Sunday, December 18, 2011

Love with a townie!

My niece and a man she met in town have declared themselves boyfriend/girlfriend on Facebook! She was just here on Friday night, stopping by to visit me, but didn't mention him at all. She did seem happy -- gloriously so -- but I thought that was because she loved her independence and her class work (she got A's). Now I know it's because she's in love, too.

His name is Jason and he works in town for a museum dedicated to railroad history. I don't know if he's actually a student at the college. He's quite into photography.

I'm so happy for her, even if I'm not supposed to know any of this.

She stays with me

I took the bus on Saturday and saw the saddest woman. Or maybe she wasn't sad. But she was certainly disturbed.

She was over 40 with dreadlocks. She was wearing a black, puffy winter coat and having a terrible time with a stroller. A doll stroller filled with three American Girl bitty dolls. Two were dressed like twin girls. The third? Hard to tell. But all three were in warm winter garb. And she clearly believed these were her children. She lovingly loosened their jackets and scarves so they would be comfortable on the warm bus, and then bundled them back up before exiting. She was so careful not to jostle them too much as she maneuvered the stroller on or off the bus.

What's going on in that mind of hers? Did she lose a baby herself once and is unable to move on? Was she unable to bear a child of her own? Is that how she became unhinged?

There was no shame in her behavior. Nor was she drawing attention to herself. She was just trying to care for three babies as she traveled up Harlem Avenue on a winter's day.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Community Meme

Cheers to all of us thieves!
 

1. As a blogger, what do you draw inspirations from for your posts? My day to day life

2. If you could swap blogs with another blogger for a post, who would you switch with and why? Do I have to do this? I don't want to.

3. If your blog had a theme song, what would it be? Why? "Go, Cubs, Go." Because this is year and the Cubs are real. (It's still December, there's snow on the ground, I can believe the 2012 will be whatever I want it to be!)



4. What is your writing process for a post? I ask myself, "What's going on with me today?" I wish there was more to it than that, but there isn't.

5. Your blog requires a cute, new, mascot - what would it be?




6. Do you feel you express your "true self" on your blog? Yes.

7. What is your biggest online pet-peeve? People who say shit just to comment. For example, I once did a 200+ word post about how much Little Women has always meant to me, and how I long for my own Professor Bhaer. The first commenter wrote, "I'm probably the only person who read it as a little girl and didn't relate to anyone and never bothered to finish the book."Now why bother to leave such a comment? A more recent example: I posted a list of the most iconic movie characters of all time and someone commented that these "are all before my time." First of all, how can you be alive and not know Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz? And secondly, again, why bother to leave such a comment? Are people so eager to generate traffic to their own blogs that they believe that leaving any link will bring readers their way? I don't get it. There. Thank you for listening.

8. If you could live in a fictional universe, where would you live? Why? Galtopia. Because it is a village of my own creation, and I'm a benevolent despot.

9. You're having a bad day, you're upset, you're angry, or you're sad - what is your go-to comfort? My best friend. When he thinks I'm not acting in my own best interest, he often talks sense to me in his "dad voice."

10. What is your favorite inspirational quote? OK, prepare to be inspired: East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb will -- Groucho Marx

11. If they were to make a movie based on your life, who would play you, your leading lady/man, your best friend, and your rival? They already made the movie. Before I lived it, as a matter of fact. As you can see, Lois Chiles played my rival. Though neither of us gets him in the final reel. (For real. I recently found that my real Hubbell is divorced.)

12. Do you think the world is going to end in 2012? No, you silly!

13. If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? I'd eliminate the extra chins.

14. What is your favorite season and why? Autumn. Because it's nice to say goodbye to all that withering heat and hello to my sweaters.

15. You've been bitten by a vampire. Would you fight it with all your undead being or would you embrace it for all it is worth? I think I'd embrace it.

16. Have you personally met any of your blogger friends? I met Book Mama, her mother Snowbird, and two of her three charming blond kids. I was honored that they took time out of her trip to Chicago, just to meet me!

17. What does your favorite pair of underwear look like? I love my white Hanes granny pants and no one can talk me out of them! Wait ... that came out wrong. I bet it would be very easy for the right guy to talk me out of them. I meant that I see no reason to change the style.

18. Have you ever drank something right from the container in the refrigerator knowing other people will have to drink out of the same container later? NO! EWWW!

19. What is your favorite word and explain why? "Gubernatorial." Because it's fun to say. Go ahead. You know you want to.

20. 2011 is soon coming to a close, is there anything you'd like to do different on your blog in the year 2012? Nope.