Obsession, thy name is…

Apparently, it's Beth.

I'm sure some of you remember the encounters here with various Anonymous commenters. One of the most epic was right after the election of President Obama (I guess some people just get pissy when their candidate loses), when Anon attacked me and my readers. It actually ended up being quite a bit of fun, resulting in a couple of phrases that I still treasure: "Get off the cross, Mary, we need the wood!" from Miss Ginger, and "I'll cut him so bad he'll wish I hadn't cut him so bad!" from Milwaukee Dan #2. Ahhh, good times! A couple of blogger friends posted this list of troll types and it made me laugh, because my Anons have exhibited several of these behaviors.

Well, although my Anon admirers have been quiet lately, my statistics show me that they are still avid readers. One who sometimes hides itself using a proxy (but actually lives in the Cincinnati area) and a collaborator who lives in Rhode Island. I know who these people are, and for whatever reason, they seem to have an almost morbid fascination with me. Sort of a love-hate relationship...they obviously do not like me one iota, but just like Jack said to Ennis in "Brokeback Mountain," they can't seem to quit me. I mean, I know I'm charming and witty and all, but you'd think that they'd eventually have their fill and move on.

But no. They continue to read stalk me, often checking me several times a day. I can only come to two conclusions:

1) They secretly want to be me. They are so fascinated by my fascinating life, with my reading and blogging and Rock Band and fascinating political opinions, that they are consumed by every little fascinating thing I write, hanging on every fascinating word to the point of obsession. Every little thing I do is magic, and these gals know it! I’m fascinating!

B) They have some sort of big ol' girl crush on me. Again, there's that wit and charm, apparently so irresistible to them. Sorry, gals, I don't swing that way. I hate to disappoint, but I prefer a little meat with my potatoes, if you know what I mean, and I think you do! It is flattering, though. And not that there's anything wrong with that. But you'll just have to learn to yearn from afar, because you're not really my type, anyway.

Of course, my blog is public, and anyone who wants to read it can do so. However, if someone obviously feels such contempt for me (although there seem to be deeper feelings, as I mentioned above) and has shown it here and in emails before, I would think that they would question their motives in continuing to read what I have to say here. We all come across blogs that we don't care for, and I don't know about you all, but if I have major disagreements with the author's opinions or attitudes, I pull up stakes and move on. I don't obsessively continue to read, and if I did so, I would question my reasons for doing it. It is certainly unhealthy and unbalanced behavior to continue to be drawn back to something that you despise.

I suggest that my stalkers consider getting some help, because your obsession with me is...well, it's a little unseemly, don't you think? If you're getting off on reading about my life, maybe you need to rethink yours, or at least rethink what gets you off. There are better ways to do that, you know! (But please don't think of me...that would creep me out.) In the meantime, I'll just keep doing my thang, living my life, and enjoying myself. You might want to set your sights and focus your energy on living your own life, rather than obsessing about mine.

Reflecting

It's been a lazy Sunday afternoon at Nutwood, watching football games involving teams I don't care that much about. My Colts play tonight, and it's probably their biggest rivals, the New England Patriots. The Colts have a chance to go 9-0, and they're playing at home, but the Patriots are always tough. I know we can beat them, but will we? I look forward to finding out! Oh, and I did try to set up my workout regimen, but it seems that I need to call to enroll, so I shall to that tomorrow. I got a reprieve!

Since it's been such a quiet day, I found myself doing some thinking. I know...brace yourselves!

I wasn't pondering life's great questions. You know, like What happens when we die? Is there a God? Was anyone besides Thurston and Lovey having sex on Gilligan's Island? Greater thinkers than I have philosophized and tried to find the answers to these burning questions. (Although if you have burning questions, I recommend that you see your doctor.)

No, I was thinking about this blog. First of all, it never ceases to amaze me that anyone actually wants to read what I write. I thank you all, even the Anonymous stalkers, because you, Anonymi, must find something appealing about me to continue reading...and there is always the possibility that you will break your silence and leave a highly entertaining comment which I can pick up and run with. You know I usually do. [evil grin]

Mostly I was thinking about an attitude shift as of late. Some of you may have noticed it, and I have, too. This might come as a surprise to you, but I've always been the tiniest bit opinionated. I've also traditionally been non-confrontational, and believe that people are entitled to their own opinions. I generally won't excoriate someone for their opinion (unless it's the above-mentioned Anonymous commenters, who are just begging to be skewered...oh yes, you know you want it), but I've always felt that if you don't like what you read here, I'm certainly not twisting your arm and shoving your head down onto the page. Free will, baby, it's a beautiful thing.

However, I find myself lately wanting to be more me. I don't want to play to anyone, I just want to be who I am. I'm sure I've offended people in the past, and lost some readers because of it. To be honest, I have a recent feeling of "I don't fucking care." Oh, and I also have a foul mouth and a dirty mind, and I think that is starting to become obvious, as well. As INXS said, foul mouth dirty hearts. Or something like that. I have strong political opinions, and I can warn you that if you are a Sarah Palin fan, you probably won't like what I will continue to write. As always, it is your choice.

I have to say that I feel liberated. I know when to be a good girl, and I'm that way around much of my family (some know how I am, though...not sure how many of my relatives read this). I am a nice person, but I'm not as sweet as I appear. Believe me. I don't want to pander and placate any longer. I just want to be who I am, and I am willing to let the chips fall where they may. Some of you might be offended by my opinions and feelings about politics, religion, and other things I may write about in the future. I can promise you that I wouldn't be offended if you stopped reading. There's that free will thing again.

So meet the new Beth...same as the old Beth. But with a little extra zing. And yes...I'm flashing another evil grin.

I jinxed myself

Some of you may have seen that Notre Dame won the game against Michigan State yesterday, 33-30. Whew, it was a heart-stopper! I even called my Dad afterwards to ask if he was doing okay, because I sure wasn't! Their offense looked good, especially Jimmy Clausen who really seems to be coming into his own this year. He's stronger and tougher, and seems to be reading the defense much better. He's also getting better protection than he has in the past couple of years, so it's giving him time to find a receiver. I'm afraid we've lost our best receiver, Michael Floyd, though, possibly for the year--broken clavicle. Their penalties almost did them in, and I hope they work on that this week. I thought they used the clock better, although MSU was threatening right at the end and could have won it, if not for a very timely interception by Kyle McCarthy. I believe that saved them the game, and was THE play of the game. (The NBC analysts agreed with me.)

I was very encouraged by yesterday's game. No, I still don't think they're contenders for a national championship. I'm a realist, remember? But they looked better than they have for a while, and they had a toughness that has also been missing.

Next week it's Purdue, and the week after that, Washington. We have tickets for the latter game, and I hope for more nice weather for tailgating and the game!

That's enough football for the day--at least here on the blog! I have games on now, we'll be watching the Bears later this afternoon, and the Colts play tomorrow night. Ooooo, football! It makes me as happy as a little girl!

On Friday, our friend Rebecca had had it with a couple of trolls, and brought down some righteous smackdown. In my comment, I mentioned that I hadn't had any anonymous trolls for a while, and damn if I didn't jinx myself! One of the bottom-feeding lurkers felt the need to weigh in with their oh-so-wise thoughts concerning my opinion on gay marriage. A little problem with their insistence that marriage is traditionally a religious institution, though, since marriage is a government entity. You can get married in any church that you want, but if it's not filed with your local government and with your state, you aren't legally married. Silly Anon. Nothing from them so far today. I'm guessing they're at church, scrambling frantically to find a way to foil the dirty homersexticals' (thanks David!) plot to take over the country with their gay marriages and gay agenda.

As always, if they have such a strong opinion, perhaps they should get their own blog and write about it there, rather then inject their ridiculous argument into mine. I won't bother you, I promise. You have the right to be as narrow-minded and judgmental as you want to be; if you choose to do it here, I have the right to call you out on it. As always, it's amusing to see an Anonymous commenter try to stand up for their convictions...but I guess those convictions aren't quite strong enough to attach their name to them. Go figure!

Over on my sidebar, you'll see the "tag" I made for I Stand Corrected (the tag is also linked). It is a blog created by Lori of Dusty Pages, and Guido of Atlantic Lines is also a contributor. So am I, and you all know how much I love words and word origins; I also love good grammar, and appropriate usage. I'm far from perfect when it comes to writing, but I always like to learn, and I Stand Corrected is a fun way to do that. I hope to contribute a little more often to it, because I do enjoy writing on it, and Lori tells me that she is working on an entry for it herself. Stop by if you get a chance. If you want to out yourself as a word geek, you'll be welcome there!

A not-so-triumphant return

It's interesting. When you speak of allowing gay marriage, and have supposidly dug into this issue, that you have neglected to learn that when our fat government legislates what has traditionally been a religious issue, the government inserts it self into religion...hmm. Oh, and when they start doing that, they will then have the right to tell churches and clergy who they can and can't marry based on the law and not on the religious beliefs of the particular church or clergy; once again inserting itself into traditionally religious issues. hmm. me thinks you have a little more lernin to do, ya think?

I can't tell you how happy I am to see our dear Anonymous pay us another visit here at Nutwood. Things have been so peaceful and quiet here, and we've been feeling a distinct lack of rancor, judgment, and general sanctimonious priggishness! Welcome back, Anon!

You say that marriage is traditionally a religious issue. I hate to spring this on you, but legal marriage has nothing to do with religion. Ken and I were married by the city clerk of Mishawaka, not a member of the clergy. We were married at Tippecanoe Place, a restaurant located in a Studebaker mansion, not a place of worship. Our ceremony was a civil one, with no religious element at all.

We are every bit as legally married as anyone who might have their ceremony performed by the Pope at the Sistine Chapel. You obviously don’t get it. It’s not about people wanting to get married in a church, or married in the eyes of whatever god. It’s about being granted the rights that every other person in this country has to marry the person they love and to have the rights of insurance, a say in medical treatments, the right to adopt children and raise them together, and to be a partner in every sense of the word. Marriage is not sanctioned by religion; it is defined by the government.

Thanks for proving my point, Anon. Legal marriage has nothing to do with the church. It has everything to do with equality of rights to everyone, regardless of their religion or lack thereof, or of their race, or of their orientation. Ergo, gays should be allowed to legally marry. Q.E. freakin' D.

Off-topic? Try BFE!

A comment from yesterday's entry:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "In sickness and in health":

It was the TREASURY SECRETARY who set the terms for AIG. It was Obama who picked the Treasury Secretary and claimed he was "too big" to not overlook his tax cheating.
It was the Congress that passed the bill WITHOUT READING IT and without putting any rules in it for companies accepting the money from bailouts.

It's the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, with heavy emphasis on CONGRESS, to blame for these bonuses being paid out.

PERIOD..

Obama's attempt to act "outraged" at the bonuses is completely phony. His administration had already said on Sunday that there was nothing they could do about the bonuses.

They knew these bonuses would need to be paid, (and will be paid next year too,) but must feign anger because they want more bailout money to pass out to their friends, and this debacle could cost them dearly.

I don't like incompetence being rewarded either, but it's not the workers at AIG, but the idiots in our government who are to blame for these being handed out.

Posted by Anonymous to Nutwood Junction at March 18, 2009 2:32 AM

What the hell? Did I miss something in my own entry? While I'm impressed by your strategic use of CAPITAL LETTERS, Anon, I have to say that you are pretty far off-topic. I'm not sure how my comments about Charlie Sheen's CBS sitcom and how Ken and I handle being ill made you think of the AIG thing, but maybe you need to chill just a bit. I do have to wonder at why you feel there is nothing wrong with hijacking my blog to express your own opinions. I suggest you start your own blog, where you can write whatever you want to write about. You may even eventually get your own "special" Anon, but it won't be me, because I won't bother you. Trust me on that one.

On to bigger and better things! I have some pictures for you.

Before I left on my errands yesterday, I saw a smallish band of turkeys in the back yard. (I just saw them again a few moments ago. In fact, I just looked, and they're still out there--walking down the driveway! Ha ha!) It's getting to be that time of year when a young tom's fancy turns to thoughts of love, and there were two toms in this band that were displaying. (Oh wow, now there are four toms displaying! Cool!) It never fails to amuse me to see the way they puff up and strut their stuff. It always makes me think of that old song: "Bend over, let me see you shake your tail feather...shake it shake it shake it!" Ha! Neighbor Dave tells me that it's good to put out egg shells for them this time of year, or crushed oyster shells. They need the calcium for when it comes time to lay their eggs. Eggs were on sale this week, so I got three dozen more, and I'll be saving the shells (and asking Ken to save them from his hard boiled eggs at lunch) to put out for the turkeys. C'mon turkeys, I'll help you lay eggs of steeeeeel!

So I went shopping yesterday. I didn't start out looking for shoes, but while I was out, I decided to see what I could find. I've been on a quest lately for some wedge gladiator sandals. I have a pair of flat ones that I love and have had for at least ten years--I was gladiator sandal before gladiator sandal was cool--but I wanted to find some that would be comfy and cute, but even a little bit dressy depending upon the outfit. I went to several stores and even tried some on...came close to buying some in Kohl's, but I just wasn't quite happy with the style. Oh my God, there were such cool ones at DSW, with really high platform heels and leather bands going all the way up the ankle. I loved them, but I was out for comfy and cute, not excruciating but smokin' hot. I tried one pair on that was a pretty good combination of both, but the buckle on the ankle strap hit me right on the bone. I knew that it would irritate me to no end, so I put them back.

I finally found a pair at, of all places, Target. I rarely buy shoes at Target, because I don't think they hold up well, but I'm not going to be running a marathon in these babies, am I? I really like them, and they're really comfortable! They have the wide T-strap running up the middle, the smaller crosswise straps at the ball of the foot, and a couple around the ankle. A nice wedge heel that isn't too big and is fairly stable, and I can wear them with shorts, a miniskirt/skort, jeans, a casual sundress, or even a slightly dressy pants suit. Sweet!

I'm generally not a girly-girl, but man, I do loves me some shoes!

While I was at Target, I also found a picture that I just love. I had seen it before, and loved it then, but couldn't justify paying the price they were asking for a Target wall hanging, you know? It was on clearance for half price, and that I could justify. You all know how much I love Vegas, Baby. A few years ago, Ken got me a tabletop Las Vegas sign for Christmas that flashes and lights up, and it always makes me happy to turn it on and watch the star light up. [sigh] So how could I resist this take on the iconic Vegas sign? How, I ask you? I'm not sure where I'll put it--either in the basement or in the office--but I love it. Kitsch makes me a happy girl.