Quotes + Sayings

Like A Memorable Episode of M*A*S*H, I’m Bugging Out Until 2015

/ Ally Bean / 41 Comments

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Remember that M*A*S*H episode in which the 4077th bugs out?  And each character’s true nuttiness is revealed by what they hold dear as the camp is forced to move elsewhere?

Of course you do.  It’s a classic.

Well, gentle readers, looking at my schedule and commitments for the next 2 months I’ve come to realize that I’m going to be on the verge of quiet hysteria busy with decorating & dinners & shopping & parties & travel & events & gifts.

Too busy.  For an introvert like me.  [Please refer to the chart.]

Considering that I keep this blog just for the heck of it, I’ve decided to take a blogging break.  To wit, I’m going to bug out and pretend to be a holiday-obsessed, Christmas-music-loving, party girl who adores all the glitz, booze and calories associated with this time of year remain calm-ish.

Happy Happy Joy Joy, everyone.  I’ll see you next year.

Get Out The Windex, It’s Time To Vote

/ Ally Bean / 18 Comments

i-voted-sticker

{ Source: WordPress.com News }

~ • ~

During the 18 years that we’ve lived in this area we’ve voted at six different locations:

  • the smoky VFW Hall;
  • the cavernous golf course/convention center;
  • the cheerful Methodist church;
  • the crowded elementary school;
  • the difficult to get into and out of community church;  and now
  • the Greek Orthodox church.

Of all the locations, this Greek Orthodox church is the best one because it’s slightly off of a busy street, has lots of parking and the actual voting area is a few steps inside the door.  The Greeks do voting well.

~ • ~

But the thing about this voting location, which has absolutely nothing to do with the voting itself but I’ll tell you about it anyhow, is that Z-D comes from a family with a Greek heritage.

And our well-mannered, kind Mr. Bean can do a wicked, dead-on impression of his Great Uncle, who disapproved of everything and everyone.  Great Uncle was not a happy person with a generous soul, unlike his nephew.

So as you can imagine, this impression, which Z-D trots out two times a year, gets me laughing.  Every time.

And always leads to one of us quoting a movie that is best known for its references to Windex, but also explains Zen-Den’s family so well. A movie in which I am the WASP to his Greekinicity. A movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding which gives us the following wonderful lines.

~ • ~

Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don’t eat no meat?

[the entire room stops, in shock]

Aunt Voula: Oh, that’s okay. I make lamb.

Reviewing The News, Reaching For The Wine

/ Ally Bean / 30 Comments

“I am satisfied.  Give me a bowl of wine:

I have not that alacrity of spirit,

Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have–

So, set it down.– Is ink and paper ready?”

~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III

• • •

USUALLY I’M GOOD AT knowing what I’m thinking and feeling about things.  Clarity of thought.  Sense of purpose.  Focus on what matters now.

Me.  Most of the time.

But the news of these last few weeks has worn me down.  Made me wonder about humanity.  Made me want to stay in my jammies all day, hiding in the back of the closet, playing Candy Crush.

• • •

First we talked about:

Ebola, and the CDC + Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas‘s half-assed handling of said at a time when everyone in the USA needed them to do things properly.

Then we were inundated with: 

Mitch McConnell [or Old Turkey Neck as he’s known in this house], and his daily TV political attack ads against his opponent, a woman with a gun who seems to scare the bejesus out of him.

Followed by:

Gamergate, and the blatant misogynistic attacks on woman associated with it under the guise of fair journalistic practices.

Then all of this took center stage:

Renee Zellweger, and the incessant opining about the reasons why she did what she did + about the results of what she did.

Culminating in:

The Parliament of Canada, and the unforeseen attack on it leading to the world’s newest isn’t-he-amazing hero who saved lives by calmly doing what needed to be done.

• • •

SO MY POINT HERE?  After hearing and reading about all the above, I’m tired, emotionally.  I’m tired, physically.

I’m just plain tired.

I have to wonder if keeping up with the news is what I need to be doing with my time.  While the well-educated rational side of me says “stay informed,” the sensitive empathetic side of me says “ignore.”  The cognitive dissonance is beginning to get to me.

Leading me to contemplate how I can do both when the agenda-setting function of the media gives me bad news everywhere that I turn.  Except in my closet, of course.  Where you may just find me, with my bowl of wine.

Waiting for my alacrity of spirit to return.

I’m Cackling Here About Nothing In Particular Just Because I Can

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

One of the realities of keeping a blog is the expectation that I will have something to say every week when I get here.  This expectation emanates both from within me + from you, my gentle readers.

I said that I’d be here, so I’ll be here.

That being explained, I can now confide in you that I don’t always have much to say here.  After a decade of bouncing around the blogosphere, I don’t consider this to be a problem.  I know that I’m a laid back communicator with an easygoing style who can turn just about anything into a blog post.

Yep, I got skillz.

So it won’t surprise you to know that the retro Kroger egg commercial that I shared above is all that I have to talk about today.  To wit, I found the simple b&w animation charming and the honest message entertaining.

“Isn’t the chicken lucky that eggs are the shape that they are?”

And now, having fulfilled my self-imposed obligation to post something of great value on this blog today, I’m going to wander off into the real world where I hope to have positive adventures and to gain deep insights into human nature so that I may share them with you, my gentle readers, next week.  Until then:

Be safe. Be happy. Be.