Because They're Burning Bricks

Another was Full Disclosure, and then we saw two full length features: an absolutely awesome one called Wristcutters: A Love Story, and a cute but flawed movie called Expiration Date. It is somewhat problematic, what with the inauthentic tapping into Native culture, but luckily it almost forgets that it’s supposed to be an Indian movie and the story is more authentic through most of the rest. There are approximately a gazillion awesome one-liners and puns (

  would love this movie) that make up for the less than smooth storytelling (not that it’s a bad movie, just a little clumsy)

As for plays, my favorite was Rabbit Hole.  The performances were pitch perfect, and the healing of grief themes are incredibly difficult to do well without getting tear-jerky, banal, or fake. And yet this play managed it beautifully. It was interesting, because Rabbit Hole tickets were easy to get, but Tracy’s Tiger tickets were difficult, stand on line an hour and a half before the ticket office opened hoping for some tickets to be released difficult. Both Naomi and I found it to be a little slow to get into. I felt like the play didn’t follow it’s own internal logic, and Naomi thought I was crazy and being picky and only accepting the things I wanted to accept. Our Shakespeare play was As You Like It, which is probably my favorite of the comedies. We were supposed to see Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard, too, but everything else we saw was in 4 days, and we were getting worn out.

On our way to the Bay Area, Naomi and I stopped in this town in Northern California for lunch. I don’t even remember what it was called, but it was basically a giant truck stop. It was cheap and commercial with restaurants attached to 7-11 type stores with $20 leather jackets. I was enjoying the kitsch (although I will confess to having the uncomfortable feeling that it isn’t kitsch when it is taken so seriously, and that therefore it was something horrible instead of hilarious.), but Naomi was seeing the end of the world writ large in the kitschy commercialism of the area. There were only two things we agreed were awesome: when a customer at the restaurant flipped upside down the specials board and the waitress didn’t notice for a while, and the parking for disabled semi drivers:

I dropped Naomi off at her grandparents’ and I went to have dinner with mine. grandpa and I had an interesting talk about the work that he’s doing, now that he’s retired, about making patients be the general practitioners of sorts for chronic health conditions. I think it may sound like the doctors are opting out to a lot of people, but really it’s about respecting the knowledge and experiences of patients. There ain’t no such animal as a typical chronic illness scenario, not really–and trying to treat the illnesses as typical or as though there’s a typical and therefore correct physical or psychological or emotional response just ends up with these f’d up power dynamics and dependent relationships.

Then, I went to Shannon and Walker’s and learned about the wonders of Guitar Hero. mmmmmmmm, Guitar Hero. I tried to play Destroy All Humans 2, but I was bored. Walker didn’t understand how destroying all the humans could be boring, and to be frank, neither could I. Shannon and I went hiking in H-something (that’s not Humboldt) Park, which was fun, even if we are slow and were exhausted after. After we got back to Shannon and Walker’s house, we watched a Champ Car race. I love that Walker still remembers my mad crush on Sebastien Bourdais so many years after it first came up (although sometimes I think it’s the only thing he remembers). Unfortunately, my Sebastien is married with a year-old daughter now. Walker says it’s my fault because I forgot to tell Sebastien that he was supposed to wait for me.

I took two days to drive to the LA area; I spent the night in Big Sur. I’d heard that Big Sur was beautiful, but I was blessed with amazing weather and I could have never imagined how beautiful it could be. I was pulling to the side of Highway 1 almost every chance I got to take pictures and just enjoy the light and water.

I meant to stop at a bunch of things on the way to Big Sur: The Mystery Spot, a couple of Parks, Monterey Bay Aquarium. My change in plans started after I bought my ticket for the Mystery Spot. I read something about how the miracles are possibly due to high levels of carbon dioxide and realized that I really didn’t want to be there and would rather be driving and listening to my downloads of This American Life. I accidentally on purpose missed the exits for the other things I had planned and just kept driving and getting out to bathe in the beauty that is the California Coast. The day I left Big Sur I went for a hike in Big Sur-Pfeiffer Park. It was lovely, even if I did miss part of it (long story–well actually short story, but I’m not going to tell it anyway).

Now I’m in Irvine–staying with my Aunt Ali, Uncle Dele, and my cousins Coryna and Sofya. Coryna is quiet but incredibly smart and funny. Sofya is always animated, always showing off. When they put on a show for me last night, it was Coryna who played the piano and Sofya who danced. Who Sofya is at this moment can be summed up in what she told me about math. “I like addition and multiplication, but I don’t like subtraction,” she says. I ask her why. She answers, “Because subtraction is taking away, and I don’t like to take. I like to give.” This is the same girl who once told her mother that the meaning of life is for people to keep the planet company. Coryna is more complicated, she protects herself more than Sofya. You could account for it by her age, but really, she’s always been quieter than Sofy. Which is not to say that she’s antisocial or particularly shy: they both participate in the shows that they and their friends put on for family and friends. She has many friends, plays violin, clarinet in the school band, is in Guys and Dolls at school, and plays soccer–she was an all-star last year. And she reads all the time and does well in school. She’s the 12-year-old I wish I had been.

I’ve also been visiting with my grandma. It’s hard to see her getting older, more forgetful. I had dinner last night at her table in the nursing home, and I was glad that her memory is better than her seatmates (I literally told one woman that I’m going to be in  Africa for 2 years 5 times. In one hour.), I worry that her memory is only going to be worsened talking with these ladies so much older than my grandma. My grandma being grandma, I showed her this beautiful shawl (that I thought she would like) in a catalog she had, and she wrote my name on the picture and started plotting to give it to me, real subtle like, without me noticing.