Smiles of a Summer Night

There are so many reasons to smile on this humid mid-summer night in late July that I could make a TOP 5 list, but I shall refrain from the temptation.

Reason 1: Marshall got a raise today. I'm so very happy for him. He deserves it after all the extra work he's had to do since the storm whose name we shall not utter.

Reason 2: I would like to direct your attention to the two bookcases above. The one on the left is the before bookcase. Please take notice of the one on the right. I painted that one. I lightly accessorized it. I finally finished it. I'm exhausted!

I couldn't be on Trading Spaces While You Were Out Sell This House kinda shows. 48 hours worth of painting and sanding and painting some more. There's a reason my hands are soft is all I have to say! LOL

Reason 3: I recently rented two movies that are not necessarily "Hollywood" in style, but have high entertainment value...Junebug and 8 Women (Huit Femmes)

Junebug is a story of a southern family with plenty of feelings simmering just beneath the suface. It never makes southerners look uneducated. If you've ever been in a rural area that's not quite farmland, you'll see those images on the screen.

8 Women is a French movie simmering with intrigue and sensuality, and somewhat musical to boot! "Mon Amour, Mon Ami" is my favorite song in the soundtrack. Enjoy!

The Magical World of Disney

After ten years or so, I finally got the opportunity to return to Walt Disney World in FL. I'll write more about it later, but here's my most prized possesion after my Star Wars Intergalactic Passport (with my name on it) given to me by my boyfriend, Marshall (MSH)...my Mickey Mouse ears.

I've been asked if I had my name monogrammed on it, but we were running around so much that I completely forgot about it. Believe me, had I remembered, my name would have been on there, and no I didn't have the balls to wear it around the park even though I was encouraged to do so by my friends.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

I love this copying and pasting of HTML code. I don't understand it, but I like that I can copy and paste it and *POP* out comes out a graphic of some sort.

I stumbled onto these websites by reading someone else's blog. I thought it would be interesting to see how many states and countries I've visited over the years.

This is where I found the visited states' map:
http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates



create your own visited states map


This is where I found the map with the countries you've visited: http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries



create your own visited countries map

Stand By Me, Whitney

This is dedicated to the woman I wrote about in yesterday's post.

FEAR & ANGST

Today I went to see A Prairie Home Companion at my local multiplex. As you know, this is based on the long running NPR (National Public Radio) show. What's on celluloid is not necessarily what has happened to the show, but it's very close if not a dead-on account of what happens on the actual live show. I went because not many of my friends showed an interest in it, and I wanted to see it before it left the theater. This isn't what my entry is about, but it was a strange contrast from what I heard on the radio on my way home.

I left the theater pleased the movie didn't completely suck, but, instead, left a pleasant after-taste. I walked over to my car. I put the key in my ignition and then my radio came on. "I'll Always Love You" by Taylor Dayne was playing, so I changed the station. Not because the song was overplayed back in the eighties, but because I wasn't in the mood for the cool stylings of Ms. Dayne. I search settled on my local talk radio station, and when I say settled I mean settled. I wasn't in the mood for talk, but there wasn't anything else good playing.

Anyway, the agony and ecstasy to talk radio is that you are always entering in the middle of a conversation. Sometimes the conversation is entertaining, and then other times it can be as annoying as waiting in a long line when you only have to buy one thing. However, with radio you can always change the station. Waiting in line is not always optional. Sometimes you have to be there. So, I'm listening to some woman talk and not really focusing on the conversation when I hear her mentioning something about illegal immigrants and asking the radio host about reporting people to Immigration (INS). She actually wanted to report some of her neighbors to INS. Words cannot explain the craziness of her statements. I mean, are these people having boxes and boxes labeled EXPLOSIVES being brought in and out of their house? Do they have a constant flow of people in and out their house at all hours? What makes them suspicious? She never said. She almost explained her reasons for needing to call INS, but the host cut her off and said they had to go to commercial break.

Our nation has been a place of fear and distrust for some time now, but are we becoming a nation that calls the authorities on you because you look foreign? This caller, kept saying the word foreigners when she mentioned her neighbors. Foreigners! Aliens! Fags! Niggers! What the Fuck?! I don't want to think we are spiraling down this slippery slope that we'll have a hard time getting up from. I hope a change will come soon, or at the very least in two years.