random and meaningless but with photos

Oh, look, I haven’t vanished from the planet, despite my lack of noting and lack of writing, and lack of pretty much anything but working like a madwoman. My new boss has gone to Costa Rica, thank god, but has managed to give me about a month’s worth of assignments while she’s gone. A whole folder full of things like, "I’ve got a student who needs to watch a video – can you get her a VCR?" I’m like, "ummmmm…. from where?? Walmart??? " I have no idea where you get a VCR.  And I’ve got cousins visiting Asheville, which has been lots of fun. I went down there Sunday, and one cousin and her family came up to see us yesterday. Tomorrow I’m going back to Asheville for the weekend. So I was off yesterday, I’m taking off tomorrow, I spent half of Tuesday at a completely pointless training seminar, and was supposed to spend  half of today at the second part but decided I REALLY don’t have time for that. So, yeah, busy. At work I can only work, and we know what my internet access situation at home is. I’m dashing along at the breakneck speed of 14-whatever-they-ares right now. Hang onto your hats!  

Tomorrow morning, before I head for Asheville, I’m going to Baker B’s office and fighting for Tom Waits tickets. Atlanta sold out in something like half an hour, but I figure if I’m in front of a computer with high speed access the minute they go on sale, SURELY I can get them. I think I’m going to try both internet and phone and see what I get first. They’re actually not selling tickets at the box office. How nervewracking… I don’t think I’ll be able to go on living if Tom Waits comes to ASHEVILLE and I can’t get tickets. I had no idea he’s such a wildly popular guy. Keep your fingers crossed for me.  

Well, you’d think someone who hadn’t made an entry in …however long it’s been since I made an entry – would actually have something interesting to say, but apparently not. I certainly am not going to let that stop me, though. I’ll just do this survey I saved so long ago that I have no idea where or who it came from. I titled it "Insanely Long Survey" so I can’t imagine I’ll get through much of it. I’ll stick some more of my 354,672 trip photos at the end, so they’ll have plenty of time to load up. Not to force you to slog through a survey. Not at ALL.

Have you ever taken goggles into the shower with you? Maybe that should have just been called insane survey. It’s never occurred to me to take goggles into the shower. Someone obviously has way more spare time in the mornings than I do.

Have you ever stared at the blobs in a lava lamp for more than an hour? I don’t think I’ve stared at the blobs in a lava lamp for more than ten seconds. I’ve never owned one, though. What a druggie question!

Do you feel bad for a spider when someone steps on it? I do, even though I can’t stand them. I hate seeing anything get murdered.

Have you ever wondered why M&M’s are the color they are? Only for a brief moment. While staring at my lava lamp. Through my shower goggles.

Did you memorize how to spell supercalafragilisticexpealedocious? Was I supposed to? Oh, thanks, now I have that song in my head.  

Do you know the names of all the American presidents?  I think I could name most of them. Baker B could, and probably in the right order even.

Do you have 0 TV’s in your house? That’s a really strange question, although I almost got to say "yes" to it. The great big garganto 34" TV that Baker B talked me into after our last TV died is on the blink. ALREADY. We’ve had it less than two years. We actually thought we got it last year, but it will be two years in October. I think it got killed by a power surge, because we were idiots and forgot to buy a surge protector for it. And after we realized that’s what happened, we also realized that’s probably what killed our previous TV too. DUH. But we have gone from a way way WAY too-big TV to The Teeniest TV Ever – Baker B had one in his study that’s something like 15 inches. It looks like a little toy TV. It’s really cute – the stereo speaker is bigger than it is. And it has a very good picture, but is a bit too small for comfortable viewing. The other one was way too big. If it can’t be fixed, we’re downsizing.   

Do you have more than 10 pet’s living in your house? Pet is whats? Grammar police, grammar police!!! I only have two, unless you count the snakes.

Is your favorite movie of all time rated G? No. None of my favorite movies of all time are rated G, I don’t think. Well, Gone With The Wind probably is. Although my grandmother wouldn’t let my aunts go see it when it was released because Rhett Butler said damn. 

 Do you buy more than 5 CDs a week? I don’t buy five CDs a month. 

 
Is your favorite color tangerine? Ummmm…no? Is there something significant about tangerine?

Is your favorite food turtle soup? Why yes, this survey HAS officially gone careening around the bend!

Have you ever watched an entire episode of the Teletubbies? Only once, when I had the TV on for no reason and Teletubbies came on, and as soon as that creepy sun shrieked, Stella was transfixed. She watched the entire show with enormous interest, so of course I couldn’t turn it off. Generally she doesn’t pay a bit of attention to the TV.

Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were little? No. Not unless you count all my toy horses.

Do you ever talk to yourself? Constantly.

Do you have hidden video cameras in your house? If I do, they are REALLY well hidden.

Do you cover yourself in tin-foil, and put coat hangers on the ceiling? I’m covered in tin-foil right this minu…I mean, NO, of course not, what a silly question! Ha ha ha ha!!!

Do you make things out of dollar bills when you are bored at the lunch table? The lunch table?

Have you ever won a contest guessing "How many jellybeans are in the jar"? No. I’m the worst estimator of amounts ever. I’m kind of like Rainman where numbers of things are concerned. The jar could hold twenty or two thousand, and it all looks the same to me.

<fontface=”Verdana”>Okay, I’m starting to bore even myself now. So, here are some pictures of Snowshoe West Virginia (which I keep trying to type as "Snowshow", and it’s starting to get REALLY annoying). It’s a ski resort. It was nothing like we expected – it’s like this weird city up on top of a mountain. Very pretend and theme-park-like. And lots of fun in a pretend, theme-park-like way.

OH, in answer to the many questions about why there were lemons all over Stonewall Jackson’s grave, I googled it and found that Stonewall Jackson apparently loved lemons. Although according to some sites, he didn’t particularly love lemons, but  was fond of all fruit. But he at least has the reputation of loving lemons, so people leave them on his grave. Because you don’t want to be off in the Great Beyond with no access to your favorite fruit. Or your not-so-favorite fruit.

The odd town of Snowshoe. Snowshow. Showsnoo. Whatever.

They apparently do a huge mountain biking business during the summer. There were bikes EVERYWHERE. Really serious bikes and serious bikers, all dressed in Serious Bike Clothes. You could ride the chairlift up to the town at the top of the mountain, and apparently people bike down and ride back up. The bikes got their own chairs.

Really interesting pine cones.

Torrential rain. We were sitting in this bar having a beer, and got to watch all the people scatter madly. It stopped as quickly as it appeared.