http://www.marianisima.com One woman's ramblings. Read at your own risk! Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:30:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Most major department stores place their large women’s departments far away from any windows.  Some hide the fat girls down in the basement. Seriously.  Farthest corner on the bottom floor, that’s where I have to go to find clothes. My goal for the new year is to climb out of the ... http://www.marianisima.com/2009/01/01/climbing-out-of-the-basement/ This evening at 7:15 p.m., it was 42 degrees (felt even colder), and I jumped into the local outdoor pool to play water polo. http://www.marianisima.com/2008/12/16/hardcore/ Incisive neighbor:  “Wow the ER is nothing like on TV.”   Doctor:  “Yeah, we’re not all good-looking, and nobody’s having sex in the closet.”   That exchange took place while I was sitting on the ER bed, waiting for a tetanus shot and anticipating stitches.  It was the first time I’d had stitches (not ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/11/12/frankenfinger/ As jaded as I can feel at times about politics, and as much as I am reticent to talk politics, I get totally excited when I go to vote.  Today will be historic no matter which presidential candidate wins, but every time I vote, I feel lucky and grateful to ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/11/04/high-on-democracy/ I am trying to come up with a theme for a regularly-scheduled blog post. My friend Kristy does “Six Word Sundays,” and I like that, but my camera’s acting hinky these days. Derek suggested “Derek’s Dumb Ideas,” where he sends me six words or less, and I write an index-card ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/10/29/wednesday%e2%80%99s-wackiness-or-whackjob-or-wtf/ This weekend, in Santa Cruz, a guy on the street waved and said “hi.”  When I waved back and smiled, he said, "You have a very nice smile."  I mumbled thanks, and kept walking.  Later I walked by again, and noticed he was panhandling with the line, "Got forty-thousand for ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/10/13/gentlemen-callers-named-chaos/ My dear friend Tricia turned 40 on Tuesday.  At her surprise party, we were supposed to roast/toast her.  I wondered, "How do you narrow down to one anecdote when you've known someone so long?"  I decided you don't.  After all, our friendship spans 19 years, 8 foreign countries, and 4 ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/08/21/travels-with-tricia/ The other morning, after a meeting with a great volunteer, I left all happy and content with the world and my lot in it.  As I went to put stuff into my messy car trunk, I noticed something was wrong.  It took me a second to realize someone had scraped ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/08/16/who-sucks/ Water polo is hard!  Really hard.  I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone. What surprises me is my head has not exploded.  Learning water polo is hard enough.   I'm also trying to learn a new job and belly dancing, not to mention the names of all the people ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/07/07/newsflash/ This dude's name is Meatball. He's my first-born monster, and already I've given him away. What kind of monster-mother does that make me? These monsters are fun to imagine, design and make (my coworker's ahead of me on the monster creation). Craft Magazine -- http://www.craftzine.com/ -- says you're ... http://www.marianisima.com/2008/04/22/monsters-real-imaginary/