still more random thoughts

** I am grateful for friends. Friends who call at 11pm and say "I think you need to come out with us." Friends who say "It's been a while, but I'm here if you need me."

** The scent of Polo just screams "hello '80s!" In a way that makes me giggle.

** If you're driving through an above-ground parking garage, and going up from floors one to two to three, etc, by the time you get to the sign that says "team members, do not park below this floor," haven't you already NOT parked below that floor? And further, if you did, how would you know not to since you haven't reached the sign yet?

** Does "Omega Hospital" sound like a good thing? Maybe it's just me, but something about that sounds like a bad sci-fi movie. (No, not where my dad is. I just drive by it on the way there.)

** I want someone to drop down, fairy-godmother-like, and tell me what to do. But I want it to be what I *should* do, not what they THINK I should do. There's a subtle yet important distinction.

** For New Orleanians only: all the work they're doing on Causeway at I-10 and they still haven't figured out how to make those exits any less of a clusterf*ck?

** I miss cafe au lait.

** Things I'd forgotten about: Women of an age, wearing jogging suits, tennis shoes, hair teased and sprayed like a football helmet, full heavy makeup, manicured nails, and jewelry. It's a hell of a visual.

more random thoughts

** There's a Rite Aid that looks like it's seen better days (it probably looked that way pre-Katrina but really looks sad and creepy now) ... but what I love about it is the big pharmacy sign on the back wall in K&B purple. (That only makes sense to New Orleanians.) That makes me smile.

** Stopped at a convenience store at a gas station and all these years later, still can't help but remember The Flood (the last big event pre-Katrina) and how Sheila and I sloshed over to it in water up to our thighs with a deep need for the bathroom. And snacks. After all, we hadn't planned to spend the night on the street. And how Harry Lee gave us a ride back to the car.

** I always make fun of the Encore movie channels (going back to when their slogan was "a good movie every night," which tickled me. Yup, one. Just one. The rest are crap. But when I'm here at my dad's, I'm glued to their channels and I don't know why.

** I love my husband.

** I eat like crap when I'm here because the food is so good. And because I can only get the good stuff here, so I feel compelled to enjoy it while I can. And because even when you TRY to eat healthy food here, if you don't know where to look for it (and I don't), it can end up being a bit of a joke. I was looking at a grocery-store salad bar ... more mayonnaise and/or oil-based salads (potato! pasta!) than actual plain veggies.

** I'm two for two now on something going wrong in my father's apartment while I'm staying here. Last time it was the plumbing (I took a shower upstairs and it rained downstairs). This time, the garbage disposal.

random thoughts

From an exhausted person.

** If you have to fly when you have a cold (or allergies or sinus infection, etc.) do yourself a favor and get Ear Planes. When we were landing, my ears kept popping and popping and I thought "I don't think these things are actually working," but then we landed, I took them out, and all was clear. No pain, clear as can be. (Had a *little* bit of pain that also disappeared upon landing.) Remembering the last time I flew when sick, and was in tears from the pain ... I think this definitely does something positive.

** There is nothing comfortable about air travel.

** I can describe weather patterns in New Orleans in great detail. I lived here most of my life, I know the drill. Yet, somehow, *experiencing* it again ... I find myself actually SURPRISED by it. That makes no sense.

** There is nothing comfortable about hospital waiting rooms. Maybe the idea is to drive home the point that it could be worse, you could be a patient.

** I still really don't like hospitals.

** Every muscle in my body is tense.

** I am grateful for my father's neighbor who doesn't lock his wireless signal.

** I find my father's apartment extremely uncomfortable, and wonder how it is that a man who raised me in a home with a television in every single room, creating a lifelong dependence on white noise, now has no source of white noise upstairs. At all.

** Good ICU nurses are worth their weight in gold. Or more.

** I understand that doctors don't have crystal balls but I really wish they did. And I really wish someone could give me a road map for what I'm supposed to be doing, here.

** I know that things are still funky post-Katrina but ... should a coffee shop be closed on Sunday? Really??? :(

Some news!

Completely non-dad-related.

For starters ... it was seven years ago today that Dick got back in town after his NY gig, and headed immediately over to my place (after two weeks of emailing daily - sometimes two, three, yes FOUR times a day!) for our first date ... and we've been together ever since.
(This also marks the seven-year anniversary of Kim landing herself in the emergency room, but I imagine that's a story for another day.) ;)

Happy Dating Anniversary, honey!

And while I'm doling out the happiness and congratulations ...

I checked the LA Weekly today and hey hey! Ark scored FOUR nominations for A DOLL'S HOUSE. Elina de Santos for directing, Anna Quirino Miranda for Nora, Renae Geerlings for Mrs. Linde, and last but not least, my darling hubby Richard Tatum for Krogstad.

Yay!!!

and then ....

It was the end of a crazed, hectic week. I had made the choice to fly out on a Saturday night during Mardi Gras, so a) no one could take me to the airport and b) traffic would suck. So I made sure to order the cab super-early so traffic wouldn't be an issue. End result? Cab 10 minutes late, and I'm still checked in and at my gate a full two hours before my flight.


I was a little thrown when my gate only referenced a flight that had left hours ago, rather than my flight leaving in two hours - but heck, I'd checked in fine, and I chalked it up to being so freaking early.



I pull out my laptop and get onto the internet, and someone stops by and asks if this is, indeed, the right gate for Los Angeles. I told her I sure hoped it was, and continued on to United's web site. Maybe there had been a gate change, and I'd have had no way of knowing.

Nope. Still the right gate, flight now about 20 minutes late, but otherwise fine. So I head on over to Blogger and type the entry below. I'm figuring on settling in for a good hour and a half.

I typed exactly that much when a United representative announced that our flight was canceled, and to please line up at the gate for assistance.

Aargh! That's never happened to me before, not ever. Suddenly I went from lounging about for 90 minutes to getting reassigned to a Continental flight (no more direct flight, sigh) which actually leaves 30 minutes EARLIER than the flight I was supposed to be on. Had to go back out, re-check in for a boarding pass, and GO THROUGH SECURITY AGAIN. Having to throw away the bottle of water I'd just purchased, appropriately, within the airport secure walls ... and of course, getting "flagged" for security since it was a last-minute airline change. So I ended up at the gate just in time to board and oh yeah, call home because my arrival time was so drastically changing!

It was an adventure.

Amazingly, my luggage arrived. I was so sure it wouldn't possibly.


But here I am, two weeks later, sitting on the sofa half-watching tv with my husband and my dog all snuggled up to me (so much that I can barely type). Although it's an improvement over yesterday, when he was so determined to help me with my email that he managed to hit the combination of keys that rotates the screen by 90 degrees. That's one talented doggie.

Regarding my father, I still don't know a whole lot. I should know a little more this coming week.