The Moment We've All Been Waiting For

My Depeche Mode concert is this evening!

I've been in Vegas since early Friday morning. We ended up not leaving home till around 11:30 or so Thursday night. It was smooth sailing east on the 10 FWY and then up the 15...until we hit the Cajon Pass...MASSIVELY thick fog! We couldn't see past five feet in front of the car for about 10 miles. I was so scared! Whatever fatigue I'd had over being up since five in the morning and having a drive to Vegas in front of me was completely erased by fear! What fun, going through ridiculous mountains when you can't even see the road! Driving and praying. Driving and praying!

The fog eased up a bit once we hit Apple Valley but there were still patches of it till Barstow. The middle section of the trip was me and Elarryo having nice talks about: Atlanta becoming a Black gay mecca, our families, the old Rose Records in Chicago...and on and on and on. We FINALLY passed the state line at Primm and about five minutes afterwards, Olinga woke up and announced that he had to pee. Elarryo was trying to get him to go in an empty Coke bottle while I'm zooming at 90 mph on that crazy downhill into Las Vegas Valley. Needless to say, he missed the bottle and the back of the rental got a nice soaking. Gotta love rentals... the sponging I did Friday morning will dried quickly out here in this crazy heat! We didn't get here till around 4:30 Friday morning and I STILL can't believe I got up at nine (freaking out that I hadn't put my out of office on at work!)

I love visiting with our friend, Kye. I love seeing my kids having a great time with her dogs, Diva and Sheba. The views of the mountains from her backyard are gorgeous. But I dislike Las Vegas.

There is something wrong with a place where the sidewalk is littered with small cards of naked women, where you can spot the johns and their whores, sliding along in their unhappiness and desperation, where even when you're outside, the air smells of cigarettes and impending death.

So, I just keep thinking about the concert I'm going to tonight...I'm gonna see Depeche Mode with my husband and we are going to sing along to "Suffer Well" at the top of our lungs! I'm sure I'll have updates about the show later on tonight!

Just Write it Down!

There's too much to write about in all the places I'm busy writing in.

I need to write here but then I feel overwhelmed by all the things I've been wanting to write about. Here's a short list of things I've been collecting in my notebook that I've been wanting to write about, in no particular order:

1) Watching a Black motorcycle gang ride en masse down Imperial Highway. All the kids at Gompers Middle School were hanging off the back fences that line Imperial giving them their props. These dudes were badass on those gigantic Harley's. They all seemed to have a tattooed-up vixen in lace-up boots riding behind them. I was at a stoplight with them and had my windows rolled down a bit because it was feeling a bit summer-like. The biker in the lane next to me blew me a kiss. Aww Shucks!

2) Seeing Corey Clark, the American Idol guy who claimed he had an affair with Paula Abdul in case you can't place the name, selling his CD in front of Hollywood and Highland. I snapped a picture with him and I need to post it. He told me if I bought the CD off of him, it would only cost me $15 instead of the $19 it was inside the record store. I told him I didn't listen to his type of music. He asked me what I listened to. I told him I was into Depeche Mode. "Yeah, yeah, so you like acoustic songs and funky rock. Well, I've got some of that too." Okaay! I wanted to tell him, "Hon, the CD isn't costing me anything...cuz I ain't buyin' it!" Instead I told him I'd think about it.

3) Rereading emails that our recently departed Mr. Caswell Ellis sent me after the birth of Toussaint. I almost never delete personal emails and while looking for something else in my email archives, I came across his warm wishes and thoughtful advice. Mr. Ellis was a second father to my husband and was the "Master of Ceremonies" at our wedding. His death this past December was so unexpected. Oh how I miss him.

4) I can't stand that "Beautiful" song by James Blount. I never want to hear it again. It needs to go curl up and die. I also think 50 Cent needs to stop trying to sing over his songs. He has such a lazy mumble and come on, isn't he rich enough to afford Nate Dogg? Tyrese? Somebody!

5) I learned how to make sushi! I went to Urth Cafe and Bodhi Tree bookstore with marvelous Jenny Tan last week. Then we went and made sushi with Lena S. and I actually learned how to make a California Roll!

6) I need to write in my diary...no, I don't know what you thought, but this is not my diary and yes I do have one. Sometimes my diary includes the same vapid and inane thoughts that I might post here, such as, "Dear Diary, Today I ran around the track in Bellevue Park for 35 minutes and thought of all the people I hate and hope to look better than in the near future." But most of the time, I avoid cluttering my diary with such thoughts. Thank goodness those pages are spared.

7) I'm FINALLY taking a writing class. My first class was last week and I really enjoyed it. I was really terrified to go to it and the reasons for that are too numerous to list here but basically boil down the the fear that I'll take the class and won't be able to cut it. I am supposed to be writing a character sketch this week...and reading three short stories!

8) One week till I'm in Las Vegas at the Depeche Mode concert. I'm having a hard time picturing what this whole general admission thing is going to really look like. I don't want to stand in line for hours. But I will. If I have to. I think. What to wear to this concert is another issue. I'm getting a custom-made t-shirt for it. There's another DM fan that makes them and it has some of the lyrics from Suffer Well on the back. "Please don't speak, you'll only lie." Our culture does have issues with honesty so I think my shirt will be perfect!

9) I really like Georgette Heyer novels. I'm reading "These Old Shades" right now. Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon is the epitome of the Georgian Era rake. And of course, he's becoming reformed!

10) I hope NOBODY goes to see Mission Impossible III. Mostly because I've never liked Tom Cruise. I try to avoid his films and have mostly been successful at this. I've only seen parts of Risky Business. I've seen The Firm which was ok, and someone I know rented Magnolia and told me it was a good movie. I watched it with this person and was mad at the end because it was stupid and felt like I'd wasted HOURS of my life. I've never found Tom Cruise attractive. He's an ok actor. I've just always thought he was creepy and I don't want to give him any of my money.

Oh, this was such a lazy way to write about all these things because I have so much more to say about each one of them but I really needed to at least get them in motion. I needed to just write it down.

Two Weeks

Depeche Mode in Vegas.
Depeche Mode in Vegas.
Depeche Mode in Vegas.

I'm clicking my heels together three times.

Why I Order In

I went to House of Pies tonight with the family. It's been awhile since all four of us have been there and now I remember why.

Before I had kids, I never viewed a bottle of Tabasco sitting on a restaurant table as a possible weapon of mass destruction. However, when it's clutched between Toussaint's grimy two-and-a-half year old paws, the Tabasco morphs into a potential flaming-hot missile . I guess I should cut Toussy some slack because he is in the midst of the terrible twos. He's curious about the world and seems to just gravitate to the most dangerous thing around. I will admit, I do have a bit of curiousity myself, mainly around what would actually happen if he were to get the bottle open and taste it, but having been vomited on last week by this same two-year-old, I'm not exactly eager to really find out.

I'm trying to talk to my husband, "So, what did your mom say on the phone?"
"Nothing." Takes another bite of turkey burger.
"Oh, well what's she doing for Easter?" Work with me here, Elarryo. Work with me!
"Nothing. My brother went to North Carolina." Sip of Coke. Rather, a slurp of Coke. Bite of burger. Chew. Chew.
O-kaay then!

That brings us to my eldest, Mr. Olinga. You see, Olinga is five and likes to ask questions. When he wasn't lecturing Toussaint about, "That red stuff's gonna burn you, Agrabah," Olinga was busy pointing at the gay couple sharing a plate of food and feeding each other off of it. His index finger seemed a million miles long as it pointed across the table. His voice, well, if you spend time with any small child, you know they can project like Patti LaBelle on Broadway.

"Mommy, why are those two men feeding each other?"
I tried to shush him but he wasn't going for it. "But why? Do they only have one fork?"
I told him that it's not polite to point and he needs to mind his own business.
"But I can see them."

Broken record technique: Repeat until you get the desired behavior. He resumed eating his pancakes and narrating Toussaint's every move.

And I wished I had just stayed home.

Sometimes It's Hard

Is it ever easier?

I suppose not. It's probably not meant to be easier. I just wonder if I'm making it all much more difficult than it really needs to be.

"When you're born a lover...you're born to suffer."

Liz Needs Prayers

That's right!

I need prayers from you all on my behalf. I think everyone who reads this post should say a prayer for me tonight and tomorrow morning! I need it!! :)

Lights. Camera. Action.

Last night, my movie going experience transcended the usual kiddie fare I've been exposing myself to. Not to say that Chicken Little and Ice Age: The Meltdown weren't enjoyable. They were. Well, sorta.

It's just that I haven't been to a movie with my husband Elarryo since we went to see the final Lord of the Rings movie. Yep, it's been a long time.

Why not go out to the movies more?

A) Cost: Unless we get a matinee showing, which is next to impossible, the movie tickets are going to cost us between $18-20. Whatever movie we see had better be phenomenal for that kind of money. Then there's the cost of parking. This is generally around $4, even with validation. Since we don't have our kids with us, we may also be paying for...
B) Babysitters: I want to go out with Elarryo but I also don't want to be the kind of parent that has a sitter watching my kids every Friday night. Teenagers make me wary and you have to pay them, contributing to the cost factor. Besides, if you are paying the sitter eight dollars an hour and you are gone for three hours, that equals $24. Add the cost of the tickets and paying for parking and the latest that Hollywood has to offer is costing me $50. Sure, friends will watch the kids for free, but they are also busy with their own weekend pursuits. And besides, they didn't have the kids, we did, so it's our job to take care of them, not theirs.
C) Quality of Interaction: If I do go out on a "date" with my husband and we are spending the whole time staring at a movie screen, guess what? We aren't talking to each other. If we go to dinner so we have some actual chat time, guess what? That's more money. Plus dinner and a movie equals more time that you have to pay a sitter.
D) Movie Quality: Fantastic movies seem to be few and far between. Most of them I Why would I go through all this to see the forthcoming Samuel L. Jackson vehicle, "Snakes on a Plane" or other tawdry fare such as "Basic Instinct II?" If the movie is a clunker, a pair of shoes is a better investment.

But, yesterday was Elarryo's birthday and "Inside Man" has been getting great reviews. Denzel Washington. Jodie Foster. Clive Owen. Spike Lee directing. What more could we ask for? The stars aligned when my friend Maisha offered to watch Olinga and Toussaint while we went out. Olinga and Toussaint were thrilled because they love Maisha's kids and had been begging to go over there.

Elarryo and I dropped the kids off at Maisha's house in South Pasadena and headed over to Paseo Colorado in Pasadena. We'd never been there before so at first it was a bit of a chore to navigate their horribly illogical parking structure. We're smart cookies though so after only fifteen minutes of utter confusion, the parking was accomplished and we headed upstairs to the outdoor mall and strolled to the theatre. Two tickets for the 7:00 show were $19.50. Since I've lived in L.A. for eight years, I should be past the sticker shock factor but it still surprises me every time.

We then went to dinner at P.F. Chang's, Elarryo's favorite Chinese place, where we sat next to a Lisa Raye wannabe who kept asking the date she was with, "So what are you thinking about right now?" Chirping crickets were audible over at their table. He kept ordering drinks and she ordered the appetizer of ribs. Now, no one in their right minds orders ribs at a Chinese place. Logic says, you order Chinese food at a Chinese place. It's like folks who order steak at Denny's and then complain that it's kinda tough. I wondered later if she was trying to give the guy something to think about when she declared the ribs unedible. The manager had to come over and see what the problem was. "They're nasty. They don't look or taste like ribs. I'm not paying for this." Weave tossed and neck roll in effect. The manager cleared the ribs away.

After dinner, we went back over to the theatre. The lines were crazy at the box office but since we'd already purchased our tickets, it was straight inside to the theatre. You know a movie is good when the previews haven't even started and the only seats left are the five rows in the front! I won't tell you anything about the plot since the film is one of those that's best if you know nothing. It did prove to be well worth the admission price. Jodie Foster is evil and sexy with killer legs and ridiculous high heels. Denzel is crazy, smooth and hilarious, all at the same time. Clive is mysterious and serious. And Spike is still Spike, thank goodness.

Movie ended, we went and scooped up the kids and laughed about how we used to do the movie and dinner thing at least once a week. We didn't worry so much about cost and parking and whether the movie would be good or not back then. Thank goodness we have children to set us straight now.