a99kitten's Musings

I haven’t bought (non-exercise) shoes in a long time….hmmm…..

And a bargain! Well…relative to their original price or a pair of Louboutins anyway.

4:00pm update: went ahead and pushed BUY. We’ll see how they fit :)

“It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

This has been attributed to Rose Kennedy. I typically do not agree with any Kennedy-isms. But this one I do.

Just watched “Morning Glory”. Of course I loved it. It has Harrison Ford in it! He played the grumpy, curmudgeon-ey guy that most interviews portray him as. Now, I’ve always loved that about him. He isn’t the pandering, Hollywood kick-ass that most actors are. He hates to do interviews (wouldn’t you?) He doesn’t do stupid crap to end up in tabloids and be followed by paparazzi. He wants to show up, do his job exactly as he is supposed to, be paid for it and leave. Exactly like me :)

He’s pretty adorable in the movie. As is Rachel McAdams. And no…she is not the love interest. Which was great. They could have a relationship without it being sexual or romantic. And she is adorable too! Her character is the workaholic. Was funny…another character mentioned how she was 28 and all she focused on was work. When I was in my late teens and 20s – all I did was work. Pretty sure that’s normal? My job was everything. My boss would call me late at night, on the weekends, etc. I was always available. I got there at 7am (I did refuse to get there earlier) and work till 6 or 7pm or later. And then be available to call in the evenings or weekends. And this was before email. I had a cell phone, an answering machine and a pager. (#old)

When I first started working for my boss everyone told me (the office HR manager, the girl I was replacing, the trading room and even his partners) that he burned through assistants in 6 months or less. Ok…Great. Thanks. I do not know why. I mean, he could be grumpy. But oh well. I got to see a side of him he didn’t show many people. I broke through the crusty exterior and we clicked. Most people were scared of him. This still cracks me up. Really? Him? But I guess I feel the same way when people act scared of the huskies. Really? Them? He became like a father figure to me and still is. And even now when we talk, he teases me about me about stuff and I’m like dude – you are such a grump! (yes…I would and still do call him dude…this is CA, I was very young when I started working for him and I am probably one of the very few people alive able to get away with that!)

I remember one Saturday being at work doing something and my boss’ brother came in (he was also one of the partners) and he made some snarky comment about his brother having slave labor. I smiled as he walked out while thinking “Well, if you weren’t such a mean, self-centered jackass you might inspire someone to work harder and do extra stuff for you too.” That guy was a jerk. Now sure how he was related to my boss. At. All.

All of my hours and extra work and stress also included me learning about the stock market, how to trade commodities and options, make a bunch of money in my stock account, pay for a LOT of life stuff with no debt, apply a work ethic where you work hard and are rewarded. Those are all things you do not learn in high school, college or grad school. Those are life lessons and practical learning. Reading about something and taking a test or writing a paper is not the same as applying it in life. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.

But now that I’m not in my 20s, I guess I don’t think work should BE my life. It’s part of my life. But not all of it. That was then. This is now. Plus I didn’t have huskies then! They are more important :)

Anyway, Rachel McAdams does NOT learn that work isn’t everything and she shouldn’t care so much about work. I appreciated that. She still has years to go before she gets to learn that! But she does break through the crusty exterior of Harrison Ford’s character. Was very cute and made me smile and remember when I was younger :)

Took the huskies to the beach this morning and they had a GREAT time! It was super low-tide so there was a ton of open beach to run on. I let them off-leash when they saw their friend Marley (ginormous black lab.) Actually Marley saw them first and he took off running full speed down the beach to meet them – he’s pretty darn cute. I let them off so they could meet him half-way! They ran around and had fun. Then we met a border collie named Maverick. This dog was FAST! And the huskies were tearing around chasing him as he chased his frisbee. Then he would drop his frisbee and chase them back.

Storm even went into the water to cool off! He has not done that in a long time. I guess with so many missing fur spots, he doesn’t get as hot as Angelus anymore. But he was chasing Maverick and they both just ran into the water and then a small wave came up and they were both belly high in water and Storm had this HUGE smile on his face. So, so cute.

Angelus wanted to play with a little dog who wanted to say hi to Angelus but then got scared and ran away at the last second. Well…to Angelus this means “Chase me!” Oops. He chased the little dog into a small alcove by the bluff and was like RUFF! Tail-wagging and smiling. But the little dog Mom saw it more as a “he wants to eat her!” No…he doesn’t. Little dog people are so funny. I grabbed him so she could grab her dog (Francesca…of course) and even as she did Fracesca was leaning out of her arms to sniff Angelus. See – everyone is fine. Then Angelus got bored and came back to the chase game with Storm and Maverick.

We were down on the beach for 2 hours playing! Angelus started getting warm after about 1.5 hours. The sun was shining so even with ocean dips, he was getting hot. He was making it clear he was done and wanted to head back. But Storm kept wanting to play!! I finally had to say enough when I saw Stormy’s back legs shaking a little. I think with everything he has been through this past year, he muscle tone is still not at 100% and he gets tired. But after 2 hours of running and chasing – I’d be tired too!

While we were out there, everyone wanted to talk about the tsunami. Was quite the event here. Maverick’s dad told me that they had an evac area set up on top of 92 (at the highest point.) I did see a bunch of cars and the state police there when I drove to work but apparently the news showed it as basically a parking lot with tons and tons of cars parked there and along Highway 35 too?! Who knows if the news exaggerated (as they like to do for drama and effect) but when I drove by the area there were about 20 cars and the cops. So I’m sure between 7-9am, there were a lot more. I do know they evacuated the houses on the west side of Highway 1 as well as the beaches and harbor. I guess safe is better than sorry but seeing how the tsunami was when it hit Hawaii, I was pretty sure anyone not actually standing on the beach would be just fine. But on my way home from work around 8pm last night, there were STILL cars parked there with people just milling about. Really??

I tend to not worry about most things. I think I keep all of my stress and worry focused mostly on the huskies. So as I was walking around yesterday AM and the highway was closed, fire trucks and cop cars lining the highway with lights flashing, cars and trucks just parked on streets and people walking around, helicopters buzzing around…it was a bit eerie. I thought to myself “Am I not as concerned for our safety as I should be?” But I figured the huskies didn’t seem concerned. They wanted to go to the beach. And animals have much better senses about this type of stuff (notice how all of the animals in Indonesia ran AWAY from the coast as the tourists walked towards it..) so I was taking their lead.

Even this morning, while we were on the beach, there were tide surges. It was super low tide but then all of a sudden, like ALL OF A SUDDEN, the tide has come up right to the bluffs. I managed to jump on a rock both times to avoid wet feet! And the huskies like wet paws! But it was SO fast, that I can’t even imagine it at that same speed with much more powerful water/waves. And it goes out just as fast. Very cool effect to see in real life. But I am totally OK with that and yesterday’s wave and tide viewing being the extent of my tsunami experience.

It’s a gorgeous day here today. Sunshine and a light breeze. Angelus argues much too hot but even he is lying on his lawn right now with a smile on his face :) He loves, loves, loves the snow but Storm tends to get cheesed a bit when we are in Tahoe as he gets cold faster so gets shorter walks. I was all packed and ready to go to Tahoe last night but I was SO tired after 2 nights of very little sleep. So I bagged the idea right as I should have headed out and decided to stay here. Plus the weather said it might rain up there. Yuck! I think I made the right call. The huskies had a BLAST on the beach today and Stormy got lots of playing and running in which he probably wouldn’t have in Tahoe. I think Stormy likes the snow and loves the beach. Angelus loves the beach but loves the snow more. So I need to make sure both are happy :)

So last weekend we spent in the snow. This weekend we are chilin’ at the beach and next weekend we will head back up to the snow as a new storm is expected to drop another 2 feet!

Snowy mountains, tsunami warnings, sunny beach…just another week in California…

USA (the channel) has been playing the Indiana Jones movies all day. I’ve had it on all day. Sure, I’ve been running around and doing stuff, or working on my laptop, but have had Dr. Jones playing on both the living room and bedroom TVs all day. It’s comforting. And I love them.

I have loved these movies since the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. I remember how I felt when seeing it for the first time and how much I loved it. And if you ever read the old George Lucas interviews about Raiders, you know he said he made the movies because he wanted to portray the serials’ that people would go watch in the 30s, 40s etc. when they went to the movies. This is why I don’t understand the hate or dislike people send towards Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. If you were like me, and read every snippet of info and article leading up the movie, then you knew exactly what it was gong to be like. There was no surprise. Even though Harrison, Steve and George (they are totally my personal friends), didn’t leak too much, they did talk about it.

The 2 big complaints I have heard about the movie is 1) Shia LeBeouf and 2) the aliens. And not just “Oh, I didn’t really like it. It wasn’t for me.” Those would be fair. Whatever. It’s “It was awful. I hated it.” “They raped Indiana Jones.” Ummmm….no. Raping is what MTV does to the American public every time it puts a new TV show on the air. Or what ABC does everytime time there is new Bachelor or Bachelorette. Or the many “reality” TV shows on various networks. These dumb down the IQ of the viewers as well as reward the complete suck-ass losers on the show every time they air. Ugh.

But I’ll address #2 since it was Crystal clear to me. The whole point of the movie was to show the same type of movies popular in the 50s. That was aliens and commies. Go back and look. People were obsessed with aliens and commies. They (George and Steven) didn’t pick this subject out of a hat. It followed the point of the serialization and what was portrayed in the earlier movies.

I guess I get protective and annoyed when people bash on Indy for the aliens. Go back and think people. Go back and read. Understand George the artist and what he does. And why he does it. It’s easy for everyone to hate on Nazis. They are the obvious enemy. So the 30s and 40s were easy-peasy. And think back – he got bashed for the Temple of Doom. I love that movie. Indian (and all other) cultures have wacky crap in it. Oh well. But he got bashed as racist and overly violent (it created the PG-13 rating.) Meh. Plus I think people can not admit to believing in aliens without worrying about labeled coo-koo for Cocopuffs.

If you can say without a doubt that there is no other sentient life in the universe besides planet those of us on planet Earth..you are a huge, flaming narcissist. Do you really think YOU are all there is? Yikes. Do they look like the stereotypical Mars alien with giant heads from the 50s movies? Who knows. Probably not. But can you really say there is none with absolute certainty? If so…….interesting.

Anyway…I’m going back to watching a truly entertaining movie with Dr. Indiana Jones. So kiss off you no-funners.

I finished “The Other Boleyn Girl” last night. Great book. I highly recommend it.  I saw the movie, and did like it, but the book (as usual) was much better. There is obviously a lot more detail and story than a 2 hour movie will allow.

The thing I really liked about the book, which I didn’t really expect, was that it is truly a story about Mary Boleyn. With Henry, Katherine, George, Anne and the rest of the cast in supporting roles. Very large supporting roles to be sure, but the story is concerned about sharing everything from Mary’s point of view. The movie was more of a story about Mary along with Henry and Anne. The book is a story told from the point of view of Mary. How things that went on affected her, how she felt, what she did and how her decisions affected those around her but all the while staying in the Tudor Court and their dramas.

It’s hard not to picture everyone as they were in the movie (or in The Tudors.) But Henry is described in this book how he (as per historal texts) was in reality. Started off a handsome prince with a kingdom to rule and much potential and turned into a fat, gluttonous tyrant drunk with his own power whose first desire was to fulfill his own wants first and foremost.  So not very Eric Bana or Jonathan Rhys-Meyers- like in looks :) and not very King-ly in actions.

Mary is portrayed as quite innocent and the “good” sister. Even though she is married quite young (13) but then pushed at the King to become his mistress. And bore 2 of his children. She does all this without any ill intent though so it apparently makes it OK. I can’t imagine it was as black and white as that. But she did get to keep her head.

Anne is a polarizing figure. She was religious and did believe in God and her faith. But believed that the Catholic Church should not have so much power over everything. And she was quite correct in that…in my opinion. She fought very hard to get Henry to change Church policy and he/they did. But in the end, that was her undoing. Anne made the fatal mistake that mistresses do – if he he did for you, he can do it to you. But apparently some view her as some sort of heroine figure because of her stance on the Church and what she did to change things. Not sure I’d go that far. Especially since her beliefs seemed to mostly stem from her own desires being curtailed by the Church policies.

She set out to seduce a married man and take him away from his wife and was evil in her pursuits of the King and throne. Although one could lay a lot of that blame on the male figures in her family who pushed her (and Mary) towards that singular goal for their own gain. Truly, they are the worst in my opinion. Royal flesh-peddlers.

And Anne was quite bad if you believe some of the rumored things about her (Poisoning leading to death/murder? Not impossible to believe. Incest? Yikes but not entirely out of the question. Witchcraft? Unlikely other than maybe wanting fertility spells to try anything to guarantee birthing a live male heir. Men loved to hang the ol’ witchcraft moniker on women who interfered with them.)

Who knows. It’s a story ripe with characters to write endlessly about.  No one will every truly today know since they are not around to tell us. A time machine (or better yet a time viewer so no one could change history!) would really be a fantastic invention, like in DeLorean form :)

I have 2 episodes left of the final season of The Tudors. I just ordered The Other Boleyn Girl from Amazon to watch again. The next step in my journey through 15th and 16th century England is Wolf Hall. A story of Cromwell should be interesting.  But I think I will take a quick break into present time for Michael Connelly’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” since it’s been on my Amazon list for months and the movie comes out soon!

Related-ish…how embarrassing is it that THIS is today’s Duke of York? Reading about past Dukes of York (and other English Lords) makes this seem so pathetic and wrong. Elizabeth (I in her grave and II in her palace) must just cringe….

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110306/ap_en_ot/eu_britain_andrew_s_agonies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110306/pl_nm/us_usa_energy_reserves

There is no good reason to do this. The price of oil isn’t even high as it was in 2008. And a price increase is NOT an emergency. The key line in this story is:

“Higher oil prices could undermine the fragile U.S. economic recovery and politically damage President Barack Obama as he moves toward his 2012 re-election bid.”

The reserves are there to address a REAL emergency. Not for some bozo politician’s re-election concerns.

We got up to Tahoe last night but it was after 11pm and really dark out – no starry night or bright moon to light the way. Of course, the huskies wanted to go for a walk as soon as they got out of the car. Since they are stuck in the car for 3-4 hours on the drives up, I usually take them no matter what time we get in. Just a short walk down the street so they can sniff everything, pee on stuff, say HI to Tahoe :) But last night we could only go a short ways since it was really, really dark out.

And normally when we get here, I let Angelus out on the back deck so he can play in the snow but husband didn’t want me to do that since it was really heavy snow, and had rained a bit on Thursday which made it icy and it was going to be a pain for him to remove, and Angelus paw prints and husky-dug holes everywhere supposedly make this harder as they harden/get icy. I don’t necessarily believe it will make that much of a difference with the snow blower but he is responsible for snow removal so it’s up to him.

So needless to say, Angelus was annoyed. He was like “you bring me to the snow and then I can’t play in it???” He even tweeted about it! :) So this morning, bright and early, I had a wet nose in my face :) Took the buds out for their short walk after their breakfast and brought Storm back home when he wanted. Then it was Angelus time! We walked pretty far (about 1.5 hours), met Jake the GIANT lab and Cash the sweet pit/boxer mix. They liked Angelus a lot! Cash even started to follow us away from his house – doh! We also met 2 Russian guys on our walk and they loved Angleus. Every time we meet Eastern European people, they really fawn over the huskies :)

Anyway, on our loop back home we climbed the snow mountain (about 12’+ up) in our greenbelt area and I let Angelus off leash…

Now we are home and he’s a much happier husky :)

So I’ve been caught up in a lot of Middle Age history between my reading of the War of the Roses, about Henry VIII and watching the final season of The Tudors. All of the them = awesome. I literally do not want to go to bed and stop watching or reading.

I noted (again) tonight that the if it weren’t for the damn cardinals and bishops getting so completely power hungry, things could have gone smoother…which put this tune in my head…and I just can’t get it out :)

Officially added to my cart…love this movie :)

Also to note: you need a dang Power Point diagram with an Excel table by century/country/House embedded to keep all of the Henrys, Catherines, Edwards, Charles, Elizabeths, Tudors, Marys, Howards, Suffolks, Norfolks and Seymours straight!

I start every day in a pretty good mood. I might be sleepy. But once I get outside with the dogs, it’s all good. And I suppose if I had my own island, run by my rules, I would stay in that same good mood. Alas…TIHS happens…like…

Your little snarling, barking (and clearly not bright) dog actually attacks my dogs. One of whom then steps on your dog who then yelps and you give ME stink eye. Right. You deserve a smack upside the head. That’s seriously a while other blog rant.
or
Someone lets their dog poo RIGHT next to the stand with the free poo bags. And leaves it there. You deserve a punch right in the eye.
or
All of the poo bag stations on the couple blocks between my house and beach are empty. Because assclowns (like said owner of above little dog) use it as their own personal store and take 5 or 6 at a time. Sometimes I see people take them that don’t even have dogs! All of you deserve a beating with a stick.
or
Someone at work doesn’t replace the paper towels after using the last one; or spills water on the floor by the water cooler and doesn’t clean it up; or apparently empties/rinses their lunch dish in the sink leaving a sink full of shredded lettuce that is now clogging the drain and leaves it there. Were you people raised by savages in a cave?
or
The jackass in his little black Yaris (or Ford Focus or Prius or any number of little tin can cars) thinks he should control the flow of traffic over 92 and goes 10 mph under the speed limit the entire way to Highway 1, ignoring the line of 20+ cars behind him. This deserves a caning in my opinion.
or
My husband, who was at home sick all day (but still chose to go out to Target, the tailor and Costco for stuff for him and not asking if I/we needed anything and who called to say BTW the dryer stopped working and didn’t call anyone for it), is at home at his computer when I get home at 8pm after working all day and hasn’t taken the garbage or recycling out, or even put his dirty dishes in the kitchen, or picked up his clothes that are lying around everywhere, and then asks ME what’s for dinner and says he’s starving when he comes to look at the timer on the oven after I started it. I’m not even sure what that deserves. Something involving a big stick to the head I think.

The funny thing is, I will go to sleep tonight…in the guest room because I cannot take his hacking and snoring all night due to his current sinus infection…and wake up tomorrow AM and be in a good mood once again. Who knows how long that will last, but I will be. My only question is will I eventually implode or explode…at some point in the future….has to happen, right?

Good thing I have my huskies. And a seemingly good form of impulse control. I must because I haven’t maimed or killed anyone yet…that you can prove anyway ;)

Good thing I have my huskies…