Reading at the zoo

I bought the plane tickets today. I walked into the travel agency and Charlotte didn't remember me. It was a little disappointing. But I walked right up to her and said, "Hi, I'm Maggie, I'm the girl who reserved the tickets to Beijing," and suddenly she was very happy to see me. "Ah! You have come back to see me! Charlotte! I will fix you up with a pair of splendid electronic tickets which will fix me up with a nice and tidy commission! Welcome welcome welcome!"

The best part of my day? The moment hours later when I realized that no nervous breakdown had occurred during the signing of the credit card receipt. Hallelujah! I signed over our entire savings, plus our first five children, without breaking out in hives- not to mention the fact that the tickets are nonrefundable and we have to actually use them. This is no small victory in my quest for increasing mental stability.

As for the visas, of course they are not in yet. "Someone" in San Francisco got "sick" and was "unable" to "promptly" return the visas. Charlotte assured me she had nothing whatsoever to do with that.

The rest of the day was not entirely uneventful. I went to the Suburbs this morning to visit an old friend and the fabulous red-headed child who calls me Mahjee. I picked up another friend for lunch and bridesmaid dresses were discussed At Length. And Phillip and I went up to the zoo (concerts at the zoo! awesome!) to hang out with Bela Fleck and his most fantastic Flecktones, as well as most of hippie Seattle and their half-naked hippie children. Okay, so I nearly finished a book before the encore, but it was a warm happy evening and banjo jazz is some good thinking music. (Yes, "banjo jazz." Shut up. Quit reading this and go back to your Blink 182 CDs.)

Sometimes when I'm riding in the backseat of a car or on the bus and I'm thinking at 60 mph, I mentally add Big Country to the background and then I'm in my own movie.