Now I know what Dad went thru... even if it is only temporary

Last night, I discovered that I can barely hear out of my left ear.

I must have some kind of (ewww) wax build-up that I need to address in a hurry. In my math class today, I thought Kalea was asking me to spell "Chinese food", instead of her saying she smelled Chinese food...

It's driving me nuts.

My dad was deaf in one ear due to a jeep accident after WWII which ruptured his eardrum. Now I kind of know what he went thru during the last half of his life.

And it's a little late to commiserate, now, isn't it?

Guess I'll have to take advantage of the "family discount" and have Dean check my ear and remove any wax that may be in there. I kinda need to hear, don't I?


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

crossposted here

Welcome all to my disciplined breakdown

(Because if I'm going to go looney tunes, I'm going to do it my way, dammit!)

Before you even ask, Larry, my week sucked.

If Daniel and his smashed up thumb wasn't enough, I had to stay home from school on Tuesday because of some stomach bug. And, because it was raining cats and dogs and chickens and goats when I attempted to walk to school today, I ended up staying home again. I can't miss any more school, so I HAVE to get my transportation issues taken care of, like yesterday.

And there's an issue with the internet service I have from Cox in my neighborhood, so the connection has been iffy since last night. To finish my homework last night, I ended up on someone's wireless signal. Cox assures me that the issues should be resolved by this afternoon.

Now, I'm at the library, on my laptop, typing away. Oh. Joy.

Here is my view from the library:


This is S.E. 15th Street in Del City. Off to the right somewhere is the baseball field at Del City High School.

And this is the library's view of yours truly:


Stef being her usual smartass self.

Right now, as I type this, it's raining again. It's raining hard. I might be here a while.

This just hasn't been my week. Maybe next week will be better. It certainly can't get any worse, can it? (Wait! Don't answer that! You'll jinx me!)

hope your week off was better than mine. see ya soon, cowboy!

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Stef's Horrorscope: the "yes, Larry, I'm a spy" edition

re: title-- guess you had to be there...LOL

Aquarius (1/20-2/18)

You have much more power than you think you do -- just with positive thinking, you can create a good day today, no matter how the morning starts. It's important that you not let how you feel when you wake up dictate how you feel throughout your day. The day's events are not set in stone. As each minute ticks by, you can take it and make it what you want it to be. Your brilliance is apparent when you turn a cloudy day into a sunshiny one.



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Oh, man... I am soooo sore!

It's not the walking to school that's going to kill me, it's the pain I feel in my back that probably will. I told Larry today I might be in traction by the end of all this. He thinks I'll be healthier from all the walking, and that may be true. But it's a long, long way to the end of July...

I had homework today, which I expected. What I didn't expect was Ben, Larry's colleague from the broadcasting school, to be in my Music Video Production class. I had a heads up that Ben would be there, but it was still a surprise when I walked into class, and there sat Ben, looking like he was going to a GQ photo shoot after class.

And I think I've seen my math prof at WalMart a few times. She looked really familiar when I walked into her class this morning.

When I get a little cash, I'm going to get mad amounts of Gatorade, and lots of body lotion to keep my skin from drying out from all the showers I'm going to be taking.

It's going to be in the 90's tomorrow... Lord help me!

help me dry off?

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I'm jonesin' for some Chinese food...

I probably should head up to my mom's house, because she wants someone to have Chinese food with. The boys don't like it (though Daniel has been known to eat sushi ---ewwww!), so the only time Mom has any is when I come over.

Besides, I need to do some laundry, and her dryer works again.

Guess I better give Daniel a buzz to come get me...

wish i could have Chinese food with you cowboy

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Snxxx (that's supposed to be what snoring looks like in print?)

Stayed up too late reading the new copy of The Sun Magazine I got in the mail yesterday. But I fell asleep easier. That's always nice.

I woke up later, still dark outside, and made a disturbing discovery.

New neighbors moved into the apartment next to me that had the fire right after Easter about two weeks ago. Last night, I could hear one of them snoring away on the other side of the wall from my bedroom.

And, they snore rather loudly if I can hear it thru the damned wall!

Not like my maternal grandmother, who in her later years snored like a frieght train (maybe some sleep apena going on there, I don't know). I could be on the other end of the house sleeping, and it would be like she's sleeping in the same room.

My dad snored. Saon snored. Marc even snored when he was real little, because he got sick everytime the weather changed (thankfully, he's outgrown that at 13 years old). The only person's snoring that really bothered me was Jon's, because he insists to this day that he doesn't snore. Not even kicking him in the middle of the night got him to stop.

I probably snore, but then I can't hear myself when I'm sleeping.

The snoring doesn't really bother me, because eventually, I'll get used to it. But if I'm not living in your apartment, I don't really want to hear it.

But, if you're sleeping in my bed and you snore, I'll miss it when you're gone.


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

It just dawned on me

Summer classes start on Monday!

I ordered my books online from the Rose State Bookstore and I'm expecting them before the end of the week.

It's the schlepping them to school that's going to be hard on me. Still trying to get the dinero to get the water pump replaced. Until then, I'll be hoofin' it.

At least I won't be having any more of those unintentional all nighters, because I'll be too tired to stay up all night long.

Meanwhile, I've got stuff to do...

thanks for peeking, cowboy.


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Lucky me (insert raspberry here)

Saon calls this evening, and before I can even get "hello" out of my mouth, he says,

"Have you talked to John [his former foster dad] lately?" I told him yes, and Saon said that John had just called him to tell him that he (John) will be in the States in July (John lives and works somewhere in Indonesia).

Saon's doubtful, because last summer when John visited, he wanted Saon to meet him at the airport before his flight back to Indonesia. Saon wasn't really cool with that, because he was under the impression that since the man raised him from like 11 years old, that he'd want to spend more time than the hour alloted to him.

He had another fare, and said he'd call me later. Just as I was hanging up the phone, John IMs me, to tell me he talked to Saon. I told him I had just gotten off the phone with Saon. I mentioned to John about what happened last year when he visited, and said that it was clear why Saon had been so defensive (you'd think it would have occured to Saon to tell John this himself, but noooooooo....).

Then John thanks me for "hooking [them] up". No problem, I said.

When did I become the middle grrl in this relationship? One, I might add, that I had no part in until after Katrina hit New Orleans, and John saw one of my pleas for info on Saon's whereabouts on one of the many bulletin board sites that sprung up in the days following the hurricane.

How lucky can one grrl be, huh?



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

The Post wherein Stef discusses junk e-mail and weight

I get a lot of crap in my email. Fortunately, most of it ends up in the Spam folder on Gmail, so I don't have to read it if I don't wish to. Usually, I don't wish to.

But, I didn't have to read this email to get a chuckle from the subject: lose a ton of weight with (name of bogus weight loss product here).

If I literally lost a ton of weight, I'd no longer exist. I'm a big gal and I could stand to lose a lot of weight, but not a literal ton (ton= 2000 lbs) of weight.

The way I see it, I didn't put all this weight on overnight, and it ain't coming off overnight. I really and truly do have to work at it. If a realistic weight loss solution really came in a bottle of pills, do you think there'd be an obesity epidemic here in the good ole U.S. of A?

Lord knows they've tried it. Remember Fen-Phen (Phen-Fen?)? Turned out that people were dying taking that crap.

There was another one a few years ago (name escapes me at the moment) that I actually asked my doctor at the time about. He told me that it was for severly obese patients, and that I wasn't severly obese. Gee, thanks for the backhanded compliment, Doc!

Of course, there is weight loss surgery, which is a life saver for a lot of those who take that route.
I considered that, too. But, being the big chicken I am about "going under the knife", and the costs (and in 1997, wasn't covered by my insurance thru the call center that shall remain nameless), I quickly stopped considering it. In 1998 and the very early part of 1999, I lost close to 85 lbs. doing a paper route. Not a "ton" of weight, but enough for people to notice.

It just kills me how many things are "out there" to help one lose weight, become rich, increase the size of their manhood (and yes, I get those junk emails too!), and how many people have Viagra and/or Cialis for sale.

And no, I don't need help finding a date, thank you for asking (more junk emails from every conceivible kinds of online dating there is out there). Despite my being a plus size grrl, I don't have any trouble attracting male attention. It might be the boobs, I don't know. I'd like to think it's because I'm a nice gal, can carry on a somewhat intelligent conversation, have some knowledge of current events, and am fun to be around.

Or, as someone else said to me about a year or two ago... because they wanted to get to know me as a friend first. And I value this person's friendship, because they were up front and honest with me.

Unlike a couple of people I know (x-hubby and x-b/f).

Thank you for being my friend, cowboy.

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Stef's Horrorscope: the "See, Larry, I Told You I Was a Good Grrl" Edition

Aquarius (1/20-2/18)

You've been very good for a long time, so it's okay for you to slip a little today and do something that's 'against the rules.' You shouldn't do anything dangerous or illegal, of course -- but give yourself the green light to cheat on your diet, take a shortcut on a household chore, or make a frivolous little purchase. Don't worry -- you won't get addicted to being bad! Rather, you'll remind yourself how easy it is to be good!




That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Sleep... or the lack thereof

This is the worst night in a long time. I haven't been to sleep yet. Not that I haven't tried, sleep is just eluding me. I guess the pain I'm feeling doesn't help... I took Aleve before I attempted to go to bed (okay, I did go to bed, I just haven't fallen asleep), but it's not helping.

I'm watching TV. There's nothing on at 4:30am.

Well, I'm going to try and sleep. Goodnite and have a safe holiday weekend.

Hi, cowboy!

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

My curiousity got the better of me, I guess

I was checking my stats today, and saw that someone looked up "Dusty the Clown".

Dusty later became the "Fabulous Balloon Man", and since about 1997, I lost track of him.

I knew the man behind both of these personas. He and I were pretty good friends until about 10 years ago. Since then, it seems as though he's fallen off the edge of the earth.

I just wanted to say hello and how you been, and what have you been doing for the last ten years?

I've looked on the internet, and found some things that might lead to him, but I'm not sure. It's not like I'm planning a trip to Norfolk and Virginia Beach anytime soon and want to look him up. I think it's more to satisfy my own curiousity.

Unless he's now deceased, then I'll feel bad I didn't try harder or sooner to find him.

I've noticed that I've had a lot of visitors from the Hampton Roads area lately, but a lot of them are looking for info on Henry Del Toro, formerly of WNOR-FM in Norfolk. Just this one looking for "Dusty the Clown" that's got me thinking about him again.

And maybe, I should just let the past stay where it is... in the past. No use inviting trouble, now, is there?


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Hmmm...not bad...

but I can do better. Something to work towards at any rate.

Got all of my grades, finally. The last two were probably posted this morning. I was hoping for a 3.5, but the 3.25 I did get is okay.

My goal for the semester was to get a 3.0 GPA, so I achieved that. For the summer classes, I just want to get the math class out of the way without falling flat on my face. It doesn't count towards my GPA, but that doesn't mean I can do poorly in it. For the two that do count, I want to do well.

In the fall, I want to better the 3.25 GPA I just got for the spring semester. I mean, if I'm not going to do well, what's the point of going to school?

Part of me wishes I'd done this years ago; and part of me is glad I waited until now.

It's gonna be tough asking my 21 year old son to help me with math homework though (he offered, BTW).

thanks for peeking, cowboy

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Ick, look at all the crud on the floor!

Time to drag the vacuum cleaner out of the closet and give the rug a once over.

My apartment is so small, I could probably get away with one of those electric sweepers and no one would be the wiser (except those of you who read this blog). Better yet, I wish I had a Roomba to vacuum up all the stuff accumulated on the floor. Push a button and go. How easy is that?

That reminds me of this:

When I was living in Massachusetts with my three cats, I didn't have a vacuum cleaner. When I did have to vacuum, I borrowed one from one of my neighbors. Columbus, my big male Maine Coon, was scared witless of the vacuum cleaner. I didn't even have to turn it on and Columbus would hiss at it. The girl cats, Flurry and Sadie, could've cared less.

I mentioned to someone (probably Paul, who was then my landlord and not the Master of the One Line Email) that I wanted to get a Roomba, which had just come out the year before, because all I'd have to do is push a button and it would vacuum the rug itself. But, this being 2000 at the time, Roombas were prohibitly expensive, so it was out of the question to get one. But I could just see Columbus chasing this stupid little thing around my apartment and hissing at it.

Poor Columbus... he's been gone almost a year and a half now. I miss him.

But, I digress...

I probably should get up off my fat Italian ass and vacuum the rug. Who knows when a certain someone will surprise me by showing up at my door again? (soon, I hope).

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I gotta quit sleeping during the day

because I won't fall asleep when I'm supposed to at night.

This afternoon, I fell asleep on the couch after taking a shower. Mind you, I had a towel on my head and pretty much nothing else. I sat for one second, and next thing I know, it's two hours later, I'm in my birthday suit, and the front door is unlocked! Anyone could have walked in!

I really felt naked at that point.

So I go and get dressed, dried my hair, went out to get the mail, hang out outside for a few minutes, then come back inside and think about making dinner.

I almost can't wait for school to start again in June.

Oh, and for the first time in his life, Scott will have to go to school on his birthday (May 29th). Because of all the snow days in December and January, they have to make them up at the end of the year, which is June 1st. Usually, school would have been over for about a week before Scott's birthday. Not this year!

He's going to be 16! And he's getting his learners permit the day after his birthday. Scott? Driving? I still get nervous driving with Jeff, and he's had his license for 5 years!

Time sure flies...


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Eye of the Tiger

I'm strong (tigers), sensitive (flower, heart), bright (stars), and loyal (fleur de lys)...

So there.

Want to make your own? Go to abovetheinfluence.com or click on the flag above.

Thanks for peeking, cowboy. talk soon

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I'm done! (Stef does Happy Dance)

Walked to school... only took me 30 minutes to get there. Still had plenty of time to do some last minute studying.

Then I went and took the final. Couldn't believe how easy it was... probably because I studied for it. I was done in less than an hour (two hours had been scheduled for it).

Walked to WalMart, grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home.

Now, if all the days this summer are like today, I could probably walk to school for summer classes. It's the rainy days and the triple digits we usually get around here in the summer than concern me.

Daniel's going to come over here this afternoon and take a looksee at the car. The water pump he can probably replace. The other thing with the steering column, I don't know.

(I've got Larry on Yahoo! Mess-up-enger, and we're talking about scooters/Vespas, and how much a used one would run... I should ask him if I do get one, will he teach me how to ride it, since he's ridden motorcycles...?)

It's a thought...

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Running the gamut of emotions from A to Z

First-- I didn't sleep in much. I got up at 8am, and started in with my studying. I was doing really well with that, and I think I'll do really well tomorrow.

Then-- I had a wonderful afternoon. And while it was wonderful, it left me with a lot of conflicting emotions. But, I think I got those straightened out. So I feel better.

Then-- I went to WalMart to pick up a few things and get gas for the Beretta. After I brought my stuff to the car, I decided to wait until tomorrow to get gas. I was feeling pretty good.

Then-- it all went to hell on a sled.

The water pump on the car died. Water was spraying everywhere!! I'm thinking, oh great! This HAD to happen the night before my last final...

But, wait, there's more... as if it couldn't get any worse

Something in the steering column broke as I was parking in the parking lot at my apartment. I could take the key out of the ignition, but the engine didn't shut off. I had to borrow a wrench from one of my neighbors to disconnect the battery so the engine would shut off.

Then-- I called Jeff and asked if he and Daniel could come over and take a look at the car. I don't know if there is anything they can really do at this point. The steering column thing has happened twice before when I was in Massachusetts (once when I was on a long distance drive), so I know that it needs to be seen by a mechanic.

I need to borrow a car or get one from somewhere. I'll probably walk to school tomorrow (it won't kill me after all), but I need to make some arrangements to get to school for Summer Session that starts June 4th.
=====

Also-- it's my friend JC's birthday. Happy Birthday!


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Mother's Day and studying for two finals Monday

This is my Mother's Day card from Daniel and Jeff. Scott and Marc drew cards for me, but the pix didn't come out :(

Didn't really do much except study. Mom wasn't feeling well so we didn't go anywhere. I spent a good deal of the day here:

in my mom's van, running errands.

Then I put my part of the presentation for the English Comp project from hell together, read a little from my notes in my editing class, some US History stuff (that final is Wednesday), a bit from my English text, then went out and got Mom and me some dinner.

Daniel came home from work and brought me home.

I'm hittin' the hay. Wish me luck tomorrow!

(i'm gonna need it!)

hey, cowboy, ya wanna get tweaked tomorrow?

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I think this everytime I turn off my computer

My laptop "sleeps" more than I do!

Does this not suck, or what?


thanks 4 peeking, cowboy


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--