161st Friday Blog Roundup
The cons of having H1N1: you have H1N1.
Trying to find the silver linings:
- Since the illness prevented caffeine consumption and I went through all the pain of caffeine withdrawal, I’ve decided to resume my habit at a paltry 16 ounces a day. This feels so much healthier–like I traded Marlboro Reds for Camels.
- Since I threw up for five straight days and lost all that weight, I might as well ride this weight loss leg-up to try to get rid of those extra fifteen pounds I’ve been carrying around (fuck the freshman 15. I have the fertility 15 and it’s all front and center). Considering this weight loss attempt much more successful from last spring since I start out of the gate five pounds lighter.
- I never have to wash my hands again. I can touch surfaces and lick myself, at least until this strain mutates. Our family moves with confidence through anxious crowds of people. We laugh at those who wait in long lines for the vaccine.
- Sexy raspy voice.
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If you would like to hear said raspy voice (which is, actually, quite sexy right now), you will be able to on November 5th because I am going to be at an event that is going to be web-cast. I was a judge for the In the Know Short Film Festival and got to see all of the films and narrow it down to three finalists along with the other judges.
The films are being screened on November 5th at a live event and they’re showing it on the web, right here, at 8 p.m. (EST) on November 5th. Please watch. And tell me how slim I look in black.
Carol Burnett always ended her show by tugging her ear. It was a silent gesture to recognize her grandmother and tell her that all was okay. Let’s pick something for me to do during the web cast that is a shout-out to all of you. Please don’t suggest that we make this movement me grabbing my breast. I’m trying to be a grown-up, people.
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The Weekly What If: What if you could be chosen to act in any existing television show, movie, or play. Which one would you pick? Would you want a small walk-on role, or takeover one of the main parts?
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I didn’t get to do things that bug me because I realized I would mess up the chain if I put mine in the comments. So things that bug me:
- When people invite along another person without first asking the person they originally had plans with. Maybe I had something I needed to talk about and now I can’t in front of the add-on person. It doesn’t bother me to have more people there if they asked first; it’s when they invite and just expect that it’s okay.
- People talking about changing plans once plans have already been decided upon. Josh always jokes that if I am told that I am about to be smacked in the face and I prepare myself, I would rather have the person smack me in the face than change the plans on me. Once I make a decision, I stick with it, even if it isn’t the most convenient, perfect plan. I just make my decisions work rather than constantly reexamining it after making it.
- People who don’t take the pull-through (yes, Josh, I’m talking about you).
- Comment spammers (seriously, I get about 75 spam comments caught by Akismet per day) and PR people who write to tell me that my readers would love to hear about their new pregnancy belly band! I know all I have to do is hit delete, but it’s still annoying.
- When people put paper advertisements in the crack of our door so it falls to the ground when I try to open the door and then I have to crumple it up and recycle it and grumble about how we’re destroying the planet.
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And now, the blogs…
My Scar Smiles at Me has a post in three parts. It begins with her lack of desire to move to Italy. She writes: “I know that it would likely be bad to spend the next few months dwelling on how much I do not want to go.” It continues into a dilemma about leaving a job, and in the end, comes around to the meat of the post which is about feeling on the outside of things. She admits: “Because of this, I feel a bit removed from some of your stories– both those of you who are parenting/pregnant and those of you who are trying. I feel a bit detached from the place I live because I fear that I am leaving it.” I love this post because she describes so well those moments that come before big change and you feel as if you are right beside her, sighing in unison.
The Journey to 40 and Beyond has a post about CASA training for her foster placement. She states that “I have realized through CASA training that a child’s past really wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. My thoughts have been preoccupied by our lives together once we have a child.” It is an eye-opening post in general about the process, but it is also an honest and heartfelt post on the micro-level.
Tales of a Batty Nurse has a post about how words can hurt. Or rather, it’s not just about the fact that words can hurt, but how this knowledge has informed how Battynurse will be as a mother in the future and what she’ll teach her children. A beautiful post.
The Other Shoe has a tale of two daughters-in-law. This post twists at the end and the two DILs–the one she could have been and the one she is, is taken to a different level. It’s a story of difficult relationships and coveting a connection that is seemingly impossible to make under the circumstances. Well-written, and I’m sure many will relate.
Lastly, Twangy Pearl has a post about the silent answers to asked questions. It’s not that the questions are so out-there, and the stammering answers will be very familiar, but it’s her great writing that made the post fantastic and I love the statement at the end: “I have been brainwashed to be nice (at the expense of honesty, clearly) and I just can’t break out of it.”
The roundup to the Roundup: The good things about having H1N1. Watch the web-cast on November 5th. Answer the Weekly What If. Things that bug me. And lots of great posts to read.
24 comments
I’d be the fly on the wall because I suck at acting. Can’t memorize, I am menopausal. Or the dude with cowbell.
I’m glad you’re feeling better! Do you have a Wear to Make Aware pomegranate bracelet? Perhaps at the end you could give it a little tug a a shout out to all of us.
I’d love, love, LOVE to be on Glee. I would like to have my own main character role, perhaps as some zany off-beat teacher who maybe might be a little bit crazy. Hmm…that doesn’t sound too far off from my real life, now that I think about it.
The weekly what-if is just too easy for me. I’d just be the body double for Meredith – you know, since we’re so similar and all, and for a hot and heavy makeout scene for McDreamy. I’d die happy.
I can’t act, and I’m not really that fond of actors, so I don’t think I’m a good fit for this what-if… I do better when I am suspending disbelief for a short period of time, and for me, that’s a very passive thing. I could not take an active role.
I’m with Kymberli on this one! It would have to be Glee for me! I love that show and I was president of drama club my senior year of high school and I love to sing. I would truly love any part, large or small, on Glee.
Greetings from the H1N1 headquarters in the Northeast! lol.
I might as well wear a tool belt that fits Lysol cans at this rate.
I would like to be on Lost. Specifically, as Sawyer’s love interest. tee hee….
I’d like to have one sarcastic zinger that makes everyone laugh out loud…or think I’m an @sshole. I could live with either because that’s how sarcasm works, you appreciate it or you don’t.
LOL @ the cowbell dude-girl! I’ve got a fever…
I kind of like the boob grab idea. : )
I would be Ginny in the Harry Potter series!!
So glad you’re recovering well and a little lighter too, gotta love those silver linings! I always take the opportunity that severe illness provides me to cut my caffiene habit as well. Sadly, I always inch my way back up (at least when I’m not pregnant). My hubby, son and I all had some sort of terrible illness last spring…and I’ve put more time than one should into hoping that was our H1N1 bout.
I like the tugging/touching the pomegranite charm idea!
As far as tv/movies. Hmmmm….Honestly, I’d like to be one of those lucky half-wits who make an ENORMOUS bounty on Wheel of Fortune, simply by solving a basic fourth-grade level hangman game. Seriously, the guy who won yesterday took home $90,000! Yes, I watch Wheel of Fortune. Actually, we DVR it.
Shut up. My son like letters, ok?
I was gonna suggest fiddling with your pomegranate bracelet at the end too – seems the most obvious shout-out to us lot.
I’d want to be on Big Bang Theory, probably as Sheldon’s arch-nemesis in the physics world, but I’d wanna give him a big hug & a kiss at the end.
Oh, gotta be Star Trek. I am a total sci-fi nerd, I know it. But, definitely not one of the short skirt characters. Make me an Engineer or Chief Medical and let me wear the pants! If I got to fire a phaser a lot, that would be really awesome too.
Do you have an ATOM or RSS feed? I can’t find it.
Oh, and on-topic: Self-insertion fantasies aside (man, that sounds bad, but I mean being actually in the Supernatural universe than acting on Supernatural), in real life, I’d rather be an actor’s personal assistant rather than an actor myself, even though I did some acting in school.
Though yesterday’s caffeine headache turned into last night’s vomiting, I would not want to be inserted as a patient into Grey’s Anatomy. Seriously. They are like the worst hospital in the world.
I’d go with Kym and say I want to be in Glee. Really, I want to marry Glee, have its babies, and then go eat on Top Chef. Actually, forget the marrying and the babies part. Can they have the Top Chefs cook on Glee? Cause then I could have both.
So glad you are geting better. I have a sexy raspy voice naturally so if I get the flu I would so sound like a dude! I still get called sir sometimes on the phone, I don’t even correct them anymore sometimes I do and they are so sorry, LOL.
I would like to act in anything with Oliver Martinez. (he is a haaaawt french actor)
I agree, tug at something if you can to give your girls a shout out as we watch you online.
That is great news that you are better! and lighter 🙂 I think you should tuck your hair behind your ears as your shout out.
First, glad that you and your family are recovered/ing well!
AND…how about twirling your hair to give a shout-out? It’s fun and flirty!
MY dream role would be the new hot surgeon at Seattle Grace on Grey’s Anatomy…McDreamy and McSteamy and Karev and O’Malley would all be falling all over themselves to get my attention and all the women would hate my guts because I’m so beautiful! HEY! I think I have an episode to write….:-)
Might I add that I am another person who loves Glee?
I’d be the fly on the wall watching the kid in the wheelchair banging on cowbell…
That show is so original. I hope they don’t wreck it and make it all formulaic. I will actually buy the CD when it comes out.
For the weekly what if? I’d like to be a new character working with Abby on NCIS. I love her character.
Thanks Mel for the mention. I appreciate it.
you seriously are rocking a Lauren Bacall voice right now…work it!
I would like to be a character in an arc of a story on Mad Men- just so that I could don a super fab dress from the era.
Or maybe a contestant on the defunct Rock and Roll Jeopardy
I like that – you can touch all surfaces now and lick yourself. LOL. Man, that’s the life. I’d be Miranda Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy. You do know she kissed Taye Diggs on Private Practice, right? Mmm, yum. Not a bad job at all.
Yes, I vote for tugging on your pomegranate bracelet.
I totally just had an original idea for what TV show I would like to be in and then I saw Calliope’s comment about Rock-n-Roll Jeopardy and that is all I can think about. I kicked ASS at that show.
I have always thought I would like to be parodied on SNL. Besides the 15 minutes of fame, I wonder if I have a good enough sense of humor to laugh with them.
Mel your grandma sounded like one of a kind… but actually, she sounds like YOU. Feisty!
Every entry you write, helps me to understand you more and what motivates you to help others and to put forth your story as well.
I love reading stories about your gram, even though right now it must be a bit painful to recount, given her recent passing, this one about her coming, then leaving, was so interesting! You are right, who else would come to a place people were absolutely doing whatever it took to BE AT, take a look, DISLIKE, leave, then come back!
hugs and hope your heart is healing….
GLEE! That is the show. Any character on there. Especially Lea Michelle. What a voice. I am a Gleek. Yes, and I am PROUD.
Tomorrow night I am going to have the most special guest blogger, I never imagined.
Her name is Jenn and she is a traditional surrogate who has blessed 4 families with children, including carrying twins for a couple (using her egg, the father’s sperm). She has 5 sons and she is writing a very profound blog entry. Kym’s entry was amazing. I want to give those in the land of infertility all aspects of surrogacy. I know MANY surrogates, both TS and GS, and they will be writing entries over the course of this year for me.
For those of you totally barren, like me, or intractibly infertile, surrogacy is an option… please meander on over and learn more from the heart of two surrogates. Kym (a Gestational and infertile herself) and Jenn (a Traditional and now joins the ranks of the barren, having just given birth to her TS surroson and lost her fertility in the same day, just like me).
Blessings to all of you on this Thanksgiving weekend. Most of all… blessings to Mel and family and everyone healing from loss of any kind.
micrimas