a99kitten's Musings

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/economy/07generation.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Wow. This kid is one of the bigger spoiled brats I’ve read about NOT coming out of Hollywood…

Let’s see…

Your grandparents paid for all 4 years of college plus boarding;

After graduating and not finding your “dream” job you lived at your parents house, not only room and board free, but they also pay for your cell phone and life insurance;

You now live with your brother where your parents cover your portion of the rent;

A job that you were offered started at $40K a year but you turned it down as a bad opportunity/not good enough for you.

Wah.

The American Dream is elusive for you because its achieved through a lot of hard work, sweat and perseverance. Not hoping the right dream job lands in your lap so you can leave your parent’s cushy nest eventually.

Loser.

I really hate when people use the term “throwing someone to the wolves” when referring to how someone wasn’t cared for properly, or how they would be on their own to fend for themselves in a harsh situation, or stuff like that.

Wolf packs actually care very much for their pack mates. Pups are cared for by not only the mother but the father and other pack mates.

So what people actually should be saying is throwing someone to the homo sapiens because you are much more likely to get a crappy parent/family/boss/etc from the humanoid world than from the Canis lupus one….

Would rather be raised by...

My birthday weekend is coming to a close. I think I did OK on my birthday gluttony as far as eating, drinking and general merriment went. Was still busy and stressed with work so I pretty much kept it to a minimum. I’ve mostly been tired so wanting to just hang out with huskies and read in the sun – pretty much the best activities anyway :)

I had my pre-Eclipse dinner with girlfriends that my birthday snuck into last Tuesday, Eclipse (squeal!) and then a comic book store excursion and a nice dinner with friends on Friday, hung out with huskies a lot, finished my book AND one of my new Wonder Woman graphic novels (and the new WW), had dinner with more friends at the house on Sunday night and went to the lake today, hung out, watched (other) doggies play in the water and had a Wet Woody (yummy drink…mind out of the gutter!)

And I did end the day and the weekend with 2 glasses of Gloria Ferrar Blanc de Noir (courtesy of @missmelon leftover from last night) and some homemade Hawaiian poke. One of my all-time favorite combos/meals. Sushi grade tuna and bubbly – perfect combo in flavors.

Back to work tomorrow. I take a week off for my birthday/July 4th every year. With 2 weekends and 5 weekdays = 9 awesome days in Tahoe. This year it got changed due to work. So instead of the annual week off at this time, I will shoot for this past 3-day weekend and a 4-day weekend starting Thursday! We’ll see. Fingers crossed…

p.s. it’s Harrison Ford’s birthday on the 13th so July really is an excellent month :)

Found this on YouTube and grinned the whole way through. I don’t give a crippity-crap about meeting celebrities. But I would love to meet this man.

Started reading my new Vanity Fair tonight (the one with the gorgeous Liz Taylor on the cover) and got to their monthly poll. This one is titled “Admitting Our Mistakes” although I don’t see most of the questions really about that.

It’s funny. I’ve always considered the majority of Vanity Fair readers to be very liberal and comfortable/well-off/just plain wealthy. I am not liberal, at all, but I do love all of the great pictures, fun articles about old/monied scandal and even the gorgeous ads of all sorts of fun stuff to buy :) Years and years ago, I started subscribing solely because of Dominick Dunne’s monthly column. And did think I might cancel once he passed away. But I’ve kept it so far since I did cancel all the rest of my magazines except for Sports Illustrated and Vogue (yeah…a bit of weird mix but that’s me :) )

Anyway, example of questions: “If you could live in a movie for one day, whose life would you want?” Overwhelming winner – Indiana Jones. Caught my attention! :) (sigh…) The other choices in order: Ferris Bueller, Carrie Bradshaw, Don Corleone, Gordon Gekko, Ilsa Lund (Casablanca) and Lara Croft (Tomb Raider). I’m sure a psyche major would have a field day with those answers :)

Other questions:
2. “Do You think it is sometimes justified for the C.I.A. to resort to assassination, or it is never justified.” The majority is sometimes justified. I wouldn’t have guessed that from this crowd (have you ever read the Letters to the Editor?? Fn tree-huggers)

3. Apparently the University of North Dakota retired their mascot, the Fighting Sioux, on the grounds it gives offense to Native Americans. What should happen to other references (Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves)?

Overwhelming vote was to keep them. Only 12% said retire. That truly did surprise me because tree-huggers are also ridiculously, over-the-top, make-me-gag PC…

3. When you hear the name Robert M Gates, what profession comes to mind?” Computer pioneer was the clear winner. Umm…not Bill Gates people…and hello – aren’t you limousine liberals always all pissy about the Defense Secretary, no matter who it is?

There are a lot of questions so I won’t bore you with more. But I will say some of the answers surprised me. I personally believe (since I personally know people like this) that people will sometimes say things, or agree with things, to not cause controversy in the crowd they are in. But anonymously, the answers might be different. Especially when you live in an area like the SF Bay Area like I do where the dirty hippies run rampant. I am not like this. At all. In any way. My friends either love me or hate me for this reason :)

So I did find these answers (well, some of them) interesting. And points to the truism that you cannot judge a book by its cover. Or not everything is black and white. Or just because you are a staunch conservative doesn’t mean you hate the environment and, in fact, prefer it and the fluffy over most, if not all, people and all of their BS. Oh wait…that might just apply to me :)

Great movie. Jeff Bridges definitely deserved his Oscar. I have loved him forever. So, so good in everything I have seen him in. Weird watching him in this character though. Was so like my father. Not that my father was a washed-up country music star but definite similarities. p.s. he also reminded me of Kris Kristopherson!

My dad was a drummer. He played in jazz clubs before he married my Mom. Before he was legal to be in those clubs. When he was still a junior in high school. He played with guys who went on to play/tour with Chick Corea, Edgar Winters, Eddie Van Halen and some other famous guys. But my Dad did the “responsible” thing. He got married, got a respectable job, etc. If I had to guess, he wishes he never did that. Not that he doesn’t love me and my brother or my Mom, I never questioned that. But I know that he always wondered “what if?” He should have made different decisions at many crossroads in his life but didn’t. He should have.

Like Jeff Bridges’ character, he was/is an alcoholic (and chain smoker…they must go hand in hand?) Maybe because of seeing his life play out, I do not buy into that bullshi** psych excuse. Maybe your body chemistry allows you to be more susceptible to being weak to addiction, but that just means you need to be strong. For you. Your family. Job. Friends. Whatever. Whoever. You are not a victim. It’s not a disease. Whatever it is – drugs, alcoholism, gambling, being a weak schmuck, whatever. You are strong or you are weak. Period. “Poor me. It’s just how I am” is not an excuse. My father would kick your ass for saying it. Weakness is not a justifier for stupid decisions.

Life can be tough. Life owes you nothing. Suck it up. Expect nothing that you don’t get yourself. I think these were the best gifts/lessons my father taught me. He would have never won the “Father Knows Best” award. But I will always love him for those lessons.

Bad’s/Otis’ life ended up a bit better than my Dad’s. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s not saying much. And I sometimes cry a little wishing things were different for him. That he made different choices. But then I stop, knowing he’d shake his head at me…

p.s. less emo bullet points to remember:
1. I’d like point out that only country stars (and the rat pack) can live life, be a drunk, basically die, live dead-ish, and come back to life and still consistently make good music. Pop, R&B, dance and rap can suck it.
1.i. old school stars are exempt from statement a
1.ii. “old school” from statement b applies to people decently older than me.
2. you are allowed to get a touch emo when you have such awesome huskies in your life.
3. Colin Farrell is ridiculously hot no matter what he does.
3.i. And he can sing. Who knew?
3.ii. I hate long hair on guys but he’s still hot….
4. yes, I’ve read too many legal docs this week…

A good life lesson is to never, ever accept being second choice. Because you will always feel that way. People are selfish It’s hard not to be at some point in life. But the ones that go to extremes to show they are not, are the worst ones. Because any kind of victim mentality (oh look at me being so nice) is worse than ANYTHING. Hate those people. Puke. You will usually find they are the ones that stabbed you in the back.

Its why dogs/animals are the best. You just don’t have to wonder about them..their motives. People = not so much.

It’s also why having close friends/family is key. If you find people who you trust with more than your life – keep ’em. It’s such a rare find.

But sadly most people aren’t worth the effort.

6:00am: Woke up
Did my stepper (indoor exercise)
Took the buds out (outdoor exercise)
Got ready
Went to work
Worked
2:00pm – used vacation hours for rest of day – left work.
Picked up dry cleaning
Stopped at Pet Club (words can’t describe how much I hate SoSF – never going to that Pet Club again.)
Got to vet – waited, went over stuff w/tech and then again w/doc (got sad as Storm was taken away)
Took Angelus home and gave him treat which he didn’t eat (sad about Storm – I got sad again)
Started laundry
Emptied dishwasher
Answered work email
Took care of Gypsy (yes, I have a cat too)
Filed away some paid bills, etc.
Changed out laundry
Spoke to vet (yay Storm is all a-ok!)
More work email
Blog about Storm
Packed for Tahoe
Put away Pet Club stuff
Put away dry cleaning
Folded/put away 2 loads of laundry
Go to bank and make deposit
Picked up Storm – spoke to vet (got sad about person there who was sad about dying pet)
Went to McDonald’s for husky McNuggets and a cheeseburger for me (yeah..that’s right)
Got home and carefully unloaded Storm
Fed huskies
Hung out with Storm who would start crying/howling if I got up
Updated twitter, facebook and texts for people wondering about Storm (he is loved!)
Got to watch the Season finale of V! (creepy!)
Started watching L&O SVU season finale till Storm moved to hallway 10 mins in..
Storm fell sound asleep – ran around getting Angelus inside, changing 3rd load of laundry and washing face, brushing teeth and locking up house.
Typed this as a sit next to Stom in the hallway on the floor….now need to get Storm to bed without upset somehow…

Good dang thing I used those vacation hours today or I could have wasted them on a beach reading somewhere someday…

Eh…who am I kidding? I hate to leave the huskies for long anyway :)

My garden was hit with a case of spring this week! Now, I can absolutely take zero credit for any of this. The previous owner planted it all. We were told by our neighbor that the wife’s passion was her garden. They made enough money so she didn’t work and she spent hours every day on her garden.

Light pinks

Here on the coast, you actually to have to know what to plant as the weather is not for the plants needing tons of warm sun. We actually have plenty of sunshine, but also plenty of misty fog too. So she apparently spent a lot of time researching what to plant. And she did a great job.  When we first found the house, the entire side garden was one giant bloom!

Bright pinks

Yellowy-purple things

Yellows

I call this one my Chanel pink :)

I do very well with the fluffy. But my green thumb is limited to hiring a gardener for outside and buying flowers to fill vases indoors. After a couple gardeners, this one seems to be doing an OK job. But I think much more credit goes to the lady who spent so much time researching the right things to plant and planting them with love and care!

Angelus gnome :)

Of course, I do take credit for having the best garden gnome :)

This was my very first post on this blog a year ago. Only fitting I re-blog it today :)

I saw my favorite movie ever 29 years ago today. I stayed up almost all night watching commercials and tv spots showing clips. I was so excited. I knew “never tell me the odds!” was a favorite quote of mine beginning that night.

I made my Dad promise he would take me and not stay at work late. None of my friends were into Star Wars. Most of my friends were older than me so were starting to think about dating, sneaking into R rated movies, etc. But me…I was definitely making my Dad take me to the afternoon showing and then to Burger King to get the glasses! (I bought 2 of each – 1 to use and 1 to save and still have them!)

We had a great time. My dad wasn’t late, we played Asteroids at the theater while waiting and loved the movie! And even though he hated fast food, my Dad took me to BK afterwards. And I just realized as I typed this that he took me to my first viewing of all 3 of the original trilogy. We didn’t do much out together as a family – he worked a lot – but we did this.

Then I saw it 10 more times in the theater with as many different combo of friends and family/parent’s friends that I could muster. And then countless times on VHS, re-release, DVD, etc. And of course every time I am flipping around TV channels and it’s on (hi, Spike TV) I stop and watch :)

But it all started 29 years ago today with my Dad taking me. :)

(And still my favorite movie poster of all time! Will always have a prominent place in my home!)

Happy Birthday to “The Empire Strikes Back”. :)

I love the movie Pretty Woman. It’s sweet, romantic, fun, true love wins in the end,etc, etc. Yes, it is also about a “working girl” but we like to gloss over that little part.

But let’s talk about the fun clothes! I got to have a shopping experience similar to that. It really is a rush. My old boss was wealthy. After working for him for a couple years he went through a rough divorce. I handled all of the correspondence between him and his wife, the lawyers, the nannies/kids situations, etc. This was in addition to all actual hedge fun daytime business and job I had. Once it was basically over, he said to me one day BEFORE the market closed (unheard of!) let’s go to the city and I’ll take you shopping. Umm..ok!

He had 2 Ferraris (yes early 90s) and we drove up in the black convertible. I thought by shopping he meant we went to a store, bought me something and leave. We started at Wilkes Bashford. he said pick out whatever I wanted. Anything. The shop girls instantly assumed I was the mistress. Great. But whatever. They were VERY helpful. Moved onto Ralph Lauren, then TSE Cashmere, then Northbeach Leather and then a pair of diamond studs. I saw the AMEX bills come in later. Just south of $50k. In one afternoon. On me! Quite an obscene…and profane amount of money :) I can’t imagine any man will ever spend anywhere near that much on me in my lifetime again. I make my own money so whatever. Not really about the money anyway. But it was fun. Very fun. :)

Word got out at work and one of the analysts who had asked me out previously made a rude comment in a staff meeting. It upset me. I told my boss why I was upset. He (the analyst) was yelled at and almost fired. He (the analyst) assumed the reason I said no to a date was because I was “doing” the boss. No pal – I said no because you were the stereotypical New York Wall Street douchebag and I had less than no interest in you. And I refused to allow it to take away from the fun of the shopping trip!

My husband still says to this day he (my old boss) ruined me for all men forever. That no man could live up to the super nice, rich guy thing my boss showed me existed…even if very rare. The guy who did something very nice for someone to show appreciation and express affinity for their help, loyalty, etc. And it’s not the dollar amount. But more the fact that someone was willing to take me for an entire afternoon, which was completely against character (to leave the office during market hours!) and do something that will make someone smile, laugh and so very crazy and unexpected. That makes them smile. That’s pretty cool. And it’s a shame that my husband is probably right that most people would  not do that, even if they could, without expecting something in return.

I think I still have a pair of cool shoes from Wilkes Bashford, and a couple crocodile belts from Ralph Lauren and a leather trench from North Beach Leather. Plus separately, I bought a brown, polka dot halter dress almost identical to the one she wears at the polo match. I love that dress!

I will always remember that shopping trip as a super fun trip with a super nice guy. Proof that the nice guy DOES exist….or maybe he was the only one..