it's the tower of terror.
"It's not just a bunny, it's a music box!"
"What a great description of Sophia!"
One year ago: I mention Karen for the first time! And not the last.
Two years ago: I come up with a professional name I will never use.
Three years ago: We enjoy Banff, Canada, a place I would go back to in a heartbeat.
Four years ago: I watch Aliens. It was a slow summer.
Today's news question:What did the head of the Justice Department's campaign finance department recommend today?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
I forgot to mention that Sunday, Father's Day, was also the one year anniversary of Sophia's conception, which of course I didn't know at the time. I actually spent the first week with her and without Darin, who was off at a conference in the Midwest.
I spent that week mostly just hanging around, seeing people like Tamar, and reading Regency romance novels while drinking port. When I realized later, of course, that I'd been pregnant while drinking port (when I hardly ever drink at all), I was horrified. I was sure, of course, that I'd damaged the fetus irreparably, because I have grown up in a culture that preaches that if you think bad thoughts, you will do terrible things to your unborn baby.
I told a friend about my fears. (Not Tamar, by the way, in case you're wondering.)
"Oh, that's nothing," she said. "I dropped acid."
And her kid turned out okay.
(Turns out if you're going to do something like have a glass of port every night, you should do it the first week after conception, before the fetus implants. Of course, in other countries, the medical establishment is a little more relaxed. Here, our entire culture is based on fear. You understand.)
And speaking of babies, and Karen: yay Karen and Pär!
I have a sneaking suspicion that a prediction Darin made a while ago about any hypothetical children we might have is applicable to the happy couple: your child's first mode of expression will be "Banter."
We interviewed a few women this week about being a part-time nanny.
(Slight digression: I always interpret "a few" and "a couple" to mean the same thing -- some small number, probably between 2 and 4. Darin says "a couple" means exactly what it means in other contexts: two. I always reply that if I meant two, I would say two. Is this a regional thing? That is, does "a couple" mean "some small number" for anyone else? Or have I simply grown up believing the wrong thing?)
I dug through several of our boxes of books (the piles of books we had scattered everywhere have been hidden in boxes) to find Protecting The Gift by Gavin de Becker (note to self: possible baby gift for Karen and Pär?) to read through the chapter on finding child care.
All the candidates are immigrants from Latin America. All the nannies I've ever seen in Los Angeles have been Hispanic, so it wasn't surprising.
We each asked a bunch of questions. I took personal questions; he took the tougher ones. Darin asked about their attitudes toward alcohol and drugs, about discipline, about emergency situations. Darin's had a lot more experience interviewing job candidates, that's all I can say.
We were both disappointed by the way none of the candidates would answer the question, "How were you disciplined when you were a child?" They always talked about how they would discipline a child. No, no, Darin would say, how were you disciplined? Couldn't get an answer. Hmmm.
We have one more person coming in tomorrow. We already discussed the three who came in. The pressure is intense.
It's a nerve-wracking situation, despite the fact that both of us will be home all day with the nanny and Sophia. We're asking a stranger to come into our house and handle our child. I've often heard it said that Americans will spend more time and effort investigating what car they will buy than they do who will care for their children.
There are some impulse buys Darin and I will engage in; this is not one of them.
"So I guess they're going to make Indiana Jones and the Nursing Home of Doom?" Darin asked, reading the Variety article about how M. Night Shyamalan is in talks to script the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
Despite the fact that my forum has the Creepy Actor topic, Kymm's Forum is the Creepy Actor Forum...according to Beth's Forum!
And that's enough meta. This would lead to a discussion of Dogma 2000 (Bill Chance's online journal riff on Dogme 95), but I'm too damn tired. I had insomnia again last night. I don't know why I'm having insomnia, I just am. Usually I know why, but this is just baffling.
Oh yes: Which actor drives you crazy? Top picks: Christopher Walken and Kevin Spacey.
"I'm voting you off the island!" I've never even see the show and I know what it means.
The answer to Sunday's question: The unusual thing about Tiger Woods' win at the 100th US Open was, of course, that the only battle was for second place; Woods sewed up his win by 15 strokes over the second place winners Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@nobody-knows-anything.com