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3月26日 The WineryWe finally made it down to the winery (www.maydellewines.com). It's literally in the middle of a national forest, right next to the Texas State Railroad track. Hardly the beautiful scenery of Napa Valley; probably more like the bootlegger's house back in the 20s. We drove from here to there on "the back roads" so we did see some beautiful spring flowers and trees. We also thought it was weird that there were some amazing, huge houses out in the middle of nowhere. I liked living in the country but I can't imagine living THAT far away from civilization. They were gorgeous, though. Anyway, I learned some valuable lessons on Saturday. (1) Eat something, preferably protein, before going to taste wine. (2) Order the wine before I get tipsy on wine. I got buzzed and ended up buying a case of wine. Good grief. My friend's 7? year old mother went with us. Halfway through the tastings she turned to me and said, "Well, Angie......I'm DRUNK." And she was. She seldom, if ever, partakes of spirits so it only took a few "tastes" for her to be rockin' and reelin'. After the winery we went to a potter's studio that was even more in the boonies than the winery. We were thinkin' we might get some bargains but we didn't. That potter thought he was the shiznit and charged accordingly. THEN, we drove to another hole in the road for lunch (by then it was mid-afternoon). So we had gotten buzzed and then come down offa that, then ate and filled our bellies, and that was it for us. We were all yawning and could barely keep our eyes open. WILD WOMEN. We made one last stop at a nursery to price flowers and shrubs but we didn't stay long. Timber and I took a nap as soon as I got home and it was awesome. I'm gonna have to repaint my bedroom, though, because I snored so hard it yanked all the paint off the sheetrock. Wow. I was suh-noozin'!!
As Miz Nadine Hightower commented on my previous post, my Fightin' Texas Aggies got beat at the NCAA tournament. Shit! But ya know what? It doesn't matter. I'm so sad for the family of the UNC (Tarheels) mascot that it really puts "the game" in perspective. Games are not life or death - life is...
Remember the baseball team that had the horrible bus wreck in Atlanta a few weeks ago? They're gonna play their season after all. I think that's great. Those guys NEED to play as a coping mechanism for their grief and shock over what happened to them. I've worked with athletes for years and have been around them all my life. They're strong and normally they're healthy. In the "survival of the fittest" they're usually considered to be "the fittest." As such it's always a shock to see an athlete struck down in his/her prime, especially when they're young. I love the heart of an athlete. (A TRUE athlete - one who participates for love of the game, not love of the dollar.)
This afternoon I grabbed a sandwich from Subway and went to the ballpark to watch our baseball team. There was a thick dusting of yellow pine pollen on all the seats and stuff and a strong breeze that was blowing stuff all around. It wasn't long before I was sneezing and had a headache so I went back to the office. There weren't many people at the ballpark. Most people can't take off work for a baseball game so I counted myself lucky that not only can I do it, I can still say I'm at work since I'm supporting our athletes. Greatness. I don't know why but it's tedious when they play the National Anthem inside the gym. But at the ballpark? My heavens. I get chills and a lump in my throat nearly everytime they play it before the baseball games. The flag blowing in the breeze, the guys lined up on the first and third base lines, the green grass...it's just awesome.
I hope you're all doing well. Spring is my favorite time of year and I'm enjoying it. Y'all take care...
3月17日 Happy St. Patrick's DayBegorrah. It's me fiftieth birthday. It has affected me a lot worse than I thought it would. I feel somehow, I don't know, closer to death. It's a weird feeling. My aches were achier today, I don't think I can see as well as I did yesterday, and I guaran-damn-tee ya my skin is more wrinkled than it was when I went to bed last night.
My family game me an iPod shuffle for St. Patrick's Day (which is how we refer to my birthday as it isn't as depressing). This f*cking thing has NOT helped my feeling of being old. I used to laugh at older faculty/staff when they would come to the workroom at school and struggle with the newfangled copiers and computers. I've felt so cutting-edge because I can download and e-mail and blog and shop online. Well, that's over. I've been contemplating the purchase of an iPod and was thrilled when I received this one. It's even green for St. Patty's day. First my computer wouldn't recognize the device (yes, I use Windows and not Mac). I finally tweaked things and got that taken care of. I twirled (YES, you skeptics - I frickin' twirled!! Awkwardly and without rhythm but in my head I was Pavlova) around the house for a bit listening to the music I downloaded for a few minutes and then decided to download some more current stuff to add to the mix. Created my iTunes account, downloaded some cool songs, then plugged my iPod back into the computer to re-do the songs. I got error 1418 - my iPod couldn't be read or written to. I've been at this computer for HOURS trying to get the thing to work again and I can't. I plan to take my tower and iPod to Dallas next weekend to get my nephew (the one we lovingly call "Tech Support") to check things out. Gya. I feel old. I feel like the old people who complain about computers. Ugh. Oh shit, I AM AN OLD PERSON COMPLAINING ABOUT THE COMPUTER.
While downloading crap in preparation for my iPod, I updated my Windows Media Player. A young man (friend of the family) used to live here with me while he went to school. I knew he checked out the free porn sites but I was quite surprised to have about 15 porn movies pop up on the media player yesterday. Whoa!! Yesssss, I deleted them. I'm old school - porn should be in a box under the bed or in the back of the closet, not on the computer. Ha! I felt so nasty after I found out it was here, as if I had "I'm a Dirty Girl" tattooed on my forehead. I was sure that people were driving by looking at the house and saying "pass by here quickly - that old lady has PORN on her computer." At least it was "normal" heterosexual porn. I would have been totally freaked if he had downloaded child porn or animal porn or something. yech.
Are y'all watching the NCAA Tournament? "March Madness"? It's greatness. My Fightin' Texas Aggies are hanging on by their fingernails but they are still in it. I was crappin' gold bricks today when we won by a tiny margin. Sheesh.
Tomorrow is my laaaast day of Spring Break. I hate that. I have enjoyed my week off. I don't make as much money as friends in the corporate or industrial workplaces, but I'll take my work schedule over their's any day. A week of Spring Break, two weeks at Christmas, 3 days at Thanksgiving, random days throughout the year for various holidays, and I've worked here so long that I earn twenty days of vacation every year. All told I'm off about 40 days every year and they're paid days. But come December that's alllll over. That's when I retire and every day will be a vacation day! Ahhhhhh............
Well, I've made it through another birthday. I got a call this morning before 8:00 which is a cruel thing. I didn't answer it as I didn't recognize the number and because it was so frickin' early. Later I listened to the voicemail. It was a young man who went to school here back in the 90s, then went on to Texas A&M where he excelled in basketball and got a degree in criminal justice. I tutored him through English lit, government, and history. He was a great kid, and has grown into a fine young man. I saw him a few weeks ago when he refereed one of our ballgames and in our conversation I mentioned my 50th birthday coming up. He remembered! Anyway, he left the sweetest message thanking me for how I had helped him and others and told me how much he loves me. Wow. I know my family loves me but this guy doesn't know yet how very much that call meant to me. He will, though, as I must tell him. Not only did he let me know that my life has meant something to some others (making it mean something to me) but he reminded me why I have enjoyed working at a college. I've met some fabulous young people who have continually lifted my spirits and filled my soul. I've definitely had a good day; calls from numerous friends, all of my family (including my son in Belgium), cards, gifts - very awesome.
Now, if I could just figure out how to make this damn iPod work..... 3月9日 The Day Before Spring Break...Remember when you were in gradeschool/junior high/high school and it was the day before a holiday? Remember how antsy you were to get the heck outta there and start having FUN? Well, that's how I am today. It's a little after 4:00 and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go crazy before 5:00 gets here and I can go home. Ha!!
Another reason for being antsy....my Fightin' Texas Aggie basketball guys play at 6:00 this evenin'. I'm nervous about it, too. I don't have a good feeling. We're playing against Oklahoma State and they've received a little CPR lately and seem to have new life breathed into them, while the Aggies have been a little sluggish at the end of the regular season. Yesterday I got an e-mail from my friend who coaches at OkState. He was on the bus heading for the arena in OkCity. He says, "If we manage a win tonight we will play your Aggies tomorrow night at 6:00." For some reason that's when I started getting nervous. I think, like a Dixie Chick, I don't want to "make nice" if the Cowboys upset my Ags. Grrr. AND, I've heard that Billy Gillespie (Ags coach) is being courted by Kentucky to replace Tubby Smith. CRAP CRAP CRAP. I hope that doesn't happen. Just as basketball gets good at Texas A&M someone else wants my guy! And believe me, basketball has never been good at TAMU. It is, after all, a football school although you couldn't really prove that during these past few years. CRAP. Just got another e-mail from OKState coach telling me that one of the Texas Tech coaches said my coach looks like Kevin Spacey. I told him he needs to get into game mode and stop jackin' around. Haha!! Now I'm more nervous...
I'm going to see CeeCee and Addie Kate next week for some quality snugglin'. I haven't seen the babies since late January so I'm having withdrawal. Other Spring Break plans include sewing projects, spring cleaning (yech), and visiting a little winery I found out about deep in the piney woods of East Texas, way out in the boonies. Very strange place for a winery. I hope they don't bottle their wine in quart-jars! Hahaha.
Well, ya know what? It's 4:30ish now and I'm the only person left in this gym. I'm thinking this would be an excellent time to sneak on outta here. So........Feet, do yer duty!!!!
3月4日 Something about a Sunday..."On a Sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's somethin' about a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone." - Kris Kristofferson
I need to go take a nap. I woke up feeling blue today and have no reason to BE blue. I think I'm tired from the extremely stressful boys' high school tournament we hosted this weekend. Holy shit. People were crawlin' out of the woodwork! We had to lock the front doors because the gym was filled to capacity. THAT sure made people happy (NOT!). Then people were sneaking other people in the side doors so I had the announcer say that if they left the gym they would not be allowed back in. Have ya ever told a redneck smoker he couldn't go outside to grab a puff? Holy shit. Campus police had my back but I've never been so tired of arguing with people. There was this redneck deputy there with one of the teams. He told some people, right in front of me, "I'll get you in here if I have to open the door myself." I had very little sense of humor by then so I told him, very softly with lots of feeling, "Do it and see if I don't shoot you in the leg with your own gun." He looked at me and I smiled at him but, according to one of the ticket sellers, the smile was not reflected in my eyes. He didn't let anybody in, though. Highpoint? That was my last high school tournament.
One more week until Spring Break. RAH!! The greatest thing about working at a school is the holiday schedule. A one-week break in the spring, two weeks at Christmas, 3 days at Thanksgiving, a day here, a day there - awesome! And, unless you're an hourly employee, they're all paid holidays. Plus, I have 20 days of vacation since I've worked there forever. Verrry nice? What's better than having all these holidays and vacation days? RETIREMENT!!!! Can't wait.
Timber missed me while I worked all that tournament crap. When I let him in Friday night he ran around acting so cute! He has this piece of rope that he was throwing around the living room, chasing it, then he would come at me like he was bringing me the rope but when I reached for the rope he jerked his head away and off he'd go again tossing it around. It was so funny. He's asleep in my chair right now. We may have to go take a Sunday-afternoon nap. I'm yawnin' my head off and he's already asleep.
Y'all have a good week!
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