Conversations With A Woman 2.0

Lady Madonna and other thoughts...
 
Saturday night I had dinner with a pair of Jef(f)'s and a pair of Brian's.  It was a most interesting dinner not only because I hadn't met the Brian's before, but because a party of about 8 already annoyingly intoxicated and even more annoyingly loud people were seated at about the same time we were.  Despite the fact that they were a good 20 feet away from us, we heard every word each of them said.  They were SCREAMING at each other.  Why must drunk folk scream?  I now remember why I don't drink that much anymore. 
 
After dinner, 2F parted ways with us and Jef, the 2 Brian's and I walked down to the MARTA to make our way to Phillips Arena to see MADONNA!  She finally came on stage at 9pm.  We were just about to be annoyed with the lady, but how can you be mad at someone that gives you a great 2 hour show?  She did a lot of really good stuff.  My favorite was a really jazzy version of "Deeper and Deeper."  I must admit that I didn't like the original version of the song, but this jazzy version rocked!  She ended the show with a very happy and confetti filled version of "Holiday."  I'm really glad that I got to go to the show!  Jef and the 2 Brian's were wonderful company!  Thanks, guys!  I appreciate you letting me tag along!

Sunday after church, I met up with Jef and JC.  We had a lovely lunch together and then treated ourselves to some yummy TCBY for dessert.  From there we did some shopping, but not before I stopped at Quick Trip (QT) to get a 49 cent beverage.  (For those of you that don't know me, I must have a beverage near me at all times, especially if they are only 49 cents!)  So we are motoring toward the exit of said QT, when BOOM!  A car comes out from around the gas pumps and we collide.  No one was hurt, the cars were merely scratched, so we traded information and went about our business.  I would have preferred that it didn't happen at all, but I'm extremely thankful that no one was hurt and both the cars are drivable.  
 
After going to TJ Maxx and Target, we ended up at a used CD store.  Jef and I have loved used CD stores since they have been in existence.  When we were younger, whole days would be passed going from one used CD store to another.  However, today would include just one used CD store.  While looking through the "Bargain Bin," I came across some wonderful jewels!  I got Beth Wood's "Woodwork" and Jennifer Kimball's Veering from the Wave for $1.00 each!!!  I also found a compilation CD that has David Bowie and Bing Crosby's version of "Little Drummer Boy" for $1.00!  Jef also found some treasures that he had been looking for, too and was extremely happy.  Poor JC - she didn't know how dangerous it can be to take us to a CD store!  
 
After that, we dropped JC off at her friend's house and bid her a fond farewell until the next time she crosses into the Atlanta city limits.  
 
I watched the opening night of the Democratic Convention on Monday night, and was quite impressed with what I saw.  They did a tribute to the victims and families of September 11, 2001, one of John Kerry's buddies from when he was in Vietnam, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton.  Unfortunately, I missed hearing Jimmy Carter and Al Gore speak.  They really rolled out the big guns for the first night.  It will be interesting to see what John Kerry himself says when he speaks on Thursday.  
 
I personally do not care who anyone chooses to vote for, as long as they exercise their right to vote.  If you have not registered yet, I encourage you to do so immediately so that you will be ready on November 2, 2004 to voice your opinion.  

Woo!  Was I link happy today, or what?   

;-)
  


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I'm b-a-a-a-ck!
 
Yes, I took a little hiatus from blogging for a week so that those who might visit my site would consider sponsoring Pickle Juice during the Project Blog Blog-a-thon on July 24, 2004.  She is blogging for Kids Against Hunger, who is also her employer.  Please sponsor if you can, and/or send her good wishes as she blogs every 30 mins. for 24 hrs. to raise money for this very worth cause.
 
What's been going on?  Well, let's see....My beautiful and talented sister celebrated the anniversary of her 29th birthday on July 18, 2004!  She was in lovely Haslet, TX (a 'burb of Ft. Worth) visiting her stepmom, son, and various and asundry relatives and friends.  My sister and I grew up in and around Ft. Worth, so it's our stompin' grounds.  I can't wait to hear about the trip! 
 
I was flipping through channels the other day and came upon a very disturbing sight:  leeches.  Normally, that would be enough to cause me to keep flipping, however I was "hip-no-tyzed" and continued to watch the show.  They were talking about how leeches are used to suck out "infected" blood.  The big catch is leeches can't digest the blood, so they sprinkle them with the spice cumin, and it causes the leeches to "vomit" the blood back up, otherwise the leeches would die.  They showed people helping the leeches along on the quest to vomit up the bad blood and it was most disturbing.  I sat on the couch with a pained look on my face, not unlike a person driving by a crash scene.  I just couldn't stop watching even though it was horrifying.  Bleah!  
 
Shelby, wonder kitty, will soon need to take on another name:  Puppy cat.  Her new favorite toy is a wadded up piece of paper that she bats around for a while and then picks it up in her mouth and lays it at my feet.  I pick it up and throw it and she eventually brings it back to me to throw again.  It's really interesting to hear a cat meow when she's carrying around something in her mouth.  
 
I got a call from Jef earlier today.  Here's our conversation:
 
Jef:  Joan are you sitting down?
Joan:  Umm...yes
Jef:  Well, remember you told me you'd be happy to take my ticket if I didn't go to the Madonna concert?  
Joan:  (sudden intake of all the oxygen in the room) Yes....!!!
Jef:  I'm still going, but one of the guy's sister had to back out at the last minute and there is a spare ticket if you want it!
Joan:  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jef:  You can get it only if you quit making that high pitched noise you're making.
Joan:  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Jef hung up the phone.  I just couldn't help squealing with delight!  I just love me some Madonna, man!  Truth be known, I've only recently come out about my loving Madonna.  I went through the early part of her career in the Madonna closet.  Then, "Ray of Light" came out and so did I!! I love Madonna and I'm not afraid to tell the world!!!  I drove my roommate at the time crazy because anytime we were in the car, I wanted to play the CD.  She liked the CD the first 87 times I played it.  Then after that, not so much.  I'M SO EXCITED THAT I GET TO GO TO THE CONCERT!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   ;-D
 
JC is paying us another visit this weekend!  She's not coming here to see Jef and I, per se, but we do get to be squeezed into her appointment book for a period of time on Sunday.  It will be so nice to see her and spend some more time with her. 
 
The last time JC was in town, she visited Anshu, and Jef and I met them for brunch.  It was the first time we met JC (and Anshu) in person.  I blogged about it and one of my friends read what I wrote about our meeting and started to question my sexuality. 
 
Her:  Joan, you sure did go on and on about how beautiful they were! 
Me:  Yeah, so? 
Her:  Well, it almost seemed..."Lesbian-ish." 
Me:  (heavy sigh)  Oh please!  They were beautiful - stunningly beautiful!  Maybe I did go a little overboard with it, but it was because sometimes I don't think JC realizes how beautiful she is and I wanted to make sure she read that about herself and maybe she'll believe it a little more about herself.  HOWEVER, it was not meant in a "lesbian-ish" way.
Her:  Well, alright...you're not wearing flannel or anything are you?
 
GEEZ LOUISE!  Why can't a straight woman say that another woman is beautiful and not be looked at with the suspicion of being a lesbian?  Not that I mind it if someone decides to peg me as a lesbian.  Some of the most beautiful "non-flannel-wearing-never-even-thought-of- having-a-mullet" lesbians I know are some of my best friends and the absolute best people on God's green earth.  So, if you want to call me a lesbian...go right ahead, friend!  I'll consider it a compliment.
 
I don't remember if I've made a plug for my friend, Robogrrl, yet.  If I haven't, here it is.  If I have, here it is again.  She is a "real life" friend of JC's and I've really enjoyed reading her writing and her thoughts on the world.  Give her a read if you get the chance.  Also, check out the cartoon that Ben created for her.  When I pointed it out to Jef, he said simply, "I love Ben's drawings!"  Look Ben up while you're at it.  He usually posts a drawing pretty frequently on his own site and it seems he's a mighty fine photographer, too!  He's another of JC's "real life" friends.
 
Well, if I want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the Madonna concert, I'd better get some sleep, so I'm outta here for now.  Take care, all!
 
:-) 


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Project Blog 2004
 
Natalie over at Pickle Juice is going to be a part of Project Blog 2004.  What is Project Blog 2004, you ask?  Well, go here to find out all the particulars, but basically it's folks who blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours on July 24, 2004 to raise money for the charity of their choice.  Natalie's charity of choice is Kids Against Hunger.  This organization sends nutritionally sound food to starving children all over the world, however right now the hot spot is in the Sudan. 
 
There are lots of other bloggers blogging for all sorts of other causes, however, please consider helping Kids Against Hunger out and sponsoring Natalie.  If you don't sponsor Natalie, then I would encourage you to  sponsor someone and feel good about helping out your fellow human.
 
After all, as my friend Ladybugeeb recently pointed out, (via a Burt Bacharach song) "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love." 
 
:-)


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Sleepless in Atlanta

Lord knows I tried to go to sleep at a decent hour tonight. However sleep just wouldn't come. The shadow of the tree outside my window danced wildly as a storm is blowing in. Even staring at that would not put me to sleep.

I was reminded of a dream I had the other night of a boy I knew in school named Rick. Rick was a handsome and troubled red haired boy that I just knew if I loved him enough, he wouldn't be quite so troubled. Of course I was wrong, and I learned many heartbroken lessons from that experience.

I haven't seen Rick since I was 17, but occasionally he shows up in my dreams. In my dreams, he is the sweet and kind boy that I knew was in there, but now he's all grown up. He looks at me with quietly meaningful looks that melt me to a puddle. Sometimes my dreams are very chaste and we simply kiss and embrace, and other times I finally know what it's like to make love with him. Either way, I always wake up feeling wistful, introspective and wishing I could contact him in "real" life.

I am realistic enough to know that if I did run into him again, that most likely the man of my dreams and the man of reality would be vastly different. However, being the romantic fool that I am, I can't help but have the fantasy that I show up in his dreams from time to time, and he wakes up missing me, too.

:-)

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Random thoughts out of nowhere...

I left my house today to go to the store. It was dusk, so I rolled down my windows to let the day's heat out of my car. I turned on the radio and a quiet murmur of blues whispered to me from my speakers. I passed a group of men standing together and talking, all of them seemed to be wearing white t-shirts. I drove down the road and consciously felt the wind on my skin. I looked at the fading color of the sky.

When I entered the store, I marveled how a woman's face seemed to brighten up when I spoke to her with kindness and respect. While standing in line and checking out, the lady behind the counter smiled at me as I yawned and commented on how hot it's been. I laughed and agreed with her and as I walked away, wished her a good day.

I chuckled to myself when I saw the look of pure glee on a man's face as he saw that I was relinquishing a prime parking space. As I drove out of the parking lot, I noticed 2 women talking in front of a Chinese Take out restaurant and wondered what they were speaking of. Egg Rolls? The price of gas? The Tour de France?

I drove back home, blues whispering and wind blowing as before. I noted how hot it became when sitting at a stop light. I don't like to be hot. I turned on the air conditioning. I arrived home to my furry roommates, yet again, and we settled in to watch a movie.

This is life in lovely Smyrna, Georgia on a Sunday evening.

:-)
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From the desk of Shelby the Cat

My human, Joan, is suffering from a writer's block and asked that I fill in for her today. She's doing fine, but just couldn't think of anything interesting to say. It doesn't surprise me because she rarely has anything interesting to say to me.

Normally I perch myself on top of my human's computer. When I'm not tormenting her by putting my tail right in the middle of the screen or waving it back and forth, I occasionally read some of what she is looking at. It's a special talent we cat's have to be able to read human language upside down.

There are some of you that do not understand human's do not have cats in their household, but rather cat's have human's in their household. Despite popular belief, occassionally we do like our humans. However mostly it's just toleration. For instance, my human likes to snatch me up, hold me close to her body and kiss my ear. I do not like this! If I did not initiate the contact, I do not want my human to touch me. When I do initiate contact, my human sometimes has the gall to put me down or push me away. She is so insolent!

Fred, the other cat that lives here, is older than I am - in fact, she's older than dirt. She's cranky, too! Just because I chase her through the house she turns and hisses at me! Sometimes I'll be showing Fred my butt, like any self respecting cat should, and she reaches out and swats me! On top of all that, Fred LOVES being touched by our human. She makes a big production out of purring and stuff. She's such a suck up!

Once when I was younger, there was another human that lived with us. She has darker fur than Joan does. She doesn't live with us any more. I sometimes wonder where she went. Maybe she'll come to visit someday. If she does, I shall punish her for leaving by ignorning her. Insolent human!

Well, I've grown bored with you humans. It's time for me to groom my beautiful fur and take a nap. I've only slept 12 hours so far today and I need to catch up.

The human Joan will be check in with you soon.

Meow.


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Could I be any more blissful?
WARNING: THIS BLOG COULD GET YOU WET BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO GUSH!

Man! I have had love thrown at me from all directions today!!! I've gotten phone calls, and e-cards, and gifts, and comments, and a free meal today!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you that called, sent me an e-card or gift, commented on my birthday blog, or just had a good thought about me today! (or any day!) I can't express how incredibly grateful I am to have such wonderful friends and family. I feel deeply and truly loved and that's not a feeling that you can have too often!

I love you!

:-D

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July 1, 1967

The above was a rather eventful day for me as it was the day I was born!

I'm told that Mom actually went into labor the evening of June 30. Mom told Dad it was time to go to the hospital and he asked if she could wait until after the John Wayne movie he was watching was over. Mom was not amused.

Early in the morning of July 1, I made my entrance into the world and was dubbed "Joan."

37 years later, I sit here at my computer thinking over the last year and being damn proud of having made it to another birthday. This year has been chock full of challenges, however I believe that ultimately, I will look back on this past year and see I did a lot of growing as a person, and as Jef is fond of saying, "Growth is messy."

I'm excited about what this next year will hold for me. I think when I sit down at my computer this time next year and muse about my 37th year, I'll see that I was able to finally crack this oyster called "life" and reveal my pearl within, and it ought to be a big, beautiful pearl, indeed!

:-D

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