The Latest III

August 6, 2008 at 6:03 pm (Calls, Conversations, Movies, Relatives, Son)
Tags:

Self has spoken to Ying. She sounds so much herself that it is a little hard to take in when she says she is “very dizzy” and running a fever. Still, we are able to conduct a normal conversation, about books and Dearest Mum and what-not, and in the end it’s self who has to cut the call short, for fear she’s overtaxing her sister-in-law.

Then, self finds herself filled with anxiety that she has not heard back from monastery (even though website through which she made the reservation says to give them “three days”, and it’s only been one day). Oops, there she goes again, dialing poor Sean’s cell. And Sean is by himself “in a supermarket,” no son in sight, so OK, so sorry . . .

And then self gets e-mail from her brother-in-law in New York: seems some of Dearest Mum’s unpaid bills are piling up and brother-in-law doesn’t know what to do.

And then, and then . . .

But what more is there? Self simply has to screw her brain on tight and hope for the best. Perhaps self should just go and see a movie, to take her mind off things. While self was tooling around Mendocino, she heard a local commentator give a really enthusiastic review of “Mamma Mia!” If only self were still into ABBA. And Netflix just sent over “Stop-Loss,” so if self doesn’t feel like paying for downtown parking she can just stay home and watch Ryan Phillipe and Abbie Cornish play out their (at the time presumably subliminal) desires.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

2 Comments

Salutations, Dear Blog Readers!

August 5, 2008 at 5:10 pm (Calls, Conversations, Pleasures of Travel, Son, Surprises)

Self did not get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning for hubby, after spending a risible day saying BWAH-HA-HA-HA to self’s face every time she called him at work, arrived home and was suddenly overwhelmed by a premonition that son was being mugged. Yes, just as self and spouse were about to partake (at 9 p.m.) of dinner of cold roast pork, hubby declared emphatically that son was in all probability being set upon by a band of gypsies.

“Gypsies?” Self responded. “But they’re in France!”

“Doesn’t matter!” hubby said. “There are gypsies all over the place!” Read the rest of this entry »

Comments

Upon Self’s Arrival in Mendocino —

July 31, 2008 at 12:03 am (Calls, Son)

Self had barely made it out of the city when she got the news: son had tried using his credit card, and it didn’t work. Naturally, this left him quite out of joint, and he called home. As luck would have it, hubby had persuaded son that he did not need both his debit and his credit card, that one of them would suffice. And he actually made sure that son took the debit card out of his wallet and left it at home (under the impression that if son had both, he would go bananas and start charging expenses right and left — ah, how little the man knows sole fruits of self’s loins!) So, you see the problem. Anyhoo, hubby seemed completely animated by the dilemma, in fact he appeared more animated than self had seen him in months. Hmmm, self thought to herself, must make it a point to leave home more often!

And then, upon perusing her e-mail (What joy, self’s host has wireless), she saw a friendly reminder from Yahoo Calendar that she was scheduled for a tooth extraction, a few days after getting back from the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. This is something self has successfully avoided thinking about for six months. But, there’s no getting around it. (Sigh)

Then, something from brother-in-law about Dearest Mum’s bank account. Which self thinks she can just pass over without reading, for now.

Also, an e-mail advertising very fun music festival in Garden Valley. Where the heck is Garden Valley? Self has to read the fine print before she learns it is “45 minutes north of Boise, Idaho.” How did self get on this mailing list?

And, finally, a reminder to get self’s grades in for her UCLA Extension class, which officially ended today.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

2 Comments

Third Monday in July 08 Status Report

July 21, 2008 at 4:02 pm (Aunts, Calls, Food and Drink, Movies, Places, Son, Writers and Others, Writing)
Tags: ,

It rained. Self saw the almost transparent sheets of rain from the window in her living room. She waited, just to be sure. Until she saw the sidewalk begin to grow a darker grey. The heater kicked in, for the first time in months.

She stood at the kitchen counter, slicing broiled pork into slivers. Then she mixed in some Hoisin sauce. She’ll use the pork slices to make fried rice for dinner tonight.

Last night, she read portions of the piece she is writing to hubby, while he watched Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate.” Now and then he would guffaw, and self would think it was because of something she had read. But on screen, Dustin Hoffman was engaging in risible exchange with Anne Bancroft. It did lend a certain je-ne-se-quois to self’s words, to hear it in counterpoint to such dialogue as “Thank you for giving me a ride home, Benjamin.” Self knows that her new piece is good, because hubby was trying so hard not to show how much he liked it.

There is no word, of course, from Tel Aviv. Self promised she would not call Ying for at least a week. There were seven messages yesterday on self’s answering machine, all from the same aunt. And, this morning, two e-mails from son: he was in Toledo for his birthday, yesterday. He seems to have fallen in love with the city. His camera ran out of battery and all he could do was describe the city in words: the churches, the bridges.

Self wrote back: “If you love Toledo, now you will understand El Greco.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

4 Comments

Ying!

July 7, 2008 at 2:57 pm (Calls, Conversations, Surprises, Tel Aviv)

Phone rings 7:38 a.m.

Self runs down the hall, stumbles over a gazillion books and papers, claws through handbag, dredges up cell phone, says “hello,” hears a female voice, and says stupidly, over and over: “Mom?”

Finally, over the squawking, self hears: “This is Ying!”

@!!###

Self almost falls down, she is so happy!

The other day, self did manage to place a call to Ying’s cell (Thanks so much for the help, Yosef!), and Ying picked up but could not talk (She was in a taxi? With her sister? Or did she say she was in an elevator?).

Now she is home in her apartment (So, the hospital let her out for a while — that’s good!) and her sister, Ann, is there, and self offers to fly there again (since dear blog readers know how Tel Aviv has gotten under self’s skin!), but Ying says no, Dear Bro is returning in a few days, and then Dearest Mum is coming, and there will be “lots of people” around.

Amazingly, Ying’s voice sounds exactly the same.

The call lasts 16 minutes (Hope Ying’s charges on her end do not go through the roof!) and just before self rings off, she tells Ying to contact Yosef Halper of Halper’s Books on Allenby. Ying promises that she will.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

5 Comments

Brain Cloud, Thursday, 3 July 08: Farmer’s Market, Shopping for Baby, Buying Stachys

July 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm (Brain Cloud, Calls, Relatives, Son)
Tags: ,

Kind of up and down, yesterday.

Dug holes for two new plants, ruined three-day-old manicure but physical exertions extremely beneficial to self’s frame of mind at the moment.

Went to San Carlos Farmers Market, did the following:

  • Paid $3.50 for a basket of supposedly organic strawberries (sold by two flower children: authentic 60s look, hair), which are the “wee-est” strawberries, small and mis-shapen, that self has ever had the opportunity to purchase.
  • Stopped by stall of favorite baker, Fleur Chyld, but this one seems always overwhelmed with customers lately. Stood and stood and stood while a woman tried every single biscuit and cookie on display. Finally dug up temerity to ask whether self could have a sample of a raspberry bar. Though Fleur Chyld man freely gave samples to other customer, he told self he had no samples. So self walked away without purchasing anything.

Stroller shield for Heather’s baby shower arrived in the mail. Self panics, thinks it is much too paltry-looking for a shower that is being held in Il Foranio in Burlingame, rushes to Hallmark Store and purchases green and blue tissue paper, and cute, matching blue and green gift bag decorated with the words B-A-B-Y. Self decides to throw in a greeting card for good measure.

Went to Redwood City Nursery with list of shade plants to put underneath trees in the backyard (helleborus, campanula). Instead, ended up purchasing several quart containers of sun-loving Stachys (Lamb’s Ears) because she fell in love with their gray color. Also, contemplated buying an iron trellis, but price was $295.

Late in the afternoon, received e-mail from sole fruit of self’s loins, who complained that someone called his newly acquired global phone AT 4 IN THE MORNING, and as a consequence he did poorly in class that day. Self remembers that, the day before, upon receiving an e-mail from son with his global phone number, self did in fact pick up the phone and did in fact try giving son a “test call.” Son did not pick up; instead, a woman speaking Spanish came on, and self was so disoriented that she forgot all her four years of high school Spanish and hung up. This must be the call son is referring to.

Placed a call to Dearest Mum, who inquired why self had to go and send out an e-mail to all the relatives, asking for prayers for Ying so that some higher force (God, Buddha, or whoever) will give sister-in-law the strength to undergo the bone marrow transplant everyone wants her to have. Self informed Dearest Mum that she only sent out a very WEE e-mail, “not even four sentences,” just an update. Dearest Mum then informed self that there was nothing to worry about, she herself called Ying and Ying has agreed to go ahead with the transplant after all. Next week.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

2 Comments

The Latest II

July 3, 2008 at 6:14 pm (Aunts, Calls, Conversations, Quotes, Relatives, Sayings, Tel Aviv)

“She doesn’t have faith. If she believed in God, things would be different.” Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Oh, What a Lovely World

June 25, 2008 at 1:19 am (Calls, Conversations, Food and Drink, Son, Surprises)
Tags: , ,

Self spent almost the entire day with son. Mid-morning, as she was tidying up the living room, her cell rang. It was her friendly State Farm agent, saying that if son did not come in immediately and watch a 10-minute safety video, he would no longer be eligible for his “Good Driver” discount.

“Why? He hasn’t been in any accidents since he got his license,” self said. “Is this a new policy? And, we’re really very busy; he’s leaving in two days for Europe. Can’t this wait until he gets back?”

What do you suppose happened, dear blog readers? You can probably guess.

An hour later, self and son were in downtown Palo Alto. State Farm agent’s office on University Avenue turned out to be next to a rather lively bar named Rudy’s. As self and son walked down University, son seemed to be in rather a reflective mood.

“It’s funny,” he said. “The smells. It reminds me of Manila.”

Downtown Palo Alto reminds son of Manila??? Self was quiet.

“Maybe it’s just that it’s so hot. And why is the sky such a funny color?”

And it was a funny color: grayish, hazy.

Self told son there had been a fire in San Bruno. Maybe it was ash, blowing around?

After son had watched the video (Really stupid: In a series of short scenes, different teen-agers were shown chatting to passengers while driving, and each scene ended in exactly the same way, with an “Oh no!” and then a grinding sound and then a KA-BOOM!), self asked son what he felt like eating, and he asked to eat at Kirk’s.

Oh, Kirk’s, we had not eaten there in what seemed like years and years. In fact, self had not been to the Town & Country shopping center (at Embarcadero and El Camino) in years and years. And today self noticed that it had been spruced up with stone planter boxes and flowers. But Kirk’s was exactly the same. And self had a Steakburger with Jack, and son had an All-Beef Frankfurter with large garlic fries and a drink. And my, those fries were sooo yummy!

After lunch, self decided that, since son was in her company, an event that has only happened two other times this year, they would go to the bank and self would get him Traveler’s Checks for his trip. And for that she withdrew $500.

Then, upon hearing that son was intending to travel with only the pair of flip-flops he had on his feet at that moment, self persuaded him to have a look at Marshall’s. As they were walking in the store, self, preening with over-confidence (as she had been there with Dearest Mum at least three different times in the past week), said: “Over here they have the women’s stuff, and the men’s stuff is all the way on the other side, at the back of the store –”

And son said, without so much as missing a beat, “Or maybe the men’s stuff is right here?  Under this big sign saying MEN’S SHOES?”

And self was so abashed that she fell completeley silent.

And would you believe, dear blog reader, that Marshall’s had only flip-flops and sneakers? What is this world coming to?

But we then wended our way to Target’s, and there we found Mossimo’s (racks and racks of men’s sandals, all in the same shade of tan). There was only one style of sandal, and it was going for $19.99, and self was so relieved when son found the one and only remaining pair in his size.

And then son and self went home, and self proceeded to water some more. And then Dearest Mum called and inquired if self wanted to meet somewhere. And self said, “Why don’t you just come over for dinner?” And Dearest Mum, who was with aunt and uncle, said she thought that would be a good idea. And now self has decided to cook, courtesy of justoneplate.com, a dish with the stunning name of

Strozzapreti Ai Gamberi

Which translates, self thinks, to “shrimp with pasta.” Because it just so happens that she has, in the fridge: a) shrimp and b) linguini. What a stroke of luck!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

Comments

Calls, Surprises: Tuesday, 24 June 2008

June 24, 2008 at 4:22 pm (Calls, Conversations, Food and Drink, Insomnia, Places, Plays, Quotes, Son, Surprises, Writers and Others)
Tags: , ,

Self went to bed at 3 a.m. Too many things on her mind: her students (in what will in all probability be her last class at xxxx community college, and whether that is a good or a bad thing self still can’t decide); son’s upcoming departure for Europe (in just three days!); Dearest Mum (who decided to go see self’s hairdresser yesterday, and then grilled poor Doris about what haircut she had given self — who, to be honest, hasn’t been there in six months. “Dear, she doesn’t remember you at all!” Dearest Mum cooed afterwards. “Not at all!”)

Son met Sacred Heart pal Kenny at Colonel Lee’s Mongolian Barbecue in Mountain View for dinner. When he returned, he reported that the place looked “completely different.” Apparently, it had undergone some kind of make-over. Which made self sad, for one of the reasons she loved eating there was that there were the exact same faded murals on the walls (of — presumably the Mongolian — steppes) as there had been since her graduate student days at Stanford.

Then, self went to bed, and at 2 a.m. there was a call from one of her brothers in Manila, trying to get Dearest Mum’s flight information so that they could pick her up from the airport, when she returns next week.

And this morning, bright and early, (7:30 a.m.) there was a call from Dearest Mum herself, talking breathlessly about a fantastic sale at Macy’s, which self thinks she ought to skip, for she spent too much over the weekend (On shoes, what else?)

And then self settles down on the couch to read her mail (She’s had only three-and-a-half hours sleep, eyes are like ping-pong balls), and here’s a newsletter from VCCA, announcing the installation of a new chef, one Rhonda Scovill, who seems to have a most wonderful attitude, declaring that: “The First Impression is one of” her most important ingredients; “every night is a catered event”; and, “It’s not just a meal. It’s not just dinner.”

She also has an assistant, a “sous chef” (that is exactly how it is described in the newsletter, dear blog readers) named Zane Burchett, “who grew up in the kitchen, working side by side with his mother.”

Excellent developments, self thinks!

And then, self almost can’t believe her eyes, for in the information on former residents, she sees that a book self just finished reading last month, John Singer Sargent and Madame X, has been turned into a play by VCCA fellow Rosary O’Neill. Self sincerely hopes this play eventually makes it to San Francisco.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

2 Comments

Blissful (June 08) Saturday

June 14, 2008 at 1:46 pm (Calls, Dogs, Movies)
Tags:

Ahhh, what bliss: it is Saturday.

And even though self woke up with an extreme crick in her neck, she is ready with a post on her various activities yesterday:

  • Self bought the most gorgeous doggie bed in the world. From Costco. For $21.99
  • After a morning spent writing and reading and doing errands, self fell asleep on the couch. Had nightmare. Something involving knives. Woke up, none the worse for wear.
  • Self used left-over roast chicken to make a salad with baby spinach, sliced red onions, sliced almonds, sliced tomatoes (from Costco, salmonella-free), and shavings of Asiago cheese: dee-lish!
  • Self called Dearest Mum in Las Vegas, to wish her luck before her concert tonight (in a friend’s house). Dearest Mum all happiness: only 25 people had been invited (as friend’s townhouse quite snug), but, apparently twice that number are coming. Dearest Mum’s friend is having a heart attack, but Dearest Mum herself is unperturbed, says guests will only be too happy to sit on the floor, on the stairs.
  • Self watched (after hubby came home) “The Hunt for Red October” and was struck by the young Alec Baldwin’s good looks and also surprisingly good acting ability, Scott Glenn’s inimitable intensity, and the patience of the script, which took its time instead of jumping from one action scene to the next. Also, self wondered how Tom Clancy could know so much about nuclear subs: it has to be all research, but the story has plot and character. All hail, Tom Clancy!
  • Then, in the middle of the very exciting movie, self fell asleep once again (Boy, the week must have really tired her out). When she awoke (around 11:30), the first thing she did was grab the remote and switch to the Sci-Fi station but — alas! — showing was “Doctor Who”, and self gnashed her teeth at the thought that, for the second week in a row, she had missed “Battlestar Galactica.”

Tonight, dinner in the city followed by concert at Davies. Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

Comments

« Previous entries