AliThinks

1400 Miles Was Not Enough

We're going to Florida! Tonight! I think. We're not sure when we're leaving yet. It might be at 2100, it might be at 0000, it might be at 0600.

Are you rolling your eyes at the fact that I used a 24-hour clock? I hope so. I'm feeling obnoxious right now.

Friends will be there. I am really looking forward to this long weekend. In Philadelphia, we thought we might have to cancel because of Ernesto The Storm. Fortunately, he lost his oomph, so we're out of here.

I'm taking the laptop, and if I can find a wi-fi connection somewhere, will blog from the road. Have a good one!

About Me

I asked you to ask me some questions. Here are my answers. Thank you, all of you, for reading and caring. I've divided the questions into somewhat fuzzy categories. It made sense to me; I hope it does to you, too. Enjoy!

Oh, and I will link to this entry on my About page.

PERSONAL

Does it bother you when people spell your name the wrong way?
Yes! But it happens less and less these days. For the record, it's ALISON.

What is a day in the life of Ali like?
I exist. I create. I love.

Here’s a difficult one that you don't need to answer. How do you cope on a day to day basis not being with your kids?
I just do it. Sometimes it hits me hard, and I ache. Mostly I try to look at this time as a gift of freedom; some day, the kids will live with me, and my life will change again.

So what besides weird questions gives you the heebeejeebees?
Creepy-crawlies. Jell-O. Heights.

Do you have hairy toes?

Alive and Well

...and the proud owners of a new coffee table!

Remember the IKEA table that we were going to have delivered? Until we realized that delivery costs were more than the cost of the table?

Well, guess what? Our hotel in Philadelphia was about a mile from IKEA. (I swear to God I didn't plan it that way). And because we are crazy, we went shopping at IKEA on Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, everyone else in the tri-state area had the same idea. The place was packed. When we saw "our table," we checked the tag to find out which aisle to pick it up in.

"Temporarily Oversold."

Oh, fuh! We had lunch (along with everyone else in the tri-state area), then continued browsing in the hamster maze. After we had chosen some little trinkets, we made our way to the checkout -- but you have to go through the large-item pickup aisles in order to get there.

Aisle 10, coffee tables. Just in case. The second time we looked up and down the row, we saw it. Our table. And there was one left. Not THAT oversold!

Then we waited for an HOUR in line (you guessed it: along with everyone else in the tri-state area). We were so hell-bent on getting the damn table that we didn't walk out in disgust.

Now we are home; the table has been put together and my feet are on it! Allan took a picture of it; I'll link to it later. Time for another beer, then bed.

UPDATE! Allan has posted photos of the new table.

SoaP Dish

SoaP, or Snakes On A Plane. Dish. Heh heh. I kill me.

Yeah, so we saw SoaP last night, just because. I mean, how could you not want to go see a movie with such a campy title? Really, the internet buzz about it was almost secondary.

The worst thing was the complacency of our fellow movie-goers. How could they not cheer at the infamous line, the one that got added to the script because of some internet fans? After the film was over, we decided that all the internet geeks had gone to see the movie last weekend, when it opened.

At least we got to see it before it leaves the theaters.

I'm sitting here chuckling because I can't believe we went to see this movie. It was better than I expected. Go see it, if you are up for some laughs (and a few tense moments). Go see it, if you heart Samuel L. Jackson -- and how could you not?

The movie capped off a great day spent with some friends from Radio Paradise. They know who they are.

SoaP was just the icing on the cake.

See Yinz Guys Later

We're on the road again, this time to Philadelphia to see some friends and family.

I'll probably blog some more details later. Suffice it to say that the impetus for the trip is unconventional at best. The icing on the cake, of course, is seeing loved ones, like my cousin. (archive alert!)

Phooey. I'm writing this ahead of time, and I need to go to bed. We'll probably be out of Kentucky by the time you read this. Bon weekend!

Testing

Typepad now lets you easily add Technorati tags to your posts. When I first saw these on other blogs a number of months ago, I thought they looked unwieldy. I'm still not sure I like the way they look, especially with my choice of links-in-bold.

What do you think?

By the way, I'm still working on the FAQ. You people came up with some killer questions!
 

Blog Appreciation Day

Thanks to Neil, today is Blog Appreciation Day. He sent me a picture of his underwear reading my blog (no, really), and in return, I had to spread the love.

So here I am, appreciating my friend Amber Bamberboo's blog.

Amber is back to blogging after a summer hiatus, and I'm very glad to be reading her again. Last December she and her husband Len welcomed Allan, me, and my children into their home in Brussels. We had an excellent time, and rumor has it we'll be visiting them in their new home in Scotland in a couple of months.

Love you, Amber!

Last Day

Today is my last day of working with L., the little French girl I have been tutoring. Tutoring is a strong word, because what I mostly do is play games with her. She chatters at me in French, and I speak to her in English. We play games with letters, numbers, colors, animals, et cetera. Sometimes she says a word in English. I don't force her. I know that she can understand some things, and that in time, she'll be able to speak fluently.

Tomorrow she starts preschool. If she needs help with English in the future, I'll be called upon. I have mixed feelings about this. She is a bright little girl, so she shouldn't need any extra help. On the other hand...well...let me just say that I'm going to miss her.

Two Internet Phenomena In One Place

All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us

Edit: Okay, this is uber-geeky, I know.

Tangy Sweetness

It is cool enough now to be able to venture outside during the day. On the walk down towards the shopping area of the neighborhood, you see the restaurant before you smell it.

Billy's BBQ. It's rated the #1 barbecue restaurant in the city, and it's right down the street.

It doesn't look like much on the outside; the building used to be a Sunoco gas station. The interior is darkish and full of autographed photos and a taxidermist's handiwork. Billy's serves Kentucky Ale on tap, and it's the perfect accompaniment to the food.

I'm not here to write a review, though. I'm here to tell you about the smell. As I said, you can see Billy's before you can smell it. Walk a few feet past the place, and you think someone's got a fire going. But no, you sniff again. The smoke is sweet and tangy, and you know it's gently permeating the meat. Mmmmm. Take a deep breath and let the passing cars drown out the noise of your rumbling tummy.

Then smile, and walk on to your destination.

I Need Help

One of the things I've been meaning to do is revamp my About page. I updated it after I moved back to the States, but it completely sucks still needs work. I've seen some bloggers let their readers ask them questions, and that's what I'm going to do.

My blog is going to have a FAQ (cleverly disguised as an About page), and you're going to write half of it. Ask me your burning questions in the comments to this entry. Since I will answer these in a collective manner, I probably won't respond to your comment like I usually do. Please don't hate me for this.

If you want to ask something anonymously, send your question to alisonATalithinksDOTcom (yes, I have a domain name; I'll let you know when I move on up to it). Likewise, if you want the world to know that it's YOUR QUESTION, DAMMIT, let me know and I will give you linkage on the new About page.

Here's the caveat: I reserve the right to not answer questions if they invade my personal space, if they give me the heebeejeebees, or if I just don't feel like it.

Now have at it.

Silver

I have four ear piercings, and they are not evenly distributed. Thursday night, one of them felt sore and itchy, so after dinner as Allan and I drank our wine and talked, I removed all of my earrings. The newest of the holes has been there for more than 18 years, so I doubt it will close up on me. 

I took this photo not long after I wrote the last entry about my energy, creative and otherwise, being sapped. It made me happy to press the shutter button on my camera. Oh, and the large version of this looks pretty cool.

Tapped Energy, Sapped Energy

Yesterday something happened that upset me. We're talking bone-deep, soul-crushing strife. No, I'm not going to go into it here. Let me just say that I was in quite a state, and today I had to take care of a few things. (Forgive the vagueness. This is a personal blog, but there are lines I won't cross).

Bumper Stickers I Have Loved

My Life Is Now Complete

IKEA is coming to Cincinnati.

Thanks to Elle for the tip. Now we just need those rumors about Trader Joe's coming to Lexington to be true. The Fresh Market is coming for sure, and it'll be just right up the road.

PS: The first day of school went pretty well. :)

The First Day Of School

I'm going back tomorrow. To school.

I know. Can you believe it?

Lemme 'splain: it's not really teaching. I'm going to tutor a four-year-old French girl whose family just moved here. She is set to start preschool next week, and her parents want her to have a little bit of English under her belt before she goes. So far the little girl can say "See ya!", which is more than many French adults can manage.

The best part is that I applied for the job on Sunday evening and got hired Monday afternoon. That's my kind of job search! The pay is decent. Plus, it's an international company, and they will add me to their list of tutors, so I might get more work from them in the future.

Today Allan and I went shopping for some supplies, because, you know, I left all that shit in France; anyway, I taught middle school those last few years. And when we entered the Parent-Teacher Store, we both said "Oh, cool!" It must be said that we are both paper geeks. Office supply stores excite us. Boxes of paperclips and stacks of Post-Its make us giddy.

I know. Geeks.

So we browsed the store, and I found some things that would help me convey some concepts to the little French girl. Allan kept showing me neat things, and I kept feeling like I wanted to be a teacher.

Scary, isn't it?

A little while ago, after I'd finished making flashcards, but before I'd finished punching out the orange oak tag letters, I asked Allan, "Do you think I'm making a lot of effort for not much payback?" I was tired of all the crafty crap I was doing for these six hours of tutoring (Oh, yeah, it's a REALLY short-term assignment. Six hours between tomorrow and next Thursday).

Allan said, "No, I think you're being professional, because you are one." That made me feel good, because something drove me to apply for this job, and something drove me to apply myself to the preparation for it. Maybe I'm not a slacker after all. Maybe I don't hate teaching after all.

Wait. Yes I do. But I think I can handle a four-year-old for six hours.

Boo! Hiss!

This looks a lot cooler large. The anti-scratch coating on my glasses is peeling off. It's been happening for at least a couple of months now, but last night I finally got fed up with having blurred vision, so I put on my old glasses. I don't really like the frames, but at least I can see.

Allan took this one. I look a lot like my mom, I think.

Next up, making an eye doctor appointment.

Dry

Despite the rain, I am dry.

Some interesting things have happened in the past couple of days, but I'm not really in the right frame of mind to write about them.

Heh heh. Not in the write frame of mind. Here's a photo to start off your weekend:

The Whole Fam Damily Is Doing It

Mike has spent the last couple of days posting old photos to his blog. The latest are baby photos of Allan and their sister Jo Ann. Now Allan has posted another baby photo on his blog. So what the hell, let me jump on the baby bandwagon. You've seen me in my high school glory. Coming Soon: The Awkward Years.

Or not.

Orange Tomato

   

    Oh yeah, baby. Click me!

Voilà: a little brightness to counteract the bland nature of my last post. I told you the tomato was orange! It was delicious, too.