C and I just spent the weekend in Las Vegas. What an amazing town! It's the 2nd time we've been there, and it was just as wonderful the 2nd time as the first time. Instead of going with him to a motorcycle auction, though (which I did the first time), I spent my afternoon getting totally pampered at the hotel spa. Such luxury!
I remember one of the first times I went to Vegas. I was a kid and went with my mom and dad. I actually don't remember much, but snippets of the weekend come back to me. Not being able to go through the casino, for example. I remember standing on the edge of the casino floor, watching my mom or dad play the slots. It's not like I stood there for hours or anything; I think we were in line for the buffet or something. It was fascinating, though. I also remember getting quarters from my folks to go play pinball. That's what kids did then ... play pinball or go to Circus Circus. Geez.
Is Circus Circus even there anymore? The old strip was pretty awesome in its neon glow, starting at the Tropicana and going up the strip towards Caesar's Palace. You went by the Sands, the Flamingo, the Dunes ... old Las Vegas, home of the mafia-types and Rat Packers of old. Nowadays, it's slags and oompa loompa boys (or even worse, oompa loompa boy wannabees) who walk the strip as the casinos get larger and more opulent. I know ... who am I to talk? Not that I'm a slag, but I sure as heck would want their figures, to be able to wear some of their clothes, etc. I'll never be able to walk in those heels, though. Man, talk about high.
Vegas is a nice getaway, though. Nowhere else can drink like a fiend, smoke like a chimney, gamble like a Rockefeller on penny slots and still come home none the worse for wear.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The furry loved ones
As a kid growing up, we had animals, but not really pets, if that makes sense. My sister J had been given 2 dogs for a birthday once, a brother and sister we named Micky and Heidi. A few years ago, she asked us sisters about those dogs, because she had never wanted a dog and was basically frightened of them. Why my parents (or probably my dad) thought it was a good idea to get her a dog (or two!) is still a mystery to us.
In any case, we had 2 dogs, but when we moved into our house in Sunland, we must have sold Heidi to a neighbor. Didn't matter ... neighborhood dogs then just ran around free outside, no keeping them in the house, etc. Micky just dug out under the fence to get out with his "pals" anyway. Back in those days, no one thought about training a dog and having them part of the family, at least not in my family. I never really remember hugging our dog. He was just ... there.
We also had other animals over the years: a mule, 2 horses, chickens (ugh, hated that ... gathering eggs, cleaning the coop), a stray cat or two, maybe even a duck), but never a pet.
As an adult, I never wanted a pet. I lived in apartment buildings that didn't allow pets, and it just never seemed right for me. I guess I didn't want the responsibility, but I do remember at one time thinking I might want a cat at some point, if only to have some other sense of "life" in my house. Nothing ever came of it, though. I was too lazy to move and too scared to consider it further, I think.
When I met C, he had pets. He had cats, two of them. Luckily I'm not allergic, because I think that might have been a deal-breaker, or else I'd be taking allergy medicine to combat the sneezes. The cats, Beastie and Ting Ting, were quite benign. They weren't the type of cats to jump all over you or meow until you want to scream ... they just ... were. I had to learn how to pet a cat, because I'd never had one before. I had to learn how to hold them and just exist with them in their home. Looking down when I walk in the house is now second nature, but it wasn't easy at first. I tripped over the cats constantly at the start.
Beastie was actually quite a social cat, once he got used to you. After being around him a while, he would jump up and lay next to me on the couch and I found I really liked that. It was different for me. Ting Ting was never as social as Beastie, but in his own way, he accepted me. He would rest on my lap as I watched TV, for at least 20 minutes and then move down to sleep by my feet. As he was less of a "people cat" than Beastie, I felt like I was really making headway into the whole pet thing that he'd accepted me so well.
Living with pets is still a learning experience for me, even though I've lived with them for nearly 7 years now. Beastie and Ting Ting are no longer with us, which saddens me, but we have a puppy to fill the empty spaces. His name is Philo and boy, are dogs different than cats! Cats are so self-sufficient, but dogs need lots of open affection. I love Philo to death, but I still feel that bit of reserve in me when I hold him or pet him. I think it's an inherited trait. My mother was never an animal lover. Not that she hated animals, but I think she was scared of them. There's a picture of her as a young girl, visiting a farm with her brother. Her brother is holding a little piglet and my mother is a good 5 feet away from him, in the picture but nowhere near the piglet. Just not her cup of tea. I can understand that feeling a bit, especially when I'm around big or enthusiastic dogs, or cats who jump high, and so on. It's out of my comfort zone, but I'm slowly learning.
I'll never have children, but I have my "furkids" and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Year's Eve traditions in our family
It's New Year's Day 2010 today and it brings back memories of New Year's Eve parties as a kid. My family is Dutch and my mother brought with her to this country many old traditions that we celebrated year after year.
New Year's Eve in my mom's family was a time for games, good food and laughter. She brought those customs to the US and shared them with us. We ate things like "bitterballen", which are small breaded meatballs, similar to croquettes. We also had "oliebollen", which are deep-fried fritters made with dried fruit and raisins. Another favorite of mine were banana fritters, but my mom also made apple fritters. These are not like the sweet fritters you see in today's donut shops. These are pieces of apple or banana (a healthy bite) dipped in batter and then deep-fried. Later you dip them in powdered sugar and gobble them up.
The games we played were the type of games that are good for large groups of people. Many were card games, such as "Pik Pak Por". Everyone around the table is dealt 3 cards and they all have 3 pennies to their name. You start going around the table and each person throws down a card at their turn. Let's say Person A has a 7. If Person B next to them has a 7, they put it down and say "Pik 7" and Person A has to put a penny in the pot. If Person C also has a 7, they put it down and say "Pak 7" and Person B puts 2 pennies into the pot. Should Person D have the last 7, they put it down and say "Por 7" and Person C puts all 3 pennies into the pot and is out of the game, dead.
Now comes the fun part. A dead player can talk to anyone. A live play can only talk to live players. The trick now is for a dead player to try and get a live player to talk to them. If they do, the live player forfeits their cards and their pennies and is now dead, and the formerly dead player is back in the game.
Over the years, we've had great memories of the lengths people go to to get the live player to talk to them. My Aunt T offered my other aunt another glass of wine. When my aunt said "yes", T grabbed the cards with a resounding "YEAH!" and started playing, the pouring of the wine forgotten in the heat of battle.
My parents also brought along a Sjoelbak game from Holland, basically a table top shuffleboard game (http://shulbok.com/ or http://dutchgames.us/). It's pronounced "shul-bac". Boy, that was so fun. Banking the stones off the side to try and get the score. I wonder whatever happened to our sjoelbak?
It's funny, I never remember much of the actual midnight "it's a new year" time. For me it was more about the food (no big surprise there) and the games. I do remember, though, during the late 60's/early 70's, that around noon, my mom would call the operator and make an appointment to contact the family in Holland at 3PM our time (which is midnight in Holland). Yep, back in those days you couldn't just direct dial out of the country, you had to have operator assistance. You really take for granted all the ease of communication these days, until you think about what your parents had to do to talk to each other. Letters were much more the norm for communication and talking on the phone was a luxury only used for special occasions or emergencies. Even when I was born in the early 60's, the congratulations from Holland came via telegram. You couldn't send a telegram if your life depended on it nowadays (I think).
As an adult, I spend my New Year's Eves pretty quietly. I don't go out to bars or clubs, because the thought of being on the road with NYE drunks is frightening. Maybe, though, I should think back to those family traditions and adapt them to my current life. Might be fun!
New Year's Eve in my mom's family was a time for games, good food and laughter. She brought those customs to the US and shared them with us. We ate things like "bitterballen", which are small breaded meatballs, similar to croquettes. We also had "oliebollen", which are deep-fried fritters made with dried fruit and raisins. Another favorite of mine were banana fritters, but my mom also made apple fritters. These are not like the sweet fritters you see in today's donut shops. These are pieces of apple or banana (a healthy bite) dipped in batter and then deep-fried. Later you dip them in powdered sugar and gobble them up.
The games we played were the type of games that are good for large groups of people. Many were card games, such as "Pik Pak Por". Everyone around the table is dealt 3 cards and they all have 3 pennies to their name. You start going around the table and each person throws down a card at their turn. Let's say Person A has a 7. If Person B next to them has a 7, they put it down and say "Pik 7" and Person A has to put a penny in the pot. If Person C also has a 7, they put it down and say "Pak 7" and Person B puts 2 pennies into the pot. Should Person D have the last 7, they put it down and say "Por 7" and Person C puts all 3 pennies into the pot and is out of the game, dead.
Now comes the fun part. A dead player can talk to anyone. A live play can only talk to live players. The trick now is for a dead player to try and get a live player to talk to them. If they do, the live player forfeits their cards and their pennies and is now dead, and the formerly dead player is back in the game.
Over the years, we've had great memories of the lengths people go to to get the live player to talk to them. My Aunt T offered my other aunt another glass of wine. When my aunt said "yes", T grabbed the cards with a resounding "YEAH!" and started playing, the pouring of the wine forgotten in the heat of battle.
My parents also brought along a Sjoelbak game from Holland, basically a table top shuffleboard game (http://shulbok.com/ or http://dutchgames.us/). It's pronounced "shul-bac". Boy, that was so fun. Banking the stones off the side to try and get the score. I wonder whatever happened to our sjoelbak?
It's funny, I never remember much of the actual midnight "it's a new year" time. For me it was more about the food (no big surprise there) and the games. I do remember, though, during the late 60's/early 70's, that around noon, my mom would call the operator and make an appointment to contact the family in Holland at 3PM our time (which is midnight in Holland). Yep, back in those days you couldn't just direct dial out of the country, you had to have operator assistance. You really take for granted all the ease of communication these days, until you think about what your parents had to do to talk to each other. Letters were much more the norm for communication and talking on the phone was a luxury only used for special occasions or emergencies. Even when I was born in the early 60's, the congratulations from Holland came via telegram. You couldn't send a telegram if your life depended on it nowadays (I think).
As an adult, I spend my New Year's Eves pretty quietly. I don't go out to bars or clubs, because the thought of being on the road with NYE drunks is frightening. Maybe, though, I should think back to those family traditions and adapt them to my current life. Might be fun!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Hungry Man Fried Chicken Dinners or Kraft Mac'n'Cheese
Whenever my parents went out to dinner or to a party or something, I got to pick my dinner. For me, the most fantastic dinners were either a Hungry Man Friend Chicken dinner, complete with cardboard-like mashed potatoes, corn and that greasy delicious chicken. Or, a whole box of Kraft Mac'n'Cheese. Such comfort food. I can even see myself in the kitchen of the house where I grew up, putting the water on to boil, setting out the milk and butter to make the "cheese" sauce.
To this day, when I'm having a bad day and just want some comfort, I get that familiar blue box and eat up the whole thing, by myself. I don't get the chicken dinners anymore, but I really don't know why. Maybe my next bout of "my life is in shambles" (but not really), I'll go grab that Hungry Man dinner from the frozen food section and eat the whole up. Mmmm ...
To this day, when I'm having a bad day and just want some comfort, I get that familiar blue box and eat up the whole thing, by myself. I don't get the chicken dinners anymore, but I really don't know why. Maybe my next bout of "my life is in shambles" (but not really), I'll go grab that Hungry Man dinner from the frozen food section and eat the whole up. Mmmm ...
I talk to myself
I have always talked to myself. For as long as I remember, I have conversations with myself, but as I think back, they seem to mostly take place when I'm peeing. I know ... WTF?
When I was in grade school, I used to go to the library every day after school ended and wait for my parents to pick me after work. I'd do my homework, I'd read books, if I had money I'd go over to Jack in the Box and buy a taco and some onion rings, maybe even a shake. One day (I guess I was in 4th or 5th grade) I was in the library with a friend and I had to go to the bathroom. I got the bathroom key from the librarian and went to go pee. I guess my friend needed to go, too, because she was outside the door waiting when I was done. She said "Do you talk to yourself? I heard you talking when you were in there."
From that day on, I stopped talking to myself with sound. Now I just move my lips when I have internal conversations while peeing, but it's all silent. Lesson learned: someone can always be listening to you.
Why do this?
I've decided that I need to have a place where I can put all my memories. Memories from my childhood, memories from school, memories from anywhere and everywhere. I find when I look back at my life, I have great gaps where I don't recall anything special or pertinent happening. That can't be right. I mean, every person has significant events in their life, right?
So, I've decided to write down memories, long or short, in a blog. I'm hoping that by writing them down, I can jog my brain to dredge up other things, and that over time, I'll have a whole lot of stuff written to see what I'm all about. I don't want to forget about me.
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