Birthday Month almost over (or is it?)

Oh, it's a tragedy - my Birthday Month is almost over and several weeks of it were positively ruined by this damn sinus infection! It was like being dead! I'm just going to cheat and celebrate my Birthday Month several weeks into August.

Well, I'm back at work but still feeling fairly awful. Got a terrible cough and occasionally feel faint.

In other news, my friends J&O gave birth to a little girl today. All are doing well and mazel tov to them. Can't wait to see the little thing, but probably need to clear up this cough first, lest I alarm. The good news: She and I will share a Birthday Month!

I was thinking about writing a long post called "Why I Will Not See the New X-Files Movie". Perhaps I will one day expand on the subject and publish it in a medium-sized book of Special-K wisdom including "Why I Became a Vegetarian" and "Good Reasons to Remain Child-free" and "The Correct Order to Layer Food Within a Taco" etc., but for now, I really need to go to bed.

*cough*

Oh, you won't believe it. Right after getting back from Vegas I've come down with a pretty bad cold. Aside from a few hours here and there, I haven't been able to work this week. I think I'm going to become one of those lunatics that never goes on a plane without a surgical face mask. I was pretty depressed to be sick on my b-day, but now I just hope to be well by this weekend. My cousin sent me this cute ecard that captures how I want to feel... My bike, my basket full of goodies and a cupcake on my head? Yes, please! Alas, in reality it's more like me, laying on the couch watching reruns of whatever's on the ol' DVR, surrounded by popsicle sticks. Today for fun I Facebooked everyone with my same name. That took up some time.

Lady Luck!

OMG! I won $140 more on Wheel! Of! Fortune! (and I only put $5 in!) I seriously tried to blow it on shoes and handbags, but I just didn't see anything that I really loved. Except for a pair of the most gorgeous Christian Louboutin shoes I've EVER seen, but (on SALE) they cost like $600 bucks. So, I'll have to win really big before I go back for those. Damn it. I just don't seem to have it in me to blow cash. And it's my birthday month and everything.

Wheel! Of! Fortune!

Oh. My. God. Guess what happened tonight? I met this nice woman at the conference, and she showed me how to play the Wheel of Fortune slot machine - and, so, I put in a dollar, and then I got a free spin, and then I got another free spin, and maybe another, and then - guess what? I won $130!

Then I almost bought a pair of Jimmy Choo's - but they didn't look right on my feet.

Now I'm sitting on my velvet couch, looking out at the lights and a black horizon, trying to fight an urge to go downstairs and play some more Wheel! of! Fortune!

Vegas, Baby!

Yesterday I arrived in Vegas and went straight to the conf. rooms to see the keynote speaker - Steve Wozniak. He told us what a genius he was and then ended with an odd string of "observations" about how girls don't raise their hands even when they know the answer and how hard it is to get school funding in California.

I'm staying in the most incredible hotel room - guess how many flat screen tvs there are! Guess! Three! And, my curtains are controlled by a remote. I thought it was going to be terrible, staying by myself, but I amused myself by raising and lowering the blinds for a while, watching a dvd on one of the tvs, and taking a nice soak in the tub.

Well, I'm off to sessions all day. Hopefully none of them are led by The Woz!

a tune

Found this really great short film/music video on It's Nice That. The song is so pretty, and the Fleet Foxes are nice enough to offer a free download on their myspace page.


White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

Agoraphobia

Well, we had a beautiful weekend - saw Hellboy with a friend, and it was great (very post-Pan's Labyrinth but not as violent), hit the farmer's market on Sat. morning and scored some morel mushrooms for no less than - guess how much???? You'll never guess - $40/pound. We bought about a fourth of a pound, and then stretched it into two meals, one: whole wheat pasta with caramelized shallots and morels and two: good old fashioned, Indiana-style morels breaded with flour and fried in butter. Ain't nuthin' better, my friend. Why truffles get all the attention, I'll never understand. It's the morels that win the most coveted food award, in my book.

Today I went to the beach for a couple of hours. The water felt like it was approximately 50 degrees, but the beach was lovely.

Went on a longish bike-ride with M (culminating in home-made ice cream). Got mildly distressed due to aforementioned near-death misses. Came home in something of a tizz. Seems like every time I return to my house I feel as if I've cheated death. Have been asked before why my blog is called Agoraphobia - is not because I'm afraid of leaving the house - is more that I don't want to. If you don't mind me sharing just one of my many emotional quirks, whenever I go on a trip, I'm fairly certain that someone I hold dear to me (including myself) is bound to die a horrible death. One time I told my dr. if I might be agoraphobic and she said, "No... it's when you want to leave, but you can't, that you've got it." I suppose there must just be another term for not wanting to leave at all.

My Birthday Month

It's that special time of the year again when one and all gather together to celebrate the mumblemumble of our country and, more importantly, celebrate my Birthday Month. What's a Birthday Month, you ask? Why, it's just when you think to yourself: One lame day or evening isn't nearly enough time to celebrate my birthday! I'm going to celebrate all month long! And how does a person celebrate their Birthday Month, you may wonder? They just think: I shall gratify myself with any and all narcissistic whims that pop into my mind! Which, it turns out, are so far not that narcissistic or indulgent, at least in my case. So far.

Next week I am off to Las Vegas for a work conference. I'm not super-jazzed about it, because I'm going by myself and, even though I've been booked in a fancy hotel suite (a suite!) I'm going by myself, and I would have preferred to share it with a beloved husband, rather than slinking there alone after eating dinner alone or (worse) with a vendor. Oh well... I'll just have to find a way to turn it into a decadent, if solo, part of my Birthday Month.

For the Rocket's Red Glare

We went to Indiana for the 4th of July weekend to visit our families. My sister and nephew were visiting from CA and there were a few gatherings planned. It was wonderful to see my siblings and the new nephews, along with the rest of the familial unit. Young M. has a marvelous sense of humor and had us cracking up all the time. On the 4th, we went to my cousin C's house for a big bbq and a homespun fireworks display. My mom goes absolutely hysterical over any personal pyrotechnics and was putting herself in a right state dancing around trying to protect grandchildren from certain death, until, no longer able to control herself, she grabbed him out of my arms and fled. C also arranged a traditional family game of wiffleball, in which I was surprisingly tackled to the ground. Patriotic batter

My parents are under the mistaken impression that we chose to drive through holiday traffic to visit their house and not them. I know this because frequently when we go to visit they are not there when we arrive or leave us alone for long stretches of time while they attend events more interesting than the rare time we spend together. This time they blithely informed me that they would be leaving the second evening of our three night stay because they were going on their own vacation. Thanks, mom and dad! You really put the dis in dysfunctional family.

M and me holding the babies

(This is what everyone was doing behind the camera trying to make the babies smile!)

So, we have a couple of bold rabbits that hang around our yard; they don't even head for the hills when our cat is outside, but rather calmly continue to eat our cucumbers. (To be fair, the cat seems largely uninterested in chasing rabbits. But, we did find a headless mouse in the grass today. Could Kaya have done that?) I told long-time family friend Big J about the rabbit and he immediately started telling a tale about a "mad" rabbit SWIMMING after President Carter on a fishing boat. President Carter, he said, had to beat it off with an oar. I thought it was complete tomfoolery until I looked it up and found the most hilarious wikipedia entry of all time. I never should have doubted him!

The Girl Effect

When I was looking for a job, I made a lot of bargains with the universe, and it's about time I started paying them back. First, I promised to donate to public radio - I owe them big time. I'm really interested in micro-lending - there are a lot of reputable companies that help you do this. I just made a little donation to "Save the Children Empowering Girls in Bangladesh" through this really nifty site that's woman-centric: The Girl Effect!