Wow

H sent me this picture today, I think it’s from near Lafayette, LA.  It is just too spectacular.

Fun for the whole family, apparently!  I just don’t want to meet that family.

Weird gifts

Seeing as it’s Christmas Eve and some of us might be opening presents tonight (C and I are, we flipped a coin) I wanted to show you the weirdest present I’ve ever seen.

It wasn’t given to me, or even from me.  This is what my friend H received one year from her mother.  We still laugh about it.

A silver serving tray.  Very shiny, highly polished.  And in the shape of a flip-flop.

Seriously.  A tray for serving food, in the shape of a cheap, floppy shoe.  Where feet go.

Don’t believe it exists?  Check it out:

So if you get something you don’t like this year, just remember.  It could have been a giant silver flip-flop.

Music I listen to on a semi-regular basis

I posted a Halloween playlist a while ago, but this is my other one, stuff I listen to otherwise.  There’s no real theme, other than the fact that I like all these songs and most of them are fun to harmonize with.  Go and listen, it will brighten your day (maybe).  I didn’t want to post the actual player here, because I don’t like opening web pages and being forced to listen to something.  This way it’s up to you!  Giving you more control, that’s the kind of lady I am.

Sharon’s Playlist

Genetic muscle memory

The other night, I was tired and a little silly.  I was trying not to laugh at something C was doing, and I felt my face arrange itself in an expression of my mother’s.  I knew, without looking, that it was precisely the same one.

Weird.

And then I found this picture, probably one of my favorite ones ever.

Yeah, that’s tiny baby me sleeping with Mom.  In the same position.  And I’ve been assured repeatedly that nobody arranged us that way.

And then C looked at this picture and said “It’s like looking at you while you’re sleeping.  Except it’s your mother.  And we don’t have an ugly couch.  Or a baby.  That’s freaky!!“

Not really any point to posting this, I just like the picture a whole lot.

You know you’re from Slidell

Some of these I’ve heard, and some I made up.  I guess I’m feeling nostalgic and homesick today.

We all once feared Bayou Liberty when we first started driving. We conquer our fears.

The bridge over the railroad tracks at the end of Front Street scared us all at one point.

You were scared shitless in Drivers Ed by crooked-toed Anna Merryl and her husband with the bump on his head.

You don’t understand why the DMV is past a hairpin curve in the road, which makes the driving test worse.

You’ve gotten drunk at the Point.

You miss the old playground stuff at John Slidell. Like the fort and the giant tall thing with the ladder rungs too far apart for anyone and the only way down was the scary fireman’s pole.

You found a piece of cardboard and slid down the hill at John Slidell.

You waited in your car for 30 minutes to get a snowball on Gause even though there was nobody at the walk-up. It was just too hot to get out.

You think the speed bumps on West Hall are a joke and get mad when the person in front of you actually slows down for them.

You know how the Bayou Liberty/St. Genevieve bridge sounds and you can imitate the noise.

Whenever you drove over that bridge and it creaked, you always kind of thought you might fall in.

You feel reassured every year you see the old guy with the white beard on his bicycle collecting cans.

Ditto for the hat/rose lady on I-10.

You’ve ever had to grab a pirogue or a canoe to paddle down your street to the store following a thunderstorm.

You still think Check-In-Check-Out has the best shrimp poboys.

You remember when they actually had guards in the stands in front of Eden Isles.

You still wish you could make Frank come back and open the Soda Shop back up.

You still have your blue Soda Shop punch cards just in case one day, he does.

You’ve ever seen a woman get out of her car at a blocked intersection to kick a turtle out of the road.

If you had to attend a softball game at Fritchie Park, you were a little sad because John Slidell was more fun.

You’ve participated in a cake-walk at the Saint Margaret Mary fair.

You snuck out to New Orleans and tried to get back before curfew.

When sneaking out to the French Quarter, you knew you were taking the right exit (Canal) because you saw the Rosenberg’s sign. (1825! Tuuuu-lane)

You were mad as hell when Rite Aid bought out K&B.

You can still identify (and use as a standard) K&B purple.

You made a mad rush for Boiling Point on Thursday nights because that’s when they had a dozen oysters for $3.25

Your school went to Skater’s Paradise for special occasions.

You ever performed in a recital or a play at the original Minnacapelli’s.

You were shocked on the day when you turned to the Zephyr (106.1) and heard country music.

Not only do you know the difference between “old” and “new” Kingspoint, you have lived in each.

You still refer to the current Hobby Lobby as the old Walmart.

You’ve gotten dizzy on the yellow spinning thing at the park behind the old K-Mart (now it’s a gym?)

You’ve suddenly had to shout your conversation over a train.

You’ve ever had to pick up a friend in Pearl River and the directions include turning either before or after “the big chicken.”

Going to dinner at Doug’s on Robert Rd. was considered really fancy.

You still call Lakeview Rat’s Nest Road.

You would go out of your way to GG’s because their vending machines were cheaper.

You’ve been to a bonfire when it’s over 80 degrees outside.

Parents, teachers, friends, take note

This is interesting, really.  And as a “gifted student” in grade school this hits home in more than a few ways.

The Inverse Power of Praise

Awesomeness

Tonight was the party for my class to show the films we’ve been working on all semester.  It was so very cool to sit in a nice lecture hall with big screens and watch the finished versions of what we’ve been working on all these months.

Of course, I’m sitting there during my crew’s film and thinking “Oh god, that shot is way jumpier than it looked while we were editing.  The sound is funny there, what was I doing with the mike, anyway?  We never fixed that thing, did we?”

I also loved seeing the other crew’s final product, it was amazing.

And though I’m obviously relieved that it’s over (it was stressful and demanding at times) I’m a little sad as well.  I really enjoyed working with K and S, we were so well suited for our roles in this.  Being on a team with fantastic people can make an experience just spectacular.  They are and it was.

Umm, what?

It’s vaguely snowing/slushing or something tonight in East Austin.  This afternoon, it was 73.

Yeah.

That is just insane.

Update: It’s now snowing, hailing, and sleeting on my apartment.  C, being a bright girl, suggested we move our cars under the carport.  I walked through snow!!  Lame, little bits of snow, but still!

Customer Service

I have a new favorite restaurant in town, El Greco.  I unabashedly love it.  C and I go there, M and I go there, sometimes all three of us, I brought my parents there while they were in town over Thanksgiving.  It’s great.

And because I love them, I give them good reviews on yelp.  They deserve it!  I hope they stay in business.

Anyway, last night I was there with C and M, and ran up to the counter to get dessert and coffee.  As I was paying, the guy who always asks after us (I think he’s the owner) caught my eye and said “You! You wrote those very nice reviews online.  I wanted to say thank you.”  And then an older woman walks out (his mother? I’ve seen her around) he whispers something to her, looks at me, and then SHE thanks me.

I say something like “Oh please, I love this place! I even brought my parents here when they were in town.”  And the owner remembered what day we were in and what my mother had ordered.

Take note, other businesses.  This is customer service done right.  Start with great product, but then make a point to talk with your customers.  If someone says something nice about you, thank them.  Not that hard.  I already thought the restaurant was great, but now I’m kind of in love with them.  And good on them for reading customer reviews online–not enough restaurants do that.  Which is weird, given the numerous places for people to post their opinions.  Plus, their gyro is one of the best.

Easily frustrated

A couple weeks ago, I was getting ready to leave for class.  This involved a mad scramble for anything and everything I would need.  I was talking to C on the phone and suddenly . . .

Me: Dammit! I can’t find my phone!  Have you seen it?
C: Yeah, it’s on your head.
Me: Oh, real helpful smartass.  Seriously, have you seen it?
C: . . .
Me: Oh! I’m talking on it, aren’t I?  Sorry I called you a smartass, then.  Gotta go, love you!!
C: Weirdo.