Oh, the tummy, it doth protest. Tonight was Munchkin’s school fundraiser at Stevi B’s.

Cheap pizza with a pizza and dessert pizza… ugh!

More tomorrow, sorry I just can’t do much more tonight.

Today is my 100th post. Blog etiquette dictates I tell you 100 things about me. Hmmm. Like I said last night, on the eve of the 100th post, I’m not sure I can even come up with 100 things. I’ve been visiting this for a few days now, and I’m just at a loss. So, I’ll start typing and see where I end up.

1. My name is Colleen Margaret Callahan Sisler
2. I was born January 27, 1967
3. I share a birthday with Mozart
4. I am the daughter of an ex-Marine (once a Marine, always a Marine, Semper Fi)
5. And a wonderful woman who was an artist, a teacher, a mentor, and the best part of our family
6. After I was born, my father’s Marine friends teased him he was trying to climb the Marine ladder, my initials - CMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps
7. We lived in Stone Mountain, GA
8. My father was a Social Studies teacher and coach at Stone Mountain High School
9. I went to Lithonia Elementary School, where my mother was a Science teacher
10.  I was Frosty the Snowman in the1st grade Christmas play
11. I didn’t want to be Frosty, and I cried and ran away, only to be found and forced on stage
12. I took ballet and tap lessons, and when it was time for the recital, I refused to go onstage
13. My parents divorced around this time (I don’t think it was the Frosty or ballet incident, but I never asked)
14. I was miserable after the divorce
15. My father took the position of Assistant Principal in charge of discipline at Marietta High School in Marietta, GA
16.  My parents reconciled when I was in 3rd grade
17.  They were miserable after the reconciliation
18. It is my fault they reconciled, or so my father would have me believe
19. In 3rd grade I got in trouble in school for the first time. I didn’t want to do my work because I didn’t like my teacher. Didn’t go over well with the parents
20. At the end of 3rd grade I was tested for the gifted program. I purposely did poorly.
21. I started learning to play the flute in 4th grade
22. I was told I would never play flute well, which made me try all the harder
23. I was tested again for the gifted program at the end of 5th grade, and again purposely did poorly, but there were inconsistencies in my answers, so they knew I was purposely screwing up. I was asked why and I told them I didn’t want to be different. I was not let in the gifted program.
24. In middle school I started earning first chair flute consistently starting in 7th grade
25. I performed in Solo and Ensemble every year and usually earned blue ribbons
26. When I was 12, my sister was born. She was a product of the parental reconciliation, so all the misery was worth it
27. My sister and I are 12 years apart, and there are just the two of us. Coincidentally, my mother and her sister were 12 years apart and there are just the two of them
28. At the end of 8th grade I was tested on more time for the gifted program. I finally got a clue and did my best. I was put in the gifted program all through high school
29. My father was still the Assistant Principal my freshman year. And yes, it was the school I attended. Yay, me.
30. My first date was setup by my father. None of the boys would even look at me, because they were all terrified of my father. For the Sadie Hawkins dance (girls ask boys) Dad coerced one of his office aides to take me. Pathetic.
31. I was a member of the color guard for the four years I was in high school. Captain for 2 of those years.
32. I was consistently first chair flute throughout concert (non-football) season
33. My sophomore year, Dad was promoted to Director of Transportation for the school district. No more Dad at school. But the damage was done, no one older than me would date me, so I dated younger men pretty much exclusively forever after
34. Starting with the first guy I ever actually dated, my first true love. He took me to see Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. I was hooked
35. My parents made me break up with him because he “wasn’t good enough”. Never got over that.
36. My junior year I did date an older guy from our rival high school. We were in the church youth group together.
37. He invited me to prom, and I said yes, though I didn’t really like him, but I couldn’t go to my prom, so thought his was better than none. Then we broke up
38. The day before the prom the inconsiderate prat called me to say he would pick me up, blah, blah, blah. Mom made me go. We went out that day and bought a dress, black lace. Heh
39. After driving with the top down, ruining my hair, spilling my water in my lap at dinner, attending the dance long enough for pictures, reliving the Animal House “Can we dance with your dates” scene in downtown Atlanta, and ending the evening watching Cujo, I have a story I’ll never forget and a night to remember
40. I never got copies of the prom pictures
41. I was a band geek. I was also a drama geek. Playing in the pit orchestra for musicals (and constantly being around the first true love, who was also a drama geek, yes that was tough)
42. Speaking of band geek, orchestra, too. I was 2nd flute in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
43. I do NOT have a head for history (ironic with a social studies teacher father). I was taken out of AP History my senior year to be put in the advanced history class because I couldn’t cut it
44. I was a member of our high school newspaper staff. I have always loved writing, but never knew how to work it in to my life
45. My senior year I was joint enrollment (JET) at Kennesaw College (now Kennesaw State).
46. Also, my senior year, I won the Voice of Democracy award for writing a paper. Can’t remember what it’s about, but I ran across the tape the other day and should listen to it again (ooooo a new post in the making)
47. I got to record the VoD paper in the Kicks 100 radio studio, where I was told I should consider being a DJ
48. I also won the Young Artists’ competition of Cobb County, performing in a recital and at the county fair (classical music does not go over well at state fairs, btw)
49. I attended University of Georgia majoring in flute performance
50. I accidentally gave up a scholarship to Florida State, also in flute performance
51. I was date raped Halloween night of my sophomore year by a guy who wasn’t really my date
52. I was stalked my senior year, but campus police never believed me (thought I was doing it to myself) so never looked for the person
53. The stalking caused my first onset of depression. I didn’t know it at the time, had never been depressed before. Now I know
54. Due to the depression, I failed many classes my senior year and had to take additional classes at another college to get my degree
55. After graduation, I moved back home and went to Georgia State University for my master’s degree in Music Theory
56. I left for a music printing job in Boston before I finished my master’s. All coursework is completed, but never did finish.
57. I learned Boston can be very cold, and being a southern gal, cold was not my friend, so I moved to Orlando
58. My favorite movie of all time is Valley Girl
59. My favorite band is U2
60. Munchkin is named because of Quentin Tarantino, but not named after him
61. My first car was a 1975 MGB. I loved that car
62. I gave up a job to workfor Garth Brooks before he was Garth BrooksTM
63. My favorite place to vacation is Cape Cod, MA
64. I can’t wait to go to Ireland
65. I have a BFA in music performance from UGA
66. I have a diploma in web design from Herzing College
67. I play bagpipes, penny whistle, Irish flute, flute and piccolo
68. I miss performing music
69. I developed horrible stage fright my senior year of college and am still working on that
70. I have worked at Kroger, as a bagger
71. Del Taco, all positions, but primarily cashier
72. Kennesaw State College librarian assistant
73. A&P cashier
74. Music data input and office manager for music print company
75. Restaurant cashier, then restaurant chain comptroller
76. Administrative Assistant for Premier Beverage wine and spirits distributor
77. Substitute teacher
78. 7-11 Cashier
79. Administrative Assistant for Wyndham Orlando in Catering and Convention Services
80. Administrative Assistant to the Director of Catering at Gaylord Palms Resort
81. Sales Assistant at Kenny’s Great Pies
82. Administrative Assistant, now Project Manager at iMi Agency, food and beverage marketing
83. I have a fantastic 11 year old Munchkin who is into Tae Kwon Do, music and video games
84. I have a most wonderful husband who has just joined the Navy reserves
85. I love blogging, but not entirely sure what purpose it serves just yet
86. I have two crazy dogs, one crazy bunny and a fish I care for daily
87. I love computers and any technical gadgets
88. Woot is one of my daily visits
89. I have insomnia most nights, but not sure if I want to do anything about it
90. I have many regrets in my life, things I haven’t done, people I’ve let down, and I’m sorry about that
91. I miss my mother immensely
92. I love Sudoku
93. I adore the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series and can’t wait for the next one
94. I still want to overcome my stage fright and perform in a pit orchestra on Broadway
95. I want to find a group to perform in again, I miss it
96. I was a member of the Cobb Consort woodwind quintet, making a brief run at classical music stardom in 1992 in the Atlanta area
97. I am a gypsy at heart and would love to give up everything in my house to pare down and be able to travel more
98. I am a new age music junkie
99. I have the most wonderful sister
100. I am finally finished, with 6 minutes to publish this post and still make NaBloPoMo.

Hope you enjoyed my crazy rantings. I reserve the right to come back and fix these, as they are strictly stream of consciousness. So look out in the next few days for an  updated and massaged version of this.

Tomorrow is my 100th post here. And I really don’t know how I’m going to come up with 100 things about me. I liked how Any Mommy did her 100 things. Her post was 10 x 10. Ten things about ten aspects of her life. I think that’s kind of cool. But I don’t want to seem lame, so I don’t know if I will copy it or not. You’ll just have to see tomorrow, which is when I will find out as well.

So, I have lots of prep to do. At first I thought it would be easy to come up with 100 things. But now that I am at 28, I’m afraid I’ll bore the one or two real readers I actually have out there.

Well, stay tuned. We’ll see what happens together.

We just got back from the Orff concert the Munchkin performed for in Charlotte. As you read in my last post, there was no internet at our hotel, unless I braved the elements and borrowed the wi-fi from the hotel next door. I used it just long enough to post to my blog and leave a quick Tweet, then got back inside where it was warm and dry. I did not have a chance to map the route to the convention center, the local sights to see, or the best place to find a bathing suit for the Munchkin so he could take advantage of the indoor pool.

I figured I would be able to get connected while waiting in the Charlotte Convention Center while Munchkin had his 2 hour rehearsal. I was sadly mistaken. Theoretically I could have used the wi-fi offered by the convention center, but it was $14.95 per day. I’m sorry, I’m not going to pay $7.50 per hour to Twitter, blog or Facebook. I just can’t afford that.

The Munchkin’s music teacher said she used the free wi-fi from the hotel next to the convention center, the Westin, which was where we parked for the day. On our way to put our stuff in the car before sightseeing, we stopped off to do a little surfing, but again were thwarted. I don’t know why, but I could not even find a wireless network while in the building.

So, I went basically 24 hours without internet. And I was jonesing hard. With DT’s and all. It was so bad that Munchkin was yelling at me to please go post something… before I even ate our late dinner… P-L-E-A-S-E. But I ate my dinner, and here I am. After the drive from the suburbs of Atlanta to Charlotte, and back again all in one day, I’m pooped. I am going to do a quick Twitter check, get my meds from the car, and then go pass out.

At least I haven’t missed a post this month. NaBloPoMo is still in sight.

What a day. We had to drive from Holly Springs, GA (45 minutes north of Atlanta) all the way to Charlotte, NC. Not such a long drive, but when you’re worried about your tires, and you have intermittent heavy rains, it makes for a very stressful trip. The wonderful people at the car care place told me all four tires need to be replaced immediately. Not that I don’t believe them, but it amazes me that in 3 months time my tires went from being just fine to needing to be changed immediately if not sooner. I’m thinking I shouldn’t have told them I was planning a trip out of town. Hmmmm.

We made it to Charlotte, after traversing Atlanta’s rush hour traffic, the aforementioned intermittent squalls, the insane drivers, the drunk drivers (it is Friday night, after all), a bored and scared 11 year old (I’ll explain the “scared” another time) and slightly confusing signs for I-77. We checked into our room, which advertised high speed wi-fi internet. We changed into comfy jammies, tucked in for the evening night, started to log in to work on my NaBloPoMo post, and lo and behold, their internet is down. ARGH! The only way to access wi-fi is to go outside, walk to the back corner of the hotel parking lot, and use the wi-fi from the hotel next door.

Did I mention it’s raining?

For the love of Pete.

I guess I won’t be Twittering, Facebooking, or doing anything else internet related tonight. I just hope this makes it up for NaBloPoMo.

<sigh>

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned here before how much I truly love work. Where I work is a dream come true. No sarcasm, no BS, honestly it is FANTASTIC! I am happy going to work in the mornings and happy when I leave in the evenings. There have been a couple of times I would have liked to yank the hairs from my head during my transition from admin to project manager, but otherwise it’s great!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have had jobs in the past that I really liked. One was fun, laid back, and used my college major, music, but was not stable, so I moved on. One was fun, but I felt under appreciated, so I moved on. One was extremely fulfilling and fun, but was also very stressful and unhealthy, so again, I moved on. One was downright evil, though they sounded like they would be fun (I still have a legal responsibility for another year not to talk about this one), and I was forcibly sent packing. But this is the first job that has been such a good fit (with the exception it is not a music job) that I do not ever want to leave.

As an example of how much fun it is (and how appreciated I feel), today we had our outing to celebrate all birthdays from July through December. We usually do 2 to 3 birthday outings per year. These involve lunch and an activity. Today we went to McCormick and Schmick’s for lunch then to The World of Coca-Cola for our activity. We tend to be a silly group, and today was no exception. The 4-D movie was definitely an experience, with hooting and hollering, and inappropriate comments. >) Then we moved on to the tasting room. Now, let me preface tasting with the fact we work in food and beverage, primarily spirits promotion. So imagine, 12 people walking through the tasting room

talking about the different Coke products as though they were fine wines. Swirling, sniffing, slurping, we didn’t go so far as spitting. Discussing each one at length as though it was some fantastic vintage. We are most definitely silly.

And my desk (along with almost everyone’s) is covered with samples of wines, spirits and mixers. It’s really kind of crazy. In a good way. My particular desk boasts 4 bottles of wine, 4 different vodkas, 3 different liqueurs, a rum and an Irish whiskey.

And we often have mixology tastings. Drink development is one of the services we provide and the only way to gauge how a drink will be received is to try the drink. So, sometimes I even get paid to drink on the job. Martinis, mojitos, cocktails, wines, straight up spirits and liquors. Name it, we’ve probably tasted it.

Yes, I love my job. And unfortunately no, we are not hiring right now.

Which means we had to take pictures at work for our holiday issue of our magazine. Here is my picture. It will be interesting to see how they setup the page. They took pictures of all of us and will be arranging us around a two page spread, kind of like the Brady Bunch picture where everyone is looking at someone. Hmmm…

Da~

I know I don’t say it enough; no one does. And you definitely didn’t hear it long ago when it actually mattered. So thank you.

Thank you for giving of your time. Time with me as a baby. Time with Mom, when she needed you. Time that can never be given back. Thank you for giving your personality, your strength, your mental acquity.

I may sound flippant. I don’t mean to. These were all sacrifices you gave willingly again and again. And parts of you were lost, never to be replaced. Over in Viet Nam. In that crazy war that was opposed here at home. Vehemently.

Thank you for all you gave. I AM proud of you. Semper Fi.

Love,
~Your number 1 daughter, CMC, Colleen

I wanted the election to be behind me once it was over. I understand the political process is NOT over and I am ready for that to begin. I am ready to work in my position to make our country better. I am ready to hold government accountable for the change we need to overcome our recent adversities. However, the extreme conservative, so-called “wingnut” right is still spewing the same rhetoric and hate as they did throughout the election

I didn’t want to go here. I wanted to be done with everything. I was so happy when the candidate I felt was the best choice for our country was elected. I was resigned to the fact, if he didn’t win, that I would have to work just as hard, if not harder WITH a president I felt was inferior. But I lucked out. Now all I hear about are the McCain/Palin supporters who have been whipped into a fear induced frenzy talk about how much they love Palin. How much they would like to secede from the US. How everything is going to hell in a handbasket because we have a Democratic President with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate. But that is a hypocritical statement. That was exactly what the Republicans wanted for themselves. Republican President with Republican majority House and Senate.

So, where am I going with all this? I’m not really sure. I know I want everyone to work together. I’m tired of the sides. I agree with George Washington that parties, by their very nature create partisanship. But how do we fix it?

And this particular issue? How do we fix this? With Sarah Palin fueling the most hate in her followers. Whipping up such a frenzy that attendees are screaming very unpatriotic things about the competition. Creating a rift and furthering the divide. Playing the partisan card to her zealot-filled best. This is part of what frightens me.

But it isn’t all. I read the comments on Munchkin’s 6th grade Social Studies blog regarding the election. There are 11 and 12 year old children being told by their parents that the only reason Obama got any votes was because people wanted to elect an African American man. That sexism is alive and well if a black man can win over a white woman. That the Electoral College stole the election from McCain. That change is bad and we should keep everything exactly the same. That Obama will be taking away all the guns and closing all the gun stores. I mean really. I understand I live in the deep south. I do, I get it. But why can’t we get past this?

And the Palin zealots scare me most of all. Those who are looking forward to Palin for 2012. These people truly terrify me. This is a woman who drove such a wedge into the political process. Forget about the clothing shopping sprees. Forget about the winks and the accent. Forget the 5 kids, one being special needs, as this has no bearing on how she might be able to run a country. Concentrate on her inability to follow a line of questioning and answer appropriately. Concentrate on her inability to speak to any of the issues McCain stood for. Concentrate on her inability to give a speech without hate spewing regarding terrorists. Concentrate on her main goal of driving a wedge the size of Alaska into the middle of our country, dividing us into two camps who refuse to attempt to see eye to eye. Concentrate on her being such a maverick that she strikes out on her own, essentially working against her own party to further her own ideals.

This is not someone I want running my country. And the fact that I know people who think Palin was attacked for being a woman and being pretty. That the media covered up the “fact that her corruption was a lie” (never heard she was corrupt to begin with?!?!), that she is full of integrity ?!?! That those of us who voted for Obama voted for a slogan and did not do our due diligence to learn about what he stands for and what his issues are about. Those people SCARE AND SICKEN ME.

And I hope we are around to keep them from getting someone like Palin in office in the future. Because that would be a scary place indeed.

Tomorrow, back to my regularly scheduled programming.

Last night I got a call at 10:10PM from a home security alarm monitoring company. There was an alarm going off at my father’s house and I was on his list as the person to contact. My first question to the nice lady was, “Did you try calling his cell phone?” She told me she did and there was no answer there or on the home phone. Then she politely asked if I would meet the authorities at Da’s house. I told her I would, but that it would take me 20 minutes to get there. She told me she would have the authorities call when they got to the house if I was needed.

I then immediately called my father’s cell phone, which he answered on the second ring. His muffled hello at first shocked me. I asked if he was okay and he said he was, that he had had a small kitchen fire, but everything was now okay. He was eating dinner.

!?!?!?!?

Yes, Da was happily munching away on his dinner. Fifteen miles away his daughter is having a minor melt down hoping he’s okay. And he’s EATING DINNER!

Ugh!

Me: The alarm company called.

Da: <munch, munch> Yea? You know they don’t show you how to turn off the alarm when it’s for smoke or fire. <munch, munch> {Long drawn out story about how he forgot to turn off the stove with a frying pan with oil in it. Oil caught fire. He put the pan in the sink where water hit it and spread the fiery oil around. He used a wet towel to put out the rest of the flames.}

Me: Did you talk to the alarm company?

Da: <munch> No. <munch>

Me: Well, they’re sending the authorities because you didn’t answer either of your phones. They want me to come down and meet them.

Da: <munch, ahem, cough, cough> Oh, you don’t have to come down. <ahem, cough>

Me: So are you going to call the alarm company and tell them you’re okay?

Da: I guess I should

Me: It would be nice.

Long story longer. He’s okay. My childhood home is okay. Presumably the authorities were alerted and did not make it all the way to the house, but I’m not certain on that one. And my heart has finally gone back to normal rhythms.

<sigh>