Tuesday Randomness

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here.  What’s new?  Well, I guess, several things, both good and bad.   More good than bad, which I like.

  1. I’ve decided that I need to start using the term, “Jackass” more often.  Whenever I hear “Jackass”, I think of Ted’s father, and my grandmother.  Because his father, when teaching Ted to drive, gave this very helpful advice: “Just assume everyone else on the road is a Jackass.”  My grandma often told me, “Drive Defensively.”  Isn’t that pretty much the same thing?
  2. Our poor Camry was broken into last week.  We live in a townhouse/condo complex, and our cars live under a carport.  No protection.  So some Jackass came along, some time between 10:30am and 12:30pm, broke the window of our Camry, and trolled through the glove compartment.  They took my hairbrush and some emergency thing that I bought once to cut the seat belt and break the window of the car, in case we suddenly went off a bridge and into the bay and needed to escape.  I have my worries, and we’ve been spending billions of dollars for decades to build a new bridge over the bay, so such a tool seems kind of handy to me.
  3. Happily, our insurance company (Geico) did a great job.  I called them and they found someone to come and fix the broken window that same day.  But gah, I liked that stupid hairbrush.
  4. Ted and I have seen a lot of movies lately.  We have seen “Blue Jasmine”, “In a World”, and “World’s End”.  They were all quite good in their own way, and their ways were indeed very different.  “Blue Jasmine” was full of amazing performances, but overall depressing.  “In a World” was mostly really good and full of grrrl power, which I always like.  “World’s End” was a cheerful silly mess, which sometimes is exactly what a person needs.  I’d suggest any of them, really.
  5. School starts for Maya on Wednesday.  Mostly fine, and yet, gah, she’s going into her senior year of High School.  Crazy.  I don’t know if I’m ready for that, but I suspect my being ready doesn’t factor in.  She’s ready.  Do you remember that, being SO READY to be done with High School?  Sometimes, I think it should be 3 years instead of 4.  Then again, I know she’s going to have a great year.
  6. Work is good this week.  It’s Monday as I’m writing this, so that may change, but I’m happy about having (perhaps, waiting for review) completed a project that has been tasking me for months.  That means I may perhaps have a productive week.  We’ll see what else comes up, but I’m hopeful.
  7. Sad sad news about my SIL’s dog, Piper.  Only 6 years old, but she had to be put to sleep.  Most likely she had a brain tumor or something.  Lots of pain, many seizures.  So sad, she was a very sweet girl.
  8. Why not mention the VMA’s and Miley Cyrus, as long as I’m here?  Because anyone who gives a shit about that is a jackass.  Right?   Sorry, that was a lot of swearing for one bullet point, but really, WHO CARES?
  9. Here’s something you SHOULD care about.  Maya’s been watching “Orange is the New Black”, and they had a Christmas episode where the prison inmates were singing in a musical.  It reminded me of a bit I heard on “This American Life”, “The Greatest Moment I Ever Saw on Stage”, which made me cry the first time I heard it, and then made me cry BEFORE I heard it the second time, because they mentioned it, and all I needed to hear was “Mama I’m Sorry”, sung by a group of teenaged girls in prison, hoping for love and forgiveness from their mothers, for all that they had done wrong.  Hoping they could fix it.  How could that not make you cry?  It’s beautiful.  Click, “Launch Player”.  Get your Kleenex.

6 Comments

  • Nance

    I am saving the tearful clip for later.

    Congratulations on being the parent of a senior. Now get ready for a constant barrage of Senior Stuff: college tests, college visit bulletins, homecoming, prom, college essay, yadda yadda yadda. And start setting aside the cash. It’s startling how often my boys would come home and tell me they needed money for certain Senior-Related Things.

    I’m sorry about your car. It’s an icky feeling. Luckily, you were not terribly inconvenienced with repairs.

    • J

      Nance, you’re so right about the $$ for senior stuff. It started already, as we had to pay for the All Night Party for grad night, the Senior t-shirt, and the baby picture in the yearbook already. Plus senior pictures. Maybe they’re trying to spread it out a bit, since everyone KNOWS the costs in the spring.

      I hope things don’t get too crazy expensive for homecoming. They sure dress up for that. When I was in HS, lo those many years ago and last century to boot, it was a casual dance right after the game, and the only people who dressed up were the Homecoming Court people. Now it rivals prom.

  • Ted

    Sometimes I wish we could go back to the pre-Prop 13 days when all this out of pocket stuff for high school wasn’t an issue for parents. It just seems that “low tax” opens the door to for profit companies to push extra expenses on parents for stuff that is just extraneous. Thankfully, we’re aware of the hustle and just try and plan for the big stuff.

    And Miley Cyrus IS the most important thing in the world right now. Oh wait. Scratch that. Miley Cyrus is the most important thing to Miley Cyrus.

  • Ally Bean

    What a lousy thing to happen to your car. At least your insurance company was good about the whole thing.

    Am amazed to realize that Maya is a Senior. It’s going to be a whirlwind year for her– and you, too.

    Not a Miley Cyrus fan, but apparently the rest of the world is. I cannot get away from conversations and news stories about her. Kind of wears on my nerves.

  • Nuvashini Devi

    I still can’t figure out why they broke into your car which is parked so far in from the other cars in the parking lot. ( bloody jackasses!) Piper was a little angel and she is missed so terribly. I can’t believe Maya is a senior!! Geez the years go by so fast! I will not comment about Cyrus. I don’t know much about her or care. Very good blog!!

  • Gina

    I am in love with the word jackass now. You are right, it rolls off the tongue ever so nicely. I have been on a bit of a cursing streak lately, so this fits nicely.

    Sorry about your car and the doggy. 🙁

    We have been trying so hard to make finish OITNB, but somehow we are stuck on episode 7 or something, not due to lack of interest, just other stuff needs to get done before we can watch TV. I am looking forward to the episode.