October Pointless Lists

I was going to write a really witty and thrilling introduction to my October Pointless Lists, but I find that I am not feeling witty nor thrilling, so that's kind of a struggle.

Basically I just want to pump this out so I can go do something else. Sorry.

Pointless list time!

Books read
I started October rereading Eleanor and Park, which I had checked out from our eLibrary system and, ahem, hadn't returned yet (well, don't turn on wifi and they can't go away, okay? Cheating). But then my Kindle BROKE.

That screen is NOT a good sign.

Here's a tip for you, kids: When your Kindle breaks, you can call Amazon (google "Amazon Customer Service" and an 800 number pops up. You're welcome, America!) and they'll send you to a techie and then when you turn it on and off again and it's still broken (why is turning stuff on and off supposed to be a magic fix? Dumb), they'll give you a discount on your NEXT Kindle.

So I really had no choice but get a Kindle Paperwhite sans ads, which costs an extra $20, but I think it's worth it not to have to look at that kind of thing. P.S. I'd have gotten another Kindle Keyboard because I loved and adored mine, but they don't make them anymore. Downside: Those word games I played while waiting in offices for appointments to stave off anxiety no longer work on the new machine. :( Upside: I can read books in any light! That's kind of amazing.

The old and the new.

I was depressed because I thought it would take a week to 10 days to get my new Kindle, but lo and behold, it broke on a Friday and I had my replacement by Monday, so you know what? I love you, Amazon.

Anyway, that meant the end of Eleanor and Park, so I decided to reread The Hunger Games because ALL THE FEELS, so that was a fun week, and then I saw that Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger had finally been released as an ebook (YESSSSSSS) so I bought that. 

It's just a great book, that's why. If you read it and you're confused, just remember that Henry time travels but Claire does NOT. Then the storyline makes sense. It's one of my all-time favorite books. No joke.

Anyway, mid-way through that whole ordeal, I got an email notice that one of my eLibrary books had finally come up for check out! I've had it on hold since July 30, whatever, two months isn't that long of a wait, right? (Why did I think eLibrary was a good idea again? I have needs, you guys!) I can barely remember what I even reserved at this point, but it turned to be Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, the second in the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series.

So it's been a few years since I read the first one, and I didn't reread it before starting the second because I was kind of on a strict timeline, cheating abilities aside, so it didn't make a whole lot of sense all the time, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I remember enjoying Miss Peregrine's, but I soldiered on. It was fine. Fine enough that I thought I'd reserve the third in the series now so I can read it sometime in February (HA HA HA! That's slow checkout humor for you), but eLibrary doesn't even have the third book, so whatever. I guess if I want to continue I will just read Abby's hradbound copy even though actual books are such a pain.

I just like my Kindle, you guys.

Anyway, that's the whole sorrid affair. I'd apologize for this long, drawn-out update, but you're the one reading a blog called Pointless Ramble, so that's on you. I meant to write about my Kindle ordeal earlier, but then I got depressed. Ah, well.

Light update
I was not feeling the Light this month. I have no idea what I will focus on next month, either. Maybe just reminding myself that this is a thing I chose: Feeling light.

That's a lot harder than it should be.

Project 333 update
Not enough time has gone by for me to have any sort of update, now that I think about it. Ignore this one...

Abby update
Abby was going through my closet the other night looking for something to wear for Halloween. In her AP US History class, if she wore a historical costume, she'd get extra credit. So she's digging around, trying to decide if she's going to be Hillary Clinton or Mother Teresa -- but either way, perfectly confident I could provide the appropriate clothing.

I still have no idea how to take this.

And then, in the end, she just went as herself. So that was kind of disappointing.

Johanna update
This kid has had an interesting month. She's been thinking about her Halloween costume for weeks, vacillating between a ghost and the Grim Grandma (in case it doesn't translate, what Death would be if it were a grandma). Then she thought maybe she would be a detective. Or a geisha.

I'm kind of hoping this is our last year of dressing up and trick or treating, to be honest.

She's also started her own art journal, and it's awesome. If I were feeling more motivated right now, I'd post some of her pages. Maybe another time.

Eric update
How is it that even though the weather has been cold and rainy, Eric is STILL able to find excuses to work outside and thus avoid cleaning the bathroom, which is HIS responsibility?

Mysteries, you guys. They're everywhere.

Supernatural update
I am sorry to say that Abby cruised through Season Nine without me and is who knows how far along in Season 10. She is basically a terrible person. The end.

The mystery continues

So remember how, in April, Johanna and I came home to find a surprise Easter egg hunt in the yard?

Our mysterious benefactor has struck again:

Exhibit A

When we were pulling into the garage last Thursday, Johanna noticed right away that this cute little owl mug was sitting nearby. "I'll get it, Mom!" she said, and barely waited for the car to stop before hopping out to retrieve her present. (Possible accident aside, this is actually preferable to waiting for her to get out of the car on a regular day, as it's five frustrating minutes of watching her gathering up her backpack and lunchbox and then pleading to climb out the window.)

Our new owl friend contained a hot chocolate packet and some candy corn. Fun fact: Johanna LOVES candy corn AND hot chocolate. And owl mugs.She tried to get me to buy her a similar mug at Walmart not too long ago.

But P.S., if you come to the house expecting to use said mug, forget about it. Johanna has made sure we all know it's hers and has gone to such lengths as to hide it in the cupboard so no one else can get to it.

Thanks, mysterious holiday joy-bringer! You are awesome.

Well, I thought it was funny

I put together the "yesteryears" column for our newspaper, which is basically a run-down of all the things that happened in a particular week in history. Sometimes it's entertaining  to look through the archive books and sometimes it's boring. I swear the 1950s were the most mundane decade ever.

But sometimes I run across little gems like this, which appeared in our paper in late September 1925. I was totally excited by the awesomeness, but I wondered if the greater reading area would understand why I had chosen it (namely: We've come a long way, baby) or if they would think I was serious.

But then on deadline day it came about that one of our ad reps forgot to place a Very Important Advertisement on my yesteryears page and this thing had to be cut to make room.

That's life in a newsroom.

Project 333: Fall 2015 edition

I've been putting off getting my fall P333 wardrobe together, partially because I'm hella lazy and also because the weather has been oddly warm and I didn't want to put away my t-shirts and tank tops too early.

Global warming: Ruining fall wardrobes everywhere.

But I finally bit the bullet last weekend, when the weather forecast predicted mid to high 60ºs as high temperatures. The Pacific Northwest is actually really hard to forecast, apparently, but sometimes you just gotta have faith.

Here's what I came up with, and before anyone states the obvious, yes, I am over 33. But I feel okay with that because Courtney says it's not about a specific number but rather YOUR specific number. This is why I am a big fan of hers, by the way. :)

(Most of) The Whole Shebang.

So here's what we've got. I sort my closet by color, so this is actually what it looks like in real life even:

Grey (4)
Santa Clara long sleeved t-shirt
Hooded long sleeved t-shirt
Cardigan
Scarf

Black (17)
Turtleneck sweater
Long sleeved t-shirt
Cardigan
Sweatshirt dress*
Little Black Dress
Skirt
Slacks
Scarf
Black/beige skirt
Black/white polka dots button down**
Black/red/black leggings
Black/blue/teal leggings
Black/flower scarf
Boots
Ankle boots
Maryjane's
Coat

Beige (6)
Long sleeved t-shirt
Skirt
Jacket
Slacks
Beige/orange flower peasant
Beige/orange scarf

Leggings. I'm branching out in my old age.

Burgundy (1)
Pullover sweater

Purple (1)
Skirt

Teal (2)
Peasant
Zip up cardigan

Blue (10)
Blue/yellow maxi skirt
Blue/various t-shirt skirt
Short sleeved navy peasant (with bonus tank!)
Denim jacket
Navy/orange et al flowered t-shirt***
Navy spiderweb leggings****
Navy cardigan
Navy long sleeved t-shirt
Denim jeans
Blue/navy/black scarf

I have actually added a lot of new and/or new-used items lately and I'm feeling some guilt about that. On the upside, I look amazing. ;)

Notes:

*This dress is new to my closet and it's the best thing I've ever worn. It's a dress. It's a sweatshirt. I'm probably never going to take it off.

**One of the few long sleeved blouses to make it in my closet. Actually, the only one to make it.

***It's probably past the season for this thing because the sleeves are very short, but man, it's one of my favorites and I'm not ready to let it go.

****Dumb to count and dumber to add because they're clearly Halloween-themed and I'm probably not going to wear them much past Oct. 31.

P.S. Fall marks my third year with Project 333!

At last!

Once upon a time, like when I was 41, I decided the most rebellious thing I could do at my age was just look my age. So I stopped dyeing my hair.

I thought it would take about a year or so to actually grow out, because my hair grows really fast and I am optimistic about all the wrong things. Turns out it took a year and 10 months, and I can tell you this with authority because I just got the last of my dyed ends cut off last Tuesday.

Observe:

Looks not so grey from this angle.

But it's there. Trust me.

It's shorter than I would have gone otherwise, but I was so damn excited about just getting it over with that I went a little nuts.

So that's that.

The end.

Tall people need friends, too

Once upon a time, like a couple of Sundays ago, Johanna and I were in the bulk section of the supermarket, lamenting the absence of sucanat sugar, when this rather tall man in his 50s comes up to us and says to me, I see you're tall.

And I'm like, well, good eyes, I guess, because I'm 6-feet so yeah, I tend to stick out there, but I could see he was kind of uncomfortable -- embarrassed -- and so what I actually did was laugh and agree.*

That's when he pulls a card out of his wallet and begins to tell me about the Portland Skyliners Club.

 

I actually had no idea a club like this even existed, but anyway, according to the card, my social life is looking up! It's for men 6-feet 2-inches and over, and women 5-feet 10-inches and over. He said he could see I made that requirement fairly easily, and that it's mostly a service organization with all of the meetings in the Portland area.

I am not in Portland, but as I've never been invited to join any club before, I am feeling kind of proud of myself for managing it.

Even if it means apparently I need help making friends.

*I am, perhaps, a little over-sensitive about my height, so my first impulse is to be snippy yet self-efacing if anyone calls attention to it. It's kind of weird to be always towering over everyone, and I've even had people act like I'm some sort of menace (like that grandma who locked her car door when she saw me coming down the street ... as if, grandma!), but on the upside, my community service is just going to the store and helping people get stuff off the top shelf, so silver lining.

Another round of 7 Pointless Updates with bonus memes!

1. I didn't mean to take a week-long blogging break, but sometimes the world is too much with me and I just can't get my act together. Plus I've been a little depressed. I'm trying not to be. I think that's the best I can offer at this point.

2. I am not leaving my house today. I simply refuse. I meant to sleep in this morning to get the day off to a good start, but I woke up at 6 a.m., which I decided to just embrace because that means I can take a nap in about an hour and not even have to feel guilty about it. My plans for the day include puttering around my house, tackling Mt. Laundry, and pretending the world does not exist outside these walls.

3. Yesterday I spent the day in Longview manning the cash register (well, figuratively, since we didn't have a cash register) at my grandparents' estate sale. It was depressing as hell, but my Aunt Ann was there and she's awesome and we had a good time together on the front lines. I guess the good news is that we did better than we thought we would, when the predicted downpour came the crowds had already thinned, and Johanna had plenty of cousin time.

4. It occurred to me, when we told Gram the total and she just kind of looked at us blankly, that she doesn't really care how well she did -- she'd rather have her life back to the way it was six months ago, before Gramps fell. I don't blame her. I'd like that life back for her, too.

5. Last night was Homecoming for Abby's high school. She and her friends did a bit of a dress exchange in preparation for the thing, which I would like to point out is both zero waste and minimalism and really fairly awesome. She's lucky to have tall friends. ;) I'm also 100 percent sure that zero waste and minimalism were not on the top of her list when she decided to participate.

6. Tomorrow is Columbus Day, but apparently it's not a real holiday since no one gets it off except for the federal government. Fun fact: Abby is no fan of Christopher Columbus, but she has to write  about him every year for the DAR history essay contest. It's kind of amusing hearing her rant. Plus also: Free money for her college fund.

Well, I thought this was funny, except for the fact that
whoever created this forgot to capitalize "day." That is just sad.

7.  I'm not really sure what to write for my seventh pointless update, but I'm committed to the number in sort of an arbitrary way that defies explanation, so here we are. The sun is shining, it's cool but beautiful, and I just decided to add "reading on the deck" and "taking a walk" to my list, even though both will technically mean I have to leave the house. I'd also like to add "eat a doughnut," but that would require not only leaving the house but going into the belly of the beast, so forget it. I'll stuff my emotions with an apple instead.

Enough is enough

Another shooting.

Another school shooting.

This time, in Oregon -- in Roseburg, specifically. 

And you guys, I just can't even. I look at the names and the ages of the people shot, how young some of them were, and I just ...

I keep hearing that if we as a nation couldn't get outraged enough to start gun legislation after Newtown, then probably there's no hope for us. But maybe this is the straw that will break the camel's back. Maybe this is the time that will lead to real reform.

I really, really hope so.

Because the current system isn't working. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

It's time to do something different.

And to those who say guns don't kill people, people kill people: By that logic, forks don't feed people, clothes don't clothe people, shoes don't shod people, houses don't house people, and cars don't drive people. You need more examples? Because I can do this all damn day.

Guns DO kill people. 

It's time to let go of the rhetoric.

Please? Can't it just be time?