Weekend Update
since all the cool kids are doin' it...
Friday night I finished The Amber Spyglass and cried for about an hour after, because I'm a big dork. Three days later, just writing this sentence makes me teary all over again. That said, it was totally worth reading. This interview with Philip Pullman I'd stumbled across really contributed to the levels on which I comprehended the book. It's definitely more than just a really good story, though I tend to get so caught up in the story as to miss any larger commentary. So knowing to watch for it was useful.
Saturday I got up and got ready to help my friend Susie out with her soon to be daughter-in-law's bridal shower. I was happy to help but it was kind of frustrating, too. I got up & went to Macy's for a gift & found out that they don't do gift wrapping anymore, so I had to go back home and wrap it. Which was sort of okay because I had forgotten some books I was going to bring to her anyway. And when I was there, K called to see if he could stop by and pick up some of C's stuff that she needed. So that all done, I arrived at Susie's arund noon (about an hour after I'd intended) to do what I thought was going to be moral support duty, but ended up being something entirely different. I suppose in a way it was still moral support, but it was a far more physical sort that made me wish I hadn't worn a goddamn silk skirt. I got there & her friend W was trying to get things ready in the kitchen (she's a professional chef - her role had kind of crept from food adviser to caterer without her entirely noticing it. This has a way of happening when Susie's involved) and in the sort of grumpy panic that you get into when there's too much work and not enough time and you're in a strange kitchen and guests are arriving 45 goddamn minutes early with food that you don't have an space for so they are rearranging everything and creating chaos.
So I pitched in to help her and wound up playing sous chef for the day, taking orders, fetching, going to Target for bbq tongs, mixing W drinks, and generally trying to keep her from going "fuck this, I'm SO out of here" because of course on top of everything else, it was nearly 100 degrees out and there was NO respite from the heat. There were too many people in Susie's apartment to keep it cool, and outside was, well, outside. Though I also spent a fair bit of time with W by the grill. Finally, mid-afternoon, the food was cooked and W left, and I hung out for a little while, because the bride and her friends were really lovely girls and it was fun and there was also a lot of really awesome cheese to be eaten. Finally at around 5-ish, I begged off. Susie loaded my arms with leftovers (so it wasn't a complete loss) and I headed home to finally see
aerialbear, who had come home from Denver late that morning and was sitting at home all by himself, wondering if I'd ever return. I was a little hurt this morning to see that in her blog, Susie thanked W for her cooking, but not me for all I did to make sure that W stayed around to cook, since she was ready to start choking Susie a la Bart Simpson. I just keep reminding myself that I did it to be helpful, not to earn praise. Sometimes it's hard, though, because Susie is REMARKABLY like my mother.
Saturday night we watched HellBoy, which we'd ordered from Netflix so I could see the sequel (
aerialbear had already seen the first). It was a lot of fun.
Sunday was nice, we did some more cleanup in the basement (the big windmill at which we are currently tilting), relaxed a bit and spent a lot of time perusing failblog, which was a lot of fun because my funnybone is working again. Also we went to the gym, which felt really good since I haven't been in ages and maybe now that the lawsuit depression is lifting I'll be able to get back into recording food and exercising regularly for real since now everything doesn't feel like a monumental and futile effort. Which I need to do because I am back to AT LEAST the size I was when I realized I needed to get in shape for the wedding. That said, we then went for Indian buffet. After that we saw HellBoy II, which was just a whole lot of fun, except the ending was kind of lame and more or less follows the same frustration that
seaya is having with female characters (particularly in comics) being used as plot devices where had they been real characters the ending would have been more complex and ambivalent and interesting. Though at least Liz comes in and saves the day a few times.
And now it's Monday and the boss is back from vacation. He brought me a gift, which makes me feel slightly guilty for dreading his return. Slightly. He's going through another dickhead phase and I'm not enjoying his company much right now.
Friday night I finished The Amber Spyglass and cried for about an hour after, because I'm a big dork. Three days later, just writing this sentence makes me teary all over again. That said, it was totally worth reading. This interview with Philip Pullman I'd stumbled across really contributed to the levels on which I comprehended the book. It's definitely more than just a really good story, though I tend to get so caught up in the story as to miss any larger commentary. So knowing to watch for it was useful.
Saturday I got up and got ready to help my friend Susie out with her soon to be daughter-in-law's bridal shower. I was happy to help but it was kind of frustrating, too. I got up & went to Macy's for a gift & found out that they don't do gift wrapping anymore, so I had to go back home and wrap it. Which was sort of okay because I had forgotten some books I was going to bring to her anyway. And when I was there, K called to see if he could stop by and pick up some of C's stuff that she needed. So that all done, I arrived at Susie's arund noon (about an hour after I'd intended) to do what I thought was going to be moral support duty, but ended up being something entirely different. I suppose in a way it was still moral support, but it was a far more physical sort that made me wish I hadn't worn a goddamn silk skirt. I got there & her friend W was trying to get things ready in the kitchen (she's a professional chef - her role had kind of crept from food adviser to caterer without her entirely noticing it. This has a way of happening when Susie's involved) and in the sort of grumpy panic that you get into when there's too much work and not enough time and you're in a strange kitchen and guests are arriving 45 goddamn minutes early with food that you don't have an space for so they are rearranging everything and creating chaos.
So I pitched in to help her and wound up playing sous chef for the day, taking orders, fetching, going to Target for bbq tongs, mixing W drinks, and generally trying to keep her from going "fuck this, I'm SO out of here" because of course on top of everything else, it was nearly 100 degrees out and there was NO respite from the heat. There were too many people in Susie's apartment to keep it cool, and outside was, well, outside. Though I also spent a fair bit of time with W by the grill. Finally, mid-afternoon, the food was cooked and W left, and I hung out for a little while, because the bride and her friends were really lovely girls and it was fun and there was also a lot of really awesome cheese to be eaten. Finally at around 5-ish, I begged off. Susie loaded my arms with leftovers (so it wasn't a complete loss) and I headed home to finally see
aerialbear, who had come home from Denver late that morning and was sitting at home all by himself, wondering if I'd ever return. I was a little hurt this morning to see that in her blog, Susie thanked W for her cooking, but not me for all I did to make sure that W stayed around to cook, since she was ready to start choking Susie a la Bart Simpson. I just keep reminding myself that I did it to be helpful, not to earn praise. Sometimes it's hard, though, because Susie is REMARKABLY like my mother.
Saturday night we watched HellBoy, which we'd ordered from Netflix so I could see the sequel (
aerialbear had already seen the first). It was a lot of fun.
Sunday was nice, we did some more cleanup in the basement (the big windmill at which we are currently tilting), relaxed a bit and spent a lot of time perusing failblog, which was a lot of fun because my funnybone is working again. Also we went to the gym, which felt really good since I haven't been in ages and maybe now that the lawsuit depression is lifting I'll be able to get back into recording food and exercising regularly for real since now everything doesn't feel like a monumental and futile effort. Which I need to do because I am back to AT LEAST the size I was when I realized I needed to get in shape for the wedding. That said, we then went for Indian buffet. After that we saw HellBoy II, which was just a whole lot of fun, except the ending was kind of lame and more or less follows the same frustration that
seaya is having with female characters (particularly in comics) being used as plot devices where had they been real characters the ending would have been more complex and ambivalent and interesting. Though at least Liz comes in and saves the day a few times.
And now it's Monday and the boss is back from vacation. He brought me a gift, which makes me feel slightly guilty for dreading his return. Slightly. He's going through another dickhead phase and I'm not enjoying his company much right now.