More Birthday Madness!!

Okay, I'm feeling a little bit better today :)

Ironically, it was the computer class I taught this morning that did the trick. I have a really great group in Mr's K and H and Mrs. M. They're enthusiastic, participatory, and eager to adapt. That makes them a pleasure to teach :)

Anyway, on the B-day madness. I had been looking for this picture ever since the B-day dinner with my family a couple of weeks ago. I don't know about everyone else, but I really have a bad habit of putting things in a safe place...a real safe place...safe from even me :) But the B-day humor/madness first:

Scatological Humor

This particular brand of humor is a staple if you are to make it among the Wesley’s. Just about any sound that can be made by air issuing from the human body, and that is usually considered disgusting, we (okay, most of us) find hilarious. Case in point, my b’day cards from my niece and nephew, S and C. In avoidance of copyright infringement, I’ll annotate instead of scanning.

C’s choice (American Greetings if you’d like to rush out and get one for yourself) features a dog contemplating a discarded wad of chewing gum with not a little avarice. The dog happily snaps up that tempting, bacteria-laden morsel and subsequently suffers some intestinal distress. Open the card and through some trick of engineering genius, a large, pink bubble issues from the dog’s hind quarters. Don’t feel sorry for the dog…he’s grinning like a Cheshire cat :) On a related note, we had a dog named Bob (who’s still kickin around I might add, she must be 12 or 13 if she’s a day) who’s eyes were bigger than her stomach….WAY bigger. No one told her that disposable was not the same as edible...she ate a disposable diaper. “Why didn’t you stop her?” you may ask? We didn’t catch it on the way in, if you catch my drift. She had to have some assistance on the exiting end and Dad, in all his weak-stomached glory, drew the short straw. In the weak and straining interests of decorum and good manners, you imagine the rest :)

S’s selection, poet that she is, featured a lovely female skunk on the front cover and contained a poem about farts (another American Greetings winner, I’d love to meet their writers). I obviously can’t recreate the whole thing here, but this is my favorite stanza:
“A fart can occur in a number of places, And leave everyone with strange looks on their faces.” I told my brother D that stanza was definitely in honor of him since the “drop and run” is his favorite sport. S also included a lovely drawing which I’ve included below. She’s on a Redwall kick right now!

Adiós!
htw

P.S. For those AR people out there, we named the dog Bob because she was born with a bobbed tail. And she did not look like a Bobbie, so Bob it was. She makes a very feminine Bob too!

&*$$#%^@^^&^*$^&@%$@#$^#$%&%^&#

Once again the F-ing University of Alabama has F-ed up my schedule! Registration began yesterday at 11am. I was at my computer, logged on to MyBama, at 10:55am and continuously checking so I could register AS SOON AS they opened registration. I got in, registered for my first class, LS 590-990, then went on to my second, LS 590-002. I got the message "Registration error-Duplicate course" which was obviously F-ed since they are not the same course, offered in different months with different instructors, different CRN numbers, DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After several tries, I called SLIS and spoke with Dr. Aversa, the Dean of the School of Library and Information Studies. It doesn't get any higher than that, people! At that time the class was half full and it was only 11:07am. Now, I'm not in the class I want, it was closed by 11:09, and I will no doubt get the shaft again. I F-ing hate that school, that program, my life while I'm in it. Now, thanks to this most recent screwup, I'll probably have to end up taking Children's Lit in July. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Children's Lit and it would be not-miserable to have another class with Dr. Atkinson but if I had gotten into the class I wanted I would be finished in June instead of July and I might actually have gotten to go somewhere or do something.

I just got into work so I can't let out the unintelligible, hysterical screaming that is going on inside my head. I haven't worked up a smile yet either so the night will be long and there may be a reprimand in my future, who knows?

I say right now that if they fix this and get me in that class that by all rights I should be in, I'll not hate them so much...maybe. I might even be able to work up a few nonhostile statements about the school and their library program...but I doubt it.

Crisis Averted

So I've told Mom that we can relax a little now that she has been thoroughly checked over by the doctor via this neat test you can see. This is a generic picture but they did send us home with a page of similar pictures of my Mom's little ticker...looked good and no significant blockage was found so her "feeling yucky" is not cardiac in nature. All that's left is some thyroid testing and hopefully my little Momma-cita will be feeling more like herself and we can start hanging out together more...maybe even take a trip! We'd have to take the pest out with us but surely I can put up with one small terrier mutt long enough to enjoy myself? Doncha' think?....okay, maybe....



Be sure and checkout KT's blog, The Burrow! She has changed the template and added all kinds a' neat stuff and some wonderful new pictures of Poptart!

I have more things to say, but have unfortunately left this too late in the day to do it justice. Me & T have to close down now so I gots to go!

Adiós!
htw

A Harrowing Day for Holley T.

Poor mom! She's sick and having a really tough time. Some sort of thyroid problem is wreaking havoc with her. Around noon her boss called to say that something was wrong with her and the paramedics had been called. I rushed out to the hospital but the boss called again to say that she was refusing to go to the hospital in the ambulance and could I come take her. Well of course when I got there she refused to go to the hospital since she's going to the Dr's office tomorrow. I can see her point though. She is aware of the problem, the doctor is aware of the problem, and she is pursuing treatment for the problem.

Also, Dr. B put her on medication for the thyroid problem which she took for the first time this morning not 30 minutes before the "episode". I looked at some of the information that comes with the medication and it listed the "adverse effects" that sometimes occurred with some pretty significant cardiovascular stuff listed. I'm worried, she's worried, so hopefully the specialist she is seeing tomorrow will have some good news for us.

Only 5 weeks left in the semester and I'm still alive! YEAH!

Still enjoying 30!

My 30th birthday is now 2 weeks old and I can honestly say that I am still excited about being 30, no longer associated with those dastardly 20-somethings (no offense intended to all MY 20 and younger peeps out there!) who give being 20-something a bad name!

I had dinner with my dad and stepmom and my brother D and his family last weekend (Hi K, S, and C!) to celebrate. D and fam had been out of town for the previous couple of weeks so we just moved the celebration back a bit. After dinner, we went to Tannehill State Park where the ‘rents were camping. We roasted marshmallows; S told me a great story complete with weasels, bunnifoxes, a pasta-loving cow named Boudica, a frog (Freeda? I know it started with an ‘f’), and an evil lord…but don’t worry, he got his comeuppance. S promises to finish the story in a series of emails so I’m looking forward to it.

In honor of my 30th Birthday, I’m posting a photo of my brother Eddie. He was killed in 1989 in a drunk-driving accident when I was 12 and he only 20. So I figure I’ve turned 30 for him, even though in my mind’s eye he is always 9 years older than me.

This photo is from his high school prom. I always love this little snapshot of the mid 80’s with the quaffed hair and white tux. I was young enough and it was nearly twenty years ago so this and the few photos I have are really the only way I can remember what he looks like. We did not get along and never hung out or talked to one another much so I have only a few memories of any significance:

Eddie raced BMX bicycles, loved Van Halen, his girlfriend was named Stacy, he was an aluminum welder primarily (but welded anything when the occasion called for it), and was a great artist although he was almost completely color blind. I’ll take a picture of “The Lady” (which hangs in my living room) and put it here later. Due to the color blindness, I remember he preferred to work with charcoal so he wouldn’t have to worry about making anything the wrong color.

My maternal grandfather was also colorblind. The way I understand, it skips generations and is carried on the maternal side so if I [lost my mind and had children] had a grandson then he would run a good chance of being colorblind also. Scary, huh?

Adiós!
htw

QOP

Things I'm currently putting off:

1. another visit to my therapist
2. assignments in LS 505
3. assignments in LS 522

Alas, the therapist I won't be able to do anything about as he is in control of my medication and I'm on my last refill. They're sneaky that way....don't worry, don't worry, I'll go. I'll make my appointment tomorrow.

As for the school assignments, I'm off this weekend and will work like....something that works really hard...on both those classes. Severe burnout is taking its toll.

I will also be taking a couple of days off work sometime soon! Hopefully that will give me much needed time to work on all of these assignments. My literature review (10 pages!!!) will be on LGBTQQ collection development. Since I know little about it, I figured it would at least be interesting. For those not in the know, that's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and questioning. For brevity's sake, usually referred to as LGBT lit.

6 on the dot, gotta run

Adiós!

htw

¡Feliz Cumpleaños a Mí!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday great!

Pomp and Circumstance...with illustrations

Well, I moved one step closer to graduation today…at least I tried to. After looking for parking, finding the right office, being told I had been directed to the wrong office, looking for parking again, and one jammed printer later (preventing L from getting me the forms there at the office), I have now printed off and filled out my application for admission to candidacy for a Master’s degree as well as my application for degree. So much paperwork! I had to leave for work so I couldn’t run to the comp lab and print & fill quickly while I was at SLIS, but I did get it done tonight so I can hand the forms in when I go back for class next Monday. It was just an incredibly disappointing way to spend a major portion of my half-day off. I would have done much better to just stay at home; that’s all it amounted to anyway! It won’t be long now til I’m free, free, free….dare I let myself get excited?

I was in a foul mood when I got to work. Frazzled, tired, and not a little irritable at being late for work because of getting so much runaround from my “beloved” U of A (feel free to imagine the sarcastic tone one would expect), I was really struggling to be the cheerful public servant. Intervention wound its way up to the second floor in the form of one of my favorite teens, A, of fake fingernail fame here at Holley’s House. She told me funny stories, we talked about our respective classes, I watched with not a little sympathy as she did what looked like arcane math homework, and she drew me some pictures! Enjoy!

Adiós!
htw

An Endangered Species......especially after I got home

The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman…rare, elusive, predatory……real damn annoying…..

….that’s right people, I saw one with my own eyes. He was in my house when I got home from a particularly harrowing day and I must admit that I was NOT NICE AT ALL. I was tired, hungry, my feet hurt, and it was 8 o’freakin clock at night! I wanted to make my dinner, watch a movie, and relax but that was not to be. My Bob Saggett wannabe went on and on. He kept asking me to sit down and I told him I had food to cook, he’d have to do the fast and dirty version of his spiel. And, the worst thing, his spiel consisted of him saying that he had to sell 4 more vacuums to win the 5 day trip to Cocoa Beach. Boy, that just warm the ol’ cockles. I finally told him that I was not interested in his $2000 vacuum and I had dinner to cook and M was making “I can’t afford it” noises too. He looked at me for a moment, then said, “Well, do you mind if I talk to her for a minute because she was all gung-ho before you got here?” to which I replied, “You have at it.” M is now the proud new owner of a $72/month 2 year payment for a vacuum cleaner and I had some dinner. He had an out of state cell phone number, no business card, apparently no car as he rode there with his “boss” who was working the neighbors across the street and diverted M’s request about getting a phone number in case she had questions by giving her the owner’s manual and saying that it would show her how to do everything. This all sounded incredibly suspicious to me so I hope they don’t clean out her bank account.

Adiós,
htw

Good Intentions...we all know what they do....

Here I sit, late on a Friday afternoon, having done absolutely none on the research I needed to do for my collection development class. A--I had to get the oil changed in my car before the poor little Kia set up a picket line in front of the house and B--I had to get my taxes done so I could mark that off of my to-do list......mission accomplished on all fronts!

My plan was to then come on down to the ol' GPL (Greenpond Public Library) to get in some more Pompeii research and maybe start thinking about something I'd like to write 10 pages about. I don't know what that would be at this point but I figured there'd be no harm in trying. What I didn't anticipate was spending about 3 1/2 hours at the IRS office getting my taxes done. But heah, they're done, I don't have to worry about it again 'til next year and that's alright with me. The lady who helped me was incredibly nice, I can now get my closet fixed, and I brought another library patron into the audiobook/Mp3 fold. She said she was going to have to go right out and download something today :) I was pretty proud of that handsell!

Today, KT blogged about contentment and its scarcity in today's frenetic world. I certainly seem to have lost my ability to gain contentment easily. I'm hoping it will return once I get out of school, but there are no guarantees. I want to get back my contentment, rediscover the joie de vivre that was once so much a part of my personality, and last but not least, get rid of (or at least get down to a more affordable level) my antidepressants. Don't get me wrong, they've saved my life over the past two years, but I want to be me again. KT mentions a couple of books on the subject that she is reading and that one of them makes the point that there are too many choices to be made on everything from what kind of toothpaste to buy, who to have your checking account with, to what to cook for dinner. Okay, a couple of those I made up myself. But the sentiment is still very much the truth. How do you stay focused and calm in the face of all those choices? Is your choice the right one? Could something else have been more appropriate or work out better? Could, is, how, what, when, if, where, should, why, who, would, might?????? Why (urrrrrr) are there so many words for starting your statements with probabilities and uncertainty?

Anyway, in classic Holley's House fashion, I'm changing the subject completely. E invited me to go the University of Alabama gymnastics meet tonight! There will be 3 or 4 of us from work all going together and it should be a great time! I never seen gymnastics other than on television so I am really looking forward to it. Don't worry, I'll record every little detail for you here. That being said, I'm going home to see if I can't get a nap :)

Adiós!
htw