With parents like these....

I have refrained from talking about the birthday card I received on Saturday from my parents until today...appropriate since today is the day I am no longer celebrating. I had been thinking about whether or not to celebrate or let people in on my age for a while. The card from my parents made the decision for me.

At this point, I wish I had a digital camera in order to share their sense of humor with you but instead, I am reduced to simply describing the lovely hallmark moment in text.

The photo on the front of the card is either circa 1930s or cleverly made to look it with a woman standing next to a basket of fruit outside of a general store complete with vintage 7-up advertisement on the side of the building. There is a price placard sticking up out of the fruit that says .39@ (pretend that is a cents sign). When you open the card, it says:

"Looks like your melons are a little lower this year."

Yeah...birthdays are great....

Hollywood Typos

So, got home from a romantic lunch with Carl yesterday (his first day off in a heck of a long time), picked up the mail and as we chatted Carl opened the American Film magazine we get along with my membership and Carl's alumnus status with AFI. Lo' and behold on page 13 is a picture of Carl and me at a party last winter. (Okay, it's the AFI rag but still it's glossy.) Anywho, here we are on the same page as George "cutting edge of politics" Clooney and damn if its not one of the best pictures ever taken of us as a couple - seriously, we're thinking of getting hold of the photographer for a personal copy. So here's the stickler....They have us as Sandra and Carl Bartels - (the photographer probably wrote my name all in caps and someone mistook the his "o" as a "d"). (I would appreciate it if my family would refrain from comment on this particular theory....)

Here's the problem, I'm not important enough for them to get my name wrong. If they misspelled Clooney, everyone would know they're idiots, but on my caption, they just assume I'm Sandra and don't bother to get all annoyed. It's just wrong.

As a side note, they identify Carl as an AFI Alumus [sic].

Letter to my cat, Henley

Dear Henley:

The birds have become our common enemy. They gather in threes as you come trotting toward me, toward safety. I watch them swoop from the roof, from the wire, from the top of the cactus. Their cries are prehistoric as they screech in their kamikaze assault. They dive toward your head, your back, your tail that you pull down as the avian missile with its nuclear beak comes within inches of your hindquarters. I promise this will last only a few months, long enough to feed the young in their nest. At least you are not the dog next door who must passively cower while the biggest in the flock dives into his food bowl for nuggets. Perhaps this is why they are such aggressive little f&*ks, because they have been subsisting on beef by-products. One of them has a bent wing that I imagine is the result of coming too close to one of your kind....was it you?

A word of advice or cautionary tale, however you want to take it -- a few years back, I watched a now deceased friend leap five feet into the air and like a MEADS, end an aerial assault. It was four months before he could venture out again - for him, they created a posse of five. It was not pretty.

I'll leave the back door ajar in case you want to come inside and hang out in relative peace....

Pompous Circumstances

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (UCLA Bruin alumni) was given an honorary doctorate today by USC. Then he delivered the commencement address. It was all about the rivalry that Bruins have with the Trojans and how it's actually based on respect and then he segued into the shame of our country's division of political parties and that we should have a mutual respect for each other. Not that I don't disagree with Mr. Villaraigosa but a commencement speech based on "can't we all just get along?" was, I have to say, fairly lame and uninspiring. I also found it irritating to be reminded of the undergrads' youth and how that's their main advantage .... of course, maybe that was just me.... being an older student and all - oh, and if one more person asked me to thank my parents who paid for this wonderful education, I was going to scream. No offense, Mom & Dad, but this time, it's my 2d mortgage, not yours.

Porn Coordination

So have been sending my resume out and trying to become gainfully employed. Not many responses as yet and am just this side of panicked. I did get one interesting nibble and it came out of the blue. Apparently, a guy I worked with on a corporate video is about to shoot a pilot/series for Larry Flynt and was wondering if I would be the 1st A.D./Production Coordinator for it - now even I know that normally those are two separate positions but apparently they like to keep the crew to a minimum on these sorts of projects. I've been thinking it over - I have a few weeks before he's up and running and the first thing that comes to mind is that as Production Coordinator, would I be calling the usual list in L.A. and asking if we can use their home for the "plumber" scene? And then of course, the second thing that comes to mind is that as 1st A.D., I'd be responsible for moving the shot-list along. I don't even want to think about Shot 23 - you know - shudder - the close-up ...

Did I really pay all that money to USC to do this? Of course, you know the next thing that leaps to mind....this could be the source of some really good material....

Yeah, just call me a "material girl".

Forgive me Blogger Father for I have sinned

It has been nearly three months since my last confession. In that time, I have coveted my neighbor's new Prius; wished to murder the man who whizzes by my house several times a night on his revved up, louder than a leaf blower, scooter; have lapsed into a state of sloth after completing my poetry manuscript/thesis and turning it in for departmental approval and generally lied about my productivity in the last several days. Oh, and in relation to the coveting, I have spouted profane language while filling my gas-guzzling Xterra at the pump.

Finally, I have toyed with the idea of simply starting an anonymous blog since one of the things that has been offered to me in the name of employment has been, shall we say, below the line and somewhat below the belt. Yes, Blogger Father, I am considering it....

When Do You Mention You're Married?

A few weeks ago Carl was in New York working on color correction of Another Gay Movie. I, at the same time, was working on the second draft of my poetry manuscript. Since I'd been holed up all day in my home office, I decided to take the manuscript to my favorite bar, have some dinner and just read through it cover to cover. As a side note, the bar used to be called Duffy's and truth be told about half of the poems in it had been written in a booth in Duffy's from 1998 until 2000. It was a prolific time for me.

Usually, on a Wednesday night, there aren't many people at the bar but, on this particular night, not only was the bar quite populated, but the booths were full. I sat at one end of the bar and Frankie greeted me by pouring my glass of wine before I ordered it and telling me that the soup special that night was my favorite. I ordered it. While I read, the 20 something boys on my right chatted with me about the soup that they wished they'd ordered instead of the hot wings and generally flirted with me which wasn't unpleasant. Before they left, a very sweet, handsome man sat to my left. I continued reading my manuscript. During the course of the few hours I was there, he asked me questions, told me he was a restaurantuer and that he was Greek of Greek and Armenian parentage. It was pleasant but at last I said that I really enjoyed talking with him but needed to get back to the task at hand. Before he left, he invited me to come to his cafe the following Sunday and hear him play the bouzouki. I told him I would try but that I had a reading to attend. He left. That's when I started to feel bad.

I never told him I was married. The truth is, it never came up. I wear a wedding ring, a unique band that is tough not to notice. I figured he was sitting to my left, he should have noted it. I also remember that at some point in the conversation about his busy life, I asked if he was married and he said no. He never asked me if I was married but I suppose at that point, I should have said "I am."

The truth is, if you're a chick alone at a bar, I think guys assume (a) you're single; or (b) you're not happily married. Neither of those are true of me. What is true of me is that I enjoy going to my favorite bar to hang out and either write or read. I've never been a coffee shop kind of girl. That said, if a guy starts talking to me, is it my responsibility to tell him that I'm a waste of time? I like meeting new people. I enjoy conversation. I figure if he wants to know whether it's a waste of his precious "meet a chick" time, he should probably check the left hand and/or ask if I'm with someone.

So, guys, I guess I'm asking....should I, if it's obvious I'm being "chatted up", turn to the chatter and say I'm married? Do I have to do the "we" thing in conversation? I hate the "we" thing, it suggests that I am not an individual in my tastes and opinions which is actually a pet peeve of mine with married couples "We think the price of gas is outrageous!" What is the proper thing to do? Is it my responsibility or should guys stop assuming a woman alone in a bar is automatically single? Oh, and if you answer stay away from bars when Carl is out of town, I'm going to have to go into a whole diatribe on men who are married who go to bars all the time after work or while the little woman is travelling and they don't have to deal with this because we don't assume a guy is single if he's alone at a bar.

Divine Intervention

A few weeks back, I was in my Tuesday night poetry workshop and my cell phone rang. I had forgotten to mute it, so it was a little embarrassing. At the break, I returned the call from Carl. Now, Carl never calls me during my workshop so I was thinking it was an emergency and it was in a way. The computer had frozen, created a little memory dump message and he couldn't get it to shut down. I walked him through it and told him I'd look at it when I got home. I went back into my workshop and exchanged computer horror stories with the others while on break. Linda, bless her "tech support" heart, told me I needed to get a USB unit (it plugs into your UCB port on your computer) and PRONTO! I went home, got the computer working again and vowed that on Thursday, I'd go to Office Depot (I had to work on Wednesday and wouldn't be able to take care of it until Thursday.) True to my word, I went to Office Depot and had one of the most amazingly easy, pleasant, may I help you, oh, you need that and we're out of stock? let me check on that....two minutes later, here it is and guess what it's on sale 50% off. I was out of the store in less than 10 minutes. THAT NEVER HAPPENS.

So, I dutifully went home and backed up all of My Documents. I worked for several hours on my thesis that weekend and did not re-back up the work, but I did print out a hard copy. You can see where all of this is going can't you?

A week to the day later, I woke up to entirely crashed computer. Thankfully it wasn't the mother board and because of my handy-dandy USB unit, Mr. Computer Geek was only here for a mere two hours trashing everything, updating my windows to XP from 2000 and re-installing all of my documents and a few programs. It took me another week to sort through what else I was missing and dig through various programs in my closet for re-installation. Today, I learned that my McAfee is out of date and I need to just break down and buy version 10.

All of this said, it (1) explains my low profile for a while; and (2) gives a nod to those wonderful little synchronistic moments. If Carl hadn't called that Tuesday night, I would not have learned about USB units (which, by the way, if you lack a back up system, are cheap, small, ultra fast and you feel like James Bond when you plug them into your computer port....literally, it takes about 3 minutes to back your entire My Documents data) and I would not have had a nearly complete back up.

I say nearly complete because I need to go back and re-do the work I did on my thesis but I have the hard copy so I have a map and I'm ready to travel again. I think I'll go in search of the divine.

Hidden Talents

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system. And while this may not seem big, it can be. It's people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes. You're just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Feeling a bit blah today, the short I was supposed to help Line Produce and 2d AD isn't happening, I'm stuck trying to figure out whether my section breaks are working in my poetry manuscript. I still don't have a title for it yet (any suggestions are welcome and no, I don't think you have to read it to be qualified to come up with something clever). The good news is that the running continues to go well, Nicole's and my writers' group starts this week and I only have 16 weeks until I receive my Masters degree (a mere four months).

In the meantime, I think I'll concentrate on my hidden talent and see what kind of trouble I can get into.

Singles or Partners?

Nicole wrote an interesting blog about relationships and committment. It got me thinking about being single. It's been nearly 6 years since I was "out there" but I relate to the frustration at wanting something more and running up against the wall of "maybe".

The thing is, I think you have to simply live your truth, whether it's monogamy or playing the field. Relationships aren't scientific, don't follow logic and can't be run in a sort of "playing chicken" fashion - first to blink, loses or conversely first to blink, wins. If you're the kind of person who, when you care for someone deeply, wants to concentrate on that one person, great. If you're the kind of person who, when you care for someone deeply, still wants to leave yourself open to other options, great -- as long as the other person is aware of your particular need and agrees to the arrangement.

The trouble starts when you aren't on the same page of the "rule book".

Be who you are, live according to your own needs and your truth and you will attract someone else who feels the same truth.

Gastronomic Hints from Gmail

If you are a "gmail" user, you know that when you open an email, it picks up on words and phrases and on the sidebar offers links that are related to it. I used to think this was kind of big brother spooky but now know it's just an automatron program thing (right? right?)

Anyway, at the top of the Spam folder, the links are getting a little scary. I offer you:

                           SPAM SKILLET CASSEROLE

Recipe By     :
Serving Size  : 6    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Casseroles                       Main dish

 Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  2                    Baking potatoes, cut into
                       -1/8" slices
  1       cn           SPAM Luncheon Meat, cubed
                       -(12 oz)
  1       c            Thinly sliced carrots
  1       c            Thinly sliced onions
    1/2   c            Thinly sliced celery
  2                    Garlic cloves, minced
  2       tb           Flour
  1       t            Coarsely ground pepper
    3/4   t            Dried whole thyme
  1       cn           No-salt-added green beans,
                       -drained (16 oz)
  1       cn           No-salt-added whole
                       -tomatoes, drained and
                       -chopped (16 oz)
  1       cn           No-salt-added vegetable
                       -juice cocktail (5 1/2 oz)
                       Butter-flavor vegetable
                       -cooking spray

 Cook potatoes in boiling water 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.
 Drain. In skillet, cook SPAM until browned; remove from skillet. Add
 carrots to skillet and saute 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add
 onion, celery, and garlic; saute until vegetables are tender. Combine
 flour, pepper, and thyme. Stir flour mixture into vegetable mixture;
 cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add SPAM, green beans, tomato,
 and vegetable juice cocktail. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer
 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat; arrange
 potato slices over SPAM mixture to cover completely. Spray potato
 slices with vegetable cooking spray. Broil 6" from heat source 10
 minutes or until golden.

Retropolitan, let me know how that works out for you at the next dinner party.

And miles to go...

After trying out three different pairs of running shoes (finally have the ones just right) and much to the amazement of friends and family, today marks a month of running.

My butt feels higher, my breathing is easier and my skin has taken on an oxygenated glow. This weekend I begin training with the Pasadena Pacers to run the 2007 Los Angeles marathon (and half marathons in between).

Now, if I could just kick the cigarettes....

Thanks to all who sent emails and called and talked me through the process of the right gear, the right stretches and just basically have supported me in my new venture.

Mr. Postman, Look and See....

Yesterday, I got a Christmas card from my Gram. The Boise postmark was December 5. Underneath it was an "official" red ink stamped date that said "Santa Ana, CA" around the outside edges, "December 29, 2005" in the middle, and next to it the text read "FOUND IN SUPPOSEDLY EMPTY EQUIPMENT". So obviously this happens often enough for them to go to The Rubber Stamp Store and order a specific stamp that points out the nature of their mail loss error.

It got me to thinking about what else is in the collection of rubber stamps next to the mail sorter's cup of coffee.

For catalogues: "FOUND THE PERFECT GIFT FOR MY BOYFRIEND, THANKS!"
For magazines: "FOUND INCREDIBLY INTERESTING - CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE ON P. 49!"

And, maybe the stamps aren't just to explain what the error was, but actually let us know they're thinking of us and don't have an explanation but want to acknowledge that there was a delay:

For bills: "FOUND THE REASON YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT IS STILL IN THE BLACK"
For Birthday Cards: "FOUND OUT YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY 29"

I suppose I could go on like this all day but I have to go mail your gift certificate. Look for it soon!

Libby, Libby, Libby on the Label, Label, Label, But 1st a Nod to Nicole

Neil Kramer of "citizen" fame has been writing for Blogebrity and made my partner the "ebrity" of the day which is pretty cool and the particular blog entry was actually going to be up for discussion here but he beat me to the punch on a bigger front so kudos to Nicole!

And now, the thing I've been avoiding writing about....My life has alway been a tish intertwined and has a tendency to go back over explored territory in order to re-draw the map of relationships. This year, my husband and I had my ex-husband and his new "girlfriend" over to our house for Christmas Eve. Girlfriend in quotes because I'm not sure that they are at the stage that they're actually labeling one another with an official title at this point. For all you internet daters, Nicole, pay attention here...they met on-line. He lives in Minneapolis and she lives in the Los Angeles area so other than the 1000s of miles between them and the fact that she is a toe-tag liberal and he is a hard-core, true-blue (or should I say Red?) Republican, it seems to be a match made in cyber-heaven.

Which I suppose brings me to the real point, which was touched on in Nicole's entry and actually recently discussed by Kris of "I'm Not a Girl..." fame - just what is it about labels that we cling to? Yes, the ex is a Republican, he's also pro-choice, pro-gay-rights, and for all intent and purpose, a social liberal. So, he's more "Mark" (his name) than Republican....While they were here and she was ranting about his *gasp* political affiliation, we asked if she could agree to disagree and she said "no way". So I guess the relationship is doomed from the get-go, but it brought up a memory of what another close (liberal) friend said to me. "I want to be Democrat but all the liberals I meet can't have a political discussion without getting judgmental...it makes me lean toward becoming a Republican just so I can have an open political discussion that weighs both sides without it becoming a name-calling free for all." Now, I'm sure that there are plenty of close-minded, right-leaning folk but I have to agree that the liberal people I talk to (and I'm a democrat) have a tendency to take a holier than thou "I'm an intellectual and I know better than you" sort of attitude about things. On the other hand, you've never really experienced "holier-than-thou" until you have mixed religion with the right.

All this rambling to say, HEY PEOPLE LIGHTEN UP!!! We aren't our political affiliation, we're not our color, we're not our sex or sexual orientation, our religion or our medical condition....those are all merely portions of our make-up. And it's not just how other people see you, the thing is, until you learn to let go of your own labels for yourself, no one else is going to clearly see you for the amazing multi-faceted individual you are.

OMG - January goals just around the corner

Man, in November I set all kinds of goals for my time off before the next semester of writers' group, thesis work and the new year all started up again. I haven't finished a single one and been very lazy this holiday season.

1. Go through poetry manuscript, pull poems that need some tweaking and do it.
2. Finish 1st draft of screenplay.
3. Write every day.

1. Well, I did re-order the poems and did manage to plug in some stuff that I wrote since the workshop of the first draft. In the shower yesterday, did come up with a new twist to a poem with a weak ending. Have not followed up on my shower musings.
2. Still sits next to my computer completed through the mid-point (about page 60)
3. Have written in my journal about once a week. Have been more active on my blog so I guess that counts.

My New Years resolutions are going to be chock full this time around. What are your resolutions?

Teaching our Children

With all this talk about the "meaning" of Christmas and what we're teaching our children, either in the true Christian meaning of Christmas or the all-encompassing meaning of the kwanza, judeo-christian-roman-celtic meaning of the re-birth of solstice,we all missed the one main politically-unencumbered salient point.

HAS ANYONE FIGURED OUT WHAT IS INHERENTLY WRONG WITH THE COCA-COLA POLAR BEAR///PENGUIN AD??????

There is an old riddle that will give you a clue.....If you are living in a house and all of the windows face south...what color is the bear?

WHITE!!!!

WHY??? Because Polar Bears live in the arctic circle....and penguins????

Yup, Antarctic....

So if I see that baby polar bear slide down that hill one more time to the Wilson brothers into the penguins' beach party, I'm gonna' scream -

Stop worrying about the true meaning of Christmas and start worrying about basic geography people!!! What the f&#@ are you teaching your children???

Holiday Shopping (yes, I mean Christmas...)

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about canceling Christmas because of the religious connections and even more from the religious right complaining about the fact that it has lost all meaning because folks have to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas to the shoppers. It all seems fairly silly and if you want to impart the true meaning of Christmas and think that the winter festival talent shows just aren't doing it for you, rent the Peanuts special and have your kids replay the Linus speech over and over.

In the meantime, here in "Christmas has always been a holiday celebrating material gift-giving" land, the holiday is tight for us this year and even though we told friends and family "no gifts" and they all agreed, I just got a UPS package containing a bunch of little presents from Carl's sister. It's okay, she had sent a warning email that we were getting a UPS delivery so we arranged to send something today (thank god for 1800Flowers because the last minute shopping is made easier with their food and flowers).

Unfortunately, I didn't do any shopping for my own family and I'm feeling a bit like a grinch this year. A grinch that just spent a ton of money on tuition last year. The Trojan Horse is eating prime hay this year on me.

I guess this post is to say that my new year's resolution (albeit early) is to do what a close friend does, which is to throw herself into the spirit all year round and if she sees something during the year that she thinks would be perfect for you, she picks it up and puts it in a box in her closet until the appropriate time. Next year, you'll get something small but perfect and you can start making suggestions in January.

Winter solstice today comes with 80 degree weather, to answer the sick weather gods, I'm listening to Winter Wonderland - the ambiance feels a little off so I'm leaving the veloblinds closed.

Tis the Season

For reflection on accomplishment over the past year, for the blues, the blahs and the perfectly timed parties to pick you up.....

Went to my friend, CJay's, open house yesterday and wasn't in the jolliest of holiday moods but it was great to see old friends and even better to make a new one. Yesterday, I ended up having one of those "oh my god we're the same person trapped in separate bodies" conversations with a lovely man named Tony who is incredibly handsome, funny, smart and just a wonderful soul. Now, before you fear for Carl, understand that Tony is also gay.

Tony and I, having been born only two months apart, had one of those, "oh my god I read that book the same year!" while we both sang the lyrics to various schoolhouse rock videos, conversations... It didn't matter that I grew up in the midwest and he grew up in Long Island, we had all the same cultural (and pop culture) reference points.

Meeting Tony cheered me considerably. It was real and funny and the energy of matching wits and truly connecting with a fellow human being made me realize that while reward for creative output would be nice, the truth is, sometimes that happens but most of the time, you are creating to create, writing to write, and you do it because you love it. And I do. In the meantime, in this life, I get to hang out with cool, creative people and sing ...

}} Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
}} Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I got three favorite cars
That get most of my job done.
}} Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.

The Art of Happiness

Nicole of Verbs Via Ones and Zeros wrote a wonderful post today about eating v. feeling that got me to thinking about another close friend who has a great attitude about life in general and a philosophy / faith based belief system that I have to admit has gotten her pretty far in her career. It basically has to do with feeling positive (not thinking positve, that's a whole different Anthony Robbins point of view) and having that positive feeling evolve into faith in the universal "wow" (or God, as is her case) to take care of things for you.

All that said I have to admit that I'm feeling pretty low today. I'm down in the dumps after a second publication rejection notice in a month and a lack of response from a job opportunity that actually went into a second round of interview process and at this point I've pretty much written off. The thing is I was one of five being considered out of 250 resumes and 20 interviewees but somehow they can't send an email saying "so sorry we went with someone else" sheesh. Anyway, I know I'm supposed to feel lucky and also feel like it just wasn't the opportunity for me and that something better is going to come along but somehow today I just feel like I want that big break that allows me to show someone what I'm really capable of.

It's hard to feel positive about the universal wow when you're feeling the universal blahs. I could list all the ways I'm lucky and perk myself up but sometimes you just want to be allowed to feel what you feel. Thanks, Nicole, for reminding me that it's okay to listen to my heart.

Day 7 - the weekend and discovering new bloggers

Today I ran my 7th day. I took off over the weekend because (1) I went to the salon Saturday morning and when you maintain your natural hair color you can't wash it for two days; and (2) tis the season for party, party, party and I had people to see and things to do.

Friday night I went to the Mary White Variety Show and it was a hoot. All of the singers were incredibly talented and if you like country music, you should check Mary out at her regular gig at The Cowboy Palace. My good friends Hugh Cline and Bret Coker were among the performers and you should check out their music here. Hugh also plays as part of Mary's regular band at the Palace.

Saturday night I went to my friend, Jen's, party. I know Jen through the MPW program at USC so a bunch of my USC cronies were there but I have to say that one of the most interesting guests was Eric, a French astrophysicist who works at CalTech. I managed to coax him away from the wall he was hugging (we are a bit of an overwhelming group of folks) and I have to say that chatting about fractals and the vast universe takes on a whole new meaning when you're talking to a guy who is calculating the implications on a daily basis. I wish I had slowed down on the wine because I know the conversation will now have to catch up to me in bits and pieces.

Sunday morning we woke up late (we're just not used to these wild party nights) and while I cleaned house, Carl made his world famous killer meatballs and spaghetti. Carl, true to his Italian heritage makes his meatballs light as air and his sauce a little spicy. We had our good friends, Chris and David, over for dinner and then "taught" them Texas Hold'em. I say "taught" in quotes because Chris cleaned our clocks! Yeah, Chris, sure we'll play for real money next time....cough, gasp...

I got up today ready to start my running routine again and not only did I run but I added a half mile to the run and ran longer before walking for one minute and then ran the rest of it. I feel pumped today!!! Oh, and the half mile added also added a steep hill to the workout so I am feeling a little like Rocky this afternoon.

I went to visit Brian at one of my favorite blogs today and discovered he's in love and he pointed us to his gal Monica who has her own blog. I like Monica and although they didn't ask me for it, I'm giving the happy couple my blessing.

In the meantime, Neil, who we all know and love introduced me to The Retropolitan and I have to say he's now competing for the top spot on my list of favorite bloggers. His entry today, December 12, 2005, is one of the finest, non-whiney, I'm-sick-posts, I've ever had the pleasure to read.

Well, back to work, I have a poetry manuscript to tweak and I've ignored it long enough! 13 more days to Christmas....probably should get a tree tonight as well....