Fun With History And Literature

In Starbucks, waiting for my car. I'm ostensibly having an oil change, but that's usually just an excuse for them to call me with all kinds of fun ideas for what else to fix. Which is okay, because I'd rather pay a couple hundred now than eight hundred when the thing starts smoking on the freeway. (Not that I'd know anything about that, you understand.)

I've blogged in this Starbucks before, when I had a really, really terrible cold. And it's reminding me of two things: one, I haven't had a terrible cold in about eight months, and two, that I'm super-superstitious about jinxes. So here's me officially not mentioning anything about it.

Trying to get my car in shape because I'm driving alone in rush-hour traffic tomorrow night to visit a couple Smith friends in the OC. One of them is from the East Coast, and the other from LA, but I haven't seen either of them in years. Should be fun catching up, eating Mexican food in Richard Nixon's favorite restaurant, and trying to limit myself to one margarita so I can sop it up with tortilla chips and be good to drive.

Despite being in two shows, I don't have rehearsals for either until next week. One director is scuba diving in Greece, and the other is busy directing other actors--did I mention there are 16 of us in one play? Jarrah seems to be enjoying school--she brought in her "All About Me" bag last week, and reported that the kids were much more interested in her name "chop" (like an ink stamp) of her name in Chinese than they were in the stuffed wombat to represent her trip to Australia this summer. They also had to share what they used for light during the blackout: "My name is Jarrah. I used candles for dinner, flashlights to get around the house, and a lantern for a night light." I thought that was admirably succinct. (Not that I know anything about that, you understand.)

This past weekend was the annual Chinese Moon Fest, which is my favorite event on the Families with Children from China calendar. For one thing, I'm a night person, so curling up with blankets and drinking hot chocolate with pals under a full moon is my idea of a good time. Also, the kids are super-adorable in the lantern parade. This year, I was a little wigged how much my girl is growing up--we've missed the Moon Fest for two years, so she was only 3 1/2 the last time we went. This time, I hardly saw her--she, Joy, Linda and assorted other members off her posse were off sprinting after rabbits and playing vampire for hours. And our neighbor--age 3--asked Jarrah where she was going as we got in the car.

"To an event called Moon Fest."

"What's an event?" asked Victoria.

"I'm not sure, but I know it has to do with fund raising."

Heeee! That kid slays me. She's also been freaking me out ever since we saw the UCSD Stuart Collection last week and I gave her a tour of the Snake Path, with its Garden of Eden and giant marble replica of John Milton's Paradise Lost. I explained how Milton had taken the story from the Bible and given all the characters lines, but something about my retelling struck a nerve with her and she's now asked me to repeat it five times. Perhaps it's the part where I say:

"And when she bit into the fruit, everything went black and stormy and all the plants shriveled up and died. And Adam came around the corner and thundered 'What have you done???' and just then an angel appeared and pointed the way out with a bony finger."

I think she likes the bony finger. But who knows? The kid is obsessed with death, horror and punishment these days. Don't look at me.