The Reluctant Pied Piper

I don't get it and I don't like it.

My husband calls me a kid-magnet and it's absolutely true. I happens everywhere we go: movies, theatre, restaurants, museums, it doesn't matter. If there is a child in the place, it will end up in my immediate proximity and bug the shit out of me.

As I've previously mentioned, I'm not one of these breeder types. Individual kids I like once I get to know. There are a few that I simply adore. But kids in general? No thanks. Unless a child is really well behaved (which is a rarity) they drive me completely nuts. I don't like their prattle. I don't like their high-pitched voices. I don't like their constantly running around. I don't like the way that they scream when they are playing which makes it sound like they are being murdered. I don't like their prefacing everything they say with a loud "HEY MOM." And I don't like their parents who don't correct them in their inappropriate behavior. I especially don't like their parents for their complete lack of consideration for others by taking their children out in the first place.

I'm not talking about McDonalds or Denny's or cartoon movies. You expect that kind of shit in those places. I'm talking about in nice restaurants, in R-rated movies, at Broadway shows (I kid you NOT).

There is a dying breed of human called : the babysitter. They are dying off due to the complete lack of opportunity afforded them in contemporary American society. No one leaves his or her little darlings home anymore. Are they being cheap? Are they being lazy? Or are they just being completely inconsiderate? I don't know. I don't care. I'm not an anthropologist. I don’t want to study this trend; I just wish it would stop.

I'm sorry if I'm not charmed by your child running past me up the down escalator as you stand at the bottom smiling. I don't chuckle lightly and think to myself, "oh that toe-headed young scamp!" No, I'm frickin annoyed. Oh and by the way did you know that an escalator is actually a dangerous piece of equipment? People are injured on escalators. Often.

I'm sorry that you're bored at home but this was your frickin choice, not mine. Don't subject me to your children until they can behave themselves.

What inspired this post, you may wonder? Well my husband and I recently celebrated our 11th Wedding Anniversary. We went for a drive and to The Pelican Inn for lunch, and of course it was teeming with children and their inconsiderate parents.

Leave them at home!

Rant ends.

Man, am I a crappy writer!!

I just read my previous post and am convinced that I am a truly shitty writer. Perhaps I should have taken more care but honestly I couldn’t be bothered. I merely gleaned info about what I had been up to in the previous two months from emails I had sent to others. Life has been so hectic I had to check my previously sent emails to see what the hell it was that I had been up to and when. Jeesh!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: bad writing. How many times did I use the word “pretty”? Please don’t go back and count I don’t want to know. How many freakin’ typos? Again, this is rhetorical. Don’t count them. Once might ask, “Well, why not go back and fix it?” I have a two-fold answer, which is:

1. I’m lazy.
2. Perhaps evidence of such pedestrian writing will shame me to try better, although reason #1 seems prohibitive of such an outcome.

It’s funny though I am always using modifiers to either avoid certainty or affirm it resolutely. I think it’s a character quirk. Usually in my ordinary hum-drum state I avoid describing things in rigid terms unless I’m absolutely certain. Things are pretty much this and relatively like that. I think it’s a reflection of my complete inability to see anything in black and white terms. Therefore things are rarely “fun” (heh, see what I did there). They end up being “pretty fun.” Otherwise when I’m trying to be funny (big ham, I) I’ll state things in completely certain to the point of being outrageously over-the-top terms. Maybe that’s why many people don’t find me funny.

Appalling emailing/blogging continues…

This has been such an eventful year and it’s only gotten more hectic lately. I apologize for my negligence. This is what has been going on since the beginning of MAY!!…

MAY 6
Final performance of “Relative Values”. It went well and I'm glad it's over. It was sad for it to end but we were all ready for a rest. Little did I know. All-in-all I had about 10 people see the show (I mean for me, most performances themselves were sold out or close to sold out). That was really nice though. Many of my work friends came to see it. That makes me really sad right now. Keep reading and you'll find out why.

MAY 10
I went to a real salon and not Supercuts. I think the last time I went to a real salon was in 7th grade when I got a truly heinous perm. It was supposed to be a body wave and I ended up looking like little orphan Annie. Feh! Anyway I got most of my hair chopped off and it is actually a really cute cut. Of course it was drop-dead gorgeous when she styled it, which I find impossible to duplicate. It's shorter than I wanted (way above my shoulders) but I don't mind. The only problem is that I HAVE to style it. There's no just wash it and let it dry with this haircut because it looks RIDICULOUS! So I need to blow dry it, which is a bummer, but I can make it look cute. So yay, short hair!

MAY 12-15
I decided to take a Friday and Monday off of work as part of my first theatre-free weekend a couple of months. Basically Rick and I went shopping and cleaned the place up. I called my parents and spent an hour on each to make up for the complete lack of communication during the entirety of the show. How good a daughter am I?

Saturday I did more cleaning, took Rick to his speaking engagement, went to the cast party briefly, and then home to have an evening with David & Dana. Dana was really into the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" so she's instituted Buffy Night. We had a Buffy Night before my play started, so this was a continuance. So I made dinner and we drank a bunch of wine and watched a bunch of episodes and they stayed the night.

Sunday we all got up and drove past Sacramento to the Shenandoah Valley and went to a bunch of wineries (another of Dana's passions). It's very pretty there but was it also pretty hot! It was pleasant however. We thought it would be fun to take a picnic there sometime but we didn't have time for that. Around 1pm we cut the wine-tasting short and drove into Sacramento to another speaking engagement of Rick’s. It went very well and we sold a bunch of books and DVDs and as usual Rick was inundated with questions afterward. Sacramento itself was unbearably hot (reminded me of the San Fernando Valley), we were glad to leave.

On the way home we popped in my "Guilty Pleasures- The cheese of the 80's" CD I compiled a couple of years ago and sang along loudly (and badly). When we got back, we decided to eat out at Suzhou (a great Chinese restaurant near us) and then they headed home. It was a great day sullied only by my check engine light coming on half way through the Shenandoah Valley.

Monday I spent it getting new tires! Wha-hoo! After all, excitement is my middle name. Actually it wasn't that bad. Rick went with me to Costco and they told me it would probably be about two hours! Ugh! So we poked around Costco for a while and then we walked around. Costco is right on the bay near a county maintained trail we'd never been near so we walked around for a while. It was a gorgeous day! Warm but not too warm and cool but not too cool. It would be the temperature that Goldilocks would have chosen. What might have turned out to be a pain in the ass actually ended up as a nice excursion. They even finished putting my tires on early. The rest of the day I did next to nothing. Bliss!


MAY 17
I took my car in to the dealership. An air/fuel intake sensor had gone kaput. So I had that replaced, 100K mile servicing, and a couple of recall corrections made. Now she’s purrin like a kitten, and my wallet is a little lighter. The only cool thing about it was they gave me a rental car for the two days it took to do the work. I just love stuff like that. It’s like borrowing someone else’s life for a while. If I could have a job where I travel around and stay in hotels and rent cars a bunch I’d love it. Not all the time mind you but 5 or 6 times a year would be cool.

MAY 20
First production meeting for “Diary of a Scoundrel”. Sigh. I think it’s just too soon for me. I can’t get into this production. It’s more in my way than anything else. Hopefully it will get better.

MAY 22, 23, 24
Read through rehearsals of the new show. Once again, just too soon for me. All it is for me now is tiring. Sigh.

MAY 27-29
Memorial day weekend! My mom decided to pay us another visit. She arrived on Saturday and we pretty much took it easy other than driving around Point Richmond (because it’s so pretty here) and going out to dinner.

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast at our favorite joint, Nib’s, drove across the Oakland Bay Bridge, walked along Fisherman’s Wharf for a little bit, took in my favorite view at Fort Point, looked at the Golden Gate Bridge from every angle, drove past the Legion of Honor, drove along the ocean side of San Francisco, drove across the Golden Gate and Richmond bridges, and ended up at home rather tired.

Monday was the Point Richmond garage sale to benefit Masquers Playhouse. Basically Point Richmond becomes one huge garage sale and most people donate 10% of their takings to the local community theatre (Masquers). This was the 13th year and it’s a pretty big deal. The place is pretty well mobbed. Mom and I drove around in the Marina in the morning and pretty much hung out for the rest of the day.

JUNE 2-4
Rick's family came up and we pretty much took in the same sites. Both were nice but one right after the other was a bit tiring. I thought our apartment was going to explode one night when we had Rick’s parents, his sister, his stepbrother, and his stepbrother’s two kids, over for dinner. Thank goodness my Mom visited the weekend before and brought us some dishes I had requested!

JUNE 6, 2006- a date which will live in infamy
I'd been keeping a very lazy eye out for opportunities because of the knowledge that I'd be back at the front desk soon. I have so much more work now and the constant interruptions and rain of hate from members of the public just don't roll off my back. I hadn't really been actively searching for a job. I always keep tabs through Craigslist as to what is going on in Point Richmond from houses for sale (not that I could afford one) to apartments for rent (not that I really intend to move) to jobs offered. This one popped up and I sent my resume. I received a very quick response and interviewed with them on June 6th.

I interviewed with three of them for about an hour and it went really well. I walked home and said to Rick, "well, they want me." There was no doubt in my mind. My interviews are usually disastrous but this one was really good.

Two days later they offered me a job. I hemmed and hawed for a while and put off my decision for a few days because I don't really want to leave Bay Street, but in the end decided to go. It's been rather emotional. I love the group of people I work with and I’m invested in this project but I guess it’s time to move on. My last day at this job is next Friday. The following Monday, I start the new job.

The company is called Vetrazzo. They are setting up an office in Point Richmond (at the end of the block from me), and in about six months we'll move to their new production facility and showroom in the old and newly renovated Ford Plant.

I’m completely torn between feeling sad over this job and excited about a new position and tired about the play. I’m hoping the tired bit will wear off.

Listen to me. Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!

Oh I almost forgot...
JUNE 17 (tomorrow)
This is the day of Rick's and my 11th Wedding Anniversary. We're going to go to a British tavern called the Pelican Inn up in Marin. It's supposed to have great food and is in a gorgeous setting. So we'll probably pop up there for lunch.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.