the curiosity jar

...a toothy and timely smile from Baby J and Chase

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 19:08:00 +0000

how great is this? a treasure from the sea thru a phone to me from the ones i love.

Shark smile from Baby J and Chase!!! Made my day. xo, g

t'is only a practice iPhone post . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 18:04:00 +0000

test post from the iPhone using the Blogger app . . . because I'm an app whore now . . . and because I need a break from briefing cases.

Hell. Let's try a pic as well, while we're at it. My office building housed prostitutes back in the day. Now, lawyers are in some of it. Below is an original "picture" window showcasing a super cool whore collage with stuff from the old days when the trade was regulated here. I love my building and the people I work with in it.

Hope you're happy where you work and with the company you keep there as well!! xo, g

please don't throat punch my totems . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:05:00 +0000

Newsflash:

Hannah Montana wasn’t real. "She" was a Disney character played by a real girl.

It’s difficult watching our childhood totems behave in a way that doesn’t conjure the fuzzy memories we’ve vested in them. Even more so watching our children’s totems do the same. Miley Cyrus is an adult and Hannah Montana was a character she played as a child. The responsibility for whatever you or your daughter might be feeling about her VMA performance isn’t on her – it’s on you. You may not have enjoyed it. It might not have been your flavor. But to lay on the young woman’s shoulders the pressure of having tossed your kid out of her comfort zone (and you out of yours) is ridiculous and infantilizing. You should be ashamed of yourself. You have too much time on your hands and your coping mechanism has a serious screw loose. People like you scare me – you who jump and judge incrementally – you cause harm.

Miley Cyrus has a family to jump her if she needs jumping – the rest of you (including you, foam finger dude) need to leave her alone. The criticism of her performance was cruel – criticism does not have to be cruel. She’s young and finding her way - no need to be hateful.

My baby girl loved Hannah Montana. We watched a lot of Hannah Montana at our house and though I have not asked her yet what she thinks of all the fuss – when I do, I’m certain she’ll say she likes the “old” Miley better but that the entertainer is entitled to live her life as she pleases and everyone should STFU about it. My Hannah Montana loving baby girl is in college, married to a Marine and facing the second deployment of this much loved young man. If I could beat up on Miley Cyrus for causing my kid’s worry – trust and believe I’d throat punch her along with the rest of you – but at some point over the next several months, my girl and I will curl up on the couch, lace fingers, eat whatever we feel like eating and watch Hannah Montana. We will time travel and things will feel for a brief moment exactly as they did when she slept safely in her mother’s house – away from adult things and grown-up worry. This is the magic and the reprieve of our totems and I’ll be damned if I burn one of my daughter’s – and through her – one of my own.

curious things from another summer . . . indeed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 22:12:00 +0000

hope your Saturday is spoiled like we spoil dogs in our family . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:34:00 +0000

do you have your daughter's bail . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 19:38:00 +0000

November 12, 2004 - a dark day among months of dark days for me – and for my daddy because he loves me. Hard for him watching a grown kid learning to walk – I’ve got two of my own growing, growing, growing – guess we’re growing ‘til we’re not. I'm blessed to have my father here and safe hands to hold me steady.

He took me to see Bette Midler in Oklahoma City. He said I needed it.

I did.

I felt a reprieve had been granted once we got into the arena – dark, big, full of strangers - and took our seats. I love Bette Midler. love.her. – In any event, my easier breathing was short lived as two drunken bitches behind us a) kept kicking my seat, b) sang at the tops of their lungs (and not well) and c) sloshed their nasty 3.2 domestic arena beer down my back.

If you’ve ever been in a very bad way, you know the feeling of “wtf else?” – the feeling you exist purely for the Devil’s sinister amusement, the feeling your skin has evaporated into little more than scales on a butterfly’s wings.

can’t.even.see.a.concert.with.my.dad.

I turned…nicely….. “please, do you mind – just a little more careful, ladies . . .”

The big one, “turn the fuck around, bitch.”

. . . “just here with my dad, trying to enjoy the show . . . please . . .”

The little one, “ . . . who’s going to make us, you?”

At which point, Daddy turned politely:

“oh, I assure you, she can – and most importantly, I’ve got her bail – in any amount set when she’s finished, depending.”

They left. He held my hand in his safe hands and we listened to Bette.

embracing your hysteria and trying not to vomit a little in your mouth . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 15:13:00 +0000

I’ve been called “hysterical” – and if you’re female – trust me, so have you.

The “H” word is usually tossed during confrontations when a girl’s intellect is fully revealed and semi-witty responses to her proper arguments have been exhausted or concession ignorantly and/or stubbornly refused by her opponent. “H” bombing starts early. Most girls have been on the receiving end of a confused look and dropped chin by the time they’re in sixth grade – accompanied by the ever telling head shake. To be labeled “hysterical” by citizens of influence is still the best and most effective cheap shot in undermining a woman’s credibility, confidence and position. “Hysteria” remains the slant of a biased media when reporting on strong, opinionated political women. It is the easiest dismissal of all time. Nothing makes a girl crazier than being called "hysterical."

“Hysteria” is not a charge leveled at men because they don’t have the parts for it.

Plato wrote the matrix of women i.e. the womb - becomes a wandering thing when the organ remains empty beyond its proper time - becoming “discontented and angry,” it dries up, shrivels ups, breaks loose from its tethering and begins traveling about the body in an upward direction – interfering with breathing and circulatory function – driving the woman so afflicted to every extremity, causing every kind of disease – including strangulation if reaching the chest - until such time as it has been sown and rendered again content and docile. This “animal that longs to generate children” if not “constantly irrigated” by males (yes- “irrigated”) and anchored by pregnancy causes the sufferer the most extreme anguish and oddest behavior. Aristotle believed women were defects of nature – but did concede their singular defect (not being male) rendered them capable of child bearing – presumably to some benefit of the human race.

Hippocrates and his followers perpetuated the wandering womb theory in medicine – “hysteria” as a condition particular to women resulting from uterine dysfunction i.e. remaining un-pregnant for too long. The father of medicine himself coined the term believing suffocation and madness were the fate of women whose uteri experienced drought due to a lack of regular irrigation.

The Greek word for “uterus” is “hystera.”

** pause for "wtf " moment**

On through the ages to Charcot and his student Sigmund Freud – and their sex, sex, and more sex and hysteria studies. Freud - quitting the work he had hoped would make him famous – the search for the ever elusive eel penis - admitted failure in his first published paper (he never found the eel’s penis) and in complete frustration turned to the study of women and hysteria – and cocaine. Girl crazy was an extremely lucrative business early on and in 1918 Sears, Roebuck and Co. advertised the sale of the home “massaging device” so that women could treat their own hysteria economically and in the privacy of their own homes. This “home essential” was on the market nine years before the electric vacuum and ten years before the iron.

The stresses of the modern women, after all - caused them to lose all civility and subjected them to nervous disorders and problems with their reproductive tracts. On and on through the ages, friends. Thank heaven, men are still around to offer medical assistance by way of, “I know what you need.”

Hell yes - that’s got to be it.

I wonder what the cure for dumbass is . . .

getting in the mood. t'was a great Halloween :)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 00:22:00 +0000

I suck . . . it's all I can say . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:20:00 +0000

I admit it is more difficult to keep up with this than I originally believed given what I have on my plate this month. In any event, I continue to bust ass on NaNoWriMo while NaBlo has gone to the dogs. I won't be pissy about it, there is plenty over which to fret besides the Jar at this point. Working on post election articles. My daughter advises the lack of sophistication at her high school over the election is becoming less than tolerable. No need to go there, but apparently a few believe the fact that O has been elected qualifies them to jump places in the lunch line, while others are overtly hostile towards the PrezElect. My niece reports similar behavior at her high school in a state far, far away. Here's hoping things improve - and quickly. I wonder what these kids are hearing from their parents.

Have a wonderful evening. ciao!

It was too much . . . (for me)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:51:00 +0000

I missed two days posting NaBlo . . . but I have been very busy doing other writing. (NaNO and for BellaOnline). Mickey got sick, daughter was ill, we had an election . . . busy week all the way around. I am quite upset at the sniping going on post election. Palin's getting dissed by aides, Berlusconi's getting dissed over his "tan" comment. Obama dissed Nancy Reagan (brave man, brave, brave man b/c Nancy is one woman I would not want to piss off, I don't care how old she is). Apparently, O got his stories mixed up anyway. My suggestion is for everyone, please, please just calm down. Really, the sandbox is big enough for all of us to play in. : -)

Fun things coming tomorrow!! ciao!

Wow . . . Election 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:57:00 +0000

I wonder what tomorrow brings . . . I'm wordless, save congratulations Mr. President Elect.

The Eleventh Hour . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:34:00 +0000

Odd how current election events have manifested. People appear jittery, off kilter - everyone demanding that their side be heard: NOW! Politics flew on Twitter today and most certainly will again tomorrow. One gentleman expressed hope that everyone would vote early and go immediately home, "it's going to be bad no matter what happens." Are we in danger? Have things gotten that bad? My children asked me to explain socialism to them this evening. That was a difficult conversation to have with them on a variety of levels. They "heard" about it in school. They asked how people could say bad things about Todd and Sarah Palin's baby. They are asking the "right" questions - but they are too young in my heart to worry about the presidency. And worry is what I saw in their faces. Worry. Sixteen and twelve years old and they are fearful over the leadership of their country. They are nervous about how we will behave when it's over. Mine can't be the only fearful children on the eve of this most historic election. How sad for them. How sad for us.

Sunday of the Time Change . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:29:00 +0000

I accomplished good things today. It's going to be a busy week. Not pleased about a little rubbish published in the Daily Oklahoma today. The "newspaper" WAS voted the worst rag in America several years ago by the Columbia School of Journalism. The Oklahoman's biased bent is commonly accepted in this state; however, that knowledge did nothing to diminish my anger today when a reporter got on my father's ass. So there you have it! Daily Oklahoman, you're a rag. Next time you want to get on my dad's ass, spell his name correctly! Everyone noticed it. What a sad commentary as to RJ's astute reporting skills; however, par it happened to be. More on the particular family drama that made the news later. I love Twitter. Everyone's talking about Twitter . . . . I know, I know. But if you haven't tried it, you must. There are some fantastic people in this world just waiting to be met. I am shocked at how much I have in common with so many. And happily, I tell you that many are Chi lovers who tweet. ; ) I will be updating the Jar tomorrow by adding Twitter friends to my blogroll! Carlos Lorenzo is one "twiend" and his site is BarcelonaPhotoBlog, already added to the roll. His photos are fantastic, they make me happy and he's a good writer. We can all use extra happy these days, so go visit Carlos' photoblog! Since we are choosing a new president this week, I am linking this video from MachoSauceProduction on YouTube and I am BEGGING all of you to view it. http//:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvc0tYG_YpA This guy is spectacular, has a handle on the issues and is one of the most articulate commentators this election season I've yet to see. Some of you will love it, some will hate it - but the kid shoots straight and that was quite refreshing today!

My eyes are heavy because it's "really" midnight . . . Have a wonderful evening.

Happy NaBloPoMo!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:45:00 +0000

Since I'm going to have my ass at my desk for the entire month of November for NaNoWriMo . . I thought why not just tackle National Blog Posting Month as well. How difficult can it be to post once daily for one month? If you're interested in participating, you can set your account up here http://nablopomo.ning.com/.

It will go one of two ways: you will watch me accomplish a great deal or fall apart "write" here in the Jar. A word to my Tweeps, bear with me guys if I'm not around so much this month!!

Gotta go. I'm listening to "Westside Story" while I write and the boys are getting ready to rumble!! "When you're a Jet . . . . ." you know the rest!

In any event, the word of the day is "quotidian" which just happens to be one of my favorites!!

ciao!

Happy NaNoWriMo!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:27:00 +0000

. . . and Happy All Saints' Day to those of you who celebrate the day!

Good luck to all of you who began writing today! I am excited about what I hope to accomplish this year during National Novel Writers Month! Visit http://www.nanowrimo.org for more information! You can keep track of how I'm dealing with it here at the Jar.

It's a good day and the weather is warm. Over 80 degrees . . . unseasonably cool for this time of year, but pleasant if you don't allow the global warming doomsdayers to get to you. While I think we may not have taken as good of care of the planet as we should have, I hardly think we have the ability to bring about her demise. How arrogant we are. If global warming is the catastrophe brought about by man as we are being told, then why aren't the ice plates still here and where is the wooly mammoth? What fresh hell did the ancient humans bring about with their little tools, their spears and their cave paintings? And if it bothers you to date the earth so, then blame Eve (or the weakness of Adam).

If we can kill her then the design is flawed. I do not believe the design is flawed.

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:27:00 +0000

Happy Halloween! It was a wonderful evening on which to end a rather odd week. Life is funny. I saw the movie "Eagle Eye" this evening and it freaked me out . . . in a whole "video killed the radio star" kind of way. I wonder how how realistic it was?! Best place to hide is in the wide open, baby!

Even now we're warned of terrorism on Twitter. "Twerrorism" (ok. . . I'm tired)

Halloween's my favorite holiday and I'll be sad to put away my scary things until next year. Will handle the blog situation as well as YaHoo tomorrow. Will begin review of "Returning to My Mother's House" by Gail Straub. Working on article for http://www.bellaonline.com/site/womensissues on the dead women of Juarez. Our country should be ashamed of the way we continue to fail Mexico. Beautiful country. Beautiful people. Hundreds of dead women and girls.

I am ready for election to take place so that we can all get on with our lives . . . it's scaring the hell out of some of my students. No matter which way it goes, we've got strange days ahead.

oh . . . candy's unattended on the kitchen counter, gotta go! ciao!

Spooky Jack Night!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:38:00 +0000

I accomplished small tasks today and did a lot of research. Will begin reading Gail Straub's book tomorrow for my BellaOnline review. Tomorrow will be an odd day for my family - thirteen, fourteen years in the coming - and it was heavy this Monday. I'm ready for it; however, and only one result will be acceptable.

It was "Spooky Jack" night tonight. My baby girl (only a baby in my heart for quite sometime now) could not say Jack O'Lantern when she was small . . . We haven't had a jacko'lantern in our house since . . .

When they finished, they wanted me to judge whose carving I think is the best. I never judge the Spooky Jacks and every damn year they want them judged. (we're a competitive family, sick competitive, as in no one wants to play games with anyone in my entire family kind of competitive). This year I broke weak. The boy wins for for scariest "looks like Leatherhead" spooky jack and sis wins for scariest "looks like Chester, the child molester" spooky jack.

You can figure out which is which!

We also roasted the pumpkin seeds and I got to listen to them call me Martha Stewart all night. Feel the love people . . . feel the love. Picture kind of sucks . . . the dog was freaking and we were laughing at him.

To All of You On Palin's Ass Over Her Wardrobe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:06:00 +0000

one more thing while it's on my mind . . .

PLEASE get off of Sarah Palin's ass over her wardrobe. Regardless of how you feel about her, none of us want a VP who dresses like Joe the Plumber. It's old. It's actually quite gender offensive as well. What are the men spending on their suits and what the hell are their wives wearing? We like to say we want our leaders to "be one of us" (so they bend over backwards blowing that smoke up our asses) but if the President or the Vice President ever got caught in public looking like I do when I drop my kid off at school or like you do when you drop yours off or got caught at the end of season sale at the mall, that'd make them just a little too human for my taste. bleh.

I don't even like knowing they go to the bathroom like the rest of us or get meat caught in their teeth . . .

Ciao WordPress!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:55:00 +0000

Maybe it's just me. With this blog, I bid farewell to WordPress. I've wasted weeks. Bought the books, cried, prayed - to no avail. Learned a long time ago that if something's exceedingly difficult, do something else. I've heard fantastic and horrible things about the platform. Forget it. Hell. I'll jack with YaHoo tomorrow.

And so begins my track into the Net. Hope it's not a sign. I'm tired.