TPBM 88, Luck, Fortune and Glory

There are dozens of reasons why not making lists is for chumps.

TPBM is a taste maker.

//>1 SomeGuyInVirginia: SGIV, could you make me a list of the reasons? Thanks//

Not unless I can make someone acquire a taste for pipe and drum bands.

The person below me already had a taste for such music, even without my interference.

Yes, as a matter of fact I did. My brother happens to be a very talented pipe band drummer.

TPBM plays an instrument.

I wish I did! (Though, if asked now what instrument I'd like to take lessons in, my answer would be "but... but I like my neighbors!")

The person below me will be @SylviaC, telling us which band her brother is with.

Only me! I am reminded of this:

I once had a whim and I had to obey it,
To buy a French horn in a second-hand shop.
I polished it up and I started to play it,
In spite of the neighbours who begged me to stop.

TPBM may yet be SylviaC with the low-down on the band

'Tis I!

Life has interfered in his drumming career in recent years, but he was in the 48th Highlanders in Toronto. He used to travel to a lot of competitions and ceremonies around North America, and in Europe.

TPBM can toss a caber.

Wait! What? How are we here all of sudden?
Confused, Floriduh.

The pipes - ah! How they make me weep. I am am Celtic , not a Gaul, but a Pibroch will reduce me to tears. "Go figure" as they say in the USA.

>4 SylviaC: will continue this theme.

//SylviaC, has he ever been to the Cowal Highland Games in Dunoon?//

??? I'm so confused, should I continue about the instrument or the caber (I have no idea what a caber is, so I'll go with the instrument).

No, I never learned to play any kind of instrument, not that I didn't want to, it just wasn't something that was important to my parents.

TPBM likes Swedish fish.

No, but the meatballs are good.

TPBM likes Swedish ___________.

massage!

// >8 John_Vaughan: The pipes will also reduce me to tears although I think for a different sentiment than yours! //

TPBM fondly remembers _________ .

. . a good cup of coffee at a local diner than is no more from my high school days. It got me hooked on the stuff!
TPBM goes to a diner for a comfort food meal of ..............

Diners are always good for a greasy breakfast.

TPBM has been to the Grand Canyon.

Yes I have. When I was there we were installing a new intelligent, international coin and credit card phone on the South Rim, so the telecom company put me up in a bucket of a 'cherry picker' to take publicity shots. The canyon mule team came up the impossibly tiny, steep path. The cowboy looked up at me from below his steson and said "If you spook my mule I'll come up there and tear you a new butthole." (I switched to silent digital and got the shot anyway).
Then my "friends" took over the controls and swung me out over that zillion mile drop and bounced the bucket. I needed a new one after that.

TPBM has also heard that special word from Canyon visitors when the mist suddenly clears.

No, but I bet it's either "ooh" or "aah" or some such. (I'll see myself out now.)

The person below me will share something else silly with us.

Me trying to explain to the young cashier that a $1 coffee would not be $1.88 with tax. What was silly was the young man's expression of confusion when I asked "88% tax?"

TPBM can explain the new math.

They introduced new math to the lower grades when I was in upper grades. One day a teacher asked for help grading papers and I innocently agreed. It was a bit of a comeuppance to realize I could not tell if answers to third-grade math were correct or not. But I graded them anyway. I wonder to this day how badly I confused those kids with my semi-arbitrary checks and x-es.

TPBM has another old secret to tell.

I "liberated" a Dymo label-making kit from my college computer center worksite in 1975. They were shutting the computer center down, but I'm sure another department could have used it.

TPBM has another old secret to tell

I know nothing! NOTHING!

//John- BWAHAHA! His mule? What was he going to do, hop off and slap you silly with a dozen carnations?//

TPBM has dirt.

Oh yeah, and for a price, I'll share it....

TPBM would never tell.

Only if telling would get me out of torture. Or jury duty. Or for a price. The right price, not any price. Like Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker of the House here in the US. Now that man knows how to cough up a pretty sum. He's a very moral child molester. I mean, for 1/100th of the price he could have had the guy killed.

So no, I would never tell, unless I, like, had to. Or whatever.

TPBM is passing through the eye of the needle.

ETC spallin' en sich.

Yeah! Me and my camel. Quite a squeeze.

TPBM suffers from claustrophobia

//But Dear Abbott you told us you had quit smoking!//

Yes, I don't like small places or very dark places. My family went to a cave that you paid to explore and we had bought cheap flashlights with the batteries in them at a little Podunk place before we got there, and after we climbed through this very tight hole into a spikey cavern all - all flashlights died within 5 minutes of each other. It was frightening. Luckily after about 10 minutes in complete silence and complete profound darkness, someone else exploring came along and showed us the way out...needless to say I don't think I have been in a cave since.

TPBM has had a frightful experience of some kind.

When I was five, my family moved into a big barn of a house. It had one bathroom - upstairs, of course. Going upstairs was okay, but exposing my back to the huge empty dark behind me while returning to the populated downstairs was terrifying. I would stand with my back against the wall at the top of the stairs and call down for someone to please come and rescue me.

TPBM reminisces with us too.

I get uncomfortable in crowds, and when we toured a submarine I felt panicked ... but the day I finally discovered true claustrophobia was in a full-scan MRI. Boy did I make that bell ring!

TPBM has a love of small, dark, snug places (like our cat).

>27 John_Vaughan: I could never fit in your cat!

TPBM likes the wide open spaces.

I do, I lived in a desert state once and loved the 'big sky' and sweeping vistas.

TPBM participated in a tribal ceremony.

Several. Canada, Colombian Amazon, English Boy Scouts ... except for a fantastic boozy Maori breakfast in NZ they were boring!

TBPM likes that sort of breakfast too.

Hmm...a fantastic boozy Maori breakfast in NZ sounds great. I'll have a bloody Mary please.

TPBM prefers boozy lunches.

Gah! No, I don't even like heavy lunches. Maybe it's the rain but I can hardly keep my eyes open.

TPBM shines on.

only in your reflected glory.

TPBM slept in this morning.

7 AM is sleeping in for us after many years of getting up at 5 AM!

TPBM REALLY slept in!

Yup, I did today, after being up all night coughing through a flue germ. Dreaming about being back at sea, liners and the highland railway.

TPBM suffers from weird dreams when on medicines.

//Jenni-Oh my, that is a dim light indeed!//

As far as I can recall, when I'm on some kind of medicine I remember my dreams even less than I usually do. (And that's not very many.) This week's been good for "weird" dreams tho. Almost every day I've had one related to work somehow.

TPBM is able to remember a lot of their dreams.

Hardly any.

TPBM has an actual bucket list and will list a couple items on it.

Well, now I do. OK, visit Lisbon and Porto for pleasure.

TPBM has their own list.

Not really. It's not that I don't have plenty that I want to do, it's just that I have not put them down on paper and sorted them as realistic goals.

TPBM is in a gloomy mood (or is it just me?).

Dunno if it's just you. It being a Monday morning, I'm guessing you have lots of company. But I'm feeling refreshed and content, myself.

TPBM wants a cookie.

I do want a cookie. An anti-gloom cookie. Stupid Mondays.

TPBM is full of grace.

Some people might substitute a different word than grace :-\

TPBM talks to inanimate objects.

At least they don't answer back!

TPBM is loaded with self-esteem

Yes, I was lucky to find out I quite liked me when I was at sea.

TPBM is still trying to value their talents.

Value them! I'm still trying to find them!

TPBM still has a dial-up (rotary) phone in their house.

What am I, Bulgarian? I don't even have a land line at home.

TPBM is an early adopter.

Not since they started using consumers as beta testers.

TPBM, however, is.

Wish I could. For a while now the only stuff I've adopted early has been my own work.

The person below me has a noise issue.

Well, only on weekends. Picture this - I've finished the work that needed done, I retire to the lounge chair on the deck with my book and glass of wine and the birds are singing and I settle back...and the neighbor below fires up the ole chainsaw and the neighbor above starts up his backfiring lawnmower and the neighbor kids across the street get on their little 4-wheelers (with LOUD horns which they use without restraint)... and then I have noise issues.

TPBM has stayed in a castle.

Yes, but not like you mean ... all Disney and quaffing while jousting etc. A WWII pillbox garrison and gun emplacement in Kent while training with the RN. A great, craggy Schloss in Bad Wittergsden, Bavaria - taking turns to blow the Alpine horn in the courtyard - and a lovely B&B in Brecon, Wales.

TPBM owns a castle (as in "every man's home is").

Newp, I rent. One day I'll settle down. Not today.

TPBM is part gypsy.

That would explain the mascara.

TPBM has far to go.

I would like to be. Both because I would like to be nomadic, and I love the stereotypical costume with ankle bracelets with bells and jangly belt and big hoop earrings. I think I have a gypsy Halloween costume.

TPBM says if wishes were _______they'd have a ______.

IF wishes were like what actually happens in life I'd have a compost heap.

TPBM only travels about their room.

Yes, but my room is like the TARDIS because it's filled with books.

TPBM has a difficult decision to make.

// >55 John_Vaughan: One of my mother's favourite sayings was "Wish in one hand, s**t in the other; see which one fills faster." //

I don't right now, but someone I know does, and it will affect my life too. Sigh...I know life is all about change, but...

TPBM has a saying as funny as >56 Jenni_Canuck: mother's favorite saying.

Not a funny one, but I'm fond of "Right here. Right now."

TPBM does have a funny favorite saying.

My kids did not think it was funny at all. I distilled SGiV's saying down to a gesture and an evil eye. It sure did work well.

TPBM is famous for some kinda glance or glare.

My eyerolls have been commented on before. I can do them pretty well.

TPBM uses TGIF as a mantra to get through the day.

"Oh dear God please let me get out of this by stepping over the bodies of mine enemies."

TPBM is more chillax.

Except when that term is used on me, in which case I steam.

TPBM is imperturbable.

Oh indeed yes. When I am asleep. Exactly what is chillax? Why do you steam? Sounds French to me.

TPBM speaks French.

Oui, je le parle.

TPBM parle au moins une autre
(pas française) langue européenne

Anglais is the only langue I could survive in, despite my smattering of highschool French, German, and Latin. It's possible that I could get by in French if all the communication was written, and no one was a stickler for grammar.

TPBM is a polyglot.

Ah, Polly G'Lottly, I knew her, Hortense, a feminin of infinite bon mot.

TPBM is going to the movies. But not Jurrasic World because it's so, so bad.

I'm looking forward to seeing the tarted-up reissue of The Third Man. Have just read a story from Guy Richardson, the assistant director (and still around) about Graham Greene getting pissed off with Orson Welles at a party on a yacht off the Cote d'Azur and rowing himself ashore to the public library at Antibes to try to disprove Welles' assertion that he had met Sarah Bernhardt. He failed to find irrefutable proof.

TPBM has gone to similar lengths to prove someone wrong.

No, I wouldn't waste my time on something like that when I could be reading instead.

TPBM has discovered LT is not good for book addicts and leads them down all sorts of paths to obtain recommended books.

Havenʻt done much to obtain the
titles on my "Wish List". Itʻs really
a mamoth bibliography -- mainly
things that would be in the "Nice to
Have" category, and is about 6/7
of my "All Collections".

TPBM has a mamoth "Wish List" collection

Mine is only 20% of the total. It's more a stack of titles that I would like to look at. When I worked at the public library, I was able to just scan myself another copy of whatever crossed my path. This functions approximately the same way here. Though I've been disappointedd often enough that my consortium doesn't have the depth I'd like.

TPBM has other consortium concerns.

Yes, like who wants what for lunch, and where to get it????

TPBM has a great recommendation for lunch.

Certainly! Recommended by A. J. Liebling in his great, hilarious book between meals ... hop on over to paris and follow his advice ...
"Two dozen of oyster, a small piece of Bretonne Ham, a woodcock, some baked fish in a delicious wine sauce followed by more oysters to prepare the palate for ..."

TPBM prefers a burger.

Never did like oysters.

TPBM can tell us about their special sauce.

Well I made a wild nettle pesto once. Nettles lend a very buttery flavor.

//>72 John_Vaughan:, Sorry John, I wouldn't be able to eat that lunch. Do you have a more vegetarian friendly menu in your book?//

TPBM has a great vacation planned.

No, we are downsizing this month, but we do have our eldest son and his ladies home for a few weeks instead.

//>74 morningwalker: Nor could we but I enjoyed his book and admired his fortitude!//

TPBM is fortified.

Thanks for the reminder to take my vitamins, John. My eye doctor admonished me sharply at my last visit.

TPBM has a health regimen that includes ______________.

Vitamins and avoiding overhead lighting.

TPBM is more hard core.

Yes, I walk every morning and avoid all self-help books and fad diets.

TPBM owns a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I checked and I don't. Wacky.

TPBM has all the classics.

Not "all" of the (Greco-Roman)
classics, but I do own a healthy*
fraction of the Loeb Classical Library.

*except that if I see an up-to-date
catalog of all of the Loeb, my own
collection doesnʻt look so healthy.

TPBM has read, in the past decade or so
at least one play by Aeschylus,
Aristophanes, Euripides or Sophocles.

Not that recently, I think, but in college my kid sister had a lead role in The Bacchae. She was pretty good, too. Note, my sister is now 57, so that was a while back.

TPBM keeps up on their classics.

Do classic mysteries count?

TPBM is lowbrow.

I is.

TPBM is singin' in the rain.

As it happens it is pouring down and I am practicing the bass part in Schubert's Mass in G with this - http://www.johnfletchermusic.org/schubertf-mass-no-2-in-g/

I am indoors so not getting wet, though.

When the mood takes them TPBM howls at the moon.

Preferably with the pack.

TPBM is a lone wolf.

Only when I need to travel light.

TPBM is melting, melting.

More like drowning, drowning. When did Pennsylvania start having monsoon season??

TPBM has their next read picked out.

Yes: Emanuel Swedenborgʻs "Divine Love
and Wisdom" a de facto sequel to
which is the title I am now reading: his "Divine
Providence".
Have to read it in English, unless I
can get hold of the Latin original at
the university.
(E. S. cites the Bible
sometimes, but himself in an earlier
work more often, as the corroboration
of what he has just said.)
Iʻm also checking out what Google
says about the connection between occultist
and radical William Blake and
Swedenborgianism. E. S., evidently, was
more radical in politics than capsule
bios make him seem.


TPBM has read at least some work of
Swedenborg or of some other
18th century writer known to be
an occultist.

Nope, but there's a Swedenborg Chapel in my town.

And to move from the sublime to the ridiculous, TPBM is trying to decide what to serve for dinner.

I did that yesterday when I threw a chicken in the crock pot. Yesterday's dinner, tonight's dinner, probably tomorrow's dinner, too.

TPBM likes to plan ahead.

No, but sometimes I'll shuffle the take out menus so dinner will be a surprise.

TPBM is dramatic.

I think I'm more comedic than dramatic. For instance here's one of my favorite jokes: What did one cannibal say to the other cannibal while they were eating a clown?

Answer: Does this taste funny to you? Ha Ha chuckle, guffaw...good stuff, right??

TPBM has a much more mature sense of humor.

But I like that one!! (I'm married to a retired kindergarten teacher and she is still trying to teach me!)

NOW TPBM has a much more mature sense of humor.

I was recently told that I don't understand young people's humor, which apparently considers threatening bodily harm to others as the height of comedic delight. So, yeah, I guess I'm mature.

TPBM is huffy about something else.

Yes, 1-ply toilet paper. There ought to be a law against it. I know I could live in a country where toilet paper didn't exist at all, or was very sparse; but since it does exist here, I'm against 1-ply!!

TPBM is against something else.

Sugar in prepared foods. C'mon, mayonnaise does not need sugar.

TPBM calls for the end of __________.

Right on red, people drive like ijits already. I cannot drive in my neighborhood without wanting to stab somebody in the heart.

TPBM is celebrating ____________.

My husband's and my 28th wedding anniversary. He's a keeper.

TPBM is planting something today.

Well, I did plant two roses and a couple of phloxes, and it may have been saturday. The butterflys went nuts over the phlox.

TPBM goes nuts over _____________.

Peanuts. I think I could live on them.

TPBM goes ape at ________.

//>99 2wonderY: is that the phlox as in "You Sir will die of the phlox or on the gallows?"John Wilkes http://www.librarything.com/work/933804//

... at narrow minded, super conservative political discussions. Well, maybe I don't go ape, but I get annoyed and try to get the heck away.

The person below me is in the mood for _______________.

Working from home. I think I'm over a commute.

TPBM has the inside scoop.

Nah, I got the last scoop - Peaches n' Cream - yum!

TPBM is expecting a very important phone call.

No. I wish I were. Hope yours is good news!

The person below me has joined a __________________.

coffee club for my caffine addiction and to get tips on keeping my espresso machine running - my old one died after 19 years - made in Italy!

TPBM ______s espresso!

'Needs' is probably the best fit. Not really going until I have had one. I use a machine of the sort promoted by George Clooney but owned it before his ads as far as I remember. Capsules are probably second best but are much easier to clear up after.

TPBM admits to owning something promoted by a celeb with whom they do not really feel in harmony.

I admit to buying a George Forman grill which I never even took out of the box. I'm sure I would have liked it if I'd ever used it. And I like George Forman. I think he is funny. But I don't like boxing. I was appalled at the hype (and money) over the overpriced fight a while back...

The person below me prefers ______________________.

Savory rather than sweet.

TPBM prefers ____________.

Jewel colors rather than neutrals.

TPBM prefers ______________.

Dark chocolate over milk chocolate

TPBM prefers _______________.

Steak over fish.

TPBM prefers _______________.

Thinking over action.

TPBM prefers ______________.

Napping over jogging.

TPBM prefers ______________.

//>114 Jenni_Canuck: I know! Jogging makes the ice jump out of my glass!//

//>115 2wonderY: Oh my gawd. That's hysterical.//

//>115 2wonderY: I knew there was a reason I didn't jog.//

// >115 2wonderY:, >116 SomeGuyInVirginia:, >117 PhaedraB: I felt like I shouldn't reference the drinking again; forgot I was among friends :-)
cheers! //

Summer over winter.

>118 Jenni_Canuck: Nobody here but us chickens.

TPBM prefers __________.

Holidays and weekends over work week days!!!

TPBM prefers ________.

Scotch over bourbon. Actually, pretty much anything over bourbon.

TPBM prefers ___________.

Potato chips over pretzels.

TPBM has been craving ________.

Some really good baklava. Sigh.

TPBM's favorite ethnic cuisine is _________________.

Thai. I love that light, tangy thing they have going on.

TPBM's favorite home-cooked meal is ______________.

My mother's pork roast and sauerkraut. Or my paternal grandmother's potato pancakes. The former I'm unlikely to have again, and the latter, lost more than 20 years ago.

TPBM's favorite Mom meal is ____________.

Colcannon. Mum put so much butter in it that your arteries would harden just looking at it. She also made fantastic soup and spectacular spaghetti sauce.

TPBM's favourite thing to cook is ___________.

An "Odds and ends" casserole. Cook some egg noodles, then toss them and who knows what else into a baking dish, usually made when there's some "I better cook and eat this stuff before it goes bad" being around.

TPBM is a little more "organized" with their cooking.

None of us can be more "organized" with cooking than SGiV. He only makes reservations or telephone calls.

//We are moving/downsizing this weekend, so sparse on-line time.//

TPBM feels that __________

Congress should recess more often. It only took me 23 minutes to drive into town today.

//I am a damn fine cook.//

TPBM senses that ________.

>128 John_Vaughan: hit a nerve with >129 SomeGuyInVirginia:...

TPBM insists that _______.

Christmas is better in the Caribbean.

//Oh wow, no, I was kidding. I can't make oatmeal. But I do know, like, 23 great places to order it.//

TPBM also insists that ____________.

"It's a dry heat..." is valid, but only up to a point.

TPBM insists that ____________.

LT is the best thing since sliced bread.

//>131 SomeGuyInVirginia: I know, I was kidding too. Hey don't sell yourself short, I bet you make a mean ham and cheese sandwich.//

TPBM wonders _______.

I wah-wah-wah-wah wonder
why-why-why-why-why they don't write songs like they used to - ones you could sing along to.

TPBM knows ________________

that it's all because of Guitar Hero.

TPBM supposes ____________.

my toeses are roses

TPBM supposes _______________

...erroneously.

Were the Hope/Crosby Road movies really funny?

TPBM has an inkling.

//..or was that Danny Kaye? Hugely over-rated in my opinion.//

Yes: an inkling that Bob Hopeʻs
strong point was movie, Or at least
TV sketch,* roles, as opposed to
radio and TV stand-up comedy, where
he could be tedious.

TPBM has seen at least one "Road Movie".

*e.g. "The Prisoner of Trendex" in which
Jimmy Durante was his guest actor;
or "Herman Payola" a very topical spoof
on Hollywoodʻs "Payola" scandal.

>138 rolandperkins: Seen them all, more than once. Grew up on all the old movies they used to run on late-night TV. First time I was allowed to stay up late was to watch 42nd Street with my mother. She'd been a tap dancer, and it was her favorite movie.

TPBM could also take a pass on Danny Kaye.

I liked him in the Hans Christian Anderson movie, but that could have just been because I liked Hans Christian Anderson books.

TPBM has a favorite old movie.

There were so many that I can't point one out. I loved the road movies and watched one or more every Christmas time. I don't think they were funny but they were comedies; I always felt happy watching them. My two favorite movies of all time came out in the 70s; Cabaret and Black Christmas. Love love love them.

TPBM sought the headwaters of the river of pain.

//>140 morningwalker: My godson had a vinyl recording of the Hans Christian Anderson soundtrack that he would play over and over and over again, as a six-year-old will do. He asked me once, very politely, would I like to hear it again? I declined as politely as I could; i.e. without running screaming from the room.//

>141 SomeGuyInVirginia: Mostly I've been trying to stanch the floodwaters of the river of pain with Advil. Lots of Advil.

TPBM thinks it's perfectly normal to ______________________

Have rain in the summer. Not where I live now. Unfortunately, it's getting less normal to have rain in the winter, too. Drought is not pretty.

TPBM thinks _________________ is pretty.

SWMBO at 68.

TPBM thinks Advil is a good solution to many 'aging' problems'.

Almost as good as a smooth single malt scotch.

TPBM would rather fight than switch.

Yes, and I have the black eye to prove it.

//>142 PhaedraB: I had to google the soundtrack because it's been so long since I saw the movie I couldn't remember it. I don't think I could listen to it too many times either.//

TPBM remembers plop, plop, fizz, fizz.

Yep, I couldn't believe I ate the whole thing.

TPBM can't eat just one

I ate the red ones last!

TPBM knows a little dab'll do ya

But I have nothing to put it on. . . and I did not shave my dome!

TPBM knows the name of Sky King's plane. Bonus points for how many and the manufacturer of the plane(s).

Who's Sky King?

TPBM knows how to spell relief.

Sorry, I'm too old to remember.

A friend of mine just a few days ago posted pictures of Sky King's plane on Facebook, but danged if I can remember anything about them.

TPBM remembers _____________.

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"

TPBM remembers

The TV Show "My Mother The Car" from 1965-66

TPBM knows where "Uncle Martin" was from.

Yes, Mars. Bill Bixby was cute.

TPBM wonders if Timmy still has his collie.

Naw, Lassie was put-down years ago. Caught some liver disease from swallowing all that well-water during daring rescues.

TPBM will not go back to the exclusion of dratted TV discussion!

Not until the Walking Dead season 6 premieres on Sunday, October 11, on basic cable channel AMC. At 9pm. That's 'onthedot.' I'm just saying...

TPBM eschews spoilers.

I try really hard when reviewing books not to give away the whole plot and to only hint at plot twists. I have been known, however, to look at the back of the book to be assured of a happy ending before proceeding further.

TPBM never peeks.

Not since I peeked at Christmas the year I got an awesome record player in a fabulous orange and white plastic case that looked like a suitcase. Oh, I was so happy when I peeked, but then on Christmas morning the guilt was so horrible. I was one fine actress that morning trying to be so so surprised, and after that never peeked again. I learned my lesson.

Oh, you mean book endings, yeah, sure that's different.

TPBM has plans.

Sunday bookclub, 12 of us at my house,, so I'm cooking, cleaning, baking. Fun times. I'm hostess once a year. We're discussing Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.

TPBM is in a RL bookclub.

Or as I call it, "class."

The person below me is trying a new way of doing something.

Blackberry crisp instead of cobbler. The berries are as large as a man's thumb this year, and I've been picking gallons of them.

TPBM will suggest a new recipe for my berries.

I will after you send me some to experiment with.

TPBM has another angle.

Right!

TPBM will offer something more obtuse.

I have an acute understanding of all things geometric with many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

TPBM is the very model of something.

This morning, this rainy Monday morning, stinking morning, I am the very model of a coffee swilling, unfocused, vaguely dissatisfied American desk jockey. Erg.

TPBM keeps a little list.

It's a short list of Larry's monday morning performance.

TPBM is assigned to someone else.

Sorry, the dog ate my homework.

TPBM knows what St. Clement's bells say.

Something fruity no doubt ... and you still owe me the five farthings you promised for NOT reminding everybody that you do not have a dog.

TPBM knows that cats, even if armed, do not eat homework.

But they do eat the corners off of both important documents and book covers. I had a nice vintage bit of ephemera in excellent condition that was destined for eBay until the cat liberated its corners.

TPBM knows cats have their issues.

Don't get me started on cats! A neighbour's cat (which has irritated me in the past by perching on a bed of nails I inserted on a fence overlooking a blue-tit's nest) has now taken to removing the grid over a drain into which I had diverted a dribble from the overflow to a lavatory cistern while we wait for the plumber. I presume it is thirsty but I wish it would meet its physical needs elsewhere, very particularly in respect of defaecation. I have come to the conclusion that the only reason for harbouring a cat is to deter neighbouring cats from crapping in my garden. Provided one's animal is assertive it should go outside home turf to do its own business.

TPBM is entirely at ease with the knowledge that there are more pictures of cute cats on the internet than anything else.

Well, yes, although I don't usually look at them - I have two pretty 'dorable live ones in my house. Kitty William, 16, and Inara Starbuck, 8. They are entertaining, condescending, and snuggly. Creatures of great mystique.

TPBM agrees with the concept that very few people are both cat AND dog people.

Maybe, maybe not. I love both, have lived with both simultaneously, and have friends who have both.

TPBM thinks we're all nuts.

Love cats, but we have bunnies due to an allergic husband (I know--bad planning on my part. But bunnies are pretty awesome, even if they also eat homework.)

Doesn't that go without saying? We are all nuts!

TPBM really should know better,

The only fur babies I have are my dust bunnies - practically maintenance-free.

//I can't sit outside in my tiny backyard because of the stench of cat urine from next door. Is there anyway to eliminate/disguise the smell?//

TPBM knows ...

Unfortunately my go-to response is "are you sure you're keeping the litterboxes clean?"

The person below me isn't sure at all.

I'm sure I have no litterbox to clean. It is hard enough to keep up with the toilets.

TPBM is going to the dogs.

I thought I might get a dog after the cat died, but I'm trying to get into senior housing that doesn't allow pets, so no for now.

TPBM has few restrictions.

Just the usual- don't leave the city without informing us, keep the ankle bracelet on at all times, don't miss interviews with your parole officer, blah blah blah.

TPBM is the wind.

Only when it's breaking.

TPBM is classier than that.

ClassiNESS, I couldnʻt pass on,
but Iʻve been a ClassicIST since
1949.

TPBM has taken at least one year
of one of the following: Greek,
Hebrew, Latin, or Sanskrit.

I passed O level Latin - in those far-off days it was expected of applicants to the better universities. Eheu fugaces, Rolandus, Rolandus, labuntur anni.

TPBM has another Latin tag

Sorting through my late husband's library, I found books on Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Sanskrit. He spoke none of them, although he could occasionally muddle through Irish, German, or Russian.

TPBM muddles through _____________.

Every damn thing. I wish that I knew what I was doing.

TPBM alone can tell the tale.

Call me Ishmael?

TPBM wants Pluto restored to full planethood with no namby-pamby modifiers.

Yes, absolutely! I grew up with Pluto being a planet and think it's unfair to have demoted it. I just recently discovered that it even has its own moons.

TPBM knew that Pluto has moons.

I knew that Pluto has a tail and a cute expression.

TPBM can explain why a mouse has a dog.

It takes too long for a mouse to get to grandmother's house.

TPBM knew that.

I know lots.

TPBM will show off their knowledge.

No, I have the decency to keep some things private.

The person below me will tell us a deep, dark secret.

...psst...land is always on the mind of the flying bird...pass it on

TPBM awaits the verdict.

Planned ass old ways on the mines of the flying bird.
(well, that's what I thought he whispered!)

TPBM will pass it on.

The only thing I can come up with includes language I decline to use online.

TPBM has a better sense of it.

Ask anyone, I have no sense at all.

TPBM is better prepared.

Maybe I'm someone,
This is what I heard:

"Blend, that's all mine, Oh fine birth!"

TPBM has mixed feelings about it.

The only thing I don't have mixed feeling on is on having mixed feelings.

TPBM zips it.

Rarely. Far less than I should perhaps?

TPBM unlike SGiv and I rarely speak (in or out of turn).

It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

TPBM has serious doubts about __________.

About ever getting through my TBR books.

TPBM reads cereal boxes.

Not as a regular thing. Only if it's one I've never seen before or there's some big change as happens when it's a "tie in" box to something.

TPBM Scans the covers of the entertainment/scandal magazines at the register but doesn't read them.

Always. I did have a friend years ago who was dating a soap actor and wound up with her photo and story in one of them.

TPBM has had a photo turn up in an odd place.

Yès, Facebook, even though I don't have an account other people seem to think it's okay to put anybody's pictures on.

TPBM like s their privacy.

I do. But cyber privacy is becoming a thing of the past unless you try to live off the grid, which we don't. Physically, we live 8 miles from the nearest town, on a cul-de-sac road behind the tree line. You can see our house in the winter, but it's a long view of about 300 feet. And, we faced the house away from the road to get a view of our pastures, the creek, and the hills.

TPBM is much more a city person.

Country or city, after a while I get antsy in both.

TPBM makes their own bread.

Occasionally, I make a really good chewy bread that's very simple and can be made in the oven in a cast-iron (Griswold chicken pan and lid work great) pan and lid. The only problem is it needs to be mixed and left to rise overnight, and when I decide I want to make it, I don't have 18 hours to wait.

TPBM always needs more time.

Yes please, tho' I've had me "three score years and ten" already.

//When I was making my own bread I had the same problem - then a Doctor friend of mine gave me another pan.//

TPBM has been panned before.

In writing and across a broad spectrum.

TPBM is it.

Since SGiV didn't say it in caps and exclamation points, and dashed away after tapping my shoulder, I guess I'm it.

100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95...

TPBM will entertain us in the meanwhile.

Okay, here goes...oops dropped the ...oops there it goes again...oops...really, I used to be able to juggle knives. Maybe I need a little practice. Excuse me while I get a bandage.

TPBM will take it from here.

Who let that lady near knives!!?? You should never do that. Or meat-cleavers either. (Though they are easier to juggle).

TPBM juggles many things in their life.

//>210 John_Vaughan: Why thank you John for the compliment of calling me a lady, blush, blush. By the way I only needed 5 stitches and I'm a fast healer.//

...6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, READY OR NOT, HERE I COME! Nope, one thing at a time and one time at a thing.

TPBM knows how I cheated.

You skipped 57. And 36.

TPBM takes a shortcut.

On my desktop at work - yeah, lots of shortcuts. :)

TPBM prefers taking the long way.

Hiking a mountain, I take the long way up: not that steep > less exertion, more possibilities to look around or talk and eventually it takes equal time.

TPBM is a more sporting person

Well, I think I'm a good sport.

TPBM would like a cup of tea.

Only if I could exchange it for a Vietnamese coffee and a hot buttered scone.

TPBM is famished.

Right now, I'm OK. Just finished a tortilla de patatas con cebello with peas on the side. Washed down with a glass or two of Argentinian Merlot. Yeah, I'm OK!

TPBM indulges in occasional fasting.

Oh, I have in the past and would like to again, but it seems so hard to mentally prepare for it these days.

TPBM indulges in ____________.

Dark chocolate caramels sprinkled with sea salt!

TPBM would never indulge in those.

I deny myself few indulgences, including dark chocolate sprinkled with sea salt and fasting.

TPBM is spartan.

If you mean frugal and live simply, then yes, I am. If you mean I'm from Greece, then no, although Greece is on my list of places I would love to visit someday (after they have solved their crisis of course).

TPBM has their own crisis.

Yes, I was going to buy Greece with my Starbucks rewards card but I think I used it to prop up a table wonky table leg.

TPBM is attic.

Thats all Greek to me SGiV, but I do have bats in the attic.

TPBM knows both references.

Yes I do- loved her hated him.

TPBM is a weekend guest.

Usually, because you know what they say, "fish and guests both stink after 3 days."

TPBM has more good advice.

Don't should on yourself!

TPBM will continue with more good advice.

Never give advice.

TPBM needs advice.

Yes, but nothing I want to hear.

TPBM sells advice.

I suppose that just about sums up what I did during my working life although I wouldn't have couched it in quite those terms.

TPBM has anxieties about being found out.

Who told you?

TPBM still crosses his/her fingers when making a wish.

I thought crossed fingers were for vampires?

TPBM knows what to do when you walk out your front door and smack into the zombie apocalypse.

Change the channel?

TPBM likes to watch.

Not really. (So the proverbial pot has boiled? Good for you. Now get out of my light and let me finish my row already.)

The person below me is in stitches.

Up to my arm, on the sweater I'm knitting. Can't wait to finish it.

TPBM has memories evoked by the smell of ____________.

The smell of Lathyrus(Sweet Pea) flowers evokes memories of my grandmother, ànd an other lady, who was blind and even more has enjoyed smells than we, who can see, do.

TPBM has memories evoked by the sound of____________.

Electronic dance music. Those were the days, my friend...

TPBM has seen _______ dozens of times.

//Those were the days my friend??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3KEhWTnWvE //

//Yeah, I had a weird childhood and actually liked the music my parents listened to.//

// Me too! When I visited in Western VA, (Pearisburg and Narrows), the only thing you got was music before Blue Grass became Blue Grass! Still like it and Miller, Dorsey, etc. and Beethoven and Bach - not Mozart though //

//Not like Mozart?! IT'S LIKE I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE ANYMORE!!//

Wow, Pearisburg, that's a small town. What were you doing there? I've never been, I bet it's a real nice place but, yeah, it's kind of a wide patch in the road from Roanoke to West Virginia so I guess it is stuck in a time warp. Geez, I love small towns and yes I've lived in them.

It's a Wonderful Life. I can't even get some people in the family to watch it once because it's in black and white, but I think that adds to why I like it so much. Some of the scenes are just beautifully shot and I love it.

TPBM admits to____________.

Nothing. Talk to my lawyer.

TPBM admits that ____________.

I am not a lawyer.

TPBM is admittedly __________.

bewildered.

TPBM is _________.

bewitched?

TPBM may be bothered

Not today. Walked to local park and had brown bag lunch on a beautiful summer day and got to read my book. Ah.....why are the simple good things always over too soon?

TPBM had lunch at _________.

My desk staring at my screen. Not that there was anything on it, but it pays keep an eye on it at all times.

TPBM is always ___________.

Trying to get caught up.

TPBM is never_______.

God help me, never caught up.

TPBM is a master __________.

book designer ((joke) ha, ha, donʻt I wish!)

TPBM has worked as either book designer, or
assistant editor,* or proof reader.

*Which I must be, too: How else
could I get 2 sets of parentheses
into a 6-word phrase?

I've done freelance editing, once to such a degree one might call it ghostwriting, but the publisher asked me not to mention that in public. Also got dragooned into proofreading business documents on a few occasions.

TPBM has other bibliographic skills.

I buy books, put them on shelves in some sort of order and, sometimes, read them. Does that count?

TPBM has established a balance.

I had established a work-home balance until 2 weeks ago when I took a new job within my company and am now (temporarily) consumed with work. Poor husband hardly sees me except at work - we now work in the same department but don't work together very often. Lots of quick waves and lunch 2 times a week.

TPBM has some exciting plans for the coming week.

Maybe, but right now the wildfire smoke has made the air quality somewhere between "very unhealthy" and "hazardous," so I'm not leaving the house until that clears up a bit. The closest fire I know about is about 60 miles north of here, but the lightning-with-no-rain we got this afternoon may have set off more fires.

TPBM has something fun going on within 60 miles.

A music and arts festival. Started on Friday and goes for 10 days. I have already attended 5 concerts. What I don't understand are people who come to music concerts and sit and carry on loud conversations. The one this evening (about everyone of their acquaintance) was interspersed with comments on how talented the musicians were and "I really like this song!".

TPBM understands such behaviour and can explain it to me.

Well, I would have to call it plain old rudeness. It occurs everywhere. What bugs me are people in front of me who are so involved in their phone conversations that when they get to a checkout counter they don't even look at or speak to the cashier. A little kindness, a smile, a Hi, How are you? can go a long way bozos.

TPBM thinks I'm being to critical.

Critically awesome!

TPBM is vigilant.

Of course! I was brought up in the 1950s - I keep watching the skies!

TPBM knows the thing of which I speak.

That's why I'm under a desk.

TPBM knows other things.

Yes, but I don't talk about them outside (you know...because of the hovering drones...).

TPBM has a grip on things.

I WISH! The only grip I have is white knuckled. Daughter is throwing a wedding in 53 days and still doesn't have an officiator or a food plan. Mother of the bride is not allowed to take control.

TPBM will offer reassurances.

There, there dear. It could be worse. Here's how: I am going to a niece's wedding reception in a couple weeks who has deemed the theme "whimsical attire" with wheels of cheese and pie as some of the food choices, and it's being held in a barn. Guests are encouraged to dress as their favorite fairytale or fantasy characters. Of course I like the idea and am working on my costume, but others might frown on the whole plan. Oh, also she and now husband (they wed in Ireland and told her mom on FaceBook) spent the summer squatting in Ireland. Luckily she will be back to college soon and reality will set in.

TPBM will give >262 2wonderY: more reassurance.

She'll do much better next time? It'll be OK, 2wY, those things can come together very quickly. It will all work out in the end.

TPBM shoots the messenger.

There are plenty of precedents: ...our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, to tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Where should we have our thanks?

TPBM knows

Aye, all this I can truly deliver but no, no more; carnal, bloody and unnatural acts; accidental judgments, casual slaughters; and deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause. Gather thanks like rosebuds while ye may.

TPBM is studious.

I like to think so, but I hear more people mumbling "pedantic."

TPBM studies ____________.

Clouds. It's all about the clouds.

TPBM mastered _____________.

Let me think about this for a second; umm, I forgot the question; perhaps I should check back or you can ask me later. I think I meant to say procrastination. Maybe

TPBM is master of ______________.

Scheduling. Well, I will be in a month or two. Hopefully. The job I've switched to is Master Scheduler.

TPBM is glad summer is technically about half over.

I could go all Celtic calendar on you and say, "Actually we're six weeks past Midsummer and about six weeks before autumnal equinox, so really, it's the start of autumn," but then there's that whole pedantry thing again...

TPBM is glad the days are getting shorter.

I like fall and winter (and spring and summer), so I don't mind. I've just noticed that the days are shorter.

TPBM sees _________________.

Through all the bullsh*t.

TPBM has a prediction.

The sun'll come up
tomorrow!

TPBM has the winning lottery numbers.

Well, yeah, but the lottery was yesterday so I don't think they'll help you.

TPBM has a system.

Several systems, in fact--circulatory, respiratory, endocrine, digestive, nervous...

TPBM is looking forward to something.

Yup. I have a job interview on Monday!

The person below me has another kind of interview coming up.

No, just same old, same old week ahead.

//>277 AnnaClaire: Good Luck today!!//

TPBM is downsizing.

Yes we have - and, other than parting with about 900 books - we are loving it. Just a two-bed, two bath apartment. Of course, I do not need to add what the second bedroom became.

TPBM wonders why.

Sure, why do all houses not have libraries?

//>277 AnnaClaire: Yes, good luck today!//

TPBM has seen the future.

<side note> The job interview went well enough. Thanks for the good wishes, @morningwalker and @SomeGuyInVirginia! </side note>

I see a future where all my books will fit on my bookcases.

TPBM believes that is probably a pipe dream.

Shelf dream. At this point the only fix for me is book reduction. Gad I hate clutter.

//Party at AC's! She's got a house so we can go nuts!//

TPBM is shelfish.

I love shelves, but hate dusting. Is there a solution to this problem?

TPBM has the answer.

Hire a housekeeper or start a relationship with a clean freak. (A housekeeper is probably less aggravating in the long run.)

TPBM is addicted to ________________ .

// >283 SomeGuyInVirginia: Technically, it's an apartment, and I'm not the one who owns it. But either way, I appreciate the sentiment. //

Well, uh, books.

Besides books, TPBM is addicted to ________.

LT?

Besides those things, TPBM is addicted to ________.

Clean living and good works.

TPBM knows a hawk from a handsaw.

Yes, a hawk has a beak and a handsaw has teeth.

TPBM can't tolerate _________.

Hawks with teeth.

//Clean living and good works? Hows that working out for you in DC >289 SomeGuyInVirginia:?//

TPBM is far more awake than I.

umm, maybe. Both eyes are open and there's coffee in front of me.

TPBM is up and at 'em like Atom Ant.

This Person Below You actually remembers who Atom Ant is! (Not to be confused with Adam Ant)

TPBM is contemplating something.

Yes, I'm wondering if I like Atom Ant or Adam Ant better....hmmm...this really needs further thought. Maybe staring blankly ahead while drinking a cup of tea will help.

TPBM thinks best while _______.

Drinking coffee. I think we've got a theme going here.

TPBM has an unusual use for coffee.

My first cup of coffee on any given day is always in pill form. I call it 'space coffee'. Does that count?

//>291 John_Vaughan: No comment.//

TPBM is more unusual.

Double espresso first thing. That was seen as extremely unusual in both Switzerland and Italy but then I'm a bit
silly. . .

TPBM is more unusual this side of the pond

I'm not, but I'll nominate >291 John_Vaughan:, he's very unusual.

TPBM is part of an act.

Yup. I am the appointed Fall-Guy for our Official Resident Eccentric.

TPBM knows of whom I speak.

Hmm...should I venture a guess and say, um SGIV???

TPBM agrees.

Well I most certainly do not. A fine world we live in when someone so ordinary and dull as I am is counted as eccentric. This is all cutting into my clean living and good works time.

TPBM saw the Perseids last night.

Yes, they dropped in for coffee and cake.

TPBM knows nearly everything and is working on completing their knowledge.

TPBM has a case of the summer doldrums

Even worse: I have a summer cold!

TPBM needs ________________

A new job and a new life.

//SGIV & JV thanks for adding a smile to a crappy day//

TPBM has it all figured out.

See >303 rastaphrog:. That goes ditto for me.

TPBM just fixed something.

CSS code. I amaze me.

TPBM is a swami from Miami whose breath smells like pastrami.

The only swami I know is my sister in Chicago.

TPBM knows another one.

No, my circle of unique friends and family is sadly limited. Although I have met some real snake charmers.

TPBM needs to make a decision.

Maybe, I don't know. It's complicated.

TPBM recently joined a club.

Even paid my dues ahead, and then stopped going to meetings. It 's a bonsai club and I kept killing the little buggers. Guilt ridden.

TPBM will tell what is sitting next to their keyboard just now.

Oscar (asleep of course), mug of coffee, bottle of Zephyrhills, cellphone and tissues. there, wasn't that exciting! Oh! Me too.

TPBM wonders why >311 2wonderY: wonders.

Because she's smart, and pretty, and has an inquiring mind, and gosh darn it, people like her.

TPBM wanders.

Well, at least my mind does.

TPBM will reveal a personal guilty pleasure.

I've sold one of my exes on Ebay, like, 12 times.

TPBM is restrained.

Ah! You said 'restrained' not 'retrained.' My thoughts went back to our days with the Peoples' Loosely Articulated Democratic Front.

Memories!

>313 morningwalker: **blush**

TPBM is refined....by fire?

I've been burned a few times.

TPBM is expecting.

OMG -NO, have I gained that much weight?

TPBM is lachrymose.

Sometimes the comments are enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.

TPBM is anxious.

Constantly. Always. I've come to realize that generalized anxiety is one of the defining conditions of my life.

TPBM thinks it's all good.

It depends on the time-frame. Confident of my own mortality I manage to be quite Panglossian while I can still get up in the morning. I am not convinced by the idea that mankind is naturally good - the reverse seems more likely but around here the bad guys keep a low profile and, while some things might be better, nothing is really bad. Looking further in the distance Islamic extremists will establish their caliphate, all the bees will die and everyone will be very hungry, the Yellowstone caldera will blow and clear out most of the human race and then the sun become a red giant and cook the Earth but all that will pass me by!

TPBM cultivates their garden.

This year my gardens suffered extreme flooding in June, heat and no rain in July and August, and unfortunately little cultivation. However they have somehow survived and have grown where they were planted.

TPBM has also grown where they were planted.

Just enough for personal, medicinal use.

TPBM gets through the night.

As I work nights, I have to get through it if I want to get paid.

TPBM enjoys sitting and watching the rain fall.

And this year's soggy-summer provides many opportunities for doing just that. Or I'll sit and watch the sprinklers making rainbows. Then I'll read.

TPBM goes straight to the point.

Yes, unless I digress because I forgot what the point was.

TPBM's perfect day would be ______.

In the Caribbean, with as much to do as there is in Manhattan.

TPBM carries on.

today! (Slept well, got up early, had a nice long walk. Relaxing now with a delicious iced coffee. mmmmmmm ) (Not even thinking that I will have to go to work shortly.)

TPBM's perfect day would be _____ .

And what is the alternative? Or do you mean the second definition (behave, especially speak, in an excited or bad-tempered way)?
I have been known to do that too.

Okayyyyy Thinking perfect day... It has to include chocolate and raspberries and the great outdoors and perhaps some good friends. Yeah.

TPBM stays calm.

Of course. Always, unless provoked beyond endurance.

TPBM eats their greens, snacks on nuts, walks for at least 30 minutes a day and......there is something else but I've forgotten.

Drinks red wine. Yes, yes, that's me. I do all that. And drink red wine.

TPBM follows a different regime.

Read, eat, sleep. Do whatever else absolutely has to be done, then get back to read, eat, sleep.

TPBM accomplished something.

>331 morningwalker: //I do that too - how did I forget it is on the list? Heavens! Maybe it doesn't work ;-( //

Breakfast. Some days, that's an accomplishment.

TPBM has grander plans.

Sleep. I can hardly keep my eyes open.

TPBM has panda grans.

>333 abbottthomas: //Oh it works. Forgetting once in a while can be a good thing and is a small price to pay for the other rewards.//

I live in the Pacific Wet Coast. We don't have pandas we have these

http://bit.ly/1Pzunpp

TPBM has had a close encounter with a wild animal

Mostly deer, racoons, and wild turkeys.

Our town has so many deer, they call them urban deer. It's also a tourist town where people take "stop for people in crosswalks" very seriously. So the other day I was trying to make a right turn down at the bottom of my street, and what do I seen in the crosswalk but a stag with a full rack strolling across the street right in the middle of the crosswalk. Gotta admire his attention to pedestrian laws.

We did have a bear in someone's ornamental pond, and a bear cub in the local drugstore, but mostly we worry about tourists.

TPBM has another close encounter to report.

>338 PhaedraB: PhaedraB //Do you often have tourists in your ornamental ponds and drugstores? How disturbing//

//>339 carod: It's worse than that. They're everywhere.//

Well I probably would if I went to the local fair next week...the local politicians will be swarming.

TPBM is going to change ____________.

The way I deal with the clearly insane, under medicated, mutant drivers who make driving where I live so much fun! I don't need the shpilkes.

TPBM feels ___________.

the same. Out here in central NC tailgating is the method used by the clearly insane, under medicated, mutant drivers. Makes me absolutely crazy.

TPBM has another gripe about Other Drivers.

They spend too much time talking on the phones and let's not even talk about texting.
TPBM has a method to cure this? (RIGHT!)

There's no cure for stupidity.

TPBM knows why if Jimmy cracks corn, and no one cares, why does he keep doing it?

Because he can.

TPBM can-cans.

No, I cha-cha.

TPBM waltzes through life.

More the funky chicken.

TPBM did it by fox trot.

No, I'm pretty much of a square.

TPBM does the hokey pokey.

The turn yourself around bit is making me dizzy nowadays.

TPBM likes the spin.

It's elegant, I like to see the Spin.
but
the Chicken Dance is easier to perform.

TPBM dances the Flamenco

No, two left feet. I can usually manage the Macarena. But the Hokey Pokey is definitely more my style.

TPBM can Highland Fling

I fling stuff all day. Welcome to the Nation's Blah!

TPBM does it in under a minuet.

Ah, the minuet. Alas the knees creak so much it drowns out the music.

TPBM taps.

Not these days the tapping,
tiptoe is the thing!

TPBM
Would like to be an expert in Belly Dance

I wanted to try it when I was younger, but that phase has passed.

TPBM is reading too many books right now.

What would be too many? I am only reading The lost heart of Asia. Other than Maughan's short stories in the car. oh, yeah, that funny book about The secret world of Smiley in the Loo. Oh! And the .... how many is too many again?

TPBM believes that dancing is more addictive than _____

Heroin. Everything that's addictive is said to be more addictive than heroin. Heroin must be the easiest drug in the world to kick.

TPBM gave up.

Heroin or dancing?

TPBM never gives up.

Although I often procrastinate so long it's the same thing as giving up.

TPBM does it now.

Not quite, but I'm improving.

TPBM doesn't know what's wrong with all us slackers.

Of course I don't know, being european.

TPBM knows if it will be useful to explain

There's not much use until I've had my coffee.

TPBM uses a timer.

Of course! Otherwise, how would I get away before the explosion happens?

TPBM wants a puppy.

As I live in an apartment by myself and work nights, nope. Tho I am starting to think about getting a cat again.

TPBM wouldn't mind owning a Ferret.

//>364 Jenni_Canuck: HA!//

NO - no more pets, no more plants, no more gardens. I am learning to say no - even to myself. (you notice I didn't include books though...I'm getting there)

TPBM is a master of constraint.

In some ways. A decade ago my late husband and I decided that we would move cross-country when his son graduated high school. So after that, I looked at every purchase from the angle, "Do I like this thing enough to pay to move it cross-country?" I told him I saved a ton of money that way. I still kinda do that, but more now because I'm broke.

TPBM says, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That's a wise old saw, Phaedra.

TPBM has another

Good is good enough (as in: Perfect is the enemy of Good)

TBPM 's (grand)mother always said ________

"Here, read this book."

TPBM says ____________ .

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger (I say that, but don't know if I always believe it).

TPBM always says ___________.

'No comment.'

TPBM espouses __________.

Solar energy and wind power.

TPBM enjoys __________.

Gentle breezes from open windows. This is the first day in a month we're not under some level of smoke warning from all the wildfires in the PNW.

TPBM smokes ___________.

Salmon. Actually, my brother-in-law does and it is delicious. We have also had smoky days here from the fires, but a wind storm today has cleared the air (as well as quite a few trees, branches and power lines).

TPBM is a storm watcher

Erika is being watched.

TPBM chases 'em.

I don't chase storms, I remain stationary and curl up with a good book on a dark and stormy night.

TPBM ate __________for breakfast.

100 mg of caffeine.

TPBM has an app for that.

I have a machine, which one day, I am sure, will be linked to my iPad to remind me that I haven't had a coffee for half-an-hour. The coffee comes in environmentally unfriendly aluminium capsules as recommended by George Clooney - at least I can send them back to the makers for re-cycling.

TPBM recycles assiduously

Is that battery assid Abbott? Yes I do, and the batteries too.

TPBM cycles.

Only through despondency and despair.

TPBM is well balanced.

I hardly ever tip over. I'm like that clown that has a heavy bottom. ...oh! Did I confess that?

TPBM has veggies to give away.

I used to but now that the 40 gardens in the area went to just me, I lost my battle to long legged rats (deer), ground hogs, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks and other wildlife! I retired about 3 years ago but I still have lots of blueberries to give away. I won the bird battle.

TPBM gives away fruit!!

Yeah, free crabapples for the taking!!! And lots of black walnuts too. Get them before the squirrels do.

TPBM wonders why they're called crabapples.

Picked in the morning >385 morningwalker:?

TPBM is now fully awake, recaffeinated yet still feeling crabby.

>385 morningwalker: Bite into one and you'll look cabby too! TPBM makes crabapple jelly and I want a jar!!!!

No, yes, yes. I bought a lottery ticket last night and all I can say is that I really, really hope that I win the jackpot- grazie mille bella Fortuna

TPBM has plans for the weekend.

Why bother? I'm retired; every day is a weekend day.

TPBM likes things to be different.

Yes, different in that I want to win the lottery jackpot (sorry SGIV but I really need it).

TPBM has the winning numbers for me.

3

TPBM has the next number

13

TPBM has the next number

I do, and you can't have it!

TPBM has a system.

No, luckily it's municipal sewage. No tank to keep clean.

//>393 2wonderY: Okay - but, you know before you adopted that attitude, I was going to share my winnings with you. But now...//

TPBM shares.

Just my ex. But does it count if you didn't know about it?

TPBM soars.

I did pilot a glider, solo, many years ago in the Air Cadets. It was a primitive affair launched by my fellow cadets pulling on a long stretchy rope. Soar? Well, no. I got up to three feet before crashing back to earth.

TPBM has been inside a Link Trainer.

//No Dear Abbott but I bet I'm the only other one who remembers what they were!//

//That's a cert, John ;-)//

Heavens no. I don't even like playing flight simulator or driving simulator games on any of my various devices. I crash with distressing regularity.

TPBM is now concerned that I am planning to go for a long drive today.

I would be, if I planned to be in the vehicle with you.

TPBM has other plans.

Yes, going for a swim. Abnormally hot September weather in the 90s.

TPBM is also having a heat wave.

Yup. Through about Sunday, I'm told.

The person below me is cool as a cucumber.

I am, because I happen to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt inside an air conditioned house.

TPBM knows what is so cool about a cucumber.

Well, I know it's very cool and soothing in raita which is yogurt and cucumber and is eaten with spicy curry and Indian dal dishes. Mmmm....now I want Indian food.

TPBM craves something else.

A new thread, I think!

TPBM will follow me there.