What have you been putting off all weekend?
Cleaning my room.
*is still putting it off*
Out of anyone in your address book, with whom would you most like to have lunch today?
Stupid, I know...but Alan...
What does blogging do for you?
Submitted by Madeleine Rose.
It gives me a place and a way to tell my story and analyze my thoughts and feelings.
How long do you take in the shower?
Submitted by Strive2Be.
Fifteen to tweny minutes.
The less time I take, the more sleep I get.
Shamefully, I didn't even think of capturing this for the Failblog on one of my many trips driving past it.
I came back to London well-rested and relaxed on Monday, and I'm missing the place so badly already. (Thank you so much F&S!) I'm finding it hard to find the right words to describe it really, but I do love Norway very much. :) Things are now getting back to "normal" and I'm having to pull my purple socks up and start getting my set together! Purple is proving to be the most difficult colour to photograph for me in the whole project. And there I was thinking that orange was going to be the hardest one! :P
This is a question I get ALL the time... so I thought I'd post the answer here. I'll now be able to just send a link every time I get this question!
Chicago was nicknamed the Windy City not for the wind but for the politicians and city boosters who were full of "hot air."
The specifics of this are somewhat in contention. Here are a few versions:
- Supposedly when we hosted the world fair, the then mayor boasted about it so much we became known as the windy city.
- We're the "Windy City" because of the Chicago Tribune. In fact the editor of the Chicago Tribune was trying to promote the city as a summer resort and used the lakes breeze as one of its attractions.
- Actually, we were in competition with NYC for the World's Fair (the one Frank Lloyd Wright debuted in) and the NYC papers called the Chicago pols "windy" in their presentations to win the exhibition. And we did.
- Some writer coined the phrase, but it stems from all the politicians in Chicago. The writer quipped that all the politicians talking was like a big wind blowing through the cities.
- The belief is that it stems from the political bantering which took place between Chicago and New York over who would host the World's Fair.
Here is a more extended explanation:
Popular myth has it that this nickname for the Chicago was coined by Charles Dana, the editor of the New York Sun, in 1893. Chicago was competing with New York to host the 1893 Columbian Exposition and Dana allegedly coined the name as a derogatory moniker. Supposedly the term is not a reference to the winds off Lake Michigan as one might suppose, but rather refers to the Chicagoan habit of rabid boosterism and shameless boasting. To a New Yorker like Dana, Chicago was full of hot air.
The story simply isn't true. The name dates to at least 1885, and clearly refers to the breezes off the lake. 1885 references include "city of winds" as well as "Windy City." This isn't new information either. Mathew's Dictionary of Americanisms, published some 50 years ago, includes an 1887 quotation of "Windy City, but the myth persists--largely due to newspaper reporters and editors who repeat the tale without checking the facts.
SO - it's not because of the crazy winds that whip down off the big buildings as most people think. That said - it sure does live up to it's name, both the politics and the weather!!
I had three hours to kill last night at the Atlanta airport while waiting on the rain to clear away from Chicago. This is what happens when you have your camera with you and absolutely nothing to do....
WOW! It's been a while since I last posted. This is mostly due to the fact that I've been doing nothing but updating my Twitter and wanking all day because isn't that what people who work from home, like, do and stuff?
LOLZ. Just kidding. How could I possibly be on Twitter all day when this happens every five minutes?
No, but really I have been busy. And not just wanking all the time. (That only takes up at 5-10 minutes at a time, anyway.)
Let's see. What have I been up to?
I suppose the event that sticks out in my mind the most is that last weekend I was worried for a full 24 hours that I was knocked up. I was a few hours away from buying one of those tests when - glory be to god - it happened. It was a weird week, to tell the truth. I had like, 7 pregnancy dreams that involved either twins, a miscarriage, an ultra sound, a pregnancy test, or me just waddling around being pregnant.
All of these dreams were horrible, can I just say that. Horrible. They fucked with my brain, especially when I thought I actually was pregnant. I thought somehow, someway, my uterus was whispering sweet nothings to my subconscious - but alas, the dreams were probably because I:
a) Watched Juno twice. (Once normal, once with the commentary on. Hello NERD.)
b) Watched a special on teenage mothers and young grandmas
c) Went to a screening of Baby Mama...ironically on the same day that I totally thought I was knocked-up. I was not pleased.
I didn't really to write about The Scare, as it wasn't even quite a scare. Flow was like a day late. A day. It was just the combination of dreams and lateness and the realization that if an *accident* were to occur, I know what I would choose to do.
But I was afraid that choice would make me seem selfish.
I'm married. I'm not 16. My life is pretty stable...right?
But in my heart, I know that would take our life into a different place. A place I'm not ready for. A place I don't think I'm mentally capable of navigating very well. That version of my life...I'm not ready to take it on. I'm not...we're not there.
So, that's that.
Thankfully, this choice only had to happen in my brain. I still think from time to time, about the decision we would make. I know it's for the best, but it really made me look at the whole issue in a new way. A woman's right to choose...
I am thankful it's a decision I have the right to make. That I have the option to choose.
But what a fucked up choice it is to have to make.
Well. That was heavy.
Here, have some cute dogs with their hair blowing in the wind...
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