But first, I want to share the following from CNN.
"As temperatures rose into the 20s, Tawana Jean Cooper and her family spent Sunday at a Red Cross warming center in St. Louis, which they were able to reach on Saturday from her suburban home after roads were cleared of ice, downed power lines and broken tree limbs left by Thursday's storm.
Joining her at the shelter were three young grandchildren.
"They know this is not home. They know this is a disaster," Cooper said as she cradled her sleeping 5-month-old granddaughter in her arms.
"The American Red Cross has been a God's blessing," she said. About 70 others also spent the night at the shelter.
Missouri National Guardsmen had been sent into the area to knock on doors and make sure people were safe. By early afternoon Sunday, the St. Louis temperature had reached only about 22 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
Two men, ages 37 and 35, died after they tried to burn coal in a cooking wok to stay warm. Fire officials found deadly levels of carbon monoxide in their home. A 56-year-old man may have suffered hypothermia, and an 81-year-old man was found dead at the bottom of his home's stairs."
Living in an area with extremes that are way in excess of what they would experience in St. Louis, I might be biased in my thinking. But are these people insane? Maybe I don't know the whole story, or maybe I'm just a big mean moron. But haven't these people heard of blankets? Candles? Doritos? Winter coats? Or is the media just crying for more New Orleans-type disasters, while they sit in wait for the Democrats to take over Congress? OK, St. Louis probably is somewhat disaster-like. But Tawana, don't you have any neighbors with a gas stove, or some candles? Don't you stock snack foods in your home? It was 35 degrees yesterday in St. Louis, because I just checked. Certainly not disaster-type weather to me.
Or maybe instead of being a high-falluting bitch-head, I should fear for myself. For what if the unthinkable happened to us here? What if our power went out for two days? I'm not talking now - it's in the 20s and 30s at present - we'd be fine. But what about mid-January, when the temperature sometimes gets as high as 10 degrees? Would we get the same press coverage? Would we start burning coal in our Walmart woks? Where the hell do you get coal, anyway?
Anyway, enough of that.
Here's some pre-Christmas updates from my charming, crooked home -
I actually have done a bit of decorating in my house now, because I have furniture now! It came in the form of a sectional sofa from a lovely lesbian couple. It's an awesome megalith of a couch, and the cats and Eddie think it's a toy. So now I am all decked out. My upstairs is still nailed shut, to conserve on heating (although maybe I'll take a wok up there later) but my downstairs is now complete. Still crooked too, but I finally hung up my fancy key-wind clock tonight, which just struck the half-hour in all its glory. I had to hang it somewhat cleverly to compensate for the crookedness of the wall, but it works. I also hung a few pictures.
And, being the huge Christian that I am, I decorated for Christmas. My little fiber-optic tree is sitting on the end table, and the cats have already pawed at it. Besides the tree, I also have two wall ornaments, a tiny Santa figurine on the microwave, and a cookie tin! Festive, hey?
To counteract the sun-like glow of my neighbors' Christmas displays, I thought I might go very low-key and put a wreath on the front door, and one of those little candle-lamps in each window. But I ran into a problem. First, I can't find the damn candle lamps in any stores - they have battery-operated ones, but who the hell wants to put up with that? Second, I looked at wreaths today, and, not surprisingly, a woven circle of pine branches costs around 30 bucks. I was not prepared to swill out that kind of change. So far, my house remains a blank, heathen anti-Christ display of agnostic minimalism.
If you have cable internet, and you are still using a regular phone, you should really check into one of the internet phone services. I got mine this week - there were no connection fees, nothing to buy, my bill is a flat 22 bucks a month and I can call anywhere I want. Plus I have a local Hermansville number and real 911 service. If you want my phone number, just ask. I might even answer, since the telemarketers haven't gotten wind of my new number.
I decided yesterday that I was wrong all along, and there really are people out there that I just don't like. Period. Nothing else to say on that one.
I have become comfortable with my job, and although it's not the kind of job that makes me break out in glee and make snow-angels, it's fine. And I get paid well.
I realized that I was fooling myself when I thought that my family wasn't really as crazy as I made it out to be. My family is full-blown nuts. Maybe every family has a little bit of weirdness, eccentricism, or hostility within its confines. Mine has a bit of each, plus a pinch extra.
Back to work again. I have now been exposed to the flu, hepatitis, vaginal yeast infections, scabies, cellulitis, pinkeye, extreme exczema, death, and pneumonia, and I haven't caught any of them. Yet. Knock on my desk. But I did get my final hepatitis vaccination and the MMR vaccine, and ended up with soreness, swollen glands, and the chills for a week.
I am realizing again that living 20 miles from a major supermarket chain, 10 miles from a gas station, and 23 miles from my bank really sucks.
I now know that when you get out of a relationship that lasted 3 years, your ex doesn't necessarily handle things well, and instead of just leting it go, goes around and says cruel and untrue things. All to cover up the fact that the relationship ended because this former partner can't deal with his latent homosexuality and his perverted need for back-alley sex, and so he had to use made-up excuses to tell people when they asked why I "just disappeared" from his life. Do I sound bitter? I'm not, but now that I have a very public job, I run into these people every fricking day.
To add some much-needed humidity to your heated home, and a lovely sense of holiday spirit, take a kettle, fill it with water, and add some cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger, and flavored tea bags. Let it simmer gently on your stove, never forgetting that it's there of course. It adds a lovely, festive scent and makes your cats happier when you pet them, because you don't shock the daylights out of them with static. If you do forget about it, then you get a kettle full of burnt-up tea bags that smells horrid.
One more thing I have discovered - I can actually go more than 2 or 3 hours without a cigarette and not go stark-raving mad. And hospitals suck, because they make you go smoke in your car. Or maybe they don't suck, because like I said, I can actually go more than 2 or 3 hours without a cigarette and not go stark-raving mad.
Enough. I want to go watch my Christmas tree turn all sorts of dazzling fiber-optic-enhanced colors.
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