A New Page

It’s been a relief to turn the page from April to May in my monthly planner, let me tell you. For the month of May for far I have exactly four committments. Dinner in Waterbury tonight, Lisette’s wedding tomorrow, a photo shoot on the 17th, and a reminder to apply the cats’ monthly flea treatment. Such emptiness really can be a beautiful thing.

I just finished reading Twilight, that oh-so-popular vampire love story. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I felt like it took a really long time for the story to get going. On the other, once it did pick up, it was really compelling. And it held my interest enough for me to keep reading until I got to the real meat of the plot, although, to be perfectly fair in my assessment, that may only be because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Meyer reminds me a little of Dan Brown. The writing is mediocre at best, but the story is good. The difference is that Brown’s story never drags, but then, this was Meyer’s first novel. It’s possible that her manipulation of the plot will improve with practice.

I did find Bella a little irritating at times with her constant talk of forever. I know it’s the typical teenage response to puppy love, but even she should realize that forever with Edward means just that. That should give her some kind of pause, especially given that she’s otherwise portrayed as someone who’s reasonably intelligent and practical enough to look after her extremely flaky parents. I did find it stretching belief a bit that she had already read all of the books on her English class reading list. I might remind everyone that she’s a junior in high school. Out of her list of authors, Shakespeare is the only one I encountered in high school, and I was in AP English. I don’t know. She was just obnoxious.  Edward was appealing enough. I’m an inherently practical person, so I think his utter reasonableness at times may have been what made the book tolerable when I otherwise wanted to smack Bella upside the head.

One big problem I had was the loose ends Meyer left. I understand that it’s supposed to be a series, but she opened some big questions and then just left them. Why can’t Edward read her thoughts? Aside from mentioning it here and there, no one seems interested in finding out why this girl is so different. And what’s with the random dire warnings from Billy Black? I’m intirgued enough to read the next book, hoping for better things, but I am extremely glad I didn’t waste my money on it. The library is perfectly fine with me.

On topics other than obsessive love and vampires, Alan and I are headed up to Waterbury tonight. Lisa is finished altering my dress and we’re going for dinner, with the caveat of course that we’re leaving by 9:30 at the latest. It’s hard for me to sleep in much these days, so I’d like to get a reasonably early start in the hopes of ending up with a solid 8 hours.  I’m a little leery of eating dinner up there though. I could swear sometimes that Lisa is trying to poison me. There isn’t a meal we’ve had at her house that I haven’t been miserable after.  And on Easter she made a pork roast despite my repeated protests that I don’t eat pig. If shrimp weren’t one of the best foods on the planet and I could bear to de-cheese my burgers, I would just start claiming to keep kosher. Then again, how many people know that whole shellfish and meat/cheese injunction? I could just say it anyway.

It’s the second night in a row that I won’t be cooking for myself. Last night was Lisette’s wedding rehearsal, followed by dinner at The Tymes in Hamden, the same place they had the bridal shower. Good food and pretty good company despite not really knowing anyone. I knew Jen, so we spent most of dinner gossiping the way we always have. I mean, I know Roberta and John and Chris and Michelle and Junior, but none of them are people I would really gravitate towards naturally. Okay, maybe Junior, but he seems as reserved with strangers as I am. The others are just at a different point in their lives than I am, I guess, though they’re nice enough people. And I’m a bit of a homebody, which they are clearly not. So there just weren’t many common points of reference.

Lisette gave us each a beautiful necklace and earring set in an engraved silver case. Very pretty and perfect for the wedding. We’re looking for some positive weather forces too… At least according to Auntie Kath and News Channel 12. Showers in the morning but clearing for the afternoon. Excellent. And apparently we’re entering the reception to REM’s "It’s the End of the World as We Know It." Interesting.  There is one danger spot in the whole day and that’s at the church. Because it’s one of those hideously modern Roman Catholic churches, the sanctuary is round with no central aisle and the entrance is at the front near the alter. So we have to come in, climb a spiral staircase to a balcony and then walk down another stair to reach the aisle we’re all walking down. In heels. With floor length gowns. Super. LOL.

Okay, it’s after 7, so I guess I can officially start my day. ^_^ Happily enough, Alan and I both have today off. Do you suppose he’ll mind a trip to Claire’s? Hehehe!

~Liz