ABC with VIB

For a while now, I have been doing the A(pples) B(eets) C(arrots) juice thing. As I mentioned elsewhere, I don't know that my hair is any shinier or that my eyes are brighter or anything, but I am pretty sure it isn't hurting. Though it is a bit pricey, all things considered. If I were really truly poor, I wouldn't be able to afford it. Anyway, to make the juice go down more smoothly (I don't really like the taste of beets), I add other fruit. Most recently, I have been adding a lemon, which helps a lot. Recently, I finished off some Vodka Infused with Blueberries. During that sip-fest, I ate a few of the blueberries. They weren't terrible or disgusting. But when the vodka was gone and just the blueberries were left, I was thinking about recycling them, and realized that the ultimate in recycling would be to add them to my ABC juice. Woo hoo! Just sayin'. Can't wait for my morning juice now!

Did I write about mom's echocardiogram experience? I have this feeling I did. I know I could check if I weren't feeling lazy. Suffice it to say it was pretty cool (until I fell asleep). We got the results back and there was nothing wrong there. We have to go and do more tests. Once we get her insurance straightened out. I got a bill for $80+ dollars for health insurance, which is supposed to be a monthly bill. How did mom's health insurance from RIT go from free to $80+ a month in less than a year? ACA? I hope to have everything figured out this week. And a little rant - what the hell is it with Open Enrollment? Grrrrr - why isn't health insurance available whenever someone wants or needs it rather than for a couple of weeks or months whenever the insurance companies want to let people have access to it? Get insurance companies out of Health Care!!!

Oh, I and I have done 1% of the year's worth of daily yoga! Woo hoo!

Back to the grind today - Smithward bound at some point today. Wish me luck!

One more thing before I sign off - I put out trash last night and we had a lot of wind. I am dreading looking outside to see if the trash is all over the place. Sigh.

Bonus Post - Dating Rant take 3(?)

Ok, dating rant time.  I think this might be the third or fourth time, maybe the fifth, that I have ranted thusly. It never gets old for me. It won't get old until I find myself in a romantic relationship. Or end up cremated and my ashes spread over someones breakfast...

As some of you are undoubtedly aware, I would like to be in a romantic relationship. Not everyone does want to be. That being said, I am very happy on my own. I love me, I am great. I am leading a very full and interesting and creative life. Overall, "things" are great. I would, though, like to have someone in my life with whom to share lives. My mom doesn't count in this situation, on many levels and in many ways. Now that we are clear that I am not "needy" or "desperate" we can move on.

I will admit that I am eager to be in a relationship. Although I do enjoy being on the lookout for a potential partner. Sort of. I like having my antennae outstretched, my gal-dar (radar that picks out women in the vicinity) set on high. I love meeting people and getting to know them.

I have written most of a book on Attraction, Sex, Dating and Relationships - as some of you may know. It needs a lot of work to get ready for the public - and that may never happen. The reason I bring is up, is because I have given a lot of thought to these subjects.

Let's start with Attraction: I know what attracts me in a person - in an objective way. What looks, what level of intelligence, what state of mental health. Fine and good to know that. When it comes to actually dating someone, this knowledge doesn't actually mean much. I date who appears and appeals in the moment. I don't hold out for some idealized person who may or may not actually exist (which is why the idea of a soul mate appeals, but is not something I am depending my romantic life's happiness on finding).

So at one point, I did a spreadhseet showing how many people, out of a thousand migth actually be potential romantic partners for me. And they were not encouraging. Basically, since I am somewhat picky (I need to be attracted to my partner - go figure) and I know I am not everyone's cup of tea - despite my many wonderful qualities - I ended up with .5 in 1000. (Lest you think that I am being unreasonable - here is the math:
Most of these are guestimates - the "No Major Issues" includes things like a woman's relationship status and mental health.) (Another aside - I think this math might hold true for most people - unless they a) have no standards or are b) really really physically attractive or are c) really really fiscally fit or worldly powerful.) Which in Geneva, a town of 14000 people, means that there are about 7 people who might be a romantic match for me. That's the good news (I guess). The bad news is - how does one find them?

Right now, my main method is the dating site Plenty of Fish. I write to women who catch my fancy for one reason or another. Most of them never respond. Some that have responded, write to say "no." Sometimes when they write "no" I say to myself "Phew!" Other times I think "Double Phew!" I mean, someone who takes the time to write to say no is something that I don't understand. When someone I haven't written to writes me, I don't say no. I invite them to let us get to know each other, even if every fiber of my being believes that the chances of us being a romantic match are 1 in 6 billion. Why? Because I believe in saying yes, in giving people a chance to show themselves to be good, interesting people. Heck, I might not be a match for them, but someone I know might be a match for someone they know. Anything is possible. Why say no? Life is too short to say no all the time. There are endless reasons/excuses to say no. Too far, too old, too much hair (what they say about me). Sigh. I think you get the point.

Hope springs eternal. Sure, I get sad every once in a while about not having a romantic partner in my life. Then I think of all the good things: socks, pillows, trees and having most of my teeth (my wisdom teeth are long gone...) and I perk right back up again. And who knows, maybe one day, in the supermarket, someone's cart will bump into mine and I will take her to court and sue her for her life's savings! Ah, true "blave."

The Mom who Cried Wolf

Finally figured something out - maybe I have figured it out again. Part of what is most distressing about mom is that she is constantly groaning and complaining about her ills. Luckily not in a completely horrendous way - but it is incessant. I remember when I was 17 and traveling with her in Egypt how she complained about being fat and overweight and unable to get around comfortably. And she went on and on about her cramps. And that was 33 years ago. Now that she is older (81) she complains about her drippy nose, her difficulty breathing, pains in her stomach, etc. My feeling is that a large part of it is that she wants sympathy. Maybe no one was sympathetic to her as a child - or when she was ill she got attention that she was otherwise starved for. I don't know, and honestly, I don't really care. It is just a) grating, b) enervating and c) it dulls me to listening to her woes. Which means that when she has something serious going on, I won't know it until too late. Because I will think that it is just one more carp. Oh, her sore ribs turned out to be a slight muscle pull that went away. Yippee!

We ran a couple of errands yesterday. I got to see crush 2,714 (or some such number - so many crushes, so few girlfriends...) which was pleasant. And I made her smile a couple of times. We went to two pharmacies and Walmart. At Walmart we got mom a good fan for her room. I will take a picture of that today. When we got it back, setting it up was easy - except for the part where I had to remove five boxes of papers and crap from the place where I wanted to put the fan. I don't think those boxes have been touched in 5 or more years! Mom said decades, but I don't think that was the case.

Yesterday I also attended a rehearsal for the opera where dinner was provided. Yum! I didn't do much except chat with a couple of performers and helpers. Every little impression helps.

Oh, went to Red Dove Tavern again - they do have a decent beer selection. Saw another new crush - 2,715 - and had three beers - Slyfox Stout, Ommegang BPA and Ithaca Apricot. Yum. I do feel weird buying beer that doesn't count towards a plate like they do at the Flying Saucers...

The Turkish Women have cancelled our wine tasting jaunt because they are too tired. Now I can either do something on my own or take mom to the racetrack? Any thoughts?

And I need more readers and more followers if I am to reach my goal of fifty followers by the end of the year! Well, maybe if my blog were more interesting...

Pictures from July 12, 2011:


The sunken garden at Houghton House. A fond memoryful place for me...


Gowns galore for the opera chorus!


This is what I ought to have bought rather than the house. Sigh. Hindsight is so good...

Ginger Day

Or Thursday (alternate) as it is commonly called, was quite productive. Ginger is the visiting nurse who comes to help mom out. She rubs stuff on mom's back. Would help her shower or whatever, but generally just helps out with neatening around the house. Yesterday she helped mom a little bit in her bedroom and in her living room nest. I had been smelling mothballs in mom's room for quite a while - turns out mom had collected 9 (Nine!!) boxes of mothballs in her wool closet! Gads! They have been removed, so I hope mom can breathe a little more easily. Ginger also found a dead bat in mom's shoe tree. How random and weird is that? And while working around the sofa/coffee table/tv area, mom found one of the wayward library books! Huzzah!!

I went grocery shopping and to the library. I really need to get on to the library website. I guess it is time for me to add the OWWL to my bookmarks.

When I got back, mom had also gotten motivated and got her package prepared to send off to Bosey - so back out we went to the post office.

Wow, I really think Barack Obama is going to cave to the Republicans and cut social security instead of taxing the wealthy. What kind of crap is that?! Why can't we have people in power who are compassionate, instead of people who are greedy and self serving? Glarg!! Did anyone see the fake ad that Bill Maher did about the estate tax? I don't think he is very funny generally, but he is clever. Ok, sorry for the rant...

All of this inspired me too! Or maybe it was the lack of accomplishments the previous days. Who knows. Anyway, I did send out dropbox requests to the people who volunteered to proofread Diary of a Plate Addict. And clean my room. And the red room. And started on the boxes in the alcove. I got at least a third of them broken down! Yippee! Baby steps.

Quick thoughts on the future - I am leaning towards going to the Ren Faire with mom on Sunday. Wednesday we have the opera. Friday we head to Connecticut to help Karl move. Somewhere in there I would like to do something else with the Turkish Women. We shall see.

Photos from July 7, 2011:


How a bat got into mom's shoe tree...


A much neater Red Room.


I even vacuumed!

Just undateable?

(To the tune of Unforgettable)
Just un-date-able, that's what I am
Just un-date-able just like a clam
Like a smell of dove that clings to me
How the thought of me does things to thee
Never before has someone been more

Just un-date-able in every way
And forever more, that's how I’ll stay
That's why, people, it's incredible
That someone so just un-date-able
Thinks that I am un-date-able too


I have come to realize that I may be un-date-able. This is just an observation. The way the notion came up was someone mentioned that a guy who wore a fanny pack - or anything on their belt - was un-date-able. Maybe it was on a TV show - a sitcom even - which, as we of the TV generation know, is the font of all cultural wisdom. In any case, this is the first reason I am un-date-able - I wear my camera on my hip and have for a few years now. The second reason I am un-date-able is because I am unemployed. Sure, there is potential for me to be gainfully employed, but I am not. The mention of that has turned many budding romances into scenes of women fleeing before the tab comes. The third reason is appearance. Right now I am in super hirsute mode. I have a beard and my hair is getting longer by the second. There are very few men with long hair just now and even fewer women who like men with long hair. And unkempt beard has never been very popular. The final reason I am going to enumerate here, cause there are probably many more, and I just don’t want to list them, is that I am picky. I know, weird. I really would like to date someone that I find appealing and attractive. Sue me. So there we have it. Undateable.

Then again, I’m a Great Catch
I am a great catch, if I must say so myself. Or I could get my mom to say so. She thinks I have enough positive attributes to put me in the great catch category. I am healthy. I am smart. I am funny. Ok, maybe not a good catch, but not a bad one either...

I think I have forgotten how to date. Or how to ask people out. And after that, how to move to actual romance. And sex. And a relationship. Sad, but I think it has happened. I certainly haven’t been picking potential partners perfectly (ok, I mean “well” - I just wanted one more “p” word for the alliteration). I thought one woman was appealing, and she thought I wasn’t. Full stop. Another woman who appeals on many levels just wants to be friends. Hey, there is nothing wrong with friends. It would just be nice to be in a companionable relationship where sex is an option. And maybe even a long term relationship if possible. Sigh. Maybe other people are less picky than I am about who they date and who they get into a relationship with. Heck, I don’t even know where to meet appropriate women. I meet inappropriate women all the time. Not that it matters because even the inappropriate ones have no interest in dating me. At least, not that I can tell. My last long term relationship ended 4 years ago. Wow, scary when it is in black and white. Since then I have had a few dates, and maybe a short fling, but nothing longterm, nothing serious. The universe is as the universe is.

Everyday

I don't know about you, but I find that actually doing something everyday is pretty difficult. What I mean is things that you choose to do, not normal ablutions. Things like choosing to write someone everyday. Choosing to take a picture everyday. Choosing to write a little bit everyday. It isn't that I don't want to do the things, or that they are particularly onerous. Just they sometimes don't get done. At least not every single freakin' day, day after day, after day...Ok, maybe it is just me.