Exhaustion, and a Movie

Dear blog readers, take note: Since no one read last night’s post, “Nostalgia Post I: A Brother’s (Short-Lived) Restaurant,” it has now vanished into blog-world ether, though self must hasten to assure readers that it still lives (somewhere in self’s brain)

Thursday night, self got maybe two hours sleep. Perhaps it was all the excitement of the week: the start of spring quarter and meeting a new class of students — a number of whom were apparently eager and willing to discuss André Dubus’ short story “Killings,” and it was only the first assignment of the quarter (!!!) — and the Wednesday night reading at Book Passage in the Ferry Building (The store’s setting is to-die-for, not to mention there is a really good gelato place in the Ferry Building where self treated herself to a mango/lychee/banana smoothie)

In addition, hubby stayed up until 3 AM. Since self was so consumed by curiosity about hubby’s web habits, she herself could not sleep, even after hubby shut the light (His laptop remained on, a blue cube glowing in the darkness)

So, self resumed reading E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times. And, since she was liking it so much more than Billy Bathgate, she decided to read all the way to the end. And, wouldn’t you know, the ending was the most violent, horrific set-piece self has read in any novel in decades. And, after finishing it, self was so angry at its lame-brain protagonist that she wanted to throw the book against a wall (Only, it was a library book, so she had to restrain herself). And, scenes of mayhem and violence kept re-playing in self’s head every time she laid her head down on the pillow. Which meant that self could not sleep at all.

Still, yesterday was not bad. First of all, it was hot. To self’s way of thinking, any day that recalls heat of self’s beloved home country is already halfway good.

Then, self got to check out another book from the library: Jane Smiley’s novella and short stories, The Age of Grief (Upon reading the purchase date, stamped on the inside front cover, self had to do a double-take: 1977??? Jane Smiley is a lot older than self thought!)

Then to the real highlight of the day: During a brief stop at the Redwood City Nursery, self splurged on a two-gallon ‘Pieris Flaming Silver,’ the mere sight of whose reddish leaves set her insides to glowing. Self carted it to the side yard and then went all over the back and front yards, watering. (Her roses are getting enormous! That is, most of them are way taller than self! And the red freesias under the loquat are blooming!)

Late last night, after hubby returned from the office, we watched “Check, Please! Bay Area” and saw ourselves. That is, the backs of our heads. For the camera was really more interested in cuz Maitoni and her son Enrique. And we were very tickled to hear the restaurant critics say how good the food at New Kapadokia was, and how lovely the Redwood City downtown area is (as if self needed to be told — !!)

Then, hubby went on webcam to converse with his Mum, and self overheard him telling her about self’s recent trip to Tel Aviv, upon which self came out of the bedroom and handed him her (crap Nikon digital) camera, and hubby did a slide show of the pictures and described them for his Mum.

Then self fell asleep. And she awoke five hours later (at 3:40 AM or thereabouts). And she immediately checked her blog stats. And her e-mail. Cuz Maitoni says she bawled like a baby while watching old Redford flick, “The Way We Were.” In fact, cuz informs self, she bawled so hard — she was all alone in the house — that her blind dog Flora grew quite agitated.

Self tells Maitoni that if she likes weepers, she should watch “Once,” which self had to force herself to return to Netflix yesterday (otherwise, she would watch it a third time this weekend, and she has no time, as she still has to send back her contract to the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. And take Gracie for her annual physical. And hubby and she have a concert to watch in Davies tonight).

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.