We go out to grab a late lunch, or an early supper, or whatever one wants to call it.

I'm with the mom at Panera, which I love for the good food and the free WiFi.

Mom goes to the loo; I check my e-mail. When she returns, she sees that my laptop is open, and says, "there's a sign over there that says 'high-speed internet.'"

I look up at her, over my glasses.

"Oh. Is that what you're using now?"

"Yes, indeed."

"You don't have a cable hooked up, or anything."

I say nothing, because to get annoyed would mean that I naively expected she was listening to me all the times I've told her how convenient WiFi is, etc. etc., and how I only take a cable with me when I travel, in case the WiFi doesn't work.

And I do not want to appear naive.

Fortunately, the waiter shows up with my onion soup, and I realize quickly that the most magnificent thing in the world is onion soup without an excessive amount of cheese in it. Onion soup in which one can really taste the onion. And I'm too much in love with this long-overdue interpretation of the dish to care much one way or another just how often it is that my mother really does listen to the things I say.

But who knows if I'll be hanging on her every word after this . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 252 words, total size 1 kb.

Or, perhaps, until my mother's dog does.

If you live near LAX, please be on the lookout for a beautiful black pit bull wearing a purple collar.

I tried not to spazz out about it when Mandy went missing yesterday evening, but it rained today, which means that all the flyers I distributed in Westchester this afternoon (Tuesday afternoon, that is) have been ruined.

More importantly, it means that Mandy's sense of smell won't help her to get back home.

If she's still alive, that is: there are big, busy boulevards near my mother's house, and Mandy never seemed to get the idea of what a street was: most of what she does she does very quickly, very exuberently. The odds may not be that good that she's still alive.

I choose to have hope, which means my new hobby is producing flyers and placing them on lamp posts and trees near my mother's house. (My mother is 70 years old, and recovering from a hurt knee. Furthermore, I want someone to be at the house to greet the dog, should she come home.)

Therefore, you'll strictly get what I need to write in order to wind down—for the next several days, or until the heartache I feel subsides to a dull sort of thumpety-thump I can ignore.

If you can bring yourself to pray for a sweet, spirited fourteen-month-old puppy, please do so.

I just want my my mother's dog back. Other than that, I'm pretty much going through the motions right now. Working, doing housework. And thinking about my dog.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:09 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.

The good news: I've recovered from producing the monthly newsletter for Ye Olde Nonprofit. It also looks like I'll finally be getting some help with some of the management work I do for them as a staffer.

In our monthly meeting yesterday morning the Chairman remarked that it was perfectly obvious I was overloaded with responsibilities, and that other people needed to start pulling their weight. And for a split second I felt offended—angry that he would insult me by suggesting I couldn't handle the extreme load I was carrying. Fortunately, I kept my mouth shut and allowed myself to be treated as if I were a human being rather than a sort of robotic super-heroine.

Are all women like this, or does it have to do with the way I was raised? It's so pathological, it's funny. Sort of.

So I'm taking it easy today: no politics. Light human-interest blogging if the spirit strikes.

Mostly I intend to work on my fiction, go to the party, and finish consuming the delicious Ellery Queen mystery I have my nose in right now.

A shout-out to Darrell: I got your writing prompt, and have a first draft of a short story based on same. I'm not sure if I'll be presenting it at the reading party today, though. It clearly isn't finished. I might just cop out and read another chapter excerpt there.

And I'll either post the story—about the woman with the mis-matched socks—or send it to you. Once it's finished, of course.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:14 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 267 words, total size 2 kb.

. . . has meeting rooms with names like the Felicity Room, the Serenity Room, the Harmony Room, and the Prosperity Room. And the Room of Rainbows and Cute Kittens.

Okay: I made that last one up.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

traffic.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

"You stopped over in Vegas on the way home? You should have hit a casino or two. You could have made out with enough to cover your CPAC trip! Or at least you could have checked out the Star Trek exhibit at the Hilton—help maintain your geek cred."

"My geek cred isn't hurting," she replied. "And there wasn't time to leave the airport. I skipped the video poker in the waiting area, since I'm too broke and too compulsive for that. But I did take advantage of the free WiFi, which in my mind makes up for any flaws the Las Vegas airport may have.

"I am still, for the record, very annoyed with both BWI and the people at U.S. Air."

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 132 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm at Johns Hopkins, outside Professor Purkinje's office—where Dr. P is working before we head out to lunch and send me to my plane. He introduces me to one of his employees: "Joy writes murder mysteries."

"Oh," replies the nice young researcher. "Are you in science also?"

"No," I tell him. "Just a writer."

Though it occurs to me that had I known what I'd end up doing, studying a little forensic science would have come in darn handy.

At the very least, I should have taken the precaution of failing human physiology in high school, so I could take it again. That way, I would remember it all better in ripe middle age.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

Attila the Hub may be doing a show for a well-known actor/cult figure with whom I feel his sensibilities would be a great fit. I mean, this person has a bent sense of humor, and it would not just be lucrative, but also fulfilling and fun for A the H.

Or perhaps I meant it the other way around?—not just fun, but also lucrative.

Anyway, send Good Vibes: it's been a hell of a dry spell around here, for both of us.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . well, right now.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

It was four difficult hours, but we accomplished a lot. Also—she charges less than my last clutter lady, and has more experience.

Call me if you want good organizational help in the L.A. area.

I'm exhausted, but I am working from my actual desk, which we dug out from under a pile of papers and books.

I pointed out to her helpfully that you can always recognize those who aren't serious about getting organized, because they only have one file folder for each subject: some of us have two or three or four. We're not like the lightweight psuedo-organized: We're overachievers.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:15 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 111 words, total size 1 kb.

A couple of computer crises made the newsletter for my nonprofit group an adventure this week. The beautiful thing is that I do that work as a volunteer, but my responsibilities as a paid employee kick into high gear once we send the beast to the printer. That week of hell each month culminates in two Saturday meetings held in dusty rooms that trigger my allergies. During the 4-5-hour ordeal I'm expected to give four written/oral reports (two as a volunteer, and two as the office manager).

I generally stay at my mother's place those Friday nights, so I can get into the office earlier on meeting mornings. Under the best conditions this means I sleep a bit more than if I had stayed in the Pasadena area. Under the worst conditions it doesn't work because her dog chews up the couch I'm sleeping on, and that disturbs me in the night.

And by the time I leave the Center on those Saturday afternoons my mind has often turned into whatever that stuff is they make Vienna sausages out of.

It's like that now. I'm tired, but content, in that sicko feminine codependent way.

[Yeah. I end sentences with prepositions; ya wanna make something of it? I mean, is there something you would like to make it into?]

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:34 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 200 words, total size 1 kb.

The husband made such good time today that by the time we went out to the 18-mile checkpoint to cheer him on, he'd passed it by twenty minutes before. This is partly due to his wife's problems with time management, but more of it had to do with his habit of always making the conservative, "safe" judgement: the range he gave us of when he might pass by just didn't allow for the possibility of his getting across the start line early, and keeping up his best pace.

Attila the Hub finished the marathon in four hours and twenty minutes—an hour and forty minutes ahead of how he did last year in Hawaii.

At a certain point his sister urged me to give up the vigil. I agreed, and went to the Circle K for ice. Once I got back here, I checked with Mr. Internet, and found out that he'd finished—and made good time. So I went down to check the shuttle buses; he stepped off one of them just as I reached the lobby.

Running has done great thing for A the H. And I'm very proud of him.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:05 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 199 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm here in the Valley of the Sun. I'm supposed to have lunch with Desert Cat today, and then tomorrow I'll be cheering my husband on in the Phoenix Marathon.

Blogging will be more-than-light for the next few days, as I'll be occupied fetching ice to soothe sore spousal muscles.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:05 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Small world. My father is running the half-marathon. My mother is with him to cheer him on/pick him up after it's all over. They took my grandmother along for a much-deserved vacation and an excuse to do some AZ site seeing. I'd say I'm jealous but it's not that warm there now, and the thousands of people there for the marathon would get in my way. I'm waiting for Spring Training in March.

Posted by: Sean Hackbarth at January 14, 2007 01:28 AM (QJ5cf)

2 AND!!! DC has posted a certain Picture, taken, I think, around the time of said Lunch. That's my blogdad and blogmom in the SAME PICTURE AT ONCE!!! With a great restaurant sign AND pretty flowers too! All right, all you bloggers out there. Now you tell me: How often does that happen? HUH? HUH? I am the LUCKIEST blogchild to ever be virtually born.

Posted by: k at January 14, 2007 01:33 AM (lCUKc)

3 Oooh, hoorah. I was going to send you that pic, and one like it that Daisy Cat took. I was hoping DC had posted it--was going to check on that after I answered my comments. Daisy Cat is an extraordinary woman: bright. With-it. Thoughtful. You'd like her.

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 14, 2007 06:22 AM (ha3lH)

4 Sean, it's COLD here right now: maybe not by Wisconsin standards, but by Southwestern standards, it's intense. And I left my jacket and coat in SoCal, so I'm muddling along with sweaters and sort of dancing around to keep warm when I have to go outside. Usually when I come out here in the I pack clothes like the ones I take to the mountains. It's warm generally warm during the day (that sunshine thing), but at night the temperatures drop straight down like lead. It typically goes from 65 degrees in the daytime to 30-40 when it gets dark, here in the desert. How cool that your dad is running the half: I'm going to run a half this coming fall. I'll remember to look for your family in the crowds . . . ! ("Do you like good cooking? Tanqueray gin? Baseball?")

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 14, 2007 06:32 AM (ha3lH)

5 AG The last couple of mornings, the thermometer on my patio has been a rock steady 30 degrees. (Friday I ran outside to take pics of my house covered in a mixture of hail and SNOW!!) Spousal unit traveled to Adelanto on Saturday to help set up a friend's new computer... neighbor kids were having fun spraying the bushes with water and watching icicles form.

Posted by: Darleen at January 14, 2007 01:01 PM (x/ea7)

6 If my mother did the same thing as last year she hunkered down at an Einstein's Bagels with a book and waited for my dad to finish running.

Posted by: Sean Hackbarth at January 14, 2007 07:37 PM (QJ5cf)

7 Actually, Darleen, I did get your mail, and I showed A the H the pix of your house covered in snow. It reminds me of the time it snowed in Northridge in the early 90s. Wild. Sean, there was ice on the sidewalks here. One runner slipped on it and fell. This is something like a 20-year record cold day for Fenix--VERY atypical. I'm sure your parents didn't even notice.

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 14, 2007 09:53 PM (ha3lH)

8 Oh, I do not LIKE being cold like that. Feels too much like Minnesota. Unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of hunkering down somewhere warm this weekend to wait it out. I'm still thawing.

Posted by: Desert Cat at January 16, 2007 04:54 PM (B2X7i)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

"I am content now that I'm taller than James Bond. It took me years to accomplish that."

—Darrell

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Fear, or envy?

I'm talking about on the individual level, here: which emotion tends to be more corrosive to someone's personal development? Discuss.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:19 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

This is your window on drugs.

H/t: My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . about a guy who still tends bar at the age of ninety.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

I don't go out of my way to kill spiders in the house: I keep a few around to dispatch any bugs that make their way in, and then I try to trap the others and take 'em outside, where they are perfectly fine.

And there are some local animals such as squirrels that my husband will use humane traps for, and relocate.

But it sounds like an awfully dicey idea to use the "humane" strategy with mice or rats. By the time rodents make it in, there are generally too many of 'em to trap humanely: they need to be killed, just like ants do.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:33 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 110 words, total size 1 kb.

We're buying more Japanese cars than domestic ones these days in the Golden State. Apparently, one of the factors involved is a change in fleet sales, but still . . .

People who want us to buy American should get American manufacturers to make better cars. Ford is doing better, but GM's taken a big dive in the past 6-8 years. Not that I'm bitter because my love affair with Saturn went sour, mind you.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:13 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.

There are lots of rules. But the big rule is this: respect the forces of nature. Nature is very big. You are very small. Act accordingly.

Via Simon at Classical Values.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:50 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.