Navel

I'm sitting in a little park area next to Emeretis right now and musing - just kinda "contemplating my navel".  It is just an empty lot that Arlington has paved with bricks and in which they put two benches and three picnic tables.  It's actually very pleasant this evening, even with all the traffic moving up and down Wilson Boulevard.  The weather is perfect - probably about 70 degrees, slight cool breeze, no chance of precipitation.  Great evening to sit here and contemplate my navel.

It's an "inny", by the way.

Hummm...  I wish I had a fuzzy one.  Navel, that is.

Today was my last creative writing class of this semester.  It could have been a good class, except that I never put in the time required to write stuff.  So, as a result, I'm going to take the class  again.

This time I'll do better.

I found a piece of paper this afternoon.  It was a print-out of a blog entry that I'd turned in to my creative writing class.  The teacher had written on the page that she liked the fact that I started each blog entry with one topic and stuck with that topic through the entire entry.

I wonder if that same concept applies to navels?

emergency

All I've done all day is watch the hurricane on TV. A hurricane is raging. Right now, 8/26/2011. I believe I've become closer emotionally to Al Roker than I am to my actual familly.

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NEXT DAY
We all lived through the weather emergency. Mom called and said they were OK. It happened when everyone was asleep, so, unless you had continuing power loss, you wouldn't have noticed it even happeneed. I bought a deecorative scented candle and a LifeGear Glow Mini LED Spotlight - the closest one could find to candles and a flashlght on the night before the storm. So, since I was prepared, the power stayed on.

Stormy

Major hurricane approaching! I went by Mom's and Dad's place, and they ought to be fine. A Hermitage employee stood up at lunch and said that they had enough extra food to last for 5 days and said that anyone with specific needs or concerns should contact the office. Here, on the other hand, they have said nothing. I wonder if they realize that a possible disaster is imminent?

I went to the CVS to try to get a flashlight and batteries this afternoon, and that was a laughable situation. There was a carton that contained batteries laying decimated in the aisle, stripped of all DD batteries. So I guess that all I can do now is hope that the lights don't go out. I think, however, that the likelihood of that is nil.

Natural disasters are a major bummer.

They've been showing Hatteras and Okracoke on .t.v. for the last couple days. It is quite awesome to think of being down on that little strip of island during a storm. Sue and I went there every year for years. Ed always went with us, and usually his girlfriend Martha, and always Lloyd, and Lloyd's one time beaux Richard, and often Susan Craft, and once Rudolfo, and Nega once, and Robin once, and Betty Stratton once, and Dayna, of course... But not all at one time. Oh, the stories I could (and probably will!) tell.

We always stayed at this little dump of a motel, Burris Motor Court.

Fiction

I'm taking a creative writing class with Arlington County. The class is called "Daytime Writers". The idea behind the class is that the students write individually and bring their work to class and the other studnts review it and offer suggestions. One guy brought in his resume, one woman brings in projects for work, and the others are working on fiction. The class is a great opportunity. I, alas, have not done anywhere near enough actual work to take full advantage of the class. So, of course, I'm going to take it again next term.

They say that the definition of "insanity" is to do the same thing over and over again while always hoping for different results.

My story so far has got two 30ish chicks in a bedroom reading an ad in the classifieds that says, ""Free Room.   Young female smokers only.  Light chores and companionship for elderly gentleman.  No pets.". It is then revealed in conversation that one of the women is crashing with the other woman and her husband while she looks for a place to live, so there ensues significant pressure on the woman to call the number in the ad. In the meantime, the phone rings. The homeless woman answers. It turns out to be the man who ran the ad mysteriously calling THEM.

So what happens next?

Levity

Minor bit of levity... I've be been having a rough time getting along with ANY of these illiterate, inconsiderate, ungracious, rude, self-absorbed JERKS that work here. (hard to believe that anyone as charming as me should have difficulty relating to anyone.). Anyway, it has been miserable.

Finally tonight this lady I get along with came to help me. She has a sense of humor, works hard, does her best for anyone she takes care of... A breath of fresh air. Her name is Dora.

Dora was in my room tonight and her cel phone rang. It played this odd tune with a guy who had a reedy cracky voice singing with a heavy country accent.

The lyrics he was singing were, "There may be bugs on most of you mugs, but there ain't no bugs on me."

Maybe I'm not tolerant enough, maybe, but I really don't think so. Take this morning, for example... One of the reasons I chose to move to Emeritus is that they had a pot of coffee available in the front lobby all day. Now, leaving aside all discussion about the wisdom of choosing an assisted living facility based on the availability of coffee, morning coffee is obviously something I consider important.
Friday morning there was no coffee. OK, shit happens. I traveled 3 blocks to a Starbucks and got coffee.- annoying, but no big deal. But today, again, no coffee. And today I can't leave because my busIs due anytime. The coffee maker is directly inside the door of the kitchen, so I went in and got myself some coffee. I then go out to the lobby, and the receptionist has arrived, and gives me shit for getting my own coffee, to which I reply, "if you had coffee in the lobby like you're supposed to, I wouldn't need to go in the kitchen, would I?". Does he say, "No. Sorry about that. I'll make sure we have it tomorrow." No, he does not. So I go outside with my coffee cup and a guy is out there cleaning up the front of the building, and he glances at me and demands, "Put your butts in the ashtray. Don't step on them.", so I say, "I don't smoke." Does he say, "Whoops. Sorry.". Hell, no. He says, "Don't leave that coffee cup on the porch, then.".
HOW MUCH DO I PAY TO LIVE HERE??????

Please excuse my hizzy fit.

Lloyd

My good. friend Lloyd Bryant came to visit last Wednesday. It was wonderful to see him. We had a good time, but it was disappointing because it was so short. He had to go home 2 days early because his dog, TJ, got sick. TJ was home in Glen Allen, and Lloyd's partner, George, called with the news.

We did get a chance to go see Oklahoma at Arena. It was fun. The accessible seats are are in the back row - they just pull out some chairs and get the wheelchairs to pull in the empty spots, which was fine. The show is quite enjoyable. It got me in the mood to sing "Oklahoma" and "Poor Judd is Dead" all night, which did not gain me any brownie points with Lloyd... Or the Caretakers who helped me get to bed... Or the Metro Access driver. But I think the ladies I eat breakfast with might have enjoyed it.

Silly

Just quick note about yesterday's amusements... I went to Staples, which is across Wilson Boulevard. I found nothing there that I needed (I'd hoped to look at furniture, but it turns out that they don't sell furniture in that store), and I'd hoped to look at a tablet, like a Droid. Ron had advised me not to buy one because there is nothing wrong with my iPad that can't be fixed by taking it in to the Apple store (thank you, Ron. My appointment is tomorrrow.) I just wanted to look at one. Which I did, from afar, but no one would actually wait on me.

So, having totally wasted my morning, and since I was already on the far side of Wilson, I wheeled down to a new restaurant that has gone up next to Gold's gym. It is named "W", but it doesn't seem at all Presidential.. I turns out to be a really good grill, and I got a great burger there for not much money. It was a nice thick burger that they'd created themselves, not a pre-frozen, paper thin one.

The interior of the restaurant was just a tiny room with a counter and a jumble of tables. You order at the counter and then wait, which is kinda fun because the big, beefy, sweaty guys keep coming in from the gym next door.
I was sitting there waiting for my burger. Another customer waited next to me. All of a sudden a man carrying a box runs out of the kitchen and into the parking lot, shouting, "Sir! Wait! Wait! You forgot your ribs!"

The other customer then looked at me and deadpanned, "Wow! That was fast food!."

Roanoke

Hello, long neglected blog. I hope there is someone out there who is still reading me.

I started what was supposed to be a string of entries about the various parsonages in which I grew up, but I fear that concept must have bored me so badly that me that I didn't write anything at all. There were some amusing points to share, though, so maybe I'll try to cover it all today.

After Virginia Beach we went to Roanoke.. "We" consisted of Mom, Dad, me, Ed, (who was "Edward" then), and Granny (Dad's mom). It was a wee, tiny, totally inappropriate house - in response to which, Mom had another baby.

I barely remember that first house. After all, I was 5! I kow it had a big carport, because I remember being out there with Ed when Mom and Dad. called us in to watch the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

Isn't it amazing that I remember that? Somehow Mom and Dad knew that the Beatles on Ed Sullivan was a major historical event, even though they had no idea what the Beatles would eventually mean to the world. I remember Mom saying, "Watch this! Someday you can tell your children that you saw this!"

I further remember that Mom and Dad and Granny said nothing about the music. They just laughed at the shaggy hair.