Clear Resolution

[Allen totally sucked me into Top Chef on Bravo last night. We must've watched five hours in a row or something. I don't watch much reality TV (nor any other kind - watch me make a virtue of necessity), but you must admit that all reality TV shows have the same feel to them. Establishment shots of whatever fancy building the guinea pigs are living in or competing in, then shots of them all glowering at each other while Sarah McLachlan or Dave Matthews keen in the background. Still, addictive.]

[Today, I was up before seven because that's what I do on holidays. I'm housesitting at Boss-Man's, which means taking care of his insanely large long-haired mastiff, the Dog-Monster Hal. It also means having full use of his German-engineered, fossil-fuel squandering SUV. Ha ha! I'm detroying the environment, one acceleration at a time!]

[I woke up so early because I felt I still had a million things to do before picking up my buddy Dennis and driving us up to my parents', where we're expected before 1:30 this afternoon. I was doing my usual frantic last-minute shopping last night, cursing my lack of preparedness and feeling I should, in good conscience, return my Eagle Scout badge to the B.S.A. because I clearly learned nothing. (They'd probably like it back for other reasons, but too bad about that.) I couldn't find butternut squash to save my life last night, which is why I found myself at Allen's, crying in multiple bottles of Pacifico beer and watching reality TV.]

[Anyway, up early this morning feelin' grouchy and fuzzy, I walked the Dog-Monster Hal down by the Caltrain tracks o'er the far side of Potrero Hill. Then to Peet's Coffee in the Potrero Shopping Center...ooh, Peet's. Things were starting to look up. Clear-eyed and with a new optimistic sense of purpose, I charged into Safeway, asked the produce manager where, oh, where, did he hide the butternut squash, was directed thither, and bought two lovely looking specimens.]

[I'm thankful this year for:]

[1. That moment when coffee, helpful service workers, and organized retail systems swing my mood from fuzzy frustration to clear resolution.]

[2. Other stuff that I'll list for you another time, but which include the To Kill A Mockingbird benefit for the ACLU at the Castro Theatre last Sunday; the fact that, since college, Sean and I make a point of calling each other on holidays; and the release of Gore Vidal's new set of memoirs, Point-to-Point Navigation.]

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