Entries

Man From U.N.C.L.E.: the episodes your mother wouldn’t let you watch

This morning I woke up from one of those clichéd forgot-to-do-my-schoolwork dreams, feeling vaguely cheated by what was basically a re-run. At least it wasn’t forgot-to-do-my-schoolwork AND forgot-to-wear-my-clothes. There was one amusing moment, though, when I got up to sharpen my pencil and the teacher smiled and said, “Well, it’s nice to see that you know how to operate the pencil sharpener, I get more questions from the students on how to operate it than I get about how to do algebra!” which doesn’t seem too far off from reality these days. The pencil sharpener, one of those screwed to the wall metal ones, reminded me of how I used to sharpen my pencil six and seven times a day in sixth grade, because the route to the pencil sharpener ran right past Brian Nebel, who I was convinced was going to eventually realize that I was his one true love, if I just waited long enough. I went through pencils like there was no tomorrow.

Jay is ensconced in the comforter, which is in a big pile on the futon, and she can’t seem to find a comfortable resting spot, so the comforter is rearing around in a rather alarming way, so similar to people’s stomachs in the movie Alien that I half expect a slimy fanged creature to come bursting out of it at any moment. The other cats seem to think so too, because they’re eyeing the futon in a very nervous sort of way. Any minute now one of them is going to do that sideways dancey bushed out walk to show the comforter how intimidating they are. (I try not to laugh when they do it, but really, it’s harder you might think.)

In other animal news, the SAME BIRDS from last year are once again heartlessly pretending to build a nest on our back porch just to get our hopes up of seeing baby birds.

We had a comfy, relaxed weekend, filled with hours of reading and crocheting and, er, other things, and even my latest driving adventure was pretty funny in retrospect. I’d driven us to a nearby Asian grocery store because we found out that the instant ramen they sell there is ten thousand times yummier than the instant ramen they sell at the grocery store, and from there we intended to go to the farmer’s market which is in a nearby city with relatively busy streets. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to drive there or not, and finally decided that it was worth a try, and ended up sailing past the turn-off for the highway because I was in the wrong lane, and then sailing past the next turn-off for the street which we could have taken instead because I misunderstood Todd’s directions, and then turning right onto a very crowded street at which point a trucker behind me honked his horn which was so loud it made me jump and then I surprised both of us by screaming, “WHAT DID I DO NOW!” and turned off onto a side street and Todd, looking shaken, said “No, no, it wasn’t you at all, he was honking at someone else, don’t worry…” and I pulled into a parking lot and took a lot of deep breaths and we switched seats, and I can’t stop giggling as I type this.

From the silliness file:

(Sage is sitting on the futon, crocheting and watching an episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that Marian sent. Todd’s at the computer with his back to the tv.)

Woman’s voice: Ohhhh… Ohhhhhhhhhhh… Thank you…
Man’s voice: It’s a pleasure to be on my knees in front of such beauty.
Todd (laughing and turning around): What ARE you watching?
Sage: This is from the ’60s, sweetie, it’s not what you think — she lost a contact and he found it for her.
Todd: If you say so…

Sarah left a voicemail message saying that she had a couple of questions to ask us and would we call her back, so yesterday I called and asked if she was there. Her boyfriend said she’d be back later and that he’d give her the message, then when Todd was out doing the laundry he saw her drive by on her way home, so I called again. She’d just gotten into the shower, and so Todd and I played a couple of games of cards while we waited for her to call back and then when she did it was to ask if we’d go with her to a computer show to help her pick out a computer, hurrah!

Did you see the new gin score? I’m staging a come-back. No, really.

I’m really excited about it, I think she’s going to love the net (although I must admit to being a little nervous about her reading what I’ve said about her in a few journal entries) and I think it’s going to inspire her to start exploring her creative side, get to know people via email, etc. I hope so anyway. We had a good talk about what’s been going on in our lives and she sounded cheerful and happy, I was glad to hear it.

Last night it was perfect outside, a little windy but still warm, and I asked Todd if he wanted to go for a walk. Once we’d gotten outside, though, I thought wistfully, “Boy, this would be a perfect night to go for a drive for nothing more than the sake of driving,” and then I thought, “You fool, you can drive yourself now, remember?” so I asked Todd if he wanted to go for a drive instead and he tossed me the car keys. I drove up into a rural, residential area, with the windows open and Sting’s Nothing Like The Sun album playing loudly on the stereo, only the quiet songs, like “Fragile” and “They Dance Alone” and rediscovered the joy of driving for no reason at all.

© 1997 QN Podcast (formerly Quirky Nomads).