I can’t keep away from Tmz!  It’s becoming a problem for me.  The Michael Jackson story is unfolding, and I’ve learned what to believe and what to take with a grain of salt.  If he hadn’t been so secretive, would we care as much?  Maybe that was a card he played to keep the mystery and people will care more to find out about you. 

I saw ole MJ in April 1988 at the Summit.  I remember that concert.

N. Grace is just shocked that MJ’s kids aren’t bio to him.  I lol’d

Those kids are white.  GENIOUS

I’m sad about MJ passing.  MJ isn’t someone I thought much about.  He was a strange bird that obviously had many demons, but somehow I guess I took him for granted.

I feel guilty about that in a way. 

We will never have a MJ comeback tour-the ones where the oldie 80’s artists, that are in their 50’s now, try to recapture their past either because of their ego or debts.  Honestly, if it came to fruition, I’d probably just roll my eyes and move on.  MJ was always going to be there.  So I thought.  He hasn’t ever been a favorite of mine per se either.  He was just there.

We watched his videos and listened to his music all weekend.  I really truly watched the videos this time.  He was a true talent-unmatched by I daresay anyone.  The guilt I feel is that I didn’t appreciate him when he was alive and I gather that many feel this way, as sales of his music has risen 700%.

What would a ‘little person’ like me have done to change anything?  That I don’t know.  If many of us ‘little people’ had maybe told him that we appreciate him-wholeheartedly and not like some crazed fan acting a fool-could that have mattered? 

My parent’s generation had Elvis.  Mine had Kurt Cobain and now Michael Jackson.  How could the musical world be enriched had they not been involved with drugs that eventually caused their demise? 

I think part of my mourning is the reminder that life is fleeting.  Don’t waste it.

I realized this morning that when I make a sandwich, close it, I pat it on top.  Like a little pet.  I’m weird.

‘What part of your personality do you wish not to pass on to your child?’

My impatience.  Simple as that.  I do not think that I have successfully done this.  Maybe a bit more of Derek will rub off on him and cancel my bad stuff out.  Time will tell.

I have just not felt well this past couple of days.  Not only physically, as I am getting over a cold, but mentally either.  Hakuna Mattatah won the presidency (grats Jen, your guy made it =D)-and I just don’t feel good about that, I am SO very tired of walking on uncarpeted floors-and the Carpet Giant guy is late, I have no idea of what to get anyone for Christmas, I think I am hormonal, and I am sick of eating baby carrots and salad-I want a bowl of banana pudding.  To top it all off, someone I REALLY don’t want to have anything to do with added me on Facebook.  Just decline and ignore you say?  Not that simple.  This person has been known to fly in cross country for gatherings of ‘the group’-I’ll leave it at that.  This person also snoops and finds addresses and sends postcards (yeah-postcards and they aren’t on vacation!!!) and Christmas cards out of the blue.  That’s all kind and good and I DO appreciate being thought of, but it is just creepy.  Sure hope the Carpet Giant guy gets here in 10 minutes-otherwise, one of the other 100,000 carpet people calling me will get my business.  I’ll probably get a better price too.  If you say you will be here ‘in the morning’ – get here ‘in the morning’.  I cleaned up the house, got ready, all before 9 am today-now I’m just sitting around.  BLAH

‘It’s Election Day! How was your voting experience?’

I early voted.  Derek and I walked in, and there was maybe one person in front of us, and zip zam zoom-we voted, got our stickers, and were gone. 

Sure hope McCain wins.  I really don’t like either candidate (I was pulling for Guiliani), but we are in a heap of trouble if Obama gets this.  I can’t believe how much of the US can be bamboozled.  I see the African Americans voting-just to get a ‘man of color’ in office-that’s all fine and dandy…  but the other reasons…  Noone seems to notice that he wants to let the current tax cuts expire AND raise payroll taxes by TEN percent?!?!  That affects us all.  The taxes on the ones making more than $250k per year?  That has been lowered down to $120k….  The big cheeses will get this money too, Americans (except maybe the super duper poor) see very little of their dollars in action.  We know very little about this man-there seems to be a shroud around him.  He wasn’t even BORN on American soil!
Noone notices?  Sad.

I don’t know what it is about this movie.  It is 3 hours long, yet everytime it comes on, I sit and watch it.  I saw it in the theatre more than six times.  That’s at least 18 hours out of my life.  Just in the theatre.  It came on TNT yesterday, and Derek watched it with me.  Is it the romance between Rose and Jack?  The fascination with the eventual fate of the ship?  The way I identify with Rose (I am not sure if everyone can-I’ve never polled this)?  I don’t know what it is, but at the end, when ‘Old Rose’ wraps up her story, it makes me cry every time.  Titanic is tied with Forrest Gump and Pretty Woman as my favorite movie EVER.

Isn’t it funny how sometimes, when you least expect, some new people come into your life…. except they aren’t new?  I enjoy when this happens, because there is already a familiarity between you, and you don’t have to go through the whole, ‘getting to know you’ phase.  You already know them-but there are so many things that may have happened, for both of you to share with one another-it is just like meeting a new person. 

I don’t like getting caught in the trap of ‘living in the past.’  Those old stories and experiences always manifest, however.  Sometimes it IS nice to go back to fond memories.

I have been reading this for a good long time, and I just do not like it.  It is about the Hurricane of 1900 and ‘Isaac’ was the head honcho weather guy down in Galveston at the time.  I am going to finish it, but a MUCH better book, and more historically accurate, by the way, is ‘A Weekend in September.’

Last night was Halloween.  Ethan went Trick or Treating with Parker and we walked around the neighborhood.  Ethan and Parker BOTH were Indiana Jones!  It wasn’t as busy as last Halloween.  I suppose because people are still recovering from Ike.  There needs to be some rules for Halloween.  A ‘Statement of Halloween Etiquette’-let’s call it.  Two of those rules need to be: one, 100% house participation-give out candy, people!  Two, no kid under 2 or over 11 needs to be a trick or treater.  The amount of women with kids in strollers (yet having a bag in hand) and teens wanting candy was unacceptable.  It isn’t cute.  Stay on the sidewalk, or go home.  kthxbai.  Derek carved the pumpkin for me this year.  He’s a peach!  Here are some pics:

This morning, we accompanied Mom and Mary to the ‘Tour of Luxury’ >>  http://riverstone.com/tourofluxury/

Most of the houses were really wonderful.  Derek said, ‘I couldn’t live in a house like that.’  PPPFFFTTT LOL  If someone gave him a 3 million dollar house he damn sure would live in it.  We were all wondering what the upkeep cost on them would be.  I’m not really sure, but I am sure it would be a lot.  True to form, Mom and Mary dilly dallied and keeping a hungry seven year old happy is not easy to do on such a boring trip.  So we parted ways and got Arbys!  yay

Ethan eating cookies on his way to see 3 million dollar houses

Been a while since I wrote… so I thought I’d use the pictures on my camera to talk about a few things…

They picked up the trash….  whoo hoo.  About time!  I don’t have formal political training, but I am positive I could have coordinated that ‘Ike debris round-up’ better than the people that are in charge now.  Ethan was mezmerized with the big equipment.

We went to the pumkin patch on Saturday morning.  I had Derek and Ethan with me, so I couldn’t look around as much as I wanted at the craft fair.  We paid about $20 for a pumkin that Ethan wanted.  A long lean one.  I’ll carve it Thursday night-I hope it turns out well.  This little kid, in the picture below, I have no idea who he is.  He just took advantage of the photo op. 

Melissa called Saturday night and asked if we’d like to go bowling with them.  I hadn’t bolwed in about 9 years, but I was up for it.  So we met them at the bowling alley.  My best game was a 100 score with bumpers, so I am way rusty.  My arm was sore from the 14 pound ball I was weilding.  It got to the point where I just tossed the darn thing down the alley.  I was using the kid’s ball too.  I like bowling, but in moderation….. and a light ball. 

Derek’s birthday was this past week too.  Now he is 35-like me.  I will be happy until I turn 36 and will have to wait until next October for him to catch up.  But for now-I’m happy.  He had the standard chicken fried steak, and for an added treat banana pudding in lieu of cake.  I also made a huge chocolate chip cookie.  I called it ‘Cookie.’  Here is a picture of Cookie….

Yesterday evening, a wonderful thing happened.  The man came to drop off OUR roofing supplies!  There IS light at the end of the tunnel.  It has been 6 weeks with a damaged roof, and when it rains-you betcha we get water in the house, despite the tarps.  Not a fun thing.  Hopefully they will be here in the morning to put on the roof.  It will be a welcome feeling-to have a roof again.