A fine line between fun and stupid

I composed this entry in MS Word using the "Maiandra GD" font. My brother and I both think "Maiandra" would be a great name for a girl, though he's still convinced his first daughter will be named "Tabitha Sinead." My mother says she feels sorry for her future grandchildren.

But you don't want randomness like that, do you? You want to know where the hell I've been for the past few weeks. I'm really touched that people have been concerned, and sorry if anyone thinks I'm blowing them off. I didn't mean to. I was just too busy and/or beat to blog. Yeah, I've said that before, but it's shaping up to be a very busy winter. My work is really doing it. Busy-yet-boring again. (I think I should make that an acronym--BYB.)

I think the groundhog's going to be wrong. It's only getting colder, it seems. I love my winter surfing, but it's too cold for that right now--there's a fine line between "fun" and "stupid," you know?

I started interior decorating classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. I've been doing all right, but I felt a little intimidated after seeing examples of others' rooms and furniture designs. Also, I can't really draw, and many people in that class can, and they expect you to draw furniture samples occasionally and learn to make blueprints eventually. I had to remind myself that one has to start somewhere, and that unlike most of my classmates, I've actually been paid for my efforts. I am learning. And I'm eligible to shop "to the trade" in some places, too! WOO-HOO!!!

Last year, one of L'Ailee's birthday presents to me was getting her best friend to help her paint stripes on our ceiling. I loved it for a few months. Then I got bored with it, and she got *really* bored with it. So once again she climbed onto her best friend's shoulders (I don't know what hold she has on him!) to paint our ceiling. This time it's a gorgeous Tiffany box turquoise. We also--I am *so* happy, and I *know* we won't get tired of this--got the built-in bookshelves we've been wanting! So I had to paint the insides that same shade of turquoise. Our walls are now an eggshell white, but that was to serve as a ground for the beautiful pastel chinoiserie patterns we painted with the help of The Stencil Library. Then of course, we had to slipcover our dark furniture. It occupied a couple of weekends, but we're happy with our living room again. It's fun to shake up our surroundings sometimes, and I'm happy that I live with someone else who feels the urge to do that every once in a while.

This past Saturday, my mom and I actually went to a concert together because we both wanted to. Trace Adkins in DC! I *never* thought we would do that. Our tastes in music are so different. But we both agree on Trace Adkins. What a voice...what a body...his face ain't much, but you can't have everything! It was a lot of fun. I tease my mom because she lived "Ladies Love Country Boys", about ambitious Northern women falling for Southern redneck boys. She was engaged to a doctor in Michigan, and then she came to Florida "temporarily", and then she decided she liked this Cracker mechanic better. That was my Daddy. We also agree that "Dangerous Man" and "Baby I'm Home" are furiously hot. A reviewer for the Washington Post so doesn't get it. I don't think Trace is a macho asshole--he expresses a sensitive side in other songs, and his "good ol' country ass-whupping" was not actually meant, as the idiotic critic alleged, for anti-war protestors. ("Fightin' Words" reminded us of the trouble men we've loved have gotten into at bars. When they begin a story with something like "Everyone knows I'm the hard-workin', peace-lovin' type," our immediate reaction is "Oh, shit, what have you done now?" :-)

I can talk about Molly Ivins dying, but I find that extremely depressing and everyone's said it better than I can already. I am still so grateful that the latest wave of tornadoes to hit Florida didn't affect anyone I loved. My brother and his wife would have been hit, but they moved in mid-January! I am cautious about crowing too much about my people not being hurt or made homeless. Other people lost loved ones, and though I think mine are special, I don't think me and mine are really more special than others in the wider scheme of things. I just have to be grateful. Quiet and grateful.

And I have to catch up with all y'all.

Links:

You can help save Alaska's Tongass National Forest from clear-cutting!

Help gay animals become ex-gay! This absolutely tickled me, not only because of all the recent gay animal stories, but because I have a bisexual cat.

Revenge in Washington A symbolic ballot initiative from a pro-SSM group was accepted by the Secretary of State in Washington. Basically, it would invalidate all childless/childfree mixed-sex marriages. I'm sure it won't pass. I think the point should be made, but I don't like the method--it wastes taxpayer time and money. I do hope childless and childfree mixed-sex couples see the point, and sympathize. They are being insulted by anti-SSM rhetoric.

Eighteen preciously precious baby pandas need names! They are even taking English names as suggestions. I totally think one must be named "Oreo" and another, "Diaper Butt." L'Ailee tried to dissuade me from suggesting the latter, but how cool would that be in a zoo? "And over in the Asia Trail, we have Mei Mei and Diaper Butt..."

From the Onion: In Order to Save the Whales, We Must Breed With Them.

Why Prince didn't get electrocuted at the Super Bowl

Finally, Are Women Allowed to be Funny?