Random thoughts:
Should I go ahead and download Exene Cervenka's solo album on iTunes or order the CD from Amazon? I want to listen to it asap, but there's also something to be said about buying the CD and getting the liner notes, etc. Amazon's review reads as follows:
"Somewhere Gone, Exene's first solo album since 1991, is a sometimes dreamy but always intimate, circuitous passage through folk and country; subdued, but no less edgy. Invoking other artists who travel easily between the worlds of words and music like Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith, Exene's lyrics and immediately recognizable, simultaneously fragile and totemic vocals carry all the passion of X without all the loud.Sonically, Somewhere Gone is a sometimes sparse, sometimes exuberant blend of folk, deep country and wide-open spaces.Exene is a genuine icon and inspiration to a generation."
That being said, I think I will download it from iTunes. If I really like it, I may buy the CD later.
Here in a few minutes, I'm going to be taking a training course on Windows 7. Someone wake me up in 45 minutes, please.
I really need to start Christmas shopping, soon. I have to shop for the following peoples: Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad Perkins, Grandma, Ging, Lindley and Mel (joint gift for them, likely), Gabriel, Katie, Maggie, Kaleb, my uncle David, Dav's uncle Randy, Larry and Fran.... I know I am missing someone here, but it's just not coming to me. I would love love love to buy my friends gifts as well, but the money situation just isn't shaping up to look like I will be able to. I am going to send out cards though, probably toward the end of the month.
I am looking forward to the holiday mania, honestly. I am blessed with wonderful family on both sides. I look forward to Christmas Eve with the Perkins every year and Christmas day with my family. Christmas morning is my immediate family (Mom, Dad, me, Dav, Lin, Mel and Gabe), then the whole extended family comes over that afternoon (around 50 people).
Not sure what we are doing for New Years Eve this year, but we will come up with something fun. It's my favorite time of year, and 2010 has GOT to be better than 2009. I hope anyway.....
My goals for next year include paying off my credit card, and hopefully Dav's as well. Our lease on the apartment expires next September, so I hope to be house shopping by then :0)
...............................................
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Can things be looking up for ol' Ash?????
So I had my court date today. I had to be at the justice court at 8:30. I proudly pled "not guilty" at my arraigment in September and today it was show time. I got there at around 8:15, and my attorney had not yet shown up. 8:40 rolls around before he gets there. He walks up to the prosecutor, speaks briefly, and speaks to the judge as well. Then he gestures for me to meet him outside the courtroom. Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only did the prosecutor agree to drop the charges due to a lack of evidence (for those of you playing along at home, I was arrested for DUI - other substance *narcotic pain pill that I was prescribed*), but the cop that arrested me didn't even show up!!! hahahaha. So they would have dropped the charges anyway. I'm willing to bet the cop thought I would get scared out of my wits and plead guilty and pay the fine and have my license revoked. But you don't back a McKellar into a corner unless you want her to come out fighting like a wildcat. He didn't even have the nerve to show up. That's what gets me....
Anyway, I am now at a point where I wish to put this nightmarish ordeal behind me. Things may possibly be looking up for me at this point. I am paying off a credit card next week (one I've had for six years now).
I don't want to jinx myself here. I'm almost kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is that an awful way to live, or what???
Oh.... and the attorney that represented me, a friend of my mom's boss... pro bono. :0)
Someone is getting a Honey Baked ham soon. I know it's not much, but I can't think of what else to do.
Not only did the prosecutor agree to drop the charges due to a lack of evidence (for those of you playing along at home, I was arrested for DUI - other substance *narcotic pain pill that I was prescribed*), but the cop that arrested me didn't even show up!!! hahahaha. So they would have dropped the charges anyway. I'm willing to bet the cop thought I would get scared out of my wits and plead guilty and pay the fine and have my license revoked. But you don't back a McKellar into a corner unless you want her to come out fighting like a wildcat. He didn't even have the nerve to show up. That's what gets me....
Anyway, I am now at a point where I wish to put this nightmarish ordeal behind me. Things may possibly be looking up for me at this point. I am paying off a credit card next week (one I've had for six years now).
I don't want to jinx myself here. I'm almost kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is that an awful way to live, or what???
Oh.... and the attorney that represented me, a friend of my mom's boss... pro bono. :0)
Someone is getting a Honey Baked ham soon. I know it's not much, but I can't think of what else to do.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
a tough year
2009 has been without a doubt one of the most difficult and heart breaking years that I have lived through in my 27 years of life. As it draws to a close, I can honestly say I am looking forward to what the new year will bring with subdued optimism.
The year started out innocently enough.
In early February, I was on my lunch break, driving to the pharmacy and stopped at a red light. Some one rear ended me without even applying his brakes. He was going at least 55 miles per hour. I am thankful that I had my seat belt on, because I was OK. I only suffered muscle fatigue and whiplash. My car, the Sled verison 2.0, the best car I have ever owned, was not so lucky. She was totalled, just as I was getting rather near to paying it off. I had to jump through a lot of hoops, but I finally got everything settled with the insurance company, and purchased another car. And another note. Sigh. At the end of February, my beloved cat Rameses was hit by a car. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. The best cat I've ever had. The best pet, period.
In May, just over three months after I purchased the new car, the transmission went out. It was no longer under warranty, so I had to have a new transmission financed for 1500.00
I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the accident, but my occasional back pain began to get worse and worse. It was getting debilitating. I had a spinal fusion in 1997 at the age of 14, and up until recently had had no other problems. I was finally referred to a fantastic orthopedist at the Mississippi Spine clinic. He put me on a few different medications, but I had no relief. Finally, an x ray revealed that the "knot" in my upper spine was actually a protruding crosslink from the spinal fusion, and I was advised that I could have it removed in a minor procedure. In June, I had the procedure and only spent one night in the hospital. I had a fairly easy recovery. It took about two weeks.
On July 3, Dav and I received an early morning call that changed our lives. Dav's grandfather, affectionally known as Pap, had died in his sleep during a brief hospital stay. He had been suffering from internal bleeding and things had been touch and go, but he was released from ICU and was expected to go home soon, but he didn't make it. The next few days were a blur. I found myself going through the grieving process, something I have never really done as an adult. I tried to console Dav and his family, but it was just so hard. He was Dav's tight knit family's patriarch. It was a very tough time in his family. I felt so much regret that I didn't visit him more while he was in the hospital. It was all just so sudden. It was heartbreaking to see the pain that Ging, Dav's grandmother, was going through. They had been married for 66 years.
On September 4, at around 12:30 AM, I was driving Dav's brother Brian home from our house. I was the designated driver. It was Labor Day weekend. At around 7:30 PM, I had taken a percocet for some back pain that I was still experiencing from the surgery. I was pulled over by a highway patrol officer who thought I was intoxicated. I had advised him that I hadn't had anything to drink, but he asked me if I was on any medication and I told him yes, percocet. He proceeded to arrest me for DUI and have my car towed. I spent the night in jail and Dav had to bail me out. I went to court my arraignment a couple weeks later and pled not guilty. I was not intoxicated. It had been over five hours since I had taken the medication.
Now I am awaiting my trial on Monday, November 9. I have an attorney who has spoken with the prosecutor and per my attorney, he has agreed to drop the charges. But I am still nervous about what exactly will happen on Monday. What if something goes wrong? I could lose my license and have my insurance jacked up, and have a criminal record for the rest of my life, and I didn't do anything wrong.
I'm just wondering what else can go wrong before the end of the year. There are almost two months left, after all.
The year started out innocently enough.
In early February, I was on my lunch break, driving to the pharmacy and stopped at a red light. Some one rear ended me without even applying his brakes. He was going at least 55 miles per hour. I am thankful that I had my seat belt on, because I was OK. I only suffered muscle fatigue and whiplash. My car, the Sled verison 2.0, the best car I have ever owned, was not so lucky. She was totalled, just as I was getting rather near to paying it off. I had to jump through a lot of hoops, but I finally got everything settled with the insurance company, and purchased another car. And another note. Sigh. At the end of February, my beloved cat Rameses was hit by a car. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. The best cat I've ever had. The best pet, period.
In May, just over three months after I purchased the new car, the transmission went out. It was no longer under warranty, so I had to have a new transmission financed for 1500.00
I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the accident, but my occasional back pain began to get worse and worse. It was getting debilitating. I had a spinal fusion in 1997 at the age of 14, and up until recently had had no other problems. I was finally referred to a fantastic orthopedist at the Mississippi Spine clinic. He put me on a few different medications, but I had no relief. Finally, an x ray revealed that the "knot" in my upper spine was actually a protruding crosslink from the spinal fusion, and I was advised that I could have it removed in a minor procedure. In June, I had the procedure and only spent one night in the hospital. I had a fairly easy recovery. It took about two weeks.
On July 3, Dav and I received an early morning call that changed our lives. Dav's grandfather, affectionally known as Pap, had died in his sleep during a brief hospital stay. He had been suffering from internal bleeding and things had been touch and go, but he was released from ICU and was expected to go home soon, but he didn't make it. The next few days were a blur. I found myself going through the grieving process, something I have never really done as an adult. I tried to console Dav and his family, but it was just so hard. He was Dav's tight knit family's patriarch. It was a very tough time in his family. I felt so much regret that I didn't visit him more while he was in the hospital. It was all just so sudden. It was heartbreaking to see the pain that Ging, Dav's grandmother, was going through. They had been married for 66 years.
On September 4, at around 12:30 AM, I was driving Dav's brother Brian home from our house. I was the designated driver. It was Labor Day weekend. At around 7:30 PM, I had taken a percocet for some back pain that I was still experiencing from the surgery. I was pulled over by a highway patrol officer who thought I was intoxicated. I had advised him that I hadn't had anything to drink, but he asked me if I was on any medication and I told him yes, percocet. He proceeded to arrest me for DUI and have my car towed. I spent the night in jail and Dav had to bail me out. I went to court my arraignment a couple weeks later and pled not guilty. I was not intoxicated. It had been over five hours since I had taken the medication.
Now I am awaiting my trial on Monday, November 9. I have an attorney who has spoken with the prosecutor and per my attorney, he has agreed to drop the charges. But I am still nervous about what exactly will happen on Monday. What if something goes wrong? I could lose my license and have my insurance jacked up, and have a criminal record for the rest of my life, and I didn't do anything wrong.
I'm just wondering what else can go wrong before the end of the year. There are almost two months left, after all.
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