EdgeofGloria

It's been a bit strange the last couple of weeks--I've had quite a bit of time off, which is very nice. I've been doing some cleaning and some painting. The amount of crap in this house is astounding. There's stuff I'm not sure what to do with which is taking up space. I was able to get rid of some stuff, and hopefully I'l get some money for it. I took pictures of an old sewing machine I got off the curb, and took pictures of it. An antiques dealer estimated it would be worth around $75. So I guess I'll post it on eBay and see what happens. I've been sleeping a lot and spending time relaxing. I've also spent time promoting one of my books, and I've gotten some good feedback on it, which is encouraging. I wish I had a bit more money--I'd probably go to a few movies if I did, or take a day trip to Chicago. It's been over six years since I've been there. So yeah, time off. I've been getting stuff done and getting rid of stuff. ...

At one of my jobs, a co-worker mentioned an incident about another co-worker. The store is selling a collection of nine picture frames in one box. A co-worker was trying to sell them, and told another employee that he should buy them. Immediately, he replied "but I don't have nine pictures of myself to put in frames to hang up in my house." We all kind of chuckled, because it was a typical comment from this person, but the fact that it was the first thing he said, without even thinking about it, was funny. Don't get me wrong. I think self-esteem is important, but I'm getting tired of ordinary people going on and on about how fabulous they are. I've worked with this particular co-worker before, and in the four years I've worked there, I don't think this guy has said a hundred words to me. He doesn't like me. I am not sure why, but I'm tired of wasting time on people, men especially, who don't like me. I was minding my own business in class...

While watching a YouTube video, I made a comment. It basically said that men are delusional, and mistakenly think if a woman smiles at them, the woman immediately wants to have sex with them. Whoo! Just that comment had four people (probably men) calling me an asshole, saying no one wants me either (like I care) and someone with poor grammar who couldn't even spell my name right saying I look like I smell like shit, or something. Men. Such fragile creatures. I also said something on Facebook a few months ago, and one of my "friends" had a total freak out about it. Of course, this was someone I'd never met. A "friend" of a "friend." Oh yes. I made a comment about a co-worker who had broken up with her boyfriend, and I told her she "deserved better." The guy on Facebook went all PMS on me, asking why it's okay for women to say that to women, but if the guy says he "deserves better," he's seen as a jerk. Such touchy m...

I was given a Target gift card today. Just in time, too, because it's one of those lean weeks where I will probably have to dip into my emergency fund for some bullshit amount like $35 or so. So, since I needed gas, I used it at a gas station. I just bought $5.01 worth of gas, because I wanted a snack at McDonald's. I figured I'd have $19.99 left for snacks, pet food and whatever else I thought I needed. I order, then hand over the card. Declined. Since I want my snack, I go to the bank and check my balances. I head to another McDonalds's and give them the gift card. Declined. So I give my credit union card and get my food. Since the card worked at the gas station, I decide I might just as well put the rest of the gift card into my car. Declined again. WTF? So I get online and find out that the gas station is going to hold the entire amount of the card (a preauthorization fee) for anywhere from three to seven days until the transaction of $5.01 goes through. Nic...

So my plans for the three days I have off at Thanksgiving were to clean a little and just sit around the house and have a nice dinner and watch movies. I should have gone to the library, because a trip to Delmar was disappointing, then a trip to Super Mega Replay was even more disappointing. There was really not much I wanted to rent or buy. I did find some stuff to buy, but I really, REALLY wanted "Inside Deep Throat" "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and "Secretariat." I could have rented "Exit" last night, I guess, but I didn't. Anyway, I liked Super Mega Replay (used to be Disc Replay) better when it was smaller. Now, it seems like it's chock full of crappy movies. Or maybe I'm just in a shitty mood, but it really did seem like if it's totally mainstream, they have TONS of it. Which is why I should have just gone to the downtown library and picked up some mind-bending shit. But yeah, I'm just about broke this Thanksgiving Eve...

Americans are crying right now--Hostess is bankrupt, no more Twinkies, Ho Hos and so forth. I really doubt that these snack cakes are going anywhere. Hostess may be no more, but do you really think Twinkies are going to go away? They may no longer be HOSTESS Twinkies, but I am willing to bet that brand will be snapped up by someone. Remember Bun bars? You probably don't, if you are not a Fort Wayne native. But I was completely hooked on these things, and I can remember buying a snack size bag before Halloween, and eating them in my bed. These candy bars came in a variety of flavors. My favorite was vanilla. The vanilla center was then covered with chocolate and peanuts. I loved them. If you've ever eaten a Reggie bar (named after Reggie Jackson) back in the 70s, they were about the same as the Bun bar. Then, they stopped making the Bun bar. Or rather, Clark bought the bar, which had been made by Wayne Bun Candy Company, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Clark then sold to Pears...

It's Election Night, 2012, and yes, I've voted. I was thinking about this election, and the insanity surrounding it, and realizing that I'm now part of a demographic that is ignored. I am a single, never been married, childless, middle-aged, college educated woman. No one cares about us. And certain men HATE us. The reason for the hate is because we've bucked the trend. Instead of getting married and having kids we couldn't afford to raise (after our husbands/boyfriends left us) we got college degrees and remained single and childless. I never had kids for a number of reasons. First off, I really didn't want any. Secondly, I never seemed to meet a guy who would make a good father. I figured the cut-off year for having kids was about age 35 or so, as fertility rates go down, and the probability of birth defects goes up. I guess I didn't work hard enough at finding a guy, but considering the shitty treatment I've had from men in my life (my brother was...

For some reason, I'm in a peeved mood. I already wrote a column about this, but consider this the balls-to-the-wall version of the column. Actually, the column touches on motivation and what works and what doesn't. What I would like to talk about here is the homoerotic lure of football. Football is one of those sports that straight men can get really involved in, and go over the top in terms of training, humiliation, training, crawling on the ground with a guy on your back and another one yelling at you, more training and humiliation. And afterward, you hand out in the locker room and jack off together. I was forced to watch a so-called motivational clip from a movie several weeks ago at a work meeting. The person making us watch this either doesn't realize that half of the workforce sitting and watching was female, and that none of them had ever had the experience of crawling across a football field with a guy on her back. Apparently, it's called the "death ...

I was in the break room at work just long enough the other day to hear some Social Security receiving, Medicare-using sixty-something say if Obama is reelected, the country will go into socialism. I wisely got out of there, but it does make my blood boil. I just might burst a blood vessel if I hear some older person rail about the "evils of socialism" while benefiting from it. Gee whiz, if socialism is so bad, every single person getting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, TANF, unemployment and any other safety net needs to "man up, "woman up" or "child up" and JUST SAY NO. Give it back. But it won't happen. Will people realize that the "entitlements" they're getting ARE social programs? Do they realize if they are getting a check that says U.S. Treasury on it, they are being supported by the government? "But I paid into the system!" you say. Ida May Fuller paid a mere $24.75 into Social Security before retiring at ...

A most satisfying day, for the most part. I spoke with a colleague about my books, and she was impressed at how nice they looked. Prior to that, I stopped at Dollar General and was alarmed to find out that I had no money in my checking account. Nothing really new there. Then, I killed time before having dinner with a friend. I looked around Designer Shoe Warehouse, and I was a bit pissed off. The last part of summer, I was looking for flats. Just plain flats, preferably leather, or vinyl. Four stores, and I couldn't find anything. Then, I finally went to that cheap accessory store in the mall, and found a pair of brown flats and a pair of purple flats, for $9.99 each. Then, a few days later, I found some black flats at Payless. So then I was at DSW and was kind of pissed off. What did I see but flats. Lots of flats. Tasteful, leather flats by known designers. I've always thought I was ahead of my time when it came to fashion. Not that you'd know it to look at me, but I ...

I realized it's been a while since I've posted. I've been working on getting my books into print. I don't think I would have done it, except someone who reads my column wanted to see my ebook into print. She also said she'd pay for it. So I went the print on demand route, and I have to say I'm happy with it. I got a shipment of the books the other day, and it looks really nice. So I'll be participating in the Author's Fair at the Allen County Public Library Nov. 3 from noon to 4 p.m. That's on a Saturday. I will have copies of my books for sale at a bit of a discount (I swallowed the shipping and handling costs, and will NOT be passing them on to you) and I'll even autograph them for you. So that's what I've been doing besides posting stuff on the blog. I suppose I should post more often, but it seems like my head is swirling with possibilities for publishing. I'm actually looking forward to the future, and that's something that...

Had an interesting conversation with someone today. He hates both Democrats and Republicans, but it's obvious which one he hates more. He noted that welfare recipients and minorities are Democrats. And don't get him started on environmentalists. It's sort of strange listening to him. He's angry about jobs being sent to China, but I didn't feel like asking him (and playing Devil's advocate) about the freedoms of business owners and whether or not they have the right to seek out the cheapest possible labor. I made the mistake of asking him shouldn't we reduce the amount of pollution we produce. He sort of agreed, but brushed me off. According to him, global warming is all a scam to make us pay more taxes and exert more control over us. If that's true, okay, but does that mean we can still act like pigs and litter all over the place? I kinda got the feeling that once he gets enough money, he'll join the Republicans anyway, even though he hates them.  ...

There is a divide in this country between the educated and the not educated. And I don't necessarily mean people with college degrees vs. people who don't have college degrees. That is just part of it, but I am always concerned when I talk to people, and they've never heard of the term "white hot" or the artist Jackson Pollock. A few years ago, I worked with a guy about 24 years old, and we were discussing the person living at the house we just delivered an appliance to. I couldn't place the accent, but passing through their garage, I saw a map of the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia. That solved that mystery, but out in the truck, my co-worker said he couldn't place the customer's accent. I said the woman was from Georgia. My co-worker's response: "oh no, she couldn't possibly be from the states." I then explained that the Soviet Union had collapsed, and once upon a time there was a republic that was called Georgia, just l...

If you've been wondering why I haven't posted more Tee Arr Eff fashion photos, it's because my computer was massively screwed up. It had more than 1,000 viruses, and I didn't know I didn't have any anti-virus on it. Financially, I'm screwed, so having a subscription to anything, including computer software, is just not going to happen right now. And to be honest, this laptop has been a bit of a mystery. I have no idea what it's capable of, how many gigs of RAM it has, etc. I only know it had Vista on it, and had I known how bad it was, I never would have purchased this computer. So I had to have my computer fixed, and I also had to back up everything. Since my external drive got knocked on the floor by my cat, I went out and bought a jump drive and put everything I wanted to save on there. I've not reloaded my stuff, because it's kind of nice to turn on my computer, and actually see the screen saver instead of literally dozens of icons. And I hav...

It looks like pink leopard print, or kisses on black fabric. Either way, she stands out in the urban jungle. I'm all for father/daughter unity, but doesn't he realize that her Cubs jersey is going to set her up for a lifetime of sports disappointment?

These are more photos from the last night of Three Rivers Festival. I had so much fun doing these, I'm going to do them again next year. What's the horn for? For surprise shots? Now that it's cooled down to a chilly 85 degrees, he decided to bust the wool hat out. That's how he rolls. He would run, Forrest, run, but he's looking for Jenny.

The economy is so bad, she couldn't afford the other half of her jeans. Who wore it better? Tie?

Dude, I know that's all the pocket change you have, but that still won't buy you a lap dance in Fort Wayne. This guy ruined a perfectly fine teenage boy outfit by wearing a tacky, air-brushed trucker hat with the word "Florida" on it. (Sorry about the blurry picture.) More Fashion Parade to come!

Like, we couldn't leave the house until ALL of our hair was totally, like coordinated! The chick on the left is blissfully unaware of the homeless guy who is taking a nap right next to her. Oh, that's your dad? Never mind.

I need to get a subscription to Vice magazine. I really enjoy it, and even though I may be too old for their demographic, I get a kick out of it. They do a feature called "Do's and Don'ts" where they take pictures of people and make comments about the outfits they are wearing. I decided to rip off this feature and give it a local spin. So here is the first ever Tee Arr Eff Fashion Parade. Hopefully next year, I can do this every night of the Three Rivers Festival, but I only came up with this idea Saturday afternoon. If you love people watching, you'll get a kick out of this. And you will probably enjoy Street Boners , a book filled with pictures of people in interesting (or awful) outfits and commentary from people about fashion. Coordinated Couples are Cute! Coolest fedora on the Midway.

I’ve been sounding off quite a bit on the whole health care issue on Facebook recently, and not surprisingly, a couple of people disagree with me. Then I got an email from a friend who said I might want to tone down my hypothetical question, “what happens if a loved one gets cancer? What are you going to do?” The reason? Because one of HIS friends has a spouse who has cancer. Oopsie. I guess I could be a real bitch and post on this person’s Facebook account that “no one lives forever; guess your spouse should get the affairs in order and enjoy the time you both have left” but I’m not going to do that. In a discussion about health care with a former co-worker, he actually said to me, when I posed my hypothetical question, “we all have to die sometime.” I swear to you he said this. I wish he could thank me for my Medicare deductions that will probably save his life when he winds up with cancer, but this sponge-nosed asshole retired and hopefully I’ll never have to see his insensiti...

By the way, I was the inspiration for Lyn Juarez.

http://blogoftheenders.blogspot.com/2012/07/rivertown.html?spref=fb Robert Enders does a funny comic called "Rivertown." You can also see it in the Fort Wayne Reader. Here's a few panels.

This was posted on angryyoungwoman.com shortly after one of my trips to Canada. Enjoy! Ways Canada is like the U.S. Ways Canada is NOT Like the U.S. Lots of fat Caucasians Has health coverage for all citizens Immigrants Lots of Tim Horton outlets Lots of square footage People friendly and polite Lots of restaurants If you bump into someone, THEY Has Wal-mart will say, "excuse me." Lots of discount stores/dollar stores Has "The Beer Store" SUVs Calls the restroom the "washroom" Speaks English (for the most Has French as official language too part) Queen Elizabeth on almost every damn unit of currency Canadians drive over the sp...

I realize I don't post as often as I should. I guess I figured no one was reading this. I looked at my stats and was amazed I had over 120 page views last month. Google can break down the views per post, and I'm like, "hmmmm...." So I'll try to write more. One thing that happened at work today was incredibly annoying. Corporate America is one of the most wasteful entities that's out there. They will throw stuff away at the drop of a hat. Most likely, the vendor will issue a credit. Today was a little different. Someone brought in a paint can. The customer wanted more paint and brought in the can so we could see exactly what we needed to make the same color. We made the paint, and gave the customer her old can back. She asked if we could throw it away for her. I opened it up to see that there was a inch of paint left in the can. I asked both managers if I could have it. No. I offered to buy it. No. One manager tried to explain to me that since the customer h...

Months before anyone heard of "50 Shades of Grey" I epublished some erotic fiction. Would anyone like to check it out? Unlike E.L. James, it is NOT Twilight-based fan fiction. I've posted excerpts on www.short-fiction.co.uk and it has about 20,000 views, plus a really nice compliment from a satisfied reader. Let me know, okay?

As someone who has been without healthcare more than she has had healthcare, I feel strongly about the subject. I took one of my current jobs, even though I knew I wouldn't really enjoy it, JUST to get the healthcare I needed to take care of a cantaloupe sized tumor in my uterus. No, it wasn't malignant, because if it HAD been, I wouldn't be here right now. Because the tumor was growing in a muscle, taking it out wasn't really an option. I could either wait until I went through menopause ( and I didn't know when that would happen) which would cause the tumor to shrink, or I could have a uterine artery embolization (cutting the blood supply off to the tumor, causing it to die) or have a hysterectomy. I took the less intrusive route. It worked, but yet it didn't. I ended up with an infection, causing me to lose 17 pounds in six weeks. I had no appetite, I was in pain, had a period for an entire month, and was throwing up, yet both doctors said, "that's n...