Idiosycratic Life

Happy Memorial Day or something. :) This is the first year in a long time that I haven't gone to some kind of actual service where taps is played, etc. From 1993 on, I always did marching band/Salunga Fire Hall type stuff, with the exception of my senior year of high school when I got tickets to see the Indigo girls in Philly, and I blatantly told Mr. Powers the Semi-Evil Band Director that I wasn't going to be at the Mountville Parade because I had concert tickets (Mr. Powers: Well, which did you know about first? Me: You and I both know very well that I knew about the band engagement first; however, I have made the decision to skip it, but I wanted to be honest with you about that choice")

AND THEN... I got the Killer Flu and had to skip the concert anyway. That sucked. I should have lied and said I was sick because I really, really was. Oh well. Every year since then I have been interning for newspapers and covering Salunga Fire Hall type events for them. So yeah... This year I slept late and went to the beach like the rest of America who is 1.) not a senior citizen 2.) not a veteran or 3.) not in a marching band. Highly enjoyable, I must confess. :)

I am trying to do one, new adventurous thing every day so I learn my way around and do fun things. (Especially now that my face is completely back to normal! YAY! I never thought it would be completely healed this fast! Neosporin really isn't kidding when they say you heal up to five times faster with regular use. Just a little plug there for Neosporin) So anyway...

Today, I drove Bella to Boynton Beach, about 45 minutes north of here, where they have a half-mile strip of beach that allows off-leash dogs. We had a ball. Belle is so funny. She hates water (I threw her in a friend's pool last summer thinking she would like it if she just tried it out, like a human toddler- Um... Very. Bad. Idea. It was a flailing, yelping fury of fur, paws and teeth. I got her out and she hid behind a bush for an hour), and so she would run down to the water's edge, and then when a wave came in she would run away really fast, kind of like the opening sequence of the old TV sitcom about The Monkees. Heh. My dog is Davy Jones.

So we had fun meeting other dogs and their people and running up and down the beach. The water was really rough; I wouldn't have wanted to swim in it, but it looked really cool- huge, turquoise waves and huge pink clouds (from the sunset on the other side- this beach was on the Eastern coast) and pelicans! Big pelicans swooping down catching fish! I had never seen pelicans in the wild until I came down here.

Arg... Listening to Trading Spaces in the background and listening to the host Paige, aka MPDP, shouting at one of the homeowners to "Get up! GET UP!" Apparently he's sleeping or something... I didn't realize how annoying she was until Television Without Pity started pointing it out.

BUT! GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I have been taping the Trading Spaces marathon for Gwen today, and I GOT THE CRYING PAM EPISODE!!!! Hee! It's not that dramatic, but I finally got to see it!

For those of you out there who are NOT currently nursing an addiction to cable TV,Trading Spaces is a home-decorating show where two sets of homeowners each get two days, $1000, the help of an interior designer and the shared use of a carpentar and redo a room in each other's homes. They have no say in what happens in their own home. It's a surprise.

The Trading Spaces people pretend that the neighbors have a say in what happens in their friends' home, but they don't. The designers have it all figured out beforehand, and friends literally end up lying, crying and trying to physically block designers from (not making this up) dyeing their friends' white carpets orange or painting their fireplaces brown. Which is sort of what's fun about the show. But some of the rooms really end up looking awesome. Someday, when I choose a MUCH more lucrative career, win the lottery or end up marrying someone who wins the lottery or makes a lot of money, I want to hire Vern to do my entire house. :)

And I want him to use this special furniture that Alissa and I are slightly obsessed with... :)