|
Thursday June 15, 2000 "Le ciel défend,
de vrai, certains contentements; "True, Heaven
forbids us certain pleasures; Molière Le Tartuffe
fragment of watercolor on ebay
be safe now...at least these will remain single file |
|
watercolor and striping the street I work today. I don't have any meetings. That's good. I manage to learn a few things and decide a few things. Japanese lunch. The chicken ginger box, referred to by the waitresses as a 'happy meal.' I go to a meeting about the proposed changes to our street vis-a-vis parking and lane striping. The purpose is to protect bicyclists. But the biggest danger to them, in my opinion (cars backing out of drives) is exacerbated by their plan. In my opinion. It takes me an hour to say this, however. First, the city people are late 'because they were surprised at the traffic.' (These people claim they've thoroughly studied our neighborhood and figured out what's best. But they are surprised by rush hour. Doh.) . As a matter of principle I keep my hand in the air to have my say. The people most for the proposal don't live on the street. (Surprise!) We leave. We won't change the city's mind. They act like they are doing us a big favor allowing parking on ONE side of the street. Time to build a circular drive, I guess. Only one thing can take away the bad taste of a public hearing with city workers, neighborhood association people and the neighbors who are, in many cases, quite scary. French food. Aquarelle means watercolor in French. The renovated house with the half-finished landscaping at 606 Rio Grande looks and acts French. The waiters wear those vests with all the pockets that look like pleats and long aprons. (OK, they aren't French, the waiters. Eric and Linda are escapees from Ella's.) But the china, the flatware, the glassware...so French. And the food. Oh, my. This is the best meal I've had in a long time. Foie Gras, tuna. Forrest has vegetable paté and beef and a small serving of greens with cheese and two desserts. Well, actually we shared everything. There were amuse bouches to start, too, and extra cookies at the end and a yummy Burgundy. Paint the street however you please. I hope no one is reading this who lives in Austin. How will I ever get in this place when everyone discovers it? You all know I think that journalers forming communities and meeting each other and talking among themselves and setting up forums and rings and burbs and all is weird and not for me. (Although it's very like, well exactly like, things *I* have done online.) Still, I read other people and I got sucked into Kymm's forum on dieting and I've got to ask: why can't anyone say 'I weigh xxx.' I do this. (The talking scale said 176 this morning, if you must know.) But this is the number whose name must not be spoken to most people. They will say they need to lose. They will say they need to lose *A LOT* and even say they need to lose 50 pounds. But they will not say, "I weight 200 pounds, or 180, or 140 or 176." What is that? I'm sure my Weight Talker (I don't think you can buy one anymore...it's ancient and no one bought them because it SAID IT OUT LOUD!!) will say something rude again tomorrow. Because I had to buy a Snicker's bar to see the calorie count for a point I was making on the forum. And I did eat that French meal with wine. And dessert. But, hey, I weighed 180-182 this time last year. I got sick for a couple of weeks and lost about five pounds that didn't come back. That had never happened before that I remember. I don't care to repeat that little illness, though. |
|
