Friday, November 14, 2008

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Here we go again.....Santa Barbara is on fire. Again. And yes, it does seem like California has been on fire for most of 2008. Perhaps we're burning in hell because of our wicked liberal ways (yes, I read "those" blogs - I know what people think of us) or perhaps it's because we had about 2 days of rain this year, it's 91 degrees right now in mid-November, and the Santa Ana winds topped out at 72 mph last night. (That's almost a category 1 hurricane, right? See, I haven't forgotten my Florida roots.)

Although this fire is nowhere near our home, it's much worse because houses and people have been hurt in this one (the Gap fire didn't reach any structures). This one is on the Santa Barbara Riviera and in Montecito, where the fancy people live - like I said, nowhere near our home. Christopher Lloyd's house burned down, but so far there's no word on Oprah, Rob Lowe, John Cleese, Michael Douglas, or Eric Schmidt. I've offered Rob Lowe a place to stay in case he needs to evacuate, but he hasn't called back. Yet. By the way, Oprah's dogs have been evacuated to the Four Seasons. Like I said, fancy people.

Current stats
Name: Tea Fire (has nothing to do with a beverage)
Sexy firemen in town: 800+
Multi-million dollar mansions destroyed: 100-200
Households evacuated: 5500
Acres burned: 1500
Deaths: 1
Burn injuries: 3
Smoke injuries: 10
Containment: 0%
Air quality: Disgusting - break out the SarsGuard masks.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Writer's Strike

Apparently this writer's block has turned into a full-on strike. I can't seem to string together two thoughts to make a sentence, much less a topic sentence with four supporting sentences to form a well-developed paragraph. It's especially sad since I have so much to comment on:

Football Season!!! The Gators' beatdown of LSU and Georgia was quite possibly the most beautiful thing EV-ER. It almost makes up for the Ole Miss embarrassment of mid-September, but not quite. However, revenge is best served cold in the way of a 40-pt butt-kicking. Yup, stew on that for the next year, Mississippians.

AFSP's Out of the Darkness 5K: Very fun, very emotional, very nice people. I need to post pictures. And yes, there were some star-sightings. Thank you all so much for your donations and kind words.

Nautica Triathlon: For a second year, I was a "Body Marker to the Stars". It's a rough job because I have to caress, I mean write on, the biceps and calves of the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Alec Baldwin, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Jon Cryer, etc. Poor me, huh? I promise to post pictures and more details, but you can click here to read about last year's event.

Sun and Fun in Florida: Sun - not so much since it rains every day (that's the part they don't tell you in the travel brochures). Fun - most definitely. I stayed with my BFFs King-a-ling and her son, Spawn o' King. SOK turned 7 this year and I surprised him at his birthday party. The first thing he said was "My sweet angel - I didn't know you were coming". (Insert melting heart.) He is quite possibly the most wonderful child EVER.

The High Holy Days of Halloween: West Hollywood. 'Nuf said. I will post pictures. Promise. Meanwhile, you can click here and here to see pictures of West Hollywood Halloweens past. WARNING: Some are highly inappropriate, so don't show the kiddies. Mom and Dad - you can't look either.

Indecision 2008: Thank God it's over!!! I know, I know - it's our privilege to vote, blahblahblah, but do we have to be subjected to the 2-year-long campaign process? By the way, only 69 days until Dubya is gone. (Insert cheering.) Not that I'm counting...

Move 2009: I never like to let a year go by without packing up everything I own, throwing out 1/2 of the crap I accumulate, bitching that "I hate moving", and then schlepping all my stuff to a new residence. Apparently I have residence-ADHD as this will be residence #28 in 28 years. The Husband is transferring to his LA office and we're moving closer to the beach and back to a real city! We live on the beach now, but we have to walk ALL THE WAY to the end of our block for the beach access (approximately 500 steps). Now I'll just have to walk 115 steps from my front door to the beach. Seriously, I count these things.

Stay tuned, if you aren't already bored to tears (I am, so you won't be hurting my feelings), and maybe I'll get off my sitting-on-the-couch-bon-bon-eating ass and post some pictures.