The Visible Woman...December 31, 2000

I awoke in the midst of a dream. I was traveling with a man. It was usually Forrest but sometimes it seemed to be someone else. In a hotel room, we were lying in bed and our faces were reflected in a mirrored wall outside. We took a cab to a grocery store. Someone was setting up a display of large terra cotta pots and this person, a large and bearded mountain man type, told Forrest to go get some more pots. Off he headed with our cart. I saw him across the store going out a back exit? Maybe. I looked and looked for him. To tell him to forget the pots. There was a line at the Men's Room (in a grocery store? I know, it's a dream). Parked outside the Men's room were all these odd motorcycles with apparatuses welded on to make the seats high. The men in line were bikers. So I figured Forrest was in there and sat on a long bench to wait for him. He didn't come. I looked some more. I looked down at my shoes. I decided that the brown loafers (closely resembling a pair that I do own) didn't match the gray-striped suit (with skirt and blazer) I was wearing. I caught a cab. I didn't exactly know where I was staying. I showed the driver the plastic card key from the hotel. He had another passenger. He seemed to be an actor whose name I can't recall. The driver also seemed to be a famous actor. He stopped and I gave him a twenty or something and he gave me back a wad of bills. Including a fake $1000 bill and a rubber bill. I handed it all back and said, "Just give me my change so I can tip you." Then I woke up.

I won't get into the argument about the end of the millennium, is it last year or this? Clearly the numbering system and our representations in the computer world won out. It's all an arbitrary system of keeping up with things anyway. People are ho-hum now. Although...it is cool to think it will be, yes, 2001.

I've really enjoyed this time off thing. I haven't begun to do all the cool things I dreamed about. But I have taken all my pursuits at this wonderful, intoxicating leisurely pace.

I worked on my links page. To my delight, journals I thought were kaput and would have to be eliminated reemerged. Of course, I had to take time to read a bit on each of them. I started updating here again. I looked through photos and cleaned out parts of closets. Read papers and books and magazines. Socialized. Pawed through the closets and found presents to give people. Thought of creative things. I even started outlining a book I'm going to write. It will be called Traveling Light: A Guide to Packing and Life. Or something like that.

Several journal writers seem to be about to embark on a new year of parsimoniusness. You would hardly think the spendthrift P/B family would join in this, would you? But we have a budget. AND...we are going to keep up with every single thing we spend. Really, we are. I was all ready to start a couple of days ago. I was trying to scare up the receipt for the case of champagne from Grapevine Market. But himself says we start in January. Tomorrow. Alrighty, then. This is a sure sign of an economic downturn. We haven't kept track of our spending like this since, since, hm since I don't know when. Fifteen years ago?

All these journal writers out there are going to give up CDs and DVDs. OK, that would help us, too. Books. Computer junk. Eating out. That's a big one.

So speaking of saving money...I guess it's time for some resolutions. My list, in years past, was usually something like this:

Save Money
Lose Weight
Floss More
Work Harder at Work
Keep the House Neater and Cleaner
Write More
Read the Paper Every Day
Read More Books
Exercise More
Learn a new Word Every Day
Drink More Water
Drink Less Coffee

So, um, that probably covers it, doesn't it? Nothing about cutting down the alchohol, but losing weight pretty well covers that sin. (It also makes the 'eat more healthy things' unnecessary.) Of course, in the past, my resolutions haven't changed me much. Or have they? Dad says he is making a resolution not to wear a tie unless it's to a funeral. SuRu says the last resolution she made was to 'not make any more resolutions.' And, she kept it!

A small celebration to give a little nod to the occasion was held in the P/B household.

Originally, our bookkeeper and another gal agreed to come over and watch movies. In the end, they didn't come. But Mom and Dad and our neighbors Andy and Laurie and their daughter, our friend Allan, Mom's friends Joe and Maja and their son's mother-in-law (who is visiting from Australia) and Ami and Gloria all did come. Deb and Sam made a brief appearance.

I meant to take pictures. But I forgot.

We watched '2001' and 'Dr. Strangelove'. We put together a Harry Potter jigsaw puzzle. We ate. Chili. Black-eyed peas. Cornbread. Sausage. Cheese. Dip. Desserts. Movie Candy like Milk Duds. (Resolutions start TOMORROW right?) We drank several bottles of older Pinot Noir (1993 and 1994). We drank several bottles of Andouin de Dampierre Champagne. (Some people drank sparkling grape juice and cokes and water but I wasn't one of them.) At midnight we did some giant sparklers in the front yard. I don't think they count as fireworks. (They are illegal in the city limits and, I heard, the fine is $548.)

So 2001 was welcomed. It's now 01/01/01. Wow.