So Surreal

Sometimes I think I’ve seen it all, and then something happens that tops everything I’ve seen yet. That happened early this morning, when a local TV (WDBJ-7 [CBS], Roanoke) reporter and her photographer were gunned down on-air.  I had the TV on listening to the news, but I didn't immediately grasp what was happening.  Who would?!  I have since seen the video - with sound - of the shooting, and it's just horrible. The TV team, 24-year-old Alison Parker, and the photographer, 27-year-old Adam Ward, died at the scene. They weren’t in a war zone, or covering a riot. This shouldn’t have been dangerous. They were at beautiful Smith Mountain Lake to interview a Chamber of Commerce lady, Vicky Gardner, for a feature piece on tourism at the lake. Thankfully, it looks like Ms. Gardner, who was shot in the back, is going to survive.

As he went down, Adam’s camera recorded an image of the gunman, and that was instrumental in identifying the piece of crap. Turns out he was 41-year-old Vester Flanagan, who had worked at WDBJ as a reporter under the name “Bryce Williams.” Flanagan was fired for being always angry, confrontational, and disgruntled – always looking for some remark from someone that he could take the wrong way – and ultimately had to be escorted off the premises by the police. This was over a year ago, and one wonders if he’s been planning an ambush like this ever since. This ignorant, worthless fool filmed the shooting himself and posted it to Twitter, this after sending a 23-page faxed “manifesto” to ABC News last night. These are the two young people who so senselessly lost their lives:

The cowardly piece of crap Flanagan fled the scene in his 2009 Mustang, which he abandoned at the airport in Roanoke. He then drove a previously rented Chevy to Northern Virginia. He shot himself when police tried to stop him, and died later at a Fairfax hospital. I say good riddance.

Photo of when he was masquerading as "Bryce Williams"

Monster in shooting stance

News people murdered on the air. Local reporters in small-town southern Virginia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so shocking. My God, what next?

And ... I would appreciate it if the local sheriffs would stop referring to this low-down piece of crap as a "gentleman."  

Cool Beans

There was a little nip of Fall in the air this morning. It’s so refreshing to wake up to an open window and 58 degrees outside.  Cool!  I’ve just about had it with it being 80 degrees at 11:00 P.M. That’s just not right, and I hope there won’t be any more of it between now and next Summer. The cold front that came through knocked out the ungodly humidity we’ve been dealing with, so it’s shaping up to be a fabulous weekend.

I wish I could go to the beach. I love the ocean and often times find myself simply longing for the sound of the surf and the tangy smell of salt air. Unfortunately, it’s a long trip and I have no one any more to go with me. Of course, my pup has never seen the ocean, and who even knows whether she’d like it, so I guess we’ll just stay home.  For now.

I have errands to run and shopping to do, so I’d best get to it. Have a great weekend!

Free Fruitcake(s)

 It’s only Wednesday but it feels like it should be Saturday, maybe even Sunday. Why does this week seem so long? Maybe because we’ve been crazy busy at work – and seemingly running in circles because so many of our clients have suddenly gone crazy. I’ve never seen such a spate of whiny, ill informed, passive-aggressive neediness. One even fired us – because we did exactly what she asked us to. The boss has had me draft snarky letters to some of them this week. He doesn’t send them, though. I think it makes us both feel better to just vent and get it off our chests.  And we managed to unload two of them on other lawyers.  We're not expecting thank-you notes.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking of taking French lessons. I’ll need to know more than yes, no, thank you, and … merde, if I have to move to Canada. Donald Trump is ahead in the political polls. Seriously?! What is wrong with people? I’d rather wear long johns and commune with moose (mooses?) than try to say “President Trump” with a straight face.

Hot, It's Not

Apparently, either I’m giving off the vibes of a homely, lonely little old man – or I’m too sexy for my own good. Lately, I’ve been bombarded with emails – sometimes half a dozen a day – from what purport to be blazing hot women just panting to commit obscene acts with me. And I thought all those ads I used to get for "male enhancement" were bad.  What is this?!  It's definitely not hot.  It just makes you want to shower right away. I get this stuff at all of my email addresses, with the exception of my work email. All of my user names are clearly feminine, so I’ll be darned if I can figure out why these (maybe) women are begging to do stuff to me (or vice versa) that are completely anatomically impossible. I mean, I don’t read the emails – I send them straight to spam; the sales pitch is right there in the subject line. And I suppose it must be a sales pitch of some sort. Surely, there aren’t really hordes of women out there so desperate for some deviant sex that they’ll proposition strange women, so there must be some kind of money angle to it. Either that, or I’m giving off such hot, sexy vibes that I really need to rein it in. God, I hope it’s not “hairy lonely guy” vibes I’m emanating. I truly would have no explanation for that, not to mention that I'd be so mortified that I'd have to go into hiding.

Catching Up

I know, I haven’t updated my blog in ages.  I didn’t even realize until yesterday, when my friend and fellow blogger Marion, a/k/a the esteemed Princess Dragonfly, nudged me, how long it had been.  Honest to God, I don’t know where time goes.  I could have sworn I had updated since February, but apparently not.  I “meant” to, but stuff happens, you know what I mean?  Today’s a good day to update, I guess.

You all know about the loss I suffered in December.  Life is very different now.  I’m not saying it’s awful, but it’s certainly different.  I still miss my best friend every day, but … you go on.

I’ve been dealing with a spinal compression fracture since 4^th of July weekend.  I spent that entire weekend lying down, in the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.  On the following Monday, I said “uncle” (because I hate going to doctors) and went to the Urgent Care.  After a series of X-rays, they told me that the pain was a result of osteoporosis, possibly combined with some arthritis.  They gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and, basically, told me that it was something I’m just going to have to live with.  Then, they called me the next day and said further study of the X-rays showed a compression fracture and wanted to refer me to an orthopaedist.  I spent a couple of days figuring out a course of treatment that would allow me to get the pain under control.  I tried Icy Hot (works), Dr. Shepard’s Pain Therapy cream (works), Myoflex (works, but not as well), Salon Pas patches (works), and Tiger Balm (really works).  The heating pad also works wonders and, in conjunction with some Ibuprofen once or twice a day and one of the wide array of lineaments I now have on hand, and always sitting with something firm behind my back, I think I have it licked.  I haven’t missed any work (other than a few vacation days), and I politely passed on the orthopaedist since the standard treatment appears to be heat, rest, and pain meds – which is what I’m doing.  I'm taking mega doses of Calcium and Vitamin D, too.

It’s been a hot, hot summer.  Forget everything you’ve ever heard about cool mountain air.  It ain’t happening in these mountains, not this year.  Thank God for AC.  My little Señorita Chihuahua, on the other hand, loves basking in the sun right in front of the patio door, no matter how hot it is.  She’s a sweetheart, I love her, and I’m sure she’s extremely bright, but I just don’t get that.

I read Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman.”  I didn’t love it.  I don’t think I’ve become a Philistine.  It simply didn’t move me.

I never post about politics.  I’ve seen too many sites devolve into real nastiness when politics are involved.  In light of the political circus taking shape now, though, I just may have to break my own rule.

Poor Cecil the Lion.  Why would anyone torture a magnificent animal like that, drag out his death for 2 days, and then mutilate his body in such a horrifying way?  Where I come from, you hunt for food; you don’t kill just for some kind of warped thrill.  What happened to him just makes me sick.  And sad.    RIP, Cecil.

There's a Blue Moon tonight.  I love full moons, and it's not true that they make me crazy.  Not too much, anyway.

2/14

Big Scary Monster

To you and me, this is a household appliance, a benign machine most of us drag out every blue moon to suck up the dog hair and other detritus accumulated on the floor since the last blue moon.

To my dog, however, it’s huge and vile and scary … evil incarnate.  The very sight of it, the instant I pull it out of the closet, sends her into a panic and she runs for the hills.  Or, more accurately, her bed and its pile of baby blankets.

When I turn it on, all hell breaks loose.  She goes absolutely berserk, alternately running around in circles and charging at it, barking the whole time.  It’s kind of hard to vacuum with this tiny warrior princess trying to kill it and me about to wet my pants laughing.  This is why I vacuum only every blue moon.

Frozen - for real

Boy, am I glad I’m not in the Northeast tonight. Looks like this blizzard is shaping up to be one for the record books. I suspect the affected areas – and it looks like a huge area – are going to have it pretty rough for the next couple of days. Snow, near hurricane force winds, storm surge, possible thunder and lightning – not a pleasant situation. The storm missed my part of Virginia, thankfully; we’ve just had a little rain today. The wind has kicked up, and the weatherman says 60% chance of snow tonight, but it won’t be anything like up north. If we get snow, it probably won’t be anything to write home about. It's cold, going down to the 20s tonight, but not that bad. All in all, it’s been a pretty mild winter here so far.





So – drones on the White House lawn. There’s a scary proposition, and don’t you just know there are terrorists out there salivating and drooling over the possibilities. These are scary times, boys and girls.

And Now It's 2015

I know, I know – I’ve been absent from my blog for a long time.  Seems like I was always busy with this, that, or the other.  I meant to return during the Christmas shopping season, but then something terrible happened.

My S.O. of nearly seven years died suddenly from a massive heart attack three weeks before Christmas.  I spent the holidays in a state of shock and grief.  It still doesn’t seem real, that he’s really gone.  But he is, and I’m doing the only thing I can do – putting one foot in front of the other.

In retrospect, it seems like the last five years were chock-full of tragedy and/or bad luck – the deaths of my mother (and subsequent family drama), father, and dog; the accident in which I broke my hip; a year of unemployment.  And he was there with and for me through all of it.  I loved him, and I never had one moment’s doubt that he loved and cherished me, and I miss him so much.

The world – and my heart –  seems like a mighty empty and lonely place right now.

He loved my red hair; he always said it was what first drew him to me.  So you know what I did?  The day after Christmas, I bleached it blonde.  Good idea?  Not so good?  Who knows.  Took me four or five processes, sometimes only a day or two apart, to get the red tones out.  Then it looked too blonde to me, so I used yet another product.  For now, I think I’ll be grateful it didn’t fall out and leave it alone.

I’ll get over feeling shell-shocked eventually.  Probably.  I have no idea what the future holds – certainly, none of the remaining things we planned to do together.  Typically, I embrace change and challenge.  This one, I didn’t see coming and it’s kind of gobsmacked me.  But I’ll land on my feet.  I always do.

I’m thankful that I have a job to go to that keeps me busy and my sweet little pup at home.  And I’m glad I still have my blog where I can say whatever is on my mind.

Other than this, I don’t know what to say, so I think I’ve said enough for now.

Lucky Day (crossing fingers)

Extra spooky day, or extra lucky? It's not even noon yet, so we shall see. Personally, I'm opting for a double dose of luck. I'm really tired of the same old, same old. This may be the perfect day to turn it around.

It's TGIF, too, which can't hurt. Have a happy one!

What Next?

The news has been a scary place this week.

 - Mudslides

 - Earthquakes

 - Vanishing airliners

 - War drums beating

 - Ebola outbreaks

 - Spring storms

Good grief, let’s do something else.

You are a Lover of Life

You are a pleasure seeker. You're a bit of a hedonist, and you enjoy the finer things in life. You are both unusual and uncompromising. You're an interesting blend of traditional and modern. You are physically affectionate. You love to hug your friends. You are able to relate to people on their own level. You are socially adaptable.

The Farmers Market Oracle

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

Happy Hump Day!

If This Weren't Friday...

Thank God, it's Friday.  If it weren't, I'd be tempted to run with scissors or something. Lord help me, I was up half the night with ungodly heartburn.  I ate lasagna for dinner.  It’s bizarre how sometimes it doesn’t bother me at all and sometimes it tries its damndest to kill me.  Last night, the acid pit started roiling before I’d even finished.  There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

Thankfully, I’m out of work at noon on Fridays so, after some necessary shopping, I am destined for a nice long nap.  I plan to do pretty much squat at work today.  I’ve earned it, if you ask me.  I’ve had a very tough week, with little to no assistance from my “assistant.”  Shoot, he didn’t even bother to come in Wednesday.  Didn’t bother to call, either.  I’ve already written the ad for a new person.

I feel like punishing some Words Gone Wild today.  We haven’t written poetry here in what seems like eons, so I’m thinking that if you’re game to put these Twisted Linguistics to work and whip them into haiku, go for it.  Or -- you can just define them.

Here are the – ahem – words:

 

plagirism

avaialable

destryed

blooger

untility

condtion

jewellery

pursecuted

entrys

suprised

chrade

phenominally

disconsulete

My effort:

Plagirism destroyed my avaialable untility

Pursecuted my chrade entrys phenominally.  Blooger disconsulete!

Suprised with jewellery, condtion better.

Yeah, I know it’s not nature-themed, but blasfomy follows no rules.