Saturday, January 28, 2023
Cheesehead
I was in Wisconsin for work for a couple of days this week. My key takeaways were that I was cold, that trees are pretty, and that not being able to drink is definitely a drawback in certain professional settings. All of this is unlikely to be the basis for a TED talk any time soon, but it is what it is.
My dad was from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (home of the world's purest water), so we used to go up there for a bit every summer when I was a kid. I remember there being a really great playground with a huge slide. Also, I committed sacrilege by saying butter tasted weird when I tried it for the first time. (We were a margarine family.) Looking back now I can admit I was way off base on that one.
I did have some butter this time around, along with seared octopus two nights in a row because somehow that was what was ordered and I did not want to be rude. Also, Jersey Mike's for lunch two days in a row, which I had previously assumed would be fatal. A lot of my job is eating on cue, it turns out.
The trip back was a bit treacherous since for some reason it has been snowing for four days straight now. It wasn't much, but the Prius is not really built for any weather beyond sunny and mild. Luckily I'm basically a skilled stunt driver. I-94 didn't even know what hit it.
Sunday, January 22, 2023
True Crime
As a general matter, I don't really get America's obsession with horrific crimes. Of course, I did think Hayden Panettiere was amazing as Amanda Knox (Murder on Trial in Italy), and the Jodia Arias (Dirty Little Secret) Lifetime movie is one of my guilty little pleasures. (It stars a pre-Chicago PD Jesse Lee Soffer as Jodi's victim and ends with a jailhouse performance of "Silent Night.") But I have no interest in watching the Dahmer series on Netflix, partially because I'm fairly anti cannibalism (sorry, Armie) and partially because I think the victims suffered enough without being subjected to Ryan Murphy's invariably subtle brand of storytelling. I barely dipped into the Gabby Petitio thing, though as I recall that was mainly because the weather was nice and I was busy drinking wine coolers with my top off. And, in perhaps the most shocking admission of them all, I don't know too much about the Idaho murders.
That said, I do have kind of a bizarre fascination with the people who have a bizarre fascination with these crimes. Nancy Grace is Exhibit A. She gets so worked up about these crimes that I always want to ask her if the (alleged) perpetrators also did an upper decker in her dressing room bathroom. I saw an image of her outside the Idaho crime scene (for some reason) looking perhaps the happiest I've ever seen her (although I did not watch Dancing With the Stars, to be fair) in a pair of fingerless gloves (for some reason). She also has a movie series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries with Kellie Martin where she does cameos as a sassy waitress or sassy receptionist, which is not really relevant but just something I want to mention.
And then there are the internet sleuths, who love to fixate on the tiniest, most irrelevant details. And who seem to want to attack everyone but the person who is actually accused of the crime. (Him they subject to armchair psychology and what appears to be light phrenology.) I get that it's weird that the surviving roommate apparently saw the killer in the house and didn't do anything about that for hours, but as a former appellate prosecutor (now I sound like Nancy Grace), I can assure you that pretty much every crime has a lot of weirdness around it. Because guess what? Life is weird. Except for Jennifer Aniston, who is very normal and happy.
Anyway, I've probably said too much, but then again I feel like maybe I haven't really said anything at all. Life is so full of mystery!
Sunday, January 15, 2023
New York on Zero Free Time Per Day
I had another work trip to New York this week. There are times when these trips are a fun chance to break up the routine, to do different work in an interesting place and maybe even see some old friends. This was not one of those times. I worked more or less the entire time I was there, excepting breaks for picking up people's salads or desperately stalking the aisles of a dirty CVS for contact solution. My hotel was nice enough, I suppose, and my neighbors to my guest office were lovely. But I can't say I experienced very much of the city while crossing 41st street between where I was sleeping and where I was working.
Which, I keep telling myself, is okay. Generally I prefer to be busy with work in the winter, when the weather makes me hate life, anyway, with the idea that I can then be footloose and fancy free when it's nice outside. (Although when it comes to cutting footloose, I am certainly no Kevin Bacon.) And, as we all know, I have a basic inability to sit still that augurs well for working 24/7. Though I did miss my people and things. Just a few days without my Sonicare and I feel like I've got moss growing in there.
Saturday, January 07, 2023
2023 Preview
A new year! So exciting! Here are some of the things I'm most looking forward to:
-- The gas fireplace system we're getting installed in our family room. The previous owners left us with a manual for such a system, but no system. As much as I love a mystery, I prefer warmth.
-- Our new couch! We ordered it in August and it's supposed to finally arrive on Tuesday! I've fully forgotten what it's supposed to look like!
-- Performing again. I'm doing some lawyer shows in February, and writing a new show of my own. Note that I don't say I'm looking forward to the writing. That's just for masochists.
-- Being able to drink again in March. I totally don't have an alcohol problem and am doing fine. But I'm not a martyr.
-- Not moving. Seriously, that was so much work. Let's never do it again.
-- Going to St. Thomas. One of Ian's friends is renting a house there for a group of us this spring and it looks amazing. I'll probably spend at least half the trip working remotely, but at least I'll be doing it in the sun!
-- Lisa Rinna not being on RHOBH. Maybe I'll actually start watching regularly again? Actually they'd probably have to lose a few more cast members for that. But just knowing she's not there will be nice for me.
-- Summer. I just like summer. Again, warmth.
-- Finally finishing Ulysses. This is going to be the year, I can feel it.
-- Doing another mosaic project. Now that we have more space, I can safely mosaic without having to worry about Ian stepping on my discarded shards of glass and hurting himself. I could also have just been more careful in the past, but I am who I am.
-- Cheese. No explanation needed.
