The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.
John Lennon (1940–80), musician

Drive Will You. In the last week, I passed a moron shaving on his way to work. I passed around him and cut it a bit short hoping that maybe he would press his electric razor a bit too hard against his throat. A couple of days later, I lost my patience with the woman driver in front of me who could not handle the multi-tasking of driving and plucking her eyebrows. I laid on the horn and scared the daylights out of her. I can only hope that she now has a bald spot on her eyebrow.

Weeds. I was surprised that others too loved the Showtime show “Weeds,” which is just wonderful. The show has not received a lot of promotion compared to other cable shows Tonight another favorite returns “Curb your Enthusiasm” with Larry David. On the Mark told me about this show because he said it reminded him of me. Wife and I started watching it and she concurred. I see no similarities.

Staying Busy. While wife was away I decided to see the play “Dead End” at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. The play was written in 1935, and dramatized the personal and economic devastation of the Depression. Sidney Kingsley, who wrote the play incorporated elements of days’ current events – notably the criminal career of gangster “Baby Face” Nelson and the construction of River House, a high-rise luxury apartment building set amidst the tenements of East 52nd street. The idea came to Kingsley while he sat on the wharf and watched the kids swimming in the filthy East River next to the posh River Club, then he recalled the quote from Thomas Paine: The contrast of affluence and wretchedness is like dead and living bodies chained together. The set was spectacular and I am not over stating it. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw the production three times and it was the first play to be presented in a command performance for the White House. The play was excellent.

The next evening I went to the library downtown to see Jane Smiley talk about her latest novel “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel.” Smiley talked about some of the lessons learned from her reading of 100 novels and how that experience changed her views on writing and reading. The discussion was rather interesting.

Accidents Happen. Daughter severely sprained her ankle playing basketball with her fellow interns. Monday she begins her internship in Washington D.C. She is toughing it out. Wife didn’t notice the uneven sidewalk while in the Bronx and fell hard on her face and right side. She now has black eye that looks like she was a member of the Fight Club and she terrifically bruised the right side of her body. I am staying indoors in my reading chair I want no part of what is going around.

Getting Soft. My week alone was nice, but when all is said and done, I missed Wife. I miss Daughter too, but she is growing up, moving on and I have to get used to that. Wife and I are just growing old and comfortable together, so when either one of us are gone it’s a break from the routine that makes us both comfortable and crazy from time to time. Wife comes home this afternoon and I for one am very excited about it.