Category Archives: Other People

I always say the same things

This ‘let’s all not be a rageaholic’ thing does not make for good blog posts. There are a few things that I could go off and rant about, but what’s the point? Those things are not going to change, so I’m not about to waste my time and energy on them.

Some things just don’t matter.

In other news, my mom broke her leg last week. In true Diroll fashion, my dad sent my brother and me an email TWO DAYS LATER. Like, thanks, Dad. [eyeroll] The email was worded in such a way that we couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. We didn’t know if she was still in the hospital or what, so we had to call and figure it out. It turns out she’s as fine as someone with a broken leg can be, but she had to cancel her annual trip to Daytona this year. It took at least 4 people to talk her out of it, though. The woman is demented.

In the next couple of months, Jillian and I will probably head out there for a couple of days. If I can convince Freddie to take some time off work, he’ll come too. Maybe I’ll put together some kind of gathering with my high-school peeps (thanks to the magic of Facebook, we are all finding each other again) and introduce him. We’ll have to see – the weather between here and there has been so uniformly awful that I don’t know how wise it would be to drive across Pennsylvania right now.

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Grin.

What a crazy week it’s been. Monday was just the longest day ever, watching all of the last-ditch efforts by both of the Presidential candidates and getting all keyed up and impatient to vote.

Tuesday dawned with uncertain sunlight. I had heard that it was supposed to rain and rain + expected long lines to vote = bad news, but the rain held off until early evening. Jillian and I voted around 10 AM. She kept saying “Mama. We vote? We vote for Obama! Mama vote! In the school!” When we stepped into the booth she saw all the buttons just begging to be pushed and nearly lost her mind. Luckily, I have amazing reflexes born out of Tetris championships so I was able to make my choices and hit the “Cast Vote” button without any mishaps.

After voting, we went to the grocery store, where Jillian proceeded to tell everyone “We vote! Vote for Obama!” Now, we are shiny blue dots in a VERY red town (even though our county and the rest of our state went blue… my town? Not so much), so she got some silly looks as well as a lot of high-fives and smiles.

Tuesday evening was spent flipping between CNN and that foxy Brian Williams on NBC, while refreshing CNN.com and chatting with my Girlz on the bulletin boards. Watching the initial returns come in was kind of unreal – it’s so hard to tell what’s happening early on, but once Ohio was called for Obama, I finally let myself think that it was happening. Ohio! My home state! Eh, oh, way to go, Ohio. I’m happy to say that my home county also went blue, probably due in large part to the work my Mama did on the phones. Good job, Mama.

At 11PM, NBC threw up a graphic that said “Barack Obama ELECTED 44th President of the United States.” Awesome.

McCain’s speech was excellent. If he had campaigned like that, who knows what would have happened? He spoke as himself, as a real person and not just some GOP mouthpiece, which is what he became after the GOP convention (and before). He seems like a genuine sort of guy who truly loves this country to which he gave so much, but his campaign didn’t reflect that at all.

Obama, on the other hand… wow. He’s got some flaws, sure, but he ran a hell of a campaign and it was mind-boggling to see the crowds in Grant Park (as opposed to the swanky invite-only party for McCain… see the difference??) and how they went INSANE when he stepped out on that stage. Seeing Jesse Jackson get all teary was such a great moment because although he can be a jackass sometimes, this is something he has worked for HIS ENTIRE LIFE. It’s got to be quite a feeling to see all of that blood, all of that sweat, all of those tears bring this kind of result.

So we’ve got a new President. He’s got a lot of crap to start cleaning up (thanks, George), but I think, I believe, I HOPE he can get it done.

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VOTE!

Go vote! If you don’t vote, you should just kill yourself instead, because that’s how worthless you are. Go vote!

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Because you can read this

In the early days of November 2007, someone hanging around Rockefeller Center in NYC might have seen a woman in a tomato costume dancing around the place while people watched, took pictures, and in at least one case – video.

One might wonder just WHY a woman would do this, so I shall point them here: Tomato Nation.

That’s the website of one Ms. Sarah D. Bunting, co-founder of Television Without Pity and snarkstress extraordinaire. I’ve had a wee fangirly crush on her for YEARS, but that’s not why I’m talking about her today.

Sars and her tomato costume want to go to Washington D.C. To get her there, We The Readers need to throw a whole bunch of cash at the Donors Choose challenge she has set up. Last year, there was some puny initial goal, and as We The Readers crushed it handily, she kept raising the bar, insisting that if we managed to donate enough money, she’d dress as a tomato and do a dance outside Rockefeller Center. Not just any dance, mind you – the Angela Chase post-Jordan-kiss dance from My So-Called Life (which, incidentally, is the reason I dyed my hair that wacky shade of red in the summer of 2003. I’d been watching episodes online. Now you know).

We The Readers made that happen last year. So she set the bar REALLY high this year – $100,000. In one month. If We The Readers hit that $100K mark, Sars and her tomato costume will go to Washington D.C. and see the sights. This must happen! Extra bonus? She gives stuff away! Prizes! Who doesn’t like prizes?

The happy side-effect of making an otherwise sane-seeming woman do these things is because Donors Choose benefits schoolchildren all over the country. Teachers can write in asking for money for specific projects – they tell you what they need and why. Most, if not all, of the teachers who write in to Donors Choose are from schools that are in high-poverty areas, and these kids are in need of basic things like PENCILS. Can you imagine going to school and not even having something to write with? My mom used to get pencils with my name on them for me every year, which was nice since Stanley Calhoun stole them one time in fourth grade and denied doing it. The proof was right there! Pencil! With my name on it! Thanks, mom!

But there are thousands of kids whose parents can’t afford the crappy embossed pencils out of the Lillian Vernon catalog and their teachers can’t afford to be supplying them, either. That’s where We The Readers come in. We The Readers go to Tomato Nation. We click on the link for the Fall Contest, which takes us to the Donors Choose page. We choose a project we would like to throw money at. We then apologize for ending a sentence with ‘at’ even though it is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, despite what you may have heard (that prohibition comes from some jackasses attempting to impose the grammatical rules of Latin onto English which is Germanic and perfectly happy to have sentences end in prepositions. Still, some habits die hard). We donate. The total rises. Sars gets closer to Washington D.C. Kids get books! And pencils! And stuff!

Last year, I bought a clarinet for a school in Neptune, NJ, and they sent me a thank-you package with hand-written notes and photos that made me all weepy. And you know how much of a blackhearted bitch I am!! I know some kid is going to make horrendous noises with that clarinet I bought, and that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I spent many years making horrendous noises with a saxophone (and then an oboe), so I know what that’s like.

I know the economy sucks and that your 401(k) is more like a 201(k) right now, but if you have $10 to spare, think about clicking over to Tomato Nation to find out how you can help some kids who need it. Kids who will need it more than ever if things keep going the way they’re going now. If you are reading these words, it’s because someone taught you how to do that. Now is your chance to help another kid get the same opportunity.

Go.

Donate.

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Everyone’s favorite: A list of random crap!

1. If you’re getting here via Tomato Nation comments, I apologize for making you read this drivel. I have one more book to offer – just drop me a comment and we’ll hash it out.

2. Nice job, USA track & field relay teams. Dropping the baton is a great way to go.

3. Ms. Prufrock called me cool (or awesome or something else nice, I forget what it was exactly) the other day so now I feel obligated to post and post brilliantly more often. This one’s for you, Pru!

4. I have approximately four Very Important Projects to work on, so naturally I’ve been spending far too much time on Facebook. I can’t help myself – between the stalking opportunities and Pieces of Flair, it’s a perfect place for someone like myself who… ooh, shiny!

5. The Jillian is starting to speak English with a lot more fluency these days. I can’t keep up with her sometimes. Girlfriend can even count to ten! I don’t know if she knows what it means, exactly, but it sounds good.

6. She’s ‘reading’ Snow White right now. I’m a little bit grossed out by Snow White and her desire to be saved by a handsome prince and all of that. So when I read it to her, I can’t help but interject my own commentary which is usually along the lines of “… because Snow White is a NINNY.” Snow White needs to get herself a clue and take care of her ownself. And for fuck’s sake – who doesn’t learn the rule about taking candy (or apples) from strangers? Does she have no Stranger Danger instinct at all? I think Snow White is a bit touched in the head, to be quite honest.

7. If it’s not obvious, can I just tell you all how much I am dreading Jillian’s absorption into the Disney Machine? I don’t mind the old-skool Mickey Mouse stuff so much, but the Disney Princesses make me want to hurt myself. But I will gladly put up with any amount of Princess crap as long as it keeps those Bratz dolls out of my house. Those things are truly scary.

8. So, I’m a little bit ashamed to admit this but I just read “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks. It suuuuuuuuuuuuucked. The movie was about 12 times better, and I don’t think I have ever said that about any movie made from a book. Mr. Sparks cannot write for shit, yet he is a bestselling author. Just goes to show that we live in a culture that doesn’t give a fuck about what it’s consuming (see also Cheez Doodles, McDonald’s, MTV). My mom’s dog can write better dialogue than Sparks can.

9. I probably had a real reason to post today but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it was.

10. Because ten is a nice place to end this.

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In threes

Bernie Mac died.

Isaac Hayes died.

Who’s next?

Ocean’s 11 is not a great movie, but Bernie Mac was great in it. He stole every scene he was in, and is one of the many reasons why I like that movie so much. I wasn’t a huge fan of most of his other work, but I’m still sad that he’s gone. He was only 50!

And Isaac Hayes… where to begin? I mean, yeah – he had some issues in these past few years with being pissy and kind of a baby, but I think that’s a standard description of Scientologists, so maybe I’ll give the man a pass on that because Scientology = dude crazy.

If Mr. Hayes had nothing else in his career except write “Theme From Shaft,” it would have been enough. It’s an all-around excellent song that, surprisingly enough, translated pretty well to a marching band chart. I can’t remember if we played it on the field (I’m inclined to think that we did, but marching with the Golden Flashes was more often than not a drunken/hungover, blurry time, so we probably did play it). I know for sure that we played it in basketball band, and what a wonderful wall of sound that thing was.

And then there’s Chef! What a brilliant casting decision in one of the more brilliant TV shows of the last 20 years (possibly of all time). It’s just too bad Mr. Hayes got his panties in a wad over it.

RIP, Bernie Mac.

RIP Isaac Hayes.

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A new one!

My lovely friend Caroline and her husband Joe welcomed a baby boy, Patrick Finn C_____ yesterday (or VERY early this morning, we’re not quite sure). He is 7 pounds and 3 ounces and has some extremely awesome people for parents.

I love babies, and I’m sure that when we get a chance to visit Mr. Patrick that I will start feeling the itch to have another one. If that happens, please send someone over to my house to beat me with a baseball bat because we are not doing that.

Why would I? I didn’t get the birth experience that I wanted, true – but I have the most perfect baby! She started sleeping through the night with no fuss at 5 months, wasn’t colicky, and aside from some brief flashes of mental instability, she is a very happy, ridiculously healthy kid. I’m not willing to spin the wheel again and get a crazy one.

Plus – we can see the light at the end of Diaper Tunnel. I cannot WAIT until Jillian is potty-trained because she’s almost on the last size of diapers that Target offers and I am about sick and tired of dealing with poop. I made the mistake of feeding her fish the other day and the poopy diaper that resulted almost made me turn inside-out!

So, no babies for me – I’ll just go visit my friends and snuggle their new bebe whenever I get a chance.

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Now he can interview Jesus for real

RIP George Carlin. The world is a lot less funny today.

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If you’re in this club, you know it.

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Holy Myspace, Batman!

Wow. My brain just fell out.

I have a myspace page but I do almost nothing with it. I just figured it would be nice to have a presence there since SO MANY people are there these days.

I’m finding that it’s a great place for people from my deep, dark past to find me. (Hi Julian!)

Seriously – people are coming out of the damn woodwork over there, which I am finding extremely hilarious.

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