I'm Monica

I was watching Friends with some friends yesterday, and there was an episode where Chandler decided to be nice and clean the apartment for Monica, but then he couldn't remember where everything went.  She came home and totally noticed that the couch was, like, two inches away from where it should have been, and the phone was turned 3 degrees clockwise from it's place.  

Tony laughed and said, "I've seen that expression before!"  I tried to deny it, but Shane agreed.  Apparently, if I were one of the cast of Friends, I would be Monica.  I've always known that I'm a bit picky about things, but yeesh... I didn't think I was that bad!  Is it wrong to ask someone not to sit on the furniture when they're covered in sawdust?  Or to ask someone to use the freaking coaster that's sitting right beside their drink on my brand-new table?

So I'm a little bit obsessive/compulsive... that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?  I mean, attention to detail is a good trait.  

Fine.  I'm Monica.

You've been warned.

What it feels like

It was angry.  It wasn't sure why it was angry, but it knew that it was angry.  Maybe it was cranky because it wasn't pretty.  It was actually ugly, verging on hideous.  It was greenish-grayish little creature, and it was squishy and slimy.  It had two stubby little legs and two stubby little arms, each set coming out from opposite sides of its rounded body.  It had no head to speak of, and a single, glaring eye set halfway between its arms and legs.

It propped its arms up against the gleaming white wall, and set its feet against the pinky-grey mass that sat beside the wall.  Closing its eye, the thing pushed with all of its might, trying to shove its way out.  It kicked at the pinky-grey stuff, irritated as it squished out of the way.  It pushed at the gleaming white wall, frustrated as it refused to budge.  The thing pushed and pushed.  It shoved and shoved.  It got more and more angry.

"Shit," the girl muttered, closing her eyes and rubbing her head.  "Another migraine."

Crafty but tired

I've been exhausted lately.  I've been up too late, and up too early, and busy all day long.

Despite this, I'm feeling very crafty.  Unfortunately, I don't have time to be crafty.  *pouts* Instead, I will simply make a list of things that I am currently doing/want to do, in the hopes that it will inspire me to actually do these things.

1. Yellow crocheted wave blanket

2. Baby Charlotte's blanket

3. Erin's scrubs (I'm so sorry they're not done yet!  I promise, that's this weekend!)

4. Partners (my play)

5. Til Death (my novel)

6. Happily Ever After (my other novel)

7. White knit baby blanket

And that's just the stuff I'm in the middle of... but I only have to finish one more craft project before I'll let myself start something new!  Like one of these:

8. Armwarmers for Karen

9. Toque for James

10. Dishclothes for myself

11. "The Night It Went Too Far" (story)

Bad day

All I need is a little bit more patience.  And a little bit more sleep.  Until I get those two things (or at least one of them), I'm going to ignore the rest of the world so that I don't yell at someone who doesn't deserve it.  Later.

When I was your age...

I remember my dad telling stories about when he was 'my age'... The one he most loves to tell is the one that goes:

"When I was your age, I had to walk to ten miles to school, uphill, wearing felt socks!"

It turns out - that's a lie!  My grandmother used to work at my dad's elementary school, so she drove him to school most days!  And I've walked from his childhood home to his school... it's not ten miles.  Maybe five, tops.  The felt sock thing, though, is actually pretty accurate.  It turns out that in rural Saskatchewan, people actually wore footwear that resembled the felt lining of Sorels.  I think it's funny that the felt sock part is the true bit.

Then I started thinking about the things I could tell kids these days...

"When I was your age, Pluto was still a planet!"

"When I was your age, I used a TRS-80 computer, then a Commodore 64, then a Commodore 128!  We saved our data on cassette tapes!"

"When I was your age, Saturday mornings had good cartoons!"

"When I was your age, there was no internet!"

"When I was your age, it was cool to wear legwarmers!"  Wait... that's come back, hasn't it?

So what sorts of things did you do "when I was your age"?

Much driving...

Tonight shall be a short post, because I'm exhausted.  I drove to Marietta and back tonight, so I could meet my dad for dinner.  It was great to see him again, and I wish we could have had more time.  Luckily, he's coming back in about two weeks, and this time, it will be for a visit with me, instead of just passing through on business.  Yay!

The most important part?  I drove through Atlanta, by myself, and made it home in one piece!  Yay!  I've heard horror stories of Atlanta driving.  Granted, I was driving on a Sunday night, but still, I managed to make it, so I'm proud of myself.

I listened to my "iPod mix" on the trip (that's what the playlist is labelled, I'm not just using quotation marks for fun), and I heard a lot of music that I haven't listened to in years.  I basically went through my entire music collection, and added my favourite song or two from every cd I own.  I decided that I need to re-listen to Jet Set Satellite in the next few days, because I love the title of one of their songs, and I want to write a short story with the same title.  I want to listen to the lyrics, to see if there's anything else I can incorporate.  Does anyone else do that?

Books, books, books

I love books.  I love to read.  This may not come as a surprise, given that I also love to write.  

This week, the annual Friends of the Library used book sale took place.  I went at lunch on Thursday.  I went at lunch on Friday.  I went this morning.  Each time, I shopped to capacity - on Thursday, I didn't have a container, so I only bought what I could hold.  Friday, I brought a small box, and filled it.  Today, a friend lent me a rolling cart, and I filled it to the brim.  In three days, I spent about $60, and I got... in the neighbourhood of 70 books (some are in another room, some are still in the trunk, so I don't have an exact count).  Yeah.  Talk about deals!  And it was a whole variety of stuff, too!  I got a lot of chick-lit, because, well, I like it.  I got a couple of old medical textbooks and anatomy textbooks because I seem to be collecting them.  I got a cookbook.  I got a book about Miniature Pinschers.  I got five french books by Guy des Cars - I've never read his stuff, but I wanted to get back into reading french.

The only downside?  The books are all used, and so all of them smell incredibly interesting to my puppy.  She won't leave the office, because all she wants to do is sniff the piles of books.  She's not licking or chewing - just sniffing.  But it's cute, so as long as she doesn't chew or lick them, I'll let her keep sniffing.

And to think that I had planned to go to Barnes & Noble this weekend to pick up a book or two!