Pandora’s Box

WC Personal Report 2008
• THURSDAY
  The flight was scheduled to take off at 6:10pm. There were supposed to be 7-9 of us. At 4:00 a friend also catching the flight called and said the website had flagged it with a delay. My husband checked and sure enough it had a 1-hour delay. The weather was very bad there. San Francisco is normally windy but this was extra special. Okay no big deal we used the extra time to our advantage. We arrived at the airport around 5:30 and checked in. I bought a deck of cards just in case. Oppsy, the flight now has a 2-hour delay. We all chat and ignore the waiting. At 5:55 my friend calls again to say the flight has been cancelled! I freak. My friend has not even left her house because there was no need. I ask Chris to check out this new horrible development. He goes over to the Southwest counter and the person says it is indeed cancelled. He then asks how many of us are there because a different flight is leaving NOW! 5 of us get jammed onto a flight full of pissed off people who have been waiting on the ground for almost 2 hours. We find out later that ALL flights that day were messed up, big time. 2 of the people with us at the Airport did not make it on the plane. They flew in later with other WCon workers. The Guests also had trouble arriving in SF because of the blasted weather. It was so bumpy that some passengers threw their hands up like it was a rollercoaster! Did I mention that when the plane landed I Thanked Jesus? We met up with other WCon people, ate dinner and then we bought alcohol. No one did anything crazy.
• FRIDAY
  It rained. The Exhibit Hall opened at 12:00 noon and we went in early because of last years drama. Once again the place was supposed to be set up with tables, but instead we had Freeman driving forklifts through the area. There were no tables at all and the space was smaller. WE then spent a lot of time calling for tables. The convention center did bring the tables almost 2 hours later. They only wanted to bring 6 but we said 9. Once again we had to discuss 8 chairs per table, not 10 even though we just said it 1 second ago. It did work out about 12 minutes after the hall was open. Fortunately no one shows up for Games first thing.
  Friday night some funny stuff happened that I will not put in print. I’m not sure I could explain it without the visuals and sound effects. Let’s just say someone was in bed with someone else and there was a visual booby trap set. I had to salt down the area to try and cleanse it, but my eyes, my eyes!! No one did anything crazy…realllly.
• SATURDAY
  It rained a lot. It is Hall costumes by day and the Masquerade by night. There is some great video on YouTube from the Masquerade, definitely worth the look. Games was busy most of Saturday, but it also spent a lot of time being blocked. 3 of the Artists next to us were very popular. The line would build up because the artist would take about 10 minutes per person (which is super nice). The line would consume everything in the area. We took a lot of pictures and saw only 2 rows of the exhibit hall. We saw everything else in shifts on Sunday Once again, No one did anything crazy at night…really.
• SUNDAY
  It rained heavy then stopped. Half the WonderCon staff went home on Sunday evening and that left the other half to clean up. Once the clean up was over we all wandered over to a small Dead Dog party and watched the very end of the Oscars. I am bummed I missed the Oscars. Afterwards smaller parties converged on the Marriott Bar. Why anyone would volunteer to pay $11 per drink when they could have 5 drinks in a room party is beyond me, but hey it was fun anyway. No one did anything crazy and everyone made it back to San Diego hail and hearty. The flight crew on the way back loved us so much that they gave us Airline Swag. Pens, playing cards, Wings. Chris got a free drink. I’m not kidding. The weather on Monday was beautiful and sunny, just in time for us to leave. Grummmmble.

Hi All,
Now that Pandora is fixed my decision seems a little goofy. But after several emails the group has chosen LJ to continue my blogging insanity…and I agree. So everyone can change the blog link to - http://marysgarage1.livejournal.com/
See ya there
Pandora

Hello my friends.
I have decisions to make. Now that my lovely Pandora has been fixed I can continue to write & post here or move to Live Journal. I will probably keep Pandora open since I have YEARS of text on this site. I only have a few things on LJ so far. But change can be good…hmmm.
I want to know what you all think? So Let Me Know by the end of February.
Mary

I would like to officially thank Geoff for not only fixing my Blog, but updating it’s system massively.
Hurrrrrray Geoff!

January 23, 2008
• Cloverfield Sucks (No Spoilers). Ned & I went to a completely sold out show. The 7:30 was packed so we went to the 8:10. I would love to tell you that I saw a great movie Monday night, but I cannot. I did not really see much of it at all. The movie was so jittery it was like viewing crack addicted Ferrets in search of their next fix. So many things happened that “required” the handycam to zip from one spot to another. I was woozie 5 minutes in! I stuck it out long enough to see the big monster and the first few others. I walked out immediately afterwards. I wobbled my way to the Customer Service desk and asked for some kind of refund. The woman took one look at me and my ticket and said, “Did You Vomit?” I assured her that I felt like it, but no. She went on to say that several people had thrown up! Any director who films his entire movie without a steady-cam is admitting that his movie is un-watchable. Which it was! So here’s to you Mister JJ Abrams! My personal pick for @$$#0!% of the Month!
• Future Parents Beware: Toddlers are like drunken Gorillas. Sure they have thumbs, but they are too strong and unpredictable to do anything but cause damage. I’m sure my son did not mean to scratch my cornea when he was 2, but he did.
• My friend Ned reminded me that he & I had not been out Shopping in a long time. I go to the store on almost a daily basis, but it is not “shopping”. Mostly when I go to the store I’m a little like Chuck Norris…on a mission. Black Friday was 1/2 Shopping and 1/2 Mission. I own a black t-shirt that says, “on a mission”. When I shop with the Elders it is all about herding the cats and not a lot of fun. The Frank & Son trips are about wandering around and Shopping. True shopping is not about buying. It is about hanging with friends, chatting, snacking, purchasing a few things, but mostly looking at things that you are not going to buy.
• Life Lessons:
  Beware of 30 yr olds who Never moved out and still live at home.
  Beware of 30 yr olds with no car. This isn’t New York, transit sucks here.
• Good News & Bad. I’m selling off some of my personal collections. Many things started this. #1 After decades, Chris has agreed to build me some shelves.
  #2 I needed more space. I wanted to assemble my Stargate so that my toys could play with it…yes the toys asked me to.
  #3 I always wanted to organize my collection. I took toys down in order to clean and kept running into more toys. Storm, Uhura, a handful of other Ethnic heroes cast in pvc. My Battlestar Galactica collection, Minimates and a TON of Anime figures all demanded my attention. But if I can’t see it, I can’t keep it. The theory being that I have toys stacked on top and in front of more toys. There is no true enjoyment of a toy I cannot see. I should be able to rotate my stock but there is just too much. I removed 6 Rubbermaid boxes of toys from the house. The living room still has toys! Even fun cleaning can be a drag. Wish me luck because I need it.
• What do you call a person who only speaks one language? American

January 10, 2008
• Mark this day on your calendars. Today I took my Mom and Aunt Mary shopping together. They were both well behaved and there were no incidents! Holy Swiss Cheese its a Miracle! Maybe I should be sick and out of commission for 2 weeks again!?
• My step-neice is in jail awaiting trail. Once again there is peace in my brothers house and that is a truly screwed up way to get some silence! I Know life is Not fair, but IF IT WERE, she would go to REHAB and not Jail.
• I want to strangle the Engineer who designed a full speed freeway with a 25mph curving exit ramp. Not a good idea Ja@$*&&
• Poppers and Bite size foods are just annoying. They are not the size of my bites and I just want to know if anyone out there really likes the mini size foods? I am sure it is just a marketing ploy to make us eat twice as much and most of that is breading.
• Geek Getaways article on MSN. The CCI Masquerade is mentioned.
  http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5812133&GT1=10662
• I was asked last week to name my “All Time Favorite Movies” Top 10!” I don’t think the person who asked realized that I have seen thousands of movies and that I own over 550. A Top 10 is not really possible for me. But since I had the project set before me I decided to break it down as much as I could. Here is my list of Genre or type of movie I have watched the most. I have seen every one of these movies over 12 times minimum. Some people listen to the radio as they work, I play movies
  Top Five Old / Black & White Movies
  5 The Philadelphia Story, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn & Jimmy Stewart
  4 It Started with Eve, Deanna Durbin
  3 Shadow Of A Doubt, Alfred Hitchcock
  2 The Thin Man Series, William Powell & Myrna Low
  1 The Women, Norma Shearer & Joan Crawford
  Top Five Comedies
  5 Happy Gilmore
  4 Monty Python’s, The Holy Grail
  3 Clueless
  2 Eurotrip
  1 Blazing Saddles
  Top Five Animated
  5 Star Wars: Clone Wars. I thought they were better than the live action movies.
  4 The Incredibles
  3 Emperors New Groove. Pull the lever, wrong lever!!!!
  2 My Neighbor Totoro
  1 Lupin - The Castle of Cagliostro
  Top Five Musicals
  5 Strictly Ballroom
  4 Singin’ in the Rain, Gene Kelly & Debbie Reynolds
  3 Silk Stockings, Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse
  2 Gigi
  1 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
  Top Five Dramas
  5 The Thomas Crown Affair, Pierce Brosnan & Rene Russo
  4 Italian Job
  3 The Count of Monte Cristo
  2 The Quiet Man
  1 A Room With A View
  Top Ten SciFi Fantasy
  10 The Village, M. Night Shyamalan’s mystery / horror stories never have the gore other films have and I appreciate the time and effort he puts into the plots of his films.
  9 The Secretary, this movie is a complete fantasy, but I love it anyway)
  8 Independence Day
  7 Men In Black
  6 Serenity / Firefly
  5 Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
  4 Terminator, Even though the special effects are not so great by today’s standards the overall tone and feel of the movie still gets me going!
  3 The Matrix 1 & 2, (ignoring most of M3)
  2 Fifth Element
  1 Aliens
• Super TMI
  So what is a girl to do when her purple Toy dies right in mid buzz? I know what you are thinking…Growl in frustration? Search for a new car battery? After fumbling around in the dark the jumper cables get hooked up, but what next? It still does not work and then the realization of yet another broken Toy looms, waaah. Then a dim light dawns. There is, the still mint in the package, Hello Kitty Buru Buru Anniversary present from Japan. Other than switching from a purple toy to a pink toy, all is right with the world…for now.
  (Have no fear. No animals were harmed. There is no cat face anywhere on the toy, but it is made by Sanrio).

January 3, 2008
• My New Years Resolutions are not earth shattering by any means.
  I would like to Think Better. I would have said think more, but that would be wrong. I think too much as it is. I think so much that I cannot sleep at night. What I want is to think better. Think before I spend money on anyone or anything. Think before I speak, at least some of the time. Think about how to ignore my Aunts barbs. Play Sudoku and not drive myself crazy thinking. The game is supposed to be fun…right?
  I enjoyed Christmas shopping for 4 months immensely! Now I have put myself on a NO Shopping diet. I don’t mean food and paper towels. I mean buying “things”. We really don’t need any more “things”. It is our fault we all have too much stuff. I already see the mistakes I am making, but not how to fix them all. So I will fix what I can by thinking and not falling into the same traps.
  Get a Live Journal account. I need the account just so I can have an access code for all my friends LJ accounts
• Princess J was home sick from school and I was not feeling tiptop myself. We both decided to take a nap around 1:00p.m. I have not had a nap in a long time and little did I know I wasn’t going to. I received 2 phone calls from my Mother-in-law. I was driving her to the airport Wednesday (12-19), so she had legitimate questions.
  The school called to make sure the 7yr old was not truant.
  My Aunt called 4 times! 3 times about how AT&T were going to shut off her power! I had to calm her down because she was giving me the “poor old lady alone with no lights” speech again. She is terrified that phantom people will take away her house or just take away the lights. I pointed out the obvious to no avail. AT&T is the phone company (repeat 6 times at various volumes). SDG&E is the power company. YES, San Diego Gas & ELECTRIC. Anyway I asked her WHY she thought her power was going to be cut off? At first it was because of a phone call she received, then it was a letter. I told her to get out her checkbook and read when her bill was last paid? On her 3rd phone call she read that it had been paid at the end of November and that finally calmed her down. I have no earthly idea why she called the 4th time?
  A Con friend called to ask about a meeting. I was groggy from my NON-Nap. His questions were simple, but they did not make sense because I was so out of it. Then he asked, “If he should come?” I said, “After you went through all that you’re not even sure?!”
  Why won’t people just let the cranky old she-bear take her nap?
• I promise to try not to be graphic…but all illnesses blow! One of my many problems with the flu is that it seems to range so far from right to left. There is the dull achy flu. It slows you down a lot, but doesn’t knock a person out. The regular flu which requires bed rest. The severe flu which causes problems with #1 & #2 flowing properly. It is nearly impossible to take a pill to help a person feel better if they cannot keep the pill in their stomach long enough to process. The Super flus are the ones that sound ridiculous on the News but end up killing people.
  How do I even know it was the flu? It could have been food poisoning? The symptoms on WebMD sounded similar. What ever I had was severe and I was very sick from Dec 27 - 29. I have had lessening degrees of sick since then. To be as vague as possible I will rant my questions to the universal Murphy’s Law: What evil being invented Dry Heaves!? and How can a person take care of business at one end while the other end requires attention also!?
• The funniest thing I saw over the holidays was a Mini Cooper with reindeer antlers and a red nose. I had seen only a few cars attempt this decoration, but the Mini Cooper looked perfect.
• Ned’s Birthday dinner at Pei Wei went well. Thanks to some of you who made it. The place was not very crowded because the free world was busy last minute Christmas shopping. SUCKERS! We enjoyed National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. I’m not saying it was great, just that we enjoyed it
• Christmas inequality. Princess J seems to have 42 wrapped presents and Mr M had 5. These are not the true numbers, but it sure seems correct. It does not help that he is older and what he wants is electronic and expensive. It seems to always tilt a little to the left. Why do girls toys cost so much less than boys? Heck, Men’s clothes cost more also. Dale is constantly coming out of the house wearing dirty jackets. I realized it is because he is cold and needs something to wear. I went looking for Bathrobes. I found long robes for $25, if you are a guy. Long robes for women are $15. Robes do not button, so no one would know I got him a women’s robe (until I told you!) It’s not like it is pink
• Speaking of getting ripped off…Webkinz! Has anyone else been snared by this trap? The plush animals have online codes and they come to life for each kid. The cute plush vary from $7-$15, usually $13. They have special cards to help feed & cloth your pet. The Webkinz card packs at Limited Too are $3.75. (LT is a girls clothing store). Webkinz cards at Hillcrest Stationers are $2.49. It feels like an eBay markup in a retail store. Beware.
• Chris & I went out for the first time in 10 years for New Years Eve. We have been to house parties and thrown them ourselves, but this time it was truly OUT! I saved up what little energy I had after being super sick and wasted it all on 3 1/2 hours of dancing, HOOORRAY! I am almost recovered. Happy New Year Everyone

December 5, 2007
• Happy Holidays everyone!
• I have been sorely lax in my blogging. I apologize, but I was super busy. Too much shopping, planning, Elders and holiday get-togethers. Aunt Mary did all she could to eat up my time and patience. She swears I only come over when I feel like it…once a month. Unlike the reality of once or twice a week, EEEEK! Aunt Mary told me she was just going to give money this year for Christmas. (Except for a fur muffler she doesn’t want anymore and needs me to mail to her Sister). It is too much trouble to shop. She remembers all those years worrying about what to buy people. She and Uncle Jimmy didn’t like the pressure. Scoff!
  Some of you readers may remember that my Aunt & Uncle gave the cheapest & worst presents ever. I’m not thinking they had any sleepless nights deciding on gifts! I lucked out because i was a kid. Their simple plan was to buy a girl, girlie items like a doll. However the fact that I was more like a boy and liked cars did not ever seem to dawn on most people. I did LOVE my presents though. I have so few relatives that I was happy to see everyone, anywhere and everything they brought
• We were in Henry’s buying veggies and Chris bought me some expensive “Calming Drops”. He said that he hoped they worked and tasted okay. I said they should taste like Eucalyptus, but instead they taste like a Koalas ass. (just kidding)
• I am very pleased with Mr M…right now. His grades were much better than before, but only 1/2 of them. He seems to understand the “don’t touch anything that is not yours” rule that includes other peoples stuff & girlfriends. One of his friends was having a huge family party for the sisters b-day and it messed up Mr M’s birthday party. A Latin party is a big thing with lots of people, so 1/2 of Mr M’s friends were already going to it. We simply moved his party back 1 week for the kids, but kept all the adults on the original date. Any time you can receive presents for 2 weeks straight is a good deal
• I am NOT pleased with myself. Somehow my own age was not as annoying as the fact that Mr M is 13. Now I am officially old in my own mind. Frankly I am really deeply fucking depressed. I hope I get over it soon.
• The shortest Scream Awards 2007 Recap ever! Chris, Ned & I drove up to the Scream Awards Friday, Oct 19. We left Qualcomm by 2:20 and it took us forever to get there. Friday traffic in LA is notoriously bad for a reason…too many cars!
  The event was held at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park. It was outside at night and the weather was fantastic. No one had to cover up their 1/2 naked corset mini-skirt combos. The event had 2 bars and hors d’oeuvre. (1 bar was free, Yea). We sat in 2 rows which made it easier for us to comment back and forth. A different group in front of us smuggled in 2 bottles of wine and shared it with us. I declined so as not to embarrass myself later. We noticed a lot of TV celebrities sitting in the audience. The cast of Blade, Brett Michaels, and several SciFi / Horror people who looked familiar, but i cannot name. On the way down to the stage Bruce Campbell hugged/attacked David G. It was funny, he blushed a little.
  Like last year they edited out parts of the show on TV due to “questionable content”. You know, %&$#@ and go boink your Mom stuff. This year was no exception. Tommy Lee, Chris Angel & Kevin Smith all were edited accordingly. That is the beauty of going to a live show. The vibes and zany people all mixed perfectly, without the edit. The After Party was hard to get to but it was fun. The food was better last time, but the music was better this year. The one bright spot with the food was the table arrangements made out of two women. There was also a mostly naked women doing something very interesting with heavy chains suspended from the ceiling. We cannot wait to go again in 2008! We need to rent a room so that we don’t have to drive up & back on the same day.
• The other night on the Colbert Report he announced a study that found people who don’t get enough sleep have trouble regulating their emotions. Well Duuuh, anyone who knows me realizes that! I am sleep deprived and punch drunk!
• Black Friday Shopping: 2007 has not been that great for Retailers. The toy recalls put a dent in too many toy baskets. The endless War has curtailed shopping trips. Retailers were more desperate than usual. They decided to open stores at staggered hours. Usually the Stores pick 1 time to open early, it used to be 7:00a.m. Then it moved back to 6:00a.m. and then 5:00a.m. This year it was 4:00a.m., 5:00a.m. & 6:00a.m. It made shopping miserable! There were too many people in one place at one time. Check out at 6:00a.m. Target was completely clogged up by the 4:00a.m. people who did not have to chose one store or the other. Any Event planner could tell ya not to do that! Robin and I were in the checkout line for an hour and a half! We spent more time checking out than shopping. It was horrible and everyone was cranky because of it! I pray that they NEVER do that crap again.
• On Wednesday I am going to the Dentist again for the first time in a long time. We have a new Insurance plan and I am not sure about the whole mess. Dental insurance always sucks anyway. Something is very wrong with my back tooth. I told my old Dentist that something was not right, but he did not really believe me. He did not see anything. Months later it is a full blown throbbing pain in the jaw. Wish me luck.
• The Radio station chatter boxes were discussing unique and personal Christmas gifts. People called in with what they wanted or had given. Three of them stuck in my mind. RECEIVE: One busy Mom wanted to do nothing for a day…and not have to clean up any left over mess the next day. Otherwise it doesn’t count. GIVE: One gent gave his wife a calendar. It had a massage coupon attached to every month. RECEIVE: The host of the annual family chow down for *60* people wanted a maid service to come in and clean the next day.
  I hope you get something this year that you wanted and something you needed! A Very Merry Christmas To You All

November 15, 2007
• http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20154290_20159879,00.html
  http://www.people.com/people/package/video/0,,20154290_20154496_20154498,00.html
  

• Normally I type several things at once, but the current People Magazine choice of Matt Damon for 2007 Sexiest Man Alive demanded my immediate attention. Don’t worry I am still recycling and doing good works. I just needed to say, “WHAT THE HELL?” On 91X this morning they kept replaying parts of Team America World Police, the part that simply says, “Matt Damon”. I would like to ask everyone and especially the staff of People Magazine what the definition of Sexy is? Maybe I am missing something? Are they grading on personality also? I admit that Matt Damon is cute, buff and funny, but the other gents on the list are “sexier”.
  I would also like them to break this list up into some sort of age range. I do not think 20 year olds should compete with 40 year olds. I know I can be a bit of a Cougar, but it is like comparing Boys to Men and it just isn’t fair.
  Please reply with your own crazy thoughts on this very silly subject.

November 10, 2007
• Crap they did not tell you in the manual: For those of you who have never seen A Christmas Story, there is a joke/truism about the Mom never having a hot meal, caused by her family.
  In my case it is not food, but sleep…the incredible lack of sleep. For six years, off and on, a child has awakened me while I was sleeping. Even if you do not have children you probably realize that human beings do not follow directions. Add in the child factor and that accounts for 3 solid years of “don’t do that”. The first year a child is alive is just a complete write off. Every parent expects their kid to cry & cause problems at odd hours. The second year consists of the child making up reasons to stay awake, the “I need a glass of water” syndrome. By the third year vocabulary skills are intact enough to have a conversation about sleep. “Please do not wake us up unless it is important”. However everything is important when you are a kid. Year four, five & six show a marked decrease in interruptions. Monsters Inc. was correct in stating that the creatures in the closet have little effect over a 6 or 7 year-old child. Thank God.
  For you childless folks out there thinking 6 years is not so bad, I will just rephrase it to say, 6 years for EACH child!
  I only had two kids, but that accounts for 12 years of odd sleeping. I have awakened to both of them standing over me staring, like something from a horror movie. Now that the madness is over my sleep pattern is a wreck! Maybe if I am lucky it will only take me 3 year to unlearn 12 years worth of crap.
  I know why people end up in clock towers shooting…temporary insanity brought on by sleep deprivation. If you ever get a chance to babysit a young child overnight do it. Your temporary lack of sleep for 1 or 2 nights may save lives!
• Doctors have sited childhood obesity as a major epidemic in this country. They claim that HFCS/Sugar and a lack of exercise are the 2 leading causes, but I say it goes much deeper than that. I blame perverts! Yes Perverts! Not 17 yr olds having sex with their 15 yr old partner, real sex offenders. The kind that too often trick & steal a child. I remember going many blocks away from my home as a child. I walked and rode my bike everywhere. These days I am afraid to let my kids go play in the front yard.
  My 84 yr old Mom tells me these great stories of when she was a child in NY. She walked all the way to NJ on the weekends to play with her friends. She crossed the Brooklyn Bridge by herself!
  When I was a kid things had already become stricter, but as long as I was in a group of kids I could go pretty far. One amazing Halloween (before candy was dangerous) my friends and I took pillowcases and canvassed ever house between South East and National City. Several miles of crisscross collecting later and we had filled the pillowcases almost to the top.
  My kids will never know the joy of just plain wandering around looking at stuff. Picking up smashed bottlecaps, eating sour grass, kicking a rock for no reason whatsoever.
  I would personally like to bury legitimate sex offenders under the jail and let other folks go free as long as they help me do the digging.
• Look up “Mexican Transformer” on YouTube.
• I go to Kinko’s more often than I would like, but since it’s my job I go. I’m a veteran. I was in the Hazard Center trying to print out a simple two-part job. I had to move to a different machine twice, but I printed the first part pretty easily. I try to print the second set of 30 copies and I get nothing. I have lovely blue paper with no ink on it. I go up to the counter. The 2 ladies are busy and they ask Bubba Bo Bob Brain to ask me what I want? I show him the paper and ask him where is my ink? The ladies have an amused look on their faces, but he looks confused. He comes out to the machine to look it over. He changes all my settings for some reason and starts fiddling with the machine, but does not go anywhere near the ink storage. Since I had clearly stated it was an ink problem I thought the guy would shake the toner cartridge or something silly like that. They probably do not use toner cartridges per se, but you know what I mean. He pops out my Kinko’s gold card then puts it back in. He asks me questions like I am a newbie. He just saw my card. I have obviously made copies before. The whole time I am explaining myself & what happened…again. He still has a vacant look in his eye. He then grabs the stack of 30 copies I just printed and tries to put them in the copier feed. I stop him and show him the one sheet I need done. This is about 12 minutes later when he puts the paper in the machine and it prints. He did NOTHING, but he went away happy. Why did the big dumb man go away with satisfaction as his partner? I was sort of happy to be done but now I had that confused look in my eyes. Eek it’s contagious!
• I need a nap.
• September:
  My Aunt Mary has been planning to visit her friend Gay. Gay broke her hip and is mending quickly. I told her I would drive her on Saturday, November 3. Knowing how my Aunt does NOT think, I asked her to contact Gay about the date. Aunt Mary asked me why? I told her that Gay might have a Doctors appt that day? Plus no one likes a surprise visit. She agreed to call. For almost 5 weeks I have been working out my shopping trip after I drop her off. Natalie is going with us and we will meet Rachel.
  Oct 25, Thursday:
  I took Aunt Mary shopping for the second time this week. She wanted to get some more items for the trip to see Gay. The entire time she was complaining about how much her contact lens hurt her eye. Her new one was not ready yet. She bitched and moaned her way through 2 stores (even more than usual). I was already sick & tired of her crap from Monday and several phone calls. I just snapped and said, “If you weren’t so vain you could have worn your glasses. Then your eye would not hurt so much!” My inside voice just blurted that out, I did not mean to. It pretty much stopped traffic for a few minutes. She was mad but calm at the same time. She actually called me up to apologize for being a Harpy that day. I was surprised but satisfied for once and she did wear her glasses the next time I saw her.
  Oct 29, Monday:
  I call the eye doctor to find out what happened to Aunt Mary’s new contact lens. They made the wrong one and had it sent back. I let them know that we need it by Friday evening because Aunt Mary is leaving town. Because her contact is complicated & very strong they can’t get it back in time. They are going to give her a similar, but temporary lens on Tuesday. Grumble.
  Oct 29, Monday:
  I call Gay and have a nice little chat. She did not know we were coming up this Saturday (Grumble %$#@). She was aware Aunt Mary was visiting eventually. Gay had asked Aunt Mary when, but was never told. Fortunately Gay is not busy and the trip is still on.
  Oct 29, Monday:
  I call Aunt Mary to explain the last 2 phone calls. Whenever she answers the phone I am assaulted by a sound wave. Her TV is so loud it almost hurts me. My Aunt always wants to know what I want, but cannot hear me until she turns down her TV. Sometimes I try to cut out the middleman and ask her to turn down the TV first. Huh & What!? are my constant companions during an Aunt Mary conversation. Except that she gets miffed that I have asked her to turn down the set. She is always cranky about something so I just ignore it. I let Aunt Mary know she can pick up her lens at her Tuesday eye appt. I tell her that I will pick her up Saturday morning and she says, “oh?” She goes in to tell me that she did not know when we were going. Which is a crazy, stupid, forgetful lie. She went out of her way on the 25th to buy ingredients for Spaghetti & meat sauce to make for Gay. It is Gay’s favorite food. She was concerned about the items lasting until the next week when we left. Technically Aunt Mary is not lying. Lying is how I feel, but I know it is something else. She is loosing her already slippery hold on time & reality. She called me every single day last week to ask me what day it was.
  I have heard stories from a lot of people concerning their crazy relatives. Many are more emotionally draining than my Aunt & Father-in-law . To each of you Adults dealing with annoying kids and annoying elders, I send you PEACE & SOLICE.