two for the record

As you know, this blog serves as a diary, so I need to report that
we watched this Out Of Sight last night and I just wrote the
blogmaid that the plot makes opera look realistic. It's basically
a "wake-me-when-it's-over" film, but it did get good reviews.
Why? Husbando and I blamed each other for the fact that it was
in the Flix® queue. We did not finish watching it...
Find Me Guilty is about the big mafia trial back in (I think) the
70's. We both thought this was entertaining and although not
one Kleenex® was harmed, it is an interesting movie that is
really more about loyalty and friendship than about crime.
This was our Saturday night date movie.

sunday morning book talk

I finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last night. It will be
a great gift for the mystery book lovers on your holiday list. I had
heard it was a good one, but then The Fevered Brain recommended
it, so I spent some valuable sofa time reading this on my weekend.
Takes place in Sweden, that in itself makes it unusual. Featuring
not one, but two very strong sheroes and one compassionate man.

Our two best-selling books this week at the big box?

• Dreams From My Father
• The Audacity of Hope
  

My already happy little liberal heart is warmed all over again.

friends from red & blue states

Here we have Mary from Bisbee, Arizona ~ a pocket of blue in
McCain's red state:

Well Folks - what a surprising trip this election has been!

As a matter of course, I despise and distrust politics and I hated the debates - but out of civic duty, I began to watch the campaigning out on the trails during the daytime - they have to fill up 24 hours on CNN and CSPAN somehow!

Then - surprise - I began to enjoy the whole thing - --Crazy Joe Biden sent out to the boondocks of Pennsylvania and Virginia to do his semi-tourettes bits, ranting about his love for guns and dogs; Obama, reminding me of a highschool history teacher that only half the class listens to, getting elegantly and passionately lyrical at times, exhorting us to moral battle; that aged epic hero, McCain, wandering the stages, lapsing into fits of PTSD like an old war dog; and finally, Sarah Palin, ranging somewhere between childhood memories of that uptight sunday school teacher who cheerfully slapped you if you put anything on top of your Bible and the popular small town homecoming queen who was secretly screwing a couple of boys and several prominent men in town........

What a show!

I had a chili and cornbread gathering at my house for some friends who didn't have a T.V. (by choice) but wanted to watch election night.

We switched over to comedy central in time to see Steve Colbert announce the president elect. "A Hawaiian is president!"

Such Fun!

A great time out here in the Mule Mountains.

And now from Mr. Z who moved to Ohio from Berkeley several months ago:
Yep, Ohio turned blue, all right. I *knew* that if we just held our
breath long enough it would happen.
I got to see Obama (and Bruce Springsteen) live on Sunday, and
attended the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party celebration Tuesday
night. It was incredible. I'm uploading some video of it to YouTube
right now.

tea and tiapos

I met Gini for lunch here at 18th and Sanchez and was impressed.
Samovar features murky flavorful tea, thick sandwiches and yummy
scones. They use unusual serving dishes and the waiter was a former
big box employee, so we had lots of good attention. I like the
atmosphere ~ filled with people, laughter and laptops. Are all
these people successful writers? Why aren't they working at 2 pm
on a Thursday afternoon?

Six of us at Tiapos and here is the report for TGP who is in NYC:

• Karen ~ her sister was undecided until the last moment, then voted for McCain. Ick.
  
• Chef P ~ text from her niece, was it racist? Family turmoil, tears. She is writing a cookbook and got a nice check from Viking Press. Hooooray!
  
• Will ~ continues with his trip from Provincetown. Tries to stop time by removing all the batteries from clocks back there.
• Eric ~ starts finally to write about his sister and his parents. Great.
• Mistress J ~ two little only-our-Jane poetic and lovely pieces
• Me ~ my Comfort Zone and why/when/how will I get out of it? The highest form of Tiapos flattery when Eric wanted to take it home with him.

Wonderful time because laughter and tears cleanse our sinuses and unclog our arteries. Don't they?

a little night magic

Husbando purchased two cheapo rush tickets yesterday morning for
Row O at the opera last night. $30 each ~ sweet. This is a silly little
romantic opera, but beautiful, and not one long drawn-out death
scene. There is a young tenor named Ramon Vargas who was Nemorino,
a sort of dufus guy-in-love, and he has the most spectacular voice.
The Elixir of Love turns out to be cheap wine, I hope that doesn't
ruin the complicated plot for anyone. Although I know way too little
about opera, this was a delightful evening for both of us, proving
once again that opera should be for everyone.

proud to be an American (again)

What a wonderful night. Here is what I want to remember:

• the quiet, happy crowds in Chicago, NYC and at the White House
  
• Jon Stewart telling us that Obama is our next President
• we get a new puppy in the White House
• Anderson Cooper asking, "why do we pay for these?" when for the umpteenth time one of the pundits said, "you can't believe these exit polls"
• that beautiful acceptance speech
• Jesse Jackson's tears
• hearing that Pennsylvania was "ours"
• waiting for the polls to close on the West Coast so victory could be announced
• McCain's nice speech and the few nasty boos from his audience
• the way Obama thanked all the people who ran his amazing campaign

And now for the world reaction. I can hardly wait!

tuesday with many topics

First we have RR (and pony) and her imposing new friend whom I
have named Ugly-as-Sin, but that's just my November Negativity.
I'm sure the blogmaid can help you find your own dino, if anyone out
there is interested.

I'm off today. How can anyone concentrate on work on a day like
this? I requested this day about 2 months ago when I started becoming
obsessed with the future of our country and world. Of course we
already voted by mail, but I want to see the Talking Heads, especially
Jon Stewart and Colbert who have a special tonight. One needs to
be rested and refreshed for a night of TV. We were invited to a party
but I don't want to be social when I can be in my elegant sweat suit
with a TV tray on my lap.

The sunshine has returned! Maybe our painter will do the same.
Husbando calls our kitchen "the blue grotto" and our jokes about
the holidays with ladder accessories are not as funny as they
once were.

Writing. What's that? I do plan to do some on my 3-day weekend.
And reading, walking, napping. But first ~ blueberries!

Let's hope we can all celebrate with our Obama victory tomorrow.

life, death and in between

We went to ACT last night for The Quality of Life by playwright
Jane Anderson, who also directed this most satisfying play
with only 4 actors, each of them in top form. One basic Christian
couple from Ohio (Iowa?) and the other living in a yurt (!) in
Northern California. The two women are cousins and could be
friends, but their differences are great even though their pain
is similar. There is a lot of humor, yet I was forced to graduate
to the large handkerchief of Husbando towards the end of this
play. It was a thoroughly gut-wrenching evening ~ perfect.

of all things

I know, I don't seem the type, but Iron Man is a lot of fun to watch,
except for the typical "let's-get-the-10-year-old-boys-involved" scenes
of fires and explosions. Of course Robert Downey Jr. is excellent,
but Jeff Bridges did a fine job too. A welcome break from the fires and
explosions of last minute election night speeches.

am I blue?

This is the view from our kitchen window. We are on the last leg of
this endless journey, but of course no work gets done when it rains.
For my out-of-frisco readers, the rainy season is here.
This is our spare refrigerator in the basement. Our painter likes
his beer which we provide. Those are his paint brushes and then
we have just enough room for that melon and some root beer.
These are the times that try the soul of an otherwise ebullient
and exceedingly tolerant woman.

getting unstuck

This isn't my best time of year. I know it should be because I do love
the fireplace and the sound of rain, but I have to push myself to stay
positive. I read an article in the New Yorker about Arianna Huffington
(a woman who really has invented herself) and she has a habit of
asking her friends, "what have you done today to get out of your
comfort zone?" Ouch. OK, I thought, this means you/me. All I could
muster was a long walk from Casa Ladder to 16th and Sanchez to the
little coffee shop here where I meet my friend Neti every couple of
weeks. I usually drive as a steep hill is involved, but the hour long walk
yesterday did me a world of good. Time to think outside the couch
and to appreciate my life and the many blessings, etc. I hopped on
the J car to come home just as the real rain was starting. It wasn't
much, really, but I felt about a million times better when I got home
to a warm bubble bath and a little more election news.

north beach b.day!

We celebrated TGP's birthday yesterday at the Sotto Mare on Green
Street and even though he is not wild about oysters, these disappeared
in about 3 seconds. The 4 of us decided that North Beach is about the
most spectacular area of SF ~ the smells (garlic and onion), the views
and the fine mix of people, dogs and interesting little shops. Lovely
time indeed!

Mr. McCain!

Click on this to enlarge the photo and many thanks to the blogmaid
for sending it to us for today's post.

remember the public phone?

We still have one in the back of the cafe in the big box. How retro.
Last night a "customer" called me to tell me that he was charged
$20 for a 1.5 minute long distance phone call (he used his credit
card) and we should reimburse him. I (unwisely) said, "that is
ridiculous, call the phone company" and he took off about how
this will tarnish our company's good reputation, etc. One of those
situations that I would have handled better if I hadn't been tired,
cranky, worried and sick-to-death of people who are always right.
I have not heard the end of this, mark my words...

here's one for the queue...

The Visitor is a sweet movie starring Richard Jenkins who was
the reappearing dead father in 6 ft. Under. Remember? He is a
widowed professor who discovers two squatters in his little-used
Manhattan apartment and his life changes quickly and dramatically.
I did harm one or two Kleenex® while watching this, but it was
an extremely warm and satisfying time and I heartily recommend
this film to all of you.

therapy in the afternoon

This is a taut one act play, the kind I love, with lots of realistic
"therapy conversation" and a perfect surprise ending. John
visits Ian the Therapist after his wife dies and he is consumed
with loneliness and guilt. It was written by Conor McPherson
of Dublin (Ireland, not California) and I urge you to take 75
or so minutes for Shining City at the SF Playhouse soon.

everyone present and accounted for!

All seven of us met Thursday night for our Tiapos (This Is A Piece of Shit)
writing group. We celebrated all the Oct. and Nov. birthdays first with
some coffee and luscious chocolate cake that Will picked up at Tartine's.
It was so rich that even I couldn't finish my piece. That is rare...
(The photo is not the real cake, but I needed to hook you readers.)

We all brought something to read and since I haven't been writing
much (I love to stew, it's so much more productive) I found an old
bitch-about-work write because the folks always like to hear about
my retail world. Mistress J's poem was fabulous (about her brother's
red robe), Chef P wrote about her house and some re-mo work,
Karen's vision quest piece was an eye-opener, Will's trip notes
are always engaging and Eric spent his Saturday at a computer
game and regretted that. TGP brought his guitar for a song about
love (and pie) and before you know it I had to dash home for a few
hours of sleep before Friday work. It was a delightful evening.

Here is Mistress J's email of Thursday when we do our morning
e-roll call:

I'm here, I'm hip, I'm square.
I'll wash my hair, I'll wear some clothes, be on my toes.
I've moved the chairs...and the books and the shelves, though
I've written not. OH NO! SAY WHAT?
What can I say? What can I do?
Friends, do not fear. Our Will is here. He'll bring a tome
of travelogue, and that will fill my empty space...or
....If worse comes to worse, I'll read from my blog..or
we can play with the dog.

right where she belongs...

Yesterday Husbando and I took BART out to the far away Dublin
station and our friend Ginger met us. She had a difficult move from
a large home in Kansas to a small (and delightful) condo in Pleasanton.
It felt like another world to me, quiet and bustling at the same time.
The many outdoor restaurants in the downtown area were busy and
we too sat outside in the sun and talked about friends, family, books
and politics. There are no words to describe the balm she brings to
my troubled soul and having her back in the Bay Area must be some
sort of reward for me not bitch slapping an unusually mean customer
after my 8 years working at the big box.
Like Pumpkinville, this little city has a real downtown Main Street.
There is always parking and a ton of local merchants. Best of all, a
nice big library and coffee shops galore. Welcome home, Ginger!

starting saturday!

Look closely. Here we have 65,000 little wooden blocks making up this
quite wonderful work entitled 2 x 4 Landscape by Maya Lin. It was being
installed yesterday in the lobby of the de Young and we talked to one
of the men crawling around with his bucket of blocks making sure he
has selected the perfect piece. Ms. Lin's exhibit will be here from 10/25
to 01/18, so we'll be back a few times to admire her considerable talent.

It was a beautiful day ~ warm and clear, so we got out from under the
ladders and enjoyed being outside in the park again.

all over in two weeks

I hope we'll be celebrating Obama's victory. (Early morning, day off,
rhetorical sentence.) Don't you love this photo? The Rednecks have
a website, and I especially love the big smile here on our worthy
candidate's face.

Please tell me that our writing group meets tomorrow night! I haven't
written ANYTHING in way too long. So much is happening on a
global and personal front, which means this is just when I should be
writing, but that isn't the case. I'm stuck creatively ~ tsk, tsk.