Driftwood Lane

So, I found this book at B00ks-A-Million by Denise Hunter and it was part of a series she wrote based in Nantucket. She just published the final book in her Nantucket series and it was just as great as the rest of them.

It was a story of a woman, Meredith, who is happily engaged and living in St. Louis. One day she receives a call that her estranged father died and left her custody of her three half-siblings that she has never met. It is about struggles and relationships like the rest of the series and I really enjoyed them.

Sharks and Sociopaths

I haven't really been in the mood to blog lately. It's been a pretty shitty year so far. I'll be glad when this court stuff with my father is over. I know it's not good to hate and I've never really *hated* anyone before, but if he suddenly died or something I am pretty sure I would just feel relief. How can one person be such a horrible human being? I really thing that he much be an actual sociopath. How else can you not care that your ENTIRE family hates you. The only family that still talks to him is his mother that he has always hated and his sister that he has always hated and always referred to as a bitch and a whore. All of his kids hate him and I'm pretty sure all of his grandkids do too. His great-grandchildren probably would too, but he's never met them...I doubt he even knows their names. He can't remember Andrew's name...he refers to him as Bubba's little one and he doesn't know how old I am.

Anyhow, enough of that crap. I went to the beach this weekend. It was a really great weekend for the beach. It was only a yellow flag and lots of surf. There were plenty of surfers out. That is one thing that I have always wanted to do...learn to surf. However, I am a giant chicken shit. I am scared to death of getting bit by a shark...drowning would suck too, but I'm more scared of the creatures below the surface...they should have never came out with Jaws! :)

It's stupid, really, I know. Statistically, your chances of getting hit by lightening is 30 times more likely than dying from a shark attack. Bees, wasps, and snakes (I think I'm more terrified of snakes) kill more people each year than sharks. And I have a much greater statistical probability of getting into a car accident than getting bitten by a shark. I have a background in statistics and I know all of this, but it still doesn't make me less afraid of sharks. I don't know why I can't just get over it. What makes some people not scared and others scared? Can I get over this? Should I just say "screw it" and sign up for some surf lessons?

It also didn't help that I watched shark week and Florida is the #1 on the list of most shark attacks. I'm trying to be better and not letting things stop me from doing stuff I want to...you never know how long you have and you only live once...well...I guess unless you believe in reincarnation, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

That is all for now. Peace out. :-P

Randomness

When did I start leaving the house without my hair and makeup done? I used to never leave the house with my hair done (at least not wet and knotted in a hair tie) and full makeup...I used to even put on makeup for tennis and softball practice when I was younger! Even for just a quick trip to the drive through I would have to have makeup on...so when was it that I started actually going to get something to eat or in to a store without makeup? And yes...it is that time when you go out without makeup and wet hair that you run into someone you know!! This happened to me again tonight and I had to say ugh! to myself! At least I put decent clothes on for my quick food run. :)

Changing subjects...warned you it was random...so my mother has discovered "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and thinks it's this funny awesome new show...she refuses to believe me that it has been on for quite some time...and she has to call me in there to tell me it's on every time she sees a rerun on! Ugh! She also calls Facebook "spacebook" and Hello Kitty "Miss Kitty." I'm telling you...the woman is getting a alzheimers!!

People are annoying!

People are annoying and inconsiderate!! I seriously miss living among the cows!! The mooing I could deal with and they usually didn't moo at night unless the coyotes were out and you really can't blame them for that...though I do blame them when they got out and would come peek in my window and scare the crap out of me! So...my mother snores like there is not tomorrow and the walls in this stupid house are pretty pointless when it comes to noise control. When I can still hear her with two pillows over my head...that's when I want to take the pillows in there and beat her with them!! I absolutely hate living here and now I can't really sleep for the freaking noise too! WTF?!

So...some "youngsters" are up next door and seriously...why the heck is it necessary to go out and ride the four wheeler at 11:30 at night??!! I am seriously about ready to go postal...now it sounds like they are running a chain saw or something...it is now 12:30 at night! I woke aforementioned snorer up already and informed her that this needed to be corrected TOMORROW or I was going to show my @$$...and you know that I will because I am just a bitch like that! I usually stay up late, but it's raining...oh yeah...it's raining...so why four wheelers and chain saws in the rain??!!

I swear...It is bloody Jerry freaking Springer here!! He could get enough material to retire on just from spending one week at my house!! It's the flipping nut house and I am beginning to think that I would rather have the little men in white coats come and take me away!! The nut house has got to be better than here, right?! I could write a book on all this redneckery around here! yes...I said redneckery...I am cranky and it's late and I have the right to make up my own words if I feel like it. UGH! More noise! Do people not understand the concept of common courtesy?! Damn city folk. :-P I am going to try and go to sleep and resist the urge to set my alarm for 5am and go outside with a fog horn...might be more tempted if I actually had a fog horn...bet they'll be trying to sleep at 5am...they'll probably be sleeping until noon...seriously tempted to return the favor in some creative way.

New Years Resolution #4

OK, so my fourth new years resolution was to read a certain number of book off of the BBC's Big Read list. Many of these books I read way back in middle and high school. If I don't really remember much about them, then I am not counting them as having been read and will endeavor to re-read them. That being said, this is my list for 2010. There are many books that I feel BBC should have included that they didn't, but that is why I made my BBC list goal small (20 books) so that I could include these others (and fun books) as well without making it so daunting a task that I would not be able to complete it. Here are some of the BBC books I want to read/re-read/finish:

1. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (currently in the process of reading)
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (currently in the process of reading)
3. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (want to re-read)
4. To Kill a Mockinbird (hardly remember reading)
5. Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A. Milne (have, but actually have never read!)
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (have actually never read this one...started, but that doesn't count) :)
7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
8. Wuthering Heights (have only about fifty pages or so left, but never finished)
9. The Catcher in the Rye (have read all, but about 60 pages or so...need to finish!)
10. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (somehow missed this one)
11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (haven't read this one)
12. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (never finished years ago)
13. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (been awhile)
14. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (never finished...have you seen how long it is??!!)
15. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I love Oscar Wilde! My fave story as a child is actually an Oscar Wilde short story, "The Selfish Giant")
16. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery (never finshed...it's another long one)
17. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover
18. Animal Farm by George Orwell (just want to re-read)
19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (it's sooo long! Never got through it)
20. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (been a long time and it's a goodie)
21. Ulysses by James Joyce
22. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
23. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
24. The Little Prince by Antoine de Staint-Exupery
25. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
26. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
27. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Ok, so I have included more than 20 here but at least I have options for my 20 if I just can't get through one of them. That way I can still stick to my list of 20, but also have some options. :)

Now to try and get through some more of A Tale of Two Cities. It has 15 chapters and I am going for at least one chapter a night. I am reading Brave New World concurrently.

New Years Resolutions

Yep...it's that time again. It's time to make those many resolutions that most of us won't keep for more than a couple of days. There is always the lost weight resolution...if I had a penny for everyone who had that as their resolution...

Anyhow, I guess I will start thinking of mine, so here it goes...

1. Exercise more (I need to for my heart as well as to be not so darn fat)


2. Learn to knit


3. Learn to crochet
   
4. Read at least 20 more books on the BBC Big Read list of 200 books everyone should read.


5. Hopefully decide what the heck to do and go back to work (that has a lot of factors that are well beyond my control as well, but here's hoping)
   
6. Visit somewhere outside of Florida (though it'll be hard to top visiting Ashley and Chris in Hawai'i...going back would be nice...otherwise somewhere I have never been).

Ok...I think those are enough resolutions for the new year thus far. There are a few biggies, so I'll stick with that for now. 2009 has really sucked (except for the trip to see one of my favorite cousins and the better cardiologist appointment), so here's hoping 2010 will be better. It seems that you keep thinking to yourself, "well, it has to get better at some point, but then something else happens and it just sucks even more." It doesn't look like I'm ever going to win this one apparently.

Here's a look back at some very happy moments in 2009...

There's No Place Like Home...Florida Style!

Or rather the Swamp! Instead of ruby red slippers...I got blue sparkly ones!! :) Everything has to be orange and blue you know! :) Here is a picture of my new sparkly blue flats and the other comfy bordeaux pair I got from Aldo. (and my pink sparkly Christmas tree).

Drama, drama, drama

There is drama everywhere!! I can't escape all of the drama and it is driving me crazy! Let's just invite Jerry Springer in and cash in!! Seriously! I should write a book...I have lots of material around here. I just want a drama free zone. I think I like cardiac rehab so much because it is essentially drama free and everyone is friendly and my cell phone is turned off! :)

Update for Beth's sake...haha

OK...so Beth wanted an update, so while I am waiting for Ashley to get off work I will give you one.

So my plane out of Gainesville was late on Thursday. They had some latch problem in Atlanta and had to get it fixed (there are a lot of things that need to be fixed on those planes lately?!). The pilot was quite a character. He introduced himself as Brian Wilson formerly of the Beach Boys and since we were running late already he said that we would ignore the fuel efficiency guidelines and "fly this plane like we stold it" and let me tell you...he did! However, I still ended up having to go to Los Angeles instead of Seattle. LAX was a horrible place! It looks like a dirty prison and the people were very mean (not the people on the plane just at the airport). At my gate there were no empty seats so I went to sit by the window...then some fat Mexican looking dude yelled at me and said, "you no sit here. you no going to fresno." I said there are no seats over there...so he just kept yelling, "No! You no sit here." Who the hell would want to go to Fresno (though anywhere else must be better than that nasty place) and what the hell difference does it make where you sit?! Stupid L.A. assholes.

The flight to Honolulu was decent. The flight was FULL and it was one of those three tiny seats on each side plane flights, but after they closed the door I did little cheers of joy in my head as the seat between me and an aloof Asian girl stayed empty. She was not very friendly and she continually brought out snacks from her bag...she even made instant grits on the plane! I was greeted by Chris and Ashley at baggage claim with a beautiful orchid lei, but then my luggage didn't show up. Strangely, I was very calm. I didn't even utter a single curse word! Soooooo not like me! I just said, ok whatever. It did turn up the next day (it went to Seattle...lucky damn bag!) and I was very happy. I think I probably would have gotten a little irate if it had taken longer to get it.

Ashley and I went to Waikiki yesterday. It was beautiful, but very hot. We walked a lot, but I gave out pretty quickly. It's probably just because I am still a little weak from being sick last week. There are some very strange people down there, but that is to be expected...and it's funny to watch them. We are going to the North Shore tomorrow! I'm excited about that! Chris is going too and we are going to go to the surf museum! I have this strange obsession with surfing even though I am terrified of sharks and rarely go swimming in open water. However, Ashley says that she is going to have Chris and his friend teach me to surf. Not so sure about that, but it's not every day that you are in Hawaii (unless of course you live here) and you only live once, so we'll see if I suck it up and try it out! :)

Creepy people

Ok...so all the creey people are crawling out of the woodwork! OK...so I won't even mention the Daytona Beach trip from last summer. I recently visited a friend at work and her 58 year old co-worker couldn't take his eyes off my chest and then wanted information about me from her. Ewww...he doesn't look like George Strait...and that's my criteria for old guys! :-P Then I went to Publix today and this creepy old guy (who works there might I add) kept staring at my chest! C'mon old guys...quit creeping me out...that's just gross!! I guess on the bright side, I can say that someone is interested at least...even if it is just for something other than my brain or stunning personality (haha...yeah I know...that part's funny). I have been nicer since being sick, so normally I would have said something smart to these people and told them to piss off...I guess I'll just have to drag my protective friend with me...yeah the one who wanted to beat up one of my exes for hugging me...apparently I shouldn't be hugging people with tatoos...he shouldn't have been hugging me like that either...she's hilarious...I'm just glad she wasn't packing then! Haha Ok...that's my creepy story of the day...the rehab one was so much better, huh?