You Know You're Successful When...

...even the local drug dealers notice you're losing weight.

Two weeks ago, one of the "locals" saw me sitting on my porch reading the paper & called out, "Hey, Skinny-- lookin' good!" And a few days ago, the Hacking Hooker (see earlier posts) saw me coming home from my walk and said, "Boy, were you out walking a-GAIN?? You're gonna waste away!" This being an ironic statement for 2 reasons: 1) I'm about 100lbs from stick-figure status, and 2) she's the one who should be worried about wasting away-- she weighs about 50-60 lbs less than she did 1 year+ ago when I first started seeing her "work" the neighborhood. Still haven't decided whether it's the lifestyle or her cough that's rendered her slim. Don't really want to know either...

It's official

I never thought the day would come when I had gone an entire month without a new post. How did this happen?

If you knew how often I think of "good" (IMHO) subjects to prate about on my personal blog-o'-joy, you would shake your head and say: Laura, have we taken our meds lately? Do you do anything BUT think up blog ideas?

Just the other day I had most of a particularly fine post developed (in my head) regarding the nature of "worth / value"-- how arbitrary the value of something is, and how time and trend shape the actual value of an object or particular conceit. This was spawned by a great conversation I had with a friend about the nature of capitalism. Brilliant stuff!

Last night, as I was walking laps on the rubberized track at a local college, I fleshed out a perfectly fascinating post about the nature of parasitic relationships (partly inspired by Melonie's latest post). Recently I've had three different parasitic "friends" poke their heads (or try to, at least) back into my life. I've decided my drama threshold is even lower than previously imagined. Everyone likes a vicarious thrill now and again-- but one "friend" in particular only tries to re-insinuate herself into my life when she 1) has something to brag about, 2) needs something (money, attention, lithium), 3) has visited (in her head) George W. and wants to tell me about the encounter. I just ... CAN'T... TAKE... IT... ANYMORE...

I've also re-visited the ever popular subject of FAMILY. Learning to relate to / with my mother, the miracle of my 94-year old grandmother, my brother living so far away (thereby leaving those ladies in my care). And last night, as I spent the 3rd evening in a row painting in Mom's kitchen, I let the stench of heavy-duty primer transport me to an astral plain where I was free to blog & muse to my heart's content, not troubled for a heartbeat by prosaic things like oh, say, paying bills or earning the money to do so.

I swear I haven't forgotten all of you, my readership (**and a feeble hurrah comes bleating across the Web like a forgotten lamb on a windblown hillside). My mind is as fecund as ever, full of ideas, humor, and random ideas for how to titillate and amuse my blog fans.

So for now, take a deep breath, kick back, raise a glass, pass a pipe, do what it takes to tranquilize yourself sufficiently, and know that there really IS more to come-- only now is not the moment.