Dianaverse sometimes uses writing cues to get her blogs started, so that's what I decided to do today. Today's theme is 5 things I like and 5 things I don't like. I'm avoiding the truly obvious, since everyone loves puppies and kittens and everyone hates traffic.


5 things I like:

*the first cup of coffee from a really full pot

*the peanut butter stalactites (stalagmites?) that form on the lid of SNG's jar of natural peanut butter after he shakes it up and leaves it in the fridge (I eat them with my fingers. I wonder if he knows?)

*public transportation

*the smell of the woods on a morning bike ride to work

*buying produce


5 things I don't like:

*the smell of jet fuel at the airport

*being called "Mrs."

*blue jeans

*having short, stubby fingers

*icky black-and-yellow centipedes that are always on the bike trail after a rainstorm


Hm. Well. OK, so that made me think about stuff I like and don't like, but it didn't seem to spark a writing frenzy.


I'm in Minneapolis this week. I'm still on a diet. And I'm PMSing. I ate 1/2 a can of salted smoky flavored almonds last night. Before dinner. Needless to say, that made me grouchy and lethargic, so I stayed in my room watching Shrek2 and ordered room service. Then I walked on a treadmill for 10 minutes listening to a book on CD. I'm listening to The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier which my friend KiltGuy recommended. Before you chide me for not *reading* the book and instead listening to it, I get motion sickness on planes and treadmills if I read. OK, and it's just easier for someone to read to me. I do still read real books, I swear!! Gr, damn PMS. Anyway, I'm ambivalent about the book-- as in love-hate-- because the first chapter is all about a marriage of necessity resulting from what most of us would call rape, and that marriage turns (of course) violent and increasingly repressive, and I really really really really really really hate depictions of rape and domestic violence in TV, books, movies, whatever. For some reason that's the kind of thing I've never been able to get desensitized to, and it's really unbearable and painful to see (or read). But once the horrible horrible rape scenes are over, the rest of the book is intriguing. Oh, except that the *other* heroine in the story is a complete IDIOT and stupid flaky-magic things keep happening that are completely IDIOTIC and STUPID and only work to make the story completely FLAKY. And there are all these STUPID COINCIDENCES like YEAH RIGHT, I don't buy for an INSTANT that the only thing left after 500 years of town history is the bible that belonged to YOUR ANCESTORS and that YOU found it after only 2 days searching. Give me a break! Or maybe it's the PMS talking. I do like getting to practice my french a bit, though, although none of the french in the book is very complicated. Memories of catholic school-- she recites the Our Father in french. I'm surprised I remembered nearly the whole thing.


Today for lunch I'm having a lean cuisine and some chunky soup. Maybe 2 non-lunches together will make a decent diet lunch. We'll se if I'm sneaking into the Krispie Treats by the end of the day.


On other topics, Hi CzechChick!! We missed you when mom and I were in Europe last January- I hope you had a good bday in the US, and I hope you're doing great!!


Gotta go for now. There are some annoying people I need to give dirty looks to.