Happy Friday!

I have today off. I live and work in the civilized Western world, and having requested to always be working on weekends, today is the day I was awarded as my "day of rest" this week. Yes, I only get one this week, and I only get one next week, because I also added my name to the "do you want to work overtime? add your name" list LAST week. Overtime. Yeah, baby.

So I did my laundry, as one is wont to do when one has sufficient free time to do so. I also checked the pool, and I think the water will be warm enough to get into when we get back from seeing Inside Out at the first matinee. Yes, Minions also opens today, but I really don't need to support that one on its opening day, surrounded by Very. Small. Children. So we'll see that one later.

But the laundry got me thinkin'. Maybe you can answer this question, or maybe you have a similar laundry puzzlement, like regarding missing socks or something. Here's the thing. If towels are used only to dry clean dishes or clean hands or clean bodies, then Why do we ever have to WASH them? Aren't they already (still) "clean"?

Kill My Landlord

I told you, just a couple of weeks ago, that my apartment swimming pool was suddenly heated. The day I discovered it, we'd been having some SERIOUSLY warm and sunny weather, and while we didn't necessarily need a heated pool in the middle of summer, we definitely appreciated it, with the thought that we'd be in it through the winter.

I didn't get in the pool yesterday, because I had to be at work pretty early, and then Stephen and I went to an event at Warner Bros. that was a preview of things to come. That was fun, but it was us away from home all day and into the night. The day before yesterday, I didn't get into the pool at all, because early workday and then laziness.

Today, I go in to work in a little while, so I got up at my regular 6:30 with the intention of getting back into my habit of treading water for an hour. Went downstairs and dipped my toes in, to discover, much to my chagrin, that the heat was no longer on. Checked the jets to verify, and came back upstairs, uncertain what I'd do next. (Puttered around on the internets, FYI)

Around 8:00, I thought "it's now or never", so I went back down and dove in to swim the length of the pool. Upon coming up for air, all I could say was "FUCK. This shit is COLD." So I treaded water back to the deep end and stayed there long enough to decide I can't deal with it today.

The view from my front door today - we call it "June Gloom"

Came back upstairs and stood in my nice hot shower 3-4 times as long as I was in the pool this morning, and that's without dilly-dallying or lollygagging or anything! Poop.

I really wanted to link a youtube clip of the Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live bit - "Images: Cill My Landlord" but the only clips that came up when I searched were shot using cell phones, vertically, of television screens. AWFUL! This is the best I can offer.

Two outta three ain't bad

Yeah, yeah, I know - I'd like to thank Meatloaf for the title of today's post. Truth is, I had three tours scheduled today, and I only got to give two outta three of 'em, so that ain't bad. ;) (If there just aren't enough "tourists" to take all the tours that get scheduled, then some guides are going to have to do something else in those timeslots; that's what happened during my first scheduled tour.) I spent the first two hours of my day helping the "theater" department, which is just sorting the folks who do show up for tours into their appropriate groups. Not bad, and I was able to get myself a good group (almost "hand-picked", if you will) for the next two hour timeslot. Yay, me!

In the first of my two tours, I had all 'Muricans. One family from Ohio (and here), and one family from Pittsburgh (and here). But on my FINAL tour of the day, I had a great, mixed bag. I had a German couple, a family from Australia, a family from Chicago, and couple from Slovenia.

No kidding, folks. I have just recently welcomed my first readers from Slovenia, and today, I got to drive a couple of Slovenik kids around, showin' 'em the sights of Warner Bros. Yay, me!

... and we have a new "attraction" that we are adding to our tours, starting officially on the 16th (next week), but for which we're doing "soft openings" this week. My first tour, with the two 'Murican families, won the daily lottery that is "gets to test out the soft opening attraction" tour. Yay, me!

Good googly moogly, am I blessed.

I think Mommy came to visit me this morning

Mommy was originally one of nine children, and before she died, she'd lost her three older brothers. After she died, we slowly but surely lost all the rest, save Uncle Eddie (if he's even still with us - he was the baby of the family but also always the "Wild Child", and we ended up not knowing his whereabouts).

This morning, in my dream, I answered the phone inadvertently, while trying to call back someone I'd just accidentally hung up with. I was talking on an old office phone, the kind that had up to five lines below the keypad. It was a moment of just choosing another open line, and when I did, Aunt Gloria asked how I was doing.

This put me a little on edge. Even in my dream, I knew that Aunt Gloria was no longer with us, so how could she be having a phone conversation with me? It wasn't a scary conversation, full of portents and omens. It was a pleasant conversation, just catching up. But I was nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And suddenly, I was in a room surrounded by quite a number of small, contained fires, and the woman who was in the room with me was scolding her son, who I couldn't see. One by one, the fires were extinguished (like magic), and as the room got brighter and brighter, the son was also in the room with us. I don't know who the woman or her son were, but in the dream, I recognized that I knew them both, and knew that neither of them was alive. I wasn't frightened to be in a fiery room with two ghosts; I had more of a sense of "what's next?"

Then my alarm went off, and I got up to go swim. I know that the dead do not communicate with the living over the phone or in a magic fire room, but I have a feeling that my dream was someone from the other side trying to get a message through. Maybe it was Mommy; maybe it was someone else entirely; maybe the message isn't even for me?

If any of this means anything to you, or you have any experience with dream interpretation, won't you please comment below? If it doesn't mean anything to you and you have no experience with dream interpretation, and you just feel like calling me a weirdo or something, won't you please comment below? I love reading your comments!

Happy Monday, kids!

Welcome, Guyana!

... and welcome back, India! Not sure how you found me, but I'm glad you did. Hopefully, you found something worth returning for.

Friday Fictioneers - Child's Play?

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly "event" hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. I've participated really sporadically (like, I think, only once before, and it was awhile ago). But it's a cool thing, and I like it. There's a new photo prompt on Wednesdays, and anyone who wishes to publish their 100-word fiction needs to do so (and link it) by Friday. Pretty simple, huh? Wanna play along? Bookmark Rochelle's link above, follow the rules, and then leave any constructive criticism for me here.

PHOTO PROMPT – © Jean L. Hays

Child's Play? - 99 words

"I'm bored." "There's nothing to do." "It's too hot."

Ah, the plight of summertime.

"Mo-om! There's nothing to DO!" "I'm bored." "Can we go get icees? ... I know we just filled up, but it's HOT and I'm bored!"

It's not that hot. Go play. Play leapfrog or something, and get out of my grille.

"Leapfrog? That's a game for little kids!" "Can we turn on the sprinkler, Mom?"

Fine.

"C'mon, guys, we'll play sprinkler leapfrog; it'll be fun."

... later,

"Uh, Mom? Can you come help us? Mudpit leapfrog might not'a been our best game for a day like today!"

*****
Follow the frog to read more Friday Fictioneers, or to linkup your own!

Wednesday. Nothin' weird, just Wednesday.

Got up early again today; I have the day off work, so I decided at some point in my sleep cycle that I would do a little laundry and swim while waiting for it this morning. Worked out pretty well; my first beach towel that I took downstairs absorbed the bulk of the water from my swimsuit while I was folding my dry laundry, so when I came upstairs to fart around online, I swapped that towel for a dry one, so I wouldn't get the futon wet.

Sat down, did a little online, then got up to grab cereal. This is what I came back to:

Why do cats believe that the space you've just recently occupied actually belongs to them?

The laundry is done; the morning swim/workout is done; I've eaten breakfast and am enjoying some hot tea. What else shall I do with my day?

... besides pet the kitties? ;)