Gratuitous Pictures of My Cats

While posting things such as what I'm about to post will probably forever brand me as a creepy cat lady, I don't give a damn.  Most days these cats are the first things I talk to when I wake up and the last things that I talk to before I go to bed.  They snuggle with me when I can't sleep at night and occasionally provide a giggle or two with their antics.

This morning I got up, made my bed and took a shower.  I walked out of the bathroom to find this:

As I watched, the saga of Murry vs. the Blankies unfolded. Suspecting that he'd been caught mid-battle with an inanimate object, he attempted to slink off, possibly leaving Joe Lewis to accept the blame for his mess:

Then thought better of it and simply snuggled down as if to take a nap:

but not until after writhing around in the joy and ecstasy of snuggly blankies and a soft pillow. 

Song of the Day: Adele - Someone Like You

I have fallen truly head over heels in love with Adele.  I know, me and about 20 million other people.  Historically, I'm not an educated judge of music but I think her voice is stunning and every time I hear an interview with her I find myself so impressed and falling in love with her just a little bit more.

"sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

nothing compares no worries 
or cares
regrets and mistake they're 
memories made
who would have know how
bittersweet this would taste"

Quote of the Day: I am a Unicorn

“I think that you are the biggest unicorn. When a pony does a good deed, he gets a horn and he becomes a unicorn and then he poops out cotton candy until he forgets he’s magical and then his horn falls off. And black unicorns, they become zebras.  I'm also a unicorn. Maybe a bi-corn. Either way, I'm starting to believe in my own magic."

- Brittney "Glee: I am a Unicorn"

 

How to Be Alone

‎"Cause if you're happy in your head then solitude is blessed and alone is okay" 

Given how reluctant I generally am to actually watch any video's on other people's blogs, I'm pretty sure that most of you won't actually watch this.  But you should.  Seriously, it's only about four minutes long and it's beautifully done.  And no, it's not beautiful just because I find it exceptionally pertinent right now, it's beautiful because it is so stinkin' true.

Poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis -- would you please come be in my posse?

Link: http://youtu.be/k7X7sZzSXYs 

Enter...Turnpike Eric

I have been single now for 18 days.  18 days...it feels longer, it actually feels like forever and not in a particularly charming way.  I can't say for sure that I'm not good at being single because I've never really been single.  At least not as an adult. I met my first serious boyfriend when I was 17 and we stayed together until I was 22.  Four months after we broke up I met Wes.  So here I am, 28 years old and  I have been single for a grand total of about 5 months in my entire adult life.  (For those who are paying attention, yes I am leaving a small something out but since this is my story and my blog, I get editing rights.  So... neener neener.)

In what little time I have spent single I have been found to be the proud owner of ASTOUNDINGLY bad dating luck.  I don't think its that I'm particularly bad at being single per se - I may get lonely occasionally but generally I'm alright on my own, it's just the random gomers that I somehow manage to attract while single that are distressing. Granted, I met Wes and I still count that a mark in the "go me" column but in betweensies it was pure weirdness.  Last time there was Small Hands Guy, Super Conservative Guy and how could we possibly forget Non-Gay Ray!

Thankfully, dating isn't really on the agenda at this point as there are some other things to be tended to. There's definite healing to be done in the heart department but beyond that I find myself little intrigued to find out what kind of person I am on my own.  What will I choose to with my evenings and weekends now that I'm working with just me, myself and I?  When the time does roll around for dating once more though (I assume that will happen eventually though it's difficult to imagine at the moment...right?) I am holding out hope that this time around, older and wiser, I will accrue a few less stories with which to entertain my friends and family.   It appears however, that the Universe has other plans for me.

Enter: Turnpike Eric.

I'm not sure if it was the cuteness that is BB or my exceptional car dancing skills that attracted Turnpike Eric's attention but it must have been one or the other (or both) because I simply cannot fathom what else would have instigated this exchange while driving down the Florida Turnpike.   It's an interesting moment when you realize a car is pacing you on the highway and you look over and a nice looking Hispanic gentleman waves at you.  I admit that I smiled as I sped up to pass / get away from him and his shiny silver car.  Then he sped up...and waved again.  So I slowed down, hoping again to shake this new friend of mine only to have him slow down in turn, roll down his window and make the "call me" sign with his hand.

Really?  What exactly is your plan here? We're driving 80 miles an hour down a four lane highway and you have some means of either getting my number (seriously unlikely) or giving me yours?  You either haven't thought this through OR you're oddly well prepared for what is hopefully a random encounter. Either way...no.

So shaking my head and doing my best to send out "I have a truck load of baggage and alphabetize everything" signals I again tried to lose my admirer in traffic.  I thought it had worked until about 5 minutes later I caught a glimpse of a silver car in my periphery and turned just as he again pulled up next to me, this time rolling down the back window and a small child's hand extended and started flashing numbers at me with his fingers.

Dude.  You're using your kid to give your number to strangers on the Turnpike?!  You have ceased to be entertaining in a charming way.

So again I sped up, this time deciding that my interest in extricating myself from this very bizarre encounter far outweighed my desire to not get a speeding ticket all the while hoping that this candidate for Worst-Father-Ever would feel differently.  Thankfully I was right and I sped off towards the horizon, leaving this fellow and his offspring in my wake. 

Fast forward to 30 or 45 peaceful, interaction free minutes later when I pulled off at a rest stop to scrub the hundreds of Love Bug carcases that had shellacked themselves to my windshield...and a silver car pulls up. Yeah - I know. 

Hi, I'm Eric.  Can I get your phone number?

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?

Hi Eric.  I don't think so.  

Common... why not?  (WHY NOT?!  Is that a question that even needs to be asked much less answered?)

Do you do this often?  (Met with a puzzled look...) You know, pick up strange women on the Turnpike with your kid in the car?

Oh...that's Little Eric, and only when they're beautiful.  I'm just driving him down to drop him off with his mom. What's your name? Can I give you my number and you can give me a call sometime?

No thank you, I'm going to head on my way but you guys have a good rest of your trip.  

I hope you're prepared for this because here comes the kicker, as I get back into my car he says:  

You have beautiful feet. 

Ew.  Ew, ew, ew, ew, eeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!

To me this only serves as further evidence that a.) I seriously miss my life from a month ago, b.)  I'm still a weird guy magnet and c.) only crazy serial killers hang out at truck stops and I'm pretty sure this one was planning to eat my feet and then kill me. And in that order.  

...sigh....

Things under consideration

Me: So...what do you think my chances are of being able to land a Royal?

John: Well, you'll probably want to go for Prince Harry, he seems to be the best option.  But you should look into where are there still absolute monarchies, 'cause that's what I would do.  What about someone like Gaddafi?  Does he have any son's your age?  I mean, your political views may differ but you could crush anyone who looks at you funny.

Quote of the Day: Amen! edition

"There's nobody in this country who got rich on his own.  Nobody.  You built a factory out there - good for you.

But I want to be clear.  You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for.  You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.  You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory...

Now look. You build a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay it forward to the next kid who comes along."

-- Elizabeth Warren. 

AMEN!

Song of the Day: Be Okay

Ingrid Michaelson - Be Ok

Song of the Day: Keep Your Head Up

Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again.
It's a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around again.
I say only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again.
It's a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around

But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
I know it's hard, know it's hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.

Quote of the Day: Velveteen Rabbit Edition

”It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

The Velveteen Rabbit 

Song of the Day: Dixie Edition

So....this song is a little bit random, and titch bit more gospel-y than I generally roll on in for, but the chorus, well it just plain speaks to me right now.  So take it for what the song was meant to mean or take it for whatever you want, that's what I do.

I hope, for more love, more joy and laughter
I hope, we'll have more than we'll ever need
I hope, we'll have more happy ever after
I hope, we can all live more fearlessly
And we can lose all the pain and misery
I hope, I hope

WHAT ABOUT THE FOOTBALL GAMES?!

Some people often define themselves by their talents, by what they love and what they innately do well.  I am not one of those people.  I've yet to find something that I just happen to rock the socks off of and generally, not a small amount of effort is required to become proficient at any given task.  Even with that work, there's a pretty decent list of things that I'm just not very good at and that's okay, one has to leave room for the other people to excel.

As of today, I say let's go ahead and add to the list - totally sucking at breaking up.  To be polite, we'll just go ahead and say that I'm a little bit messy at the moment.  During the day the things that make me wreck-ish (I think) fall into the normal-ish category but the the stuff that I worry about in the middle of the night?  It's bleeding insane I tell you.

Last night at around 330 in the morning I started worrying about the fact that given the current state of turmoil around these parts, hosting a football game this season is looking unlikely.  This inability to carry my weight in terms of hosting football games will in turn would lead to undue stress upon my friends who will each have to host more games than usual.

Oh em gee I tell you, OH EM GEEE.

Because this, the equity of football hosting responsibilities is totally my biggest fish to fry at the moment.  Screw the broken heart, screw feeling completely lost and disoriented and screw the inappropriate bouts of crying...WHAT ABOUT THE FOOTBALL PARTIES?!

Quote of the Day: Life Isn't Easy Edition

"But life isn’t easy, and the fact no guidelines exist leaves the boundaries open to interpretation. And we all know what happens when we make others part of the judgment jury of our lives: they judge the fuck out of us"

Song of the Day: minor overshare / broken hearted addition

The details in my fabric are currently that the oft written of Wondieful Boyfriend has moved out.  He is still wondieful in oh so many ways, just no longer mine. We decided on this together and yet it is is a thing that makes me panic as I look around my life and think, "now what?"  My heart hurts in a way I didn't know was possible, nobody ever told me that a mutual split is just as painful.


Please forgive me for the sadness that may appear here in the coming weeks.

"Details In The Fabric"
(feat. James Morrison)

Calm down
Deep breaths
And get yourself dressed instead
Of running around
And pulling on your threads
And breaking yourself up

If it's a broken part, replace it
If it's a broken arm, then brace it
If it's a broken heart, then face it

And hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
Hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way

And everything will be fine

Hang on
Help is on the way
And stay strong
I'm doing everything

Hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
Hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way

And everything, everything will be fine
Everything

Are the details in the fabric
Are the things that make you panic
Are your thoughts results of static cling?

Are the things that make you blow
Hell, no reason, go on and scream
If you're shocked it's just the fault
Of faulty manufacturing.

Everything will be fine
Everything in no time at all
Everything

Hold your own
And know your name
And go your own way

Are the details in the fabric (Hold your own, know your name)
Are the things that make you panic
Are your thoughts results of static cling? (Go your own way)

Are the details in the fabric (Hold your own, know your name)
Are the things that make you panic (Go your own way)
Is it Mother Nature's sewing machine?

Are the things that make you blow (Hold your own, know your name)
Hell no reason go on and scream
If you're shocked it's just the fault (Go your own way)
Of faulty manufacturing

Everything will be fine
Everything in no time at all
Hearts will hold