It's Martin Gore's Birthday, Here's the Best Photo Ever of Him

Every once and awhile I get into a cycle where I'm constantly bidding and watching. Occassionaly I win. But mostly, it's clicking, "watch this item."

If this cycle of bidding and watching sounds familiar to you, then you must also be familiar with the lure of Ebay. Don't get me wrong, I don't purchase things frequently. I'm not some half-wit, spendthrift, shopaholic wastrel, spending all of my hard-earned pennies on the trinkets available through online auctions. No, in 3 years, I have purchase 27 items, among them a persian rug, assorted jewelry, regency novels, (a box of 15 books for $9 IS a steal) and a Thomas the Tank Engine shirt for Olinga.

Lately though, I've been wondering why I get into these Ebay cycles. Months go by and I don't think about Ebay at all. But now that I'm in the cycle, I type, "blue chalcedony briolettes" into the search box every day, hoping that some new and lovely pair of earrings that's also relatively inexpensive appears. By the way, there are some beautiful earrings that match the description. I'm just unwilling to pay too much. If it's over $10, it's too much.

Be that as it may, I have also been pondering my blog abandonment and the many topics I should have been posting about, although I have been writing about them in various notebooks:

Here's a few happenings:

1. I've turned 32 and had a wonderful two-day birthday extravaganza.
2. I spent some money on new clothing that is smaller, but not as small as I'd like it be.
3. My father visited with us while here for his Jazz convention and he and I went hunting for the house he lived in when he was a small childe. It was over by the Sepulveda/Venice Blvd area.
4. While my father was here, we got pictures done of all of us, plus solos of the kids and one of the kids and my dad...and Elarryo was annoyed that he didn't get one of him and the kids. Interestingly enough, he was not annoyed that I didn't get one with just the kids and me. I'm still pondering this.
5. Two weeks of sunny blue skies have certainly erased some recollection of ringing in the New Year with torrential downpours.
6. I drove to Santa Barbara in the downpour. Well, thank goodness, I wasn't behind the wheel. I was the passenger contemplating how I'd be scared as all hell if I lived in, "those houses over there, right under those cliffs." Never dreaming that two days later, La Conchita, California would be in the national news.
7. I returned from Santa Barbara at 12:30 pm that night, opened the door, and perceived that O had transformed into the eraser-head half of Kid-N-Play. The horrible haircut arrived, courtesy of E--"The Clippers Slipped". The subsequent fixing of the haircut has been a bit traumatizing.
8. I spent two days at the Marlborough School for a so-called, "Excellent School Visit" and overheard one girl saying to the other, "Haven't you heard? My grandmother died over the weekend and left me everything!"
9. I was unfortunate enough to observe a man peeing on the concrete next to his SUV. I guess the Starbucks he'd purchased had run through him pretty quickly and he couldn't get back inside to a bathroom in time.
10. I've been to House of Pies and had a great time eavesdropping on all the random conversations. Good food for thought.