My new favourite website

even though this one made me tear up.

Click for link.

Madge and me

So, Sunday night I got to see Madonna in concert. It was an unexpected surprise--one of the perqs of being married to my husband and the people he knows. I was thrilled beyond belief, because Madonna has been one of those performers that I have wanted to see in person for a very long time, but had never managed to actually purchase tickets for. Then fate stepped in.

I own 7 Madonna CDs: True Blue, Like A Prayer, Evita, Ray of Light, Music, Confessions on a Dance Floor and Hard Candy, the most recent purchased two days before the concert. My favourite album of hers is Ray of Light, which is the first of her albums I bought; I freaking adore that CD! I have bought each CD she has released since ROL hoping that lightning would strike again for me. It hasn't, although I find the other albums have grown on me. And, like most people, I know her most popular songs. Still, that is not why I wanted to see her in concert. The real reason is that Madonna is one of my heroes.

I don't have many heroes, and the few I do have aren't celebrities. But Madonna has a special place in my heart. It's hard to articulate exactly why I admire her so, but here are some reasons:

Madonna has faced a lot of criticism over the years; for her music, for her personae; for her personal life; for being a strong woman. She continually rises above all of the criticism to go her own way. She is self-centered, but that translates into strength as well as egotism. She is apparently a loving and giving mother who has managed to keep her children largely out of the spotlight. She played the role I would kill to play (Eva Peron) and did a damn good job of it. She is almost exactly my age, and based on what I have read regarding her divorce from Guy Ritchie, has experienced many of the same insecurities that I felt when turning 50. That she continually reinvents her persona is undeniable, but I suspect she also reinvents her personal self through self-reflection and exploration. She is a survivor in a very complex world.

And she puts on a hell of a show.

Sticky and Sweet

Tonight I saw Madonna. In concert. And now I can cross another item off my list.

More tomorrow.

Peeee-ewww

No, this isn't a post about John McCain. It probably should be, because I am unhealthily preoccupied with all things Presidential election; constantly stalking the internets in search of opinions, news and poll numbers, but in this particular case, I will leave politics behind.

Last weekend, Grant and I returned from closing up the boat for the season (boo) and walked into a very STINKY house. At first, we blamed the pervasive odor on the flood we had experienced earlier in the week. Apparently our furnace humidifier unit has sprung a whopping leak and we have had to clean up giant floods two times already. So, we thought that maybe the smell was from all the water and stuff.

But soon, we realized that the smell was not coming from the flooded area in our basement. Instead, it was particularly fetid in the opposite corner--gag-worthy. It was clear: there was something dead somewhere in the wall or ceiling. Dead and rotting.

We managed to tolerate the stink for one more day, because what can you do about a smell inside the wall? but it got so much worse that Grant suddenly declared that we needed to go downstairs and at least TRY to find the source. Fortunately, the ceiling in the basement is of the drop variety, with those ceiling tiles you usually find in an office. We moved one above the computer, and voila! tiny dead mouse.

Who knew such a bitty thing could smell so freakin' bad?? We wrapped it up and took it outside, investigated further to see if there were any other dead creatures (there weren't) and closed up the ceiling. Within the hour, the house started smelling more or less normal. Yeah, I still need to clean out the refrigerator, but that's a project for later today.

Okay, UKers

You need to tell Caz to get her cute little bum over here right away!!!

This is going to make you all squeal. Even Annika. Trust me.

I get by with a little help from my friends

Thanks for all the hugs. I would have liked them in person even more, but on the off chance that I am contagious (not to mention the whole distance thing), I will settle for virtual.

So, Sarah didn't suck completely, which I expected, but it was pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that once she exhausted her various talking points, her only recourse was to repeat herself over and over. Insert "darns", " you betchas" and "maverick" as needed. Joe Biden impressed me, especially when he teared up about his family. But at the beginning of the debate, his giant white teeth nearly scared me to death. I read a blog (I think Pandagon) where a commenter referred to Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Now I can't get that image out of my mind.

Anyway, the aftermath of the debate has settled my fears of a McCain victory. As long as we can control all the voter fraud I fully expect from the Republicans, I think we have a good shot at winning this thing. Yay.

Plus, I got the stuff I bought with the Amazon gift certificate that my sister and her family sent for my birthday: Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and the new cast recording of Gypsy. If you're wondering, yes, all my current reading material is entirely influenced by the blogs I read. Which bodes very well for any of you that might eventually get published. Please work on that. But no pressure.

Today, not so much

Terrible things, both real and imagined, are piling up. Some are worse than others, but all together they are making me blue.

One of my co-workers has experienced a family tragedy. He is one of the kindest, best people I know and my heart is hurting for him and his family.

I am exhausted, with a scratchy throat and sniffles. My head hurts, along with my heart.

I haven't talked to my parents in the last few days because I am afraid they will tell me that they have lost all their retirement money in the stock market crash.

And I have convinced myself that Sarah Palin has been only pretending to be stupider than dirt; that she will be intelligent and convincing in tonight's debate and she and McCain will sweep the election.

Plus, it's cold.