Putting the pieces together

While at my parents' house I picked up a few things I had owned since childhood. One of those things was a telescope I thought I had lost years ago in all my moving around. Once I buy a tripod, I'm going to bust that out and use it. The stars here in Texas are amazing.

Something else I found was a pair of Okinawan Shisa dogs. They are similar to the Fu dogs of China. I bought them in Okinawa when I was there many many years ago. When I shipped them to Texas, I did not pack them well enough and one broke much more than the other. The other broke into 3 pieces and was fairly easy to put back together. The other... not so much. It will probably not stand solidly once I'm done gorilla gluing it together. It also will have some chips missing. I do feel badly that I have broken them. I could try to be all profound and say that broken things can't be put back together the same way, but we all know I'm not profound. :) Luckily it is the one who keeps his mouth open to ward off evil spirits as opposed to the one whose mouth was closed to keep in good spirits. Maybe the cracks will confuse the evil spirits.

Death of a Hero

When I was a little girl I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted it in the worst way. I studied stars and I dreamed of going into space. I wanted to be Sally Ride. I was 8 when she first went into space. Something about that just inspired me to want to do the same. I wanted to see the earth from far away and travel around with the stars. My 5th grade teacher continued to foster my love for space.  She entered into the teacher in space program. I don't know how far she got in it, but obviously she didn't go. She made special arrangements for us to watch the Challenger launch in the library live. I also remember the shock and disbelief when the Challenger blew up.  I was undeterred, though. I didn't change my view on becoming an astronaut. 

That was actually the plan for several years up until high school. High school is where I discovered advanced math and the fact that I can't do it. I also learned that in order to be an astronaut you really have to go to a military academy and to get into those you have to have a recommendation from a senator or congressman. For a shy, small town girl that was just too impossible so my dream was adjusted. (And continues to be adjusted.)

I was sad to read that Sally Ride died today. A lot of famous folk have died but her death has made me sad in a way that others' have not. I'm glad, though, that her legacy lives on with her science program for girls. Maybe had something like that been there when I was younger I may have achieved my astronaut dream. Maybe not. Geometry still would have kicked my ass.

Puppy

Today while I was driving from the grocery store, I saw a big rottweiler running in the road. I would have chased after it to at least get it out of the road, but I was in the 2nd left turn lane and in no real position to stop.  I looked for it, but couldn't find it again.  It totally reminded me of a dog we had when I was a little girl.  The dog was funny looking. She was part dachshund and part poodle. So she was low to the ground but had this crazy fur that mostly matted. She had been my sister's dog but like most of my sister's pets, she'd abandon them to us and they would become a family pet. So Mouse used to get out and we'd never notice it.  We have no idea where she'd go, maybe just around the block but we'd randomly hear scratching at the front door and she was back.  I used to joke that since we never walked her she started walking herself.  I thought about her seeing that dog running in the road and wondered if when people would see Mouse "walking herself" would they worry about her being loose and try to catch her to bring her back.

Barefooted

As a child I would change out of shoes the moment I could. I would walk out to the car with shoes in hand and only put them on when we got to the destination. Back in the car I'd take them off again and this would repeat as we went about our errands. I think that drove my family crazy. Although this was back before the 'clickers' for cars so I could just lock my own door and catch up. I used to get chastised for going out into the garage barefoot. We had black widows and other spiders out there and it was my dad's shop so there'd be wood pieces and nails. Seriously in retrospect it was lucky I never got tetnus or a nasty spiderbite. The bottoms of my feet were regularly black from going out the front door barefoot... walking through the cacti barefoot... down the driveway and on the sidewalk barefoot. You get the picture, right. Barefoot is where it is at!

Fast forward to being an adult. I still hate shoes. I sit in my office barefoot when I can. The moment I get home I kick off my shoes. (Doubt it? There's a pile in the front hallway of the shoes I regularly wear which is the spot I kick them off). Hence, shoe buying is always a THING for me. I like comfortable shoes. I like simple shoes. I loathe buying shoes. Currently I'm looking for a black pair for work. I'm hoping to buy a simple versatile pair I can wear with socks and I'll probably end up with some ugly vaguely lesbian pair because that's what I always end up with when I take function over form. Part of me thinks I should wait and see what kind of job I get so I can tailor this shoe purchase to match that... as though this will be the only shoe purchase I make for a year (sadly, it probably will be. I buy shoes in fall for the coming winter and spring for the coming summer and I buy 2 pair max - one black and one brown. Sometimes I buy tennis shoes but not too often). Blech.

Photojeraphic Pimentos

So when I was a little girl I desperately wanted to go be on the Bozo Show so I could play the Grand Prize Game. If you didn't do well you got a 'photojeraphic pimento' of your time on the show. I totally didn't get that it was taped in Chicago and couldn't understand why we couldn't just go there. That's a long explanation that has nothing to do with this photo. :)

So obviously this is a photo from Disney World. I think my sister is about 3 which would have made me between 7 and 8. My mom posted an unedited version of this on her facebook account and I pulled it from there and ran it through photoshop. It helped quite a bit actually since her photo was faded and somewhat red. My actual point to all of this... for those of you with families. Take family photos. This may honestly be the only family photo we have that my sister is in. That's a little sad if you think about it. We took a bunch the last time I was visiting my parents for Christmas, but obviously it isn't the same.

Best April Fool's Joke Ever

This is honestly without a doubt my absolute favorite post ever. I love to reread it every year. It makes me so happy. :)

So I am re-linking as my gift to you. Happy April Fool's Day! :)

Two thousand two hundred thirty seven posts...

You could sing that in your head like that Rent song Seasons of Love. Two thousand two hundred thirty seven poooosts. Two thousand two hundred moments so dear... two thousand two hundred thirty seven poooosts... that's how you measure ... measure 5 years.

Yes people, today is the 5 year blogiversary of my life. Isn't that exciting? And while I've been doing Peeves of Yore over at the Peevery for awile now I'm not doing a Joanne of Yore. I'm pretty sure there are a few things I would rather not remember but I will provide a few links to posts I love. :)

Here's my first ever post. Wherein I realized it was 113 days until I turned 30. Now... 113 days until I turn 35. Should I be freaking out? (That does mean it is 113 days until my birthday... mark your calendars.) (Although I could be celebrating it in Ireland. I haven't figured that out yet.) (Also I don't really love this post, but it is the first one ever so that's kind of cool). I used to drink a lot then, and I'm a little horrified by my early posts.

Five years ago, I also gave up my beloved car. Sigh. Also notable, I had, albiet for a brief time, a guy to be seeing. That was kind of nice. I met his parents which was a first for me. It is better to not have relationships go that long I think. :)

My most favorite post ever came three years ago in 2005. I'll just let you read it and revel in its total awesomeness. I've never tried another April Fool's Joke because none could ever touch this one. It is the comments that make it. :)

In rereading old posts, I spent many months (years?) pining over a crush that didn't pan out. Dang.

Some of the old posts make me sad. Sigh. some don't. Yay. But whatever. Hopefully I'll do this another 5 years. Or maybe not. :)

Santa

I'm watching an old episode of the Brady Bunch in which Cindy goes to see Santa. There were many things notable about this episode... 1 - Mike leaves her in line while he goes to exchange a present, she's 6. 2 - She doesn't carry on like a fool while in line by herself. She just stands there properly. 3 - There's not the photo elf which seems to be the only purpose of mall Santas these days. 4 - I'm such a sap I started tearing up when Cindy asked Santa for her mom's voice back so she can sing in the Christmas concert.

It also made me cry for a different reason. When I lived with the kids while my sister went through a bone marrow transplant, my nephew was 11 and my niece then must've been about 7. We went to see Santa at the pet store. (In fact I still have the picture of Minka and their ferret Slinky with Santa. That's just funny.) Despite the fact that I don't think he still believed in Santa at that point he asked Santa for a gift. His mom to get better from her cancer. Santa looked sadly at him and said he would do what he could but he couldn't make any promises. Poor Santa, what a hard job he must have.

Two Things

1 - The post about publishing a NaNoWriMo blog was my 2,000 post. Who knew? 2,000 posts in 4 years. That's a lot of talking without actually saying anything.

2 - Once upon a time, I was a freshman in college. I remember laying across my bed one day listening to Pearl Jam on my Walkman and singing along. My friend, who lived across the hall from me, Shelley, walked in and without a word took the tape from my Walkman and went back to her room. Apparently according to her and Kate, I should not sing. I'm sure my neighbors this morning would agree with that. I've been lying in bed all morning long listening to my iPod and playing solitaire and singing along with the songs playing. It was awesome.

What happens if...

I was just sitting here listening to a song by Roxette and remembering the time I used to listen to it in high school. I had this terrible crush on a guy in the science club with me. (Ok seriously, how nerdy was I?!) He too had a crush on me, (I found out later) and actually had tried to ask me out but we were so damn shy and awkward I didn't figure it out and he didn't actually get right words out. I remember we talked about it later when we were both older (older being relative I think that we're comparing 14 to 17) and friends. He told me I shot him down and we talked about the conversation and I recalled it and realized I had no idea that was what was happening. The whole thought process made me smile. :)