Happenings and Whatnot

It occurred to me that it's been a while since I've blogged about stuff and things that are happening. Most of my blogging these days seems geared towards either ranting about something or posting pictures. So here are a few headlines from my life this week.

California Girl Almost Gets Creamed In Parking Lot

Good grief. It was awful. Today I went to the Chorale office to help out with a mailing. I left around lunchtime, and an employee of the building where the office is located was leaving on his lunch break, or whatever. We backed out at the same time. I saw him, so I stopped, but he...kept...backing...up. I drive a small sedan; he was in a mid-sized SUV. When his back bumper was about two feet from the driver's side door, I stopped screaming (not effective) and started honking. He kept backing up.

Finally, about 10 inches from my door, he figured out the honking was aimed his way and stopped. He pulled forward and then stopped, allowing me to go by so he could wave and smile sheepishly. I half-waved back and shouted something like "OHMAGAH!!!" My heart was pounding and it took me a few minutes to get my breath back in control.

So, that was Wild and Absolutely True.

The Job Hunt Stalls

Eh. I've had several interviews, and I have not gotten any of the jobs as yet. There is one slim possibility brewing that I'm asking for all the possible good vibes for...but until budgets are cleared and all that good stuff, I just don't know if it will work out. I'm keeping quiet about details (don't want to jinx it), but seriously. Asking for those good vibes, folks.

And in the meantime, I'm keeping the resume current, logging into CalJobs, Ed-Join, and LinkedIn, and researching other career options.

Please Look At My Cute Etsy Shop!!!


Here are some pictures of the latest "fancies" in my shop, with links to the items in the caption. Even if you don't want to buy, help a lady out by passing my shop on to people who might be interested!

Wedding Card

Add caption

Happy Daffodils

I Love You Banner

It's A Girl! Banner

Japanese Tea Garden Photo Cards

Life Is Just...

Life's A Beach Photo Cards

Pink Power -- $3 of the money from this will be donated to Komen.

Pink Power -- $3 of the money from this will be donated to Komen.

Quilt Style Thank You Cards

Slainte Cards

Stars and Stripes Set

Thanks a Latte cards.

Mr. Swimmy Is Slowly Taking Over the World

Last night, Maayan posted to me on Facebook that a picture of Cali Swimmy, taken at the Railroad Revival Tour, was posted on a Tumblr blog. Since I had not posted this picture:

Swimmy with Ben "Smiley" Lovett

...on Tumblr, I was confused--then I realized that the lady who posted it had found it via my humble Little Pink Blog (and had, of course, given credit to my blog). I told her the brief version of the story of Mr. Swimmy and she loved it.

Swimmy now has 47 fans on Facebook, and even my parents didn't bat an eyelash when I pulled him out of my purse on Sunday for a photo op at Lake Oroville.

Who knew a rubber duck could spread so much happiness?

Harry Potter

I wanted to post a more formal review, I honestly did. But I got busy, and lazy, and really, the only thing I can think to say was "Oh, heavens, it was wonderful!!!"  So I'll just post a few points here. Spoilers ahead and all that.

• I cried. In Part 1 of "Deathly Hallows," I slightly teared up when Dobby died. But in Part 2, I bawled, pretty much non-stop, for the last 45 minutes or so. Enough to make Mom turn to me and say, "Are you alright?" My response: *sniffle* *squeak* "Yes!"
• Alan Rickman is so marvelous. I mean it. Taking a character who is so unlikeable (remember, in the books, Snape never learns to like Harry and protects him all these years only because of his love for Lily) and making me sympathize with him--brilliant, just brilliant. Through the whole of "The Prince's Tale," when Harry is watching Snape's memories in the Pensieve, my lip was trembling. My lip never trembles.
• I was crying, laughing, and clapping my hands all at once when Neville killed Nagini. And I cried and laughed at the same time when Molly said, "Not my daughter, you bitch!" and then proceeded to give Bellatrix what was coming to her.
• Speaking of Bellatrix--there is no one in the world who could have played her as well as Helena Bonham-Carter. And Helena playing Hermione playing Bellatrix? Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.
• Yeah, I knew seeing the Weasley family bawl over Fred's body? Well, just use me to wipe up the floor, why don't you?
• I even wept through the epilogue. Happy tears, seeing Harry all grown up and a little pudgy, and his speech to little Albus Severus? Oh, good grief. 
• Oh, and that little scene where a 17-year-old Boy Who Lived says, "I'm ready to die" and sees his parents, Sirius and Lupin again? I think I'd soaked through my Gryffindor shirt by this point.
• There were a few nit-picky things that I wasn't thrilled about, but honestly? They're nothing compared to how much I enjoyed the movie and felt that it was 95% true to the book and 100% satisfying to me.

And that's all I have to say about that. Well, for the moment, anyway. Until I see it a second time, which I will, even though money is tight. Some things are just worth it.

Speaking of Harry Potter...

All of the kids involved in the eight Harry Potter movies have grown up before our eyes. None more so than Matthew Lewis, who plays my favorite "secondary" character, Neville Longbottom. This little meme that has been going around Tumblr sums it up best.

And this one, too:

Fun Times Are A'Comin'

A couple of months ago, Summer bought tickets to see Ben Folds this Friday in San Francisco. He's one of her favorites. Her husband (also named Ben, which makes me giggle) decided not to go because he has to work the next day, so she offered the ticket to me. Yay! Yesterday, via Facebook, we put together a really fun plan. I'm going to meet her at her house at about 2:00, and we'll drive over to the nearby BART station. We'll take BART into the city and disembark near San Francisco's mission, San Francisco de Asis (also known as Mission Delores). I am a mission-visiting fool this year!

After that, we'll take BART back to a nearby mall where there is a fabulous food court full of healthy options for dinner. Then we'll go to the Warfield (same place I saw Mt. Desolation and Mumford and Sons back in October) for the show. I'm going to crash at Summer and Ben's place that night because there is no way we'll get back to Oakland before midnight.

I always love spending time with Summer, and we get to see a mission and go to a great show. Life is grand, my friends.

And that's it for this evening. It's a busy week, with working out (walked into the gym today after being at my parents' this weekend and found that everything had been rearranged. I found Gershom and said, "They moved everything!" He replied, "I did it!" I should've known.), job hunting, and completing my daily list of tasks, like promoting my Etsy shop, listing stuff on eBay and promoting that, checking various sites for the job search, keeping up with important emails, household tasks, making myself write just to practice writing--bad poetry, blog posts, silly stuff in my notebook--and other various chores.

So...cheers from California. : )

P.S. I had yet another response from Richard on Twitter--hardly worth mentioning, really, except, well, it's Richard. Of Keane.