TRACY

The question today at The Big Question was, who would you bring back from the dead and why. My answer: Tracy so all the folks out here in cyber space could meet her.
1974 NYC
I lived at Westbeth Artists Housing.
My friend Lee (who couldn't decide if she wanted to be James Dean or Gertrude Stein) also lived there and said, remember I told you my girlfriend from 17 years ago moved back to town??? Well....she is gonna be the new receptionist in the managers office and you can't let anyone know you know about her, she is there to see if she can find out if someone,the manager, is taking cash to put peoples name at the top of the list for vacancies, which we (the board) are sure she is doing.
Well okay but...
I had passed the office earlier in the day and had seen this gorgeous, elegant woman sitting behind the desk and thought to myself, how did they ever get someone like THAT to take that job, I gotta meet her.
I didn't want to queer the spy thing, but come on, this woman had a glow.
I went to my loft and baked a batch of brownies with dark chocolate. When they were cool and I was sure the manager (whose last name was Gross, and she was) had left for the day I put 4, 4x4 brownies in a brown paper lunch bag with a note that said, I'm not supposed to talk to you, this is just a little welcome to the neighborhood, this is my phone number.
When I got to my loft my phone was ringing.
Hello.
With her hand covering the mouthpiece she whispered, meet me at the corner of Washington and Christopher in half an hour, I'll be the one carrying the brown paper bag with chocolate on my face, and hung up without a goodbye.
On the corner her first words were, anyone who cooks with dark chocolate knows the way to my heart.
We never looked back.

Generosity

Thy name is STB.

The Red Quilt of the RQM is there. I'm so happy to see it there I think I'll have an oatmeal cookie.
It is so cool to have a friend who will take the time, even when I fight him every step of the way.
THANKS A LOT STB!

On With The Show

Today I did my new job.
Gawd....I hate to admit this, I had fun.
Only one small "event". A patron got a little skin tear
from a hand rail. When I got to her with he "first aid" kit
she told me her entire medical history, all the meds she was taking for various conditions, one of which might cause her to be a bleeder.
After I cleaned one tiny drop of blood and applied a band aid she told
me I better give her another one of those sterile things and another
band aid, just in case. Of course, I gave them to her.
On my way down the stairs I had one of those "thank you" moments.
Her injury wasn't serious, I could help her, I only need Lipitor.

Former Hand Model

Just so you know...
This photo of the "Former Hand Model" would not have been possible without the help of STB.
And oh, I do make myself guffaw.

The Big Question over at Sublime's other blog today reminded me of this.
When I was 19 I had the good fortune to meet a friends grandmother, Mary Goetze. We would go to her house for lunch or tea or dinner and everytime she would ask us, what are you reading. Both Melissa and I would shrug, stammer, ah, ah, because we didn't read anything. Did you pick up a newspaper, magazine, tv guide? What is the last book you read, either of you? Me, well I did a book report on Anna And The King Of Siam. (Which was a half truth. What I did was a review of the movie The King And I.)
Reading will set you free she would say again and again. Reading will lead you places. Reading will inspire you. If you read, you can learn to think for yourself.
Mary called me at work one morning and said, I'm coming to take you to lunch today. On the way to lunch she wanted to stop in a bookstore. When we got inside she said, pick a book, any book, I will buy it for you. After you've read it, we'll have dinner and talk about it. I wanted Capote's, In Cold Blood. The crime had occured not far from KCMO where I lived and had been all anyone talked about for months. What a good choice she said. here's one reason why. Capote's style here is different from any of his other writing. It is called reportage.
I really liked Mary so I was going along to humor her, ah youth.
I read In Cold Blood and was blown away. I got it. In that one read I understood.
We did discuss the book over dinner one evening a few days later. Mary led me, fed me. She told me about "southern american writers". She introduced me to Mann, James, Austin. Oh thank you, thank you Mary.
I am grateful to Mary everytime I pick up a book.

A Dirty Four Letter Word

work: physical or mental effort exerted to do or make something; purposeful activity; labor; toil. Geez, toil.
work...
I just hate the word. It's a dirty word.
I've always had to work. I never liked it and I always will.
I applied/interviewed/tested for work today. It's a cool job at
a local theatre, show biz don't ya know. I figured I could do what would be
required, so I said yes, they said, great.
And then...
Rules, time clocks, dress code. Dress code???? Honey, I gave up dresses years
ago. A twin set, maybe. Dresses no. And I might as well tell you right now. I'm not peeing in a cup.
Don't get me wrong. I know how lucky I am. And 24/7 I'm grateful.
Oh, shut up Pollyanna!
I'm starving, work makes me hungry, I'm eating.

Why?

Why did I finally get my own blog.
Easy, I love reading other folks and often want to comment.
Seems to me if a guy is making comments, folks deserve some idea of who the guy is. Fair is fair, usually.
Sttropezbutler gets BIG shout out for patience.