Listening to: Meat Loaf- Bat Out of Hell
Reading: The Reef Nora Roberts
Weather: 70’s and sunny
Trivia: HALLOWEEN LEFTOVERS
A survey of more than one-thousand Americans finds nearly half believe in ghosts...and more than a quarter believe modern-day witches have special powers. The poll - conducted by Ohio University and the Scripps Howard News Service - also found Americans are concerned over the growing popularity of books, television shows and movies on the supernatural. Asked whether they believe the dead can come back and haunt the living, 48 percent answered yes...47 percent said no...and five percent were undecided. That compares to only 25 percent of Americans in the 1980s who professed a belief in ghosts. 28 percent said witchcraft might be true.
Cool word: egregious [adj. ih-GREE-jus]
Something that is egregious is so outstandingly bad that it's flagrant. Example: "The movie was marred by a series of flaws, including the egregious error of showing the boom mike hovering at the top of the screen." Here is a word that has reversed its meaning. Originally, it was used in a flattering sense to describe someone who stood out among
peers for special accomplishment or talent. But through pejoration, a process in which a word's meaning worsens over time and becomes insulting, the word's sense reversed.
The root of this word is Latin egregius (outstanding), a compound of the prefix ex- (out of) and grex (flock; herd). Here are more "flock" words:
aggregate: gathered into a whole; to gather together
segregate: to separate or isolate from a group
congregate: come together into a crowd or assembly
gregarious: seeking and enjoying the company of others
Same Old Grind
What a fabulously beautiful day!! This certainly wasn’t weather that made me think of November. It was more like mid September. Sunny, warm, beautiful.
The temperature is supposed to drop like a rock tomorrow.
Today was the usual type of chaotic Monday, with the added twist of having to catch up with the stuff that piled up when I was out on Friday. That’s the bad thing about taking a day off, the calls come in and the new paperwork notices appear like magic.
I got a call from the Ice Queen’s secretary today who was royally pissed off that the Queen had refused to get me the computer cart that I asked for. Now I barely know this secretary, and she went on and on for a good fifteen minutes about what a witch the Queen is and how lazy she is. She’s actually clocked her and she works a total of one hour a day. This poor secretary sounded as if she was going to have a nervous breakdown. She also called the colleague who I call the Pink of Perfection (PP) the biggest kiss ass she’s ever met!
This is one of the most astounding conversations I’ve ever had. My guess is that this secretary is going to bolt first chance that she gets.
I started listening to books on tape again. I used to do it all the time when I had an additional twenty minutes to my commute, but I’d sort of stopped. I listened to an abridged version of Ransom by Julie Garwood, a sort of medieval romance. I’ve just started listening to The Reef which is the book I’ve been trying to read. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed listening to these types of tapes. I can’t listen to anything too heavy though, as I lose track of what’s happening and have to keep rewinding. No War and Peace on tape for me!
The only problem is that I tend to buy them and not go to the library to get them, so it can get expensive. I know I should go to the library, but somehow it’s one of those things I never find the time to do.
I picked up Matilda’s paperwork for her meeting on Friday, and I need to take some serious time to go over it with a fine tooth comb. At first look it seems to be well done, but I have to check it out more carefully.
I don’t want to be the Advocate from Hell at her meeting, but I need to be sure that all the pieces fit together nicely. I also have to bring it into school tomorrow so my pals can check it over, and look at it with an objective eye.
I’m not sure I like the November design. I just discovered that if I open the page in Netscape none of the graphics work. I’m too new at this and have no idea why. They look fine with IE. Any advice gurus out there who know how to fix the problem?
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