Free entertainment? You just have to know where to look.

I've been looking at Craigslist a lot lately, mainly searching for a desk for my future office, but also to waste time that I should be spending cleaning closets or something. Anyway, under the "Rants" section in my local Craigslist, I've been reading a topic called "Weird Neighbors," which is hilarious. The best entry I've read so far is this one, and I promise I copied it exactly as it was posted, only I added some paragraph breaks for clarity. This person should be a writer:

Ours is Earl - not exactly a neighbor, but up the road a bit.

Earl lives in 2 trailers, parked up next to each other so that the back door of one is at the front door of the other. (?)

Earl got a head injury a few years ago because he fell down a staircase that wasn't there while working on a house under construction.

He caught himself on fire one time using gasoline in the wood stove.

He doesn't have running water.

Women actually live with him sometimes.

He had a yard sale that has been there so long, we now tell people to just drive on past the flea market.

He leaves his laundry on the line for weeks at a time. I suppose that's how he washes it.

You can see where all the junk is in the yard, he mows around it, including the old broken down mower.

Earl is our local meth head/alcoholic but we know when he's gotten clean because there is a giant piece of plywood painted with "Jesus Loves You" out in the yard sometimes. He generally gets clean after a jail stint. He's using again when it's gone.

Earl is the nicest person in the world. He'd give you the shirt off his back, if you should want it.

Update on the Unemployed Wannabe Librarian, or "Hire Me!"

You would think that someone who just graduated and is looking for a job would post more often on her blog, wouldn't you?

Let's see, Emily visited, then Sherry and Sophie came, then they came back two weeks later. Then I cleaned house again in time for my mom to come up for a visit. Now Reece is wanting to come up and I'm trying to figure out a good time for that and somehow incorporate it with a visit to Arkansas sometime in July.

Still applying for jobs, and it's ridiculously time-consuming and I hate it.

It was 99 degrees here yesterday, according to my car's thermometer display. It felt like it was 110 with all the humidity. Today wasn't as bad, but geez! It's not even July yet? Do we really have to put up with this for two more months or longer?

I'm applying for a job in Anchorage. (See above paragraph for reason why.)

Books:

Read this one a couple of weeks ago. If you like biographies about Georgian society members, you'll love it. I tried to watch the Stanley Kubrick movie based on Thackery's story of this event, but only made it through two hours, which was half of the movie. I'm going to attempt the second half one day when I'm hyped up on caffeine.

This book was beautiful writing. I even wept a little. Didn't want it to end. One good thing about being a bum is all the reading I'm able to do now.

Here is what I'm reading now. I fell in love with it after about three pages.


This one is next. Again, loving all this spare reading time!

My mom brought me this book when she came to visit last weekend. I've been wanting it for such a long time and now I own it. Thrilled is the word.

Tired of inserting hyperlinks.

Movies I've watched recently:

"Revolutionary Road" - doesn't live up to the book, but still a good one. The best actors you'll see today. If you like Mad Men, you should see this.

"Gran Torino" - first half was funny, then it got poignant and then predictable, but I still liked it and would recommend it, but it is somewhat violent. Clint Eastwood: still a bad ass.

"Mrs. Henderson Presents" - love Judi Dench and this is her most feisty role ever. And, it's based on a true story, so if you watch it, be sure to watch the special features for the history of the event.

"I've Loved You So Long" - should have been titled "So Long, You're Boring." Kristen Scott Thomas can speak French. That's about all there is to this one.

"The Reader" - how many time have I written this: not as good as the book - ? I think it would have been difficult to follow if I had not read the book.

"Rescue Dawn" - Don loaned it to me because I have been obsessed with the Vietnam War and its movies and literature for years and hadn't seen this movie. One-word description: tense.

"The Secret Life of Bees" - again, not as good as the book, but a good cast and it was enjoyable. Except, in a movie starring Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys, you'd think they'd break out singing just once so we could hear their exceptional voices! And, Dakota Fanning's Southern accent was as bad as Olympia Dukakas's in Steel Magnolias. British actors can nail an American accent, and American actors can do the same to British accents, but why can't a Yankee ever get it right when trying to be a Southerner? It bugs me.

I finished all three seasons of "Arrested Development". Oh, lordy, they were funny. Buster was my favorite character, but they were all equally evil/creepy/endearing.

Season Four of "Weeds" is on its way to me from Netflix. Can't wait.

That looks like a lot of movie viewing and book reading, but hey, it's hot outside.

Okay, okay, I'm also playing a lot of Scrabble to break up the monotony.

That's all I've got.

Happy Birthday, David

Dear Dave,

You're such a good brother and one of my very best friends. I have been blessed to have you in my life for all these years, which are too many to count. We're getting old, you know? I hope you know how much I appreciate you as a brother and as a person. I see how people light up when you walk into a room because they all know their friend has arrived. Yes, you're a friend to everyone and I don't know a soul who doesn't like you. Thanks, too, for marrying Dawn and having such amazing children. Looks like you inherited the best from our gene pool and passed it along to Emily and Reece. My teeth are now aching from all this sweetness.


Seriously, you didn't think I'd let your birthday slide without a little public humiliation, did you? (I love the way Bera is looking at you in this photo.)

Love Having Company

Lots going on, and I am the busiest unemployed person I know. Where does the time go? All the little projects I've been planning to tackle this summer? Not even begun. I look for jobs and apply for jobs and look for more and then I take a break and read a book or watch a movie. But, mostly, I've been entertaining!

Mom and Don didn't get to come up for a visit, but Emily came on Memorial Day and stayed until Thursday. Dawn met me at the halfway point on Monday and then again on Thursday to pick her up, and that time she had Reece with her, so we had lunch and I got some good, sweet hugs from the boy, who is as tall as his mother now. I swear he's cuter than the last time I saw him, too.

Emily and I had such a good time hanging out, watching movies, shopping at the flea market and vintage stores. We scored a beautiful white linen dress for Emily at one of the shops. It still had the tag on it and it was an incredible bargain and Em looked gorgeous in it, so we had to buy it! We had dinner at the wonderful Mexican place Emily loves and Pete joined us. Emily wanted to inspect the new boyfriend and she approved my dating him. I love that girl. Didn't want her to leave.

The next day, Friday, Sherry and Sophie arrived and stayed until Sunday. We had a great time, too. Sophie is the sweetest 13-year-old, and I had fun spoiling her like I do Emily and Reece. Sherry and I stayed up until 4am and 3am both mornings talking, which left us dragging our butts during the day, but we had so much to talk about! They're coming back to spend next weekend with me on their way home from Omaha, so I'm looking forward to that.

Sandy and I went to a conference earlier this week at Osage Beach. It was a good conference, mostly, and the food was great and it was nice spending time with Sandy. We had a two-bedroom suite and we both wished we could have stayed an extra night but we had to get home. I tripped on some uneven gravel the first night and hurt my already broken toe, which made walking difficult, but I managed to get around okay. Toe's better, but I'm still not ready to resume my walking every morning.


Next up: visits from Reece, Don, and Mom, but not sure in what order. I just know that they all need to get a visit in before I leave this place.

I'll return tomorrow for a birthday post for a dear brother of mine.

So, later.