Teri’s Ten Most Favorite Books

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
On Writing – Stephen King
From the Corner of His Eye – Dean Koontz
The Walking Dead series – Robert Kirkman
Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
House of Leaves – Mark Z Danielewski
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
1984 – George Orwell
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon

Teri’s Ten Least Favorite Books

Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
Demon Seed – Dean Koontz
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Anything by Dan Brown
Cell – Stephen King
Wicked – Gregory Maguire
Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
The Box – Richard Matheson [whatever you do, do not watch the movie either]

In more music-related news, I really enjoy reggae music.  I think you would be hard-pressed to find another genre of music that is as positive and upbeat.  I especially enjoy listening to reggae in the winter, because every time I hear it I think of bright sunshine, the ocean, and pleasant breezes.  My own temperate island amidst January bleakness.

In fact, my desktop background is currently this:

Though, now, when I hear Three Little Birds, there is also the image of Will Smith crying over his dog thanks to the I Am Legend movie.  He’s still on a gorgeous beach in the bright sunshine and pleasant breezes, but it still manages to dampen the overall carefree feeling.

I Am Legend was a really good movie.

People who treat animals cruelly deserve a special place in Hell.  This morning as I was buying a bottle of water from the cafeteria, I heard a news story on the TV about a guy who “kicked his cat like a football.”

“Police charged a South Side man with animal cruelty after officers say they watched him take a running start and kick a kitten 15-18 feet into the air before raising his arms to signal a successful field goal.”  Feel free to read more here.

The animal shelter that is currently giving this cat medical care commented that it is friendly and loving.  Even after being treated horribly by a human, this cat is still affectionate.  Pure, unconditional love is what pets are, and what makes mistreating them all the more terrible.

Sorry for the rant, but this really pissed me off.  I am by no means an animal rights activist.  I eat meat [I could never truly go vegetarian because I love Taco Bell just too damn much] and I certainly won’t chastise someone for wearing a fur coat.  We can kill animals for sustenance and warmth [or even sport, if hunting is your thing], but that doesn’t give us the right to treat any of them cruelly.

In lighter-but-still-cat-related news, apparently someone has given “my cat has the hiccups” as an excuse to be late for work.  I still don’t see why it would cause the person to be late, unless he followed it around trying to scare the hiccups out of it.  Good luck there, buddy.  It’s practically impossible to scare a cat–they can always hear you coming, unless they are asleep and then they simply don’t care what you are trying to do with that blanket.

Not that I have tried or anything.

I almost blew my nose today.  Ordinarily this wouldn’t be very newsworthy, but the wisdom tooth extraction post-operative care literature I was given says that this is taboo for at least 4 weeks.  Asking me to remember that is a completely unrealistic expectation.  My nose must be blown, damnit. Ten bucks says I forget again by tomorrow.

It’s been 6 days since getting my wisdom teeth extracted [3 of them... 1 was extracted years ago] and I am doing mostly okay.  Still have a good deal of jaw muscle pain, but one of the teeth was impacted, so it’s to be expected.  Getting through the days with ibuprofen, and the pain is slowly decreasing.  Instead of wishing for death as the medicine wears off, I am able to remain rational.  Always a step in the right direction.

Quite the shocking announcement in the news this week: Paula Deen has diabetes!  Frankly, this was a long time coming.  I saw some of her recipes a couple years ago and thought, “Why the hell would anyone eat this?”  The only thing actually truly shocking is how she thinks we’ll believe her excuse about wanting to keep the news secret [she's known for the last 3 years] until she could wrap her head around it.  Um no… you didn’t want the news to leak because people might realize your food will kill them.  Anthony Bourdain said it best, “When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you’ve been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you’ve got type 2 diabetes… It’s in bad taste if nothing else.”

Also, a list with the 10 most hated companies in America has been released and, I am proud to announce, that Bank of America is on it.  Netflix is also on it, which you would agree with if you have ever needed to contact their customer service.  Facebook is also on the list.

Man this is a post chock-full of non-surprises.  I had better not stop now.  I have lulled you into a Plateau of Placidity.  If interrupted when in the Plateau of Placidity seriously bad things could occur.  But have no fear, I shall end this post in the same spirit of non-surprise with which it was written.

This is a blog post.
You are reading this blog post.
This is the end of the blog post.

Today I spent some time just thinking about the first couple years I lived in Chicago.  It was a great time.  I almost wish that I could relive it, just to appreciate it more.  [And, of course, it would be nice to do a few things differently.]

Some of the things I miss:

Me: Okay I made a character.  What do I do?
Tim: Just wait there, I will find you.
Me: These two guys came up to me and are talking to me.  How do I talk to them?
Tim: Hang on… almost there…
Me: Now they are dancing.  I am so confused.

Of course, I do not miss:

But you get the gist.  This isn’t to say that I am unhappy where I am now, far from it, but every once in a while I get injected with some sort of nostalgia virus and miss certain things.  It is a little like those times when you remember an old TV show from your childhood and get the urge re-watch it.  I would recommend getting it on Netflix though, as you will most certainly regret buying it.  Buying Dinosaurs might sound like a good idea now, but after the second or third “Not the Mama!” you will probably just shut it off.

I like to tease Mr. W that Higgs boson is real and the magical answer for everything because this bothers him.  For example, when we finally discover Higgs boson, we will be able to teleport!  Higgs boson will end world hunger!  And now, Higgs boson will make it possible for me to relive past experiences at my leisure!

Just wait, it’ll be a thing.

Christmas was pretty good this year, minus the driving.  Mr. W and I went to my parent’s home in Tennessee.  My brother flew there too, so we were all together.  We played lots of board games and watched some movies and ate lots of sweets.  This reminds me–my body is crazy.

I can go a week and do everything right–work out every day, eat lots of vegetables and not snack, etc.  Even though I do the things I “should” I can also gain a pound during this week.  But then you take last week… I didn’t work out at all, two entire days were spent on the road, I ate lots of sweets and desserts.  Today I weighed myself to see that I have LOST a pound in the past week.  This makes absolutely no sense to me.  Crazy is the only viable option here.

We have Samantha, my step-daughter, with us for the next two weeks.  We picked her up “on the way” back to Chicago [which is actually not on the way at all].  The second we arrived in Missouri, it started to rain.  It never stopped raining, giving us a lovely five-hour drive back to Chicago.  I don’t handle driving in inclement weather well, thanks to my first car which my mom calls The Fudgemobile.  Even though Mr. W was driving [I drove the first half], I was getting pretty tense.  About an hour and a half away from Chicago I told Mr. W that he should not freak out if I suddenly start hyperventilating.  About 30 seconds later, the panic attack hit.

It wasn’t too bad, to be honest.  I have had them before so I knew it was coming and knew how to get through it.  I was just more worried about freaking Mr. W out while he was driving.  He talked soothingly to me and held my hand while I concentrated on breathing.  It only lasted a couple minutes.  The second one lasted maybe one minute.  [I don't know why, but panic attacks hit me in twos.]

So all in all, had a great Christmas with family but am really glad to be home.  The weekend after New Years we will have to drive Samantha back [please please Teri can haz dry day?] and the week after that I get to experience the joy of having three wisdom teeth extracted.

My new year is one big hootenanny, I tell you what.