Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Requiem for a T-Shirt and Hopelessly Idle Chatter

All together, now. Daaaaah. Okay, it was a lousy requiem but better than nothing. The pictured T-shirt was my absolute, utter favorite for 15 years. Sadly, it's got holes pretty much all over the place - all around the neckline and near the "F" in "CAFE", in particular. So, I wrote a one-note dirge (see "Daaaaah") and it has been officially retired. I loved this shirt.

I know that's stupid, but it was so cute - especially compared to the boring gold-and-brown Hard Rock Cafe shirts that everyone else had at the time (and it fit well). Do they still sell those? I guess Hard Rock is not the "in" thing, these days. Here's the funny part: Toronto's Hard Rock Cafe was a *dive* when I bought this shirt. It was full of biker dudes, fogged up with smoke and had little rickety tables with plastic covers. We looked at the menu, coughed a bit, rubbed our eyes, ditched the table, bought the T-shirt and left. Then, we went to Tulsa for a visit and Mom-in-law said, "You didn't get one for Karen?" So, when we were in Toronto we bought one for Karen (hubby's little sis, who was then a teenager). She wore it for about two years and gave it away. If I'd known, I would have said "I'll take it!" but that's life.

Speaking of which . . . Here's My Day:

1. Dying to Get Away - I hopped in the car and zipped to the Big City: Jackson, MS. Because I had to return in time to fetch kiddo from school at 1:40 p.m. and I got a late start (it took a while for the coffee to crank me up), I was able to give myself exactly 20 minutes in Target (thank goodness I budgeted my time, since they had to do a price check) and 20 minutes in Hobby Lobby. But, hey, I had fun. I needed to get out. Retail therapy is truly a useful concept.

2. Can't Find It Anywhere - Last night I intended to look up something I read in Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark. For some reason, the book and I didn't manage to make it to the computer together and I *still* can't locate it.

3. "I looked everywhere" is impossible, at least in my house. It's pretty cluttery. We've got a big possession entropy problem. So, Nabokov is still missing and . . .

4. Well, I Had to Read Something at the Pool. Tucked a couple of books into my gigantic purse after picking up the kid, packed the cooler and dashed. It was threatening to rain, so I stayed for the entire swim session. I settled on Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I like it, so far.

5. I also read a bit of Psychology Today, which I believe I may never read, again. A couple of months ago, they had a ridiculous article entitled, "Am I Beautiful?" about how everyone is beautiful inside and we've got to learn to live with our sucky exteriors. The entire article was illustrated with photos of . . . you've got it . . . beautiful people. And, as if the uglies needed a real kick in the gut, they interviewed the beauties and we got to hear how being pretty has benefitted them. Like, why do I want to know that? Geez.

Today's tidbit from that same magazine (this month's version): an article on people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (aka neatniks) which included a comment from some authority who said that cluttery people - those who tend to acquire a great deal of stuff they don't need - are not successful in life, in general. Wow. Why not just walk up and stab a few thousand people for the joy of it? Should those of us who are cluttery just go ahead and jump off the bridge, now, since we're obviously not going to ever accomplish anything?

Just what someone going through a bit of depression needs to hear.

Then . . .

6. I spray-painted a shoebox for a project kiddo has to complete by Thursday (don't worry - he'll do the real work) and, this being the buggy South, managed to spray-paint a bug right onto the box. A little green bug. Or, he was till he landed while I was spraying and suddenly became white (and very dead). So sad.

Really, not a bad day. But, I could use a major caffeine infusion to get through the next couple of hours. And, then I can read and sleep. Boy, that sounds so fun. :) I love books. Too bad I'll never succeed in life because I own so many.

Bookfool, now done chattering. I promise.

6 comments:

  1. lol. But said "authority" probably is a neat freak! I wouldn't worry. All us book geeks can't all be unsuccessful! :P

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  2. First of all, one can NEVER have too many books. Well, unless you live on a boat (which may be in my distant future). Secondly, I'm glad you got some retail therapy and are feeling a bit better (you sound better). I have a couple of old favorite T-shirts that I just can't bear to throw out (one is an old CSN&Y shirt with Teach Your Children lyrics on the back). So when you say, "retired" what exactly happens to the Hard Rock Cafe shirt? Trash bin? Dust rag? :( I don't much care for the restaurant, but have fond memories of one in London when my daughter and I went on a girls only trip when she was about 10. I own and have read Pay It Forward. As I recall, I thought it was quite good and although it's been several years, I think I liked the movie, too (Kevin Spacy, Helen Hunt and that cute kid, whatshisname).

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  3. Nat,

    Good point. If they interviewed beautiful people for an article on telling yourself you're beautiful inside even if you're not on the outside (I still don't get that), they're probably asking a neat freak to describe a cluttery person. I'll just assume that's the case. LOL

    Les,

    "Retired" means I can't wear it, but I'm going to put it in the cedar chest, for now. I saw a quilt made of cut-out fronts of t-shirts somewhere and I've thought about trying to do that with some of our old favorites. I wasn't a fan of the restaurant, either. It was really just an "I want the shirt" thing. I was younger and stupider, then, but not enough of an idiot to stay with the bikers for lunch. :)

    I'm loving Pay It Forward. I've never seen the movie but always wanted to. I'll look for it after I finish. I like Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. The cute kid is Haley Joel Osment (sp?).

    Retail therapy helped. It's good to get out. Unfortunately, it's a palliative not a panacea. Sometimes it works to pretend I'm up. I'm trying that one, today. It's not working, but I'm going to keep at it - maybe I can change my own mind. :)

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  4. Mind over matter, eh? I really do know how you're feeling these days. I was in such a funk this weekend, for absolutely no reason, crabby and irritable with everyone and everything. I think I'll just have to blame it on this perimenopause crap. Thank goodness I married such an understanding man. If I were him, I'd have lost patience with me by now. I know I have! Feel free to drop me a note via email any time you need to rant or whine and don't want to share it with the rest of the world. :)

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  5. Les,

    I think it helped "pretending". At any rate, I seemed to get more accomplished. This may sound stupid, but how do I find your email? I was just thinking, earlier today, that it would be nice if we were in contact a little more directly. We seem to have a lot in common.

    My husband is not as understanding of my moods, unfortunately. He's probably just tired of them after 24 years. ;)

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  6. When you view my profile, there should be a link that says Email (under a Contact heading).

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