Tuesday, June 23

I am writing!  I am writing!  I am writing!  I’ve been out of work for a while now, and am just starting to feel like it’s summer, and I’m in a groove.  Sort of. 

In an IDEAL world, each day, I do the following:

• I work on my acting career (get headshots touched up, send them out, get an agent)
• I engage in local cultural activities (go see shows, read a bit about Chicago, go for a run in the local park)
• I work out everyday
• I take a shower
• I write
• I cook at home.

 

In my REAL world, I do the following:

• I wake up late,
• I start laundry
• I print out some scripts I need to memorize and set them aside
• I meet with Andy about how to make deposits for the condo board, taking copius notes.
• I call the mortgage company and they say they still don’t have our application for loan modification
• I try control my temper and gain control over something so I look online to see if my half-credit from renting a Dollar rental car has been credited to my Southwest account.  Now that’s important to my financial future!
• I ignore my $700 dollar mammogram bill
• I defrost some pork chops and make a tuna salad and cut up some cantaloupe and celery. 
• I answer some emails and send some more. But then I get overwhelmed.
• I make a list of things to do but halfway through, I call the cable company about a discrepant bill.
• I put on my running clothes.
• I get hungry, so I make tuna salad and eat it.  I cut up celery sticks and cantaloupe and pull out some frozen pork chops I grilled a few weeks ago for dinner.
• I get cabin fever, so pack my bag for a major errand run and job. 
• I realize my credit card receipts are a MESS and need to be organized RIGHT now!
• I scold myself for getting distracted, and re-pack my bag.
• I forgot about the laundry!  I move the wet clothes into the dryer and fold the dry sheets.
• I finally leave the house, and I drop off my dry cleaning, I get my flat tire fixed, I buy a propane canister for my grill, go for a walk and run into Salvi and Paul and Auggie, I keep walking, I browse in Borders instead of going for a run (it is HOT out), I pick up my bike and return home.
• I go home and read the scripts, I make some blocking notes
• I eat the pork chops, taking huge bites as I pull the dry clothes out of the dryer and since I don’t have time to fold my laundry,  I lay it out so at least it doesn’t wrinkle
• I do not shower so I liberally spray myself with perfume
• I pack another bag for teaching, I grab some water and caramel treats for later.
• I bike down to teach and it is glorious, the best part of the entire day.
• I teach (I love that) and then I ride home. 
• I talk to Andy about life and plans and housing and cruise ship jobs and writing and teaching.
• I move my ac unit from in front of the closet to my window and Andy helps to install it.
• I read my book and drink some beers and decide it’s ok to sleep in and skip my morning weight lifting class tomorrow at the gym and go to the night class.
• I go to bed. 
• I love my bed.
• I love my summer of not working.
• I need to focus more.

Friday June 19

Hello world! I am home in Ohio, in the land of family who is entirely, 100% Pro-Obama. People always look at me like I am the source of EVIL when I say I am from Ohio. I think they expect hayseeds and hicks with John Deere hats on in a stereotypical pose..Instead, I find a land of pro-Obama sentiment and feeling, even as they find their state crumbling around them. It’s like this thing…we’re not as BAD off as Michigan, we’ll be fine.  Any who, the Ohio I know is very different then the one portrayed in the National Media.

 

Any who, tonight was typical of a visit in Ohio. Summer is pretty great here, and I’ve been here for a weeklong visit. The only thing marring this reunion is the fact that my brother is facing prostate caner. He is young and healthy dudes, so get your psa and prostate screening, dudes, ladies, get your mammograms. In his case, he’s going to be fine fine fine and we’re  very grateful and lucky that it didn’t spread and that it’s a curable cancer.  Anyway, other then crying a lot around him, it’s been a really nice visit! 

 

So, here’s tonight…I came home packed for my trip home tomorrow, sipping jug wine with my mom and dad and there’s any variety of kids here…first, it’s cancer brother and his three little girls. Of course I’ll play kickball!  Cancer brother fixes my car (as he always does) while I kick some kickball ass! Then, girls and brother leave, going home to get swimsuits (mom and dad have an above ground pool…FANCY!) and then sister Kitty and three of the boys come over. We drink more wine, the kids swim. Other sister comes over with the true ROCK STAR of the family, baby Allison.  Then, a summer storm comes..and it’s a good one---walls are shaking, rain puddles, dark dark skies---just like a summer storm should be.  We all hang on the sun porch during the storm and my Dad goes to get 4 large pizzas. We see lots of deer, including a baby one that looks like Bambi.  Mr. Sun begins to shine...time to swim!  The kids all swim…us siblings talk about the Dead shows we attended in the 80s/90s (three for me, 10-15 for Kit, 40 or so for Cancer Brother). Since our parents are there, we speak in code about what we did at those shows. I confess that I felt as though I just never fit in and they all look at each other like, Duh, you were a giant dork. Which I am quite aware of.  I tried to be a deadhead but I just never wanted cheese sandwiches and thought someone ought to look after the babies and the dogs. Any who, we all break for Pizza.

 

And then, my favorite part happens…the negotiation of who sleeps where. In the summer, the kids and their parents are inner-changeable.  “I’ll take two (tad and ben) if you take Simon.” Simon asks Aunt Kitty if he can stay at Uncle Paul’s house, and they all say yes, and then the kids scream and dive into the pool again. It is the most exciting thing in the world that Simon, age 5, can stay at a house full of girls. He flashes his signature Simon “SUNSHINE” Dover France grin, and dives in.

 

Other kids stay at my parents and cars shift and other kids walk around in the neighborhood and see if any fish came alive at the pond next door (the house is foreclosed and empty…it is Ohio after all) and we still drink wine and eat chips and hummus (Becky like) and chat and then other kids call and arrive.

 

At the end of the night, all the Ford cars pull away, and I’m there with my mom and dad and we are trying to remember what language is the primary language of India (Hindi) and sort out the economy (why does my mortgage company not have an answer about loan modification when I call?) and it’s not a bunch of dumb Midwesterners who are rednecks…these are people who read the paper and go to church and, gasp, vote democratic and republican and have reasoned points of view on the world and I am embarrassed once again by what I see in the comedy world and hope that there is a place for a world of subtlety and grey areas because that is what I know and what I am.

 

The world is not black and white, and sometimes, you vote base on the union that gives your family a job and a home and health insurance and education.

 

That’s my soapbox here in Ohio.

 

See you soon Illinois…even though I’ve lived there since I was 21, my heart is still in the Buckeye state.

Car Spa!

Wednesday, June 17

My little baby car got some loving this week.  Andy said it’s like the car went to the spa..it was cleaned, had a bit of plastic surgery and got to go for long runs in the country.

Here are some fun facts I learned about cars while in Ohio:

1)    Apparently, in order to be “legal” you need to have a “functioning” taillight on BOTH sides of the car.  Who knew?

2)    Also, if you are missing a mirror on your passenger side, you should get it replaced to be “legal”.  To help you see behind you!

3)    Most people who own cars know how many miles per galloon their cars use, and the difference between highway miles and city driving.  It helps you estimate gas costs!

4)    If your car is shaking above 65 MPH, you probably are out of alignment and need to get your car balanced.  Makes sense now!

5)    If you pay your 13-year old nephews to “detail” your car, they will do it, but constantly stop to ask you questions, and to talk to each other and get a snack and don’t see that they’ve left behind a bunch of grubby brown gunk in the cup holder.  But they are also proud to do it for you and love your car, even if it is a bit beat up.

6)    If you have a major gash on one side of you car, and a missing handle and major dent on the other side, and some damage to the taillights, everyone thinks your car was in a an accident.  When you say “Its just city living, normal wear and tear” they look at you like you must live in the CITY.  Even if you live in a quiet, residential area of town.

7)    If you park your car in the garage, and open the hood, your dad and brother will start to fill it with “fluids” that it needs, change the air filter and give you a lesson on how to maintain your car.  Sweet!  It’s like going to Vocational school without all the stoners!

 

Ohioans are really into cars!  And my car LOVES getting away to Ohio!

Thursday, June 18

“Man Aunt Becky, you got some D” 

My nephew Ben, when I was guarding him in a pick-up game of three on three basketball.

Imagine the Kennedy compound, except this compound isn’t in Hyannisport and there aren’t private planes and fancy cars.  And this compound has a lot of kids running around, playing volleyball or basketball or bouche ball or kickball instead of football. And played out on this landscape is the competitive nature of three sports-playing sisters…who had all the same coaches, played all the same sports and all the same training.  And now, we get to teach it to the next generation…and see if we still have it.

 

Kitty, my bad-ass sister, is a year and a half older then me, so we are pretty competitive.  We get into each other’s face when we play basketball, we rib each other when we miss a serve in volleyball and there is no mercy when we get each other out in kickball.  It’s so fun! 

 

And then Beth, our older sister, displays her trademark “O”-mouth shape when she’s hustling/shooting/spiking. 

 

And little Jayna, wore kneepads practically the whole week there…and said at one point “Don’t mind my grunting” as she served the volleyball. 

 

I just wonder what they will all be like when they grow up.  I hope they don’t die playing football on the slopes of the Rockies or have affairs with their nannies or get addicted to drugs like the Kennedy Klan…but I do hope we keep kicking each others’ ass in basketball.