The Reunions

Good morning babies! The sun is shining, there's little humidity, the day started with good coffee (we bought Starbucks) and good friends. And sunshine. And a Timbit for Ruby. Yes (hangs her head in shame) HRG did indeed cave and bought the timbits. Hey, at 3:30 a.m. anything remotely edible will be purchased in large quantities.

The only day it rained was Friday. Wow. Even for a Westcoast gal, this was rain I'd never experienced before. It was literally pouring down in buckets. But you know, by the time the party got here, it had cleared up and we were ready to kick up our heels.

And kick up our heels we did. Our friends brought badly needed sanity and order to what was, as you all know, insane and chaotic. We had great food, great music, great fun. One of us had more fun than the rest. No, it wasn't HRG. No, the one woman party will never live this down. Yes it was hilarious.

Now, onto other things.

The Reunions.

And what a reunion it was! We had a fabulous gig, played well considering that we had all never played together before. Until we said something, no one even realized we'd never even rehearsed. It felt natural and cool. Yes, HRG was absolutely showing off and strutting her stuff. Being a diva without being a bitch. There was also the matter of slapping someone's peepee with a big wooden spoon. Since apparently you can't do that in public for real, HRG did it using a microphone and a hot attitude.

Don't mess with HRG was a lesson TPM learned last nite.

(sidenote: TPM will be used from now on to describe men who are just a little too full of themselves. That and it's quicker than typing Tiny Penis Man every time).

HRG

Looking for the Silver Lining

.....only to learn it's another lightening bolt about to hit.

As annoying as it can be, everyone who knows me well knows that while I was so angry for so many years, I'm not an angry person anymore. I seldom get upset, never raise my voice, and always always always try to find something positive. No matter how difficult it is to find.

My babies, HRG has reached her limit. Well, she has. This "drop everything and fix my life" attitude has got to stop and now. Our nite out last nite didn't happen, instead HRG was left sitting alone in this hotel room for FOUR AND A HALF hours while TCB drove all over this city. For a twenty five dollar couch. The child could've dealt with it herself today, but nooooooo, that would mean taking responsibility for her own actions and dealing with stuff. Like adults do. TCB's sibling has called EVERY morning to whine about something else, taking up half our day with one drama after another. I even checked TCB to see if there were as GPS system attached to him because the absolute second we walked back into the hotel today, The Child was calling--expecting that we'd simply drop what we were doing and go and rescue her. I told her TCB had to see a dentist today (a painful toothache that resulted in on the spot decay removal and filling), and that her Nana was hospitalized with an early warning heart attack, and still the attitude was "me me me". Things like the dentist and hospital can't be helped--life happens, but all the other stuff??? Give me a break. Please. Before I break someone's neck. Honestly babies, if not for the gig tomorrow nite, HRG would be at the airport now, and heading home to normal.

This was supposed to be our honeymoon. We've had exactly two half days to ourselves. Every other minute has been taken up by someone and something else. The only one who has been amazing is the one who is in the hospital, fine for now, but will be getting some more tests done. When we got here Sunday a.m., she handed us the keys to her car, hugged us and ordered us to have a good time, not to feel like we had to spend every waking moment with her. Even today as we waited anxiously for the doctor to tell us what was going on, she kept insisting that we head back to the hotel and enjoy the rest of our honeymoon. I didn't have the heart to tell her it hasn't been much of one at all. When the doctor (a VERY cute boy I might add) did fill us in on what was happening and said they'd be admitting her for a few days, she ordered us out. I like my new MIL, and no, we didn't argue. We stopped for a few cold ones to have on hand for when our friends arrive tonite, ran into another old friend and were happy when we got back here. Then the phone rang......

If I remember correctly, primal scream therapy works. I wonder if I can scream loudly enough to drown out the child screaming in the next room.

Stop buying garden gnomes everyone, the possibility of needing bail money is looking more and more like a reality.

The only upside to today is knowing that as I write, the one woman party is on her way here.

Then we can open some wine, get stoned and forget about everything else.

Just for a little while.

Thanks for listening my babies........

HRG

Near The Centre of the Universe

Hello babies! Some quiet time to sit and and put my thought together is nice. Don't get me started on this stupid keyboard. It looks and feels like it was made by Mattel. Geesh. Sad to think a two year old would be better and faster than HR..G on this thing. With less spelling mistakes. These groovy fingers are on the the keys they're supposed to be on, good thing then that every now and again I look up and see that I'm writing in another language. It might be Klingon.

The days have flown by since we landed. How can we be halfway through it already? TCB's grandson is absolutely adorable. A full head of curls, a sweet smile....and a temper. It's funny because it's the one thing that never seems to change. The temper fueled pushing of boundaries. Like every child, he'll grow out of it. And into something else. We've spent tons of time with them, had a terrific family pizza party for TCB's birthday. Pizza is not HRG's favorite thing, but there was cake. Ice cream cake. It was good.

Three years ago tonite, in this city, TCB was brought into my life.

Poor guy didn't know what hit him.

This Saturday nite we're going to play, old friends will be there, it will be a new moon....it will be a party.

So much more has happened, we've gone to great little places and had wonderfully sunny days with little humidity. But for now I believe closing these groovy for a bit might be a good idea. It's our nite on the town tonite. There's a cool little restaurant we like here--TCB knows the band playing there, so it's a surprise kind of thing. We'll have a blast.

That I need to rest up, there's a one woman party coming into town tomorrow.

WooHoo!!!

HRG

Here There And Everywhere

Hello my babies! Ever the cosmopolitan woman, HRG finds herself once again on the move. Our plane leaves at 11:30. Tonite. Yup. The Red Eye. Which is what we'll have when we land in The Centre of the Universe. At ridiculous early o'clock tomorrow.

The buying trip was in turn good and bad. It was the two days after the trip that were the absolute worst. I don't want to go into it now. I'm on vacation dammit. Upside of the trip was buying lots of really nice things. No "WOW" factor again this year, lots of black and white in the kitchen, a step away from the square and defined lines and back to soft curves. Very retro, very cool. Very sleek. But nothing stopped me in my groovy tracks.

There's a ton to write about and I will. The laptop is packed and ready to count as one piece of carry on luggage. We're both excited. Oh, and we're playing a bona fide gig while we're there. Seriously. You'll hear all about it.

But for now my babies, I must go and get last minute things done. Oh, I packed the next set of chapters to read on this trip. The first five were read on the way out. There is a very good book in there. Emma's story was very well written, her pain and resignation easy to see and feel. I'm looking forward to the next installments.

Watch for updates while we're away!

HRG

Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?.....

.....it's Super HRG! Off to do business of the most serious kind. Shopping with someone else's money. Better yet, shopping with someone else's money while they pay you to shop.....did I mention it was with their money?

I confess babies, HRG is trying her very hardest to find something to make this trip better than we think it will be. It occurred to me today that the bi-polar man deliberately manipulates us. That pisses me off, and quite frankly I'm fast growing tired of the game. We will have a good time, in spite of his determination for us not to. There is a bit melancholy attached to this trip, but for now the reason cannot be explained.

But, I digress. All I really wanted to do was let my faithful reader know I'd be awol for the next 5 days.

The adventure begins tomorrow.
(remembering my mantra...)

Yes babies, you'll hear all about it.
(I will not kill my boss....I will not kill my boss....)

Provided you can post my bail.

HRG

Too Late for L.A.

Good Morning my Babies!

Slightly sunburned, but rested and relaxed after a glorious day in the sunshine is how HRG is today. We found a new hidden alcove at the beach we trek to, nice and private (for the most part), the lake water warm (once I got used to it--falling in seemed to do the trick there), the sun hot and new Strawberry/Acai coolers were tasty tasty tasty! We made a stop at a market for produce too--a trip we do twice a month anyway. I'd rather buy as much local produce as possible, and this market has the best local organic stuff on the Island. Oh, and they have the best prices too.


The best party of yesterday? The only decision to be made was between black bikini or new yellowy one. The yellowy one won. Yes darlings, HRG can still wear a bikini and not look half bad it. Considering I spent a large share of my life overweight and hiding my body, it feels pretty good to wear one now. And I always, always feel better when I have a tan.


Since it's a long weekend and apparently there is no local news to be reported this morning, I read some pieces from Slate.


And there it was.

It happened. Oh, the mayor has yet to sign off on the moratorium, but he's expected to and so it's begun. Here's a small portion of the article:

"How does blocking new fast-food outlets provide more choices? It helps local officials "attract grocery stores and restaurants to the area, by preserving existing land for these uses," says the release. And why does the moratorium apply only to the poor part of town, around South-Central L.A.? A fellow council member explains: "The over concentration of fast food restaurants in conjunction with the lack of grocery stores places these communities in a poor situation to locate a variety of food and fresh food." Supporters of the moratorium call this state of affairs "food apartheid."
It's an odd slogan. As the encyclopedia Africana notes, apartheid was a racially discriminatory policy "enforced by white minority governments." Opening a McDonald's in South-Central L.A. is not government-enforced racial discrimination. But telling McDonald's it can open franchises only in the white part of town—what do you call that?"

There have been many discussions about this with TCB. This bothers me on so many levels babies. I don't like the word discrimination, its use and meaning having been twisted so some lawyer could make a million 0r two, but this smacks of an attempt to deepen the rift between the haves and the have-nots. To cause even more racial tension than what already exists. All in the name of helping "them" since they obviously can't help themselves.

How arrogant! Where do they get the mistaken belief that white people aren't poor? Even here in Canada we are well aware of the different colors of South Central, but that doesn't mean a thing. Come on L.A. city council--have you ever heard the term "white trash"? It doesn't mean the Gladbag it was carried out in.

What frightens me most here babies, is that now the ball has started rolling, it won't stop. It will roll along, city to city, state to state, getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Fast food is just the beginning. The trend of a handful of people believing something is bad for you and then having them decide for millions is really scary. It seems like a step backward to the dark ages when you were tortured because any other belief outside of Catholicism was considered bad for you--the beatings, maimings and sometimes death were the result of someone just trying to help you see the right way.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. The use of the word apartheid is the straw that just might break the camel's back. There might just be enough of an uproar that this will be stopped. The PollyAnna in me clings to that slim thread of hope.

Some might wonder why something happening outside my own country has my blood boiling. Thing is babies, it seems that if it happens to you, our own government mimics it and it happens to us.

We just can't let that happen. We just can't.

HRG

Every Now And Then

.....a movie comes along that is absolutely fabulous! We went out on a date nite and saw The Dark Knight.

Oh babies, it was brilliant!!!! Dark and interesting, Heath Ledger was mesmerizing. His portrayal of such a bone-chilling sociopath better win him that posthumous Oscar dammit! I want to see it again, to look for the things missed the first time around. Before we go back though, I think seeing Batman Begins might be a good idea.

We'll do that tonite. STW? I completely understand the whole anti-social thing. HRG has been uncharacteristically that way herself lately. Maybe it's because I spend hours and hours every day with people, interacting on such a superficial level, that close friendships become harder to maintain. It's exhausting being "on" all day, every day. Work has been, as always, busy busy busy. We pushed hard to make projected numbers and fell short by a tiny margin. The thrill in that is this strong last week helped make the loss much much smaller than originally anticipated. We smashed sales records for the past five years almost every day this week. The buying trip (read: friggin' nightmare--stuck with bi-polarman SIXTEEN HOURS a day for four days) is a week from today. The upcoming week will be spent getting ready for it. Yes, it's a big deal, maintaining both my sanity and sense of humor will be challenging to say the least. It's right back to work when we return too, with only one day off until late in the month. Then it's two glorious weeks off, a trip to a place near the Centre of the Universe to see friends and family. Away from our jobs, cel phones and yes, even computers.

So...after that ramble.....today is a lazy day. Although I think there's food to be hunted and gathered and apparently I'm riding shotgun.

It's a long weekend, so babies, HRG won't be around tomorrow for our usual Sunday coffee.

It's going to be silly hot and....................................

We're going to the beach.

HRG

Conversations With My Cat

(she sits on my lap, facing the computer, getting her daily dose of skritching, paws at the keyboard, randomly hitting keys just to make the pretty noises and funny pictures. HRG sighs heavily, having just read of the most unbelievable crime committed. MissLucy looks up as if to ask what's wrong)

Everything is wrong MissLucy. Be happy that you're a cat--humans do the most awful things to each other.

Sadly,

HRG