You're Doing It Wrong

I am SO OVER Seabiscuit already. Enough Seabiscuit. Please, I’m begging you.

Another thing I’ve noticed a lot lately is the word: peripatetic. It seems like it should be about ulcers or digestive problems but Webster says: pedestrian, itinerant. It sounds wrong.

I haven’t mentioned how fabulous The Whale Rider is, or if I have, I forgot. But please go see it. And bring at least 3 boxes of tissues. I also saw Pirates of the Caribbean which for a movie based on a theme park ride is pretty damn good. But then you’ve got Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and pirates. It would be a crime if it were messed up. One story problem though: a lot of energy spent fighting the undead. Why would you fight to kill pirates who can’t die?

Last night during the movie I had an idea. You know those airports where they have TVs everywhere? You can’t escape the drone of the TV and it plays this CNN Airport news recycled endlessly. I think it was in MINN where I had a 4 1/2 hour layover after an international flight. We finally found a cluster of chairs in a corner to get away from the noise. Anyway, I think airport TVs should show Winged Migration on an endless loop. It would take years to get sick of it and it would add peace and beauty to an otherwise chaotic place. We could get TVs at the DMV and bank, too. It would be great.

We went to see Winged Migration tonight. Amazing. I can’t begin to describe how amazing it is. Even if you think you could never sit and watch birds for 90 minutes, go anyway. You can.

On the way home Bob told me he cut an article out about an 8 1/2 hour movie called La Commune (Paris 1871) about this historical event (I don’t know enough about it to explain properly). I said I didn’t want to see anything for 8 1/2 hours unless it had Jedi or elves in it. (The article actually says it’s 5 1/2 hours.)

My horrible face rash has not improved so I called Georgia and gratefully she recommended some products which I was HAPPY to buy and for the first time in days I feel actual relief. My face still looks like hell but at least it feels better. I’m going in for a regular appointment on Friday so hopefully she can do something with this.

So this guy just woke up after 19 years in a coma. He’s the same age as me. I can’t imagine missing all the years since I graduated from H.S. What a trauma. I mean, great, he woke up, but culture shock-o-rama.

Oh, and guilty pleasure: Big Brother 4. I’m generally a sporadic reality TV viewer, but when I heard the twist, introducing “ex’s” into the house, I at least had to watch the first episode and I’m hooked for now …

I have no idea why it’s so hard to get here on a daily basis. I think about it.

I don’t know what it is — my current theory is that it’s a violent reaction between some of my products but yet again I have a giant rash/pizza face all over my face. This time it seemed to be triggered by a sunscreen and some suntime — but I used this sunscreen before without incident. My face looks really hideous — we’re talking nose, cheeks, chin and forehead (so the whole thing). It was just clearing up from the last time. Last time I thought it was from drinking herbal tea and thinking bad thoughts (seriously.) I don’t know but it’s kind of depressing feeling so supremely hag-like.

Fantastic relaxing weekend. I cleaned the shop, top to bottom, bought some shelving, defrosted the freezer, swept, organized, tossed. It’s a whole new world out there. Bob claims the large stack of dead electronics is going away which will help even more. I also made major headway cleaning up the yard and planted a bunch of new stuff. The tomatoes, esp. the Roma are looking good.

I’m reading Empire Falls by Richard Russo and loving it. Plus I’m mostly caught up on the magazines and newspapers – oh, except that new Entertainment Weekly that came on Saturday — I actually don’t even know where it is right now.

Bob will be back tomorrow. I baked cookies and stocked the fridge with some of his favorite stuff and bought some flowers. Looking forward to having him hanging around here fulltime again. Rock on High Sierra!

Tonight Margaret taught our yoga class and again she enviously admired my Fred Flintstone feet. Lucky me.

How’s your google paranoia lately? The backlash has begun.

So, you know what ads AdSense thinks would be good for my website? : John Naber: Olympian, Available for your meetings!; Quiet Gypsum Wallboard; Cats in Your Yard/Garden; Sound Blocking Materials; Truth About Your Neighbor Find out with [name omitted] software.

pamrentz.com apparently has issues with sound/quiet. I remember writing about cats in the garden at some point. But Jim Naber?

We did more today than we normally do in a month. This morning we met Kelly, Dan, Maggie and Quinn for breakfast at Old Wives Tales — I had almond crepes with marionberry compote — excellent but filling. We tried to organize a get together with the other XO people in town but didn’t work out so it was just the 6 of us and worked out perfect. From there we went to Hawthorn Powell’s and looked at books and I didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without — unbelievable. Then we went and checked out Matt’s new place off of 39th. He bought this giant funky house and he only moved in a couple weeks ago and he’s already looking pretty settled. He and Bob are getting their plan ready for their festival run. Then we went to the Delta Park Pow Wow which was fantastic except rainy and chilly. We watched the dancers for a couple hours and I won $26 in 50-50. Bob bought an Indian taco and a buffalo burger and I spent my winnings at the vendors and got a really cool pair of beaded earrings. Great day. Now we’re curling up on the couch with a fire in the fireplace and some stuff to read.

Yesterday I did my summer clothes shopping in about 15 minutes at The Rack. I found 2 pairs of generic shorts and one pair that’s a sort of peach color that normally I would never wear. I also got a shirt with a fairy tale theme and all kinds of sequins on it. I got 6 things for $75 so I thought I did pretty good.

This morning I got up early and did a 3 hr. yoga workshop with Bob Smith and Ki McGraw which was excellent and just what I needed. There was an accident on the freeway this morning and it took me about 25 minutes to just get on the freeway — during that time I almost changed my mind and went home so I’m glad I stuck it out.

We just got back from seeing The Hulk. Boy, I don’t know what to tell you. This is an odd one. The film-making is great and I liked the special effects — esp. that stuff in San Francisco. But, I don’t know. It’s worth checking out just keep an open mind.