3 things

Today someone sent out one of those “getting to know you” type quizzes. I love them; especially on a slow working Friday. Anyway, Shelby and I discovered that we both love Great Danes (it wasn’t my answer, but I do love them). Therefore, we collaborated on our own version. I’m posting the questions and answers for myself. Email or post you own answers.

3 Things

3 books you recommend (impossibly narrow)

• Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love
• Melville’s Moby-Dick
• Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin

3 movies you recommend

• Lord of the Rings Trilogy (if for no other reason than the magical)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
• Short Cuts or Magnolia (I love an ensemble cast)

3 songs that put you in exactly the right mood

• “Blue Moon” sung by Patsy Cline
• “Sunday Kinda Love” sung by Etta James
• “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell

3 places you want to visit

• Stonehenge
• Vietnam
• Alaska

3 places you have been

• Austria
• Italy
• Switzerland

3 people you miss the most

• My grandmother and great aunt. Two women I wish I’d gotten to know better before they were gone.
• Sandy Oates. One of mom’s friends from my childhood who was probably too dysfunctional for me to know as an adult.
• Currently Lexie and Frank. Two friends that seem very far away right now.

3 memorable events

• Garden parties at Shelby’s (too many great ones to single out)
• Night of the 10th Moon Costume parties at the Mentone Springs Hotel.
• January 24, 2004

3 famous people living or dead that you’d like to meet

• Barack Obama
• Jim Henson
• Emily Dickinson

3 nightmare situations

• Anything involving me climbing the Eiffel Tower or any high structure of stairs
• I had this dream once where a hair grew out of my pupil. I’m still not recovered.
• Not being able to get in touch with my family when I have one of my bad mojo vibes.

3 things you’d do on your day off just for fun

• Roll my boss’s house
• Have drinks with friends
• Enjoy a journey walk/drive/hike/trip

3 nicknames you have had

• J-bird (thanks Duncan)
• Jules, Junior, Spaz (again, thanks Duncan)
• Julayah (Either Lori or myself are to blame due to odd spell checking or bad typing. Can’t remember which.)

3 childhood pets

• Peter Muffin the king of Cameron Street. Dogs still fear his catness.
• Snowball and Blondie (2 white cats that lost their sanity when we moved to the hotel).
• Plato and Christie (literally became attached due to umm, puppy love)

3 things about your job you like

• Students
• Books
• Kooky faculty

3 things about your job you don’t like

• Bosses
• Hours
• Dress code (can you believe I can’t wear jeans on Friday???)

3 dream careers

• Writer
• Comedian
• Explorer/Scientist
• (I know only 3, but it should be mentioned that I would never turn down the female lead role opposite Matt Damon, Johnny Depp or Jon Stewart.)

3 regrets

• Not traveling more while living in Europe.
• Not publishing anything.
• Not being honest in past relationships about who I am and what I want out of life.

3 cars: your first, your current and your dream car

• 1st = hand me down Nissan Maxima 1984 (maybe??). It talked to me randomly.
• Current = 1998 Lexus (another hand me down — the best hand me down ever).
• Dream = tie: 2000 Ford Thunderbird Convertible or a 1966-68 Ford Mustang Convertible.

3 random facts or oddities about yourself

• I have to keep my hair short or I’ll pick at imaginary split ends to the point of needing to be locked up.
• I become physically uncomfortable if more than 3 people are looking at me at once.
• I used to be incredibly paranoid about white vans. Let’s hope that has passed since I last lived here.

3 people that impacted your life

Other than the normal.

• David Bottoms because he encouraged me to write.

• Several guys that taught me not to trust.

• My brother for teaching me to read, and therefore, to escape.

3 of your worst qualities

• Not trusting
• Forgetfulness
• Temper and bile

3 of your best qualities

• Humour
• Compassion from empathy
• Honesty

Just a quickie

I only have one more week of having Luigi around town with me. It should be an exciting one though, with the elections and the swirl of fall. So exciting that I’m taking off next Friday to spend the whole day together.

Naturally there are pictures and updates and funny stories and discoveries to share; but I’m a busy girl and you’ll have to wait until after he leaves.

However, Shelby and I are developing a “getting to know you” 21 questions quiz and I may post that later today. Oh the fun we have while we should be working (I’m working, I swear).

Hope everyone is having fun so far this Fall!

Saved by the fish

I’ve been playing Luigi’s hostess for almost a week; for the most part, I’ve felt like a failure. We had a great weekend, but let’s face it, during the week I work and I’m not living in a public transportation friendly city. He has been a bit bound to my place and my hood. However, last night I felt some easing of consciousness. Mainly because of RuSan’s. It’s fishy magic, I promise.

You see, in the land of great pasta, meats, wine, et cetera it is difficult to complain. But complain I did, loudly, over the state of certain things. For example, a scarcity of international flare at the table. It’s true. Italians can cook their own dishes like no other. Yet there is a certain timidity when it comes to leaving the borders. Sure, exceptions are made and I was lucky (with the help of Luigi) to find an Indian take away that was lovely. My last year there I found what I consider passable Chinese. But I never really embraced the sushi there. If I liked it at all, it was too expensive and by far inferior to what I was accustomed. I extended my sushi snobbery to a new extreme when I blah blahed about some (albeit cheap) sushi in New York.

After such a build up, I was a bit nervous. But in my core knew I was right. And I was. After he saw the prices and tasted the goods, Mr. Picky (as opposed to my Ms. Selective) exclaimed it to be the best sushi he’d ever had. Ha! All poor hostessing guilt fled. My fears back to the corner. Ah RuSan’s, what would I do without you?

Anything can happen day

Ever since I heard Micky Rourke quote the Micky Mouse Club in Angelheart, I’ve always been intrigued by Wednesdays. Anything-can-happen is so much better than hump-day. Unfortunately, anything can mean any bad thing and though I survived yesterday, I really had moments wondering “why me?”

I’ve had a bad knee and finally, after hobbling and grimacing all over Westwood and Midtown, caved to go to the doctor. Dr. Black is his name and he was perfectly nice. He assured me that it could be anything — that’s assuring, right? — and said we’d treat it as a muscle strain. Then he pressed one more place and decided I needed some blood work.

Luigi calls me the veinless wonder. He has a point. Luigi also left me a voice mail saying he’d missed his flight which I received as I was walking to the vampire lab. Upset describes the tone of the moment. Phlebotomists tremble at the sight of my arms; they tend to look longingly at my jugular vein. I have, in short, a hate/hate relationship with them. Too many bruises and blown veins have occurred for me NOT to generalize. Yesterday, it was Innocent’s turn. (Honestly, the guy’s name was Innocent.) Innocent found a vein, but I as I warned him I would be, no blood would flow. He gave up after the needle was in me for too long without any action.

Anxiety attacks, for those of you inexperienced in them, are always fun in front of strangers. Innocent brought me cranberry juice, told me I could not leave until I gave him another chance, questioned my status as human vs. zombie, held my hand, made me look into his eyes as he found another vein in another arm and drained me. I think we were both stronger people after that experience; mainly though, I’m glad to say good bye to Innocent’s impact.

And to end my Wednesday, I woke up with what could only be described as atomic flash fire occuring on my knee where the topical cream was rubbed. More tears, a phone call to the pharmacist, I finally took a Benedryl and am thankful that chapter has closed. Va bene.

I voted,

have you?

And yes, voting did involve me standing in line again at a Post Office and a whiff of impatience floating from me, but I did it and no one was harmed in the process.

And yes, it was a vote headed to Florida and that makes me nervous.

And yes, in spite of any poll or exit poll or any other thing the media does to make us feel calm and like the election is going to be decisive and clean, YOU STILL HAVE TO VOTE. Do not believe the hype. I will not rest until this is all over. So vote. Now if you can!

Gomorrah (again)

I got very excited while reading NYTimes’ headlines this morning. They had an image from the New York Film Festival and it seemed familiar. Sure enough, Gomorrah is (or was?) playing there. I don’t know why I was so happy. The movie depressed me and stayed with me and made me cringe and think, and I guess that’s it, this movie is great. And it’s about something real.

Whatever the reasons for a momentary smile, here’s the link to the images from the festival. Seeing the two teenagers with the guns brought it all back to me. Maybe I’ll have to watch it again. If you ever do, brace yourself. And would it be wrong to see the Changeling for the costumes? Maybe it would. But I do tend to love the emotional pull of Eastwood and it has Jolie who hasn’t been really bad before and usually is quite good.

Oh, and someone has a birthday this weekend. Hmm, who could it be? I’m getting an image. 40-ish, warm brown eyes, strange accent, pats his belly, bushy eyebrows . . . oh, right — Luigi! Happy Birthday love. Hope you find a mountain, some wine, good company and great food. Umm, hmm.

Falling on my head like a memory

There is a drought here in Atlanta. Creative Loafing’s “Best of Atlanta” section gave the best reason for Atlanta to not succeed from Georgia as needing more water. Piedmont Park is a bit brown and there are some dusty patches around construction sites.

So at 5 this morning I woke to some dripping sound. It was fairly consistent and finally it brought me into a dark grey consciousness that led me to the realization it was raining. I associate Atlanta with rain. It used to have one of the highest rainfall averages in America. Spring showers, Summer storms, Fall mornings — the driest time of the year is always Winter. But apparently that has all changed over the past few years. That and the unlikely help from small Lake Lanier. Let’s face it, 4 million need a bigger source.

The dripping sounds became drops and then splashes under morning traffic. It’s a special magic to me. All the restless water with no where to go. No one will leave it alone to puddle too long. The tires must move it around, or it moves them around. Invariably the sirens began calling. Letting me know I’m back and, at least for a day, so is the rain.

At home, at last

Yes, note the last name change for some time to come.

Last night Lori and I hauled the bags in to my new home. New — well, only new to that unit. It’s funny to think I first moved into those apartments in 1992 (or was it ‘91?). They’re different from the first time. More security, new paint, a lovely courtyard. Every window was lit up. Red rooms, pale green rooms, a dark blue wall here and there. It is an odd experience being a stranger from the past. The place and I both have much to learn about each other all over again.

For now, I’m a stranger with a bed, a couch and that’s it. Friday all of that should change and I get to reunite with some old furniture. Friends and family converging to help. I’m overwhelmed. But most of all, I’m content that for a first time in a long time someone said to me “welcome home” and it seemed a more lasting truth.

Pictures after the furniture comes.