Minimum daily requirements
I’m heading to England the day after tomorrow, and the report from my stepdaughter, whom I’m meeting over there, is that the food is very, how shall we say . . . bland.
So like loading up on vitamins, I’ve been having heavy doses of tortilla chips and salsa the past few days. I’m eating exactly that right now, in between sentences. It’s like a spicy food frenzy. I’m going out for Mexican food tonight, tomorrow I might eat some chili peppers whole–no telling.
But I’m also told that the chocolate is EXQUISITE, so I think I’ll get by. And I believe I’ll even be able to find a Starbucks. Is that wrong to want Starbucks in the land of tea? But I just don’t get tea at all. It tastes like colored water. Not robust and burly like scalding Starbucks coffee. We all have our needs.
So there’s the short list so far: salsa, chocolate, coffee (excuse me, GREAT coffee. Nothing worse than wasting your mouth on a bad cuppa joe. You feel so used).
And add to that another daily requirement that I don’t attend to nearly often enough: a good dose of schmaltz.
Got it today. Saw The Lake House, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Yes, thank you, that will do quite nicely. Exactly what was needed. I don’t want to give away a single part of it, but just know that if you’re feeling a little puny about the heart, take yourself to this movie, bring your analytical brain as well as some Kleenex, and indulge in good, impossible romance.
I’ve been savoring Anne Lamott’s Plan B lately, and one of the essays was about how when things get a little rough in her life, she sends herself on a cruise. And a cruise is this: two hours on top of a bed or couch, surrounded by fluffy pillows, decadent non-alcoholic drink at hand (smoothie, Starbucks, whatever)–
[By the way, brief digression: have you seen those articles lately about how some novelists have started taking money from companies for product placement? Let me be clear: I endorse Starbucks of my own, unpaid volition. My novel TKFKATTOE (The Novel Formerly Known As The Theory of Evolution) contains frequent references to Starbucks. This is who I am. I have not sold out. I stand by my conflict-of-interest-free love and admiration of Starbucks.
Plus I am a stockholder. But only of a hundred shares. I can maintain my integrity. It's not like I'm a member of Congress or anything.]
Anyway, back to Anne Lamott.
So she’s there in her nest of pillows, drinking her “drink,” and for two hours she sits there reading magazines or watching old Twilight Zone episodes.
And her point is this: if you don’t mother yourself, who will? If you’re not a good wife to yourself, who will be? Pampering is good. Pampering saves us from being the kind of people we run from. It’s a gift to humanity to be kind to yourself and take the edge off all that exhaustion and anger.
So with that in mind–not that I’m either exhausted or angry at the moment–I have been taking time these last few days to recognize a few important things and take steps to address them:
One, after working night and day for weeks to rewrite TNFKATTOE, I finished it day before yesterday and sent it to my editor. That is a cause for celebration.
Two, I have a very large Labrador retriever puppy(ish) who sheds about eighty pounds of hair per hour, and I have not had time to vacuum for about four weeks. You do the math. (The upside is if I put on enough lotion in the morning, I don’t actually have to wear clothes. There’s a whole airborne cloak just waiting for me.)
Three, I’m supposed to be leaving for England day after tomorrow, and supposedly I need to pack for that. Ha! Whatever.
Four, my immune system is still at only about 80%–immunity to bland food, that is. So I still have a lot more salsa to funnel in over the next two days. That takes time.
Five, I need to figure out how I’m going to blog from London, since I KNOW you all want daily updates of how hard it is to remember to look both ways in the opposite direction before stepping into traffic. No matter how many times I tell myself that, I know my brain is still going to ignore it. I have the feeling I’ll be waiting out many stop lights, just because I won’t believe my eyes.
Whoops, killed another bag of tortilla chips. Must go get some more.
So anyway, time to go pamper myself a bit. This trip to England happens to be on my Life List, and you know how I feel about checking off those. Plus, every time I do something on the List, I get to replace it with a new item. How exciting.
So now I’m off to vacuum, pack, and salsa load. But before I do, can I just say again how much I enjoyed The Lake House? It’s movies like that that make me come home and kiss my pillow.
Maybe that’s more than you need to know.
Technorati Tags: The Lake House, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, England, Salsa, Chocolate, Starbucks, Anne Lamott
June 18th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
let’s talk starbucks. i think i’m on record re the whole seattle “scene”. i nonetheless have enjoyed an occasional beverage at this particular chain, only however, when out of my hometown and know of no local coffee house, or i’m in seattle and figure all the places that let starbucks put them out of business deserve it.
on one such occasion, approximately a year ago, the particular starbucks i stopped at for a double shot latte for the road had a big display for starbucks’ “charity”, “ethos” bottled water. what a joke, the self-laudatory literature available with each bottle, proclaims that starbucks will contribute a million dollars of the sales proceeds toward providing potable water in emerging nations, i believe the continent of choice was africa. wow, a million dollars. i took it upon myself to communicate with starbucks, very repectfully, the rather apparent hypocrisy in contributing to the plastic beverage container pollution crisis in a country (ours) with arguably the cleanest water in the world. (i resisted mentioning how embarrasingly cheap the contribution is and in fact congratulated starbucks on its desire to effect positive change, suggesting however that its efforts might be better directed at requiring its paper and plastic providers to use only biodegradeable products and saving paper by posting a single sign of its generous humanitarian efforts rather than a slick brochure with every purchase.)
i know what you’re thinking–did i get a response? you bet “…we at starbucks appreciate your patronage, all of our customers are important to us, we value any suggestions that our valuable customers make, thank you for your suggestions, valuable customer, we are pleased you enjoy our products.” i was so touched.
rb, stand tough in london–WALK BY the starbucks to a real coffee house and if you can’t find one, start drinking beer as i understand there is no shortage of local pubs.
June 18th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Re: “I resisted mentioning how embarrassingly cheap the contribution is. . .”
I think that’s so unfair. It’s easy to think that no company, no person (not even Oprah or Bill Gates with all of their charitable donations)is doing “enough.”
What’s enough? Doing SOMETHING is better than a vast majority of corporations and individuals do.
This creates that same panic in me when I see how much need there is in the world, and realize I’m one person with only this much time and money and skills to help.
So what’s the answer? Do a little for a lot of causes, or pick one or two and channel as much as you can their way? I honestly don’t know. I have the feeling it’s the latter, but I’m open to discussion on this.
In the meantime, don’t be so mean to Starbucks. I love it any time a corporation does something nice that they don’t have to.
June 18th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
let me qualify my criticism: “so embarrassingly cheap when held out as a ‘charitible contribution’ as opposed to advertising dollars”. you may recall that b. gates took some heat for publicizing some of his foundation’s first huge donations that turned out to be school computers dependent upon microsoft products. i’m not saying it was not a good and necessary thing, but that’s the kind of contribution you make “quietly”. as for oprah, anything she does is okay by me, because i love her, in fact i’m putting her on my list right now.
a last rant. why don’t corporations HAVE TO do lots and lots of nice things?–don’t they take our money, don’t we work for them, don’t we own their stock, aren’t they citizens of our communities, just like us? don’t we all have to do nice things for the privilege of living in a nice world?–shouldn’t they?
June 18th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Okay, I feel much better. You and I can be friends.
As for should they have to–yes, let’s decide right now they do. Everyone must do nice things from now on. So it shall be written, so it shall be done.
Quick quiz, movie buffs–whose line was that?
June 18th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
I’m sorry, I can’t resist, it’s just too much temptation–
HOW CAN YOU DRINK COFFEE MADE FROM BURNED TO DEATH BEANS???? That chain is the McDonalds of the coffee world. It’s swill. Expensive swill at that.
Re the dog hair issue. I’ve filled three vac bags in two weeks. My dog only weighs forty pounds. Each full vac bag seemed to weigh at *least* ten. I’m still boggled at that math . . . and it will be SO nice in a couple weeks to be able to eat a dinner that doesn’t have dog hair as one of its major ingredients. Luckily Syd, the dominatrix alpha bitch from hell, only sheds twice a year.
June 18th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
How can I drink that coffee? Let me tell you a sad story. I was once a girl with no hair on my chest. Now I am complete.
Speaking of hair, thank you for confirming the mystery of the amount of shedding vs. amount of dog.
And after your description of Syd, um, I think my boy dogs will be steering clear.
June 18th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
I gotta agree with BJ here, Robin. Starbucks is the most consistently CRAP coffee I’ve ever had, and I’ve been drinking coffee my ENTIRE LIFE. It’s burned, old, and as stale as a thing can be. AND IT’S SO EXPENSIVE!!! The instant stuff my mom’s forgotten about in the back of the refrigerator since I was 12 tastes better than Starbucks. I cannot believe you like that stuff.
Tea is where it’s at, by the way. I’m gonna go make myself a cup right now.
June 18th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Lizzie, I’m sorry to hear you don’t have hair on your chest. The boys must not like you so much.
June 18th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
bj, lizzie, thank you. sometimes we all need a lovin’ slap along side the head. the dog hair thing is similar to a physics phenomonem i experienced when one of my kids had a guinea pig. seriously, the critter ate 2 lbs. of feed a week and s__t about 10 lbs. a day. i thought someone at laurance livermore lab would be interested–but truth be told their minds are not all that inquiring. bj, i think you should take up dog hair knitting (you understand this would not work with the guinea pig). peace out, keep drinking coffee, or tea, or whatever from your neighborhood, non-francised vendor (i wish i could say the same for books, but with this crowd…scary…)