2001-07-30 - 9:46 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: The "Coke is It" jingle.

Earlier this evening, I was in the oddest mood. Poindexter had just gotten home from work, and I was happy to see him, and for some reason I got into a really giddy gleeful state. I was laughing at everything and grinning like a loon at Poindexter. This, of course, makes him laugh and say stuff to make me laugh, so I laugh more.

He made me a sandwich for dinner. Usually if I'm having one, I make my own, but this time I asked him to make it for me. It tastes better when he makes it. So I was excited about that, too.

Yes, folks, I got REALLY EXCITED because my husband made me a sandwich. It's the little things, you know.

The mood wore off after dinner, when I got the after-meal sleepies. But it was fun while it lasted.

We had a lovely weekend with my parents. Lots of good eating, and just relaxing hanging out and conversing. On Friday night we had a three-hour dinner -- my mother's favorite kind -- on the deck at Tempo. My mother was delighted to find that they were serving frog's legs as an appetizer, which she loves but rarely finds when she's eating out. Man, she savored those things.

She asked if they'd have them the next night, and they didn't know, but they said they'd hold a plate for her and we could come get it the next night. Wow! So on Saturday Poindexter picked up a bunch of food from the Lebanese Taverna while I was at Mass with the folks, and then we got the frog's legs, and we all had a picnic on the grass next to my garden. It was lovely, except for Poindexter complaining loudly about eating outdoors and the lack of a table and mosquitoes, but that's to be expected from him. Anybody who's that perfect in every other way has to do something to be annoying.

Mom loved the tabbouleh. Said if we didn't keep it away from her she'd eat all of it. She wanted to try to make some when she got home.

We had fun at the range, too. My dad was saying "Oh, I haven't shot in years, I probably can't hit the side of a barn," and then he went and riddled the little squirrel-shaped target with dead-on shots in the head and chest. He was very proud and hung it on a spare nail on the wall when we got home.

Last time we went for Plinkers Day, they hadn't bothered to set anything up because it's a lot of work, and if nobody requests it, why bother. We walked in the door, and they groaned and said, "Oh, man, I told you they were gonna show up. If it weren't for you two there wouldn't be any Plinkers Day".

This kind of joshing is why we like this range so much. Feels real family-like.

So this time, Poindexter called before we left. Apparently Billy had been out on vacation for two weeks and Johnny had been there by himself, so he was hoping he wasn't gonna have to set up the plinking stuff.

We felt sorry for him, so I brought a few snack bags and the rest of my filbert ring for him. He saw those and said, "Bribery helps," so I hugged him and said "Thank you for setting up the stuff for me." He liked that a lot.

Johnny says that I've got him wrapped around my little finger. He told Poindexter, "Your wife has a way of manipulatin' me." What that means, according to Johnny himself, is that if I ask him to set up more bottles for me to shoot at, he can't say no. Now whose fault is that, huh? All I did was ask. :) Next time I shall offer to help clean up my mess, although I get the impression they probably don't want customers back there.

Poindexter went to a sort of job fair thingie for the company he was interested in. So far things look good. The guy he talked to found Poindexter's background useful, and the company sounds good so far to Poindexter -- lots of work. I think it was the equivalent of a preliminary phone interview.

I will not get excited. I will not wait for the phone to ring and check his job-search e-mail account constantly. I will not.

Of course my mother and I couldn't stop talking about how nice it would be when we are in Philly. Dinner on Sunday, impromptu trips to buy flowers, helping each other with our gardens. No more 6+ hour roundtrips on the unbelievably boring I-95. Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations at my house. Dinners out at good restaurants in Philly. Dropping in just for the hell of it on an idle weekend afternoon. A home base from which to watch July 4th celebrations and parades. It'll be great.

Actually, one of my concerns is that I might be wrong about the living-in-the-city thing. What if I don't actually like it? Downtown San Jose had all the city characteristics I wanted -- walkability, high density, public transit -- but the neighborhoods actually had yards (small ones, but real yards). I wonder if the row homes and high rises will feel different, more cramped. I did think that Manhattan was a little too much for me, but Philly seems to have more similarities to the District than Manhattan. Walking around on Dupont Circle makes me giddy. I guess I'll find out.

I also wonder if I'll get tired of worrying about and dealing with crime. It's probably inevitable that one of our cars will get broken into at some point. I most likely won't be able to walk around the neighborhood after dark by myself. I wonder if this will get wearying and upsetting after a while.

One thing I would like to do is take that self-defense course that I had to miss last spring. In addition to showing you things you can do if attacked -- including letting to try them out on a well-padded instructor -- they tell you what precautions to take to PREVENT crime. Stuff like what to watch for on the street as well as how to safeguard your home. I keep hearing that a large proportion of crimes could be prevented if the person is aware and watching and knows what to look for. It makes sense.

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