Suckity Suckity
2004-09-03, 4:55 p.m.

Today just blows, for lots o'little piley reasons.

We have a severe weather alert. For Hurricane Frances. In freakin' TENNESSEE. Already the weather gods are predicting torrential rainfall for us Monday night through Tuesday. Oh goody. With such a long-range forecast (both time AND distance), Frances must be a devil doozy. You Florida folks, remove thyselves immediately!

The Together Family is moving to another state in a few months. Together Man got a great new job, and we are bunches pleased for him. All the circumstances are marvy, and if one family deserves it, they do. But still, in the self-serving department, it warrants a big-time pity party. I'll miss them, terribly.

Daughter brought home her midterm grades, which are great, with the exception of Social Studies, which garners an "acceptable" in our book. Why oh why should an otherwise straight-A report be tarnished by, of all things, a "C" in Social Studies? Yes, learning is tres important, but remembering which-explorer-landed-where-in-what-year hasn't done wonders for me throughout time. Why can't that subject be on a pass-fail basis? Plenty of people make it through life without knowing intimate details of Vasco de Gama or the generals of every battle of the Revolution. Teach it, yes, but skip the letter grades! Save the A's n B's (and etc.) for the big guns. I know, I know, it's important to be well-rounded, and yes, social studies has plenty of value. On the bright side, she does have a good social studies teacher, considering it's often such a dry subject. All her teachers this year are good. There's a reason our city schools are rated best in the state, yes indeedy.

Speaking of remembering subject matter, it peeves me that after taking 3 years of French, all I can remember is "Where is the bathroom?" and "What time is it?", but after one year of Latin in middle school I can STILL recall all the words to "Old MacDonald Had A Farm". Yes, in Latin. Why did the fact that chickens in ancient Rome went "tsirp", burrow in my brain cells for eternity? If I could do a thorough dusting of my grey matter and eliminate all the useless schtuff stored there over the eons, perhaps there would be enough room to keep the handy things like phone numbers or where I left my sunglasses. Alas, there is currently no room at the inn upstairs. I hope my sunglasses turn up soon.

I've been wallowing in memories today, kneading me into a useless lump of self-pity. I miss my dad. I miss a lot of my old friends. I miss opportunities I didn't take, exploits I didn't pursue, somewhat regret always playing it safe. *sigh* There are other directions in which I did venture, successfully and happily, I have no shortage of good friends, and overall my life is great. It's not complaining, it's just...wondering. Playing "what if". There are a lot of "what ifs" I am GLAD didn't happen. So just stop, Sally, stop!

It's been a gray day, and the absence of sunshine makes me wilt like a neglected flower. (Thunderstorms, however, are fine, as they are energetic and powerful.) The neverending expanse of dull on an overcast day siphons away my energy and exuberance like a smothering blanket, a poisonous unabating haze. In English: Cloudy days suck. I hate them.

I called about getting renter's insurance, and we can't because of the trampoline. All I want is my INDOOR stuff covered in case of emergency, people...wtfreekypoleeky does a trampoline have to do with replacing my dishes after a catastrophe?!? Illogical, Captain, completely illogical!

Also, the insurance company never received the papers from the sale of our house. They cancelled our homeowner's insurance months later because we had "left the property vacant". Hello, no, we SOLD it. So, there's a big ol' credit ding making us look like The Deadbeat Family, and we had to rummage for paperwork giving notice of the sale and date. Hubby faxed it in. Guess what? The insurance company has no record of the fax, so we are STILL the uncreditworthy losers that they formerly insured. I get to tear the house apart to find the same paperwork so Hubby can resubmit it on Tuesday. Pray that the new fax doesn't get stowed right away in File 13 like the last batch apparently did.

Yes, we could change insurance companies. We still have to straighten this mess out first. Plus, they're cheap, especially the auto insurance. I now suspect there's a reason for that. :::crossing fingers we never have to file a claim:::

I was looking forward to having lunch with Hubby, until he announced last night that today is Beans And Rice Day at work. Occasionally they cook some sort of feast out there of which the whole plant partakes. But beans and rice? Come ON, people. Prime rib. Pizza and beer. You can be sooooo much more imaginative than Cheap Starch Day. Egad, the whole work force on jet power for the remainder of the day...I pray there were no sparks around all that flammability. No mushroom cloud in the direction of the plant so far. That's a good thing.

We found out the gas company is expected to hang out in the 'hood for six weeks while replacing all the lines. Fine. Except the only place to park the really big equipment is MY FRONT YARD. Atmos gets to carve grooves in the grass for FIVE MORE &*#@!% WEEKS. They are supposed to smooth it all out and reseed once finished, but by then a third of the yard will have eroded to bedrock. We don't even have gas. Can't they park in somebody's yard who does? According to a neighbor, the gas company left fliers for everyone detailing the repair timeline...everyone except us, that is. How convenient. Maybe they're afraid we'd take the Ditch Witch for a joyride if we had advance warning, and perhaps we wouldn't notice the thing parked outside our front window day in and day out? Thanks, Atmos, for your vote for our intelligence, and pardon me while I drag my knuckles on the freshly rooted soil.

Son just clogged the toilet. Again.

I'm hungry. I'm going to go have some cheese with my whine.

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