Feeling the Recession

it is amazing how much you can feel the recession working two retail jobs. it is slower than slow at both, to the point that i feel like all that i accomplished today was standing around on top of standing around. sales have been dismal at both. it is interesting to see that it is affecting both small-scale specialty stores like my day job, and major home decor retailers like my evening/weekend job. scary times when people can't just go out on a whim and get a montego mahogany dining table for a couple grand. sad.

An Ode

after passing a sidewalk guitar player out in the cold, he went in the bookstore, bought a hot chocolate from the cafe, and gave it to the chilled man with a handshake and a smile.

he yells at me to "not touch that door!!" so that he can open it for me.

offering his arm, he guides me to my car door over the ice - aware of my wobbliness in heels on the uneven ground.

he enjoys our indian dinner out so much, he proclaims that he will write them a letter of appreciation and cc the food section of the kansas city star.

he bends his head to consult with me over the crosswords, asking for help even when he doesn't really need it; we work on them together over brunch, quietly being together before subsequently enjoying a trip through a bookstore.

i miss him.

What I Did Today

I thought about Pete Anderson from 9:02 am until 6:59 pm on February 22, 2008 in Kansas City.

Chip Chop

an extensive amount of time had gone into creating this:like years...but then give my talented roommate about half an hour and this is what i came away with:

Confessions

i cannot stand book jackets. as long as it is my book, i generally take them off for the duration of the read, only making use of them as bookmarks. sorry publishers...total waste of paper, i think.

hypothesis: i have a strong suspicion that air is somehow escaping my right eye. proof: whenever i put my sunglasses on in the car, only my right lens fogs up. obvious conclusion: i have a small perforation somewhere in my eye socket that lets air out. more disturbing question - if i held my breath and was quiet for long enough, would it whistle?

i have proof positive that i can indeed be starstruck. today john lithgow came into the museum store, and after basically saying, "hello, nice to see you!" and having him say the same back, i immediately called my boyfriend and my mom and just now changed my facebook status to reflect my having met him. i thought i was cool, only to find out i was lame.

my feet are permanently freezing unless wedged securely under pete. this may be a tactic to be close to him that my body has contrived completely independent of my brain, or i have little to no circulation. you may take bets.

How To Waste a Night

i somehow consistently manage to blow an entire evening. i get off of work at 5, eat dinner, and then all of a sudden it is 11 pm. i believe that i watch some crappy tv in there, maybe get a glass of apple juice, pet the cats, play many, many scrabulous moves, look at a jillion websites, and then, as i said, it is 11 pm. it is both disconcerting and rather frightening how many hours i have spent completely doing nothing. my bed is comfortable, thank god, seeing how i spend about 7 waking and 7 sleeping hours in it a day...i am so lazy. someone institute a workout program on me. stat.

Memoirs

i have spent literally all day with this story. i read memoirs of a geisha start to finish this afternoon, starting curled up in bed at home while it snowed, followed by over an hour curled up at panera eating broccoli cheddar soup with extra french bread, and then finally finishing it back curled up in bed. soon after finally finishing the book, i hit up westport's blockbuster and picked up the movie. now that i've finished both i can safely say that once again a movie has failed the book. while the movie is beautiful and some of the scenes of the book are brought to life, much too much is left out from the story. this leaves the movie feeling melodramatic and the plot line sort of weak - not enough back story is given as to why certain passions exist, why certain angers erupt. plus i kind of felt that the dialogue was stilted and not all the acting really what the power of the story called for. either way once again writing has won out against film, for me, and i can't say i feel surprised. sorry to come to this story and movie about three years after the fact of the movie's release, but it is an interesting enterprise to read a story straight through and immediately watch the movie, and one i haven't done before. i may have to try it again - but i can't say i don't expect the writing to win 9 times out of 10.