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Haunts
There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.
-- Joseph Conrad
Sunday, October 10, 1999
We had a good work excursion on Friday (but how can I stay on task when we go out to lunch and so on?). We drove downtown and first had lunch at Benihana, then went to the showroom of the company that will do our desks and office furniture, so we could do some hands-on selection of materials and finishes.
The lunch was good! I don't think I'd been to Benihana before, though of course I've seen similar places on TV. The chef was skilled with the knife, making a show of snip-snip chopping the vegetables and cutting the meat while it sizzled on the grill, tapping the spice shakers over the food with a flair. I wondered how he had learned. Do they practice by making meals for the kitchen staff? or is there a separate training program somewhere? It would be fun to have a table-sized grill in your home, I think!
The SMED company is the group doing our stuff. We have sworn a sacred swear that our new company slang term for "desk" will be "smed" or mayby "schmed" (which I think is funnier). "Just put that printout on my schmed, will you?"
Of course, trying to settle on wood veneer, MDF, laminate, which color, which texture, was really mind-boggling. At least the basic shape of the desks was already settled. Kat and Kellie, the two other women on the team had a lot of ideas about what we should do (but they were good about making sure I had a chance to speak up). I asked Kat to choose a more limited pallette that we could then pick from for each desk, or for each drawer unit (we settled the desktops, thank heaven). The sales guy working with us (probably he has a fancy title like "office facilities counselor") kept bringing out sample book after sample book, expanding our choices instead of concentrating them, and our time wasn't unlimited -- Kat had an appointment that she couldn't break. It ended up that we'll choose the colors on Monday and messenger the color samples over. They can't send in the order until everything is finalized.
There was a lot of hilarity about my "special" chair, but I didn't mind. I use a knee-chair, so my desk chair won't be like everyone else's. I need to get on the net and find a source for a new one; the one I'm using has had the knee-rest goobered up for months.
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When I came home on Friday, I wasn't sure when I'd be hearing from Jack or where he'd be calling from. I knew that he'd planned to take A---, his fifteen year old daughter, down to Olympia from Bellingham for a hearing on a shoplifting charge. It turned out that she was sentenced to five days in juvenile lock-up, so he arrived on my doorstep at around six, with his younger daughter H---, which was a pleasant surprise! Luckily I was all packed and ready to go. We got online to check around for anything fun to do in Seattle that would be suitable for H---, and decided that after dinner we would go check out the haunted house being run by a local radio station.
We ate at the Ethiopian restaurant that Jack and I ate at once before. H--- did very well, accepting the eating with your fingers thing, and the sour enerja crepe-like bread. She's got more of a tolerance for heat-spice than I do!
When we cruised the used book store across the street from the restaurant, I made a lucky find -- four volumes from the Angelique series of books by Sergeanne Golon. They didn't have volumes one or two, but I now have copies of the rest, in good shape! These are historical novels, translated from French. I wouldn't call them historical romance, since they don't follow the happy-ever-after pattern. I do like them. Will I still like them after re-reading? (oo, a discussion board about these books!)
The haunted house was popular enough that they were issuing tickets with an entry time printed on them, so we wandered around the tents with costume stuff for sale, refreshments, fortune tellers, and henna artists until it was time to get in line. The weather was cool and drizzly. Finally we were admitted, after reading the sign: "Don't touch the actors, they won't touch you." Reassuring!
H---- grabbed onto her father with all her might, and was pushing him to go faster. It was fun, walking through the maze and being surprised and scared by people popping out, or creepy scenes. They did a good job on the production! But there were a few too many halls where someone just poked their head out and said, "Boo!" Since it was all for charity, it was worth it.
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Saturday, we had to stay at Jack's place to wait for the cable modem folks, who were supposedly coming that day. So we put the time to good use! We worked in Jack's bedroom, picking up random stuff, sorting some papers, taking some guitar equipment down to the garage and rationalizing the rest, so that the cable folks could get to the computers. This made the bedroom much easier to navigate, and it will be easier to get the beds set up when I'm there.
We also did some work on daughter A---'s room. Jack felt bad about asking H--- to work on this, since she didn't create the mess, but it didn't take long when we all worked on it. We grabbed all the dirty dishes and trash, put all the damp bath towels in a pile so Jack can wash them, and put A----'s clothes (formerly strewn on the floor) in a large plastic bag for her to deal with.
The other big project was to move all the living room furniture. I don't know that the new arrangement really made any more room, but Jack felt that it did. Jack also connected up the stereo speakers to his new home theater receiver, so he has the miracle of surround sound! It did sound good, and he can listen to his CDs and radio, which he hadn't been able to do for months.
On top of all that, H--- cleaned the kitchen and washed the kitchen floor.
So even though the cable folks never did show up, Jack was satisfied with what we accomplished. "One weekend soon, I'll come down to your place and get your bedframe assembled," he promised.
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We wanted to get out of the house after all that (or at least I did) so we went out for subs, then a movie (or movies). Jack wasn't comfortable with taking H---- to an R movie, so we settled it that she would go to see "Superstar," and Jack and I went to see "Mystery, Alaska."
I liked Mystery! The large cast all had their moments, and Russel Crowe is always good to see. I'd recommend it even for non-hocky fans. Some parts were a bit too predictable, though. I called one dramatic courtroom moment several minutes before it happened.
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After a leisurely morning today, I suggested that we walk to Fairhaven to have lunch, since the weather was mild. "Waallk?!" wailed H---. But walk we did. It really isn't that far, maybe a mile. I was glad I'd suggested it, since we won't have too many more days when walking will be pleasant. I enjoyed inspecting in detail all the Victorian houses in the neighborhood.
Jack's ex-wife couldn't drive halfway to meet him in Seattle this time, so he decided to put H--- on a Greyhound bus. He felt bad about it, but H--- didn't seem to mind. A six hour round trip drive, from Bellingham to Olympia and back, would have been a long day for him!
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While I was at Jack's place, I read a bit of Blood Music, an early novel by Greg Bear. I'd read it a long time ago, of course. I need to dig my own copy up and re-read the whole thing! I also read about a third of Investment Biker, a book by Jim Rogers, a former stock market analyst who took a motorcycle trip around the world. He's not much of a travel writer, covering incidents that could have been whole chapters in a paragraph or so, but his analysis of the economies of the countries he visited was cogent, even reading his 1990 viewpoint in the present day.
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