Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

When I heard that Michael Jackson died I had 3 thoughts.

1. Maybe he has the peace now that he never got in life.
2. What is going to happen to his kids?
3. There goes any sort of real news coverage for the next week.

Is it callous to say that I'm not going to miss him? I didn't know him personally and his life now seemed to be more about the freak show he had become than the music. I wasn't looking forward to buying a new cd or anticipating anything he had planned. I can and still do listen to his music from the past, but the present MJ kinda weirded me out.

I think a whole lot of the mourning is not mourning the man, but rather bemoaning a visible end to many people's youth. His death is a mirror that reminds people that they are not any more immortal than those the idolized in their youth. A woman on the radio today said that she's sad that her kids are never going to know Michael Jackson. Of course they can. I know the music of a whole lot of folks who died before I was born or when I was very young. She talked about how important he was when she was a teen. Again, it's not missing the man, but missing what she associated with him. Her kids can know Michael Jackson. They can know his music and not have to know about the trials, surgeries or general oddness that surrounded him.

All that being said. My heart goes out to the people who did really know him. His family and friends. I wish them comfort in this time of grief.

Question about Tornados

For most of my life I've lived in places that get tornadoes. I've been up close and personal with two and I don't want to make it 3. Recently I've been wondering about tornadoes in other parts of the world. I never hear about them. I lived in Germany for 5 years and never once recall a tornado warning. It seems likely that they do occur other places, but I am surprised that that I don't know for sure.

So I looked it up.

Every continent except Antarctica has them. Here is a link to Wikipedia's list of European ones. At least the worst ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks

I guess they have them, we just seem to have more. The US has about 1000 tornadoes a year. Due to the size of the nation the UK has a higher percentage of land covered by tornadic activity.

Information about tornadoes

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

My baby is 10

My youngest child turns 10 today. My oldest is 20. I'm not one to be overly emotional about changes in life. I like the adventure of seeing what comes next. Still, my youngest is now in double digits. Hormones are starting to flow and full on puberty is not far away. Seems a bit weird that she would be this old and wanting Taylor Swift cd's instead of Barbies for her birthday. Little kids are so easy to shop for. I'm going to miss that stage.

Bessie

Is named after my grandmother who died a month before I became pregnant with her.

Looks very much like her brother Teddy, but has more in common with Tommy's personality.

She's devoted to her big sister. Her big sister is equally devoted to her.

I suspect she's the most musically talented of the 4. All play an instrument and Teddy is very gifted with his trumpet, but Bessie seems to pick up on things very fast. Faster than the others.

She's won an award for a film she wrote. At 6 she wrote a script to enter into the balloon film competition. At 7 she won "most inspiring film". Granted it was an award created for her by the competition's producers, but they also admitted she was in the top 3 of entrants. Everyone else who entered was at least 23.

She likes clothes, makeup and shoes way more that I ever did. Well, except for that point in the 80's where I dressed a lot like Boy George.

She NEVER forgets a birthday or other holiday. She's Dan's little reminder system.

She's so many things that the list could go on for pages. Mostly she's my little girl. For now. And she's the rest of the family's little girl too. Because her siblings are so much older than her, she's grown up with several 'parents'. There's always someone to tell her what to do. Got to be frustrating at times, but I guess the added security of always having a family member around is a good trade off for that frustration.

Happy Birthday Bessie. I love you.

Jonas Brothers

This is my favorite Jonas Brother video ever



The boy balances better than I do in those heels.

I wish

That when the police use horses in Westport at night they would do something about the poop. There is so much crap all over the place. It would be nice if they would use bags or something. If we have to pick up after our dogs then the city should pick up after their horses.

F-ing hot and tired

I went out to Chalk & Walk for awhile this morning. When it was time for me to come back to the shop I discovered that Dan had lost the van. Totally couldn't remember where he parked it. Said it was in red lot 3d. It was in purple lot 2c which is not anywhere near red lot. It took 2 security guards and a golf cart an hour to find it. It is HOT in the parking garage. I was so overheated I felt like melting.

At least he didn't lose it for 4 hours like he did after Brookside St. Patrick's day parade. And I'm happy for every minute I was not with him that day.

Zelda Lily

I like this blog called Zelda Lily There are some pretty good reads on it. It's where I first heard of MeMe Roth (I don't pay attention to AI and missed all that controversy) - and a search on her led me to this article. The Day The Sprinkles Died Contained in that article is this

Her extreme methods have earned her attention before: The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream.

The mental image of someone snatching the sprinkles and syrup up and absconding with them is just too funny.

MeMe is a fruit loop on the loose, I look forward to more of her insane antics. You have to read up on her to truly appreciate the whack job that she is. She has serious body issues and projects them onto everyone. I think she's too thin, but heck, she only eats once a day. How is she going to gain any weight? It's worrisome that her kids are going to grow up with complexes centered around food. I'm also very glad that she's not in my school's P.T.A. Of course we could probably fend her off with some cotton candy on a stick from the school fair.