Sir and Ma'am

Roma says that I have not yet picked up the Texas accent.

Maybe not. But I have picked up the Texas way of speaking, the most notable of which is addressing others as Sir and Ma'am. And having come from New England, it took some getting used to.

Addressing people as Sir and Ma'am is a "southern thing." Children are taught from a very early age to address others in this manner. And the lessons are further reinforced in school. The south is very big on politeness and manners.

Does that mean that the north is less polite because Sir and Ma'am are not considered proper forms of address there?

Maybe.

Northerners are different. They are more reserved, and that can often be construed as their being more aloof.

But that could also be due to the fact that the north, especially New England is incredibly densely populated - so much so that people have greater "personal space" issues.

And because of these "personal space" issues, direct eye contact can sometimes be interpreted as a sign of aggression and hostility.

"Who you looking at?!"

So in order to avoid undue problems and possible confrontations, people have taken to being reserved.

But that still does not explain why New Englanders don't address each other as Sir or Ma'am.

New England women especially resent being called Ma'am.

My friend Barbara works at a hospital in Providence. There was a resident there who came from Texas. Barbara and her co-workers promptly reprimanded him for calling them Ma'am because they said it made them feel old.

But that's not the case here in Texas, where I heard middle-aged sales clerks call young female customers Ma'am.

In Texas, and very likely throughout the south, Sir and Ma'am have no age distinctions. They are just polite forms of address.

And I kind of like that. It adds a nice gentility to the people and place.

Happy Birzday

Today was Roma's birthday, or "birzday" as we like to say it.

Family tradition has us calling up the birthday person and singing "Happy Birthday" over the phone in the most off-key way possible. We call it the "Birthday Howl."

Well, there weren't enough of us to do the Birthday Howl - not if it was to be done right.

However, I had another thing in mind for Roma.

While I was at the coffee shop, waiting for my order to be filled, I went up to a table that had about 5 - 6 young women sitting at it.

"Excuse me ladies, but I have a bit of an odd request."

I explained that it was my sister's birthday and that she's living in Rhode Island. And I asked if they would be willing to sing "Happy Birthday" to her over the phone.

"Oh! I like birthdays!" one of the girls exclaimed.

They asked what my sister's name was, and then said what a really neat name it was.

I punched in Roma's number, and she answered on the first or second ring.

And we began singing.

Roma was touched, and even more so that I got a group of strangers to serenade her on her birthday.

But this is Texas, where people are friendly. I don't think I would have had the courage to ask a group of strangers to sing "Happy Birthday" to my sister anywhere else.

Happy Birzday, Sis!

Uncertainty

I may not blog tonight - or the next several nights.

I am returning to work tonight, and it's uncertain if there are any minutes left on Ariana's netbook. If there aren't, I will need to wait until the next billing cycle, when the minutes are replenished.

So, the next time I will be able to blog will be Tuesday night, my next night off.

Musings On My Last Night of Freedon

In slightly less than 22 hours, I will be back to work. Yuck.

I'm not looking forward to that - not looking forward to working 41.25 hours a week and only having 2 nights to myself.

I don't even know if I'll be able to continue blogging, seeing that there are limited minutes on my daughter's netbook - minutes that get used up very fast when I spend nearly half of my work night on the internet blogging, Facebooking, and posting on my groups.

It's a hard reality that we have to work for a living. Bills don't get paid by themselves. And it's a harder reality to swallow that my paycheck is nowhere near sufficient to support my family.

I've been spoiled by all those years that I have not had to work. And unlike a lot of people, I have always found things to keep me busy.

My new neighbor goes out every day to photograph. I used to, too, when I first moved to Lubbock. But ever since I started working, opportunities to go out with my camera have been far and few in between.

When I had my 6 nights off, I thought that it would have been great to go up to Palo Duro Canyon or Cadillac Ranch for a day of photographing.

But instead, my "vacation" was spent cleaning and organizing, something that needed to get done and something that could have been done if I didn't have my nights consumed with work and my days consumed with sleep.

My friend Marilyn recently lost her job when her grant money ran out. But Marilyn can pick up extra cash by offering massage therapy at her home studio. She's a damn great massage therapist, and I am sure that she would have no problem finding clients.

But unlike Marilyn, I don't have a service that would allow me to work from home, despite the many talents that I have.

Sure, my talents have the potential for eventually earning me some money, but the key word here is "eventually." "Eventually" doesn't cut it when there are immediate financial responsibilities to be met.

And frankly with my holding down a full time job, I don't have the time to devote to make that eventuality a reality.

So all I can do is slog away at the daily grind, keep my eyes and ears open for any glint of opportunity, pray for and dream of a brighter future.

And dream I do.

What would I do if I were blessed with good fortune?

I have thought about this often enough to know that I would maintain my life pretty much the same way, but that I would "upgrade" it.

Instead of living in a sardine can troll hole, I would have a a real house. Not a MacMansion in some hoity-toity neighborhod like the Vintage Village, but a home that's just large enough to afford us ample storage space and enough space for privacy.

There would be lots of windows to let in lots of light, because I love the light. In fact I thrive on light. And with all that light, I would surround myself with lots of beautiful plants - surround myself with life.

There would be a large fenced-in yard for the dogs, too.

I'm not interested in boats, fancy cars, or membership to a country club. But a couple of horses on a ranch may be nice.

And my spare car would be a 4-door pick-up truck, not a Beemer or a Benz.

I would be generous in my prosperity, using my financial blessings to help out my family, support my favorite charities (especially the Southwest Pennsylvania Retriever Rescue Organization, who was so kind to take in my two old dogs), and pay back my mother-in-law for all the help she has given us.

I would travel. I would see the places that I wanted to see in both this country and the world. I would visit Lithuania, my ancestral land.

I would pursue my creative interests and my thirst for learning new things.

I would pay for my family and old friends back east to come and visit me. And I would treat my new friends and co-workers to a party to show my appreciation for them.

And then, after the party's been picked up and everybody's gone home, I would go back to living my simple and unassuming (but enriched) life in my simple and unassuming home.

Why is it that people feel that when they come into a lot of money they have to live it up and accumulate all sorts of trappings?

Trappings are just that - something that traps and holds you.

Simplicity is much better. So is peace, serenity, and happiness.

I am not naive to assume that my life would change were I to come into a massive fortune. But the change that I would like to see happen would be one where only the hardship would disappear and where I would use my wealth wisely to enrich my life and the lives of others.

Money does not buy happiness, but it does make things easier.

But for now, I will follow the advice of poet Langston Hughes:

Hold onto dreams
For if dreams die
Life is like a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Wild and Wonderful West Texas Weather

The day started out like most days here - sunny and hot.

It was 96 degrees when I took Kane out to the athletic complex at around 3:00 PM. And this time there were no puddles to be found, not even by the dog who has a talent for finding the only mud puddle in Lubbock.

So after 20 minutes of walking around, we hightailed it to Petsmart, where we practiced our loose leash walking and the "stay" command in air conditioned comfort.

It was still hot and sunny when we finished, some 45 minutes later. However, when the discovery that we were out of dog food prompted me to return to Petsmart at around 6:30, clouds were already filling the sky.

When I left Petsmart with my purchase, there were flashes of lightning in the west and north.

An hour later, Ariana and I went to the Market Street supermarket to do some grocery shopping. By then rain was added to the weather repertoire.

It was a light rain, however, one that did not require the windshield wipers to be operating at a continuous rate. The drops were big and fat. It was slightly windy. Lightning continued to flash.

As we shopped we could hear the thunder booming overhead.

When we came out, the rain had abated somewhat.

And in the west, we noticed that the clouds had parted, to reveal a beautiful yellow sunset. (This photo does not do it justice.)

After taking the sunset pic, I turned to the opposite direction.

And lo and behold!

There was this stunning double rainbow. It was so stunning that the store workers and other shoppers also noticed it. Ariana and I were not the only ones taking pictures and videos of it on our cellphone cameras.



As we surveyed the double rainbow, we noticed the lightning flashing in the background. The storm had moved, and the lightning was now on the opposite end of the horizon.

But there was more.

The rainbow arched all the way across the sky. And what a beautiful long arc it was!

The lightning continued flashing, sometimes dramatically - more dramatically than what I had been able to capture on video.

There was one spectacular flash that I missed, but that Ariana saw. She said that it looked like an anaconda. Not only was it thick and fat, but she was also able to see blue scales in the flash (now that she was wearing her new glasses).

It's been 4 hours since Nature treated us to this amazing display. The storm had long since passed.

Perhaps tomorrow Kane will be able to find his favorite puddles replenished.

My Cleaning Vacation

No profundities today either.

After running an errand and having an impromptu lunch at the India Palace buffet, I was in no mood to take Kane out for his exercise.

Not only was it hot (which usually is no big deal for me) it was Memorial Day, which meant that all of Lubbock was going to be out. I had no desire to deal with all those little kids at the park and trying to keep Kane from jumping up on them.

So I stayed in my troll hole apartment and cleaned.

I finally decided to tackle the kitchen and all the stuff piled up on the 4 teeny tiny counters in the kitchen - detritus that had been sitting there ever since the movers brought our stuff in September.

After all my effort, those 4 tiny Formica squares are pristine.

There was finally room to prepare food and set dishes down on. Hell! There was even enough room for my food processor - that is, after I put the crock pot in the closet. (And that necessitated my cleaning out the closet as well.)

The stove got a cleaning, too. Those puddles of grease under the elements may have explained why the smoke alarm was going off, even after I cleaned out the oven the day before.

I did 2 loads of dishes. And put them away.

The paid bills got organized. They were put into an accordion folder.

The kitchen table was cleaned off. And I replaced the dirty fabric table cloth with an easy-to-clean plastic one.

The kitchen and dining areas are now nice and clean. And if anybody undoes all of my hard work, I will wring their necks.

Somewhat Busy Day

Sorry, no profound thoughts to share tonight. I'm hovering on the cusp of wakefulness and sleep. As such whatever deep thoughts I may have are not able to percolate up to the surface. So I will just describe an abridged version my day instead.

The day started off with devotions in the morning after not having enough sleep. (Hey, even on my nights off, it's still tough to revert to a "normal" schedule.)

After devotions, I dragged Neil with me to the grocery store to pick up some stuff that we ran out of. Neil sat in the car while I shopped.

After shopping, I paid the rent and water bill at the leasing office.

Then I went home. And while Neil was putting away his 2 cases of Ramen noodles, I was cleaning up the pudding poops that Emi left. (She's been stealing the kitten food, and it must be too rich for her stomach.)

I sprayed oven cleaner in the oven, and then set off in search of over-the-door shoe organizers.

I was hoping that I could find some in the mall - in either J.C. Penney or Sears - which is very close to home.

No such luck. (But I did score a nice pair of black leggings at Beall's and got my hair trimmed at Regis Salon.)

So that meant that I had to drive out to Wally World, AKA Walmart.

Found what I was looking for. Bought 2.

When I came home with my spoils, I finished cleaning the oven. What a mess. And it did not help that Kane kept sticking his nose in the oven while I tried to clean. But I finally got it done, and I had to throw away the sponge afterwards.

Once the oven was clean, I took Kane to the park. We test drove his new 35 to 40-foot leash that I made. It worked great. Kane didn't pull. And little kids didn't get knocked down.

We stayed about 30 - 45 minutes at the park.

Kane chased Frisbees, thus disrupting the disc golf games. But the folks were good-natured about Kane running away with their discs, especially when they were their friends' discs.

Unlike yesterday, I saw no snakes today. Too bad.

It started sprinkling just before we left. And with the temperature being 94, that little sprinkle was a nice relief. In fact, it knocked the temp down to 91.

After taking Kane out for his exercise, the next part of our ritual is usually to stop at the coffee shop, where I get either a passion fruit-orange-guava smoothie or a Ghiradelli mocha iced latte, and Kane gets his usual cup of ice.

But when I saw that the gate to the coffee shop's patio was closed, I went home instead.

When I got home, I lost on a scratch ticket that I bought. The state of Texas became another $5 richer. And I guess I won't be driving out to Austin to collect my $10,000 a month (minus taxes) for 20 years.

Not yet.

I started organizing my shoes, putting them in the shoe organizer. I was going to give one of the organizers to Ariana, but when I discovered that I had more shoes than what one shoe organizer could hold, I decided to use the second one.

The second one also held some of Neil's shoes, his neck ties, and his socks. Now Neil has no excuse for not finding his socks.

I put all the CDs that were stacked in multiple piles on the bedroom floor into 2 racks that I picked up at Savers. And I packed some stuff into boxes. More floor space got liberated. Yay!

Now I need to go out an buy more packaging tape so that I can put together more boxes to catch all the stuff I need to bring to the storage unit.

Ariana came home from work and started cooking.

I stopped my cleaning when the phone rang. It was Barbara.

Later, I ate a small edame and tabbouleh salad, along with some mac and cheese that Ariana cooked. I did not eat the chicken that she made because I was already full. However, Neil ate the chicken, and pronounced it good.

While at the table, I heard Achmed the Dead Terrorist yelling, "Silence! I kill you!" in my pocket. It was a phone call from Jeremiah. He got a great kick out of the fact that I used Achmed the Dead Terrorist as my ring tone for him, especially when he would always be quoting Achmed's favorite line.

After I talked to Jeremiah, I gave the phone to Neil so that he could talk to him, too.

And while Neil was talking, I hopped on the computer. And that's where I've been ever since.

And now I have to decide if I want to yet go to bed or if I should read a bit.