Entertain Yourself!!!

It is 20*F outside, as I write. Nope, sorry, it's 19*F. What the heck, Texas? It was 70* only a couple of days ago!

Monday night, I had the terrifying realization that I had nothing to read at my apartment if I ended up stranded in my apartment for the next 48 hours.

Forget food. I can subsist of Apple & Cinnamon oatmeal and frozen curry forever. No, really. It's my new diet plan.

But no books? Aw, hel- um, heck no. Ahem.

So Monday evening, at 8:45 pm (when it was still 54*F outside), I got in my car and dashed to the Borders down in the West Village. Nevermind that it meant losing my covered parking spot: I needed a book to read! Priorities, people!

I had decided to buy just one book, but then I remembered who I was and realized I would need at least two books to get through the wintry weather.

So I bought three books (Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, which I'm currently reading and loving; Shantaram by some escaped Australian convict who lives in India now; and My Life in France by Julia Child, but not the movie edition so I don't have to look at Amy Adams every time I pick it up or pull it off the bookshelf) and had the closest thing to a date that I've had in six months. Namely, I did an awkward dance with a good-looking guy while we tried not to get in each other's way in the Fiction & Literature section and pretended that we weren't sideways-staring at each other and checking out each other's legs.

Romantic, baby.

And now I'm happily ensconced in my warm bed, drinking Dr. Pepper, listening to the wind whistling by the broken weather-stripping around my windows, and reading The Frenemy's latest post on how to seduce a lady. The Frenemy is one of the blogs I read every day. She's wordy, and kind of has a filthy mouth, but she's funny, and she mocks Cosmo like it's going out of style, and she's a girl after my own heart.

"Just because I’m hanging out with your henley-shirt wearing ass doesn’t mean I’m going to hop in the sack with you. That’s the truth. Sure, we may both like Jurassic Park but that doesn’t mean that..okay I’ve chosen the wrong example. Jeff Goldblum explaining chaos theory is basically my Boyz II Men Soundtrack."

Really, how could you not want to have a beer with this girl? But at a kind of skeazy bar, so her cursing wouldn't be out of place.

And now, I'll probably go on to editing/revising the fairy tale I've been writing. I had it printed at Kinko's and picked it up yesterday. I did the math, and figured out that - since it would take me at least 30 minutes and a new ink cartridge to print it at home - it was cheaper to have it printed and spiral-bound at Kinko's. I feel so professional and all writer-y.

And now, a picture of Jeff Goldblum, for your viewing pleasure.

Projected Baby Boom in Dallas

I suspect that, round about the middle of November, give or take a few days, there will be a boom in baby deliveries in Dallas. Why? You're most likely assuming it's because of Valentine's Day, but you're wrong.

The reason for the boom de bebe is the Great Blizzard of 2010.

Wait. This is Texas. We don't have such things as blizzards. And yet, as I write, there is snow on the ground outside - because it's taking forever to melt - and a slew of slushy snowmen. It began snowing Thursday and continued on into the night, knocking out the power at my own little abode for 14 hours.

I didn't have power for 14 hours! As a result, all the food in my refrigerator had to be tossed, so there are some lovely frisbee-shaped discs of frozen-thawed-refrozen soup in my trash can. After I make dinner tonight, I will be taking out the trash. Double-bagged of course.

On the upside, I didn't have to go in to work on Friday, because nobody could/would drive to the office. Only Pacman made his way to the office, and that's because he could simply take the train. Mr. Robinson was snowed in at her house and could even get out of the driveway. Radio and Scooter had to take care of their kids, whose normal daycare accommodations were closed due to the iced over streets. Oldsmobile couldn't get to the office, either - although he dearly wanted to - because his driver couldn't get to him.

What did I do with my day off? After the power came back on, I worked from home, because I thought ahead and brought some redlines home with me. Until the power reasserted its presence, however, I lay in bed in a big sweatshirt under my enormous duvet reading Dwell and The Economist. Not a bad way to spend the day off, albeit a chilly one.