you've got to hang on tighter, just to keep from being thrown to the wolves.
Not just a thief, no: he has both an extensive demesne and a specialty.
One year ago: Mystery cliches
Two years ago: Darin and I see Small Soldiers.
Three years ago: I eat at Cafe N'awlins. I do not relish the experience enough.
Four years ago: The beautiful society.
Today's news question:Who is Vicente Fox and what remarkable thing did he do recently?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
Thursday
I have no idea what happened Thursday. At some point, my parents-in-law collaborated on making dinner -- hamburgers and, um, something.
Oh right, and I went to yoga. Afterwards, as per a growing custom, I went to Art's Deli with two other moms and our babies to decompress.
Friday
At 9am I was interviewed by the BBC for some psychology program on Radio 4 that had as its topic online journals. I think I babbled uncontrollably in an attempt to sound knowledgeable. If you happen to be over there and hear it, please let me know whether I sounded coherent or not.
I cancelled all of my doctor's appointments on Friday, and it's a good thing I did because...well, Friday got filled up somehow, and now I can't remember how.
I do know that Darin, Sophia, and I went out to dinner with Fernando and Nancy at Les Sisters' Southern Kitchen in Chatsworth. We discovered that Chatsworth is like a different state -- it doesn't resemble the rest of Los Angeles in the slightest. It looks way more like the southwest, with giant rocks (which have some technical name, I'm sure).
The restaurant was good but not great. Nothing spectacular, with the exception of the buttermilk pie, which is what got us to go there in the first place. While nearly everything was good (there were a few dishes we were underwhelmed by), nothing was as great as the late, much lamented Cafe N'awlins of Burbank.
Saturday
The first thing I did on Saturday, since I knew we would be out most of the day, was put the following sign on the door:
FedEx: please leave pkg!!!
You get one guess as to why I did that.
We got the Wilshire Boulevard Temple by 10:30 for the bat mitzvah of Darin's second cousin on his mother's side (ha! -- I have learned something from my forum!). I pointed out to Darin that Sophia has now been to a Catholic church and a Jewish synagogue, so she has now visited all the important religious structures in her parents' upbringing.
It was a long ceremony, much of which was in Hebrew. I tended to study the heavily golden murals on the walls during those parts, if I wasn't outside in the lobby or the women's room with Sophia (who was, to be honest, quite well-behaved throughout the whole thing). The parts that were in English that had to do with what the parents said about their daughter and what she meant to them were very emotionally touching though -- I liked those.
I have to admit I like the concept of a ceremony in which the child makes his or her claim to, if not adulthood, then to thinking-person-hood. A day in which the family publicly acknowledges that this little person is in fact his or her own person.
I just don't like the religious bits, which is why Sophia is not getting one of any religious stripe.
(I do, however, have the following question: Moses -- I think it was Moses -- appeared in a few places on the mural and around the temple as though he had two rays of light coming out of his head. They look like horns. This is the not the first time I have seen this image. As I do not want to go anywhere near the concept of Jews and horns, I will move on to ask: Why is Moses depicted this way?)
Afterwards was the reception, which involved much singing and dancing and disco music and a game show entitled "The Jenna Show," in which participants showed how much they knew about the bat mitzvah girl. (Or bat mitzvah woman, I suppose.) There was also one metric buttload of food (big surprise).
I think we left at about 4, and got home just as our other guest for the weekend, Mary, showed up (sans Rod or Grace, unfortunately). I think I may have said hi and then went nap for a while.
At 7:30 Carole and Steve left to go to the apres-bat-mitzvah party. Since Sophia had conked out, Darin and I said we would be along after she woke up.
I went out with Mary to get her some dinner and talk to her a bit more than I had.
At 9 Sophia still hadn't woken up...so we woke her up and took her to the party anyhow. (Mary offered to babysit, but Darin knew that we weren't invited to the party, Sophia was, so we had to take our meal ticket.) We went to see cousin Claire's new house, munch on leftovers from the bat mitzvah reception, and bask in the glory that is our daughter.
Sunday
It took some doing to get me to wake up on Sunday. Sophia clearly felt the same way -- despite all the sleep she'd gotten the evening before, she slept in until 8am too.
At one point yesterday I went off to Starbucks with my trusty Powerbook and I actually wrote about 5 pages. Whoo hoo! Go me. I also managed to play about 10 games of Snood. I have told Saundra I blame her for Snood -- I enjoy her journal, I just wish I could have excised the Snood bits, because then I would not have started playing it.
I concentrate more on the 5 pages anyhow.
Some more cousins of Darin's -- I think this would be his second cousin once removed and second cousin twice removed -- came over for dinner and we all went to Cha Cha Cha, which as always was tasty though not fabulous.
I got Sophia to sleep but after a while migrated upstairs -- Darin then went downstairs -- to chat with Mary. We stayed up way too late talking about screenwriting and babies and whether the two mix or not. I was up until 12:30, which is practically another universe for me now.
Monday...errr...today
As Sophia proved when she woke me at 7.
Today's milestone marks the first time I have left Sophia in the house with someone who isn't Darin, as Darin and I went out to lunch when Dora arrived. We went to lunch two blocks away and I was nervous the whole time. When I heard a cell phone go off in the restaurant (often) I would glance at my pocketbook to see if it was mine or not.
I realize as time goes on I will probably calm down about this a bit.
Oh yes: Darin finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire today. I don't know when I'm going to read it. A 752-page hardback?
He really liked it and says Charles Taylor's review in Salon is spot on.
I have several mysteries that I want to read stacked on the floor. I haven't managed to read much of anything recently. I did read David Guterson's Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense and he makes a powerful case for homeschooling. I think it's a good book on many of the philosophies behind homeschooling (he does not discuss the mechanics thereof at all).
Anyhow, on the pile to be read mystery-wise:
- Murder in the Marais, by Cara Black, which has evidently been nominated for a whole bunch of awards this year.
- The Concubine's Tattoo, by Laura Joh Rowland, part of the Ichiro series. I see now that I forgot to pick up book 3 in the series, and I suspect I might need to read that first. Sigh.
- Murder for Beltene, by Sandra Brewer, which combines the mystery and fantasy genres in upstate Michigan. I started reading this one in Cincinnati and haven't picked it up since. I stopped because of an exceedingly long description of a webpage. I hope it wasn't integral to the plot.
Since I'm taking this mystery class and writing a mystery and reading a whole bunch of mysteries, why don't we talk some about mysteries? At least recommend your favorite series. If I ever have free time (koff koff), I will probably do an entry about mysteries and why I like them so much.
I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I am finding myself incredibly frazzled by the last several weeks. Darin thinks there's no better depiction of the differences in our temperaments: he is energized by being around people, I want to go run and hide.
Despite pretty much enjoying everything I've been doing and everyone I've seen, I want to go run and hide a lot. We're going out to dinner again tonight and a big part of me wants to say, "Awfully nice of you, but really, no thanks. Sophia and I will stay here and have some quiet time."
I do have a door on my office, it is true. I am just not very good about using it.
In the forum:
Pooks would like to know about hair dye.
Will Kymm take down Meg Ryan now that Meg is taking down Russell Crowe (if you know what I mean)?
Bookstores in museums: good idea, or personal money sink?
The answer to Thursday's question: The Williams sister who won the match between the sisters is, of course, the Williams sister who took it all at Wimbledon -- Venus. I remember reading a story about Venus Williams about 5 years ago in Sports Illustrated -- maybe longer -- talking about this amazing prodigy from Compton.
I would like the courage to name my child Venus. But I just don't think I could.
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@nobody-knows-anything.com