all the fun of the fair...

...and day...

Saturday was one of those days that was chock full of busy. But busy in a good, fun way. I woke later than I anticipated, due to my desperate need for sleep, puttered around the house a little and played with my brand new vacuum cleaner. My old one broke a number of months ago and I'd either been borrowing friends' vacuums or using a broom and/or pet hair sponge. So to have this pretty new one, with a HEPA filter and in a lovely blue which matched my decor (a happy accident), made me pleased as punch. And it works well, too! For only sixty bucks - I love you, Target!

Around noon or so I got a call from FFDWG(FKaSarah), asking about the Ikea in my area. She was looking for a dresser and didn't want to fight the southbound traffic to go to her usual one, so was I doing anything and did I want to tag along? I had planned on going to Target to stock up on some big heavy stuff, like cat little and cat food and the like, since I'll be giving up the rental car Monday morning now that the MTA strike is over. *sigh* I'll miss that car.

Since the Target and Ikea are close to each other, I said come on over! And she did, and we took the rental car, and it was good. Well, except that the dresser she wanted was out of stock, what with it being on sale and everything, which made both of us rather bummed for her. But still a good round of shopping for me. We went back to my place, she went home, but we knew we'd see each other later that night because we had tickets to a rave-like party in Canoga Park - more on that later.

As I entered my front door, Burger King bag in hand (their Whopper with cheese minus the meat is surprisingly yummy), I noticed the answering machine light flashing three times. I knew two of the messages were from Sarah that I had cut off, but I wondered who #3 might be. It was CuteNerdBoy, driving home from Vegas and wanting to say hi, then jokingly accusing me of being out partying again, you little tramp! I chuckled, then called him right back, since it seemed I had just missed his call.

"CuteNerdBoy, this is Carol. How dare you call me a little tramp?!" I laughed over the phone.

He returned my laugh. "What would you rather I call you - a trollop?"

"I was out shopping! Shopping! I was not partying! That's not until tonight."

I told him about the party, and the $10 tickets, which were very cheap for anything rave-like. Turns out he wanted to invite me to a SAG screening of The Missing that night. Though I really wanted to go, I demurred, citing previous commitments (both the party and a few hours at ModelGirl's place). My whirring little mind tried to find a way to fit it all in, because I hate to miss anything, but even it couldn't perform that feat. He realized that he couldn't expect someone as popular as myself to be available at such short notice, but he decided to try after all.

(Ah, what a lovely ego stroke that is. I'd love another. Yeah, that's me, popular with all my friends! *preen*)

We spoke for a little longer, and he wished me fun at my rave and behooved me to be careful. He then mentioned something about me bringing home a boy toy, to which I replied, "My place is too much of a mess right now - I'm not bringing anyone home tonight." Since I didn't have designs on hooking up with anyone, just dancing with a bunch of strangers, I was pretty much telling the truth.

Soon after I received a call from ModelGirl. We talked about meeting, but when I told her that the party was in the Valley and I had to be back home by a certain time to meet FFDWG(FKaSarah), she told me not to worry, she didn't want me to be driving all over the place and she was really tired anyway (she and her hubby live south of Hollywood). Instead we made plans to get together the day after Thanksgiving, like we used to do, but hadn't in a couple of years.

Well, lookee there! An opening in the schedule. I called CuteNerdBoy back. (And really, who amongst you didn't see that coming?) There were two screenings of The Missing, one at 6pm and one at 9pm. I couldn't do the 9pm, what with the party and all, but if I hurried I could meet him at the DGA for the 6pm screening. And so it was set. I quickly changed my clothes, as what I was wearing was intended for the party and I was just trying it on to see how it looked. What I wore instead was an outfit he'd seen me in a couple of times, but it was quick and clean and I knew I looked great in it. I was having an excellent hair day, so I didn't have to worry about that. The only thing? No time for make-up. I was make-up-less, as I often am unless I'm going out for an evening. What the hell, I thought, it's time he saw me sans make-up. All of my other friends have. I used a little powder and lip-gloss while waiting at lights, but otherwise my face was in all its naked glory.

(Yes, I know we're just friends and all, but I still can't help wanting to look nice for him. It's the girly-girl in me.)

So after making a couple of calls to FFDWG(FKaSarah) and CuteNerdBoy for logistics about the evening, I rushed over to the DGA, which is about 15 minutes away. I encountered traffic on Laurel Canyon Blvd and ended up making the movie with 15 seconds to spare. Except they didn't actually start the movie for another five minutes, but that was okay. CuteNerdBoy still made it there before me. He looked all cute and slightly scruffy, with his jeans and flannel shirt and a little stubble after the long drive from Vegas. Slightly scruffy is a good look for him. He has a young face, with its cute, nerdy look, and the scruffy roughens him up a little. And he didn't run away screaming at the sight of my au naturel face, so I guess I look okay without make-up after all.

And on to the movie. It was a good movie. I knew nothing about it except for the billboards around town. I could guess that it was a period picture, but I thought maybe it was from the 1930s. Nope, 1885. I will say that it is a definite advantage to not know about the movie you're about to watch. I didn't even know it was a Ron Howard film until I saw Clint Howard.

(Yes, I know he doesn't work only in his brother's films, but it's always a big indicator. Personally I like him a lot. Maybe it was his Star Trek stint.)

I really became invested in the story and the characters. Plus I've adored Cate Blanchett in pretty much everything I've ever seen her in. There may be rumors floating around that, on occasion, tears sprung to my eyes, to be surreptitiously wiped away, but I assure you that those are malicious and idle truths.

Unfortunately after the movie there was no time for us to chat, so we walked to our cars, catching up a little bit (luckily I happened to park next to his van - that's where an open space was), shared a quick but strong hug and off we went, him to get some dinner and me to meet FFDWG(FKaSarah).

(I have got to remember to let him know that his personal is doing a great job with him. Yes, I've been wanting to jump his bones since meeting up again in June [I think it started earlier with reading his e-mails, actually], but I noticed that he was a bit heavier than the last time I had seen him in '98. His work-outs are looking mighty nice on him, making my extreme self-control that much harder. I can do it, though. I've had a life-time of practice at self-control in that arena.

And maybe I need to get back to exercising myself. I've lost another five pounds, which is cool, but this tummy of mine is really annoying me. Whoops! Tangent, much?)

Once I got home I had just enough time to change, e-mail CuteNerdBoy to thank him for the invite and leave when FFDWG(FKaSarah) showed up. It was a PJ party, so she dressed in tap pants and chemise, with a few more layers to guard against the cold, including a wool robe. Me? I went the sexy route, of course, wearing a long black nightgown with lace insets that I bought a number of months ago (hoping it would see some CuteNerdBoy use *sigh*). It had spaghetti straps, was low-cut and the lace insets were such that, had I not been wearing undergarments (sexy ones, of course) the party participants would have seen much more of me than I would have preferred. I had kind of forgotten about that when I planned the outfit. And of course some sandals with heels that were high enough to be sexy but not high enough to be painful. At least not for a few hours. Over that I threw a warm thick robe. Still no make-up, but I knew it would probably be dark, so no one would be able to tell anyway.

Off to the party we went. FFDWG(FKaSarah) wrote about it in detail, so I won't go into the whole evening, but it was fun. For my part, I was very enthralled by the man dancing with the orb. He was cute and very graceful, with obvious dance training under his belt. Scary Danny was very icky and, since I had no desire to experiment with drugs or accept anything from anyone, especially someone so patently creepy, I can't say I felt bad about ignoring him. FFDWG(FKaSarah) was fascinated by the fire dancers on stage. I stayed nearer to the stage for my dancing, which was usually enthusiastic in the extreme (I'm a very good dancer and I totally get into the music - maybe I should have moved back with FFDWG(FKaSarah) for room to dance the way I really like to dance). There was an attractive African-American gentleman that had been checking me out, even looking directly into my eyes and saying hi to me as he walked by, but he never asked me to dance and I'm too chicken-shit to make the first move. All I wanted was to dance (no boy toys for me last night, as that's not what I really wanted), so it would have been fun, but that's cool too. The Moon Bounce was tons of fun and proved that my bra was a really good, very supportive one. Always a good thing in my book. I had been planning on having a couple of drinks once we got there, but didn't feel like it after all, so I was totally sober the whole time. And I got home around 3:30am, after a bit of food at a Denny's not far from the party, whereupon I fell into a deep restful sleep. Thank heavens I was already wearing sleepwear!

So yeah, lots of fun yesterday. I may do something like that party again. But next time I'll have to bring a boy to dance all sexy with.