I don’t really know what a fussypants might be, but in my mind, you could substitute “stick in the mud”, “fuddy duddy”, or just “all work and no play” if that helps define what I mean.

Sometimes, even on a serious blog, you can lighten up and have a little fun. Life, even our business lives, allows for some serious smiles and even the occasional raucous laughter. Don’t forget to let your personality shine through once in a while.

Today, I’m not going to be a fussypants. Today, I’m going to share with you my INCREDIBLE NEWS.

I’ve won an award! Woot! Here it is.

I know you’re jealous, but hey, I deserve it! After all, I begged for it, and what better way to get an award than to simply beg, right? Thanks goes to Holly Jahangiri of It’s All A Matter Of Perspective for honoring me with such an outstanding award.

If you insist on seeing me beg, you can see the conversation that took place in the 8 Ways To Get More Blog Comments post. You’ll have to scroll all the way down to the bottom because my comment was the first one (comments are shown newest to oldest). See where I say:

Oh Oh Oh! Can I be the top common tater? Puhleeze!

You really have to be old enough to remember Welcome Back, Kotter (a goofy TV series in the US in the late 70′s) to get the full impact of my begging. I was imitating Arnold Horshack. Here’s a soundbite of Horshack to help really “visualize” (audiolize?) it.

So, there you have it. You too can stop being a fussypants. You can let go a little on your oh-so-serious blog now and then. Maybe, if you beg, you can even get your own Top Common Tater award. Unfortunately, you’ll never ever get to be the VERY FIRST RECIPIENT of the Top Common Tater award – because that honor belongs to me! Booyah!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Arnold Horshack, Holly Jahangiri
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1. I had epilepsy when I was a kid. From the ages of 4-17, I took phenobarbital 3 times a day and went in for the occasional EEG (electroencephalagraph). As a kid, I thought it was cool to have a bunch of wires glued to my head. One day, at the age of 17, I was told I didn’t have epilepsy any longer. That was even cooler.

2. From 2nd grade through 8th grade, I was a cheerleader. Actually, I think I was considered a “mascot” in 2nd-4th grades, which meant that I dressed like a cheerleader and acted like a cheerleader, but the difference is that I would occasionally get thrown up into the air by the “real” cheerleaders. Or at least that’s the way I remember it!

3. I had a funky appendix once. When I was 14, I woke in the middle of the night screaming in pain. Although my parents rushed me to the hospital, the doctors in the emergency room didn’t know what was wrong with me. They didn’t suspect appendicitis because I didn’t hurt in the normal place for that. Many hours of pain later, they finally decided to go in and do exploratory surgery. Turns out, it was appendicitis, but my appendix was in the wrong place! It was attached to my backbone apparently. Luckily, they found it in time before it burst.

4. The “biggest” natural disasters tend to occur wherever I happen to live. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but at least two of the “biggies” occured where I lived. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake happened while I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hurricane Katrina happened while I was living here, just north of New Orleans. If I ever move to your neck of the woods, you might want to stock up on emergency supplies.

5. I was severely attacked by a trained guard dog when I was 17, but now I love dogs more than just about anything. The attack happened in my neighborhood. Here’s the story on that. A new family had just moved into our neighborhood, so I invited one of the kids who was about my age to ride bikes around the neighborhood so I could show her around. We hopped on our bicycles and had ridden about 1/4 mile when I pointed out one of the nicer homes in the neighborhood. “That”, I said, “is the [name intentionally left out] house. And those are [blank's] dogs, Kaiser, and …” I never made it past that, because Kaiser, one of the two trained guard dogs (Great Danes), broke his metal chain, jumped over the six foot electrified fence, ran in front of our bikes, came around the back of my bike to my right side, grabbed my arm, and pulled me off my bike and to the ground. He then dragged me about half a mile down the road, threw me into a ditch, and proceeded to eat his way through my arm and back. The poor girl who was riding with me (in this brand new neighborhood of hers) was standing in shock next to her bike, not knowing what to do. Luckily, a few minutes later, an older gentleman who lived nearby happened to drive down and saw what was happening. I really don’t know how he separated me from the dog, but somehow I ended up in his car, and he took my mangled body home. From there, my brave mom rushed me to the hospital. I’m not quite sure how she managed to calmly get me there when my arm and back looked so terrible, but she held up nicely. Although I spent a few years being terrified of dogs afterwards (even teeny tiny ones), I eventually got over it, and I’m a huge, huge fan of dogs now. Go figure. A few scars can’t stop me!

6. I’m an absolute NUTCASE about the color purple. But you probably already knew that. What can I say? I like it – a lot. That’s all there is to say about that.

7. Speaking of nutcases, I’m a wee bit on the paranoid side. Maybe that’s because of the disasters I’ve been through (see #4 above), or maybe it’s just that I like tinfoil hats, but if I could (in other words, if my family wouldn’t completely disown me), I’d build myself a nice underground bunker and stock it with a few years’ worth of food, emergency supplies, weapons, and ammunition to get me through any disaster that might arise. As it is, I have a meager supply of “stuff” that should get us through at least a couple of months, should another disaster strike.

So that’s that. Now you know more about me than you’d care to, I’m sure. And now it’s time to pass the torch, and tag 7 others. Hopefully, they won’t hate me too much.

David Harry
John Mueller
Judith Lewis
Melanie Phung
Julie Joyce
Lisa Roberson
Dianne Aull

Just a few days left before the first recipient of Project Jump Start ’09 is chosen! If you haven’t yet let me know you’re interested, there’s still time!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: appendicitis, cheerleader, David Harry, Dianne Aull, epilepsy, food, guard, John Mueller, Judith Lewis, Julie Joyce, Lisa Roberson, location, Melanie Phung, metal chain, New Orleans, pain, San Francisco, scars, surgery
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© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: meme, Michael, nerd test, owner, site
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© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: contest, CSI, episode, miniature killer, www.miniaturekiller.com
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Planning on touring this town as a couple? The woman gets to choose what to buy while shopping and what hotel to stay in. The disobedient man would be punished by doing things such as having to kneel on an uneven board or washing dishes in a restaurant. Now, I’m not sure what qualifies as being “disobedient” here. Refusing to stay in the chosen hotel or refusing to pay for the bauble his wife picked out? Or what about just having an argument about it, which results in the wife winning anyway? Maybe just a frown on his face suggesting displeasure with her choice would qualify as being disobedient?

Despite the fact that I get a certain sense of satisfaction thinking about having a female-dominated town, this really is over the edge on the crazy side of things. This kind of dominance is wrong in any situation. Nevertheless, it’s some kind of old tradition in this area of China. So, the fact that this town lives by an old rule is something I could shrug off as being “just the way it is”. But the fact that China is attempting to turn the town’s novel lifestyle into a tourist attraction is wild. I’ve had some crazy money-making ideas in the past, but never anything quite this weird.

It’s a crazy, crazy world out there.

More details here.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China, women's town
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After I’ve done several dozen tax returns without even the ability to take a breath between each client, a man sits down to have his return done. He’s one of the ones who wants a check today, which adds a little bit of time to the process as more paperwork has to be filled out. In addition, the computer is sluggish and wanting a break as well, so the process is taking a few extra minutes for that as well. Keep in mind that he’s already been waiting for quite some time just to go from the waiting room to my desk.

So, I work on his return, and he answers my questions dutifully. Eventually it’s all done, and I hand him his check. He strolls out the door, apparently with his girlfriend in tow, although I hadn’t known that his girlfriend was there waiting for him.

Only after they leave do I find out that his girlfriend has been waiting there all that time, and she was 6cm dilated! What that means, for those of you who may not know, is that she was on the brink of having a baby! She’d been waiting patiently for the tax return process to be completed, so they could mosey on over to the hospital. Can you believe that? Who in their right mind would do that? And he never even said a word to me. I would have done my level best to speed up the process so they could be on their way a little sooner, if I’d known.

Some things just astound me. That one blew me away.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crazy people, having a baby
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© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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You know…. when you see this on your way out the door in the morning, just turn around and go back in for another cup of coffee. Something tells me it’s NOT going to be a good day………

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bad day, Debra Mastaler, mother nature, weird clouds
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