Ouch. Still. But Not for Long...

Remember this from a few posts back?

Well, it's still throbbing, cracking, creaking, locking, clicking, popping. And hurting. Thanks for letting me whine.

The good news is I'm a step closer to getting relief. Mere days, hopefully, as surgery is scheduled for 11/6.

Side bar: Yes, that's election day. And yes, I will still vote. I'm pretty sure I can hobble in to the polls and remain upright long enough to at least get Kentucky once step closer to a non-criminal new governor who just happens to be of the democratic persuasion. I'm looking at it as practice for 2008. It's too important this time around to miss.

Oddly, at 40-something, I've only had one brush with surgery of any kind, and that was wisdom teeth removal. I've never even had stitches, other than those put in after the wisdom teeth were removed. This is arthroscopic, so I'm hopeful it won't be too traumatic. God knows I nursed she-whose-name-i-don't-speak-in-this-blog through enough of them.

So go ahead, share the bevy of lesbian knee surgeries gone bad tales. I'm determined to stay positive and eager!

NFL hits London

While I would love for the title of this blog to say "NFL takes London" I don't think the two teams we sent over there today could "take" anything. I know that someone probably thought that the Dolphins and the Giants might make it a game worth watching but in hindset, it would have been much better to send a sure thing over to London.........like the Cowboys, Colts or Patsies. Either one of these teams would have been a better representation of what the National Football League has to offer.

Yet another bum decision being made at the executive level...........we are certainly showing consistancy to our neighbors across the pond. :\

Ashes.

Flames. Destruction. Loss. Sadness.

I'm watching California burn.

But as the disaster unfolds, I'm finding it harder to keep watching the news coverage. What can I possibly say about the devastation from clear across the country?

That's what I'm thinking when an e-mail pops up, bringing news of another long-term lesbian couple gone kapput. Though I lost touch with them some time back, the news still causes me to gasp.

They REALLY thought it would never happen to them.

I've heard both say proudly that they'd proved all the nay-sayers wrong. They were going to outlast all of us who questioned why one or both would ever stay in such an obviously whacked-out relationship. Some of us, myself included, said this as our own long-term relationship(s) imploded/exploded/fizzled.

We watched their destructive moments, occasionally added fuel to the flames, enjoyed their hospitality, marveled at the ever-expanding collection of pets, and chalked the fact that it seemed to work up to some weird twist of fate or really freaky chemistry.

By my count they outlasted all but two of the six or so couples who were once some part of that circle. Yeah, I know what the stats say.

But I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Not naive. Just hopeful. Movie magic.

California's burning. And I'm not watching CNN any more today.

Great songwriters

Lyn and I have been having an ongoing discussion lately about the great songwriters of the ages. It all started with a discussion about Bruce Springsteen's latest album and how much it sounds like his album of the 80's - Born in the U.S.A. Our conversation expanded out to his contribution to songwriting over the years.

If you had to name your top five songwriters, who would they be? I insisted that you have to have the likes of James Taylor on that list. How about Bob Dylan, Carole King or Melissa Etheridge? If you stop to think about it, it could be longer than a list of five. I also think that it is a sentimental thing with each one of us. Perhaps the right Jackson Browne or Kenny Loggins tune would cause one of them to be on your list of five.

Who are those songwriters who have really had a message and shared that message well? It does pause you to think a little bit. There are so many. I even reached back to the days of Roger and Hammerstein just for fun.

Here is my top five in no particular order:

1) James Taylor
2) Bruce Springsteen
3) John Lennon/Paul McCartney
4) Carole Bayer Sager
5) Stevie Wonder

Five is really too short of a list and is a huge injustice to those other songwriters I have been humming along with for years!

Let's be frank about the NFL

Ok....let's talk about where we all are in the NFL season. Some of you out there are a little better off than the Bengals and some of you are a lot better off than the Bengals and some of that is because your team has beaten the Bengals!

But let's look at the facts as they stand right now. Let's all sit down and be honest with ourselves, shall we? If you are in the AFC, it does not matter what you do or how well your season is going along. The AFC representative in the Super Bowl is going to be the Colts or the Patsies. Plain and simple.........let's not sugar coat this anymore. What is the point? Both of them have outstanding records and are playing fantabulous football. Tom Brady may even set a few new records this season. This leaves the other AFC teams as bride's maids. I mean.....the Colts and the Patsies have to play someone right? We just can't give them immediate rights to the Superbowl. We have to make it look legit and everything.

Let's look at the NFC. I will ask those readers to weigh in on their NFC teams and correct me if I am wrong. Is the Dallas Cowboys the best that the NFC can do? I have to say.....if it is.....the NFC is as sunk as the other teams trying to win in the AFC. The AFC looks mighty strong right now. We have the two most powerful teams in the league.

So riddle me this........does the NFC have a team that can take the Colts or the Patsies down? If it came down to a Superbowl game, are we going to just skip it because its going to be a yawner or is it going to be a competitive match? The Patsies are damn near close to being called "The Evil Empire". For those of you not familiar with that nickname.........it is a name that has been given to the New York Yankees. Nobody wants to see the Yankees win because they have such a long history of doing it. Been there done that........its not worth sitting home watching it on TV if the Yankees are in it.

Inside Massachusetts, no one dares to think that the rest of the nation is thinking that of their Patriots........but we are. The team with the nickname "America's Team" is the Dallas Cowboys. At some point in the past, they had the old "Dubya" Texas swagger so I guess it might be a tip of the hat to those old Texas Republican oilmen.

But I digress...........what say ye? Is there a team out there that can break the back of the best two teams in the NFL? Remember, the Colts and the Patsies can't go there together. One has to win it all for the AFC. Being in the mid-west my money is on Peyton Manning. He has a quiet confidence and has nothing to prove.

If you are good and you come about it honestly, you have nothing to prove. Your game says it all.

TA TA!

A Grey Moment

"Don't you dare come to me for forgiveness you traitorous bitch."

Repeat it five times slowly and file it away.

Who says lesbians can't learn from 'straight' television.

Best line of the week. Callie rocks.

Feed Me

Bailey's on week three of her seizure med -- phenobarbital. No seizures so far, at least as observed by her circle of human caregivers. But I'll be starting the fundraising drive to keep her in dog food later this week.

All she does is eat. Or beg. Or belch. Or inventory hidden treats.

She's been a finicky eater all her life, rarely even sniffing her morning meal in my presence. Confident food will be there when she wants it, and replaced later in the day if it gets a bit stale-looking. We used to joke that she didn't eat on Sundays because she was fasting in observance of some higher canine power.

On day three of the meds she ate three full meals -- in two hours -- before I got control of myself and decided I should probably learn to ignore the whining. Then she went to the spa (grandma's) for a few days while I put in long hours at the office.

Her grandparents can't stand to see her beg -- they typically roast a chicken or turkey breast as soon as they know she's coming for a visit. So I warned them in advance that they simply couldn't feed her constantly or she'd balloon up to Basset size in no time.

I'm sure it was tough on all three of them. And I'm equally sure grandma came up with a solution by day two; grandpa would simply need to increase the number of walks. Not jaunts to the corner, but around the block and then some, from the usual two a day to three. Or four. Or maybe more.

Monday Without Meatloaf

Meatloaf definitely makes Monday's better, and clearly inspires creativity. No meatloaf, no posts. Hmm. Perhaps it's a conspiracy.

Or perhaps it's the old 'why would anyone read what I have to say' creeping in. I admire Rita's ability to post at will about any number of topics. Whereas I stress over what makes a worthwhile topic...kind of like I'm missing the point of the whole blogging thing, huh?

As I've started down the blogging path as a Working the Room contributor, I've been doing what any good novice would do and immersing myself in a number of lesbian blogs -- Hahn At Home and The Wishful Writer in particular. I've actually spent time reading the archives of these and others, so sucked in am I by a particular post or random turn of phrase.

I'm soooooo jealous. It seems to come so easy.

Have I spent too many years writing cheesy brochure copy, news releases and event scripts to actually remember how to be engaging, chatty, witty, able to banter at will? Could I ever? (E-mail flirting aside, since I may have actually succeeded at that on a couple of occasions. Accidently, of course.)

I had a very short first career as a news reporter turned feature writer and ultimately columnist. Sure, it was for a weekly newspaper in the late 80s. Pre-laptop, pre-WWW access, but still one of the most empowering things I've ever done. I remember writing my first column about the challenge of finding an apartment with character in suburban Dayton Ohio. That got me a date with a cute sports reporter for a sister newspaper, and, ultimately, the feature and column clips led me to an advertising job in a new, larger city with lots of character-filled apartments I could actually then afford.

And then... I woke up in my current state of mid-life crisis. I'm hoping this blogging thing is going to help move me beyond that. I'll keep reading. Keep writing. And keep hoping someone's at least occasionally mildly entertained.

Disney World

On Friday, I had a conversation with a co-worker from Florida regarding her weekend plans to take her daughter to Disney World for the first time. This spawned into a 15 minute conversation solely on the whole concept of Disney World and how phenomenal it was for ourselves when we were children. Then, after that call finished, my co-worker in the next cube said he was going to Disney as well and we walked out of the building talking even more about the "wonders of Disney World".

For my overseas readers who have heard of Disney World and have never been able to go, I will do my best to fill you in on the wonderment of it all. It will be almost impossible in one blog sitting! However, I will say this, if you are going to make a trip to the United States, please make Disney World in Orlando Florida one of your must see stops. You and your family will never forget it.

Now....there are two Disney attractions in the U.S. - Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. I can only speak to Disney World since I have only been to this park. I have never had an interest in seeing Disneyland since I have been told that Disney World is larger and more grand.

In the 1960's, the Disney World location was nothing but swamp land. By the time the theme park opened in 1971, this empty swamp land was turned into the most spectacular technologically advanced theme parks in the U.S. Unfortunately, Walt Disney himself did not live to see the doors open since he died in 1966. However, his futuristic creative ideas transformed how we would view amusement parks from that day forward. Many of the technologies that Disney used in the robotics of the theme rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted House or the Hall of Presidents are viewed as the best way to do things even today.

My first trip to Disney World's Magic Kingdom (Magic Kingdom was the only park in the Disney World space at the time - it has grown to include Epcot Center, MGM Studios, Typhoon Lagoon etc etc) was when I was twelve and it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Presidents coming to life on a stage.....moving around and talking! Pretty exciting stuff for a twelve year old I must say! It is amazing to me (and my co-workers) that even today when we go back as adults how this technology still has us in awe. I mean....it was fantabulous when we were twelve but it is still advanced even today!

Walt Disney was a forward-thinker and the parks that bear his name are still forward-thinking in their advancements. As I write about this today, I am getting excited like the Disney mothership is hovering over the house right now to whisk me down there. Alas......that is not the case. I don't have any near future plans to make a trip to Disney in the next year. I have been to Disney World three times in my lifetime and I will make a fourth trip if my "partner in crime" will oblige my rambunctious inner child the opportunity.

Here are some websites for more information on The Wonderful World of Disney:

http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com/
http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/complete_history.html

Nicknames

I just have to ask this question......if you have a significant other in your life, do you have a special nickname for him/her? How did you derive the name? I admit that Lyn and I both have nicknames for each other that are used from time to time. Of course, if I divulge it here I would probably lose my blogging privileges! ;-)

However, since my the blog comments can be anonymous I am encouraged that I will hear all kinds of silly things as a result of this blog. Fire away!

Marion Jones

Until this week, I had forgotten about Marion Jones and her denials of using performance enhancing drugs. This week she joins the ranks of other infamous lying sport stars who have watched their careers incinerate before their eyes.

Marion has been lying about this for six years and it is going to cost her dearly. She has had to return her five medals from the 2000 Olympic games and will also have to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money she has collected over that time frame. Oh yeah she is sorry. She did as most of the sports stars have done. She went on TV and said she was sorry and ashamed and cried a bit more than most of the other infamous liars.

What is worst though....and it does get worse......the teammates that were on two of the winning relay teams may be forced to give back their medals as well. After all, they won as a team with Marion's help. Fair? No...I don't think so but unfortunately I think it is the legitimate thing to do. I realize that these other women were not aware of her drug use and may feel that they should not be penalized. However, the team that they won on was tainted and all of those medals deserve to go to the team who played the sport honestly. I realize that the other women gave their "all" and performed an honest race....however.....would they have won it without Marion? That's a hard thing to say.

If Marion did not hand over her medals, nor was asked to, I would feel a little differently about the rest of the team not handing over their medals. I realize that the feelings run deep on this one. They are in shock about all this but ultimately do they want to say....."this is my medal from the 2000 Olympic relay team which was strickened from the record books." It may be that they say.....ok...you can keep the medals but they are not legitimate because we are now recognizing Greece in the books as winning the Gold medal.

Fairness or doing the right thing?

Ghost results

Ok.....I am going to preface my blog entry today with the statement that my "Working the Room" blog is not going to turn into a ghost blog. :) Both Lyn and I are too opinionated to be partial to ghost entries every single day. So........I will probably create a new blog dedicated to our ghostly adventures and link it back to this one!

Our adventure at the home of my co-worker proved to be a disappointing one. The normally frisky spirit clammed up tighter than an oyster shell while we were in the house. We took a lot of pictures - digital and 35mm, recorded about 45 minutes of audio and had a video camera positioned upstairs to try and gain something we would have missed while spending our time in the basement of her home. After reviewing the data last night, while we gained a better foothold on what we should have done and not done, we did not record any ghostly data. In fact the most excitement we had on our first ghostly tour was my friend getting spooked by a electronic air freshener that chose to go off 3 feet above her head in the basement. We did record the screams on that one and it was all very very funny.

So while we didn't get any real data on this trip, we are looking forward to our next adventure. I would like to go out once a month to experience some kind of phenomena. I still believe that ghosthunting is feast or famine.........probably famine most of the time. So we have to be patient. I am sure that we are not going to experience something every time we go out. The door to my co-worker's house has been left open to us in case we want to make a return trip there someday and give it another shot. Always a good option............

In the meantime.....I will work on another blog in the next few weeks and link it back to this one for everyone who may be interested in reading about this type of thing. I have to say it was still very exciting and I look forward to my next adventure!

Ghost adventure

It is Sunday morning and I find myself up early (as usual) thinking about my first ghost adventure tomorrow night. My friends and I will be going to the home of a co-worker who has had some mysterious things happening at her house for years. We have managed to equip ourselves with some basic "equipment" so that we can try and catch some ghostly phenomena in action. I can easily see how you could spend quite a bit of money on this type of thing so we are moving slowly with this hobby.

Tomorrow nights investigation should be interesting. I have prepared myself to experience "something" while I am there so I am not caught by surprised if something dramatic should happen. I don't want to be the first one running from the house! So expect the unexpected is my thought process right now as I try to keep my mind open and skeptical. You have to be a bit of a skeptic with this whole thing so you can rule out local environmental impacters (noisy water pipes, etc) as voices from beyond the grave.

My co-worker and her husband have lived with this "ghost" for some time and have gotten used to its presence in their home. Apparently it has made one playful appearance to their grandson and gave the little guy a good scare. Children and animals are much more open-minded and naive so they will see ghosts more often. Me on the other hand.....closing in on age 42..........require a stockpile of electronic equipment just to get a glimpse of them. I'm thinking we could have just rented a child for the night and he/she could provide all the data we need! I can't help but be reminded of the little boy in the Sixth Sense......"I see dead people".

Lyn will be staying home tomorrow night still recovering from the fact that I am out gallivanting after ghosts. Yes.....she is a true skeptic but I think some of that skepticism is derived out of the idea that she might actually have a ghostly encounter and that would counterattack years of sound reasoning and practical judgement. I am hoping that after hearing a few ghostly recordings she will come around. It is doubtful that she will ever come out on a ghost expedition with me but she may stop evaluating the need to refer me to a good psychiatrist and submit a new personal ad to Match.com!

TA TA!

Monday Meatloaf Meanderings

Since I'm avoiding the impending Monday Night Football fiasco, a few thoughts from this lesbian life as the week begins...

Meatloaf is good stuff. Especially when someone else makes it for you. Thanks Rita. Low-carb without bread crumbs and all... it's still comfort food. Hated it when I was a kid. Love it now and I'm convinced it's all about the comfort. Yummy good. Especially when it's a Monday leftover.

Coffee is good stuff, too, and a Red Eye is the best way I know to start off the work week. It's even better when it's free. This morning I waited patiently in the drive-thru line at my local independent coffee purveyor -- JET Coffee. It's just down the street from the green mermaid place and doing its darndest to inspire loyalty in its customers without a multi-million $ concept and brand standards out the wazoo. I stop now because it's on the right side of the street and just before the highway onramp -- no left turns required. For the previous few years I stopped for a smile from barista Elizabeth. But she's off to grad school in Iowa (????) so I settle for the coffee.

And today it was FREE.

Apparently a regular customer every so often hands over a $20 and says 'pay it forward' or the coffee equivalent, meaning the next few cars in line get a free fix. How cool is that? Doesn't it make you wonder what little thing each of us might be able to do to share the love on a Monday...it did me. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.

I also want to muse for a moment on the cool lesbian flick we caught almost by accident this weekend. The Gymnast is a beautifully shot look at a mid-life crisis (far different from my own!) and a former athlete's journey to reclaim her past athletic/artistic success while discovering her own sex/sense-uality. She finds incredible strength within herself, both physical and emotional. Though I'm embarassed to say I'd picked the wrong woman as the love interest for the lead character... yes, I saw the poster in the lobby.