It slipped right by...

Wow. I just noticed I've been blogging on this little outlet for rants of mine for a year now. I've said some stuff and have a lot more stuff to say. So I think I'll stick around. BUT I'M STILL PISSED I DON'T GET MORE COMMENTS!! IT'S BEEN A YEAR, PEOPLE!! COME ON!

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The devastation of the hurricane. Damn. There aren't enough words. Tears and disbelief abundant. I want so desperately to do more. To go there. To help. But it's not possible. Or is it? We'll see.

Again, my heart and prayers to the refugees and animals needing care. May you get the help you need swiftly and be able to put some semblance of a life back together. I know that as soon as it's possible, I'm going to New Oreleans to sink some of my hard-earned-wasted-at-Target-every-weekend money back into their economy.

And dear Federal government - GET OFF YOUR FUCKING ASSES. Christ on a bike, you guys fucked this one all to hell.

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I can't do it this weekend, but my main priority when I get home is to get prepared. Like a lot of us, I rubber-lip, ponder and consider with fleeting thoughts, to gather the provisions my kitties and I would need in the event of an emergency. But I don't do it.

When the fires broke out in San Diego almost 2 years ago, my little town was surrounded by fires to the North, South and West that were less than 5 miles away. I was ordered to stay in my home and sat there for 3 days waiting to evacuate if need be. I was anything but prepared. I didn't have a single bottle of water in the house. I had nothing for the cats. My tank was almost empty. My sacred possessions and important paperwork in different and stupid places all over my house.

I managed to pack what I thought I could stuff in my car in a few minutes but knew that I would lose almost everything if the fires decided to make their way to my neighborhood. I went to the pet store on a day that we didn't even have safe air quality inside our homes to get a couple cardboard carriers for the kitties, just in case. It was insane and terrifying and I knew I was far from prepared.

And here I am, 2 years later with my thumb still stuffed up my butt and back to being complacent and dumb. In my area of the country an earthquake is my biggest threat, which is even harder to prepare for because there's no warning. And I know that a storm the magnitude of Katrina was so huge that maybe anything I'd done wouldn't have mattered but then again, maybe it would. Maybe I'd have some food and water and sturdy gloves and shoes and my girls would be safe and I'd be surviving a little better than the thousands of people waiting for THE GOVERNMENT TO GET OFF THEIR ASSES.

I don't know. But what I do know is that having a plan is smart. It can empower you when you're feeling helpless and tortured by what we're all witnessing right now. You don't have to buy fancy kits from disaster preparedness sites. You don't have to raid the shelves at Home Depot. But you can save those worn-out sneakers instead of throwing them away and stuff them in an old backpack with a flashlight and some batteries. You might not be resting in the lap of luxury, but I'd rather be 1% ahead of the game than 0.

These sites have excellent advice on being prepared for you and your pets. Go take a look. And don't be scared. Getting a kit together will not put a target on your head, but if it does, at least you'll be ready for it.

http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_239_,00.html

http://www.noahswish.org/Disaster%20Preparedness%20Information.htm

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OK. I'm irritated. I'm reading a bestseller upon the recommendation of a total book nerd and he assured me this novel was way fantastic and different and I'd love it. So I bought it. Now I'm reading it. And I'm irritated!

The book is The Time Traveler's Wife. Although I think it should be retitled Pete and Repeat Irritating Replay.

I should have known better than to try and read a huge book centered around time travel. The whole concept flies right over my head. Whoosh. This is why I refuse to watch the classic Back to the Future because every time they get to the scene where he vaporizes back with the car in the mall parking lot (filmed at a mall near my college, thank you) and he's also running to catch himself in real time and god dammit! Wouldn't he get stuck in a loop doing that for all eternity? I just don't get it.

The space-time continuum is lost on me. But that's OK. I have great hair.

Back to this dumb book. So I'm on like page 127 and all that's really going on is this time-flipping by the main character and he's mostly meeting up with this chick at different times in her life. Her age is going chronologically, but he's all over the map. 20, 38, 25, 40. Then he goes back and visits himself as a kid too. IT'S NUTS!

I don't want to give anything away, and I don't want anything spoiled so don't tell me details or I'll be so mad at you. But if you've read this book, does it get better? The writing is good, but the story layout is pissing me off. It doesn't make sense! And if I can't get it to make sense soon I'm going to read a romance novel in retaliation. Or at least I'll bitch a lot and make people listen to the bitching. Yea, that's what I'll do. Pft.

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Flying again tonight. Haven't really thought much about it which is good because I HATE it. Really hate. It's very scary and I've spent more than a week being really scared about the cat and upset about the hurricane and I don't need any more anxiety. But, I do have a plan. See, it's all about being prepared kids. This particular one involves prescriptions drugs mixed with booze. Yay!

My destination is San Fran and I'm SO excited to spend a weekend up there with Matty and having a lovely change of scenery for a couple of days. The weather should be a much needed reprieve from the god damn heat and we have many fabulous things on our agenda.

We're probably going for cocktails and a late dinner tonight after I get settled into the condo. Please keep in mind that I use the word "condo" with a knowing smirk since it's more like a palace decorated by Calvin Klein and I feel spoiled, almost to the point of properly so for the princess I am, sleeping on the expensive fluffy pillow-topped bed with the black satin sheets and enjoying the view of the entire city and bay bridge from the upper terrace.

To quote one of my favorite movies, it is so choice.

We have a fairly open schedule on Saturday but hope to work in pedicures somewhere since Matt and I have confessed to each other that our feet both look like we've been walking across a freshly tarred roof with bare feet after soaking them in a dorm toilet. It's bad, y'all. Therefore we shall pay nubile young girls to sandblast and buff our weary and diseased dogs. And I'm hoping for some OPI polish called something like Nina's Cherry for my toes. Squee!

Saturday night we're seeing Wicked. My word, what am I going to do with all this envy being sent my way? I've heard great things about it and can't wait. We're going to a different theater than where we saw The Lion King for my birthday last year. And this time I'm bringing my digicam that has the option to turn the flash off so I can take pictures of the architecture inside without Mr. red vested theater freak scolding me with a shaking finger in my face after my cell phone camera flashed the equivalent of a frigging searchlight. But don't worry, no pic's of the actual play. I wouldn't be that classless. I am a fucking lady, you know.

Sunday I have to be at the airport by 3:15. But I still think that leaves us plenty of time for a nice brunch and some shopping in the castro. God, how I love the castro. Where else can you get a nice meal, a barbie with a dick and a political flyer handed to you by a man dressed as a ballerina?

Monday will be spent on the couch hooked up to a Kool-aid drip.

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I shall miss whitey and my kitties terribly, but I really need this weekend. I really need to let my brain power-down for a few days and get out of dodge. After this week, I'm sure we all require a break. Hope you all have a great holiday weekend and please stay safe.

Love,

Betty