Lawyerish

That Time of Year

Last year, I poached this questionnaire from Sundry, and although the answers are somewhat depressingly unchanged, I jump at any chance to mull over the year gone by, and generally to pontificate about myself.  I know that Lara and -R- have already done this (or a version thereof) for 2007, so go check out their answers, too, and be sure to put a link in my comments if you join in the recappy goodness! 

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?  Went to LA.  Lived through a kitchen remodel.  Attended a wedding in Spain.  Had my luggage lost by the airline for several days (story starts here).  Served on a jury.  Raised money to build playgrounds at orphanages in Vietnam.  Spent Christmas Day without my parents and brother (wah!).      

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  Just like last year, we made mostly the same resolutions that we always do, and proceeded to fall short of them just like always.  And I'm sure we'll do the same this year.  At least we're predictable. 

3. Did anyone close to you have a child?  After last year's baby boom, this year was much quieter in terms of friends and relatives giving birth.  However, I did get to see lots of other Dillon families bring their sweet little ones home from Vietnam (including my buddy Dianna with her daughter Phoebe!), which was extremely cool. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?  No, thank God. 

5. What countries did you visit?  Spain (see above).  We also went to Charlotte to visit Allison, David and Maggie; I went to LA for my friend's wedding (link above); we went to Iowa for a family reunion; I went to Florida to visit Jonna; Allison, David and Maggie came here to visit us; we went to my hometown for the fundraising event; I went to Florida for a ladies' weekend with my mom and aunts (and got to see Jonna again!); and my parents came here for Christmas (up through Christmas Eve, anyway).

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?  A BABY.  GOD.  Apparently no one was listening when I said that LAST YEAR.      

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?  I don't know if any particular date was especially memorable, but all the trips and visits mentioned above were quite good.  Maybe April 4, because that's the day we were officially on the waiting list.   

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Not throwing myself out the window while enduring a seemingly unending wait for a referral.  (We're about to hit nine months on the waiting list.  IT IS TIME.  The longest wait for a baby girl with our agency has been 9 1/2 months, and I'd really love not to be a record-breaker in this instance.)

9. What was your biggest failure?  Not running the marathon (for no reason but sheer laziness).  Also generally falling short of my own goals vis-a-vis getting out more and working on my writing.   

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Nothing of particular note, unless a general malaise counts. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?  A new kitchen.  I LOVE having a pretty and functional kitchen, even though it's still very teeny by most people's standards. 

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  Hmm.  I think this one goes to my mom, who did pretty much all of the legwork for our fundraisers -- she deserves a medal of honor for all her perseverance, and for stepping out of her comfort zone so many times in pursuit of our goal.  Among other things, neither of us is a phone person, and she had to do a LOT of cold-calling and asking of favors and so on -- things I would shrivel up and DIE if someone asked me to do them.  But she did it, and we raised over $6,200 thanks to all that hard work! 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?  I think Britney wins the prize on this one again.  And now Jamie Lynne, too.  Someone get those girls some Ortho Tri-Cyclen.

14. Where did most of your money go?  We put a good chunk of change into our kitchen, but I think most of our income went into savings.  We're exciting like that.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  All the trips and visits mentioned above. And moving up the waiting list, however slowly. 

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?  I'm not sure if one song really sums up the year for me.  Maybe "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths, because I spent an awful lot of time and energy hoping and praying that THIS would be the month/week/day that we'd see our daughter's face, or that the referral would come before THAT holiday or THIS milestone.  I really, really wish I could have turned that off and just gotten out there and LIVED instead of feeling like I was treading water or existing in a holding pattern.  Eh, easier said than done. 

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:  a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?  Frankly, a little sadder (or maybe it's not sadness, but desperation or fatigue or...almost a numbness, at this point); about the same weight (although overall less fit since I didn't run the marathon and generally failed at running/working out as much as I should have); and richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Being social and exploring the city -- although, as with last year, I think we did the best we could given our strenuous work schedule and all the damn errand-running that has to be done on the weekends.  Plus, we did get around to a few new city-sites and we got to see certain of our friends a good deal.  And, Cathy and I got together for lots of pedicures, which is always a pleasure! 

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?  Obsessing about the adoption and thinking that it would be soon, when in fact it was not.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?  We had pre-Christmas with my parents, and then Christmas Day by ourselves.  On the whole, I don't think the two-person Christmas is for me, although it sure was nice to wake up in our own bed and not have to go anywhere.   

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?   I definitely fell in love with our new kitchen. 

22. How many one-night stands?  Bahahaha! 

23. What was your favorite TV program?  "So You Think You Can Dance," of course!  (DANNY!)

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  I don't think so.  I do not have any warm feelings left for Britney, but I pity her more than anything else. 

25. What was the best book you read?  "The Great Gatsby," which I recently re-read.  Writing does not get any better than that.  I also quite enjoyed "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" and the zillion books that I read about Vietnam. 

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?  Priscilla Ahn, Rachel Yamagata, The Weepies, and (ahem) Josh Groban (not so much a discovery, I guess, but more of an admission). 

27. What did you want and get?  For Christmas, my husband got me a babymoon -- we're going to the One&Only Palmilla resort in Los Cabos, Mexico over MLK weekend!  WOOOOO!  AND we're flying first class.  I cannot WAIT.  He also did well on my birthday -- spa day, personal shopper, tickets to the Nutcracker. 

28. What did you want and not get?  A BABY.   

29. What was your favorite film of this year?  Maybe "Sicko"?  That seems like a very lame choice.  I can't even think of what else we watched that I really, really liked.  Probably something with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it.  Of course, we didn't see a single movie in the theater.  It's been almost TWO YEARS since we actually WENT to a movie.  We are pathetic (or we just have a very comfy couch, a great TV, and a desire not to be surrounded by rowdy teens -- either one).  Oh, and I will say that one movie that a lot of people loved but I HATED was "Superbad."   

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?  I turned 32.  Allison and David and Maggie were here right before my bday, and then my husband gave me all of the aforementioned awesome gifts.  And I think he took me to Gramercy Tavern, although maybe that was for our anniversary?  I'm kind of drawing a blank. 

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?  A BABY.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?  J Crew Final Sale, baby.   

33. What kept you sane?  My husband, my family, my friends and my email buddies.   

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?  Barack Obama.  Not in a crushy kind of way, but in a "this guy really, really gets it" kind of way.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?  The desperate state of health care in this country.  The environment.  Britney.

36. Who did you miss?  Allison.  My parents.  My brother and his family, since they had to go and MOVE TO SEATTLE. 

37. Who was the best new person you met?  Well, I haven't met her in person yet, but as email buddies go that would have to be Dianna.  My husband and I also met a great couple through another friend, and I got to meet Metalia and Nancy in person -- woo!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.  Start the adoption process before you even know you want a baby.  And, you know, patience. 

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.  "Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.  I had a dream..."  -- Dream, by Priscilla Ahn

And, because I can't get enough of this dog in a Santa hat:

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas To All, Etc.

After a madman day of rushing about, finishing up work projects, lugging cat litter home in the rain, and helping host a rather sparsely attended holiday party for the residents of my building, my little Christmas break began with my parents' arrival Wednesday evening.  We greeted them in the lobby with champagne and cookies and they got to meet more of our neighbors than we've ever even seen before, and then we settled in for an evening of catching up. 

Yesterday we went to the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden, and we were lucky enough to have the place virtually to ourselves.  I was concerned about miles-long lines and shoving hordes, but we were able to amble through the exhibit and take pictures without much jostling -- always a small miracle when you do anything that's worth doing in this city.  The day wasn't without stress, as we left a smidge later than we wanted to, got the world's least aggressive cab driver, and nearly missed our train up to the Bronx.  We had to sprint through Grand Central Station, Amazing Race-style, and we leapt on the train just as the doors sucked shut behind us. 

The Train Show is relatively small, and features model railcars chugging through vignettes of New York landmarks made from all-natural materials (hence the Botanical Garden tie-in).  It was actually very cool to see what one can do with some acorn caps, corn husks, twigs, mushroom tops and seed husks (and a lot of talent and patience).  Like recreate the Brooklyn Bridge:

Or the Angel of the Waters, who presides over Bethesda Fountain in Central Park:

Or the Jewish Museum:

(Unrelated photo of building exterior, just because I like it):

Last night my husband and I took my parents to dinner at Gramercy Tavern.  It's our favorite restaurant in the city and site of all of our special occasion dinners, but my parents had never been, and we had the most delightful evening, eating ourselves into a state of nirvana with the tasting menus (my mom and the hubs had the Autumn Tasting Menu; Dad and I went with the Vegetable Tasting). 

Next on deck is Wintuk, the new Cirque du Soleil show, which we're seeing tomorrow afternoon, and then The Nutcracker on Sunday.  On Monday we'll open presents, and then late that day my parents fly out to Seattle to spend the rest of the week with my brother and family.  For various reasons, we couldn't make the whole big family Christmas happen this year, and I know it will be kind of sad for it just to be the two of us on Christmas Day proper.  At the same time, I can't really complain too much about getting to spend the day with my dearly beloved in PJs, enjoying whatever bounty we've given and received, and trying to rout one another in a rousing Scrabble tournament or similar.  Christmas also happens to be my husband's birthday, so he will get still more presents and a Carvel cake to make the day complete. 

All in all, I think we might be simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

I hope for the same and more for all of you out there.  Have a brilliant holiday filled with surprises!  I'll be back before New Year's to catch up and check in. 

And to all a good night!

The Confession Continues

I hate Tom Hanks.  I mean, not as a person -- I'm sure he's a swell guy -- but as an actor, he makes me want to drive nails into my neck.  That scene in "Saving Private Ryan" (which overall I loathe, but I'll save the Spielberg rant for another day) where he starts emoting all over the place, forcing out those huge crocodile tears and contorting his face like it's made of rubber?  It saps my will to live.  And "Forrest Gump" -- which is one of my husband's favorite movies of all time -- is basically unwatchable for me.

And yet, if "You've Got Mail" is on?  I cannot refrain from watching it. 

I don't know if it's because my life's dream would be to own a quaint little children's book store like The Shop Around the Corner, or because the movie features my neighborhood (or, more accurately, a Utopian vision of what my neighborhood would be if it had an art director and Prozac pumped into the air all the time), but in spite of its unutterable cheesiness and implausibility (and, of course, the presence of Tom Hanks), anytime I'm flipping the channels with some time to kill and it's on, I must watch.  Which is why, yesterday, as I wrapped presents for approximately 85 years (MAN, we have a lot of presents!), I sat through the absurdity once again.  Just because it was there.  And I would have done the same even if it had been (gulp) "Sleepless in Seattle."  Or "Big."  (Damn you, Tom Hanks!  How can you be so repellent, yet so compelling at the same time?)

A few of my other cinematic guilty pleasures:

Any Brat Pack film (well, who can pass those by?);

Along the same lines, anything by John Hughes (including, I'm willing to admit, "Home Alone" -- and yes, the old man makes me cry);

"Footloose" (if you haven't seen it in a while, I urge you to watch it; the scene where Kevin Bacon does his big, angry dance in the gym, culminating in his swinging wildly on the high bar, is beyond awesome);

"Bring It On" (does this movie make anyone else wish they'd tried cheerleading?);

"Annie" (of course);

"Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle" ("Sometimes it makes me want to burn this m-f-er down...Come on Pookie!  Let's burn this m-f-er down!");

and...

"Center Stage" (oh, come on -- YOU LOVE IT, TOO).

Since we had such fun sharing our musical secrets, won't you indulge me once again and tell me what your favorite cheesy or otherwise embarrassing movie is?

This week, by the way, is going to be super-busy at work, right up until the moment my parents arrive on Wednesday evening.  Then I'm taking the rest of the week through the day after Christmas off (WOO!), and we'll be doing all sorts of fun Christmas in New York type stuff as a family while they're here -- including, of course, opening our rather mountainous pile of gifts (double woo!).  I'm super excited.  I'll pop in before Christmas to wish everyone a happy holiday!  Until then, have a great week. 

The Celluloid Closet

We watched "Rear Window" the other night, and I'm still recovering from my feelings of inadequacy.  That Grace Kelly, I tell you what; she was something else.  Wouldn't you like to look that perfect all the time?  Well, really, I'd settle for looking that perfect 1% of the time.  I think with my vaguely ill-fitting business casual wardrobe -- does anyone else have problems with shirts remaining tucked in, or is that just my freakishly long torso? -- and my hastily pulled-back hair and my evenings in baggy Puma pants, I don't come even within the same hemisphere as GK. 

Sometimes I wish we still dressed like they did in the Fifties -- Grace Kelly had the most killer wardrobe in that movie.  She had this fluttery ivory organza skirt and this killer green pencil skirt suit and then, when she stays over with Jimmy Stewart (scandal!), this buttery silk floor-length nightgown.  I'd kill to have a nightgown like that, and a perfect Veronica Lake finger wave to go with it.  Wouldn't it be fun (for a couple of days, anyway) to put on cinched-waist dresses with petticoats and gloves, and to freshen up before dinner instead of slouching over the table like a hog at the trough? 

Things were just so civilized back then.  I mean, in the very superficial sense of course, as I'm not exactly looking to turn the clock back on civil rights, feminism and HDTV; but there's something to be said for ever-so-proper manners, cakes from scratch and men in gray suits drinking martinis.  On the other hand, I'm glad we have better, ah, foundation garments nowadays, as the Rocket Boob look didn't really suit anyone, Grace included. 

Meanwhile, did you know that Vera Ellen, the pert blonde dancer/actress who starred in such mid-century screen gems as "On the Town" and "White Christmas", battled anorexia for many years, and as a result her neck became so emaciated that it looked prematurely aged?  And it was so...visually arresting, I guess, that the studio mandated that she only wear costumes with a high neck?  It's true!  Extremely random, yes, but true. 

I learned this when I IMDB'd her after we watched "On the Town" some months ago (when we watch an old movie, we always have to look it up on IMDB and see who all from it is dead and how they died, and I love to read the trivia part to learn these sorts of useless yet colorful facts), and when "White Christmas" was on the other night, we kept yelling out "HIGH NECK!" whenever she appeared.  Rosemary Clooney would be in some gown with a plunging neckline, and every other woman on screen would be in a boatneck or spaghetti straps, but poor Vera Ellen (who actually looks terribly, frightfully thin in "White Christmas" overall; you can see her ribs and every muscle in her jaw) would be swathed up to her chin.  Obviously it's a sad story, but it's weird how when you know a thing like that it's all you can look at in any given scene.  Or maybe that's me.

Boy, I bet you didn't expect to get this kind of trivia here today, did you?  Can you tell I've been working a lot and have no news to report?  Pretty much the most memorable moment of my week was when the woman in front of me at the Metrocard machine was buying a $24 unlimited ride card with COINS.  She parked herself there and was stuffing nickels and dimes into the slot for about TEN HOURS and I thought I might have to punch her in the face.

So.  With that, I got nothing else.  Happy weekend, everybody!   

So I Can Climb on Mountains

There's something I've been keeping secret from you all. 

I feel like I should tell you, just get it off my chest once and for all; but I've been worried of what you might think of me. 

Still, we're all friends here, and whatever judgment may come my way, I have to be completely open and honest with you.

So here it is.

{ahem}

I like -- nay, I LOVE -- Josh Groban.

{buries face in hands}

SHUT UP.

(YOU RAISE ME UP.)

I've mentioned before that I have Celine Dion on my iPod.  And...{cough}...Yanni.  (Hush!  It's good for running!)  So you'd think I would have no shameful music secrets left.  And I think this is the last one -- you won't find me declaring my love for Michael Bolton anytime soon.  Just for Josh.  Joooooooooooosh!  Despite his Oprahfication, I love him.  That voice.  THE VOICE.  (And ok, maybe the floppy hair, just a little bit.)  He really feels the song, you know?  He does!  You feel like he REALLY, REALLY wants ye faithful to come to Bethlehem and for you, of course, to know that you raise him up.  {wistful sigh}

Now your turn.  Please comment and confess your greatest, most embarrassing secret musical love. 

And no judging!  You will certainly see no judging from me.  (YANNI.  SERIOUSLY.)

Also, lest you be left with "You Raise Me Up" stuck on repeat in your heads for the rest of the day, I highly recommend Sarah MacLachlan's "Wintersong" album (I realize I am, what, one or two years late on this one -- AS USUAL -- but it's super beautiful and not at all cheesy and just perfect for this time of year) and The Weepies' song "All that I Want", which you can also catch on the JC Penney commercial that's on constant rotation on every channel at the moment.  It makes me happy every time I hear it, and last night -- Saturday night, that is -- when I was stuck in traffic in a car on the West Side Highway after a full day at the office, and the driver bypassed my exit and kept turning up his frenetic music louder and louder, and I thought I might actually explode all over the inside of the car from frustration and motion sickness, that song kept me sane and reminded me again and again that it's Christmastime and, if I can keep my cool just a little longer, maybe, just maybe, I'll get all that I want.

Sneezy

I've been on the couch for about ten hours straight, amassing a large collection of balled-up Kleenex and watching "Felicity."  It's just a cold, which I probably picked up last weekend when I went to the grocery store and this man followed me through the aisles, letting out these earth-shaking sneezes every ten seconds.  It was the kind of unbridled sneeze that almost sounds like someone shouting in alarm and could propel a small car if you hooked up the sneezer to the right set of gears.  It's good that I only came away from it with germs invading my sinus cavity and throat; I'm lucky he didn't cause the shelves to collapse on us. 

Although we still don't have the super-official report from our agency, there is a summary of the adoption summit on the JCICS website, and from there and other reliable sources I have gathered enough information to feel comfortable that the Vietnam adoption rug is not about to be pulled out from underneath us, and that the right people are getting together and doing the right things to keep the process ethical and transparent.  A big woo hoo for that!

Now I would like my baby, please.   

(Sorry for the lameness.  I can't summon anything else to write about through the thick fog in my brain.  Send TheraFlu.)

Looking Up

Well, kudos to all of you for your hilarious comments recounting the many weird and wonderful (and very, very gross) things you've seen in your part of the world.  Hashak deserves special mention for the nude model story, which...well, I think we all learned a little something from that, didn't we?  ("LIKE A WATER PUMP" -- that is gold!) 

In keeping with the theme, on the way home from church this morning I sat down on the subway across from a (presumably) homeless man, who was slumped over with his head resting on a rolling suitcase, and littered around him were -- ahem -- several condoms.  They were unused -- OH PLEASE, let them have been unused! -- but out of the package and tossed about like rubbery confetti.  I don't even want to know what was going on there, but like all of your stories it was yet another reminder of this colorful world and its many, ah, varied inhabitants.

Yesterday I ran in a 15K race and did well enough (that is, I got through it), and I think the half-marathon in January is going to happen.  My running mojo seems to have returned; I think it must be the cold weather.  Apparently I do well in wintry conditions, whereas running in the heat of summer makes me want to throw myself off a bridge.  I do have this weird thing where I let out spasmodic, barking coughs for about two hours after I run in cold weather; but that's infinitely preferable to coming home feeling like a giant bag of sweat and standing, crazed, in front of the air conditioner, flapping my shirt and hyperventilating until my body temperature comes back into a normal range.  Perhaps this love affair with winter running will end when it's ten below and my fingers go death-white and my eyelashes freeze, but for now I'll take it.

This morning I woke up to a steady snowfall that had already accumulated an inch or so overnight.  I took the dog out and we were the first to lay tracks on the sidewalk.  There was one around, no horns or sanitation trucks belching or honking through the streets, and not a sound but the hiss of icy particles sifting through the brittle leaves overhead, drifting past the arched windows of brownstones and gathering on the low wrought iron fences around the trees.  It's one of my favorite things, New York in the snow, and if the dog hadn't been shivering pitifully in his little fleece, I would have dragged him to the park and thrown snowballs at trees and made angels and stared at the cottony sky.  Instead, I went back inside and read the Times in my PJs and ate a bowl of cereal next to the hissing radiator in our kitchen.

I feel good.  I feel like this week is going to bring good news.  We haven't gotten a report from our agency on last week's Vietnam adoption summit yet, but the snippets I've heard have been at least vaguely positive.  Not definitive in any way, but generally positive.  For weeks -- well, for over a year, really, since we've been in this process, but especially in the past few weeks with everything up in the air -- I've prayed and hoped and wished for the best.  Maybe it's just indigestion, but I feel in my gut that something good is coming our way.  Maybe it won't be THE news yet, but good news nonetheless.  I hope I'm right -- it's easy to confuse intuition with wishful thinking.