2001-11-12 - 8:19 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: Theme to "Blazing Saddles"

Well, we watched "Blazing Saddles" last night. I was a bit taken aback. I know the movie was made in 1974, but that movie could not get made today unless a Wayans made it, and even then, I don't know how much of it they could get away with.

Mainly, I think, what bothers me about the movie is that it reminds me of how casual people used to be about racism. It was perfectly okay and acceptable to everyone to run around calling people racial epithets and generally treating them like shit. Intellectually I know this happened, but it's inconceivable to me. People who have been my coworkers, neighbors, teachers, systematically treated this way by nearly everyone? It makes me physically ill to think of it.

Funny that we would see this movie after I was saying at breakfast that pre-Civil-Rights-Movement days sound like the Dark Ages to me, yet my parents were teenagers then and in their early twenties when the movement started. Sometimes I get frustrated with how badly some things are still going, and other times I'm honestly flabbergasted that so much can change in a single generation.

So, this weekend we had my parents down for their birthdays. It was extremely nice. We made two dinners for them on Saturday -- cajun chicken for Dad and orange chicken for Mom.

I was impatient, so I gave them their cards as soon as they arrived on Friday, around 9:30pm. They liked them. They are also excited about their crab cakes, which will be delivered to their door sometime this week.

We discussed a bit what to do for Christmas. Since we'll be down at Poindexter's parents' place, bringing a bunch of presents isn't terribly feasible. So we discussed having a Pollyanna (Secret Santa) exchange with Poindexter's folks. Yet the idea of not getting presents for my parents and brother was depressing. I think we have decided on one present per person, but even that's going to be hard. I can just see me buying five things and returning them as I find successively better presents. Argh.

On Sunday, with my mom's and Frances's help, I gave a tea party for some of my neighbors. Or as Poindexter called it, "A hen party! Hens! The house will be overrun with hens!"

The night before, I had tea party nightmares and slept very badly. In the dream, no one showed up except Alicia and her brother, but I was so busy preparing food for all the other people I was expecting that I didn't even get to visit with them. Then Frances never showed up, merely leaving a note on my door that said, "Sounds like you're having fun in there." That was awful.

In reality, Frances showed up right on time with all the food she was contributing, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were three no-shows though -- only my hardcore tea enthusiast neighbors showed up, plus a couple my age. Two of the hardcore enthusiasts brought goodies to share. I made Proper English Tea. The room looked very pretty, since Poindexter swept and set up the chairs, and Mom bought flowers and put them into two arrangements.

Technically what we had was a "low" tea, since everyone sat on the couch or on chairs and ate off low tables. "High tea", in Victorian times, just meant you ate at the table and had dinner with your tea.

One of the neighbors brought her three-week-old baby in a sling. That baby was something. Slept through the whole tea. The baby is really tiny -- was under 5 pounds when she was born -- and really cute with lots of black hair. I like babies.

Speaking of babies, my next-door neighbor Marie was one of the no-shows. Her due date was the day before, and she wasn't feeling well, so Ahmed come by an hour before to give her regrets. For all I know, she's had that kid now! Hopefully we'll find out soon.

My Dad and Poindexter had turned up their noses at the idea of a tea, preferring to watch a guy movie in the basement. They changed their tune once they saw all the goodies arrayed for the tea, and I had to chase them out of the kitchen. When we had all those no-shows, though, some of the ladies suggested I invite them up. Turned out that my dad graduated from the same college in the same year as one of the neighbors, which was a fun coincidence. They stayed for a while and chatted a bit and it seemed they had a good time as well.

Tea. It isn't just for girls anymore.

After my parents left, I felt sad. We had a really nice weekend with them, and I was mopey when they were gone. Fortunately I'll see them in about a week, when we head up to NJ early for Thanksgiving. Mom's actual birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, so I can help her out with the preparations and dusting and such.

So I was feeling mopey but wound up from the party, and begged Poindexter to take me out for a walk (it was after dark) to calm me down some. It worked. It was cold though. As much as I (and the weather!) try to deny winter's existence, I guess I'm stuck going through another one anyway.

When we got back, I decided to take a bath. I got the idea that I would try some candles, since people in the movies always seem to combine candles with baths. I never have, because I read in the bathtub. But I decided I could turn the light on if I didn't like it. Turns out it was quite nice -- the candles reflect off the white tile so it's fairly bright even with just four small candles.

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