Rabbit Style News

I sure do love O: The Oprah Magazine. It’s my favorite magazine, and the new issue arrived today! This month’s theme is Staying Young and I bet it will help me appreciate the joys and benefits of being young. (I assume they mean young like 25, not young like 12.) The ache-free firm slender wrinkle-free body; the freedom to change jobs, cities, hobbies, and goals without worrying about my mortgage, children, spouse, or reputation; the 40 years for my 401(k) to develop in the high risk segments that will definitely go up before I need the money….

I have my whole life to grow older.  The time to celebrate being young is now!

I went to Goodwill this afternoon to buy a few more dog blankets.  As I got out of my car, a fire truck with its lights flashing pulled into the parking lot.  A group of punk/emo-looking twentysomethings was walking out to their car near me and one woman pointed at the incoming fire truck and said, “Hey, that’s for the stupid suitcase-head lady!  It is!”

Her friend shouted, “What?!  That’s bullshit!”

Interesting…  I walked into the store a few meters ahead of the EMTs climbing out of the fire truck, a couple of them pulling on latex gloves.  The first man paused near the front doors and called, “Hello…?”  A clerk saw him and pointed them towards the back.

I did my shopping first, choosing a couple big fluffy blankets, some drinking glasses, and a can opener to leave in kitchen at work.  (Somebody stole the previous can opener and I couldn’t eat my daily can of pineapple chunks for a week.)  As I was checking out the bookcases and file cabinets, I saw the group of 5 EMTs, all men, in a circle around a chair I assume was holding the stupid suitcase-head lady.  I heard her talking and the stretcher lay empty, nobody was covered in blood or looked particularly stressed.  One man’s gaze kept getting distracted by the great furniture deals around him, turning away from the patient to look more closely at price tags.

I didn’t see any suitcases.

Weird Al is coming to the Arizona state fair on Tuesday.  I totally have to go.

Earlier today my mother sent me an email saying Weird Al had a special on some cable channel tonight.  Then later, a friend mentioned that we should go to the fair or something, and I said that fairs are fun and my first concert was to see Weird Al at the Minnesota state fair in August 2000.  And then I learned that he has a concert here this year too!  It was meant to be!  I better bring my (12) Weird Al cds to work tomorrow to brush up on the songs, to better sing along at the concert.

About a week ago there was a storm and for a day I couldn’t pick up my usual stations on the radio. No NPR, no Movin’ 97.5 (current pop, pop & hip-hop from the ’90s and some ’80s), not even KISS FM that features 75% advertisement and is a last resort. The only station that came in was the country music station. Turns out I enjoy it!

There are a few new songs that are hard to relate to, with their red state Glory-America-and-God lyrics**, and yet others are fresh and enjoyable. Plus there are songs that I know from 10+ years ago. For example, during a recent game of Taboo I needed my teammates to say thunder without saying any of the taboo words. So I sang to them, “A Garth Brooks song goes: And the _______ rolls, and the ___________ strikes…” ZoeJane got it right away and it was a cool. Tonight they played the song on the radio!
**Darryl Worley, “Have You All Forgotten?”

I hear people saying we don’t need this war
But, I say there’s some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn’t get to keep ‘em by backing down
They say we don’t realize the mess we’re getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away

Tim McGraw, “Lay me Down”

If you’re reading this
Half way around the world
I won’t be there to see the birth of our little girl
I hope she looks like you
I hope she fights like me
Stand up for the innocent and the weak
I’m laying down my gun
Hanging up my boots
Tell dad I don’t regret that I’d follow in his shoes

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma always prayed where it would go
If you’re reading this, I’m already home

I ate half a peach for breakfast (the outside half - the insides weren’t so good but the skin was tasty), then spent the next three hours throwing it up.  I left work at 11:30, having given up on any kind of productive day.  I stopped at the bathroom to barf on the way out, barfed some more when I got home, then slept for five hours.

Maybe it was part of an odd vomit-heavy, headache-light migraine, or maybe the pad thai I made last night didn’t go so well.  I started feeling funny inside maybe an hour after dinner last night.

After waking up at 5 p.m. I ate a little can of pineapple and some fries with melted cheese and I haven’t thrown up, although my stomach does feel a little questionable.  I hope I’m good by tomorrow morning so I can go to work and and actually stay at work this time.  It’s kind of embarrassing to leave before noon due to illness.