Ramble On

Now That It Is In Paperback

I am currently reading Runaway, a collection of short stories by Alice Munro, one of my favorite authors. I love short stories, and she is a master. I love this paragraph written by Jonathan Franzen in a 2004 NY Times review of the book because it echoes my feelings about short stories, though I would never be able to explain it so well.

"I like stories because they leave the writer no place to hide. There's no yakking your way out of trouble; I'm going to be reaching the last page in a matter of minutes, and if you've got nothing to say I'm going to know it. I like stories because they're usually set in the present or in living memory; the genre seems to resist the historical impulse that makes so many contemporary novels feel fugitive or cadaverous. I like stories because it takes the best kind of talent to invent fresh characters and situations while telling the same story over and over. All fiction writers suffer from the condition of having nothing new to say, but story writers are the ones most abjectly prone to this condition. There is, again, no hiding. The craftiest old dogs, like Munro and William Trevor, don't even try."

I usually identify more with characters in short stories. Plus, short stories are usually depressing, and I like that. Reading depressing writing doesn't depress me; it makes me feel better, more understood.

Nice People Out There

The guy working at the Varsity was just minding his own business taking out the garbage when I pulled in this morning, driving my car on the rim after blowing my tire out a block earlier. I sat there in the driver's seat thinking "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do".  The fact that I had spent over $700 on my brakes and a belt replacement less than 48 hours earlier made it harder for me to think clearly, plus I had no idea where the nearest tire store might be located. Some weeks just suck more than others and this week has been a little hectic at work. Someone there hurt my feelings and unfortunately I am not someone who can let hurtful comments roll off easily. My feelings get hurt and stay that way for days. So anyway, I asked the guy taking out the trash where the nearest tire place might be and he said if I had a spare he would put it on for me. I had been so flustered I honestly had not even thought about the whole spare tire thing. I wouldn't have been able to put it on myself, most likely.

I was really embarrassed when the guy had to help me unload all the shit out of my trunk just to get to the spare. I have stuff in there from when I moved out of the Brickworks in December. The two of us stacked all my artwork, canvases, old car battery, 2 planters and a large metal sculpture on the ground by my car. (At least now I know why I haven't been able to find my green jacket, several drawings and prints I made  that are now ruined, and one framed photo that is salvageable.) I was rambling on and on to him, just nervously talking, while he got all dirty on the ground cranking up the jack. When he finished, I tried to give him some money for his help, but he wouldn't take it. Well, that made me start crying and I stood there telling him how I had been having a bad week and his being nice to me really meant a lot and how much I appreciated him. He kind of nervously started helping me put the junk back in my trunk, telling me we all just have bad weeks sometime while I sniffled beside him. He even took some of the stuff and said he would just throw it away in the dumpster for me. As I got back in the car he yelled Love you, baby, which would have been weird except I knew he was just saying keep your chin up, it's all good.

While I do let people's words and actions hurt my feelings too easily, kind words and actions affect me just as greatly, and the nice guy working at the Varsity this morning really got my day, my week, back on track. I have a good attitude again and am ready for a great weekend.

(The first thing everyone has said when hearing about my tire is "did you run up on a curb?" Well, yes, I did, as a matter of fact. So? How do you not run over the curb driving around Atlanta?)

Easy

I want to go here next. (More photos of my future vacation spot here.)

But for now I am content to be sitting with my laptop on my sofa with three cats (two of whom are currently in my good graces), my iTunes library freshly loaded with the season premiere episodes of The Office, CSI, and Grey's Anatomy and my stomach full from a yummy chicken dish I cooked for myself. I think I will be here a while. Blancaneaux will have to wait.

House Update Week of 9/23, Plus Bitching

Here is this week's progress.

Pipes in for plumbing, gravel spread and plastic barrier put down, rebar to reinforce the slab in place. Check, Check, Check.

Now for the bitching. I CANNOT wait for this house to be ready and to move in because there are things about being a renter that I have not experienced for so long and I don't have the tolerance for it anymore. For instance, I just went out to the parking lot to discover that my mom's SUV, which I had borrowed to pick up chairs for the office, had been towed. I forgot I needed to leave a note or something since I wasn't in my car and didn't have the permit in the window. So it was my fault, but that doesn't mean I am not aggravated. I couldn't find anyone to give me a lift to the towing yard and as it turns out my mom needs to pick it up anyway since the registration is in her name. So now I am sitting here waiting on them to pick me up. But they had lunch plans with my brother and had promised to take my 7 year old nephew to Eddie's Trick Shop (oh boy, an afternoon of watching a 7 year old ineptly perform magic tricks awaits me!), so it will be a while.

I am just going to sit in my dark, cave-like, dirty, creaky apartment and pout and dream about how in a few months I will be pulling into my own garage where nobody will tow me and I won't hear my neighbors singing along to the soundtrack of Footloose.

Looking Back

This picture was taken 39 years ago. I no longer wrap my toes around my eating surface, but I do still love cake. Wow, my mom was quite the interior designer! (Prepare for comment on how poor we were and it was the best she could do.)

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with today being my 40th birthday. I just wanted everyone to take a moment and admire the incredible photography skills of my dad. Kind of a compositional genius, I think.
(I am in the yellow dress.)

So my mom wasn't the best decorator and my dad wasn't the best photographer, but I sure am glad they had me 40 years ago!

Weekend Highlights

To say I had a good weekend would be such an understatement. There were several times over the last few days when everything was so perfect and I was so happy that I felt tears come to my eyes. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to usher in my forties. There is something special about traveling with people you love and know so well, adding to the depth of your friendship by creating new memories and sharing special occasions.

We had a pretty easy flight. I slept most of the way while the girls enjoyed Bloody Marys for breakfast. There had been another group of women checking in at the airport for a 40th birthday trip, which we knew because they were wearing matching pink outfits and the woman was wearing a pink birthday hat with 40 written with pipe cleaners. I hid my disappointment that my friends had not made me a special birthday hat and flip-flops and attached buttons all over my outfit saying “Lordy Lordy I am 40” and tried to make the most of my travels with 3 obviously uncaring friends. I had gotten over the hurt and feeling of being unloved by the time we landed.

After picking up our rental Taurus, which brought us many admiring glances as we drove around the city, we headed straight to Cha Cha Cha for lunch. Kathy J met us there, but was very disciplined because she was preparing for a triathlon in Malibu on Sunday. We checked into the Roosevelt, which we thought was a great hotel. Even if it had been a craphole, the complimentary M and M’s would have won me over. Su F complained because I ate them all, but two weeks of no sugar prior to the trip allowed me to justify why I should get to eat them all. Before we could do anything we had to hit the Gap because someone on the trip forgot to pack underwear. We walked around some before heading over to visit Jen’s cousin Houston. We spent the evening hanging out with her and her husband Peter and their super cute son, Rex Eleven. They have a great house in Silver Lake and are a lot of fun. Houston is a stylist and has worked with a lot of cool people. Peter played drums in some cool bands and now works in real estate. After several hours of laughing and good conversation we headed back to hang at the hotel.

Both mornings I got up and ran along Sunset. I guess it was the lack of humidity or maybe the change of scenery, but I could have easily doubled my run time. The girls enjoyed coffee by the pool while I ran.

It is always kind of boring hearing people talk about the details of their trips so I will just touch on a few things. Mainly so that in a few years I will be able to remember what I did! (We spent about 20 minutes in a restaurant in Los Feliz trying to remember who had been with us on one trip we took to NYC a few years back. That made us wonder who on this particular trip we would forget. So I am saving it for posterity!) Of all the many things we did and saw, I think the highlight for me was visiting the Getty Museum. It was just so beautiful, too beautiful to put into words. We spent a long time there, just enjoying the incredible weather and surroundings. Hanging out by the pool at the hotel was also a highlight.

We got up early Sunday and walked to the Farmer’s Market and took that all in and Susan got to eat a tamale from her favorite tamale stand. We also took in the MOCA exhibit of Eva Hesse drawings and visited with Su R’s friend Mike and his girlfriend Alyssa. He is an art history professor and she works at the Getty and they were both very nice. One of the more unusual activities we did was drive around Sunday and visit Open Houses for real estate for sale. Peter printed out listings of cool homes that were open that day and we checked them out. The one that made us all try to figure out how we could move to L.A. was a house in Silver Lake that was designed by Nino Otero. It was astoundingly beautiful and had views to die for. Peter was holding an Open House in The Oaks for a place that had been owned by Cary Grant in the 30’s and is now owned by the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was out of even our fantasy league, but very cool to see.

There was much much more that we packed in to the weekend. L.A. won me over with its weather and architecture. I put some pictures up on my Flikr site, which you can see here. I haven’t really got the hang of Flikr yet, but I hope to be using it a lot more in the future. Jen contributed the picture of the hotel sign and the really awesome picture of me balancing a pomegranate on my head. No star sightings, unless we can count Sponge Bob. And we can’t really be sure it was REALLY Sponge Bob and not just an impersonator.

EDIT: Another highlight I forgot to mention was when I brushed my teeth with the steroid cream Susan has for her eczema. That was awesome!

Award-winning photography by Jennifer. Well, I will give her an award.

Heading Out

Tomorrow morning I fly out to L.A. for a long weekend with Jen, Su F, and Su R. This is my birthday getaway weekend, although my actual birthday isn't until next week. I am looking forward to getting out of Atlanta for a few days. I have never really been to L.A. Well, I did go with Brandon once when he was taping a tv show, but we didn't really do anything. Wait, maybe we did but I don't remember... I think we went in 2004. (See earlier post.) I have never seen the Pacific Ocean, I am sad to say. But we will fix that on Sunday! We are going to miss seeing our friend David by just hours. He's taping the Ellen  Show today and then heading out tonight.

Oh crap, I just remembered that I HAVE seen the Pacific Ocean and actually walked along the shore while out in the San Francisco area for my 38th birthday/1 year anniversary. Now I feel like I have to find everyone  who has recently heard me talk about how I was looking forward to seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time and tell them that I am a dumb-dumb and liar.

House Update Week of September 11

I won't post a picture of the actual house because it basically looks the same except for a bunch of white pipes sticking out of the ground. The plumbing lines are in, courtesy of my next door neighbors, The Plumbworks. I walked over to check it out this evening.

I will, however, post this shot of September's issue of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles. As you can see, my cat George is very happy to see that our architect Bill Carpenter is featured in the issue. Actually he can't read, but I told him about it and he seemed excited.

Look closely at the photo of Bill and you will see...

Remembering

On my to-do list for this past week was to renew my passport so that I will be ready when my friends and I ever actually make any of the trips we talk about when we are all together. Travel seems to be a priority for us; we have many destinations on our list of places we want to visit and I feel more compelled to make sure, on my end, that at least some of them actually move beyond the talking phase. I couldn't find my old expired passport that I got before going to Oaxaca and had last used five years ago when I went to France. I hoped it might be in my storage unit, patiently waiting with all my other things for the day when they get to move to their new home. So I drove over this morning and opened up boxes until I found one that held my files, and pulled out the passport. I opened it up expecting to see the picture taken while I was in my twenties, the one with the god-awful dangly wooden earrings. Instead, I saw a recent picture and noticed, confused, that the date was from 2004. I have ABSOLUTELY NO recollection of renewing my passport. I can't remember having my picture made or where I thought I might be going. This might not be weird for some people, but it is for me.

I have always possessed this insane memory. I can remember details, names, what people were wearing, exact dialogues of conversation, every little thing. And I retain all this usually unnecessary information for years and years. My friends call ME when they need to remember something from THEIR past. I will sometimes see a person in a store and remember that they sat two rows over from me in a college class from 20 years ago, even though I never spoke to them. Being able to remember things so well really has no benefit. When I meet someone I remember being introduced to briefly 8 or 9 years ago, of course they aren't going to remember me, so I always act like I too think we are meeting for the first time. This ability can be a curse when you are TRYING to forget certain people or things. I also read somewhere that people like me, whose brains retain large amounts of trivial information, are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

Lately there have been more and more instances where I cannot remember doing certain things. Like renewing my passport, and the fact that I could not remember for the life of me where I had voted during the last election. I could remember all the prior times in my life when I voted and where my poll was located, but not for the 2004 election. (Maybe it was something about 2004. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of things from that year that are fuzzy. Maybe it was that I was taking anti-depressants in 2004. I have heard of a connection to forgetfulness and anti-depressants. Or maybe the Alzheimer’s is starting early.) And more importantly, Friday night at Las Palmeras I couldn't remember the lyrics to that R. Kelly song. It's not a big deal; I just need to let my friends and family know that I may no longer be their one-stop resource for remembering stupid song lyrics, where they bought certain outfits five years ago, and such. There are a lot of things I would LIKE to forget, maybe this will help. And at least I don't have to deal with renewing my passport again.

Rainbows and Fireworks and Other Stuff

Last night I met the girls at Eddie's while they had dinner. It felt so nice outside as we sat on the deck. At some point I heard people gasping and standing up, I saw Susan motioning to a little girl sitting nearby, and I noticed people aiming their cellphones at the sky. I looked up and saw the most perfect, the most beautiful, rainbow I think I have ever seen in my life. It was a complete arc that started at the treeline and seemed to fill the entire sky before curving down and disappearing again into the trees. The color spectrum was repeated three times in sharp, bright colors. I have never seen such a big one, ever. It lasted for about 10-15 minutes and then the little girl walked up to Susan and said "Thank you for the rainbow." I was thankful for it, too, (but I feel pretty sure Susan wasn't the responsible party. Not really.) It seemed like a good omen of some kind.

About 45 minutes later the fireworks display, rescheduled from the 4th of July, exploded over our heads, and as beautiful as they were, I am not sure they could beat the earlier display we had seen in the sky.

--------

To wrap up the weekend, I am going to a cookout at YV and JB's. I am doing a quick pre-birthday run of the South Beach diet, so it will be hard to watch everyone eat all the yummy food while I sit there and sip diet coke. (The SB diet is very effective for me because it takes away everything I love and forces me to eat food I hate. Except for cheese. Thank goodness for low-fat cheese. And almonds- the fifteen almonds a day I am allowed are the focus of my day. I think about them, plan out in my head when I am going to eat them, and stare at them lovingly on my counter everytime I walk past.)

--------
I have been oddly sad all day about the Crocodile Hunter's death. I am not sure why. I really only know of him from the 600 to 700 times I have had to watch the Wiggles episode where he makes a guest appearance. (It is a favorite episode of Sam's.) In a world where people, especially celebrities, try to seem so cool and blase' all the time, I guess I found his over-the-top enthusiasm and obvious love of what he was doing to be refreshing.