Why does it always rain on me? Even when the sun is shining, I can't avoid the lightning.

Raleigh! Oh my God, how I've missed this place. I finally left home at like 11:30 after running a few errands which included but were not limited to depositing a check, paying my electric bill and going to the library.

At the library, I picked up some books on tape, because I've found that the time passes so much more quickly on the road when I'm listening to books on tape, rather than listening to music. I don't know. There are days when I just want to drive around, blasting music and singing along, and then there are long, long, 4 1/2 hour trips that just warrant a book on tape. I got through John Grisham's "The Firm" and started on a book by that guy who did that documentary called "Supersize me." "The Firm" was ok. Nothing to write home about, but not a waste of three hours, either. I ended that one just as I got to Greensboro, and I put in the other one after I left the used bookstore at which I stopped in Greensboro, where I bought a Sweet Valley High book (for 50 cents!!), a book by an author that I like, and season 1 of 30 Rock on DVD because I love (LOVE!!) Tina Fey.

So, I finished this book that I started a few months ago and finally picked up again. "We Need To Talk About Kevin" is a book that Nick had highly recommended and that I had bought. . .I want to say over the summer. Maybe in July? Yeah, because it was last time I was in the Piedmont. I started it and didn't like it at all. It was slow and draggy and fairly boring. However, I picked it up again last week and couldn't put it down. It really picked up after a while and I got completely sucked into it. I spent the better part of quite a few evenings this week reading it, and when I finally got to the end, I was disappointed it was over. It was one of those books that. . .it kind of feels like it grabs you by the soul. You feel it. I felt every emotion that the woman narrating was feeling, and I was emotionally exhausted by the time the book ended. There was one moment (I won't say what happened, in case anyone wants to read it), but I actually said, "Oh no!" and then I re-read the passage, hoping that I'd read it wrong the first time.

I would highly recommend it. Nick, I take back saying it was really boring. It gets so much better.

I've been reading a lot of things recently that I've felt. I read the autobiography of one of the women that was one of the founding members of the Make-A-Wish foundation. I cried while reading that book. I didn't like the woman's writing so much, but when she was talking about her son that died of cancer? It was so, so sad. And it made me more anxious to work for them as a volunteer. The regional director of the WNC Make-A-Wish branch is going to bring me papers so I can sign up next weekend. Next weekend is the motorcycle rally for Make-A-Wish, and the night before, there's going to be a meet and greet for people involved, where they'll meet Rikki, because she's the ride ambassador, and Carolyn (the director) invited me to come. Not as a reporter, but just to go. I'll be reporting on the rally that Saturday, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm jumping into this Make-A-Wish stuff headfirst, because while I knew what Make-A-Wish was, I'd never met anyone involved with them or who had benefited from them, but now that I have, I realize that it's a really, really great organization.

The new guy at work, NewJeff, is, as it turns out, a welcome addition to the office. He's very cool, and his kid is an absolute doll. She's the same age as Dennis' kid, and it seems very, very odd that I've found two four-year-old kids that I don't disdain. Vera (NewJeff's kid) is ridiculously polite and she's just adorable.

I feel like I might not hate kids as much as I used to. Maybe it's just that I've run into a couple that aren't tragic and are relatively well-behaved, so I'm forgetting why exactly it is I don't like kids.

I think I'm going to end up that person that, one day, someone's going to say, "I love you," and I'm going to say, "Thank you." I find that when someone says something complimentary to me that normally would illicit some kind of response, I end up saying "thank you." And that, one of these days, is going to end up awkward.

I meant to take pictures of Dennis' desk to put them up here. I have a little ritual of putting balloons and streamers in people's desks and offices for their birthdays, and his birthday is Sunday, so I did the balloon thing Thursday before I left. It was pretty cool, because, thanks to my OCD, it was very symmetrical. Vi's birthday is next, so I'll have to figure out a color scheme for her. When it was Chuck's birthday, I did black balloons and streamers, because he turned 50. For Carrie's birthday, I did green and white, because I remembered that green was either her favorite or one of her favorite colors, and also because I felt that the white offset the green nicely. For Dennis, it was red and black. Black because it's going to be his 40th, and red because. . .well, a couple of reasons. I've never actually asked him which high school football team he prefers, but between the one with red and black for their colors and the one with gold and black for their colors, he seems to prefer the red and black one. Plus, he often wears red. So it seemed like a safe color combination.

I actually asked him, a month or so ago, what his favorite color was, for the purpose of picking balloons, but he never told me. I think it was a good guess, though. Carrie told me his wife brought in a lot of balloons, too, so that would have been an interesting thing to see. Balloonapalooza.

Also, I'll be really happy when this election is over, because I am sick. to. death. of these political commercials. I think I'm going to vote for myself. Truth be told, as far as experience goes, McCain and Biden need to get together. Because we'd have a president with experience, and then when he (inevitably) keels over, we'd still have someone with experience, and we could maybe get everything back on track.

Sarah Palin's "oh-gee-dontcha-know" hometown girl schtick is already getting old. I don't want to get too political right here right now, but she needs to get it together if McCain wins this thing. Because when he (inevitably) keels over, it's a scary, scary thought that someone who thinks that foreign policy has anything to do with being able to see Russia from her home state could potentially be in charge of everything.

Feels like you're making a mess. You're hell on wheels in a black dress.

After a wonderful, wonderful 9-ish hours of sleep, I'm back. Back to what I do best. Writing about myself and the things in life I contemplate to within an inch of their lives.

Really, though, I feel it takes a real narcissist to blog as much as I do. All it is is me sitting here saying, "Hey, I feel that people actually care what I think about things and what happens to me during the minute moments of my life.

But then that narcissism is validated when people like my cousin say, "I'm always so excited when I see that you've updated!" and people I don't even know (Hi, chocolatebooks!) say that they read what I write, and even encourage me to write America's Next Top Model recaps. It's exciting, really. I mean, if I could get a job doing this, just writing my opinions and thoughts on things, I'd be one happy girl. Seriously.

But I do wonder if excessive blogging is a sign of rampant narcissism. If you think about it, though, all writers are narcissists. They just expect that people will want to read what they have to say.

I think the conclusion I can come to here is that all writers and bloggers are actually either mentally ill or have severe personality disorders. I'm OK with that.

Moving on.

Yesterday, I went into work and our photographer was there with his daughter, Kelly. Something you should understand about me is that I pretty much can't stand children. Every now and again, there'll be a cute kid that'll break through that particular Veneer of Hatred, but in general, I don't like them.

Actually, no. To be fair, it's probably the kids' parents I can't stand because they're the ones that allow their children to behave like demonic brats in public.

Anyway, Kelly is a kid that I happen to love. I don't see her very often, but when I do, I'm always amazed at how much older than 4 she seems. She's really smart and creative and all those adjectives that people generally attach to their own children. It just so happens that I met a kid who I like.

A few weeks ago, she and I were drawing, and I drew a castle. I learned how to draw castles when I was 5 and in daycare during the summer. I was in a My Little Pony phase at that point, and this girl that I hung out with most at daycare, Brandy, who I remember having a rather unfortunate mullet, taught me how to draw Pony Castles, complete with dragon in the moat. Since then, I've drawn them the exact same way, which explains why when I draw them, it looks like a 5-year-old drew them. My drawing skills are sadly lacking:


Note the happy dragon.

Yesterday, I was working, and Kelly comes up to me and says, "Liz! I drew you a picture!" And this is what it was:
How freakishly cute is that? She did ask me to "draw the water," but the rest of it is all Kelly B. It made me happy that she'd remembered the castle and I was also immensely impressed that she'd replicated it. The kid's kind of amazing. If I ever have a kid (which is a slight, slight chance indeed), I hope the kid turns out like her.

Oh, and before I go, I just thought of something else funny and kid-related (since I'm on the subject) that happened yesterday.

I was in Chuck's (the sports editor) office and Kelly and Dennis (our photographer) were in there, too. Dennis and Chuck have this. . .odd relationship. They're friends, but they have this banter that allows them to insult each other? It's hard to explain, but I have, on more than one occasion, asked them if they were going to divorce when they were having a disagreement.

I don't remember the line of conversation, but it led to Dennis saying that Chuck "Knew (Chuck) was his bitch." Except Kelly was in there, so he said, "Yeah, he knows he's my B-I-T-C-H." For some reason, that struck me as really, really funny, because I'm not used to being around kids all the time and needing to spell things. It was cute. I have a feeling, though, as smart as Kelly is, she's going to be able to figure out what people are spelling relatively soon.

So I still need to mention the Biltmore trip and maybe I'll go into job-related things, but they're kind of depressing, so maybe I'll not do that. I'll also try to write my ANTM recap tonight.