GenieAlisa ... before she was cool

Our neighborhood is currently undergoing a "facelift" of sorts as the city continues tearing down less than desirable apartment complexes and replacing them with high end condos and houses. I have mixed emotions about all of this. I've lived in this area my whole life (with the exception of those few years at University) and these few miles of beach shape my sense of home. When I was a kid, telling folks that I lived in Ocean View would all but cause cries of "oh good Lord, with the hookers and the crack dealers?!" They must be shipping the whores and dealers to Portsmouth now, because suddenly my neighborhood has become a desirable place to live.

There are cars all over with the fake european ovals declaring OV as their home town. Then came the classy "Ocean View. Part of what makes Norfolk great." stickers. But then they went so far as to declare that they were "OV. Before it was cool."

I'm not sure what to make of all this. My house would probably sell for 3 times what I paid for it three years ago. And part of all this renovation is going to help us afford a sizeable addition on the house in the near future. But it's funny to me to even be old enough to remember something "back in the day."

This evening after work, the Puddin' and I drove down to the Ocean View Fishing Pier. The location originally was home to Harrison's Pier and it has been there since ... forever. My oldest brother spent much of his childhood in the 60's down on Harrison's Pier fishing with his friends. When Hurricane Isabel washed the pier away in 2003 my brother mourned it like a family member. He bemoaned that the "poor man's fishing spot" was gone forever.

Norfolk rallied and rebuilt it, though, and despite all my cynicism over how it "wouldn't be the same" I must admit, it looks pretty nice. (Click the image below for the entire Flickr set.)

I wish I could find some way to Flickr or podcast the way it smells here. The smell of the water and the feeling of the warm wind is really what I associate with home. But until Web 3.0, complete with scratch-n-sniff links, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Why it's good to be a voicemail packrat

I was listening to my 6472 voicemails on the way home, when I came across an old saved message from last month that Mom had left. Mom had called to ask a favor from me before we left town. She had been having a bad day since she had run up on the curb that morning and gotten two flat tires and then found out that the bank had messed up her accounts and she was going to have to scramble to fix it before the weekend. Here's a snippet:

Mom's voicemail (only 14 seconds long - totally safe for work as it's my mom talking)

So since I've been having a hard time of it lately, I enjoyed hearing Mom's voice and getting a slice of their sense of humor.

When I pulled into the driveway and opened the front door, I noticed a small travel bag on the steps in the foyer. I had been looking forward to coming home to the Puddin' after a long day and I stormed into the office all pouty-lipped moaning, "You've packed your bag! You can't leave me today, I've had a crappy day."

Rich laughed and quipped back, "No, baby, I'm not leaving today. Not unless I was running away from home only to turn back because I'm not allowed to cross the street by myself." (I later found out the bag was from his trip to the gym.)

And then he took me out for pho and donuts. These are all the things that make me smile on crappy days.

Again with the Crankypants

And to add insult to injury today, I watched this video about South Dakota (thanks to Susie Bright for the link) that makes me want to puke. Really, the part where Senator Napoli describes what would be a justifiable abortion made my stomach turn for a variety of reasons. * Well, hello there, and welcome to Genie's forum of fussiness. I'm in an utterly foul mood. I frown when there's not even anyone in the room to witness the frowns. It's just the natural state of my face today. I came home at 7pm and went straight to bed. So now I'm awake and pissed off that I'm awake. Rich ate chinese take out with the pets while I frowned in my sleep all evening. And now he's gone upstairs to bed and I can't shut my brain off enough to go to sleep.

And I hate being this way. I'm all surly and bitchy and No Fun To Be Around (tm). I would love to be chipper and perky and witty. But I'm just inexplicably down.

There are a few reasons I can think of that explain why I'm such a sour puss. But none that I want to get into in this medium right now. And, frankly, it would just make me that much more cranky. So just take it as writ that I'm a pain in the ass to be around and don't want to talk about it.

So that's why I haven't returned your phone calls and that's why e-mails don't have as many exclamation points and emoticons in them. It's taking all my energy right now just to be mad at the world.

My one ray of light in all this suckitude I'm sitting in is the Puddin'. He's being super sweet and chill and clever and patient. I come home and throw shit around the living room and am an utter tool on the phone (ignoring him while he's talking to me in favor of reading e-mails that piss me off - and in my mood nearly every e-mail pisses me off), and he's all "ok, baby, I love you and I'll talk to you soon when you're feeling better."

So the short version of this is Senator Napoli is an ass, I'm a cranky kitty for no good reason, and the Puddin' rocks the rockinest.

* Oh, and just for clarification, I added the link about South Dakota just because it was the straw that broke the camel's back for me today. It's not an invitation for political/religious debate and if you feel the need to comment anyways, I'll just delete the comments and be all bitchy about it at my keyboard even though you won't be able to hear me.