Friday, May 26, 2006

Morford Moths

I think I've raved about the stunning writing ability of Mark Morford of the SF Gate before but if not, consider this raving. Granted, often he waxes on about current political bruhaha to the point that I will read the topic of his column (you can get them emailed to you!) and delete it without giving him a chance but today's column, OH!, today's column hit a note. Here it is. You may want to read it before continuing here. Go ahead. I'll wait.






[insert elevator Muzak]







Done? Do you see what I mean? Granted, his girl sounds a bit kooky but I still felt the need to email him. Here's what I wrote:

While I was reading the early part of this (key words: the early part), I was thinking, "Oh, he's got one of my nutjob sisters - you don't flip out on something then go back to completely normal." But did it HAVE to be a moth?!? For the last 3 days we had The Most Stunning "Tommy [husband] Come Look At This" Moth living on the wall under our deck light. It was huge and bold and butterfly-winged but with this crazy huge furry body covered in strong white and brown stripes and two crazy furry antennae. I thought it came to die there because it was moving ever so slowly but the minute the sun went down it was manic for the light.

So I guess I too am a nutjob but only slightly comparitively (I'm sure she's a lovely girl) in that I would give Tommy updates: "Turns out, he's [I guess all the browns made me assume it was a he] not dying because he's downright scary at night - you can practically hear his wings" then yesterday, "The moth left. Why would he leave? We have a good light that's too small for him to get in so he wouldn't burn to death...." But Tommy knows me well enough to respond, "I'm sure he's living a long, happy [ALWAYS add "happy"] life somewhere."

Point of my rant: I liked your column.


Point of this blog entry: I was meaning to write about this damn stunning moth but it just seemed a bit, well, kooky. And yet, I did.

I love to get my way....but I do hope the moth comes back. He was so cool.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The Legend of Billie Jean

I got a new car (Honda Pilot) but it doesn't have a cd changer like my old car (Honda Civic - viva la Honda!!!) and I don't really like those visor cd holders so changing cds is often tricky enough that I don't so I starve for good radio. Even though I work less than 10 minutes from home, that can be a looooooooooong 10 minutes. So in my exploring of the dial today I stumbled upon and yes, even listened to (call me what you will), Pat Benatar's Invincible from the motion picture The Legend of Billie Jean which I believe was Christian Slater's first film role. Granted, the movie lacked (to say the least) but I was in my first year of college growing up in Corpus Christi, TX where the movie was filmed for some reason, as was Brooke Shields' Tilt - for a moment Corpus Christi was thought to be a great locale and trust me, growing up there I had no idea why anyone would think such things - sure we had a beach but it had brown sand and was often marred by many an oil slick - but baby oil will get that off the soles of your feet lickity-split! But I digress....

As I was saying the movie was filmed there and there was supposed to be this pivotal, Joan of Arc scene where Billie Jean (played by Helen Slater) shaves her head sans the requisite (for the time) rat tail and so a whole bunch of girls in the town were to shave their heads to fight The Man or The Power or whatever oppression plagued poor BJ (heh, heh, I typed BJ) so there were all these people trying to convince you to shave your head and thus embrace immediate fame while being an extra in the movie. I knew NO ONE that did except for this one girl in my art history class (a class that sounds fun and interesting but turns looking at Art into some weird biology dissecting experiment - Mona Lisa Smile my class was not). But if you saw this girl, a girl actually interested in the class and perhaps the major and ensuing Master's, and as stereotypically broody as a girl could be taking an art history class at Corpus Christi's only community college, you would think she'd be the last person to succumb, and yet... she didn't, she shaved, she embraced no fame, and I think she ended up on the cutting room floor. I hope she's in a far better place right now.

So yeah, that's what launches into in my head when I hear Pat Benatar's Invincible.

We can't afford to be innocent
Stand up and face the enemy
It's a do or die situation
We will be INVINCIBLE!

Dramatic words for Miss Benatar, no? Now if only she would leave my head....go on now, SHOO! I'll stand up when I'm good and ready, now GO!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Oh boy!


Oh boy!
Originally uploaded by kaymaria.
So yesterday FINALLY came then 2pm putzed along slowly thereafter. I got to the office early thinking Tommy would be there (he HATES being late) but he wasn’t. So I waited as patiently as possible and flipped through an issue of Time from last month (look! CookingForEngineers got a little paragraph!) then they called me in.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but my friend Karry has attended all the sonograms with us or just me. Last year we called her “my temporary life partner” while Tommy was out to sea and she clearly stated that she still wanted to attend when he got back and to me it went without question. OF COURSE she had to be there. So when they called my name I supplied my posse’s names and went in.

The attendant – I wish I got her name, she rocked – had me lay down and pull down my skirt and raise up my shirt a bit and she warm lubed my belly (warm lube feels weird). Immediately after that I thought, “I should have grabbed my cell phone in case Tommy forgot where to go” then sure enough my phone rang and I apologized profusely and begged to answer it. She said that was fine and I awkwardly held the many towels protecting my clothes from the lube and kind of flung myself to my purse. Tommy was running late but was on his way.

Soon there was a knock at the door and Karry came in. The receptionist told her Tommy hadn’t arrived yet so she was going to wait for him but then couldn’t because she was so excited. (I wish I could express how much I ADORE this woman and how supportive she is and how wonderful it is to have someone just as excited about all this especially since she was such a trooper and such a rock last November during The Bad Ultrasounds. She will never truly know the full degree of how much I truly appreciate her and that just kills me.) So my Temporary Life Partner and I see the spine and the brain and the femur and those two bones below the knee and we’re both just in awe. Those bones are not more than an inch long but you know EXACTLY what they are just from elementary science class.

Shortly thereafter, before we got to the sex-defining-bits, Tommy burst in, took my hand and made room for Karry. The attendant is giving us the tour of Baby but Baby is acting very private. So the attendant jiggles the little wand to try to get movement and slowly but surely Baby moves a bit and we see the bladder (actually we see a black dot and the attendant says, “There’s the bladder” so we knew) and then she adds a little computer arrow and says, “Do you see THAT?” and we all lean a bit forward and say, “Yes?” as confidently as we can. And right over the arrow she types B-O-Y. And for what seemed like a solid minute, I rack my brain trying to think of what the hell that word spells, I know I’ve seen it before, but wait – BOY, it’s a BOY! During the first lima bean with a heartbeat ultrasound I remember thinking, “Look at him!” and Tommy has always felt a boy vibe so this confirmation was welcoming but still odd and so….confirming. We are having an Oliver.

So yeah, Oliver. My mom and older brother HATE the name but when I hear it from other people that adore it, it’s just so wonderful. Oliver. What’s kind of odd is a friend of mine is named Oliver and I have always thought, “I want a little boy just like him [minus the racism and homophobia]” and BOOM! I’m getting one.

[The picture is a closeup of what's on the shirt of these ridiculously precious jammies and a superior vintage of cigar that Karry gave us just after the ultrasound...while we were still in the exam room. I asked if she was that certain it was going to be a boy or if she had a girl present in her purse as well. "I may have a girl present in there somewhere," she grinned.]