Happy Summer Solstice

It is with melancholy that I greet the longest day of the year.

I know for lots of folks, this is a day of celebration. Like the folks mentioned in the article in today’s Las Cruces Sun News.

Beating a drum and greeting the sun actually sounds like a nicer way to spend the day than beating the keyboard and greeting the boss.

You have to know this about me: I love the summer. I mean LOVE. I mean obsessively love and I stingily count the days because I know soon enough it will be again be cold, and dark and I’ll leave work at 5:30 in pitch black wearing shoes that cover my liberated feet and *gasp* the socks come out of the drawer.

But today I’ll frolic like I’m at Stonehenge because today it’s warm, and beautiful. Flip flops adorn my feet. A summer dress swings about my fairly tanned rig. Today I’ll enjoy the light and not think about the dark that presses at the edges. In the next months I’ll gape at the heat and lament my lack of air conditioning and worry about how my furry cat and less furry man will endure this season’s heat.

Today, we rejoice!

(painting by Alison Pebworth, titled “Summer Solstice, Once Removed”)

Second verse, same as the first….

Back on the road. Mom’s better but not up and around. My brother was here for a week so I’m the “changing of the guard”. Brought my PowerBook this time and am working and keeping up with stuff.

So. Bah.

On to today’s rant.

File this under: I don’t get it. (There is a lot I don’t get, shall I make a list?)

1) The iPhone. Mein gott the press on this thing. And the ads. And the articles. And the blogs.

For a phone.

I know, I know, it is a phone that does *cool things*….but…in the end…it’s a phone.

I’ve actually seen the thing up close (albeit through glass) at MacWorld. It is, truly, lickably well designed, but still.

It’s a phone. For $500.

They are speculating people will line up around the block to get their hands on one….

: shrug :

2) Paris Hilton. What exactly has she done to be famous? Oh yeah, she’s rich and skinny and beautiful? Good lard, the woman got a DUI then got another one while on a suspended license. Go to jail already you spoiled brat!

You know, I read how when the judge decided to send her back to jail, she cried and called out “Mom!”

You know what my mom would have done? Thumped my head with a wooden spoon and told me to suck it up and do my jail time.

Why is this woman and her problems in the headlines of magazines and newspapers across the country?

So much so that even the ABQjournal’s venerable Jim Belshaw name checks her in his June 10th column.

: shrug :

3) Fred Thompson’s alleged thoughts of running for President. Dude, do or do not, there is no trying an exploratory committee.

I like the guy…as an actor.

Is the race so lacking a good candidate from either party that ANY person who even “thinks about” running is suddenly big news?

Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true. Sorry Bill.

: shrug :

4) The need people have to be assh*les at the airport. Ok, sure, this isn’t “national” news, but damn people, when a nice girl such as me *politely* asks “Is this the A line” it is COMMON $%#@ing courtesy to 1) acknowledge that person actually exists, and 2) answer the question….a simple NOD OR SHAKE OF THE HEAD WILL DO!

Oh, and I won’t EVEN get started on the chippy who, yes literally, ROLLED HER EYES when I ordered my coffee beverage. Yes, I want it decaf…and soy….and sugar free vanilla. I don’t think this is a big deal. You are a coffee peddler for $%#@’s sake! Just take my money and make my beverage and DON’T GIVE ME ATTITUDE!

I was actually happy to enter the old folks community where my mom lives. A nod and a wave from an elderly person is *quite* appreciated on this crap day.

Ok, now I’m all fired up again. Going to go make a cool beverage and think about happier things……

Like horses, and cute boys, and boat drinks…..