Blog
My older son loves ocean liners and lighthouses. I know, not the typical fare of most 18-year-old boys, but he definitely has ensured that we have taken some very different vacations over the past few years. While some kids long to get to Disneyland, he has seen more than 175 lighthouses, many of them with my husband or me in tow.
These past two weeks there have been some "interesting" revelations about politicians and sex. It got me to thinking about what kids have learned about sex from politicians by reading the newspaper, listening to the news and looking at even the home page of most news sites over the past decade or so:
President Clinton --- oral sex.Governor Spitzer --- sex with prostitutes.Senator Larry Craig --- how to pick up men in bathrooms.Governor McGreevey (and his wife) --- threesomes.Governor Patterson (and his wife) --- both had affairs.
If you spent the $4,300 you were alleged to have spent on the night of February 13th on books, you could have bought 172 hardcover books at an average price of $25.
If, as rumored, you spent $80,000 on escort services over the past decade, you could have bought 3,200 hardcover books at an average price of $25.
If you bought the books in state, none would have had to cross state lines to get to you.
If you bought them online, they may have crossed state lines and yes, you may not have paid tax, but it still would be legal.
I think going forward that Daylight Savings Time should commence on a Monday, not a Sunday. I do not need one less hour of any Sunday. I could use one less hour of most Mondays. Especially rainy Mondays. Yes, I know for business this would not be easy. I am thinking only of reading time. One less hour of reading time on a weekend is brutal. Even if I can be reading by daylight one hour longer today. I think readers of the world should unite behind this. Have a great Sunday...as you read double time.
As a longtime fan of mystery and thriller books I spend a fair time at mystery conferences. Among the things I have learned from authors in these genres is that if they do not get the gun right in a book they are going to get mail, lots of mail. Thus education on this topic is a must and research on this topic is important. There usually is at least one session on guns and weaponry at writer's conferences like Sleuthfest, which I attended last weekend in Florida.
I just finished reading the piece in The New York Times where Margaret B. Jones admits that her memoir, Love and Consequences, was fabricated. She was not "a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Bloods."
Okay, reading this I have a few questions for Jones:
1) Have you ever heard of James Frey?
2) WHERE were you when Frey did his "called on the carpet" appearance on Oprah?
I think we need a new National Holiday --- Leap Day. I have a complete plan for this. It will happen just once every four years. There will be no presents, food, decorations or sales attached to it. Well, people whose birthdays only come every four years still would get to celebrate.
Tuesday night my husband, the boys and I are going to see Eric Clapton in concert. Confession here: I know most of Clapton's hits, but I have zero clue which are recorded with The Yardbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes or as solo works. I have been told that this IS important. The guys have this all nailed. I have no idea where Ginger Baker figures into this though I do know he is alive and they had to tape his drumsticks to his hands when he played when he was high. This has come up a few times.
When I write email I usually bang out whatever my question or message is and then go back and add nice things like "Hi" or "Hope this note finds you well." I am not sure what that says about me, but it's a reality. When I read emails from others I think, did they too plunk in the "Good Morning" or "Hi Carol" later or do they really think of that first? I bring this up since this week I have gone back and added "Happy New Year" at the start of each email, just as last month had a lot of "I hope your holidays are wonderful" at the end.
Soooo of course I have a funny turkey story, and it's one some of you readers may remember. A few years ago I bought a frozen turkey and following my husband's instructions I put it in the fridge to defrost. After all, he is an engineer while I am the writer; I figured he knew such things. Soooo it's late the night before Thanksgiving and I am IMing with a friend and she says, well, at least my turkey is defrosted. I get thinking about MY turkey.
