GetSheila

Anniversary, Shmanniversary

Hey, I missed two anniversaries! I am on a roll.

Of course everyone (but me) remembered Thursday was the seventh anniversary of the 09/11/2001 Twin Tower bombings. I have mixed feelings about commemorating this anniversary. It was a horrible day in our country’s history, yes, but there are horrible things happening all over the world and we do not seem to mind them so much. Why? Because those horrible things happen “out there” to “them” and we don’t really care about “them.”

For the sake of argument, let us be U.S.-centric for a moment. Quick, what is the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings? Columbine school shootings? Virginia Tech shootings?

BEEEEEEEEP.

I am sorry. You did not answer in time. The answers are:

• April 19 (1995) – Oklahoma City, 168 dead
• April 20 (1999) – Columbine, 14 dead
• April 16 (2007) – Virginia Tech, 33 dead

(Uh, hello, is there something about the month of April we should know?)

Those are just a few recent tragedies on US soil. But then, they were performed by “us” not “them.” Hm, does that not make them worse? Our very own pretty pretty people killing us?

Perhaps it is the sheer number of deaths in the Twin Tower attacks that stick in our craw:

• September 11 (2001) - Twin Towers, app. 3,000 dead

A few more U.S. casualty statistics to put things in perspective:

• December 07 (1941) - Pearl Harbor, 2,402 dead
• 2003 to September 6, 2008 - Iraq war, 3,600+

More of “us” have died in Iraq than were killed in the Twin Towers tragedy. And for what? I am unclear on 1) our agenda over there, and 2) what we have actually accomplished so far.

Can’t we just call it a day and bring our boys and girls home?

**************

The second anniversary I missed was my 2nd blogoversary on June 18th. It just does not seem all that important in comparison, does it?

Then again, all politics are local politics. Translation: people only care about things that directly affect them. We are all just selfish bastards at the end of the day.

Unless you wear Birkenstocks, eat crunchy granola in the morning, and save the planet by lunchtime. In which case, I want to be you when I grow up.

 

Technorati Tags: blogoversary,twin towers,us tragedies

Happy Birthday, JennBo!

Everybody sing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

I DO SO MISS YOU,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JENNIFERrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

AND MANY MORrrrrrrrrrrre.

The actual day is tomorrow (Saturday) but let's start the fun early. Me first with my favorite Jennifer moments:

When you start to tell a story at work, then interrupt yourself to jump up and twirl around with your arms held wide to indicate “the world revolves around me right now,” meaning it was going to be a fun, personal story, not a work-related one.

When you make that face where your bottom lip goes one way and your top lip goes the other. How do you DO that?

Watching you try to walk in my high heel hooker shoes.

Until that day, I had never really noticed you only wear flats.

I miss you, girlfriend!

Technorati Tags: jennbo,birthdays,friends

I’ll have the cake, please

I saw Eddie Izzard last night in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre. FABULOUS. I love him even more now that I did the first time I saw him on his HBO Special: Dressed to Kill…or when I first saw him live at the Orpheum in 2003 for Sexy…or when he came to U.S. TV in The Riches.

BTW, if you need to drive into San Francisco from the middle of nowhere, like Merced, drive to your nearest BART station (in this case Pleasanton), pay $10.50 for a round-trip fare to the Civic Center (which dumps you out practically on the Orpheum doorstep), and relax as you chat with friends or listen to your MP3 player for about an hour. Much better than driving all the way in yourself and dealing with traffic and parking.

Some pictures:

Micky, me & Micky’s daughter Liz in the lobby, post-drinks, pre-show. (God! Don’t you just hate pictures of yourself? Or maybe it is just me.)

Micky & Liz, in which Micky says she looks like a dork.

Do-over, in which Micky looks lovely. Liz always looks lovely in pictures. Bitch.

Blurry pic inside the theatre. I wish I could capture the elegance. You will just have to go see for yourself. GO.

Another try of the inside.

The ceiling. So much more awe inspiring in person.

Another try. Go. GOoooooooooo.

 

Technorati Tags: eddie izzard,eddie izzard san francisco 2008,orpheum theatre,fun trips

Happy Birthday To Me (10/26)

Happy birthday to me,

I am forty three,

All the parts are still working,

so Jenny Craig can bite me.

*applause*

Photo by SuperSpiker

Tags: birthday

Happy Belated Blogoversary

Hey, I just realized my one year blogoversary was June 18th. Hooray for me!

I cannot believe I have been writing this blog for an entire year. Then again, it feels like I have always been writing this blog.

Behold my first post: Ode to Squeak. I had to put my favorite kitty Squeak to sleep June 1, 2006, and that post was my tribute to her. The whole grief thing is what got me blogging in the first place. I had no place to put all the emotions I was feeling so I sent them out into the blogosphere. I found it to be most therapeutic.

Please help me celebrate. The party in the comments starts now! Vodka and Seven-Up with a cherry and a splash of cherry juice? No? Name your poison.

 

Tags: getsheila blogoversary

What do you do when your husband is an ass?

A friend of mine had a birthday recently. Her husband wanted so badly to throw her a surprise party. And, in fact, badly is how he did it.

It started out well. He contacted her dearest friends and arranged for them to meet at a fancy restaurant the night of her birthday. He even arranged for her brother to come in from out of town.

But then, in what I can only assume was a bout of temporary insanity, he decided it would be a great idea to pretend he forgot her birthday. In fact, why not tell her she is selfish for expecting presents on her birthday? Yeah. And start the day off right by not wishing her happy birthday. Follow that with the statement that you cannot afford to go out to a nice restaurant to celebrate so you are going to dinner at mom's house instead. His mom, not hers.

Top it all off with her at home sobbing all afternoon while he is at work, oblivious that he has crushed her feelings and ruined her birthday.

Don't worry. The birthday celebration was salvaged when one of her friends called mid-sob and found out what he had done. All the friends knew it was a surprise but knew nothing about the emotional torture aspect. The friend called the husband and made him fess up. The surprise dinner turned out not to be a surprise after all, but at least she got to have some enjoyment at the end of her birthday. And everyone at dinner ripped on him for being such an idiot, so she got to enjoy that too.

Do you have any surprise party horror stories?

Tags: birthday horror story

My First Hair Fashion Show

Reflections Salon, where I get my mani/pedi's, held Hair Extravaganza 2006 Sunday 12/3/2006.

I do not think they expected such a large turnout. Champagne flowed. Hors d'oeuvres circulated. Clients vied for the best seats near the runway. You can see all of my photos on my Flickr photo set Reflections Hair Extravaganze 2006. Here is a sample photo:

Yes, that is hair with some feathers at the ends on the left. Quite amazing.

Tags: reflections hair extravaganze 2006, hair fashion show

Journalist Chic (You Know That's Pronounced 'Sheek,' Right?)

Because I know you are all dying to know what I wore to visit the Medium set today, and because I took not one single picture while I was there (yes, I suck), I offer the following photo documentation of the latest trend in journalist fashion:

My shoes were excellent, too. Since I was not able to capture both my head and my feet in the time-delayed shot (and why must I always travel alone, I ask you?), here they are in all their splendor. Behold my favorite shoes:

I posted a tidbit about the day over at Medium Dreams and will follow with more once I get my thoughts and notes organized.

And speaking of notes, Zelda is a godsend. I turned on the microphone with the touch a button and just let it run. I worried it would not capture people that were far away but the sound is amazingly clear. Which is good, since I didn't take much in the way of notes, relying instead on liveMP3blogging the day after-the-fact.

God I love technology.

Technorati Tags: medium set visit

One Must Document These Things

Me in the hotel room, the night before my Medium set visit. (Pre-skinned knees.)

Okay, so I look a bit creepy in a celebrity stalker sort of way. Have you ever tried to take a picture of yourself in the mirror? And besides, I have it on good authority stalkers do not get manicures. Aren't my nails lovely?

Technorati Tags: medium set visit, travel

Extreme Pumpkins - A Love Story

Tom Nardone loves to carve pumpkins.

There is PUKING PUMPKIN:

GUNSHOT WOUND PUMPKIN:

And PUMPKIN ON FIRE!

Plus a whole lot more. Check them out:

2003 contest winners
2004 content winners
2005 content winners

I can't wait to see the 2006 winners!

Happy Halloween, my pyromaniacal friends.

Tags: halloween, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, extreme pumpkins