jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

There are a few mom-type and girl-power type people who are new-ish to my Friends list, so I’ve popped them into my Baby Making filter. Welcome Samae, Raving Liberal and Lysozy. This is the story of our so-far unsuccessful attempts to become parents.

If you’d prefer not to be in on these goings-on, just comment and I’ll take you off with nary a hard feeling.

The Songwriters’ Hall of Fame Awards turned out to be a big thrill and a little bit of a bust.

I did get in there and get some photos. A few of them came out pretty cute. But mostly I got smoked by the real photographers, who were making their digital cameras fly while I was unable to overcome the waiting time while my camera auto-focused, snapped, showed me a preview and then set up for another snap. I needed to be able to go much faster. I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to change the camera so that it lets me go faster, but so far no luck. Any photographers have any advice?

I figure it was a good start and I’ll do better each time. It was a huge education to be surrounded by real photographers who are, no surprise, terribly aggressive. I don’t mean that as a criticism. Some of them clearly had relationships with the celebrities, who were just as interested in getting their picture taken as the shooters were of doing just that. I mean, there is a back entrance for anyone who doesn’t want to run the gauntlet.

I did get to yell, “Stevie! Stevie! Stevie!” at Stevie Wonder to get him to look my way for a photo. He was actually very cooperative with everyone and obviously having a good time. More on that in a moment.

So that was the bust part of the evening, because I really didn’t get many good photos. I got a few, but nothing to set the world on fire.

The thrill part was that the PR person called me about an hour before I got there to say they’d like to invite me to attend the ceremony.

I got to sing along with “If I Had a Hammer” with Peter, Paul and Mary. I got introduced to artists who are new to me who I really loved — Pete Yorn and Gavin DeGraw. And I got to watch Stevie Wonder knock it out of the park by performing two songs and then closing the show out with an impromptu performance of “Uptight” from the award podium before he left the stage. And the young lady who was leading him around the stage was the famous Aisha. I know this because he pointed it out, to her total embarrassement. She gave him a little smack for introducing her and he paid her back by singing “Isn’t She Lovely” in a nasal voice as she walked off the stage.

Other performers: Kris Kristofferson, John Mayer, Trace Adkins, Dr. John (doing When the Saints Go Marching In), Gavin DeGraw, Pete Yorn, Paul Schaefer, Linda Eder and Cheyenne

It was such a fun, unexpected treat. It felt a little weird to be there by myself, but the guy from ASCAP next to me was very nice.

Our friends Andy and Annie (I know) came over last night for pizza and The Dog Whisperer, and they brought their 22-month-old daughter Izzy.

Izzy is a good-natured toddler, flaxen of hair and with huge owly eyes. When we see them in the hallway she always has a friendly, if unintelligable, thing to say.

We settled down in the living room with pizza, beer, apple juice and cheese cut into the shape of Mickey Mouse. And after about half an hour of cat chasing and Lego playing, Izzy wobbled over to Damon, hitched herself up into his lap and leaned back into his chest.

And my heart just exploded. I was surprised that no one could see or hear it.

She spent the rest of the night alternately sitting on his legs, contentedly eating cheese and pizza toppings or practicing headbutting on him.

And through all of my sentimental, mooney enjoyment the portion of my brain that is permanently set to “cynic” was mocking me. That’s okay though, because it’s important to exercise self mockery in order to justify the mockery of others.

Tomorrow my gym opens. I’m making excuses already, mostly revolving around the fact that the coming week is pretty overwhelming. I’ll be up in front of people no less than three times and doing some red carpet reporting for The Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards. PS — I have no idea what to do on a red carpet reporter line.

See how I immediately segued into excuses and diversions? But the truth is I really do want to go to the gym, and sometimes I even have fun while I’m there. You know what’s the coolest part of my new gym? They provide everything but sneakers. You just go in and grab whatever kind of workout clothes you want, get sweaty, toss the clothes into the hamper, shower and put your street clothes back on. Isn’t that cool? Some people are saying it’s gross to wear the gym’s clothes, but I couldn’t care less. It’s all laundered. And I love not having to drag clothes around. We also all get a permanent locker so I don’t even have to lug the shoes. So while I’m not making any promises, I think the outlook is at least a little bit promising. I sure would love to raise my fanny an inch or two.

Two media notes:

1. Isn’t it time for Paris Hilton to stop being famous? Please? Please? I just feel exhausted when I see her.

2. We’re going to see The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Wednesday night. I’m kind of nervous as I’ve heard it’s utterly brutal. Maybe that’s one where I hope our tickets are near the back.

Damon and I have both read Taking Charge of Your Fertility and have been charting away.

This month is a new one on me. The basic idea is that for the first half of your cycle your temperature is about a degree lower than the second half of your cycle. The temp goes up either because a) you’re pregnant or b) your body has produced the hormones that say “conception possibilities are past for this month.” That’s why just the rise in temperature doesn’t tell you if you’re pregnant or not. But if you are, your temperature just doesn’t go down again 14 days later. For many women who are charting this is the first indicator of pregnancy. Certainly my body has done as expected in terms of temperature all along.

This month… my temperature just never went up. I’m about 20 days in to a 28 day cycle and I’m still low. I have no earthly idea what that means. Other than I assume it means I’m not pregnant. But it still should have gone up. Baffling. This is our charmed third try so as soon as I get the obvious proof I’m not pregnant I’ll be giving the doctor a call and I can ask her about it. Although I gather that even many obstetricians aren’t fully up on this stuff.

Anyone here have any thoughts?