How To Watch a Baseball Game

Well, history was made last night. I don't mean the Phillies playing back to back in the World Series. I mean I watched the whole game--3 and 1/2 hours!--at home alone. When I say I watched the whole game I don't mean I sat in front of the TV for all that time. But the TV was definitely on and there were periods when I sat on the sofa and watched a bunch of guys do a lot of vigorous spitting and chewing. Yuck! I would hate to be the one mopping up the floors in those dugouts.

In between my sit down sessions, I kept busy--doing laundry, filing my nails, checking email or playing scrabble on the computer and even giving myself a facial. But after completing every task, I circled back to the room with the TV to spend some time rooting for the home team. My father and brother, both die hard baseball fans, would have been proud.

2666

Surprise! I love to read. For me there is truly no greater pleasure than to snuggle up on the futon in my book lined study or stretch out on the sunny window seat in the kitchen with a good book, a meaty book, open on my lap.

So it was with great pleasure today that I started Roberto Bolano’s posthumously published chef d’oevre, 2666. After the very real horrors of The Dark Side, the emotional rawness of A Happy Marriage and the inspirational yet harrowing message of Strength in What Remains, what pleasure to pick up a big (800+ page) novel and plunge in, knowing that I can look forward to a solid week of pleasure, living within the incredibly fecund, weird and wonderful mind of Bolano, an author I just discovered this year.

And I’ll have plenty of free time this week to read at night since Steve has suddenly morphed into a crazy Philly fan with a serious case of World Series madness. I won't have to feel guilty about disappearing upstairs to my study since he'll be either at the stadium cheering on the Phillies or in front of the television watching yet another game.

How Did We Get So Lucky?

Want to brighten up your day: click here.

The Dark Side

I've just climbed out of the dark hole I've been living in for the last 10 days. No, I'm not seriously depressed, just incredibly angry, horrified and nauseated. Thank god, I have finally finished reading Jane Mayer's "The Dark Side," 300 some pages that details how the Bush/Cheney administration committed heinous crimes against humanity in the name of national security. Although I had read portions of the book in The New Yorker, the cumulative effect of reading it in book form is horrific. Usually, I knock a 300 page book in two or three days but I couldn't bear to read this for more than a half hour at a time, especially at night, when I like to get a good hour or two of reading in before bedtime. Each chapter outlines in gross detail how our government authorized torture and abuse often against innocent people, committed murder and other evil acts and did so with complete impunity.

I'd like to believe that things are different now with Obama. But the CIA still exists. There are still horrible secrets and filthy goings-on hidden from public exposure. It is all too easy for ideals to be corrupted by power, no matter how beneficently it is wielded. Who knows what form evil will take in this administration? Does that seem melodramatic? I don't think so.

Bionic Woman?

What happens to a 62 year old body when you lift weights, do an intensive vinyasa yoga class and take a one hour private tennis lesson from a pro who's trying to kill you all within 36 hours of each other? You wind up in extreme pain face down on a table getting needles stuck all over your butt.

I think I've learned my lesson now. Only one form of exercise within a 24 hour period or suffer the consequences. Could I do this when I was younger? I really don't know. The irony is I didn't become such an athlete until late in life. I spent high school gym class shooting the shit with the girls. No field hockey for me. I didn't discover regular exercise until after Liz was born. Of course, then I embraced it with a vengeance, fueled by vanity but also a belief that exercise was a necessary component of a long and healthy life, sort of like taking vitamins. I still believe that but maybe I need to exercise with some moderation. Ooh, does that mean I'm getting old? An unpleasant thought.

Blackberry Madness

Isn't technology supposed to make us more efficient? Then why have I spent the entire afternoon setting up my new blackberry. Fortunately, when calling ATT tech support I got an angel aka Anna Boyle from Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the line with the patience of a saint and very midwestern "can do" attitude. What a difference from the sales person at the ATT store who was clearly disappointed that I was not buying anything new and was not ready, willing and for all I know not able to provide any help to a hapless user.

So now it's time to kick back with a glass of wine and a good book. Oh, I forgot I'm reading "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer, a truly horrifying account of how Dick Cheney took over the government in the wake of 9/11.

Update

Whoa! I am having an amazing week. First off on Friday night--the Women's Medical Fund annual One Night Only event which this year attracted over 325 guests and raised nearly $60,000!! I am totally in shock from the response this year. My only regret that I did not win the tutored tasting from Moore Brothers. I was so looking forward to another evening of drinking good wine with good friends. Oh well, I'll just have to buy more raffle tickets next year.

Saturday night--nothing special except if you count making an amazing dinner just for me and my husband. Pasta with zucchini and shitake mushrooms and my new favorite salad of kale with grated ricotta salata and a dressing of oil, lemon and shallot. Very delicious. We dine by candlelight--very romantic.

Sunday we go to pick up the kids after their marathon bike ride fur for MS--75 miles from the city to the shore. I am in awe of their accomplishment--and their outfits--especially since, I must confess, I never learned how to ride a bike. Many memories of my dad pushing me down the alley behind our house but with always the same result--crash! Sad to say, I think it's too late for me to get up on to two wheels.

Monday morning I begin my Italian intensive class--one week for three and a half hours of Italian language. Somehow I find myself way over my head in the advanced class struggling to understand whatever the teacher is saying since he speaks molte veloce. Truly a humiliating and humbling experience. Lots of no lo so, no lo so (translation: I don't know it, I don't know it.) Hate to give in but tomorrow I may opt for the intermediate class and, hopefully, a slower pace.

Tomorrow, Steve leaves for 10 days in Italy without me. For some reason I still haven't been able to discern, I don't feel like getting on a plane and meeting him in Italy. It's a weird feeling--not wanting to travel, especially to Italy, but I'm going with it or rather I'm not going with him.