Swimming Toward Pie

Today has been a marvel of productivity for me, so I'm taking a few to be slack-jawed and useless. Ahh, that's nice. Tomorrow I go to the dentist for a long-awaited cleaning, my first check-up since last winter's unending suck convention that began as the Great Crown Debacle and resulted in a root canal. I had never really minded going to the dentist before all that, but the experience ruined me and almost totally destroyed my holiday season. Still I'm not really nervous. I'm relieved to be starting over with someone new. I just hope she's impressed with my lifelong enthusiasm for flossing. Yeah, that teacher's pet impulse dies hard.

You know who's really funny? Patton Oswalt. He's been on my radar for awhile as an actor, but I never watched his stand-up until we randomly caught part of a special on cable the other night and Mike and I were both laughing like crazy. His Weight Watchers spiel alone is worth the price of admission. Gold star, Patton: I like you.

Additionally: library books. Remember those? I've been reliant on my Kindle for so long that I found I was missing the charm of a fresh stack of papery goodness, covers all soft and corners worn point-less by stranger after stranger's hands, waiting for my contribution to their unavoidable but dignified disintegration. I'm on an Elizabeth Berg kick, if you must know. It'll pass. I hadn't realized how many books she's written, so I'm catching up even though I'm always struck by how corny I find her plots and descriptions, how stubbornly old fashioned pretty much everything about her books can be. It's like they're set in modern times for the most part but the characters didn't get the memo about that, I'm always distracted by this and compromises my ability to relate. Yet I eat her books up like sugar cookies. They are so comforting with all their domestic details. I'm not really as much of a snob as I sound. As a writer I could do a lot worse than to emulate her career- that woman is prolific, and how, while here I am still plugging away at my novel at negative glacial speed. I AM plugging, though, so I'll pretend that counts for something.

This song selection has nothing to do with anything except that I love it and I thought you should know.