"What's my name? Puddin Tane, ask me again and I'll tell you the same!"

This is Worf, or "Captain Worf" if you're name particular, though he comes to other things. He doesn't mind. Ozzie doesn't mind either, when I call him Ozziewazzie, or something. It usually means treats. Baby is Sugarbooger, or something like it...

I have a lot of names... some I don't like. You can call me anyone of the others.

So...a quickie, for those who don't know me so well...

My name, given me at birth, was Marielana Graszia Ileana Vaneszia Zehandroverhi. I shortened it somewhat...but NOT to "Mary".

I do not like the name Mary. My maman called me that when she was angry with me, and it has connotations of anger with it whenever I hear it.

I had a Facebook friend who insisted on calling me Mary, in the face of a dozen warnings from a dozen other friends... finally, when we were sitting chatting one day, she said, "Hey, Mary, I..." and I said, "what, Dee? (her name was Dianna, pronounced dee-anna). She immediately said, 'My name is Dianna'  and I said, 'my name is MaryEllen'. She said, 'whatever.' and I defriended her on Facebook There and then. From my phone. I heard hers *ding* when she got the message. Kinda funny, the look on her face (I had moved off, to another friend to chat, one of the warning crew, in fact, lol)  She asked to be taken back, and has been scrupulous ever since about using my full name. Since I edited it to Belle on facebook, that's what she calls me.

Another friend in 3D this time, started calling me Mary - and was warned off by my dude of the moment, who had introduced us. She has since called me Ellen. Which is ok. No one ever called me that and then whacked my face half off for some minor infraction.

So, call me Cat or Kitty (my daddy's name for me), call me Belle, call me MaryEllen... or Ms Newton if you's fancy. ;)

Ambien Man

< This cat has *not* had Ambien.

Do any of you use Ambien? Have you done odd things under its' influence? Noria and her entire family use it to sleep, including the 21 year old nephew. They call this effect "Ambien Man". When you've done something odd after taking it, it was 'Ambien Man' who did it.

Thus, Ambien Man re-arranged the living room last night at Joe's apartment.

Noria's Ambien Man writes letters, and occasionally does laundry.

Alisha's Ambien Man cooks. Everything he can find. And then eats it all.

Mary's (Noria's sister-in-law) Ambien Man fixes things. Mends the torn clothing of her little boy, for instance. She said she's come out to the kitchen some mornings and found a whole pile of mended clothes... and once he fixed her ironing board, where it was wobbly.

Joe Senior's Ambien Man goes for long walks, and leaves him sleeping in odd places. Once in a hedge, once on top of a neighbor's car. It was priceless. Mary took a picture. Fortunately, they live out in the middle of nowhere on a rather large piece of land. No swamp or bogs nearby. He can wander to his heart's content, or until he wears off enough to let Joe sleep.

Eldean, Noria's mom, has an artistic Ambien Man. He smokes and draws pictures for hours, leaving a pile of papers and a full ashtray. Noria's daddy had a wandering Ambien Man, too, but he usually just took Poppa Joe to the workshop, where he'd sit and look at the empty forge.

I think that's the whole family, the six year old isn't on it yet, and the 30 year old just sits and waves his arms... Ambien Man is not ambitious in him. His girlfriend doesn't use it regularly, because she says her Ambien Man takes her to the bathroom and scrubs. She doesn't enjoy that.

I've never tried the stuff, myself. Kinda afraid to - I can imagine wandering out into the park in my altogether, talking to someone who isn't there... wait, I do that anyway. Not the wandering, though. :)

What DOES single mean?

I am "single". It means to me, that I share my home/life/time with no specific person. I have a guy, and I love him, but he doesn't live here, and I don't get to see him much.

Other meanings of the word, though, have been bothering me. This is about Single in the South...

Single means you can be asked to work late, and no one thinks you should complain because the 'married women with kids' get to go home on time and spend time with their families. You're single, so you don't have a life, do you?

Single means you don't mind being paid less than the married woman because 'she has kids, and she needs it.' Yeah...of course, you don't have any bills to pay, do you? You're single...

Single means your holidays are a minefield of well-meant invitations. You learn quickly not to say, 'oh not much' when asked what you're going to do for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Groundhog Day... because they will invite you to take part in *their* holiday. Nothing is more fun than hanging around with people who are annoyed that they can't be sitting around in their underwear because there's company, while their children are running wild and screaming and hitting you with their toys... I was once invited to Thanksgiving dinner with the family of the bookkeeper at the shop (she's not there anymore, thank god). Asked what I should bring, and she suggested maybe some rolls. I found out when I got there that she expected me to COOK THE ENTIRE MEAL. Seriously. She had no idea how to cook a turkey...and no clue how long it took. Never did get to eat that meal... but I took the #@$@ rolls home.

Single also means people can give you gifts of stuff they don't want. One year, my neighbors, in an act of charity, gave me a box that contained several rotten oranges, some limp celery and an apple that looked like someone's science experiment. I waited till they left and then took it to the garbage cans...but dang, they could've saved me the trouble - THAT would have been nice. Just throw away your own crap...I don't really want it. I suppose if I'd been braver, I could've told them that. I didn't. I did the polite society thing: 'oh thank you SO much, just what I wanted!'

Single means you aren't expected to have good taste... Once while shopping with a couple of the married women from the print shop, on a Dallas blow all your money tour, we came across some very nice vases with artificial flowers in them. While B and NJ took a rapid look at the brightly colored ones, I was in agony over a black alabaster bowl with three white roses...it took my breath away. I wanted it so bad...to have bought it would have cost me the rent, so I didn't. But B saw me looking at it and said, oh, that's gorgeous. I wouldn't have expected *you* to like that. So, not only was I expected to have lousy taste, but to not want nice things...

Single means you bought all your own jewelry, or have it left over from the last marriage. You're not expected to want anything very fancy, though.

Not sure where I'm going with this one after all...so I'll quit. I only wrote it because the Tree asked for it... and it was all that was in my mind.