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Friday, July 29, 2011

Breathing Again

Still not ready to make any grand pronouncements or promises. However, things are much, much better for the moment. We even get to stay in our wonderful, beautiful NOLA apartment. Which is worth a whole hell of a lot.

So back to our regularly scheduled blogging. :)

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Friday, July 22, 2011

This Cannot Possibly Be Happening...Again...

Taking some time off. Probably leaving New Orleans. Lithus and I are alive, healthy, and together. More...eventually. You know me; I always come back. Until then, though...

Take care of you.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will keep on getting you coffee.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Cooler Than You

That should be New Orleans' official motto: Cooler Than You. Because even when it's hot, even when it's humid, even when it's monsoon season and it is pouring rain, New Orleans is cooler than you/me/we can ever hope to be.

That balcony up there? Yeah...that's our home. We live there. Go ahead; let the hating begin. :)

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Friday, July 08, 2011

Fear and Bravery

It is no secret to anyone who knows me, or who has read this blog for a minute, that I am incredibly, incredibly brave and that I am brave because I am afraid of everything. It's only people who have just met me or who refuse to get to know me that believe the bravery is the core person and not an active, every single day choice. Honestly, I don't have much interest in keeping that second category around very long, because I happen to think being brave is far more interesting than being fearless, but that's just me.

Being the quivering mass of contradictions that I am, I have two differing experiences around this, just from this week. Surely this doesn't surprise you.

On the one hand, earlier this week, I mentioned to Lithus the fact that I am not as brave as I once was simply because I am not as scared as I once was. Leaving the house ~ not scary any more. Going exploring on my own ~ not scary any more. Making the phone calls and arrangements that need to be made ~ not scary any more. I regularly leave the hotel room without a book or crossword puzzle or anything else to distract me and go do whatever needs to be done, be it lunch or shopping. There have even been a couple of times this week that I started to get nervous about something and actually thought Wait, this doesn't bother you anymore; you don't have to be nervous, remember? and that was that. It's a beautiful, wonderful, exciting feeling.

On the other hand...Oh Dear God, the other hand. Last night, I had a thought that could become something interesting. So I emailed my friend Lori, who tends to know stuff about things, and asked if she knew anything about this idea. This morning, she wrote back saying that she knew nothing about it but here were three people she knew who very well might know something about it and I should write them and ask. Oh holy shit. Wait, what? Oh dear God.

But you know what? I'm incredibly brave. So, with a pep talk from Lori and a hard swallow, I did it. I sent those three emails. And as scary as it was, it wasn't as scary as it would've been once. Maybe, just maybe, even when I still need to be brave, I don't need to be quite as brave. I guess we'll see.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

These Thoughts on Those Thoughts

I've had an interesting thing happen just today ~ I looked at the blogs of two people I know personally but didn't know they blogged. Only they aren't just chatty, here's what's up in my life, pithy observation and witty insight blogs. These two blogs present themselves as...if not experts, definitely respectable sources of solid information.

So, I'm reading these two blogs and I'm thinking this is good information when it hits me: neither of these women actually and for real live like this. They want to live like this. They strive to live like this. But I know both of them IRL and truth is they don't live like this. They simply know the words and what we're all supposed to say and they happen to put the words together in a really compelling, convincing way. But bottom line is they are giving advice ~ and presenting it as a relatively easy thing to do ~ when I know for a fact that, at best, they struggle with it; at worst, by their own admission, away from public eyes, they fail.

I remember once I listened to Friend A (not-so) mockingly scold Friend B for Friend B's parenting choices. Only Friend A made the exact same choices with her own kids for the exact same reasons. Because we know what we're supposed to say and what we're supposed to do. And it's oh so damn easy to tell other people how easy it is to do. Yet somehow, our excuses are actually real reasons when everyone else's are, well, excuses.

There's a story about Ghandi and, while I don't know for certain it's true, I like to think it is. One day a woman came to him and explained she had been trying to get her son to stop eating sugar and he wouldn't listen to her. Please, please would Ghandi tell her son to stop eating sugar. Surely, her son would listen to Ghandi. Although she had brought her son with her, Ghandi told her to bring her son back in a month. So she did. A month later, she returned and brought her son up to Ghandi who looked at the boy and told him not to eat sugar, then sent him on his way. (I like to envision a pat on the head and a smile at this point, but that's just me.) A little confused and irritated that she'd had to make the trek twice, the mother asked Ghandi why he hadn't been willing to say those few words to her son a month ago. To which Ghandi replied "A month ago, I hadn't stopped eating sugar."

The truth is no one has The Truth. No one lives it perfectly every single day. Most of us are winging it, just trying to do the best we can in any given moment. And you know what? I'm okay with that.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Monday, July 04, 2011

Happy 4th

If you celebrate it, Happy 4th of July!



If you don't, Happy Steve McQueen, James Garner, and David McCallum Eye Candy Day!

And remember ~ don't set shit on fire.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Ed. Note ~ I have no idea what the comments at the beginning and end are; please disregard. Thank you.

Saturday, July 02, 2011

A Reminder

I've said it once already this season but with the 4th of July upon us ~ and the fireworks and sparklers that tend to show up with the occasion ~ I think it bears repeating:

Don't set shit on fire.

Your friendly neighborhood firefighters thank you. As do I.

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee ~ and keep you from being evacuated later.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Since I Missed It...

...You did, too, right? ;)





And especially for Kimber...


Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.

Not Here, Not Now

That is where and when I am. Or I'm not. Or something. You can't tell the players without a program folks. And while I'm not going to put everything that has happened in the last month out here, if you want the details, let me know; I'll fill you in as concisely as possible. Just know it's still a long story. But those are the best kind, don't you think? Yeah, me too.

Since last Monday, it's gone like this:
Monday, Sacramento, CA (lovely town)
Be told we'll have plenty of time to settle in.
Tuesday morning, be told Lithus is heading to AZ for 24-36 hours
Tuesday evening, be told Lithus is going to Sierra Vista, NM for 12 days instead. Make arrangements to fly to Tucson (via Las Vegas) and drive to Sierra Vista on Wednesday.
Tuesday night, be told Lithus isn't going to Sierra Vista, but is going to Safford, NM. We can still fly to Tucson and drive.
Wednesday, go to airport, check bags, head to security. Receive email telling Lithus he might be going to Alamogordo, NM and to stand-by.
Stand by...stand by...stand by...
Receive word we are to still fly to Tucson, meet up with chief pilot, and...something will happen from there.
Fly to Las Vegas. Receive word that Lithus is indeed going to drive to Alamogordo, just not sure when. Or where chief pilot is.
Fly to Tucson. Receive word Lithus is to spend night in Tucson, drive to Alamogordo Thursday. All without chief pilot. Who drops out of this story at this point.
Spend night in Tucson. Eat the most perfect scallop dinner ever prepared. Ever.
Thursday, drive to Alamogordo, New Mexico.

*whew* Now we're up to date.

Those are happy, back on the road again, Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee (but admission to see The Thing is only a dollar!).