Something weird is going on with the ads I see on many sites. I’ve been getting bombarded with ads for ‘bidets’. Now I would understand this if I had been making comments about toiletpaper, toilet humor, bathrooms, plungers or the like. Or even if I was doing a search to replace various plumbing fixtures. The only site I know of that had something to do with bathrooms, was the repair blog over at taylhis’s site.

Seeing the things I’m interested in, or places I frequent, I would expect ads about widows/widowers, maybe dating, single parents, college information, comic books, geek stuff, movies, books and a few other things. Bidets were at the bottom of my list of things I thought I would be interested in.

The other strange ad I’ve seen is for Ugg boots. While a fascinating site and the boots are quite comfortable (I had a pair of Ugg slippers once), I’m not currently in the market. But then again, I did write about finding boots for my college daughter.

Hmm, does Vet Tech talk suddenly bring up ads for Bidets and Ugg boots? I wonder. For now, I guess I will just be followed by these strange ads. (Check the tags, I’m in for it now)

On Tuesday nights, my niece Elizabeth and nephew Noah come to the house while their older brother is taken to Boy Scouts.  Last night after returning from rehearsal, I asked Elizabeth when her school play is going to be.  I never got the dates but I remember last year’s was sometime in November.  I was able to drag out that she has the title role in Mulan, Junior.  I was excited for her and even had to ask again to make sure I heard correctly.  How awesome is that?!  I asked if Joshua got a part… forgetting that he is too old to be in the 4th and 5th grade show.

I must admit… and I don’t know why… but I have never seen the movie.  It must have been because I lost track of Disney movies in the years following The Lion King up until Pixar joined the studio with Toy Story.  I do remember that Lea Salonga was the title voice with Donny Osmond and Eddie Murphy also voicing roles.

Another aspect of Elizabeth that amazes me is her voracious reading.  For her birthday, I gave her two books: a mid-level edition of Marley and Me and a Peter Pan prequel (it had Disney’s stamp of approval for whatever that’s worth).  I thought the first book looked a bit simple for her (she has read all 7 Harry Potter books) but, eh.  I was right because I asked how far she had gotten in them and she finished the first and started Peter Pan earlier that day and was already beyond the first 100 of 500 pages.

Apparently, school children are rewarded for outside reading far more than I was.  When I was in elementary school, we received a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut after reading so many books.  Today, children can read a book go onto a website, take a quiz, and earn points which they can build up to obtain all kinds of fabulous gifts.  I had no idea there was such a thing until my cousin asked if I made sure the books were on the AR list?  I think it is a neat idea but for one thing:  The points do not carry over from year to year. I really don’t have a problem with rewarding those who enjoy reading and I don’t believe that the incentive is connected with the classroom.

Not trying to take anything away from the fabulous news of Elizabeth’s first lead role, so CONGRATS! Break a leg!  OH… my brother came in the store tonight and he had no idea of the news when I asked him about the show dates.  And I was informed as I walked into the house last night?  Priorities.

A while back, a tangenteer (tangents.org blogger) wrote ab0ut a type of obstacle course based upon cause and effect relationships between different objects.  You know, like the board game Mousetrap – a ball rolls and falls into a bucket, which triggers another ball that goes down a ramp, etc.  I forgot what this is called (and who blogged it!  Was it me or derek?), but I think it’s a Japanese word.  Anyway, I came across this website for a Dutch department store called Hema, and they have an animated one of those obstacle course thingys using their products on their website.  Just follow the link above and watch to see what happens!  It’s pretty creative, and I thought people might like it!

I haven’t reviewed a movie on my blog in awhile – mostly because movie-watching was a favorite summer activity this year, so I saw too many to mention.  I don’t think I’m going to start reviewing them now, but today’s experience at the movie theater (saw The Informant! with Matt Damon) is worthy of mentioning.  Not for the movie itself – it seemed to be an interesting enough plot line, but I couldn’t follow the entire trail of corporate deception and greed, so I dozed a little.  And I wasn’t the only one.  The guy two rows behind us began snoring very loudly in the middle of the movie!  It was distracting, and he began by breathing heavily, so first we were worried about him (seeing a man drop dead at a Chinese buffet will make you a little paranoid).  But then he started the snoring, so we knew he was ok; but then it became obnoxious.  So we tolerated that for the rest of the movie, and then he woke up during the last scene with a loud “BURP!”.  Well.

We go to the movies almost every week and I’ve never heard someone so full of rude noises, including teenagers!  I feel badly for the guy, but mostly, I just want to know why he paid $6.50 to take a nap  – the movie theater seats aren’t that comfy!  As for my dozing, it wasn’t really a nap, and I was (mostly) entertained during two hours of The Informant.  I don’t know that I would recommend it – if you like to  unravel these kinds of movies, then go for it.  But I sometimes find myself zoning out, and by the time I’m back to the movie, something has happened or there are two many characters who look alike  for me to be able to follow the plot, as both were the cases here.  I did find Damon’s character, Mark Whitacre, quite entertaining, as was the narrative style of the movie.  It kind of reminded me of a Coen brothers movie – you know, greed gets the best of people, a plot to gain money unravels, and people get killed, except The Informant was decidedly less violent – rated R only for language, in fact.  An entertaining two hours for some, but apparently not for all!

YAHOO!!!  I took the plunge and ditched the script for the entire rehearsal.  As a wise scientist once stated: “Once you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”  I will not say that I was perfect but I felt good after the evening was complete.  So fun and ultimately rewarding… now I can begin the tweaking of my character.  We also attempted to run the show using the lights: extensive blackouts, many light tricks and sound effects that will definitely need to be worked out during the next three weeks.  Hopefully, our tech crew will arrive soon to get all of their cues.  The entire cast was fumbling around in the dark on numerous occasions tonight but no one was seriously injured… yet.  I even got to provide a word following the run through.  As I have stated previously, this show is much more than an audience-participatory murder-mystery, I think it closely rivals some of the best melodramas out there.  I mentioned that most of the characters have lines that can be delivered as asides to the audience.  That was one of my few complaints with the last melodrama I saw staged… there were asides but the director chose not to have them blatantly directed to the audience which limited the amount of booing and cat-calling.

This new internet is crazy cool.  So much faster than the old Verizon.  Just sitting here makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.  Three weeks to go and our rehearsal schedule has changed so that we now have practices every night except Saturday.  Well… if they are needed (and I think they are, there is just so much to work out technically as well as theatrically).

and still actors still have their scripts on stage!  Ok… so I’m one of them but it is more of a crutch than anything else.  Besides, as I said there are still 17 days until the curtain goes up and the “NO BOOK” deadline is set for Friday.  I think tonight I will go completely off book.  I don’t need it!  There are just a few of those incidental phrases that throw me off every time during the rehearsal process.

This is kind of a different role for me.  One reason being, I have the opening line of the show.  Nothing can start until I say so!  I can hold the audience, my fellow thespians, the directors, everyone in the palm of my hand!  MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  I may have had the opening line for School House Rock but that was recorded.

Oh, yes… I received some fliers at last night’s rehearsal which I took around town to display along with some Oktoberfest announcements.  So come one come all to the Huber theatre October 9-11 and solve the mystery of whodunwhat to whom.

I don’t know of anyone else who can claim that ranking in our annual WCCT Family Fun Day softball game but since neither of my other compatriots here at tangents can, I will gloat just a bit… not that it was entirely my doing…. never underestimate the underdog and I’m not speaking of the canine do-gooder  I just really enjoy another excuse to get together on any day with some of the best friends one could have… even if some were missing.

I will try not to report on too much that has been mentioned before.  I did arrive a bit earlier than everyone else which gave me the chance to listen to most of the remaining first stanza of the Ohio State/Toledo football game.  By the end of the first quarter, the Buckeyes were up 14-0 at the home of the Browns in Cleveland.  Just a bit of interstate competition at a neutral site…. or maybe a chance to get an Ohio team there who would win a game… this seemed likely since both teams are from Ohio.  I remember going to Cleveland my senior year in high school to watch the Bucks play.  The day after the sousaphone incident.  I must say that Mr. Tressel loosened his vest a bit instead of playing it conservative which has led to many a big game letdown… the USC game a weekend or two ago comes to mind as well as a few past bowl games.

Back to the Fun Day.  As usual, it was a very enjoyable event although there were only 8 of us (plus an all-time pitcher) who took part in the actual game.  Prior to the main event, we tossed a football and then I really showed by prowess on the basketball court.  Thank goodness for the granny shot or I would have reached “h-o-r-s-e” long before I did.  As I have said before, I know where my talent lies.

Prior to the big game, Megan and I warmed up a bit tossing the softball back and forth.  WHAT… no batting practice?!  I played shag in the outfield and was kept bust chasing flies until the final inning when it seemed one side got a bit more winded than the other.  I am pleased to say that I hit the ball every time I was up… ok, so maybe one at bat took about seven pitches for me to do so… we will blame the pitcher.  But what a ball!  One of the events I hope to look forward to for years to come.

The game ended long enough for us to return to the pavilion to chat a bit before I had to leave and song lead at mass.  But once again a great afternoon with friends.

Darn it, I am sick of this!  Some time last week, I came down with a nasty canker sore.  I don’t remember what day it was, but I remember that by Friday, I was already sick of it.  We took the kids to the county fair and the demolition derby on Friday, which was great fun, but I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t enjoy the fair food in the slightest.  In fact, the location and intensity of the pain has kept me from enjoying many of my favorite activities since last week – talking, singing, eating, drinking, even smiling…  THIS SUCKS!  I’ve never had a canker sore this painful!  I feel like that big grumpy bear with a toothache from some old cartoon.  It’s really hard to think about anything else, and since I can’t really do anything in daily life without aggravating it and causing more pain, I think I’ve been kind of crabby.  I’ve been looking up remedies incessantly on the internet (and no, I didn’t find any cases of fatal canker sores, which is why I vowed to stop looking up medical stuff on the internet after we scared ourselves silly about my husband’s stomachache), and none of the remedies I’ve tried help.  Since I can’t really eat anything, I’ve been living on water and Tylenol for the past week!  The Tylenol barely works, so I finally went to Walmart yesterday and got myself some Benzocaine stuff to put on it.  It works wonderfully; my entire mouth goes numb, and there is a substantial amount of drooling and slurring of words, but no pain.  The only problem is that it only lasts for about 25 minutes.  But for those 25 minutes, I am so high on my own endorphins from finally not feeling intense pain that it’s wonderful.  But then the pain returns, and it’s almost worse than before I took the medicine because I actually got to experience life pain-free, even for just a few minutes.  I think I’m going to have my husband hide the benzocaine from me before I become addicted – it’s really hard to stop putting it on there when I’ve had constant pain for a week!  But I read that if you use too much benzocaine, you could develop a serious condition called Methemoglobinemia, among other things, so I’m really trying to limit that.  I’ve read a lot of things about canker sores, but like I said, nothing has really helped.  Experts are not even entirely sure what causes the darn things, but stress is the top suspect.  That makes sense; I’ve had a ton of stress lately between family stuff (Sammie is back in a phase among other things) and just being so busy all the time, and I don’t always handle stress in the best way.  Guess I need to find better ways to deal with stress than to internalize it, but I can’t deal with learning that right now – everything is hard to do with all this pain!!!

I can’t help but think what a great diet this is though – it hurts to eat anything, and I’m really surprised certain Hollywood types haven’t paid someone to discover how to give them canker sores just so they can’t eat.  People are crazy that way; I used to work at a frozen yogurt shop in an upscale suburb of Chicago, and these rich housewives would come in with their jaws wired shut wondering what kind of fat-free yogurt they could still get into their mouths.  Not that any of them were terribly overweight to begin with…  But anyway, I hate this!  I guess there’s not much more to write about it, but I have to say that it feels good to be able to “talk” without the pain increasing…  Time to take more meds!  YEOWWW!!!  🙁

I was checking out ThinkGeek and was surprised to see that the time just flew by. I thought for sure it was only 11:00, and it is really 12:30. I guess I found a few things I liked.

USB turntable for old vinyl records
thinking putty (silly putty with an attitude)
USB cell phone booster (oops out of stock)
Crayola Pen (looks like a crayon but is a pen)
R2D2 USB hub (I have a daughter who would like that)
USB rocket launcher
RC cars
RC helecopters
RC robots
Laser Pointers
and Astronaut Ice Cream!

And the list goes on and on. How much of this do I need? Not much. The most useful item seemed to be the USB cell phone booster. That may be nice for out in the country, but $100 nice? I’m not sure.

Oh well it is past 12:30 now, and I should get some sleep…

The last game night I shared with my dear friends was a very special one especially as the night turned into the wee hours of the morning.  09-12-08.  How fitting that Emily’s passing would occur 7 years after the country picked itself up a day after what will undoubtedly be seen as one of the worst (if not the worst) tragedies to befall this country.  09-12-01, Emily spearheaded a campaign to send supplies overseas to our men and women.  A campaign which is still going on today.  Shortly after midnight on 09-12-09, I mentioned that this was the anniversary of my mentor’s passing.  I felt a heavy weight upon my shoulders.  Lisa told Megan, Chris, and I to form a circle around the kitchen island and join hands.  Chris then said a short word of prayer that lifted the weight right off my shoulders.  My three best friends.

Strangely on Tuesday, word had spread that Patrick Swayze had lost his battle with cancer.  This fell on the anniversary of Emily’s burial.  Oddly enough, I was never a huge fan of Mr. Swayze’s work.  Having a younger sister who enjoyed nothing more than to watch Dirty Dancing ad nauseum kind of turned me off of his acting ability.   The first time I watched the movie, I actually kind of enjoyed it, but it got old really fast.  I did, however, enjoy Ghost (Yes, I admit it… I’m a softie).  However, anyone who can bravely battle a terminal disease under the limelight and battle constant tabloid bombardment is worthy of some praise.

Thanks again 😀