Photographic evidence of a Divewitch visit

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R.I.P. Little Shrimp

One thing I forgot to post about yesterday.

As I mentioned, I spent every summer of my childhood at Williamstown Lake. Part of the tradition of "going to the lake", was stopping at the Little Shrimp restaurant for ice cream. I don't remember ever eating an actual meal there (although I probably did at least once), I do remember getting chocolate creamy whips with sprinkles. That's just what you did.

When we were driving to the lake yesterday we noticed that the Little Shrimp was closed. As in permanantly closed. I absolutely hate when history disappears. Especially mine.

The Little Shrimp has stood in the same spot - virtually unchanged - for 46 years. It still looks almost exactly the same as in the top picture taken in 1977.

Granted, it's not much. A little hole-in-the-wall diner. But aren't those usually the best? And besides, it's tradition. And you should not mess with tradition.

I swear I was born too late. This next picture of the Little Shrimp was taken in 1962, and in my opinion, 1962 would have been the perfect time to be a teenager. That should be me in that picture! If I was about 16 in 1962, I would have also been the right age to be a proper hippie in 1969/70. Of course that would make me 60 right now.

Nevermind.

Boating - Finally

We took the boat out today for the first time all summer. We went down to Williamstown Lake and took Julia and Nicholas along for the ride. Williamstown Lake is not very big, so we ran around in circles for a few hours. We stopped once to go swimming and get bit by wee fish. The boat worked fine after sitting for 9 months. 9 months! That's a shame. But what can you do.

I spent every summer of my childhood on Williamstown Lake at my grandmother's summer home. She sold it in 1992 because she couldn't keep up with it anymore and didn't want anyone in her family to have it cuz she was afraid they would tear the house down or try to live there year 'round or some such shit. The people she sold it to, eventually tore it down (of course) and have built a HUGE and Gorgeous house on the lot. They happened to be sitting on their dock this afternoon so we stopped by and told them who we were. They were very friendly people and brought out a photo album of the old house and all the changes they made to it before they tore it down. We didn't tell them that while they were building this new house, we snuck in and walked around.

Anyway, we left around 2 pm because I had to work at 4. I had a feeling I wasn't going to make it by 4 so I called and told them I would be late. We stopped at McDonalds on the way home. That is my McD's fix for the year. I seriously eat there once a year. And that is plenty. Enough to satisfy my craving for the fries and keep the level of toxins in my body to a minimum.





Sitting on the desk in front of me is an old Aunt Jemima pitcher I am selling on Ebay. For some reason, it freaks Bijoux out a little bit. She likes to sit on your lap when you are on the computer and earlier she was up here staring at it and making these low growls. It was kinda funny. I don't know what it is about Aunt Jemima. I guess she is kinda scary looking to a wee poodle.

Taking one down

What a foul mood I was in yesterday. And it will probably carry over into today.

I’m really starting to get sick of working now. Maybe it’s time to look for something else. Although, if I get a “real” job, I will be stuck working 8-5 Monday through Friday and I definitely would not like that. I need to have some weekdays off. I need flexibility. I should have that at the current crap job, but most every day I asked off for during the first part of August, I didn’t get.

I asked off for the 9th & 10th of August because I thought I was planning a trip to NYC with Divewitch. But now she is ditching me to go to DR. Well I didn’t get the days anyway. I got the 9th off and I could call in sick on the 10th. Actually what I might do is see if Heather wants to go on her off days which are Thursday and Friday. Maybe I could swap Wednesday for Thursday. But I don’t know. She is kinda weird about things. I hate to lose a pass, but I will probably end up refunding it since I can’t find anyplace to go or anyone to go with.

Also…I work every other Saturday. I had plans around my Saturdays off. Well now the Saturdays have switched. So on August 5 I was supposed to be off – which was great because that is the day of the “World’s Longest Yard Sale” that just happens to pass right by my grandmother’s house. Love to get rid of more stuff! But guess who is now working that Saturday? I guess Matthew can handle it by himself, but I like to be there for those things. The sale runs Thursday through Sunday. I work Friday and Saturday – probably the 2 busiest days.

Let’s see…what else. August 19. Supposed to be off. Now scheduled 8-5. We are going to Waverly August 18 and will probably not be home until around 3 am. No way am I going to work at 8am. I can swap that for a noon shift no problem. But the point is: I was supposed to be off. I made plans around being off.

See how this working thing just does not work for me? We don’t live on my money, so it’s not crucial that I have a job. We travel on my money. And that IS crucial as far as I’m concerned.

I work at 4 today and Matthew is off. He is supposed to go out and clean the boat and get it ready to use. FINALLY! We are taking it to the lake tomorrow. I have asked some people to go – But Watch. The people I know are such losers, I bet nobody will go. I need to find some new friends. People who actually like to DO things. That’s why Matthew and I keep to ourselves for the most part. Most people would just as soon shit on you as look at you.

See what I mean? Foul mood.

She's the one who likes all our pretty songs

Matthew decided to go to work tonight. Love the dedication.

I am dreading going back to work tomorrow. 5 days off with really nothing to do has been quite nice.

So tonight I have decided to go through my CD collection and rip some songs onto my computer. I have bought far too many CD's that I only like one song on. (now that downloading music is so easy and convenient, I will probably never buy another CD) Anyway, I am putting all those "one hit wonder" songs on the computer and maybe one day I will organize them into different genre's etc. to make Zinnia's Favourite Songs CDs. Or some such shit.

Well I have reached the "N" section of my collection. (OCD much?) When I think of Nirvana, of course the first song that comes to mind is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and maybe "Come As You Are". I have not played the "Nevermind" CD in YEARS. Seriously....years. When I put it in to rip those 2 songs that I thought were the only ones I knew....I clicked on each of them to make sure there wasn't a hidden gem that I had forgotten about. HELLO! I know every fucking song on the CD. How did that happen? Was every one of them a hit? Or did I just listen to the entire CD one time many years ago to see if any of the other songs were good? (which I rarely do) I think not. I think they have all received massive air play.

Damn.

Kurt Cobain was a fucking genius.

What a loss to our world.

GUILTY!

I feel terrible.

As of right now…..7 hours before departure….. there are 10 seats in first class and 16 in coach on the flight from San Jose to Atlanta. Looks like we would have made it.

When I tell Matthew about this he will be more pissed than he already was. He said we should have gone on Thursday anyway. Yeah we probably should have. But on Thursday, tonight’s flights had the same numbers. I have seen flights go to hell in less than 4 days. It has happened and it has happened to me. I really don’t know why the numbers have stayed the same this particular time.

My heart just wasn’t in this trip. And I don’t know why. I wanted to see Mary and we have been planning on going for a long time. Hell…I put out $400 for the tickets on Wednesday. There has to be a reason why this didn’t happen. I just don’t know what it is yet. But no matter…I still feel guilty as hell.

There is a reason though. Everything happens for a reason.

Or so I am told.

Cutie bunnie

One benefit of cleaning...finding cute pictures of myself.

Stuck at home

Right now we should be at what I’m sure is a GREAT birthday party at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California. Instead I am sitting here listening to “Love Is A Stranger” that I just downloaded, while Matthew has gone to Wal-Mart to buy cat food. Yes…buying cat food at 11:30 at night. (what did we do before 24 hour Wal-Marts?) We slept for 3 hours this afternoon. So now we will be up til the wee hours. But more on that later.

Why aren’t we in California? In a nutshell – the flights sucked on Thursday and suck even more tomorrow and Monday to get back home. I must have been crazy to try to plan a trip out there in the middle of summer and during a holiday week no less. I used to hate non-rev travel, and I hate buddy pass non-rev travel even more. The buddy passes from Cincinnati to San Jose cost $200 each. I just found out that for the same price and a 21 day advance purchase, I could have had confirmed seats on Alaska Airlines from Dayton to San Francisco. So why bother with these damned passes? Airfare is reasonable now. Yeah we would have to drive to Dayton, but big deal. It’s worth it to not have to worry about this crap. Ugh. Matthew and I are really upset about the whole thing. We hate that we let Mary down. Not that the whole party pivots on us, but we told her we would be there and we feel bad for ditching at the last minute. But the flights coming home didn’t open up until Tuesday or Wednesday and we both have to work on Tuesday. My job isn’t important. But Matthew’s is.

So we have had 5 days off with nothing to do. Gas is $3 a gallon so taking the boat out just doesn’t sound appealing. (Although we are going to later this week.)

We decided on Thursday to have a yard sale today. Love last minute planning! It went over quite well actually, we made about $150. Got rid of some crap. But it’s just a dent in the massive pile of crap in that house.

So that’s why we were so tired this afternoon. We were setting up the sale all day yesterday and then sitting in the hot sun today made for 3 tired pups. (Bijoux helped out with the sales today) But we made enough to pay for the ottoman we are having re-upholstered and some extra spending dough. So all is well.

We went to Hoggy’s for lunch today after the sale and then came home and crashed for 3 hours. Now I don’t know what we will do all night. We have 3 movies from Blockbuster…..Hostel, Date Movie and 8 Below. We already watched Hostel – which wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful either. I’m not really in the mood for a movie though. Maybe there will be some bad Saturday late night TV shows on.

In other news, we booked spots on another Waverly tour for August 18. We wanted to do the half-night but they are booked up for the rest of the year. Can you believe that? Believe the hype baby.