Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Yar, It's Driving Me Nuts.

So, I've been quite busy recently and the most unexpected things keep popping into my line of vision. But rest assured that I will give my review of Cupcakes in Chicago and the experience of having my eyebrows waxed.

I've had a veritable U-Boat full of Germans landing on my shores. The good news is that someone put the word out that if they want to facilitate a smooth time in New York, they will bring foreign chocolates to the secretary. Hmm, I wonder who floated that little nugget, or should I say nougat, of information...?

Today on the subway I was standing in front of a seated mother and her young son. The boy was probably six years old. He was quiety reading a chapter book. I saw that he was reading the "Prologue" of his tiny book. The mother had her eyes closed and her hand over her eyes. After reading for about ten minutes the boy shook his Mom's hand and said, "Mommy?" The woman totally snapped at him. It was quick, violent and quiet. She began shaking him, and yelling at him in a whisper if that makes any sense. I tried to look away. I wanted to give this woman the benefit of the doubt. I tried to imagine what could be going on in her life to make her so angry at this well-behaved little boy.

Last night I was talking to my brother on the phone. We hadn't talked since Easter, so we were just kind of shooting the shit. Then after twenety minutes he says, "So did you hear Dad broke up with Sweetie?"

"What?" I asked.

"Dad broke up with Sweetie."

"What? What are you saying?" I could hear "Dad" and "Sweetie" but I was sure I was mishearing the rest.

"Dad broke up with Sweetie," my brother repeated for the third time. This is probably why he doesn't call me more often.

"No he didn't."

"Yes he did."

"No he didn't."

"Yes he did."

"When?"

"Sunday night."

"No, I just talked to him on Sunday night."

"Well it must have happened after you talked to him."

"Where is he staying?"

"In his condo."

"No, see you're wrong. His condo isn't finished yet."

"Fine call him. He'll tell you."

"Okay, I'm going to call him."

"Okay, call him."

"Okay, I've got to go so I can call him."

I called my Dad. He broke up with Sweetie. He is staying in his condo, sleeping on the floor and he sounds very happy. "What the hell is going on here?" I yelled into the phone. I wasn't disappointed that he didn't consult me. After the last break-up, I had my fill of talking him through things and giving him advice which he then promptly ignored. I was surprised that the guy who calls me on the phone so that I can provide an impromptu translation of the label on his bottle of German wine didn't call to mention he broke it off with a woman he'd been seeing for 10 months. He seemed more interested in telling me about his new kitchen cabinets that talking about the relationship. This is progress, I guess.

Gibson has the best suggestion by far (and technically the only suggestion) about how I should celebrate my 50,000th site visit: make my own podcast. Brilliant suggestion. Unfortunately, producing a podcast seems like it requires certain things I don't have. Like equipment. And skills.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

HOW ABOUT LETTING THE MATCHMAKER KNOW?! And he sounded HAPPY?! What happened to taking the baby for walks and doing puzzles on a Friday night?!

I have to call my mother.

Cupcake said...

Queenie, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I too was surprised. Don't hold it against the family. I'd wither if you withdrew the warmth of your friendship.

Do you know any other single middle-aged women, per chance?

Too soon?

lebrookski said...

i like the podcast idea, it really just seems more daunting than it actually is. you've probably got all the equipment you need already, save maybe a computer microphone, but even if you ended up having to buy one, you could get one for about $15 at like target or something.

then you need a program with which you can record yourself, your music, etc:

audacity
(free & easy-to-use)

then you need to find somewhere that'll host your podcast

read about that here (lots of tips there)

personally, i think coming up with content is probably much more difficult than the technical side. it's like record, upload, publish... think about it...

Cupcake said...

Thanks Raven, that's incredibly helpful. I'll check those out. Probably won't be up and running by the 50,000 mark, but I do want to try my hand at this. Have you even produced a podcast and uploaded it?