The Person Below Me #48 - a couple couple dozen

Carried over from the previous thread ...

TPBM is trying to improve his/her vocabulary.

Yes, I'm trying to learn the meaning of "phatic."

The person below me not only knows the meaning of phatic but says phatic things every day.

yeah, so how's it going? see ya!

TPBM played outside today.

If moving several cubic yards of dirt constitutes "playing", then yes, I did.

TPBM is planning her/his garden for this year.

The rose bushes and lillies are already in.

TPBM has a greener thumb than mine.

If you count about 20 houseplants a green thumb. I no longer live where I can plant things outside.

TPBM has eaten their black-eyed peas and greens. So much so, that they in theory should be lucky, prosperous and wealthy.

Btw mine turned out excellent!

Didn't bother this year. Not that it matters, because even when we do have them, we're not any more lucky, prosperous, or wealthy than usual!

TPBM has taught someone something recently.

This weekend I taught my stepson the tactics of the good old fashioned "board game" Battleship. He prefers to call it cheating, though I am not sure how that is so, or how you fully explain tactics to an 8yr old.

TPBM also enjoys board games, when video games are overwhelming.

I prefer knitting to board games. I don't need to badger anyone else into joining me.

The person below me hasn't played a board game in over a month.

Oh, probably. Lack of time and other people to play with me, and it's no fun playing board games alone!

I always prefer board games over video games. Scrabble especially, though I can't stand playing it with R. He's very competitive and tends to gloat when he wins. I don't mind losing, but playing with gloating types just sucks the fun right out of it for me.

TPBM plays cards.

I do, all variations. My grandmother taught me- apparently it's not a sin if you're playing poker for toothpicks. She also got me reading- I went from Winnie the Pooh at home, to Dick and Jane at school, which horrified her so much that she sent me everything Mark Twain wrote.

As a child, TPBM had his or her own library.

Yes, I did, though not in a separate room, unless you count my bedroom as my library. "Raggedy Ann" and "Raggedy Andy" come to mind, among others when I was very young. Later there were the Nancy Drew books and others of that nature.

I used to play Contract Bridge, but not any more. I still play a killer game of Spades, also Poker.

TPBM still plays Contract Bridge

Believe it or not, Bridge is one card game I never learned.

I know/knew 150 variations of Solitaire, Pinochle, Cribbage, Baccarat, and dozens of other card games, but not Bridge.

TPBM still plays Trivial Pursuit.

No. People who know me won't take me on at Trivial Pursuit. My brain won't hold anything important (praise be to Google) but is instead stuffed full of, well, trivia.

I also never got into Bridge. I've spent many a free hour at sea playing its little brother Five Hundred and its even littler brother Euchre.

TPBM plays Twister. (Clothed and without the baby oil! Otherwise I don't want to know.)

The last time I played Twister I knocked everybody over by the second spin on the card. I just don't have the balance for it!

TPBM is sharing the chair with a critter (or two...) who doesn't understand the concept of "personal space."

Merlin likes to hang out between and the chairback. She's warm and I don't mind.

Earlier today I was sharing the chair with my 17-year-old daughter critter. I was playing some PDQ Bach for her (Cantata: Blaues Gras, No-No Nonette, and New Horizons in Music Appreciation: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony). We were laughing so hard we were crying.

TPBM loves PDQ Bach.

I've heard PDQ Bach but I can't honestly say I love PDQ Bach.

The person below me prefers American folk music (just like me).

Actually I like all kinds of music, including folk.

TPBM sings in the shower.

Not really. I like having something to sing along to, but I'm not crazy enough to wear headphones in the shower.

The person below me has a cheap (safe) way to listen to an iPod in the shower.

We use a mini amplifier to plug an audio cable from the amp to the iPod and listen to it that way. Outside the shower. We also have an under the cabinet radio and a shower safe radio, so shower time is more than just getting clean.

That came out almost wrong.

TPBM also has ways to make bath time fun too. Minus a rubber ducky.

Hey! The Rubber Ducky is KEY to a fun bath time.
No Rubber Ducky, and a bath is merely a soak in your own watered-down dirt and grime.

TPBM is partial to showers.

Yes, baths are not my thing. I don't like dirty water, bubbles/scented oils or salts, or to have half my body hot and the other susceptible to chilly drafts.

TPBM loves a good book in the bath

I only tried reading in the bath once, and it was rather uncomfortable, so no.

TPBM needs a shower as we type.

Nope, I am scrubbed head to toe and squeaky clean. I'm also on a chemical trail mix to knock out a plugged sinus and sore throat, including Sudafed. It's easier to buy meth than the stuff they keep behind the counter. I'm guessing. The republicans think homeland security should concentrate on forcing meth cookers to hijack pharmacy supply trucks and the democrats want one to enjoy the friendly skies by having someone perfectly repellent squeeze one's wang prior to takeoff. One appreciates the thought if not the gift, but jayzuz- nuns and kids?!

TPBM is appalled by some of the laws passed by the party they voted for.

I don't vote...haven't even registered. No surprises here.

TPBM believes every vote counts.

Yes, I do and I vote in every election.

My dad always told me that if you don't vote you don't have the right to complain.

TPBM got a very unusual Christmas gift.

Well, my unusual gift hasn't arrived yet, but it's a new pair of specs (given my prescription, lenses are out of my price range, so my lovely husband stepped in!). Can't wait ...

TPBM had a good Hogmanay (Scottish for New Year's Eve!).

I did, my sister was here. I made a lovely risotto with spinach and basil, hubby broiled a salmon fillet. We then went to a play, RESPECT The story of women in music. It was FANTASTIC. We were home by 11:00, had champagne and cheesecake and watched the new year in on the TV. Nice thing about this New Year's celebration was that no one had a hang-over the next morning.

TPBM on the other hand did wake up under the weather.

I woke with a crick in my neck - lumpy pillow? cold draught? - not alcoholic excess anyway! It resolved by the next morning.

TPBM will help me with the etymology of 'crick' and tell me if you can get cricks anywhere else.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crick

Dunno - I only get them in my neck and back.

TPBM has people or pets to feed.

I do. I can't forget to feed myself again. That's very important.

TPBM has or had a very special pet in their lifetime.

They're all very special to me. My pets are almost like my kids, and it's very painful to have to say goodbye to any of them.

TPBM wants a cookie.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I so want one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cookies are my life...not really, but it's my snack life.

TPBM believes sarcasm hurts more than the actual truth and will explain to the rest of us why it is that way.

Not really. Sarcasm is like everything else, in that it's good in moderation.

The person below me will express a different opinion.

Sarcasm is a vehicle for indicating indifference to the plight of the sarcasee, implies superiority on the part of the sarcaser, and invites others to share his or her view. Even if it fails to rally the crowd, it is a rhetorical ploy useful for putting the sarcasee on the defensive. A simple 'I want you to eat me' will negate it.

I am dying Egypt, dying. I'm so hopped up on OTC goofballs that it's like being at a Stones concert. I think I'll call a meeting and make everyone's life...ooh look! I just found my Mink De Ville CD.

>> 29 at- OK, I've looked at the definitions. The primary usage describes a musculoskeletal pain; often in the neck but also applicable anywhere that ordinary movement is impaired by soreness. Subsidiary variations are used to describe non-continuity, such as swaybacks, ravines and creeks. Of English origin, I'd say that it was a derivative of crimp. Two sound related words are also of interest- creek (as in door creeking open) and crick (shrill monotone, as a cricket.)

added- And cri/cry, predates earliest recorded usage of crick by c. 200 years. Must be in tied in there somewhere.

TPBM knows what I was going to post as my TPBM challenge.

...something about Cleopatra? I like her response - "Hast thou no care of me, shall I abide in this dull world which in thy absence is no better than a sty?"

TPBM has another favourite quote.

(Thanks RedRose and SGiV for crick stuff)

"Never assume anything... except maybe a four and a half percent mortgage."
- my father

TPBM spent at least part of the weekend amassing last year's bills for storage, and now has a fairly empty desk.

Um no. My bills are few and don't require a paper trail. However, I did clean and cook a lot.
However, now it's back to untidy. It never stays clean for long.

TPBM has giving up on deep cleaning and is happy to live in comfortable clutter.

I won't say that I'm "happy" in my cluttered home; I'd be a good deal happier if I could clear away a measure of the clutter. (Can you tell from that phrasing that I have been watching Cranford?)

The person below me is better than I at not acquiring unneeded *stuff*.

No, but I can't stand clutter. I saw a teebee show over the holidays about horders and it struck me that the only difference between them and me was that I have storage space. I'm going to empty one out because the cost to store it exceeds the real/sentimental value of the contents. I'll be adding a lot of books to LT over the next week or so.

TPBM lives in a refreshing oriental sparsity.

I wish, but my house is also comfortably cluttered. My daughter, who cleans house for me, always gripes about all the knick-knacks, but guess what she got me for Mother's Day and for my birthday? Yep.

Some Guy, be careful. OTC drugs made me so dizzy that I fell and mutilated my arm on Dec. 15. It is almost healed, but I'm going to have a scar, which is okay. I'm just glad I didn't break a bone!

TPBM has also fallen because of dizziness.

True. I came to on the kitchen floor asking myself, "Why is this bed so hard?"

TPBM has suffered from true vertigo, the carousel kind.

I have. I was given a prescription for it, but I never took it because of its reputation for being a sedative. I haven't had much problem with it the past couple of decades.

The person below me has also gotten over something chronic.

Pain....having an auto accident 4mths ago and fracturing my pelvis and 3 ribs was not an experience I wish to go through again. Speaking of medicine...I am happy to say I weaned myself off pain meds with no ill affects, except now I have insomnia and RLS or restless-leg-syndrome, which is NOT all in my head.

TPBM believes in RLS and thinks people who say it's all mental should be hanged.

ETA: Spell check: Leg is 1 "g" unless you're buying stockings ;)

There is nothing imaginary about RLS. I suffered from it as a child and my father complained of it into great age. Various treatment options are available now.

Congratulations, SecondChances, on your successful, yet difficult convalescence following a frightening event.

TPBM is hopeful about enjoying a crisis-free new year.

Yes, please.

The person below me is sorry to put away the Christmas sweaters (assuming you have any).

I refere you back to my post #37.

TPBM knows how to set the time on every device in his/her domicile that has a clock on it.

Yes, but that doesn't make it any less a pain in the ass when the power goes out.

TPBM is smart and has back up batteries in all his/her electronics.

My husband is smart and I have back up batteries on all my electronics. We have the biggest backup battery, too, a generator. Not whole house, but about 70% of the house including all computers, and things needed to get by when the power's out.

TPBM can't remember the last time they lost power.

It was so long ago that I can't remember where the candles and the matches are kept... And having said that, we're almost certain to have a power cut in the next few days.

TPBM has lit a candle recently.

Almost every night of my sister's visit. We don't see each other often, so we try to make it festive when we do.

TPBM recently connected with a long absent relative.

I'm just about to. Going to visit my 85 year old aunt who I haven't seen in way too long.

And I couldn't get LT to load for me yesterday - it doesn't seen to have been a general problem though. But I REALLY MISSED YOU GUYS.
***group hug, please***

TPBM is hankering, nay, yearning, for the sun.

Depends how I feel and what I'm doing. Nothing like rain for reading and sleep.

TPBM is a sunny person, however.

I try to be. Doesn't always work out, but then, I've never been a Pollyanna-type either! (Unless you mean liking the sun. In which case, yes; it keeps my plants alive and it makes me happy)

TPBM either is or knows at least one Pollyanna-type person.

My wife can be that way--but a woman's got to be to be able to live with yours truly.

TPBM likes 2011 so far.

I'm torn on my opinion. Overall I've liked the last 4 days. However my wife's grandpa died yesterday (not a big surprise but still...) and I've been recruited as a pallbearer. It was time, but you don't really WANT it to come.

TPBM has had a perfect 4 days of 2011.

So far, the best thing about 2011 is that it isn't 2010. I like it just for that. That being said, I have a sinus infection that makes me feel like my head is going to pop, there is no sign that US and world governments are going to stop being perfect asses anytime soon, and because I have to heat the apartment up to 80 to take a shower, I can't risk the cold to clean the pigeon mess off'n my balcony (apparently everybody really DOES like Christmas lights, including pigeons. Damn birds) and being a neat and tidy sort it bugs me. (They crapped ON the handle of the scrub brush I keep out there. Damn insidious birds.)

I'm a terrible, whiny patient. read, I'm really sorry about your wife's grandpa, no matter what that's not easy.

TPBM is still on vacation.

I wish! I came back from my last vacation with just enough time to head down the block to the local high school and vote for Obama. If I were still on vacation, it wouldn't be vacation -- it would be unemployment.

The person below me also needs a vacation.

I do, but since the next one is going to be at the end of Feb. with my family for a week. I will probably be happy to get back to work when it's done.

TPBM appreciates the old adage "Company is like fish, both smell after 3 days..."

I most certainly do. My family kept it short and sweet a year ago, visiting from Tuesday a.m. - Friday a.m. We all appreciated each other, had a wonderful time, and were perfectly happy for it to end.

TPBM is to the point of throwing away the last of the Christmas cookies, candies, and other sweets.

On the contrary, I am trying to find excuses to make more...like cupcakes. Need to use all the leftover eggs and milk so they won't spoil. I also went a little silly when all the goodies went half off after Christmas, so we have plenty to munch on until I do the same for Valentines.

TPBM does the same thing, as in stock piles on clearance holiday treats.

Naw, until my alien overlords decide on a semi-permanent area for me, I'm living out of an apartment/suitcases. (Man, I would like to settle down. All I need is proximity to an airport and a county that isn't dry.) A few years ago I did buy some Christmas cards that were 1/2 off after X-mas; I really liked them and carried them around for the year. The lights, wreath and baubles I bought for this season are all going in the trash. I did take a cutting from the wreath for luck, though.

TPBM has a unique ritual associated with this time of year.

Mourning it. The trappings are fun. The only drawback is all the colds you risk sexlessly kissing friends and relatives.

TPBM avoided a cold this holiday.

I wonder whether I should be making resolutions I won't keep and usually end up not making any.

The person below me makes their resolutions later in the year.

it's much easier to make them on Dec 31, since by then you know if you've succeeded or not! And I have avoided a cold these last 6 weeks as well.

TPBM participates in the office pools.

Used to, for the state lottery.

TPBM has won a lottery, or knows someone who has.

Nope.

TPBM is trying to get organized (not necessarily because it was a "resolution" to do so).

OOPS! An accidental double-post. My bad...

There's a pile of mail hidden behind the screen on my laptop at home; stuff that requires something more than payment or a return signature. I've been dealing with it by not closing the laptop. But I know it's there. Taunting me.

TPBM tracks progress on goals, etc.

Only progress on the goals scored by Tottenham Hotspur compared with Arsenal and Chelsea. Spurs are now fourth in the Premiership above Chelsea - it's been a good start to the year.

TPBM can't understand a grown man bothering himself with that sort of thing.

Nope. My goal is to set no goals and let progress fall where it may.

TPBM understands.

I understand completely. My main goals are getting through the day at work and having a few hours in the evening to read and relax.

TPBM has loftier goals.

To read 75 books plus in 2011 and to add more books to my BookMooch account and personal library.

TPBM wants to do the same.

Nope. There is no way that I'm going to read anywhere near 75 books in a year.
I didn't even read a dozen in 2010, not for lack of trying - I'm just a pathetically slow reader.

TPBM plans on weeding his/her library this year.

Hmm, is the person above me speaking figuratively? If so, I believe I'm actually planning on planting more seeds in my library this year! I believe I may also be way off mark when responding to the above statement. I'm awfully tired, foggy and groggy.

TPBM uses LibraryThing as an escape from their real world.

Ah yes, yes I do. Although, perhaps I should spend more time reading actual books; rather than reading the forums, reviews and posting.

TPBM agrees.

Absolutely. Just opted out of a religious argument thread where I struggled to have a dialogue with boneheads only interested in people-bashing. What a colossal waste of time! I could have used it to finish a good book.

TPBM has had similar waste of time experiences on LT--while acknowledging the good far out-weighs the bad.

More often than you'd think! I finally opted to Ignore (as in, click the option for the Group) those sites. Some of them were sadly comical; hard to come to grips with the fact that some people are that rigid in their belief systems (also follows political bent) that they won't even consider another point of view.

TPBM avoids 'extremist' Groups here on LT.

That I do. I didn't need to learn a long time ago, which topics to avoid if I don't want to get bashed online. I also didn't need to learn; how not to take things members post so literal. It's the internet folks. Anyone can 'read' into something more or less than they should.
It's like reading a book; my view on the plot may be very different from yours and vice versa.

TPBM knows where I'm coming from.

Always, SecondChances. I can read you like a book.

TPBM knows a lot of people that way, not just his/her spouse.

I had a witty reply... and it all just disappeared. (I am not a morning person, and being distracted by the dog trying to steal my breakfast isn't helping.)

TPBM has a witty reply that didn't disappear right as they were about to type it.

...what?

TPBM ignores the flamers, losers, inquisitors, and mad hatters on the Web.

yes and no. Sometimes I like to engage them for entertainment. See what makes them tick.

TPBM thinks that kind of behavior puts me in with the 'bad lot'

Not really; a little bit of cynicism is a generally healthy thing.

TPBM owns a gun.

Wow, you are brisk today, WHL!

Not easy in the UK to own a gun legally, thank goodness, having just read about the Ohio 10 year old who is believed to have plugged his mum rather than fetch the firewood.

Well, it is a bit like bear-baiting.....

...but, hey, it's fun ;-)

NB: no animals have been hurt in the making of this program.

TPBM is careful to maintain their on-line anonymity, just in case one of the 'bad lot' turned up at their front door

I'm honestly always worried about this! I have this fear that I'm going to go apply to a job some day and the hiring staff will google my name or email address and find some odd thing that I probably posted when I was 14 years old. I don't think I adequately achieved anonymity in the past (which I'm sure most can say, what with myspace and that xanga thing and facebook..), and now I can never feel anonymous enough!

TPBM has googled their own name or email address and has wished they could delete what they found.

Yes, unfortunely this sometimes seems like a culture designed to justify paranoia. There is indeed a thankfully small collection of individuals on LT I'm glad I don't have to talk to face-to-face.

TPBM agrees.

Sure, sho, whatever you say. Just...keep calm, ok?

I think a few nutters flock to LT but nothing really unnerving- I'm more worried about ticking someone on LT off and having them hack my identity and selling it to that guy in Nigeria that's always asking me to wire him money than I am someone showing up with a box of chocolates in one hand and a machete in the other. Oh, and I do own a gun(s) so if you're a whack job and reading this, don't even think it. at, I swear, what will the UK do when hell is full and the dead walk the earth to feast on the living? In a post apocalyptic world of the undead, there are always larger bands of survivors in the US than in the UK. Just look at 28 Days Later- 4 survivors in South England. Dawn of the Dead- a dozen or more in western Pennsylvania. And those are just the ones we know about for sure!

TPBM has eaten/is eating/will eat lunch at their desk today.

Does eating a pop tart on the chaise lounger apply? My desk is currently swamped and flocked by a bunch of things I have unpacked and need to find somewhere to stow away. So the chaise lounge is now my desk.

TPBM has watched or heard something interesting on the news today.

I've watched the news; can't say it was interesting. Frightening, yes; interesting - not so much.

#86 - You got my curiosity up, so I Googled my email address. Nothing about ~me~ (at least in the first 10 pages), but I've got a fairly common name, so there's LOTS about other people with my name. The one that really jumped out at me was there is another "me" living in the same apartment building (not the same unit, though) as my first wife and I did when I first done with college.

I have no presence on the WWW other than here (for the most part).

TPBM also likes to keep a low profile.

Yes, I do. But, I am on Facebook, where you have to give your name. I don't have my address, e-address, current city, etc. listed where people can see them. My Facebook friends all know that stuff, anyway. I used to be on MySpace, so I could see my daughter's and granddaughter's photos, but they moved to FB, so I did, too.

I just Googled and found two entries with my e-address, several with my name but not me, a bunch with "Boobalack," even one who wasn't me -- hard to believe -- some with my screen name on another site, etc.

TPBM has never before Googled him/herself and will do so now.

Edit: There wasn't enough info on me for anyone to find me. Fer instance, here on LT, I have my first name and State. If any of you find me, please let me know, and we'll have lunch, or something.

I have Googled myself, and I wish I could delete lots of it because there's stuff out there that I just don't think the general public needs to know.

TPBM has a robot.

I have a microwave oven, which is better. In fact, until they invent a machine you can have sex with-whenever you want-I'm set.

TPBM is finishing up a book tonight.

not likely, I'm only 150 pages into Towers of Midnight. At over 800 pages I most likely have a week or 2 maybe 3 left.

TPBM reads like the wind.

Hopefully I'll finish Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella tonight.

TPBM knows how to work magic and remove search engine results that contain their name.

Yes to the former, no to the latter. One of the variations of my name yields 18,900 hits, so there's really no point. Besides, I want search engines to find my blog.

TPBM is immune to privacy concerns.

To InfectionsOptimist: No, I don't, but I think if you do, it would be nice of you to share it with us. Thanks.

No, not after the young daughter of a neighbor was sent some horribly specific photos online. Ewwwwwww.

TPBM spends too much time fooling with a computer.

>98 Mr.Durick: When you strike out your post like that, I never know if I am supposed to read and acknowledge it or pretend it never happened.

>95 InfectiousOptimist: I just realized I have that book on a catch-all bookshelf; funny you should mention it. Do you like Jane Green as well? I didn't see a Bookmooch link, do you BookMooch?

>96 PhaedraB: I love your name; it reminds me of the Kushiel Jacqueline Carey books in a way.

>97 Boobalack: I spend HOURS on the computer...it's what I do.

Lastly....Mr. Durick: I love this Wednesday, because I made such excellent plans for Saturday and I rarely get out to do anything now of days.

TPBM already knows their plans for the weekend.

On Saturday I will participate in a work party at church, preparing the building for termite tenting. On Sunday I will go to a high definition transmission of the National Theater's (London) production of Hamlet.

(I found that my message 98 was untimely but not irrelevant, so I struck it out. It should not have been taken as part of the game.)

The person below me likes to correct things when one of the posters here is ignored.

Yes, but one can only go so far to do that.

TPBM was once caught in a scandal. No need to elaborate; a simple yes or no will suffice, but be honest about it.

Oh, it was awful!

My friends and I were caught and arrested for swimming with our clothes on.
We were known as the Steubenville Eleven.

TPBM is blushing at this disclosure.

No, but I would be if I got arrested for swimming with my clothes off. Oops, you said on, not off...ohhhhhhhhhh......that's embarassing......

TPBM doesn't get why that's bad above. Or does get and will explain it to me.

2WonderY doesn't specify the age when the crowd was caught swimming with their clothes on but I would imagine that whatever authority figure there was in charge felt that the behavior was flatly inappropriate. Skinny dipping also falls under that heading. Does this help you Dragonfreak?

The person below me only goes into the water as far as the knees.

//Not answering this one TPBM thing, but I guess it makes sense. Some people may just like to arrest people.//

//further digression: I know I always enjoyed a good police collar in my younger days!//

Carry on. see #104

Only if the water's polluted--won't risk any items above the knees.

TPBM belongs to a Polar Bear club.

//Just so you all know, skinny dipping is fun.
Carry on.//

I do not want to think of all of you nakee.

I do not belong to a Polar Bear Club, I do not like ANYTHING of mine to be cold.

TPBM will please take us away from the Off-Topic TPBM group's nakedness.

I am wearing three layers of clothing plus a blanket.

TPBM would like some hot chocolate.

Love it. With mini-marshmallows? If we get further from naked people than that, I know SomeGuy wouldn't be able to stand it.

TPBM wants to strike a compromise: conversation about people in speedos and bikinis.

Must we?
Wait until March and I will see plenty of that here, out and about where I live.

I want hot cocoa with a shot of caramel liqueur. Hold the marshmallows please.

TPBM sees London, sees France.....you finish it.

I thought we were getting away from that? Alright, as I recall from elementary school, something about underpants, right? The caramel liqueur sounds great, though.

TPBM has a great memory for childhood ditties, and can finish "Beans, beans, the magical fruit..."

"... more you eat'em the more you toot."

I was just going over a lot of these with the step-kidder the other day.

I was teaching him...

"So, so, suck your toe; all the way to Mexico.
While you're there,
Wash your hair..."

TPBM will finish with his/her childhood version.

Um, I never heard these. I feel deprived.

The person below me can help SecondChances out.

"…and throw away your underwear!"

I just made that up.

TPBM will rescue the tone of the thread. Again.

Eminent, Companion of the Order of Canada, Booker-Prize-winning author and poet, Margaret Atwood quotes the tooting beans rhyme more than once in at least two of her books. Elevated enough for you?

TPBM is still able to giggle.

I hope so. I keep coming here to test that ability. So far so good...despite the evening news.

TPBM once knew a newscaster.

Yes I did. When I took ballroom dance lessons, our instructor was dating a local newscaster and later married him. Soooo, not only did I know him, but I tangoed with him.

#114 I always new the first part of the Mexico ditty, but never knew there was a second verse. Please end my curiosity and reveal the ending.

TPBM knows the ending too.

No, I won't. I have never even heard of that rhyme before.

#93 - um... they DO make such machines. (Please don't ask me how I know that. Let's just leave it at there are some things I accidentally learned that I'd really like to UNlearn.)

TPBM has run a marathon.

Nope...there's no way I could! I might've been able to back when I was healthy, since I played sports and all, but definitely not now. I hope to someday though!

TPBM is battling a chronic disease or illness.

A couple of them unfortunately. Wish it was just optimism :+)

TPBM also enters 2011 having seen better days. (My next post will be happier, I promise.)

An affirmative, I imagine, would apply to virtually anyone who would have responded.

TPBM wants to build a snowman (we can make him tall or we can make him not too tall).

* Sorry, fat-fingered an "m"...

I don't want to build a snowman. That requires going somewhere where there is snow, and I don't do snow.

TPBM is less averse to snow than I am.

Yes, though after that snowdump we had right after Christmas, I'm not looking forward to getting more of it this weekend.

The person below me is waiting for something.

Yes, waiting for SecondChances to finish the ditty for me.

TPBM is having a great lunch.

Aak! Leaped.

Nope, are you going to finish yours?

I am waiting to get over this damn cold; it's turned me into a mucus machine. I usually shake stuff off pretty quick, but this one is a mutha. Rivers turning green, fish kills, birds falling from the sky. If these are the last days, I wonder if the Cosmos is going to have a sale?

TPBM is annoyingly healthy.

56 and feeling like 35. So sorry to annoy you.

TPBM feels even better.

If I did, I would feel like I'm 19, which I don't. Sorry to disappoint you.

The person below me wonders how I got that number.

Maybe you are 41. OTOH maybe you are not.

TPBM knows another reason, apart from a new sexual relationship or total hip replacements, for suddenly feeling years younger.

Leaped again.

Yes. Oh, new sexual relationship is off the table. Um...no.

Operator? Information?

>>128 2wonderY:- Thank you Dr. Buzzkill. Oh wait! Let's not forget the total lunar eclipse when the moon turned...to blood! (Cue the da-da-duuum machine.)

TPBM wonders why they've never marketed boxes that play the roar of the crowd when you open it, or the da-da-duuum!, or something like that. Several years ago I saw a 'I Dream of Jeanie' slot machine in Las Vegas. Walking by it activated a sensor that made it play it's tag line; Barbara Eden saying 'Oh yes, master! Yes!' Liberace would have stopped to plug quarters into it. It was awesome.

I've got a Drama Button app on my Driod...

TPBM has a rotary dial phone in the house.

I don't even have a telephone line, well just one for the internet. Only phones we own are cellular.

>#119 I believe the ending is, "And don't forget your underwear!" As in wash your hair and underwear. Someone else guessed pretty darn near tootin', close.

TPBM will regale use with some slang from the mid-20th Century.

I'm not going to lie; I'm lost. I have no idea what you are talking about!

TPBM understands the game I've started in a new thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/106770, and will post in it.

{23 Skidoo and the Cat's Pajamas.

//Go'wan home, your mudder's callin'.
Yer fodder just fell in da' washin' machine.
Go'wan home, your mudder's callin'.
She can't get the laundry out clean.//}

Ooops!

#134, I'll look at it. Okay, I played it. Cute.

TPBM has heard that little ditty in the past. (The song I posted, I mean.)

Man, that is ringing no bells at all.

TPBM collects words and phrases.

And quotes and other bits of useless jargon

TPBM knows where we are at

No, I asked some lady but she was a real bitch.

TPBM has never strayed far from home.

Yee-HA! A triple play and two stately players were knocked down like bowling pins.

If you are lost in the wilderness head downstream. If you are lost on the cosmic plain head towards the light.

The person below me is in Newark.

Wow! A rare trisimulpost!

This was my response to #137:
Well, I'm ~here~; and I can't see you, so you are (obviously) somewhere ~else~. You're not showing up om my GPS app on my phone, so according to my service provider, you don't exist.

#139 - not at the moment, but I used to live in a town just north of it - Bloomfield; and would take the Newark Trolley to Penn Station (Newark) as part of my daily commute.

TPBM recycles.

Every week.

(I own a rotary dial phone. My mother thinks I'm weird because I actually use it.)

TPBM wears glasses.

I have been since the just before freshmen in high school. I think that 99% of the world population looks better in glasses.

TPBM agrees with me.

Only if they have the haircut to suit

TPBM needs a haircut

SomeGuy...a b***h eh...kick her in the knee

No, I need that kick. Second, I couldn't help myself...I went back to that thread from hell again. Is there such thing as LT re-hab :+)

TPBM would like Tim to start that.

Heck, no. then I would have to admit to my addiction.

The person below me dresses to the nines.

I wish. More like the fourteens.

TPBM knows the origin of the expression "dressed to the nines."

You might find it here

TPBM is watching something interesting

Add:(#144) I am probably getting into a bit of trouble of my own, ranting about a post in a forum to post rantings.

Well, in my opinion, I am. Others might roll their eyes or change the channel after a few minutes of viewing. I'm watching the tv show Wipeout, and I have to admit, in the 15 minutes I've been watching I've laughed more than I have this whole month. "Goodnight, and big balls."

TPBM is familiar with the above phrase, and giggles every time they say it at the end of the show.

Nope, can't say I do

TPBM will elaborate on #148's tv show

I feel so left out. Another weird thing I have no clue about.

The person below me will answer 149 or will give us a pun joke.

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I adore Wipeout. It's just so stupid that you have to laugh. People run strange obstacle courses, get eliminated. More obstacle courses, more people eliminated, and the last 3 go to the Wipeout Zone where they try to get through the last set of obstacles. The winner gets a lot of money but after the 3rd contestant posts the time you simply realize that someone won and that's it. No winning interviews, no awarding of a check or anything. End of show.

I really wanted to see last night's season premiere but got stuck at work. The family enjoyed it and I'll eventually be able to see it.

Ridiculous show, really.

TPBM loves Bookmooch.

#151, thank you for sharing my embarrassment; I'm glad to hear that someone else enjoys watching that show! Sometimes I feel silly for watching it, but then I remember that I'm not nearly as silly as the people who sign up to do it. Then I feel a little bit better. Last night's season premiere was great! "Winter Wipeout..."

I've never used Bookmooch. I don't even know how it works, but I have a feeling if I did test it out, I'd like it.

TPBM watched one of their favorite television shows last night.

//Just commenting on Wipeout. I just love that show to death. Actually I first heard about it at my priest's house when a bunch of us high schoolers were hanging at his house one day. He's an awesome priest. But yeah I saw it, and ever since then, it has been one of my favorite shows. Now continue from above.//

On network TV? Yeah, Law and Order SVU.

TPBM also likes the Law and Order franchise.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I've grown to loathe "cop shows". The last one I found worth my attention was "Hill Street Blues".

TPBM can tie a one-handed bowline.

Probably, I would imagine he'd put up less of a struggle than a 2-handed bowline.

TPBM has read Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer.

No, I am entirely averse to this whole practice of tying classic figures from literature to vampires, sea serpents, and other forms of "things that go bump in the night". I view it as an insult to the intelligence of the reader.

The person below me suspects that maybe I'm grumpy about something else entirely and am just taking it out on the crowd here at LT. Go ahead, you can be honest...

>154 sholofsky: A man after my heart? Shhh don't tell the hubby and wifey, we can watch SVU ...ALL you want. I seriously have been a die hard fan going on 11 years now. Elliot never gets better mentally, he is always going to be Mr. Billy Bad Butt and Olivia has never been less hotter. ;0)

Back on topic....I have not read it. I wanted to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies just because I like zombie stuff and I loved that book/movie.

TPBM will list a book like the 2 above (#156) that he/she has read.

ETA: Jilll you are a sourpuss. Funny, how we posted almost at the same time, 2 different views on those type of books. ;0) See above and comment accordingly. Keep up, people!

I would, if I'd read anything like those. Closest I've gotten is Dracula - the original Bram Stoker version!

TPBM is hungry.

Nope! I just drank a protein shake.

TPBM has a favorite book or series that they wish would be turned into a television series.

I would have said starving, heating chili now, yum ;0)

I've heard rumors, but I think Under the Dome by Stephen King would make a decent TV series.
They did 'Haven', which was very much loosely based on The Colorado Kid. I liked it.

TPBM knows how to make a mean pot of chili.

Open a can of chili, whip it until it turns mean, put it in a pot.

The person below me cooks things from scratch; cans are for condensed milk.

Generally I do, although I could not do without cans of Italian tomatoes - much better flavour than most of the fresh tomatoes in the shops here. Condensed milk I have not had for half a century or more - I remember at school spiking two holes in a tin and sucking it dry.

TPBM will tell us their childhood edible treat.

Captain Crunch, I don't think I liked anything more.

TPBM still has something they got from a box of cereal.

Actually I have a whole shoebox full of stuff I collected from cereal boxes, one of these days I'll have to dig it out and see if there are any treasures I could sell.

TPBM has saved something hoping someday it would be worth a lot more money then they paid for it.

uh.... maybe one or two things...

TPBM is excited about a sporting event.

Not excited, exactly, but very pleased at England's demolition of Australia in the just completed Ashes series. The Aussies have embarrassed England too often at cricket and deserved their comeuppance.

TPBM hasn't a clue about what I'm posting.

something about international black bugs?

TPBM other than the abbott understands the game of cricket.

There are two sides- the Unspeakables and the Uneatables. There really isn't a cricket, although there can be. The English invented it so that they wouldn't be mistaken for Americans. Or the French. I guess the easiest way to describe it, really, is to say that it's a way to play bridge outside without any women and then get really hammered.

TPBM actually plays cricket.

No, I don't. (Yes, that's more of Jill in her role as the LT sourpuss, SecondChances; or wait, was that SGV who called me that? Y'know this is how rumors get started.)

The person below me has read a good explanation of the game of cricket.

Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!

TPBM knows where I drug ~that~ up from.

Didn't even have to Google....actually watched about 10 hours of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over the weekend.

TPBM still watches old cartoons.

Oops...leapfrogged

#171 A pharmacy? Sorry, Wholehouse, don't watch the BBC channel as often as I should--just (you're gonna hate me) Law and Order UK.

#172 I'm a sucker for Chuck Jones...and for Pop-eye.

TPBM has also watched L and O UK and feels the Brits don't do it as well (for one thing, those people in the funny wigs always losing their cases).

I haven't watched L&O UK. Because they've got people in funny wigs, for one thing.

The person below me also wonders why the heck the UK insists on the funny wigs.

Great question, Anna. I can't think of a more archaic custom in western society. It's as if the Marines were forced to wear three-corner hats.

TPBM thinks a man looks striking in a three-corner hat.

The UK is riddled with archaic customs even more bizarre - on the whole I rather like them. Generally they are not arbitrary but reflect real history. The only tricorns I have seen have been worn by town criers - striking enough but probably best seen in pouring rain diverting the water down the back and both arms (depending, of course, on the hat's orientation)

The wigs have now been abandoned by family courts so their days may be numbered.

TPBM thinks History should be consigned to......history

Maybe, depends on the history.

TPBM will tell us which part of history to cosign.

Not me. I enjoy learning about the old days. I suppose that's why historical fiction is my favorite fiction. Of course, I have read some historical nonfiction, too.

TPBM would make a wonderful history teacher.

Ooops! Never mind. I also don't have an answer for SecondChances.

I would not make a wonderful history teacher...I get bored easily with non-fiction history...better an English/Lit teacher/tutor for the 8-14 yr olds.

TPBM thinks they would make a good teacher in a certain subject as well.

I'm with you, Second. Probably English Lit. also--only subject I'm really passionate about. With your background and talent, though, I would have thought you'd add language instructor.

TPBM has quit teaching.

>180 sholofsky: Off-Topic, thanks Shol (no-name; feels I've known you forever haha) Learning a language and teaching it are two different things. I have tutored many...I have thought about going back to college to finish with a degree in Secondary Education with Spanish. Maybe eventually I'll do it.

Carry on...

I don't know if I'll ever quit teaching. I'm not a teacher by profession (planned to be and when my son was born I felt that being a mom was more important to me), but people are always asking me to teach them how to do this craft thing or make that art project. Not an artist by profession either, but I tend to obsess over my hobbies and I'm pretty good at most of them.

TPBM takes medicine regularly.

Yep, at every meal. A handful, unfortunately.

TPBM is talented and can swallow more than four pills or capsules at once.

Fourteen, including 3 really large ones - all at once, with water. I figured I had the most expensive urine in town. That was $85 worth of meds, and that was just the morning batch.

I don't have to take nearly that many now.

TPBM has/will attend some live entertainment venue this weekend.

My house--but, thankfully, the Dysfunctional Family Troup have departed.

TPBM is also appreciating less dysfunction with the holidays over.

That I have...

TPBM has plans to go book shopping today/tomorrow.

I actually did that tonight...

Tomorrow (today, really- in about 8 hours), my writers group meets. It's the first meeting in 3 weeks, and apparently everyone is anxious to get together - there will be 25 of us.

TPBM meets regularly with a group of people related to her/him by avocation rather than by familial or religious affiliation.

No, I have quite a backlog of new and library books right now. I may go to the home show and look for window coverings, though.

The person below me will shop for something really nice this weekend.

Maybe I'll window-shop at the mall with all the expensive idiot stores (as in "you've got to be an idiot to be willing to pay *that* price".)

The person below me likes having coffee in those upscale malls and pretending to shop there. (I do.)

I like having coffee anywhere--except, maybe, at a nudist colony in Iceland.

TPBM would like to stay in one of those Scandinavian hotels made of ice.

Goodness, no. *shiver*

TPBM is happy.

Happy to be listening to PDQ Bach and NOT working today. Hurrah!

Laziness, laundry, late lunch with family, then probably finishing off Firefly while daughter is working.

TPBM is worried about the weather coming their way.

Not in the least! It's a thaw that's coming, thank goodness!

TPBM has been deep in snow for too long this season too.

Nope, not a flake of snow here...ever!

TPBM also lives in a very dry place, and is in fact praying for rain.

Sorry. We got 2½ feet of snow dumped on us a week or two ago.

The person below me would rather have had our blizzard than the weather they're having.

I like snow, even a lot of it. I spent a lot of time growing up in the Alps/Rockies/Appalachian mountains so it doesn't bother me. I was in DC for the blizzard of 1996, when someone asked Mayor Barry what his snow removal plans were and he said 'Spring'. My car was on a side street and I would see the top three inches of the left side, so I didn't drive for weeks. I also didn't have to worry about the car being stolen or broken into, either.

TPBM has had a car stolen.

Yeah, and with the collaboration of the US Navy I didn't get it back. It had, by then, become irreplaceable.

The person below me has been a victim.

...a victim of tantalisation, if that's the word. You have got to give us more than that, Mr. D!

TPBM will guess what happened to Robert's car

Aak! Did it again.

Yes, I really do want to hear the story. The beans. Spill them, Mr. D.

TPBM has taken steps to stand up and be heard.

I stood on a chair and used a megaphone.

TPBM will choose a number between 1 and 12.

7. And that reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes section.

Calvin: I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 600 billion.

Hobbles: 1,000

Calvin: nope

Hobbes: Two million and 3

Calvin: Guess again.

(Hobbes storms off)

Calvin: (shouting after him) what? You don't like games?

TPBM also loves Calvin and Hobbes.

Past tense - loved. I haven't seen any of those comics in at least 10 years.

TPBM had an unexpectedly productive day.

I guess you could say that. I plied a couple of skeins of handspun, set the twist in a few more, and we seem to have figured out and mostly tackled the big-rug-too-much furniture problem. Not bad for a Saturday.

For some strange reason, the person below me thinks I ought to have gotten more done.

I just can't help but thinking that yeah you should have. Did you guys get snow?

TPBM will speculate on why the US Navy kept Mr. D from his car. My first thought was 'dead hooker in the trunk', but that's always my first thought when someone's car is impounded.

Nope. As usual, I can't surpass your imagination, SomeGuy. But I certainly share your curiosity.

TPBM joins with SomeGuy and myself in urging Mr. D. to come clean on the Navy/impound story.

Only if he wants to. I suspect he owned a SeaRoader.

TPBM is already tired and wants to go to sleep now.

I am and I do, but I am also wound up from late night coffee, new craft objects and cataloging books I bought from a few new thrift stores today (technically Sat, by the time I hit send it will be after 12AM Sun)

TPBM should go to bed, but wants to hang around for more

I should be in bed. There goes my new year's resolution again. I have an email to send and then off to dreamland.

The person below me is hungry for bacon.

Half an hour ago I was but my bacon-hunger has been satisfied by five rashers of streaky smoked bacon in sandwiches with Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup. Only an occasional breakfast treat.

TPBM won't buy pig meat unless it's come from outdoor bred, free-range piggies.

Negative....I won't eat pork. I think organic ketchup is funny when you're slathering it all over some fatty piece of meat.

TPBM knows I am being facetious

Parenthetical post //The ketchup is not an ethical or environmental statement - it just tastes nicer than the standard stuff. I do care about animal welfare - just not enough to stop eating them ;-) //

Back to 210

If you say you're being facetious, SecondChances, then I guess you're being facetious! :)

TPBM will name their favorite genre. (I'm looking for new ones... I'm in need of a change from murder mysteries and historical fiction novels!)

Don't have a "favorite" necessarily, but if you want something different, you might try some of the female writers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Try Leigh Brackett. The Black Amazon of Mars can be found in digital formats as well as print and she was a prolific writer for Hollywood in her day so understands the need to create a rhythm and pacing in her tales. Look for C.L. Moore; there's a "Best of" collection of her short stories that was published back in the '70's that is quite enjoyable. I loved "Black God's Kiss"; You could try Googling the title and see what pops.

The person below me thinks posting about books and reading in an off-topic thread shows a certain frivolous dismissal of proper protocols.

I don't, and in fact, I think it's inevitable! Obviously if we're members of a website called LibraryThing and spend our free time here, we're fanatics.

So I'm going to do it again!

TPBM enjoys the "cozy mystery" genre and will state their favorite cozy mystery.

Leapfrogged! Oh, well, two replies for the price of one. Cozies are more the wife's dept.

Reading is the reason we're on this site, so, no, I think it's appropriate for posting anywhere.

TPBM thinks off-topic means off-topic--but is confused as to which topic we are off of.

Often topics get confused, as do I, and I know we're off of something but I couldn't say what. Which isn't to say that someone is standing behind me with a knife to my throat keeping my from saying, but if someone where that's the kind of response I'd give.

TPBM eats a banana every day.

Nope, I don't! I actually don't eat bananas at all.

TPBM eats vegetables every day, multiple times a day.

If lettuce is considered a "vegetable", then, yes. For me, lunch is a turkey sandwich with lettuce and a little mayo. I almost always have veggies with dinner; and at least 2 night each week, I have only salad for dinner.

TPBM, despite having a good night's sleep, would like to take a nap about now.

Yes I would. Something about a snowy Sunday afternoon.

TPBM is listening to the dulcet tones of someone shooting on Xbox

Nope. Spider solitaire is about as violent as it gets around here.

TPBM thinks there's too much violence in video games.

I do, in some games it's just ridiculous. BUT they do make age warnings, that no one heads (eat spellcheck HEEDS). I stick to RPG, tactic games and games to massage the mind.
Riven, Myst, Harvest Moon, Age of Empires, Zelda and the like.

TPBM is a fanatic for pc games.

ETA: you were just going to let me have terrible spelling weren't you people ;0)

Massage what mine?

No, I'm not a fanatic about anything but reading.

TPBM is a fanatic about something else.

That was a typo....I am trying to type here and watch tv and read a book and pet a cat and eat a snack and think of rhyming words for Crambo! and keep an eye outside on the weather AND AND AND....

At least I didn't say mime

Carry on....

#222 - moderation.

TPBM can do long division in her/his head accurately.

Dammit! Leaped again.

I cannot, but my brother can. I had a math teacher who also could, but I chalked it up to his Teutonic efficiency- he looked like a Jr. Storm Trooper. Wore a tie every day of class except the last; I never saw him exhibit any emotion whatsoever.

I have a bet with someone. TPBM has never heard of the phrase 'those whom the gods would destroy they first drive mad'.

Didn't Yoda say that?

TPBM knows for sure.

It's an anonymous proverb. It was once thought Euripides said it, but he did not.
We studied "Antigone" in an English/Lit course I took.
ETA it is also believed to come from Bhartṛhari.

TPBM agrees

Actually, I was going to show my utter lack of culture by asking if that wasn't the title of a Star Trek episode....

The person below me misses Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

Leapfrogged...another two-headed reply.

Re: Startrek cast: I do, but my crush was on Nichelle Nichols (Uhura).

Today is sloth day--too lazy to google "Bhartrhari." But since I have unshakeable faith in Second's linguistic scholarship, I will confidently agree.

TPBM has actually lived in Bhartrhari--or spoken it?--and will also clarify.

No, on both accounts
Not so much a thing/place, but a person.

Bhartṛhari was a poet grammarian and a philosopher.

TPBM will not be as lazy as we two and will fill us in on more

You have two options:

* Bhartṛhari is a 6th-century Indian poet , author of the Śatakatraya, a book of poetry consisting of three sections of a hundred verses each.

or

(literally "bursting, opening") is an important concept in Indian grammatical tradition, relating to the problem of speech production, how the mind orders linguistic units into coherent discourse and meaning.

TPBM can add a link without having to refer to HTML hints (and still getting it wrong).

I can since I made a Notepad file with all the LT HTML I'm likely to need, and parked it on my desktop. So now I just cut and paste when I need it.

TPBM had a happy childhood.

Yes, I did and am thankful for it.

TPBM had the best Daddy in the whole world.

He tried...just wasn't cut out for raising sperm longer than ten minutes.

TPBM had better luck.

Our relationship has gotten more complicated as of late, but when I was a kid I certainly thought he was the best Daddy in the whole world.

TPBM knows that ribs do not stretch easily and will convince my unborn daughter of this fact.

I don't even know where to begin with that one, Rose.

I think I'll pass it along to TPBM.

Having two sons who liked to kick me in the kidneys, bounce on them and sleep pressed against my bladder...I feel your "pain". No one is going to convince that little one to sleep/play/roll around anywhere, but where she wants to be.
Good luck and Happy Times.

TPBM is happy for an empty nest....sometimes

All the time. I don't envy parents trying to raise kids right nowadays. It's the hardest job in the world. I knew I wouldn't have the patience for it and didn't want to give some kid a lousy dad.

TPBM will be even more revealing than that (hopefully it's Mr. D.).

Sadly, it's just me. And I'm feeling sleepy, not revealing.

The person below me likes feather pillows better than fiber filled pillows.

Yes, they smell better and they bunch up so nicely.

TPBM , unlike me has not fallen behind in posting new reads to LT.

I just updated my 75 book Challenge thread.

TPBM has recently read a book they would normally never read and was surprised at how good it was.

Jane Eyre. I'm usual wary of the classics but I quite enjoyed this.

TPBM prefers Wuthering Heights.

I love Wuthering Heights & am now humming the Kate Bush song.

TPBM also has a song that they associate with a particular book.

Every time I think about the Harry Potter series, the music that they play in the beginning of each movie plays in my head.

TPBM is a Harry Potter fan (the books, rather than the movies).

Not really. I read them, yes, but for me a "Harry Potter fan" is someone who insists on reading/watching/whatever anything remotely related to the series.

The person below me will tell me how to get the MTA to refund a fare. In case what happened this morning happens again.

My best suggestion involves a gun and a mask, so you better be prepared for jail time...

TPBM has done something they could have gone to jail for, but didn't.

No, never.

TPBM works quotes into conversations.

SomeGuy, a man of few words, since when?

No, I wish my conversations were that elevated, but alas...

TPBM has already broken all his/her New Years resolutions.

Not me. In my particular case, I didn't make any...

TPBM owns more than 4 different types of hammers.

I don't, but someone I live with does. I also grew up with a general contractor in the house, so my household has always contained more than 4 types of hammers (and screw drivers, and wrenches, and so on and so forth).

TPBM knows where to look for a work-from-home job.

(I didn't like my response. Please play on.)

I don't know where to find such employment; personally, I just prefer the option of being permitted to work from home to the daily routine of commuting. (Except that working from home means I have no snow days anymore.)

The person below me is wondering about that whole categorization/classification of hammers thing in #251 above. Can you name them?

Nope. But I am impressed by really large sledge hammers, the kind Paul Bunyan would use.

TPBM uses large sledge hammers on the job.

Oh good lord...let's see....as a general contractors daughter, I shouldn't be struggling to do this. My Dad would be ashamed! Okay so there's sledge hammers, claw hammers, mallets, upholstery hammers, peen hammers...

That's about all I can do. That's 5, at least.

TPBM actually works from home, or telecommutes, and wants to tell us how they found their job.

OOPS- scratch all of that. But I want to leave it up, even though someone posted while I was posting, because I named 5 hammers. I'm so proud.

No, I do not use large sledge hammers on the job. I'd have to have a job in order to do that.

TPBM actually works from home, or telecommutes, and wants to tell us how they found their job.

I just started selling Avon. That counts as working from home, right?

TPBM has their own business.

does owning a rental count?

TPBM has a hobby they'd like to turn into a business (at least make a little money from)

Writing! I'd love to somehow make a little money doing some writing.

TPBM has a tip for everyone on how to make a little extra money.

Yes: feed your friends' pets while they're gone. My last Rhinebeck haul was pretty good, and a good portion of it was funded by catsitting.

The person below me had a nasty transit fail recently.

That would constitute leaving the house and I do that very rarely now-of-days. Or would a car wreck be the epitome of transit fails? Or are we talking public transportation?

TPBM will give me some ideas on dinner when I feel like *yuck*

Nope. As for naming the hammers, I'd go with Timothy, Robert, Paul, and Edwina.

>>258 InfectiousOptimist: IO- You can make money writing, but it might not be the kind you're thinking of. Grant writers are always in demand; editors ditto (and trust me, you don't need to be a scholar); hell, I knew Television Without Pity back when they were just a bunch of people who would answer your email and go out partying with your when you were in town, so start a blog or 'zine.

TPBM has a favorite blog.

Thanks for the advice SomeGuy! Any words of wisdom on how to go about finding one of these editing or grant writing positions?

I actually do have a favorite blog, and I have a blog myself! Mine is: http://infectiousoptimism.blogspot.com/
My favorite is: http://betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog

TPBM is a paid blogger.

no, but I get free books from http://luxuryreading.com/ to read and send back a review for her to publish, win-win!

TPBM avoids blogs like the plague.

There are a few that I follow, mostly humor related, but a couple of topical ones, too. I've been busy reviving my own blog (one of them; I have another that's still dormant) that my husband started: http://neopagan.net/blog . That was my New Year's resolution.

262 > Both my roommates have Lyme. I forwarded them a link to your blog.

TPBM finds it hard to write every day.

If we're talking fiction or essays, then yes. Hell, I even let my blog more or less lapse for a couple of years (it's back now).

>260 SecondChances:/SecondChances -- I had a rather unpleasant subway fail on the way in this morning. Eventually my usual line limped along far enough for me to transfer to a different line, or I would have given up in frustration without so much as my fare back.

The person below me has a cold.

I do. As it came on I thought it was just a flare up of hay fever or some other allergy, but then it knocked me over.

The person below me has a cure for the cold.

The flu--makes most colds insignificant. Seriously, hope you're back on your feet soon, Mr. D.

TPBM is the only person he/she knows who has survived the holidays without catching anything.

Me....everyone has had a stomach virus or something else.
I have so far (I am damning myself, I just know it) not had the stomach thing or a cold/flu. Just random bouts of feeling tired and like yuck.

TPBM is sick of snow

I love snow--can you tell I live in L.A. and never have to contend with it?

TPBM knew snow as a child--like me--not as an adult.

Only when I was a baby/toddler - we moved to Florida the summer I turned 3, so I don't remember whether or not I liked snow. I dislike it now, because it is cold and I don't do cold.

My son - born and raised in Florida - LOVES the snow. He got to play in it Christmas 2009 when my mom and sisters took him to Chicago to visit family. I don't know how it happened that I got a cold-loving child.

TPBM is drinking something.

Whoops! Did then, still do.
No I'm not.

The person below me still uses a film camera.

Yes, but I heard on the news where Kodak is stopping production on film. Bummer!

TPBM thinks anyone who still uses a film camera is way behind the times and should be shot.

With a digital camera.

The person below me suspects somebody.

Not a luddite.

TPBM wonders if there'll ever be a debate concerning the merits of film photography versus digital--like there is with cd versus vinyl.

>273 Mr.Durick: I suspect that there is someone who doesn't always read the immediately antecedent post before posting ;-)

>274 sholofsky: I'm sure I've seen comments about this from professional photographers. For a happy snapper like me, digital wins hands down. Press the delete button at once rather than wait a week or two and pay hard cash to get blurred, under/over exposed pictures of people grimacing or scenes with some inappropriate foreground figure.

TPBM can suggest what to do with old, and once expensive, film cameras

Let your 17-year old daughter, a senior in high school, use them for her blasted Senior Project. Seriously, daughter will be going to visit a friend of ours, a professional photographer, take pictures in Banner Elk North Carolina, and learn to develop black and white photographs for her project. We'll be taking her in 2 weekends to start the project.

The camera is my Canon, a very good camera.

TPBM has 2 or more digital cameras (we have 3, although one is just about "dead".)

We have 2. I can't believe someone is still developing black and white photos. About 10 years ago I set up a dark room and dabbled at developing photos, and then digital started taking off and I soon realized what a waste of time and money developing and film were and have been trying to unload darkroom equipment every since. Oh well. The spiders in my garage like it for building webs on.

TPBM has also dabbled in something that became obsolete.

Old TV and older movies...alas.

TPBM can't believe that some of this season's AMERICAN IDOL contestants have never heard of the Beatles or their music.

I only watched "American Idol" for one season and can believe just about anything about it. lol

TPBM is an "American Idol" Fan and watches every episode.

I don't watch AMERICAN IDOL so I am off the hook. I honestly have never seen a single episode. (Leap-frogged, but I'm still okay.)

The person below me is wondering why snowstorms always seem to engender panic in urban dwellers.

Not really. But that doesn't mean I'm astonished that the subways seemed to have a better time handling the last blizzard than the snowplows did. Usually, the subway breaks down for just about any hiccup.

The person below me wonders how we manage with a century-old subway system.

Leapfrogged...time for the twoheaded reply monster.

#280 Skidding and snow-entombed cars, frigid nights spent stuck on the interstate--I think I have some idea.

#281 I do. But I worry more about the age of the water and power infrastructure.

TPBM thinks it's worth a blizzard or two to have a white Christmas.

Not me. Especially after that one tragic white Christmas with no power.

TPBM never has had a white Christmas, so s/he doesn't understand why people may not want one. Or does understand, but still hasn't expeirenced one.

True. It's a mess. I only knew snow as a child, so all my memories are fun ones.

TPBM wishes they could see snow through a child's eyes--alas, adult realities keep intruding.

That's a rather sick idea - blind some poor, unsuspecting child like that!

TPBM thinks sholofsky needs counseling.

Well I suspect individual counseling might be needed by someone...

TPBM is used to getting weird looks from friends and relatives.

And Wholehouse, too, apparently. How my challege got involved with blinding children (transplants?) I'm not sure, but it seems Wholehouse is still in a Halloween frame of mind.

TPBM finds themselves giving weird looks to dysfunctional relatives.

I give and sometimes get. Really, sho, the image of seeing snow through a child's eye is just too horrible. Maybe the Victorian criminologists were right and when you look through it, you'll see the last thing the child saw- in this case a loving mommy tucking junior into bed. Before you took it's eyes.

TPBM wears their heart on their sleeve.

No, but I cry in movies.

The person below me feels that fiction doesn't merit emotional involvement.

I believe fiction merits emotional involvement. Why else would we indulge in it? Of course it has to be great fiction.

TPBM is planning a tropical paradise vacation (even if only in their mind).

Unfortunately, my mind is both the 747 and the destination.

#288 You know, SomeGuy, I actually did a double-take when I read Wholehouse's response. Wholehouse? No, this is something SomeGuy would say. I double-checked the identity three times. No mistake. Wholehouse. He, however, only sketched it in--I knew you'd be the detail man.

TPBM thinks Wholehouse and SomeGuy might be one person...simply assuming two LT identities (like the whole Michael/Janet Jackson urban legend thing). Come to think of it, I never have seen Wholehouse and SomeGuy leapfrog each other... Mmmmm

You're never alone when you're schizophrenic.

TPBM heeds the voices his/her head.

Only when they are telling me to buy chocolate...

TPBM has experienced a flash of precognition.

Frequently, when I was younger and the phone would ring, I would reach for it and a little chill would shake me and I knew it was my M-I-L on the other end and that I would not enjoy the conversation, so I wouldn't answer it. I got many messages saying "Where could you be this early? This is Mom, call me back, it's important." It never was, at least not to me.

TPBM enjoys hearing from an in-law.

S-I-L, sure. M-I-L and F-I-L have passed, making the prospect far spookier than these characters can usually get.

TPBM actually prefers his/her in-laws to the counter-parts they didn't choose.

No.

TPBM likes terse.

yes

TPBM Likewise.

Sure.

TPBM?

.

The person below me is a virtuoso of verbosity.

TPBM is.

I think

TPBM therefore...

I am.

Conversely...
TPBM leans to the lengthy and complex sentence for the purposes of fully articulating all of the fruit of the mind's cogitation as this leads to further amplification and elucidation of the original thought; under most circumstances therefore it is better to have fully expressed the thought with all of its associated permutations for the further edification of one's friends and fellows.

I do.

TPBM does 2

Ack. Just... ack. Stop checking the thread for 4 hours, and see what happens?

TPBM has played with a preschooler recently.

Only the one in my head, unfortunately. #3 son has had a parting-of-the-ways with his S.O. (and her nigh-3-year-old daughter), so my exposure to people of my mindset is very limited right now. The split was amicable, and they still have to share the apartment until March, so things are "interesting". He learned a good lesson from this, although the lesson from my divorce was a stronger one.

TPBM will take a guess at what the "divorce" lesson was.

Most divorce lessons involve the pocket book. I would have to say Wholehouse became Quarterhouse in record time.

TPBM agrees.

Make it look like an accident.

TPBM has been married more than two times.

Yes, I have, but so what? The first one ended up in prison. He was an abuser, but that's not why he went to prison. The second one wouldn't work regularly and was also an abuser. My current husband is a wonderful man who would never hit me, and he's the man my children consider to be their Daddy, and my grandchildren consider to the their Grandfather. I lucked out with him, so I suppose the third time really is the charm!

TPBM lucked out with his/her first marriage.

Well considering that I am still in my first marriage, I'll go with yes. 8)

TPBM don't like the idea of being tied down to another person.

Actually, I MIGHT like the idea of being tied down BY another person ;->.

TPBM couln't tie a knot to save his/her life.

Au contraire! Having been a Boy Scout adult leader for 19 years, you would be hard-pressed to name a knot I ~didn't~ already know how to tie (or untie, as the case may be).

The lesson ~I~ learned (re #305) is: Never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself.

TPBM can stand on his/her head.

Well, sure, once upon a time...

TPBM's yoga skills are envied by many.

Only by me. I envy the younger me and all the pretzel positions that were a breeze.

TPBM still plays Twister.

Pretty sure I told justjim 300 posts ago (exactly, even! Ha!) that I am no good at Twister. So I don't play.

TPBM is better at Twister than I am.

Well, how good are you at Twister?

The person below me has SantaThing Books and was waiting for an excuse to gloat. Lucky them.

Yes! Yes! They just came today! Four of them! And I've never read any of them before! (Whew. This gloating is hard work.)

TPBM is about to start reading a new book.

Yes! I'm sitting here trying to decide between On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson and The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

TPBM has read one of those three books, or would recommend one of those three books.

I'm sorry to say that I haven't read any of these three even though I own at least one of them.

The person below me has made jello recently.

No, but I need to. I have three boxes of the powder sitting in my cupboard.

TPBM is supposed to be sleeping.

Yes. I don't have to get up til 6 or so and here it is 5 and I've been up since 4:40. I read for a while, am checking mail, LT, Bookmooch, etc., and will read some more then get going. Sigh.

TPBM has a laptop provided by their work.

I'm my own boss currently so I guess the boss provided it.

#318 Of your three candidates, I've read SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, and can highly recommend it.

TPBM also enjoyed the above.

It's OK, but it didn't do much for me, I'm afraid, apart from passing the time reasonably agreeably. I haven't read your other two so I can't rank them.

TPBM got up grouchy today

edited for typo.

no I let her sleep

TPBM hasn't been sleeping well either.

#322, thank you for the recommendation! I was leaning toward that one anyway. Now it's a sure bet!

Actually, I've been sleeping okay. Last night was kind of a weird one, but before that I had been sleeping like a rock! We'll see if that lasts...

TPBM had an odd night last night too.

No. Last night was the 12th, and that's an even number. Tonight will be an odd night.

TPBM gets the whole "divide by two and check the remainder" thing.

It's the only part of mathematics that I have mastered!

The person below me prefers text to figures.

depends on the figures, some are harder to tear my eyes away from than others...

TPBM balances the checkbook each month.

I don't, and never do, which is possibly a little senseless...

TPBM doesn't bother balancing their checkbook either.

Every couple of days, actually. I've got it all (for the past 12 years) in spreadsheets; everything is categorized; even the individual purchases on credit cards get categorized.

TPBM thinks that level of detail is excessive.

Probably, but I'd be just as obsessive about my checkbook if I were less of a perfectionist.

The person below me is also a perfectionist.

To a certain extent, yes. I can't figure out how one can be a perfectionist, yet not be obsessive about one's checkbook (?) I balance our checkbook to the penny, but my husband thinks that's excessive. Go figure.

TPBM will explain the above situation.

Edit: I realize that one cannot be a perfectionist "to a certain extent." One either is or isn't; however, I've had to learn not to be one so much since illness prevents me from cleaning my own house. I do still put things back where they belong immediately after using them, try to use correct grammar when typing, and other mundane things. My canned goods are in alpha order. My sister made fun of that until she realized how quickly I can put my hands on whatever I want. "He(she) who laughs last…"

I can't. I don't balance my checkbook or look at my credit card statements. It's foolish and I'm going to start (the card I use the most just sent me a letter saying my account info had been compromised; I looked, nothing I didn't make.) I do track everything I spend on spreadsheets- cash and credit every day, and monthly expenditures. I remember growing up that mom would balance the checkbook every month and would spend days trying to find the three penny difference.

TPBM has checked the names their neighbors have given their wifi connections and has been amused, dismayed or skeeved out.

No one around us has an interesting name, but I'm sure ours amuses our neighbors.

TPBM worries about the potential harmful nature of EMFs.

If that is stray rf energy I do sometimes, but not much.

The person below me is worried about the environmental effect on them of twenty and twenty first century technology.

The potential hazards of technology have become so numerous, for me they've cancelled each other out--like worrying about an individual bee in an approaching swarm.

TPBM is more afraid of bees than technology.

Not really; I've been stung by both.

#333: A bit over a year and a half prior to me filing for divorce from ThiMs, she had me take over paying all the bills. Being in control of the money; knowing exactly how much money was in which account at any given moment in time was an obsession of hers. So, I found it odd that she suddenly turned the responsibility over to me. There was one caveat - she HAD to have the checkbook with her at all times. One thread of this story is the back-and-forth we had about my inability to pay the bills if she wasn't home until 2 a.m.; but that's not where I want to go with it, other than to say I won the argument. The ~other~ part is that she kept a parallel checkbook register using Quicken on her computer. Both the software and her computer had passwords that she never told me about. When the Bank Statements arrived in the mail, she'd attach to the envelopes a Post-It Note with the current balance she had in Quicken. The first month I was off by $22 and change. I went backwards through the register for the previous 3 months and not find any significant error; an occasional off-by-a-penny, but that was about it. The following month, the checking account was off by over $700. I never found the problem. The next month, it was off by a mere $450. So, I decided to ignore the Post-It Notes. The only thing I couldn't reconcile was checks she had written that hadn't cleared by the time the Statements were written.

Long story short... I figured out what her passwords were, and found that, in Quicken, she was altering the dollar amounts of checks we had written 5 or more years prior. She included a memo of the original amounts. She was doing this for 2 reasons. One was to drive me nuts; the other was how she was covering up her stealing thousands of dollars from our joint accounts to a private (secret) account. Hard to imagine we had kids together...

TPBM likes the taste of cooked carrots.

Cooking kills carrots. They gotta be raw.

TPBM prefers raw over cooked veggies anyday.

No way. Especially with carrots you get more nutrition. Many vegetables are way sweeter cooked. Even for dips at parties, parboiling makes vegetables taste better.

The person below me likes prefers raw over cooked meat anyday.

I don't mind a steak tartare and have even enjoyed a goat tartare on one occasion. Much food is improved by the tasty flavour compounds formed during the Maillard reaction though.

TPBM also likes to explore the physics and chemistry of their cooking.

Cooking? What's that?

Cooking for geeks might be just after your taste, though.

TPBM has a garden.

If I do, it's the famous SECRET GARDEN. Got lots of nice trees, though.

TPBM bought their house, like I did, because of the great trees surrounding it.

Actually, I bought it for the proximity of the township library.

The person below me is sitting in a dimly lit room with their laptop on their knees and wondering why every day seems to start this way.

Leapfrogged!! Actually I'm sitting in front of the computer in a dimly lit room wondering why every day starts this way. Oh, I know, I'm addicted!

No, I bought my house because the swimming pool has a ledge running across the narrow end that is only six inches below water and at the time I had a six month old grandchild. Perfect for introducing him to the joys of swimming. The house actually had most of the things I wanted for my Last House. I'm only leaving this place feet first and not for a long time, I hope.

TPBM shares that feeling about their home.

I actually have the complete opposite feeling about my home, and I in fact am turning into a bit of a nomad starting next week. I'm about to start jumping from home to home, all owned or rented by a family member or a friend.

TPBM also seems to be moving around quite frequently, and often has to stay with family members or friends.

I move frequently, but I've got to have my own home base.

>>337 WholeHouseLibrary:- My brother married a secret squirrel. During the divorce, her first two attorneys fired her because she's a pathological liar. The last, the most feared divorce atty in the state, told her that her weirdness had put her in eleventeen kinds of legal jeopardy and to cut a deal asking for nothing and he'd try to sweet talk it through. Against legal and family advice, bro took it. She had a beach house in Hatteras that I really wanted. The divorce laws in VA were designed to encourage reconciliation but really just make people crazy.

TPBM made their lunch today.

No. The thing about having a cubicle instead of an office is that you look forward to the excuse to get out.

The person below me brought their lunch with them, but didn't make it themselves.

I had a relatively late breakfast today, so I'm skipping lunch altogether.
Dinner will probably be a salad.

My writer's group will be meeting at my house tomorrow - a first; we NEVER meet at someone's house. But there was a scheduling conflict with our semi-regular meeting spot, and a decision had to be made.

TPBM can lend me about a dozen folding chairs.

I have three if you count the plastic chaise longue. Let me know when you're coming.

The person below me entertains outside the house, in a restaurant say.

Uh, no. Last time was my wedding.

TPBM owns a restaurant and entertains outside their home every night.

No, but I'd love to have an in-house chef!

WHL, I've got 8 folding chairs. I'm not sure you can borrow them in time. And I'm sure glad my ex isn't as bad as yours.

The person below me is glad they weren't/aren't married to a Mrs. Ex-House type person. (edit) Or even one like SGiV's brother was married to.

You've got that right, but my brother was. Real piece of work. Though she was too self-centered to get to the levels of pure vindictiveness that WHL ex achieved.

TPBM wonders why people can be so self deluded and self destructive.

Sex. It works wonders. Unfortunately, we only wonder how the magician did it afterwards.

TPBM has a sure-fire cure for sexual blindness.

Goggles?

TPBM is thinking... Baseball...Baseball

No, I'm wondering what in the heck sexual blindness is. Oh, well.

TPBM wonders, too.

Don't worry, I'm lost too. To be honest, this thread loses me often. Ha...

TPBM would welcome a subject change, so they'll gladly tell me what they had for dinner.

Dinner? I don't know. I've been grazing all day, so I'm not sure I've had an actual meal at all today.

TPBM has a favorite Jeff Dunham puppet.

Yes, the one who cured his sexual blindness by getting married and never having sex again. Alvin Something? Clearing up his sight cost him half his stuff.

TPBM has a really good crazy ex story.

If she was good crazy, she wouldn't have been my ex.

MrsHouseLibrary is good crazy - the kind where we wake up in the morning and we're still holding hands.

TPBM has also lucked out in that fashion.

Snort. Who has the courage to try again? Oh, you did. Congrats to all who don't run screaming from possible relationships. Give me a nice pet any day. And good pals.

The person below me is annoyed with a relative.

Yup, husband, son, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law and at least two of my five siblings, it's just been one of those years. But I'll get over it and they'll get over what is making them annoying, except S-I-L and she's just a bitch.

TPBM is making travel plans.

Yes, I'm thinking about going out for a walk in less than desirable weather (10 degrees and snowing and windy). Don't know if I can talk the dog into it or not. Sometimes she (along with others) thinks I'm crazy.

TPBM plans on starting a great book this weekend.

#361 reminds me that I should pick up Anna Karenina again. (Hope your ending is happier, siubhank) ;-)

TPBM is listening, like me, to the Met broadcast of La Traviata.

I am now.

>>360 xorscape: xor- I am furious with my brother. I swear that guy has the devil in him, I'm going to put holy water in a squirt gun and see if he fizzes.

TPBM listens to the BBC all the time.

Does BBC America on cable qualify? Even if it does, I don't listen to it constantly. But I like the programming on BBC America.

The person below me wishes American TV were more like British TV.

Only in that I have no issues with full frontal nudity. American TV is too prudish in my opinion.

TPBM has (happily) done nothing productive today.

Nothing productive at all. I've been pretty sick, so it can't exactly be classified as "happily" though.

TPBM has suffered a seizure before.

No, just a fainting spell. Woke up on the kitchen floor wondering, "Why is this bed so hard?"

#367 Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Hope it passes soon.

TPBM is having a so-so day--for a Saturday.

Eh, a so-so boring day. So much to do, but so little care to do it.

TPBM is experiencing cabin fever.

Not at the moment (for which I am grateful)

The person below me can see a bright sun outside their window.

Yes.

TPBM has a younger sibling.

Yes.

TPBM is an only child, but always yearned for siblings.

Six of them actually, and two older.

TPBM has a large extended family.

That would be me. By the time my folks moved to Florida (1984, I think) the number of guests (family members, just my mother's side) that came to Thanksgiving every year had dropped from 70 to around 50. I really miss those family gatherings.

TPBM has cooked for a large number of people.

I used to help cook mass quantities of food for my son's football team each Thursday before the Friday game. You have no idea how much food it takes to fill up 60 or so teenage football players. It was like watching the lions on the Serengeti take down and devour the wildebeests.

TPBM has actually seen the lions on the Serengeti.

No, but I wish I could see them take down and devour some wildebeest. Just so that I could say out loud, "And that is the end of today's gnus."

TPBM wishes I were closer so they could give me an NCIS-style head slap.

Since I don't know what an NCIS-style head slap is, I'll just give you a very loud GROAN. lol Seriously, I love puns.

TPBM is a champion punster.

I am not. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at puns. I get them, but I'm no good at making them; my timing is always off!

TPBM has a quicker wit than I.

//NCIS Head slaps!//

Jim, I couldn't see much of anything because the clip was so dark, but I did hear some noises. All I know is, if some doofus slapped me on the head, I'd deck him or her.

SRedRose, I don't know because I don't know how quick-witted you are.

TPBM is about to go eat some baked pasta, smothered in Mozzarella. Yummy!

Edit: SomeGuy, I mean the pasta is smothered in Mozzarella not TPBM. lol

*Edit: SomeGuy, I mean the pasta is smothered in Mozzarella not TPBM. lol*

This made me wake up the dog laughing.

Okay, I'm laughing too! I'm not covered in Mozzarella. I finished off the Mossarella last week and had cheddar today. No pasta though.

SGiV, Brothers can be very, very, very annoying. Let me know if he does freeze or melt.

I always liked the song, Hippo birdie 2 ewe, Hippo birdie 2 ewe...

The person below me lost something recently and has yet to find it. (My calendar is missing. :()

The cap to the gallon jug of extra virgin olive oil. I brought the oil out to put on some chicken I was baking and the cap is probably where I left it. Since I don't remember where I put it, it's missing. The jug is now covered with aluminum foil.

TPBM is excited about the Australian Open.

Oh, are they opening up Down Under? (Yes, that *was* fairly pathetic. Lame even. I apologize to thread participants, one and all.)

The person below me is now thinking of lasagna after all those references to pasta.

Actually spinach, artichoke, and extra cheese lasagna sounds heavenly right now. I am stuck with a baked potato.

TPBM is watching a sport

The sport of which post made me hungrier. No, SomeGuy, wasn't the vision of Boobalack covered in Mozzerella.

TPBM will eat almost anything covered in cheese.

No. Even a dead possum? The kind that's squished flat and you have to scrape off the road with a shovel? Hummm? Before you answer, have you seen a possum? Even the live ones look like the love child of a slug and a hooge mutant junkie mouse. (I was going to post a picture of one, but I typed in 'butt ugly possum' in Google and let's just say most of the pictures weren't relevant to this discussion.) They're ugly, though- hairy worms with sharp rat teeth and tails that look like they got dragged through something.

TPBM triple dog dares sho to eat a cheese dipped possum.

No. Dogs are pets, and I won't have anything to do with them.

WholeHouseSister-in-Law brought a trap for the squirrel today. Unfortunately, it's been raining here for the past 3 days, so there's NO WAY I'm about to mess around with a metal trap near electrical feed lines for the next couple of days. Meanwhile, the squirrel is working at making the hole in the side of my house wider, because ~it~ is getting wider too. Looks like it'll be giving birth to 4 new pups in the next couple of weeks. Come on, clear skies!

TPBM thinks the squirrel will win this battle.

Probably. They win around here. Once my husband climbed up in the back of the pickup and put some rat poison through the hole the %#$$&%* squirrel had chewed into the eaves. The next morning, the bag of poison was in the back of the pickup. Seems like I've told that here before. If so, I apologize. Cut me some slack, I'm old. lol

Edit: The rat poison was in one of those little bags the rodents are supposed to chew through to get to the delights inside. A squirrel is a rodent, so…

TPBM has a sure fire way to keep squirrels out of the attic, or at least bats out of the belfry.

Become a Hobbit.

TPBM is listening to some classical music right now.

No. Public radio is in talk mode right now, and I'm not up to putting on a CD or firing up Pandora.

The person below me can name all of the seven deadly sins.

anger, covetousness*, envy, gluttony
lust, pride, sloth

TPBM is eager to (a.) make a public confession
of some one of the 7, OR (b.) present an argument that at least one of them shouldnʻt
be conisdered a "sin" at all.

*or something like that: not sure this was the
exact word in my catechism.

None of them apply to owning or reading books.

(That is the b. option.)

TPBM refuses to read trashy romance "novels".

I donʻt "refuse to read them"; I just donʻt read them.

Reminds me of a student in Tonga who told
me had heard: NO STUDENT can afford to be seen
carrying a book that is a mystery story -- and asked is that true?

Instead of just saying "negative!" I said, "I sometimes am carrying a copy of a mystery story."

TPBM has never been ashamed of any book
she/he was seen to be carrying (but HAS encountered people who seem to think she/he, in some cases, SHOULD be ashamed.)

Never been ashamed, and never encountered people who think I should be. I do have a few books that others would find distasteful, and I read those at home.

TPBM has seen a movie in a theater lately.

Saturday afternoon I saw The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest I one of those who is caught up in the excitement of the story it tells, and I liked the movie.

The person below me has been to a drama live on stage recently.

Been quite a while. We do have some excellent little theater companies in L.A., however. One produced a really clever production of Dostoevsky's NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND. I saw I'd been looking at it in the wrong light--it's actually a black comedy.

TPBM has also had trouble finding the humor in Dostoevsky.

Can't say that I have. It's mostly because I haven't read anything written by him.

When I lived in NJ, there was a Theater Company in town, and they'd put on 3 or 4 very well-done plays each year. My (first) wife and I would go, and always enjoy the Production. Then we invited friends of ours from NYC to come to the next one. It had to be the hands-down WORST play we've ever seen. Most of the audience walked out even before the Intermission; we stuck around thinking that it couldn't possibly get worse. Boy, howdy! Were WE wrong! It was called The Homecoming. Ugh!

TPBM has seen an even worse play (and you can't use Springtime for Hitler because it's not really a play.).

I don't think I've ever walked out of a production. I usually check it out before I go, and don't go to the theater to be challenged, bled on, or ridiculed. I did get free tickets to see a new production of La Cage aux Folles (this was the early 90s) and the set froze 12 feet off the ground meaning some poor schmuck had to go out there with a ladder and unstick it while everyone willed their disbelief to include not seeing him, or at least not commenting loud enough for him to hear. The production was plagued with problems, and after a while it just became funny.

TPBM has been on stage.

I have. I was a competitive dancer in my early teens. I hated competitions most; a girl with stage fright who also happens to have a fear of being stared at and ridiculed does not belong on a stage in tights in front of a panel of judges!

TPBM would also rather not speak, dance or act in front of an audience.

I can't dance - ask me about my motorcycle accident some time...

I have no problem speaking (even ad lib) in front of a large audience.

I've never tried acting... well, my younger brother had me play the lead in a melodrama he wanted to film. I've got it on a video tape - hold on....

(time passes)

Nope! I can't act, either.

TPBM will say something provocative.

"Anne Heche was more convincing in the role of a do-it-yourself criminal
playing in the (originally) Hitchcock
classic Psycho (remake, in the 1990s of the 1960 horror) than Janet Leigh was in the 1960 original."

I wrote this in an AOL Trivia chat room some years ago. (And Iʻm a fan of JL and not of AH!)
I didnʻt say the whole 1990s version was better;
in fact I havenʻt seen the original in its entirety.)
The reactions ranged from blind fury to
dismissive contempt. So the above is probably
the most "provocative" thing I have ever said online.

TPBM has a favorite personal saying, or a quote that she/he would like to risk re-activating
here--one that was originally met with fury and/or contempt

Since Roland didn't give us PBM, I will comment on what was one of my personal best moments. I used to be in a large bridge group, we played seriously, but we were not professionals, we enjoyed ourselves. We had a new member join and I didn't play with her for several weeks, we switched around a lot. I did begin to hear stories about her blaming her partner when they lost, no matter why. One girl came to me and told me she wouldn't be able to play if this woman was going to be her partner. So I decided I had to do something. The next time we played, I made sure she was my partner and I played my usual level, intermediate with occasional flashes of really good. At one point when she had forced me to bid twice, even though my bid responses told her I had nothing, not even a four card Major, she got really upset when the cards came down and I had exactly what I told her, square dreck. She played it poorly and fumed the entire time, not quite able to bring herself to be as nasty to me as she was to some of the others, I was the chairman of the group, but she did get-shall we say unkind. Everyone held their breath, but I smiled and said," Oh, I know you don't really mean that, you're just upset because your sister died." When she told me she didn't have a sister, I said "But I know someone told me that she had a house dropped on her." We never saw her at bridge again.

TPBM can top that.
edited to say that Roland edited his while I was typing , but I'm leaving it.

Well, I used to tell my kids (a lot) "Life ain't fair, get used to it." They really hated that. A lot. They are now adults and have discovered mom was right.

TPBM also has a "mommyism" they either used, or had used on them.

Both my parents have chronic, degenerative diseases. Mom was forever saying 'Getting old stinks' and it always ticked me off. I finally asked her to stop because she was totally bringing the room down and, for the most part, she has. I take comfort in something my dad told me a few years ago; "You don't need to worry about much because you're going to get yourself shot one day." For as ghastly as both may seem (you have nothing to look forward to but pain/you're going to die early), I don't think I'd ever want to have been anything other than a Southerner.

>>403 siubhank: siu- Oh.mah.gawd. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

TPBM takes fortune cookies seriously.

So you will let me know what they are? My fortune cookie fortune was "Your many hidden talents will become obvious to those around you."

The person below me is not really sure what regional accent he or she has.

I hope to God that I don't sound like the stereotypical California "valley girl".

TPBM thinks that people from California have a distinct accent, and will enlighten me on what it sounds like to them.

Iʻve always been sure that I have a Boston Irish accent super-imposed on a Yankee twang; there may by now be an additional superimposition
of Hawaiʻi Creole (aka "Pidgin"). Clear?

TPBM can understand, minimally speak, and even translate the dialects of neighboring peoples -- those who, as Frankie Fontaine used to say, "talk funny".

One more time, please - and SLOWLY.

I often get frustrated living here in Texas, because people could hate your (my, actually) guts, and they'll just talk around the issue. I'm from NJ (probably the ~reason~), and I don't mind confrontation, as long as it's honest and direct. A phrase like, "What are you, nuts?", is considered polite conversation where I grew up. MrsHouseLibrary sometimes takes offense to my lack of "tact"; I often roll my eyes because she won't say so.

TPBM has at least one electrical outlet that is probably overloaded with things plugged into it.

Probably 3, we have surge protectors, but I rarely use them...just start unplugging when a storm comes through.

(I live Alabama....SE and have lived in the NW and SW of Alabama....it's amazing how the accents change so much, but still be the same state.)

TPBM likes to read books in their 2nd language ;0)

Yes, Elementary English--I always wax nostalgic when I open a Dick and Jane (no, SomeGuy, I'm not a perverted surgeon who only operates on brother and sister pairs).

TPBM also enjoys revisiting favorite books from childhood.

Yes , I do. I just read Monkey Friends by Dolch and Elisabeth and the Water-Troll by Walter Wangerin, JR.

TPBM have read these as well

Never got to those, but they sound like fun. My favorites were SPACE SHIP UNDER THE APPLE TREE and that old reliable CHARLOTTE'S WEB.

TPBM recalls SPACE SHIP UNDER THE APPLE TREE.

No, my parents had their own Traveling Library and I went from Winnie the Pooh to whatever they were reading; books on economics, history, and BOMC editions of Valley of the Dolls and the Godfather. I didn't start to read kid's books until jr. high.

TPBM think Gervaise did a great job with the Golden Globes.

Was she juggling them? Why?

TPBM knows who Gervaise is.

Unfortunately. Not a big fan. Always seems like a Rottweiller after his fifteen minutes of fame. Hope Robin Williams hosts next year--I might actually watch.

Meanwhile, back to juggling...

TPBM thinks Gervaise is more at home in a circus setting.

Cracking a whip over the big cats? Juggling chain-saws??

I thought The Office (UK original version) was bloody brilliant. Since then, a disappointment. Maybe he really is David Brent.

TPBM used to smoke Gauloises (with enjoyment)

I loved smoking. My favorite were Camels, but I smoked Gauloises, too. It was just too much of a damn hassle, though, and I gave it up.

TPBM is a smoker.

only when I get too close to fire

TPBM smokes cigars

I've never smoked anything; but I like smoked ham.

TPBM is getting hungry.

If I had some smoked ham I'd eat it happily, but I don't, so I think I'll have some bottled green tea instead.

The person below me brews their own green tea.

No, but I do brew regular-type tea.

I am officially a housebound shut-in. I qualified for Mobile Meals, and they started delivery Monday. Good food, so far, and cheap. Hubby gets them, too, since I can't cook. He can a little, with my instruction. Sometimes the double standard is good!

TPBM knows the difference between Moble Meals and Meals on Wheels.

Not yet, though I empathize with you, B.

TPBM also has a favorite tea.

Yeah, but they don't serve it in bars.

TPBM will tell us something about themselves here.

>369 SecondChances: Hey! It's amazing!