The thing of it being is...

Sigh.

I've been a Bad Blogger of late. 
But I can explain! If you noticed, my last couple blogs were somewhat lame - no pictures, not even any bold or text size changes. I actually cracked open my Toshiba laptop for the first time in 3 weeks so I could post this with the high quality of variety you have grown accustomed to on this fine blog.

That's because...
I am now the proud owner of an iPad! 
(Yes, you should be jealous.)

It's AWESOME.  Now, I don't own an iPhone or iPod Touch, so I never knew the wonder of instant web access or the curious satisfaction of collecting and hoarding apps and games - most of which I forget I installed and stumble across weeks later wondering to myself, "What is this?"  I had a peek into that world - noticing how friends and relatives would be glued to their iPhones.  I wondered what the big fuss was about.  Well, now I know.

So far, the only cons I've come across are that I have limited capabilities when posting on my blog, I can't view anything Flash-related, and my eyesight is deteriorating at that much faster a rate since I basically come home every night and am glued to another, smaller screen.

The other morning, on Mark & Brian (KLOS 95.5's morning talk show hosts) were discussing annoying idioms and figures of speech that they either hated when other people say them, and/or hate that they themselves say them all the time.  People called in with their pet peeves or bad habits.  You know, phrases like:

"It is what it is"
"...you know what I mean?"
"You go, girl!"
"Long story short..."
"Tell me about it."

... You get the idea.  Obviously some of them aren't that irritating - unless maybe you know someone, or interact on a daily basis with someone, who abuses them.  At one point, a lady called in sounding almost hysterical because she was at her wit's end that one of her coworkers ALWAYS said "The thing of it being is..."  She screamed over the radio, "What does that even mean?? It doesn't mean anything!  It's a bunch of words and a waste of breath that conveys NOTHING!"  She was really peeved.

I started wondering what kind of verbal idiosyncrasies I myself suffer from.   I definitely go through my "words of the day" where I feel like I say the same word in conversation repetitively.  Words such as "seriously" or "supposedly".  I'll find myself replying in conversations all day with, "Exactly," or "Totally," over and over again, ad nauseam. I guess these phrases are just verbal crutches - like "er" or "um".  It's what you say when you can't think of anything else, but still want to act as though you're engaged in the conversation.  You know what I mean? Totally.

About a week ago, I was having trouble finding the right words in a conversation.  It was a special kind of conversation - with my family - in which I had to make an announcement.  In my entire life, I don't think I've ever announced anything.  Well, not anything important.  (Oh, I've blurted out lots of inane facts or opinions in very matter-of-fact ways over the years.)  But when it comes to Big News, I'm pretty inexperienced.  Most "big things" I've transmitted via email, or - back in the day - I'd drop hints until the other person started to pick up on it and guessed at the pertinent information.

But this time, I couldn't just drop hints because (a) I was on a time constraint, and (b) if I wanted people to guess at my announcement, I'd have to wait a couple months.

My big news was that I am pregnant.

And I was trying to tell my immediate family.

And I didn't know how.

So, the thing of it being was... that I just sat there. Mute. Like a statue. We were seated at a large round table in a Chinese-Korean restaurant - me, my husband (yes, he's the baby-daddy), my mother, my father, my brother and his two young children.  And I just stared at the middle of the table. Waiting.  At one point, during a seemingly-fortuitous lull in conversation, I said loudly, "So..."

But that was apparently not strong enough a signifier to my family that I had Big News.  Because my brother looked right at me, then turned to my father and started telling a story about his work.  And my mom decided it was time to leave the restaurant and got up from the table.

I did end up telling my family, later at my parents' house.  My husband & I stopped by the store on our way from the restaurant to their house to pick up dessert and a bouquet of flowers for my mother.  When we walked in the doorway and handed her the flowers, she asked why.  And I told her it was because she was going to be a grandmother again.  It wasn't ideal (my brother was on the sofa reading the paper and my father was in the other room just out of earshot), but I thought it was clever.  And it got the job done.

I made my husband email his side of the family.

I love the modern age.  I can just interact with people through my new iPad.  I don't have to think of pertinent and clever things to say on the spot.  I have time to edit, choose my words carefully, and go back and revise my drafts.  I understand that's probably why my abilities in face-to-face communication have gotten so poor.  To the point where I find myself sitting on my hands, mumbling, "Well, it is what it is," to ears that don't have to listen that well anymore.

Here's a picture - just because I can.  And because it's what I'm eating for dinner.