sunday, 8 october, 2000

Reading: The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I will get through it this time. I've been trying to read this book for like eight years now. My friends all read it in college and loved it, so I guess it's about time. Watching: Millionaire, because my mother's best friend's nephew was the first new contestant tonight. I'm willing to bet that with six degrees of separation and all, eventually everyone is going to know someone who gets on that show. (Just in case you were wondering, it's going to be me for all of you.) Will Be Watching: The season premiere of The Practice, which I had no idea was tonight until just this second when I saw the commercial during Millionaire. Attending: The Renaissance Festival, for the first time in forever, with my friend Tara today. It was a perfect day, chilly but sunny, and the crowds weren't too bad. We ate like pigs: turkey legs, chicken and 'chips', cheesecake on a stick. Tara had her tarot cards read, and I came thisclose to getting a henna tattoo, but I couldn't really spare the cash. Totally fun though. Craving: Those little Pillsbury slice-and-bake sugar cookies with Halloween designs in them. I'm seriously wondering whether or not I'll have time to run to the store before The Practice comes on. Like I didn't eat enough today. Contemplating: A story on our local news about some guy who made off with a police cruiser while the cop was giving another driver a sobriety test. Dude, take your keys with you. {--} The law must be stable, but it must not stand still. -- Roscoe Pound {--} Link of the Day: Project Vote Smart As Election Day nears (and I know you all have registered, correct?), here's where you can find out detailed info about all the candidates in your local, state, and national races.

So I was sitting here, calmly writing my entry with one eye on Millionaire waiting for my mother's friend's nephew to come on (the big guy with the mustache), and the phone rings. The cordless phone is the only one I have plugged in, and of course I can't find it before the voicemail kicks in. I don't recognize the number on my Caller ID, so I have to wait until the message comes through, and when it does, I find out that it's Corina! So of course I immediately call her back, and we end up blathering for the next hour and a half. She gave me a blow-by-blow account of the goings-on at JournalCon, most of which I'm not permitted to tell you about, and we chattered about all things journal and legal and barbecue and roadtrippy, and even after an hour and a half, I didn't feel like I was done talking to her. I love friends like that. {--}          {--}          {--} I don't have to work tomorrow, thank God. I love the MDA and I know they do all kinds of good things, but I can't take this job much longer. For six hours a day, I have to cold-call buisnesses and ask the manager or whoever to participate in the fundraiser. I'm doing a shitty job. Not on purpose or anything, but there are signs all over the office saying that the goal is ten 'jailbirds' a day, and after a week, I have six. Most of the time people just cut me off in the middle of my introductory speech with a polite "No, thank you," but a lot of times they're rude, and I can't disassociate myself enough not to care, and I don't think my supervisor would appreciate me yelling, "Fine, I hope you die!" at them before hanging up. Plus, the other girl that does what I do is this twenty-year-old who is four weeks from having a baby and she hates me. She really couldn't be more rude if she tried. The thing is, it's totally flexible as far as how many hours I go in, so that if I need to miss a morning or afternoon shift to interview, they're fine with it. But I'm starting to think that the nice guy at AppleOne who set me up can find me just a regular part-time job, 20 hours a week, which doesn't involve calling people for money. Besides, like I said, I can't imagine that they're happy with my success rate. I think they should bring in little old ladies to do it. Only completely evil people can be rude to little old ladies. {--}          {--}          {--} You know, all week long I think to myself about funny little things that I would like to put in here, but by the time I actually sit my ass down to write about them, they are gone, gone from my memory. I could write about Ed, which I enjoyed, although I must say it was a taaad slow. I had heard that they totally reworked the pilot, so the completely annoying flashback thing before the main titles was probably not exactly how it was supposed to go. I'm just afraid that they're not going to show the scene they've been putting in the commercials, where Ed's holding a baby and raises its hand after asking, "Who thinks Ed's cool?" because that baby was the ugliest blessed thing I had ever seen. They did that line tonight with a much cuter baby, but I really wanted to see the ugly one. They've been comparing the show to Northern Exposure, and I hope it proves at least a little bit true. I loved that show, a nice big cast with characters that were all completely interesting. And not to wrap up this little entertainment-fest on a sad note, but did everyone hear that Richard Farnsworth, the old guy nominated for an Oscar for The Straight Story, shot himself this week? How sad is that? Apparently he had bone cancer and was just in unbearable pain. Okay, since I really don't want to wrap this up on a sad note, I will add that I laughed until I cried last night watching Rob Lowe do a dead on impression of Shaggy. It was the only skit I happened to see, but my God, it was funny. So there. We're ending with Shaggy.