Blog re-org (no, not Blog Sea-Org)

You might have noticed I did a bit of a re-org in Ye Olde right nav bar – because the way my archives are currently set up it is basically sucky and makes it impossible to find anything. You open up a category or an archive and you have to see ALL the posts all together – and scroll down, endlessly. No. No good. Also, my Search functionality is sucky … it either times out or comes back with so many choices that it’s basically useless. So I decided to highlight my writing – over on the side: specific posts on actors, movies, books, writers, founding fathers – my “series” (quantum leap, faces I love, etc.) … and also personal essays. There are some more things I decided to pull out – you should see it all over there. Photos, too – because if you ever try to open my Photos Category, your computer will slow to a complete halt and you will have to shut down. SO ANNOYING. I picked some photos I like – and put them all over there in the right nav.

Until I can figure out how to re-do my archives, this’ll have to do. I find it challenging to find my OWN writing on the blog, so I can only imagine what it’s like for those of you who are NOT me.

Flying back to Newark was so rough that I busted out the Hail Mary’s. Also, 4 flights in a row were canceled (apparently there were almost hurricane-force winds in New Jersey on Saturday) – and I was on standby for what felt like forever. Got on the plane, and then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours. The gentleman next to me was so chatty and so obivious to the obvious “wearing my iPod” signal that I had to say to him, “I really don’t feel like chatting. Sorry.” Look, you don’t pick up on normal social signals, you deserve what you get. Then, of course, as we careened and bumped violently through the ether for over an hour – and I went into Hail Mary mode – chatty guy was probably regretful that he had been seated next to me in the first place. But we arrived – the entire plane burst out into raucous clapping when we touched down – over 10 hours after my original flight was supposed to have landed.

And my bag was MIA for well over 24 hours. In my bag was: my laptop charger, my phone charger, my iPod charger, my camera, my blackberry, my blackberry charger, my glasses, and various and sundry other important items. Like the 3 new pairs of fabulous shoes I bought in Chicago.

Anyway. All is well now. My bag has been returned to me.

I still feel discombobulated. I miss Chicago.

Mitchell made me two MASSIVE compilation discs of all of Nina Simone’s stuff … and I am obsessed. It’s real bump and grind stuff, some of it … but then … God, she’s just an interpreter is what she is. Her version of “My Way”? What?? Also, only Nina Simone could turn “Just call me angel” into a stalker’s anthem. Mitchell made that observation about her version of “Cherish” and it is so RIGHT ON. You listen to her singing that song, and you want to call up the object of her affection and tell him to get out of the house immediately, the call is coming from inside the house. But her “Just call me angel” is a creepy stalker song, too. She’s so intense!

She’s brilliant.

So. Anyway. This post is really just to say I’m trying to point up my own writing more – so the right nav should be way more helpful now, than it has been in the past.