2003-07-04|3:20 p.m.
MM is here visiting me. So, the past few days have been really nice.
We saw Legally Blonde II on its first showing at the local theater. It was full of fun and wit and embraced the best kind of inspiration-- the one that welcomes everyone to join in. Arianna Huffingon even wrote an essay a couple weeks ago about the new Legally Blonde. She said that it was the perfect jumpstart for disillusioned Americans and that it could inspire her own daughters in a way that she could never in her books, essays, and late night talk show appearances. It is really refreshing when something can feel so good and not be overloaded in arrogance.
And seeing the movie at the earliest matinee was cute too. The theater was scattered with preteen girls and their moms. A preview made a joke about a grandma who smoked pot and was asking for some snacks. One of the moms laughed out loud.
�What are the munchies?� the daughter asked.
�Uh,� the mom was nervously giggling, �it means that she�s just really hungry.�
Another mom several aisles away looked up to her and gave her a knowing smile and the two moms laughed. MM and I cracked up.
We then went to the beach with A and R. MM was characteristically MM and stayed far from the water the whole time. The rest of us headed to the water, which was also characteristically cold thanks to Pacific currents, and we slowly and somewhat masochistically submerged ourselves completely into the numbing sea water. After about five minutes or so though you couldn�t tell you were cold and we swam about while the waves rocked our bodies towards and away from the shore. It was particularly nice and made me wonder why I did it so infrequently when I lived so close to it. We all vowed, with exception to MM, still dry and on the shore, to return more times throughout the summer.
After all the excitement of swimming, we felt a bit hungry and A and I got some falafels and humus at this really awesome little Lebanese food shack and MM and R got some NY style pizza from the best pizza place in SD.
But after we stuffed ourselves silly with food, A suggested that we head over to Balboa Park to play on the jungle gyms. So, we did. And that was really fun too. We ran around playing tag and climbing and swinging. MM ended up getting sick when I spun him on the one person merry-go-round. I felt bad about that.
The next day after A got off of work we played the board game Cranium, which after three full rounds the dynamic team of MM and R edged out in front and became the unexpected champions. It is a really fun game, minus my inability to know how to hum really easy songs and the resulting hurt feelings at losing a chance to roll the die and advance. Oh well, though. After I stopped being a baby about it, it was fun to laugh and have a good time.
So, the past few days with MM here have been really nice. One should not have her best friend in the whole world far from her side for too long.
I finally made out my birthday invitations. This is what they say on the front of the card:
�Melissa�s International Landmine Epidemic Birthday Explosion
According to the United Nations organization Adopt-A-Minefield:
�An estimated 60 to 70 million landmines remain in the ground in at least 90 countries throughout the world. These weapons maim or kill approximately 26,000 civilians every year, up to one third of them are children. Entire communities suffer from the immediate and long-term effects associated with landmines.�
We can help. Instead of gifts, I am asking that, if you would like, you may offer a donation to Adopt-A-Minefield which clears minefields, raises awareness and funds to clear landmines, and rehabilitates landmine survivors.
Less than two dollars will clear more than a square meter of a field from landmines, showing that even the smallest amount can have a profoundly positive impact.
A card is enclosed with instructions if you wish to participate.�
The title of the party may be a little insensitive, but we only mean it in fun.
I think the party itself will be full of enjoyment. S and I are going to cook up vegetarian dishes from the most afflicted countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Croatia, and Bosnia. My old friends and I will sit and play games and laugh. It will be a really good time. It�s good when we can all get together. It happens so infrequently.
In other good news (I�ve been extremely lucky these days), I will be able to go to school next year. I was having some troubles with FAFSA paying for my college tuition (they usually pay for most of it and UCSD pays the remainder and gives me some living expense money). I wasn�t really approved for funding from this year and I think it was some error on someone�s part because my parents hadn�t made any more money this year than they�d made in the past. But I couldn�t get it resolved and my parents were stubbornly lazy about getting their taxes done which put a hold on the whole process which is somewhat first-come-first-serve. But then last night I looked at funding online and found that UCSD had footed the whole bill for me. I was more than happy. It is an amazing feeling that others are investing in my brain.
The Ameri-Corps thing is pulling through as well. In November, after my orientation, I should be making money helping people. I am anxious and grateful.
My grandparents (my dad�s parents) are also in California visiting and I drove my brother up to where they are staying so that he can ride back with them to see my dad in AR for the summer. It was really nice seeing my grandparents. My grandpa tells really wonderful stories about his past.
My grandpa used to be a tool maker. Not tools like hammers and screw drivers, but the specialty cutting and drilling types that are made for special projects. He once made tools that cut the windows on one of the space shuttles.
He was telling a story about working for one of the companies that he made tools for. It was bought out by another group of men who decided that they would bring all the employees together to discuss the transition. There were rumors of a union-led strike because the workers had long asked for a raise and had been denied. The new owners hoped that the meeting would convince the workers that now was not the time for a strike. They explained that profits were slightly over what they could earn in more direct banking investments and that it was impossible to honor the unions wishes at the time. They then yielded the floor to hundreds of men sitting in the hall for questions. The room was silent.
So, my grandpa stood up.
�I once worked for a company that prided itself in quality and fairness. It would have never considered measuring big profits to bigger profits at a time when its employees or its customers deserved better. That company remains second in its field and continues to make profits in the black and its employees will continue to produce quality products as it did before as long as that company honors those employees and their families,� he challenged.
The workers filled the room with applause and the new owners thanked him for his input and adjourned the meeting.
The next day the workers went on strike and less than a week later the workers got their pay raise.
My grandpa is a really awesome old man. He still works hard every day around their farm. He still carries the old cowboy philosophy about him. He never moves too quickly and his wisdom is always straightforward and demanding (which can be a bit hard to take at times and makes me feel for my dad growing up). He is also a very compassionate man. He recently upset my family when a destructive opossum that was destroying things around the farm was caught and he didn�t have the heart to let anyone kill it and he let it free.
My grandma is really cute too. She has been complaining about her ailments for as long as I�ve known her. And despite it all she is still around treating everyone like she�s his or her grandma, making sure that everyone is fed and happy. She is calm and patient while also worrisome in the most selfless way, making her the best caretaker of a man as easily angered and independent as my grandpa.
They also bought me the nicest and most expensive set of tires for my truck. They are always too good to me.