180 pages to go . . .

For all of you (that means you, Keri) who are sick of my drunk mug, I give you the baobab tree: I'm copyediting a book about traveling in Africa so I decided to see what one of these suckers looks like and I love it. So, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll check in once I'm out of Africa.

Bitte ein Bit!

Here's what I was doing about a year ago:























And today? Well, I worked for about ten thousand hours. So, a quick blogster before I collapse into my bed and hopefully dream about having supernatural powers again. Let's see, let's see. Well, Richmond was a whirl. Long drive up, funny times with Coley, Mandy, Bridgette, and South of thee Border. Long night of drinking by the pool with my dad, Mands, Keri, Sarah, and her sister. Then over to my grandparents' house on Saturday, which was really great and really sad. My grandma is not doing so hot and it was hard to see her like that. But it was wonderful to be around that side of the family again and see relatives that I love that I haven't seen in years. And my dad announced his and Sarah's engagement. This is on top of Mandy announcing her and Frank's engagement. What the hell is going on, I say! Love is in the air. Speaking of love, I booked my flight and hotel to San Fran for Cory's wedding today. That should be fun. Steve-o is coming with me and he's already found a cigar bar we can go to Saturday night. He is nuts-o for cigars-o. And as long as we're on the love subject, I just got a new client--Harlequin, Ltd. Yes, yes, I'm going to be copyediting romance novels! It should be fairly steady and they pay decently and it will be a loverly break from reading books with notes and bibliographies. Although, I should still be reading those, just also reading romance novels. I'm excited. If it all comes through the way it should, it will be time to drop my 5 hours a week (pretty chintzy) at my other job and just be a freelance copyeditor/proofreader. It will be fun and strange to just work for myself (and my editors, obviously), but always making my own schedule and being large Marge in charge. Good stuff.
OK, OK, I'll get to the Random Thursday Questions. I have a lot more to say, but I am quite tired. And I have a bibliography to do tomorrow and it looks like a dooooozy.
1. When was the last time you lost your dignity?
I drink a bit so it happens all the time.

2. If you were forced to sing a karaoke song, what would you sing?
You probably wouldn't have to force me (see Question 1) and I like to sing "Thunder Road."

3. Do you own any fake or knock-off items that you pass off as the real deal?
Besides my fake boobs? My knock-off knockers, as I like to call them.

4. Other than family, who are you most happy to see each day?
Steve-o-rino.

5. What have you learned by just hanging back and observing?
Most of what I know.

6. What item(s) must you buy every week?
Trashy tabloid magazines.

7. What are you presently on a quest for?
Buried treasure.

8. Do you know any bimbos?
Maybe.

9. Do you have any true enemies?
I have an arch nemesis.

10. What do you need to get rid of but just can't bring yourself to part with it?
Lots of clothes. A bad attitude.

~Bonus Question~Have you ever been alarmed at the smell of your own body?
Not alarmed, no. Fascinated? Maybe. Kind of proud of myself? Sure.

And I'm off to sleep! Gute nacht! Tschuesssssss!!

Road Rage

We leave for Richmond tonight! From what I understand, quite late. Midnight? Later? I'm not sure. I plan on getting a little shut-eye on the road, so hopefully Coley and Mandy won't bug me too much. I'm fairly sure I won't be driving. If you wait until you're 23 to get your license, for some reason people don't think you're a good driver. So I'll be working all day and then hitting the road tonight. It will be fabulous to have three days off! Although I'm a little behind so that means next week will be a little nutsy. And for some reason when I was calling my other job this morning to leave a message saying I wouldn't be coming in today, I panicked and said something about maybe working some extra hours next week to try and get these Pinellas records in the system. (I know that means nothing to you people, but try to keep up.) Why did I say that? I don't plan on working extra hours next week! I have too much reading to do. This is why I don't like to leave messages when I haven't thought them through first. Hopefully they won't notice.
Last night we went up to the comedy club and watched some painful open-mike crapola. I don't even really like to watch good comics on stage anymore, so this was hard to sit through. But then Coley went up and did his 5 minutes (the reason we were there) and he was great! A whole new 5 minutes, good stuff. A completely unexpected Irish accent opened his set. I didn't know Coley could do an Irish accent.
What else is new? Steve had fun at his reunion. I found some time to clean the house and the floors are already a mess again. This morning one of our outdoor kitties was curled up on the chaise lounge in the backyard. The dogs were out for their walk. I had to relocate him out front; we don't need a Chester-kitty confrontation. A little later, after Steve and the dogs were back, I was checking out the tomato plant and suddenly there was another of the outdoor kitties, hiding behind a flower pot! This one won't let me pick him up so I just kind of herded him to the fence and he jumped over. Chester didn't see him until he was over the fence, and then he didn't even really do anything so maybe now he loves cats. Probably not.
The Random Thursday Question lady is back in action this week. However, I like Keri's questions from last week better, so I'd rather do those.
1. Can you walk by a mirror, window, what have you- and not look at your reflection to check yourself out?
No. It's the worst if I go to a restaurant and get seated across from a mirror.

2. Do you pick or blow your nose?
Snot rockets all the way.

3. Do you possess the "spitting" talent?
Unfortunately no. It's a disaster when I try.

4. What is something you ate regularly as a kid, but no longer eat?
I'll agree with Keri and say bologna sandwiches. I used to love them. No longer. By the way, Keri, Steve loves fake bologna and if he ate meat he'd eat the real stuff, so some adults do still eat it.

5. Why did the deaf blonde sit on the newspaper?Answer to follow to those who leave comments- I want to know what you think may be the answer.
I have no idea and as you know, I don't like jokes. Especially deaf blonde jokes.

6. Fundraisers, do you think all the money raised really goes to the cause?
In one way or another, I think so. If it doesn't you usually hear about it.

7. What is your highest bowling score?
223? Something like that. Ususally I hover around 100-130.

8. Thoughts about manners, are they necessary or are they for conformists?
I don't think they are necessary, but I do think they make things a lot more pleasant.

9. Now a days, are there really "accidental" pregnancies?
Well, I think I see what you're getting at, Keri, but I would have to say yes, I think there are plenty of people who get pregnant and don't plan on it and so it is an "accident." I don't think that's changed with the times. There's always been ways to take precautions (down to just not doing it) and women still manage to get knocked up.

10. Out of the 20 people you know personally, and you were on Survivor- who would be the first to be voted off? and who would you keep till the end??
This question makes me laugh because it sounds so specific "out of the 20 people you know personally"--how do you know I only know 20 people? :) Anyway--first voted off: I have to agree again and go with Aaron. Keep: Cosmo. (and Keri and Steve).

~Bonus Question~ Please list your 6 favorite numbers, 1-59- I'm playing lotto this week.
Can you even have 6 favorite numbers? After two or three, they don't seem like favorites anymore. Are you still playing lotto? 11-12-3-7-4-8.

And back to work for me!! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Confidential to my younger sister readers: Congratulations!!!!!!! Lots to talk about on the road trip!

A Random Thursday Mystery

Hallo. I'm home alone tonight! Steve went to his high school reunion and so I have the house to myself for two days. Well, to myself and one big nasty spider that I tried to catch in the kitchen, who then proceeded to "disappear" into the living room so who knows where it is now. Right behind me, you say? I put Cosmo on the case but she seems to prefer sitting in my lap. You can't train cats, I say. I worked all day--until almost 9--PM!!--this is not the Robin I know and love. She was much lazier. So now I'm drinking some Pinot Noir and catching up on some internet fun time. I'm queer for red wine lately, used to be I'd only drink white unless red was all that was left in the wee hours after the beer was gone. But now I love it! I don't know how it happened. I want to blame my dad and Sarah but they are clearly not the culprits. Although they do love them some red, red wine. Last night Steve and I went to a cigar bar and got a pitcher of Sangria and there must've been 12 glasses hidden in that sucker. It was quite a good deal. And a lovely Spanish-style pitcher that I wanted to steal, but it was far too cumbersome. So, what else did I want to tell you? Oh, this morning I was thinking about how at the 4th of July party my aunt was asking (I almost went with aksing--I see how that can happen now) if Steve and I were going to get married. And I foresee a lot of that line of questioning since we've been together for 5+ years now. And I don't have an answer for that. So, I was workshopping some responses, other than my typical "No, not anytime soon, maybe someday, blah, blah, blah" go-to. And I think I've settled on--well, it'll work better if I set it up for you:
Relative: So, are you and Steve going to get married?
Me: Oh, we've decided to let Brangelina make the first move.
Relative:
Me (firmly): The ball is in their court.
Well, on to the title of this post--the Random Thursday Mystery! For over a year now, this lady on mediabistro has been posting Random Thursday Questions every Thursday without fail. Not today. And no one knows why! No one is panicking yet, but there have been some concerned queries. And no response! What happened, Janet? What will I blog about without your quirky questions? I'm sure me and my Pinot Noir will come up with something. First, I'm going to do a quick bedcheck on the animals. ***** Everyone is where they should be. I brought Chester in for the night because, let's face it, a girl like me could use a little muscle in the house in this neighborhood. And Chester will bite your ass.
Today I got a message from an author whose book I proofread. I put most of the books I proofread or copyedit on my goodreads profile and this author stumbled across it and sent me a message. So it's a good thing I always give my books five stars. This particular book was a pleasure to read and I told them so. I like something about all the books I read (probably why I'm in this line of work). You know what I don't like? Bibliographies. References. Works Cited. Foot- and/or endnotes. I say leave them out of it and plagiarism be damned.
Next weekend I'm going to Richmond for a family reunion of sorts. It's my grandmother's birthday and her health is not the best so my grandpa put the word out and we're all going up to see them. It should be fun (except the not-the-best-health part); I can't wait to see everybody. We got to see a lot of family for Coley and Bridgette's wedding last November but there are a few who couldn't make it (grandparents included) who it will be really nice to hang out with for the weekend. Then in August my friend Cory is getting married and I'll get to see all kinds of high school friends I haven't seen in years. I'm looking forward to that, too.
Weeellll, I guess that'll do it. Oh! There was a story in the paper today about a woman who got the tip of her finger bitten off in a fight in line at the butcher shop. Some misunderstanding about whose number should go first sort of thing gone horribly wrong. The best part of the story was--this is the second time the tip of her finger has gotten bitten off in a fight. The first time they were able to reattach the tip. Not this time. (By the way, she's been arrested over 30 times; she gets in fights a lot.) She might want to rethink her fish-hook fight move. My favorite part of the story was her quote: "Why my finger? I don't know who's going to put a ring on a nub." I think I'll leave you with that.
Confidential to my older sister readers: Hope you feel better, Kers!

Jeez Louise!

WELL, my dear friends, I'm back after rather an extended absence. Did anyone notice? Shame on you if not. First my computer caught a couple of rather nasty little viruses that put me out of business for a couple days and cost me some stinkin' money. Then I had to make up for lost time so I've been copyediting like a sonuvabitch for days now. On top of that one of my clients is giving me project after project, which is great, but keeps me really busy and a little frazzled. No time for blogs! Or cleaning the house. Or doing laundry. But I'll work, work, work for the next month or so and then maybe I'll take a small break. Probably not but I like to pretend.

Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July! We went to a party at my cousins' house. The 4th is their son's birthday so they have a fun party with pinatas, games, booze, food, and fireworks every year. Keri, Theresa, and I were the last to leave for the second year in a row, thank you very much. And we sang some patriotic songs that I'm sure the extended family enjoyed. Saturday was a lazy day, some red wine and stogirillos on the deck, and today has been a work and get organized day. And now I think I'll have some of Steve's award-winning chili and watch some Curb Your Enthusiasm. Which reminds me, I think it would be funny if every time you said something rude, or the situation got really awkward for some reason, you waited until it was quiet and then started humming the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song. And then I think you should hold out your hand and say, "Friends?" Because everyone loves that.

Oh!--here are Thursday's Random Questions, coming to you on a Sunday evening.
1. What sounds do you hear at this very moment?
Rain, an airplane, the TV in the living room where Steve is watching it.

2. When was the last time you lost your temper?
It's been awhile since I've gotten really mad. I get irritated a lot but I'm not a big temper loser, in general.

3. Does your resume contain a little/a lot/or no embellishment?
None anymore.

4. What cliche or phrase makes you cringe?
Last call!

5. What is an instant mood booster for you?
The animals, rainbows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme music, Super Mario Bros., the ocean, stogies and red wine on the deck. Instant downers? Big spiders, and mysterious ailments (frinstance, I think my left leg is caving in).

6. What is the worst thing you have ever been called?
I've been called lots of things, I can't think of the worst. It would upset me a lot if someone called me "stupid" and really thought I was stupid, but I can think of no corresponding life experience right now.

7. In your opinion, who or what is "the next big thing?"
Your nose, after I punch it.

8. In what way(s) could you be considered rude?
The way I arbitrarily punch people in the nose.

9. What do you find unbelievably sexy?
Talent and confidence.

10. What areas of your life need a complete overhaul?
Time management.

No bonus question this week, I didn't like it. Gotta gooooo!