The Person Below Me Sixty Five (65)

Continued from here wherein I suggested that:

The person below me knows the meaning of Atari.

Nope. Not a clue.

The person below me will enlighten us.

Atari is AMAZING!!! It was the best video game console ever created, and all the truly good games were played on it. Frogger, Spaced Invaders, etc. I actually still have my moms original one from the 60's with all it's games.

TPBM ain't mad at it.

Atari - Asian Try At Rendering Images

Not sure what there is to be mad at, so no.

TPBM will tell us what Feat of Strength s/he will attempt during Festivus.

Not a single, solitary one. Not being a Festivus participant.

TPBM is a Scrooge.

No, I'm not, it's just that health and finances have put a quietus on my Christmas doings. But that's okay, my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren love me, anyway. ♥

TPBM understands.

Yes, we are also doing Christmas lite around here as well, due to combinations of health issues, finances and many of us deciding that the further accumulation of stuff is not helping us in our endeavor to become more complete and happier people.

TPBM would like to accumulate a *little* more stuff before working on his or her self-actualization.

No, I've accumulated way too much stuff. I still seem to acquire more, but I'm trying to quit.

The person below me knows you can't have too many books.

(Happy Holidays, everyone!)

Yes, I know that. Doesn't everybody?

Merry Christmas!, Happy Kwanza (sp?)!, Happy Hanakuh!, Happy Holidays!, Happy Festivus! to all.

TPBM is happier with less.

Yes, actually. When I left NY last year, I got rid of almost everything except clothes, jewelry, computer stuff and books, my favorite mattress, and memorabilia. I've gotten rid of stuff since then. Everything I own fits into one room and one-half a storage locker. I'm working on the storage locker via eBay.

It's been surprisingly liberating.

TPBM can't imagine so little.

When I moved into my apartment two or so years ago I got rid of lots of stuff (including quite a few books) but I still have arts and crafts supplies, educational books and materials, and books, books, books. I have a fair amount of things which only purpose is to be dusted and I am not allowing anymore of that kind of thing to cross my door unless something else goes out.

//A Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Best wishes to everyone//

TPBM collects something far more useful.

Edited typo

What could be more useful than books? They contain knowledge, and as we all learned from School House Rock, Knowledge is Power!

TPBM will join me in a chorus of Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function. . .Hookin' up words, and phrases, and clauses.

//Just a bit of trivia, Kwanzza isn't a religious holiday. But I still think it's okay to include it in greetings for Hanukkah, Christmas, Festivus, etc. And a happy life to those who celebrate nothing!//

Um, I'm not sure what Conjunction Junction is. We did learn a new game this weekend. Apples to Apples. Easy to play and 10 people played easily. A word/phrase/person association game. My niece brought this to avoid Christmas pictionary...

The person below me will recommend a game for a larger group.

edit: I looked up Conjunction Junction and I'm still not sure what it is. A song? A show? YouTube? I didn't go to the video because my, um, computer has to be rebooted to get sound. Darn it. Annoying problem.

#14: Conjunction Junction: It's from a 1970/80s American Saturday morning educational TV show," School House Rock." It taught math, grammar, and American history & government using animation and jingles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!

um, polo? How active do you want to be?

TPBM has watched a polo game.

Yes, but not an entire match- it has all the breathless expectation of golf, the gripping intensity of very bad soccer, and way more shit.

TPBM is having trouble getting started today.

Yep. I'm tired, foggy, and a little grumpy. And I'd rather just curl up and go back to sleep, but I can't. Rrk.

TPBM is a morning person.

Heck no!

The person below me is busy dealing with a very annoying circumstance -- so busy they don't have time to explain it.

AAAAHHHHH

TPBM knows how I feel!

Nope, too tied up with my own fears, anger, and disappointment.

The person below me loves the lengthening days as we rush headlong towards summer.

I do cope better with longer days. I'd move closer to the equator if I could cope better with tropical weather. Everything is a trade-off, isn't it?

TPBM has a good example of a trade-off.

Sleeping versus missing something.

The person below me received a good present and a bad present.

I've never received a bad present.

TPBM has, and will tell us what it was.

I've never received a bad present, but one Christmas I got a a set of dress clothes that I returned the next day. This Christmas I took a chance on a necklace online for my mom and it seemed to go over pretty well although when I got it I thought 'wow, she's going to hate this.' Note to self- when someone says they like a present don't give them elebenteen reasons why you thought they'd hate it.

TPBM got something they loved.

Three somethings :) One decorative, two useful, all three favorites!

TPBM made something today.

Yes, after I returned home from a morning spent photographing wintering flocks of Western Bluebirds, I cooked another batch of cranberry sauce. Can't seem to get enough of it.

TPBM posts photos on Flickr or similar sites.

Yup.

The person below me takes photos for a living.

No, but I've read that you can make a lot of money doing that.

TPBM making a living in an unconventional way.

Not any more - they made me stop.

TPBM has itchy feet.

Leaped. Sometimes.

29>No, but I sure wish I'd listened when they said to do something you loved and then it wouldn't be work.

The person below me had a passion for something they pursued.

My husband. Thank goodness he stopped running.

TPBM has the week off work.

No, but I'll soon have an indefinite period off work. My employer has gone bust. (We knew it was inevitable, but the timing isn't exactly great.)

The person has a lead on a new job in NYC for me.

I do not, good luck AC.

//I'm working this week, the first Christmas week I've ever worked. The novelty has TOTALLY worn off; what a freakin' mistake. As god is my witness, I will never be hungry work Christmas week again.//

TPBM has a lead on a new job in NYC for AC.

//Sorry, no. All I can do is with her good luck.//

I have to echo Boobalack, with no New York connections anymore I can offer nothing but good luck.

TPBM will not be out celebrating on Saturday night.

for what?

TPBM will inform me.

Happy arbitrary ending of a time-keeping convention cycle!

TPBM thinks the year begins when the sun goes into Aries.

No, for me September has always felt more "beginning of the new year". January just brings more of the same. February is like a month of Mondays.

TPBM has a least favourite month as well.

Not really, but I don't much care for August. It is hot after months of hot.

Good luck and good hunting, Anna. I'm sorry to hear about your job.

The person below me hates waiting for workmen.

I do, but if I had a million dollars to fix up my house I would do it.

The person below me is a handyman or handywoman who lives in an immaculate house (n.b. my spell checker is okay with handyman but rejects handywoman).

On the contrary, my husband worked for years as a drywall, painting and decorative ceiling contractor and there is nothing completed in our house with the exception of the bathroom that we redid last year....no wait...we have to put a vanity in yet.

TPBM smelled a beautiful flower today.

No. Regretfully. We're not inclined that way at all.

The person below me is well-versed in the niceties of household repair.

Shame on your spellchecker, Mr.D, can't even get "PC" spelt write.
I don't shy away from those handyjobs, but I'm a 98 percenter. Nothing ever gets truly done. So NO on the immaculate house.

My daughter got me jasmine tea for Christmas, so, yes, I smelt flowers today.

TPBM decorated their book pile with lights this year.

No, but I did just take down my tree and it was a little sad.

TPBM leaves their tree up until after New Years

I don't have a tree this year, but I would if I did. It has to stay up at least through New Year's eve.

TPBM has had an epiphany.

Toooo slow!

If the abbess had her way, ours would stay until Twelfth Night* I hope it will be down on New Year's Day.

In such a situation, TPBM would toss for it (or maybe best of three with scissors-paper-stone)

*She is into Epiphanies.

Nope. I do typically keep the tree up until Twelfth Night, or Old Christmas, as I usually call it. Since I'm the one who takes it down, there's pretty much no contest as to when.

TPBM stops listening to Christmas music the minute the day is over.

No, I keep the tree up, listen to Christmas music and wear my Christmas socks and sweater until the Epiphany.

TPBM has big plans for Saturday night.

Just the usual: a few friends come over, we send all the kids to play in the basement, the adults sit around, talk farming and gossip about the neighbours. It's our biggest entertaining event of the year.

TPBM goes out for New Year's Eve.

Yes, if by "goes out" you mean "walks up the block to see the fireworks in the park."

The person below me also has a local fireworks display for New Year's.

I'm not sure. I know there is at least one in the big city nearby. We're just going to play cards, I think, with whomever shows up.

The person below me imbibed too much on a New Year's Eve.

Yeah... I don't see that happening - ever.

TPBM is doing something exciting that has nothing to do with any holiday anything.

I got a Kindle for Christmas and love it. I've been downloading out of print books all week. Classics and old mysteries, mostly, and around a buck or less. Really, it's awesome.

//pee-ess- Glad to see you back, WHL, I've been thinking about you. Hope you're mended.//

TPBM is also pleased about something.

Yes, I'm pleased I only have to work half a day today.

TPBM is appeased.

Not at all, but Microsoft thinks differently. Two weeks ago, after recovering from pneumonia, despite all the security and firewall being set to high, I got hit by some malware. MS was happy to fix it for a hundred bucks. Two sales people and two techs later, they abandoned me with the Blue Screen of Death. Armed with only my knowledge of mainframe operating systems and file structures and an OLD (previous laptop) backup, I was able to extrapolate what was missing from where and transferred files via a USB flash drive, and recovered pretty much everything I needed. I apparently can't click on links because of some setting somewhere... and I lost all my email contacts (Outlook). Oh, MS said they'd fix it for $200/hour. I think Linux is starting to look pretty interesting to me now.

Now I'm trying to get caught up on a lot of 'deliverables', so you won't see me on here too much for the next couple of weeks.

//thanks Some Guy//

TPBM is already practicing writing "2012".

No, but I find t doesn't matter; I'll spend all of January writing 2011 anyway.

//I use Linux Mint. Takes a little getting used to, but it's close enough to Windows that I'm not hopelessly lost.//

TPBM never gets confused with the year change.

I always get confused about it. . a few months ago I spent an entire day writing 1995 on everything. And it's not like 1995 was some major lifetime changing event to me, I was 10.

TPBM will change the subject.

Yes, I think we should discuss New Year's resolutions. I am planning to be more committed to exercising regularly and to read and get rid of more books than I acquire this year.

TPBM has a different resolution in mind.

Yes, I resolve to follow my heart and worry less what other people may think of my decisions. After all when one sees one's self through the eyes of others, one's decisions are swayed by those who may not have one's best interests at heart (a pharaphrased quote from A Lasting Impression, by Tamera Alexander).

TPBM has a New Year's resloution, inspired by a quote from a novel/ short story etc.

I do solemnly vow to be a complete ass at every possible juncture and to lay waste to mine enemies. I will not allow a potted plant into either my apartment or office unless it has substantial recreational value and doesn't require me watering it, and I will not push an old lady in front of an oncoming vehicle, unless my old DR materializes from a mephitic fug in front of me on the subway platform and then anything goes. I also want Whool to know that I don't have to practice writing '2012' because I tried it and got it right the first time, but that's me. I will also introduce to my brother's girlfriend the fact that my name is not Steve without making her feel guilt for the card or Christmas gift she gave me, and will positively never again agree to pet sit after a drinking game without writing down who and where. Seriously, someone's going to have a bad day this Monday.

TPBM has other ideas.

E=MC^2; I'm not the first to have it, but it's pretty interesting.

The person below me doesn't bother with ideas; hedonism is just fine.

I believe the true purpose of incarnation is to experience incarnation to the fullest.

TPBM is anhedonic.

No, I'm not, but I think I know somebody who is.

TPBM relsolved not to make any more New Year's resolution years ago and has kept that resolution.

//I'm glad you were able to recover a bunch o' stuff, Mr. House and also glad that you're feeling better.

SomeGuy, I love your resolution. Now I don't have to worry about being pushed in front of an oncoming vehicle. Whew! I was really worried about that.//

I wouldn't say I resolved to not make anymore New Year's Resolutions, but it is true that I've lost faith in the practice. I can't even work up to establishing reading resolutions.

The person below me has made a reading resolution for 2012.

Insofar as I have, it is here.

The person below me is much more rigorous in planning their reading.

Nope. I just read whatever I have at hand that I feel like reading. The Kindle has expanded what I have at hand... I even re-read some books because I liked them so much.

Mr.Durick, I loved the picture of your cat. Seems to be big on personality. :)

The person below me will have some blackeyed peas tomorrow night or Sunday.

Sunday it is!

TPBM eats blackeyed peas every New Year's Day but draws the line at hog jowl. Yecch.

Blackeyed peas, hog jowls and greens for happiness, health and wealth respectively, but I substitute ham for hog jowls. I agree- ew. Plus, no matter how talented the cook, most pig meat is disgusting.

//Happy New Year, everybody!//

TPBM thinks cannibals have the best diet because their food is free range and cruelty free.

Yes, but you wouldn't like it, SomeGuy. Human supposedly tastes like pig.

TPBM has another New Year's tradition they will share with us.

Black-eyed peas and collared greens are out tradition too. But two years in a row we've had Christmas on New Year's with my Dad's family, because that's when they can come down from Illinois.

//Some humans are neither free-range nor cruelty-free. I could go into a long rant about that, but I really DON'T feel like it.//

TPBM has still another New Year's tradition to share.

Thanks for reminding me. I've got to stop at the store to get the pickled herring. My dad said one must have pickled herring on New Year's Eve. No idea why, some custom from his Polish Catholic family, I supposed. Luckily, I like pickled herring. I'll have some tonight, on rye, in Dad's memory.

TPBM wouldn't eat pickled herring even if it was fried and on a stick.

I might try it if it was fried, but how well would it stay on the stick?

TPBM has a special New Year's song. (Mine is "Let the Good Guys Win" by Murray McLauchlan.)

No, no special song. Will eat sauerkraut and veggie dogs (no humans, or animals, free range or cruelty free), mashed potatoes, and frozen corn cut fresh off the cob this summer tomorrow. Plus, some black eyed pies and greens thrown in for all the good luck I can get.

Just put on my new pjs from Christmas and plan to spend the rest of the evening with a glass of wine and book. Happy New Year's everyone!!

TPBM is a party animal on New Year's Eve.

I thought you knew better. lol

Happy New Year everyone!

TPBM is going to bed early.

Apparently not. MrsHouseLibrary wants to watch a movie, now.

TPBM can do without the brouhaha.

quite. We just went out and had dinner and were going to see a movie, but were both too tired and decided to come home and relax instead. Plus I work early tomorrow so I didn't want to be out late anyway.

TPBM is also staying in

Stayed in. But happy 2012! We had a pretty good view of the fireworks from the living room, and got to see how the cats reacted (pretty well, actually).

The person below me will post from a place where it's still 2011.

In my dreams.

TPBM is in no hurry.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

TPBM has miles to go before he or she sleeps.

Not me. I just still have to eat blackeyed peas and read some more.

TPBM wonders why so many authors use the word "padded" in books intead of walked or went.
Examples: "She padded (went) to the bathroom." "He padded across (crossed, without padding across at all, lol) the floor to the closet." "The boy padded (walked or went) down the hall to his brother's room." Gaaaaaaaaaaaah! I don't know how to "pad" across a room. Do you?

I actually have never wondered about it, but now that you mention it, I think "padded" would only be appropriate if one were wearing big slippers in the shape of animal paws. Otherwise there are much more suitable verbs.

TPBM thinks that characters spend far too much time "gazing" at each other when a different verb would do. Or has another pet peeve.

Yes, the use of "in thrall" in romances. I haven't seen it lately, but it seemed everyting I read had someone "in thrall" to another.

The person below me has another pet peeve.

My wife's pet peeves me.

To "pad" is to step without one's heel touching the ground; one walks on the pad of the foot.

The first place TPBM places the toothbrush in his/her mouth is the lower right molars.

Lower left, actually.

TPBM is left-handed.

Sure am. And so are both my kids, but husband is right-handed. We are a statistical anomaly.

TPBM is a statistical anomaly, too.

Geriatric bachelors are not very common, are they?

The person below me is pretty average and happy about it, too.

//So, to pad would be akin to walking on tiptoe? Thanks, Mr. House. But it still gets old.//

If Reality was the movie The Life of Brian, when everyone chants in unison "We are all individuals", I'd be the guy who adds, "I'm not."
I'm much more average than I like to think I am. I do seem to have a bunch of things that seem to be "me" uniquely, though.

TPBM is ambidextrous.

Oh, I wish. I'm very right handed.

The person below me knows to accommodate a lefty in a restaurant booth. (It is better to sit on the right of a lefty as I discovered.)

Definitely. My grandson-in-law and two of my great-grandsons are lefties.

TPBM remembers when lefties were forced to use their right hands. Not good!

//One of my cousins is a lefty, and she said the best present she ever got (when she was a child) was a pair of lefty scissors from my mother.//

I'm a lefty but wasn't forced to use my right hand (thank goodness, I've heard it can mess with your mental stability). I remember the green rubber circles on the scissors in school that were for the lefties and I was amazed in college when right handed people would refuse to sit in a left handed seat, yet left handed people adapt to the right handed person's world all the time.....hmmm

TPBM has heard of the theory that left handed people had a twin in the womb, but something happened and only one was born.

No, I've never heard that one. I would be the person who would ask the teller, "So what happened to the other baby?" If it was still in the mother, it would be noticeable and if it was expelled, there it would be. I know a circular argument. But a second baby would be noticed by all present, especially the OB or midwife.

TPBM would prefer not to have their pet theories exposed.

//If a baby is miscarried early enough, usually before 6 weeks, it's often "reabsorbed" by the body. There is a theory that many, many singleton pregnancies start as twins and the second embryo just never develops and gets reabsorbed.//

It depends on the exposure, of course. Pulling the pants down on a theory would be just rude.

TPBM has been uber polite this week.

I suppose. I haven't been out in society much, and most of my online interactions have been kind. (I say "most" because I don't count on my memory to be perfect.)

TPBM thinks simple courtesy would improve a lot of situations.

Yeah, but I think smacking a lot of people up side the head would remarkably improve the frequency of simple courtesy.

TPBM wonders what all the LT Brits have got up to?

I wasn't paying attention. I hope everyone is okay.

Re twins: A friend at dinner the other day was telling us about his (very strong-willed, no-nonsense German) mother's early days on the Indian reservation. (His father worked there.) His mother assisted a woman who gave birth to twins. At the time, superstition held that the second baby brought bad luck and had to be left in the desert. The shaman was getting ready to take the baby (for abandonment and certain death) and my friend's mother asked him to assign the bad luck to her and not the baby's mother. The shaman agreed. The second baby stayed with his birth mother and invited my friend's parents to his college graduation.

The person below me is maintaining a New Year's resolution.

Don't get up before it's time unless I have to.

The person below me is a lark among owls.

Robert

Well, I do wake up early but that's more to do with my prostate than eagerness to get on with the day. Do larks doze off in the afternoon or when watching TV, do you know?

TPBM usually cooks something for breakfast (I don't count toast!)

//The UK is still afloat AFAIK, SomeGuy, but an article in The Times a day or two ago suggested that the four countries of the UK should apply to become the 51st, 52nd, 53rd & 54th states of the USA//

//Not even in jest. Take us back. It's been long enough.//

I don't. I usually have cold cereal sometime between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., and I call it breakfast. But now and then I have breakfast for dinner, and that does mean cooking something. Dinner, after all, you know.

TPBM has never used a toothbrush to clean anything but teeth.

Old toothbrushes are great for cleaning stuff. But I use my current toothbrush for my teeth only.

The person below me has a sonic toothbrush.

No, I refuse to use a toothbrush that has any kind of electrics. I'm too afraid I'll get electrocuted.

TPBM agrees this is a rational thought to have.

About as rational as those of James Thurber's grandmother, who believed that electricity leaked all over the house from any empty socket.

TPBM is sure that she was quite right

It would explain a lot of craziness, so it's possible. I mean to say, people DO worry about living near high-voltage power lines.

Speaking of James Thurber, TPBM loves The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Yes, I do. I read Secret Life when I was about 11, way too young to catch all the nuances, but I knew I wanted to be James Thurber when I grew up, never mind that I am a girl.

TPBM has finally wound down and cleaned up after all the holiday Fa-De-La.

No, I keep all the Fa-De-La up until the Epiphany. I have to finish burning all the Christmas candles and I haven't played all my Christmas CD's yet this year.

TPBM celebrates something else to excess.

Yes, I celebrate my birthday the whole month of July instead of the actual date of the 14th and hound everyone to death and let them know it is my birthday month even months in advance..lol

TPBM has a "birthday month" too.

Sort of. It is this month. I mostly celebrate in quiet ways. And I always keep my the actual day free to do whatever I want.

The person below me will be having a milestone birthday this year.

This is the year I turn sixty.
I have "Birthday Years", in that I don't ~celebrate~ my birthday, so one day is just like the rest and I party all the time (so to speak). I celebrate every time I have a cup of coffee.

Note to Self: Join the Over-Sixties LT group.

#s 106/7 -- Thurber's grandmother is correct. Where do you think the carpet gets the charge of static electricity from? What do you think causes dust to stick to furniture?

TPBM knows how it was possible to walk up to five miles to and from school in the "olden days" and have it be uphill in both directions.

Different routes going and coming? (Alternatively, they might have lived in Seattle. I went a few years ago, and my calves were sore after a few days -- and I've lived in a walk-up for two decades.)

The person below me knows why the Recommendations algorithm thinks I'll like The Demu Trilogy just because I have Bulfinch's Mythology.

As far as I can tell it's because they both contain written words???? I've had some longshot recommendations, but your's takes the cake.

TPBM will tell us where "takes the cake" originated.

It's got to be a Marie Antoinette thing.

TPBM works with someone who reminds them of a Japanese ghost.

//Takes the cake goes back to at least the 5th C BC. Cakes were given as prizes.
http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/sayingst.htm
By the way, I found more than one source with the same info, so figured it was correct.//

Yes, as a matter of fact I do work with a girl who reminds me of a Japanese ghost. Tall Asian chick with long hair. Walks like a cat. Tends to suddenly appear poised behind people with her head hung down and her hair overhanging her face. A friend says she's doing it on purpose to scare the hell out of people (me). Seems to be working.

TPBM is wearing something magenta.

Close enough. My shirt is a rather vivid pink, although it is mostly covered up by a warm, fuzzy, blue sweater.

TPBM is exploring new technology.

Unfortunately I'm exploring how to resusitate my home PC - it crapped out Monday. Sigh.

TPBM has eaten two different kinds of pears in the last month.

I haven't eaten a pear in years (except maybe in a cake). I just don't like them. I'm not sure whether it is flavor or texture, or both.

The person below me also has a fruit he or she doesn't like to eat.

Don't show me a dried fig or date and expect anything resembling enthusiasm. Most fresh fruits, though, are pretty appealing, and I love a fresh fruit salad.

TPBM is fond of fermented fruit juice.

Certainly in its various forms. Sparkling cider or sparkling wine works equally well for me as fruit juice.

The person below me insists upon a particular vintage of something.

Certainly, and I'm quite particular about it. I'll only drink Co'cola on tap or from bottles. From cans it's just gross.

TPBM works where you can open the windows.

I work in a mall, so there's no windows to open.

TPBM also works in a mall.

I did for ten years, but I got out for good behavior.

TPBM likes malls.

Not particularly, but that's where I'm headed in the case of a Zombie invasion if I can't make it to Wal-Mart.

TPBM is prepared for a Zombie invasion.

So long as I'm home when it happens. I live in a walk-up and somehow I don't think zombies have the wherewithal for a protracted siege.

The person below me is <swings watch>getting very sleepy...</swings watch>

Well I am thinking of going to bed, but probably I'll read there for a couple of hours before going to sleep.

The person below me follows the rules for insomniacs and doesn't undertake to do anything in bed but sleep.

Screw that, I've got sleeping pills that will put a bull under; Ambien's for old ladies.

TPBM never has trouble sleeping.

Some of my earliest memories are of being awake in the middle of the night, when everyone else was asleep. My mother told me when I was very little I tended to get into food and do creative things with it. I once covered the entire top of our table with crackers, all touching, neatly arranged. When she called me in to 'splain myself, I got in the chair and stepped onto the table and began crushing the crackers. Who knows what a 3 year old is thinking.

TPBM never has trouble sleeping

I wish. My latest consistent problem (now that a little Tylenol has eased the leg pain) is room temperature. If it's above 60 degrees, I toss and turn all night. 55-58 is ideal. If it's not really cold out, I have the heat off and the window open. Summer is hell, as I can't justify cranking the little a/c unit that much.

TBPM has no such compunction.

I sleep much better in a cool room and function much better when I'm not sick from the heat, so you're correct. I use the A/C quite a bit in the summer weather.

TPBM suffered from heat exhaustion a few times and understands the use of the A/C.

>130 siubhank: //At the same age, my son painted the floor with catsup in the early hours of one morning, and on another day he made a neat pile of the contents of assorted spice and herb jars in the middle of the kitchen floor. I would have paid money to know what he thought he was doing, but he never explained.//

I've never had heat exhaustion, but I'm also super cheap and don't use the AC unless it's just too hot, I mean it's got to be in to 100's, or the very least the high 90's. (Fahrenheit of course) I also don't turn on the heater, ever. I've got a space heater for the bedroom at night, but that's it. If you're cold in the living room, get a blanket I say.

TPBM is much more liberal with their use of A/C or their heater.

Less so with the heater and more so with the A/C now that menopause has hit.

TPBM understands what I'm talking about first hand, and will go off on anyone who dares to change the thermostat.

Well, yes, but not because I've hit menopause. I was like that when I was pregnant and getting overheated made me nauseated.

TPBM can tell me why the opossums around here don't ever seem to play possum when the dogs find them.

Because they're in a gang and no dog will mess with them. Possums. Ugh. A cross between a rat and a worm.

TPBM lives somewhere because they're the only kind who can.

Um, I'm not sure what kind I am, but I do live where half of the population leaves during the summer.

The person below me would like to travel to better climes.

I'm pretty happy with the weather around here although I can't predict it by looking at the satellite picture or the clock as I could back in the 70's in the Western Pacific. I wouldn't mind seeing deep snow or orange and red leaves again before I die.

The person below me travels through a variety of climates.

Virginia has all four seasons, too, although, January and August can be brutal. January 2012 has been particularly mild; for the past several years we've been in the teens for most of the month. It was almost 70 over the weekend.

TPBM stores powdered milk.

No, I detest powdered milk. I thinks it stems from childhood.

TPBM is trying to stay positive in the new year.

I'm trying to get positive in the new year. Once there, of course, I'll try to stay there.

TPBM just finished a book that that didn't think they'd like and is surprised at how much they did like it.

not yet. I'm still in the middle of my 1st book of the year, but it's really long so I don't feel too bad about it.

TPBM has just learned something new

Not just, but about an hour ago. It's snowing and very beautiful.

TPBM is going to have a mellow quiet night at home, one way or the other.

The song (Conjunction Junction) loosely follows the theme song of an early '60's TV show called "Petticoat Junction."
http://www.mortystv.com/media/Petticoat_Junction.mp3

Picking up from #144, I am indeed planning a quiet evening at home. (Although -- please O weather deity-- don't let SGV's snow reach this far north...)

The person below me is thinking about birthdays.

I'm major birthday free until March. I have a couple minor birthdays coming up the first of which is my great neice's third.

TPBM is listening to Dueling Banjo's.

Yes, because my mother was talking about birthdays this evening. We have three in the family coming up in March and they're planning a trip for the three Birthday Girls to Downtown Disney.

TPBM bought something today.

Yes..I bought gas today..you know to make it to and from that wonderful thing called work..blah..

TPBM has an evil chihuahua...

No, an evil Yorkie, an example of everything that could go wrong at a puppy mill. If my roommate (professional dog trainer) hadn't taken him in, he would have been euthanized. About twice a day we discuss whether or not that would have been a good idea.

TPBM wouldn't euthanize a flea.

No, I'd vaporize 'em, if I could.

TPBM is armed and dangerous.

Well, I could do some serious damage with craft supplies. Scissors are sharp and spindles can hurt if they whack your head!

TPBM is a pacifist.

Hell no, I'm southern.

TPBM bought a Ruger Mark III .22 LR pistol and kept the damn thing anyway.

Nope. Even though I am also southern, I don't believe guns should be available to anyone who can afford the price. As an Emergency Room nurse in a large city, I saw too many lives destroyed by guns, not to mention once being threatened by one.

TPBM will not give up their guns.

I don't have one personally, but we have them in the house and I'm perfectly ok with that. We live in the country, not the city. Occasionally there is a fox that needs to be taken out of the gene pool before too much poultry is taken out of the gene pool.

TPBM has stronger opinions.

Much, apparently, but to avoid a long diatribe, and bad feelings, I'll refrain.

TPBM is well-organized.

On some things. Not on most.

TPBM can relate.

Relating so well, we could be cousins.

TPBM needs a haircut.

OMG is it that obvious? I just haven't had time. I'll try to go this weekend. I can't make any promises though.

TPBM is a fanatic about haircuts, or something else.

No, I don't. I got one before Christmas. Plus, my hair is thinning on top. Oh, it's so great getting older…

TPBM will tell us something rotten about getting older.

Posterior vitreous detachments. Rotten and scary.

TPBM is blessed with great vision.

My vision is dark; I see apocalypse coming on hard behind us. Also I have diplopia and astigmatism. So, no...

The person below me is optimistic.

Do not despair - many are happy much of the time; more eat than starve, more are healthy than sick, more curable than dying; not so many dying as dead; and one of the thieves was saved. Hell's bells and all's well - half of the world is at peace with itself, and so is the other half; vast areas are unpolluted; millions of children grow up without suffering deprivation, and millions, while deprived, grow up without suffering cruelties, and millions, while deprived and cruelly treated, none the less grow up. No laughter is sad and many tears are joyful...

TPBM thinks that is MUCH too Pollyanna-ish (but you can blame Tom Stoppard)

Things are generally better than not, else we'd have vanished long ago.

//I saw a fox the other day! About 7:55 am I was in front of my building waiting for the shuttle to the saubemway. Suddenly I see this medium sized dog running like hell down the parking and coming my way. The I realized it was a fox. And it was coming my way. I'm thinking it's got to be injured or rabid because it has to see me and is how the zombie apocalypse starts. Then it seems to recognize me as another animal, does a comic front end drop pile stop, turns right into the next lane and keeps on running like hell. Pretty cool.//

TPBM has the power to cloud minds.

No. You're looking out your window at the cloudy sky.

TPBM hasn't had any snow this winter and is glad.

Well, we had a light layer of flakes which was readily swept away with a broom, but for the most part, we have not had any snow this winter and I am personally very happy about this.

The person below me is in need of a good snow day.

Not really. We had a whopper of a snow day about a year ago, which dumped a season's worth of snow on us in about a day. There were cases of garbage trucks -- which, with a special attachment, serve as our snowplows for crying out loud -- getting stuck in the drifts.

The person below me is in need of a hot chocolate.

SOOOOOO BAD!!! and I make delicious hot chocolate too.

TPBM is excited for spring to come.

Yes and no. I'm planning some big life changes for late spring, but I'm intimidated by all the stuff I think I need to get done before that. So I'm glad I have a few months yet to go.

TPBM likes things to say the same.

One the one hand, I do; on the other, a little change is good for one. Sometimes we need to shake things up a bit, to get at the cobwebs.

//Phaedra, break each task down into the smallest component and make a written list. Pick any number you like and say "I will do this much today." and cross off your accomplishments, as you finish each task. I always do big chores that way, keeps me from panicking over the BIG picture.//

TPBM has other useful advice for Phaedra.

Yes, get in touch with your Librarything-friend-in-Pittsboro friend Karen to help. She'd be glad to help. (Phaedra and I met up in December and had a great time).

TPBM couldn't resist ordering a book and is anxiously waiting for it to show up.

Ain't that the truth! That's usually the situation nowadays.

TPBM knows that book too.

//thanks for all the kind advice!//

Mockingjay

TPBM has read that series and thought it was VERY good.

No, but my son has and does.

The person below me is writing something.

I haven't read any of them, and I need to get the Girl Who... trilogy back to a friend who lent it to me. Last summer and which I never read. Right now I'm reading 'A String of Pearls', the original Sweeny Todd story. It's surprising in many way, not least in that it is so effortless readable. Free on my Kindle. Tres uber cool.

TPBM has has a period of blindness lasting more than 24 hours.

Blindness, no. Unless spending a couple of days in the belly of a cave and not turning any lights on (just for the experience) counts.
Paralysis, though... boy, howdy!

TPBM is still recovering from the holidays.

Replying to Jill in 175, off and on in my last 50 years or so I have started to write a novel or long fiction, and I have recently started a new one which probably won't get very far like all of its predecessors. I need to know more about the cutting and cooking of thick porterhouse steaks.

The person below me likes t-bone steaks as much as they like porterhouse steaks.

So most of you from uk?

I like just about any steak as long as it's cooked right. And by that I mean the steak should still be mooing.

TPBM always pays their bills as soon as they arrive.

Yes, indeedy.

TPBM pays their bills once a month.

//Welcome, dragontounge. I don't know how many are from the UK, but I'm from the USA. We have members from all over.//

I used to, but hubby took it over when he retired and we moved. What I used to do in one 45 minute to an hour session, now takes him the better part two days. Of course I used to just check to make sure charges were correct and balance my checkbook before and after. He however has to find me and vent his outrage over the amount of some utility. If it didn't irritate me so much I would, and sometimes do, find it amusing. So I guess we do pay bills once a month.

TPBM will tell of something interesting they are going to do in the near future.

A friend and his wife had a baby boy and I'm going to see him for the first time.

TPBM doesn't know what to wear today.

Oh, I hope I do, I'm already out the door! (Cords, turtleneck and wool vest.)

TPBM is dressing more uptown today.

Nope. It's laundry day. I'm in ratty jeans and a sweatshirt.

TPBM is also creeped out by the Febreeze commercials where they put blindfolded people in filthy rooms and ask them to describe what they smell.

I'm more creeped out that they found rooms that bad!

TPBM has an unidentified container in their refrigerator.

Certainly in the freezer compartment.

TPBM - unlike me - can tell the difference between frozen fish stock and frozen chicken stock by sense of smell alone.

Never having had any fish stock of any kind, I can only imagine that neither frozen fish nor chicken stock would give off an odor, so no.

TPBM also thought that frozen items didn't release an odor.

I lost all my fish stock in 2008.

//RAM, I think those commercials are creepy, too, but I also think they're filmed on stage sets and not rank backrooms. But it it were me, I would flip out. Ew.//

TPBM is going out for lunch tomorrow.

No, not today. Having leftovers. Weekend blizzard is hitting and the only venturing out I will be doing today is to make it home from work.

TPBM will share a favorite saying, rant, adage, their parents' used, that they now use themself.

Wish in one hand, spit in the other. See which one fills the first.

TPBM will share another.

Yes..actually there's a whole ton of them that my mom used when I was a child that I catch myself saying and slapping myself in the forehead and repeating the mantra "I am NOT turning into my mother..". Some favorites are: "cruisin' for a bruisin' (we are from the South after all), "when I was your age I had to..."(Blah, blah, blah), and the list could go on for forever..

TPBM loves the smell of gasoline..

Not gasoline, but that has just reminded me of the wonderful smell of Castrol R that used to drift around motor racing circuits in the 1960s - haven't thought about that for years.

TPBM has another olfactory memory to share.

@ lilkim714, yes I do! I'm so happy to finally know someone else likes that smell. I thought I was the only one in the whole world!

I'm addicted to the smell of mulberry.

Let's continue with TPBM has a favorite smell, also.

The Christmas tree has been down for more than a week, but I still have the wreath on the front door. Every time I pass through, I get a whiff of outdoors, winter, snow, bright lights, colors and sparkles, music, and childhood.

TPBM is already straining toward spring.

Nope. I don't mind winter as long as there isn't two feet of snow included in the package.

The person below me uses January to clean and sort through belongings.

No, but it would be to my advantage if I did.

The person below me uses January to sort through and clean belongings.

I like to use January as my month to do nothing. February is when I really start doing useful things.

TPBM likes to know the time in 2 different counties at all times.

Well, all the counties in Arizona have the same time. But I do hate daylight savings time. Thank goodness for the saying, "Spring forward, fall back." Arizona doesn't participate and it can really make a difference when calling "back east" (anything east of El Paso is "back east").

The person below me wonders why the clocks that set themselves all seem to set themselves to slightly different times.

Precise time is an arbitrary construct. Is the sun straight overhead? Then it's noon. Beyond that, it's for cross-continent convenience.

TPBM thinks precision is underrated.

No. Especially when it comes to balancing my checkbook.

TPBM keeps the checkbook balance to the penny but knows people who do not.

Nope. No need to as I don't have a cheque book. Most places over here (UK) don't take cheques any longer, so no need for a cheque book.

TPBM has seen a great movie recently & will tell us what one it was.

I saw War Horse the other day and it was amazing. . .I cried for probably 2 hours straight, I was still crying afterwards on my way home and started again later when I was telling my BF about it.

TPBM saw it and understands.

I have *not* seen it because I'm afraid I'll become a blubbering idiot. I've stopped going to movies that are tear-jerkers (no matter how heart-warming and/or uplifting...)

The person below me likes tear-jerkers.

I suppose a film or other performance has to be good to draw the tears - I can't recall ever blubbing over crap. I always blub at the end of Der Rosenkavalier.

TPBM will 'fess up to something that always jerks the tears for them.

20th Century Fox, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr - An Affair to Remember
Although this has a much happier ending (they both live), it's a story that somewhat paralleled my life between my divorce (not related) and before meeting MrsHouseLibrary. You'd have to replace Deborah Kerr with Grace Kelly, though.

TPBM knows someone who looks likes someone who is well-known.

Well, the gal at the airport car rental window almost fell off her stool at the sight of my then-22-year-old son and snatched up her copy of a popular magazine to show us a cover picture of the smoky-eyed star of some hot vampire movie. "You look just like him! OMG, OMG!" she gushed. But she didn't give us a break on our rental fee anyway.

TPBM thinks there are some situations that only chocolate can help.

Yes, it lets me get through 3pm every day. That's when the choco-craving becomes strident,

TPBM can offer another, more desperate situation that chocolate helps.

Doesn't chocolate help every situation?

The person below me likes dark better than milk and thinks white chocolate is just silly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM8h7Yc3zfc

'nuff said!

TPBM enjoys a good thunderstorm

As long as I'm not out in it.

TPBM likes to be out in something else.

out hiking during a nice crisp Fall day

TPBM Has a favorite season

Fall. Definitely. Right now, in winter, Winter is my second favorite. I like the cold if I don't have to be out in it too much. Like the bare trees, dormant plants. Can't do any work outside either, a plus.

TPBM just bought the newest book of a favorite series.

No, but I'm about to, as soon as I remember where I put that Barnes & Noble gift card...

TPBM just started a new series.

I don't mind serial characters, but serial plots bore me to tears. The last time I cried at an entertainment was the movie AI, when the kid spent 10,000 years praying to the Blue Fairy to bring his family back.

TPBM often gets ticketed.

I went to a multiplex yesterday and got ticketed for Carnage. I came out, looked at the time, looked at the schedule, and got ticketed for The Iron Lady.

The person below me drives like a maniac.

No, but my mother did. We used to call her either the wild, teenaged grandmother or "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena." She even scared my husband and my brother-in-law.

TPBM also has a wild relative.

My mother was pretty rowdy in her youth. Tipping outhouses, etc. I might have been in trouble once or twice too. :)

The person below me is fretting about money.

Except for air, I don't worry about things I don't have.

TPBM hasn't gotten around to taking down the decorations from the holidays yet.

AAAK! Leaped! All of them, but I waited until January 2.

Only about the fact that I don't have any.

TPBM wonders why people don't go blissfully insane? (I know of one case where the patient did- my paternal aunt was happy as a squirrel in a peanut factory when she developed alzheimers.)

I think that would be the best way. I've always said that when one loses his or her mind it doesn't matter to that person because he or she dosen't know the difference. ;-}

TPBM has already lost a large portion of his/her mind.

And I miss it! Where did it go? It was right here, darn it.

The person below me is also experiencing some mind trauma.

No. That happened November, 1997. I'm still on Recovery Road.

TPBM has been there.

Hmm let me think, November 1997 . . . I was a couple months into the 7th grade.

TPBM knows what they were doing in November 1997

Not really. I can tell you that in late December 1997 I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. Senior year of high school. Spent half of Christmas break on some pretty serious painkillers. Only came off them because the prescription ran out.

The person below me has all four of their wisdom teeth still in their jaws.

Only two. I, thankfully, never had trouble with them so I didn't have them out when I was younger but sadly I developed a painful cavity in a lower jaw one and they had to take the upper and lower jaw wisdom teeth out.

TPBM knows why they had to take both out even though there wasn't anything wrong with the upper tooth.

$$$$$$$?

TPBM is stilllllllllllllllllll trying to stay positive in the new year, despite all the petty annoyances that can happen in just one day.

It wouldv'e been too lonely.

Staying positive, but I have many fewer petty annoyances than you, I'm sure.

TPBM took a good long hike out in the country last week.

Aack. Triple Post.

Symmetry, although that sounds frivolous. Easier to chew when the grinding teeth meet to grind the food.

I took a long hike around our house, which is in the country. I guess that counts.

TPBM has recently made a pot of chili or some kind of savory winter soup.

No, but we're having a turkey for dinner on Saturday (didn't get to cook our own because we were with the family in Canada), so I will be making Turkey soup on Monday evening.

TPBM can loan me £20,000 to start my own business.

No, but I'm curious what business the UK lacks that you could fill.

Meanwhile the person below me has started there own business and will tell us about its success.

Nope. The furthest I've gone is to write freelance and, while that demonstrates a smackeral of entrepreneurship, it's not the same as starting and maintaining a full business of one's own. I still have a day job to fall back on.

The person below me is much more of an entrepreneur.

No, I stayed employed by local government for 30 years even though I fantasized about several different businesses I would have liked to open.

The person below me dreams big.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
or at least sleeps big.

TPBM wondered whether this thread had been censored.

Not yet. The bill isn't passed yet.

The person below me, noting the end-of-the-worldishness, has wondered if the Mayans had SOPA in mind...

"Hello! Anyone there?" *thinks* Maybe the Mayans were right! I'm not the last person left in the UK because the postman has just delivered (no noticeable zombie features)

TPBM is not absolutely certain that they are not the last person left in North America.

I'm not absolutely sure, can someone reassure me??

TPBM is still here.

Last time I looked, I was.

TPBM is here with bells on.

No, but if it means that much to you, I can try to retrieve one of the cat's rattley toys.

The person below me wonders how I came by a cat.

It's a very mysterious cosmic algorithm, similar to the one used in Early Reviewers, but somehow cats can calculate it, and they know who they belong to. Hope that helped..

TPBM is tired of false advertising (is there any other form today?).

It's all false and always has been. We just get used to the falsity because we are so overwhelmed by it and don't take it seriously anymore.

TPBM has gone long periods with their fly open (accidentally, I mean).

Not that I'll admit, hardly even to myself

The person below me has walked out of the lavatory with paper stuck to their feet.

No, I don't think that's ever happened.

The person below me is secretly a geek.

Geek yes. Secretly no.

TPBM is an evil genius

Neither... but today's the birthday of one... well maybe not evil but thought of by some as a mad genius.

TPBM shares a birthday with Poe

No, but I love the evilness of his *geniousity.

TPBM has read all of Poe's works.

*I know -- not a real word.

No, he's too depressing for my taste.

TPBM Has eaten pizza in the past week.

No, but now I want pizza. Happens every time I see the word.

TPBM gets that way about some other food.

Taylor ham.

TPBM has made 'Zen Intuitive Stew'.

No, but it sure sounds like something I should be making after the day that I had.

TPBM has a platypus obsession.

I vaguely recall a poem which began: "I had a duck-billed platypus when I was up at Trinity, with whom I soon discovered a remarkable affinity...." and, of course, there are stories about a duck-filled fattty puss. So, no, not really an obsession.

TPBM might be able to remind me what fate befell the animal in the poem

His career in the Diplimatic Service came to an ignomious end when he laid an egg in the Bulgarian Legation.

TPBM has a favourite poem.

And here it is.

The Tree of Life

The tree of life
Sheds its caustic,
Sappy tears down
The bark of my
Face and makes
Me old, damn it.
In the night the
Wind is howling.
If you can't make
That door stay
Shut against
The cold, slam it.

TPBM will post another poem.

Newp. I caint remember none, in part because rote memorization wasn't required when I was in school, and in other part I partied a lot while I was there.

TPBM thinks that rote memorization is beneficial to ejumication.

I think people make a mistake when they entirely discount its value. Memorization is one approach (among many) to education and learning. (I can still get through the better part of Poe's Raven by virtue of having memorized it at the age of 9.)

The person below me has learned a poem by heart.

I used to know the whole Walrus and the Carpenter from Alice in Wonderland, but not anymore.

TPBM has recently watched an old movie and will tell us about it.

I won't say it is very old, but I just watched The Green Mile. (I'm sure most of you have seen it.) I hadn't seen it before because I thought it would be super depressing, but I guess I was in the right mood. Great movie! It is about a death-row prisoner, with magical abilities, and his interactions with the guards and the other prisoners. This is a description that is way too watered down for a movie with lots of plot and moral dilemmas.

The person below me avoids prison movies.

Prison provided part of the resolution of the movie I saw most recently, Contraband. It was not a very good movie, but I don't see why a prison movie couldn't be a good movie.

The person below me avoids movies.

I love the movies, for me they're like church.

Something else provides TPBM with feelings of awe and transcendence.

Yes, my new stapler at work. My old one had to be brutally whacked and then it would only partially release the staple, or put 2 or 3 in the paper. But.....ahhh, my new one is compact, easy to push down and provides me with awe and transcendence. Sometimes it's the little things that matter.

TPBM is awed and transcended by something more meaningful.

My car getting serviced last Saturday. Besides being safe and working well, it got washed so looks spiffy.

TPBM is allergic to peanuts.

Gladly, No.
I survive on peanut butter.

TPBM is having a tea time break.

I'm just about to crack open a bottle of Itoen Oi Ocha to sip while I'm reading posts on LibraryThing.

The person below me has to have coffee to get through LibraryThing.

Nah, I think coffee is vile. Even the smell is yuck to me.

//Mr.Durick - this is what I want to do -



I love to bake & am quite good at it. I want to open a bakery/tea shop.

TPBM has to work this weekend.

Nope. I probably should, but I don't have to and I'm not going to.

The person below me has a cold.

Just a little sniffle, not too bad. But thanks for your concern.

TPBM is watching snowmen melt in the rain and feeling melancholy. I had to tell a little 5 year old girl today that we could not "save" her snow creation.

I haven't seen snow since I was 5 years old.

TPBM wishes they could travel around the world following certain weather.

Yeah, but not the same weather all the time.

TPBM follows the sun.

Mostly during periods of high sunspot activity.

TPBM know how often that is.

The full wavelength (as it were) is 22 years: 11 years of high sunspot activity, and 11 years of low activity. But that's just as best as I remember it.

The person below me has other ideas...

I'm fresh out tonight. I'm just sleepy.

The person below me bought something unusual today.

Well I did get cinnamon rolls at the grocery store I usually make my own so that makes it kind of unusual.

TPBM would rather stay in than go out.

Always. I dislike going out regularly. Rather stay in with a book or a craft thing.

TPBM feels stifled at home.

Not I. I can go as much as three weeks without stepping outside before I start to get twitchy. My restlessness takes other forms.

TPBM has done a road trip or backpacking journey on a shoestring.

Yeah, definitely. I took my Mom to London, Paris, Venice, Verona, Como, Stockholm & Edinburgh on a 3 week trip - including flights (once she was in Europe), hostels (private rooms) & food we spent less than £1000.00 - for the 2 of us. Great trip!!

TPBM has a favourite place to vacation & they go there as often as possible.

When my husband and I were younger, we did road trips fairly frequently while attending science fiction conventions. These really were shoestring weekends as folks split the cost of hotel rooms six ways or more and ate lots of peanut butter. (We've not done that kind of thing in recent decades.)

The person below me is still on his/her first cup (tea, coffee, milk, gin, etc.) of the morning!

Coffee. Just finished it and have started a second. Black, no sugar.

TPBM is looking outside and sees clouds.

Clouds and ice. Yeah baby! I'm going to wait an hour then drive to the grocery store.

TPBM has clear sailing and blue skies.

On the contrary. The sky here is a seasonal greyish white, and, short of a radio-controlled scale-model toy, I'm at least a mile from anything that can be sailed upon.

The person below me builds scale models (radio controls optional).

Oh, I wish I had the patience. I do love to look at them. There is a miniature museum here that is incredible. (The displays are miniature, not the building. :))

The person below me has crafty skills.

So crafty it's a secret. heh heh...

The person below me is having trouble sleeping.

Well, at present I'm not trying to sleep, so no. But give me a few hours.

TPBM has given up on their last resolution.

Hopefully not my last. I didn't make any resolutions this year- I had a feeling that 2012 was going to be a good year so I went with it.

TPBM strives purposefully.

I have, purposefully, been trying to increase my stride.

TPBM is strident already.

It's a necessary skill when out on the playground to tell the boys on the other end of the playground to "put down the sticks". Being a chorister of many years helps my voice to travel clearly across vast distances. And lull children in the classroom into thinking that what I am explaining about algebra is really interesting.

TPBM also has something that they enjoy to do in their leisure time that actually makes them better at their job.

I read children's literature...recently finished The Emerald Atlas, which was pretty good. Getting ready to read Dagger Quick by Brian Eames, which looks to be a pretty good swashbuckler, that hopefully I can recommend to some of my boys. Although some of my girls may like it too. I also giggled throughout Interrupting Chicken, which I read aloud to my 4th graders last week as an introduction to the Caldecott Award books (they laughed in all the right places too).

TPBM will share their favorite Caldecott award book.

I saw The Polar Express and Jumanji. Does that count?

The person below me always reads the books that receive awards in his or her favorite genre.

//But, but, but carod. Algebra is really interesting.//

No, I don't even follow the different awards processes, not because I'm indifferent but because I just never have and never will. Like getting around to heroin. That said, I'd be more likely to pick up a non-fiction that had 'winner of' or 'nominated for' than I would a fiction with the same tags; especially if the awarding body is the Booker or Nobel crew.

TPBM has something important to do this week.

Important to my daughter - pick up her last paycheck from working during winter break and deposit it along with her last $40 cash earned waitressing into her checking account. I'll probably pick her check up today and do the bank tomorrow.

TPBM has read a book recently that surprised them because they didn't think they'd like it.

No, I just finished one that I'd read years before and forgot how it ended. Incidentally, I had also forgotten how much I disliked the ending :-/

TPBM has a SABLE (Stash Aqcuired Beyond Life Expectancy, a term I borrowed from another favorite website)-sized book stash.

I might have 2 SABLES at the rate I'm going.

TPBM likes that acronym too.

I do- sumptuous, costly, and there by divine right. Nice one.

TPBM ran away once.

Nope. I sometimes go for long walks, but I always come back.

The person below me is often indecisive.

No, I always make a firm decision...well at least most of time...unless a lot of people are upset by my decision then I change my stance...sometimes.

TPBM loves the little song that is featured in the Prius TV commercials.

I don't watch teebee, at least never at home. Um, unless it's a show available on Netflix or Hulu. Or a CSI/Miminal Crinds show on CBS.com. I also buy an iTunes season pass to The Walking Dead even though I think it's jumped the shark. And of course I see a fair amount when I'm on the road or in a friend's place. But other than that teebee is dead to me! Ptui!

>>292 2wonderY: 2wY- I heard someone describe the books in their parent's place as 'really expensive wallpaper.'

TPBM has been in a television commercial.

//cal8769, which commercial? There are quite a few. If you're talking about "Come Along," then yes, I think it's really cute.//

No, but my friend Russell has.

TPBM also has a friend named Russell.

If we're talking about the same Russell, he owes me money!

TPBM sticks to a reading list but has an unusual way about it (like reading only blue books, or books with snow in them, or nothing that doesn't require a graphing calculator.)

//Boobalack, that's the one. Every time I hear it I have to smile//

//SomeGuy, my Russell lives in Nova Scotia.

cal8769, I looked on YouTube and found more by that singer. Some were good, some not so good. Just my opinion, but I do agree with you on that one. :-} See my smile?//

No, but maybe I should have a specific, if not unusual, way to line up my reading, as it's always so hard to decide which one to read next.

TPBM reads several long and involved books then a shorter one or two and different genres for variety.

That's me. I read around 3 to 6 books at one time. Sometimes I just don't feel like reading a mystery and then I'll just pick up another book. Right now I'm finishing a bunch of books that I have started. I have three done and am working on 4 more.

//Guess what commercial just came on TV!//

TPBM reads one book at a time.

Usually, but I'm often diverted by magazines.

TPBM writes book reviews.

In fact, I do. I write a review for each issue of a quarterly professional journal whose editor was kind enough to invite me to contribute. One of these days this experience might embolden me to branch out and submit reviews elsewhere. It's nice to be paid to read and then to write about what I've read.

TPBM orders meds without child-proof caps.

If I can help it I do. There's nothing worse than having a headache and not being able to open the bottle.

TPBM can speak convincingly in an accent other then their own

Oh yes, I can't tell you how many times my sister and I have pulled the "British" accent. We both are born and raised in the Southern part of the USA where everyone thinks we draw out every syllable. We have days where we just talk in a British accent just to be cool like that. I must mention that I am a huge FAN of England and consider myself an anglophile (sp?). In fact I think I love England more than I do the USA..Shocking, but true.

TPBM also loves another country more than the country they live in.

No, nor any other century, either. Although if I had to go to prison I'd rather do it in Sweden.

Speaking of prison, TPBM is drug tested for work.

No, but I have been fingerprinted. Standard for teachers in this state.

TPBM watched the State of the Union last night.

No. Are we still going to Hell in a handbasket? Does the President have the cure?

The person below me avoids politics because it is so important.

I certainly avoid discussing politics because they are terribly important. I've come to realize that I can't change other peoples opinions and they certainly can't change my opinions.

TPBM has an unusual phobia.

Very narrow staircases.

TPBM can tell me the Greek for that.

πολύ στενή σκάλα
πολύ στενές σκάλες

edited for the plural

TPBM knew that, too.

No. No, I didn't.

TPBM bets 2wondery had to look that up.

// >311 2wonderY: Great! So that's polisteneskalophobia. I feel much better now it has a name.//

Picking up from #312 -- You know, I am never surprised at the breadth of knowledge at this site. I wouldn't be surprised if 2wondery just knew that off the cuff.

The person below me is trying to refrain from buying any more books this month.

Lets see, there are about 6 days left of the month? I've bought 5 or 6 books this month, but I think I can restrain myself for the next week. All bets are off come February though.

TPBM has yet to recover financially from Christmas and is avoiding spending money as much as possible.

Nevermind Christmas - I have yet to recover from being laid off almost two years ago!

TPBM regularly goes to sleep at a reasonable hour and will teach me their secret.

Madam, yes! And for free! Go to bed; fall asleep; get up at 7 or the time you regularly rise for work. Should that fail, take a shot of Nyquil before going to bed; fall asleep; get up at 7 or the time you regularly rise for work.

TPBM wears really thick glasses.

No, that's what high index plastic is for.

My ophthalmologist tells me he can correct my nearsightedness in another 20 or 30 years when he removes my cataracts. Joy! Something to look forward to.

TPBM needs no artificial assistance to sight (lucky you!)

Nope, I wear the same kind of glasses you do.

The person below me has an e-reader and loves it.

Not yet, but I think I'm going to ask my husband to get me the Kindle Fire for either our anniversary (April) or my birthday (June).

TPBM simply cannot imagine getting an e-reader.

No, I can't. I think I'll stick to books.

TPBM has had cataract surgery and found that it was a piece of cake.

No, but I have friends and family that have sailed through, no problem.

The person below me is amazed at the mere possibility of eye surgery. (But I'm sure glad that it has come so far.)

(Yesterday was my birthday and it was very nice. Older and better. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Not amazed, "freaked out at the thought of" would be much more accurate.

TPBM thinks that Andy Murray is finally going to win a Grand Slam this year, starting with the Australian Open!

So I guess I shouldn't tell you I am rooting for Novak Djokovic? (Actually, I'm not. I just googled Andy Murray and Australian Open and Djokovic's name came up. )

The person below me has also been guilty of Googling words in order to look smart when playing TPBM.

HAPPY BIRF-DEE XORSCAPE!

Googling, synonym generator, asking people what the heck something is, reading 'Gram Slam' and thinking 'Denny's'. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.

TPBM has contributed to the OED.

Not that I know of...

TPBM never ends a sentence with a preposition (why is that a rule, anyway?)

The Naughty Preposition
by Morris Bishop

I lately lost a preposition:
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair.
And angrily I cried: "Perdition!
Up from out of in under there!"

Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor;
And yet I wondered: "What should he come
Up from out of in under for?"



TPBM didn't have to google "vade mecum".

No. It means something like 'handbook' and doesn't make sense, but I know what it means.

The person below me has written a vade mecum or can prove me wrong.

Hmm, I've written many articles and started writing a how-to book on finding humor in everything. The latter might someday qualify as a vade mecum, but I don't know.

The person below me doesn't iron and rarely makes the bed.

I don't iron unless I have to, and the closest thing to "making the bed" I ever get is a clean sheet and a bunched blanket.

TPBM can tell me why the phrase is, "You made your bed, now you have to lie in it" when one has to UNmake the bed to lie in it.

I think it has more to do with the choice you made. . so I guess the phrase should be 'You picked out your bed set, so now you're stuck sleeping on it."

TPBM has another suggestion.

Without looking it up, I think this making is a literal making, as with hammer and nails, or as in spreading furs on the floor to sleep on and between.

The person below me is okay with folk etymologies even after reading the dictionary.

I'm right as rain with them.

TPBM does or does not have a pot to piss in.

You are right.

Which reminds me of the rich Scotsman who has a canopy over his bed.

TPBM can work out where this is going.

No, I can't work out much this morning.

TPBM will tell me how to recover from serving on jury duty.

Just get back to your normal things. If you served on a murder trial, as I did, you will have a longer recovery time. I still think about Benny DeGraffenreit, the victim, frequently and I served almost 17 years ago.

TPBM has never been called to jury duty.

Well, I've been CALLED to it, never actually served on one tho. After they started asking all those questions about your "background", for some reason I'd wind up getting excused. Wound up being several days doing a lot of sitting around.

TPBM is on Facebook and is one of the people who actually likes the new Timeline and got it as soon as it was offered.

I'm on Facebook, but I don't have Timeline or even know what it is. I use Facebook to keep track of my many nieces, nephews, sisters, sisters and brothers-in-law and assorted cousins. I live a long way from all of them and none of them seem to know how to use the telephone, but will post at least once or twice a day. I check in once every morning and find out who is doing what and where.

TPBM aalso misses the old days when people wrote letters or made phone calls

I miss being able to go off the grid for a few hours or days. What used to be called 'being alone with your thoughts' is now 'avoidance'.

//335 at- He didn't need a top sheet?//

TPBM can prune bushes to make them look like animals.

No such luck - wnen I prune bushes they just look smaller and sadder.

//335 ... the poor Scotsman has a can o' pee under his bed and the very old Scotsman canna' pee at all - sorry about that.//

TPBM has a stock of jokes to enliven any occasion

The story of my life.

TPBM can relate.

OK, sure. WHL was born a poor black child but he didn't know he was poor. He grew up, moved to LA, met Bernadette Peters and, much to everyone's dismay, told her she could sing. He made and lost a great fortune, and then made it back again. His whereabouts are currently unknown, but five states and a minor principality have warrants out for his arrest.

//What is it with the Scots and urine?!//

TPBM can relate more.

Relate to the Scots and urine or relate to WHL being a poor black child and meeting Bernadette Peters?

TPBM will clarify this

Sorry, I'm very confused by all of this.

TPBM hates pigeons.

Well, I'm not actively mean to them, but I confess that I'm not particularly enamoured of them either. Once upon a time, my mother had a recipe for pigeon pie which sounded very romantic (on a literary level), but I was never sure that the birds would represent a healthy food choice.

The person below me can think of a food that sounds lovely to them, even if they've never, ever tasted it.

How about a fictional one? Butter beer.

TPBM wants Nadal to beat Djokovic in the men's final of the Aussie Open.

Aside from knowing that's tennis (it is tennis, right?) I have no idea what you're talking about.

The Person Below Me is procrastinating about something really important.

Filling out the paperwork for my CISSP. I passed the test, that was the hard part....

TPBM never procrastinates when it comes to filling out forms.

Not if it's something that will bring in $$.

//(Belated) Happy Birfday, xorscape!

Some guy, he didn't realize he wasn't black, not he didn't realize he was poor. And his favorite meal was a tuna sandwich and a Twinkie.//

TPBM also likes tuna sandwiches and a Twinkie.

Can I have that on rye?

TPBM remembers when Twinkies were yummy and not filled with fake stuff.

They're always yummy and have NEVER been filled with a non-food filling - NEVER.

TPBM hates filling out forms more than that guy hated oil cans.

Almost always, but I hate talking to customer service reps even more. I know they are just doing their jobs but I want them to fix/do/change whatever I'm calling about. Uh oh, I'm getting all worked up again.

The person below me is believes in good luck charms.

(Edit: Thanks for the birthday wishes. I've got my fingers crossed for a good year for all of us!)

I have a couple of crystals in my wallet.

The person below me has an icon.

I do, I've always liked them.

TPBM would/would not be able to donate a museum-quality work of art and will let us know why. (I wouldn't during my lifetime.)

I don't think I own anything that could be considered to be a museum-quality work of art. Unless you think the mixing bowls that my husband brought to our marriage could become valuable antiques.

TPBM has already made provisions for donating something to a museum upon his/her death.

Several of my relatives, who should have been locked away long ago.

TPBM will do something unusual this week.

Something I have done only once before - consult an orthopaedic surgeon. My knees are wearing out - all that kneeling, I guess ;-)

TPBM has had a joint replacement.

Not yet. But, I've got two screws in my right hip that held the five pieces together until they knitted. Personally, I would have preferred, that while I was still paralyzed in that leg, they had removed them when they were no longer needed. Being ambulatory now, having them removed is going to lay me up for a while. In another year and a half, it'll be the 40th anniversary of that accident.

TPBM has also set off a security alarm in an airport. (I did - the screws in the hip.)

No, but my dad did with the shrapnel he still carried in his leg from WWII.

TPBM learned something interesting on a train ride.

I learned that children are afraid of the potty on the train because the train sways all the time, and the children think they are going to fall in.

TPBM already knew that.

No, but I learned something interesting about the train companies over here today. I was supposed to be travelling to Exeter tomorrow, but this afternoon I discovered I booked the wrong time for my return journey (I was supposed to be going for a job interview) & because I bought an advance purchase ticket they expect me to buy a whole new ticket - at the cost of £98.00! I only need 1/2 of the journey changed & the cost of that journey is 1/2 the cost of the ticket I bought (& I checked the cost of a return ticket & it's the same as what I have already paid), but they won't let me change the ticket without paying the full price. Highway robbery! I hate public transportation!!!

TPBM is begining a new job in the next month.

No, but I just got transferred to a new location last week and I'm pretty excited about it.

TPBM doesn't break character til the dvd commentary.

Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who heard those voices.

TPBM is wearing something bold.

No, SomeGuy, sartorially bold is not something I do - ever. Unless you count a denim jacket which might be seen as mutton dressed as lamb: at least I don't have the accompanying pigtail often sported by old rockers.

TPBM, old or not, wears purple.

Often. Today, in fact. A rich deep jewel toned purple.

TPBM is wearing...

Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not.

The person below me is too cool to wear a ThinkGeek tee shirt (but I'm not).

Too cold more like. I'm wearing a long-sleeved mock-Turtleneck from Land's End. Warm but not overwhelming.

TPBM has a favorite winter scarf.

Not really. It doesn't get cold enough for me to wear them. My mother does, so eventually I guess I will too. I do have a knitted hat that I got back in the 1960's that is long enough to wrap around my neck and double as a scarf. It is black and white stripped and I've always thought it fun.

The person below me knows about hormones and why a winter scarf isn't always necessary.

The hormones are why I go to bed wearing fuzzy socks and three blankets, then suddenly, at 2 a.m., divest myself of several layers, then wrap myself up again at 4:00. The upside is that by 7:00, I'm warm enough again that it isn't too much of a shock to climb out of bed on a cold winter morning.

TPBM would sleep in every day until 10:00 every day if possible. (A.M. or P.M. -- your choice.)

That is most definitely me. A. M., though.

TPBM needs to have it really cool (SOME would say cold) in order to be able to sleep.

I sleep better in a cool room, not cold, all snuggled up with my blankie.

TPBM always has cover when sleeping, if only a sheet, even in the summer.

Yes, I do! I cannot sleep in a hot, stuffy room.

The person below me...hasn't seen a good movie in the theaters in AGES.

Well, I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy before mid-month. It was very good, and I haven't seen better since. Is that ages?

The person below has plans to see a good movie in a theater.

I want to go see that movie with ummm, what's his name - you know, the guy in When Harry Met Sally. He's in a new movie, but I don't know if it's been released over here yet.

TPBM knows who I am talking about & what movie I am talking about (& maybe has seen it & can tell me if it's worth the money to see?).

My guess is you're talking about Billy Crystal, as he costarred with Meg Ryan in WHMS, but I have no clue as to what "new" movie you're referring to.

TPBM can tell us, or will segue to another subject with us being none the wiser.

How interesting! If I can believe IMDb, there's at least one cliche--"None the Wiser"--that isn't a movie title.

Yet.

TPBM has an idea for a screenplay.

OMG! I have several. In High School a friend and I wrote over 100. I would put plots but I don't want to get my ideas stolen. The internet is notorious for that. Not that any of you guys would steal my ideas, but someone could link this thread and the many unscrupulous characters out there could take my idea and make millions off of it.

TPBM has had that happened.

Yes, I thought that slicing up mortgages into tranches and selling them to German banks and other investors would be a good idea, but Goldman Sachs and the other fat cats stole my idea. Or maybe not.

The person below me had an idea worth millions and cashed in.

Nope. Never had that happen.

The person below me thinks adapting a book to film would make an interesting writing project.

Oh, no! In the case of a good book, it would be too hard to decide what to omit for the sake of time. In the case of a not-so-good book, it would be a waste of time.

TPBM has had a book published.

Does indie published count? If it does, I've had two books published. If not, I've had hundreds of articles and over 1,000 cartoons published, but no books.

The person below me has read a children's book this year and liked it.

Pete & Pickles by Berkeley Breathed :-). And A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead and The Railway Children by E. Nesbit. That's just in the last couple of weeks.

TPBM wouldn't even consider reading a children's book, much less a picture book ( two of the above are picture books).

I thought you knew me better than that! Trina Schart Hyman and Jill Barklem are two of my favorite childrens book illustrators.

TPBM reads picture books, but never looks at the pictures.

Yeah, Hustler. Fascinating reading.

TPBM remembers the first time they ever bought something when they were underage.

Cheap wine at a liquor store near college where they would sell to you if you could reach up and put the money on the counter. (Strawberry Hill, I think).

TPBM remembers the first time they tasted alcohol.

I sure do. My parents were away and I was home alone. My boyfriend brought over a bottle of sweet red wine. I was 17 and he was 21. What a strange memory, all of it.

TPBM was out of college before ever being left completely alone.

Nope, I was always a person who craved solitude (with five siblings, mother,step-father and assorted grandparents who wouldn't). I used to find a place to hide the first chance I got when we moved to a new place, something that happened about twelve times from the time I started grade school. I usually got found out,by one of the little sisters, and had to find a new place. I loved college, because for the first time, I had a room to myself, never mind that it was 9' by 12', it was mine.

TPBM is a people person and does not like to spend long amounts of time alone.

No, not a people person. Sometimes I worry about how little human interaction I need. I am not anti-social, just usually prefer solitary activities and avoid crowds like the plague.

TPBM tried a new recipe recently and really liked it.

Yes I did: Rosemary-Asiago Shortbread. mmmmmmmmmm

TPBM wears a funny hat.

I do. It's one of those furry-lined earflap hats, bought on a very cold day in Amsterdam about 10 years ago, and it keeps my ears toasty!

TPBM knows what's what.

When I'm at work I do. Working in an Operating Room limits the clothing choices but we have fun with our hats. Today I have a chocolate brown hat with blue hearts on it. My favorite is the Santa Claus in his underwear one.

TPBM hasn't.

Not for ages!

TPBM could if s/he tried.

Only on a good day, sad to say.

TPBM is counting down the hours, minutes & seconds until the work week ends.

Edited to add: My bad - wrong actor & movie in my last post (#375)...I was talking about Tom Hanks, but could not for the life of me remember his name & obviously chose the wrong movie as a guide to who I was trying to remember, , lol & the movie I was talking about was Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Well, I'm retired so the only work week worry I have is to make business calls at the right time and right day and to do my shopping before the weekend.

The person below me likes to nap.

Yes, and I haven't had one since last week sometime.

The person below me never needs a nap midday.

I can't take naps, I always wake up in the foulest mood. I will go to bed at 8:30, though.

//391 Soph! Wondered were you'd been. That's called a 'mad bomber hat' over here and they are AWESOME! For god's sake, don't take it through a US TSA screen. I wonder when we're going to take to the streets?//

TPBM can can.

Oh, how I wish that were true.

TPBM is a night person.

Very much so!

TPBM loved legos as a child, and adulthood hasn't changed a thing.

We didn't have legos, but we had a set of building blocks. Yes, I loved building things with them. There were little windows that opened and everything.

The person below me has fond memories of a childhood game or toy.

I totally love LEGOS, Play-doh too. But never together, that's just a big mess waiting to happen.

TPBM remembers when they sold goo from gumball machines, or anythign from gumball machines for that matter.

Still do, at the local thrift store and a local restaurant, Elizabeth's. Small town life.

TPBM got up late this morning.

I wish, the fur faces jumped me at about 3;30, wanting to go OUT, never mind food never mind letting mom pet them, just out. Tried to go back to sleep, but once my brain is awake, there I am. So I've been playing MahJong, trying to get the rest of the little grey cells going.

TPBM never has any trouble getting going in the morning.

Time for a move, I guess, to http://www.librarything.com/topic/132138