Last month, I mailed a check to pay for my long term car storage for another year. Along with the payment, I asked for monthly receipts that I’ll need to submit for reimbursement. Two weeks later, after not recieving any receipts, I phoned the company and asked if they had recieved my payment. The person I spoke to told me it had indeed been received and thought someone else had already sent out the reciepts. Then he assured me that he’d have them for me in the mail.

Yesterday, I checked my mail and still no receipts from the company. My bank statement came in so I verified that the check had cleared. The first thing I did this morning was call the storage company and spoke to the person again. He apologized and said he fell behind. I was so tempted to ask what he fell behind of. The desk? The bus? The line at the lunch wagon? Geez.

And that’s not all, I also received a bill for my cable and internet service which is paid up until December. You’d think paying in advance would eliminate monthly headaches, but no. I got a bill from them last month and called the office. They said there was something wrong (duh), perhaps a computer error (no kidding). Then assured me the billing problem would be resolved. Wrong! Yesterday, I got another bill and this time, they added $5 for late charges. I should charge them $5 for wasting paper and postage. I spoke to the billings manager and we went over my account. Now I play with waiting game. She said it’ll take about 20 minutes to figure out the problem then she’ll call me back. I guess the one-month period since my initial phone call wasn’t enough time for them to figure it out.

I suppose this would qualify as a meme, sorta. I was sorting through my email, weeding out the old stuff that I really didn’t need anymore. The things we find a year later, auwe.

ARE YOU THE WEAKEST LINK?

Below are 4 questions. Answer them instantly. You can’t take your time. Answer them immediately. No pencil or paper! OK? Let’s find out just how smart and clever you really are. Ready? … GO!!!

FIRST QUESTION: You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?

ANSWER: If you answer that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second!

Try not to screw up in the next question. To answer the second question, don’t take as much time as you took for the first question. (You know you took too much time.)

SECOND QUESTION: If you overtake the last person, then you are…?

ANSWER: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person?!

THIRD QUESTION: Very tricky math! Note: This must be done in your head only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.

Take 1000 and add 40 to it.
Now add another 1000.
Now add 30.
Add another 1000.
Now add 20.
Now add another 1000.
Now add 10.
What is the total?

ANSWER: Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. Don’t believe it? Check with your calculator!

Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get the last question right?

LAST QUESTION: Mary’s father has five daughters: Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?

ANSWER: Nunu? Nana? Nene? NONO! Of course not. The fifth daughter’s name is Mary. Read the question again.

So who’s the weakest link now?

While I dream of one owning our very first home, I entertain the idea of being selected for the Super Mega home makeover but not just that. No Sirree Bob. Not only do I get a complete makeover for my home, I also get selected for a full body makeover, gastric bypass included. And not only that but after losing the weight of an extra person on my body, I’m chosen to go on a Colossal Closet makeover too. And of course while I’m swept off to shop for designer shoes and handbags, the crew from Overhaul or Pimp my Ride has “stolen” my soccermom minivan for a complete transformation into something cool … something that just screams …

*ring* … *ring*

Damn, don’t you just hate when phone calls wake you from your fantasy?

I was watching a program on T.V. about the culture of a foreign country, I can’t remember which country though. It was somewhere in Malaysia or Cambodia I think. Anyway, what caught my attention was when a woman said they call their babies “ugly”. It brought back memories of something my grand mother told me a while back.

She said the older people would look at a baby and say, “that baby is ugly” with a disgusted look on their face. I couldn’t believe people back then were so cruel. I was stunned and wondered what I’d do if anyone said my babies were ugly. Then she smiled and explained. “They believed the gods would take offense if they heard there was a beautiful baby so people would never claim their child to be beautiful so as not to offend the gods. They feared the gods would become jealous and strike down the child so people back then didn’t get offended, they were thankful.

Of course that memory prompted even more. When I was pregnant with my oldest child, I lived with my grandma. During the early months of my pregnancy, I wore a chain around my neck, when grandma seen it, she made me remove it. She said the chain (necklace, lei - anything that circled the neck) symbolized the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck. Sure enough, when I gave birth, the cord was wrapped around my son’s neck. Fortunately, my obstetrician was seasoned enough to unwrap it before it choked him. Some might argue that there’s a number of explanations, I’m sure there are but for me, my grandma’s words are a good as gold.

My mother, on the other hand, had some weird beliefs. When we lived in Maryland, I was pregnant with my second child and she used to send us care packages. Then she’d call to see if we got it and to tell me that she wanted to add some portugese sausage for hubby but she didn’t want me to eat it because the peppers in the sausage will somewho blind the unborn baby. I laughed and told her to tell that to all the Mexicans who live on chili peppers. Not all of them are blind. Well, I can’t say she hasn’t given me any motherly advice. ~L~

As you can see, I’m working on changing the look of the site. Still have some tweaking to do but I have the main parts worked out. I’ll work on it later, I have a headache.

You likey so far?