Tuesday

This is what it feels like to be walking along and suddenly spot a piece of sea glass. It happened 23 times this evening, but this one was the first and the prettiest.

Back to the Beach

How to Write

From an article by Colson Whitehead   (Rule No. 11 is my favorite.)

Rule No. 11: There are no rules. If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too? No. There are no rules except the ones you learned during your Show and Tell days. Have fun. If they don’t want to be friends with you, they’re not worth being friends with. Most of all, just be yourself.

Working Late

Carmen Turns Six

Icing the cake

Champagne and bones

Any more presents?

Happy Birthday, Carmen!

The Week in Glass

 and some pink plastic.

Blue

6:14 p.m.  Looking south

6:51 p.m.  Looking east

Found

Looks yummy, doesn't it? Almost like a Bundt cake.

Saturday: The Good Parts

We have a new coffee shop in the 'hood! Oh Cassava, we love you.

We saw Anne! She happened to be wearing the lucky necklace I made her.

She calls it "Rock."

Morning / Evening

Tom: Where have you been all morning? 

Me: Uh ... I came to bed a little later than you did last night. And now I'm going to have a cup of coffee before I meditate––just to help open up my 3rd eye.

Tom: Well I'm glad you finally got your first two open.

6:49 p.m.   Land's End

7:17 p.m.  Coastal Trail

6:56 p.m.    looking down from the Great Highway

6:35 p.m.  Coastal Trail

Saturday: the Fun Parts

lines

speckles

more lines

The movie, a little review? Well, OK. First of all, I think all of Woody Allen's movies are in the top 1% of movies. This one was really sweet and fun––but all in all, not one of his more memorable. But Judy Davis is TREMENDOUS!!
p.s. The story involves TWO architects. TWO.

(The new Woody Allen is down the street!)

Sutro Park

  7:32 p.m. 

On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

And then today I tried another Toastmasters group. This group meets at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and they call themselves the Toastmodernists.

Table Topics is an exercise where a question or topic is raised, and the Toastmaster (that was Kathrin) zaps you on the spot and you have to stand up and speak on whatever subject she has raised for one to two minutes. At one minute, the time-keeper (that was George) holds up a green card. At 90 seconds, he shows the speaker a yellow card, and at 2 minutes, a red card.

Kathrin asked Linda (me) to tell about a movie I had seen that had affected me in a way that I hadn't anticipated. What a great topic! I stood up. I stood up for 15 seconds. I stood for 30 seconds. Then 45 seconds. This thought crossed my mind: What if I just stand for 2 minutes without saying anything? Then my time will be up, and I won't have to speak. I looked over at George's cards, waiting for him to show the green one. He said, "We don't start timing until you start speaking."

"Well," I said.

My god! How many amazing movie experiences I've had. I remember my first movie experience ever, Sleeping Beauty––and after a little while asking my mom if we could leave and go play outside instead of watching the movie, and how she asked if I was sure that was what I wanted to do, and when I assured her it was, how we got up and left the theater. 

I remember seeing my first foreign movie, Jules and Jim. A life-changer. I remember seeing 2001 and how back out in the parking lot, when my boyfriend was asked to help jump someone's car battery off, how I sat entranced thinking about the movie and not caring how long it took to get the dead car going. I remember seeing Pulp Fiction and coming out in a state of amazement. I remember seeing Jackie Brown, and not expecting a thing after Pulp Fiction, but walking out of Jackie Brown totally mesmerized--and how snow had fallen during the movie and how everything was transformed when we walked back out past the dumpster to the car. I remember seeing Adaptation with Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper…

But I couldn't begin to put these experiences into words. Don't tell me there's no such thing as verbal dyslexia.

"Well," I said. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, because Woody Allen's new movie will be here." Deep breath. Out of desperation I started talking about watching The Skin I Live In last week. But I had no idea how to pronounce Pedro Almodovar. I said, "You know, one of his old movies is … Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. And then there's Talk to Her. I mean, Talk to Me. No. Talk to Her."

I went on, "The movie was hard to watch. It was intense. It was violent. There was sexual violence. There was gender exchange" (don't ask me where I came up with the term gender exchange). "It was … I could hardly stand to watch it. But I had to watch it. I wasn't sure I would ever recommend it to my friends. But I couldn't stop thinking about it…and I still can't stop thinking about it."

After the meeting was over, I scrambled down to the café as fast as possible and when I had made sure there was no one from class around, I ordered a bowl of soup and an Anchor Steam, and when I couldn't see a table indoors, I sat outside––that's how distraught I was.

p.s. The Distractions Keeper & Grammarian (that was Dave) reported that I had five "um's" and "and's." Wow! I thought that was great! But then I realized it was probably because I had only spoken for 20 seconds or so.

A Happy Fourth

We are lucky to live next door to Emmy.

A picnic lunch (indoors, thank you!) at the Beach Chalet with Emmy. The murals are WPA frescoes from the 30's by Lucien Labaudt.

Emmy points out that the the guy grilling hotdogs has six fingers.

4th of July treasures

Happy 4th of July, San Francisco style. Yes, those are earmuffs.

Chef Tom prepares dinner.

The Scientific Hangover Cure

This week's cache of sea glass

Our Sunday magazine featured the 100 best bars in the Bay Area. I read it at breakfast. I discovered the little video down below before lunch. I was so intrigued by it that I watched the next two in the series:

What causes a Hangover? and

Why do coffee and alcohol make you PEE more?

I found those two videos so fascinating that I reserved The Science of Drinking: How Alcohol Affects Your Body and Mind at the 'brary. I'll let you know how it is.

I'm kind of hoping it doesn't have the same influence on me that Food, Inc had. No kidding: I haven't had a fast food hamburger since I saw the movie.

 
Videos via Brain Pickings!