Saturday. December 15, 2001

let's put up the icicles, too

"A patriot is a fool in ev'ry age. ".

Alexander Pope

I wake up late, consumed with sleep. It takes a bit to get me going, but I manage to get up and get dressed. It looks like it's been raining off and on. I do a little project for my niece, going through her old e-mails to me and picking out little stories she told about her son and compiling them into an e-mail for her. I always agree to do little time-consuming projects for people. Usually it's for my mom or sister. Sometimes for FFP. FFP gets a call. I see from caller ID that it is probably from tonight's Nutcracker Mother Ginger. I let him answer. Not a crisis, I hope.

SuRu calls and wants to eat breakfast. I ask FFP gingerly if he needs any help. SuRu and I try Bluebonnet. It's stacked so we go to Aranda's.

It keeps raining. FFP calls to say that he wants me to drive his parents to a party so that he can go to the matinée of the ballet and make sure all is well.

I drive my inlaws in the rain to a party for his niece's sixty-fifth birthday. I think anyway. I'm all scruffy and my hair is sticking up, but they try to get me to stay at the party. I tell them I'll come back for them, but they say they think they can get a ride home.

I practice my piece for the salon. It's a monologue about stuff. Wanting it, getting it, etc. Appropriate for Christmas, don't you think? I think it's going to work pretty well. I adlib some of it. Tomorrow I need to practice it again. I don't know if I'll have the courage to do it. I hope so.

I clean out the refrigerator and decorate for Christmas by scattering bendable Santas all around. I read some of the paper. I scan some old slides for a project to make Thank You cards for a couple of aunts who have given me Christmas presents.

FFP comes home from the ballet, happy with the results. He says they had to delay the start ten minutes while the secret service got Lady Bird Johnson in and seated.

Lypsinka. The Boxed Set. That was the evening's entertainment. John Epperson took a bag of songs and other cultural references (think hysterical women in old movies) and lip synced, costumed, lighted, drag dress uped through them. In the program, he said he was making a statement. About being trapped. It was presented in one act, no intermission. I thought it worked to a point. I'm sure I missed some cultural references. (Let's just say having just watched the end of Sunset Boulevard was useful.) The guy moves from a very attractive drag queen to a Lucille Ball rubber face to an imitation of those old movie queens from one beat to the next. Some of the gags (the graceful movement of arm or hand becoming seemingly disembodied and then the woman becoming aware of it for example) are funny more than once but not as often as used. A light amusement, not overly long and thankfully so. Of course, like I say, maybe I missed some of the cultural references. (No, I didn't miss the references to gay culture. I think I got them and he always made it clear he was making one by pointing or making eye contact with a guy on the front row.)

So, yeah, go see it. It will be a pleasant relief from Christmas entertainment.

We considered going out to dinner after. It was still early. The production started at seven and ran without intermission. But the rain was starting again. And home beckoned. So we snacked at home, FFP with some soup and me with a bit of cheese and candy and cookies we got as Christmas presents. I tried to pare down the newspaper pile. But, early as it was, snoozing took over. I do think I'm almost over my cold/allergy/flu/virus. (Do you ever wonder how people know what's actually wrong when they don't go to the doctor? Or worse, go to the doctor but he only looks at symptoms and prescribes an antibiotic?)

JUST TYPING
I'll do it some rainy day.
I think.
That would be today.