I Really Miss Brian Kinney

I've finally gotten around to reading A Confederacy of Dunces and it's cracking me up probably way more than it should. Not sure how I'll feel about the whole thing when the book is over, but I can't get enough of the author's ear for language. I could read the dialogue between Irene and Santa forever. "Potatis salad" - just the sound of that makes me laugh. I love that it's set in New Orleans, too. Even though I've never been to the place, I've always felt a connection to it, like it's where I belong with the food and the music and the excess and such. OK so it's in the South and I was born with that Northeast superiority complex, so it's unlikely I'd live there, but I'd still very much like to visit. Someday, someday.

Yesterday my men went to the New England Aquarium, it was HR's first trip and apparently he was enraptured the whole time. It also wore him out enough to take a 3-hour nap when they got home. Note to self: take the baby to the aquarium. As much as possible.

Oh, and congratulations to Timmy Wakefield on his 200th win last night! Maybe now the Red Sox will regain that swagger they desperately need right now to kick butt in the playoffs.

Once again this song has nothing to do with anything except I heard it recently and marveled at what a great song it is. The trouble is that it always makes me think of the stunning Queer as Folk prom episode, but you know, any Brian Kinney on the brain is better than none.

Of An Era

Today I decided to put my other blog on hiatus. I have mixed feelings about it, because that was the blog I started in graduate school and I feel like I poured my best, academic self in there, as well as made some amazing connections. I'm as passionate about its mission as I was the day I started it (if you don't know about my true raison d'etre it's all in the PAQ section), but I'm just not updating it with the gusto of my past years and I think its time has come. Like I say in the last entry, I'm not shutting it down or closing the door forever, just being realistic about what I feel it deserves and what I'm not giving it. So I'm walking away, possibly for good, but hopefully not.

My sincere intention is to live out avengingsybil's purpose by putting the fiction I have always dreamed of writing out into the world. Which could mean that the writing here will suffer even more, but more likely I'll continue to use it as a space to touch base and blow off steam. And share little gems like this'un:



Howard Jones 4-EVA!

Many Years Since I Was Here, On the Street

I'm in a startlingly good mood this morning. It's a beautiful day, we are all here, my baby has been sleeping like the sleep champ of slumber county (for him, anyway) and I've got all these endorphins left over from my run. Plus it was a great weekend full of authentic greek food and playground visits and Pumking on tap the True Blood finale (whoa!) and I'm psyched because we landed the last coveted spot in Saturday morning Waterbabies class. I guess I'm one of those people now who has found this hidden competitive side when it comes to my kid? Not really, it just seems like a great class for HR because he will be in a session with a bunch of little buddies he already knows. Being that he's with adults most of the time, any chance he has to socialize with his contemporaries is so good for him, for all of us.

Il Divo is still giving us a pain with the bottle-to-cup switchover (we've tried every type of sippy, even just going open cup, and no dice) but he'll get it eventually. You think I'd be stressed about this, but the  more time I've had to get used to this parenting gig, the less high strung I've become overall, and this seems like one of those small potatoes kind of worries. I've decided to just let go on this point. One year, two year, it all goes by so fast what's the difference? He still gets two bottles a day, which he will stop getting someday, but I'm disinclined to take something away from him that's so comforting and part of his sleeping and waking up ritual. I know there's the whole issue about jacking up his teeth and whatnot, but we brush teeth after the bottle and half of his parentage guarantees a whole lotta orthodontia in his future anyway, so whatever. I don't even feel defensive about it, it just is what it is.

I heard this on my run this morning and it reminds me that though I am a very shy and somewhat reserved person there's all this STRUT that lives inside me (and it does come out from time to time, sometimes without the aid of alcohol, even), and this song is a type of musical manifestation of that STRUT. I probably already linked it in here because I love it so much, but because I love it so much, I don't care.

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.

Why to Have Kids

We are now approaching maximum cuteness time in our life avec toddler. He's long demonstrated his ability to imitate an elephant, but he's really into it right now, throwing his arm up and squealing at random intervals, and it never seems to get old. He's masterful at serving pretend coffee to us, and will even take a fake sip himself, complete with a satisfied "mmmm." Despite his few words he's working super hard to communicate, and gets hilariously flummoxed when we don't understand his emphatic "AHHHs" and "DAAAHs." He's also gotten quite opinionated about the songs I sing to him and woe if I start belting out the wrong one - right now the only acceptable option is the one about floating down the Delaware chewing on his  underwear (Note to family members: is this a real song  or did we make that one up?). Most recently he was standing up in the tub and, as it's a known fact that baby bums are irresistible, I was absently patting his little behind like I always do. I went to do something else and noticed him smacking his own booty, like he just noticed it was there.

I should probably start posting video clips. And before that, recording video clips.

Apropos of nothing, this is a really great song for running up hills.

Septembery

How fitting for the first day back after Labor Day: rainy, chilly, bananas like a crate of ape fruit (thank you Lil Jon for that evocative turn of phrase) on the work front. Otherwise, things are good. We passed a very chill couple of days. My parents came for a little visit. HR remembered how to go to sleep and stay that way, mostly, and I hope that my writing that in here doesn't serve as a jinx.We vastly overestimated the amount of Mexican food to carry out and I think I'll be eating tamales until Thanksgiving.

I also got a really, really good hair cut. That's noteworthy for me. It's not like my hair is especially  difficult but I have zero patience for self-maintenance so I need a cut that's wash and wear, and it's hard to find a stylist that can do this for me at all, let alone consistently. I think I found the one. I'm in that fall nesting phase where I look at everything that needs to be done and just knocking it all out. That pesky tendonitis problem that was nagging at me? Being treated. Overdue haircut? Done. New dentist found and appointments made? Done. I have to seize these productive moods when they strike me. It's just how I work. For example, I saw a link to this company that makes a bag o' dresses (three of the same dress in different colors) and I was like, genius! With different leggings and tights and over-and-under tops and sweaters which I already have, that's going to carry me through fall and winter. So I bought them on the spot. I'm really not a big clothes buyer but as I get older I realize the value of well-made, versatile pieces. I've never watched an episode of Project Runway, but I guess that doesn't make me impervious to the expertise of Tim Gunn. Anyway, clothing needs for me, done. The leetle boy needs ur-vry-thing for fall (time to go a' consignin', methinks) but at least procuring toddler items is fun. I still need to box up and figure out what to do with the tons of stuff he's outgrown, but all in good time.

Now you're all up to date on my boring domestic stuff, here's a song I can't get out of my head.

Bye Bye Bye, There

Happy September y'all! Here we are on the verge of another long weekend and I couldn't be happier about that. Unfortunately, even if I were inclined to elaborate, I've got a bum wing and the splint makes the typing a wee bit difficult (don't worry, it's nothing crazy, just a little tendonitis brought on by hefting a baby repeatedly). So I'll just leave you today with a song--and band--that always makes me smile. Next week I'll be back to a theme-less musical free-for-all (and maybe some content if I'm more used to typing in this thing).