Kickbacks and tragedy.

Jeff kicked the back of my chair. Then Josh kicked the back of my chair. Ryan is still too shy, I think, to kick the back of my chair. Patti will probably never kick the back of my chair. She's too nice.

Scotch stayed home today...he was eating grass this morning and has a belly ache.

Other than that, it's a typical day in the newsroom. Except for just about all the news coming in has been sad.

Brenda just paged Patti's phone and made a fart noise into it. It sounded real, so we're giving her a hard time about "blaming the phone." I think Brenda is bored today.

We're all trying to stay in decent spirits because bad things seem to be happening all around. One of our co-workers suffered a grave hardship today, and the news in general has been grim. A 23-year-old burned to death near here when the truck he was driving had a blowout and he lost control. The truck went on its side and caught fire. I simply cannot imagine the heartache that surrounds tragedies like that. One minute your life is cruising along...you're thinking about something ordinary or doing something ordinary then in just a split second it all turns bad.

Prayers to his family...as well as to the families of the eight people killed in Connecticut. And the the family of the shooter. It can get pretty terrible.

That's why, here in the newsroom, we've learned to hone our crazy. That's why lots of newspaper journalists (as well as ER docs, EMTs, police officers, firemen and other people whose days are filled with someone else's grief in detail) seem a little hardened or have an inappropriate, twisted sense of humor. It's so we don't dwell on the facts or the stories that come at us every day. Including the ones you never read.

Ninth Level of Hell.

Bloggety Blog Blog Blog.

It's been awhile. My mom has been visiting and I took some time off. Ryan got married over the weekend. I gained about 23 pounds from eating out with mom and from eating leftover coconut wedding cake from my cousins wedding last weekend. All this marriage. It's an epidemic.

The In-design keeps crashing here in the newsroom. Yesterday Patti threw a little fit and I was so proud of her. She actually threw some papers around. Not a bona-fide fit, but she's getting there. We are good at throwing fits in the newsroom, in epidemic proportions.

I went to Hydro today to do a story about the new middle/high school. It was hot. It has been hotter than the 9th level of hell this last week. My central air isn't working like it should and my house gets about 85 degrees around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Problem is, it seems to be an epidemic around town and my landlady hasn't been able to get a repairman to come out. I think it's time to buy a house. Seriously.

Bacon threats.

Emily just sent me a text and told me to meet her out in the parking lot because she had a present for me. It was a wedding cake flavored snow cone - MY FAVORITE! It's weird to not have her here. But I really like Patti. We were walking over to the chinese restaurant for lunch today and Safina and I started making "noodle" references. We always talk about "noodles" when we eat lunch at the Chinese restaurant. It's naughty. Patti chimed right in. Didn't even miss a beat.

Ryan just told me he drove all around Weatherford looking for a fire he heard about on the scanner. His face is a little red. He said he was swearing and spitting all by himself in his truck. Now he's telling my dog Scotch he's going to fry up some bacon and bring it to work tomorrow and set it on top of his desk, and if Scotch keeps ignoring him he won't get any. Scotch is just staring at him while he makes his futile threats.

Wong Foo Fighting

My dog Scotch was on crack in the newsroom today. Running around in the middle of the room, jumping in the air, chasing his tail...then scooting off into the reception area like Lucifer was on his back...I have NO idea what got into him. It was funny, tho. Patti and I were rolling.

Now he's completely sacked out under my desk. Which is kinda where I want to be - taking a nap - but I have a bachelorette party to attend tonight. (It's a TUESDAY night! What???)

Jeff has advised me NOT to publish a story about where drag queens buy clothes in western Oklahoma - I got the idea because I'm going to be doing a little story on a business in a tiny little town (close to here) called Bokays by Nina and Tina...or something like that. Reminds me of the Strawberry Festival town in "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." I haven't even MET a drag queen out here...but you never know.

NIX the Sabbatical!

Oh. And by the way. I am NIXING the sabbatical. Totally. Tired of being on sabbatical. After giving it some thought I have decided sabbaticals are for the birds. Eight months is MORE sabbatical than anyone (except people who are SUPPOSED to go on sabbatical) needs.

Ryan is sitting over there cackling because the police Captain said he was doing a good job of making my life miserable since Michael has been gone. Pleh.

Someone fetch me a straightjacket.

I didn't sleep last night because my legs were itching and because I had a lot on my mind (GOOD things...had some nice conversations with friends and potential friends in the late evening, and my cousin Bo)...so I tossed and turned and ended up with only about four hours sleep. So at lunch today I had one of those five hour energy drinks. Ahem. Waiting for the KOOKY to kick in.

Newsroom is still having server problems, and I lost a whole story today. I'm fixing to rewire it (do a rewrite). Jeff is back today and already giving me hell. Ryan is pretty sedate - must be all that premarital counseling he's getting. Patti is trying NOT to lose her mind with all the server stuff. Josh is running amok, as usual.

For as much as I love summer, for some reason I am already ready for fall. I don't want winter...just fall. And I want ALL crazypeople banished from my normally happy world.

St. Jules of the big heart and open arms for crazypeople with their crazydrama has officially left the building. For good.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

It's Friday in the newsroom. We're all ready for the weekend. Patti hit a deer on her way to work this morning and Ryan won't stop eating vanilla wafers. We all want to go across to the 117 and throw back a few, but...here we are.

I've decided to extend my sabbatical until the Fall Equinox. There is a danger of becoming a crazy old cat lady, sitting on my porch with a bottle of gin, wearing magenta lipstick and brocade slippers and whistling at the college boys when they walk by if I don't start dating again soon...but I had a bit of a setback and need to extend my time out. It was just a wee setback, but a setback none-the-less.