entropicon’s Neighborhood

The golf course behind us puts on a huge firework display each year which means our normally quiet neighborhood gets swarmed with rude people who think they are entitled to park in everyone's yard, driving all over anything in their way.  If you put up line, they'll cut it.  People have to chain off their land to protect it from these rude people - yes real honest to goodness chain!  People bring their own fireworks and the fireworks from the city bring the noise level to an incredible level.  The golf course is covered with humanity, and I can't believe that they allow this on the green!  The noise shakes our windows and makes the groud beneath us move.  It drives our two border collies to a dangerous place.  And me right along with them.  I hate this!  I hate it with a flaming purple passion!  Would all these patriots just please go away and leave me alone?!  Why in God's name do we celebrate this holiday with such extreme NOISE?!!! 

Another reason to hate the 4^th of July.  Our neighbors are out in their yard setting up a pair of stereo speakers that come up to the shoulders on the teenager.  Of all of the portions of their yard, they party in the part that is right outside our bedroom window.  We struggle with them playing their music too loud most of the time.  And now they’ve brought out those things.  I hope it rains. 

Oh merciful heavens, they’ve just plugged them into the getto buster and turned them on.  They are both pointed directly at our house.  Their music drives me up the wall.  In my own house, with all the windows closed and the loud air conditioner on…  Please rain!  Please please rain!  Wasn’t it calling for a thunderstorm this afternoon?  Please ?  

I guess I'm going to be THAT neighbor.  I hate HATE the 4th of July.  We have to go to a viewing this afternoon of a friend's son who died.  That is horrible enough.  But we don't know what we'll find when we get back to our property.  I hate this holiday!  Rain?  Please?  We need rain!!!

WANT!

The Fourth of July was always one of my favorite holidays in the US. Not that I'm terribly patriotic or anything, just...there are fireworks and BBQs and its an excuse to drink = HELLO PERFECT HOLIDAY.

Now, it of course means something else to me. It makes me miss home.

While I'll be having fun tonight celebrating Iain's birthday (it's tomorrow!) down by the Thames...there's a part of my heart that will be back home in my parents back yard, drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade and with a over excitable chihuahua at my feet. (Praying for crumbs.)

If I could fly back home today, even just for a couple hours and to see my parents and my sister, I would in a heart beat.

On the Fourth we'd always go to the same spot to watch fire works. My mom and my sister and I would lay on our backs and wait expectantly for the Sperm Fire Works.

If you don't know which ones I'm talking about, the you don't know what you're missing out.

They're the bright, white ones that look like tad-poles when they're first launched, but then go off in crazy directions...as if searching for a big, unfertilized egg in the sky.

It dawned on me a couple of years ago that they totally looked like gigantic sperm. I started laughing hysterically - only to notice that my sister was cackling to herself as well. Then my mom started laughing,

"OH MY GOD THEY LOOK LIKE SPERM!!!!"

Hopefully the Fourth of July Sperm Fireworks won't be nearly as fun without me this year...(If I can't have a fully complete Fourth of July THEN NOBODY SHOULD.)

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans.

May this recession end soon, may the gas prices go down, and may all of your BBQ's be fully cooked so you don't end up with the shits all weekend.

This song reminds me of home...

 Shameless of me I know, but I was really happy with how these turned out so I decided to share them with you all.  I designed these from photographs I've taken of the letters of the alphabet.  And from these I've uploaded the images and had a line of t-shirts, etc made on cafepress.com

Obama plain

Obama 2008

Check this out: http://www.cafepress.com/carmenrose

That's where you can view the clothing options with the above designs on them.  Here are two examples I liked:

Obama shirt

Organic cotten obama tee

Our reception spot

The Future Mr. Scotch & myself have been trying to find a good wedding song for our first dance as husband and wife. Well, that's a simplification. He said he has no opinion, but vetoed my choice, which was Little Red Corvette by Prince. Now, I haven't been to many weddings, but the ones I have attended have featured a LAME first dance song. I want something that's funky, soulful, and romantic. Any and all suggestions will be considered. We have 35 days left and I'm getting really antsy to pick one. Keep in mind, the first dance will take place at an outdoor luau here:

Alternately, if you agree with me that Little Red Corvette is an AWESOME first song, please post that sentiment here and perhaps my man friend can be convinced.

hello friends. i am on an epic quest of indiana jones/he-man/tenacious d proportions.

as a kid who grew up in florida, i often enjoyed when my dad stopped at gas stations because that meant i got Nehi soda. what is this weird beverage, you ask? oh, it's fucking heaven. that's what it is. it came in sooo many flavors - peach, strawberry, orange, grape, blueberry, chocolate, wild red, cream, etc. etc.

but the two best flavors were strawberry and blue cream. yes, i said BLUE CREAM.

strawberry in cans.

by the power of grayskull!

been super busy again today. lots to do. the printer on the GPS computer is being stubborn, and although it makes like it's printing, nothing comes out on the paper. really fucked up a project i needed to finish.

but why am i pissed? oh yeah, because corina is a stupid fucking bitch. that's why. i'm so sick of her attitude. she cusses at the sales guys, and everyone's just like, "oh, well that's the relationship she has with them, and they don't complain"...oh, and that just makes it okay? to cuss your superior out? the person that puts money in your shitty little pocket? whatever. she has a shitty attitude, and i'm sick of it. i'm sick of her getting away with it. i'm not here to make friends, but i believe that there is a certain level of civility required in an office environment.

we often get telemarketing or sales calls, and you can usually tell when it's one of either because they'll say the person's name really wrong, or they'll ask for "the person that handles blah blah blah". well, yesterday, i posted about how this guy was trying to sell me printer cartridges and i couldn't get him to shut up. the reason i got that call? it's corina's week to answer the phone. it's her job to screen calls. when someone calls and they say they're with whatever company, and it doesn't sound like someone that usually calls (and these bitches have been here for years, so there's no excuse, especially if i've only been here a few months, and i already know the usual people that call), i always ask "what is this in reference to?" or something to that effect, because then they're sort of forced to tell you that they're selling you shit that you don't want.

well, corina doesn't do this. if someone calls for me or anyone who is not one of our bosses, she'll just call us up and say that "so and so" from "such and such" is on the phone. and then we get shitty sales calls.

so yesterday? i got that sales call from that guy that wouldn't shut up. today? the SAME company calls me again. she calls my phone, tells me the company that's on the phone, and i tell her, "i have no idea who that is" -- meaning, if i don't know who it is, you need to find out what they're calling for, and if it's a sales call, you need to pretend to take a message or hang up on them or whatever you do to get rid of these jerks.

her response to me saying i had no idea who the person and company was? "well i guess you'll just have to find out then. answer line 3." and she just hung up before i could say anything. she was really fucking rude about it. i'm sick of her being able to talk to people that way. i'm sick of her not doing her job.

i GUARANTEE you that if she were to do that to barbara, jim, jeff, or bob, she'd have her fucking ass HANDED to her.

fuck that fucking cunt. i swear to god. she's on my shit list. period. end of story.

i need a drink. like, right now.

The Honda Momivan

I said I’d never own one of these.  An old VW vanagon maybe, a station wagon maybe, an SUV maybe, even an old hearse or limo, even something that has been spray painted with huge flowers in neon colors and has something welded to the roof.  But NEVER EVER a mini-van.  Oh the aesthetic horror of driving something that resembles a shoe box.  Oh the amazement that we own something designed to trap and amplify squirmy loud baby humans and all their accoutrements.  Oh the nightmare of trying to find this one among all the others in the parking lot at the store!  I do not approve of this choice or this automobile.  Have we no originality whatsoever?  Have we completely sold out?

It is nice inside though.  And drives beautifully.  And its doors pop open when I push the button.  I hate to admit it.  Me likey.  Well… maybe that is a bit hasty.  I don’t actually Like it or anything.  But it’s growing on me.  Yes, I’m the owner of a Honda Momivan.  I might as well buy a cause ribbon, a soccer ball sticker and an honor roll student sticker.  Oh wait, maybe we should finish buying the kids first. 

Today I mourn with our friends the Sprouls who lost their son at the age of 27.  He was found dead in his hotel room this morning.  Exact cause of death unknown, but alcohol appears to have been a factor.  Thus ends the long saga of an adult son who never really seemed to find his way.   He lived the life of a vagabond, dumpster diving his way from music festival to concert.  His parents paid his bills and repeatedly bailed him out of jail.  Finally his journey is done.  My heart goes out to his parents.

WOW! It's been a while since I last posted. This is mostly due to the fact that I've been doing nothing but updating my Twitter and wanking all day because isn't that what people who work from home, like, do and stuff?

LOLZ. Just kidding. How could I possibly be on Twitter all day when this happens every five minutes?

Your MOM's down for maintenance!

No, but really I have been busy. And not just wanking all the time. (That only takes up at 5-10 minutes at a time, anyway.)

Let's see. What have I been up to?

I suppose the event that sticks out in my mind the most is that last weekend I was worried for a full 24 hours that I was knocked up. I was a few hours away from buying one of those tests when - glory be to god - it happened. It was a weird week, to tell the truth. I had like, 7 pregnancy dreams that involved either twins, a miscarriage, an ultra sound, a pregnancy test, or me just waddling around being pregnant.

All of these dreams were horrible, can I just say that. Horrible. They fucked with my brain, especially when I thought I actually was pregnant. I thought somehow, someway, my uterus was whispering sweet nothings to my subconscious - but alas, the dreams were probably because I:

a) Watched Juno twice. (Once normal, once with the commentary on. Hello NERD.)
b) Watched a special on teenage mothers and young grandmas
c) Went to a screening of Baby Mama...ironically on the same day that I totally thought I was knocked-up. I was not pleased.

I didn't really to write about The Scare, as it wasn't even quite a scare. Flow was like a day late. A day. It was just the combination of dreams and lateness and the realization that if an *accident* were to occur, I know what I would choose to do.

But I was afraid that choice would make me seem selfish.

I'm married. I'm not 16. My life is pretty stable...right?

But in my heart, I know that would take our life into a different place. A place I'm not ready for. A place I don't think I'm mentally capable of navigating very well. That version of my life...I'm not ready to take it on. I'm not...we're not there.

So, that's that.

Thankfully, this choice only had to happen in my brain. I still think from time to time, about the decision we would make. I know it's for the best, but it really made me look at the whole issue in a new way. A woman's right to choose...

I am thankful it's a decision I have the right to make. That I have the option to choose.

But what a fucked up choice it is to have to make.

Well. That was heavy.

Here, have some cute dogs with their hair blowing in the wind...