Stay of Execution

Question

Why do 'fancy' beds (e.g. hotels, those in catalogs, those in fancy guest rooms) have more pillows than one needs to sleep?  I always end up piling the extra pillows on a chair or the floor in order to sleep.  When I do this, I feel vaguely bewildered and guilty.  Am I supposed to be using these pillows for my enjoyment?  Am I doing something wrong when I sleep, to use only one pillow? 

Why are more pillows better? 

Question for Kind People

My new housemate, Lib, just came back from an organizational meeting of a new progressive Christian think tank she's going to be part of.  At the end of the meeting, the organizer gave everyone at the meeting a $100 bill.  He said, "I want you to use this money to do something good.  And in a month, I want you to come back and report on what you did with the money." 

Wow.  She and I are sitting in the living room, talking about different things she could do.  What would you do with this charge? 

Question

How frequently can I wear my new favorite superfabulous jeans without being icky/pathetic? 

Practical Advice Wanted

1) I seek a thingy that will hold my iPod while I work out -- you know, something that straps to my arm or around my waist or clips to my shorts or hangs around my neck.  The current method of shoving it into my sports bra or down into my waistband leaves something to be desired.  My criteria for such a gadget: it should work, it should be sensibly priced, and it would be great if it were funky or interesting enough in its design that I find it delightful.  Potentially important information about my iPod: it's one of the new video ones, large, not a Nano. 

2) I have a skirt that I think is nifty, but I can't figure out what on earth kind of top to wear it with.  I have taken some poorly lit, badly focused, pictures of the skirt and want specific advice about tops that do and do not go.  If you can link to specific tops or include pictures of what you're talking about, that's even better.  For the purposes of this, you may assume that I am a fashion idiot, and that you ought to explain things that you think are obvious.  (But I don't like being assumed an idiot, so please consider permission to treat me as an idiot to be extended only for this post.)  Potentially important information about the skirt: the body of the skirt is a kind of slate color -- a little big greyer than navy blue, a little bit navier than grey.  The fabric is a soft, heavy brushed twill.  On top it's a a sort of tapestry fabric, creamy background, reds, pinks, tans.  No actual green although the suggestion of green, somehow. 

Question

Why are automobile tires always black?  Everything else we make and buy comes in many colors.  Is there something about rubber that makes it impossible to color? 

Fashion Question

Today while getting dressed I tucked my knit top into my jeans and put on a cute belt.  I tucked in my top because I remembered how chilly I'd gotten yesterday on the small of my back, in the small gap between my appropriately lowish-rise pants and my sweater and top, while I sat at a Mexican place, leaning forward on a stool.  The gap wasn't big and there was no inappropriate undergarment exposure -- nothing shocking going on here.  It just got cold after a while.  But when I looked in the mirror at my tucked in shirt, I thought, "So dorky.  Nobody tucks things in anymore." 

Question 1: am I right?  Is tucking in of casual tops out of style?  I think so, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. 

Question 2: If tucking in is a no-go, what's a girl to do about the small-of-the-back gap?  My tops and pants are the right size, and otherwise reasonably flattering and fashionable, though not cutting edge.  These aren't way-low rider pants, or middriff exposing tops.  The gap is 1/4 to 1/2 inch at most.  When I can get away with it I wear a camisole under things, and I tuck that in, and don't mind if people get a little glimpse of it in the gap.  But sometimes that won't work.  What's to be done? 

Question For Readers

Just finished Curtis Sittenfeld's book Prep.  It made me think of a whole series of other books about class, of course, but it also made me think about the similarities of the narrators of those books.  Generally outsiders trying very hard to figure out the rules, while self-conscious of the importance of not revealing how hard they're trying.  What I'm wondering is, is such a narrator necessary to write on the theme of class?  There are obvious benefits, of course.  But is there a good treatment of social class in contemporary America written from the perspective of a narrator who feels like an insider?  Would such a narrative be possible? 

I Miss You

I'm exhausted and overwhelmed.  A combination of this boot camp and a cold that won't go away, and the rapid turmoil happening around me as Housemate and 517 plan to move out in a couple of weeks and get married in a few months.  I'm talking to new potential roommates and trying to figure out basic household administrivia -- do I need to buy a vacuum cleaner?  Which cookware is mine, and which is about to disappear from the kitchen?  Ack. 

Meanwhile I've been getting to know a new fellow, which is a slow process that my impatient mind wants to rush and categorize and make lots of rules and judgments about.  And Tuesday night I went to the sports bar to watch the UNC/Virginia Tech game and found myself the object of the attentions of a handsome pilot, in town on a brief layover, who made me laugh and touched the small of my back.  Felt nice.  And an old flame is coming through town and suggests dinner, and a guy I met at a Christmas party wants to see me next week, and was it only three weeks ago that I concluded I was undateable?  Perhaps that was premature. 

Anyway, all this hasn't left a lot of time or attention for my routine, which includes blogging.  The title of this post is "I Miss You" and that's true -- I miss comments, a sense of connection with you folks, mysterious strangers to me but somehow friendly forces in my life.  But I realize as I'm writing this that I miss me.  I miss my own sense of groundedness in my own life.  I miss time to reflect, which is what this time, sitting here composing a post and uncovering what it is I really feel, means for me. 

With this new guy I'm getting to know, I'm trying NOT to reflect too much.  I'm trying to just be in the moment, but I'm amazed at how much my brain wants to hijack that unfolding process, to make lists of pros and cons, to compare and contrast.  It's too soon to conclude or analyze anything.   I think that was one of the things I realized in this post.  My habit of pinpointing and articulating feelings, as if explaining something makes it all understandable and safe, might not be all that appropriate or useful.  It's like what the football coach said the other day.  To make the most out of practice: show up, shut up, and get up.  Sometimes I need to shut up and just do things.  I'm in the habit of articulating and analyzing most everything that I experience.  Time and motion and exhaustion and self-restraint are keeping me from doing that right now.  I think it's good for me.  But I miss it.  And I miss sharing it with you. 

Are you still there?  Anything to say to me?  I'd love to hear from you, in the comments.  Maybe because everything's changing, I'd like to know you'll be there with me. 

Question

Why do I find Sex And The City so compelling?  I have lately discovered it and am totally, embarrassingly hooked. 

Assume that I don't admire the characters or relate to their lives, and am not a fashionista.   What is it?

Question for Text Messagers

My ancient Nokia cellphone has some options under "Messages".  One of them is "Inbox" which shows the last 25 or so messages I've received.  One of them is "Outbox" which shows a mysterious assortment of messages I've sent, that seems to have no relation to chronology, recipient, or anything.  What determines what is in here?  Is there a way to make it display the last 25 or so outgoing messages?