Random Thoughts in Bath Robe

Ahh, here I sit again, partially prepared for work yet still unable to choose something to wear . I had an exhausting day at work yesterday. It was all good, but it was non-stop and that exhausted me. Half way through the day I realized one of my shoes had separated from the sole and then I felt raggedy and sloppy. It affected my confidence, even though I was sitting and no one could see my feet. I came home and went to bed.
I saw 3 movies this week -1 good. Sunday night I saw "The Hills Have Eyes". .. to which my friend would consistently respond " ... Lucky hills . . . ." Honestly, the funniest part of this movie was seeing it with friends. There were howling laughs at how bad this film was. Though, I saw it downtown and they had one kicking sound system ! Truthfully, the scariest part of this was dealing with the girl at the concession stand. She was not in a good mood and the pop corn wasn't that great ,either.
Monday night, my friend Cathy and I went to see "Match Point" the Woody Allen film. We were both really pleased to see this film. Adult subject matter and fairly unpredictable, even though we both knew what was going to happen. I had a little trouble with the woman the lead character married. Probably because I recognized the personality and I found her disappointing. . another desparate woman forcing things to go in the direction she wants. . .regardless of whether it is actually a smart or good thing. I thought Scarlett Johanssen did a great job , though my boss Jack and friend Keith didn't think she was all that sexy. She didn't have to be sexy , she was predictable, that was what was required of the character. The kind of high maintainance woman I see a lot of men are attracted to. The acting was great, but the character. . .
Tuesday night , we saw "Ask the Dust" , starring Colin Farrell and Selma Hayak, two actors I really like. I found the story a little difficult to swallow. My friend Cathy slept through part of it-that says something ! The acting was really good because somehow Farrell was able to combine the sort of personality that men affected from that time. You can still come across men of a certain age that engender that sort of courtesy combined with a dogged belief in ethnic stereotyping. It was an impossible, improbable love story. An adult theme, but at the end of teh day, I didn't really care all that much. Too much drama. I have enough of that already.
I have been craving Kelly's fried clams since last Sunday. I hope to make my dreams come true some time this weekend. That's it. I still don't know what I'm going to wear to work.

Picnic in my Car

Today , I had an appointment in downtown Boston. It was at 11 AM, which was later than usual. I felt that , since it was later than usual, and the spots reserved for deliveries become available at 11 AM, I had a good chance of geting a good space. I was wrong. Most of the parking spaces are taken up by pick-up trucks that individual laborers have driven in to work and monopolize all the spaces. I got from my driveway to downtown Boston in 15 minutes , and then I spent 20 minutes looking for a meter and then bagged it and paid for parking.
The lot was underground. My spot was two floors below street level. I was going crazy because I was stuck behind an Audi driving way too slow. I couldn't tell if she was on a cell phone, but I don't think driving THAT slow is going to help anybody find a parking space. It's not like a free space might jump out at you and you have to be real slow to take advantage of it or to avoid hitting it. She's in front of me, I can't get to it before her. We're the only two cars driving around, real close , one behind the other. The Audi , oblivious to her environment /Me screaming for her to speed up , just drive 15 rpm instead of 8. Am I being unresonable ? No. I' am not . I don't care what you think . You weren't there. I'm right.
What was unusual about this lot is the sound was baffled. It was so far below ground, there was no wind. The sound was deadened. The one other car driving around could be heard from where I was walking. I'm guessing , since it was the Back Bay, it probably has something to do with the ancient pilings that filled in that part of the city. In conclusion, it sounded weird. Oh, and it cost $20.00 for 2 1/2 hours. Still, it's cheaper than a parking ticket.
Because my appointment was late, that meant I would get to my Engineering job late. I got there about 1 :45 and decided to go get lunch at the local seafood store. They usually have a lunch special-tuna salad sandwich (in a hot dog bun), chowder and a bag of chips for around $5.00. I didn't pack my lunch today.It's Lent and I usually stay away from meat on Fridays during this time. When we were in school, the tuna salad was always served in the hot dog buns. At the time I thought it was some sort of culinary delicacy. I think now, they probably got a deal on hot dog buns and wanted to use them up before they went bad.
I took my lunch to my car, pushed back my seat and crushed the potato chips in the bag. I decanted the oyster crackers into the chowder and placed the chowder on the dashboard. I unwrapped the tuna sanwich, opened the bag of crushed chips and sprinkled the chips onto the tuna fish. I had to sprinkle more chips for each bite - just like when I was kid. After the sandwich was gone, I started on the chowder. I had chosen to eat in the car because sometimes, when someone has a pungent lunch, it lingers in the office for hours. What smells so delicious at noon rarely has the same allure at 3 PM.By this time, I had started clocking myself by the parking meter. I found a meter that had 40 minutes on it. I didn't try to find a meter with time on it, I noticed after I had already turned the car off. The universe was making up for my downtown parking situation ! Anyway, It took me 12 minutes to consume my lunch. It felt like it took a lot longer. I had enjoyed it that much.
That is all. That was the best part of how I spent my St. Patrick's Day. I'm Irish every day , but they only have the tuna sandwich special on Fridays.

Failure to Launch

Wow.
Where do I begin ?
My friend Cathy and I go see a lot of movies. Mostly crap. We'll see what's starting next, so it fits into the schedule. Tonight we were aiming for Match Point-we ended up with the more recently released Failure to Launch starring Matthew McConnahey,Sarah Jessica Parker, Terry Bradshaw, Zoey Deschanel and Oscar Winner -Cathy Bates. For some reason , the Old Guard of Harvard Square showed up at our local watering hole and respects had to be paid. It took a while and it made us late. .. for the better of the two films- I'm guessing.
SO , the story is about this guy that still lives with his parents at 35. Though I've moved out a couple of times, I've come back home just as many times. My youngest brother never left. Neither of us is going to see 35 again. The characters parents (Terry Bradshaw and Oscar Winner Cathy Bates) hire Sarah Jessica Parker as a "Professional" behavioral type therapist to help make Matthew McConnaughey want to move out. My Mother wishes she could afford something like this. The "romance" ensues when Sarah 's professional character falls for her client Matthew. During the film I tried to figure out how this would qualify as a good romance. And I tried to figure out the last true romance film I saw. It has to be Brokeback Mountain-two people in love , can't be together -the longing, misunderstanding, disappointment, notice those are all pretty negative things . .. . .okay . .. moving on. .. The last romance before Brokeback that I enjoyed was "Love Actually". It was funny, sad, altruistic, triumphant. I enjoyed it a lot . I saw it twice. I bought the sound track. I recieved the dvd for Christmas. Those are characters working on love and being loving and doing the right thing. These characters. . . .I didn't really feel for them and I didn't believe they really had deep feelings for each other. I kept getting distracted by the unnatural brightness of McConnaughey's teeth and the odd hair line. I couldn't figure what was going on with Parker's hair and make-up . If I'm thinking about teeth, fake hair and other movies, watching a movie, well that just ain't good. They even quoted one of my all time favorite films -"The Philadelphia Story" with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Now that's a great film.
Even my friend Cathy, who rarely criticizes our choices (usually just the films I've lobbied for) didn't like it. "Why? Didn't they read the script ? What the hell was that ?"-an existential angst.
And Oscar Winner Cathy Bates -Underutilised talent. She's the only one in the film who I felt like was a real human.This is what winning an Oscar will do for you. Even Ernest Borgnine won an Oscar-he deserved it -"Marty" was amazing. Then he went on and did McHale's Navy. I will admit-I enjoyed the shots of Terry Bradshaw's butt. I like bum-bums.
I think that's it. I paid full price. My bad.

NICOTINE!!!!!!!

Man ! I want a cigarette ! I stopped smoking about 13 years ago. Near the end, it was a pack and a half a day. People could smell me before they could see me.
One . Just one. I don't know why. I don't feel particularly stressed.The weather is nice and I wish had some place I wanted to go. Maybe I should buy a nicotine patch and if I feel like this again, I could slap on the patch and alleviate the desire.
Sorry this isn't a great blog. I just would really like a cigarette.

The Penguin Room

One last remembrance from my Oscar Party-When the guys who won for the "March of the Penguins" got on stage with their giant stuffed penguins, I asked my friend Steve "Where did they get those stuffed penguins ? " and Steve said : "Well , at the Oscars they have a special room filled with just penguins. It's one of the perks ! " and I said (somewhat skeptical) "Really ?" and he said "No." "Actually those are Oscar cosies. SO, people who are trying to steal Oscars, won't find them , they'll only find stuffed penguins. But , Ah-Ha! The Oscars are hidden within".
Yeah, it's probably corney, but I thought that was hilarious !

The Penguin Room

One last remembrance from my Oscar Party-When the guys who won for the "March of the Penguins" got on stage with their giant stuffed penguins, I asked my friend Steve "Where did they get those stuffed penguins ? " and Steve said : "Well , at the Oscars they have a special room filled with just penguins. It's one of the perks ! " and I said (somewhat skeptical) "Really ?" and he said "No." "Actually those are Oscar cosies. SO, people who are trying to steal Oscars, won't find them , they'll only find stuffed penguins. But , Ah-Ha! The Oscars are hidden within".
Yeah, it's probably corney, but I thought that was hilarious !

More Tales from The Booth

So, last week , we were having some trouble with the heating. It was particularly cold here last week and indoor heating was essential. The "guys" came down to fix the problem. By the time I got in last week, they had already been there , earlier in the week. This time they brought a supervisor. This was going to get fixed, lickety split ! Well , it did eventually heat up. However, near the end of the day , I had to use one of the toilets and freaked out upon alighting the throne because I thought the last person had forgotten to flush ! It was warm ! I looked down, and it was a clean bowl. When I was finished, after I had flushed, I could still feel heat emenating from the bowl. They had sone such a good job with the heat that ALL the water was hot now. The water in the sink was positively scalding ! I told my manager. She didn't believe me (why would I make something like that up ? ) (. .. I mean without a punchline). She goes to check it and comes out astonished that the water in the bowl is hot. Alas, it is after 3 PM and the "Guys" are gone for the day.
Today, a guy comes out of the mens room. Fairly clean cut, possibly recently homeless. He goes up to one of my co-workers and says he needs an ambulance. My co-worker asks him to repeat what he just said. "I need an ambulance". My co-worker tells him he can't just call an ambulance, we have to call a park ranger first. My co-worker goes to the ranger station to get the ranger. I should point out at this time that it was only me and the one co-worker on watch. The manager has gone to lunch and my other two co-workers are just gone. Thus , leaving me . . . alone . .. with the guy who wants an amulance. I 'm not sure if I should be worried. Before I could figure it out, my co-worker and the ranger enter.
The ranger asks the man what's going on? Is there a problem ? Are you hurt ? Why do you need an ambulance ? . . .. It could be anything. He's not obviously bleeding, maybe he has rectal bleeding ? Maybe he's having a diabetic episode ? Maybe he's stabbed, and like in the movies , the guy is just a little tired and then his friend figures out he's been shot ? Could be anything.
The Ranger asks him " Why do you want an ambulance ?"
The guy answers. . . . . okay . . . . .get this. . . his answer ? "Because I'm drunk !" and that poor ranger has to keep a straight face and inform the man that "We can't call ambulances for drunk people. You should go now".
And, thus, another day at the booth.

More Party Thoughts

I am discovering that I missed a lot more than I had previously realized. I'm hearing bits and quotes from the Sunday night broadcast that I didn't see/hear watching the damn thing on wide screen tv. More thoughts about the party :
It was fun to be in a room when people were watching and listening to the screen and the feeling of common union when everyone was applauding the winners on screen, in particular when Reese Witherspoon won. I have this image of people looking up at the screen , like they were watching fireworks, and applauding and smiling.
There was an actual Oscar there that had been loaned by the Scout Porductions people that they had won for Erroll Morris 's film last year about McNamara during the Viet Nam War-"Fog of War". For $10.00 , you could get your picture taken with the Oscar. I've had 3 people respond with astonishment that I didn't have any desire to have my picture taken with someone else's Oscar. I prefer to win my own trophies , thank you.
This was a breast cancer research event and I noticed one tall thin thing wearing a skimpy dress and had obvious implants. I thought it was a little tacky, and possibly dangerous somewhere down the line. I turned to my friend and said "did you see the girl with the fake tits ?" and he said "Which One ? ". .. I had no idea. Turns out that girl was part of Corey Feldman's entourage. I found out because their picture was in the paper the next day.
When we checked in at the front desk, they gave us a program for the evening and a little pink ribbon tie tack. I didn't wear mine because I didn't want to leave a mark on my dress.
The band was the James Montgomery band. A blues band of some reputation , here in Boston.
My friend Lauren and her husband eventually found us and sat with us for a bit. We had a lot of laughs. It was funny to hear her comments about the models.
At the elevators, I bumped into my friend Christy and her hsuband Jay and their friend Barbara and Sal DiMassey. I thought he was one of the producers for Stiffs, a movie that just finished filming here in Boston. Uh no, he's Speaker of the House . All I could do was laugh. Long, loud and uncomfortably. When I got in the elevator, I goosed Christy's husband.

The Oscar Night Party

Well, all in all , it was a pretty good night. I decided on the shimmery copper snakeskin print tank dress and the black "Fuck Me" pumps. I wore the Austrian crystal earrings & necklace set. My hair was loose and curly. I did my nails and , of course, they were chipped by the time I got my moisturizer on. I painted them a deep ruby red-to match my lipstck and the primary color in the stones in the necklace. I felt fine. I think I looked presentable.
The event was held at the Bay Tower room at 60 State St., downtown Boston.Steve arrived about 5:40 and when I passed inspection and he had met my Mother we departed for the ball. We got there pretty early and drove around a bit trying to figure out the entrance to 60 State St. I suggested we park on the street. When you live in Boston and try to get anywhere downtown, you rarely think you can actually score some on street parking. From my time doing a show at The Office, I knew there was "off" metered parking spaces to be had nearby. By the time we parked, we both had to pee. It was especially uncomfortable for me because I 'm wearing high heels and I'm anchored down in my "Foundation Garment". So we have to get into the building, check in , check our coats and then find the rest rooms. Steve kept making me laugh, which had me worried I would have an accident. This is great I've written 3 paragraphs and I haven't even got into the building yet. . ..
The view from the Bay Tower room is spectacular. We were there pretty early, which premitted us the opportunity to scope out the rooms. The band was still setting up . Over in the corner , there seemed to be a lot of people, but they were all clustered together , in the middle of a rug. They looked a little uncomfortable and I couldn't figure out why all these people would be clustered together like that when they had all this room ? They were the "party goers" in the back ground for some sort of television reporter . It was weird to see from a distance.
After we had checked things out, we sat down at a table in front of the stage , within view of two of the giant screens. Steve set out to look for the SAG area that Fran had told him there would be. I sat at the table by myself and looked sophisticated and uninterested. The centerpieces were boxes of candy-sour patch kids, Wonka bar, chocolate covered nuts, red twizzlers and a martini glass of pop corn. There were little metallic stars and a piece of plastic "Filmstock" all on top of a traditional white table cloth. It tied in to the movie theme for the night and made things very festive. I ate all the pop corn. They did not come by to refill the martini glasses.
Steve returned with some amazing oysters and shortly after, Fran and Andrea showed up. Andrea had on a vintage prom dress and a tiara. She looked beautiful ! Then my friend Chris Burke cruised by, he was wearing his own vintage tux. Later on we were joined by Diana.Diana looks like Cyndi Lauper. Diana was a little cool to me , but , still she sat down with us. About an hour later she turned to me with a big smile on her face "Oh! Dorothy !!!! I didn't recognize you with your hair ! " She sat down, knew my face , but didn't know how she knew me. We all basically know each other from doing movie extra work. You get to know somebody pretty well if you've been hanging with them since 5AM for 12 hours.This hair cut has been a pretty clever disguise. Either that , or I 've really been looking like shit for a long time . .. .
The band played for about 45 minutes, then Liz Bruner from Channel 5 and Anthony the weather guy , got up to the podium and greeted everyone before the broadcast began. I had a difficult time hearing a lot of the opening monologue because the technicians were adjusting the sound and the tv was competing with several conversations at my table , mostly revolving about when the open bar closed. There were a lot of beautifully dressed men and women. There were also some bizarre characters, I don't think they were Union people. My friend Lauren and her husband kept walking by, I would wave , but they didn't see me.
There were waiters circulating with some delicious snacks-roast beef on rice, grilled shrimp on a bed of spinach leaves, little cups of lobster bisque and a potato/cavier soup. Steve and Chris got bread and vegatables things and Diana brought back bread and sauce. I stayed put since I was afraid I would hurt myself walking.I decided I was in charge of base camp. At 10 pm , the ice cream bar opened.
At the commercial breaks ,there were fashion shows of different local designers. They clearly didn't have anyone dressing the girls, because a lot of them couldn't fill out the tops of their dresses. That's where toilet paper stuffing would come in handy. All the models were wearing glasses with their outfits, which they would take off before the turn. I guess there was an Optical shop that was also sponsor. Miss Massachusetts was there as well. Chris pointed out she is a "Lawrencian"-meaning she's from Lawrence. He's originally from Andover, so he would know these things.
At our table , there were some lively discussions about the merits of the nominees. Chris is a film maker as well as an actor. I think I was the only one at table that had seen all the films. When I say "all the films" , I mean just the top 5 nominees. We were pretty evenly split on the best picture winner. I was sure Crash would win because it was more socially accessible to most of America whereas Brokeback had an appeal to middle America and gay people. That doesn't mean that most of America doesn't like mountains, but everybody drives. . .I'll discuss the movie thing some other time.
To conclude the evening, we recieved gift bags . However, not all gift bags were filled equally. Some bags had t-shirts in them and mine , didn't have a t-shirt in it. It had a Boston Common magazine, a $2. 00 gift certificate for Baskin Robbins, a little thing of Dunkin Donuts coffee, a box of chocolates all contained in a pink plastic bag. I didn't attend to get the gift bag, but I 'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in the contents of the bag I received.
All in all, it was a pretty fun night. We had some great laughs and I ate some food I wouldn't ordinarily choose for myself. It was nice to get dressed up and hang out with my fellow union members. Also, the Ellie fund is a good cause. However, next year, I think I'm going to stay at home in my sweat pants and microwave some pop corn.

Licensed and Feeling Fat

SO , I had a good day today . My outfit was nicely composed and my hair looked great. There must have been something about me today because all the guys at work kept joking with me . Frankly, when I got home, I DID look terrific. But before I got home. . .
I had some errands to do. My electronic deposit kicked in so, I didn't have join the French underground to get my check delivered to me, the money was in my account when I woke up this morning ! Quel Surprise ! Anyhow. . . I had planned on picking some things up at Target and then continuing on to DeMoulas-using my atm to make the purchases. When I got to the register at Target, I didn't have my atm OR my drivers license. Where the fuck were they ? Oh, I had put them in a more manageable bag the other night when I took my friend out for his birthday, I thought I had put everything back in my wallet. I immediately got paranoid that I would get pulled over tonight on the way home. That means I've been driving all over the place without my license since Wed. I can't believe I hadn't noticed their absense before tonight. Anyway, I had just enough to get my groceries and head home. Turns out, when I had put the cash back in my wallet , for some reason, I moved the wallet and ATM to another pocket in the evening bag. I 'm gas lighting myself.
SO, I get home and decide that I should try on the dresses I might wear to the Oscar party. The dress my friend Mary Martha lent me fits , it would be very comfortable but it's a little big. The other dress I have is a shiny copper floor length snake print tank, very simple. I looked a bit "lumpy" so, I put on a "Foundation garment" underneath-I damn near strangled myself. Because it is a binding material designed to hold that which longs to breath free in a vise-like hold. It got all bunched up around my neck and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get it unbunched before I lost consiousness. It was occluding the circulation in the veins supplying blood to the carotid artery.
I looked like I was wearing a metal ducting clamp around my midrift and where the torso meets the top of the legs. I asked my brother what he thought- he just cast his eyes towards the floor and slowly shook his head from side to side. I took that as a " "I wouldn't want to be seen in public with you"- okay, try something else. I removed the underwear and pantyhose. Better, not perfect. I don't look as lumpy but I do have some curves where I would like to have more flattish planes. I may think of something else. I have plenty of time-it's not until Sunday.

An Audition for a Speaking Part

I got called in for an audition for the movie "Gone Baby Gone" set to begin production here in Boston in May. Since I have read all of Denis Lehane's stories (except for the short one that is also going to be a major motion picture) I was pretty psyched. All my little friends and I have read the books. We would buy them and pass them around and discuss amongst ourselves. We liked Denis BEFORE Mystic River became an Oscar winner. I am fond of books that are set in places I have been , or in this case, places I live.
Anyway, I got called in to audition for the character of the woman who is the best friend to the grieving mother. The description for the audition has the character about 10 years younger than I am now. I know from past experience, that I need to do the character like I believe I'm right for the part. Any hesitation will affect the overall presentation. I also know that many times you get brought in for one thing and then get called back for another. That's what happened on "In Dreams".
The character has a thick Boston accent. The one saving grace in having the accent I have is that when they're looking for "An Authentic Boston Accent" I always get a call. Which makes locating to another part of the country problematic.
I got called on Monday, I got my audtion appointment for Thursday on Tuesday . I went to the website and got the audition description and scene. I made myself familiar with the text I would be expected to have it memorized and tried to think about this character. What would she wear ? (What would I wear to the audition?) How should I do my hair. I made sure I had headshots and resumes ready to go before I went to bed on Wed.
Since these situations are so unpredictable, I try to focus on the things I can control-I commit the text to memory, leave on time, show up on time, have my resumes in teh bag and the copy of the script. I had to work , so I brought a shirt to change into. The great thing about this audition was that there was no one else audtioning the same time as me. I was completly alone. Usually the waiting room becomes a little competion about who's working and it can be exhausting. I find the energy required to socialize, mentally draining. SO I wouldn't get distracted from the task at hand by having ot make polite chatter.
The audition went well, but I thought it could have been better. I didn't feel like I was focused enough. I feel like I nailed it on a couple of the lines and sweated the others. They didn't say when they were planning call-backs, that's not a good sign. However, I can't be completely discouraged by it. They just might not know.
I feel I will get called in for something, probably not the character I auditioned for today.