cindy's world

I wrote this post some time ago about the heart-wrenching nature of George Michael’s rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Can’t Make You Love Me.” James and I were IMing about music conveying experiences you don’t really “get” until you’ve gone through hell, and I asked him if he’s heard this version of the song. He hadn’t, but soon found this:

I’ve raved about George Michael’s version of this song to Mr. W, who claims to also have never heard it. And he’s a hu-uge Buffy and Angel fan, so he’ll enjoy this. As will Wilco, my other partner in crime for enjoying the guilty pleasure of teeny bopper shows. Whoever made this video seems to have interpreted George Michael’s rendition the same way I did. Plus, I’d always rooted for Buffy and Spike, so with that added to the impact this song already has on me, I again had to wipe tears off my face. Or maybe it’s just because of the late hour since I’ve been up till now completing my and my parents’ TAXES. Ugh. My head and eyeballs hurt.

A new blogger is born tonight. It was lots of hard work to set up her laptop to my network provider, set up an associated gmail account, and create an identity on blogger.com. It even took overtime from the Group Leader of Audio Modem Products at Conexant to do some tech support and creative brainstorming with us. This is the result of blood, sweat, tears, and Bailey’s on the rocks with Charlie’s Angels playing on the big screen. (Hey, it IS my house.) Give her some love… it’s my jujitsu buddy, my ex roommate, my very good friend…

* V * A * N * E * S * S * A * !!!

(http://litterboxchat.blogspot.com)

So I’m doing my taxes right now on TurboTax, and up pops this question and statement:
“Income in Any Other States? Select Yes if you earned income in any states other than California.
If you earned income in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington or Wyoming, select No. These states don’t collect income tax so you won’t need to file a return.”

WHAT the…? How come WE have to? How do OTHER states manage to make it without taking money from their residents?

Our trial was about a robbery that occurred at a hair salon really close (at least so it appears based on the address) to my ex’s optometry practice. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re on the same block.

Last night I dreamt that I drove by the hair salon, saw that it’s 2 doors down from the ex’s optometry practice, and I thought to myself, “It IS the one I thought it was!” And then the salon owner, the woman whose hair products and purse were stolen by the defendant, came out with her family and they asked me the result of the trial. I told them the jury found the guy guilty of the robbery. They asked for the sentence, and I said he hasn’t been sentenced yet. I told them he’d be sentenced on April 10th.

This morning, we got the verdict. Guilty on second degree robbery, and the judge and the attorneys set the sentencing for…April 10th.

I’m claiming overtime for my dream.

You know how the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales are so…50’s? Poor abused and neglected pauper girl gets swept off her feet by a prince who sees the “true beauty” behind the dirt and marries her and pays off her credit card debt and she’s spoiled forevermore? Made you wish you had a guy to clean up after you, huh? Of course that’s not real, that’s a fairy tale!

I got this updated version via email yesterday:

~ * ~

World’s Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, “Will you marry
me?” The girl said “No” and she lived happily ever
after and went shopping, drank martinis with friends,
always had a clean house, never had to cook, had
closet full of shoes and handbags, stayed skinny, and
was never farted on.

The End

~ * ~

From my coworker Michelle:

Did you know that …

A group of apes is called a shrewdness; hummingbirds are a charm; blue jays are a scold; jellyfish are a smack; cobras are a quiver; crows are a murder; parrots are a company; nightingales are a watch; mice are a mischief; crocodiles are a congregation; owls are a parliament; (and my personal favorite) lizards are a lounge.

Just in case you get a chance to be on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, you will know those answers.

“My loyalty is with you,” she informed me yesterday. I didn’t respond to it, although she said she needed me to know that. But the reason it didn’t bowl me over is because I already knew that. She showed it all the time through her actions. Her simple statement to me didn’t even register until late last night. I was in front of my bathroom mirror plucking little unruly hairs, and my brain zapped my consciousness back to the days when loyalty was the thing most lacking from my friendships. I wouldn’t say my friends were catty, just young and selfish. There was a time when my closest female friend gave me her ear and her shoulder so that I could cry to her all the frustrations I had about a boy I liked, all the information I had about him, only to use what she learned through me to land him herself. There was a time when all the considerations and extra favors I did for my friends were not reciprocated when the opportunities arose for them to help me out or give me a heads-up. There was a time when I felt utterly alone, sad that I could trust no one. Pages and pages of teenage poetry testify to a disillusioned depression. This is why my friends are selected carefully today, and why I’d do so much for them. If I feel like someone is taking advantage of me, I’m sensitive to it. Sure I am. It’s all too familiar. But the people I surround myself by large are people I trust, and it has been this way for so long now that I don’t even think twice when one proclaims her loyalty to me. I hope I can live up to the kind of friendship that the wonderful people around me now give me.

Hey! I just noticed the “Post Password” window/function at the top of my editor! Just for fun, I’m gonna test it. The password is “wowzers”. Go ahead and try it for the next post, “The Costco Curse.”

(Public records will reflect all this information and more, but I’m redacting names and other identifying information anyway.)

Girl1 files a petition for a restraining order against Girl2, which was heard in my court this morning.

Girl1’s petition says she doesn’t know Girl2, but that Girl2 has been harassing her through the mail, Girl1’s work phone, home phone, and cell phone. Girl1 assumes that Girl2 got her address through a search and got her phone numbers through Girl2’s husband’s cell phone statements. (Hmm.) Girl1’s only actual contact with Girl2 was through phone calls made by Girl2 (allegedly 60+ calls), but Girl1 has a tape recording of some messages left by Girl2 (“slut” this and “slut” that, “your parents must hate you,” etc.) which she brought to court today, and a letter that Girl1 says Girl2 mailed to Girl1’s entire block of neighbors. She brought the letter with her today, too.

Girl2 filed a response, saying that Girl1 had conveniently failed to mention in her papers that Girl1 had initiated an affair with Girl2’s husband of 20 years, and that Girl1 knows of Girl2’s existence from that. I’ll now refer to Girl2 as “Wife,” to help make this less confusing. Wife admits to having contacted Girl by phone, saying after she found out about the affair, her husband had given her Girl’s phone number and “encouraged” her to call Girl with any questions. Wife admits to having called Girl obscenities in these phone calls, but claims she did not threaten Girl, nor call 60+ times, nor send any letters, nor did she know Girl’s address and other information. Wife said she doesn’t want to meet, learn anything about nor have anything to do with Girl, as Wife and her husband are reconciling and want to just put the affair behind them.

Wife did not come to court to defend herself today. Girl testified tearfully, saying she wants to apologize to Wife for the pain she cause in Wife’s marriage, but that the harassment has gone way above and beyond. The letter that Girl brought is apparently a folded bulk-mail type flyer with Girl’s address as the sender, and her neighbor’s address as the recipient, addressed to “RESIDENT”. Except this one letter, along with a few others, were returned by the post office as undeliverable, which is how Girl came to find out about these letters. It says:

Hi my name is [full name], I am your neighbor and I live at [street address]. I just want to let you know that I love having sex with married men, and I love giving head.
I am a desperate 38 year old home wrecker. Give me a call. Are you gonna come lay with me tonight?
Hm – [home #]
Cell – [cell #]
Are you gonna come lay with me tonight?

Girl describes, through her tears, how her phones ring off the hook with strange men calling, asking inappropriate personal questions, and she’d see strange men drive by her house, looking in her property, and she feels unsafe in her home. She doesn’t know if these are friends of Wife’s or if they’re people who’ve received the flyer, or both, but believes at least some of the rude and vile phone calls are from friends of Wife’s.

She did get the restraining order granted, but only for 1 year instead of the maximum 3, and it was just a no-contact order since there was no proof that Wife ever physically approached Girl.

Geez. Is this karma?