Starting here, starting now

Since beginning this process of selling my house, more and more frequently I have been waking up in the middle of the night and finding it impossible to get back to sleep. As usually happens in these cases, my mind starts to do this skip-to-my-lou through a vast catalog of topics, as often as not completely unrelated to each other, except in MY head. So, self-important narcissist that I am, I decided to start committing these roller-coaster rides of the cerebellum and cerebrum to the 21st century's version of paper.

While I, of course, find myself fascinating, others may or may not; hey, the only way to find out is to throw it out there to the universe & see what kind of pies get thrown back at my face, virtual or otherwise. So here we are.

Have you ever -- well, actually of course you have, if you are technologically advanced enough to have found this page -- received one of those emails with a butt-load of otherwise inane, innocuous questions, sometimes choosing between two things (croutons or bacon bits, chocolate or vanilla, S or M), sometimes asking for a list of faves (books, movies, sexual positions), that you are supposed to fill out & send to a bunch of friends, "including the person who sent this to you; you might find out some surprising things about each other"? Well, in just the past few days, to my surprise, my older sister Jamie, who you would assume would be aware of such things, did not know that I was in a rather serious motorcycle accident when I was just a few months shy of my 18th birthday, which resulted in my knocking out all of my front teeth & required some reconstructive surgery. You would think an older sibling would HAVE to be aware of such a thing, wouldn't you. Now, of course, not everyone has my memory for details, but something this major happening to one's first degree relative, their "baby brother" as it were, would qualify as something she would know about, right? Well, obviously wrong, at least in this case. Of course, if MY memory does serve me correctly, & don't bother to challenge me on this kind of point, because you WILL lose, she was living in Atlanta, Georgia at the time, so she never saw me as the postadolescent toothless wonder that I was for a couple of months. Now, my younger sister, Anne Marie, would have to know about this, since she reported it to our mutual orthodontist, who naturally threw a fit; after five years of his hands in my mouth to give me a beautiful smile, I go & f**k up his handiwork. Can you blame him.

Actually, it SHOULD have been a more life-altering experience than it was; you see, it was the first time I ever had actual consequences of driving under the influence. Yes, folks. truth be told, I was stoned off my ass on pot. The only real lesson I took to heart from it was really to avoid driving while stoned on drugs; in fact, I did quit smoking pot for a long time afterwards, & to this day, it is one of the reasons I approach marijuana, medicinal or recreational, which such trepidation.

On the other hand, it came as a total surprise to Anne Marie to discover, only a few months ago, that I am a rabid baseball fan (GO GIANTS!). Her response to that piece of info was short & to the point: "YOU?!?!" I know, I know, I hardly look the type. And while I am not addicted to the sport, I mean, I can't spew batting averages & winning stats ad nauseum about the game, it is really the only team sport I have ever enjoyed watching. It is of interest to me, at this stage in my life, to realize that my dad never took me to a baseball game -- basketball, football, tennis, yes. I am not even aware of UC Berkeley even HAS a baseball team, though I am sure they must. I wish he was around so that I could ask him why not.

So yeah, even at the advanced age of 46+, I can still pull a few surprises out of my hat with which to surprise, or even shock, my family members. Friends too, although that is a hell of a lot easier, believe me.

Take my friend, Cheryl, for example. I don't really know how long we have known each other, but at least more than a year, since she met the pre-sober me, & that part of my life journey ended almost a year ago. Now, Cheryl knows, as do all of my friends, that I am a performing arts culture queen, as in theater, concerts, ballet, etc. But she was shocked to learn that I, um, well hate is such a strong word, but here it does truly apply, yes, I HATE opera. Not rock-type opera, of course; as a lapsed Catholic who was a teen in the 1970's, I had JC Superstar force fed to me by the nuns, those bitches, & the first professional stage show that I recall seeing was "Evita," which still ranks in my top three personal faves, though I really wish they would reimagine its presentation. I'm sorry, Hal Prince, I know you are God in the eyes of some, but come on, it's been 30 years, can we try something new here? Now, before you ask, yes, I have given opera what I consider to be a fair shot; I have been to the opera four or five times. I just can't get past it though. I told Michael, my first husband, after we did a three show program through the SF Opera, that if he wanted to continue to go, I would find someone to go with him, since we were going on his dime, well, more than a dime, but you know what I mean, but that I was done. We did go once more, though, when the Best of Broadway included Buz Lehrman's "La Boheme" as part of one season, but still, yech! No thanks.

So here it is now, almost 4:30 a.m., & I have been up for two hours, & theoretically need to be up for work in another two. See how it is? Well, it seems that the camomile tea is finally doing its job, since I am getting a little drowsy. But hey, for my first blog, this was fun. Hope you enjoy the read. Feel free to ask any questions my cerebral meanderings may have inspired; while you may not like the answers, trust me, I will have them! Not to mention, a question or two of my own, for pondering, mulling over, provoking thought and/or dialogue (if not diatribe), etc.

Stay tuned, kids. Something tells me this might be the beginning of an interesting little adventure.

Night night now.