tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53813712009-12-15T16:22:04.557-06:00Sum Of MeIt's all you get.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comBlogger798125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-13228908157391561012009-12-15T08:01:00.005-06:002009-12-15T08:11:09.356-06:00When I started in my DMP (that's Debt Management Program, if you forgot), the minimum monthly payment due on my Citibank card - and remember that's just one of the cards - was $328.25. Yesterday, I got the newest statement and the minimum due is $10.Ten. Dollars.I'm considering a Christmas gift to myself of just paying it all off now instead of waiting until February. It'd eat up nearly half of Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-55197452406898674382009-12-11T11:19:00.002-06:002009-12-11T11:22:06.720-06:00Wow. I am in a horrible, awful, foul & abysmally depressed mood.I don't think it's the weather. I don't like it, but I've lived with it most of my life and am more than used to it by now.Don't think it's falling on the ice or the resulting injuries. Psht, that shit happens all the time too.Don't think it's work. My boss is out for the rest of the year, after all, and the work itself isn't Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-92129124863784217882009-12-10T20:49:00.002-06:002009-12-10T21:04:55.567-06:00It's like 7 degrees outside. Or at least it was, the last time I personally was outside. And windy. Fucking winter. Fucking CHICAGO winter. It's beastly, I tell you.And yesterday it was like 40s and doing this slush/rain thing, so then it froze overnight and this morning I slipped on the resulting ice floe. With the first step outside. My hand to god, people. It happens every year at least once, Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-16548453596710428392009-12-09T07:59:00.001-06:002009-12-09T08:01:15.943-06:00Hey, this should be mandatory reading for Romance writers. Although, I think they tend to get it right anymore, unlike in the 80s.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-18996375457439164182009-12-07T20:03:00.004-06:002009-12-07T20:46:09.160-06:00Okay, I've been a busy little non-SBDer. Or maybe a semi-SBDer? I ran my errands, stopped to browse and shop, came home and... decorated!Why hello there, MAGICAL REINDEER OF FABULOUSNESS AND SPARKLE! We've missed you terribly! Do you like how I put you next to the cheap cheesey Santa/Snowman dollar store figurine, so as to amplify your stunning magnificence? Thought you might.And yes, if you're Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-39194780142588311512009-12-07T07:33:00.004-06:002009-12-07T07:49:42.039-06:00Good morning! It snowed here. I woke up to the sound of a salt truck hauling ass through the stop sign on the street below and setting of a goddamn car alarm. Ah, the sounds of winter. But it's really very pretty out there, I must say. Here lemme take a picture.Oh yay - snow means the air is not so murderously cold.So I could hang my head out and take two, see, even though my hair's still wet,NowBethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-8264142282700061312009-12-05T22:07:00.001-06:002009-12-05T22:07:51.314-06:00After a long day of much driving, I am back. With new hair. Yay.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-72450048102770038382009-12-04T19:29:00.003-06:002009-12-04T19:48:22.389-06:00Okay, I got the neffs taken care of, for Christmas. It's a pile of fun n games, but none of them involve a computer or TV screen. That's why they call me Aunt Best. Or, um, why they should. Now I just have to buy for... everyone else. Well I guess I can scratch my sister off the list permanently, though. Not like we ever exchange gifts anyway, but still. Today she forwarded me some fucking email Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-55377036430294455872009-12-03T18:42:00.003-06:002009-12-03T18:59:05.653-06:00In today's mail, among the holiday junk: a notice from a credit card company - the one card I've paid off, actually. I think the actual card itself is in a drawer somewhere, because you didn't think I'd be using a credit card again any time soon, right? Anyway, this is not one of the Huge Banks. then again maybe it is and I just don't know it, but the name is certainly never in the news so it Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-45063687667936950142009-12-03T08:21:00.002-06:002009-12-03T08:30:48.650-06:00After my first forays into Pondering What To Get People For Christmas, I've decided I want to call the whole thing off. I don't want to shop, I don't want to guess what everyone might like, and I don't want to watch them open it. Nothing.Can we call it off, please? Or maybe I can just give everyone gift cards. Except then it's all like "But how much do I give them? Is $20 okay? Or does it have toBethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-19953739543952036562009-12-01T19:00:00.002-06:002009-12-01T19:06:17.298-06:00New and thrilling way to deal with the debt-collector (not my debt, not my name) who calls every 2 hours, every weekday, for the last 3 weeks - on my cell phone, and despite my repeatedly requesting they leave me the fuck alone: I recognize the number, answer, say nothing, and just press number keys until they hang up. At first, it took about 40 seconds before they hung up. Now I've got em down Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-50585932149969261302009-11-30T18:54:00.003-06:002009-11-30T19:02:23.603-06:00Oh. It's Monday. Sorry? It was a busy day and full of meetings and appointments and -- well, fuck it. The Monday after a long holiday weekend is like impossible, if you want me to remember things like SBD. Plus? My reading slump continues. I have the new John Irving novel, yet my brain is having none of it. I look at it, sitting there, and there's no reaction at all aside from a faint panic that Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-73522511665675107122009-11-28T17:22:00.003-06:002009-11-28T17:47:03.545-06:00Observation: kids these days (that's the best phrase to start an observation with, ever) seem to actually like commercials. My theory is that unlike my own generation, they are never held prisoner by commercials. They are never forced to watch them. We, however, could never fast forward past them, or avoid them by watching the dvd instead. We are not impressed by them, as flashy and as catchy as Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-26193745326401993392009-11-26T10:56:00.001-06:002009-11-26T11:02:22.693-06:00Aw, gee, I woke up to 1 phone call, 3 text messages, and 6 emails of "Happy Tday!" Well, the phone call was more like "You bought rum and cider? But *I* bought rum and cider," followed by several minutes of "Why are you such a fucking moron, you TOLD me to get rum and cider, dickbrain." So though it wasn't what you might call a best-holiday-wishes thing, it's certainly how the holiday season is Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-40623939096635775212009-11-25T08:27:00.003-06:002009-11-25T08:45:52.654-06:00Sorry, I keep forgetting I have a blog. Happy impending T-day, to my American peeps out there, and if you're doing the cooking then for godsakes, don't skimp on the liquor.Personally, I'm in charge of the drinkypoo at my brother's house tomorrow. I'll be making a vat of hot buttered rum. It was a big hit last year at Christmas, and they've requested it - nay, begged! - again this year. Here's Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-5330674719679248842009-11-23T08:07:00.003-06:002009-11-23T08:23:59.287-06:00Happy Monday. Well I suppose you could say "happy" but I'm not terribly thrilled about it. I need a sabbatical, I swear. Like 6 months. It's always bugged me that the people who don't need sabbaticals are the ones who get them. Bastards.Okay so but anyway - Monday. Which means:SBDDo tell us something about the world of reading/writing. Feel free to share your $0.02 on the Harlequin Debacle And Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-37060125269458178552009-11-22T13:57:00.012-06:002009-11-22T19:55:56.825-06:00I know you've all been desperately anticipating more of my blurry-ass pictures, and far be it from me to disappoint my audience. Really, I do have to get a new camera. I'm sure this one is fine and I just need to learn more about how to use it, different modes for different kinds of pictures, blah blah, but the whole appeal of a non-professional camera is the simple point-and-click, right? So Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-88716096218112802052009-11-20T20:59:00.000-06:002009-11-20T21:57:23.579-06:00All right, all right - I'm going through the pictures now. I should have an illustrated narrative in a couple of days.The thing is, as I bopped about a new town and found my way along unknown streets and hunted for places I'd read about - I liked my life, at that moment. A lot. I liked that me, who can find her way in a place where I know no one, nothing. Nothing but unknowns around every corner.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-73578444254334239382009-11-18T18:22:00.001-06:002009-11-18T18:23:24.492-06:00Okay yeah hi, I'm back and alive and all, but I don't feel like blogging. Great time, many pictures to sift through, etc.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-3594607002503872652009-11-15T09:37:00.001-06:002009-11-15T09:38:28.274-06:00Okay I'm incommunicado for the next coupla days, so you're on your own for SBD. Make the most of it! (By which I mean: feel free to ignore it.)Mwah!Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-22669775243987154552009-11-14T08:27:00.002-06:002009-11-14T08:46:06.979-06:00Argh, annoying hotel. This chair is awful as a desk chair, why do they do this to me? The second you stand p, it knocks everything over. And why can't hotels be consistent and always have cotton balls and/or q-tips in the bathroom? Or a note letting me know if I can get some, complimentary-like, and where to call if so. And why the hell is it such a production to get a box that was shipped to me Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-14523448003156937382009-11-13T12:48:00.001-06:002009-11-13T12:49:28.755-06:00Okay, everybody, we need to move to San Francisco now. All of us. Immediately.Seriously.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-79080739519749766392009-11-11T19:53:00.002-06:002009-11-11T20:25:40.403-06:00Well here I've spent all week getting progressively more excited about my San Francisco trip (which begins tomorrow) and smiling happy all over the place, until today - boom, from manic to depressive in zero easy steps. Don't ask me, I don't know, but there I was at work and suddenly found myself insanely annoyed at everything. Then I tried to cheer myself up with thoughts of the impending trip, Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-60287085706498470672009-11-09T07:51:00.004-06:002009-11-09T08:07:34.659-06:00All right all right Monday, people, I got it, it's Monday. MONDAY. Y'all gotta SBD something or other, okay? Because I don't really have anything to say, unless you want to hear about my impressions of the new V show. Which has nothing to do with any kind of reading at all. Hey hey, here's a theme question: Christmas is coming (and has been for weeks, according to every retail outlet in the Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5381371.post-22469385383381322742009-11-08T13:40:00.001-06:002009-11-08T14:05:30.090-06:00Somehow I feel very busy lately and find myself sans blogging time. But really I do have the time - I just tend to blog when I'm bored, and recently I am not all that bored. So here are varius things going on:The Dawn visit was a wild success, meaning that I, for one, had a fab time. We discovered a specialty cheese shop downtown (very exciting since my neihborhood cheesemonger went out of Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449Ekingston@gmail.com