Just Another Day

Long ago, in a faraway time, Gina cared a lot about her stats. Gina would obsessively check them every day, even multiple times a day. And she wasn't above a couple of double or triple clicks just to give herself a little boost. During this obsessive period, something called NaBloPoMo came around. The first time, it was fun. Her stats soared to a nice level, and she was hooked. The next time around, not so much fun, and not nearly as many hits. And the third time, it was just sheer, utter torture. The hits hardly increased because so many people were doing it, unless you joined one of those groups, you were pretty much SOL. And Gina did not win a damn thing. So, is Gina doing NaBloPoMo this year? Hell to the no. I rarely check my stats anymore, and since I don't post here as regularly, they reflect that. Which uh, could be why I rarely check them anymore. But I will say that I went from a high of about an average of 150+ a day to much, much less. Maybe take away that ...

Over at my hetero lifemate's blog ... But watch out, it's political in nature. You've been warned.

Seriously, if I could marry this man, I would. Well, maybe Jon Stewart could beat him out, but not by a whole lot. The authenticity of this supposedly 80's video makes me laugh every time. From the hair to the makeup to the baggy pants, it's perfect.

I'd almost rather not admit it, but I watch Brothers & Sisters. You know, the melodramatic, soapy drama starring Calista Flockhart and Sally Fields. Except it's better and funnier than any "true" soap opera, and I watch even though I dislike Calista. There is something about the dialogue between the family when they talk to each other that is so true to life, I love it. What is your current guilty pleasure?

The title of the song says it all: I Wish I Cared A very pretty song sung by that band we all know best as the ones with the cool animated video in the 80's- a ha. This video is not nearly as entertaining as that one.

A wonderful bloggy friend, Dr. Sardonicus , is donating one dollar to to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every comment he receives on his post. Not that I'm trying to empty the man of his money, but he has personal experience with the devastation of the disease. Please, go over and leave a comment for such a worthy cause.

Ok, I'm baking my dad some chocolate chip cookies for his birthday, but wouldn't you know it, I don't know if he likes chewy chocolate chip cookies or soft, cakey chocolate chip cookies. I can't ask him, because it's a surprise. Which do you like best?

Do you not love the eloquence of my title? That is how I felt after watching John McCain tonight. Blinking, jaw-clenched, "air-quoting," feelings hurt McCain. Give me a break. As one columnist for the LA Times stated the other day, if you are still undecided, then do us all a favor and just don't vote. I have been feeling quite crappy this last week, as some sort of weird something went right to my lungs, and I've been coughing so much that my ribcage hurts. Not to mention the lovely former contents of my lungs that are seeing fit to seek fresh air. It's actually quite exhausting. I think I must feel like McCain. Anyhoo, and on the old home front, my grandparents are worrying me. They are 86 and 91, respectively and for years now I have been telling anyone who will listen that my grandmother is losing it. I'm not sure I would call it Alzheimer's, but she forgets many things, is combative, and I just generally worry about her. But I worry more about m...

September and October are prime apple pickin' season here in California. So what better thing than city folk to go out to the country and pick us some apples? Seriously, Mr. P knows that fruits and vegetables don't magically appear in the grocery stores. He knows that they come from trees or plants or vines or whatever. But I got it in my head that I really wanted him to see it firsthand. There is a place called Oak Glen about an hour away from us, and I was determined to go. There were a couple U-pick apple farms and when I told Mr. P that we were going, he was extremely excited. Oak Glen is in a different county, and once you get up into those mountains and foothills, it might as well be a different country altogether. It was a beautiful day, the high temp hovering around 72. Oak Glen is one of those places that strives really hard to give a type of folksy, down-home experience. And what better way to be down home than to eat at Apple Dumplin's Restaurant? There I...

Repeat after me: Happiness and light! Happiness and light! Another band that I have inherited a love of from my dad are ELO, and this is one of my favorite songs from them. This is one of their less esoteric, less electronic-driven songs. What is it about this song that is so great? I don't know but all I know is that I lurves it. I think it's the fact that it slows down so wonderfully on the one part, which I'm sure has an official name that I don't know, goes all fast again, and then slows down at the end. Or maybe because it's actually really intense, and a fabulous song to work out to. Anyhoo, boring video, but a rockin' song!

Are you a better cook, or better baker? Or neither?

Less than a month left of this stuff, really. I really don't like country music. But the man who penned this song, Ronnie Ray Jenkins , just might be enough to sway me over to the dark side. Brava, sir. Brava. The Ballad of Caribou Barbie There’s something fishy in the mackerel sky--in the land of the midnight sun. There’s a woman running loose wearing designer glasses, and touting a mighty big gun. Now that much don’t scare me, or worry me none, I don’t even care that she’s talking in tongue. Say oily-oily –doo, dilly-dangle-diddy-wah oily-oily-doo-dilly-arbee She put a town in debt- in her short time as Mayor, and her name is Caribou Barbie. She piles her hair high on her head and uses a bearskin to cover her bed She claims to be an expert in foreign relations, cause she can see Russia from the window in her kitchen. Say-oily-oily-doo-dilly-dangle-diddy wah Oily-oily-doo-dilly arbee Her hubby’s some dude, but his name isn’t Ken Even though she’s Caribou Barbie She tells the fol...

Today, I'm going to talk about my fish. Well, he's really Mr. P's fish, but I'm the one who has the relationship with him. I know, you are shaking your head and saying to yourself, "This economic collapse has really driven Gina to the brink of insanity, hasn't it?" And to some degree, you would be right. But, I find that caring for this very pretty boy of ours gives me a bit of solace and comfort. Many moons ago, we moved him from Mr. P's bedroom into the kitchen. It just seemed like he was extremely bored in there, as Mr. P tends to spend most of his time out here in the living room. He is basically only in his room to go to bed and wake up. And I was an infrequent visitor to clean and put away laundry. So we decided that since the kitchen was a nice hub of activity, the fish would be less bored in there. You may not believe me, but he actually will greet me in the morning by swimming vigorously around the front of his tank and wagging his tail. ...

The tone of this blog, lately. It's a downer. I know. But I just can't help myself being a thinking, rational person. So I've decided that maybe I should be like all the other oblivious people and pretend that everything is fine! Just fine! That an idiot could possibly be Vice President? What? I can't hear you! That the crappy-ass bailout ISN'T GOING TO WORK and even Wall Street knows it? That's why the market went down on Friday and that's why it will be going down on Monday? Yet we'll all be paying thousands of dollars for years and years to come? La la la la la... That California is going down the tubes? Wheeee! So what is some happy, happy music for me, the happy, happy person? The freaking Smiths, of course.

What has been driving you nuts lately?

I will tell you that I was surprised the House did not vote for the bailout. I am only slightly surprised that a new version has been drafted by the Senate, and will soon be most likely passed by Congress. What I will also tell you is that the whole thing is a scam. Fear tactics to bring about a desired end. But it will do no good, and instead of a sharp dip, and then a recovery, we will be slogging through this for a long time. I am annoyed that I will be subsidizing people who made bad, unethical, and sometimes illegal decisions. I told Hubba-hubba the other day that we just should have thrown caution completely to the wind, bought a 700,000 house that we couldn't really afford and be bailed out by taxpayer money. I mean, how is that not a good deal? And for all this crap about ooh, you won't be able to get a loan for your car, or a school loan, or housing loan, it's exactly that, a load of crap. Ask yourself if any major Federal Credit Unions have gone under. The ...