Sunday Stealing

Because I've been through the desert on a Meme with No Name

1. Have you ever pretended to read a book to impress someone? Not quite. I have pretended to have finished a book I didn't to impress someone.

2. Have you ever pretended not to read a book in order to avoid embarrassment? No. And I can't imagine what situation this would be.

3. What’s your worst reading habit? When I read biographies, I frequently jump around based on the index.

4. What book are you most proud of having read? None, particularly.

5. Do you buy most of your books new, second-hand, electronically or borrow via the library? All of the above, except electronically.

6. Have you ever pretended to watch a film to impress someone? No.

7. Have you ever pretended not to have watched a film in order to avoid embarrassment? Again, I don't know why I would do this.

8. What movie have you watched the most? 

9. What film do you tell people is your favorite ever?

10. What film is actually your favorite ever?

I ran out of The Way We Were posters in English

11. What time do you usually wake up and get up in the mornings? 6:00 AM on weekdays. Whenever on weekends.

12. Do you wake naturally or does something/someone wake you up? My cat Reynaldo takes charge if the alarm doesn't beat him to it.

13. How many snooze alarms do you need? No snooze.

14. What’s your routine on a workday/work at home morning? Feed cats. Check my email. Shower. Makeup. Clothes. Decide if I'm packing my lunch. Make sure I have my ID and train pass. Catch the train.

15. What’s your routine on a non-workday morning? In the words of my all-time idol ...

March Challenge -- Day 8

Day 8 -- Your exercise philosophy

Get my heart rate up to 100 or more and keep it here for at least 20 minutes. Follow with some weight training. Do this 3x week. Eventually I will get stronger and maybe even a bit thinner.

 
Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Theme from Peyton Place ("Wonderful Season of Love")

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) Spring, summer, fall or winter: which season do you consider most wonderful? I'm a fan of fall.

2) Crazy Sam learned this song when she played flute in the high school orchestra. Did you participate in many after-school activities? I wrote for the school paper and was a member of Spanish Club as a freshman and sophomore. Then when I got to my junior year I quit them both. I realized how little I really had in common with my rah-rah classmates. I really didn't enjoy high school very much.

3) The flautist next to her in the orchestra was Jeanne Pepitone. After a little Facebook spying, Sam learned that Jeanne is now Jeanne Moran, a nurse with a husband and a daughter. Sam shot her a "friend request." Do you keep up with your high school classmates? Only my oldest friend. I've known her since kindergarten. Though interestingly, we weren't close at all during high school. She put the "rah" in rah-rah back in those days. She loved high school!

4) When she performed with the school orchestra, Sam was required to wear gray slacks and a black sweater. What are you wearing right now, as you answer these questions? Jeans and a coral sweater.

5) Sam was especially dedicated to the school orchestra because she had a crush on Mr. Hanley, the school's musical director. He was the dark/thin/sensitive type. Tell us about a teacher you remember, and why he or she stands out. My high school English teacher had a wild mass of black hair and was (gasp!) Jewish. You have no idea how exotic that made him in my white-bread little town. He also really loved Shakespeare, and helped me see it as vibrant, relevant and sexy. He left that high school after just two or three years and, last I heard, is teaching drama at an Ivy League university. I was lucky to have him.

6) Because Sam was so crazy about Mr. Hanley, she was desperate to attend his band camp. Her parents wouldn't allow it unless she could pay her own way, and so she didn't get to go. Were your parents strict or permissive? If you have children yourself, what's your parenting style? My mom handled the day-to-day discipline and she was pretty lenient. My dad would swoop in when something made him mad, and since he was motivated by anger, he always handled it badly.

7) Sam liked Fridays because her favorite food, fried rice, was served in the school cafeteria. When you eat Chinese food, do you use chopsticks or a fork? I just had shrimp fried rice for lunch on Thursday. It was yummy, of course. And I used a fork.

8) When Sam was a little girl, a new box of Crayolas could get her pulse racing. Now she loves her Sharpies. Do you enjoy shopping for school/office supplies? Not especially. Though I do have a particular fondness for post-it notes.

9) Do you have any plush toys? Or did you give them all up when you left childhood? I still have my beloved Lassie dog, my mainstay when I was a little girl, and a polar bear my mother gave me for Christmas a few years ago. (She sponsored a polar bear in my honor from the World Wildlife Fund.)

 

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here!

 

We had our regularly scheduled team meeting, but this morning it was unusually well attended. Because we knew the president of the Chicago office was going to speak about how our account would be managed "going forward."

Gulp!

I am pleased to report that, despite all my fears, the news was all good. Even better, after listening to the president, I'm looking at my job through new eyes.

Our client is a nationally recognized brand. You know them. Everyone knows them. And yet we have historically gotten precious little love within our agency because it's perceived as rather dull (like Hallmark or Avon or Tupperware). If they sold beer or fast food or cars, we'd get attention.

The new president said he's impressed by how much we do, across so many platforms. TV, digital,* outdoor and mail.* That we're an example for the rest of the agency, both in Chicago and (gasp!) New York. 

He also said that he was trying to come up with a new way to bill our client, that our long-standing contract might not be the best way to "monetize our relationship." That makes me nervous. But those conversations are scheduled for "the back end of 2014, maybe 2015," so I'm trying not to freak out.

*My areas

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

March Challenge -- Day 7

Day 7 -- What's the next movie you want to watch?


The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, starring Gene Tierney with an appearance by a very young Natalie Wood. I DVR'd it a week or so ago and really do want to watch it. I've never seen it start-to-finish, and the premise -- a widow falls in love with a sea captain who just so happens to inconveniently be a ghost -- sounds quite romantic to me.

Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

That went well

No, really, it did!

Two things about my friend Barb have really annoyed me lately. One is her complete inability to put down the fucking iPhone. The other is her passionate, obsessive hate of Obamacare.

We saw each other last night for the first time since January and I snapped. She blew in 15 minutes late (even though I sent two reminders as to the time and place) and proceeded to start with the smartphone.

"Put that down," I told her. She smiled sheepishly and continued.

"I'm not kidding. If you don't stop that, I'm getting my book out. It's more interesting than looking at the part of your hair."

Amazingly, she put the phone down.

But then she started on Obamacare. And wouldn't let it go. She's been complaining about Obamacare at least since December. It's literally making her nuts.

Finally I asked her why, over the last 20 years, this is the only major event she's been this vocal about. I proceeded to list all the things we have NOT discussed over the years:

•  The Oklahoma City Bombing
•  The Lewinsky scandal and impeachment
•  Florida and the 2000 election
•  Non-existent WMDs
•  Katrina
•  TARP and the auto industry bailout
•  Drones
•  Gitmo
•  Edward Snowden and the NSA

Yet for some reason THIS is making her nuts? I said that the only aspect of this I'm going to discuss with her anymore is why Obamacare bothers her but she's apparently OK with the 9 topics listed above.

It worked! The subject was dropped and I doubt it will come up again. If it does, I'll just remind her that people actually DIED DURING KATRINA and she was apparently OK with it. This seems to be a rather effective argument.

Here's the thing -- when Barb and I met in the 1990s, she was my boss and that balance of power has always tilted a bit in her favor. Last night was one of only two times I can recall actually losing my temper with her. It's funny, but after I did, we got a long so much better. We spent one of the funniest, most spontaneous evenings together that I can recall.

There's a lesson here somewhere ...

March Challenge -- Day 6

Day 6 -- Six lies you tell yourself

I'll start working out tomorrow
I'll be more careful with money tomorrow
I'll get rid of the clutter tomorrow
I'll really scrub the bathroom floor tomorrow
I'll take the futon cover to the dry cleaner tomorrow
I'll hem those jeans tomorrow


Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

This made me smile

My best friend sent me an email update about stuff and things. While it was odd for what wasn't there (no mention of how his family is making ends meet now that he's been unemployed for 19 months), what was there was light and entertaining. My favorite part was his recounting of a trip to Vegas with his daughter's J-V basketball team. He was very proud of how well he handled the cooking, all by himself, for the entire group by grilling burgers and chicken legs in the hotel parking lot.

While he didn't have help in the culinary department, he wasn't the lone chaperone. "It was me and two other moms."

Psst! You're not a mom.

Image courtesy of Amenic181/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WWW.WEDNESDAY

To play along, just answer the following three questions ...

• What are you currently reading? Top Down by Jim Lehrer. It's the story of Van Walters, a fictitious Secret Service agent who made the decision on 11/22/63 -- the plastic bubble top stays down and President Kennedy rides through Dallas in a completely open car. So far it seems to be about the depression and guilt Mr. Walters suffers, rather than a historic "if only" tale. I read, and was very moved by, the recollections of a real-life Secret Service agent, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, and am interested in seeing how fiction compares to life. This book jumped to the top of the pile because it's from Amazon Vine and I promised to review it promptly.

 

• What did you recently finish reading? Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. An epic story that takes us from Rome to Edinburgh to Hollywood to Seattle and the midwest. It covers decades as well as miles and introduces us to some very unique and lovingly drawn characters.

• What do you think you’ll read next? Time for non-fiction. After Visiting Friends by Michael Haney. A reporter wants to know the truth about his father died many years ago at the young age of 35.

To see how others responded, click here.

March Challenge -- Day 5

Day 5 -- Link to a current song you like

Happy that this oldie is being introduced to a new generation. I've always liked the line, "The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars go red and oh, the night's so blue." I've been there.



Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

March Challenge -- Day 4

Day 4 -- What time do you regularly go to bed?

My sleep pattern bugs me. On weeknights I have an unfortunate tendency to close my eyes, just for a moment, around 8:30 and then (dammit!) I wake up at about 2:00 AM. Then I watch really bad TV for a while and sleep for another two hours. It's a stupid way to waste my time. I must work to stay up later and enjoy uninterrupted sleep.

Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

Day 3 -- Describe today's outfit.

White cableknit sweater (Macy's), dark wash jeans (Lane Bryant), fabric loafers (Rocket Dog).

Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

Show a little faith

When I got to work this morning, I just hung around a bit, gossiping about last night's Oscars. I wanted to take the temperature of the room, to see if anyone had heard anything about intrigue closer to home.

When I was satisfied that no one had been let go, anywhere in the agency, I went to the florist and bought a bouquet for the vase on my desk. It seemed like a hopeful thing to do.

I think this is it now until May. I must learn to deal with and enjoy each day as it comes. The flowers will remind me of that.

I'm so tired of this Recession! Before the turn of the millennium, we had more jobs than people. But I'm afraid those days are long, long gone.

Sunday Stealing

February Wrap Up

To play along, click here.

1) Candle scents this month: I don't do candles. But I did stock up on Airwick Freshmatic Cinnamon Medley.

2) What I read this month: Two books, each morning's newspaper, and a ton of magazines

3) Top three songs I was drawn to: I've been all girl power lately, listening to Amy Winehouse ("Tears Dry on Their Own") and Streisand ("The Main Event") and The Supremes ("Where Did Our Love Go?"). Can I have an "ooh-baby-baby" for the Motown goddesses who, along with the Lads from Liverpool, dominated the charts in 1964?

4) Movies I saw: Wolf of Wall Street, Her and 12 Years a Slave. Tonight is the Oscars, and I always try to see as many nominated movies as I can.

5) Favorite tv moments of the month: "31 Days of Oscar" on TCM. Every day, all day, they have been showing the most exceptional movies! My DVR has been humming.


6) Something yummy I made: I got nothing on this one

7) Restaurants where I ate: The Giordano's location right next to work has introduced a special $9.99 combo -- individual deep dish, salad and (non-alcoholic) beverage. This discovery has made me very happy. None of my coworkers has caught on yet, making it a great place to slip away to for quiet time with a book.

8) Five things I am loving this month:
• Sleeping (I had the flu in January and the congestion kept waking me up!)
• My cats are healthy (Charlotte had problems but she's better now)
• My best friend has been more forthcoming. This is good because when he's all superficial, I worry that something's wrong. (Straight men seem to find communication rather difficult!)
• Being done with my mom's finances. She died in September 2011, had nothing, and yet the rigmarole regarding her final affairs just seemed to go on and on and on ... I think it's finally over.
• Being a Secret Pal. It was a month-long program at church where I was paired with an 8-year-old girl. We exchanged notes and presents and finally met last Sunday.

9) A goal I had for this month: 13 workouts. Didn't happen. Bad Gal!

10) This month I looked forward to: Between my own flu and taking Charlotte to the vet, I looked forward to health in February.

11) Something I want to remember about this month: Meeting my Secret Pal

12) A photo I took this month: I surprised my friend Kathy by providing the flowers (the pink ones) at church the Sunday before her birthday.

March Challenge -- Day 1

Day 1 -- What funny thing happened today?

Thinking … thinking … Can't come up with anything. Which is not to say it's been a bad day. Got my hair cut and it's cute, saved $15 because I was able to take train/bus combo home instead of a cab, am grateful that right now, every member of my fur family is healthy.

But except for the Will and Grace marathon on WE-TV, I don't think much struck me as funny today.

Play the March Challenge along with Kwizgiver.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Waterfalls

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) This song encourages us to "stick to the rivers and lakes you're used to." What body of water is nearest your home -- pond, lake, river, gulf or sea? There's a dirty little creek one town over from my home, and I can see both an awesome river (The Chicago River) and a very great lake (Michigan) from my office building.

2) Have you ever visited a waterfall? If so, please tell us about it. I adored this little waterfall in Hot Springs National Park, AR. I have stood by that railing and enjoyed the view many times. That water flows from natural springs over the rocks at 143º, which accounts for the steam.  Hot Springs is a charming town and a beautiful park. I haven't been in years and would love to return.


3) This song is from a CD entitled CrazySexyCool. Which word best describes how you feel today: Crazy, sexy or cool? I refuse to accept that those are my only choices! Though the way I feel right now -- AmbivalentLethargicMessy -- might not be a compelling CD title.


4) The girls in TLC originally began hanging around together in an Atlanta-area hair salon. When did you last sit in a stylist's chair? I have a hair appt. Saturday 3/1 (which is why I'm completing this Friday evening).


5) While she she spent her adolescence in Atlanta, bandmember Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins was born in Des Moines. Do you live in or near the town where you were born? I'm about 35 miles from where I was born.

6) One of T-Boz' recent public appearances was on the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Do you watch any of the popular Bravo Real Housewives shows? Nope. I started watching the Beverly Hills edition because my aunt loves it, but I just couldn't get into it.

7) In the 1990s, band member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was romantically involved with an Atlanta Falcons football player. They shared his upscale, two-story mansion. How would you describe your abode (house, cottage, apartment, condo, studio, etc.)? 2BR, 1BA condo.

8) Ms. Lopes was accused of arson when, after the couple argued, that mansion happened to burn down. When was the last time you lost your temper? How did you express your anger? (If it was with a criminal act, you may wish to keep it to yourself.) Drink and yell. Or yell and drink.


9) Today the third member of TLC, Chilli, designs personalized handbags. They cost about $225 each. What's the most expensive thing you have bought recently? I paid about $300 to get my federal and state taxes done.

My Fearless Friday Oscar Predictions

Picture: Gravity
Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Actress: Cate Blanchette (Blue Jasmine)
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze (Her) 

Possible Upset: Amy Adams (American Hustle) over Cate Blanchette. I'm pulling for this one. Because I really wasn't that crazy about Blue Jasmine.

Best Dressed: If past is prolog, those trashy girls from American Hustle will look amazing. And isn't the Hollywood glamor why we tune in?

It took a village to prepare Natalie Wood for the Oscars, 1962

Here comes another one, just like the other one

Tomorrow is payday. Midpoint of the first quarter. Another scary moment is upon me.

I'm taking tomorrow off to go see my accountant re: my tax return. So I won't hear anything in the next 24 hours. Will I get bad news on Monday? Your guess is as good as mine.

If I do get axed on Monday, that's paychecks through May 8. Then I can live off my hump through November.

I am scared, but worrying is exhausting. This weekend is the Oscars. I'm gonna try to distract myself.

In support of my blogging sister

Join Kwizgiver and I and play along this month. Participate in her March challenge.

It was good news for one of them

My cat Charlotte had a rough February. But as the month draws to a close, she's so much better -- eating her regular kibble, drinking at a healthy clip, and happily following me around in the morning when I get ready for work.

She even hit my other cat, Joey, in the face several times in rapid succession, just for existing. If she has the energy to punish big ol' Joe, simply for offending her diva sensibilities,  I KNOW she's feeling better.

I am so grateful. Even if Joe may not be so happy about it.

How much is lonely worth?

How much insensitive behavior does desperate justify?

My oldest friend, the one who moved to California more than three years ago, has been so unhappy so long. She didn't think this move out well, she acted out of desperation, and so much has gone wrong. She's had health problems (big and small), employment problems (being canned three times in less than four years), kid problems (all big), money problems (ditto). 

The cousin she moved out there to be near simply refuses to be of much help.

I realize how awful this has been for her. I've visited her twice and am going out again this autumn, even though Los Angeles is not my favorite place on the planet. But I'm not enough. I'm 2000 miles away and in another time zone. She needs a support system out there.

Instead of listening to my advice and joining Meet Up, she signed up for Christian Mingle. You know, the site that promises to help you find a "God-based relationship." "God's Match for You." Late last year, she began dating a very nice man we'll call Kev. He's age appropriate, divorced and eager to fall in love again. They spent Christmas together, spent the weekends together with his friends, watched the Super Bowl together, went to a bed and breakfast for Valentine's Day. He's fallen in love with her and wants to take it to the next step. If not sex, well then he wants to know that their relationship has a future. 

"What's the rush?" she has asked, both him and me, with a touch of derision.

This tells me she is sooooo not in love with him. It's one thing to not be ready to introduce the physical into a romantic relationship yet. It's quite another to not even understand why the man you're dating would want to. (After three months!)

She is not attracted to Kev. Never has been. Now Archie Bunker, the first man she met out there, him she has always been attracted to. She was more enthusiastic about Archie complimenting her smile and her hair than was about Kev saying he was in love with her. We don't choose who we're attracted to, I get that. But if she isn't attracted to Kev, she should let him go.

But she likes having a friend. Someone to talk to. Someone to travel to different parts of the state with. Someone she can depend on.

I told her that's known as a friend, not a lover. And if she's not interested in a lover, she shouldn't be going on websites that promise a life partner. She agrees, in theory.

But when she had a panic attack last week, she didn't call me. She didn't call her shrink (the logical and wise choice). She called Kev. So now he feels like her knight in shining armour.

I feel bad for saying this, but I don't like her very much right now. This makes me feel guilty because I know she loves me and because she has many good qualities (funny, warm, bright). But she's being very selfish when it comes to Kev.

Then there's the matter of her phone. It's never on. And she doesn't have a landline.

She always says she wants to be there for me, but every time I have reached out to her, she's not there. When I was going to the hospital to see my mother's dead body, her phone was charging. When I was coming unglued, leaving my childhood home for the last time, and I called her, it went to voicemail. When I called her, missing my uncle so a few weeks ago, she was asleep and didn't hear it.

She ends each email asking me how I am, but she either doesn't read or doesn't retain my answers. In response to her question about my job stability, I explained how I'd just learned something interesting abut my salary in comparison to my coworkers. It was big news to me. I wrote that all of it to her. In response to her query. Back on February 5.

This week she claimed to not know a thing about it.

I know that she feels she's at capacity. I know she feels pressured about her troubled kids, her finances and her exhusband. I know she's terrified of losing this job. And know she wants to have it both ways with Kev. She simply can't be there for me.

I just wish she wouldn't ask then.

And, I guess, I wish I'd learn. I can love her. But I can't change her. I can't dictate her actions. And, guilty though it makes me feel to confess, right now I don't like her very much.

Image courtesy of jesadaphorn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WWW.WEDNESDAY

To play along, just answer the following three questions ...

• What are you currently reading? The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien. The story of Kate and Barbara, two girls growing up in rural Ireland, and how they go off to the big city. I just began it, but I'm enjoying it so far. Ms. O'Brien has been all over the magazines recently hawking her memoir and this exposure has caused me to thoroughly dislike her. However I've found it easy to separate the artist from the art as I dive into this book.

 

• What did you recently finish reading? Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. An epic story that takes us from Rome to Edinburgh to Hollywood to Seattle and the midwest. It covers decades as well as miles and introduces us to some very unique and lovingly drawn characters.

• What do you think you’ll read next? Time for non-fiction. After Visiting Friends by Michael Haney. A reporter wants to know the truth about his father died many years ago at the young age of 35.

To see how others responded, click here.

It should have had a happier ending

Chicago's own Harold Ramis died yesterday. He was a Cub fan, a prolific writer and director. Whether behind the camera, in front of the camera or by providing the script, he was responsible for some of the screen's most successful comedies, including Animal House, Caddyshack, Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Analyze This and Groundhog Day. He worked most successfully with Bill Murray. They made hit movies together, and Ramis once said that the secret to making a good comedy was to hire Bill Murray and then remember to turn on the camera.

Their decades long friendship ended after Groundhog Day wrapped. According to this New Yorker profile, Ramis reached out to Murray more than once but Bill never returned his calls. Reportedly Murray said, "I've thought about it, but I really don't have anything to say."

Pollack & Redford clown for the cameras, Cannes 1972

This reminds me of the collaboration between Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack. Like Ramis did for Murray, Pollack directed the movies that defined Redford's screen persona. Like Ramis and
Murray, they became friends before they were famous and remained so for decades. And, like Ramis and Murray, success seemingly drove them apart. Once Redford became an award-winning director, it appears he became extremely competitive while Pollack got very jealous. Similarly, it looks like Murray may have resented being viewed by some as Ramis' "creation."

Fortunately Redford and Pollack reconciled before Sydney succumbed to cancer. Redford delivered the eulogy at his old friend's service and memorialized him for Time Magazine.  Sadly, Murray and Ramis were estranged to the end and when contacted for Time, all he had to say was, “Harold Ramis and I together did the National Lampoon Show off Broadway, Meatballs, Stripes, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him.”*

I understand that we each have to die. That's not what makes this story sad. It's that Murray and Ramis brought such joy to millions of us, but couldn't find it with each other.

*Read more: Bill Murray Remembers Harold Ramis | TIME.com http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/24/bill-murray-harold-ramis-statement/#ixzz2uMscz9D1

Teaser Tuesday

Here's how to play this meme.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien, page 61:

"It's not a lie. He said the color of my hair was wonderful and my eyes were like real pearls and my skin like a peach in the sunlight." He said none of these things, of course, but once I started telling lies I couldn't stop.