Pint-sized Summer Fun

It must be summer in the city because Larry’s is all decked out with adorable, individually-sized watermelons, which are apparently now all the rage. How could a single girl turn down something like this? Best $1.99 I ever spent.

I've said it before....

...and I'll say it again. Seattle is an awesome place when it comes its libraries. We are just nutso for libraries. Can't get enough of 'em. Yet another great article about the Central Library here.

People ask why I left Colorado, a state that RIOTS when rival college football teams play each other, a state where it's okay to wear a Broncos jersey to the theater...and I draw their attention to the fact that Seattle love its libraries more than it loves its football team. I realize that sounds kind of snotty, but I couldn't think of leaving a town with this much passion for its public libraries. How could I? We're like the nerdy state way up in the corner of America with thick glasses and pocket protectors and our heads buried in an encyclopedia. Ah, Seattle, my dork-infested moss-encrusted homeland, how I love you...

PoweR Trippin'

Lately I've been writing about how sad things are and how sad I feel and how sad my family is and well....you get the idea. I've decided that now is the time to buck the trend and write about something that makes me absolutely giddy -- that is, MTV's new show PoweR Girls.

For those of you NOT obsessed with this new program, it's a reality show about a PR agency in New York that specializes in club openings and celebrities. It follows the young, nubile staff around as they romp around in slip dresses with clipboards launching nightclubs and trying to get Lindsey Lohan's picture into US Weekly.

I've worked in PR for a while now and can safely say that this show is 100 percent totally representative of my experience, in that Paris Hilton is totally representative of farmers and interns and whatever else she does on that show of hers. Yuppers. I've never worn a slip dress in any sort of professional capacity and the only celebrity encounter I had was when I once stood near a guy in a Spongebob Squarepants costume at a trade show. This show really might as well be set in a remote Afghan village for as foreign as it is to any semblance of my daily reality.

Which is why, as I type this, I feel better already, with my weekly infusion of PoweR blaring softly in the background. Ahhhhhhhh.....

A Few Words on Family

Well, I am back from Denver after a very emotional and exhausting couple of days. I was surprised how hard this trip was for me -- I flew in feeling very in control and ready to support my mom and Get Things Handled. Going in, I was sad about my uncle, sure, but we didn't have a particularly deep personal relationship and I hadn't seen him in a long while and certainly not while he was sick.

And yet, sitting in church and looking at his coffin flanked by my aunt and uncle and cousins and their kids, it hit me how much I was going to miss my uncle Steve. And how, despite not being a really integral part of my daily life, he was still such a huge part of my family and that part is gone now, which is such a shame.

So we move on. Or we try to as best we can. I guess the old saying of taking it one day at a time is true, so that's how I'm going about it.

On a related note, I was so moved and touched by the thing that a certain person emailed to me (you know who you are) that I just can't describe it. That was so thoughtful...and so NEEDED. I can't WAIT. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For everything.

Sad News

I feel weird delivering this news over my blog to the ENTIRE Internet, but wanted to tell folks that my uncle passed away on Monday and I'll be heading home for the services this weekend.

I remember writing about him over a year ago when we first learned he had cancer and the doctors had only given him a few months at most. He proved them wrong and really made a terrific effort to live to the fullest in the time he had, surrounded by the folks that loved him most. For that, I truly admire him and think there's a lesson in that approach to life for all of us.

More later, but I'll be taking a few days off to be with the fam. Being home sounds so great right now and being able to be there to support my mom during a really painful time for her feels even better.

A Cat Lady Moment

Being of a certain age (over 30) and a certain marital status (single), I try to make a point of not having long-winded conversations with people about the adorable/annoying things that my cat does. There's a fine line between normal pet owner conversations and Cat Lady conversations and I have crossed over that line on more than one occasion. Like I will right now.

So yesterday morning I noticed that Mrs. Puff has some serious dandruff action going on. She is also shedding like a...thing that sheds a lot. It was not a pretty day for Mrs. Puff. Being as obese as she is, it's tough for her to groom herself. She just seems to have no interest in it, because she knows I will brush her and she is lazy.

So on the way home, I stopped at my fancy-schmancy Capital Hill pet store and bought some pet wipes, which are basically non-toxic Wet-Ones you use on your pet to clean them and condition their fur.

CUE TERRIFYING HORROR MOVIE MUSIC RIGHT NOW. Because the minute those wipes came out of the package, Mrs. Puff's eyeballs popped out of her head and she RAN under the bed as though I had opened up a package of poison-tipped razor blades to insert under her claws. She hid. And screamed. And probably shed tears. And squirmed like she has never been in more pain in her life while I rubbed conditioning NON TOXIC pet cleaner (i.e., not bleach, not acid...) onto her fur. She has no doubt this morning called the ASPCA to alert them of my torturous plans, to (GASP!) WIPE OFF HER DIRTY FUR.

Anyone else had a reaction like this with the whole pet-wipe experience? Anyone at all? Hello, cat ladies?

"...So Shut Up, Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, And Don't Be Sorry."

I started reading Desolation Angels by Kerouac last night. What a trip. It's like being inside someone's head listening to the rambling cacophony of every strange and incoherant and sometimes beautiful thought coming towards you at full speed all at once. I think it's just what I needed after a rough couple of weeks.

When I very moved to Seattle some eight years ago (whoo!), I saw a van with the quote above painted on it and just last night I came across those words again in this book. I've had the picture of that van on my fridge all of these years and feel a nice sense of serendipity going on where random things coincide at unexpected moments.

Mailbag!

Q: Beth, I notice that you regularly update your list of Things You Do (and Do Not) Enjoy, but never, ever, not even once, have you taken "Eels" off of your list of Things You Do Not enjoy. Fess up. What's your beef with eels?

A: Are you kidding me? Have you ever seen an eel? Take the creepiness of a giant snake, couple it the Underwater Factor where said giant snake can swim really really fast, and then give that giant underwater snake the power of electricity. ELECTRICITY, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE. I am getting the heeby-jeebies just typing about eels. Your letter alone gives me the shivers and not in a good way.

Q: What's a supposedly hip 30-something single woman doing watching The Spongebob Squarepants Movie? I would have thought you to have a lot more sophisticated taste in movies than that.

A: Oh Puh-leeze. We can't all watch existential Bergman films all the time. Spongebob is a super-cool subversive (and submersive) yellow ROCK STAR and I love him. I don't like the tone of your letter, it reeks of someone that is accepting of eels. Back off, eel-boy.

Beth Returns to the Blogosphere

Contrary to rumors circulating in certain B-level celebrity circles, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, at least entirely. True its been more than a week since last I wrote, but there just hasn't been much going on. Here are a few highlights:

* I bought what looks like a really nice, and really cheap, chair-and-a-half/ottoman set through Craigslist.
* STILL. HAVEN'T. FINISHED. ANNA KARENINA. That book will be the death of me. Hoping the chair-and-a-half will help me get back on the reading kick.
* Going through massive laptop frustration and thinking about buying a new one maybe later this summer.
* No update on family, which I think is a good thing.
* Had a chance to spend some time catching up with old friends I hadn't seen in a long while, which was very comforting since I've been feeling stretched very thin lately.

Security Scarf

Thank you to those of you over the weekend who listened to me ramble on about my family issues of late, I'm feeling a little better. Still helpless, but better.

I finished a scarf I was knitting for my mom this weekend -- talk about perfect timing -- and mailed it off to her. Figured if I couldn't offer her a security blanket, I could offer a security scarf instead.