Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The 99'er Meme: Part 2

Cheers to all of us thieves!

26) Are you happy with the person you've become? Often.


27) What's a sound you hate; sound you love? Hate: the sound of cardboard against cardboard (think: assembling moving boxes); Love: a cat's pur.


28) What's your biggest "what if"? What if I'd told him I loved him when I had the chance.


29) Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Ghosts -- not in the Caspar sense. Aliens -- yes, because my grandpa was an alien when he immigrated from Germany.


30) Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. Right: my cat Charlotte. Left: the remote control (I'm watching Jurassic Park -- the poor goat is about to meet a very sad fate).


31) Smell the air. What do you smell? Nothing in particular.


32) What's the worst place you have ever been to? A porta-potty at Taste of Chicago. Take my advice: Avoid sharing facilities with more than 3 million sweaty and beer-sodden neighbors.


33) Choose: East Coast or West Coast? East coast. Especially Boston.


34) Most attractive singer of your opposite gender? The Cute One.

35) To you, what is the meaning of life? To enjoy the ride.

Lyrics | James Taylor lyrics - Secret O' Life lyrics

36) Define: Art. The diminutive of Arthur.


37) Do you believe in luck? Yep.


38) Patriots or Giants? Or, who gives a rat's ass? I'll go with the rodent's tush.


39) Will you watch the game? If yes, with who? I won't watch the game. I work for an advertising agency. You have no idea how freaking sick I am of everything Super Bowl related by the time the game finally airs.


40) Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? I don't drive anymore. But back in the olden days when I did, I scraped up against a street lamp while parking. (I was an awful parker.)


41) What was the last book you read? The Beatles by Bob Spitz


42) Do you like the smell of gasoline? No.


43) Do you have any nicknames? Yes.


44) What was the last movie you saw? The Iron Lady.


45) What's the worst injury you've ever had? When I was a little girl I broke my clavicle. I have only the faintest memory of it.


46) Have you ever caught a butterfly? No.


47) Do you have any obsessions right now? Same old, same old: The Cute One and The Cubs. (Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in less than two weeks!)


48) What's your sexual orientation? Hetero


49) Ever had a rumor spread about you? Oh, yes! I believe one of the more recent ones is that I may not be hetero after all.


50) Do you believe in magic? Of a sort

A Visit from the Dear Friend I Never Met

I dreamed last night about Elizabeth Edwards.

She is a heroine of mine. Her books touched me deeply, and I mourned her death. I selfishly miss her because I think she still had things to teach me. There was something about her unsparing candor and inherent dignity that got through to me and made me hear her. I think that's why I dreamed of her.

An ex has been on my mind after a decades-long respite. He contacted me out of the blue in 2008 and has continued to do so with regularity -- through a friend, through Facebook, through my work email (that really freaked me out). He wants to talk to me, to apologize, even visit me in person to gain my forgiveness.

I don't forgive and I don't trust him. The cruelty he was capable of (both physical and emotional) was breathtaking. The insensitivity he shows by continuing to approach me, even though I have given him no encouragement whatsoever, indicates he's still narcissistic and heedless of my feelings.

I came upon his name and photos of him this Thursday because a national newspaper did a front page human interest story about him. At first it awakened my inner cynic -- I wondered how many asses he kissed, how many he had to dazzle with his obviously still-potent superficial charm, to get that kind of exposure.

Then I kept returning to it. The same way you can't keep your tongue out of a cavity. Staring at his picture, remembering his voice.

And last night I heard from my buddy Elizabeth. We were sitting together in in her Chapel Hill home, and she was telling me to just let it go. That the past is pfft! gone. That I have to live in the here and now, and he has no place in my here and now. That I have to accept the scars -- visible and invisible -- forgive myself for falling for him, and concentrate on my own life.

How wise of her! And how resilient of me to call upon her.

Glass half full

I went to the endodontist this morning ... and was there until late into the afternoon. The root canal my dentist thought I needed is a definite. Ooooh. Ick. There goes another $800* on top of the $600 I knew I'd be spending for the porcelain crown.

Normally I'd be pissed about this.

Except that the endodontist initially warned me that she was afraid the tooth might need to be pulled and I'd need a bridge. THAT IS SO NOT GOOD!

So, while I'm unhappy about the unexpected expense of the root canal, I am relieved the doc believes the tooth can be saved.

*That's an estimate. I'm so confused at this point about what my dental insurance will and won't pay for that I'm trying to just let it go.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Our House

1. I read that Bud Weiser & Kathy moved into their new house! When was the last time you moved? Where to? This condo. 10 years ago. I hate moving and hope to never do so again.

2. If they were making a Hall of Fame for the blogosphere, name a blogger or two who you think should make the list. Why? I'm not answering this. I'm a Cub fan who prayed for Ron Santo to make the HoF every year and the bastards turned him down at every opportunity -- until after he died! So, to safeguard the health and welfare of the bloggers I would nominate, I'm keeping their names to myself.

3. What are couple of funny things you remember your parents saying? (Like, “They're starving there in China, so finish what you've got.” - John Lennon) Do you say them to your kids? "I'll give you something to cry about," was my dad's mantra. I don't have kids, so I can't mess them up.

4. What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle? Last September I had two biopsies -- one for ovarian cancer, one for uterine cancer -- and they both came back benign. I know so many people whose lives have been touched by cancer that I now ask, "Why NOT me?"

5. What is it too late for? "Goodbyes." (My nod to John's eldest.)

6. What do you try to stay away from? Second-hand smoke. It smells bad and it's bad for the lungs and complexion.

7. When you get into a disagreement or fight, how often are you the first to apologize? Depends on who it's with.

8. Tell us about a current issue that you’re unhappy with. How nasty and disrespectful my fellow liberals are being to Mitt Romney. After the Clinton and Obama Presidencies, after John Kerry was "swiftboated," I expect this kind of bullshit from the right wing nut jobs, but I'm disappointed by those who should know how corrosive this ugly talk is. It's one thing to disagree with Mitt Romney's economic and domestic policies (I do, and you should, too). It's positive political discourse to bring up his attitude toward the tax code, or gay rights, or a woman's right to choose. It's not helpful to dismiss him as "Willard" or "Mittens," to knock him for his faith or appearance or other extraneous personal issues. If it's bad when "they" do it to "our guy," it's just as bad when "we" do it to "their guy." I expect better from my progressive brothers and sisters. THIS IN NO WAY APPLIES TO NEWT GINGRICH, who had made personal behavior an issue when he actually tried to unseat a sitting President over a blow job.

9. How often do you update your blog/site and why? Every day. Because I want it to be an accurate journal of who I am and what's going on in my life, and that changes day-to-day.

FIVE MOVIE COSTUMES I LOVE

Liberated this from The Girl with the White Parasol. If you choose to play along, let me know so I can check out your answers. Here are the rules:

1. Absolutely no costumes from an Alfred Hitchcock film.
2. No costumes worn by Grace Kelly.
3. No costumes worn by Audrey Hepburn.

Mine are all from the 1960s because it's the decade that had the greatest influence on my sensibility, and because I can't believe these movies are nearly 50 years old.

Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass. The outfit in her last scene provides the perfect visual coda. It's clean and white and fresh, indicating her rebirth and escape from the drab, repressive surroundings that caused her so much pain. (Anna Hill Johnstone)

Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "Martha's Sunday chapel" pantsuit. It's so perfectly dreadful that it's perfect. It screams visually what she hollers literally, "I'm loud and I'm vulgar and I wear the pants in the house because somebody's got to." (Irene Sharaff)

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. La Liz' contemporary, Julie Andrews was her complete opposite number, as the costumes in their iconic roles reveal. Mary's wardrobe reveals that she reveals nothing. Buttoned up perfection. I doubt that scarf really added much warmth, but she wouldn't have felt dressed without it. (Tony Walton: costume consultant for Miss Andrews)

Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Hey! You said "no Audrey Hepburn;" Kate wasn't mentioned in the rules at all! The pantsuit she wore said everything about the woman (both character and actress). It's casual, multi-layered, more about comfort than fashion ... and obviously of quality. (Jean Louise: Costume supervisor for women -- though it wouldn't surprise me if this came from Kate's closet.)

Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie's beret was so cool it's almost a character in the film. Idealized versions of the hat Bonnie Parker wore in real life, the berets are an inspired touch. The jauntiness they convey makes the inevitable carnage even more jarring. (Theoni Aldredge.)