Side effects

I think we can all agree that it is increasingly difficult to watch TV these days due to the commercials for prescription drugs. The drug companies are out of control! The most annoying of all (it's hard to choose, I know) has to be the guy who "trusts his heart to Lipitor." This guy has the most pathetic face of any man I have seen. He had a heart attack at 56! Unheard of!! He admits that he "should have listened to his doctor and done more for his high cholesterol.....what was I thinking?" Could he be any more whiny? Anyway, I have to change the channel when this ad comes on...not just mute the sound....because then I can still see his face. My mom and I agree about the utter pitifulness of this guy and she got DVR just so she wouldn't have to see it (well, maybe she wanted to miss a few other ads as well.) But then I saw another guy who "trusts his heart to Lipitor" who, I grant you, is not so loserish as the first guy, but close. So, I actually watched that ad (such is my life) and I observed something that I had not noticed before. There is a side effect to Lipitor that is clearly shown in the ads but, interestingly, not mentioned in the long, tiresome list of side effects that they read to you. Obviously, Lipitor makes men do stupid shit with their wives that they would not normally ever do! In the first pathetic guy (after Lipitor saves his life) he dons a stupid bike helmet (at a jaunty angle) and rides a bicycle on a bike path at like 2 miles per hour with his wife (and grown son no less, who probably has not left home yet.) This is not normal. In the less pitiful ad, the guy is antique shopping with his wife. Yeah right! I know of no real man that would do either of these things...willingly. I feel that it is my duty to alert you men to this alarming side effect. Be careful, guys!! I wonder what happens to women if they take this drug? Do they have to hang out with their husbands while they sit in their recliners and watch NASCAR? Do they have to follow them around when they are "puttering in the garage?" Good Lord.....beware!!

If for no other reason than what I have described above....please do not listen to the drug ads. You don't know what you may be getting yourself into!!!!

Miss me?

OMG, have you like totally missed me or what? Truth is that I have sort of had writer's block...or would that be blogger's block? Anyway, I have been reading so many good books lately....by actual people who can write well, that I intimidated myself. Do you wanna know what I have been reading? Do ya, do ya? OK...I will tell you. Firstly, I have to give a shout out to my friend Michele who has recommended all of these, I think. She is in a book club that sounds a bit formal to me....I mean they actually expect you to read the books and report back on them! So, I am for sure not joining that! I was in a book club once. It was made up of friends, Michele being one of them. And we not so much read, as drank. It was a beautiful group. We called ourselves "a drinking club that has a reading problem." Hahahahaha. Oh, we had fun us girls! Anyway, this new club that Michele is in is much more serious and the by-product for me is that I hear about some great books without actually having to be in the club. It's perfect.

The first one is Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Fabulous book set in Barcelona. The second and third one are Stieg Larsson's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Plays With Fire. Good books if you are in the mood to kick a guy's ass. Another one is Sara's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. That story is sad...about the holocaust. Reading about the holocaust is probably something we should do once in a while. The pure evil of the time is hard to wrap your mind around...but it should be remembered...because, of course, it still happens....perhaps not to that astonishing degree, but genocide is attempted all around the world as we try to deny....but what can we do? Then I switched to a funny book (because I had to) by Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. That book was a memoir about Bill's childhood in Des Moines, Iowa during the 50's. A strange and wonderful time that has more to do with our culture than we give it credit for. Completely funny book that had me laughing so hard in parts that I couldn't continue reading due to the tears in my eyes! Now I am onto The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. That is a story of an ex porn star who gets badly burned in a car accident and is visited by someone from a past life. At least I think that is what it's about. The story has not revealed itself to me completely.

So, there you go. A very good list of books if you are so inclined. I have, in the hopper so to speak, a number of very serious books about living and dying that I will share with you later...if I feel like it.

I guess my solution to the early fall (I was so hoping for an extended Indian summer) is to read. Seems reasonable. And...what have you all been doing???

One of my favorite things

Sleep. I love it. There is nothing better than being really tired and crawling into my cozy bed (with my 600 thread count sheets that I bought cheap at Ross) and falling immediatly alseep. It's even better when I dream about George Clooney giving me butterfly kisses all night and waking up 8 or 9 hours later completely refreshed, hopping out of bed and excited about my day! And most nights some variation of this scenario does occur. Admittedly, I hardly ever dream about George and the hopping out of bed part is a bit much. But this scenario does not have to exist only in Utopia.

There are some nights when I fall alseep immediatly but wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and set in to worrying about every little thing under the moon. I wonder things like: did I close the garage door? Do I have cream for my coffee in the morning? Did I pay my taxes in 1987? (I can't remember!) Is it really possible that Hillary could be our next prez? If I met George Clooney in real life..would he even look at me? If a car was travelling 30 mph for 157 miles and had two dimes and a half tank of gas would I be driving or would George? You know..things like that? And it seems like once you get started on these thoughts they clone or self mutate and multiply until you want to rip your head off. Because you know that when you do have to get up you will look and feel exactly like one of those zombies in Night of the Living Dead. Not a good look. But, wait....of course I have a solution for these night terrors! The Bach Flower essences Rescue Sleep spray. I swear this stuff works...under normal circumstances....meaning that if you are over-stressed and/or have insomnia problems, this will likely not work. But for those of us who have a clear conscience and usually sleep well, this stuff can be the difference between Night of the Living Dead and angel kisses from George. If you wake up and your brain starts to do that thing, you just spray a few shots into your mouth and you will fall back into slumberland. I am not kidding. It's awesome.