The Failure of Prohibition

I totally get why Prohibition failed in the early 20th century in the United States.

I'm not a big drinker. I have friends who will go out with us and seem genuinely surprised when I have a glass of wine or a cocktail or a beer. Christopher's parents (remember - we've been together for eight and a half years) occasionally re-ask me whether or not I drink at all (since I frequently drive when we go to visit them, I tend not to drink).

But I do like wine. And beer. And some cocktails. And on weekends like this I realize how much I like them.

You see, due to a weird non-sinus/sinus/jaw infection thing, I'm on some antibiotics which don't mix with alcohol. Basically, I was told that this stuff won't just have its efficacy impacted by alcohol, but it would actually make me sick to mix the two. And, you know, I'm taking the antibiotics so that I can *stop* being sick, so I really don't want to work against that.

But the week was kind of long, and Christopher left yesterday morning for a few days, and I got home last night and thought "I could really go for an Amaretto and Coke." But... yeah... those antibiotics. So I just had the Coke, instead.

Then tonight, as I have been sitting and watching TV, I found myself thinking "A drink would go really well with this..." After which I reminded myself that maybe chocolate milk would be good.

I finish my antibiotics in a couple of days, and should be able to have a drink by about Wednesday (apparently they take 2 days to fully work their way out of your system). Luckily, that's the same day Christopher gets home, so possibly we'll be able to celebrate by raising a glass.

I cannot imagine what it would have been like to get a craving for alcohol on February 15, 1920, and have had to wait a little more than 13 years to actually have a drink.

A Valentine's Eve Tiz List

I was thinking of putting together a list of things I loved for Valentine’s Day. But “love” is a really strong word. When you use it properly, it’s the kind of word that is supposed to be used for people, not just stuff.

So, since Valentine’s Day is hyped as the day of love, but this is only Valentine’s Eve, I decided to go with a list of things that I just really like a lot. In no particular order. These are simply things that make me happy on one level or another. (Fourteen of them, since Valentine’s Day is on the 14th, obviously.)

1) Peanut butter. On a spoon. Dipped in Nestle Quik. (Yes, that’s all one thing.)

2) Sunny days – regardless of temperature.

3) Hostess apple pies.

4) Playing "stair ball" with the pup. (I stand at the bottom, she stands at the top. She drops a tennis ball down to me, I toss it back up to her. It's part of our morning routine. It *might* have contributed to one or two mornings when I got to work just a hair late...)

5) Buttercream frosting.

6) Canned black olives, and green olives (with the red pimiento) out of a jar.

7) The word serendipity.

8) Facebook. (Okay, this is a love-hate situation. But I do enjoy seeing updates from people I know – or knew – I just wish they would quit mucking about with it.)

9) Fast food. Yes, I’m all for a really good meal at a really good restaurant, but I grew up 35 miles from the closest McDonald’s. Fifty-five miles from the closest Long John Silver’s. Panda Express didn’t exist when I was a kid, Der Wienerschnitzel and H. Salt Esquire Fish & Chips were things we got when we visited my grandparents in Los Angeles, and Burger King was my “taste of home” place when I lived in Paris. I totally crave fast food from time to time. And I’m okay with that.

10) Insurance.

11) Disneyland. And Walt Disney World. Both kind of equally, but for totally different reasons.

12) Really comfy sweaters.

13) “Curl up on the couch with a book or a bad movie and order in food and not move” days. Preferably with Christopher, but I’ll be honest and admit that I do this when he’s not around, too. When he's not around, though, I usually also have a phone close by. Just in case - and so I don't have to get up at all.

14) Books. Yes, they’re awfully decorative, but I also just like them for the sake that they’re books. They’ve got weight to them. They’re ideas with heft. Dreams with substance. Fantasy with force (especially when flung). 

Happy Valentine’s Eve! May you spend it doing something you like well enough.

Time is Confusing

I was pretty sure that I was supposed to blog last night. But I was under the weather and didn't. In fact, I don't think I turned on my computer at all last evening after I got home.

Tonight, thinking that I was very behind, I pulled up my blog and realized that it said that I last posted "1 day ago" and I thought "I must have blogged late on Sunday, and it's just not rolled over to 2 days, yet."

So I looked more closely and saw that my last post was on 2/8/14.

Umm...

Today is 2/11/14.

I'm not always the best at math in the evenings, but I'm thinking that 2/8/14 is more than one day ago.

Even with various meds in my system to help me with my under-the-weather-ed-ness, I can kind of tell that last Saturday is more than one day ago, since it is currently Tuesday.

Maybe the whole "relativity" thing is right, and time goes at different speeds based on whether or not you're treating a non-sinus-sinus infection. In which case I'll probably be blogging again in two days. Or yesterday. Whichever comes first.

Supply and Demand

I think we've discussed that I really like having fresh flowers in the house. It's a habit I picked up when I lived in Paris not quite half my life ago.

Last weekend, because we were having some people over, I picked up a combination of daisies and roses and put them around the house. Most of them are still looking pretty good.

Luckily, I went shopping last weekend, and not this weekend. While we were out running errands today I saw that one of the local flower shops had roses, which were $9.99 for 10 last week, now selling for $29.99.

Yes, I like flowers. Yes, I like Valentine's Day. No, I don't buy into buying flowers at outrageous prices just because it's Valentine's Day.

I'll be back to flower shopping in a couple of weeks, when the prices go back to normal and I'm buying them because I want them - not because some marketers want me to.

Unexpected Event

To some people, merely speaking in an elevator is an unexpected event.

When I walk out to the parking garage with people from my office, though, elevator conversation is just part of the trip.

Of course, when we're in the elevator with other people, sometimes that makes the other people wonder what's going on.

Recently, we had walked into the elevator and there were a bunch of other people in there already. There was a new sign on the wall next to the door which said "Due to an Unexpected Event the 3rd Avenue Elevator will be closed temporarily."

One of the guys in the elevator - not one of my co-workers - said "Makes you wonder what kind of unexpected event happened, doesn't it?"

I replied, "Yeah, like was it a surprise party that got out of hand?"

And the other guy actually laughed.

I kinda love unexpected events like that.

Sesame Sherlock

Some days, you just need to sit back and enjoy what comes at you.

In the midst of finding out about weird jaw infections and trying nasal steroids (which gave me a headache) and dealing with annoyingly cold weather, I stumbled across this, today.

And it made me happy, so I'm sharing it with you.

Enjoy.

Feeling Defeated

No. I really don't care about the SuperBowl, although I do watch enough of it to know what's going on. And, of course, I try to stay current on the commercials. (Some of which were very good this year.)

I'm feeling a bit defeated tonight because after 2.5 days of sudafed and ibuprofen and, actually, a decent amount of rest, I'm still not feeling well. In fact, I think I might feel worse tonight than I did on Friday when I left work early.

I've capitulated and agreed to go to Urgent Care first thing tomorrow morning, if I still don't feel well when I get up.

Sorry. It's not a really exciting blog post, but there you have it.