LB's journal 05/25/00

Thursday

May 25, 2000

"Most people perform essentially meaningless work. When they retire that truth is borne in upon them."

Brendan Francis

some Bendos take a few risks

Rebecca sings a standard

workaday world

There is something about writing a journal that may, eventually, make some true thing pour out. I've seen it happen in other journals I follow. Amidst the daily minutia, the what I ate, wore, said, read something bubbles out. The things the person is really thinking about under all that life.

I worked today. Increasingly, I'm rushing to do stuff but I just don't quite understand why. Oh, sure, I have a goal. Don't I? To influence, communicate, guide, teach or learn.

But really, finally, somewhere among the toys on your desk, the truth is there. Right?

I went to lunch with SuRu. She bought Chalow a new collar with chile peppers on it. We were in the PetsCo to get a new pinch collar for Zoey to replace the one that exploded. It made Chalow nervous to change her collar. Taking off that collar makes her think bad things are going to happen to her. The collar is cute but, of course, hard to see because she is fuzzy.

We also went to the toy store and I got some little socks with critters on them for my great nephew. I couldn't resist the Bendos you see here engaging in risky behavior on my chalk tray. I also bought a wind-up Woody on his horse (from Toy Story II...what was the critters name?). I almost never buy myself toys anymore.

We had a Philly Cheese Steak at Texadelphia. Started to eat barbeque but Pokey Joe's was hot and crowded inside and Texadelphia was cooler. We are wimps.

I snacked on potato chips all day in my office. (Salt and Vinegar ones...Bob's.) As a result I wasn't really hungry at lunch or dinner. Of course, I ate my whole sandwich at lunch anyway. Forrest called late in the day and asked what I wanted for dinner. I said sushi. So he bought some sushi, tomatoes and asparagus at Central Market. He lightly steamed the asparagus and sliced the tomatoes with olive oil, basalmic vinegar and some oregano. Yummy. When we eat sushi at home we have Sister Sass Garlic Sesame dressing with wasabi mixed in. Much better than soy sauce. Yummy summer supper.

I am determined to get all the newspapers disposed of. It's ridiculous, it really is. I love the paper, but things are out of hand. The trouble is, I start going through them and find I've spent ten minutes reading about an albatross from the Southern hemisphere lost in New Jersey and another bit of time reading an obituary of someone famous but, until his death, unknown to me. I decide to save the Living Arts section from the Times because of some interesting story or because it's a Monday or Tuesday one (when the puzzle is easy).

The stack wins. It would help if we didn't get the Austin American-Statesman, The New York Times and, on weekdays, The Wall Street Journal. And the weekly Austin Chronicle and the Austin Business Journal and the Westlake Picayune and the West Austin News. The truth is that I get the major news (mass murders, plane crashes, lifestyle accidents of the rich and famous) on the net. But I still feel compelled to flip through each section of each paper before placing it in the brown grocery bag for recycling. Oh, I toss Sports sections now straightaway. I'm interested in some sports (tennis and bits of others) but I just don't have the bandwidth. Business sections get a quick glance since I consume a lot of press releases on the net. Still, occasionally I find myself absorbed in a story about some CEO or merger or business model gone awry.

It's all part of my inability to focus, this newspaper problem.

Rebecca, the singer at The Four Seasons, had a press party tonight. Mostly, it was her friends showing up for a regular night at the bar, but the press releases sent out got her some mentions here and there.

And I made the martini mistake. I brag to people that I can't always drink a martini but sometimes I can. And that I know when I can.

Tonight I believed I could do it. I had one martini and two glasses of Pinot. Yikes. I may have to give up Gin. Vodka martinis are a joke. Vodka is for thinning the tomato juice in a bloody Mary and giving you a buzz.