Meshuggenah

Good Things

1. Wonka Mix-Ups. This is the greatest candy ever. There are Nerds, Tart ‘N Tinys, and Runts in the same bag. If you have a penchant for the sugary candies as I do you really need to pick up a bag. Are you asking what happened to my low carb diet? Shut up...

2. I got my hair straightened last week. The humidity in St. Louis is back with a vengeance and so was my jewfro. Thankfully order has been restored and I now have control of my hair once again.

3. The swimming pool is open and I went on Saturday and I love it. Swimming is my favorite exercise and I desperately needed some sun. I wish it could be open all year long.

4. I was feeling bad that I hadn’t been updating my blog as often but then I started attempting to catch up with reading some of the blogs on my sidebar and noticed that a lot of people aren’t updating as regularly. It must be the weather or something. It’s too nice to sit in front of a computer! Go outside.

5. My final good thing. I don’t have to spend every single day sitting in an office in front of a computer screen surrounded by office busy bodies. It really makes a difference on my entire outlook on life.

Turn off your computer and go outside!

It gets me every time.

I succumbed to the temptation and just finished watching Beaches on the WE network. I’ve resisted every time I’ve seen it on but this time it got me. I was sucked in and, of course, it ended with me sobbing uncontrollably. What is it with that movie? It’s not as if it’s a surprise when Barbara Hershey dies at the end and Bette Midler takes the little girl to L.A. and sings The Glory of Love. I distinctly remember when I saw Beaches for the first time. I was 12 and my grandparents, who have since passed away, took me to see it. We saw it at the old Creve Coeur Theater that was right on the corner of Olive and Old Olive when movie theaters only had a maximum of six screens and there was no such thing as stadium seating or cup holders on your seat. I believe the reason I remember this movie outing so clearly, other than the fact that it’s a movie you don’t forget, is that it was the first of two times in my entire life that I saw my grandfather cry. The tears were streaming down his face and he was sobbing during the final Glory of Love scene. I never said anything but I think I started crying because I saw that he was. My grandfather died about nine years later after a 3-month battle against liver cancer. I was away at college for the first two months of it. When I walked into his hospital room at Barnes a month before he died that was the second time I saw him cry. This memory is particularly poignant for me this week because Monday I started my new job at the family business. It was his business. His desk is still in the office and the pictures he kept of his grandchildren (myself and my cousins) sit on top of it. There’s a picture in the office that I drew with crayons when I was a child of my grandfather, my father, and my uncle working at the business. I can’t help but feel a little closer to him in that office. I can’t help but sob every time I watch Beaches.

This Quiz Was Right On

I'm Sounds Of Silence!

Which Simon and Garfunkel album are you?

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

Buh-Bye

It has been a crazy, crazy week. Can I just tell you again this week has been crazy? I discovered last weekend in the country that one of my fathers’ employees out there had been embezzling through the company Paypal account. Can I give you some advice? If you’re going to be dishonest don’t leave a paper trail that’s quite so obvious. I can’t tell you how much of my time has been taken up this week dealing with this situation. On the upside I’m finished at my current employer in under an hour. It’s going to be a very nice weekend. Buh-Bye to the world of cubicles. Buh-Bye Dilbert strip. Buh-Bye female office busy bodies. Buh-Bye Sweet ‘N Low police. Yes, it was I who left my empty Sweet ‘N Low packets on the counter one last time today and had an extra cup of tea just so I could leave an extra packet on the counter in the kitchen. Buh-Bye.

Sundown

4/30/05 Sundown-01
Originally uploaded by Meshuggenah.

I’m attempting a little bit of artful photography here. You don’t have to leave me a comment telling me I’m not a photographer. I already know this. I took these photos on Saturday evening about an hour before the sunset. It was a beautiful time of day. The air was cool and crisp and there was a light breeze. When I was in high school my parents used to have to force me to go with the family to the farm on weekends or I would just stay home. In the last couple of years I’ve learned to appreciate it in my own way. It’s obviously a beautiful place even though my photography doesn’t do it justice. It’s close enough to home that it’s not a hassle to get to but far enough away so that I feel as if I’ve been somewhere else. No internet access on the property. My cell phone doesn’t have a single bar lit up when I’m there. I will admit to a bit of indulgence in DirecTV. There are no chain restaurants. The supermarket doesn’t carry anything fancy. It’s a different world but one I welcome now. I put my ipod on and hike or ride around the acreage on that vehicle. It’s where I go to clear my head.

After four days there this weekend my head is clear. I’m ready to get through this week and hopefully move on to the next phase of my life. I’m confident that I’ve made the right choices and that they’ll take me where I need to go. I look forward to Friday’s sunset on this phase and welcome Saturday morning.