here today

 

interview

the nice man in charge of guiding my application through the I think I want to go to grad school process called me while I was driving yesterday.  he asked me if it was a good time to talk at which point I promptly confessed to being in my car on my phone with a 200 pound sewing machine and a canopy (long story).  But the seats are clean, I said.  the seats are clean. 

usually they aren't.  I'm a car pig, you see. 

not that the nice man calling me to say that Columbia finally sent the transcripts (maybe they took forever because I've never given them any money because unlike all of my classmates I didn't immediately make a million dollars after graduating.  instead, I just take the free magazine every month and read through it while doing shots of tequila and feeling like an underachiever but not an interesting one just a girl with a brain and a great education working for an insurance agency doing nothing with her life while my peers discover cures for cancer and retire from their dotcom stock cashouts) and that the admissions committee had approved my application in a record 24 hour period and that I now get to interview with them.  He didn't need to know that I was driving. 

all this is to say that I have an interview on May 16th.  I have an interview and I will fly down there and wow them.  I will fly down there and wow them and then the real trouble will start.

Posted by: 120pages at 12:32 | link | comments (4) |

first real smile of the day

SUNDAY
sunday it came early waking up in the nice hotel and yes, Leigh, I would live in one, too a la Eloise if I could.  room service and fluffy towels what could best that.  then breakfast at The Columbia Cafe where Uriah makes food to order and we always sit at the counter he's growly in the morning but who cares with eggs and beans, tortillas and homemade salsa oh boy I eat and smile and eat and smile.  Sunday he smiled back at me a real victory when someone's not a morning person and has built his reputation on beating up the out of towners like me who come with our visas to the cash only cafe where most people don't shower for days I think some of them out on fishing boats in the wind and the rain wearing rubber boots and big beards, stained hats, furtive eyes.

MONDAY
monday it was 3pm reading a poem written in celebration of Mary Oliver.  roses and unbridled women.  oh I smiled at that, indeed.  thank you mermaid girl.

TUESDAY
did not start out well but then the Gazelle flew back from SoCal after interviewing with yahoo and staying at the Ritz.  unemployed for five months and then a night at the Ritz can make one heady, delirious, confused.  he came by and we ate chips and salsa and marveled at the writing on the West Wing, smiling together, we friends.  oh I do hope they hire him though I don't want him to leave again my gazelle flit flitting across the country the world hoping a job will make his life complete.

WEDNESDAY
wednesday the smiling came late in the day again.  late in the day while bathing the professor's baby who gurgled, really she gurgled and was soft, sweet baby girl.  delightful - not delightful enough to send me out shopping for one of my own, but soft so soft and after her bath in the sink she smelled like candy.

TODAY
today  I woke late with ben in the bed the bed and we smiled at our anniversary approaching and talked of the bottle of wine we bought in Paris a year ago.  it's in the basement somewhere I said and we laughed at the hunt we'll have for that bottle we hope is still whole and waiting.  today I had an idea for Peace Dog my work in progress my movie my script that I finished on monday.  an idea that snuck into my head mid-night and stayed.  usually they don't you know.  usually to keep an idea like that I'd have to run get my pen my paper and cold feet write it down quickly to save it for later.  this morning I slept in and woke with a smile and an idea and hopefully wine in the basement somewhere but definately ben in the bed. 

Posted by: 120pages at 10:43 | link | comments (2) |

lucy's birthday. The Finale.

things I like about nice hotels:

1. nice people.

nice hotels are invariably staffed by nice people.  with nice teeth.  who will do anything for you like bring you more pillows or find a toothbrush at a nearby shop at midnight or sew a button on the only dress you brought.  eighteen pairs of shoes.  one dress.  one dress that's missing a button.  at one very very nice hotel (the dollar was exceedingly strong, the Canadien dollar not so much) in Victoria, BC, the concierge comforted me while two other employees searched for my necklace politely ignoring the waterfall builder's bong on the bedside table, the red fingernail polish on his toes and various other embarrassing items that I won't list.  most embarrassing of all was the fact that the necklace was around my neck.  through it all, they were very nice.

2. down.

there is down everywhere.  in the pillows, in the mattresses, in the extra pillows, in the throw pillows, probably in the curtains and the carpeting.  I don't know.  In any case, everything is comfy and soft and enveloping.

3. room service.

people bring you food to your room.  you eat it on the bed.  you don't have to clean the bed or the dishes.  it's brilliant.

4. pet friendly.

this is a new thing and I am crazy for it.  hotels that are happy to see the doggies.  like the Hotel Elliot in Astoria, Oregon, for example.  The Hotel Elliot has a rooftop garden and a wine bar in the basement and a well-ventilated cigar bar and they allow dogs for a small fee.  The fee covers what it costs for them to dry clean every piece of fabric in the dog rooms.  And there is a lot of fabric.  All this means that even though you are weird enough to want to travel with your dog, you are not punished by having to stay in a nasty hairy hotel room with dirty sheets.

that's where we went this weekend.  The Hotel Elliot which has off-season prices because it rains in Oregon for seven months a year.  April is one of those months.  So, it rained and we had room service and Lucy slept on the bed while we watched TV wearing the Hotel Elliot fluffy white robes fresh from a shower with Aveda products.  We watched TV laying cosily we three on the down comfortable propped up on down pillows all of us worn out from romping on the beach in the rain nobody else crazy enough to be out there with us.  

Posted by: 120pages at 12:40 | link | comments (1) |

things lucy eats.

deer poo
my parents house borders a park. deer wander up into their yard. Lu treats it like a buffet.

mud
the park near my old apartment had the yummiest mud. I think it was the fertilizer. All the dogs ate it.

grass
when she's anxious. which is most of the time.

seven cubes of butter -wrappers included
each time it happens, I look around for the butter, puzzled. I get another cube out, then notice Lu licking her chops, giving a small burp of joy, and looking around for more butter.

a baseball glove
this was when she was a puppy and I thought it was cute to see her carry around my glove. then she ate it.

two thousand tennis balls
yep.

that toy that the guy at the pet store claimed was indestructible
it wasn't.

1 pillow
scattered feathers are actually kind of pretty. then you have to clean them up.

three cardboard boxes
Lucy doesn't like to move.

Stephan's letters from the IRS
he mailed them to me.
I fed them to Lu.
I took pictures and sent them back.
it was performance art.

part of a dead bird
icky.

one enchilada from a dinner party guest’s plate
this catagory should really be bigger but I don't like to admit that my dog is not a good party guest. people think she's sidling up to them to show them some love but really she's angling for chow.
hold your plate too low and the food is gone.

toilet paper
Lucy stays with my parents when we go on trips. she is fascinated by their toilet paper. probably because we buy the recycled stuff that's no fun and my parents' toilet paper is soft and fluffy and spreading it around the house is deliriously good times.

half of a plant
I never liked that plant.

6 oz. Pepper Jack cheese, 10 oz. brie, 12 oz. very expensive Parmesan
cheese is not good for her tummy. cheese means trouble in the middle of the night. Lucy loves cheese.

the arms and legs of a doll
actually first she ate the face.
which was disturbing.

a million chew sticks
they keep her busy for like a minute. I buy them by the truckload.

eighteen dog beds
now we just buy blankets at the thrift stores. lucy likes to rip them apart while tossing her head at us. it's funny and scary. both.

a loaf of banana bread wrapped in tin foil.
yes, she also ate the tin foil.

Science Diet dog food for Sensitive Stomachs
sensitive stomach? ha.

Posted by: 120pages at 10:07 | link | comments (3) |