so, miss ariel, what did you do this weekend?

On Friday night, I spent a couple of hours photographing small children and learned Mah Jong. And stayed up really late reading.

Saturday, I slept in (meaning 'till like 9), played some more Mah Jong, took a shower, ran to the grocery store (bought an orange -- stay tuned for the Sunkist Orange reports) and the bank, and then settled down to some more Angela's Ashes. I just love his writing. He has a new book out, I see. Started mixing up some raspberry truffle brownies, Phil! Started cleaning the car while the brownies baked. Yes, that's right -- me, cleaning my car. Even the disgusting cupholders. Even vacuuming. Even soap (on the outside). It looks extremely presentable and like something I'd be proud to return if I am sent back in a different car after Thanksgiving. Anyway, finished the brownies, played some more Mah Jong, straightened my hair (yes, gentlemen, hair nowadays must be straightened or scrunched in order to be "presentable" unless you're lucky enough to have naturally stick-straight or curly but not frizzy hair), had supper, and headed for OC. Bought gas for under $2. Got to OC, picked up my theater ticket, and went to dink around on the piano for awhile. Given a couple of weeks, "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" might be simple enough I could actually play it reasonably well. Went back over to the theater, found I had missed the first 15 minutes...saw the play. Met Susan and Amy and Nicky, and Carl. (It was one of the best plays I'd seen in a while. Since I learn best through written words, sometimes I get lost in plays or movies. But this one had developed characters and lovely actresses, not to mention a plot I was predestined to be fond of.) Hung out in West for a bit. Not that long, but incidentally the second-longest amount of time I'd spent in West, behind the second-largest Mafia game in my experience. Got home and journaled a while.

Today (Sunday), I really slept really late (9:50) and went to church. Got home and was thinking about lunch when I noticed a few messages on my phone -- all from Muffin Mix. Met her and her family for lunch. Stopped at (store X) and got a few Christmas presents under control. Was going to stop at work and get some photos under control...only to remember when I got there that my photo card was at home. Two co-workers showed up while I was there. Now there is yet more baking to do, and I should be working but I just want two days together without it entirely. Should pay bills, should write letters, should finish cleaning this dump. Should burn CDs. Should chip away at audioblogging. Should freaking get a vocabulary so I can be an editor.

Oh! That's the other thing I did Saturday -- burning CDs. I'm trying to burn my iTunes songs to CDs I can play in my stereo, which seems to be impossible. None of my CD players will read them. After awhile I tried burning them as MP3s, then using Nero to re-burn the MP3s as a regular CD...still no success.