You're Doing It Wrong

I was incorrect yesterday when I said I’ve only been to two pro sporting events. I’ve only been to two NBA games. In Middle School if you were on the honor roll you got baseball game tickets. I think I’ve been to 2 or 3 Dodger Games and I think every one was a 13 inning 0-0 tie game which means I will forever associate baseball with monumental boredom.

We went to the basketball game last week (Blazers v. Grizzlies) and since this only my second professional sporting event, I took lot of notes because I find them to be such bizarre spectacle. But for some reason I still haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll see how I feel about it later.

About 10 years ago I started keeping a list of all the books I read and movies I see. It’s sloppily done, I’m not always diligent about recording things, but it’s nice at the end of the year to have an idea what I saw and read. I realized I am behind in my Sue Graftons and I didn’t know where she was at (turns out “Q”) and I couldn’t remember the last one I read (turns out “N”) so I went through my lists and found all the Sue Graftons. I don’t have dates for C, E or F either. I think I’ve read them all but I thought I’d go to the library and get those old ones and skim them quickly for entertainment. The library only had “O” and “P” (I didn’t look too hard–this was the hardback area and I bet there is a paperback mystery revolving rack somewhere.) So I grabbed “O” and I finished it this morning at 4am when I had terrible insomnia. I’ll go back for “P” on Wednesday and I bet it’s gone. That always happens.

Bob got me this digital voice recorder that I can plug into my computer for voice recognition. The instructions come in a paperback. I told Bob we needed to invite a nine year old over to show me how to use it.

It’s almost noon and I’m still farting around here. I need to buckle down and get to work. I have a list of numerous non-related items for blogging. I was going to post last night but I couldn’t connect. Technology: it’s not magic.

Item #1 — the Oregonian, not my favorite newspaper, had an article about blogging in the Living Section recently. Everything in the Oregonian living section feels like old news. It’s like they get their ideas by looking at what everybody else has already done, especially if it was done, like, three years ago.

Item #2 — we finally saw Punch Drunk Love last night. What a weird movie. I didn’t hate it but I’m not sure it totally worked. I liked seeing Adam Sandler doing something interesting for a change and Paul Thomas Anderson knows how to create a deep feeling of dread in his audience, and the scene with the sisters was great, but there were moments in the soundtrack that made me want to stick forks in my ears and I don’t think the story hung together very well. It was like since everyone gave him a hard time for Boogie Nights and Magnolia for being so long, so he whacked up this thing just to prove that he could and stuff felt disjointed and chopped up.

Item #3 — My book reading is unmanageable at the moment. I keep starting new books. I have at least four books on my night table with bookmarks but at least three more in my room. And whenever I have a moment to sit down and read, I find myself opening a new book. Probably not a real problem but the situation comes into conflict with my “project oriented” approach to living in which I like things to have a beginning and middle and end and dislike loose ends.

Item #4 — I sent a check to Movieline in November and still haven’t rec’d a magazine. I’m going to have to follow up on that.

Item #5 — I was at the library a couple of weeks ago (see item #3 on compulsive book reading) and I couldn’t decide between two books so the deal-maker was that one book had a note in it from a previous borrower. If the scanner was handy I’d post it — it’s a small sheet of yellow paper and on one side the person (guess: female) had her shopping list. She needed light bulbs and jewelry from Fred Meyer and deep conditioner and car supplies from WalMart. She also had holiday shopping items like snowboard pants or a scarf/hat for Meg and other ideas included guitar lessons and a Starbucks giftcertificate. On the other side she has notes for a health problem: something in throat, AM sickest, Nauseous, must eat but don’t want too. Also: sharp pains in ribs/back. The killer was the note at the top: I [heart] hummus.

Item #6 — I had another dream about my High School reunion. This time it was like a high school reunion Xmas party and Antje (not from H.S.) was there making me drinks. What are these recurring H.S. dreams all about? Is there some old business I need to revisit?

I have long recovered from my cold but the inside of my nose still feels like extra-scratchy sandpaper. I was looking forward to getting back into my routine, but now that I’m back into my routine I’m feeling like I’m rushing around and never getting anything done. I’m sure there is some meaningful insight in that last statement but I’ll think about it later when I get a chance.

I think there might have to be a new rule that I’m not allowed to have a TV series on DVD. I watched the entire first season of 24 in about five days. I got Felicity for my birthday and I only watched one episode the first couple of nights but this weekend was a Felicity binge and I kept finding myself drifting away from my other projects to watch “just for a minute.” But if I did get another TV series on DVD it would be Buffy or any of the first three seasons of XFiles.

Bob watched the original Solaris the other night which led to this discussion about Steven Soderbergh. So I asked Bob if he was going to do his Dinner For Five who would the five be: Soderbergh, Coen Brothers, Bob and who would be the fifth? And after a split second Bob said, “Jennifer Tilly.” And I said, “Um, gee. That’s an interesting group.” And he said, “I just think she’d be fun at a party.”

I forgot to say Happy New Year yesterday. They were talking about the futility of New Years resolutions in the paper and I was thinking that I haven’t made a resolution in a long time. Pema Chodron says “the desire to change is fundamentally a form of aggression towards yourself.” She goes on to say that our hang-ups contain our wealth. She says the idea isn’t to get rid of your [weakness or bad habit or whatever] but to make friends with it and see it clearly. (The Wisdom of No Escape, Shambhala pp. 14-15.) I’m going to see how far I can work this idea on my stuff this year.

This morning I walked to the mailbox to toss our stuff in so I took a different route for my walk and I got bit three times by a dog. I wasn’t even in the dog’s yard — he ran out of his yard, fangs bared to come get me. Of course I started freaking out while trying to remember what to do when attacked by a dog and I was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to start freaking out. It’s hard to stand still (advice) when something is jumping on you and biting you and growling at you. Some little girl calls him back and takes him in the house and shuts the door. No “sorry,” no “are you okay?” which makes me even more pissed. Since it’s cold I had on several layers so none of the bites broke the skin and two of them didn’t even make a red mark. There’s a tiny red mark on my hand so I suppose I’ll survive but I’m still feeling sorry for myself and vindictive towards these people and their mean dog Charlie.