Leaving on a Jet Plane
Because I'm me and because I can, I've been seriously considering selling my house, putting everything in storage, dropping the dog with my parents and moving to Ireland for a few months. It may seem a bit drastic, but why not? My job can be done anywhere there's internet access and I'm bored.
So I started looking at costs. I found a nice little cottage available for $179 a week. I'm thinking off season here so prices are a bit lower than crazy summer prices. When that includes utilities and such, I'd be set. Seriously, I do pretty well despite my quasi-employed status and with the cash I'd have from the sale of my house, it's not like it would matter anyway. I could become a moody American who walks the cliffs overlooking the radioactive Irish Sea in the rain. Very gothic.
Whether I do something ridiculous like this or not, it's motivated me to start pretending to pack again. I moved boxes today. I'm pretty much out of things to pack that I don't use or need to stage a house, but I can move boxes to other places in the house. Tomorrow, I'm going to clean and then maybe call a realtor over next week to discuss options.
George Visits the Dermatologist
My parents finally broke down and took George to the Cities to see a world renowned pet dermatologist. Who knew that people specialized in this? He saw four doctors and a surgeon. Total cost: $657. Ouch. Hopefully, they will determine what is wrong and George will keep his foot. My dad told me that he and George were simpatico because he had also visited his dermatologist that morning and had several biopsies taken.
In other news, I kept up the fine family tradition of trying to convince people in this town to quit their jobs. Last week, I had been discussing my job with M, my favorite teller. She was pretty interested and we chatted for a bit. Today when I walked in she wasn't there so I was stuck with K. M popped out of the back just as I was leaving and immediately started asking questions about how she should go about her search. Teller K also got involved and became very interested. Wells Fargo may not want me coming around anymore.
In still other news, I tried the dating thing again this weekend and have decided it must stop. No more. I've met very nice guys, but no. I did enjoy the new Star Trek movie though.
Dancing is Evil
So I was watching one of those shows where the people have 16 million kids and are all in your face about their special brand of Christianity. I'm happy that they've made that choice in their lives and are happy with it. However, I have serious issues with someone who has a fit when their three year old bounces up and down and claps to the beat of a drum. They acted like God was going to smite that child for his evil dancing.
You know the Bible doesn't actually say dancing is bad. It's more that dancing leads to bad things. People were dancing in worship of a false idol or dance to tempt someone into sin. One could note that they also dance in praise of God. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the kid was doing none of these. He was having fun. When you can have a view towards understanding why you shouldn't do something and you make a choice not to do it, that's great. When a three year old is acting as a three year old would, freaking out and punishing him does nothing. What's wrong with bouncing? What's the difference between that and running around in circles? A three year old does not know and cannot distinguish why one thing is evil and one is fine. Why not just gently redirect him towards some other activity? Making the kid feel bad for something he doesn't and can't understand is pointless and hurtful.
Dreams
Dreams are usually interesting. I mean, what does it say about my ex-boyfriend that I once dreamed he was the Jason/Freddie/Mike Myers character in a slasher blood bath?
Anyway, since Gracie sleeps at the end of the couch to keep me warm, I often watch her dream. This dog goes all out in her dreams, running, jumping, barking. I wonder what she dreams about? Does she chase interesting animals? Is she on a tennis court with a ball machine perpetually shooting balls for her to chase? Her life is pretty much sleep, eat, chase balls, try to dig under fence. I'd love to know whether she dreams of a more interesting life.
This is what it has come to?
I was talking to my friend last night. She's been unemployed and steadily looking since Christmas. Yesterday she had her (weekly?) discussion with her unemployment counselor. He advised her to remove her Master's degree from her resume.
I understand that it screams Overqualified and Expensive, but how sad is it that she has to remove mention of something she worked hard and paid good money for? An asset has now become a liability in the job market.
After this conversation, we moved on to discuss her boyfriend of five years. Apparently, he sits in her house watching TV while she works outside mowing the lawn and raking leaves and doing other yard work. I think this is a bad sign. I wouldn't expect him to come over and do the work for her, but why wouldn't he help out if he's there? If they worked together, maybe they could get it done faster and spend more time together. This inaction on the boyfriend's part? Not a one time occurrence. I'm now even more heavily on the dump A bandwagon.
Detergent
When my mom and I were in Wal*Mart a while back, we were supposed to buy laundry detergent. Simple enough to do. But after putting the cheap crap my dad buys into the cart, my mom leaned over and asked, "You use Tide, right?"
Indeed I do. Yes, I am super cheap (but not so cheap I'd go as far as reusing toilet paper - I read about that once in a How to Save Money thing). My mom told me how much she loved the smell of the clothes she washed at my house. And yes, that's exactly why I buy Tide - Original Scent. Now as a cheap person, I should buy the $5 bottle of adequate detergent. Instead, I pay $15 for the wonderful smelling Tide. It's one of those things I'm willing to shell out for.
My mom? She slipped a bottle of Tide in the cart and planned to hide it from my dad.
Her clothes were going to smell fantastic and he could stick with the Xtra.
Dick Clark is Awesome
The other night I was watching this show about identical twin autistic savants. These women had an unnatural obsession with Dick Clark including a shrine to him in their bedroom. When Dick had his stroke, they followed his health status daily - giving updates to anyone who would listen. The twins always refer to him by both names, "Hi Dick Clark! How are you, Dick Clark?" When the $100,000 Pyramid was cancelled, they went into a deep depression. Ironically, they showed what replaced their show and it was Judge Wapner's People's Court. I bet Rain Man was pleased.
Anyway, a television reporter, who had been following them for years (his footage made up most of the show), arranged for them to meet Dick Clark. Now I know celebrities meet "special" fans all the time - terminally ill and disabled kids, etc. so this isn't all that special. However, it was off-handedly mentioned by the twins that after meeting him, Dick Clark called them every year on their birthday. When their sister and caretaker died, they called him and he helped them through their grief. Then, he invited them to come visit him at his house after their sister's husband kicked them out and they were trying to deal with all the changes. For all of this, Dick Clark is awesome!
