"yes" man no more...(woman)

Today I said No.

I said "no" many times and I feel fantastic.

It's even better when you say No, when you usually would have said Yes.

A yes that would make you grit your teeth and mumble swear words and wish death upon the person that made you say yes when all you really wanted to do was say no.

Sweet victory.

Baby steps of sweet victory.

Gross

Gross. I love this word.

If I was back in my college speech class, I am sure the instuctor would say I use the word 'gross' way to often. It is the ultimate oral filler in my conversations.

Usually, when I hear something that leaves me nearly speechless...."gross" seems to be my 'go to' response.

In my mind - the term sums up all that is vulgar, crude and leaves me with a tension headache.

When you define gross -

you learn it is an adjective.

1. without deductions

2. flagrant, extreme

3. disgusting

4. very fat or large

however, it is also a noun.

1. the total amount before deductions

2. twelve dozen

I don't use the noun form often. I never ordered a gross of anything. I may have considered it - Oriental Trading Co is filled with grosses to order.

But truthfully - that is just way too many things.

I decided that the definition of gross in my head is not done justice by a dictionary.

When I say gross - the implications are far more extreme than disgusting.

even in all of it's other incarnations - gross is more of a feeling than a simple definition.

overgross, ungross, grossly, overgrossly, grossness, overgrossness, outgross.

The thesaus reveals words that trip me out - adipose, lumpish, porcine, boorish, ribald, scatological....now we are talking dirty! barnyard, callous, carnal, cheap, coarse, corporeal, crass, dull, fleshly, foul, impure, in the gutter, indecent, inelegant, lewd, loudmouthed, low, rank, raunchy, raw, rough, sleazy, smutty, swinish, tasteless, ugly, uncouth......

Now I feel better.

That sums up gross.

Gross.

Cujo and other Summertime Reading Selections

I have had an eclectic mix of books read this summer.

It is safe to say, that in the last 10 years of my adulthood, I have kept a mix of books by the bedside that did not fall into any one category or author overload.

I tend to mock people that only read Nora Roberts for example. (sorry if you like them)

Back in December - I was opting back and forth about purchasing a Kindle. I am sort of a geek for books - If I had to guess, I would say it is one area that I spend the most of my entertainment money on.

So when considering the Kindle - it was merely from a cost savings perspective.

I also thought that the idea of carrying a Kindle instead of multiple massive books in my suitcase when I travel for work would help lighten my load considerably.

But after much consideration - it all came back to the fact that I am a 'geek for books'.

Real books, the kind with paper, colors, pictures, paper, font.....all the comfort that comes from holding a book.

So, I talked myself out of the need for the Kindle.

Fast forward to July.

I hear that I can download the Kindle app on my phone.

It's a free download so why not check it out? Give it a whirl?

I also downloaded the Nook app from Barnes and Noble - why not compare the two.

So with the download I now need a book to read.

I decide that I don't want to spend a lot of money - so I'll download something I have already read.

What do I choose?

Cujo

1. it was cheap 2. it was short - perfect for my Kindle trial.

Oh how the memories came flooding back as I read this book again.

I think it was the first Stephen King book I ever read.

I think I read it for the first time in the Summer as a young teenager.

I remember thinking it was full of scandal because the mom had an affair.....and he was a bad boy.

I recalled almost immediately that once I read my first Stephen King book - that was all I was reading.

Then I read my first Sidney Sheldon book - that was all I was reading.

(Hello?! The Other Side of Midnight?! Possibly one of the best trash novels of all time - but I think at the time I thought it was mature high class reading - I mean, didn't Sidney Sheldon do screenwriting for Hart to Hart?!)

Then I read my first Danielle Steel book - that was all I was reading.

Ugh.....I am so ashamed of my formulaic approach to reading as a young adult!

Horror, sex, mystery, sex, romance disguised as trash sex.

Why were my parents not monitoring my reading?

Anyway - I got off course here.

So I read Cujo with great joy actually.

First - 25+ years later, It was not exactly how I remembered.

I did keep flashing to the fact that my parents had a Pinto - just like the one Donna and Tad were trapped in.

We also had a dog that slobbered a great deal.

(Most likely I had slobber on me in this picture and was wiping it off with my sleeve)

Trapped in a hot car with even the thought that dog slobber would get on me is enough of a horror story for me today.

The Nook offering I selected was Bram Stoker's Dracula.

1. it was free 2. it is a classic - and I try to read one "classic" each summer.

Dracula is not rocking my world like Cujo.

Maybe it's because it doesn't have a Pinto in it.

I also don't like the Nook app.....but I have not finished it yet....so I will hold judgement until later.

So at the end of this what have I learned?

I still like real books I can hold, even if they are heavy.

I am glad that my reading runs the gamut of titles now.

I still do like a good trashy read with sex in it.

I won't mock people that read the same author over and over again.....a good one is sometimes hard to find.