Tuesday update

Howdy!

What a weekend I've had. Saturday morning I woke up not quite feeling like myself. By that afternoon, my throat starting giving me trouble which hasn't happened since I was a child. The pain got worse throughout the day; it was horrible. Chris went out and got lots of soup, juice, oranges, and Tylenol. We were pretty sure that I had the flu based on the symptoms that were occuring. That same night I had THE worst case of the chills, so I knew instinctively that I had a high fever, especially since Chris and the kids were rocking shorts and t-shirts and still wanted the fans on. By Sunday I was weak and completely void of energy. My whole body ached, and my throat was almost too much to bear. By yesterday morning, in addition to the other remaining symptoms, my voice sounded very strange. I noticed it when I phoned my boss to call in sick. It wasn't scratchy or strained, but just strange. (wow, repeat this last sentence 5 times as fast as you can, please) Chris took me to the doctor yesterday afternoon and I found out that I have strep throat. The doc gave me a prescription to kill the throat infection, a big bag full of Advil samples, and told me be sure to stay away from the kids (the hardest thing in life for a mom to do).

To sum up, I'm still feeling crappy, but definitely better than yesterday. This is the first in about five days that I've felt up to getting on the computer, which happens to be an enormous obsession of mine. Time for me to eat more soup and watch more scary movies. Life is funny, a week ago I would have done almost anything to be home for a few days and watching fun cheesy horror flicks during the day. But right now, I'd rather be doing what most of you are doing which is working. I don't get it.

Legalities vs Emotions (part 4)

As I sit in my car mulling over my new theory that this whole accident can't be pinned completely on me, I notice a Georgia State Patrol car pass by. Hmmm, surely they wouldn't send the GA State Patrol. I dismiss the thought and continue rehearsing the speech I will give to the Douglas County officer when he shows up to the accident. I look in my rearview mirror and notice the GA State Patrol car making a u-turn and pulling up behind me. That's just perfect.

My experience with the Georgia State Patrol officers is that they tend to be completely impervious to my tears or batting eyelashes; "What's the point of "looking" young and being beautiful if I'm going to get traffic tickets anyhow?", I ask myself. He sits in his car for what feels like an eternity. When he begins to open his car door, Laura jumps out immediately and stands in between our cars. Great. I get out very slowly, and saunter over to where she is standing. I fling my hair over my shoulder and smile in an effort to exude grace and confidence. I actually wanted to pee on myself, but that's probably TMI. The officer walks over to us and asks for our insurance info and our driver's licenses. We hand him our information. I promise you I'm not making this next part up.

The Georgia State Patrol officer looks at me, then looks at Laura, looks back to me again and says, "Why don't you come with me over to my patrol car and talk to me." Wow, um, okay. I didn't have to worry about Laura's reaction to my statement after all! So I walk over with the officer to his car, continuing to fling my hair and smile in a relentless attempt to portray an innocent person (which I honestly feel I am, by the way). I tell the officer what happened and before I can present my theory to him on who's at fault, he stops me. "This is weird", he says. "It's like, you're BOTH at fault here!" Wow. I didn't even have to convince him, or be my normal "flirty" (as Chris calls it) self to persuade him to see things my way! He came to his conclusion based on my exact description of the events as they took place.

He then asks me to get back into my car, while he goes to Laura's car to talk with her. I can't hear what is being said, but I can tell by Laura's face that she is becoming increasingly confused by his statements/questions. They get out of her car, walk right past my car, and she points down the road to where we collided. What the heck is she saying to him!! I already have him convinced, Laura, don't go messing things up!! They walk past my car again, Laura gets back into her car, and the officer stops by my car and says, "I'm going to call in the accident and write up the citations I'll be back shortly."

After what feels like ANOTHER eternity, he walks over to my car, and hands me back my license and insurance information. He says, "I'll be back", and proceeds to Laura's car. Whatever he is telling her has her pretty animated. Her head is shaking back and forth a bit. Finally, she drives off, as the officer walks back to my car. He hands something to me through the window. Lovely, I'm getting a ticket. As I take it from him, I read across the top of the citation "Courtesy Warning". No WAY!! A "warning" ticket from a Georgia State Patrol officer? He then goes on to tell me that we were both at fault, and that he won't cite either of us for the accident. I was pleased as punch to hear this! He even told me that my front tire looked like it was running out of air due to the accident, and that I would need to stop by a gas station to take care of it. So I thank him, drive off, and pass 5 gas stations to go to my favorite "QT". Guess who is behind me all the way into the gas station? You got it, the officer. After I begin putting air into my tire, he drives off waving. This guy really gives law enforcement a great name, I tell you.

I arrive safely at work (and still on time, mind you). My car has a few scratches on it, and a part of the headlight was broken, but no big deal. I am just happy to travel the remainder of my journey to work safely, and hopefully put the accident behind me and move on with my life. Of course, things don't turn out that way AT ALL.

The conclusion of Legalities vs Emotions coming soon.

Hump-Day Update

These days, I'm the busiest I've ever been in my life. This past weekend, I was out of town on a retreat with my church youth group. For the first time since I've gone on this annual retreat, it actually felt more like a nice vacation than work. I love those kids so much! Now I am back to work, and boy, oh boy, are we BUSY. We are working our little tootsies off setting up all of the CNN Elections coverage for the November 8 general election(which also happens to be my birthday!) Chris is extremely busy with school, and who would expect otherwise for a 1st-year law student. The kids are beautiful, healthy, and growing at least an inch everyday, it seems.

I'll try to resume my regular posting later today. In the meantime, check out Legalities and Emotions Part I, Part II, and Part III.

The (Conservative) View!

I'm an avid reader and fan of La Shawn Barber's Corner. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to finally get the opportunity to see her involved in taking something that I loathe, and turning it into something intelligent, beautiful and classy! In case you're wondering, I do not like ABC's "The View", and my contempt for the show increased since the arrival of Rosie O'Donnell. The "Queen of Nice" has taken on a very contemptuous tone, and regularly comes across as a bully toward those with dissenting opinions. (See "The (warped) View" for more of my thoughts on this.)

Hot Air has video footage of what "The View" could (and should, in my opinion) be like if you were to have women with at least slightly above-average intelligence come together and discuss their thoughts on the state of the world. Here, we see footage of La Shawn Barber, Michelle Malkin, Kirsten Powers, and Mary Katherine Ham all come together and share their views with light-heartedness. The ratio of Republicans to Democrats here is still imbalanced (3:1). But neither of these ladies seem to feel the need to loud-talk the others, nor shout down every opinion that contrasts their own. How refreshing! How innovative! How...un-View like! :-)

See The Conservative View.

Legalities vs Emotions (part 3)

Situations aren't always the way they initially appear, especially after you've given a little more rational, calm thought to them.

When I left you last, I was sitting in my car waiting for the police to arrive. Laura is in her car doing the same. Actually, she is on her phone having what appears to be a very animated conversation with someone. I begin to reflect on everything that had just happened. Then, I begin to envision what would happen when the officer got there. I've been in accidents before, unfortunately, so I know how it always goes:

They usually pull up about 40 minutes to an hour after the accident took place, sit in the car for another 5 minutes on their radio to dispatch, and finally get out of the police car and say, "Okay, what happened?" I was DREADING this, because I had already stated to Laura that I was sorry. I was starting to get nervous about how things would go down when the officer got there, because I had already decided to follow Chris's instructions and not admit fault. But how?

I need someone to talk to about this; I look at the time. Chris is already in class by now. I immediately call my mom. I tell her what happened, and I mention Chris's advice about admitting fault. She asks me exactly what happened in the accident. I explain it to her, and as I'm talking something occurs to me. Remember how I said before that I merged into a lane that was not meant for cars in the direction I was going, but instead meant for the oncoming traffic? Well, if I'm merging into an illegal lane on the road, and I hit a car going in the same direction I'm travelling that is ALREADY in the same illegal lane, wouldn't they be at fault as well? Aha! This is confirmation that it helps to talk things out calmly instead of just reacting (something that people with my natural personality do regularly).

After talking to mom, I feel about 65% more confident about what the situation will be when the police officer arrives. However, I'm still not ready to deal with how this little "firecracker" of a lady will react when it's time for me to present my side in front of her and the officer. She's pleasant for the most part, but she definitely gives off a little more attitude than I personally need. Maybe that's because I smashed her car.

When the officer arrives, the unexpected happens.

Legalities vs Emotions (part 4) coming soon....

Legalities vs Emotions (part 2)

When I see the woman (I will call her "Laura" for our purposes here) get out of her car, I size her up instantly: Petite, black woman, in her early to mid-twenties with great fashion sense. I surveyed my own "casual-Friday" outfit with slight disapproval. I take a deep breath and walk around my car to assess the damages. A few scrapes above the wheel well; a small crack in the headlight coverings...that's it. I then walk over to take a look at Laura's car. O.M.G. The whole right side of her car is smashed in and there are huge gashes all the way across. My jaw drops. I hear myself saying out loud, "I'm SO sorry!" She comments that it was an accident and accidents happen...that's what the insurance company is for! That doesn't make me feel much better, but I still appreciate her attitude about it somewhat.

Another thing that stands out about Laura is her "take-charge" attitude. She calls the police immediately; she is on the phone with her insurance company while simultaneously handing over a sheet that contains her contact/insurance information. She also hands me a pad and pen so that I can do the same. Laura is definitely no joke. At this point, I realize that I do not have a copy of my insurance card on hand. I call my husband, fill him in about the accident, and get him to read the insurance policy number off to me. I thank him, and he leaves me with this: "Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT under any circumstances admit fault." I reflect on my "I'm SO sorry" comment earlier. Oopsies. I bid my hubby farewell without saying more. I filled out my information on Laura's pad and handed the pad back to her.

We get back into our cars and wait for the police. How do I not admit fault when a) the first thing I said when I get out of the car was "I'm SO sorry" and b) I turned my truck and rammed into a vehicle that was already in the lane I was merging into? How you ask? There is a slight twist to all of this that didn't immediately occur to me or to Laura.

Legalities vs Emotions (part 3) coming soon...

Legalities vs Emotions (part 1)

A few weeks back I was on my way to work on a Friday morning. I was in a pretty good mood, as I usually am on Fridays. I'm sitting in a long line of cars waiting on a red light to turn green. I'm many, many cars behind the light. I have a clear view of the traffic light, even though I'm pretty far back. It occurs to me that the single lane that I'm in separates into 3 lanes further ahead: a left-turn lane, a right-turn lane, and a lane that goes straight. I intend to turn left eventually. There's no one moving in the line of cars in front of me, and there's no one travelling in the on-coming traffic lane. Traffic inches up a little bit.

Now, to the left of me, there is a lane beginning to form. It is actually a left-turn lane for the on-coming traffic, so I'm not supposed to use it. But, if I merge into it and drive for about 7 seconds or so, I will soon be in my left-turn lane that I will need. I look behind me and see nothing. I look ahead, and after a few seconds decide to just go for it. I cut my wheel to the left to go around the cars in front of me and SMASH!!!

It turned out that someone in the row of cars sitting behind me must have had the same idea I had about going around traffic. I yelled at myself for not looking behind me one more time before attempting to merge. I immediately feel remorseful since I am only focused on what I could have done to prevent the incident. We both pull our cars to the side of the road. I am so shaken...my beautiful little SUV has marks on it now. :-( Oh well, it's just a vehicle, I think to myself. The lady steps out of her car.

I didn't know it at the time, but this would become one of the oddest and most emotionally complex situations that I have encountered in my 32 years of living.

Legalities vs Emotions (part 2) coming soon...

African Babies Are ALL The Rage...

Or so I hear...I don't know. But I recently read about Madonna adopting a 1-year old boy from Malawi, an impoverished nation in southern Africa. I honestly don't have a strong opinion about this one way or another. But here are my thoughts:

When I hear about someone adopting a child, certain things automatically come to mind. First, I assume that this person is the type who is always looking for ways to help others, or share what they have with those less fortunate. That's why back when I heard about Angelina Jolie adopting children from across the globe, I didn't give it a second thought. That's just who she seems to be to me; someone who wants to help others, and give all of herself that she can spare (I'll refrain from any jokes right there about stealing Brad Pitt, however tempting).

Now that I read about Madonna adopting a child, especially a child from Africa, other thoughts come to mind immediately. First of all, Madonna reminds me more of someone like myself rather than Angelina Jolie. By this I mean that whichever way the wind is blowing, there she is. Whatever the current fad, that's what she embraces and sometimes successfully popularizes. When Hispanic men became all the rage over a decade ago, it wasn't long before she went out and got her own Hispanic/Latin "baby-daddy". When becoming "spiritually enlightened" started to become the happening thing in Hollywood, Madonna became deeply interested in Kabbalah, and made it trendy. Now, red string bracelets are the new black skinny pant.

I honestly try to be careful about putting on the white wig and judging. But I must say that when I hear about the new addition to the Ciccone/Ritchie family, I can't help but wonder if this is just something that Madonna is into for the moment. I doubt very seriously that she would ever change her mind and send the child away. I really believe that she's a beautiful lady inside and out. Not to mention the fact that I'll bet the little boy won't even look back as he leaves with his new mommy to the land of the free. I know that I wouldn't.

Andrea Peyser of the New York Post weighs in with harsh thoughts about the adoption.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Based on a True Story??

One of my closest friends, Chrissy L, and I had a "mommies' evening out" a couple of days ago at the mall. We had a blast!

Our evening was topped of by the opening night viewing of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning". We had been really looking forward to watching this prequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM) for the past 3-4 weeks, and the movie definitely gave enough chills to go around. It actually turned out to be MUCH more gruesome than both the original and the 2003 remake. Almost intolerably so.

As Chrissy and I were leaving the theatre, we had a brief discussion about how factual we thought the movie actually was. "Based on true events" is shown on-screen right after the opening credits. During our discussion, Chrissy informed me that the Buffalo Bill character from "Silence of the Lambs" is based on the Leatherface character from TCM. I was anxious to find out even more once we left the theatre. Was there ever a real chainsaw-wielding maniac in Texas? What about the family of inbreds that live in that oh-so-creepy house, and that were into cannibalism...fictional? Here's what I was able to determine in a nutshell:

• There was never a Leatherface, at least, not in the way he was depicted in TCM.


• There was a farmer in Wisconsin named Ed Gein that was found guilty of murdering two women in 1957; They were shot to death.


• Ed Gein was most accurately depicted in 1960's "Psycho". (See BBC for more info).


• According to Gunnar Hansen, the actor who depicted Leatherface, Tobe Hooper (writer/director of TCM) completely made up the idea to use a chainsaw as the killer's weapon of choice. Click here for more info.


• Most of the remains found in Gein's home were result of grave-robbing that Gein and an accomplice carried out, meaning that most if not all of the remains in Gein's home were from individuals that were already dead before Gein even got near them.

Based on the above, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Texas Chainsaw Massacre is purely fictional. And I'm guessing that no one can fight the screenwriters on the "based on true events" or "inspired by a true story" statements; many of the events in the movie have actually happened, just not in the manner or order that the movie states.