Don't you want me, baby? 1

Load up on the skepticism and apply it liberally to any 'great' new opportunity that comes your way. And remember that the harder someone pushes you to join in, the more likely it is that they have ulterior motives.

I feel like my life is a series of Seinfeld episodes. Today's episode is The Checks (#141, season 8 - where the cult of carpet cleaners doesn't want George) because I'm sitting her pouting that no one tried to pressure me into any 'great' new opportunities that weren't really great for me. No one pushed me to join anything! People, why don't you want me in your freaky little clubs?

Today WAS the kind of day where little things just seemed to work themselves out. It stopped raining so I could go for a walk. When I called for a hair appointment the receptionist asked "Would you like to come in on Saturday?" and my Book Club got postponed until next week - when I won't have to leave early because of carpool duty.

I liked today. But after reading my horoscope I feel like I'm missing out on something. Perhaps there would have been a great story about someone trying to talk me into running for office or something.

Bahahahahahahahaha!

Are incense stores open on Sunday evening? 2

Burn ocean incense to cleanse your aura and the atmosphere during an important conversation this evening.

IF I had had an important conversation this evening - and believe me I didn't, the most important conversation after 5 pm being me asking why Son was up past his bedtime playing Rock Band when I got home from skating carpool - I would not have had the necessary ocean incense on hand to cleanse my aura and the atmosphere.

Even if I owned ANY kind of incense (I don't) I can't imagine how the conversation would have gone down.

VIP: We need to discuss something important.

Me: Can you hang on a minute? I need to light some incense to cleanse the atmosphere before we get started.

I can understand the general "light incense" direction I get in a horoscope every once in a while but why the specific scent? And why ocean? And what does ocean incense smell like?

Once again I am reminded of a Seinfeld episode: I don't know the name of it but Kramer tries to create a cologne that recreates the scent of the ocean. I think Calvin Klein ends up creating "The Beach" and Kramer poses in his underwear. Yup, that's pretty much the plot as I recall it. Creating something with the scent of the ocean was pretty ludicrous then and seems equally ludicrous now.

How do you re-learn how to daydream? 4

When was the last time you had an honest-to-goodness daydream? You know, the kind you used to have in school that were so engrossing and distracting that you didn't hear it when the teacher called on you? If the answer is anything other than 'yesterday,' you need to pick a fantasy today and go for it! You'll have the down time to do it, whether it's during gnarly traffic, at a lengthy meeting or right before bed time. You've got to exercise your creativity and have fun!

How do you manufacture a daydream? I feel like I spend ALL my time daydreaming so I have no idea how to pick just one to concentrate on tonight. And it's not like I had a lot of downtime ... on the commute to skating I was drilling Son on spelling words and pretty much spent the day multi-tasking. I DID have some time while Husband and Son were at Cub Scouts but - for some inexplicable reason - I spent the entire time reading about Sarah Palin in the latest Newsweek. Obviously I have lost my ability to daydream. I'm actually just too plain exhausted. Woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't fall back asleep so I got up and did some writing. Perhaps I need to daydream about the world's most comfortable bed and no alarm clock tomorrow morning.

re: Sarah Palin. Does anyone else feel like McCain chose her to make us all feel like we're living in the Cat fight episode of Seinfeld? It's like he's doing everything he can to make the girls start fighting.

And I never did figure out who yesterday's Resentful Receiver was. Come on, people, speak up!

Hope is where the heart is 5

Avoiding extreme situations where everything or nothing goes your way is a wise strategy to ease any anxiety you may be feeling.

There was nothing extreme about today. A day full of drop-offs and pick-ups, laundry, email, cooking, reading and an aching back. Oh, and a little bit of hope.

I went on the synchro boards last week and posted something about the documentary. I've heard from several supportive people and today I talked to a young woman, a former synchro skater, who wants to help. She has some connections on the west side of the state.

I'm almost getting tired of the hope. I feel like George Costanza from Seinfeld (The Fix Up) when he has this conversation with Jerry:

"I don't want hope. Hope is killing me. My dream is to become hopeless. When you're hopeless you don't care. And when you don't care, that indifference makes you attractive."

"So, hopelessness is the key?"

"It's my only hope."

It was a nice day, really. Oh, and I was in the paper too. My friend Karen Buscemi wrote an article that appeared in The Detroit News today - 'Push presents' catch on as a reward for having a baby.

Because of this, I discovered that Husband has a google alert...on HIMSELF! He got alerted about the article and send me a WTF email (I had neglected to warn him about the article). I was cracking up all afternoon. Then I immediately created a google alert for my name.