Something fun ...



Make your own church sign here.

Gotta Love Scoops

Do I mean the Fritos that go well with dip? Although I do like those, that's not what I'm talking about.

Ice cream? Not when it's 2 degrees below zero outside.

I'm talkin' news. I got the scoop I was blogging about the other day! It was big, big, big. And, at the end of my newscasts, I really emphasized "You hear it HERE first."

Ya know, I like picking up the paper, looking at all their "big" stories and saying "Had it. Had it. Had it. Had it."

Well, it's time to go gather more news. :)

Tip of the Day

When you're doing laundry, put the lid on the washing machine down. If you don't, you'll go back ready to put your clothes in the dryer but, instead, you'll find your clothes sitting in a washing machine full of water.

Still Lovin' It

Now that I'm finished griping (and it didn't make me feel better, by the way), I'll tell you that I still love my job. It's only been 2 months but I feel as if I've been there forever ... in a good way. I just love it in so many ways that I can't even mention them all.

I will mention a couple, though. In case you didn't know, the National Association of Broadcasters (I think that's who it is) started a campaign about a year ago with the tag line: Radio. You hear it here first. Well, the station I work for adopted that as the tag line for newscasts. When I worked for the newspaper, it pissed me off. Now, I love it ... especially when I break stories, which I've been doing a lot lately. And I know the people at the paper listen to my newscasts because, a couple of weeks ago I broke a huge story. The man it involved told me that even before my newscast ended, someone from the paper called him to confirm it.

If they thought that was big, wait 'til the next one. It'll be happening very soon, and it's even bigger than the other one. And, because I know they read this blog, I'm going to say "Ha!" right now. I know that's kind of like counting my chickens before they're hatched, and it might come back to bite me in the butt. However, I'm so excited about this story that it's hard for me to keep quiet about it. I've done well so far, though, because the guy who signs my paycheck trusted me with the info and I refuse to break that confidence.

Anyway, let's see. What else do I love about my job? Doing promos. We have this contest going on and we all had to do promos for it that including acting. It was so much fun! Mine aren't the best of the bunch, but I like them. I also did a promo telling kids to write their letters to Santa so he can read them on the air. That was fun, too.

I also like working with mostly guys. There are only 2 full-time female on-air personalities. The other 5 are guys. It was the other way around at the paper. This is so much better! I hate to say bad stuff about people of my gender but, women are a pain in the ass to work with when they out-number guys.

During my job interview, I was told the reason they wanted me was to "take the news department to the next level." In my opinion, we've taken it up two or three levels. The news director told me on Friday to remind him when my three-month probationary period was over so he can get me a raise ASAP. That's pretty cool. He's also the sports director and, I think, he didn't expect me to want to do stuff for sports, too, but I've been staying late so I can put the latest local hoops scores in my 11 p.m. newscast. (I record it before I leave at 7:45, usually. But on nights the high school & college teams play, I stay 'til after the game.) Of course I do have a soft spot in my heart for the girls b-ball team. Regular readers of this blog must remember "The Coach." And, a relative of GSG's is one of the announcers for the girls' games.

Two more things: One, I love that at least 3 or 4 times a week someone at work tells me I'm doing a good job. Even if I don't think I've done enough, they do, which is cool. Two, at least once a day listeners tell me they like my newscasts.

Oh, and one more thing I almost forgot about: People recognize my voice! The last time was at Hallmark when the cashier looked at the name on my Gold Crown Card and said "I knew you sounded familiar!" They also sell my books there, and when she asked if that was me, too ... Well, I thought she was going to pee her pants. ;) I like being a celebrity ... and I don't even care that I'm a big fish in a little pond. It still rocks.

Tales of the Traffic Law Challenged: Special Edition

OK. One of the reasons this is a special edition is that I can't remember where I left off, and I didn't feel like looking it up. Another reason is that my main gripe is not really about a traffic law, per se. It's about inconsiderate people in relation to parking.

A little bit of history first: My estranged husband and I are still friends and, actually, his house is where my computer is so I'm here quite often. The house has been in my family since the 1930s. My family (uncles, aunt, mom and then me & my husband) has had the same parking space since the 40s. Here's a photo of the space:



The space in question is where my car is parked. You see, the woman who moved into the house in front of ours a few months ago thinks that should be her space. Further, she believes that if we park there, we're blocking her driveway. There hasn't been a problem for 60 (sixty ... 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60) years. Now, all of sudden, there is a problem.

Not only that, the day after the first big snowfall this year, my husband shoveled out the space. Then he had to leave. While he was gone, she parked in the shoveled out space!

You know, even if my family hadn't had that space for 60 years, we've been here for 20. She's been there for a few months. Wouldn't you think she'd be considerate, and observant, enough to realize she's taking someone's space. And, she doesn't even live on our street. It's just that her driveway is on our street. If she wants to park on the street, she should park on her own street. I mean, why should we have to park halfway down the block because she doesn't want to use her driveway?

I'm Back ... Kind of

I'll start posting real stuff again soon. But for now, have fun with this:

Make Your Own Snowflakes

Oh no!

I haven't been watching MSNBC lately, because I'm at work so much. When I get home, I really don't want to think about news anymore. But today, I turned it on so I'd have some background noise while I'm NaNo'ing. A promo came on for "The Best Prime Time in Cable News." Know what I just realized? (After a month. Duh, me!) My News Review (my big newscast of the day) is on at the same time as my boyfriend's show. Oh well. I'll get over it. At least we're an NBC affiliate, so we're kind of affiliated now, too.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Work and NaNo have been keeping me pretty busy. But, both are going well. Actually, work is going better than NaNo, but I plan to catch up this weekend.

One other thing I have to blog about before I forget I good I feel about this (as if I ever could). My friend won a seat on city council! I was so excited when the numbers started coming in Tuesday night. The news guy who was working with me that night had to remind me that I had to be an objective news woman and not say "Yay!" when I went on the air to say he was leading in the polls. Of course, he had to remind himself not to sound too excited, too. We really like this guy. And, we know he's going to try his best to make some positive changes. Besides that, city council meetings are going to be so good now. I kind of want to start covering them again.

OK. Enough goofing off. Back to NaNo'ing. But before I get back, I have to say I'm really happy with this year's novel. It's something different for me. It's really funny (if I do say so myself), and I like it. I don't think I'll even be embarrassed or nervous to share it with people for the first time.

I'm Just Sayin'

I worked at the newspaper for 8 years all together, which means my byline was in print more times than I can even count. Now, my name ... the same name ... is mentioned on the radio at least 17 times a day Monday through Friday.

Wouldn't you think people would say "Hmm? I wonder if that's the same Anne Holliday?" I mean, it's not as if anyone else in this town of less than 10,000 people has the same name.

So, earlier this week I had to call a place for some information. When I was at the paper, I called and went into the office quite often so you'd think people there would know who I am. This time, I had to call because I do a newscast every half hour and I'm not quite good or fast enough yet to record one of them early so I can leave and go someplace without missing a newscast. Usually, a station reporter goes to the office, but she's on vacation. When I called, I explained that, and apologized for having to call. The woman at the office treated this as a major imposition and said "We have a news folder." I said "I know I used to work at the newspaper." (You know, just in case she couldn't put two and two together.) After a bit more of her whining, I said "I understand that. What I'm trying to tell you is that Linda is on vacation. I'm in the newsroom by myself. I have to do a newscast every half hour. I don't have time to come to your office." More of her whining, including "The reason we have a news folder is so we don't tie up the phone lines." I said "Forget it. I'll just get it from the paper in the morning." She said "No, no, no. I'm getting it."

I think she finally realized the Freedom of Information Act doesn't say "You have to give that infomation, unless doing it will tie up your phone lines or it inconveniences you in some way."

But, I will say by the end of the conversation, she was nice and we ended up laughing about something.

Just An Observation

My Mom is a bit hard of hearing, so when she knows I'm taking a nap, she turns the volume on the television down really low and turns on the closed captioning. (Very considerate and sweet, don't you think?) Well, today I came downstairs after my nap and was sitting in the living room looking at the tv. I noticed on the closed captioning that when there's kissing or sniffling in a commercial, it says "kissing sound throughout" or "sniffling sound." Uh, excuse me, but isn't closed captioning (primarily) for deaf people? Do they know what a kissing sound or sniffling sound is?

A Scary Nightmare ... With a Purpose

One of the reasons I've been posting my weird dreams here is that I'm trying to figure out what they mean. Most dreams have a purpose, if only to ease your mind about something. One of the purposes of dreams is to think about things that your conscious mind doesn't want to think about. The nightmare I had a few hours ago did just that.

First, the nightmare:

I had bruises covering my legs & they just seemed to get worse and worse every few hours. Eventually, I asked my mother (a retired nurse) what she thought about the bruises, and if I should go to the doctor right away. She told me the light in the house wasn't good enough for her to see my legs well enough, so we'd have to go someplace else. She and my sister told me to get in the car; my sister would help my mother get ready. My mother drove around the block to the street above ours. Our street is a steep hill. She told me to open my door and stick my leg out; she'd come around and look at them. As she started to come to my side of the car, I noticed she was wearing roller skates. She was having a hard time on them and, with every step or two, would stumble and start rolling backward down the hill. I asked my sister what she was thinking when she let Mom wear the skates. My sister got out of the car and told my mom to try to walk with her hands and feet, on all fours, instead of trying to skate. Before my sister could get to Mom, she lost her balance and went careening down the hill. She crashed into the house at the bottom of the hill, banging her head. Then she went into convulsions. I ran down the street screaming "Oh my God!" over and over.

Now, here's what I think it means:

Over the summer, when I wasn't working full-time, I spent a lot more time at home and got to see how fast, and how badly, my mother's health is failing. She can't even open jars or medicine bottles anymore by herself. So, I was apprehensive about going back to work full-time because she really should have someone with her most of the day. My old job was 3 to midnight, which meant I wasn't there when she went to bed, and I couldn't really get up with her in the morning and be of much help. If I did, I wouldn't be of any use to anyone for the rest of the day because I didn't get enough sleep. The new job is noon to 8, so I can be with her in the morning and at night. But, subconsciously, I'm still worried about not being there if/when she needs me. The part with my sister, I think, has a double meaning ... and it's not all bad. Number one, I think it shows that my sister wants to help, but doesn't know exactly what she should do. Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to because of her family responsibilites. Number two, I think my sister wasn't just representing herself in the dream. I think she was representing everyone else in my mom's life. I think it was meant to tell me that, although other people want to help, I know my mother, and her needs, better than anyone. Furthermore, I think it was telling me that, because I know her needs, it's OK that I took this job and I should stop worrying.

Now, the part about bruises on my legs:

Ever since I started taking the medication, I've noticed bruises all over my body ... especially on my legs. I've always bruised easily but now, all I have to do is brush up against something too hard and I get a bruise. Sometimes they just appear for no reason at all. It's been worrying me, and I've been wondering if I should ask the doctor about it. I don't want to, though, because the medication has been working so well. I'm afraid if he changes it, the new thing wouldn't work as well. So, I think what the dream was telling me is that I should tell him about the bruises and trust him if he feels he should prescribe something else. He's a great doctor and has never done me wrong before, so there's no reason not to trust him.

That's it. Thanks for reading this whole thing. :) Sorry if I bored you, but I had to get it all out.

Soon

I really don't want to turn this into the "I Love My Job" blog so, soon, I'll start writing about something else. Next week I'll be on a regular schedule, so we'll see what happens then. Of course NaNo starts next Tuesday, so all bets may be off.

But, for now, let's just say ... I love my job!

I'm Lovin' It

No, not McDonald's. I'm lovin' my job! In fact, I can't believe how much I love it. I was on the air a few times this week and, in my opinion, I'm getting better every time. I'm still not totally happy with the way I've been doing, but they tell me I'm doing well. Because I'm still training, there's no reason to tell me I'm doing well if I'm not. So, I guess I should believe that I am, and just try to get better. Well, more comfortable would probably explain it better.

I worked the board today for almost all the afternoon newscasts. We do them every half hour from 3 to 6. I didn't think I'd catch on so fast but, I pretty much had it by the second time.

Sshhh. Don't tell anyone but, I think ... I think ... I'm going to tell them on Monday that I'm ready to do the 3 o'clock live, by myself. Amazingly enough, I didn't even get nervous when I typed that. Must mean I am ready. We'll see on Monday, I guess.

Talk About Weird Dreams!

This was more of a movie than a dream. It was so vivid ... and weird. But because I'm writing this 12 hours after I woke up, and after a busy news day, I can't remember the details as well as I did this morning.

Anyway, at one point, I was running away from people, one man in particular, who I knew were going to hurt me. I made my way to this building where my dad used to work. I felt safe there for a few minutes, and even started to relax and try to figure out where I could hide. I decided I'd go down a flight of stairs to the women's restrooom. As I was halfway down the stairs, the restroom door opened and the guy who was chasing me came out. I turned and ran the other way.

Somehow, I made my way to this place that looked safe. It was kind of an indoor garden with all kinds of plants and flowers all over the place. But when I got inside I found out it was some kind of cult headquarters. The women were all dressed in something like "I Dream of Jeannie" outfits, except not as revealing. And, women and children were not allowed to urinate. At one point, a little girl "went" on the floor and the women were trying to hide it before the men saw it and punished her. But they didn't hide it in time and the men came and dragged the girl away while yelling about punishment for breaking the rules.

I got out of there fast, and somehow found myself backstage during a performance of some kind of play. I was familiar with the play, so I helped out with stage managing.

Next thing I knew, I was in church.

That's where everything gets fuzzy. I really don't remember anymore.

Who knew?

Not me, that's for sure. I never thought I would or could miss writing news. But, I'm tellin' ya, I got a little bit of a rush today after writing my first-ever radio news story. It's only been one day. I haven't been on the air yet. I don't know how to do any of the technical stuff yet. Despite all that, I love it already.

This is probably a very strange thing to be excited about, however, I was very happy to learn that we have weekly staff meetings. It's nice to know that some people in the communications business still communicate with each other for the betterment of the company.

My first day on the air isn't supposed to be until Oct. 31, but I'm hoping it will be sooner. I'm so excited about this!

OK. I'll admit there was one thing that bothered me but that's only because of one of my (many) quirks. I may have mentioned before that I have an irrational fear of being late so I'm very compulsive about making sure I'm on time or early for everything. So, it really freaked me out when the news director, with like a minute to go before he went on the air, said he had to go to his office to get something. I was thinking "But, but, but ... What if you don't get back in time? I can't do this. Can I? Maybe I can. Is this a test to see if I'll do it on my own? I could try but I'd probably screw it up. Yikes!" Of course he got back in time. I'll just have to learn that they know what they're doing. I don't yet. I need to trust them.

Odd & Ends

I'm not a NASCAR fan, although I do know many of the drivers' names and I do have a favorite. (Kevin Harvick, because he's from Bakersfield) Last night there was a race on TNT. Following that was The Shawshank Redemption, which I have never seen from beginning to end. I was looking forward to watching it, and figured I could watch 20 minutes or so of NASCAR until the movie came on, especially since, at the time I turned it on, Harvick was leading. Wouldn't you know it? They set a track record for cautions. By the time the race ended, I was asleep so I still haven't seen all of The Shawshank Redemption.

~*~

Speaking of movies, What's Up Doc? was on tv the other night. I love that movie! I don't know how many times I've seen it but I laugh every time.

~*~

I had another weird dream last night. It had something to do with me covering some kind of big important trial. The courtroom was packed. The defendant, who was not sitting at the defense table, and his family were harassing me. During a recess, the defendant started looking through my purse (I don't even carry a purse *shrug*). I got angry and started yelling at him. A baliff pulled us away from each other but I managed to kick the defendant in the head. As soon as I did it, I knew I'd be found in contempt and kicked out of the courtroom, so I told people to call my lawyer and fix the problem.

~*~

Sometime when I was in California, one of the intersections here went from a traffic light to stop signs. I still have trouble remembering that ... but only at one of the stops. It seems every day on my way to work I sit there for a couple seconds waiting for the light to change. Duh! Luckily, no one has ever been behind me during those brain farts.

Speaking of changes and driving, on Monday there will be some big changes here and, because of the ignorant drivers, I'm scared to death. You see, one street, which has been one-way for years, will now be two-way. Another one-way street will now be going east to west instead of west to east. You'd better believe I'm going to avoid that part of town as much as possible for the next couple of weeks. Thank God my new job is on the other side of town.

~*~

Speaking of the new job, my first day on the air by myself is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 31, the day before NaNo starts. This may be the first time in five years I won't be finishing. I'll give it my best shot, though.

A plus with the new job is that I don't have to worry about spelling. I used to be a champion speller but spell checking has made me lazy. But, on the radio, no one will know if I spelled something right. I just have to pronounce correctly. The word that I think will give me the most trouble is "meteorologist." I wonder if I could get away with saying "weather guy."

I'm a Sick, Sick Woman

So, I went the convenience store this morning to get a pumpkin spice cappuccino. When I left, got in my car and started pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed that if I made my usual left turn, there would be school busses in front me. Not that I was in a hurry or anything, but I didn't want the busses in front of me, so I turned right. As I was stopped at the red light, I noticed a familiar-looking SVU driving toward the intersection. Apparently, he noticed my car, too, because he did a double-take toward me as he drove by. But, as is usually the case with me, I thought it was wishful thinking, or my imagination that he would give me a second look. I've been thinking about him more than usual lately, so I thought maybe it wasn't him after all and I just wanted it to be him. So, I did a quick drive by his office to see if it was really him. Sure enough, there was GSG unlocking his office door.

Why does that make me a sick woman? Well, one of the reasons is that, obviously, I'm still obsessed with this man and I'm driving myself nuts with it. But the main reason is that I decided to post about that before I posted about this ...
I got the job!

I filled out the paperwork yesterday and I start here Monday. I'm so excited!

How Much is Too Much?

I never really know how much television is too much. All the expert studies seem to change every couple of years ... kind of like diet stuff and which foods are good for you.

So, here are the shows I currently watch: Medium, Law & Order: SVU, Lost, CSI, ER, Desperate Housewives. Also, Jeopardy 5 days a week, if I'm home, and either reruns of Roseanne or That 70s Show, if I'm awake and still feel like watching something at 11 p.m. That's 12 hours a week of actually watching television. There are other shows I have on while I'm doing other things. Let's see ... Dick VanDyke, I Love Lucy, The Real World, The Abrams Report, Countdown, The Surreal Life. That's 5 hours, which adds up to 17 hours. Even if you add the fact that I sometimes have MSNBC or The Food Network on for background noise when I'm on the computer, that's only about 20 hours. Is that too much?

People are Strange

There's this person I went to junior high and high school with. We were pretty good friends back then but, as is often the case, we lost touch with each other. Now, I see her three or four times a month and she never, ever recognizes me. Or, if she does, she doesn't say hello to me. There are two reasons I believe she doesn't recognize me. This person also dated The Best Friend for a while. He told me that a few years ago he saw her, said hello then talked to her for a few minutes before he realized she had no idea who he was. He hasn't changed that much since high school. In fact, the first time we saw each other after 15 years we recognized each other instantly. Anyway, when this woman sees my mother, she always talks to her and ... Now, this is weird ... always says "Tell Anne I said hello." Uh, you could tell me yourself, ya know?

Yesterday, I took my Mom to Mass. This woman sat a few rows ahead of us. After Mass, I went to a convenience store to get a pumpkin spice cappuccino. The woman was there. I said hello to her. She turned her head and walked away. That wasn't surprising, of course. But just 30 minutes earlier the priest's sermon was something along the lines of "All God really asks of us is to be good people and to be nice." So, even if she didn't recognize me, wouldn't you think she'd do what the priest said and acknowledge my greeting just to be nice?

Apparently, she's one of the those people who goes through the motions of being Catholic but doesn't know anything about being Christian. And, I'm not judging her, or anyone concerning how they live their lives as a Catholic/Christian. I'm just making an observation.

Another Weird Dream

I walked into a bar with a woman I used to work with, which is strange in and of itself for a number of reason, one of them being that she doesn't drink. We sat at the bar. She ordered something. Then, while trying to decide what I wanted, I noticed the bartender was standing next to the Labatt's tap, so that's what I ordered. (The Best Friend drinks Labatt's. I drink either Mich Ultra or Amstel Light.) Three times the bartender asked what I wanted. Three times I repeated Labatt's. After the third time, he said "You want a Labatt's? Here's your Labatt's" and he spit at me, getting it all over my face and hair, then walked away. I told the woman I was with that I was going to report him to the police and have him charged with assault. She laughed and told me I couldn't do that because he just spit at me. I told her I most certainly could have him charged with assault. We argued about it for a while then, with the spit still on my face and hair, I went to the police station and reported him. Then, for some reason, I called GSG to talk about something else. We ended up scheduling a barbecue for the weekend before Memorial Day next year. After I got off the phone with him, I went back to the bar and sat next to the woman I went in with. GSG got there right after I did and sat down next to me. She said something to GSG about how stupid I was in thinking that I could ask the police to charge the bartender with assault. He agreed with me, and told me I could have him charged. Then the bartender came over and asked GSG what he wanted. He ordered a Labatt's and the bartender wouldn't serve him either. Then the bartender asked if he was with me. When GSG said yes, I was really happy until the bartender laughed and walked away. I asked the woman I went in with what the story was with the bartender. She said he was the brother of the guy who sued me. I was livid and asked her how she could be that mean, to bring me in there knowing he worked there. She just shrugged and didn't answer. Then GSG said he'd see to it that the police charge the bartender.

Nostalgia or Inflation or ... Something

Does anyone remember 45s? You know. Records? Singles? If you do remember, do you remember when they used to cost a buck or less? Well, I haven't bought a single in ages. Actually, until yesterday, I never bought a single on CD. Considering it's been about 25 years (Oh ... my ... God!) since I bought a single, I shouldn't have been surprised at the cost - $3.44. At Wal-Mart. Before tax. But, considering the full-length CDs I bought were $14-something, I guess the price is in line with what it used to be in the old days.

So, what single was it that compelled me to slap down $3.44 plus tax, you ask? OK. I'll admit it. "Inside Your Heaven," the Bo Bice version. (Nothing againt Carrie Underwood but, I like Bo's version better.) It's the first CD by an American Idol contestant I ever bought. Well, yeah. I also bought Kelly Clarkson's CD yesterday but I picked up "Inside Your Heaven" first. Bice comes before Clarkson alphabetically. That's why I picked it up first. I went in to by Kelly's CD and a Melissa Etheridge CD, which I forgot. For some reason, I bought a Rod Stewart greatest hits CD and forgot all about Melissa. Sorry 'bout that, Melissa. You and Sheryl are next, though.

Back to "Inside Your Heaven." Sometimes, when I'm in a mood, it makes me cry. Any song that makes me cry, I need to have.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

If you can possibly avoid having a job interview on a Friday, do it. Why? Obviously, you have to wait until at least Monday to find out if you got the job. Eek!

Anyway, as my regular readers know, the Red Cross job is just temporary and ends in 3 weeks. Because I tend to procrastinate, I haven't really been looking for anything else. But, as luck would have it, "anything" came looking for me. I got an e-mail yesterday asking if I would be interested. I said "YES!!!" He asked if I could come in for an interview this morning, which I did. I'm not a good judge of these things but, I think it went fairly well. I hope it did.

I'm not going to jinx this by actually posting about what the job is. Besides, if I don't get it, anyone who reads this and knows me in person might think I'm a loser for not getting it. Anyway, I've wanted this job (or something similar) ever since I was a little kid. But, as my regular readers also know, I've always been painfully shy with major self-esteem issues. When I was about 12 years old, I made the mistake of actually telling people I wanted this job. The people who didn't laugh at me told me I'd never be able to do it.

I'll show them! I hope.

I Broke a Rule

One of the first rules of cooking and baking is to make sure you have all the ingredients you'll need before you start. Last night I made candy corn fudge. (It looks like candy corn. You don't use candy corn to make it.) I got through steps one through six just fine. Step seven, however, called for yellow and red food coloring. I was almost out of yellow, so I had to use it sparingly. Unforunately, instead of bright orange and bright yellow, my finished product was kind of a pumpkiny color along with a kind of lemon chiffon color.

It tasted good, though.

But, I have learned my lesson. Next time, I'll make sure I have all the ingredients before I start.

Tales of the Traffic-Law Challenged Part 10

"Stop here on red" with an arrow pointing to a big white stripe on the road. Self-explanatory? You would think so, wouldn't you?

I wonder if the people who don't "stop here on red" and then have to back up when a tractor trailer can't make its turn are the same people who stop on the tracks at railroad crossings. I also wonder where they're going in such a hurry that they think getting a two-foot head start at the intersection is going to get them to their destination faster.

A Little Late

Yesterday I woke up at about 1 a.m. I knew I had a dream but, I couldn't remember exactly what it was. All I remembered was that it had something to do with food poisoning. I told myself I'd have to be careful of what I ate for the next few days. Then, I went back to sleep. I woke up a couple of hours later with one of the worst stomach aches I've ever had. And I had abdominal craps worse than I had right after my surgery before everything started working right again. It was awful! I couldn't tell which end stuff was going to come out. It ended up being both. So, a couple of hours after that, when I started feeling better, I said "If I'm going to have psychic dreams about getting sick from eating something, would it be possible to have the dream before I eat the sandwich?"

Aaand ... Strike!

It's over. In a way, I'm glad but, I'm sure I'm going to go through some kind of withdrawal. If nothing else, I'll go through caffeine withdrawal because I drank a lot of it during rehearsals and the show. Anyway ...

Saturday's show: Perfect. All the mics worked. We (SFX, lights and actors) hit all our cues. No one flubbed any lines. The audience was good. Also, the president of the theater company (who was also in the show) told me that his daughter was at Friday's performance and I was her favorite part of the show. (I think she's 10, or around there somewhere.) I said "Wow! I have a fan!" Then, during the "meet and greet" the audience thing after the show, a woman came up to me, introduced herself, told me how good it was, then went on to tell me she read and loved "Contempt of Court" and just started reading "Actual Malice" and loves that so far as well. Cool!

Sunday's show: Not quite perfect but still good.

Sunday's cast/crew photo: Funny. There's a part right in the beginning of the show where the theme from "The Adams Family" is played. Of course we all lip sync it and do the snaps. During the cast/crew photo session, the photographer was having a little trouble with her flash so, while we waited, we sang the Adams Family song. I think the photographer thought we were nuts. Well, we are. But in a good way.

Cast party: The best part of the whole thing. I don't know if all the directors do this because this is only my second show and the same person has directed both of them, but she gives little gifts to the entire cast and crew. We all got little pewter (I think) globes. (War of the "Worlds." Get it?) We also got wooden stars with "BLT 2005" on one side and "WoW" on the other. Then, after every show, the entire cast and crew receives "awards" ... with certificates. I got the "Playtex Gloves Award" for "diving head first into SFX, especially the water ones ..." The SFX crew gave the producer a box of Cheer laundry detergent (signed of course) for making us coordinate our laundry days so our matching T-shirts would always match and one wouldn't be more faded than the other. (Actually, she didn't want us to do laundry at all but we couldn't not wash our shirts. It was hot on stage, if you know what I mean.) One of the coolest things we all got was a big surprise to all of us, including the director and producer. The tech director/writer said he was going to edit the best parts of the dress rehearsral and the three shows together so the show that's re-broadcast on the radio would be a "best of" type of thing. So, we all expected the finished product would be ready for us to buy in a couple of weeks. But he gave us all a copy of it at the party so, not only do we not have to pay for it, we don't have to wait 'til Oct. 29 to hear it. And, by the way, it sounds awesome! I'm very proud of it.

Well, I guess I'm going to go start working on my WoW scrapbook. Maybe that will help ease the withdrawal symptoms.

Opening Night

It went really well! There was one problem, though. The SFX crew has six microphones. One of them died. The tech director fixed it and everything was fine after that but there were a couple of effects that the audience didn't hear. Oh well. I told the tech director that's our glitch for the the three-day run. As I'm typing this, however, I remembered the movie "Apollo 13." Very early on in the mission, a hydrogen tank bursts and Jim Lovell says "That's our glitch for this mission." Man, I hope I'm not as wrong as he was!

Anyway, we hit all our cues. I was suprised that I did, considering I was shaking so much. ;) But after I got past the part where I have to walk to the front of the stage and do an effect during the death scene of one of the actors, I was fine. Actually, somehow I was able to tune out the audience and concentrate hitting my cues. The actors did really well, too. Some of them had their best performances ever.

After the show, we all go out to the lobby for a "meet and greet" with the audience. (Refreshements are involved as well.) People I didn't even know were coming up to me and telling me how much they enjoyed it. It was so cool!

I didn't get a chance to blog about this before but I didn't realize I'd have to wear make-up. Yuck! The only make-up I wear in everyday life is a little mascara and, sometimes, lipstick. Because this is supposed to be a radio show, the director didn't want us to look really made up, so she told the women to wear their street make-up but kick it up a notch. If that didn't work, we could use stage make-up. So, for rehearsal on Wednesday, I figured I should kick it up two notches since I don't usually wear make-up. I thought I looked like a hooker but, under the lights, I looked OK.

One more thing. One of the grocery stores in town always has a sandwich board set up with a poster from the show and rehearsal photos. After Wednesday's rehearsal, I went to the store and I was standing in the check-out line. I saw both cashiers near the door chatting. They turned to look at me a couple of times but didn't come to wait on me. After three or four minutes, they both came over. They said they were looking at my pictures on the sandwich board. Pictures. With an "s." Two of them. Cool. They asked me if I had a big part. I said, although it's not a speaking part, yes, it's big.

OK. This really is the last thing. My picture was in the paper (not the one I used to work for) on Thursday with a great article about the show. Yesterday, the local paper ran a story and the director was quoted as saying "The sound effects crew is almost the star of the show." So, I figured if anyone asks me why I wanted to do sound effects instead of having a speaking part for my first time on stage, I'll say "If I wasn't going to be the star, why bother?" ;)

Perceptions

There's this person I have known of for quite some time. Until recently, however, I had never formally met this person. Despite that, I had formed an opinion. Kind of. I wasn't quite sure if I liked this person or not. I was leaning toward "not," though. Because of my former job, I wasn't quite sure if this person liked me, didn't like me or never gave me a second thought. But after meeting this person, and getting to know him/her a little bit, I decided I do like him/her, and I think this person likes me a little bit, too. At least he/she tolerates me and we have fairly decent conversations. I guess that just goes to show you (me) that you can't make snap judgments about people.

Yet Another Weird Dream

The Best Friend and I have a mutual friend (let's call him "John") who we haven't heard from in ages. Actually, I haven't heard from him since graduation. I think The Best Friend has seen him once since then. Every once in a while, The Best Friend and I wonder what happened to him. We think he's a doctor of some kind, though. So, anyway, here's the dream.

I was at my grandparents' house and there was some kind of family gathering because my sister and her kids were there. There was some kind of commotion outside so I went to see what it was. There was a car being towed away. I looked at the guy who was putting the car on the tow truck. It was John. I smiled at him and, eventually, he realized it was me, smiled, then walked up the stairs to come and talk to me. We talked for a while, then decided to go someplace, have coffee and talk some more. I went inside to tell everyone I was leaving. My sister got all pissy and said something sarcastic like "Sure, you go have a good time. Don't worry about anything that's going on here." I said "I know you just had a fight with your husband but don't take it out on me." (In the dream, I knew I was talking about her ex-husband, not her current husband, with whom she has a great relationship.) Then I left with John. He told me to get in the tow truck, which I did. Then, before I knew it, the truck just started moving. Before he got in. I kept trying to look around to see if I could see him somewhere, thinking that there was some other way he could have control of the truck other than being in the driver's seat. Although the truck was going really fast, it seemed to be under control. Anyway, that's all of that dream I remember. I think, since I had weird driving dreams in which I wasn't in control two nights in row, it's my subconscious worrying about the crazy drivers around here.

You know what? Now I know that's what it is. Just as I was typing that, I remembered something that happened when I was driving home from play practice last night. I was at a four-way-stop-sign intersection. When I got to my stop sign, there wasn't anyone else at the other stops. Just as I was about to pull into the intersection, a car came zooming up the street, didn't stop at the stop sign, then whipped through the intersection right in front of me. As the vehicle went by me, I noticed that it was an unmarked cop car. No excuse. If I wasn't a conscientious driver, there would have been an accident, and it would have been the cop's fault. Doubtful the courts would see it that way, though.

Another Installment of Weird Dreams

An "ex" of mine, who had my car, picked me up from work. In my dream, the street, which IRL only has stop signs 'til the end of it, had four traffic lights instead of the stop signs. The "ex" drove through the first red light, which bothered me a little bit, but not too terribly bad because we could see that there were no other cars at the intersection. However, at the next two intersections, we couldn't see if there were other vehicles but he drove through the red lights anyway. I told him if he did that again, I was going to get out and walk home. He laughed, then did it again. I told him to stop the car so I could get out. He didn't, but I got out anyway and walked home. I assumed he and my car would be waiting for me there. They weren't. He didn't show up for two more days.

I Hope You're Not Bored With This

I'm having a blast doing the play! In fact, I can't even believe how much fun I'm having. Yesterday the director told me she didn't know how I was doing the sound of the alien walker but it was perfect. I said "Well, I kind of feel like I'm the star of the show ... Anne Holliday as the alien walker." Everyone laughed and the stage manager joked that they'll put that in the next press release. The thing is, most of these people don't know that saying stuff like that will encourage me to be more of a ham and publicity hound.

Anyway, I still get butterflies and the shakes before every rehearsal. The theater veterans tell me that's normal. I'm just hoping the shakes and nerves don't get so bad that I blow it when we have an audience. Nah. I'm sure I'll be fine for my stage debut. Actually, it's not really my debut. I was on stage for piano recitals when I was a kid. And I guess you could count my speaking gigs for my book as being on stage, too. I think what's making me so nervous is that, with the other things, it was all me. If I blew it, I would be the only person who looked bad. This, however, is an ensemble and other people are depending on me to be good. Oh geez. I'll be fine. I better be. Yikes. I'm starting to get nervous all over again and the next rehearsal isn't for 30 more hours.

Tales of the Traffic Law Challenged Part 8

I hesitate to put this in Tales of the Traffic Law Challenged because the problem may be mine, not the other drivers'. You see, I think my car is invisible. What other explanation could there be for 7 (Count 'em ... seven) drivers in the past two days pulling their vehicles in front of mine and nearly causing collisions? Could they have been blinded by the sun? No, because I was facing the sun. Besides, two of the incidents happened at night. Were they driving emergency vehicles with sirens blaring and lights flashing on their way to a horrific accident or fire? No, they were just regular people pulling out of parking lots and driving through intersections. Were they freakin' morons who don't know how to drive and/or have no consideration for other drivers and traffic laws? Uh, yeah. Probably. I guess this post is titled correctly after all.

Dance Class

This has nothing to do with anything that's going on in my life right now. It's just a story my Mom told me last night.

When I was a kid, I took ballet & tap dancing lessons. I don't remember how many people were in the class but, I think it was about 15. Anyway, parents were allowed to stay and watch the lessons because the studio was a fairly long drive for most people. So, during one of the lessons, the teacher had us do a routine combining all the steps we'd learned during the last few lessons. My Mom told me that during the routine she was really embarrassed because I wasn't doing anything the other students were doing. However, after the routine, the teacher said "It seems Anne was the only one paying attention because she's the only one who got it right."

That kinda seems weird to me because I'm an accident-prone uncoordinated mess when it comes to dancing. Maybe if I'd stuck with it back then ... No. Even my ability to follow directions wouldn't turn me into a good dancer.

Fianle Post

Here are my thoughts on the BB6 finale:

Eric & Jennifer justified my feelings of dislike for them. They are vile people. Michael, however, showed a lot of class in his remarks.

The look on Ivette's face when Julie pulled out the final key was priceless. You could almost see her thinking "I should have taken Janelle with me to the final two."

I felt bad for Beau when Ivette came out of the house, practically pushed him aside, and hugged Eric. That was a pretty crappy thing to do. Most BB fans will get the pun ... and I hope they'll forgive me for it.

I'm glad Julie told the jury that Kaysar got 82 percent of the vote in the America's Choice. I think it threw the nerd herd for a loop. That, and how little applause they got. Even James got more than Jennifer and April. Watching April trying to talk her way out of calling the viewers "pieces of shit" was hilarious ... and pathetic.

I'm glad Janelle and Kaysargot the most applause.

I'm glad Howie's vote was the tie-breaker. Fitting for "the star of the show."

Okie dokie. Buh-bye BB ... 'til next year.

Penultimate BB6 Post, Plus Some Other Stuff

As much as I dislike Maggie, I want her to win. Why? So Ivette realizes she made the wrong choice by picking "The Friendship" over the money. Normally, I would say that picking a friend over money is a good thing. However, this is a game and the object of it is to win $500,000. For weeks, Ivette said she was playing for her family because they need the money so badly. But when Janelle offered her a deal, she didn't take it. As Janelle said in her final question to Ivette (according to a BB6 message board), by not taking the deal she threw away $450,000. Is a friendship with Maggie, a manipulative wench, really worth that much money?

Anyway, I'm still lovin' the job. I worked on the newsletter today. I have never worked with MS Publisher before but, I found it's easier than Quark so I'm not really having a problem. The only bad thing about working there is that I had to switch places where I get my morning coffee. I like my favorite place better (hence, the reason it's my favorite place) but my second favorite place is donating 25 cents for every cup of coffee they sell to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. I guess it wouldn't look too good if I was carrying around a cup from the other place.

Play practice is going well. We got our revised SFX scripts last night and, for our first run-through with the added sound effects, we did a pretty good job, I think. At one point, I had to crinkle a plastic bag to make a crackling fire sound. When I was finished, the tech director/sound guy/playwright came over and told me it took him a couple of seconds to realize the static in his headphones was actually my sound effect. That was a good thing. Tonight, he's bringing extra headphones so we get to actually hear the sounds the way the audience will. As a side note, ever since I started taking the anti-depressant, I've noticed I bruise a lot easier. I'm accident prone so it's not unusual for me to find bruises and have no idea where they came from. Now it's worse. However, this morning I did know how I got the bruise on the palm of my hand. One of my sound effects involves pounding a big, plastic trash can on the floor so it sounds like the gigantic alien walkers. Until last night, I was just dropping the trash can. But we decided pounding it was better. Unfortunately, the pressure of holding and banging, bruised my hand. Good thing I love theater. ;) There is a plus side, though. When I bang the trash can, I get to take out all my agressions.

Speaking of agressions, I have one less thing to be upset about now. After more than three years, my nightmare is over. It feels pretty good when the Superior Court rules in your favor. And the story even gave me a little free publicity for my book, Actual Malice.

Stare Decisis

I'm too upset to write anything about BB6. Actually, I'm hoping that last night was nothing more than a bad dream ... or a visit to the Twilight Zone for me and all of the other Sovereign Six fans ... and we'll watch Tuesday's show and see Janie, not Maggie, in the final 2.

So, because I'm still in denial about last night's show, I'll post about something that's been bothering me since Monday. I was listening to the Roberts confirmation hearings. Roberts and Arlen Specter used the term "stare decisis" quite a few times. I know quite a bit about the law and legal stuff. (GSG even told me I'm well-versed in the law, considering I'm not a lawyer.) But I had never heard "stare decisis" before. I was hoping that one of the anchors on MSNBC would explain it. They didn't, so I figured that, although I'd never heard it, it must be a fairly common term or the anchors and researchers didn't know what it meant either and didn't bother to look it up.

Since Monday, I've been meaning to look it up but when I got on the 'net I'd get involved in something else (read: checking out the BB6 message boards) and forget. I'd only remember when I was all comfy and cozy in bed. But this morning I finally remembered while I was actually sitting here at the computer.

Stare decisis: (stah-ree duh-sigh-sis) n. Latin for "to stand by a decision," the doctrine that a trial court is bound by appellate court decisions (precedents) on a legal question which is raised in the lower court. Reliance on such precedents is required of trial courts until such time as an appellate court changes the rule, for the trial court cannot ignore the precedent (even when the trial judge believes it is "bad law").

Why couldn't Specter and Roberts just speak English? Because they're lawyers. Although I have a "thing" for lawyers, that's one of the things I don't like about them.

Feelin' Good

This is the first day in a long time that I've felt really good, physically, emotionally and mentally. And it's not as if bad stuff hasn't been happening. I won't bore you with all the details but, the worst of it was that the drain in our bathtub broke. It had been clogged and we tried to unclog it with Liquid Plumr (or however it's spelled). It disintegrated the drain, not because we used too much but because the drain pipe was old.

Anyway, despite the fact that I woke up this morning to a plumber working in the bathroom, across the hall from my bedroom, I felt good. One reason is that I had a good job to go to. As I mentioned in a previous post, it's a job I can be proud of and, once I actually do something useful (which I'll be doing Monday), I know I'll have a feeling of accomplishment. I've always enjoyed volunteering for Meals on Wheels but I felt different today. I still had the same feeling I always do, that I'm helping people. But now that I actually work for the Red Cross it felt, well, better. I wish I could explain it. I guess "good" is an underrated adjective because that's the best way to describe how I felt but it doesn't quite cut it. Oh well.

Back to other reasons I'm feeling good. Play practice went really well last night. I'm getting the hang of doing live sound effects and it's fun. Have I mentioned that all three performances plus dress rehearsals are going to be recorded then broadcast on the radio on Halloween? I can hardly wait to hear it the way the audience is going to hear it. Also, we learned last night that one dollar from each ticket sale is going to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. Pretty cool, I think. One of my new bosses is in the play, too (and he's hilarious in it!). I think it's extra cool that, since part of the proceeds are going to the Red Cross, two Red Cross employees are in the play.

The other reason I feel so good is that my name was in the paper today. (I still get giggly when that happens. Even when I had bylines, after 10 years, I got giggly.) It was in a "club news" item for AAUW. Another woman and I were recognized for being new members. Nothing earth-shattering but it made me smile.

Probably the most important reason I feel good is that I have absolutely no obligations until Monday. As much as I like my job and the play, I need a couple of days off from everything. So, as long as my Mom stays healthy (or as healthy as she can be in her condition), I should have a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend. Well, after BB6. I won't be able to relax until Janie wins HoH. Thank God the show is over on Tuesday. This addiction is getting worse.

Have a good weekend! <3

Tales of the Traffic Law Challenged Part 7

Generally, unless there's a power outage, there is no reason to drive with your high beams on within the city limits. This is especially not necessary when you're driving your gigantic Chevy Suburban two feet behind my little Cavalier. If you can't see my little Cavalier without your high beams on, you're blind and shouldn't be driving. If you've got your high beams on because you're trying to see inside my car, you're creepy and you shouldn't be driving.

I Got It!

I got the job and I start tomorrow, so now I can tell you what it is. I'll be working for the Red Cross doing press releases, the newsletter and other related things. Besides the Meals on Wheels woman, there are only three full-time people in the chapter house and they've been so busy since Katrina that they can't keep up with their normal duties and do all the Katrina-related stuff on top of it.

When I was there last Thursday volunteering for Meals on Wheels, the director asked his "newspaper connection" to look over a press release to make sure it was OK. I told him I didn't work for the newspaper anymore. Then, after I looked over the press release he asked if I'd be interested in coming to work for them to do the press releases. I said I would love to, but I thought it was just something he said in passing because he was so overwhelmed with work. I was in shock, but happily so, when I found out he was serious.

Ever since Katrina, I've been saying I wished I could do more to help besides send money and pray. Now I will be doing more. I'm so excited! Wish me luck tomorrow!

Role Reversal

You know how it's said that when parents and their adult children get older there's a role reversal and the children are the "parents" to the parents? Well, I never felt that way with my Mom. For years, I've done things for her that, growing up, she did for me. But maybe it's because that's always the way it's been in my family that I never felt like the "parent." Until today. She hasn't felt well enough to drive for a few weeks. Today, she felt as if she could. So, as she got in the car and got herself situated, I peeked through the front window to make sure everything was OK. When she drove past the house, I went out onto the front porch and watched her drive down the street and around the corner. I felt like a mother watching her 16-year-old daughter drive away for the first time after getting her driver's license.

Answered Prayers

Last night before I went to bed, I told myself I was going to start the 5-day St. Theresa Prayer this morning. One of the things with this prayer is, you're supposed to say it 5 days in a row, before 11 a.m. Well, it was 10:48 a.m. before I remembered I was going to do it. So, I quickly did, then apologized to St. Theresa for doing it so quickly.

Part two of this story has to do with my belief in angels and that certain numbers are signs from angels. The angel sign is "444." It means your angels are with you. At the moment you see 444, you're supposed to acknowledge the angels. Well, this part is going to make me seem pretty lame but, I can't figure out how to set the clock in my mom's car so it's 2 hours and 13 minutes fast, so I rarely look at it. But when I got back from taking my mom grocery shopping a little while ago, I looked at the clock and it read 4:44. I acknowledged my angels, thanked them for being there for me and asked if they'd put in a good word with St. Theresa for me.

Part three of the story is that when my mom and I got inside the house, the light on the answering machine was blinking. The message was from someone who, last week, in passing, said "Do you want to come and work for us?" He was offering me a job!

I don't want to jinx it and say what it is now because he still has to get approval from the board of directors during their meeting tomorrow night. But it's an awesome job and it'll be paying more than I made at my last job. Lots more. And it's something I can be really proud of, too. And, it involves writing! The only thing that would be better is if it was full-time and permanent. But, hey, as I said, it's awesome and I just know I'm going to love it. Now I just have to pray that the board of directors approves it.

More on Dreams

I've noticed that some of my dreams are psychic, and I've posted about this before. They're not earth-shattering but they're freaky. I've also said that I need to try to study my dreams more than I do. One of these days, I'll stop procrastinating and actually do it, beyond posting them here. Anyway, here's the non-earth-shattering psychic dream I had last night:

I was with a group of people, one of which was the person who adapted our theater's version of WoW. He's also the morning guy on the local radio station. In my dream, he was explaining how he got the terrible cold he had.

So, when I woke up this morning, I turned on the radio as usual. I heard someone talking and I said to myself, "That's not him." But it was. He has a cold! I hadn't seen him since Wednesday night, and I only hear him on the radio Monday through Friday. In fact, as I was typing this, he just said to his co-host, "My voice has just been getting worse all morning, hasn't it?"

OK. Now onto the disconnected other parts of my dream life.

For some reason I had to scramble six eggs. But I couldn't scramble them all in one pan. I had to use three pans with two eggs in each of them. I also had to make au gratin potatoes. I kept checking on them in the oven but they didn't seem to be cooking. Every time I checked, they were still runny. I took them out of the oven anyway and was going to throw them away and start over. But then someone came into the kitchen, stirred the potatoes and I saw they they were really cheesy (in a good way) and the perfect consistency. The person even said they were the best au gratin potatoes she'd even seen.

Part of the dream took place in a grocery store but I don't remember a lot of that part. I do remember I only bought one thing and the cashier didn't give me a bag for it. I aslo remember waiting for someone and watching other people check out. Just as I was about to leave the store, a family was leaving as well. They had an entire pallet of some kind of beverage and were having a hard time maneuvering it, thus holding up all the people behind them who were trying to get out of the store.

I was at my former place of employment and walking up the stairs to where one of the printers is. There were lots of boxes on the stairs. As I was almost at the top, another former employee, who used to work upstairs, was there. He said all the boxes had to go downstairs. I said I wasn't going to move them. He said he wasn't either. Another former employee, who was behind me, said he wasn't going to move them either. Former employee number two laughed and started kicking the boxes down the stairs. I asked what was in them. He said "Do we really care?" Then we all laughed.

I know there was one other part but, I can't remember it. Oh well, maybe it wasn't that important anyway. As if any of this is important in the first place.

BB6 and Some Thoughts on 9/11

Every year I say I'm not going to get addicted to this show but, I always do anyway. This year has been the best since season two, in my opinion. Janelle really makes the show, no matter what the nerd herd thinks. (And to think I didn't even like her for the first two weeks.) I can't believe how stupid they are! I mean, Janelle won two America's Choices. That should tell them something. But in their little pea brains they see the viewers as "stupid," according to April. They've also blamed the show's editors for making them look bad and Janelle look good. Couldn't be that America likes Janie better because she's the best player, could it? The nerd herd is nothing but a bunch of lying, manipulative bitches. Janie hasn't lied once during the entire game.

Then, Ivette says she won't vote for Janelle although she admits Janelle played the game better than anyone else. That's just wrong. You're supposed to vote for the best player. If April or Ivette end up winning, it will be because the nerd herd can't believe someone from the Soveirgn Six got to the final two. Even if Janelle doesn't win, at least she should be happy that she's America's Choice to win, no matter what the nerd herd does.

Anyway, I feel guilty posting about something as petty as a reality show on September 11 but, I can't put my feelings about that into words. When I think about it, all I can remember is sitting in the living room at the apartment in California, drinking coffee, watching the "Today" show and getting ready to start the day. Even before the second plane hit, I knew the first one was a terrorist attack. I couldn't believe it was accident. After the second plane hit, I went numb. I think I was numb for the rest of the day. The only time I really felt anything was when my mother called. I wished I wasn't 3,000 miles away and that I could be with her in person to comfort her.

My brother suffered a major bout of depression after 9/11. He knew many, many people who died because he did a lot of business at the WTC. One of the people who died was one of his best friends, and a rugby teammate. My brother is better now but, he's not the same person. He probably never will be. Will any of us ever be the same?

A Weird Installment of Weird Dreams

I had weird stuff running around in my head all night but none of it seemed to go together. So, here are the bits and pieces of the stuff I remember.

I was at a bar/diner sitting at the bar/counter. A waitress showed me a plate of pancakes and told me to have some. They looked cold and shriveled, so I declined. Later, I was in a car with the people I was in the bar/diner with and we passed the bar, which was sitting way up on wooded hillside. One of the people said bars are allowed to stay open all night long but the only thing they're allowed to serve after 2 a.m. is cake, and they have to give it away for free. I asked if pancakes counted as cake. The person said they did. I said that explains why that waitress tried to pawn those awful-looking pancakes off on me.

I was in the kitchen at my Mom's house washing dishes and I was getting really angry because every time I thought I was finished, someone would come in with something else for me to wash. At one point, I let the suds fill up the sink and overflow onto the floor. I kept getting angrier and angrier and I was throwing things against the wall, hoping to break things. Then I'd get even angrier because I'd have to clean it up.

I was sitting on the front steps of my grandmother's house with a couple of other people. There were boxes on the steps and we were waiting for someone to come and help us pack them into a car so we could move. Some guy in a shiny new SUV parked in front of the house, made his way through the maze of boxes, said something to us then left without offering to help with the boxes. We were all angry that he didn't offer to help. Just as he got back into his SUV, another vehicle came along, smashed into the SUV and drove away. There was a cop right there. Instead of going after the hit-and-run driver, he was telling the SUV driver how to report the accident to his insurance company so he'd be able to get another new vehicle and all kinds of other stuff.

I was in a huge room, like a classroom, with a lot of other people. One of them was George Clooney. We were there for some altruistic purpose but, I don't remember what it was. George was supposed to be with me (Yeah. Only in my dreams.) but he was flirting with other women. Most of the other people, except the women he was flirting with, told me he was just trying to make me jealous. Eventually, George and I left together.

For some reason, I was running away from people and had to get out of my house without anyone knowing I was leaving. I also couldn't leave any traces of myself there or any clue as to where I was going. I was just about to make a clean getaway (I was in my bedroom putting my shoes and socks on) when a blonde woman came in and asked what I was doing and where I was going. I told her I was just putting my shoes and socks on because my feet were cold. Somehow, she knew that was a lie because my feet are never cold. Eventually, she left and I went downstairs, peeked out the front door and decided it was dark enough outside so I could leave without anyone seeing me.

Told ya it was weird.

I've Been Tagged

Jawahara tagged me, so here's go nothin' ...

5 years ago: I was working at my "dream job" but, sadly, it started turning into a nightmare and I became very disillusioned with the business.

5 songs I know all the words to: The Star-Spangled Banner, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, As Time Goes By, Good-bye Yellow Brick Road

5 Snacks I enjoy: Chocolate, mixed nuts, guacamole and tortilla chips, cheese, potato chips

5 Things I'd do with $100 million dollars: give to all my favorite charities, pay off some debts, start college funds for my nephews, have some repairs done to my Mom's house, buy a house near Santa Barbara

5 places I would run away to: Africa, Nepal, Egypt, Italy, Ireland

5 things I would never wear: belly button ring, nose ring, tongue ring (or whatever they're called), anything yellow, thong underwear

5 favorite tv shows: Big Brother, Law & Order: SVU, Lost, CSI (the original), The Abrams Report

5 greatest joys: Adam, Alex, Aaryn, writing, theater (going to as well as participating in)

5 favorite toys: does my computer count?, Barbie dolls, Kasey the Kinderbot, the Mathematical Monkey, Slinky

5 people I'm tagging: ann marie, Sophie, Uncle Crappy, Erica, Deb

Too Much Reality?
Another Installment of Weird Dreams
Plus Some Thoughts on Big Brother 6

I didn't remember the entire dream when I woke up. The predominant thought in my head was "Anne, you watch too much reality tv." Here's what I remember:

I was on the "Lost" island. Claire and Jack were there but I don't remember who else was with me. We found something that was vitally important to our survival (although now I don't remember what it was). The first thing I said was "Go tell Omarosa."

Omarosa? That's why I told myself I watch too much reality tv. I don't even watch "The Apprentice" so I didn't see any of her antics on that show. However, I do watch "The Surreal Life" and "Battle of the Network Reality Stars." She's on both of those. I think her appearance in my dream was my punishment for watching "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" after I said I was going to wean myself off of reality tv.

I had to start watching it though. Yes, I had to. Will Kirby and Mike "Boogie" Malin from "Big Brother 2" are on it. Will is my all-time favorite house guest so I couldn't resist.

While, at the moment, Will remains my all-time favorite, if Janelle makes it through one more week, she'll take over the title. The entire "nerd herd," except for Ivette, underestimated her during the entire game, which got her to the point she is now. How could they have underestimated her? Or at least, how could they have ignored her uncanny luck in the game? She won the PB&J Pass, plasma tv, a trip and the America's Choice phone call. She's also won HoH and veto competitions. And they concentrated on getting James out of the house first? Well, I am glad they underestimated her because if she and Howie weren't there, I would have stopped watching. The "nerd herd" is just too boring.

So, tonight, I gotta root for Janie to win HoH again. Then it'll be bye-bye Maggie. Finally!

News?

I got home last night just as Countdown was going to its first commerical break. Keith Olbermann said when they returned, they would run a story on the New Orleans police department's trials and tribulations. During the break, I switched to CNN to see what Paula Zahn's show was doing. They were doing a report on FEMA's response to the Katrina catastrophe, then switched to a report on how the contaminated flood water could cause diseases. Against my better judgement, I switched to the Fox Pseudo News Channel to see what O'Reilly was jabbering on about. Normally, O'Reilly nauseates me. Last night was worse. What was his big news story? Geraldo Rivera. Yes, while there's death, devastation and disease all along the Gulf Coast, the big story on The Factor was that a columnist for the New York Times alleged that Geraldo pushed rescue workers out of the way so his camera crew could get shots of him resuing an old woman. At one point, O'Reilly said something like "There's enough you can say about us without lying."

Apparently Keith Olbermann believes that because Geraldo was "Countdown's" "Worst Person in the World" last night. Why? Because of this from Salon.com:

Geraldo Rivera arrives in a Fox News truck. An elderly woman with blond hair grips his elbow. She's wearing thick dark glasses and a pink shirt. He carries her small white dog in his arms. He's wearing thigh-high waders unzipped to below his knees. We shake hands. "Her relative called one of our stations," Geraldo tells me, explaining how that call went to another station, and then another, and finally to him.

The woman had been stranded in her home for six days. Geraldo picked up the woman and her dog and brought them here. The woman looks frail on his arm, though not as bad perhaps as a lady collapsed on a chair nearby, unable to move. Or a woman in a wheelchair being lifted from the truck, carrying her prosthetic leg on her lap.

"That's the second time he brought her here," one of the doctors tells me, nodding toward Geraldo.

"What?"

"They did two takes. Geraldo made that poor woman walk from the Fox News van to the heliport twice. Both times carrying her dog."

"Are you serious?" I ask. He says he is.

And that, dear readers, is just one of the reasons I hate the Fox Pseudo News Channel. Although O'Reilly says his show is the "No Spin Zone," I say "No one spins it like O'Reilly."

Another Installment of Weird Dreams

When I was in college, we didn't have fraternities or sororities. So, instead of having frat parties, we had "floor parties." As the name implies, entire dorm floors would have parties, invite lots of people and drink beer and "bash." (Bash is a mix of vodka, grain alcohol, Hawaiin Punch and fresh fruit. And it must be served from a clean trash can, lined of course.) How does this relate to my dream? I'll tell ya. I was at a floor party but, it wasn't in my dorm (but it was, ya know?). It was in a luxury hotel on a beach. One of the people I invited was Ashton Kutcher.* We were outside my room, trying to get in through the crowd of people, because all my other friends were in there. By the time we made it inside, my friends told me we had to leave and go to another party. Somehow, before we got to the other party, we had all changed from jeans and T-shirts into semi-formal-wear. At this other party, some really short girl was trying to steal Ashton away from me. It was so bad that it was like an episode of "Punk'd."

I don't know how I got from that party to my parents' house on Christmas Day. The weirdest thing that happened was that I was myself now and myself as a little girl at the same time. Yes, heaven help me, there were two of me. I, as a little girl, with the "now" me watching, was playing a game with my brother, who was the age he is now. At one point, my sister was looking at pictures of past Christmases. One of the pictures was of a bunch of boys looking at something (I don't know what). I was in the picture, as a little girl, sitting on the couch, pointing at one of the boys. As she was looking at the picture, my sister asked my mother if the boys were "neighborhood boys." My mother said they were and she and my father used to invite all the kids in the neighborhood to the house on Christmas Day. Then she started identifying all the boys. My sister started laughing and said she knew the one had to be The Coach (except she used his name. My few regular readers may remember him from last winter.) because I was pointing at him.

The next thing I knew, I was working at a restaurant where I used to work. The guy who was my boss then, but is no longer there, was my boss again. But instead of being a manager, like I was before, I was a waitress. There was only one other waitress working, and it was kind of slow so we spent most of the time in the office with the boss. When 3 p.m. rolled around, I thought I was going to be able to go home and get back to celebrating Christmas with my family. But the boss told me he changed the schedule and I had to work until 3:30. I was angry at first but, then the boss told me he hired someone to design new uniforms for us and the person should be finished with them, and show them to us, before I left. Half an hour later, Ashton Kutcher comes out of some hidden room with the newly designed uniform. We all hated the new design. I even said the reason I didn't want to be a waitress when I first started working there is that the uniforms were so ugly ... and these were worse than those. But then when I saw that his feelings were hurt, I told him I liked the color, although I really didn't. They were some kind of ugly, blue metallic that just didn't work well as fabric. And, they looked like maternity jumpers.

Then, I woke up.

*I finally realized why I dream about Ashton Kutcher so much. He's actually not Ashton in my dreams; he's standing in for The Best Friend. We were in high school at the same time the characters in "That 70s Show" were. Kelso, no surprise, is my favorite character on the show. However, the only thing Kelso and The Best Friend have in common is that they were the best looking guys in school. Anyway, it's hard to explain how I know Ashton is The Best Friend in my dreams. I just know.

Tales of the Traffic Law Challenged -- Part 6, maybe?

This is a twist on the seemingly universal complaint about motorists who don't use turn signals. Today, I must write about people who use them but don't turn. I'm not talking about old guys on the highway whose turn signals are on for seven miles before they remember it and turn it off. I'm not even all that concerned about people who have them on at intersections with four-way stop signs. Granted, it's annoying but, it's not usually a traffic hazard.

My gripe is with people whose turn signals tell me they are going to turn down the street right before my turn so I can safely make a left turn in front of them. Then, they don't turn and nearly broadside me.

They are turn signals, people. Learn how to use them properly. It's not rocket science.

The Red Cross

I called our local chapter of The Red Cross on Thursday to get my volunteering schedule for Meals on Wheels. The chapter's director answered the phone & we chatted for a while because I haven't seen him in months, since about a week before my surgery. He jokingly asked if I wanted to go to Louisiana. I said that actually I did want to go but I'm not quite up to that yet. I wish I was.

But the more I thought about, and the more I watched news reports about the devastation, I realized the clean-up will be going on long after I'm feeling better. As good as I feel most of the time, I'm still very tired. Just working those two extra hours a day on the play is wiping me out. I was in bed, almost continuously, from 2 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday. One of the requirements for disaster relief workers is being able to work long hours. Seeing as I still need to take naps during the day so I don't get sick, I wouldn't be very useful.

But, that shouldn't be the case for much longer. So, the next time The Red Cross offers a disaster relief course, I'm going to take it.

Then, I'll just have to figure out what to do with my Mom while I'm gone and I'll be all set to help. For now, the best I can do is send money. And prayers.

Tip of the Day

Scenario: You are working with a very large, awkward piece of sheet metal (commonly known in theater circles as thunder board). It takes at least three people to handle this piece of metal, which has very sharp edges that could be dropped onto your foot once, twice or possibly even three times.

Tip: Do not wear flip flops.

School

My 4-year-old nephew started pre-school on Monday. When I talked to him last week he was really excited about school. He was going to learn to read and write. He was also going to learn about animals, specifically dinosaurs. He was also looking forward to meeting, and playing with, new people.

Well, with the start of school came some tears. My sister waited in the hallway to make sure Alex was OK. He came out twice crying, just to make sure she was still there. What changed in between the time I talked to him and the start of school was that he had a dentist appointment. This particular dentist doesn't allow parents in the room while he's working on the child. So, in a little 4-year-old mind, Mommy not being in the room was equated with the dentist. Eventually, he was fine. It probably just took him a little while to explore and discover there was no drill, and no dentist in the room.

Alex's 3-year-old brother Aaryn had a difficult time with the first day of school, too. They are very close and have never been apart since the day Aaryn came home from the hospital. At first, Aaryn kept searching the house thinking Alex was hiding somewhere. Then he would do little things that annoy Alex, thinking that would bring him out of hiding so he would tell Aaryn to stop. Finally, it sunk in that Alex wasn't home, so every few minutes he would ask my sister when they were going to pick up Alex.

I'm sure they'll both adjust eventually.

This next part is semi-related to school. I had another weird dream last night. In the dream, I was at a party (held in a Wal-Mart, but all the shelves were empty) which was kind of like a school reunion because most of the people in the dream went to my high school. Of course The Best Friend was there and, in the beginning of the dream, we were just hanging and talking. At one point, someone mentioned that 65 of our classmates were there. That was weird because there were only 62 people in our class and two of them have died since graduation. Somehow, the party got moved to a baseball field in the city's biggest park. Also, people started ignoring me and The Best Friend. We decided we'd give them a reason not to ignore us anymore, so we started holding hands and hugging each other. We still got ignored, so we started making out. Still, no one cared ... until one classmate said "It's about time you two got together."

Then I woke up.

Lost and Found

A couple of weeks ago as I was coming back from my daily walk I saw something in the street that looked like a credit card. I picked it up and saw that it was my neighbor's driver's license. We just know each other enough to wave and say "hello" when we see each other. Anyway, because it was the right thing to do, I returned her license to her.

Fast forward to last Thursday. It was kind of a busy day for me. Busier than I've been in a long time. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and pretty much fell into bed. The next day as I was getting ready to start my day, I went to put my driver's license in my pocket and I couldn't find it. My license, not my pocket.

I keep my license in a little business card holder, along with a couple of other things. Although I know you're not supposed to keep your Social Security Card in your wallet, that was one of the things in the holder because I needed it to fill out a form recently and never got around to taking it out of the holder again. I also had my insurance card, a couple of pictures and business cards and a press pass I don't need anymore but I keep anyway. Nostalgia.

I was in a panic. I searched everywhere. I retraced every step I made on Thursday. I asked people at the two stores I went to if anyone had seen it or turned it in. Nothing. On Thursday, I changed the sheets on my bed so, on Friday, I unmade the bed just in case the license et al fell in between them while I was making the bed. I checked my car twice. The third time, I even cleaned out the car. Nothing.

It was time to ask for St. Anthony's help. I prayed that if I couldn't find it myself that whoever did find it would mail it back to me. Saturday, nothing. Sunday, nothing. As of Monday afternoon, nothing. I was telling my Mom that I would have to go to the DMV today and get a new license; call the Social Security office; call the insurance people. I was not looking forward to that. I was also getting a little bit angry with St. Anthony for not helping me. I mean, it was just a couple of weeks ago that I'd returned a lost driver's license. Why couldn't someone do that for me? So, just as I was about to go upstairs and take a nap, I decided to check the car one more time. Sure enough, there it was, plain as day. I thanked St. Anthony and apologized for not believing in him.

Then I decided, as much as I didn't want to, I would start carrying a bigger wallet that wouldn't just slip out of my pocket without my noticing it. I carried that wallet when my Mom and I went to Wal-Mart last night. I put it in the top part of the shopping cart while we were in the store. Because it was raining so hard, I told my Mom to wait in the store while I put the groceries in the car. After doing that, I put the cart in the cart thingy and, as I was walking away, I thought I saw something still in the cart so I went back over to see what it was. Yeah. It was my wallet. You'd think I would have learned my lesson.

I did remember to pick up my Mom before I went home, though.

Blogiversary

Yesterday was my blogiversary but, with all the excitement from Blog Explosion, I forgot. Having my highest number of visitors ever was a nice gift, though.

Anyway, as you can see by my archives, this blog, in this form, didn't start until February 2002. However, my foray into the blogosphere actually started here on Aug. 27, 2001. (Don't go there. It's a mess. I haven't done any housekeeping since April.)

Holy crap! I've been blogging for 4 years! My original blog was just supposed to be my views on the news. But, I decided I wanted to do personal stuff as well. After September 11, I didn't feel it was right to blog about news while doing quizzes telling me what Muppet character I am on the same site. So I started A Waste is a Terrible Thing to Mind. That eventually turned into a site where I did longer, essay-type entries. I still needed a place for goofy stuff, so I started Anne's Place. Then I decided I couldn't keep up with three blogs so AWISATTTM and Anne's Place morphed into California Bloggin'.

It changed at about the same time Gary Turner started Blogstickers. While I was thinking of my own blogstickers to add to the collection (Mine are here.) I came up with "California Bloggin' ... on such a blogger day." Sometime last year I decided it was kind of stupid to name my blog "California Bloggin'" since I don't live in California anymore. Because one of my interests is the law, I decided I needed a legal term as a title. I searched an online legal dictionary and came up with Excited Utterances. However, I decided to keep California Bloggin' as the subtitle for nostalgic reasons.

Well, now that you know more about my blogging history than you probably ever wanted to know, have a great day!

Hi!

Hello to everyone who got here via Blog Explosion. I'm so thrilled to be the Site of the Day! I just wish I had something more interesting to post today. Well, it's early. Maybe something will come to me later.

Anyway, enjoy yourself ... and I hope you come back to visit again.

I Worry About the Strangest Things

I've lost 11 pounds in 10 days. That means I have 26 to go before I get to my pre-anemia (and too tired to exercise) weight. That's the good part because during the six weeks prior to my doctor's appointment I couldn't lose weight no matter what I did. But, as I'm sure anyone knows, losing 11 pounds in 10 days usually isn't a good thing.

The reason I lost the weight is that my doctor gave me Effexor to try for two weeks. One of the side effects is loss of appetite. All I've eaten for the last 10 days, each day, is a low-carb cookie, a low-carb mini muffin and a salad. And I have to force myself to eat that.

Now, here's where the worrying comes in. I guess I'm kind of a control freak or something because I think and re-think every possible scenario to every upcoming situation. (That could have something to do with social anxiety disorder, too, I guess.) I do this so I'll know how to react in any given situation. I have my next doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I don't know if he'll say I've lost too much weight and change the drug, which has helped me in every other way, or if he'll say it's good that I lost the weight. The third possibility is that he'll keep everything the way it is and schedule another appointment in a month or so to see how I'm doing. That's what I'm hoping.

Search Results

All I did was type "Sunspray Honeysuckle Smith." I didn't comment on it or even say why I had to type it. But those three words have gotten me tons of hits from Google. Of the last 20 search engine queries, 10 of them were for "Sunspray Honeysuckle Smith."

Now for some disturbing search results:

pussy cow blog. Even more disturbing is the fact that I'm the 51st result for the search. Who the heck went through the other 50 results to find what he/she was looking for then came here to look at a comment?

can I take Pamprin vaginally. Well, I guess so, but why would you want to?

I hate Rachel Ray. Get over it, people! Just don't watch her if you hate her so much! I was the 21st result for this search. Did this person just want to see how many people hate her? Did this person go to all 117 sites that mention hating her? That's just sick.

Common Courtesy

I worked in a restaurant and in convenience stores. At both places I was taught how to politely ring people out at the cash register. One of the things I was taught was to say "thank you" to each and every customer. You are thanking them for patronizing your business, I was taught. Also, I was taught to hand people their loose change before handing them the bills. Aside from the fact that it's the easiest way to count back change (a lost art, I believe), it's easier for the customer to handle if it's done that way. I was also taught to say something like "Enjoy the sunshine" or "Don't get too wet out there" as the customers left. We were encouraged not to use the generic "Have a nice day" so it would seem more personal.

That, dear readers, is why I get so angry frustrated when cashiers/clerks/people at the cash register (Sorry, but I don't know the politically correct term) are rude or apathetic. I won't get into everything that bothers me but one thing that really bothers me is no eye contact. That's the least they can do. Another is when I say "Thank you" and they say "You're welcome." You are supposed to be thanking me for spending money in your store. When I used to be behind the cash register, if a customer said "thank you" before I did, I always said "You're welcome ... and thank you." C'mon. Is it really that difficult?

OK. I'm finished ranting now.

Enjoy the weekend!

I Hate Blood Tests

When I went to the doctor last Tuesday, he orderd blood tests. I could go anytime I wanted before next Wednesday. Letting me decide when to go is not a good thing. It's better to tell me to be someplace on a designated day and time. I tend to procrastinate, especially when needles and pain are involved. But that's not the real reason I put it off so long. The tests were of the "nothing to eat or drink after midnight" variety. For a week, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, forgetting about the tests and drinking water because I was thirsty. But last night I slept really well and didn't wake up 'til 7 a.m. So, I got dressed, drove to the hospital and had the blood drawn.

I have a very low tolerance for pain so I really hate it when the lab tech says "You'll feel a little pinch" before she sticks me. Makes me want to pinch her back because it's never "little" and it's never just a "pinch." So, when she was finished, instead of putting that non-tape stuff on my arm to keep the cotton ball in place, she put tape on. And it wasn't the good surgical tape that comes off really easy. It was stickier than a band-aid and took me around half an hour to get if off, along with a few arm hairs. Ouch!

But, on the good side, I got a good parking place and the lab wasn't crowded so I got right in. I didn't even have to sit in the waiting room at all.

Night One

We had the first read-through for "War of the Worlds" last night. It was really good. The guy who re-wrote it for our purposes did an excellent job. It's not as preachy and dark as the original. I don't have a speaking part but, I will be on stage doing sound effects. It'll be the first time I've been on stage since a piano recital in sixth grade. I'm looking forward to it.

Style

Lately I've noticed that many news organizations are not following AP style. Even The Associated Press seems to have forgotten about its own Stylebook. I think this bothers me so much because, when I was in college, I had to memorize a large portion of The AP Stylebook. Of course that was in 1980 and the stylebook was much smaller then. I realize that, oftentimes, AP style is not the same as other standards of writing. But, in my opinion, there's still no excuse for professional journalists to ignore the rules of style that are supposed to ensure conformity in the industry.

Here are some of the infractions that bother me the most:

adviser - not advisor, but advisory

 AP, The Associated Press - use AP on second reference, capitalize The on first.

backward - not backwards

brand-new

chairman / chairwoman - do not use chairperson

district attorney - do not use DA or D.A.

doughnut - not donut unless part of a business name

entitled - means the right to something; titled refers to the name of a composition, book, poem etc.

farther - refers to physical distance; further refers to an extension of time or degree

Ferris wheel - Ferris was the inventor, so capitalize.

health care

hopefully - means in a hopeful manner. Do not use it to mean I hope or it is hoped.

jail - Not interchangeable with prison. It is short term.

kid / kids - use child and children unless in a direct quote

nolo contendere - “I do not contend,” use pleaded no contest or no-contest plea, depending on publication style. The defendant admits no guilt, but offers no defense. A defendant is sentenced as if convicted, but the charges may be denied in future legal cases.

OK - not okay. OK’d, OKs

presently - means in a little while; it doesn't mean now

pupil - children through eighth grade are pupils. Use student for ninth grade and above

Teen-ager

Tonight - 8 pm. Tonight is redundant.

T-shirt

toward - not towards

Knock it Off!

Hey, Old Guy! When you're standing behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store, I don't think it matters how many times you hit me with your shopping cart. The cashier is not going to go any faster and I'm not moving until I get my change. On second thought, I might move ... to turn around and shove the shopping cart back at you. Old age is no excuse for being rude.

Freaky

A couple of weeks ago I posted about how I'm a little bit psychic and how I'm trying to read my dreams better so I can do something about it. When I wrote that post, the only two examples I could come up with at the time were about people dying. Now I have another example. It's not earth-shattering or anything but it does freak me out, in a good way though.

Yesterday I was sitting here thinking that I should go to bed and rest with an ice pack on my abdomen because I felt some swelling and my scar was feeling weird. I wondered if there was a good movie on that I could watch while resting. I don't read TV Guide or look at the tv section in the newspaper, so I didn't know what was on. But, while I was thinking about movies I'd like to watch I thought "Sybil hasn't been on in a while. I could get into that." So, after I got myself situated, I turned on the television to the TV Guide Channel. You guessed it. Sybil was about to start. And it's not as if I saw a preview or ad for it or anything because it was on the Oxygen channel, which I rarely watch.

As I said, it's not earth-shattering but it's freaky.