Note of the Living Deb

Read Perpetual Blonde's version first because it's funnier. If you only have time for one, pick hers. It's so cool, I'm pretending it's a meme.

Here are five businesses I'll never own both because I don't want to be a business owner and because these businesses would not make money.

1. MOM'S DINER - The meal and price are posted outside. The philosophy is "You'll eat what you're served." A sample breakfast would be whole wheat chocolate chip banana pancakes served hot off the griddle with butter and organic skim milk. Syrup and peanut butter provided on request only. Another breakfast would be three-cheese omelet (sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and seasonal cheese) with a whole wheat biscuit and your choice of juice. The biscuits come with butter and pumpkin butter. Seconds are allowed, but not thirds. There will be no coffee. There will be no mimosas. Only yummy things I like. Yes, another philosophy will be "because I said so." Wait staff is also allowed to use the phrase, "Your face is going to freeze like that."

2. TYPE-WHILE-YOU-WAIT SERVICE - Client brings note cards for a paper for any class other than English. I bring a notebook computer, a portable printer with paper, and a disc. Client composes paper aloud as I type it. Grammar and punctuation provided by typist. Typist periodically asks what is meant and suggests better word choices, sentence organization, etc. At the end, client receives a printout and, in case client thinks of changes later, a disc, with the paper saved in the format of the client's choice. This would be so cool except that students all do their own typing now.

3. DECORATE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE - I go to house of client with bare walls. I reorganize furniture to make sure it's comfy and works. I look through drawers and closets and the garage and find things to hang on the walls. It might be skis. Or interesting t-shirts on hangers. (Like "Trading Spaces," only with a budget of $0.) These clients are too poor to pay, though, right? And of course everyone would think these ideas are dumb.

4. BUSINESS SPACE FOR THE HOMELESS - After a business closes for the day, move tables or displays to the edges of the room and put up cots for the homeless. Before the business opens in the morning, clean up and put everything back the way it was. The homeless guys have to help organize everything and sign the thank-you letter.

5. BALLROOM DANCING FOR HIRE - Come to parties and dance through the whole party. Um, this way no guest ever has to worry about being the only one dancing? Um, good for high school reunions? And big, fabulous weddings?

On the day after Thanksgiving I drove to my parents' house to celebrate with my mom. My dad is out of town until next month, my sister is busy packing for her move, and my brother is also out of pocket, so it was just the two of us.

We watched several movies my mother had recorded using one of those new-fangled technologies I know nothing about.

One was the American remake of "Shall We Dance." There are so many things I like about the original that I want to say I like the original better. (And of course it is uncool to like an American remake of a foreign movie better than the original.) But it had a better ending and a few other additions I liked. The main character was a lawyer who wrote wills, which I thought was interesting. And the detective had a crush on the wife, which I didn't like, but which let us get to know the wife better, which I liked. Also, since the characters were Americans, they talked more, which I like.

However, the original had some things that were missing from the re-make which I enjoyed. Like charm. Mainly I think I liked the message more. The message I got from the original is that ballroom dancing is addictive. It's an odd message, but lets them show how beginners could want to continue with it, even though they feel like idiots when they're first starting. The characters actually learn dancing in a realistic amount of time (though still more quickly than I did).

Of course in American movies, people only look like idiots when they are playing idiots, and everyone else always learns everything instantly. In the American movie, the message was that ballroom dancing is passionate, and if you are not going to dedicate yourself to learning everything and becoming passionate, then there's no point in dancing at all. I don't like that message, but they did have a great scene showing how much more fun dancing is if you add passion to it (or the look of it anyway). I think I might be too embarrassed to dance like they do in that scene.

I was wondering how they were going to deal with how ballroom dancing is taboo in Japan, but not in the US. They decided that if people find out you are ballroom dancing, then instead of thinking you are a slut like in Japan, they will think you are gay. I was surprised they thought of anything, and it was important to the movie, so I'm glad they tried. But it didn't work as well.

I also liked how in the original, one character has to be a very good dancer and yet also be creepy--can you imagine trying to figure out how to do that? And another guy has to be very enthusiastic and passionate but still look like a dork, which is also very well done. They didn't capture that in the re-make. (The dancing was actually similar, but they almost completely removed these references from the script.)

In the middle of the day we went to a neighbor's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I was told that I look just like my father. Which was fun. I'm fantasizing about telling my dad that he is no longer allowed to think he is ugly or he will be thinking that I am ugly (which he doesn't)! Heh!

Dinner was delicious, then we escaped back home where Mom finished baking bread and talked me into coming to the synagogue with her in case they had trouble making a minyan (quorum). They still didn't make it, which I've never seen before. It means there were certain parts of the service we were not allowed to do. So the six of us just talked about what we were thankful for, went through the meaning of the Torah (Bible) reading for that day, and did the blessings over the candles, wine, and bread. Someone there said I looked just like my mother.

I don't remember anyone ever saying I look just like either of my parents. I guess we all three now look old! And short (although my mom still has a quarter inch on me)! And myopic!

Then we came home and watched an old movie about misfits running a training mission on a de-commissioned, then re-commissioned submarine. That was fun.

Nanowrimo Update

Since I was driving alone, I brought a tape recorder so I could write by talking. And I brought only one CD, the same CD that's been in my car for a month, so I wouldn't like it too long. I did, though. And it's a long CD, with 73 minutes of music. And I listened to some songs over and over trying to figure out the words. So finally I decided to start "writing." But by then I was in the icky parts of the route, where it's easy to fall off the road you're trying to stay on. So I turned the music back on.

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