3 Witches and the Bald Brute

Walking home from the Williamsburg Saturday Farmer's Market, through the park, I am almost out, and a Grey Great Dane lumbers toward a Collie Shepherd mix, the owner of the latter a woman in her 50's screams at the bald/sunglassed/wannabecool dude to get his dog on a leash--he is the owner of the former. He cooly ignores her and She gets hotter & louder, screaming at his dog 'Elsie' (she knew her name since Elsie had taken a bite out of her collie's ear before -- she has the Vet bill), Elsie is play pouncing on the other dog, but by virtue/vice of her size Elsie could do damage. Elsie lumbers off. Another woman with a smaller dog screams at Bald Man to put his dog on a leash. And first Lady, who was walking away, while speaking the same leash sentiment, and other venting, decides to turn around and go after this guy. The Bald Man yells, "Shut the F__k up!", he is also pushing a stroller occupied by a two year old, curly haired, girl with a mix of emotions passing across her face. I stand quietly at the apex of the this triangle of women, waiting to throw down my fresh veggies, eggs & butter, pears and peaches if the ladies need back up. Then a voice on a bull horn tells the man to Leash his dog. And then he does. I continue on my trek home thinking the leash is temporary, he will unleash, he will teach his daughter disrespect, he will not be the pack leader of his dog, and in this wimpy way he abuses both, as well as his fellow man.

I love to see dogs run free. In a yard, in a field, in the woods, if they have a good custodian. I hate that term master. My Dad and his family have bred dogs, hunting dogs, and trained them. I helped train, with a bunch of bound feathers on a fishing reel. I love animals, and I respect them, I think they have ways of interspecies/interkingdom communication human beings had once but forgot when we invented words. I don't blame an animal when they misbehave. I blame its human. Likewise, I don't blame a child, I blame the parent -- I am not talking about crying and whining children I know that a strong parent has to withstand that and stifle the urge to whack and are the stronger for withstanding a tantrum in public.

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone taught their children and dogs well.

Kat and Kaboodle

I am waiting for my cat to pee. The Vet needs a sample. She thinks I am being horrible in not letting her use her usual litter box. No. I had to fill the 'traveling' one with No Sorb which looks like little black plastic pellets, so they can sate the something to dig instinct/behavior cats have.

She is sweet 2 year old black tiger. She likes to reach out her paws to touch my face or grab my hand. She can be held for a very long time, unusual for a cat. She is a speaker. She fetches. She is now talking to her reflection in the door mirror. She knows it is just a reflection. She is trying to get to me.

I have to change my cats' diet. I had not realized feeding them dry food was inhumane. Cats and Carbs na-uh! Thank goodness I don't buy store bought Friskies and etc, or they would go through sugar withdrawal. I got eight pages of informative scary stuff. You don't want to know what the meat by-products are . . . I am not sure I am glad I know. Soylent Green. But I ain't going near it and neither are any animals of mine, if I can help it.

This Vet, and I have had many, has an abrupt manner. Not warm but not off-putting, she is honest with her thoughts and I respect that. I am that way. It isn't the popular way. Why is that? Why do people always prefer a fake smile to reality? I don't.

Two Tall Beams of Light

I saw them last night. Not tonight. Is it too soon? This afternoon, the Pres. and First Lady placed their two respectful wreaths of red, white, and purple carnations in the two temporary reflecting pools (symbolizing the Two Towers -- hello unintentional Tolkein reference). The two news anchors kept saying the same things over and over. "Gov. Pataki, Michael Bloomberg, the President and First Lady and Rudy Guilliani, ditto, ditto, reflecting pool, ditto, ditto, 911, 911, 911, 911, the President and First lady look somber, ditto, you can see they are moved, ditto, very saddened, ditto, Tomorrow breakfast at the Fire House, ditto, ditto, they will be there to observe the actual times of the planes hitting the Trade towers, ditto. Today, after they are done here, to a service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, ditto, ditto, tomorrow they will also go to the Pennsylvania field, and then to the D.C. at the Pentagon. ditto, ditto, ditto, President Bush will not talk about the War in Iraq in respect for the 911 tragedy, ditto, ditto. . . I loved it when these news commentators decided to do color commentary? NOT! Couldn't they be silent? Do they perceive their audience is blind? There should be a news network that has very little sound, just pictures people can decipher on their own. "President Bush and the First Lady look very emotional"
"If they were stoics," was my thought.
I observe, and no new commentator dares to say, "As the President and fellow Politicians pile into the SUV Michael Bloomberg had to walk around the car and get in at the other side. Who wouldn't slide over?"

Petunias

Oh my Aching Back!

What did I do this morning that, has given my lower back a stabbing imp with a prod on bending over? I don't know. I should have done Yoga. I went for a run. Ah, well. Tomorrow I will do Yoga. And Practice the Guitar. And Paint a kitchen wall. And Clean. And. . . . Oh so many things I should have done today. Yes, I will get coffee filters and flour. Yes that too!

La a note to follow sew

When Style Journalists and Literature collide

Just caught the NY Times in a spelling error.
In an article on the new welcoming of maturity in fashion, an article citing examples: Catherine Deneuve's partnership with MAC; Sharon Stone with Dior and Kim Bassinger with Miu Miu written By Mary Tannen, she concludes her essay with the point that throughout history mature women have iconoclastically hit their scenes. One example is Euripedes' Medea. She misspelled Euripides. Thankfully she didn't misspell Media. Oops.

While on the subject of contributors to the NY Times, I have to mention Manohla Dargis, a toughie to spell in its own right.
I don't like her reviews.
She uses purple pansy prose to illustrate paragraphs of mostly catty content.
In her article on the Sundance Film Festival, it wasn't anything but an epitaph. I didn't read past the second paragraph, so maybe she changed her tone somewhere along the way. I hope.
So what if the festival is commercial!
It still does the work of fostering less commercial projects, which is its purpose.
I suppose critics don't have to be unbiased journalists.
No, they can print their bitterness on pages and vent out the fact that they get paid to watch and comment on 90 bad movies to 10 good ones, and put the blame on Robert Redford.

Well, he is still taking leaps off cliffs in waters he is sure he can't swim in.
What about you Manohla?

Finding some pathos for Sarah Jessica

I was reading the New York Times this morning and decided to scan the review of the new Heather Graham show. It exemplified what is wrong with reviews now-a-days. It is all about the slash and burn. Bloody words and multiple stabbings are marketable in print form just as they are on the big and little screens.
So Heather's show lay in a chalk outline.
Hopefully, she has a rebounding ego that parallels her screen personas' ever-present optimism. I like the Heather that I see: bubbly and effervescence, her pout or a silly tantrum the only sign of a bad mood that would be short lived and yet she isn't an annoying pollyanna.
Though I do prefer more multi-dimensional, tortured characters at war with the dark side in them and in others. I guess I need the fluffy to balance out the edgy.
Within the article Heather's TV character is compared to other single women leads in TV Land. Sarah Jessica Parker was mentioned. Which bothers me. I don't like Sex in The City. I find it silly and trivial and slightly misogynistic in its pigeon holing women into stereotypes. Why would I want to root for a woman whose main and longest love affair is with a pair of shoes?
Well, there I go criticizing. But that is my personal opinion that anyone is free to dispute, I am not getting paid to harm the show.
Iput this here to just explain that I have no love for Sarah Jessica. I didn't like her Gap ads. I won't smell her perfume. I won't see her movies. She is a competent actress. She knows how to wear designer clothes. But she has something about her that turns me off. Nothing personal only chemical.
But back in the review the writer mentioned Sarah's charm being jolie laide. I looked it up. I like the phrase. But I felt some compassion when I imagined Sarah reading the review and seeing that adjective describe her.

jolie laide
Pronunciation: zho -le-led
Usage: foreign term
Etymology: French : good-looking ugly woman : woman who is attractive though not conventionally pretty

The following word I heard on Nature: Death Valley.
It is a nice image.
vir·ga
Pronunciation: 'vir-ga
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, branch, rod, streak in the sky suggesting rain
: wisps of precipitation evaporating before reaching the ground

Karman Alecto

I fortunately work in a restaurant in which the owner, in order to safeguard his waiter's gratuities, has allowed us add an 18% tip on the checks of foreigners. When we do this it is clearly marked on the bill. On rare occassions a customer will question this, and demand the tip to be removed. When this happens we deal with these people calmly and kindly which strangely causes them to reveal more of their total asshole being. The few times the tip has been taken off it is by a sweet waiter of mild temperment who suffers from post tramatic stress disorder.
So, a couple days after Xmas I was bartending and a Japanese woman sat at my bar. She spoke in a thick accent and read a book that was written in Japanese. She drank a bottle of Pinot Grigio and before she finished her final glass she asked for a menu and ordered a salad appetizer followed by the pasta special of the day. When she asked for the check, I questioned adding the tip. I was still filled with the season's feeling of giving and good will. But logic soon rode to my rescue waving a banner saying, "January is coming!" January is the slowest month in my restaurant as it is in many others. Her check was close to $60 and the tip on it could treat me to a movie or pay off 1/50th of my Visa bill.

Side rant:
I have been in this business long enough to know the facts of its life. At least 70% of foreign tourists do not tip. Most of these nontippers enter a restaurant with a guide book in hand which is sure to have a section about tipping. I have friends who have come from all over the nontipping parts of the world, these friends have friends and family that deliberately do not tip because they know they can get away with it here. It isn't a malicious act. It is selfish and cheap because they see it as saving a buck. They don't see that they are directly affecting someone's take home, that they are refusing to pay someone for a job that has been done for them. How would they feel if their employer told them, "I need some extra money so I am not gonna pay you this week." In my rough estimate Nontipping/badtipping foreigners cost a waiter a week's pay in a year.
End of Side Rant.

So I added the tip. No big deal really. Just a wish that in a perfect world populated with decent people I wouldn't have to. I took her money and placed her change in front of her. What do you know but sweet, smiling, silent Japanese lady speaks sharply. "Did you think I was a tourist?" she says closing her Japanese book, with her, I repeat, very thick accent. Knowing that she is remarking about added tip, I explain the restaurant's policy as if I was explaining long division to my niece, my only intent is to get my point across as benignly as possible. She is still insulted by my assuption that she didn't know how to tip.I tell her that it was not my intent to insult her and I am sorry she feels that way. I explain we get a lot of tourists. That even she had admitted that her English was not very good. I add that she must understand how I could have assumed that she was one. I think I can turn this around by asking her to help me, maybe she can give me some advice on how to tell the difference. This request is legitamate not as patronizing as it reads. She is still insulted, and says I should have known she had been living in New York for 2 years. I ask her sincerely, "How?"She stops and thinks and then says, "You could have talked to me."
"You were reading. It would be rude to disturb you. You made no indication to me that you wanted to chat."
"You should have known." she repeated. Then she added,"You should also know I have worked in a restaurant."
"Then you should know that people that are not from this country rarely tip. Right?"
"Yes. It is true. But I know to tip and you should have known that. You should know the difference."
This conversation travelled in a spirograph that was dizzying and only caused more frustration for both of us. By the way--I,in writing her side of the conversation, am not writing it as she actually said it. If I did I would feel catty and it would seem to demean her. She wasn't stupid. Just stubborn and self-righteous but then so am I. She left stating that we should change our policy, adding that she would have tipped more.
However, as any server with experience knows, most people that say they would have...WOULD NOT!
People that will tip over an added tip do it without complaining, without a question and sometimes without a word and only a wink and a smile.