Brain Dump

On Friday I spent the day with my younger son. We made a trip to the mall where I saw many strange people and things.

Example A: Enormous faux testicles hanging off the bumper of the truck. I had heard about them but never seen them. I tried to snap a photo while driving across the 520 bridge. I really can't say I recommend trying to blog while driving. I have to wonder...what exactly are the fake balls supposed to say about the driver of the truck? Because to me they say, "I'm (emotionally) neutered and have to compensate by hanging a big dangly pair off the back of my stupid ass truck." I'm guessing this isn't the vibe they're aiming for.

Example B: I saw a man who was so obviously abusing steroids and a tanning booth that I actually laughed out loud when I saw him. It's quite hard to convey how absurd and non-human this man appeared. He was wearing some very 80s-style designer jeans and a plastered-on t-shirt. He was several shades more fake-baked than, say, Jessica Simpson. His upper arms were easily larger than the torso of a ten year old boy with enormous bulging veins. In short, he was a repulsive freak. But clearly he had crafted himself into a repulsive freak and looked very proud of himself. As in Example A I fail to understand just what message this person is trying to send.

Example C: All the women at the mall seems to be in matching pairs. There were the two 20-somethings in matching velour sweatsuits (so two years ago) and matching blonde hairstyles. There were the two forty-something women wearing pretty much the same shirt and jeans with identical red hair. There were the two sixty-something out shoe shopping wearing matching black pants, loud print jackets, reinforced toe stocking and sport sandals.

It all started to feel pretty surreal.

Wes and I had a fabulously delicious dinner at Le Pichet for my birthday. We split four small plates of composed salads, sausage and frites and insanely delicious broiled eggs with shrimp in a lobster cream. So, so good. Then we went out for coffee and chocolates.

Today I worked at the sale at the shop all day. Things were hopping. There was a special preview last night for preferred customers and the shop was looking pretty picked over when I got there. I spent most of the day trying to keep the shelves full of yarn. Then Wes and I went to see Thank You for Smoking which was just brilliantly sharp and funny. We also grabbed dinner and walked around the neighborhood for a while in search of dessert.

Tomorrow we're going for a family birthday breakfast at the Original Pancake House. They just opened one near us. Wes and I used to go to one in Hyde Park in Chicago a lot when we lived there. In fact, we had our first breakfast together there. After breakfast I'm off to work and then straight to a friend's after work to babysit.

As you can imagine, I didn't knit much today. I'm still focused on afghan squares. I've lost track of how many I have now. Around 55.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! Have a happy Sunday!