Small of Me?

    Just one more entry and to get this off of my chest. Bah Humbug!!

I get so tired of people trying to join the Romance Noire Book Club (a online Yahoo book club for AA and multicultural romance novels) without the right credentials. Being a publisher who serves multicultural authors is not the same as "AA and Multi...". Oh whine, hiss. Then they get angry with me when I don't allow their messages to be posted. I started this group in 2000 because there was no place for authors of this genre of romance novel to meet and talk.  Sadly, I have stopped thinking that folks will read the criteria for joining RNBC. However, I cannot have *my* authors bombarded or harassed in their safe haven!!!  We have 200 romance authors, writers, wannabes inthe group and I am determined to keep their community safe and secure. No SPAM, no outsiders, no odd postings! Thanks for listening Mr. Bloggie  (whine).    

Ohh. I see that I used a lot of underlinesand exclamation marks. To me, that has always signified a slightly wacko person. How wacko depends on the amount of  ***, underlining and exclamation points!!!!   Big smile-Okey, I am feeling much better now.

p.s. I could not find a picture of an angry woman--apparently we women keep cool at all times.

Happy New Year!!

     I had an odd dream last night or very early this morning. It was one of those dreams that are hard to come out of. Very strange. Fortunately, I learned not to fall asleep while watching like shows like The Twilight Zone. I can't begin to tell you the horrors that came from them. TTZ came on after the Honeymooners. Oh boy!!. :-(  These days, apparently watching the news has the same affect.

When I went downstairs to get my mail, I found some of those small (really small) dividend checks. I used to ignore them, then later I would find them everywhere. But no longer--if my old friend who was treated a king with a capital "K", at my old brokerage firm, could walk up to my desk and hand me 21 cent checks to put into his seriously big bucks account, I can hold my head up and do the same at my bank. For some reason he always called me "Fran", actually he called me "Fran darling" (big smile)    

Since I will be out of town New Year's Eve I guess this will be my last journal item for this year. In 2006 I am going to concentrate on positive 'everything'.   

Happy New Year. Wishing everyone peace, blessing, good health and fortune.

And like singer Al Green, I wish you Love and Happiness.

End of the Year Thoughts

    Oh where, oh where,  is the Mary Tyler Moore show?  I think that was the name of it. Right now my television is on and, as always, I have been pretty much ignoring it--just using it as 'white sound', because I work better that way. I am not sure what station it is, but someone is talking about eating deer testicles--definitely time for a channel change! See. This is why you gotta watch Big Red Dog or Arthur cartoons; or cooking shows. You don't have to pay attention and they don't gross you out.

My retirement anniversary? Wow! I can't believe that it is almost one year since retirement. I still miss everyone and they are often in my thoughts. I am saddened by what's taking place at UMD. On the other hand I must confess that I am happy to be away from the fuss and bother of it all. I just found an old resume, just reading it made me tired. It makes me I appreciate my retirement even more. I am still putting in a lot of hours but I focusing on something else these days. I feel blessed to be able to concentrate on doing what I love. It has brought more days and longer hours than I expected, ideally I expected to work 2 or 3 days a week, just a few hours a day. I am not sure what happened, but things exploded. Oh look--he has (the chef, don't know his name or name of show) made polenta (sort of like grits) and topping it with sausage and artichokes in red gravy. Yum.  Mmmm. Wavering attention span. I have to smile because some friends continue to think that I am on a long vacation, if that were true I am sure that I would be bored out of my mind :-(   I think what I have is the best of both worlds.   

Stay home and be safe? Last night there was a news report about a woman who was struck in the face (maybe the eye) and killed by a stray bullet that entered a window in her 5 floor apartment. Just a few weeks ago, a couple was killed while sleeping in their bed; a car crashed into their house.  

Year 2006? How can that be? I still remember George Orwell's futuristic novel, 1984, where we live in a society that is led by Big Brother who watches everything we do and listens to everything we say. I remember wondering could that  really happen? MMmmm. Too bad I can't remember how the story ends. 

EeK--I'm late!!  It's after 11:00 a.m. and I am still here wondering if I have biz mail. I am sure that I won't know if I don't check :-) At this moment (it's quiet, it's raining), I am feeling mighty like Scarlett O'hara and feel like thinking 'bout it tomorrow.

Happy Holidays

      2005  has been a challenging year for so many. I wish all of my friends the best in this coming year. I continue to pray for those with personal and family problems concerning health and home.

Wow. It's been a long time since I have posted in my journal. Not much has happened since my last visit here. I was away from December 3 to the 17. That's the longest time I have ever been away from home. I don't call it a vacation because I took my laptop and had incoming telephone calls transferred to my cell phone. It is real decent typing and watching waves. While away, one thing became abundantly clear--I would love to live near the ocean. It is amazing to wake up to a view of water as far as you can see. One night the rain came hard and heavy, of course I was delighted because I love rain. Earlier the weather station had reported that we would get "gale like rain". Very exciting. However, the wind was outrageous. It was far worse than UMDNJ's dreaded wind tunnel corner :-(  During those stay-in times, I thought of sitting in the near empty lobby and reading, but as I told my girl friend, a picture of Agatha Christie's Ms. Marple kept popping into my head. How grim is that?

Last  I watched early Andy Williams Christmas shows from the 1960's. PBS had a special and it was wonderful. It brought back good memories of my own family Christmases when I was younger.  Noisey, loving and warm. It's interesting that Andy Williams talked about memories; and we saw his children, singing brothers, parents, the very young Osmond brothers and more.  However, he never mentioned  his ex-wife Claudine Longet even though she was in many of the shots with Andy and their children. Longet(sp?) was involved in a murder scandal in the late 70's. I think she was convicted of manslaugher of her lover, skier, Spider Sabich.  prove that

Psychology Tests and Other Fun Quizzes ;-)

    Late last night I was doing a search on psychology testing and ended up at the "Psychology Magazine" site. Guesss what; they had online tests there :-) I ended up taking a couple and didn't hate the results. Although when I completed the standard I.Q. test, along with the number results was a statement that "your score was slightly above average; however you received 50% on the  ????? test. I was really curious about that 50% score.  I suspect it was off those "apple is to orange as cigarette is to..." the thing is, if you want a deeper explanation, you must pay to see it. What a bummer! Here is the URL for the tests--there are many.  http://www.psychologytoday.com/pto/self_tests.php   These days, even when I work I get to play a bit.   Yep--I did find my information.

Enjoy  

My November Movies

     A friend asked me to post my movie review URL here because she says it is easier to find here. O.K.  here it is. http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Movie-Reviews.htm I have The Bishops Wife here cuz, I just love this old black and white movie. I also did The Constant Gardener; and no I do not think Tessa was having an affair. I'm not naive, it just doesn't fit.

Everyone is welcome to suggest a movie. I already have one suggestion for the latest Harry Potter movie. I will try to see it this month.

p.s.  the site above is slow :-( but please don't be discouraged. Anyway please let me know if you agree (or not)  with my take on these movies. Would love to know what you think.

 

Daily Read

     While away I picked up The Press Newspaper. This A. C. paper had a lot of stuff about Philly but I did find a few things of interest on November 25:

Beetle Baily. Just two windows--one character says, "Well, it's official...Human beings are now smart enough to destroy all life on earth." Friend says, "Yeah" "And just dumb enough to do it." Mmmm. Maybe just a little truth there :-(

TV showing of  "Holly Jolly Christmas" with Burl Ives.  A friend and I were recently talking about Burl Ives as Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. We agreed that Ives was the quintessential "Big Daddy."  No one else comes close his performance. But you know how I think of Burl Ives?  I remember him singing "Big Rock Candy Mountain"--I had a little record player and several  '45' records (really bright yellow). Even as I type this, I can hear his voice in my head . Of course, the only words I remember from this song is, Big Rock Candy Mountain, but that's enough to make me smile :-)

Cartoon on editorial page: Big sign MERRY XMAS behind store counter, Christmas decorations are in place. Customer says, "It seems your Christmas decorations go up earlier every year."  Store clerk (sales associate??) says "These are for 2006."  Far-fetched? A little, but I did see a huge Xmas bubble the first week in November at my local CVS.

Great Commentary: Cashless society already here, at least for the young by Marsha Mercer, Washington bureau chief of Media General News Service wrote, "... I'm a baby boomer who will fish through many coins on the bottom of my purse to find three pennies for exact change--  although not usually when people are behind me in line.  Once I read a suggestion to toss spare pennies on the sidewalk to delight children who'll find them. I tried it but I felt silly,..."  She also states, "...But Generation X and Y are shaping retail, banking and the newspaper business. Companies that print checks have suffered such a decline in demand for checks that they're shutting down manufacturing plants...."  If interested--the full text of article is here http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/commentary/story/5722403p-5739742c.html  She says she may get a debit card. Maybe I will too. I saw a couple buying lunch while at Ikea, they both used their own debit cards--and charged? debited less than $5. The cashier did not seem to be surprised.

And finally, I read an article about our troops in Iraq eating their Thanksgiving dinner between patrols. There was a picture of several soldiers and they were smiling. Just reading the article and looking at the photo made me step out on the balcony and say a quick prayer for our people to get out of Iraq quickly and safely.