Random Chunks of News

I've been thinking lately about how every fun form of communication eventually gets corrupted for a boring business purpose.  Remember when it was so super fun to check email?  Like, ooh, I got email!  And now I still get excited to get email, but then I'm disappointed when I have, say, 20 new emails and all of them are either advertisements from online stores, or else boring newsletters related to various blogs I write for.  I'm sure a similar fun-becomes-tedious phenomenon happened with the telephone, and before that with mail. 

And then there's Facebook.  It's social networking, and socializing by nature is supposed to be fun, right?  But instead half your news feed is boring crap from companies you decided to follow on Facebook because you thought there might be some sort of discount coupon involved.  And Twitter was probably once just a fun way to share minor details with friends, but I wouldn't know because by the time I jumped on there it was 100% pure promotional crap.  (Secret confession: I do not get the point of Twitter.) 

The newest problem I have is with texting.  I always think it's super fun to get a text.  Like I get excited when somebody sent a text, just to me!  Except, recently I signed up for the WTMX radio station texting service, in an attempt to win free tickets to see Glee's Matthew Morrison in concert, so now I'm getting texts from The Mix.  That's not fun.  And I'm starting to get spam texts (spexts?), which are also not fun.  Why must annoying telemarketers take over all forms of communication?  And the latest?  My gym now has a text service.  I signed up for it because it might be a way to get useful info about gym closures and/or special hours, but how exciting will it not be to get a text from the gym?  I'll hear that fun little text ding! and it will just be some crap like "5 tips for effective weight loss." 

Which is a good segue to talking about Weight Watchers.  I think I reported that last week I had a totally unexpected one-pound gain.  Thankfully this week I made up for it with a 4.6-pound loss.  Excited, I entered in my new weight into the online Weight Tracker, and it pops up with this message that says, "You're losing weight too fast."  Losing weight too fast.  OMG for the LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY I feel like I just fucking cannot win.  I'll take that salad with French fries now.

I may not have mentioned that I have a new partner with Trainer Jill.  Dana is also in Weight Watchers and also a swimmer, and she is a morning person so we went swimming at the gym at 5:30 a.m. today.  I've always liked exercising in the morning because it's nice to get it over with, but I'm never able to motivate myself to do it, for the obvious reason that the alternative is sleep.  But I liked swimming in the morning, because I felt like I didn't beat myself up as much for not doing as many yards as I might have liked.  I was just all, you are swimming at 5:30 in the morning, and whatever you do is awesome.  

Then I went back home and slept for an hour and a half. 

Other news:

I'm going to do another emcee gig with the park district.  They're doing a salute to the Beatles, performing at three different local festivals this summer.  I really liked being part of the Tony revue because it was just fun to hear all the songs, and I wanted to participate in the Beatles show for the same reason.  However, I can neither sing nor dance, so I figured I was out this time.  But the director emailed me and asked me to do another emcee performance, which I get to write, of course! 

I'm also taking on another writing endeavor with the park district, writing a script for an interactive murder mystery dinner theater that will be performed in January 2012.  I don't normally read mysteries, so boning up on my summer mystery reading will be my first step toward researching for this thing.  Anybody have any series recommendations?  To use a TV analogy, I'm looking for something a little more Murder, She Wrote and a little less CSI.  The show I write has to be suitable for all ages to perform/watch, so nothing too bloody or violent.  Which is good because I hate graphic violence, I mean for my own personal reading/viewing.  So, who can recommend some sweet little whodunnit mystery series? 

Also this week we have a bonus cat, because Katie's cat Fraidy is visiting us while Katie is in Scotland.  Here is what I have learned from watching Fraidy: Leia is a total shit.  At first the two cats eyed each other and didn't do much.  But apparently after Leia processed her feelings about this new cat in the house, she started in with the hissing and the making of strange, low-pitched growly noises that I have never heard come out of her.  Fraidy is so small and agile, and we aren't used to kitties that can jump high and hide in small spaces, so we didn't see her for the entire day Sunday.  But this morning Leia was skulking around suspiciously near a couch in the family room, so we knew where Fraidy was.  We managed to pry her out and corral her into the living room, where we closed the door so the poor little cat could relax and eat in peace.  Now Leia is sleeping peacefully just over my shoulder on the couch, and she looks so sweet, but now I'm kind of mad at her.  I realize she is just acting out on some sort of primal instinct to protect her territory.  But what is she afraid of?  We still seem to be providing her with the same amount of love and food, and actually Leia got some bonus food because the little brat ate some of Fraidy's food. 

Oh, the cat drama. 

In other news, I have two fun blogger networking events coming up.  In a couple of weeks I'll be going on the Chicago River Architectural Cruise to promote the release of Melisa's book, Chicken in the Car and the Car Won't Go, which is a guide to fun activities for teens and tweens in Chicago.  I don't even know Melisa, so I feel excited to have gotten on her invite list. 

Also a person I do know through blogging, Caitlin, has invited me to participate in a focus group about a site called KidGrade.  The focus group is at Little Beans Cafe in Chicago, which I have been eager to visit, and I am going to get a $25 Visa gift card, which I will give away on my blog.  (It's not until June 1, though, so be patient!)

And that's all the news with me.