I love Billy Joel. I’m so glad he’s getting back into making rock and roll. But what the hell was that version of the national anthem?

Are you watching the game? I’m sorry. You need someone who’s going to belt it out.

I haven’t posted in a few days and I’m actually suffering from blog guilt.

Now Shakey might define “blog guilt” as the guilt a blogger SHOULD experience as they ignore their in-person family to spend time posting and reading other blogs, but I am experiencing something a little different.

I’m feeling guilty because I’ve been lying in bed trying to get better (yes I have strep for the third time in six weeks–and I’m not a sickly person), and meanwhile I can’t come up with any coherent thoughts that seem worthy of sharing. Now I certainly have a few things I’ve been batting around…but nothing that seems to entertain even me.

So once again, I present you with the detritus bouncing around in my noggin.

How many TV personalities made their “breakthrough” via a natural disaster? Certainly, Anderson Cooper let himself be blown around a few hurricanes before he started “keeping them honest” after Katrina. After watching way too much CNN, I’m predicting that Rob Marciano will be next. Not to belittle the awful tornadoes that hit FL this week, but I think people are going to start noticing how cute he really is…though Soledad is down there too, so he may not get all the camera time Anderson commanded by his willingness to be blown away.

Don’t hold this against me…I was in a sorority. Now I’ve heard all the criticisms…you had to buy your friends, etc. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn’t really know anyone when I arrived at school. It was a good way to meet some folks. I don’t think I would have survived the process at a big state school…I just can’t maintain a smile (or withhold snarky comments) that long, but in New Orleans it was a whole different thing. There was no living in the sorority house because that would have been a violation of the brothel laws–you HAVE to love New Orleans–so you didn’t spend all your time with just “sisters.” Besides, we had the opportunity for a social life outside of the “greek” world because well it’s hard not to have a social life in NOLA.

I definitely didn’t “love” (say with high-pitched BFF voice) all the women in my sorority. There was a division of members between the cool women and the “muffins.” You see the “muffins” followed all the rules. They didn’t talk during meetings, they always attended all mandatory events and for the most part they didn’t get sloppy at parties. However, I met the woman who is my best friend in the whole world through my sorority, so I consider any of the crap that belonging to a sorority met totally worth it.

Said best friend, PFunky, was a “muffin” during college…or so I thought. Turns out that was just the image she chose to project to most–well that and she still feels the need to follow most rules.
It was living in DC after college that I learned that she had more of a “past.” It all became very clear when during a camping trip at the beach (ugh the mosquitos!) under the influence of a number of substances–not the least of which was probably all the DEET–she leaned over to me and declared, “you know I might be a muffin on the outside…but I’m a jalapeno pepper on the inside.”

I spit beer everywhere at that statement.

And why am I talking about all of this? Because for some random reason I pulled out an old sorority sweatshirt to keep me warm today. And I just cracked myself up going out in the world at 36 with greek letters on. I don’t know if anyone else thought it was as funny as I did. Maybe it’s the illness…but hell if I can’t crack myself up, who can?

So like I said, and I think I’ve proven through this drivel, I just don’t have anything worthy to offer up right now. But I’ll keep trying. I hope you’ll hang with me.

This month I nominate this post about his parents by Kevin Charnas as the Perfect Post.

I started reading Kevin by way of Jessica at Oh The Joys. At the time, he was modeling for us all of his potential Halloween costumes and I was hooked immediately. Kevin’s wry and outrageous humor kept me coming back, but in between his hysterical storytelling he has woven some beautiful tributes to the people and ideas he is passionate about–and the post I nominated is one such example. Please take a few minutes to visit with Kevin and hear about the love he has for his parents. As a mom, I could only hope my sons would feel the same way about me some day.

The Perfect Post Awards
Each month the wonderful ladies over at Petroville and Suburban Turmoil host the Perfect Post awards. Bloggers are encouraged to nominate their favorite posts from the past month for such an award. Please go over to their sites to check out the other nominees for January.

I’ve been tagged by Kat to complete the 6 Weird Things meme. I could definitely come up with way more than six, but my mom is a reader and well I’d love for some of you to come back so…

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I can bend my pinky finger all the way down into a “c” shape without bending any of my other fingers.

2. I like to eat my grilled cheese sandwiches cut into even fractions and then dipped into syrup.

3. I’m still terribly embarrassed about a lie I told my friends in third grade about how I had to wear sunglasses because I had some eye thing. I knew they knew I was lying and I told it anyway.

4. As I’m boarding any plane, I am driven to touch the outside of the plane making an “x” and then tapping the center of the “x” three times. Ironically, this is the same “hex” I used to put on the pocket whenever a friend and I played pool. It didn’t ever work then, so I’m not sure why I’m relying on it to keep my plane aloft now.

5. I derive an inordinate amount of pleasure from popping a good zit. You know the kind that splat on the mirror? Gross, huh?

6. I have a secret crush on a man who is a grandfather.

Let’s see…who can I tag? How about Eric, Jill, QueenieBadd, Janet a.k.a. “Wonder Mom”, Dorky Dad and Lotta.

It’s that day of the week again. This week we have the lovely St. Jude helping us navigate the obstacles of pages sure to bore our socks off.

If you’d like to be a part of this esteemed group, reviewing media that really stinks, feel free to click here to find out what it’s all about.

I read many blogs, and the list grows every day, but I have a recent new favorite that is woefully under-read and deserving of massive traffic.

Please if you will meet the incredible JJ Dufresne over at I’m Just Drunk in Someone’s Garage.

Every day, the posts just get better. That Brandi and Betty Sue…they’re some funny girls with a very interesting friend.

Go! Get out of here! Go check it out!!

I’m in Florida for work–in the town I lived during highschool.

I’m not one of those folks who looks back on highschool as the best time of my life. It wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong…I made the best of it, but I suffered all the typical angst of a teenage girl. Okay, maybe a little more than the average highschool teeny bopper.

This afternoon I took some quiet time to look out over the water and just let my thoughts wander (which with three boys is a luxury in and of itself) and I was surprised by the wave of emotions that hit me.

Not to be lazy, but I just posted on this topic not long ago, so I am referring back to it today. Especially since we have the protesters in town.

I hope readers who don’t agree with my position will at least respect it. I promise, I respect yours…I just don’t agree.

So anyway, here you go…

The “choice” issue has, for me, always meant so much more than the right to get an abortion but the right to self-determination on issues pertaining to one’s body.

I’ve always felt that a person’s position on the abortion issue told me so much about their whole outlook on the rights of all humans. The right to have sex with the consenting adult of your choice, the right to abstain from sex, the right to decorate your body, the right to change your body in some way, the right to prevent someone from changing your body…the right to make decisions for oneself and for the body your soul inhabits while on this planet is that too much to ask?

There are plenty of decisions folks may make under this precept that I don’t agree with or wouldn’t pursue myself, but I’ll defend their right to make those decisions till the end. I don’t ask for all people to condone abortion, but to leave the decision up to the woman who must face that decision herself.

Would that we had a world where every pregnancy was a wanted pregnancy, unfortunately that is just not the reality. We should all be working to make it a reality, yet those organizations (and their supporters) who label themselves as “pro-life” aren’t necessarily concerned with this. The National Right to Life organization clearly states in their mission statement that they do not even have a position on sex-education or contraception!

How can they claim to want to reduce abortion in this country but not even engage in a conversation about how to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies?! As a mother, I know how awe-inspiring bringing a child into this world is. As a mother, I also know the patience, resources and love needed to raise a healthy child. How many children would be raised without those things if we were to outlaw abortion?

And please don’t send me a comment about all those unwanted babies being adopted…I’m adopted. You know how many kids in this country go unadopted every year? Being adopted has never once affected my feeling on this issue because of the very premise this post began with–the decisions about one’s body need to be made by the brain inhabiting that body.