year 2015 when you look back on it 10/20/50 years from now? I'm 57. I hope to simply make it to 2025 and 2035.

50.What is your number one goal for 2015? Organization.

A good day

Saturday was just fine, and left me feeling tired but happy.

I slept well and didn't wake up with a headache for the first time this week. I think the overnight headaches have been triggered by allergies, recycled air and the relentless heat that's being forced into my condo because of the coldsnap. I was glad to start the day without that stuffy head/pressure feeling.

I got a good haircut. Good hair = good mood.

Had lunch with my nephew. This is the first time we've talked at length this year. He's interesting to converse with he grows up. He's sensitive and smart, and it was fascinating to get his 14-year-old opinion on real issues of the day -- Charlie Hebdo, the death penalty, Hillary Clinton. He's enjoying school and missing Stephen Colbert. I enjoy him.

Got laundry out of the way. I hate doing laundry.

The only dark cloud on my personal horizon is that I didn't do any "Clean Me" activity to improve my personal environment. But, as Katie Scarlett used to say, "tomorrow is another day."

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Dancing with Myself (1980)

1) This song is one of Billy Idol's biggest hits. Can you name another? "White Wedding"

2) When is the last time you danced around your home? I don't even recall

3) In this song, Billy says he dances with his own reflection. Is there a mirror in the room you're in right now? Nope

4) Dancing with Myself is also the name of Billy Idol's 2014 autobiography. Let's say you're going to write your life story. What do you title it?  Just Over There. Taken from a funny, savvy Carrie Fisher quote -- "Nothing is ever really over. Just over there."

5) This month, Billy resumes his 2014-15 concert tour in New Orleans. Have you ever been to Louisiana? Nope

6) In 1980, when "Dancing with Myself" was first popular, VHS players were all the rage. Do you still have yours? Yes. It's not connected, but it's right in front of me, beside the TV.

7) In 1980, The Love Boat was getting good ratings. Have you ever taken a cruise? Do daytime booze cruises count?

8) Sally Field won her first Oscar in 1980 for the movie Norma Rae. Five years later she won a second Oscar for Places in the Heart and delivered one of the most quoted acceptance speeches in Academy history. Do you remember what she said?




9) In 1980, People magazine named Stephen King one of the most intriguing people of the year because he had two big paperback bestsellers -- The Dead Zone and The Shining. Do you have a favorite Stephen King book? I've only read two -- Carrie and It. I liked them both.

Trifecta!

Thursday was not a good day for this gal and her resolutions. I didn't work out, I didn't brown bag my lunch and I didn't do anything to improve my home environment.

But today was a new day. I worked out, ate a lunch I'd brought from home, and when I'm done blogging I'm going to pack up this year's Christmas cards and get them out of here and help a good cause.

St. Jude's Ranch for Children* "transforms the lives of at-risk children, young adults and families by empowering them to create new chances, new choices and new hope in a caring community." They support their good work by selling recycled greeting cards. Kids take the fronts of used cards, attach new backs, and sell them at 10/$17.

In addition to the cards people were nice enough to send me in 2014, I'm sending them the fronts from the boxes of unused Christmas cards I received from charities in years gone by. I had collected way, way more than I could use, but it seemed so wrong to just dispose of perfectly good cards. I'm glad that finally they will be put to good use … and finally out of here!

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*Not to be confused with St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, which also does wonderful but very different work.

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the lives of abused and at-risk children, young adults and families by empowering them to create  new chances, new choices and new hope in a caring community.  - See more at: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/#sthash.YjV9OCzv.dpuf

transforming the lives of abused and at-risk children, young adults and families by empowering them to create  new chances, new choices and new hope in a caring community.  - See more at: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/#sthash.YjV9OCzv.dpuf

transforming the lives of abused and at-risk children, young adults and families by empowering them to create  new chances, new choices and new hope in a caring community.  - See more at: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/#sthash.YjV9OCzv.dpuf

Shoo fly, shoo!

Wednesday's "Clean Me" is a small but important victory. For the first time in more than two weeks, not one single fly emerged from my kitchen drain.

If you ever find yourself in this predicament, I recommend Earthworm. This remedy was time consuming -- overnight every night for six nights -- but it was safe for both my plumbing and my fur family, and that was important to me.

I laid in a couple extra bottles, plus baking soda and vinegar, and hopefully with regular maintenance this will never happen again.

Rahm is on it

I loved Mayor Richard M. Daley. I know there was corruption in his City Hall and I also know I should be more offended by it. But truth to tell, there has always been corruption in City Hall and I'm just used to it. I simply do not believe Mayor Richie made himself rich at the expense of tax payers. And as long as he wasn't personally benefiting, I'm willing to look the other way.

The thing of it is: I trusted him to keep us safe. And in this post-9/11 world, that was his job #1. So I was frightened when he retired and Rahm Emmanuel took over. I know Rahm can be an abrasive asshole, just as Mayor Daley could, but abrasiveness doesn't necessarily mean he has the smarts, passion and audacity to protect us.

Terrorism is something I worry about almost every day. After all, the building I work in is the sixth tallest in the country. At 83 stories, it has about 10 more floors than New York's Chrysler Building. Visible from Chicago's skyline, I fear it makes an attractive target.

Today terrorism was an even bigger deal because of Charlie Hebdo.

Apparently it was a bigger deal to Rahm Emmanuel, too. Because by lunchtime today, there was definitely a more visible police presence around town, especially near the public transportation hubs. Even though the mercury barely hit 1º and Chicago Public Schools and some businesses were closed, police were by the tracks and on the platforms, sometimes with bomb sniffing dogs.

I felt better. Just as it's the goal of a terrorist to rattle me, it's the Mayor's role to comfort me.

Today, Rahm is on it. I am so grateful.

I don't like it here today

2015 is an ugly place.

A dozen people (at this count) lost their lives in Paris today. Shot to death at the offices of a magazine that satirized religion. Shot with high powered rifles at close range ... because they made fun. Breaks my heart.

And apparently I must take a side in the national debate about police tactics. I can't just say that police over reacted in the Eric Garner case in New York and there should have been a trial. It seems that if I'm saying that, then I'm saying every cop everywhere is bad and the men in blue then have every right to just let me hang next time I call 911. Civilized conversation about the impact of race on arrest/conviction/sentencing is too much for us as a country. Breaks my heart.

I want out.

Ben! Saddle up the horses. I want to ride off with you and the boys.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

This meme is no more. But that doesn't mean I can't answer the three Wednesday questions on my own. And so I shall.

• What are you currently reading? Robert the Doll. He's a uniquely Key West phenomenon, a stuffed sailor doll believed to be possessed. I've visited him in Key West's East Martello Museum several times and enjoy the stories of his enchantment, and the havoc he causes for those who don't give him his props. So my friends in the Keys gave me this full length, quite geeky biography of the creepy little guy for Christmas. I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

• What did you recently finish reading? I reread the 10th installment in the "Cat Who ..." series, The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts. A strong addition to the uneven series, it has at its core a decent mystery, some apparitions (Robert the Doll would fit in well in Pickax) and the idiosyncratic denizens that populate Black Creek Lane, Middle Hummock, West Middle Hummock and Squunk Corners. When I read these books, I wonder how I would fare in a tiny community like Pickax. Sometimes I think I would enjoy it, sometimes I shudder at the thought.

• What do you think you’ll read next? Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s. Another Christmas present.

Let me know what you're reading, and how you're liking it.

He's smart. We must grant him that!

My little beige demon cracks me up. He knows that the only thing I punish him for is intentionally knocking things over. He has learned over our decade together that he gets in trouble for nudging things off the dining room table, the nightstand, the dresser and the coffee table.

Yet he is compelled to do it. It's the devil in him.

He could chase after or wrestle with one of the other cats. He could remove a catnip toy from the big box under the window. But no. He simply must knock over the cup of pens or the basket of bills on the dining room table.

He knows what will come next. I will yell at him, catch him by the scruff of the neck, and toss him in the bedroom.

Which is why Tuesday evening, after knocking shit off the dining room table, he ran into the bedroom and hid under the bed, all on his own.

So he's learned to self exile.

Fourth quarter only

Tuesday's "Clean Me" activity was going through the big stack of magazines on the dining room table and disposing of any dated before October 1. Since some dated back to April, packing them away made a difference.

I hate throwing them out. I don't like the waste, and I can get something from every issue. On the other hand, if I haven't read them yet I'm not going to. So out they go!

Right back in it again

Back to the old grind after two weeks away from the office. Life in the real world is a mixed bag.

I skipped my workout yesterday because I figured the gym would be filled with newbies whose resolution is to lose weight, but I did brown bag my lunch. YEA! That's an easy moneysaver  I resolved to do at least once each week.

I brought one of my more troubling coworkers, Blondie McBlonderson, a souvenir from Key West. It was a tiny thing -- just a postcard of Robert the Doll -- but it seemed to make her happy. Being more positive with her is something else I'm working on because it's compassionate and decent and because it may make my own day go easier. So that gets a YEA!

When I got home last night, I was exhausted and had a headache. I think part of it was being back to the old routine. Part of it was dealing with the commute in 0º. Consciously I kind of dig it -- after last year's subzero January, it didn't feel bad at all. But I think it depleted me physically all the same. So instead of dejunking my house last night, I napped. BOO! 

But today I worked out. First time in 2015. YEA!

Out with the old

Today I concentrated on the kitchen cabinet over the microwave. I got rid of a lot of little stuff, much of it medication well, well past the expiration date. (St. Joseph Aspirin from 2003, anyone?) Some of it was prescription drugs from my 2011 surgery and some from long-ago dental work. I had no reason to be hanging onto these bottles, and now they're gone.

I added two ice cube trays to my next Goodwill bag. I have two in my freezer now, and that's always been more than enough ice.

So today I learned that a percentage of my clutter is, literally, thoughtless. I just hang on to stuff without giving it any conscious thought. From now on I must try to pay closer attention.

Sunday Stealing

Play along here.

1. What one event, big or small, are you going to tell your grandchildren about? No grandchildren for this gal.
 

2. If you had to describe your 2014 in 3 words, what would they be? Less dramatic chaos

3. What new things did you discover about yourself? That my independent streak makes me stronger

4. What single achievement are you most proud of? This might be the sin of recency, but the unexpected giftbag and note I received for Christmas from a coworker was the highlight. She called me "the most thoughtful person I've ever had the good fortune of knowing." I hope to live up to her opinion of me.

5. What was the best news you received? That my cancer screenings came back normal. YEA!

6. What was your favorite place that you visited in 2014? I had such a good time in Vegas.

7. Which of your personal qualities turned out to be the most helpful this year? As I mentioned in #3, I'm very comfortable going my own way.

8. Who was your number one go-to person that you could always rely on? My oldest friend.

9. Which new skills did you learn? Making new friends through my classic movie meet up. And yes, I think making new friends is a skill I needed to brush up on. It's been literally decades since I bonded with a "civilian," someone who isn't in advertising/marketing.

10. What, or who, are you most thankful for? My cat Joey is a healthy feline senior citizen. He's right here, warm and loving, as I answer these questions.

11. If someone wrote a book about your life in 2014, what kind of genre would it be? A comedy, love story, drama, film noir or something else? Oooooh! I like the idea of moody black and white film noir! I don't know what it has to do with my life, exactly, but the visual appeals to me.

12. What was the most important lesson you learned in 2014? That I have to push myself more, fitness wise. I got myself a personal trainer in 2014, and it was a good move.

13. Which mental block(s) did you overcome? Don't know that I did. Isn't that sad?

14.What 5 people did you most enjoy spending time with? Definitely my friend John. My oldest friend. Kathleen, because I've been worried about her. And Martha and Joanna, because they're not in advertising/marketing!

15.What was your biggest break-through moment career-wise? According to my boss and my performance eval, it was writing content for a website devoted to education savings. There were technical things about it that made it a challenge, but for the most part, writing for the web is just ... well ... writing.

16.How did your relationship to your family evolve? Less drama! And for this I am grateful.

17.What book or movie affected your life in a profound way? I really enjoyed The Patriarch, the massive biography of Joseph P. Kennedy. What a colorful, complicated man! As I read it, I kept thinking he was like the little girl in the nursery rhyme -- when he was good, he was very, very good and when he was bad he was horrid.

18.What was your favourite compliment that you received this year? See #4. "The most generous person" she's ever had the good fortune of knowing. WOW!

19.What little things did you most enjoy during your day-to-day life? As always, the Cubs. Especially during Wrigley Field's 100th season! I'm always happier when I have baseball. (Just 3 months from Opening Day!)

20.What cool things did you create this year? I really enjoyed my Nanowrimo novel.

21.What was your most common mental state this year (e.g. excited, curious, stressed)? Worried. I'm a worrier.

22.Was there anything you did for the very first time in your life this year? I can't think of anything.

23.What was your favourite moment spent with your friends? Toss up between my birthday in Vegas or John's birthday at Wrigley Field.

24.What major goal did you lay the foundations for? I'll have my bathroom renovation done in 2015. YEA! (Toilet, sink, medicine chest and lighting done; tiles left to go.)

25.Which worries turned out to be completely unnecessary? Every time I get on a plane I'm terrified. And every flight has been smooth.