It's Difficult To Write When You Have A Dog Snoring In Your Lap

It’s time to play Catch Up with Vanessa. Working full-time, taking two night classes (graduate classes), and having a shitload of homework every week doesn’t allow me much time to blog, Ryker. I’ve been quite productive today, however; I’ve done all my laundry, grocery shopped, finished a take-home exam, and it’s only 2:15 p.m.! Oh, and I want my hour back. I always feel robbed when we have to “spring forward!” And I didn’t exactly spring. It was more like dragging one foot behind me. I’m tired and I don’t think I’ll NOT be tired until I graduate.

I had a second anniversary here on Aunt Vanessa and I didn’t even realize it until a few minutes ago when I read an e-mail from my dear friend, Irene. She’s been posting a blog for about the same amount of time as I have, and we have become friends through our blogs. She is a wonderfully insightful writer and I love her. Go look at her latest photo of her adorable boys.

Mom and Auntie Linda came up for a visit last weekend. We had tickets to see Lily Tomlin and she really put on a good show. She performed for two solid hours and I have no idea how she could possibly have so much energy and be funny at the same time.

My friend, Sandy, and I went to an Opera Gala last night. I loved it. I’m so happy to have a friend who likes live performances as much as I do. I told her I was very glad that her husband didn’t mind that we were dating. He’s always delighted that Sandy has a buddy and he doesn’t have to attend operas and such, which is great for me!

I recently finished Norman Mailer’s newest novel and found it fascinating. It received mixed reviews, but I’d give it a very positive one if that’s what I did for a living. I’m also reading a Heller novel, and it’s just crazy funny. He’s so sarcastic. I’m about to begin The Stones of Summer, simply because I HAVE to read it after seeing the documentary about it. If you have Netflix, add The Stone Reader to your queue, or go out and rent it, or do whatever it takes to find the DVD and watch it. I feel compelled to tell everyone I see about it because it is that good. It’s full of literary references and the narrator/filmmaker keeps the subject interesting and really, that’s all I’m going to say about it, but please watch it and let me know what you think.

What about the Oscars? I thought Babel should have won Best Picture, not The Departed. Helen Mirren, of course, was the correct choice. Haven’t seen Last King of Scotland, yet. Little Miss Sunshine was the perfect movie and I loved it so much, but I still think Babel was the one that should have won. It had Best Picture written all over it. I watched Marie Antoinette and agree that it was the best in costuming, but that’s all the good I can say about it. It was so boring, and I realized that the reason being Marie Antoinette led an extremely boring life, right up to the time her little airhead got chopped off, and the movie stopped before that. And I wouldn’t have wanted to see that, anyway. And talk about self-indulgent. Usually a biographical/historical fiction makes an effort to present some redeeming qualities in its characters, but this one failed entirely. (I have been agonizing over this paragraph and cannot get it to read like I want it to, but I hope you can understand it.)

Gosh, that’s the most I’ve written in a while. I think I need a nap, now.