Grey's Anatomy fans might be wondering which team Dr. Erica Hahn bats for, but in real life, actress Brooke Smith is into girls—adopting one, that is.
Smith, 40, and her...![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mike20, including a lovely hour or so sitting in Alamo Square Park in perfect weather while the sun set, decorating the sky with brilliant bands of blue, orange, and red, trees silhouetted blackly against the deep colors.Thursday I managed to squeeze in at lunch: a classical concert - Beethoven's Appassionata piano sonata, performed by Fred Weldy; an LGBT meetup (next month might be karaoke! :-) ); and an Earth Fest environmental fair. I was also very happy to read the news of the California Supreme Court decision validating same-sex marriages, which was well-received at UCSF as well as by my numerous LJ, Twitter, and Facebook friends. After work I had dinner with my former boss Andy, who I hadn't seen in a good two years. Friday I went to a birthday lunch for two co-workers, and got to know some of my officemates a bit better.
Today I got a really good hairdo at Madusalon - sorry no pics yet. Ended up walking all the way there and back; the wind almost blew my curls out, but good exercise. Made a yummy peanut butter pasta dinner for
boyziggy and myself. I'll probably go to bed early again tonight. Tomorrow evening I expect to have more good times, singing karaoke with friends at The Mint!I woke up feeling non-sick - finally, and cleaned the apartment before I went out to run errands. One of three constructive things I wanted to get done? Check. After stopping by the shoe repair place and the post office (check), I explored my neighborhood a little.
I found Biagio Chocolate right down the alley from me. Had a couple of delicious samples in the store - red pepper turtle and something I forget - and got a few more to take home. Some Vosges and a couple of this dude's hand-painted chocolates.
Right next door, I found a consignment shop that was a little too prom-dressy and sequins for what I need in general, but did snag a plain black leather Coach bag for $20, since all my purses (all two of them) are in the box the USPS has decided not to deal with for the forseeable future. Score!
Then over to Teaism for a salmon bento box and ginger limeade. I turned out to like everything in the box, which is surprising, considering that I'm kind of picky with pre-packaged food. (The ginger limeade tasted exactly like normal limeade, though.) While eating, I had time to get through another Jennifer Lynn Barnes book. I enjoyed her first Squad novel much more than I was expecting to for a YA novel with cheerleaders, but Tattoo was a little bit more juvenile in the plotting and writing. Eh, well.
Thumbs up to Books-a-Million, btw, for basically being everything that Kramerbooks is not.
Then I hung out at a coffee shop (also right down the alley from me) and caught up on email and did some studying for my internship before I headed home to make some rather ghastly soup-from-an-envelope, saved by the fresh bread and fruit.
Plus, with the Weird DC Water Rash gone and super-bouncy hair, I looked cute all day. I even wore a sundress. (That was a mite too cold, but, hey, all my clothes are in USPS limbo.)
I am realizing how very much I am enjoying not being in classes or worrying about school. But I cannot continue to make these amounts of money without the PhD to get this sort of job. So I will persevere. Unless something better comes along. (Technically, I haven't seen a cent. When the government does get around to paying me, however...woo. I will have enough to upkeep two apartments for the summer, including one in Dupont Circle, a trip to Europe, my wisdom teeth pulled, and if I can manage not to be too frivolous, my credit cards all paid off. In twelve weeks of work.)
- Mood:
happy
Relaxation is all relative, but Britney Spears' chaperone Dad is nowhere to be found!
Instead, Brit seems to be cozying up to her agent Jason Trawick as the two enjoy an ATV...The King of Everything and I volunteered for a Service Day here in town, and met up with some great groups working together under the umbrella of Americorps to beautify a school in a rougher neighborhood in the city. The school’s playground backs onto an alley, and often, the gangs are recruiting from right there. The volunteers today painted murals to hang on the fence, blocking much of the view of the alley and preventing such close interaction between those inside, and those outside. When I first told the kid what we’d be doing on Saturday, I’d expected groaning and moaning. Instead, I got a, “You mean, we’re going to go HELP another SCHOOL??? And PAINT!? COOL!!!”
Um. Yeah. That’s my KoE, all right.
What neither of us anticipated was exactly how much fun it was going to be. There were representatives from several different groups, including Sports for Kids, who led us all in fun games and cheers. What struck me was that, of the dozen or so kids milling around the event, my son was the only one who joined in these games. I don’t think it ever occurred to him to look around and notice he was the only kid in the group. He played a game where everyone went around and said their name and their favorite food. He played Switch, some nutso running around game. He played Zip Zap Zop where everyone throws the sounds around the circle. He played four square and Samurai. He played every manner of game and never threw a tantrum when he was out. I watched him in amazement. He walked down the line high-fiving teenagers, grownups, complete strangers all. When the organized games broke up, he beelined for a guy playing soccer at the far end of the field. He rallied all the other littler kids to join in some bizarre monkey game on the playground equipment. He made friends. He talked to everyone. He painted the murals.
He was entirely in his element. I was amazed by him. Look what he can do. And he’s only five.
What I wanted to say to those of you with older children is this: get them out there. Get them interested in the world as a large, amazing place. Get them to volunteer. And when they go off to college, encourage them to pursue the Peace Corps, or Americorps, or to find internships with non-profits that are trying to change the world. You’ll all be very glad. And so will the world.
Tags: helping-others, single-mom, single-mother, volunteer, volunteerismI have missed him.
I'm so tired.
Tomorrow is time enough to dig into the next piles of work.
Ashlee and Pete's wedding wasn't the only Simpsons event today.
The Simpsons Ride debuted at Universal Studios Hollywood with a yellow carpet premiere, a human cannonball...First was "You Kill Me", in which Hodges develops a board game called "Lab Rats" which is a bit like "Clue/Cluedo", but set in the Crime Lab and starring the lab rats. He runs the real lab rats through investigative scenarios, with amusing results. Bobby is a suspect in every crime (but isn't playing the game), and David investigates the possibility of sexual trauma on the victims, all of whom are crime lab employees who die at work. Hilarious, I tell you. And I love me some Hodges. LOVE, I say. Not as much as Warrick, but I love him anyway. And I loved the last episode about the Lab Rats (which was called "Lab Rats"), so I was glad to see them get a bit of character play again.
The second was "Two and Half Deaths", which was written by the writers of "Two and a Half Men", and is a tongue-in-cheek look at TV and Hollywood. Features the classic line "hey, beautiful people doing high-tech police work... there could be a series in that!" (spoken by a studio exec), Diedrich Bader as a coke-head climber, and cameos by the cast of Two and a Half men.
Don't usually get belly laughs out of CSI: eps, so I thought those two were noteworthy. Compensates for some of the excess of blood and guts, and the serious emotional stuff about Sara's leaving.
So did you see last night's new episode of Battlestar? This one, called Guess What's Coming to Dinner? was written by the amazing Michael Angeli, and I think it's one of the strongest episodes ever. Suspense, chills and singing!
In celebration, I'm going to use a line from his draft to demonstrate one of my favorite writing techniques. Check this out:
INT. GALACTICA - CORRIDOR
Athena, frantic, wild-horse eyes, bolts down another part of the corridor, no sign of...
HERA! HERA!
I've talked about this before, and this is a great example. And I'm not even talking about the stunning description of Athena's "wild-horse eyes".
See what he did structurally? By creating a sentence that bridges over the change in formatting ("...no sign of Hera"), he's making the inherently choppy structure of a script read more like prose, like a short story. This reader-friendly technique can be part of making your spec script feel enjoyable, not just as a description of a good potential filmed product, but in itself. Angeli's scripts are always literary objects in their own right and if the Battlestar scripts are ever published, I encourage you to devour them.
Lunch: Japanese noodle soup from a restaurant I hadn't been to before. Pork broth, cabbage, egg, noodles. Lovely.
Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz have made at least one thing official. A little more than a month after announcing their engagement, the musically inclined couple swapped vows Saturday at the... 
My boy turned six today. I wanted to surprise him with my clone trooper costume but he unsmuggled it the night before while I was at jiu-jitsu practice (my fingernail is doing fine, by the way - my superpower is Enhanced Fingernail Regeneration).
Amy made it a very Star War-sy themed birthday party, per Sun Su’s request.
Amy went all out and rented an inflateable tent. At one point, the tent collapsed on one side because Billy Bully encouraged the other kids to pile up on one end. I yelled at him until all was balanced again. (We didn’t invite Billy but he asked, and he has been playing nice with Sun Su lately. He’s got no other friends, actually.)
- Boys up before 7. Oy.
- Music class! So much fun to watch them make music.
- Browsed the farmer's market with the lovely mama of one of #1's particular friends. I enjoy her company so much! We bought berries and tomatoes and flat iron steaks.
- Pizza at Cosi. #2 napped in his stroller. I drank too much Diet Coke.
- Saw a chorkie. I am not a fan of the tiny dogs in general, but this one? Was heartbreakingly cute.
- Got my hair cut. For the second time in as many days. Now it is really, really short.
- Met up with sabinablue and surfal333 at the playground, while surfal666 was getting the outline of his backpiece tattooed. Note to self: see them more often, dammit! Maybe a double date to see the Sex and the City movie? I have fond memories of watching the series finale at their house.
- Ate takeout from Goodburger. It was, in fact, a good burger, though overpriced. Quite nice onion rings, and lime rickeys from their soda fountain!
- Loaded Meebo, but there is no one online to chat with! What are you all doing? Out having lives? Shame!
- Took a shower. Am finally not itchy from bits of hair.
Well, I have managed to put together (mostly) 2 pieces of furniture I recently got, and they look really great. Except the second piece I put together had one hinge that will not bend, so I have to go try to find a replacement tomorrow. If not, I'll call to see if I can get an official replacement. In the middle of all this putting together, I had to run out and buy a tiny Phillips head screwdriver, because the one I had wouldn't work at all. Well, since the hardware store is right next door to the thrift shop, I had to go in there and try some stuff on. I bought a blouse that I had no business buying, since it won't look right unless I wear something over or under it or both. And then I grocery shopped, which gave me a chance to use my exciting new reusable grocery bags. I bought stuff at three places and came home without a single new bag -- go me!
Another thing I have to do tomorrow is go buy some tank tops to buy, because I decided to reactivate some listings at Etsy and I made a sale (yay!) and now I've torn the house apart looking and I cannot find the tanks. GAH! Would it have occurred to me to locate them BEFORE I reactivated the listing? Fortunately, this is a dye process that I can do in a day, not the one-month scarf thingie. Which reminds me I need to find the book that tells how to do it, since it's been so damn long since I did.
This doesn't bode well for my original plans, which involved cleaning things, not tearing the house apart. However, I did pull out a bunch of clothes to bring to the Wiscon clothing swap.
The new furniture, by the way, is kind of a kick. My company is having a private employee sale on selected merchandise, and not only that, but we were each given designated certificates to use on the sale or simultaneous warehouse sale only. So I've had a parade of goodies delivered to my house in the past few days, little of which I had to pay for. So I bought a nifty cabinet to add to the storage in my kitchen, of which there is woefully little. Took quite a while to get it and the other piece together, but I got completely caught up on Ryan's Hope while I worked.
Those damn tank tops have to be around here somewhere.
::headdesk::
"Hi, I'm Alex," I said. "I'm a new friend in Miss Frizzle's class."
As tends to be the case with Mary Sues, there wasn't much of a plot. When you're a student in Ms. Frizzle's class, and Ms. Frizzle is your teacher, apparently all you need to do to enjoy the story is to revel in the coolness of the situation. But there was a suggestion of a hint of a plot in this bit, which was my favorite part:
[...] "Wait!" said the children. "Didn't you go to Leo's party?"
"No," said Miss Frizzle. "I went to Alex's party, and she gave me a present."
"Wow!" said the children. "Wow!"
I think Alex has a long career ahead of her on fanfiction.net.
Jennifer Aniston arrived in town the other day for a two-week stay surrounding the filming of "Marley & Me," the adaptation of John Grogan's bestseller about his rambunctious Lab. She plays Jenny Grogan, the author's wife, opposite Owen Wilson as the writer.Aniston's work will take her out to the Chadds Ford area every day, where a farmhouse off Route 100 has been done up to look wintry. But while Wilson is being put up in a private home in the burbs, Aniston is five-star hoteling in Center City.
Saturday (5/17) afternoon, she and three friends (no John Mayer) went to lunch at El Vez, the Mexican destination at 13th and Sansom. Under the eye of two bodyguards, they had tuna tostados and Mexican chopped salads. Aniston had a margarita -- variety unknown -- with salt only halfway around the rim. How curious.
HughE Dillon tried to photograph her on the way out, but aforementioned bodyguards blocked most of the shot.
Photo: HughE Dillon / www.phillychitchat.com
Page Summary
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blogitoergojane : MidLifeBloggers on Flickr [+0] - e_headlines : Grey's Star Adopts a McBaby [+0]
- funcrunch : Good week [+0]
- nomadvagabond : A near perfect day [+1]
- e_headlines : Britney: Not Coasting in Costa Rica [+0]
- solomother : Volunteering with children [+0]
- ourbostoncousin : (no subject) [+0]
- e_headlines : The (Yellow) Simpsons Take Over Universal [+0]
- adventurat : (no subject) [+0]
- pen_shui : The downside of adoration [+0]
- nwhepcat : Yay! [+4]
- janeespenson : Saturday: Learning From The Prose [+0]
- e_headlines : Ashlee and Pete: Newlyweds 2.0 [+0]
- medeasmemoirs : SEND IN THE CLONES [+0]
- ratphooey : An eventful day [+0]
- nwhepcat : Saturday, you are made of relative fail [+0]
- blognprojtrunwy : Introducing: Stylista [+0]
- rivka : The birth of Mary Sue. [+9]
- foodanddrinq : The one where Jennifer Aniston eats at El Vez [+0]
- foodanddrinq : Jasper reopening May 24 [+0]