pianoman, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is another can't decide what to do paintings. In the original concept drawing of this piece the man was dancing with this woman above the clouds. Then I found that I liked him there solo. Now I'm wondering if I should stay true to the original concept and bring her back into the painting as well as add stars and musical notes to the background?

swingman, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a painting I've been working on for the longest time.

It's one those things were you start working on it and then get stuck as to what to do next. You start wondering to yourself... Is it complete or incomplete? Should I put an expression on the face or leave it blank ala Annie Lee? Should it be fall or spring? Should I add another person? etc., etc., etc.

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to post it as well as the other paintings I can't quiet decide what to do next with. I'm doing this because it would give me the opportunity to look at the painting anew in a different media and possibly get a better idea as to what to do next.....

Today, I again spent my Saturday at the library. I went there to drop off the cd’s I borrowed a couple of weeks ago. The CD’s that were due today were: Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits, Television’s Greatest Hits; Volume 7 Cable Ready, CBS: The First 50 Years, and Television’s Greatest Hits Volume II. So for the past couple of weeks I’ve been listening to the themes to TV shows and Buddy Holly.

From doing this I’ve learned that Jesse Frederick has a real knack for composing a hook. Frederick sang and composed the themes to Full House and Family Matters. When the show’s were originally on I never payed that much attention to their theme songs. However, listening to the CD I found their themes to be both hummable and instantly memorable.

I also liked Rockapella’s, Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? I have never watched Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego? so the tune was new to me. I also loved hearing an old favourite of mine, Joey Carbone’s theme to, It’s Gary Shandling’s Show. I’ve always loved the fun simplicity of that song.

I was stunned to find that Ann Hampton Calloway did the theme to The Nanny. If you can recall I saw the very energetic Ms. Calloway in concert at the BSO last season. She was simply fabulous!

Anyway, the CD’s I took back were soon replaced by new cd’s : The Great Depression: American Music in the 30’s, Enya - Memory of Trees, The Golden Age of American Rock ‘n’ Roll: Hot 100 Hits from 1954-1963, Volume 7, and Nipper’s Greatest Hits:The 50’s, Volume 1.

As you have probably surmised from my public library CD choices I have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever finding them on iTunes. The music that iTunes offers is usually new. They seem to rarely to back track and offer golden oldies.

THE COMMUTE HOME:
It was an absolute miracle! I saw absolutely no one on the #8 bus headed towards UMAB Transit Center who looked like they were on heroin.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a turquiose blue short sleeve t-shirt and a brown patterned circle and square georgette skirt. I feel classy yet street!

NEW GOAL

My new monetary goal is to save up enough money to buy a new Mac computer. I’m, doing this because quiet frankly, I feel it’s high time that I got a new one. With a little luck I might have a new one by Christmas or early next year.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a flowery short sleeve buttoned down cotton shirt along with green slacks and tan flip flops.

rolling_stones_tourdaten, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

Recently, I just recently learned that the legendary Rolling Stones will be coming to Baltimore sometime next year. They will be playing at the very tiny 1st Mariner Arena which is where I was lucky to have seen U2.

You see not too many big rock groups bother to tour Baltimore. Instead they either go over to DC, Virginia, or Pennsylvania figuring that the people of Baltimore can go to either of those shows because they are geographically near by. I’m sure that in the past and in the present many Baltimoreans have done just that. However, this Baltimorean can’t because I don’t own a car. So I am ecstatic over The Stones! Since they are The Rolling Stones I know that the ticket prices will be steep. I don’t care because I would really love to get a ticket to their show just so that I could say, “Yep, I saw The Stones way back when...”

Besides, I’d love to see them before either Mick or Keith go off to that happy tour bus in the sky. Also I kind of get the feeling that if longtime group member Charlie Watts kicked the bucket while on tour he would be quickly replaced and the tour would carry on. However, if Mick or Keith permanently left the building eg. died, the band would dissipate.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a heather grey short sleeve henley along with blue slacks and beige flip flops.

Yesterday, the Man, the Myth, the Legend, Josh Spiegelstarted work at 98 Rock as there new morning news man. I always knew that eventually he would be hired to replace the late Lopez. It was all just a matter of time. I believe I even said it somewhere in this blog. It’s like when Pierce Brosnan was finally hired to play James Bond. The only thing you could say was, “Yep, they hired the right guy!” Here’s hoping that all goes well with Josh on 98 Rock.

One thing’s for sure I will be listening to 98 Rock’s Morning Show now that Josh is on air. So far I’ve listened two days in a row! I admit I haven’t listened since Lopez passed away. Hopefully, Josh’s awkward presence will liven the show to it’s past brilliance.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today is business casual day at work. We have to dress like grown ups today because we have visitors in the building. I have on a short sleeve v-neck purple top and a purple plaid mini skirt along with black slides.

This afternoon I saw the saddest sight that I have ever witnessed while aboard a bus. First off it was around 1:30pm in the afternoon when I got on the #8 bus headed for the UMAB Transit Center. The number on the inside of the bus was #04049. It was one of the new German made Neoplan buses. I hate those buses because they don’t have enough seats on them. My all time favourite buses are the NABI’s. I find there design to be more passenger friendly than the Neoplan AN440LF buses that you see on the streets of Baltimore.

Anyway, it was at the Timonium bus stop when they got on. It was these two dark skinned black women with a baby stroller. Their hair was pulled back in a ponytail. One wore a tan top, the other a dark brown top. I thought it was just a sweet harmless mother with her friend maybe coming back from the mall.

Throughout the ride, I found myself becoming deeply concerned as I noticed that they were both falling into the very noticeable stupor that junkies fall into. This concern was deeply punctuated when one of them tried to change the baby’s diaper. The woman kept nodding off in between the diaper changing. Her mouth was gaping wide as though she was about to say something. It frightened the hell out of me. It made me worry for the safety of the baby. It was a newborn baby girl judging by the scarcity of hair on it’s head and the pink ribbon it wore around it’s noggin. The sight was so sad and pathetic it made me want to cry. In fact I did cry when I got home. I cried because there was nothing concrete I could do to save the baby’s life from it’s junkie mom. I know that it would be an absolute miracle if that baby lived to see it’s 1st birthday.

Throughout the long bus ride I became sick with worry. Did anyone notice those two? Did anyone care? Would anyone call the authorities? I couldn’t make a cell phone call because I don’t own one. Maybe I was just over reacting? Maybe Junkie Mom’s are perfectly ok to care for newborns? No one else seemed to care.... Why should I?

I asked this woman who was sitting behind me, “If you saw a woman who was obviously strung out on drugs with a newborn infant is it best to ignore the situation or report it?” This was a very unusual act for me, as I rarely initiate conversations. I just had to know from a normal non-autistic person if my feelings for wanting to report the situation were out of line. The woman went on to tell me matter of factly that, Yes, she also noticed the woman. So she knew that I wasn’t talking hypothetically. Then she said, but who do you report it to? What would they do about it? Then she went on to say it was a crying shame. She told me that she was shocked by the shear number of junkies she saw in Baltimore. Apparently, she had returned home for her sister’s funeral. She told me it wasn’t like this when she left Baltimore many years ago.

I felt a relieved after talking.... well listening.... to the woman. So not everyone on the bus cast a blind on the junkie mother and her new born! They did see what I saw but wasn’t sure what to do or if they should get involved.

When I got home I immediately called the police. I wasn’t sure what good that would do because the Junkie Mother and her strung out friend got off the bus before I did. I just had to report it to somebody to clear my conscious.

When I talked to the police on the phone they asked me why I didn’t say anything to the driver. I told them that the driver knew about the situation. Every now and then he would look back at the two of them to see if everything was OK. I though that maybe he would call the police. I supposse in the end he didn’t want to be bothered. Besides the two of them were sitting right up front by the driver. I would not have felt comfortable talking to the driver right in front of them. They might have started a fight with me. Who knows they might have been carrying used hypodermic needles infected with God knows what. They were junkies after all....

In the end the police said that there was nothing they could do because the women had left the bus. I told them they were on the newer buses that have surveillance camera’s on them. That didn’t seem to interest them much.

Oh, well... All that’s left for me to do is to keep the baby of the junkie mother in my prayers. I pray that she will be safe and live to see her 1st birthday and many more birthdays after that.

Today, in fact all this week I’ve been listening to the 98 Rock Morning Show in anticipation of the arrival of Josh Spiegel as there new news guy. If you can recall Josh used to do the news for the Big O and Dukes Show until 98 Rock showed up one day with a suitcase full of money. He starts up on 98 Rock this Monday.

Anyway, this morning on The 98 Rock Morning Show they got a caller who was asking about Ed Norris who was the topic of discussion at the moment. He wanted to know how he got arrested because he said the whole thing was before his time. Kirk and Mark went into an earnest explanation about Ed Norris. At the end of their explanation the caller immediately said, “Ar!” Ar! is the official sound of the Big O and Dukes Show.

News guy Josh Spiegel originated, “Ar!” It was his shortened form of, “How You Doing Out There Everybody!“ He even had a cute little baby, ”Ar!“ sound. In fact when I hear Ar! I don’t think of the Big O and Dukes Show I think more of Josh Spiegel. I wonder if they’ll be getting a lot of Ar! calls next week?

This of course makes me wonder, Who owns Ar! ? Is it Josh Spiegel or Infinity Broadcasting? Ar! was first heard in this market while he was an Infinity radio employee. This makes me wonder will Josh legally be able to mention his ”Big news window” and his assistant Agnes? Does Josh own the creative license on these concepts or does Infinity Radio own them?

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a white shirt sleeved blouse and a patterned broomstick skirt. I like wearing broomstick skirts because they don’t have to be ironed....

THE COMMUTE HOME:

On the way home at about 5:45 pm Red Bull van pulled up at the Timonium light rail stop. It had a giant can of Red Bull on the roof. It also had California licence plates. When it stopped the very attractive looking blonde driver and blonde passenger got out and asked if any one wanted a Red Bull. The driver and passenger were a thin, healthy looking, blonde man and woman. They were obviously models hired for there looks. Anyway, after they made there announcement a lot of people went to the car and got a free Red Bull.

I didn’t get in line because I’m not sure if Red Bull is an alcoholic beverage or not. I don’t drink and I didn’t want to be stuck carrying around something I don’t drink. It’s kind of hard to tell from the design of the can. After every one who wanted one got there free Red Bull the attractive looking couple sped off.

Also yesterday I saw a group of Cindy Sheehan supporters gathered in front of the State Office building across the street from the light rail station. My train was coming and I didn’t have enough time to stop and take a picture of them.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I wore green slacks and a short sleeve blouse with a sweetheart neckline. The soft cotton blouse was white and had a pattern of red roses with green leaves on it.

MORNING COMMUTE:

I missed my light rail train this morning because of an altercation that occured in the 7 -ELEVEN between a crazy or on drugs man who made himself a cup of coffee and refused to pay for it and a 7 -ELEVEN worker. It was scary. I kept feeling afraid that he might have a weapon on him. The man behind the counter immediatly got on his phone and called the police. The crazy or on drugs man kept yelling at the other 7 -ELEVEN worker, "I'm the king! I'm the king!", as he held up the cup of coffee.

Luckily, there was already a police car parked out in front of the store. The policeman eventually got the man to move away. The police officer was a very tall, big, black, bald intimidating looking man.

I still can't understand why the man behind the counter was still on the phone with the police giving them information about what was going on and where they were located. The situation was solved....

On light rail after all the 7 _ELEVEN drama, I saw a man with actual vinyl records in his hands. He didn't look old but then again was bald. It's kind of difficult to judge the age of bald men.

THE ED NORRIS SHOW
Ed Norris with Big O and Dukes is a more serious show than the Big O and Dukes Show. He was great when he was on for just one hour a day. However, since the former Baltimore City Police Commissioner got off of house arrest and is now on for the entire four hours he's really dragged the show down. Bring back the funny! Unmuzzle Chad Dukes!

Personally, I think they should just give Ed Norris his own show. Why did he have to hijack their show to the point that it's no longer called the Big O and Dukes Show but instead is called The Ed Norris Show With Big O and Dukes? Let's face it he's more law enforcement oriented and O and D are comedy oriented. Well, at least Chad Dukes is..... Hey, If I wanted serious talk radio I'd be listening to WBAL, not WHFS.

Right now it's almost like they (Big O and Dukes) have one foot out of the door already. They have put in an audition tape for the Opie and Anthony Show's very own Golden Ticket competition. Five winners get a spot on Opie and Anthony's XM High Voltage channel. I hear Ceasar, there phone screener was in New York last week dropping off their audition tape. I understand that Opie and Anthony liked there audition tape so much that they played it on air. I personally don't know because I don't have satellite radio.....yet.

So far Opie and Anthony have added Ron and Fez to there XM channel. Here's hoping that O and D make it on there as well and off the train wreck that is Baltimore's Infinity Radio.

98 ROCK JOINING THE 21ST CENTURY?

Shocking!! Absolutely Shocking!! Today, I heard Mr. Brightside by The Killers being played on 98 Rock during Sarah Fleischer's shift. This is shocking because 98 Rock is a station that appears to have not changed it's playlist since 1985. They play stuff like Led Zepplin, Motely Crew, and Metallica.

WHAT I'M WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark blue polo shirt that has my company's logo on the sleeve. I don't work in place where we have to wear uniforms. One year they were raising funds for something and offered workers the opportunity to buy a polo with the company's logo on it. I believe this was around the time we started up a company baseball team. The baseball team by the way is now defunct.

I also have on blue jean capri pants and tan leather flip flops.

Today is the anniversary of the day that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley died. I usually spend the afternoon listening to the Don and Mike Show’s Annual Elvis Death Day Show. Normally it’s a fun show jam packed with Elvis music and funny Elvis trivia and stories. However, today’s show was different.....

It is a known fact that Don and Mike take unscreened calls on their show. It was the very first call of the day that made me seething mad. It was an insensitive man who wanted to know how Freda died. Then the next thing you know his girlfriend/wife was laughing in the background. I was sickened! The man(Don) had just lost his wife(Freda) in a car accident! Then the girlfriend/wife got on the phone and asked rather jovially, “How’s Freda?” I just couldn’t believe the insensitivity of those two!!! It was as though they were getting a rise out of kicking someone down who had just lost his wife. In my opinion they were the two most vilest callers I have ever heard. They weren’t human they were sub-humans!!! After they went away I though that the show would get back on track to being funny again.

Then the next thing you know there call was followed up a little later by another vile person. This one said in a taunting tone to Don, “You can dish it out but you can’t take it!“ I couldn’t believe his delightful tone in kicking down a man who had just lost his wife! I have never in the history of listening to the Annual Don and Mike Elvis Death Day show wanted to go to the homes of callers and punch them in the face.

I just do not understand the lack of humanity that those two callers had. Are they the types who would taunt and make fun of people to their face who had just lost a loved one. If so then they are truly sick people in need of serious psychological help.

Eventually, much later the show did get back on track to being funny.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on dark blue slacks and a blue blouse that has various shades of blue daisies on it.

jamesblunt, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a picture of James Blunt who sings a brilliant new song called, "You're Beautiful".

MY TOP 10 BILLBOARD MUSICAL PREDICTIONS:

I have really been taken by this song I first heard on
Virgin Radio called, You’re Beautiful sung by singer/songwriter James Blunt. Locally, the song has been picked up by WTMD and I understand that New York’s WPLJ has added it to there play list.

Who is James Blunt you ask? Blunt is a handsome hippie looking former British Army officer. He hails from a British military family. He spent 5 years in the Army and was a part of the Kosovo peace keeping mission. Judging from his song, “You’re Beautiful”, he is a very intuitive songwriter. Even Elton John has sung his praises about Blunt’s talent.

I, a non lover of ballads and slow songs find, You’re Beautiful, simply amazing. The lyrics are highly relatable and I can’t get the melody out of my head. I can just see this song being played at weddings and on late night request shows. Listening to this song is like listening to the story of your life. The story of the beautiful girl or guy that got away because you suddenly realized that it can never be because they are way out of your league.

So far the song has spent 5 weeks at number #1 on the UK pop charts. I suppose I’ll have to wait a couple of months to see if Carrie Fisher’s former houseguest shoots to the top of the US charts like he did in the UK and the rest of Europe. Blunt’s cd is due to be released in the US in October.

I rarely make chart predictions but I have a strong feeling that this one will be top ten if not on Billboard’s Pop chart then Adult Contemporary charts.

By the way I found a video stream for James Blunt’s song.

Another song I feel has a great future on the charts is Daniel Powter’s song Bad Day. This is another song that I discovered on Virgin Radio. I’m not sure if WTMD has picked it up yet. By the way Powter is a Canadian. Not that I think that’s bad or anything....

I also found a video stream for Daniel Powter’s song.

I guess I’ll have to wait a couple of months to see if either of these songs chart in the US.

That’s it for my future Billboard Top Ten Predictions. Only time will tell if I have a good enough ear to predict how the US charts will treat Blunt and Powter’s singles. If they both manage to make it to Top 10 I’ll be simply over the moon with joy.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I’m wearing a semi-monochromatic theme of powder blue. I have on a powder blue v-neck top and powder blue slacks. The colour is broken up by my beige sandals.

Nothing terribly interesting happened today until after I left the supermarket. I went through my usual Saturday routine; payed bills, went to the laundromat, and then the supermarket.

The one exciting thing that happened today was that I ran into Quinton. Quinton is a former neighbor from the hood I grew up in. I lived in that neighborhood up until the age of 27. Quinton is about a decade older than me.

He used to work in the Korean owned neighborhood corner store. When the original Korean owners left for New York and another group of Koreans took over the store, Quinton still remained. One got the feeling that Quinton came as a package deal with the store no matter who owned it.

The last time I saw Quinton was a couple of years ago on a #5 bus headed to Mondawmin. He was lamenting over the fact that all his sisters and everyone he knew had children. I told him that I didn’t have any children. This didn’t seem to cheer him up any.

One got the feeling that he really wanted to be a father ASAP. I never saw a man so anguished and desperate over wanting to be a father. I always thought that only women wanted to be parents. This experience really opened up my eyes to the possibility that men could also want to be parents.

Today, I ran into Quinton for the second time this decade as I was leaving the supermarket. It seems that he has moved into my neighborhood and has acquired a brand new wife. At 40something, it’s his first marriage. I wasn't sure if it would have been a good idea for me to ask if he and his wife had kids yet. I wasn’t sure if it was still a sore spot with him. Since he didn’t bring it up neither did I.

Anyway, I hope that Quinton and his wife are happy and have a house full of kids. Lord knows that there father will cherish them.

MEMORIES OF MY OLD HOOD

During the 90’s my old neighborhood became over run with the drug trade. The dealers were very loud and obnoxious. It was next to impossible to sleep at night. They were not quiet or discreet about what they were doing. They would shout at the top of their lungs the products they were selling. Morning, afternoon, and night in my old neighborhood was tinged with the cries of, “Boy Girl!”, “White Out!” and, “Red Out!”

It was as though they were challenging my neighbors, who were for the most part law abiding citizens to do something.

It all seemed useless. Whenever we’d call the police the dealers would hide then come out again later when the coast was clear. Gradually, the people in my old neighborhood began to move out. When this occurred it, rendering a once vibrant neighborhood into a ghost town inhabited by drug dealers and addicts.

My father and I drove by the old neighborhood a couple of years ago. All the houses have been knocked down. The drug dealers turned it into an empty lifeless shell. It was as though they had sucked the life out of it until there was nothing left but rubble.

ackroyd, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

DAILY COMMUTE:
This mornings commute on the MTA went great. Everything ran like clock work. However, everything went bizarre on my bus ride home on the #8 bus. Well, it wasn’t exactly everything just how these two elderly female passengers were dressed.

I’d say that the two women were in there 50’s to early 60’s. They got on the bus somewhere on York Road. They were dressed in these see through net tops that you sometimes see men wearing. You could clearly see there bras and everything else through the netting. It was a shocking and frightening sight. I felt embarrassed for any children or grandchildren they might have.

They both seemed to be on something. As they held onto the bars of the crowded bus they would sink down lower and lower. No matter how low they went they never tipped over. I think they might have been on heroin.

BIG NEWS: Dan Ackroyd Has Asperger’s Syndrome!!
I was absolutely shocked today to hear on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terri Gross that Dan Ackroyd has Asperger’s Syndrome. No one speculated about it, he said it himself on air. I have to give him major kudos for coming out about it. Wow! I get to add another member to the celebrity Asperger’s Syndrome club!! So far we have speculated and confirmed members: Steven Spielberg, Andy Kauffman, Bill Gates, Andy Warhol, Glenn Gould, and Keanu Reeves.

I should say right now if this is your first trip to my site that I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Since I have this disorder I’m always a bit happy when a famous person comes forward and says that they also have the disorder. It gives me hope that maybe if I try hard enough I can make my dreams come true.

Also from the NPR show I learned that Ackroyd has a fascination with law enforcement and hates to leave out the house without carrying a badge.

In retrospect I don’t know why I found his admission so shocking. When you look back on his comedy and acting career you notice that it’s littered with classic Asperger Syndrome archetypes like Elwood Blues from the Blues Brothers and Sgt Friday from the Dragnet movie.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a beige skirt along with an orange and pink striped short sleeve top. I feel like a walking scoop of sherbert ice cream. I’m OK with that because I like sherbert. :)

I haven’t been anywhere near my computer since the start of the heat wave a couple of weeks ago. When I finally checked my email I was horrified to find 1,189 messages. The reason I don’t go by the computer much in heat is because my apartment is not air conditioned and the computer tends to draw heat. I don’t know when or if I will ever get through the mail.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on blue striped v-neck blouse and a dark blue skirt.

amlightrailstop, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a photo I took one morning of the light rail station I use. As you can see the 7eleven is conveniently across the street.

snowylightrail, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

Lately, it's been brutely hot outside. So I thought I'd post this picture I took of a light rail stop in the winter.

artscapeexhibit, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a photo of the Artscape exhibit that I dod not participate in. The reason being I'm more of a painter than a design of typography. The exhibit this year dealt with re-designing the alphabet and it had to be in.... EeeeeK! Black and White!

artscapetents, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a photograph I took of the tents I saw lined up across the street from my shuttle bus stop. The tents are out for vendors who will be selling there wares at Artscape. I think it was just on Tuesday when they popped up.

kingcrab, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is another crab sculpture I photographed after leaving from church. I like to think of this one as King Crab.

lightrailaccident, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a photo of a light rail and car accident that happened on the day that it was announced that Freda from the Don and Mike Show died. The accident as you can imagine severly delayed my commute home.

lightrailsky, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

I was looking up at the sky one morning while waiting for the light rail train to arrive. I just had to capture that sky for future reference. It was simply amazing! I believe this makes the second sky I've photographed.

rainbowcrab, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

I photographed this one on Sunday after I left from church. It appears to be a rainbow crab.

prettystreet, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

I was walking down a street one day when I noticed how utterly pretty the scene looked. Again, I had to take out my camera and capture the moment.

traincrab1, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

One Sunday after church I was walking down to the Charles theater when I noticed this crab sculpture by Penn Station. I just had to photograph it!

lightrailsculpture, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is picture I took of the sculpture that stands near the Meyerhoff shuttle stop. Since it's near the symphony I assume it's supposed to be an amalgamate of various musical instruments.

MORNING COMMUTE:
I got on the #20 bus this morning. The light rail train I got on was North Bound. The number on the inside of the train was #5037B. There were five other passengers aboard including this man who was either crazy or talking on a cell phone. I found it hard to figure out what was going on until he got off the train.

He was making all these extreme dance like hand gestures as he was talking. From the back he looked disheveled his clothes looked dusty. When he got up I noticed he was carrying tools and a construction worker hat. Mystery solved! He was not mentally ill. He was just a construction worker who has a tendency to talk with hands. One things for sure with the disheveled clothing he sure looked like a crazy person from behind. Then again construction work is not the type of work where wearing your Sunday best is job a requirement.

THE ARROGANT 7 ELEVEN CUSTOMER:

At the 7 eleven this morning there was this man standing in line in front of me who was eating the sandwich he was going to buy. This man in no way looked like a crazy, drunk, or homeless person. I as well as a number of customers in line found this sight very amusing. The man must have been very rich and hungry.

The guy at the counter told him that he couldn’t ring up the sandwich because he had opened it up. So the man went back and got another sandwich like the one he was eating so that the man at the cash register could ring it up. The man of course was loudly protesting that the man was working in the store and had no idea how much things cost in his own store.

I’m not sure but I think it might have been a case where it could only be rung up by the upc code on the package. Anyway, the man who didn’t look poor payed for the sandwich and left.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a hot pink top along with light blue slacks. The shoes I have on are tan leather flip flops.

It’s raining outside this morning. I hope that the rain helps to bring the temperature down.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a striped floral blouse. I also have on green slacks. Also today is the first August appearance of my beige Muppet shoes. They don’t have pictures of Muppets on them. They’re just plain canvas tennis shoes that I imagine a Muppet might wear.

jennings, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

Long time ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings passed away yesterday. Despite being Canadian he was my all time favourite anchor. I admired him because he had this air of sophisticated coolness about him. It was like watching a royal prince deliver the news.

I was not aware of his passing until they said something about it today on the Big O and Dukes show which is soon to be called The Ed Norris Show with Big O and Dukes Show. As everyone knows Jennings died of lung cancer. I wasn’t too surprised when his lung cancer diagnosis was revealed.

I recall being horrified when I saw a candid interview he did a decade or two ago. In this interview they showed footage of him going through his day to day activities as a network anchor. In almost every scene they showed he seemed to have a cigarette in his hand smoking.

As a kid after seeing this I was thoroughly horrified with the knowledge that my favorite network anchor was a smoker! As a kid you naturally assume that the people you admire live clean healthy lives devoid of vice. For a while I couldn’t bring myself to watch his newscasts because I felt let down. Yes, I turned to the dark side and watched Tom Brokaw mispronounce words on NBC News. Eventually I grew up and realized that Peter Jennings was human and like all humans he wasn’t perfect. I will greatly miss seeing Jennings on the magic box called TV.

Today I went to church then afterwards I walked down to the Charles to see The Beat That Skipped My Heart. The Beat That Skipped My Heart is a French remake of a 1978 American movie called, Fingers. The original movie starred Harvey Keitel as a piano prodigy turned debt collector for his domineering father. Keitel as Tom Seyr has to a make a decision of either continuing on with his career in music or remaining a thug.

Overall, I feel that the remake is very good. There were lots of action sequences. It felt more American tone than French. Then again that can be expected as it is a remake of an American movie. Romaine Duris was great in the Keitel role of Tom Seyr. I also liked Linh Dan Pham as Tom’s much put upon female piano tutor, Miao Lin. She did not speak French and he did not speak Chinese. However, she did seem to speak English. Anyway, it all made for a very interesting and sometimes funny tutoring session.

All in all I highly recommend The Beat That Skipped My Heart. It had action and comedy.

Since no movies came out this weekend that I want to see, (Hey, there’s no way in hell that I’m going to see The Dukes of Hazzard!) So instead I just went to the library and then off to the supermarket.

While at the library I got this bright idea to borrow cd’s. I don’t know why it never occurred to me that I could just rip songs off the cd to download to my iPod. I’m not sure if this is illegal. It’s certainly is cheaper than iTunes.

promo2, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

Just today I’ve come to the decision that I will not be purchasing the latest vanilla version of the Doctor Who dvd’s. No, I have not given up on the man from Gallifrey. My motivation for doing this is not out and abandonment of the new series but due to finances. I just feel that it would be more prudent to wait until the box set comes out in November. So there, I’ve wrote it! I’m holding out on Who until November.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark blue short sleeve blouse that has a white flower pattern it. Along with this very dramatic looking blouse I have on a dark blue skirt and black slides.

The Big O and Dukes Show absolutely sucks without the presence of Chad Dukes. Dukes is on vacation all this week.

The show is way too serious with Big O aka Oscar flying solo at the helm. I feel like I’m listening to a freaking Sunday morning public affairs show. I can’t wait until Chad brings the funny back.

I’m also still wondering if Josh Spiegel has Asperger’s Syndrome or if he’s just doing a funny bit as the chronically awkward news guy. I suppose the world well, the Baltimore listening public will never know if it’s real or Memorex....

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a v-neck sky blue short sleeve blouse and a beige skirt.

Good news! Well, if your a rabid Maryland Anti-Bush liberal like me. Anyway, I heard on NPR this morning that the state of Maryland is finally going to investigate the Diebold voting machines that they had installed. They are looking into whether it would be feasible to have a paper trail so that the machines would be held more accountable. I believe I’ve said all that I’ve wanted to say about Diebold last fall after the faux re-election of the Bush oil crime family regime. To learn even more about the anti-Diebold movement I suggest you visit Bev Harris’ Black Box Voting website. I also feel it’s no accident that the oil companies are experiencing the greatest profits in history since Bush took office.

Also I hear Bush will be taking the longest vacation ever in the history of the Presidency, five weeks!!! Some might say he’s been on vacation for the last five years. :)

I also feel that the odds are against him firing Karl Rove for endangering an FBI agent by revealing her name to the media. Rove is after all considered as a pit bull for the Republican party.

WHAT I’M WEARING:

Today, I have on green slacks, and a floral short sleeve button down blouse.

Every mode of transportation I take to and from work ran smoothly today. Ok, except for when I left to go home....

THE HELLISH COMMUTE FROM WORK:
It appears that there was some sort of an accident on the street where I take the bus to go home. There were county cop cars and a line of red flares were on the ground preventing traffic from going south bound. When I walked down the street to further investigate it looked like they were working on a power line.

So I decided to walk back up the street to hopefully wait for a bus. It was next to impossible to cross the street to where I normally catch the bus because the traffic was endless and being diverted elsewhere. So I turned on my radio to see if I could hear any traffic or MTA updates about the area I was near. I head nada, zip, nothing at all. The only thing I could do was wait and hopefully a bus would eventually appear.

I waited there for nearly an hour when a bus finally stopped to let me on. A couple of diverted buses did drive by but didn’t bother to stop. I even waived my arms wildly to flag them down but they didn’t stop. I guess they were too busy trying to follow there new diverted path to even consider letting on any new passengers.

This burned me up because there weren’t too many passengers aboard there buses. I found it difficult to comprehend that they could not figure out the reason for this could possibly be because of the diverted route they were following!!! Since there route was being diverted wouldn’t it be logical that they would be picking up passengers along their new diverted route and not the old one along which there was an accident diverting their usual route. Stupid Retarded Ass Hole MTA drivers!!!

Anyway, I give a thousand blessings and praises to the MTA driver who eventually picked me up. He was an older senior citizen looking driver. The vast majority of drivers that ignored me and my trying to flag them down were all youngish looking. May the old guy live long and prosper!!

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a tight heather grey short sleeved henley and blue slacks.

I had a scheduled day off from work today. I spent the day relaxing as I celebrated Lammas.

The most touching thing I heard today was Don Geronimo on The Don and Mike Show. Today was his first day back after his wife died in a tragic car accident. He did the show solo with out Mike and the rest of the crew. It was the most touching and poignent radio I’ve ever heard. It really came through that he had lost the love of his life. I can only wish one day to find the love that Don and Freda shared.

QUICK REVIEW:

LADIES IN LAVENDER
This was a nice sweet little British movie directed by veteran actor English Charles Dance. The movie had a nice slow leisurely pace to it. It’s not the type of movie to see if you like non stop action and adventure.

The movie was about these two elderly sisters who one day come upon a young shipwrecked Polish man and nurse him to back health. They then begin to develop motherly feelings toward him. One even develops a slight crush on him.

Overall, I really liked the movie a lot. I know that it will not be everyone’s cup of tea because of the slow pace. If you like sweet little British movies I’d suggest that you go see it.