Memorial Delay

Sorry for the lack of posts. I try to keep my blog upbeat & lighthearted (much as the way I live my life). Unfortunately, we had a death in the family recently & that, combined with Memorial Day has left me at a loss about what to write. Without getting into any discussion about political beliefs or thoughts on the war, I'd like to say that I think of myself as a very patriotic person. I'm very proud to be an American. My Grandfather was a fighter pilot in World War I & my Father was in the Army in World War II. On this first day of Memorial Day Weekend, I sit at home, surrounded by my loving family, & quietly support our troops.

Myspace & My First Frenemy

Well, I'm about a week into my myspace experience & I finally understand the appeal. My 300+ friends are made up of a fun mixture of real friends, old friends that I'd lost touch with, people I've met or worked with, people I'd like to meet & a group I guess could best be described as people who'd like to meet me. My myspace philosophy is simple: If you ask to be my friend, I'll accept your friendship. I look at everyone's profile first, but haven't turned down any requests. I might be a little concerned about my "friend" who likes "kinky balloon play"; but perhaps only because I'm not sure what that is. I'm also flattered by the handsome, famous guy who asked me out & then apologized when he read my bio & saw that I was happily married.
I did have to delete one friend. In two days he filled my bulletin board with over 100 messages. He responded to his elimination from my friend list by informing me that there are much "cooler" people than me to chat with. I'm sorry Naked Shower Guy (a description of his online photo, not his screen name), but you're right, there are much cooler people.

Teacher Appreciation Day

Tomorrow is National Teacher Appreciation Day. They've taken a survey & by an overwhelming majority, the teachers have said that the gift they most appreciate is a heartfelt letter from their students or parents. Teacher Appreciation Day makes me think of all the teachers I've had over the years: the Good, the Bad & the just plain...Odd. For the Good, I immediately think of Mr. Alexander, my 6th grade teacher who told fascinating stories & read O. Henry books to the class. I also think of Ms. Girault, my favorite teacher ever (English in Junior High) who encouraged me to write & let me babysit her beautiful daughters (with equally beautiful names: Genvieve & Giselle). I didn't even complain when she only paid me 75 cents an hour (way below the going rate of $1). For the Bad, no one compares to my junior high art teacher, Ms. Costello, who brutally told me that I had no artistic ability & was wasting my time & her time! All these years later I still think she was awful! Just goes to show how biting comments can stay with you. For the Odd, I automatically think of one of my College Instructors who taught the oddly named course: Challenges Of Leisure. A typical class involved an evening field trip to a dark side of town where we'd hang out with prostitutes and drug dealers. I'm still not sure if he was promoting that as an appropriate way to fill our free time or perhaps just an alternative. In retrospect, I guess I'm lucky that the tabloids didn't run an article suggesting that I was turning tricks!

Be My Friend!

I know I'm way too old and not cool enough to be on MySpace, but one of my dearest friends set up a profile for me and I'm going to use it.

So the next step is getting friends (since that seems to be the "goal" on MySpace). Most folks seem to have thousands of cyber friends & I currently have 1. If you're familiar with MySpace, you probably know that my first friend "Tom" isn't even a real person. Well, I suppose he's a real person, but he's not technically my friend. But I think on MySpace, the word "friend" is used rather loosely.

But with that said, please be my MySpace "friend".

http://www.myspace.com/erin_murphy

10,000!

Today my little website will have it's 10,000th visitor!

http://www.starwebsites.com/erinmurphy/

That may not seem like much by celebrity standards, but for me it's huge! Thanks for taking the time to stop by.