Last day of the year

Today is the last day of the year 2008. I blew out my knee, unexpectedly lost my father in law, got a knee operation, didn't get to go camping, was completely overbooked, and saw my all time hero lose an election. I took such offense at an email from a friend that I still have trouble thinking about it. And yet it was a great year. I just picked up my leg brace for skiing in 2009, and was given the okay to ski by my surgeon. So I have a little support for my leg, and there's the support from the memory of my father in law to bring me back to Colorado, where we lost him. He had more spunk than the rest of the world combined, and I am going to make him proud by going out and having a great time there. We all will, the family, that is. And I can rest in the knowledge that Senator McCain is still the greatest and most noble American alive today. his grace in loss and pledge to support the government of our country is what makes him an amazing person who puts his country first. And so we begin a new year, with hopes for the best and strength for whatever may come our way.

Weird, Creepy, True

Just watched some perfectly matched for me show called something like Weird Creepy and True. It was about swarms. Swarms of flies in Africa, swarms of crabs on Easter Island, swarms of locusts, swarms of box jellyfish, wasps, endless unexpected death around every single corner. Right up my alley.

Right now I am watching some show about a shark eating a woman, and her friend just keeps on filming it. Nice. Sounds like my old high school click.

I love to watch death and disaster. I feel it's good to be aware of every pitch life throws at me. I'm not sure it helps me stay alive and keep my loved ones alive, but it sure as hell makes me feel better to think about all the possibilities and think about how I would react.

I was on the Circle Line once for a Halloween Booze Cruise in NYC. Unlike a lot of people, I was only drinking and not doing drugs, I did have some brains, I guess. I saw a guy go overboard, from the top level of the ship, and walked over and asked the guys sitting there staring at nothing if a guy had just gone over. (My mother has trained me to distrust my "vivid" imagination over the years). They said yeah, he went over. So I ran, first thinking, where is the captain of the boat, then realizing that would do no good, and turned, heading straight for the DJ. He cut the music and announced Man Overboard, and all 500 people in full costume ran to the sides of the boat to look. I ran down the inner stairs, and two guys were standing at the bottom. One of them says, "Hey, this is the best time to hit the bar!" (he did not like lines, I am guessing) and the other guy rolled his eyes. AHA! I found intelligent life. I asked him where the life preservers were, and we tried to hunt one down. Alas, we found out after knocking a few ceiling squares down and opening a few benches, that all the life preservers had been removed because booze cruisers often ended up tossing all the preservers into the river.

So, the guy died. But I learned several very important lessons that night. One was, never hang from the railing by your feet on a booze cruise, no matter how fun you think it might be. Another is that I am capable of reacting well in a bad situation. Of course, it's not like the ship was sinking or anything, but trust me, I would have been on the lifeboat with that one intelligent guy before anyone else even knew the boat was sinking. But I did not act like a moron or flip out, I functioned well under stress. It proved to be my strong point in later years in my professional life.

And the final thing I learned was...it really is a good time to go to the bar if you want a drink right away. Really.

Even though Christmas is past, don't forget 'em!

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
Sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... An American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

"Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most" - Ruth Carter Stapleton

Getting "Slammed"

We have had some interesting weather lately. I base all of my comments here on the weather people and newspeople on the television, because they are the whiniest, most annoying people on the planet.

First, according to our lovely weatherpeople, we are slammed with ice, all over the place. The street I live on, a steep hill, was not sanded. The neighbors and John went out with their own de-icer and shoveled up the snow so a few people (not us) could get up to the world. If the county knew, we would be swarmed with PETA or Greenpeace people screaming that we killed something with our deathly de-icer. Oh well.

THEN, we get slammed with snow. And more snow, and more snow. Yes, almost as much snow over several days as the east coast gets in a few hours. And western Washington came to a dead halt. And good Lord do they complain about it on the news.

I would like to add at this point that my street did not get plowed of snow. Any neighbors who don't have 4 wheel drive parked up at the top of the hill. We didn't, we have TWO 4 wheel drive cars. We still didn't venture out more than once or twice though.

Good news, my street became a center of attraction to all sledders who were not afraid of the possibility of shooting through the barrier and off the cliff. It was fun to watch from my cozy inside couch.

Then, tonight, I turn on the news. They open up with the fact that it has been raining for two days, and we are being SLAMMED with rain. Oh my gosh, flooding warnings, dangerous slush, it is horrendous! I wanted to slap them all. Whatever. After a good 10 minutes on weather, they finally mention that Israel SLAMMED the Palestinians with explosives today. Of course, they did not use the word slammed on that, when they SHOULD use it.

By the way, my road is still untouched by the city and I am still not complaining about it. I laugh when people come down and get stuck. Hello, this is a mountainous area, not a hilly one. Get 4 wheel drive or stay at home during storms. Or try something new, walk!

These weather guys whine so much they really ought to live on the east coast. I forgot how much people complain about the weather over there. I might have to get a petition to banish them before the New Year.

Provided, that is, we don't get SLAMMED by them.

Pablo The Reindeer

Who does Santa take when he goes to Mexico??? PABLO, of course! For all those who rolled their eyes over the past 35 years, please check out this fabulous rendition of Pablo the Reindeer from Mexico on YouTube. I AM VINDICATED!!! And I love the song!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-riQuj1UB3A&feature=related

Snow Thunder?

I woke up this morning around 5:30, my husband was leaving for work. So I lied on the couch to make sure he got up the hill okay (he was curious to know what I was going to do if he didn't make it) (the answer is nothing, but hey, I was a cheerleader, what do you want me to do besides cheer you on?).

But I digress. It was snowing on TV, somewhere in Seattle or the surrounding area. The snow, all 2 or 3 inches of it, is nonstop news matter today. I saw not one, not two, but 3 different reporters in different areas, at least 20 miles apart from each other, pushing aside a thin layer of snow to reveal a thin layer of ice. Just in case we didn't get it from the first reporter. I was slightly bored and falling asleep at this point.

Then, of all things, they annouce we have SNOW THUNDER. WHAT? Am I dreaming this, or am I awake? Yep, in Snoqualmie, or Snohomish, or Sno-wherever the reporter was, it was snowing, and there was thunder. He explained that a thunderstorm in the snow was called Snow Thunder. I'm not buying it. First of all, I thought you needed heat to have thunder. I am sure it was just trucks crashing into each other on the road out of his sight and he was mistaking it for thunder. Or else some cute little boys were smashing a big thin sheet of metal that fell off of a truck (trucks around here drop stuff ALL the time), and that's what the reporter was hearing. I bet he'd fall for the War of the Worlds trick on the radio if we gave it a try.

Snow Thunder. What will they think of next? Snow Tsunami? That's a good one. Let's try it.

Death by Mexican

I love Mexican food. I mean, LOVE it. I could probably eat it every day, for every meal. I spent a week in Mexico and that's all I ate. It was glorious. The only problem is that Mexican does not like me. Every single time I eat it, without fail, I get the most severe indigestion and heartburn. Even though I take prozac every day and NEVER get heartburn. Mexican eliminates the entire drug in my system.

So, a sensible person would probably not eat Mexican, at least, not very frequently. But me? NAH. I eat it all the time. Tonight I took my daughter to a place that gives me the worst indigestion I have ever had, and what did I do? Ate Mexican. I have been severely uncomfortable and even in pain for more than 3 hours now. My stomach acid mocks antacids like Tums. That didn't even work when I was in 5th grade. An entire bottle wouldn't work on it right now. So I don't bother, I am drinking a Mexican beer to make it even worse. Might as well go for the gold.

I have, as you might have guessed, GERD. That is Gastro Esophagal Reflux blah blah blah. It means my stomach acid shoots up my esophagus because my flap SUCKS. That is in human speak. MFS. My Flap Sucks. And so did my digestive life until the creation of the God almighty Prilosec. It made me normal, well, at least my flap normal, and I was gleeful. Of course, my Diverticulosis condition is not really controlled by Prilosec. It certainly seems to be better off with it (for those of you who don't know, diverticulosis is essentially that the inside of my intestines is not flat and smooth, but more of a roller coaster ride, the Fun Person gene is in my intestines). Sometimes things go down the hill and don't come back up the hill. STUCK. And no service emergency team to remove the poor coaster riders. So, it ferments and causes severe pain and eventually you puke your brains out for 2 days. It's so pretty, usually only old people get it, but it runs in my family and I got lucky.

My husband complains that I did not tell him about the defects until after we were married. Like I was gonna tell him THAT. He can live with it, he really doesn't have a choice anymore!

So, back to the Mexican topic. I get so easily distracted. I eat Mexican all the time, I go with my friends, I never complain, and I suffer for hours afterwards. I go with my husband too. I go alone. I take my child. You would think eventually my body would simply refuse to open my mouth and bend my arm to prevent the poison from entering me, but no. I continue to torture myself and I will probably end up dead with a burrito in my hand one day. What a way to go. I hope I get run over by a taco truck while I am eating my burrito. That would be hilarious. None of you could keep a straight face at the funeral. Especially Cindy from college. She got run over by a hot dog cart in NYC (where we went to college) and I laughed my ass off for so long her roommate almost kicked my butt in. She'd probably put a rotten hot dog in my coffin. I would like that. She always did have a sense of humor.

I think I have some burritos in the freezer too....hmmmmmm...ttyl!!!