Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing....

Well, it seems as if this blog has garnered a lot of attention.  Everyone wants to know who Nameless is.  Except, of course, for those who already know Nameless and refer to him as [REDACTED].  More importantly, this blog has brought lots of people out of the woodwork, asking for their own names on this blog.  Its exhausting, really, to be the writer of a blog who gets tens of fives of readers weekly- all of which who want a piece of me, who think they "know" me in real life, want attention, want to be important to me, etc.  I'm sure its similar to how Jennifer Anniston felt during the Friends hey-day when random people came up to her on the street, thinking they were really "friends" with her.  But don't think I'm complaining guys, each one of you is somewhat important to me, or at least we've probably met at some point.  I do this blog for you.  For each one of you. 

However, I am not creative enough to come up with nicknames for each of you.  Which is why it is good that one enterprising reader was bold enough to ask for his own name.  This guy:

It really makes me happy that I have this random picture of him on my phone just so I can post it on my blog.   

You've been semi-introduced to Josh last blog post.  He's the one I put a whipping on in skeeball at Hey Joe's.  A couple days ago, I get a request from Josh for a nickname.  We agreed upon this- Awesome McAwesome.  As he correctly pointed out, this was in the running for Nameless's psuedonym as well, but I went a different direction on Nameless, which leaves Awesome McAwesome for someone else.  I'd previously planned to have a Blog Name Contest wherein I forced readers to do humiliating but funny things for my amusement only, and the "winner" would get this name.  Or I'd hoped someone would send me gifts as bribes for this name since its, you know, pretty awesome.  But Josh beat you to this.  Or should I say, Kosh.  I'm not sure he know this, but somehow his name got entered into my phone as "Kosh" a while back and I've never bothered to change it.  Regardless, Kosh's new name is Awesome McAwesome.  Since he's studying to get his doctorate, he will someday be referred to as "Dr. Awesome McAwesome" but he's got some dissertation writing to do before this happens.

Awesome McAwesome (McA for short?) is a percussion instructor at DSU.  He's got some serious music skills.  And, as most of you know, so do I.  So do I.  So its something we've really bonded over. 

Take Sunday for instance.  As you know, I'm now in TWO handbell groups.  Its exhausting being so in demand on the handbell circuit.  And my friend Kelly is the handbell instructor for the FBC handbell choir.  Kelly is the Cleveland High Band Director, so she knows her stuff.  Unfortunately, I DON'T actually know my stuff.  This might come as a surprise to many of you, but my musical talent is learned.  Its nuture, not nature.  I have to study hard for every bit of amazing musical-ness that I have.  In handbells, I have to mark my music all up to remind myself what to play, when to play, and how to play.  At the Covenant Handbell Choir, this gritty determination has gained me some fans, mostly those who pity me and allow me to stress over highlighting my music and ignore me when I miss a bunch of notes. 

But Kelly, at FBC, Cleveland, doesn't play around (haha, get it?! Play?!).  She is serious.  She came into that room and two seconds later, we were playing the hardest piece I've ever seen in my life.  Seriously folks, it was like musical latin or something.  There were notes I've never seen before. 

In order not to ruin my reputation, and also to not get kicked out by Kelly when she realizes how bad I am, I called in for reinforcements.  When A. McAwesome asked to get a name on the blog, I pulled a quid pro quo and asked for some music lessons.  Blog accolades don't come free, ok?

I bribed A. McAwesome with lunch and asked for some musical direction.  Or at least some help highlighting my notes.  McAwesome, being awesome, obliged, and came over Sunday after church to help.

This is Awesome McAwesome pondering musical theory.  Or something. 

My Pinterest recipe- Pesto Chicken in a tomato-cream sauce with pasta.  It might be my new favorite recipe.  Even McA was
 impressed, though he watches a lot of Food Network, so he wasn't super impressed.  More like, impressed that I was
able to cook this and it tasted decent. 

Now the above picture was a source of contention.  McA was awesome enough to help me with my music and resist the urge to make sarcastic remarks about my stupid musical questions (which if you know him, you know it was very hard for him to resist this urge.  One of his hobbies is sarcastic remarks.  Especially about me.  Which is why we get along so well).  But while he was so patiently explaining "crescendo" and "fortissimo", he was also eating a lot of Tootsie Rolls.  Apparently they are his musical kryptonite.  To be fair, they were actually his Tootsie Rolls, brought to the Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party, and left in a bowl on the table.  He left a bunch that night at the house, and well, now they are all gone.  None left.  As you can see from this pile on the table in front of him.  You can also see the shame in his face, well you couldn't if he wasn't hiding his face, as though I wasn't going to tell you who it was.  He knew this was going to happen.  You can't ask to be on the blog, Awesome McAwesome, eat 20 Tootsie Rolls and then not expect me to put it on the blog. 

But, seriously, I do greatly appreciate McA's help on this matter.  I'm actually beginning to understand music a little bit more.  As McAwesome said, its just a matter of trying to learn and studying.  And a lot of the things he showed me Sunday, he mentioned that he also shows some of his students.  Not the college-aged ones, but the 4th graders he teaches lessons too.  He also reassured me that he, too, was once at my level.  23 years ago, but still. 

I actually think McAwesome is impresssed with my musical fortitude and desire to learn.  At least that is what I keep telling myself. 

As far as impressing my FBC Choir Director?  Major Fail- I spend all Sunday afternoon working on those two pieces from last week,  and this week?  I walk in and she gives us new music to do instead of the old stuff!  Maybe next time!

Move over Martha....

I might have mentioned my love for calendar's before on this blog, but I'm too lazy to go back and find the link right now.  I love calendars though-- they represent fresh, new beginnings.  I used to use Back-to-School as a time for new things- new school supplies, new clothes and usually, a new planner to keep myself update on all these new beginnings.  Now that I'm no longer in school, I still love a good planner.  I love keeping organized, or at least, the appearance of organization.  Its so fun and inspiring- I can imagine myself eating lunch with friends and pulling out my calendar to schedule our next Girls Night Out.  Or being at some important community meeting and whipping out my trusy planner, with its fun colors and weathered pages, showing how on top of things I am.  Everyone would be impressed and would know that I was someone who had it all together- someone with mad organization skills, someone who was fun and trustworthy and ready to plan the next big event.

Instead, my reality is more along the lines of the fact that I've left me planner in the car, or in another purse, or at the office, and I'm just trying to remember if I've got something planned for Monday or not?  Seems like there was something I'm forgetting, but I don't know, so, um, yeah, let's plan for Monday and I'll write it in my planner later.  When I find it.

I used to have a fantastic Kate Spade planner- I bought it in Birmingham while I was in law school.  Loved that thing.  It was perfect.  Right after I moved to Cleveland and my car got broken into, the planner was stolen along with the purse it was in.  I eventually got both back, but not before they spend a rainy weekend in the bushes of my neighbors yard.  The rain ruined the leather and I've never been able to find a decent planner since.  Not for lack of trying.

A few months ago, I ran across a website about organization (probably via a Pinterest link) and saw this really pretty, pale blue Martha Stewart for Staples planner.  The blogger showed some of her organization tips and how she'd made her planner even prettier.  Last week I decided I could no longer live without a planner so I bought one from Staples on-line and bought some accessories to match.  I cannot take all credit for this because I got a lot of inspiration from the blog, I Heart Organizing.

So, don't take organizing tips from me.  I'm still not organized and never will be.  But now I have a really pretty planner to use and so far, I love it so much that I've pretty much used it daily.  Even when its not necessary.  Like someone asks me "Hey are you going to watch the Oscar's Sunday night?" and I'm all like, "hmmm, I don't know, let me get out my PLANNER and see what my schedule is for Sunday night."  Its gotten a lot of funny looks because I've been just carrying it around in my arms, but its just so darn fun! 

I used some scrapbooking tape to make this front page a little prettier. 

Its important to stay organized or you might miss a big event!  Like a baseball game. 

The plastic flap in front hold lots of stickers and post-it notes that I can use.  I'm not sure why I'd ever need to use any of these things since I have the actual calendar pages I can write on, but it looks super fun, right?

My label maker (which I found in my beside table) and some clear labels.  My labelmaker is better than my mom's labelmaker because I don't use it to abuse people but rather to uplift and organize them. 

Dance the Night Away...

Last weekend was the Cleveland Junior Auxiliary Charity Ball (CBB for those in the know, which, now you are).  The members of JA spend a lot of time getting ready for this event- its the only fundraising event we have each year.  This year about 700 people attended.  The only place big enough was the Bolivar County Expo Center- its used for lots of events in the community, including livestock shows.  Yep, that's right, the floor is actually dirt. 

Last year, as a new transfer member, I was warned about the Expo Center- its very basic and, when you first walk in, its unbelievable that anyone would be willing to pay money to wear a nice outfit and come to a party here:

Walking in and beginning to unload the first things off the truck.

The best part?  That Delta State's fraternities help us do a lot of the heavy work- its so nice to be like, "hey, you, go get that sign and bring it to me while I stand here and drink my Diet Coke."  Its less nice to get called "ma'am" a zillion times. 

Sparse and ugly- but it turns out to be beautiful once you get 40 JA women to work their magic.  This carpet is put down so we won't be walking on the dirt ground!

But I was also promised that, at the end, it would be transformed into a beautiful place to hold such a huge event.  You know what?  They were right.  Last year, I saw pictures from previous Charity Ball's but it was nothing compared to watching it change before my eyes.  Last year, I helped a lot in that transformation.  We are required to help a significant amount and last year, I was able to come and help a lot more than even the requirement.  This year was different.  Work has been super busy lately, and I was unable to participate as much as I'd wanted.  Further, I was basically useless- my knees and lack of stamina precluded me from helping in almost any task.  I couldn't stand up for long periods of time (or any period of time, really), couldn't walk around much, couldn't get up and down from a chair or the ground very often.  Essentially, I was forced to either work from a chair or not participate.  The first night I helped, I realized that neither option was great- even doing what little work I did that night caused my knees to hurt badly the next day.  I decided to do what I could, which wasn't much. 

Not to brag or anything, but yours truly was not just a committee member, but the CHAIR of the Coat Check Committee.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Despite my numerous attempts to secure a less ludicrous committe name, I was the committee chair AND sole committee member.  Despite its name, the Coat Check Committee actually does have non-outerwear related responsibilities including the valet, handling of risers and podiums, pictures, etc.  Its a whole bunch of small jobs. Plus, it was really cold that night so its an important job. 

All committees were required to meet at least twice to discuss CBB.  As the only member of my committee, I didn't have much of a problem with this.  Need to have a committee meeting?  I have those every minute of everyday.  Technically, my committee met all the time.  I discussed things with myself pretty much daily, and only had a couple minor conflicts with myself about things. 

As promised, the Charity Ball came together nicely and the decorations were beautiful.  The theme was "Winter Wonderland".  Here are a couple pictures I snapped the night of:

The entrance table, not too far from the most important table.. the Coat Check Table.

Really pretty, right?

Some of the Silent Auction- I scored a really pretty pave diamond necklace!

My friend Mark who accompanied me.  He also scored two nice framed pictures in the silent auction.  I love silent auctions- its the perfect blend of my competitive spirit and my love of shopping. 

Finally...

Finally, my computer is back working correctly.  Or somewhat correctly.  Avid readers of this blog will know that my computer has been down for months now- I've subsided on my work computer and a fleeting experience with my mom's computer.  That lasted a whole week or so, and then she decided this blog wasn't important enough for her to let me borrow the computer for one second longer and demanded its return.  Also there was talk about buying me a computer from the family, especially around Christmas time, but I'm still waiting.  I'm also waiting on that Dairy Queen ice cream cake for my 17th birthday, but hey, I'm not bitter.

Luckily for everyone, Namless came through for me once again.  I've been talking about getting a computer and was leaning, on the advice of my brother, towards Apple.  When my friend Nameless caught wind of this, he felt this was in injustice to him personally- throwing away a perfectly good computer to buy some overpriced software just so I'd be cool?  It was a horror.  Even though I insisted that this was no longer a "perfectly good computer", since, you know, it didn't turn on, he was confident he would be able to fix it, and teach me a valuable lesson in the process.  I'm not sure what the valuable lesson was- something about treating your property with respect, the evils of consumerism, or how computers steal your soul.  Something along those lines.

Regardless, I watched tv and he fiddled with the computer and was able to fix it, thereby enabling me to start blogging again!  He made me buy a new battery (apparently a damaged battery can still affect your computer even when its plugged in? Who knew?  Besides Nameless, of course.) and installed a virus protection thing.  Then he removed most of my icons and all my pretty backgrounds, saying, "these are useless and eat up your memory, no wonder your computer is all messed up."  He educated me on the evils of running lots of useless programs and deleted tons of files.  When I protested that he was ruining my computer, he pointed out that, for people like me, the only thing we really need on a computer is a word processor and the internet.  I assume by "people like me", he meant, really awesome, fun, interesting people with blogs.  I didn't ask him to elaborate.  He then pointed to the Mozilla Firefox icon (I know all about Mozilla as Nicholas has been expounding on Mozilla v. Explorer for years now), and said, "See, this icon?  This is the portal to an amazing world on-line."  Nameless then suggested I was crazy for trying to throw away a perfectly good computer.  My response?  1.  It wasn't a perfectly good computer- it didn't work! and 2. Of course, I'm crazy, Nameless, have we never met?

Nameless working on my computer.  It just so happened in this picture, he IS faceless as well; this was unintended. 

So here I am now, on a day off from work, using my new battery in my old computer and feeling very hipster.  I've taken a day off because work is kinda crazy right now.  Life's also a bit crazy and I'm hoping some time off will give me some much-needed perspective and understanding of these situations.  Thus far, all I've gotten is a bunch of work-related fires to put out, two dogs and a cat laying on me while I try to watch a two-part Star Trek episode (Data gets lots in 19th century San Francisco! Its a good one!), and discussions with Nameless regarding writing skills, critical thinking, Pink Floyd, and skeeball over lunch.

Here are some things that have been going on since you heard from me last:

• I've been recruited into another handbells group.  I've been playing with the Presbyterian Church for a while now, but my Baptist Church has finally gotten its bells together and started their own, rival handbells group.  For now, I'm able to play in both, and I hope it stays that way.  I fear eventually I will have to choose- probably one day, in an alley behind the Methodist Church, we'll meet- coming from two sides of theology, holding our handbells in front of us, and begin ringing, and snapping our fingers to the beat, till we meet in the middle for a fight.  It won't be pretty, but it will sound pretty to passers-by on the street.  
• I've had some work issues.  I'm still trying to determine my best course of action- for now, I'm trying to balance laying low with standing up for what I believe to be right.  Thoughts and prayers on this issue are appreciated.
• I survived the Cleveland Junior Auxiliary Charity Ball (again). 
• I've done a lot of snuggling with Parker.  This comes as no surprise to anyone.  
• Last night at trivia, my friend Josh and I discovered, at the very same moment, that the skeeball machine in the corner of Hey Joe's isn't just decoration but actually works.  It was like a huge lightbulb went off in our heads and we reverted to being 11 again almost immediately.   A friend was kind enough to give us some quarter (just like a good mom!) and I proceeded to dominate both Josh and Laura Beth in skeeball.  This is truth, y'all, not bragging.  All those Saturdays spent at the arcade at Sawmill Square Mall in Laurel have really paid off, Mom.  You should be so proud. 

Be careful where you PARK...

Last Thursday was an interesting day.  I've held off on this blog post till I could finally get pictures to upload and I've finally figured out how to type the blog on the computer and add the pictures via the Blogger app on my phone.  Its my compromise till somebody gets me a computer!

So I have a new friend named Nameless*.  He's totally my new BFF, though I'm sure if you asked him, he'd be like, "um, yeah, I think I know that Jessica girl.  We've met, maybe once?"  So, just don't ask him, and listen to my side of the story, ok?

* Nameless has asked that he remain nameless so as to "reduce his internet presence".  He did this after first finding out that he might be on the blog, and I graciously allowed him to have approval of my blog post to make sure he wouldn't be offended (I don't know why HE'D be offended-- this blog is quite obviously making fun of me, not him. but hey...).  He first said to change his name but wouldn't agree to any of the names I suggested (Lawman, Mr. Mister, Running Man, Awesome McAwesome), and then later decided that my blog was worthy of his actual name, but I've decided not to allow that.  Nope, from now on, he shall remain Nameless. Also, there is a picture of him at the bottom, so Nameless will not remain Faceless.   

As many of you know, spending money is one of my favorite things to do.  I love shopping!  This month, I've loved shopping a bit too much and been financially embarassed.  Since I was no longer able to spend any money, I decided its a great idea to try to spend someone else's money.  I harrassed and annoyed Nameless until he finally agreed to let me help him spend his money on a new pair of shoes.  I love seeing a well-dressed man, and I think Nameless really appreciates my sense of style.  At least, I thought he did till last week when he complimented my new tan leather jacket (Exhibit A to my financial embarassment).  I was so glad someone noticed how awesome that jacket was and I was like, "Thanks!  I love it too!" And then he finished the sentence by saying, "But, are you supposed to wear a brown jacket with black shoes? That doesn't really seem to match."  Shut it, Nameless.  You're dead to me. 

Anyway, I forgave him for his judgmental attitude toward my accessories (I mean, come on-- my shoe wardrobe has been significantly limited in the last few months-- most of my beautiful shoes are heels and those are off limits right now!  I mean, do you always make fun of temporarily handicap people?  I bet you hate kittens as well, Nameless.).  I forgave him because I needed a shopping fix and I suggested we go to Abraham's downtown to shop for shoes.  I might have mentioned there was a sale going on, which wasn't exactly true. 

Regardless, we shopped, he deemed all those beautiful shoes too expensive for his blood, our sales person turned out to be a defendant for my upcoming courtdate, they tried to convince him to open up a charge account, and he resisted his urge to hit me over the head with a Cole Hahn shoe when I suggested a really nice tweed pair of pants would look great on him.  It was a fun afternoon. 

Afterwards, we went to Airport Grocery to have an early dinner.  I was supposed to meet a friend for water aerobics at 7:30, so we scooted on out to the cars.  This is when tragedy struck.  My car wouldn't crank.  I flagged Nameless down before he drove away, which was lucky since my phone had lost all battery and wasn't working.  We determined that I needed to be jumped off, so I headed inside and found one of the waiter guys who had some cables.  Matthew was his name and he was so sweet- he came out and tried to jump me off using Nameless' car and his jumper cables.  It didn't go svery well-- there were actual sparks that flew off the car, burning Matthew's hand.  It wasn't pretty.  It was decided that we needed to handle this in the daylight, so Nameless took me home, and I left my car there. 

Friday was my day off and I had intended to go to Clarksdale for a funeral and then drive on home to Newton for the weekend-- Betsy's Laurel engagement party.  However, this car business literally threw a wrench in my plans.  An actual wrench.  Or rather, a bolt that just refused to loosen.  The next morning, we went to the car.  We determined that the problem was the leads.  They were corroded and damaged to the point that they were no longer even connected in a circle.  Now, I don't actually know if that's the right term-- leads.  Perhaps its spelled leeds?  I don't know.  Its the little metal circle thingys that connect the battery to the rest of the car.  Or something, I don't really know.  We decided to take the battery to Auto Zone and see if its the battery or the leads.  We successfully undid the bolts (using the wrench Nameless had the foresight to bring from his house in his jacket) and drove down to Auto Zone. 

The nice Auto Zone worker asked me if this battery came out of a race car.  There was a picture of a race car on the label.  It seemed, at first, that she knew about as much as I did in this situation.  She did know enough, though, to tell us it wasn't the battery.  We found some new leads and decided it was within our skill set to replace the leads. 

This was not as easy as I just made it sound.  We got back to the vehicle and found that the leads and the bolts attached to the leads were so incredibly corroded that we couldn't loosen them.  At all.  Not even budge.  It got ugly pretty fast.  This bolt was owning us.  Then, a brillant idea struck me.  Can't you use Coke to unloosen a screw?  Like you can use Abner's sauce to shine up a penny?  Luckily, I NEVER clean my car out, and I was able to find a never-been-opened Diet Dr. Pepper.  Even better, when I opened it, the yellow lid was a winner- Free 16 oz.  Score!

This is where our luck ends.  I pour a bit of the liquid onto the lid and all it does it make a mess when it goes everywhere, turning the leads a pretty turquoise color.  I don't have anything to clean it with, so I find a red  sweater originally intended for donation, but has sat in my backseat along with a ton of other stuff for months because I'm too lazy to find somewhere to donate it.  Now, my hopes of heading to the funeral are dashed, my worries about the car are growing, and I'm standing in the middle of a parking lot with a Diet Dr. Pepper and a dirty red sweater in my head, growing more concerned by the minute that Nameless is going to throw his hands up any minute, jump in his car and leave me behind. 

We head back to AutoZone and buy some substance meant to loosen bolts and a towel to clean it up.  Back to the vehicle, nothing.  No movement on behalf of this stubborn screw.  Its beginning to be lunch time, so I walk inside and ask if anyone has a monkey wrench.  Or some tool that Nameless said we needed, I don't remember if thats the right name.  Frank, the handyman does, and he comes outside, but he cannot get this screw undone either.  I'm beginning to see a tow truck in my future.  Next door is a used car place and Nameless walks over to see if they have a mechanic that would be willing to help us.  He comes over, and cannot get it unscrewed.  He suggests that the guy who used the jumper cables the previous night hooked them up backwards, thus explaining the sparks and the extremely corroded and burned leads.  He goes and gets more tools.  Still no movement.  Finally, I'm sitting in the car, and he gets some blow torch or something and I'm beginning to get super defeated and all the sudden I look up to see Nameless smiling and saying it was loose!  I was so very thankful!

We replaced the leads, I go to crank the vehicle and.... Nothing.  At all.  I am a very unhappy camper.  I'm tired, my knees hurt from standing up, I feel bad that Nameless has had to take off an entire morning to help me and the BBQ smell wafting from the lunch menu is making super hungry since I didn't eat breakfast.  Finally, the guy comes over and we realize that... the car is not in Park.  I'm pretty sure Nameless wanted to kill me right then and there (I'm surprised he's still speaking to me.)  The mechanic guy tells me that this happened recently... to his mother... and a couple of her elderly friends.  He actually used the term "elderly." 

I will forever maintain a small amount of dignity about this situation-- my car will not allow me to turn off the vehicle if the car isn't in park.  I am going to believe that it got knocked out of park AFTER the disastorous jumping office or after the leads were replaced.  At least the leads are shiny and new. 

I am greatly appreciate of Nameless's apparently endless patience during this situation and even gracefully endured his remarks about coming up with a nickname based on this incident (which, thankfully, is a subject he has dropped.)  I promise next time I try to get him to buy new clothes, I will let him drive and leave my car at home.  In park. 

NOTE: Blogger won't let me move these pictures like I normally like to-- interspersed throught the story, making it visually more interesting.  If not actually more interesting.  Instead, I'll have to caption these at the bottom. 

The battery which turned out to be in good working condition.  And my lucky bottle of

 Diet Dr. Pepper. 

Nameless assessing the situation.  Or, more likely, sending a text to some friend of his about this crazy girl he is stuck with.  Who is she, Nameless?  She sounds lovely. 

The corroded "lead"-- I mean, look at how bad it looks! You can't tell from this angle, but the circle is broken and isn't even attached anymore.  So, my theory of the vehicle being messed up is perfectly rational, even if it wasn't in Park the entire time. 

My red sweater turned rag. 

Thanks for the Memories...

A few weeks ago, a friend, LB, was talking about a commercial she saw that she thought was hilarious.  I have no idea what the product that was being pushed, but at some point in the commercial, a man and a woman have a meet cute, and they both discover they have the same profession-- they are bloggers.  And LB was telling me about this and she laughed, saying, "Blogging is NOT a profession!  Its NOT a real job!"  I disagree. 

Inside, I was dying a little bit.  I want to be a professional blogger.  I hope she doesn't read this and judge me.  I secretly hope someday people will send me free products which I can unethically push in my blog to you readers, and you will think I'm so awesome that if I say that particular lip gloss is awesome, you will all go out and buy it immediately.  Even the guys.  Its my secret hope to be a professional blogger.  I mean, how awesome?  Sit around and think of witty things to write?  Get accolades and free stuff?  Make a difference in people's lives who read your blog about that time you and Parker went to McDonald's for a late night McFlurry?

Unfortunately, blogging full-time will have to wait.  I've got to keep my day job.  So, for now, I will have to be thankful for the support I get as a semi-part-time blogger.  And let me say, that support is awesome.  I LOVE getting comments from you guys.  It makes me happy.  Sometimes, when I've posted a particularly witty (in my humble opinion) blog, I get really excited about seeing how many people have read the blog and/or posted.  I check it first thing in the morning, and usually last thing before I go to bed to see if the number of readers, and to see if anyone has posted a comment.  And while this says more about the state of my life in general rather than the actual number of comments I've gotten, its the way it is. 

But I've noticed a whole lot of interesting comments that have come through more recently, and I'd like to share some of them with you guys.  Perhaps you can learn something from these people. (This will also be a good look back to both my new and old readers-- enjoy this trip down Memory Lane.)  My thoughts  will be in brackets. 

"Its hard to come by well-informed people about this subject [who does Anonymous hang out with?  People less informed than me?], however, you seem like you know what you are talking about! [I do know what I'm talking about, Anon- pizza is my favorite food]" This was posted as a comment on this blog- Pizza, Tennis and Draw Something., by Anonymous.

Also posted by Anonymous on that blog was "Thank you for the auspicious [Webster's dictionary defines "auspicious as "conducive to success".  So, this blog is very special and successful.  Thanks, buddy!] write up.  In fact it was an amusement account [I'll ignore your incorrect use of grammar here]". 

And, my favorite, once again by Anonymous, "Having read this, I thought it was really informative [if you read this blog, you'll see it was quite informative.  It informed the readers of my night at my friend Andrew's house, making pizza, playing draw something and hanging out with a great group of friends.  It's all an English teacher ever wanted in an essay].  I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this together [You are so very welcome, Anon.  I appreciate YOU taking the time and effort to comment on this].  I once again find myself personally spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments [Again, thanks Anon.  If only every one of my readers spent so much time both reading and posting, I'd be able to reach my goal of professional blogger.  Unfortunately, you seem to be my biggest fan, based on your sheer number of commnets.].  But so what, it was still worthwhile [thats the attitude I like to see!]." 

Anon also had the following to say-- "You can certainly see the enthusiasm within the work you write.  The sector hopes for even more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to say what they believe [um, thanks, I think? I was just writing about an evening spent with friends-- I wasn't standing up for the rights of Draw Something participants everywhere or anything]  At all times follow your heart [Do you write fortune cookies as a hobby?].

Anon has also commented on other blogs:

"Your style is really unique in comparision to other folks I have read stuff from [like successful, actual writers?].  Thank you for posting when you have the opportunity [You are welcome.  Thank you for reading it when you have the opportunity and can take time away from spamming other people's blogs.  Guess I will just book mark this blog [ Great idea, readers, take note!]." Posted on this blog.

"My brother suggested I would possibly like this website [Your brother sounds awesome.  Want to trade?].  He was entirely right.  This post truly made my day [Thanks, Anon, you have made my day with this comment!].  You cannot believe simply how a lot of time I had spent for this information [wait, you spent a lot of time trying to find information about my birthday party at the Clarksdale DHS office last year?  That seems.... strange.  A bit creepy.  Where else did you look for this info?  Wait, are you stalking me?] .  Thanks!" [Um, you are NOT welcome.  In fact, I tried to ignore all the "check out my website at...." and "use this brand new software to get more visitors to your blog" and "on-line cash loans" stuff that followed all your comments, but I can't anymore.  Be gone, Anon.]

Just when I thought Anon was weird and creepy, I saw this comment, that apparently slipped past the Spam Blockers on that Tennis, Pizza, and Draw Something blog (I've underlined my favorite sentence.)  Anon summed up todays blog in one sentence.  He's after my job, y'all. 


I usually do not leave a response, however I read some of the responses here "Pizza, Tennis and Draw Something....". I do have a few questions for you if you do not mind. Could it be simply me or does it seem like some of these responses appear like they are written by brain dead individuals? :-P And, if you are posting at other online sites, I'd like to follow everything fresh you have to post. Would you make a list of every one of all your social pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?