Belated birthday shout-out to Marcus, who turned old on Wednesday. I haven't heard from him since he called from the bar where he was celebrating, so I hope he hasn't fallen and broken a hip. Bah-dum-dum!
Non-belated birthday shout-out to Lyle Lovett. Still a very sexy man at 40-something. He's playing a concert in a theater right across the street from my office in a couple weeks, but alas, I have decided against going. It pains me greatly, yes, but he's charging $50 for the cheap seats, so it's just out of my price range. So I'll let him play for the richy-riches this time, maybe have him all to myself sometime later when we become Close Personal Friends and get to hang out all the time.
Not-at-all-birthday related shout-out to my TUBbY hubby, Geoffrey, who bought a brand spankin' new Saturn Ion coupe yesterday. While I am very happy for him, this presents a dilemma for me, as his car is a stick shift and I don't know how to drive said stick shift. I mean, I've tried it a time or two (remember when I drove Toby, Sara?) during my lifetime, but seems like you don't really remember if you don't do it all the time. Now, Geoffrey wants to take his new car on our long drive to Georgia for the reception in two weeks, which is a fine idea, but then he'd either have to drive the whole way himself or I'd have to suck it up and really learn how to do this.
And I am scared.
I don't want to break Geoffrey's new car, and I don't want to break ourselves or anyone else if I screw up so bad I start careening off the road or rolling back or whatever.
But, but ....
Stupid people throughout time (OK, the time cars have been invented anyway, right?) have managed to do this just fine, right? And I'm not that stupid, am I? And I have, I think, some reasonable level of hand-eye coordination and understanding of machinery. So maybe I can do it.
Or maybe we'll just take my car.
LISTENING TO: STACEY EARLE, since we saw her in concert earlier this week (after which she remembered me, yes, from when I interviewed her five years ago. I hang with rock stars). Fun to rediscover an artist after you've let their CDs gather dust (I prefer to call it aging, like wine) for a while.
Stacy - 5:51 PM
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Shout-out and congrats to Janna, who -- assuming everything went as planned -- married Mark yesterday. Janna's been my lil' buddy in wedding planning, my moral supporter, even though we were planning very different weddings in very different parts of the world. It was nice to have someone to whom I could send e-mails like "OhmigodomigoddoIpickadatefirstoraplace-forthereceptionandwhatshouldIwearandwhatabout-underwearwithpropersupportforundermydressand-howdoinvitationsworkomigod" and have them not think I was completely unglued. So I hope her wedding went just as she hoped and that she and Mark had a great start to a lifetime of wedded bliss. I also hope Janna wore that dress I suggested for her. :)
Today was the Marine Corps Marathon here in DC and Northern Virginia. Good lord, what a crowd. Apparently the participants -- all 18,000 of 'em -- had to pick up their stuff somewhere in Crystal City, so the neighborhood's been packed with pedestrians and crazy traffic for the past couple days. Yesterday most of them we in town, and I have never, ever seen a slower group of lolligaggers in my life. I was almost late to work yesterday because they were clogging the Metro escalators, ignoring the all-important but unfortunately unwritten code of "stand on the right, walk on the left." You'd think marathon runners would recognize the importance of needing to get somewhere fast (or at least getting out of the way of people who have that need), but noooooo. Today I'm working the late shift, so I wasn't on Metro 'til mid-afternoon, when they were all finishing up and streaming back home. Gotta love being squeezed in a Metro car with a couple hundred sweaty, adrenalin-crazed runners. Sigh.
But I spent my time on the train, squished up against a window in the middle of a car wondering how I was going to push past this wall of humanity to get out at my stop, pondering running. I just don't get it, I guess. I've known lots of runners, certainly have no disrespect for them. But I just don't see how it's fun, or even healthy, really, compared with all the other forms of exercise out there (walking, biking, working out, for example). I mean, you fuck up your knees and feet, almost guaranteed, and it seems like if you run a really lot it makes you barf and poop yourself. Not seeing the appeal. I mean, it's cool. Not everyone understands my enjoyment of diagramming sentences, the fools. Anyway, my conclusion is this:
Running. It just doesn't make any sense.
Good day.
LISTENING TO: SWEET RELIEF/A benefit for Victoria Williams. Picked up this CD on a $5 table (that's $5 New Zealand, mind you) in Auckland, very good find. It's various artists, including the JAYHAWKS, EVAN DANDO, MICHELLE SHOCKED, LUCINDA WILLIAMS and PEARL JAM recording Williams' songs. I bought the second Sweet Relief album (they all raise money for an ailing artist's medical bills, since they don't usually have any kind of insurance), too, the one for Vic Chesnutt, but I haven't had time yet to give it a spin.
Stacy - 3:48 PM
