I miss....

 ...so many things!

I miss live entertainment. I miss the anticipation of a live performance. I miss big events. My hometown is hosting March Madness this year. Not just the big 10 or the championship, the whole tournament. I'm not a sports fan but I sure miss the excitement of a big event. Indianapolis would be going crazy right now if these were normal times. It would've been fun to see the excitement of it all. I could've seen Michael Bublé. I was going to see Jesus Christ Superstar, and probably so many other things. 

I miss hugs. 

I miss lunches at work with coworkers and friends. 

I miss walking around downtown. 

I miss shopping at TJ Maxx. Ours has been closed since the riots. 

I miss seeing all the cars parked at the movie theater. 

I miss shopping for clothes - all the fitting rooms are closed. 

I miss smiles. You never get to see anyone smiling. It stinks. 

Even though my sweet, sweet husband packs my lunch everyday and makes me breakfast on Thursday and Friday, I miss going to the cafeteria at work if I just want a change of pace. 

I miss planning vacations. 

I miss planning anything!

I miss salt shakers on restaurant tables. Now I carry my own - in my purse!

There are a couple TV shows I miss too. 

I miss seeing people at work, since the majority of them have been working remotely for the last year.

It's been a year since the world pretty much came to a stop. sigh

Ch ch changes...

 Change is hard, for a lot of people.

I don't mind it when things change. But if I'm the one who has to change, suck it! For example, at work we are getting new office furniture. I have to get used to a new chair. But I didn't have to change anything. I don't mind the change in seasons. I don't change them, it just happens :-)  When my fella remodeled the kitchen, I would leave in the morning and when I came home after work, magically, something would've changed! 

A couple years ago I bought a new car. It was hard. I had to change the way I did everything in the car.

When you move into a new home, that change is hard. You have to decide where everything goes...you're making that change.

When we ditched cable and went straight to streaming, it was hard. I bet it took me a year to actually make the jump!

Over the weekend we switched cell phone carriers. We've been talking about doing it for awhile now. But it was a change I had to make, so I dragged my feet. Not only did we change carriers, but we changed phones too! OMG!!! I like to think I'm not dumb but when it comes to new technology, I really struggle sometimes. I can figure out most things but damn. By the end of the day I was so exhausted! I'm not kidding. And Google and I are best friends right now, while I'm trying to figure out how to do things on my new phone. Also, we bought a couple new area rugs for the house. They're a little smaller, which I like because you can see more of our beautiful wood floors now. But one them is dark. Dark brown, red and blue. I looked at it online for a month before I bought it because it's so different from what we've had in the past. I LOVE it now that it's in the room. 

I know I just had a weekend off, but now I feel like I need a day off!!

Proof reading

Proof reading is a lost skill. 

You know, occasionally I'll come across a typo in a novel, but not very often. I make typos and leave words out all the time! But I'm not paying someone to correct my work. And if you're getting paid to be an editor/proof reader and you miss something, you shouldn't get paid. How about that?! People should be held more accountable. There's more than just "showing up" you know. I'm not a grammar nazi or anything but some things make me crazy...there/their/they're, your/you're for example. You wouldn't believe how many times I see crap like that in a news article or story. Don't they have people to proof read?

But the winner of the 'lack of editing' goes to our local art museum. A couple weeks ago they posted a job opening on line for a new art director. Part of the job posting said they were seeking a director to "attract a broader and diverse audience while still maintaining the Museum's traditional, core, white art audience."

Did anybody read this before they posted it? Didn't ONE person think to say, ummm, you might want to change that wording? Holy wow! In today's climate? Come on people! I get what they were trying to say but geez!

Anyway, the president of the museum has since resigned over the backlash.  Maybe people did see the issue but they didn't like him so they didn't say anything. LOL. That's one way to get rid of somebody. Some people argued that that attitude is so ingrained in art culture that they just didn't see anything wrong with it. Who knows. But if a competent at their job person had actually proof read it first, I wouldn't be talking about it. 

Travel

Sometimes in the morning, while I'm having coffee and gearing up for the work day, we travel the world on YouTube. Do you every do that?

There are so many great YouTube videos, via drones, that travel all over world. It's pretty awesome. Especially if you're not a world traveler. Do you want to be a world traveler? I was probably a lot more adventurous when I was younger. Now I see all the people and think, ummm, no thank you! 

Yesterday for example, I watched part of a video taken over Italy. It was so visually interesting that later in the day I went to Italy, via Google and walked all around Venice. Venice is amazing! I don't want to go there though. Too many tourists. Tons and tons of tourist. But Google street view was fantastic! I also went to Greece. Greece looks beautiful from overhead. But when you really get into the cities and drive around, it's not really that great. I did go island hopping though and that was cool. 

Next up, Norway. Honestly, this is a really nice way to travel the world. No tourists. No pricey hotels. No weird food. Oh sure, I know it's not the same as 'being there.' But it is the next best thing!! :-)

10 questions

Did you ever watch Inside the Actor's Studio? I really liked that show. If you've never seen it, It was an hour long show with host James Lipton (who died last year) and an actor. It was filmed in front of acting/writing etc. students of NY's Actor's Studio. It was a great show because it was only about the guests craft. No gossipy or tabloid or personal crap. Just how they felt about their craft and some of the movies they did and what they learned. It was cool. 

At the end of every episode, James Lipton asked them 10 questions. It was always the same questions. The answers were always fun.

Here are the questions, and my answers :-)

1. What is your favorite word? yes

2. What is your least favorite word? hate

3. What turns you on? creativity

4. What turns you off? selfishness

5. What is your favorite curse word? dumb fucker

6. What sound or noise do you love? children laughing

7. What sound or noise do you hate? foil/cellophane bags crinkling!

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Zoo Keeper

9. What profession would you not like to do? mortician

10. If Heaven exists, what would yo like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Way to go dude? come on in!

Books to movies

 Have you ever seen a movie adapted from a book you loved, that you liked?

I thought Gone With the Wind was pretty good, even though they left a lot out. And To Kill a Mockingbird was excellent. Harry Potter, Great Expectations, Shawshank Redemption, The Exorcist, Silence of the Lambs, In Cold Blood, all them were pretty good movies compared to their written form. I'm sure there are more. I've heard that The Color Purple was adapted to film very well. And Little Women. I've seen both those but never read the books.

I've yet to see a movie about Frankenstein that made me feel about the monster, the way I did in the book. Not too many Stephen King books have been good movies. I mean, look at The Shinning! That sucked. I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and I liked the movie but they were kind of separate for me. Also, I loved The Giver but the movie was just so much fluff compared to the anguish in the book! And one of Dean Koontz's best stories, Watchers, has had several film adaptions. They're so awful I've never watched one all the way through. This should be a no brainer...who doesn't love a great dog movie?!?! Why can't they get it right?

I bring this up because I just finished watching Stephen King's, The Stand. His best work. EPIC. The original mini series in 1994 wasn't bad, except for the actors. Only a couple of them were any good. I was really looking forward to the remake. It needed an update for sure. With the exception of Whoopie Goldburg (who was wrong for that part), I actually liked the other actors. I liked that 'new vegas' was SOOOOO bad. It needed to be. But all in all, I thought the remake was pretty disappointing. On many levels. 

Thank heavens the story I love is still alive and well in the pages of the book

Ad campaigns

Ads are SO annoying. That's part of what's great about not watching cable TV. Or at least having a DVR so you can record everything and then fast forward through all the commercials. It's also what I love about Sirius XM radio. NO ads! 

All of that being said, there have been some pretty great ad campaigns. How about, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. That was brilliant! Budweiser has had some awesome ad campaigns too. Remember those frogs?! Or Spud McKenzie?! And who can forget the GEICO caveman ads!

Many years ago, I started hearing these radio ads about Michigan. They're FANTASTIC! Seriously. They make me want to go to Michigan. They made/make me smile every single time I hear one. If you've never heard one, pick a couple of these and listen to them. You won't be sorry.

https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=d58978cd-8a1241d2-d58d31cd-8630ffab37ab-0f2c7180fd988c91&q=1&e=cdbc15a1-5a6c-4469-b41d-8d96056bac49&u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F05FPzUCbMXQ

https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=df146838-808f512a-df102138-86b2e136ff17-723aecf3de204b83&q=1&e=e69784d9-cb7f-4c50-9f59-9736f786872f&u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FFqE3Wu4zmW8

https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=7693d906-2908e1f0-76979006-8681010e5614-01942e676f46a474&q=1&e=cd3cd316-0db2-49fb-9a4a-3d2b3a2460b3&u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FnLVZh-W6ue4

Now for the funny part...I suck at voices, picking them out. I'm also no good at knowing who sings the songs I love. I never pay attention to that. So last year I heard a new Michigan radio ad and decided I just had to know who the voice behind those ads is. If you've heard them, you probably already know...I'm so dense sometimes. But if you don't know, you would be completely surprised!

I'll tell you in the comments  :-)

What are you watching?

Well I guess we're all watching a lot more TV, except there's nothing on sooooo...

There's Netflix, Hulu, Disney, CBS All Access, The Peacock, Prime Video, Discovery +, Apple TV, Pluto, Sling, etc., etc., etc. So what do watch? 

We have a few of those channels, but not traditional cable. Why spend a couple hundred $$ on cable when you can get all this other stuff for 1/2 the cost! 

I've actually been trying to watch the old classics. Like Little Foxes with Bette Davis. That was pretty good. Rear Window, there's a classic! I watched it for the first time this year. Adams Rib, Citizen Kane, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was a fun idea but not really my cup of tea. 

-We watched a movie on Hulu called Run. That was great. I was completely surprised by the ending.  

-On a free preview of HBO, we watched a Brad Pitt movie called Ad Astra. We enjoyed it. It's a good sci-fi movie but not an action movie. Captain Phillips was fantastic! Was Gemini Man, with Will Smith a remake? No matter. I hadn't seen either version before. It's a good guy movie :-) And that wildly popular horror movie Get Out! Whoa. The whole movie was so odd I just kept saying, what the hell is going on?! The horror part didn't happen until the last 10 minutes and they could've done without that. I liked it until then. The last 10 minutes was just a slasher movie. Oh! and have you seen the documentary, Free Solo?? It's about Alex Honnold, the young man who climbed the face of El Capitan, without ropes!!!! Whoa. It was pretty intense.

The next ones are all on Prime; 

-Midnight Sky. It stars George Clooney. It wanted to be a good movie...alas. The twist at the end was kind of cool and George did a good  job but the movie was just meh. 

-Winchester, mostly because we love Helen Mirren. It was just alright. 

-The Vast of Night-it was like a pretty typical 50's style alien movie so that made it kind of fun. Plus, sometimes a movie that's loaded with dialog instead of special effects is a nice break!

-Aeronauts was good. But the real story that it was based on, was better. Still a good adventure movie though. 

-Archive, was a little confusing so you have to pay attention, but it was a good sci-fi robot movie and the special effects were amazing. Also an ending I didn't see coming.

-the CORE. We tried to watch it but after about 20 minutes it was so predictable, we bailed. 

Pandemic life, 2021

Who would've thought, a year later and we're still living in this pandemic hell. There are still shortages of some things. Still online teaching. Still restrictions on restaurants. Still no concerts. Still no live sporting events. Still nothing on TV (except that's actually normal). Still people working at home. Still face masks everywhere you go. Still no movies at the theater. Still. 

That's why I haven't written anything. What is there to talk about?! 

Even the glory of year end lists was all about COVID or politics. I love year end lists! They just weren't any fun this time. Even the, 'most heartwarming' stories of the year were all about COVID, BLM or political events. Grrrr.

Well, at least there's a vaccine now. That should be great news...and it is...but they still just can't stop talking about the next possible surge and the new variants. #@!&%

I'm going to stop talking about it. Tomorrow is a new day. I'll be back and I won't be talking about the pandemic, dammit!!

things unrelated to pandemic life

 This is so awesome!

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/nation-world/wildlife-overpass-utah/67-45099dcf-7b66-4196-81be-516176a88f1b

Also, Cosmo is dumb. I mean, I know at my age I'm irrelevant when it comes to fashion, but I actually like a lot of the things on this list!!!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/style/fashion-trends-that-we-hope-never-come-back-in-style/ss-BB14qT1X?li=BBnb7Kz#image=1

And because I love lists, the top free iPhone apps of 2020 are;

Zoom, TikTok, Disney Plus, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Messenger, Gmail, Cash App, Amazon Shopping, Netflix, Google Maps, DoorDash, and Spotify. Nice to see that facebook is sixth on the list, not first! Poor Mark Zuckerberg probably hates that. hahahahaha!

And, Time Magazine named LeBron James as athlete of the year. I don't care. But this is what they said about him, 

“He is the greatest basketball player of his generation, arguably of any generation. And he won a fourth title this year. That’s no small thing, but his true influence was what he did off of the court,” said Goldberger. “LeBron has had a remarkable influence across activism for athletes around the world.”

That really pissed me off..."but his true influence was what he did off the court." So what you're really saying is that his athletic prowess doesn't matter. What you really gave him this title for is because of his activism - screw his basketball talent. Good grief.

And last but not least, what were people searching for on Google? Well here you go; (funny, LeBron isn't on any of these lists!)

https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2020/GLOBAL/?ftag=MSFd61514f

Happy Thanksgiving!

 The year is 2020. Historical on so many levels. 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! This year, I thought about skipping this annual tradition of mine. Then I thought, aren’t I the one who always tries to look for the silver lining? If that’s true, then this year should be no different. More challenging for sure, but no different.

Let’s get started;

If you were employed all year, be thankful for that.

I you had a home all year, be thankful for that.

If you had enough to eat all year, be thankful for that.

If you were in good health all year, be extra thankful for that.

There was no live entertainment, but there was still music to listen to.

There weren’t many sporting events you could attend, but games were still played, races were still driven and championships were still decided.

You didn’t get to dine out as much as you wanted to but maybe that made you a better cook! (There’s more in the culinary world than just macaroni and cheese you know!)

Your favorite TV shows were put on hold and there were no movies at the theater, making you a little more thankful for a good book.

Birthdays were celebrated a little differently for most of you. Thankfully though, you still had one.

There were far less baby showers to attend but babies still came into the world. 

Instead of vacations, maybe you fixed things up around the house.

Maybe you built a model, finally learned how to crochet, or discovered that you like puzzles!

Consumerism took a back seat to basic consumption.

And we all learned a little more about what essential really means. 

 

My own list includes;

Naps, cute masks, sugar cookies, pajamas, lots of quilling, ice, Tums, sweet dreams, working from home, humming bird feeders, good conversations, humor, our new percolator and Christmas decorations-early! 

And of course, the most important things; Family, even the nutty ones. Friends, even at a distance. Love. 

Yep, it’s been a strange year. Toilet paper shortages. No cleaning supplies. Frozen pizzas and Top Ramen flying of the shelves. Amazon, Door Dash, Zoom and Microsoft Teams became a thousand times bigger! Memes became standard. Waterways became cleaner. The air, less polluted. There’s an overabundance of oil. Virtual became a thing. Through all of that though, there were still plenty of things to be thankful for. 

Life is good people. Be a little kinder. Give a little more. Help when you can.

Have Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pandemic life

 Geez!

At least the election is mostly over so we don't have to be stressed out about that anymore.

And, what happened to BLM? It seems like you heard something about racial injustice every day, for weeks and weeks. But now? Did it go away? I'm confused. There's still a lot of hate out there but it seems more general now. Like people just hate everything right now! 

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I'm pretty sure most of the country isn't going to abide by all the recommended restrictions. Especially since they announced this week that there's an effective vaccine soon to be available. Yeah, the rest of the year is going to be weird.

Also, I saw some headline that said Fauci said things could "start" to return to normal next April. What? I don't understand. How can he possible know that? I mean, why not February? Or July? Why did he pick April?  I also saw something last week that some entertainment venues are considering requiring proof that you've been vaccinated before they let you in. Pretty sure that can't work on any level! I see crazy headlines all the time. 

Some days, Montana seems like a fantastic idea! But then I remember Hobby Lobby is right up the street and I throw that thought out :-)

Pandemic life

Good grief! Is it EVER going to end??? Honestly, don't you think the toll on mental health is immeasurable by now?! There are days at a time when I always feel like crying. I still think it's weird in the grocery store. No flavored Coke products. Sometimes there are cleaning supplies, sometimes there aren't. Some frozen foods are still hard to find. Some frozen fish is hard to find. And expensive when you do. We went to Costco last weekend and there's still a "limit 1" on paper towels, TP and water. which is fine but why do they still need to say that? Thankfully there's no limit on bottles of margaritas!! 

Last month, just for something to do, my guy and I went to Michigan. Our destination was Mackinaw Island. It was so nice to get away, even for a few days. We went to the beach! Us Hoosiers don't have a lot of experience with the beach. The weather was wonderful too. Michigan is weird though. Anyway, Mackinaw Island was fantastic! There were A LOT more people there than I expected. For the most part, everyone had a mask on. Even outdoors, by themselves. When we wanted to have lunch, there were long lines and wait times everywhere because nothing was completely open. It was really kind of strange. You would think we'd be used to that by now, but we aren't. We took a tour of a Coast Guard ice cutter and we drove over the bridge to the UP. Now we've been to every Great Lake except Superior. On the way back, we stopped in Frankenmuth to go to Bronner's Christmas store. OMG!!!! It was AWESOME!!! Seriously, 7 acres of Christmas decorations! Ahhhhhhh. I think if you couldn't find an ornament for anything specific, then it just isn't made. Hey, want an ornament of a giraffe in a tutu? Yep. How about a casket? Or a jack-o-lantern? How about Santa on a rocket ship? Or a chili cheese dog? What about a 20 foot artificial Christmas tree? It was astounding! And also cram packed with tourists. Crazy! They even have a shuttle for the parking lot! Oh yeah, definitely my kind of place. Thanks honey :-) 

Also, the lack of news for a few days was a nice relief. Because how could the pandemic be any worse? Oh, there's an election tomorrow! It's just exhausting, all the bullshit. And this morning on my way in to work...businesses already have their store fronts boarded up. It's disgusting, all the hate and negativity. It made me cry. So I'm going to work from home the rest of the week. I'm not coming downtown, just in case. It's just too overwhelming.

(remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge it)

Yep, this is the Grand Hotel! 

                                       They just don't make things like this anymore

a natural spring

           Along our walk, we saw this slab of rock. That was funny.

In case you didn't know, cars are not allowed on the island. Just horses and bicycles.

this bridge is 5 MILES long!

                                                               Ship's innards 

Officer's mess

Pandemic life...still

 Well, it's the backside of October and here we are...still...trying to decide how not to die from COVID-19. Now they want us to know that small gatherings indoor for Thanksgiving are a bad idea. That was right after telling everyone that Halloween should be canceled. Screw you guys..

How much more do you think people can suffer? I hate this year. 

But...there have been some really great memes. In case you need the laugh, here are some of my favorites;

 

Pandemic life

Well, it's September. Yep. Uh huh. Hell.

Traffic has certainly picked up though. Schools are still closed. I'm still parking on the 1st level in the parking garage at work. That's nice. It's still taking less time to get to work and go home, also nice. Out of 1100 people in our office, I would say that about 15% are working here. Everyone else is still working from home. I guess it will probably remain that way until next year some time. Ho hum. I'm still trying to work from home on Thursdays and Fridays. For the most part, it's working. I like my schedule. Other pros and cons as far as office life goes; Pros = the bathrooms are always clean - there's always coffee in the coffee maker - it's quiet - there's never any waiting for the microwaves at lunch. Cons = the vending machine are empty, no place to go for lunch, the snack shop is still closed, it doesn't feel safe to walk around downtown anymore, (I actually carry pepper spray with me!) and masks masks masks. Is it possible for grouchy people to get grouchier? If you're already sad, can you get sadder?

In our regular lives, we've started trying to return to our tradition of going out to eat every other Friday. It's weird. There's no salt and pepper shakers on the tables anymore. You have to ask and then they bring you little paper packets. Every other table is tapped off so you can maintain social distancing. Most stores seem to be busier but I don't think people browse anymore. Just get in and get out. And so much is still not fully open. We've taken a few drives for the day. But we don't really stop anywhere. Still, it's nice to get out of the house. I have 28 days of vacation stacked up. I guess because I was already home for a couple months, it didn't seem necessary to take vacation time?  I guess I just need to start taking a day here and a day there. I don't want to be one of those people that end up 6 months of vacation on the book when they retire!!

My annual Thanksgiving email is going to be a lot different this year. Maybe I'll skip it.

Did I mention that I applied to participate in a Holiday craft fair this year?!?!? It was a big step for me. Last week I found out I was accepted!!!! I was pretty excited about that. But they had to let us know that they will be holding it online this year and we can participate if we want. Regardless though, we're automatically invited to be in next years show. I'm still trying to decide about the online thing. But for sure next year, I'll be there, in my very own booth/space!