Listening: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve and Other Stories. They played in Kansas City last night. I'm bummed I missed it.
Watching: My cat play with her favorite toy. It's the little plastic strip you pull off of the cap to open the milk. I quit spending money on cat toys years ago.
Also watching: The Music Man. Best musical ever.
"One fine night
They'll leave the pool hall
Headin' to the dance at the armory
Libertine men and scarlet women
And ragtime, shameless music
That will grab your son, your daughter
In the arms of a jungle animal instinct
Mass-steria!"
Anticipating: Santa might be bringing me a DVD player. The hints at Thanksgiving were slight, but detectable. Mrs. Claus said that they were getting my brother and I the same gift and it was a big one, and I know he's been looking at them too. We shall see.
Random Fact: I was the guestbook attendant at the wedding of a couple who made it on Leno's headlines segment because her maiden name and his last name were very, very funny together.
-- Anatole France
Link of the Day:
Secret Society of Happy People
A website full of nothing but happy things. Prozac, online.
I spent a few hours this past week being an actual lawyer, and I must admit, I got a most un-lawyer-like kick out of it.
On of my good friends who is about the only person I know who is worse with her money than I am got a call from a collection agent demanding almost $1000 for an outstanding contract she had with a security company. (Note to the two people who know who I'm talking about: Don't tell her you know about this.)
As collection agents are inclined to do, he scared the life out of her by threatening her with a lawsuit until she went ahead and agreed to pay it, even though she had no idea why she owed so much. She gave him the information to do the first $500 of it as a check by phone, then called me.
I did all the lawyerly things I could think of. I went to her house and read the contract she had signed with the security company. I called the billing number and spend almost a half an hour on the phone with them trying to figure out how exactly they reached the figure they were asking of her. I called the collection agency back to find out exactly how much they were charging as a fee, and, in my best lawyer voice, find out what we could do to settle it, which we did, for just the $500.
And the whole time I had to stop myself from laughing when I introduced myself over the phone as "Elizabeth R-------, So-and-So's attorney." It just isn't real to me yet, although it probably ought to be soon, because I'm going with another friend to traffic court at the end of the month. (Note to self: Don't giggle when you walk through the little lawyers-only gate, if they have one in traffic court.)
I also learned that you can get quite a lot of information about someone's payment history at this security company by just calling up and saying you're a lawyer. Just in case you ever had a need.
My friend Gillian and I went to a matinee of Men of Honor yesterday. (Thumbs up, but it's no A Few Good Men.) We went to the best theater in the city, called the Palace, on the Plaza.
Afterward, we walked a couple of blocks to the Barnes & Noble for coffee. I snagged a table next to the window while Gillian waited in the interminable line to buy our drinks. As I was waiting there, I looked out the window and watched a homeless man directly below me, begging for change outside the doors of the bookstore. After about five minutes of watching him, I went and offered to trade places with Gillian, because I couldn't stop watching him and I was afraid I was going to lose it.
Watching this old man with a coat but no gloves, holding out his styrofoam cup, trying to make eye contact with the well-heeled passersby who walk on as though he is not there because they are disgusted by his invasion of their upper-class world or they are afraid of him or he just makes them uncomfortable or they have simply learned how not to see him...
Thinking about how they, like me, have never slept one night without a roof over their heads or gone one day without a meal...
Thinking about all the money that was being spent in this bookstore for Christmas presents and yet shoppers disdain to drop their change in this man's cup because, you know, he's probably just going to buy drugs with it...
My mother told me over Thanksgiving that my grandfather never passed by a Salvation Army bell ringer. I have decided to make that my gift to him this Christmas. I have put a stash of one-dollar bills in my purse for just this purpose, and I will put one in every bucket I ever walk by.
If it makes you uncomfortable to give directly to beggars, then don't do it, but find some way to help. Participate in whatever charity fundraiser your company might be sponsoring this season. Buy one small toy for Toys for Tots. Vow to write a check, even if it's just five or ten bucks, to the next charity you see or hear about. If you can't spare the cash, volunteer your time, donate your clothing, just do something for someone else that has it harder than you can ever imagine.
I had a friend who, one year, took all the money she had saved to buy gifts for her family and donated it. Then she wrote up a list of what each family member's gift money had provided for a person in need, put it in an envelope, and passed them around Christmas morning.
You don't have to do that. I don't think I could. But our gifts don't have to be that big to make a difference. Do something, and make it your Christmas gift to yourself.