Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Dispatch from the Bedroom


I was such a crab yesterday morning. I understand why people came up with the idea of demonic possession -- because sometimes, no matter how hard you try to be nice and you know you should be pleasant, you just want to smack people. All people. That's how I felt.

Maybe working from the dining room isn't such a good idea after all?

(This morning I'm in the bedroom, because Olga couldn't even bring herself to get out of bed, so who knows what effect that will have on my day...)

Seriously, I'm not sure why I was so cranky. I was more or less OK until I got to work, and then suddenly the prospect of finding a certain magazine article for a teacher who maybe might have seen it at the doctor's office, and sending a tenth reminder to that girl who still hasn't returned her computer charger after more than a month, and quieting the ninth-grade "geek table" which has grown into a geek convention in the library's back corner every afternoon -- well, it all just seemed too much. Fortunately I don't think I displayed my crankiness, except that I sent some inconsequentially tart e-mails to a couple of people.

Oh well. Onward and upward. Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. Right?

Dave and I watched Woody Allen's movie "Manhattan" on Sunday. I've called it one of my favorites for years, and visually it is indeed spectacular -- every shot celebrates the city, perfectly framing the buildings and streets, and the black-and-white film gives it such beauty. Before I lived in New York, because of that movie, I imagined everyone there lived in book-lined apartments with Georgia O'Keeffe prints and spider plants. I still love the atmosphere, but this time around I was struck by how terrible all the characters are to each other -- cheating, lying, acting in their own self-interest.

It's a good thing we didn't watch "Interiors." I might have been inspired to walk into the ocean like Geraldine Page.

Last night, as a crankiness antidote, Dave and I watched back-to-back episodes of "Star Trek," "That Girl" and "The Brady Bunch." Let's hear it for happy, campy, brainless TV comfort food!

(Photo: On my walk to work yesterday morning I noticed that this building is being demolished. I've always wondered about that banner advertising "London Scenes and Framing.")

9 comments:

37paddington said...

The geek table. How wonderful.

Don't worry. We all have such days. I am often struck by my inability to behave as reason tells me I should. You may just need a few days of puttering, recharging, going inward. Then the demands of other humans will seem less jangling.

Elizabeth said...

Reading about your crankiness, and then what made you feel a bit better, made me love you even more than I already do! Which episode of "Brady Bunch?"

Steve Reed said...

Angella: I actually really like the kids at the "geek table." That's where I would have been when I was in school. They just get a little too rowdy sometimes. :)

Elizabeth: The one where Marcia tries to get Davy Jones to play at her prom!

e said...

You're entitled to be grumpy now and again---after all, you work with hormonal kids which isn't easy...I like that you have TV comfort food.

Ms. Moon said...

Sometimes humanity as a whole is just too difficult to deal with. Taken individually where you HAVE to deal with them is impossible.
Unfortunately, we mostly are still required to do just that. You deserve a medal for restraint.
"That Girl"? Oh my god. I so remember that show. Her boyfriend, Donald. Have you seen pictures of her lately? She has definitely gone over the edge with "work."

Sharon said...

I haven't seen an episode of "That Girl" in ages! I used to love that show!

37paddington said...

Steve, I responded to your email the day you sent it. Let me know if it never came through.

As to the geek table getting rowdy, I know you have to maintain decorum in the library but i just love the idea that they feel so connected and a part of things with one another that they can't contain themselves.

xo

Linda Sue said...

numbing television choices, except for Marlow's irritating voice which could wake the dead. Crankiness in females is always blamed on hormones or the lack of...whatever, females get a pass , sometimes declaring bitchiness as a right. Stabbing wool bails me out. AND ear plugs! perhaps that is something to consider, especially in the library where you might need to concentrate. The guy in the shaft of light in previous post is SO AWESOME!!! AND if you guys ever move to Palm Springs, scoot over, I will be in your face and I will not leave!

ellen abbott said...

some days we are just cranky. I figure it's because all my biorhythms are down at the same time. but then, that's what I blame all my bad behavior on. and I've been know to send a terse email or two, brief and to the point. turns out, when you eliminate the opening niceties that people engage in before getting to the point of the communication, they think you are being a jerk.