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Friday, January 13, 2006

Bad to the Bone

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round
And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up, and she said, "Leave this one alone."
She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone

I've been tagged by Jim at "DAMMIT, we can't have nice things!" (and don't you LOVE that name?) to do this meme, 5 Bad Habits o' Mine, or something like that. I don't usually respond well to being tagged, but Jim is awfully cute, and he makes me laugh, plus we have gotten quite close, sharing snack cake secrets, so I'm going to give it a shot.

I gotta say, this is hard. The really BAD things about me are SO really bad; and the really weird things about me, well, I haven't even told my therapist yet, so I have to give you "bad me lite" here, folks. I will say that after 40something years, some of the things that I once would have said are bad, I now will say are just me, take 'em or leave 'em. And the other things that actually are bad habits, well, they're not as bad as they once were, and hopefully I'll keep working on them. Here goes:

B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

1. I am a terrible procrastinator. No, that's not a "gimme," it's not like everyone else. I'm talking terrible. Let me give you an example. But first, in my defense: I do love Christmas trees. We didn't put our tree up until Christmas Eve. We always planned to keep it up until my birthday. I haven't been feeling well. OK: My Christmas tree is still up!

2. I am habitually late returning library books. I have paid HIGH fines, people. There is a WANTED! poster of me up in the public library in the county where we used to live. That's why we moved.

3. I drive a rolling dumpster. My car is a trash pit. Things get lost in there. Like important school papers, cough drops, library books (see #2). I clean it out periodically, but then I just start all over again, tossing things in the back, in the passenger seat. Forget about the trunk. I have no idea what (who?) is in there.

4. This is sort of serious. I think sometimes I tease people too quickly. I grew up the only girl, with five brothers. I was teased, and learned to take it and tease back, from very early on. If I like you, or even sense that I am going to like you, I will tease you. Usually my intuition is good, and the "new" people I tease have a sense of humor somewhat like mine, and aren't offended. That's usually, though; not always. I should be more careful.

5. I keep magazines and catalogs around waaaaaay too long. I always think I'm going to order something from the catalogs (sometimes I do), and I think I'm going to read the magazines (I usually don't), or I think I'm going to at least skim the magazines and tear out the articles that appear interesting, and file them for reading later (oh, please), so I keep them. Stacked up in baskets, mostly. But I am doing better, honestly. I got rid of tons of them right before the holidays. I'm serious, tons of them. I put them in the recycling bin at my agency, where we get paid by the ton -- and we got paid!

BONUS (added later):
6. This would be a good place to confess this, because it affects some of you: I SUCK at returning emails. If I get your email while I happen to be on the computer, I'll probably write right back immediately. Or if we're working on a project together, I'll get right back to you ;) But if it's a nice, chatty email, I am likely to try to wait until I can really respond thoughtfully and very friendly-like, and I never seem to get time to respond the way I'd like, and then it gets shoved off the first page, and then (I am so sorry), I might even forget about it. Hmmm. I should file "letter" emails separate from "comment" emails. I'll do that; I'll do better, honest.

I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you
I'll break a thousand more baby, before I am through
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone

(My apologies to George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers -- who dropped the "Delaware" after they became "big" -- but whom I thought were very cool, growing up in Delaware.)

And now, I'm not going to tag anyone. But I am going to issue a challenge: If you are damn-fool enough to get on the innernets and talk about how bad you are, or how weird you are, then knock yourself out! And let me know about it, because I wanna come and read.

20 heads are better than one . . .

Blogger Unknown said...

Wow. That whole 'hoarding magazines' thing can get to be a handful. I used to be that way until one day someone asked me "What are you going to do with this November 1978 issue of Tiger Beat?" Then I knew I had a problem.

My car used to be a dumpster until I bought a new one. That's your answer! Buy a new car!

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hope you are feeling better and better. :)

And I am the same way about emails. I lose track so quickly. I get absorbed in whatever I am doing at the moment!

 
Blogger Squirl said...

I haven't posted mine yet. I always say I shouldn't read others' until I post mine because I'm worried I'll plagiarize. Oh well, I do have to say that I hang onto magazines and catalogues way too long. Sometimes my car isn't as pulled together as I'd like. You don't sound like you're bad to the bone, maybe just the outer epidermis. ;-)

 
Blogger c said...

My Christmas tree is still up, too!! Yay for procrastination!

And I'm with you on all of the rest except for the email. I'm pretty good about returning them. Usually.

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The library books, also rented videos, the car!! geesh the car and emails are all me too.

I was so happy when Blockbuster started 'life after late fees'. You just pay 1.50 for restocking if you keep them a week after they were due. Ya, I could take the kids to dinner with those darn restocking fees once a month!!

I should take a picture of the inside of my car now. I'm not sure how I dont lose the kids in there! Yes, I clean it. Then start all over. Oye!

And another reply to you from my site- You're right- Apples and Oranges,very different. I kinda like it that way.

I do hope your feeling a bit better.

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I forgot...I emailed you like...a year ago!

:-)

 
Blogger Susie said...

jim, yea, I'm not like the people I've seen on Oprah, but I do understand how one could get that way. '78 Tiger Beat, eh? hehehhee
I can't do a new car just now, darn it!

sheryl, thanks, I'm doing much better :)

mrtl, do tell, especially about the worse ones. You can be more forthcoming than I; you don't stand to lose clients who find out how crazy you really are by reading your blog :)

squirl, TO. THE. BONE. And thank you for the "writer's block" cartoon, that was a favorite :) Can I post that here, would that be a copyright problem?

misfit, I think a Christmas tree is very fitting to celebrate MLK, Jr.'s birthday. I'm not sure just *how* that's so, but given enough time, I could justify it :)

lawbrat, Doh! I remember that email; it was very special, and truly, there are things I wanted to say to it, and I WILL. It wasn't A YEAR!!!! I haven't even been in blogworld a year; come on now! And I hear ya on the Blockbuster. I'm glad they stopped the late fees, too.

 
Blogger Dynila said...

Wow... 1, 2, 3, & 5 fit me to a T -- it's always nice to know we're not alone in our bad habits, isn't it?

I'll take down my tree if you take down yours?

 
Blogger Candy said...

Ok wouldnt ME writing about how weird I am just be sort of, redundant?


And its lovely to hear someone ele drives a car that is a rolling trash bin.

Mine is filled with empty and full water bottles, every damn wrapper of anything my kids eat in there(grrr) and Hermione hair by the pound.

Um verification word: mvffwaxi???

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA No thanks, I already do.

 
Blogger eclectic said...

We should start an on-line Procrastinators Anonymous support group. As soon as we get around to it.

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just had to give you a hard time :-)

Hope your feeling better today!

 
Blogger Kranki said...

I am so with you on the overdue books. I have shelled out a lot of cash over the years. A LOT!

 
Blogger Squirl said...

Susie, since you're not making any money on this I don't know why you couldn't post that comic. I thought it was great.

I sure hope you're feeling well.

 
Blogger Katy Barzedor said...

Jim, NOOOOOOOOO! Tell me you didn't throw out the 12/1978 Tiger Beat!

No way would you throw that one out, Jim. Not when it has Richard and Dirk from "Battlestar Galactica" cuddling up, or a picture of Erik and Larry from ChIPS with the caption "Erik and Larry - they're friends offscreen too!"

I call bullshit. ;)

 
Blogger Katy Barzedor said...

Oh, my mistake - it's even better! "Erik and Larry - they're buddies offscreen too!"

You would so not have thrown that away, Jim.

 
Blogger ieatcrayonz said...

How odd that you're blogging that song. George and his band are playing here in the next few weeks.

 
Blogger MrsDoF said...

Your Badness must come from your pancreas, which is like your heart, only deeper.

Put up a post today on this very subject, and linked back to here.
I usually have more problems with authority figures.
~~love and Huggs, Diane

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have the same problem with magazines, but not because I think I'm going to read them (well, sometimes I actually do). My problem is that they would have value to someone, even if it's not me. I hate throwing stuff away if someone else can use it. So I make this big stack to take to the doctor's office/hospital waiting room. But do you think I remember to grab them when I head to do the doctor?

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Bucky - nope, it was the August 78 issue. Do you think I would toss out Ponch and Jon? No way, baby.

 
Blogger Susie said...

dy, get busy, missy! Mine's DOWN! (But not OUT, yet. Later today :)

jessicarabbit, you're a funny bunny. And I forgot about the water bottles in various stages of fullness and emptiness. Oh, my, YES!

eclectic, that is an excellent idea. I'm going to put that on my list. As soon as I get around to making one ;)

lawbrat, I know ;) I did have a pretty good day, better than most that I've had recently, thanks.

kranki, some libraries have an "amnesty" day, which I think is a wonderful thing, but my current one does not.

squirl, thanks, I'm doing better. And I will post that comic some time :)

bucky, ohmygosh, who knew that Tiger Beat was GAY?

crayoneater, you can count on me to produce the ODD. I like George & co., actually.

mrsDoF, that's it, exactly. 'Cept I couldn't find any song lyrics about "Bad to the Pancreas."

sharkey, I can imagine that. I have saved some because I think kindergarten classes and Sunday School classes can use the pictures for collages. Which, um, they could, except that the mags aren't in their classrooms, they're in my freakin' baskets :0

chchchchia, honey, keep looking! I have a strong feeling that the MAN who belongs to that attire might be in there, just waiting to be rescued!

jim, I can see how you'd be better able to part with that one.

 


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