i can't help it if i'm lucky

What I Do Every Day: Today

I had set my alarm clock for 9 AM, but woke up a few minutes before that. John had already risen and went downstairs.
I brushed my teeth, put on jeans and a shirt and a sweater. And socks and slippers. (Yesterday’s financial aid letter reminded me that the thermostat stays on 67, no higher.)
Drank coffee, ate a small tortilla with egg and bacon. (This breakfast did not materialize out of thin air, and I did not make it. John, as predictable and timely as sunrise, made this breakfast.)
Sat on the couch, flipped between “How It’s Made” on the Discovery channel, the Weather channel, and the Chris Matthews show on NBC, and read the Courant on line. (McEnroe’s and Curry’s columns, and various news articles) (Why didn’t I read the actual newspaper, lying on the floor next to John’s chair? I’m still playing with my new toy – not my laptop, that’s from work – no, it’s the wireless router I bought last week at Best Buy, the same model as Melanie has. It’s awesome, although watching TV and going on line at the same time takes some getting used to.)
Woke Stella up. Not as simple as it sounds. Folded and hung up a bunch of her clothes while talking to her, to wake her up.

“How It’s Made” just showed how wine glasses are made, and I was riveted. In the last few years I have decided that I would like to learn how to blow glass, so this 5-minute overview of the process was interesting to me. It looks like a somewhat physically taxing activity, which I’m ready for, like you have to be able to coordinate twirling the long metal stick with the glob of glass on the end, while blowing into the end of it, and holding your hand steady with a shaping tool of some kind against the molten glass: part muscle control and part creativity. After the glass was made, including the stem and base, and it was fired in a kiln overnight, it went to a craftsman who etched designs into the side of the cup, and the base. The design was called “Titanic” because it was based on a design in the lights on the famous, doomed ship.

Once again, for the record, and for no apparent reason, my crackpot rant of the day: I AM AGAINST (MORALLY REPULSED BY) PEOPLE GAINING FINANCIALLY FROM THE TRAGEDY OF THE SINKING OF THE SHIP TITANIC. I understand wanting to name the design of the wineglass “Titanic” because it was in fact based on the lights on the ship, but I would advise the wineglass company that naming a glass after a TRAGEDY IN WHICH ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN PEOPLE DIED is not a good marketing strategy.

I aim this mainly at James Cameron and the cast and crew of the 1997 movie, not the glassblowers. Don't get me going.

posted by momula @ 3:27 PM