The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back

In the movie "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray is a Pittsburgh weatherman who must live the worst day of his life again and again until he gets it right. Today was a day like that, and I am only too glad that I am not Bill Murray, a Pittsburgh weatherman, or a groundhog.

The day ended well: I had dinner with Marian (the librarian) at a nearby Chili's. Let's just say that a day that begins wearing a paper robe whilst sitting in a gynecologist's office, has moments that include mocking teenagers, a waitress that calls you Ma'am, when you know *her* first name is the same as your own, and a stilted afternoon conversation with your mother is a day that needs a Margarita named after it. Unfortunately, neither Marian nor I could drink said mix, as she learned that a wine cooler mixed with her migrane medicine equalled silly tipsy living and I know that all the tylenol and the muscle relaxants mixed with alcohol could kill my liver. A cheery bunch, we were.

But sometimes it is the days that are like that that make you laugh hysterically when you are sitting across from a dear friend who has rescued you. I told Marian about the nurse who spoke like an auctineer: have you had leg cramps, mumps, rubella? have you had pnemonia, swelling, shortness of breath? If a director had been with me today, we could have made a doozy of a comedy--Sarah Louise's Day Out (or in).

So I'd like to shake things up. I'm getting tired of being here by myself on this blog. There's a comment feature, use it! I will do my best to make things controversial enough to merit a comment or two.

So on the car ride home, I thought, I could do "50 blogs in 50 days" but I know I'd get bored by the time I did three days. The blogs I admire most have something special. Andrea's "thang" is "the best post titles:" each one refers to a song in a musical. Every single one! And BabelBabe and Gina have the best pictures of branches AND the best template. I love the brown-ness--it's just cozy. It makes me think of old books, which is fitting, because BB and Gina are always reading the best books. My favorite cartoonist is Nicole Hollander. The thing she does is what I find myself doing: she mixes it up, every day. You do not see Calvin playing with his tiger, day in and out. No, one day it's "the woman who does everything more beautifully" and the next it's the girl talking on the phone with her mom. The next day it's Alien lovers who give outrageous gifts. (the one for halloween was great--"I know, darling, instead of candy, we'll give them face lifts!") So I need to find my style. Quizilla helps...which brings me to my favorite post of the day; David called it "Clearance Sale" and it was a post of what seemed like twenty or more Quizilla results.

My favorite book quote this week was from Marian Keyes' book of essays "Under the Duvet." In an essay about workplace Christmas parties, this sentence stands alone as hysterical even without context: "The best was when someone rushed in and gasped, 'Ahmed has arrived with the sheep. He needs money to pay for the taxi.'" She continues: "Even though the sheep were long dead, I couldn't banish the idea of Ahmed in a black London cab, squashed up beside two fat, fluffy sheep, like busty old women butttoned up against the cold. As I went back to the office to get money, I half-expected to find the two sheep running amok through the hallowed corridors, as if they were cavorting along boreens in County Clare." (Feeling Sheepish, p. 201) Marian became one of my favorite Chick Lit writers when she said this book can be read by dipping in, start where you like! Eclectic, now that's my style! There is a librarian blog called that, actually, which I discovered surfing ages ago. Perhaps I'll wrestle a link up, just for you, dear reader.

So, just for the record: Mom, I don't want a new winter coat, I like the two I got years ago at the Salvation Army. Dad, I don't want to buy a house, what I need are more bookshelves (Marian said to this, "Everyone needs more bookshelves." What do I want, what do I want for Christmas (I already have my two front teeth). I want what Cyndi Lauper sang in 1983: "Girls just wanna have fun!" I want to eat Chubby Hubby ice cream. I want to watch the Winter Olympics! Beppe and Marian, I want those shows you taped for me! I want to not have to watch every penny, I want to sleep late, I want...you to comment on my blog.

Movie quote of the week: [from You've Got Mail] Meg Ryan and Greg Kinnear are breaking up in a cafe after they have a fight about politics in the movie theatre. They are incredulous that they don't love each other: "We're so perfect for each other!" Meg asks Greg if there's someone else, the TV show host that interviewed him last week, Sidney Ann. Greg blushes, and says, maybe. What about you, he asks. Is there someone else? (For those of you who don't know this movie backwards and frontwise like I do, this is right after NY152 aka Tom Hanks has "stood her up" when she finally said "Let's meet.") No. She says, and sighs. "But there is the dream of someone else." This week my heart is healed, and I am no longer spotting conversation with "and Icabod said, and Icabod did, and oh, Icabod is so dreamy..." But I still dream of a someone else, someone that could so totally sweep me off my feet, make me dream of a man who is so adorable with children, so intelligent and knowledgeable about the Bible, so creative... (and in the background, you hear "Sarah Louise's theme" which is the old standard, "Someone to watch over me" as sung by Ella Fitzgerald.)

So, as I put these words to bed (an old printer's term--the last act in making the newspaper is locking up the type), Take Five plays in the background, the lights dim, and another day dies down in blogland.