The Visible Woman...April 17, 2003

early riser

I set the alarm but when I have to get up this early I awaken almost hourly anyway. This would seem to make for fitful sleep but, in fact, I usually feel rested. In fact, the hours tick off with relative unconsciousness in between.

I get up and let the dog out, feed the dog (after FFP cuts her pill in half...I have trouble getting it cut without bashing it to smithereens). I make some coffee, check my e-mail. Find out someone I know in Cape Town has breast cancer. Met this friend through another woman who, herself, has been fighting it for almost six years.

I leave the house at six to pick up my friend and take her to the airport. I'm getting her there too early I'm sure. I'm pathologically punctual. And it's contagious!

I get there a minute or two after the promised 6:15 (or so). But for the light at Cameron changing just as I got there, I would have been right on time.

I load up her stuff including a coat and sweater for Maine (where she is going) and we are off. I don't look at the time when I drop her off. I loan her some one dollar bills to tip the curbside check-in guy.

The traffic is picking up going back. I go straight to the club.

I go to the gym and do some ab and back work and ride the bicycle to nowhere for 45+ minutes while reading Larry McMurtry's Roads. I shower up, put on tennis clothes and go out to the courts. After a little confusion we are set to play in the league I'm subbing in. I don't play too badly nor too much better than the women in the league. Ergo, I'm a good sub. My partner and I win a set 6-3 and lose one 3-6. One woman needs to go so we play a tie break for the match. My partner and I win it. I attribute this to the fact that I'm the only one who knows tie break rules so the others are so mystified by me telling them when to serve and change that they choke.

I go home. Dad is already there. I get my shower. He's brought some chicken and dumplings his friend made. We make some spinach salads and that's lunch for FFP and he and I.

So we go to get the hearing aids. Dad seems to like them. The guy teaches him to turn them up and down, to put in batteries and explains getting used to them.

I pay with my credit card to get miles and, at home, Dad writes me a check. Actually he's trying to add up what he owes me for the lamb and this and ends up writing two checks when he gets it wrong. We get some glasses of water. He observes that the ice in my glass makes a certain sound as it rattles back into the glass. He starts whispering, thinking he's talking too loud. He looks down at Chalow as if she is making a sound (toe nails on tile?) that he hasn't heard in a while. He decides to go home and see if 'he can hear the TV.' What an adventure.

I decide to take his checks to the bank and also to get some smaller bills for some cash I got yesterday. I forgot to say "don't give me hundreds, who wants hundreds." FFP chastised me yesterday for not knowing the ropes on such errands, for not knowing to tell them fifties and twenties. Guilty.

Before I went to the bank, FFP and I talked about dinner. We have a bunch of fish but we didn't defrost any. We talk about going to Fonda San Miguel. It's on my mind because I'm working on putting their new menu on the WEB page. FFP seems for it.

But when I get back, he's not in the mood to go out. His poison ivy and his work is getting him down. "Don't we have anything to eat here?" he asks.

"Hmm," I say. "Chili? Tuna Fish Salad?" (I don't think of nachos, but, yeah, I could make nachos. I don't mention frozen dinners.

"Tuna fish," he says.

"I'll make some," I say.

I go to the kitchen and start eggs boiling. I mix the tuna fish, a little onion, curry, white pepper, mayo, relish, chopped apple.

The electrician comes. A light fixture in the bathroom shorted out earlier, ending over fifty years of service. When it went, it flipped the breaker. Bizarrely the breaker did not control the other light in this bathroom but DID control the lights in my office. Thank goodness this same electrician (FFP's cousin) had put all my computers on a different, separate circuit a while back. He will be back Monday with a new fixture and stuff to make a plug. It is no against the code to have a plug in the light fixture. Did you know that? Me either.

I finish the tuna. FFP and I have been finishing up a menu for a private wine dinner we are giving next week at Zoot. We huddle briefly on that.

Dad calls. To test the phone circuit on his hearing aid. Somehow the aid senses the phone (via its magnetic coil) and avoids feedback by switching when the phone is to his ear. He's been wearing them, he says, and has practiced taking them out and putting them back in. This may work, it just may.

I work some more on the online Fonda menu. It's evening. I'm kind of hungry.

I make nachos and we eat some and we eat some tuna salad although it hasn't gotten really cold like I like it. I drink a Shiner. I'm stuffed. We harrass the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestants while stuffing.

Part of today was what I've always dreamed...working out, reading then playing tennis. When I envisioned my perfect life, long ago, it didn't include assignments to type in menu items for WEB pages (which didn't exist then probably) and it didn't include accompanying my dad to get hearing aids. It's all good, though. It really is.

We watch some mindless TV. CSI is silly sometimes. Law and Order may have made sense but I fell asleep. I tried to read some papers, too. I worked on the Internet backup program I have for FFP's machine. Finally, reading McMurtry's Roads in bed, I fall asleep. I'm thinking I'll get up and go to the club before tomorrow's outing but I don't set the alarm.

a mess I made while cleaning out a closet that had mostly miniature supplies and unfinished projects at Mom's

"We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies?"

Edward Young

JUST TYPING
up early
adds hours to your day
an amazing feat
grabbing time
out of nothing
but really
why do we have to sleep?
and what does less
or more
really do?

			early riser I set the alarm but when I have to get up this early I awaken almost hourly anyway. This would seem to make for fitful sleep but, in fact, I usually feel rested. In fact, the hours tick off with relative unconsciousness in between. I get up and let the dog out, feed the dog (after FFP cuts her pill in half...I have trouble getting it cut without bashing it to smithereens). I make some coffee, check my e-mail. Find out someone I know in Cape Town has breast cancer. Met this friend through another woman who, herself, has been fighting it for almost six years. I leave the house at six to pick up my friend and take her to the airport. I'm getting her there too early I'm sure. I'm pathologically punctual. And it's contagious! I get there a minute or two after the promised 6:15 (or so). But for the light at Cameron changing just as I got there, I would have been right on time. I load up her stuff including a coat and sweater for Maine (where she is going) and we are off. I don't look at the time when I drop her off. I loan her some one dollar bills to tip the curbside check-in guy. The traffic is picking up going back. I go straight to the club. I go to the gym and do some ab and back work and ride the bicycle to nowhere for 45+ minutes while reading Larry McMurtry's Roads. I shower up, put on tennis clothes and go out to the courts. After a little confusion we are set to play in the league I'm subbing in. I don't play too badly nor too much better than the women in the league. Ergo, I'm a good sub. My partner and I win a set 6-3 and lose one 3-6. One woman needs to go so we play a tie break for the match. My partner and I win it. I attribute this to the fact that I'm the only one who knows tie break rules so the others are so mystified by me telling them when to serve and change that they choke. I go home. Dad is already there. I get my shower. He's brought some chicken and dumplings his friend made. We make some spinach salads and that's lunch for FFP and he and I. So we go to get the hearing aids. Dad seems to like them. The guy teaches him to turn them up and down, to put in batteries and explains getting used to them. I pay with my credit card to get miles and, at home, Dad writes me a check. Actually he's trying to add up what he owes me for the lamb and this and ends up writing two checks when he gets it wrong. We get some glasses of water. He observes that the ice in my glass makes a certain sound as it rattles back into the glass. He starts whispering, thinking he's talking too loud. He looks down at Chalow as if she is making a sound (toe nails on tile?) that he hasn't heard in a while. He decides to go home and see if 'he can hear the TV.' What an adventure. I decide to take his checks to the bank and also to get some smaller bills for some cash I got yesterday. I forgot to say "don't give me hundreds, who wants hundreds." FFP chastised me yesterday for not knowing the ropes on such errands, for not knowing to tell them fifties and twenties. Guilty. Before I went to the bank, FFP and I talked about dinner. We have a bunch of fish but we didn't defrost any. We talk about going to Fonda San Miguel. It's on my mind because I'm working on putting their new menu on the WEB page. FFP seems for it. But when I get back, he's not in the mood to go out. His poison ivy and his work is getting him down. "Don't we have anything to eat here?" he asks. "Hmm," I say. "Chili? Tuna Fish Salad?" (I don't think of nachos, but, yeah, I could make nachos. I don't mention frozen dinners. "Tuna fish," he says. "I'll make some," I say. I go to the kitchen and start eggs boiling. I mix the tuna fish, a little onion, curry, white pepper, mayo, relish, chopped apple. The electrician comes. A light fixture in the bathroom shorted out earlier, ending over fifty years of service. When it went, it flipped the breaker. Bizarrely the breaker did not control the other light in this bathroom but DID control the lights in my office. Thank goodness this same electrician (FFP's cousin) had put all my computers on a different, separate circuit a while back. He will be back Monday with a new fixture and stuff to make a plug. It is no against the code to have a plug in the light fixture. Did you know that? Me either. I finish the tuna. FFP and I have been finishing up a menu for a private wine dinner we are giving next week at Zoot. We huddle briefly on that. Dad calls. To test the phone circuit on his hearing aid. Somehow the aid senses the phone (via its magnetic coil) and avoids feedback by switching when the phone is to his ear. He's been wearing them, he says, and has practiced taking them out and putting them back in. This may work, it just may. I work some more on the online Fonda menu. It's evening. I'm kind of hungry. I make nachos and we eat some and we eat some tuna salad although it hasn't gotten really cold like I like it. I drink a Shiner. I'm stuffed. We harrass the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestants while stuffing. Part of today was what I've always dreamed...working out, reading then playing tennis. When I envisioned my perfect life, long ago, it didn't include assignments to type in menu items for WEB pages (which didn't exist then probably) and it didn't include accompanying my dad to get hearing aids. It's all good, though. It really is. We watch some mindless TV. CSI is silly sometimes. Law and Order may have made sense but I fell asleep. I tried to read some papers, too. I worked on the Internet backup program I have for FFP's machine. Finally, reading McMurtry's Roads in bed, I fall asleep. I'm thinking I'll get up and go to the club before tomorrow's outing but I don't set the alarm.

	a mess I made while cleaning out a closet that had mostly miniature supplies and unfinished projects at Mom's "We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies?" Edward Young
	JUST TYPING up early adds hours to your day an amazing feat grabbing time out of nothing but really why do we have to sleep? and what does less or more really do?

Thursday, April 17, 2003