Breaking News

Breaking News Ya'll! Very Important! Stop what you're doing right now and listen up!

Bristol Palin & Levi Johnston are engaged! Woo-hoo!!! Finally their baby will have a proper up-bringing. Apparently after a battle in custody court, the former Playgirl model of the month confessed to his baby mama that he still holds a flame for her and wants to reunite. Oh happy day! This is some big time news ya'll! A true moment in our American history......mark your calendars! Maybe they will televise their nuptials like the Royals did with Charles & Dianna. Tivo here I come!

Oh and have you heard? Brad Pitt has cut his hair AND shaved off his beard. OMG!!! What was he thinking? Angelina will surely be upset and leave him for good with children in tow. But have no fear my pets. He's shooting a new film so the newly shorn & clean cut look shouldn't last long. I'm certain he will go back to his Grizzly Adams look once his film has wrapped up. That's just how Hollywood rolls....you've got to look the part.

And how can we forget poor Lindsey Lohan? Poor, poor thing. She's got to go to jail for a few days b/c she keeps fucking up her court orders. How do you expect a jet setting, world party traveler to show up at court ordered appointments when she's disco-ing the night away in Italy? So sad to see her cry....sniff, sniff. Let me stop a moment to wipe away my tears. I wonder if they will start making 'Free Li Lo' tee-shirts.

Big Score for LeBron James, eh? His story was all over the place. I was really bummed that I didn't get to see the live special revealing who he was signing with. I had to find it all out second hand. (sigh...) I really must get cable soon. He must be really fucking good to earn 14.5 million a year for his first 2 years with Miami. Wow....I wonder where all that money comes from. Certainly not BP.

Forgive the sarcasm folks. (did you really think I was serious?) I just can't believe these are some of the lead stories that I see on the internet these days. It's pretty sad that as a country that we are so engrossed with such trivial crap. Now I like hearing about the trivial crap just like everyone else but it seems so much of our news feed is all about the trivial crap. What I don't understand is how we can pay an athlete a ridiculous amount of money to play a sport yet we have our own peoples who are choosing between a loaf of bread and medicine. Why don't we have the money for our own countrymen? There are children who go without parents, food, shelter and clothing. We have an oil spill that we cannot stop but alternative sources of power and fuel is STILL not a priority. We keep shipping jobs over to foreign countries b/c it's cheaper yet there are millions of Americans out of work. We care more about the lives of movie stars than our own neighbors. The political front is scary. I'm not comfortable with this Tea Party movement. It makes me nervous. Say what you will but the Tea Party stuff reminds me of revolution and rebellion against your own country. Not good folks.

So where do we go from here? What kind of message are we sending to our kids when we focus on movie stars & athletes rather than doing what's right for our country and our future as a whole? What kind of priorities will our kids have in 20 years when they are out in the work force? I'm just saying...it's a scary world out there right now. Perhaps we should look to Mel Gibson for some words of wisdom. Hey does anyone know what Paris Hilton has been up to lately? Just curious.... ;) elizinashe

Back To School

It's getting close to the 'Back to School' chaos. The stores are promoting fall fashions, slashing prices on swimwear, stocking up on portable water bottles, coffee tumblers, book bags, and bed sheets sets. The Sunday paper store ads are full of trendy new items to dress up your wardrobe, your shoe collection, the bedroom and fun filled dormitories.

My question is what kind of dorms are these college kids getting these days? It seems all the promos for dorm life is setting up your dorm room as if it's a small apartment. Microwaves, futons, computer desks, coffee makers, storage cubes that are about the size of a dresser all in efforts to make your dorm experience festive and filled with friends. HUH? When I went to college we already had a desk area built into the wall with a book shelf with about 3 shelving areas attached to the cement walls. Two beds, a sink area, a small countertop with 6 drawers below-3 drawers for each person and two half closets. It was rather small and quite basic. There was absolutely no room for a microwave nor were they allowed in the rooms anyway. Hot plates were off limits however we could have a small dorm sized refrigerator. But in having the refrigerator sitting on the countertop that took up a lot of space. Decorations were scattered, mostly on the closet door b/c the walls were concrete blocks so there was little chance of nailing any wall art.

So I'm just curious about dorm rooms today. Are they bigger than what they used to be? Have they become mini-apartments so you can spend all your time decorating and throwing all-niters amongst your new furniture, funky art and kitchen gadgets? Seriously...shouldn't our kids be focused on hitting the books instead of the commercialism and gadgetry of dorm life? I'm just saying....college is expensive enough. Why spend extra money to set up a small room that's created to look like a new home? elizinashe

Pictures & Music

I swear I'm gonna blow up my computer from an overload of saved pictures and music. I can't stop. Is that even possible? I keep adding more and more music to my pute so I can create playlists for friends, family and now for a cheap MP3 player that my mom scored for free. It's my first step towards an iPod. But now my head is a-buzz with what songs I want to add on to this funny little device. I keep finding cds that I haven't loaded up on my computer that I feel I must have on there so I can transfer songs and obtain that perfect mix of music. It's a never ending obsession.

The more photos I take the more I become fixated on getting that one 'money shot' so I can make copies and pass them around. I've already got a series in mind for a small portfolio and mini albums to give as gifts. I tweaked some pics and dug for some old ones and found a wonderful multi-windowed frame for my dad for Father's Day. I spent an entire evening tweaking his project gift. Time will spent. He loved it. He went across the street to his neighbor to show it off. I want to be able to show off all of my good pics. Does that sound so vain? I know my future dollars are going to be spent on my crazed fixations. I guess that's not so bad though....there are other vices I could be spending my money on. I better start saving up for that extra pute, eh? elizinashe

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Every year there is an Ugliest Dog Contest. Poor things...the dogs that are entered truly are ugly. The Chinese Hairless Crested is a favored winner however there have been some others that have won the contest. I came across some photos of past contestants and had a great big old laugh at the expense of these dogs. They just don't know how funny looking they are. Some of them look like an overbreeding DNA double helix gone haywire and others look like a science experiment gone wrong. I don't know what the hell this second dog is supposed to be but he looks like something you'd find from the Lord of the Rings. He must have been a rescue dog. But as I have said before I appreciate the ridiculous so it wouldn't surprise me if I acquired an 'ugly dog' for myself. All things need love even if they aren't model perfect or our perception of beauty. Unconditional love my friends, unconditional love.....and a few good laughs. elizinashe.

Computers

My oh my how dependent we have become on computers these days. I had gotten up early on Wednesday to hit an exercise class. As I was sipping on my morning cup of coffee I turned on the pute in efforts to log on the internet. I kept getting a dialog box telling me that my search engine could not find the web page that normally pops up. Hmm....I kept trying and trying and finally gave up thinking that there was some outage somewhere and that my internet services would boot back up once I returned home from my class. Boy was I ever wrong.

When I returned home I once again tried to fire my computer up. No dice. Ugh! So I call my internet provider calling about not being able to log on. The representative tells me that there is a reported outage and that crews are working on the problem and I should have some services once the work is complete. Ah, relief. At least I knew it wasn't a virus that had shut me down. I was given a call back to let me know that the 'outage' had been fixed and that I should soon be able to connect. That was about 11:30am. I tried to once again boot up about 45 minutes later but to no avail. Now I was getting peeved not to mention impatient. So to make a long story short, I once again called about no services. I unplugged and replugged the modem, turned off the computer, checked my control panel but still no connection. The representative tried to reboot my modem from her end of the line but still.....no fire. I called two more times that day each with a different operator. FOUR TIMES I CALLED!!!!! I was so peeved. The last call (which was after 7pm) finally resulted in a work order being placed. Why this could not have been done on the second call is beyond me. So the last operator I spoke with was going to send someone out the following afternoon. However, I was scheduled to work that day and would not be home at all, so he set the appointment up for Friday morning. So while at work yesterday I hear my phone ring 3 times around lunchtime all around withing a minute or two of each ring. Upon listening to the voicemail after the 2nd call was the service call man at my house wondering why I wasn't there for the work order! UGH!!!! Did I not say the night before that I wasn't going to be home? Jesus....

SO...being more pissed off at lack of customer service I called AGAIN on my break to get this stupid problem fixed. The operator once again apologized(as if that made me feel any better) and reset the work order for today. FINALLY someone showed up at 9am this morning. I so wanted to ask the young man to give me a manager's direct number so I could bitch and gripe. The lack of customer service and proper communication really pissed me off to the nth degree. The real kicker was that is was nothing but a bad modem that had to be replaced. The service worker that had come to do the job was in and out in 45 minutes. This could have been resolved Wednesday morning when I FIRST called!!!! Geeze....what a pisser of an experience. But this experience also led me to another thought.

What ever did we do without computers? Oh yeah, we wrote letters, licked a stamp and mailed it off. We walked the neighborhood and chatted with our neighbors. We went to the pharmacy to drop off our prescriptions and drank a Coke while we waited for our medicine. If you're really from the old school you got an ice cream soda or a sundae. We listened to radio shows and gathered family & friends together to play music and share food. If we wanted to know something we went to the library. Encyclopedia's were a main staple in classrooms and even in some households. We played board games, cards, horseshoes and croquet. We went to church and had picnics in the yard. Have I left anything out? It seems everything we do depends so much on computers and that immediate satisfaction. Yes, computers have been a wonderful thing but sometimes finding an old-fashioned pharmacy that still serves cold soda pops and a long letter in the mail is fine by me. You can't find that sort of nostalgia on the net. elizinashe

Can't Help It

I just can't help myself sometimes. I came across this picture off the internet and just had to keep my over-the-top fashion gripes alive. Now I know that summer is upon us and the pollen has done its job to make all things bloom but this little clump of crab grass hat it just stupid. Perhaps it's a tribute to all those fathers & husbands who spend an afternoon in sweltering heat doing the lawn duties. I see that the rumors are true and the neon colors of the 80s are making a come back. Yikes! If this model is not careful she could poke an eye out with that hat. I would guess if she were outside a bird might mistake it for a nest and end up pooping all over it, or lay some eggs. Take your pick. Gotta love it. elizinashe

Relationships

One door closed, another door to open. The man that I had been seeing ended our relationship with me today. I'm really not that heartbroken about it all. Sad yes but devastated no. He is a wonderful guy and I understand why he wanted to end our time. I have no ill will towards him at all. I truly enjoyed just spending time with him and getting to know each other better. We both agreed that it was smart that we didn't rush into a physical relationship so quickly which I guess is a habit for both of us. Although we did talk about having sex and wanted to have sex, we just didn't quite get to that point. It would have been nice to explore that part of 'us' however under the given circumstances I'm glad we just didn't go there. It would have complicated things more so on his end and not on my side of the fence. It was a great stepping stone for me as well as a learning experience. I don't see if as my glass half empty or even half full. I see it as in need of a refill. elizinashe