Sunday, January 23, 2005

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

It is not true that life is one damn thing after another—it's one damn thing over and over.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), poet

Odd Hour Phone Calls – During the evening when the phone rings in the middle of dinner or the climax of a show, you figure it’s a telemarketer. We are on the do not call list, but any financial institution you do business with is exempt, so they continue to interrupt and intrude. However, we finally told one company that either these calls stop or doing business with you will stop. The calls have stopped.

The phone rang this morning at 2 a.m. the only thought is an emergency or mercifully a wrong number. It’s Daughter calling from Prague:

“Hi Daddy, I know it’s late, but I wanted to let you know I am safe.”

“Thank you for calling. Just give me a second to get my heart beating again.”

Daughter proceeded to talk about the youth hostel she was staying in that had group accommodations. Sixteen people, male and female, were sleeping in a large room. She said people were snoring, coughing, coming in late, and dropping things. I wanted to tell her that’s how we feel when she comes in late, but I was still concentrating on getting a normal heart rhythm going. I faintly recall her saying she was going to upgrade to a room that fits only four comfortably, which was $8 more. Daughter promised to call when she gets back to London; we just hope it’s not during the wee hours of the morning.

Napping. We have been missing Daughter quite a bit, so this afternoon we took a nap in her bed. The room with her clothes and her scent on the pillows seemed as if she were still home. It has not even been a month yet; this is going to be a long three months.

Public Transportation. We experimented back in November with taking the subways in Los Angeles. The results were not enjoyable. We had to drive about 10 miles out of the way to reach the subway station, we had to park a block, or two away. If you arrived around 8 a.m. or so, forget finding a spot. The trains were generally full regardless of the time, so rather than read the paper, I had to stand for 20 minutes until enough people exited. Of course, most people go to work with bad colds and coughs and within the first week, we ended up with a bad cold. The speeding ticket, mentioned a few weeks back, negated the savings in parking costs; still there was a savings on gas, but a loss on time. It is faster to drive in either direction than taking the subway.

Probably my biggest fear is being trapped in the subway during an earthquake. While the tunnels were being dug, there were issues with methane gas, we are sure there are no issues now, but we’d still feel better if there were parakeets in place. However, if it all caved in, it wouldn’t matter whether there were birds or not. We are back to driving and listening to the radio news or CDs.

New Music. We purchased a CD by Nellie McKay titled “Get Away From Me,” and we are thoroughly enjoying it. We heard about her in the New York Times Sunday Magazine a few weeks ago. Her style is rather jazzy with lyrics that are clever and cutting. We like the song “Won’t U Please B Nice,” which is today’s answer to Frank Sinatra’s “Please Be Kind.”

Movies. We opted to go to the movies the last two weekends. The cost during the matinees was $7.50 times two, which totals $30 for two movies. That is ridiculous. For The Misanthrope we enjoyed one out of the two, wife enjoyed two out of two. The movies were “Aviator,” which received a thumbs up from each of us; the other movie was “Million Dollar Baby,” which Wife enjoyed. We would tell you more about “MDB”, but we spoil it for you. The “Aviator,” which is about the early years of Howard Hughes was very good and very well acted, in our humble opinion.

Cold Weather. Wife keeps stating how glad she is not to be in New York this week. She was there two years ago for their big snow storm and helped her folks dig out. She forgot what hard work that is and how much she doesn’t miss it. We have read some of the blogs from our friends in Canada, New York and all areas that are cold, who have been talking about how cold it is out there. To all those living in frigid places, our heartfelt wishes to you in hoping you stay warm and dry.

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