UK Prep Post #3

Forecast for London: snow tonight, 60 by the weekend? (That's like 11 Celcius or something - I really need to brush up on the metric).

Packing: tricky (see above)

Dollar's exchange rate: woeful

Theatre tickets: SCORED!
Woot!

Children's ipods: loaded. With a lot of nonsense. Super Bowl highlights? Old No Doubt albums? And Spongebob.

Cat: taken care of, thanks to the kindness of friends and neighbors. Will she die? Stay tuned.

Marital relations: a bit strained....but sure to stabilize once we get on the plane.

Fears of jet lag being a major issue: high

Ear plugs for plane: purchased (see above)

Anti-anxiety drugs for plane: none! Bad decision? Stay tuned.

And off we go. Pix and deets upon our return. Oh, and don't even try to break into our house. Our neighbors are super nosy.

Happy Easter 2008

My Easter playlist:

Sunday Morning - No Doubt

Spring Released - Grant-Lee Philips

Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day

Sundays (live) - Lucinda Williams

Cross Bones Style - Cat Power

Birds of Springtime Gone By - Joe Lovano

April Chimes - Grant-Lee Phillips (I know. Twice. But at least I didn't also include "Lily-A-Passion")

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most - Rickie Lee Jones

Jesus Etc. - Wilco

Don't do Sadness/Blue Wind - Spring Awakening Cast

Messiah, Part II, No. 44 "Hallelujah Chorus" - London Philharmonic

Jesus Walks - Kanye West

March 19, 2008

My happiness is overshadowed, and has been for five years.

Careening Towards 40: Part 2 in a (increasingly limited) Series

I've gotten the following comments on the news that I was turning 40.

"Really? I thought you were wayyyy older than that." (you have to know her)

"Seriously, I took you for no older than 38." (Dude. At least 37?)

"I thought you were in your mid-to-late 30s" (.....)

"When you get a blow-out, you look 35, max." (Right???)


So I am beginning the evening of my last night in the 30s. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all that happened in the last ten years. Not necessarily in a good way. My 20s were a period of intense emotional and personal growth, but a hell of a lot of creativity and fun. That cannot be said of this decade. I know that I am entering the age of more loss - but perhaps more wisdom, patience, and acceptance. I've gotten nothing but positive reviews on the 5th decade.

I'm thinking I'll age gracefully, but with an edge. Kinda cranky, but still lovish. No gray hair, but plenty of wrinkles. Indie rock, but slow jazz on weekends. Same as ever, only better.

The green grits went over much better than the burned heat-shaped pancakes.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Careening Towards 40: First in a (limited) Series

Last night, at a Board meeting for a sweet, tiny non-profit, I was asked to give the fundraising report. I had been pleased that my Board appeal for donations had been met earlier in the night by one member plunking down a $100 bill on the table, so I thanked him first thing -

- by saying, "That's awesome that (name) gave a G-spot".

Obviously, I meant C-note.

Children were present.

I had two vodka tonics after arriving home.

Music Monday

My husband likey VW.

I have only had ears for Handel of late, but I have checked into the Yeasayer. What say you?

We've prayed for rain (literally - they keep doing that in church, which....well, whatever. I don't know that God is like Santa...but maybe so. We don't know, so what's the harm in asking is I suppose the thinking.) Now we're getting it, and apparently massive storms, and 50 mph wind gusts, and freezing temps.

I'm sending my husband and daughter to VIRGINIA to a soccer tourney, whilst my son and I stay here to play HIS game (that will be rained out for sure). I hate dividing the family. I hate thinking of my people spending that money to stay in a hotel room just to hang out with the other soccer parents and not play.

I'm not worried, though! In case you were wondering!!

To take my mind off my troubles, I accepted an invitation from a new friend to watch LOST on her HDTV with TiVO or DVR or some other initial. She lived in Switzerland, and so her advance praise of her own coffee-making skillz lived up to the hype, and I think I pleased her with a scone treat.
Besides being a very fun morning, did LOST not rock your world? JEEZ! I was very pleased, scared, amazed, and confused. Who's on the boat? It could be Michael...is that the conventional thinking? Who else isn't dead? Not that being dead matters at all.

As for the HDTV....Juliet was smokin' in her swimsuit scene and Claire's skin is really nice. I appreciated Ben's facial expressions even more than usual, and Hawaii....well, you know how I feel about that place.

Time for a new telly, honey!

You know, you think you're going to have a nice evening of a beer, some ACC bball, maybe a movie from Netflix, maybe even some nookie. And then you realize that the project is due tomorrow and the child did ask you to help, and it will be soooo much easier to do the hard part when he's asleep, and so you cut a bunch of letters out of tin foil and glue them to fleece-covered boards and take little breaks to play online Scrabble and finish off all the Yuengling. Suddenly, it's 11:00 and all bets are off. On to tomorrow.

UK Prep Post #2

I've enjoyed renting Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations". He's bad-ass and too cool and sometimes annoying, but the show itself is interesting and sometimes truly edgy. My children like it a lot, and I think it is fun that we actually have to censor scenes from them sometimes.

The ad for the new season has caught a lot of hype, even from Tony himself. He does look a bit predatory.


At any rate, his London travels aired in February and I missed it, of course. Probably won't be able to Netflix it before we go. But I did read about his picks here.