Cleveland At Heart

...and one more resolution for 2010

GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH MY INNER BADASS. Seriously. Long ago I was a much tougher chickie to the rest of the world. Somewhere late in college I became quite a people-pleaser and lost the edge. That, coupled with my desire to be employed in a profession that is traditionally held by more conservative-looking people, I toned it down quite a bit. Sometimes I swear I don't even recognize myself when I look in the mirror. Now, though, I think I'm old enough that I could get away with not being quite so wimpy anymore. 

Humph. 

On a completely unrelated note, I'm really enjoying this week of not having to go in to work. I've been reading. Talking to people I have lost touch with. GOING places. Enjoying life in general. I even took a few minutes today to read a few random blogs just for fun. Here's an article I enjoyed on a blog I'd never read before.

2010 Resolutions

Muah hah hah. Yes. I am making resolutions despite my usual scorn for them. I made one last year and actually (much to my surprise) stuck to it, so I'm back for more in 2010. 

Here's the list. Now that the world knows, I will be under pressure to actually fulfill these. 

1.) FINISH reading the two dozen or so books I have on my shelves with bookmarks in them. I tend to read like other people watch TV -- I "flip channels" and read a handful of books at the same time. But this is nuts. I will not begin reading any new books until I have reached the last pages of those specifically tagged "need to finish"  in my LibraryThing. 

2.) GO to a Cavs game. And an Indians game. I was so overly busy in 2009 I did neither. BAD Clevelander. Also, go see the Burning River Roller Girls, the Cleveland CIty Stars, Lake Erie Monsters, and the Browns.

3.) NOT make excuses for missing shows or events I wanted to attend. I fear that I've become one of those people who doesn't go if her significant other doesn't feel like going. I do somewhat frequently go to events by myself if I can't find anyone else to go, but the frequency has been diminishing recently. Gotta turn that around. 

4.) Try at least one new recipe per month. 

5.) Say "NO" to people at work who have learned I am the one who will always say "YES" when something needs to be done. 

6.) Make at least one museum visit per month. I've been slacking on this over the past year. 

7.) Read a poem a day, preferably over breakfast so I don't forget. Call me a weenie, go ahead. But I'm still going to read a poem a day. 

8.) Do something with Cleveland Plays again. I played beach volleyball two years ago, but quit when my partner in crime had to because of grad school (see resolution #3). Maybe softball, or volleyball again, or kickball. Or, I could get REALLY brave and join up with wRECked roller derby. I need some sort of structured "play" time. 

There you have it. My goal is to keep at least five of these. We'll see... 

Really, Mrs. Strickland?

Has anyone else seen the new Ohio license plates? More importantly, did anyone else shudder at the first glimpse? I'd heard that Frances Strickland designed them, so was curious as to what they'd look like -- and then a few days ago I saw one. Ugh.

 

Mostly farmland, a teeny city skyline, and a biplane. No flow between the three. And is that the turnpike bridge? It's just so random. The bucolic scene dominates and makes the skyline look like an evil shadow lurking in the distance. The biplane just reminds everyone that Ohio is historically a place that people begin great things and then go somewhere else (in this case NC) to achieve them. The old windmill... couldn't it have been something more like a modern wind turbine like the ones we're trying to build more of? Oh no, of course that would be too politically charged. There might as well have been a "Chew Mail-Pouch Tobacco" sign on the barn. 

Maybe a ballot box could have made its way into the collage. Perhaps a "Blame us for Bush" sticker on said ballot box. Perhaps a new motto along the lines of "A few years ago we legalized carrying concealed weapons -- go us!"

Forget this "Beautiful Ohio" thing that looks like something done in water colors by my niece in first grade. If we're going to have crappy license plates, we should have one that says something along the likes of "Ohio: we've produced more presidents and serial killers than almost any other state".

I vote that the CLE Clothing Co. peeps design a license plate. They would do a much better job.

That's my rant for the day. Thank you for reading.

Oops. Late post.

Life's too damn busy. I forgot to post this a few days ago... I hope folks who read this got to go nonetheless. 

 

The people at Great Lakes Brewing Co. should get a kick out of this.

My eight-week-old kitten has a thing for Christmas Ale. 

 

I swear we did not give it to him -- I have never been one of those people who think it's amusing to get pets drunk or stoned. We had some out of town friends over a little over a week ago, and cracked open a few. One was left unattended, and we found little Hammie standing up on his back feet, front paws wrapped around the bottle neck, licking ale from the opening. 

It wasn't just a fluke, either. Ever since then, he tries to get a taste any time one of us opens up a bottle. I really find it quite amusing.  

A Christmas Story Meets Christmas Vacation

In one of my attempts to "feel Xmas-y" (see previous post), I decided I should stop by The Christmas Story House (for non-local people reading this, the house used in the filming of the movie A Christmas Story is located in Cleveland). They've done something extra-specially cheesy and wonderful this year: go here to see. This is especially delightful because National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is one of my top ten favorite movies ever.  Joy to the friggin' world. I'm getting there. 

An Odd Request

Um, excuse me atmosphere, could we get a little snow, please? 

I know most of us bitch and moan about it when it's here. But really, I think it's beautiful and I love any snow we get in December, January, and February. Especially now that it gets dark at 5PM, a little sparkly stuff coating the ground could be a mood-booster. Otherwise, it's just cold and dark with no magic. I need to feel snugly and cozy, but somehow I just don't. I'm probably one of the most sentimental people on the planet, so I SHOULD be feeling Xmas-y by now... but somehow I've only felt little spikes of it here and there. I blame it on the lack of snow. 

I'd like 3-5 inches by the time I wake up. Thank you in advance!