Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Enticing Titles

I thank God every day that I have a job but I also pray every night that God might help me find a new job. One that I would love. Don't laugh. I've heard people say "I love my job." So I know loving your job does exist. But right now I really, really don't love my job. At it's has gotten so bad that I have turned to . . . self help books!

First, a disclamer about self help books: there is nothing wrong with them. But the only books the I have that would even be considered self help are books about writing. Self help books just don't do it for me.
But yesterday, during a rather bad day, a friend called me at work and told me she had just seen a book she thought I might be interested in.
Yes, this a real title for a real book and it fit my state of mind yesterday and so after work I made a trip to the library to check the book out. I found the book, pulled it off the shelf and then took a quick glance at the book that was next to it.

Wow, this one sounded really good too! So I got that book out as well. When I got home I went online and found one more book that I thought might help.



My library carried this book as well but it was checked out so I put it on the hold list. Last night I started the first book and it didn't take long for me to realized why I don't normally ready self help books! But boy do they have good titles!



Monday, May 24, 2010

Did you see the last episode of…?

As all television watchers know, May is the end of the TV viewing season. Season finales and series finales are upon us and then its repeats for the next three months. Two of my favorite shows said good-bye for good this month, Ugly Betty and Lost.

Ugly Betty went as many televisions shows do, the character(s) decided to do something else. In some cases a major event happens like a wedding (Happy Days) or a war ends (M*A*S*H). Some TV shows just end, period.

Some shows have very memorable or controversial endings. Like the last episode of The Sopranos where Tony and his family are eating in a restaurant and then the screen goes to black, the end. Or Seinfield, where all the characters end up in jail having the same conversation they had in the very first episode (this is after almost every memorable character makes a courtroom appearance). And then there’s the show Newhart where Bob Newhart’s character wakes up in bed with his wife from his previous television show, The Bob Newhart Show, and claims all eight season of Newhart (where Bob runs an inn in New Hampshire – remember Larry and his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl?) was all a dream.

Last night was the final episode of Lost. I know a lot of people watched this show when it first came on but then lost interest (no pun intended) when things got a little too complicated and convoluted. First there were flash backs, then there were flash forwards and then there were too many questions (what the heck is the Smoke Monster and Dharma Imitative?) and not enough answers (in hindsight I think the writers could haven’t given us more answers without giving away the ending). If you are one of those people who stopped watching, I really don’t blame you.

But I kept going, I had to know what was going on and thank goodness for my friend Nancy, someone who, like me, kept watching. If I didn’t have someone to talk to, my head would explode. We helped each other out, asked each other questions, pointed out things the other might have missed and speculated on how the whole thing would end. The writers of the show kind of made it clear that there would be a lot of unanswered questions (they claimed they couldn’t answer every question, cop-out anyone?) but that character driven questions would be answered. If that was true, I’d be okay. If not, I was going to be one pissed-off viewer.

I really wanted an ending that made me think, “Okay, now I understand,” or “Okay, that makes some sense,” not an ending that was left open to interpretation and speculation. I wanted an ending that we didn't have to debate. And even though that didn't happen, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the last episode, because I did.

SPOILER ALERT: If stopped watching Lost and you plan on watching the rest of it on DVD at some point or you haven’t seen the finale, stop reading NOW.

But even the day after the finale episode and reading other blogs, I’m not sure what it all meant. I get that the last episode was about “letting go” and the relationships that these characters development (I held it together until Claire gave birth to Aaron at the concert at which point I started crying until the very end, even though I realized all the relationships would come together and everyone was heading off to church, heaven’s waiting room?) but was the island purgatory (a popular theory that goes all the way back to first season)? And if so, was it purgatory for everyone who was there before the Oceanic plane crash (Like the Dharma Initiative or the military that originally had the hydrogen bomb)? Was life on the island real or were the sideways real (or limbos between life and death) or were the sideways just a tool used by the creators to get most of the characters together and “go towards the light”? (Michael and Walt were missing from the church and was Richard there? Did Ben not go in because he thought he was going to hell or that he didn’t redeem himself and shouldn’t be part of the group?) Also, who built the big statue and why? Why didn’t all the Oceanic 6 go back in time when they returned to the island on the Aijira flight? What was the deal with the numbers? We know each “candidate” was assigned a number but did those numbers really mean something?

So I watched for six years (mostly just has confused as everyone else) and I’m still confused after it’s all over. But I do know that for six years Lost was totally entertaining and a rare high quality show. It can’t be duplicated but let’s hope we’ll have more shows like this in the future, shows that entertain and make you think.

Oh, and if have any answers to the above questions, please let me know!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Weekends

I work Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for one reason and one reason only, I need MONEY. So I can honestly say, I live for weekends. The very best thing for me about weekend is I get to sleep in, usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours longer than I do during the week (I really like to sleep!). But weekends can be kind of tricky. You have to balance pleasure with all those "chores" you didn't do during the week.

Because I'm single and I essentially don't have to please anybody but myself so some of these chores can go a lot longer than you probably would let them. But I still have decide, do I watch two hours of cooking shows on Saturday morning or do I clean the microwave and wash the kitchen floor. Then there are all those chores I didn't do during the week, like laundry or grocery shopping or going to Target to pick up some "essentials" I've been thinking about all week.

Now I know families where both parents work have it even harder because you have to factor in children. And I won't even start on all the addition chores if you have a house!

Here's my perfect weekend: two days where the most productive thing I do is brush my teeth and take a shower. The kitchen is stocked with food so I don't have to go grocery shopping and going outside constitutes opening the door to get the Sunday paper. During these two days of bliss I would have equal time to nap, read, write and scrapbook (and possibly watch a cooking show or two and a movie). Sounds pretty damn lazy, doesn't it?

So my perfect weekend doesn't happen very often. While I did get to sleep in this morning and I have brushed my teeth and taken a shower I am determined to clean the bathroom and the microwave and vacuum before the day is over. But first, there's a cooking show (or three) that I need to watch first. I could definitely use an extra day to my weekend.

Have a happy weekend.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I Dare You

I don’t think people who know me would call me a silly person. I tend to be very sensible. But I can definitely get into silly moods. Last weekend a couple of girlfriends and I went to brunch (a very good brunch indeed, the food was fabulous). As we are figuring out the bill the table next to us got their food and my friend notices a plate with homemade potato chips and comments on how good they look.

“I’ll give you $10 if you go over to that table and ask that man for one of his potato chips,” I said to my friend (ala “Seinfield – The Chinese Restaurant” episode where the gang is waiting for a table and Jerry dares Elaine to take an egg roll from someone's plate and eat it, offering her $50 if she does so).

My friend laughs and refuses. I told her I’d do it for $10 but then nobody dares me or offers the $10.

Probably a year ago some friends and I has just finished dinner and had some time to kill before going to our Bible study so we went into a Dollar Store. There are a lot of interesting things in Dollar Stores, including really hideous hair extensions. One of my friends (who just happened to be at the bunch last Saturday) dared me to buy the hot pink one and wear it to Bible study. I got them and some bobby pins and went to work. I’m sure I looked absolutely terrible (nobody had a camera phone at the time) but I went to Bible study and got a good laugh out of everyone. Of course there was a brand new couple there so I made a really good first impression on them!

So go ahead, dare me and see what happens.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Is it Spring Yet?

The calendar says it is but I’m not so sure here in the suburbs of Denver. We’ve had a mixture of rain and snow a lot over the last few weeks. Yes, I said snow. In May. And it’s not just any snow, it is apparently mud snow. Some how, some way mud is covering my car along with the snow/slush that has been coming from the sky lately. What the heck is that stuff? It’s there BEFORE I drive my car anywhere. I try to brush it (along with the snow/slush) off my car but it doesn’t come off! Everything is just dirty.

But apparently my bougainvillea plant realized it was spring. I had a great bougainvillea for many years. It would bloom all year around, red flowers, pink flowers, peach flowers. But then I went on vacation and someone (who will remain nameless) forgot to water it so it died. But back in November the mother of a friend gave me a new bougainvillea. She’d had it for 20 years and was just tired of it. It looked healthy, it had lots of leaves but no flowers. I watered it and still no flowers. Then the leaves started to fall off but I just kept watering it even though my Mother said it was dying. And then last week, literally overnight, flower started to appear, beautiful pink/peach flowers. It still hasn’t gotten a lot of leaves back but it’s full of flowers!

So maybe spring is here after all!