A Wandering Eyre

1. The best Bloody Mary’s in the world, made by Mr. R, before lunch on Friday.
2. Turkey Salad sandwiches with lettuce and tomato.
3. Having a group of high school friends come over and consume more beer than we should.
4. Making our second beer run of the night and having T pick up the tab, willingly.
5. Drunk dialing my brother, who left the gathering early to see his girlfriend, and (apparently)* asking him if he was having fun and then babbling nonsense at him while he laughed hysterically.
6. Deciding, when it started raining on us, that we could sit in the rain because it would stop soon. My dad came out and asked us if we were ok. We told him we did not mind the rain. (of course we didn’t, we were all so drunk lightening could have struck us and we would have giggled).
7. My friend T broke one of the cheap patio chairs. Mr. R (apparently) decided it was still a fine chair with only three legs and defiantly sat in it, until another leg broke off. He repeated his assertions and sat in the two legged chair until it was crushed to pieces. He is now King of the Chair.
8. Leaning over to my friend A, who is a republican and works in politics, to tell him why I hate Ashcroft. I explained the whole “hysterical” librarian comment to him, but as I did so, I was (apparently) waving my arms in the air and gesturing wildly. A asked the table what the definition of “hysterical” was and could it include being drunk and waving your hands in the air like an idiot. They of course agreed that it did and I was “hysterical librarian” for the rest of the evening.
9. Leaning over to A and again (apparently) asking if he liked it better when my leg was touching his leg or if he liked it better when my boobs were on his leg. A wondering my Mr. R has not dragged me upstairs to make me go to bed.
10. Sitting around with old friends, telling stories, and making an ass of myself.

*Each (apparently) is something I am told I did, but do not actually remember doing.

Mr. Rochester thinks I have not used up my “drunken idiot” quota because previous to the last 6 months every time I got close to the drunken idiot stage I was ill. I guess I have some catching up to do. Mr. R thinks I am well on my way. It is worth mentioning that he is the best man in the world because he is merely amused at my antics and not ticked off at them.

I am about to leave work and start my holiday off properly at happy hour. Some things to look over in the next couple of days.
The Wikipedia and the Wiki Wiki Web.

Happy Turkey day. Stuff yourselves silly and drink until you can stand your family. And start drinking early, that way, by the time the relatives get really hard to take, you’ll be too soused to know it.

Yes, I was one, I played the clarinet, and I am proud of it!

It is that time of year when familial feelings require that you be home for a part of the holiday. I grew up in Houston and reside there still (much to my chargrin). The parents of most of my high school friends, fellow nerds all, still live in the same area, so about this time of year they start trickling in for a little family fun. Usually around Christmas we all get together,drink ourselves silly, catch up, and reminisce. A couple of my friends are in town early this year and I met up with them last night at a bar on the north side of town. We talked politics, since one of us works for the Republican party (Boooo!) and I am addicted to politics. The guys told funny stories about drunk dialing people, which I have never done myself but I have received my fair share. D told a funny story about drunk dialing. He accidentally deadbolted his roommate out of the apartment and, when he opened the door after repeated banging by said roommate, he was in a towel and talking on the phone. The next morning his roommate related the circumstances, but her remembered nothing. D asked around and could not find the person he had called. A couple of weeks later, he ran into his ex-girlfriend. He asked her if he had called her a couple of weeks before. She said she did not remember, but that she had drunk called someone and could not figure out who. They had called each other and neither remembered doing it.

Alcohol - causing drunk calls since Thomas E.**

(see comments on why Jane is an idiot) - added 12/6/04

Anthony Bourdain, the New York chef bad boy, has a new cook book out and is interviewed by the NY Post here. When asked about the documentary, Super Size Me, he had this to say:

The most dangerous nuclear weapon is fast food. We should have opened up chains across Iraq and Afghanistan. How could Osama bin Laden get into the hole if he couldn’t get his fat ass into it?

( link from Bookslut)

More idiocy regarding Texas Health textbooks here from the San Antonio Current. The article also states a couple of statistics I have seen other places as well:

Texas leads the nation in teen birthrates, the percentage of children without health insurance, and ranks 43rd in percentage of teens dropping out of high school.

Dear Man Who Honked At Me This Morning,

I am sorry that you felt that you had the right to turn left into my lane even though my light was green. I am sorry that you did not turn right into the far right lane, but instead chose to turn into the middle lane when there was traffic coming your way. I honked at you so that you would see me in my lane and not crash into the side of my car. I was trying to avoid a major collision. I am sorry that you felt it was your right to honk angrily back at me, flaunting your ignorance and anger at the commonly known traffic laws. It was unnecessary for you to slow down so that you could drive alongside me to give me dirty looks and call me bad names in the security of your car. Sir, please understand that you were wrong to pull in front of my when I had the right of way. Please get over yourself. You probably fumed all the way to work, while I was saddened by your ignorance and then amused in turn.

Sincerely,
Jane

Currently listening to the waterfall outside my window and the theme song to Road to Perdition, one of the most cinematically beautiful movies I have ever seen. Some of the screen shots are simply amazing.

I am wondering if I should stay up and watch one more episode of Buffy. I think I shall.

Last Thursday I participated in Children’s Book Week by attending a middle school in the area and sharing my love of reading. The librarian at the school, which is in a very depressed area, found local people to come and read parts of their favorite books to all the classes. This is an amazing woman who has provided her kids with an exciting and new collection even though she was given no money, zero dollars, as a budget this year. She is the kind of person that reminds me what it means to be a librarian. The first class I went to was mostly uneventful, but fun. I took Little Women and Eragon in the hopes that I could appeal to both girls and boys.

The second class I went to was amazing. I finished early with my first class and was asked if I could go to another. I answered agreeably, so they took me to the Lifeskills class. For those who do not know, because they have no teacher friends or are above the age of about 18, the Lifeskills class if what we used to call “special ed”. There were two classes combined in the room, waiting for their presenter, me. The teacher was very nice and she thanked me for coming to her class. I was then greeted by a girl in a wheel chair who welcomed me to their class, thanked me for coming, and told me that her favorite book was called Angels. It is about kids who sing, from what I gathered. A boy greeted me from the other class and welcomed me as well.

I introduced myself, told them that I am a librarian, and that I love to read. I asked them if they liked to read. I got a strong affirmative to that question. I told them about my books. They were the most interested in Eragon because it is about a dragon. We talked about dragons and I read a passage from the beginning of the book in my best dramatic voice. I was amazed because they loved it! I could see that they were just so happy to be there and to be listening to me. I was then at a loss for words as I ran out of what I had planned on doing. We had some time left so that teacher introduced me to one of her students named Courtney. She was only as high as my shoulder, a little less than 5 feet tall. The teacher explained to me that Courtney was a savant of sorts; she is blind and can not speak, but she can hear perfectly and play the piano by feel. She was amazing. She played Christmas carols on the piano and we sang Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and Silent Night. It was wonderful. I could not stop smiling. When Courtney was done the teacher asked if I had any requests, but I did not. She asked Courtney to play something she wanted, “please”. Courtney then played the exact note that the teacher had asked her “please”. They repeated the note to each other, please - the note - please - the note. At the end I gave Courtney a hug and squeezed the teacher hard as I told her what a wonderful class of amazing kids she has there. A little girl on the side raised her hand and told me I could come back and see them whenever I wanted. I wish I could. That room was full of more beauty than I have seen in a long time.

-Jane - who is thankful for her blessings and the beauty she finds in unexpected places

Just when I thought I had everything I ever wanted, Amazon is offering an at-home defibrillator. Words can not express my surging emotions of amusment and dismay. Can you imagine all the things that could go wrong with this is the house? Though it does offer hours of family amusment…..

First some good news: My kitchen is now leak free, thank you God! Actually besides keeping the air dry for 24 hours until the repair man could fix it, God had nothing to do with the repair. I have not been at home since Friday, so I will see how much mold I have when I go home tonight.

I spent Saturday in the mud, watching Student Bonfire burn. It was nice, minus the ankle high mud that is. Words fail me in this, but I am glad that it is still burning.

Last Thursday was rather remarkable and I have been wanting to write about it for some time. As I am at work, you will have to wait until I am at home for the full story.