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June 30, 2009

Hello Ladies

I swear I am going to update my website more often. Pinkie swear it. Its really good for me to be in touch with the world, and as someone who is pretty much a jobless recluse by nature (and circumstance) this is the best way to do it. And you don't care if I'm in my undies, right? Right.

We went to St. George Island for a week with Andrew's whole family and had the best time. I was dreading the trip for about three months -- not because of his family, who are completely awesome and damn they know when cocktail hour starts -- but flying to Atlanta 5 hours + driving to Florida 6 hours multiplied by the act of traveling with preschoolers = 2,563 hours equivalent angst. Or so I thought, but it went as smoothly as could be. The girls skipped along the beach collecting periwinkles, I wore a new swimsuit in honor of losing 10 pounds, and we all flopped around in warm Gulf Coast water every day. It put our freakishly icy California beaches to shame. There were dolphin sightings three times a day AND there was a Piggly Wiggly fer shoppin' at. Andrew got a Piggly Wiggly hat. Boy howdy I miss the south. I could have stayed forever.

Our brother-in-law, Mr. Bill Loehfelm of New Orleans, has a new book coming out in September and I am so proud of him. He's so cool. I read a little of it and it looks good and profane and dirty and dark. Can't wait.

I have been reading lots since we got back, its been keeping me on the level while dealing with this bi-polar crap. Finished Sin in the Second City, which was about highfalutin' Victorian hookers in Chicago. Despite the fascinating subject matter it could have been more thorough - it was just too short. Then finally finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and after that a book called Nine Lives about nine people in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. I was skeptical since the author isn't from New Orleans but he did a really thorough job and I was impressed at how he really nailed the place. The were events in the book that took place during the brief time I lived in a drunken French Quarter stupor, which I never had a clue about at the time (probably due to the drunken French Quarter stupor?) It made me miss the filthy place and wish I had paid more attention when I lived there. You only get to be young, single and let loose in the Crescent City once (in my case) and I feel like I should have whooped it up less. What is WRONG with that picture??

Now I'm back to Michael Chabon for The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Which, incidentally, is a "genre-pantsing detective novel" according to New York Magazine. Genre-pantsing. I really really love that. I would actually go on to say that it gives the Jew-noir sub-genre a hefty wedgie to boot.

So thats it. Now I'm going to go curl up with our latest rescue pug, Maddy, and my fella and watch "Streets of San Francisco." That show never ceases entertain me because they always pull up to some house in Russian Hill or an office building in the Financial District and there is ample and convenient street parking. Did this magical San Francisco of yore really exist or was it just a TV land fantasy? Either way I am glad there is actual footage in the opening credits of the long ago demolished neon sign of Carol Doda and her blinking boobies at the Condor Club. I read that when it was torn down the construction crew smashed it up because it was "profane" to them. Now... as someone who is A. female and B. has walked by wolf-whistling construction crews at one time or another, I cannot really wrap my mind around such a puritan group of fellas aghast at the sight of a ladies ta-tas. So frankly it sounds fishy.

Posted by jenna at June 30, 2009 08:59 PM