jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

It’s the little things that make the day fun.

Today I went to a meeting at iVillage accompanied by my colleague Justin. He’s right up there at the top of my list of favored coworkers as we have a natural rapport.

After the meeting five of us crammed into the teeny elevator in the iVillage building. We hit the lobby button. Then we went down two floors, then up three, then up a few more, then down a few. This went on for a few minutes while we debated whether or not we should get off and try to catch another car in the hopes that only this one was malfunctioning. Finally two people bailed out, freeing up some space. It was when we had a little more room we noticed that there were TWO button panels in that miniscule car and Justin was leaning on the second one, effectively pushing random buttons as he shifted his weight.

We’re closing day five of the sugar fast. I’m honestly surprised that it’s not more difficult. I think I’m eating too much fat now, but one thing at a time. It’s mostly good fats like avocado and nuts, but I still want to hold it down a bit more. One huge and encouraging change I’ve noticed is that my mid-afternoon slump isn’t happening. Usually some time between two and three I get so tired I can hardly function. No more. Now I look at the clock and think: Is it already six????

Last night Damon and I went to see Brokeback Mountain. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I loved its simplicity the same way I loved the simplicity of The Straight Story. It was beautiful and romantic and sad in a deep way. It deserves all the hoo ha it generated. The shot of Heath Ledger wreathed in fireworks should assure that cinematographer a lifetime of work.

We’re working our way through season three of Little House on the Prairie courtesy of Netflix and the library. Damon rolls his eyes, but whenever I put the disc in he seems to find his way to the couch. It’s that way.

Okay, pumpkin time. I’m ready for bed.

Last night I made the trek deep into the wilds of Queens to see a mob of 13-year-old kids do their thing Annie-style. They were absolutely terrible and charming, it was worth the trip. I even got to see some DRAMA. One girl seems to have worked her pretty/moody persona hard enough that she’s made a few enemies. So apparently (I learned later from Damon) one of the other girls hid her mic and she had to go sing her four lines without. What I did see was her come onto stage, start singing, panic a bit, forget her lines, whisper the rest and dash. Because I was house right I saw her walk back through the door to get backstage. It was actually hard to miss because she flung it open so hard it banged against the wall. That also left it open long enough for me to watch her fling her shoes down the hall in a fury. It seems she stormed out right after that. So exciting.

I was then punished for enjoying that by being forced to go to dinner with the teachers and, oh, the entire cast. Hitting a diner with 40 fresh adolescents is not my idea of even a tolerable time.

Now I’m watching Wild, Wild West which I think is going to be just awful, despite having Will Smith, Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline in starring roles.

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On the nightstand: The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
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Sooo….. What what am I supposed to eat? I got a little busy last week and didn’t really plan. I wandered around the apartment for a few hours this morning before decided to scramble some eggs. Which was fine, but not delicious. Normally I would have a bowl of spaghetti. I guess I need to get to the market. Right now it’s tempting to eat tuna steaks all day every day, but that kind of negates the health kick.

I hate April Fool’s Day. I spend the whole day paranoid that I can’t trust anything I hear. I’m not usually the target of pranks. There’s nothing about me that telegraphs, “It will be really hilarious if you trick me.” But still… annoying.

So fellow Lost fans, I have to take you back to the episode where Sun finds out she’s pregnant. Did anyone else catch the abberation in Jin and Sun’s subtitles? I fear even mentioning it will make me sound like a pedantic know-it-all, which is hugely unappealing. But “you’re” where a “your” should be? On possibly the most expensively-produced serial drama out there? By people who make more in a week than I do in a year. And generally show themselves to be both smart and clever.

If you would have been here with us you would have seen my eyes just about fall out of my head. Thank god for TiVo or I would never have been sure.

And finally, starting today Damon and I are doing a two-week sugar fast. I shouldn’t really call it a “fast” since that implies a total absence. So let me call it a simple sugar fast. No candy, no soda, no refined flour, no alcohol. I’m sure you get the picture. We thought it might be nice to kick off spring trying to clean up some bad habits that have crept in over the past few months. On one hand I’m really looking forward to it. I want to see if I feel or function better. And I’m always interested in nutrition, so I enjoy thinking about food. I’ll enjoy finding tasty ways to feed us with these new restrictions. On the other hand, I have never in my life gone two weeks (probably even one week) without a bowl of spaghetti. I may wind up weeping into my pasta pot in a matter of days.

So this is a bad thing. You may remember a while back we agonized forever about whether we should get a second cat to keep Zoe company.

We finally found Sam, who was everything we wanted in terms of our best shot at building a friendship.

Several months later, it’s still not working out. We can’t let them out together at the same time.

Believe me, I have heard the whole idea of letting them work it out. And if you don’t believe me that that isn’t an option, you will just have to accept that we’re not going to do it. They do not hiss and hide, Zoe screams and they fight.

We cannot have this.

I have read everything I can lay my hands on. We’ve tried Rescue Remedy and Feliway. We’ve tried feeding them on either side of the door. We’ve tried squirting them when they get nasty with each other. We’ve tried reassuring them. We’ve tried ignoring them.

Damon said to me tonight: Do we need to find another home for Sam?

And my heart is just breaking because I couldn’t justify saying: Absolutely not!

We’ve agreed to try everything, really put our backs into it, through April. And if there’s no progress we’re going to have to have this conversation again.

Any thoughts that aren’t already covered above are most welcome.