Dad's b-day

I guess it's a good thing that I really like giving presents, because my dad’s birthday is today. I wanted to find him cashmere socks, but they were absolutely nowhere to be found in the entire Mall at Rockingham Park. The entire mall. I know it was the entire mall because I walked it. In my knee-high, heeled boots. Ouch!

I ended up getting him six pairs of really luxurious moisture-wicking socks. Men’s socks are expensive! And by the way, they are much nicer than women’s socks. So I bought myself two pairs of thick, pretty socks (one ballet pink, one bright turquoise. What man wears socks this thick is beyond me. There is a slight chance that my dad might wear these crazy colors but never a thick pair like this) for two bucks apiece. Today I’m wearing the ballet pink ones with my cherry red Docs and they are sooo comfy. I might even go back and get more... anyone want a pair?

Neph's b-day

And speaking of birthdays, two weeks ago Nephew turned a very funny four! I bought him three small Lego sets.

I just love Lego too! And I'm so psyched we have that in common. Right now he’s into things with wheels, like trucks. My present arrived later than I would have preferred, but I think was more convenient for him after being bombarded with gifts. Plus, a present alone gets all the attention and I like that.

Anyway, when the Lego arrived, he was pleased. He was ok with the first set (mini-figures, benches, signs), kind of interested in the second (a car that looks similar to a SmartCar), and when he got to the third (off-road fire rescue) he was thrilled. "Just what I've always wanted!" he declared. He didn't believe it was from me at first -- apparently, he thinks his grandmother (my mom) is the sender of all things good! My sister had to show him the gift messages before he was convinced I was the one who had sent the gift. What a cutie patootie!

My b-day

(Because I can’t go by without mentioning my birthday at all. And February 9^th was a pretty good birthday.) I had to work that day which left me emotionally exhausted, but I enjoyed dinner out with my parents at a Mexican restaurant, and my dad was the featured poet at a local poetry reading. He read a few Spanish pieces as well as a few pieces of his own. It was really nice.

From my parents I received a simply gorgoise Etienne Aigner large apricot leather satchel-style handbag with just the right hardware. It’s perfect! My sister “surprised” me with the Wii Fit game update. From Niecey and Neph I received very sweet birthday cards with my name charmingly misspelled (Niecey) and a depiction of the housie I had built them, I think (Neph). Then I took the rest of the week off and tried to relax. I was unsuccessful as far as the relaxing went, but I did get a lot of thinking done. I also began the large chore of reorganizing my bedroom closet. It’s coming along.

The relaxing? I tried to just veg, but my head was so full that I ended up feeling tired anyway. But I did get enough sleep, which mitigated the small satchels under my eyes. (I prefer my new orange bag to the bags under my eyes any day…)

Feeling better

So my birthday rolled past without buying myself an iPod Touch. Boo hoo hoo. (I was going to buy one through Amazon for $269 instead of $299 by putting $75 worth of gift certificates toward it, but I had a surprise root canal at the end of the year that was not fully paid by insurance and I had to fork over $450 big ones during my birthday week. That hurt even more than the tooth work! Also, last week I had to get my taxes done -- and $264 later, they were. Sheesh.)

Actually, my birthday and Neph's birthday passed without my even posting about them. For shame! What has the world come to?

Well, I'll tell you. I have been so stressed out and have had so much on my mind for months (obviously) that I allowed it to get to me and hadn't bothered posting, writing articles, or really even making much of an effort to socialize. But let me not exaggerate. I have been hanging out with friends (what is life without them?), but have not done the dating thing since 2009 or really attemped much online dating, even. January and February pretty much involved me thinking about my health vs. quality of life vs. length of that life, and I have a big decision to make about my weight. "Big" decision, get it? Heh. I have to decide about whether or not to have weight loss surgery.

Smart idea one moment and frightening the next.
Re: surgery, the Cat is perfectly perplexed.

Whatever the decision, it will be for me, not other people. And it will affect the rest of my life. So no comments about these type of surgeries in general, please – this time, it’s all about me. (Other comments are welcome, as usual.)

But I’m feeling much, much better – enough to get off my red sofa and organize my desk of my own accord. Enough to get up and do some Wii Fit (which yelled at me, natch). Enough to send a few emails on Match and JDate. And I have energy! Enough to wiggle my booty around to some salsa music. Enough to sing! Enough to take more articles at Demand Studios! And enough, of course, to post right here. These are great signs, and I am so thankful to have things back into perspective. I’m still deciding about the surgery, but it no longer seems insurmountable.

Anyway, back to the iPod Touch. I still want one. And maybe just maybe, when I receive my tax return (home ownership has its privileges – I haven’t gotten a check from the feds in years) I’ll put some money toward the iPod. And just putting it out there – I still use my little apple green Shuffle which always makes me smile. That reminds me… I should put some more juice in there. I’ll do it tonight, before I go play games at Myriad! Yay!

Another, please

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/in-obesity-epidemic-whats-one-cookie/

And I just thought it was my body acting weird...

Myriad Games

Well... the Clever Cat has found a meetup that she actually likes!

On Wednesday nights I have begun to gather with other board gamers at Myriad Games in Salem, NH. There are a bunch of really cool people there and I feel quite comfortable with them. I have always had relatively geeky tendencies and I have been embracing those tendencies for years now. The location itself is cute, clean, and close -- everything I want in a hangout.

Now all I have to do is convince them to leave out any game that involves math and I'll be all set... because even though I am somewhat geeky, I have never been, nor will I ever be, a math person. And I am not ashamed to say it. So there!

Purim, 2010

A very long time ago there lived a powerful king named Achashverosh, who ruled the entire Persian empire from India to Africa. The king, like kings in general, believed that he should have whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. A few years into his reign and to show off, he threw a party to which the entire town of Shushan was invited. People caroused and drank too much, and the king demanded that his gorgeous, arrogant wife Vashti do a striptease for his court. Vashti refused. She was an independent woman. But the king didn't like that, and off with her head.

Now he needed a queen. Calling all virgins... especially girl-next-door-type, modest, blond-haired orphans. And of all the lovely ladies of Shushan, one in particular catches his eye. Her name is Esther. And she's... gasp! Jewish. "Esther, don't tell him," counsels her cousin Mordechai, who has cared for her since the death of her parents. (You know how rough things can be for Jews. Someone always wants them gone.)

And things go well for a while, Mordechai checking on her in the court with the maids the king has bestowed on her. Esther has entranced Achashverosh but doesn't give herself to him yet. She has the king basically eating from her hand.

Of course there's a villain who just happens to be the king's prime minister -- Haman, a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, just one of the many rulers who just happen to be Anti-Semitic. Of course he wants to be king. Naturally, henchmen are involved. He sets a plot to assassinate the king, and his henchmen take the fall after Mordechai figures it all out and reports them.

But Haman is too big for his britches and wants everyone to bow to him. Well, Jews don't do that, and Mordechai refuses. Twice. Haman is enraged and convinces the king to sign off on a decree to kill all Jews in the super-large kingdom, not just Mordechai. Eeek! Esther stages a three-day fast and thousands of people pray for the M-man.

But the king has insomnia. He calls for the reading of the day's events, in which he learns of Mordecai's discovery of the plot to kill him, and that he had never gotten a giftie for his help. Haman, ever the smarmy bastard, enters at that moment and they chitchat. So, Prime Minister, how should a king reward someone? Arrogant Haman, thinking only of himself as usual, responds. "Oh, my King, dress him up in fancy robes and parade him through the town!" Well, all right then. "This shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor! Fetch Mordecai the Jew!" Enraged, Haman has to do it. But before this happens, he had taken his wife's advice and built a 150-foot tall gallows to end Mordechai's life once and for all, right in his own backyard. Yuck.

Meanwhile, Esther, becomingly pale from lack of food and looking angelic from her prayers, invites the king and Haman to two private banquets. At the second one she reveals Haman's evil plan to exterminate the Jews... and that she is one also. The king becomes blind with fury and leaves the hall for a breath of air. Haman, seeing his plan unravel, begs Esther for forgiveness and advances toward her, throwing himself upon her in his groveling. The king enters and thinks he is raping Esther.

My, how the tables have turned. You can guess who hangs instead of Mordechai. Haman, and his wife, and his ten sons are all dispatched at a hanging party on the gallows built for Mordechai. And although the decree to kill the Jews can't be turned over, another decree is signed that says Haman tricked the king. Oh by the way, it turns out that Esther is of royal stock, from King Saul. Yowza.

There are more details to this story of intrigue and revenge, sex and death, foolishness and trickery... but this is it in a nutshell. It's really quite a story. It would make an excellent movie.

But reading the megillah, I am conflicted and overwhelmed. Instead of making me merry, this story saddens me and scares me, too. Things are always more complicated than they seem...

Futility Closet

I stumbled across it through one of the VT Word of the Day emails. This is the place to go to find various things to ponder if you need to turn your mind away from work for a mo. There’s geeky stuff; goofy stuff; and number, picture, emotive, and quote stuff as well as lots of other bits and pieces… compiled in an easy-on-the-eyes black and white layout. I’m feeling like it’s somewhat pompously put together, but that doesn’t diminish the value of its interesting posts.

Thanks, Futility Closet! I’m glad I found you.

CC’s year in review

I accomplished a lot this year. I bought a home, wrote a book, was treated to a trip to another state because of my writing skills and enthusiasm, and was paid with actual dollars for freelance writing. I took another course, learned to salsa dance, and read innumerable books and played innumerable games of Scrabble.

I learned a lot of stuff, too. I especially learned that you cannot change people, you can only change your responses to people.

Of course there were things that I started that I was unable to finish or continue with, like starting up a second blog, DoYouLikeFoodLikeWeLikeFood – with friends… after one measly post it seems to have fallen by the wayside, which is a shame because they have some interesting things to say about food.

Also, despite a decent number of dates, I didn’t find love, but that’s the way things go sometimes, I guess. But I'm open and ready for when it does happen.

Goals for this year: lose weight (lose weight, always lose weight!); date, and write. It seems doable… right?

Coconut-carrying octopus

I love that octopi use tools. I am imagining them with a shell in each sucker!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_sc/as_australia_coconut_octopus

Sunkist Fruit Gems

Are available at BJ’s, for the low, low price of only $7.99 for a huge two-pound bag. And sometime between my Bat Mitzvah and my thirties, Jelly Belly changed the grapefruit color from clear-ish to pinkish.

I just love these candies! They’re pretty, and squishy, and very slippery once you suck off the sanding sugar they are coated with. They are ideal for office candy jars because they are individually wrapped and they make people's breath smell better than, say, a Reese's pb cup. The best flavor is red (raspberry) and my favorite thing to do with them after I’ve sucked them naked is to slide them in and out of my mouth, flipping them just as they are about to fall onto my shirt. Kind of nasty, but don’t worry, I don’t let anyone see me…