Two for Tuesday: Movies

Two ducks in Los Angeles 

Last Friday my friend and I saw Coyote vs Acme at the Bella Terra theater in Huntington Beach. (Dinner first at the Cheesecake Factory, which is always delicious, even if you don’t have dessert.) We really liked it! Just good nostalgic fun with no profound messages, except maybe a reinforcement of the thrill of the chase being superior to the catch. (Sometimes.) If you aren’t that familiar with the old cartoons however, you might not find the movie super enjoyable. Apparently, the film was inspired by a 1990 article in the NYT, which you aren’t even allowed to read as a gift article if you don’t have a subscription. Whatever. They suck.

Saturday I went up to Los Angeles in a carpool to see Project Hail Mary with other friends. These peeps have a super big TV screen, so we had the pleasure of that along with the comfort of being in a private home. I’m glad I read Andy Weir’s book first because otherwise I might have been confused at some points, especially during the backstory scenes. I really enjoyed seeing how the alien was depicted onscreen after imagining him via Andy’s words on the page. It was an excellent movie, and we all loved it. I highly recommend the book and the film. 

Unfortunately, my alien-themed cupcakes, while cute, tasted awful. Pillsbury is usually great, but the pistachio cake mix, along with the frosting, was just plain yuck. I don’t understand how they messed up so dramatically, but I had a bad feeling as soon as I opened the box and took a sniff. Since sometimes my sense of smell is off, I made them anyway (baked late Friday night and frosted Saturday morning). I definitely do not recommend this product.

I also saw The Phantom of the Opera musical at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa on Sunday (told you I’ve been busy, not to mention working some OT for month-end). The tickets were a birthday gift from my daughter and son-in-law. We were all unfamiliar with the story, but the singing and costumes were gorgeous, so it was a lot of fun even if we didn’t follow 100% of what was going on. One of my close friends was at the same showing, but her seat was nowhere near us, so we couldn’t chat.

A musical version of The Great Gatsby is scheduled for next May at Segerstrom, and I hope to see that too. I am familiar with this story! I only read the book like five times and watched two versions of the movie. 

A Pearly 'Podge

With my pink pearls in Queens, NY (1988)

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week by responding to the following questions.

1. What's something on your August calendar you're looking forward to? Or dreading if that's easier to answer. 

My daughter and son-in-law are treating me to a production of The Phantom of the Opera at the end of August, and I am very much looking forward to that, as I have never seen it live, only a bit of it on TV. I'm also seeing Project Hail Mary at a friends' house, and I plan to make alien-themed cupcakes to bring for the potluck. I finally ordered a proper cupcake carrier so my treats don't get all smushed in transit.

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? 

When I was a kid on the East Coast we ate raw oysters all the time, and they were delicious! Nowadays, it's really dangerous to eat raw shellfish, so I never do. I'm even wary of sashimi (got very sick from it in 2016 around the time I met the ghost guy) and usually order cooked fish with the very occasional exception of tuna or salmon (the crabmeat or fake crabmeat in California roll sushi is always cooked). My mom made oyster stuffing a few times, and I absolutely loved it, though generally there aren't that many opportunities to order cooked oysters. I'm not a fan of oyster soup, which for some strange reason my parents always had on New Year's Eve. 

As far as pearls, they're okay. I have some pretty pink pearls that I received as an engagement gift, but I don't wear them often (see the photo above). I enjoy the scene in Mamma Mia Here We Go Again when Donna and Bill go diving and find an oyster with a pearl in it.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like 'the world was your oyster'. 

Uh, I don't know. I guess the good life was mine when my girls were little and my ex's business was successful. I didn't have to work. We had a nice house, and I didn't worry about money. My parents were still around and healthy. Etc. That lasted from around 1992 to 1998.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you're answering today from outside the US you'll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month...which one do you choose and why? 

Catalina Island California~Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

I have been to Catalina and Kauai, both of which are gorgeous. Since I am not a fan of plane travel, I would choose an all expense paid trip to Catalina again (from where I live, you take a ferry over).

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following- 

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? 

I don't feel the best of summer has gone, at least not this year. As I said at first, I have at least two fun events coming up in August and possibly more. While I used to look forward to September, I don't now because of the beastly hot weather and horrible winds here in coastal Southern California. September is migraine central, basically (although mine have improved a bit, so we'll see). I do enjoy October, when it cools off a bit and we start talking about Halloween.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I didn't get a great night's sleep last night, so I am enjoying a slow, lazy day of not doing much, while trying to work up the energy for aerobics. Later, I will watch S3 episode 7 of House of the Dragon.

Random Cupcake Post

 

Red velvet cupcake

Since I don't have an FFF to share today, instead I am sharing the first image that I posted to my old WP blog on March 31, 2011. (I found it on the Wayback Machine.) This was a delicious red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting that my coworker bought for me from Morsels Baking Company, which no longer seems to be in business. I think it was possibly a food truck, not sure.

I used to be obsessed with cupcakes, but that seems like such a long time ago now, and I am not excited about them these days. Even before Sprinkles closed all their shops, I had lost interest. Remember how I used to have a cupcake-rating chart that I would update and repost occasionally? 

The dog barks, and the caravan moves on.

Happiness

Inky and my birthday sunflowers 

They say that anything worth having
Is worth fighting for.
No pain, no gain,
So pick yourself up off the floor—
It’s never too late!
Grab for that brass ring once more;
It’s okay if you fall on your face.
Smooth seas do not skillful sailors make.

I followed this “wisdom”
And struggled through heartbreak,
Giving all I had to give
Because heaven is elusive,
And hunger flavors all the dishes,
Or so they told me.
But eventually I became suspicious
Of this bill of goods they sold me.

I looked around at my quiet life—
I already have the things I need.
Contentment was not a raging storm
But a calm and peaceful port;
Not a Mississippi Mudslide
But a sweet vanilla cupcake.
Behind the pointless angst and strife,
Happiness was always mine to take.

~*~

Poetry inspired by Reena's Xploration Challenge 430 (elusive).

My Wild and Crazy Birthday Week

Cupcake from coworker

Warning: very long and boring post ahead.

As some of you know, I had a birthday last week ~ one person called it a milestone birthday. Yeah, I guess, if milestone means Medicare then death. But anyway, let's not be morbid. My new Rx plan is fab! I paid $30 for sumatriptan instead of $45, woohoo! Then I bought more puzzles because that $15 was burning a hole in my cyberwallet. Here's the weird thing about all my birthday celebrations: I don’t particularly care about my own birthdays, nor do I go out of my way to announce them for gift-grabbing purposes. Hey, if you do, no issues. I just don't, that's all. In fact, I am so anti-gift grabby that I refused to have a wedding registry or baby shower/s. That's just me; I find it embarrassing. Others don't feel that way, including my own daughters, and that's cool. 

So, at the beginning of April, one generous friend decided we should have a party for me at his house on April 25. I was fine with that, as long as the invitations specified "no gifts." They did, and all was good there. We watched the musical version of Waitress, which was great, just like the reviews said, and then we had pie to go with the theme. Fun evening with good friends, plus I met the host's new doggo, a very sweet Golden Doodle.

On Tuesday, we all have lunch together at work courtesy of the partners, and since so many of us were there last week, one of my coworkers made adorable cupcakes in honor of my birthday, and they all sang HB. The cupcakes were supposed to be reminiscent of Sprinkles (RIP), and honestly they were better! You guys know how much I loved Sprinkles, but sometimes their cake was too dense and oily. My coworker's cupcakes had light, fluffy cake, which is a better vehicle for frosting because you don't feel as barfy afterward. Dense cake gets into muffin territory anyway, and we don't want to go there. 

That seems like enough celebrating of me, but no, not even close. On Thursday, my actual birthday, three (3) coworkers brought me bouquets of flowers. Each one was gorgeous, and I felt overwhelmed. One coworker bought my lunch (salmon bowl) that day too. I brought the bouquets home because I wasn't returning to the office until Tuesday and wouldn't be able to appreciate them if I had left them there. I set them around my living and dining rooms. Utterly gorgeous! I don't know why I forgot I was allergic to flowers, probably because I receive them so infrequently (how's that for passive aggression?), but Friday I went to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 at 10AM (more about that in a minute), and as soon as I sat down, I began to have an allergy attack. I figured it would soon pass, but instead it got worse, and I started to cry uncontrollably even though the movie wasn't sad at all. I took (what I hoped was) a Benadryl in the dark, and eventually I felt a little better. I refused to get up and go wash my face in the bathroom, as I didn't want to miss any of the movie, although I could barely see it at times due to all the tears. When I finally did go to the bathroom, I was horrified. My face and eyes were all swollen up like a melon. 

Inky and sunflowers from coworker

Still at the movie plaza, I treated myself to a healthy lunch at Boudin (delicious veggie sandwich), and then walked around for a bit. The area was full of flowers, and I began to feel yucky again, so I went off to the library and the grocery store. When I got home, I took another Benadryl and then texted with the girls. They informed me that the flowers were the problem, and I needed to put them outside STAT, which I did. It was sad not to be able to admire them inside, but I decided that breathing was probably more important. I watched a couple more movies on TV because I didn't feel like reading, took a Zyrtec, and went to bed. I was a little nervous about sleeping because my chest felt heavy after all those allergy meds, but I figured that if I failed to wake up and feed Inky at 6AM, she could munch on my corpse until my housemate returned from her trip.

Reader: I woke up.

On Saturday, I looked and felt relatively "normal" and non-puffy, but I thought it best to take it easy and putter around the house doing chores and stuff, which is what I did, along with starting a thriller for my book club titled He Started It (by Samantha Downing). Enjoyable at first with an unreliable narrator (I like those usually), but annoying in the second half with too many gotchas directed at the reader ~ two stars. I also decided to straighten up the hall closet, and a heavy game board fell on my foot. Ow ow ow! I iced it for a couple hours so it wouldn't swell up. Now, you would think my birthday celebrations had finally come to an end, but you would be wrong. On Sunday, my good friend Lisa treated me to a birthday luncheon at the Tea House on Los Rios in San Juan Capistrano. We had planned to take the train down and back, but we ended up driving because the road closures for the marathon made us late, so we'll do a train trip another time. We enjoyed our lovely tea and goodies, and we browsed around in the cute little shops. I love Old Town SJC! Such a perfect day! Also, some of the gals in my online book club sent me birthday books, and those are appreciated by me as well.

Eight days of birthdaying! It was like Chanukah! I don't get it, but I feel very loved.

At the Tea House on Los Rios, SJC

Spoiler (ish) for The Devil Wears Prada 2! Go away now if you plan to see it and hate spoilers.

Regarding The Devil Wears Prada 2, it was good but not great. I mean, the first one is an iconic treasure, and so DWP2 has big designer shoes to fill, so to speak. The plot is basically a repeat of the DWP1 with Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) reluctantly hiring Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) again at Runway 20 years later and realizing (again) how valuable she is. There are sneaky shenanigans re a corporate takeover, with Miranda outsmarting everyone, as usual. There are some funny moments, such as when Miranda, for the first time, is forced to go to lunch in the Runway cafeteria, which she didn't even know existed. There are also some cringe moments where Miranda says un-PC things to her staff and has to be corrected by her latest "Emily" ~ these verbal gaffes are simply not believable coming from the icy perfection that is Miranda. Emily herself (Emily Blunt) has a larger role in DWP2, and she's good. Nigel (Stanley Tucci) is his same suave, sarcastic self. Andy hasn't really changed, which I guess is the point; she has stayed true to her journalistic principles all these years. 

Nate Cooper (Adrian Grenier), Andy's boyfriend from DWP1, is not in the sequel, sadly. I get that it makes sense they broke up sometime during the past 20 years due to lifestyle and logistic differences, but I missed him regardless. Nate was a great down-to-earth foil against all the fashion superficiality, and we don't have anyone like that in DWP2. Andy does have a love interest in DWP2, a British luxury apartment developer named Peter ~ who stresses that he isn't the money guy, just the contractor, which is supposed to make him seem less gross, I guess. That's fine, except the romance mirrors DWP1 in that Andy treats him less than ideally and grovels to him at the end, similar to her mea culpa lunch with Nate at the end of DWP1. It annoyed me. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough for me to go, argh, why is Andy always apologizing to men? There's nothing wrong with Andy being less about finding love and more about her career, and you don't hear men apologizing for that, ever.

Also, and this isn't the movie's fault, I have a bit of "face blindness," especially when it comes to men. All white men with brown hair and scruffy beards look the same to me. Miranda has a new guy Henry, who is a white man with brown hair and a scruffy beard, just like Peter the contractor, plus Henry has a British accent similar to Peter's. I sometimes found it hard to tell them apart. I will likely watch DWP2 again when it appears on Prime or whatever because I didn't get the full experience due to my allergy attack plus the white guy/ brown hair/ scruffy beard confusion.

That's all.

So Long, Farewell…

A lot of familiar places shut down last year. The most shocking to me was the abrupt closure of all Sprinkles cupcake stores on December 31. To be honest though, I hadn’t patronized them much lately ~ as I age, I find my tummy gets unhappy with fat bombs. Delicious no question, but Sprinkles were super high in fat. It may not even be an aging thing, as even in my 30s I would get nauseated from sour cream based dips and too many nuts or seeds. That reminds me of the time in high school when I pigged out on sunflower seeds and was in so much abdominal pain my mommy worried that I had appendicitis. Nope, TG, just the inability to digest a mountain of fat all at once. Anyway, I don’t know how well other cupcakeries are doing, but I haven’t been to them in years.

JoAnn Fabrics closed all locations last year, but this was not surprising. Whenever I ventured into one, there were hardly any other customers. Who even has time to sew? And if you want craft supplies, Michaels has a much wider selection. I browse there for creative and fun kids’ gifts too. 

Party City was a great place for themed party supplies, balloons, wrapping paper, goodie bag items, etc. They also had a nice variety of costumes and accessories for Halloween. All gone.

Forever 21 was a mall staple for my daughters and me. We bought tons of stuff there back in the day. No more. Claire’s, another mall shop the teen girls liked for junky jewelry and such, is teetering on the edge of failure as we speak.

Bunches of other retailers and restaurants closed some of their locations due to (I assume) over-saturation. We don’t need a Starbucks and a CVS and a 7-11 on every corner of every city. It was becoming ridiculous. My gas company is asking for permish to shutter their physical locations, since no one wanders in these days to pay their bill in cash.

And now we come to Target. When the right howled at Target for “Happy Holidays” and transgender swimsuits, I shrugged. Doesn’t affect me. When the left howled at Target for dumping DEI practices, I shrugged. Doesn’t affect me. All the while, I had a warm spot for them in my heart because Target Bank was the only place I had credit when my ex-husband cut me off. But now my heart has turned to ice. 

Recently, I had to deal with an ID theft scam, and I had to open a new checking account and update all my auto-payments. My cable company was all hey no problem! However you want to give us money, we’ll take it. Gas company? Same. Electric company was a little more cautious, but finally said yeah we are cool with your new account. Even the bank that holds my mortgage, after sending a little test to my new account, announced yep we’re good. But Target? Omg no! We won’t accept this new account. It’s way too scary, so you have to pay by phone. WTF? I paid by phone and used the exact same information they rejected online. Went right through. I tried again online for this month’s payment. Nope! 

I am so enraged. After all these years of being a great customer, they treat me like crap now, including when I called customer service and they were incredibly rude. After this payment, I am done with them! I will save their card in case of an emergency (like if my main card gets stolen), but I won’t shop there again. It’s laziness anyway to place orders for pickup when I should get off my butt and go into a regular grocery store… besides, their produce sucks. All the household goods I’ve been getting from them can be obtained on Amazon for less, yada.

Reader, I deleted the Target app. Goodbye.

Cupcakes and Puzzles

I bought two Sprinkles cupcakes today, which are the first in a while. I ate the coconut one already, and it was delicious. I am saving the coffee cupcake for tomorrow. Earlier this week I visited Golden Spoon for a mini frozen yogurt cup ~ a treat after my Covid vax at CVS (hurrah for vaccines!). Initially, I was thrilled that they'd opened a Golden Spoon near me, but after I ate my tasty little cup of salted caramel with M&Ms, I realized that I like Tutti Frutti froyo better. Golden Spoon doesn't have tangy options like strawberry and mango, which you can get at Tutti Frutti, and they're so refreshing, especially combined with vanilla. I realize that I prefer a contrast in desserts, such as lemon bars, key lime pie, hot cinnamon candy, etc. It's all good, of course, but I am just saying my ideal is now a blend of flavors.

My friend gave me a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle ~ it's the famous Birth of Venus but with cats. I wasn't sure I should start it because I used to get so crazy obsessed, but I opened it Monday night and put together the edges. I've worked on it every night since and made decent progress. It helps that I have to cover it when I'm not at the table in order to protect it from Inky, so that keeps me from wandering back and doing it nonstop. I really do love puzzles and may get more ~ my Amazon cart now has several "for later." I'm not sure if I need to buy a special tray, since covering it with a towel weighed down by a few books is enough to keep it safe. So far, anyway. 

The "save for later" option has really helped with my OCD (which in turn is good news for my budget). It's a satisfying limbo between buying all the things I decide I need and forcing myself to try to forget about them (a hopeless task as that just makes me think about them more!). I say to myself, OK self, go and stuff your cart full of every kind of puzzle, but do not buy any right now. You can buy them later. As time goes by, I think, hmm, maybe I don't really want this one and that one, so eventually I end up with just a few. Or none! There are times I totally lose interest in something before I hit buy... not often, but it has happened.

I read Murder by Cheesecake this week. It's a Golden Girls cozy mystery written by Rachel Ekstrom Courage. It was fun, and since I don't normally read fan fiction, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I was not a super huge fan of the show, but I saw a few eps, so I was able to "hear" the characters' voices as I read the novel. If I hadn't been able to, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much because it was very silly. The four women had equal roles (maybe a little more for Rose and Dorothy), and there was lots of quick and witty banter. I assume more of these books are coming out because this one says it's "Golden Girls #1" (released April 2025), but I think one is enough for me. I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

My migraines did not get that bad this week, and I am grateful for that. I did take sumatriptan a couple times, but it worked, and I never ended up at the horrible, throw-up stage. I was careful during the worst of the heat to stay indoors and hydrate more than usual. I also got decent sleep every night. My neck hurts from doing the puzzle though, and I need to be more careful with how I sit/ stand at the table. I plan to have a very chill weekend, with minimal exertion except for a few chores and a few hours of study for the upcoming notary exam. Sunday I may go play board games for a little while.

Laters.

Cinnamon Cooney, RIP*

*Rest in Paint

This weekend I discovered that Cinnamon Cooney aka The Art Sherpa passed away in December 2024. She was only 54! I hadn't been following her lately because (1) I was a bit tired of painting, and (2) when I do paint these days, I prefer to zone out and not listen/watch a video. I had lots of ideas and templates on hand, but I wanted to check out some flowers, so I googled her and found the obit. So sad. After my eldest treated me to a paint night back way back when and got me hooked on acrylic art, Cinnamon's videos are what kept me on the creativity road, especially during the lockdowns when we couldn't go out to paint at a venue. Plus, since I tend to be a little obsessive, I would rather paint at home where I can take six hours or more to do one picture instead of getting hurried along for the next batch of artists. Being me, naturally I stocked up on a zillion paints, canvases, brushes, etc., to be prepared for any inspirational event. Also, being me, I became bored with it all. Anyway, Cinnamon was awesome, and I was sorry to read about her passing.

I did paint a bird of paradise flower yesterday on a mini (8x8) canvas, and it came out OK, not great. I also sponged the backgrounds for three more pictures for another time. My idea is to do a single bloom on each 8x8 canvas or maybe two more flowers and one butterfly. I still have a bunch of larger canvases too, but idk if I will use them all. Oh, I bought a paint by number at Michael's ~ it's the Van Gogh cafe scene. So, I need to get going on that soon. I have one diamond art project left as well, but it's a serious undertaking ~ a cake stand, lol. Not that I would put any food on it! Maybe fake food. Hmm. Anyway, I find my neck hurts after doing diamond art, so I've dumped my other DA projects, but the cake stand is so pretty I still want to do it.

On Saturday night I watched Another Simple Favor, which bypassed the theaters and went straight to Prime video. It was OK. Fun to see the characters come together again, and while Blake Lively's Emily was still deliciously wicked, Anna Kendrick's "more assertive" Stephanie was meh. And we didn't get enough of Sean (Henry Golding). The plot was so ridiculous I can't even. Glad I didn't pay to see it in the theater.

I rewatched Kingsman: The Secret Service on Hulu, but I didn't like it as much as I did back in 2014. I don't think I will rewatch the second one. I guess I'm renewing Hulu. The website says I'm still on the special deal for $2.99/month through November, while their email warns me that the price is jumping to $9.99. We shall see what happens on Wednesday when the charge hits. If it's the higher amount, I will cancel it. Regarding the new Golden Bachelor ~ it's not the funny French guy after all, but an unknown dude, so no great loss if I can't watch it. Not sure I will even watch it if I continue Hulu. What else?

Oh, I read Riley Sager's Home Before Dark and loved it. What a wonderfully twisty thriller, even better than Middle of the Night. I gave them both four stars, but I would give HBD 4.5 if possible. I save five star ratings for books that are so good I'd read them again and/or books that have a profound message or give me some kind of epiphany. Psychological thrillers don't fall into any of those groups. I don't reread them because the point is the unexpected twist.

Sprinkles gave me two free cupcakes for my birthday, so on Saturday I nommed up their limited time special Margarita, which really did taste like a Margarita: tequila infused cake completed with a lime candy and a salted rim (yum!); Sunday I had their Vietnamese Coffee, which is now on the permanent list and with good reason. I think it's my new favorite cupcake! Coffee cake filled with condensed milk buttercream (not whipped cream) and topped with luscious coffee frosting. Decadent and scrumptious.

I'm very proud of myself because I put together a bookcase I had delivered from Target. It looks great, and I didn't injure myself too badly (only dropped a wrench on my foot). 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Secrets and Samaritans

I’m happy to report that this year, exactly like every other year, is quickly approaching its darkest day, and then we shall have more daylight again. I feel like a bear: all I want to do is eat and sleep, preferably in my cozy cave with the space heater on and my sweet kitty cuddled up next to me. I’ve been reading a ton, partly because of my multiple book club obligations, and partly because I am afraid to watch TV and lose the LDBC. One of my friends just lost because of a TikTok; luckily, I never go on TikTok. I'm not sure if I even still have an account, and if I do, idk the password.

To continue my Victoria Holt romance novel marathon, I read Seven for a Secret. I gave it three stars. I am noticing that her writing is annoyingly repetitive, which is not something I probably picked up on as a teenager. I mean this in several ways. First, she often repeats words in a paragraph, as if she couldn't be bothered to check a thesaurus. Or maybe it was sloppy editing. Second, she has her characters constantly repeat themselves in both dialog and narration. Third, she repeats themes. Early on in this story I guessed what the secret was, so it wasn't a surprise at the big reveal. The reason I guessed it is because she keeps doing this "switched baby" motif in so many of her novels. I still enjoyed the story, but idk how motivated I am to complete my list of her books. For sure, I will read the ones I have already checked out from the library as well as the used paperbacks I've purchased. After that... who knows?

I also read The Good Samaritan, a thriller by John Marrs, which was one of my online book club's December picks. I awarded it three stars too. It started out in an interesting way, with the protagonist working as a volunteer at a crisis phone line. We soon discover that she actually wants to help a select few folks end their lives instead of dissuading them, and her big thrill is to be on the phone with them when they do it. We also discover she is an unreliable narrator and quite wacko at that, which is fun. I dig unreliable narrators. One of the people she helps has a distraught fiancé who discovers who she is and sets a trap for her. It turns out that he is her daughter's teacher! What are the odds? The story veers into more ridiculousness and becomes a bit tiresome. Everyone is awful, so there's no one left to root for. 

My OBC's "bonus" book for this month was Holiday Home by Daniel Hurst, another thriller. I could not give this one my "gentleman's C" (three stars) because it was just so tediously repetitive, and so I gave it two. The characters are not believable at all, and they all seem to have the same "voice" during their separate first-person narratives, which I find sloppy. It's like writers are just churning out books to have a large output, without taking basic care to make their stories enjoyable. And the fact that two couples, each with a child, would blithely go on a vacation to a secluded house with no internet/phone in case of an emergency is just stupid. But everything hinges on the lack of signal, so we trudge onward. Blah.

Speaking of good Samaritans, one of the cleaning people at my office found my Australian opal ring and turned it into the lost and found! I didn't even think to ask if the building had one until my little granddaughter mentioned the lost and found at her school when I told her I had lost my ring. It's been a few weeks, and I searched everywhere, finally resigning myself to never seeing it again. But I called, and they have the ring! I didn't have time to pick it up today (it's in a separate building a few blocks away), and I will do it tomorrow. The freezing cold weather is making my fingers shrink, though other parts of me seem to be expanding, so I will have to be more careful. This was a special ring because I had bought it with my beanie baby profits (no seriously), and my mom was with me that day, which makes it a nice memory. 

The question is... should I get a cupcake at Sprinkles tomorrow after I pick up my ring, as I practically have to almost sort of walk right by Sprinkles to get back from the other building? I shall ponder this as I drift off to dreamland...

Cupcakes, an Inside Man, and a Very Bad Thing

I visited my eldest and her hubs this weekend for a (slightly) belated birthday celebration. We decided to go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park instead of browsing art shows, and that was a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to see all four types of the big cats they have there: tigers (mom, baby, big brother), lions (all girls), a cheetah, and the cutest little sand cat. Then we had lunch at a fabulous place called Stone Brewery ~ we all shared a giant Bavarian pretzel (they had cheese dip; I had mustard), and my daughter and I also shared ahi "nachos." What a clever and delicious creation that was! Tuna sashimi chunks, crispy rice chips, tangy pickles, seaweed, spicy sauce, etc. Later we shared the cupcakes I brought from Sprinkles. Here is my ranking:

1. Pumpkin with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Bursting with flavor!

2. Glimmering Witch Strawberry ~ a nod to Wicked. Their classic strawberry/strawberry. Full of noms.

3. Emerald Witch Red Velvet ~ also a nod to Wicked. Their classic red velvet with the cream cheese frosting colored bright green. Yummy.

4. Salty Caramel. Good, natch, but not that interesting compared to the others.

I do plan on seeing Wicked this Friday.

We watched the first two episodes of A Man on the Inside on Netflix Saturday night, and I watched two more last night. It's a funny show with an unusual premise ~ a dapper widower gets a job with a PI and goes "undercover" at a retirement community in order to find a jewelry thief. Ted Danson stars, and he is perfect for the role. Sally Struthers plays his love interest ~ it was fun to see her again. (I know she has been in other stuff, but I haven't seen her much since All in the Family.)

I finished reading A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison. First, I hate the title. Second, the book really held my interest during the first quarter, but then the plot became too convoluted. Third, I didn't enjoy the last quarter at all, but powered through because I was almost done. Two stars. The basic premise was too preposterous for me to tolerate and the twists at the end were even more absurd. Oh well. Onward! I have tons of books in my TBR pile...

Victoria Holt, Part 3

Victoria Holt, Part 2 can be found here.

The Pool of St. Branok is another Philippa Carr (aka Victoria Holt) book I have now (re)read. Again, I read this book decades ago and had the slightest memory of it, but it was mostly new to me, which was nice. I didn't love it though and gave it only three stars. I am not sure why the author is such a fan of giving us the most complex, convoluted family structures, but I keep finding myself unsure of how characters are related as I go along. It gets a bit tedious to have to go back and look ~ and in this novel I had to do that several times. The protagonists are cousins (not first cousins), which is disturbing, but back then I guess it was OK. Maybe even now in some places it's not frowned upon, but I was squicked out because it's a romance novel, so I knew they would get together at some point. There is also a lot of repetition in the Carr/Holt novels, both in dialog and in narration, which I am not a fan of. I know in real life people repeat themselves, but again... it's tedious to read. One of my favorite things about this author is her creation of strong female characters, yet in this book I didn't find the protagonist Angelet to be as emotionally strong as some of the other heroines in Carr/Holt books. They can't all be the same! Right, right. I just grew annoyed with Angelet's constant obsession with this man or that one. For a while, she found fulfillment via helping at a mission, and I wanted to see her go on with that, but then he came back into the picture. Bleh. And the ending was rather abrupt after the massive buildup. Still, kudos to the author for creating interesting characters that had multiple facets and were unpredictable (in a good way and not just for the sake of drama).

This was a tough week for me; in fact, I haven't felt well since the time change. Maybe that's merely a coincidence. I have been waking with a crushing headache every morning, which I initially assumed was a migraine, but it isn't. Last weekend I didn't take sumatriptan and the headache lessened as the morning wore on. Same thing this week (I took one suma for an actual migraine). So it's good I figured that out before I wasted a whole bunch of meds, which I need to save for real migraines. Anyway, I don't know what this massive head pain upon waking means, but Dr. Google has lots of ideas about it. Dehydration, of course. More water cures everything! Stress. Low blood sugar. Poor sleep. High blood pressure. Blah blah blah. I don't feel like I am stressed, and I have been getting around 7 hours of good sleep a night, which should be fine, especially because I didn't use to sleep that well. My BP isn't great however, so possibly that has something to do with it. It's lower when I get more exercise, but I have been feeling too yucky to exercise. I also have had a lot of neck pain, which is pretty "normal" for me, but maybe that's causing early morning headaches. If I wake up at 2 or 3AM to go potty though, my head is fine. So, something bad is happening right around 5-6AM when I am waking up for the day. Mystery! 

I've also been really cold. The early darkness depresses me. I've spent too much money at Amazon. Wah wah wah.

Good news! I chose only one January book to read for my online book club instead of foolishly saying I would read all three and then the three extras like I did for December. I may read one or more of the extras for January, but I don't know what they are yet. I'm pleased I had the willpower to limit myself to one of the main books though. Six was too much, and one of the extras ended up a DNF because I hated it. I need time to read the book for my in-person book club as well as random other ones that strike my fancy, like the Victoria Holts. Reading is one of my greatest pleasures, and one of these days I might try audiobooks, since my commute is a lot longer now.

Best news! I am visiting my daughter and son-in-law tomorrow/Sunday, and we are going to have fun. We plan to check out a whole bunch of cool art and have dinner at a delicious Mediterranean restaurant. I also bought a box of cupcakes as it is a (slightly) belated birthday celebration for my daughter, and of course I have other gifts for her as well. For Thanksgiving, I will be spending the day with my younger daughter, her hubby, and my grands, which naturally I am greatly looking forward to. I hope all of us will get together at some point in December.

Hope all my (three?) readers have a nice Thanksgiving, or if you don't celebrate that, have a good week regardless. I most likely won't have anything to say here until later in the week.

Eleven Eleven

Maybe I'll set this post to publish at 11:11pm. You know what's weird? People post on the socials that it's 11:11 or 12:34 on the clock or whatever number combo makes them feel the woo-woo, and then of course when you read it, it's no longer that time. I'm like, OK, thanks for sharing that it was 4:44 today because otherwise I wouldn't have known that. Right? I mean, for all I know we could have skipped 4:44 when I wasn't paying attention, but now I know, yup, it was there.

Welp, there are all sorts of things I find confusing about other people, especially on social media. There are those who constantly link to news articles, as if we couldn't find CNN by ourselves. Others insist on regaling us with banalities, such as, "My dog is licking my foot." Then there are those who repost every random memory, as if anyone cares that a year ago they had a great Wordle score. Oh wait, that was me, my bad. 

The worst thing lately though is the constant moaning about the election. I get that people are upset ~ I am upset too ~ but I don't understand why we have to immerse ourselves in gloom and doom 24/7. How does that help anything? Perhaps it does help some people to share the memes and feel like they have support from their friends when they announce for the nth time that the world is going to end over this. It gets me too down though, so I have to step out of it. I have to find things to bring me joy, little things, reading a good book, doing a craft, eating a cupcake (actually, I haven't had a cupcake for quite a while ~ note to self: the gingerbread and coquito flash flavors will be available at Sprinkles in December). Just holding my kitty Gatsby, all warm and purring, when I know we have limited time left due to his CKD, is a small, good thing.

This weekend I read Listen for the Lie by Amy Tinterra. At first, I hated it and didn't want to finish, but it's one of the books I committed to for my new online book club, so I felt motivated to continue. LFTL did get better, so I was glad I persevered. I gave it three stars, which is not a bad review ~ it means I liked the book but didn't love it. I've never said this before (that I can recall), but I think this story would work better as a movie! 

So, we have the protagonist Lucy who can't remember if she murdered her best friend Savvy or not, plus a whole bunch of suspicious characters we can't trust, including Lucy's parents who aren't very nice to her. The narrative is first person, but it's broken up with a “true crime” podcast from Ben, who becomes a significant character. I initially hated the podcast because I couldn't keep track of all the characters, but the motif grew on me. Audiobook listeners report that the podcast is done very well there, which makes sense, though I prefer to read with my eyeballs until they fall out. Lucy is haunted by Savvy's voice (not supernaturally, just from her own head injury), which is another reason why the story is more suited to the screen. Instead of reading Savvy's lines in italics, it would be more impactful to hear them disembodied as Lucy is trying to navigate her life with amnesia. I disliked the ending, but I don't want to give it away. Suffice to say, endings in a mystery need to be earned, and this one was not.

I have two more books to read for this book club's November selection and one for my in-person book club for December, so I am ahead of schedule, woohoo! I also bought a series of four twisted fairy tales, which look like fun, so I want to gobble those up soon too. 

Hazelnuts and Hulu

I tried a new cupcake flavor this week from a new (to me) cupcakery. The Dots shop is right next door to the UPS store where I went to drop off an Amazon return, and the minute I realized that I would need to go to UPS, I decided I would stop for a cupcake. Months ago, I didn’t stop when I went to that UPS the first time, and I have regretted it ever since. You may wonder why I didn’t simply go to Dots without the excuse of needing UPS, and I will tell you why: getting in and out of that Whole Foods plaza is a colossal pain, plus there is barely any parking. I really wanted my Amazon refund, however, so I didn’t wait until the weekend when I could easily go to a UPS near my house, and I decided that I deserved a cupcake reward after dealing with the plaza. 

The hazelnut crunch flavor wasn’t my first choice, but they were out of Meyer lemon. Dots’ cupcakes are a nice size, reasonably priced, with a perfect amount of frosting. Yes, Virginia, there really is such a thing as too much frosting. The cake itself was dense, but not dry, highly flavored, and less oily than Sprinkles’ cake. The frosting was tasty, rich, and creamy, with a lovely hazelnut blob in the center, but it was nowhere near as delicious as Sprinkles’ frosting. So yeah, not bad, not bad at all, but I would rather have a Sprinkles. In fact, Sprinkles has a chai flash flavor I might need to try before they're gone on October 20.

In other news, I cancelled Hulu. I’ve been thinking about it because my special $1/month expires this month, but I wanted to try the Golden Bachelorette. I’m meh about it, even though Joan is oceans more likable than Gerry, the Golden Bachelor, and her suitors are nice, fun, funny, etc., but the problem is… I just don’t care. Since I've been paying attention to Bachelor Nation stories, it turns out that overall the couples have a dismal rate of future togetherness, many splitting up soon after the season’s end, like Gerry and Theresa. It’s even looking like fan faves Joey and Kelsey are having issues! So, what’s the point of getting invested in these peeps’ soulmate search if this process does not work. There, I said it. Maybe conducting a romance in front of cameras for the world to see is not the way to create a genuine connection. Maybe choosing from 25 contestants whom producers selected for their ability to entertain the viewers isn't ideal. Maybe it’s not fun for the “winner” to watch the season after it ends and see their forever person considering others, not to mention sleeping with them. Ouch.

As far as other Hulu shows I’ve been watching, I am also meh about them. While I enjoyed the “hair band” episode of Dancing with the Stars, I don’t really gaf who wins at the end. This season of Only Murders has some great guest stars, but even so I have lost interest. As far as romcoms, Christmas romcoms, and whatever else, I can get all that on Netflix (and Prime). When I checked my Hulu account today, I not only found the expected jump from $1 to $8, but also it turns out that the price will rocket to $10 in November. WTF? Not worth it. I had always planned to dump it after the special, but then I decided to try the Bachelorette first.

I've just started S2 of You on Netflix. Since I only read the first book in the series, I have no idea if the continued story is true to Caroline Kepnes' writing. The first season began to diverge from the book quite a lot by the end, so I imagine S2 continues in that vein. It's not grabbing me as much as S1, but we'll see. I plan to watch for a while ~ there are four seasons with a fifth coming soon.

Musical Musings

Some of the WP bloggers I read have been chatting about music, which has inspired these musings. Just like apparently everyone else online, I love music, but I guess I have learned that I am not a "fan" in the sense of "fanatic." I don't actually know much about the various musical genres ~ I just like what I like, mostly classic rock, some pop, a bit of alternative, a smattering of grunge, a smidge of reggae, a touch of country, etc. I'm not good at defining genres, nor can I pick out various instruments. I dgaf where a song was recorded nor do I care about obscure band trivia. I like clever lyrics and a catchy or dreamy tune... and that's pretty much the end of my interest. With rare exceptions, I don't usually listen to whole albums (though I did way back when); I prefer a variety of songs and artists. I adore musical movies however and listen to their soundtracks: Hair, Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, Sound of Music, and of course the Mamma Mias. I generally prefer music from a studio to live because the lyrics are clearer and there's no yelling from the audience. Sometimes I enjoy going to concerts because I get caught up in the energy and enthusiasm of a performance, but that's very different from simply listening to a live recording in the car or wherever. 

I'm beginning to think I'm not a fan(atic) about anything at all. I joke about having OCD, but most of the time I approach things lightly. I've read a zillion romance novels over the decades since I was a teen, but I certainly can't name a whole bunch of authors and their titles. Same with poetry ~ love it, but I have to look up the quotes. I've seen tons of movies, but most of the time their details drift away soon after viewing, and I can't quote much off the top of my head. I'm pretty awful at trivia generally, even though I'm a fabulous test-taker. If I have to memorize a pile of stuff to ace a test, I will do it, but it's not fun, the facts melt from my mind quickly, and I wouldn't memorize recreationally. Bottom line: I remember things I care deeply about, and I don't care that much about most things beyond a superficial level.

That sounds like a weird thing to admit. People often define and differentiate themselves by their areas of passion; they sort of geo-locate themselves with a list of loves and hates. How will I know you? I'm the one who knows everything about the Grateful Dead, loves to crochet, and hates pickles. Oh, OK. I guess I can pick you out of a crowd then. I don't think I can be identified that way. I'm just drifting, not passionate about anything in particular, floating through my likes and dislikes with a shrug. I say I love cupcakes, but baking them is too much work, and I am usually too lazy to walk across the street to get one at the Sprinkles near my office. The older I get, the shorter my list of priorities becomes (family,* health, work), and stuff that falls outside that list slips into the vast vat of indifference. I mean, I spend time creating playlists on Spotify because that's fun, but I don't usually play them except in the car, and (SSC)...

Sometimes I don't even listen to music in the car at all.

__

*Including Gatsby

A Thousand Cupcakes

There's a news story around that someone ordered a thousand cupcakes from a small Los Angeles bakery, paid for them in advance ($7,500), but it turns out the whole thing was a scam. After the check was deposited, the baker bought all the ingredients and began working... then the "buyer" wanted to cut the order in half and get a refund for $3,750. The baker said no, but the bank gave the refund anyway ~ the original check was fake, so the baker was out half the money from her own account. Apparently, the criminal had gone on a spree of defrauding local businesses with stolen checks. What I don't understand is why the bank gave out money from a customer's account without their permission. It's not like there was a court order! The bank should make the baker whole, imo.

This reminds me of my scam story from 2016 when a debt collector convinced the sheriff to put a lien on my checking account for $4,000. He told the sheriff I was still married to my ex-husband and was responsible for his debt ~ our divorce had been finalized over 5 years prior however. My bank, being idiots, went along with this scam, and the ONLY reason I ended up whole is because my brilliant boss, an attorney, helped me figure out what was happening and put a stop to it. Otherwise, I would have had no idea why the money was missing because my bank hadn't disclosed the details of the lien! I ended up wasting a shitload of time to deal with this, had to email my divorce decree to this fucking criminal in Van Nuys so he would agree to redact the lien, and basically be completely freaked out by stress for an entire week. My bank apologized and flagged my account for anything to do with my ex, and everything has been fine since, so I guess it worked. 

But that's not what I came here to tell you about today (she says to her non-existent audience). During this stressful time, a man I had been seeing was a total jerk to me. He wanted nothing to do with my problems and cancelled our date because he said I wouldn't be thinking about him enough until this was straightened out. I mean, what the fuck? I broke up with him that weekend and moved on to other men. Back then, when I was in my mid-50s, it was relatively easy to find a man to go out with, so why would I want to continue with such a self-centered ahole? The fact that he even admitted out loud that he needed his dates to be entirely focused on him with nothing else cluttering their thoughts but his awesomeness was truly mind-boggling. 

I was proud of myself... then a few weeks later he apologized. I truly wish I had not accepted it ~ or at least accepted it but still kept him out of my life. But I agreed to go out with him again, and we had this super nice date in Brea, where we ate dinner, saw a movie (The Girl on the Train), and shared a cupcake. (Note the relevancy to the first paragraph.) Then we made a bunch of plans for more dates, including getting together over Thanksgiving week and possibly even taking a train trip to Santa Barbara. Then he ghosted me two days before Thanksgiving. I was devastated ~ and TG my sweet little daughter was able to change her plans and hang out with me (my older daughter lived up north). When the jerk finally communicated again, he declared he wasn't ready for a relationship, and whined that I hadn't "chased" him enough besides. The WTF is strong with this guy, isn't it? Rhetorical. Later he badgered me by text about stuff I'd written in my (old deleted WP) blog and went into a litany of complaints about how I wasn't right for him, hadn't baked cookies, was too old (a 3-year age difference, which he had known since the beginning), blah blah blah. I shouldn't have let it get to me, but I had allowed myself to be vulnerable because I don't know how you can find love at all if you don't let down your guard, so that's what I had done.

Huge mistake. Or was it? I don't know. Because of this horrible situation, I became closer to my friends and family and had the epiphany that I'd been surrounded by love all along; I didn't need some weirdo narcissist from a dating site to pretend to care about me. It took a long time though ~ I drifted in and out of depression for around 18 months until I finally was OK again. During those months, I wrote a lot of poetry (some of it actually good) and my novel Ghosted, some of which was semi-inspired by his cruelty. In the Spring of 2017, after meeting a few more meh men (or maybe I'd become meh), I decided to give up dating completely. It was the best decision I've ever made (besides having children, of course)! I finally grokked how imprisoned I had been in the addictive mindset of wanting to please some random stranger before myself. It colored everything I did, from spending money on clothes I didn't need, to avoiding making plans on the weekend "just in case," and even influencing where I lived. And this was for a HYPOTHETICAL boyfriend! So crazy.

The cupcake article reminded me of all that. Just recently I threw all my baking supplies in the trash (not the pans) because it dawned on me that in the back of my mind the idea still lingered that I needed to have stuff on hand in case Mr. Right showed up, so I kept replenishing my stock after I baked for a game night or whatever. As if we can't buy cookies at the store! LOL. People are too fussy to cook/bake for nowadays anyway with everyone having some kind of dietary restriction, so I say good riddance. I am thrilled in hindsight that I never baked anything for the narcissist, even though I had planned to and purchased all the ingredients, because his whining about it simply highlighted what was wrong with him. How does a grown man in his 50s come to believe that he's entitled to be worshipped by someone he's just begin dating like we're living in Stepford or something? 

WEIRD. 

I wrote about all this on my old blog when it happened, but I wasn't objective enough, and it was too upsetting to discuss in comments, so I deleted the post. Then I deleted ALL my dating stories, even the good and funny ones, because I just didn't want them out there. I wish I hadn't now... maybe I'll see if any of them were preserved on the Wayback Machine. But whatever, who cares? I can write them all again, if I am so inclined, so it's not that big of a deal. I've probably forgotten many details, but again, so what? I am a fiction writer after all, and poetry is also fiction (I actually wrote a poem with that title for my new collection). The emotion is what’s important in a personal story, not the exact details.

Speaking of cupcakes, I was going to order the mango flash flavor at Sprinkles last week but I got the lazies, so I didn't. It's OK. Another fun flavor will be around soon, I'm sure. I bought healthy food at the grocery store today, so we shall see how that goes, plus I am determined to exercise. A little. It's beastly hot out, so that means my aerobics video will get a workout.

Funny, I created the label "scams" for this post, and I realized that dating is also a scam. More about that next time, or not.