FREAKcycle.

Does anyone out there belong to the Freecycle group? It's really great-- you should look into it if you're interested at all in helping the planet Earth survive the human race. It's your kids' home too.

ANYWAY. The way it works is the following: you have something to give away (as opposed to throwing it away... this is the whole point of Freecycle). You post that item on the group's messageboard. You get "x" replies. After a period of, say, 24 hours, you are supposed to pick names at random (supposed to... not everyone does).

So, essentially, you're not really supposed to give preference to anyone in terms of to whom your items go. However, you'll undoubtedly get sob stories and whatnot from people who really want your old ironing board, etc.

But just so you all know, the next time I Freecycle something, I AM GIVING PREFERENCE TO THE PEOPLE WHO SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Not Music to MY Ears

Hello readers! I am a guest blogger here on Purge Negativity. I am actually not much of a blogger at all. I do have a private "invite only" blog for my family where I post updates about my daughter, but as far as a regular, public blog...I've never had one. Just not my thing I guess. However, from time to time I feel the need to bitch. So I came here because my dear friend, Kristie, told me that blogging about things that piss you off is cathartic. So, here goes!

Today my husband, my daughter and I piled in our vehicle and headed across town to my sister's house. On the way we stopped at a gas station to fill up. We pulled up behind a young man standing outside of his car, pumping gas. I noticed him right away because he had every window in his car rolled down and he had his God awful music blaring. His music was so loud that it was making things inside my vehicle, including my brain, rattle. The music was heavy with profanity, which I have to admit, made me cringe a bit. Now don't get me wrong, I cuss like a sailor when my daughter isn't around. However, she is at the age where she repeats EVERYTHING she hears and I am really trying to fill her vocabulary with words that are appropriate for a 1 1/2 year old. I mean, even "dang it" doesn't sound good coming out of her little mouth. I was not the only one who was irritated. My daughter started complaining in gibberish because the music was SO loud that she couldn't even enjoy her Blue's Clues DVD. I told her that I felt her pain and we both put on our best matching mother and daughter "pissy faces" and glared at the back of the man's head. When the man replaced the nozzle I got excited, thinking that maybe our glaring had worked and he was going to go the fuck away. But alas, he was not finished subjecting me and every other person with in a mile radius to his migraine inducing music. He actually turned and went into the gas station, leaving his music blasting at the pump. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? He finally returned a few minutes later and got into his car. I did an exaggerated, hands-in-the-air cheer as he passed by us and drove away. I just don't understand why it is that people like him think that the rest of us want to hear their crappy-ass music at top volume everywhere they go? Perhaps the answer is that people like him just don't think!

I have a crush on happiness.

Remember when I was all conflicted about where to put random thoughts? If they're not laced with anger or histility, they don't belong here. If they're completely stupid, random, and nonsensical, they probably don't belong on the blog I have for my son. And, well, the other blogs I own are very specific and about specific people or things... so they don't go there. Sigh. Do I have to start another blog? A random thoughts blog? How much can one person possibly say to themselves??

Anyway. I don't want to start another one, so I am going to throw them in here every once in a while. I did warn you that in the midst of this fiery pit of negativity, you might occasionally come across a flower, or a heart, or a puppy, or a butterfly... there might be something happy to read. Or to ignore. Whatever. Eff you (there... I guess that's the "negative" quota for this post... I like to stay on task, you see).

My son and I were downtown the other day. I drive my friend's stepson to guitar lessons every week and it doesn't make sense to come home since the lesson is only thirty minutes long. So while T is strumming away, DS and I just hang around good ol' downtown Wilm.

We're walking along the boardwalky thing, looking at the water, the boats, the bricks, the birds, etc. I heard a weird humming/rumbling sound. I looked up. There, coming right at us, were about ten of those two-wheel-glider-roller-vehicle-things (no, not motorcycles... sheesh... you know, those glider-roller-mobiles that look all futuristic... the ones that you ride standing upright) coming right at us. They don't go fast, so it wasn't a RUN FOR YOUR LIFE kind of reaction, but I was thrown anyway. I got DS and we just stood aside, watching the happy little tourons (thank you for the term, J) glide on by.

Then, as soon as they past us, a cute older man who had been standing near us (and looking as bewildered as I was) turned to me and said, simply, "I wasn't quite expecting that."

I laughed for (it must have been) ten straight minutes. It was just perfect. It was happiness.