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.