2013 August Happiness Challenge -- Day 4

Going to the movies. I love everything about seeing a film on the big screen, and yet this summer, I've only been once before. Part of it is that my weekend afternoons have been so full -- with friends, with trips to the salon or the dentist, most of all, with Reynaldo at the vet. Part of it is that there haven't been any big blockbusters I've wanted to see. So many (Superman, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger) seemed aimed at teenaged boys.

That all changed this afternoon. I got my most pressing chores (laundry and grocery shopping) done early and there's been a Sundance hit at my local theater, just waiting for me.

The Way, Way Back is so charming! It's about a 14-year-old boy spending a troubled summer with his mother, her new boyfriend and that man's daughter at a lake house called The Riptide. He reminds me of me at that age (except I was a girl and the cabin was called Smokey Pines). The grownups all behave badly ("It's like spring break for parents") and there's plenty of tension inside the newly pasted together "family." Fortunately for our hero, he finds a surrogate family at Water Wizz, the rather rundown water park that's more popular with townies than the resort crowd. My favorite character was Owen, played by Sam Rockwell. He's very reminiscent of Bill Murray in Meatballs, but that's OK, but I ended up a little in love with Bill Murray in Meatballs, too. I wonder how different I'd be if instead of feeling like a hostage at Smokey Pines every summer, I had a "friend who drives" like Owen to look forward to.

Sunday Stealing

Massive Alphabet Meme, part two

The Letter N 
Do you have a nickname?  Yes
What is your favorite number? 7
Do you prefer night or day? Not really.

The Letter O
What is your one wish? Contentment
Are you an only child? No, but I often wish I was
Do you wish this year was over? No

The Letter P 
What is one fear that you are most paranoid about? I like this question; "most paranoid" implying that there are many things that haunt my neurotic imagination. I suppose I'm "most paranoid" about the powers that be at work discussing my fate.
What personality trait would you look for in someone you wanted to date? Independence

The Letter Q 
Are you quick to judge people? I try not to be, but I'm not sure I'm completely successful

The Letter R
Do you think you are always right? About some things
Do you watch reality T.V.? Not very often
What is a good reason to cry? Despair and helplessness

The Letter S 
Do you prefer sun or rain? Sun
Do you like snow? Yes! I much prefer it to rain
What is your favorite season? Autumn

The Letter T 
What time is it? 8:00 AM
What time did you wake up? 7:00 AM
When was the last time you slept in a tent? Oh, it was DECADES ago!

The Letter U
Are you wearing underwear? Yes
Do you open your eyes when under water?   Yes

The Letter V 
What is the worst veggie? Tomatoes. Their consistency gives me the willies.

Where do you want to go on vacation? Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. Great spa, beautiful ocean views and an old friend nearby. Hope I can afford it next year!

What was your last family vacation together?  A cottage on a tiny lake in Wisconsin. It was hell. All we did was fight. I've never been back. Though my younger sister (only 9 at the time) was either oblivious or inured to all the hostility and remembers it all fondly, returning there every year with her own family.

The Letter W 
What is your worst habit?  Sloth

Where do you live?  Chicago, the greatest city ever!

The Letter X 
Have you ever had an X-ray?  Yes, and so should you.
Have you ever seen the X-Games?  No.
Do you own or have you ever played a xylophone?  As a child, I had one decorated with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

The Letter Y
Do you like the color yellow?  Yes. After blue, it's my favorite color.
What year were you born in? 1957
What do you yearn for most? Contentment

The Letter Z
What is your Zodiac Sign? I'm on the cusp. Whether I'm Sag or Scorp depends on which astrological resource you're looking at.
Do you believe in the Zodiac? Not much.

What is your favorite zoo animal? The okapi. They are pretty rare, because man has decimated their natural habitat. Without zoos, these docile and graceful and shy animals might actually become extinct, which would be a tragedy.

2013 August Happiness Challenge -- Day 3

Today's happiness: State Farm. A very official-looking envelope came from State Farm yesterday and I immediately set it aside. I have two policies with them -- long-term care and homeowner's -- and I just didn't feel like dealing with an unexpected bill this month, when I'm running short.

Well, this morning I opened and found a refund for $260. YEA! It seems I overpaid my homeowner's premium. I checked my Quicken and didn't immediately find it. But yes, I used my State Farm Dollars (a reward for using my State Farm Bank Visa) to pay, and then cut a check. They caught it immediately and sent me a refund.

I'm grateful that they're honest because I never would have caught it. And I'm happy, happy, happy that it came NOW, when I'm having a hard time making ends meet.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I'm a Believer

1) This song is about a guy who fell in love when he saw her face. Do you believe in love at first sight? No. I believe in electricity, a spark. I've felt it myself! But not love.

 

2) "I'm a Believer" is the best-selling Monkees song. Can you name another one? "Cheer up, Sleepy Jean ..." Daydream Believer.

 
3) On their TV show, the boys competed for the same girl. Have you and a friend ever been romantic rivals? Yes, back when I was in my 20s. She and I laughed about it. In fact, she used to mark every page of her dayplanner with one of our initials and would joke, "I get him today! Calendar says so." He ended up with another girl entirely. They have been married forever and have four (count 'em, 4!) kids. So I'd say the story has a happy ending.

4) In another episode, the Monkees visited the circus. If you were confident there was a good strong net beneath you, would you walk across the high wire? I think it would be a blast! (Even though I'm sure I'd land on that good strong net pretty early on.)

5) The Monkees show originally aired on Monday nights. Do you have a favorite day of the week? Friday. There's so much excitement in the air, with everyone planning for the weekend.

 
6) Davy Jones guest starred on an episode of The Brady Bunch. The plot revolved around Marcia's efforts to get him to perform at the prom. Share one of your memories from a school dance. I only went to one formal, and I remember the dress so vividly. Floor-length, bright yellow. Mutton-chop sleeves with long tight cuffs and covered buttons. In retrospect, it was hideous. But at the time, I thought I was happening.

 
  

7) At the height of their popularity, the Monkees' faces and logo appeared on a lot of merchandise, including lunch boxes. Which would you rather have for lunch -- chicken salad, tuna salad or egg salad? I like them all, but direct from the refrigerator. Not in a lunch box. I'd be worried about them going bad. BTW, every morning I pass Au Bon Pain and they are promoting a lobster salad sandwich that looks delicious.

 

8) You have an afternoon all to yourself. Would you rather spend it at the mall, checking out what's new in the stores and people watching, or walking through the forest, observing the birds and trees and leaves? Depends on the weather. If it's really hot, I'll go to the mall. But if it's 80º or under, I'd enjoy the forest.

 
9) Do you have a good memory for names? No. I wish I did.

2013 August Happiness Challenge -- Day Two

Today's happiness: The Village Book Fair. I'm so glad that I live in a village of book lovers, where the library has three branches, and the annual fundraiser is an event.

It always offers such great values, too. This year my find was Killing the Blues, the continuation of the late Robert Parker's Jesse Stone series as taken over by a new author, Michael Brandman. I've been curious about Brandman. So I got a like-new hardcover for $2 -- and it was a charitable contribution, too!

I also got a biography of Bruce Springsteen and a handful of Agatha Christie paperbacks (50¢ each!)  to send to the troops in Afghanistan. According to Operation Shoebox, our soldiers really appreciate light reading.

Another thing I enjoy about the book fair is seeing which book is so over. There's one every year -- the book my neighbors bought in big numbers and then decided, seemingly at all once, to discard.

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.
In 2012, Sixkill by Robert B. Parker (a Spenser mystery)

In 2013, it's The Da Vinci Code all over again. I wonder how Dan Brown would feel about this dubious honor.

Trifextra

This week's challenge: 33 words inspired by this photo --

33 of your own words inspired by the following photo. - See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.XRHWr1ko.dpuf

Author [ changó ] / photo on flickr

"Oh, I dunno. They cut my hours, so I started living on my credit cards. Then I got sick and couldn’t work. Then I missed my rent a couple times. How about you?"

 

2013 August Happiness Challenge -- Day 1

Today's happiness: My job. Yeah, I know I complain about it. A lot. And there's much about it that isn't perfect. BUT, as I sit here, preparing to shut down the computer and head home, it occurs to me that it offers me much to be grateful for:

•  The location. The view from my desk is breathtaking. I can see sailboats on Lake Michigan from here.

•  My client. I really respect them. That's a blessing. I have had clients in the past that got off on making their agency jump through small, fiery hoops. My client's corporate culture is open and honest and collaborative -- a rarity!

•  It's a good fit. There are times that I realize that the assignments we get match up well with my skillset and that I am good at this job.

How about you? What's made you happy this fine August day?

Introducing Augie and The August Happiness Challenge 2013

Meet Augie, The August Happiness Challenge Cat

The Challenge is really very simple: "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."

Since this year I long for contentment, I have chosen this charming gent as my Happiness icon. I love that look of satisfaction on his face. I call him Augie. I discovered him while clicking through the Life Magazine photo archives looking for something else, and fell in love.

Anyway, if you want to play along, just come back here (meaning to this blog, not this individual post) each day in August, looking for Augie. Every day I will try to have a post with the headling: 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.

Of course you're encouraged to visit the other Happiness participants, but it's not mandatory. And if I miss a day because I'm away from the computer (which I may be at least one weekend), feel free to post on your own and visit other bloggers without me.

Augie and I aren't much for rules. The motivation behind the August Happiness Challenge is simply to give us each a moment to reflect on the positive things in our lives.

So simply think of it as a pleasant little blogging prompt, not a challenge to be conquered. That's the way I've been doing it every year -- without agita -- since 2007. And that's the way I'm going to continue. Because it makes me happy.

It's that time again!

TCM Summer Under the Stars kicked off this morning with a full day of Bogart!

I love how TCM chooses 31 great performers and highlights them, one by one, all day. And I love the TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Scribehard on Film and Sittin' on a Backyard Fence. They have collected a great group of cinema-loving bloggers, and the posts are always such fun to read. I recommend you check them out.

And I'm participating this year -- at least once -- with my thoughts on one of the most spectacular casts ever assembled (Taylor, Hepburn and Clift!) in one of the weirdest, most fascinating big budget movies ever made, Suddenly, Last Summer. Come back on Friday, August 23. That's the day La Liz is featured by TCM, and the eccentric Suddenly, Last Summer will be featured here.

"Let it go, Gal. Just let it go."

"But it was small minded and elitist."

"And it was just one paragraph of a six page booklet."

"Exactly! It was just one paragraph of a six page booklet! That's why he should have let me keep it!"

So goes the internal dialog I have been having with myself for two days.

The project we're working on is about handling money for young adults. My boss, whose son is in

college on the five-year plan (the kid has had health problems), had me take out any references to budgeting for child care, long-term savings for a mortgage/a child's tuition/retirement, and the bullet point in the paragraph about emergency funds that referenced paying for groceries or utilities if you lose your job.

He says that "no one under 25 cares about that stuff."

I ride the el with young women (and occasionally young men) who are under 25 and have small children. Where are they going? I've always assumed that there is an affordable child care facility nestled somewhere within the skyscrapers where they work and Harold Washington College where they go to school. Apparently these women do not exist.

Likewise, the administrative assistants in our own agency, or the mail room staff. Under 25. Working 40 hour weeks. I suppose that we would advise them NOT to have the automatic deductions made for life insurance or retirement? Or maybe we wouldn't bother, because in his world, they don't exist.

He said that the line about paying for groceries if you lose your job should go because kids would just say, "Dad, I lost my job at Jimmy John's. Send me money." So I guess my niece, a college student who would be lost without her job because her parents are financially strapped, doesn't exist.

Bottom line -- he's my boss. He made the cuts and they are gone.

The elitism pisses me off. It's not only small minded, it's bad for business. Our client is not Charles Schwab. The people who would turn to our client for financial advice are not upper middle class or better.

And I hate it it when some of us deem others of us invisible.

But I have to let it go. I think it's taken a toll on my complexion! (See post below.)

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Really? REALLY?

I have the most painful, red and angry little zit on my lip. The tenacious little bastard has been hanging on since Friday.

I'm 55 years old and embarrassed by a zit.

This particular hell is never going to end, is it?

It was the strangest thing

As I was walking into the coffee room of our newly renovated office space, preparing to fill my mug with ice water, it dawned on me, "I want to call my mother."

I know my mom is dead. She's been gone nearly a year. I think about her -- and her passing -- every day. As we approach the anniversary, I think to myself, "It was a year ago today that she saw this/that for the last time."

Sometimes when I think of my mom I'm mad at her. I can't believe she put me in charge of her messed up final affairs when she was very aware of what a bitch her oldest child can be. I feel like a pawn in the final disagreement between the two of them and I really resent it.

Sometimes when I think of her I'm sad, because I know how much she loved her grandchildren and tending her yard. I wish she could enjoy being outdoors with my nephew these unusually mild summer afternoons.

But today is the first time I have ever had the impulse to pick up the phone and call her.

I wonder when, or if, I'll ever get used to her being gone.

Well, it won't be today

Today is payday, and it's the middle of the third quarter, so I was more than a little afraid that today would be the day the axe fell. Here it is, mid-afternoon, and so far no calls from HR, no rumors flying down the halls. So I guess I have a two-week reprieve … until the next payday.

This is a rough month for me, financially. And wouldn't you know what project I'm working on is "Money Management 101," a brochure to help young people be more fiscally responsible.

"Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?"

The Stevie Wonder song began running through my head when I learned I was given the "One Lovely Blog Award" by Kellee at "Outspoken and Freckled." Kellee writes so very well about movies and TV, especially strong women characters. Scroll down her blog today and you'll see posts about Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were) and Mary Richards (MTM's landmark show) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy in The Thin Man series). So getting this award from her is especially "lovely."


How this "One Lovely Blog Award" works:

1. Add the “One Lovely Blog Award” image to your post

2. Share seven things about you

3. Pass the award on to seven nominees

4. Thank the person who nominated you and add a short blurb about them.

5. Inform the nominees by posting on their blogs

Seven things about me

1) I start every weekday watching Morning Joe on MSNBC. I like how they devote longer segments to important topics, I enjoy hearing diverse points of view (even though I invariably disagree with their civil and smart Republican guests, it's a good learning experience and makes me feel better about our future as a country) and Joe and Mika often make me laugh.

2) I am hooked on Farmville 2. I spent an embarrassing amount of time yesterday constructing a new pen for my hooved animals.

3) I love baseball. I love how fair it is, how traditional it is. I am so fascinated by all the stats, even though I don't often recall them after I hear them.

4) It makes me sad when I flip through US magazine and no longer recognize many of the celebs. (Dianna Agron? Marisa Miller?)

5) I love ribeye steak. 

6) My greatest failing: No self discipline

7) I wish I was more successful at living in the moment.

My seven nominees

1) Boss Nurse. She's a very mature, level-headed, grown up blogger and I enjoy reading her.

2) Endomental. She's a mom and a photographer and a fellow movie lover.

3) Book Mama. She's a big reader (obviously) and a loving mom and a good writer.

4) Kwizgiver. She throws herself into everything she does -- teaching, reading, knitting, napping ...

5) J's Thoughts and Musings. She's back! And I hope this award will be the gentle nudge she needs to post more often.

6) Snarky Pants. She specializes in all the major food groups: Snark, Pants and Cookies.

7) Kathy W. Because she cracks me up.

Inspired

My niece's college, The Culinary Institute of Michigan, put this on their Facebook page this morning and I love it.

Today I took #2 to heart. I not only worked up a sweat at the health club over lunch, I took a walk after dinner, enjoying the midsummer evening as I dropped some books off at the highschool for this weekend's charity book fair. It does feel good. Why don't I do it more often?

I certainly didn't see this coming

Omnicom and Publicis have merged to form the world's biggest advertising agency ever.

My agency is part of the Omnicom network. My client's #1 competitor has a world-famous advertising agency, too. And guess what -- they're part of the Publicis network.

Though this looks like a conflict of interest, management tells us our clients are all OK with it.

I don't see how that's possible.

So I start yet another workweek scared.

Defending The Big Dog

PREFACE: Bill Clinton's impeachment scandal broke my heart. As a woman, I was offended by the predatory nature of his conquest (though I don't think we can hardly deem that poor, emotionally needy intern much of a "conquest") and I hate, HATE that he has gone on to be one of the most recognized and beloved figures on the planet while her name remains a punchline. As a Clintonista, a campaign worker who gave of my time and money and heart, I felt very personally betrayed. That, Mr. President, is most emphatically not what I wanted you to do in The Oval Office.

That said ...

There is no comparison between Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner. None. Zero. Zip.

By the time Bill was Weiner's current age (48), he had:

•  Been a Rhodes Scholar (no small accomplishment for a boy who grew up in Hot Springs, AR)
•  Graduated with honors from Yale Law School
•  Served as AR attorney general, where he successfully faced down the utility companies on both rate increases and on environmental grounds
•  Been sworn in as governor at the age of just 32 (youngest in the country)
•  Reformed the state's public school funding, introduced banking reforms and attracted new jobs through support of the burgeoning technology sector (though, to be fair, AR still lagged behind the rest of the country in average income during Gov. Clinton's tenure)
•  Become the second youngest man ever elected President (only JFK was younger)
•  Championed and signed  the FMLA -- The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Thanks to President Clinton, men and women are able to take unpaid leave to care for new babies, sick parents, and other qualifying medical and family issues without having to worry about job security.

This just brings us to the first term, when Clinton was the age "Carlos Danger" is today.

If Mr. Weiner had anything in common with 42 beyond the narcissistic belief that he has the license to do whatever wishes within the sexual realm, he wouldn't be dead in the water politically. Unfortunately, he doesn't have Clinton's gifts of persuasion and compromise, imagination and vision, to make the uglier aspects of his personality seem remotely worth the spectacle.

If past is prolog, then we have no reason to believe Anthony Weiner's future accomplishments will deserve comparison to President Clinton's, and it's time for him to give the voters of New York a break and just go away.

Sunday Stealing

Massive Alphabet Meme, part one
 
The Letter A 
  Are you agnostic? No

What is your age?  55

What annoys you?  Good goobies, the list is long just now!


The Letter B
  Do you like bacon? Yes

When is your birthday?  November 22

Who is your best friend?  A former coworker who moved to Boulder


The Letter C 

  What is your favorite candy?  Mary Janes.

Who is your crush?  Mark Harmon

When was the last time you cried? Watching the movie Lincoln. I'm an unabashed Abe-o-phile.


The Letter D
  Do you daydream?  Yes

What is your favorite kind of dog?  Shelter rescues

What day of the week is it?  What? Don't you know?



The Letter E
  How do you like your eggs?  Over easy

Have you ever been in the emergency room?  Sure

What’s the easiest thing to ever do?  Fall. Gravity does all the work.



The Letter F
  Have you ever flown in a plane?  Yes.

Do you use fly swatters?  No.

Have you ever used a foghorn?  No.


The Letter G
  Do you chew gum?  Not often.

Ever tried gazpacho? Yes. I hate it.

Are you a giver or taker? Probably a bit of both. Aren't we all?



The Letter H
  How are you?  Fine, thanks.

What’s your height?  Almost 5'2

What color is your hair? Light brown/dirty blonde 


The Letter I
  What is your favorite ice-cream?  Mint chocolate chip

Have you ever ice-skated?  Yes, badly

Do you play an instrument?  No


The Letter J 
  What is your favorite jelly bean?  Just not licorice

Do you wear jewelry?  Yes.

Have you heard a really hilarious joke?  My favorite clean joke: A grandmother is planning a trip to the beach with her baby grandson. She buys him a hat to protect his little face and a shovel and pail for play in the sand. She picks up the beloved toddler and they have a wonderful time. And then a tragedy occurs: a tidal wave sweeps him away into the depths of the ocean.

 

Grandma immediately bows to her knees in the sand and prays to God for the return of her grandson.  "Please, Lord! I have always been a good person and a loving Grandmother. Please return my grandson to me."

 

Just as she finishes her prayer, a huge wave crashes back on the beach, returning the baby, his shovel and his pail in hand, to his Grandmother's side.

 

She looks at her grandson, then looks back at the sky and yells, "He had a hat!" 

 

The Letter K 
  Whom do you want to kill? No one

Do you want kids?  No

Where did you go to kindergarten?  The same grade school attended by my uncle, both of my sisters and my niece and nephew


The Letter L
  Are you laid-back?  Right now, at this very moment

Do you lie?  "No, your ass doesn't look big in those jeans."

Do you love anyone?  Yes


The Letter M
  What is your favorite movie?  The Way We Were
  Do you still watch Disney movies? Sure

Do you like mangoes? Not by themselves. But mixed in drinks, they are yummy. For example, my friends in the Keys introduced me to Mango Mimosas.

It makes me sad

It's been well over a month since I made my first foray into the local resale shop, and they have just now got my stuff on the floor. (Lesson learned: Get my autumn/winter clothes over there early in the season!) Anyway, the handbag that we found in my mother's closet -- tags still attached -- is now visible through their store window. My sister and I suspect it may have been the last birthday present she ever bought me, but she died before she could give it to me.

I have way too much stuff, and my finances are precarious, so I know trying to sell it over there is the wise and smart thing to do.

But seeing it on the shelf leaves me feeling forlorn. Must remember not to walk that way en route to the el.

Saturday 9

 Saturday 9: So Much to Say

1) The lyrics refer to a baby's "one year of crying." When was the last time you cried ... felt weepy ... or at least teared up? This is going to make me sound like such a geek, but that's OK because I am a geek: The ending of the movie Lincoln. As he leaves for Ford's Theater, the President tells his household staff, "I have to go, but I wish could stay." Then the final scene is a flashback to his second inaugural speech from several months earlier, "With malice toward none, with charity toward all ..." What a beautiful soul that man had! 

It makes me sad to realize that some modern-day people get just as angry today when a President speaks out and begins a dialog on moral issues of our time. (Yes, it still confuses me that somehow participating in an open conversation about race makes our first African-American President guilty of "race baiting." Obama said nothing from that podium that my white-collar black and brown male friends haven't said to me privately. George W. Bush didn't receive a lot of kudos recently for trying to discuss immigration reform, either.) What's wrong with shining a light on these topics and discussing them? That is, after all, part of the President's job.

2) Let's lighten it up a little. When was the last time you laughed really hard? Last weekend with my niece. She now lives in a college town/vacation community and I told her I wanted to send postcards from her bucolic new neighborhood. As I was spinning the rack, she grabbed three and said, "Send these. It's a great shot of my campus. It's where I spend every weekday." When we stopped at a coffee shop for me to message the cards, I noticed that the three she chose weren't her campus at all, but the municipal building down the street. When I figured it out, I handed her one of the cards and asked, "Where is it you spend every weekday?" Once our eyes locked we couldn't stop giggling.

3) Do you have "so much to say" that hasn't been said yet? Tell us if you owe someone a phone call, note, email or text. My aunt, my cousin and a good friend have all recently sent missives and I owe them all responses. Just now I realize that all my return messages are going to Florida -- Clearwater, Tampa and Key West.

4) Earlier this summer, Dave took a bike ride before a show and his tire blew out. He didn't have a cell phone with him and was afraid of missing that night's performance. Fortunately two fans -- driving to see Dave Matthews Band in concert -- recognized him by the side of the road and gave him a ride to the show. Share a recent act of kindness you either did, or received. This past week, a homeless man on the el platform asked me for $4 so he could get a sandwich. I told him I couldn't/wouldn't take my wallet out, right there in public, and that I can't afford to give $4 to everyone who asks. I did give him all the change in pocket, which wasn't much, and then I listened to him. He told me it was scary to sleep in the park and that his stomach hurt after days of not eating. I told him that Wednesdays my church sponsors a walk-in ministry with free lunch, but it was only Tuesday. I know he would have preferred the $4, but I do think it helped him to have someone make eye contact with him and listen. I know it helped me to hear him, too. These people are our neighbors, after all. We lose a bit of our humanity when we pretend they're invisible or that it couldn't happen to us.

5) Before he hit it big, Dave Matthews was a bartender. What job did you have right before the one you have now? I was a writer, just like I am now, just at a different agency.

6) The Dave Matthews Band recorded an album live at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, in the mountains near Denver. Is there a trip to the mountains in your future? Chicagoland is flat as flat can be. I don't see a mountain visit in my future any time soon.

7) Do you suffer from hay fever or allergies? Yes, I have a few allergies.
 
8) What's in your pocket right now? A balled-up tissue and a receipt from CVS.

9) American Express promotes "Small Business Saturday," and encourages us to shop at local, independent retailers. Is there a shop, boutique or restaurant in your town that you're particularly fond of? Delia's Kitchen. There's always been a restaurant in this spot, for as long as I can remember, but this is the best one. Delicious breakfasts!

Summer Movie Blogathon!

Once again this year I'm participating in the TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon! Turner Classic Movies features one star every day in August, and the 23rd is La Liz, Elizabeth Taylor. I'm going to get my geek on by writing about one of my favorite Taylor movies -- Suddenly, Last Summer, also starring (get ready) the Great Kate herself, Katharine Hepburn.

For more about the blogathon, and to maybe claim a movie or a star as your own post topic, visit http://scribehardonfilm.wordpress.com or http://sittinonabackyardfence.com.

Lest you thought this was a high-brow blog ...

TVLand just played one of my favorite Friends moments ever, when Joey does a soft shoe as Sigmund Freud:

All you want is a dingle,
What you envy's a schwang,
A thing through which you can tinkle,
Or play with, or simply let hang...