normally, not a fan of bees....

But I think I might be able to conquer my fear with the new Tori Amos release of
The Beekeeper. The cover art has been revealed!

THE BEEKEEPER TRACKLISTING:

Parasol

Sweet the Sting

The Power of Orange Knickers

Jamaica Inn

Barons of Suburbia

Sleeps with Butterflies

General Joy

Mother Revolution

Ribbons Undone

Cars and Guitars

Witness

Original Sinsuality

Ireland

The Beekeeper

Martha's Foolish Ginger

Hoochie Woman

Goodbye Pisces

Marys of the Sea

Toast

Another shot of the gorgeous Tori, from her official site:

Politically Correct Holiday Greetings

To go along with the holiday "term" ... heh heh ...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender- neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . .and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only “AMERICA” in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.

(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)

chrismahanukwanztice

In an effort to respect everyone this season, I've devised my own word to wish those I encounter well this season.

"Merry Chrismahanukwanztice!"

Maybe this will thwart the bitching?

holiday spirits

Yesterday was a nice, short work day. Came in late (9:30am), left at 12:30pm and headed over to Ciao Ristorante for our annual Holiday lunch with my coworkers. Every year our boss takes us to lunch and gives us the afternoon off. Of course, the afternoon turns to evening and we're still with each other ... drinking.

It's pretty nice, he treats us AND gives us each (15 of us!) a $35 gift card to usually a restaurant or movie theater. This year, it was Max & Erma's. At Ciao, we once again ate like kings and queens. We drank complimentary champagne, nibbled on bread dipped in balsamic vinaigrette & olive oil, ordered our main courses and then dessert - I had cinnamon ice cream with hot fudge. In addition to the champagne, let's not forget about the 3 cosmopolitan's and the Jack & Coke I slurped down. I feel fortunate that I really get along well with the folks I work with and genuinely care about them - even if they get on my nerves on a daily basis. :) The holiday tradition of getting drunk together certainly helps my perception of them, too. har har.

The rest of the night was a bit hazy.... went home and crashed, watched the 3-hour Apprentice and went to sleep.

it makes me sad...

...to think that Steve Perry may never return to Journey again. For some reason I always thought he had some throat problem, but I guess I was just thinking of the Spin Doctors' guy. Steve, apparently, had a hip problem that prevented him from touring and so the rest of the guys chose to move on without him (bastards!). I'm sorry but, there is NO replacing Steve Perry.

I know none of this is new news. And I know it's a little out of the blue. I listened to some Journey tonight. Big Journey fan. Even air guitared along.

"Thank God for Santana breaking up, so Journey could form" - Mark
"Thank God for Steve Perry's hair which is what first drew me to Journey" - Me, in my head.

Journey ... and also The Cars - two highly underrated bands that I reserve for those moments in need of some serious rockin' out and a general feel-good atmosphere.

money does, indeed, buy happiness

Today has been a very boring, mundane day here at work. BUT it all changed when two things happened:

1) Trent and I were IM'ing all day and he mentioned that he redeemed some Charter One (our bank) points and got a $200 credit card/gift card! After discussing the logistics with him, I realized that the phone I really want to buy and the money I really want to spend hanging out with people over the holiday break could be a reality with that little winner of a card! So I redeemed my points and now I will be the lucky recipient of $200 in free cash (in 3-15 days); and

2) Mark called me to tell me that our MEAP checks arrived! $75 dollars for working about 4 or 5 hours for the State proctoring MEAP exams pays off! Especially when you need to pay for new license tabs. Yipes.

So now even though I'm still in this hell-hole that is work, I'm a little bit happier. And it's all due to MONEY. Evil, luscious, scrumptious, rotten MONEY.

"he's suggestive, in a pushy way..."

All I can say is, I don't know where kids come up with some of the things they say. Tonight my night was fun-filled, for sure. First I went out to dinner at Red Robin with Sherri & Kyle. It was great to see them, hang out and really just chat for a while. Kyle is as crazy as usual (in a good way) and says the silliest things. The title of this post is an example. Mind you, he's describing his 1st grade "buddy" at school after I asked him what he's like. He followed that up by saying, "And I don't even know what that means!" We laughed, he kept saying it. I guess it's in some song? I dunno. But I got some good ideas for christmas gifts from him and Sherri was able to give me the yes and no nods secretly, yet not so subtly, from behind the menu.

After eating, doing some Targeting and then chatting back at Sherri's house for hours, I picked up Candice and we headed up to the Dirty where she filled me in on the latest dirt with her. We reminisced about "old times" and told funny Grandparent stories. She's been warned, I WILL be stealing her Grandma's catch phrase and using it as my own. In place of familiar phrases like "it's the cats meow" or "it's the bees knees" I'll be substituting "it's the berries," when the need arises. I can't wait. No free drinks tonight, but heavy discount since the bartender is the brother of Candy's old best friend. Gawd. Drama. Love that girl. :) Now I reek of smoke and have to decide if I'm going to shower now or stick it out till morning. Decisions....

all you gotta do is shake it

That was the quote of the day today at Marycrest Manor, the nursing home we visit frequently throughout the year. By "we," I mean some of us at work who are part of the diversity council and others who aren't but who like to come anyways. Today was our Christmas visit and, as always, it was so very worthwhile. We bring some things that the residents need (new, white socks) and also give a little gift bag with an ornament inside and a card from "the Ford Family." But first we gather with them in the dining hall and sing carols, visit, dance (if the mood strikes), and listen to one of our employees play jazz saxophone and another play bagpipes. It's really a great time at Marycrest. Just seeing the smiles on their faces - and for those less alert, hoping that maybe our visit is lifting their spirit a little, is a good feeling.

Some people's spouses or children were there to visit and got to join in the merriment. One of my coworkers is really the heart & soul of every visit. He's very bubbly and outgoing and always leads us in signing or just gets us going. This year he had a plethora of Santa hats, Elf hats, Mrs. Claus (complete with white braids) hats, Reindeer hats and jingle bells. He passed them out to us and some to the residents - we all got to keep them. :) When he gave the bells to one woman, Katherine, she said "What do i do with this?" and he replied, "All you gotta do is shake it." We all laughed and continued to mock him, using all sorts of variations, of course: "Shake it, Baby" or "Shake what yo momma gave ya" or "shake it like a polaroid, son" ... I think the residents just liked to see us laugh and laugh with us.

We danced with Leo who sang along, singing "LA LA LA LA LA" (in the highest octave you can think of) to every song. Helen kept grabbing at her husband, who was visiting, and hugging him. Joyce tried her hardest to remember all the words, but sometimes we had to help her. ;) And (I shouldn't say this, but...) my favorite: Evelyn. She's 99 and will be 100 on May 8th of 2005. She has MANY stories and each one of them captivate me. Doesn't matter that some of them are far from true (so the director whispers), the fact that she can tell these stories so vividly, amazes me. She's also babysat for all of us at one point or another and loves to tell us how we've grown up into such nice children. She's a riot.

After a day like that, who wants to go back to the dungeon and the least Christmasy place on earth!? Not me. So I didn't. I went home.

Walking in a ghetto wonderland

Driving thru Garden Shitty City tonight, coming from Wasteland Westland Mall and I passed a couple "Homer Simpson as Santa" blowups on the lawn.

People, please. Don't do that. :(

Forget Paris...

I'm mortified. Rumor has it that my darling Adam, lead singer of Maroon 5, has been shacking up with skank Paris Hilton. I heard this morning on the WDRQ morning show (Rachel's Dirt) and also found it on Defamer. I guess I can't blame him ... she's a rich socialite heiress. But c'mon... you can't sing Sunday Morning the next day to a passed out Barbie and her Tinkerbell pooch while shacked up in some hotel room. It's just not the romance that the song portrays.

Whatever - he's still way sexy.

Miracle on Calhoun St.

So, this weekend didn't involve a lot of activity outside of the house, even though that was the plan. Saturday night we were going to go out and hang with some friends at, where else?, the Double Olive. It was one of our friend's birthday's - but after a day of shopping and Mark's cold getting worse, we decided it best to stay in.

Today we got up early but fell in and out of consciousness in the late morning. We were supposed to go to the Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo with A & T, but Mark didn't feel up to the adventure. Had to postpone. Ended up ordering a pizza and while Mark slept and watched football, I cleaned the house. The front half, at least. Still have to do the "deep dive" in the back of the house. Then, we did the ultimate task for two lazy couch-potatoes to undertake, especially on a Sunday: we put the Christmas tree up! AND decorated it! And, I must say, it looks marvelous. Just as we finished the last decoration and scared the kitties away from it for the umpteenth time, Miracle on 34th Street came on TBS. Indeed.

take a look, it's in a book

www.nerdyshirts.com

Marcus feels like poo and i've got the lazy bug again. so far, spending the day doing a whole lot of nothing. Reading, watching random tv, playing with kitties ... not a whole lot more to come. Supposed to be going to the Wild Lights at the Zoo with Angi & Tony. Not sure if that's gonna happen; all depends on Marcus' cold. We'll have to see...