Monday, November 27, 2006
I am back from a very long and tiring weekend. I feel like I should spend the day sleeping. That would simply make me more tired, however.
I called and spoke to Vally, the publisher, for a few minutes this morning. She had not answered last week’s e-mail, so I called her at 7:30 a.m. when I was driving to work. She said she hasn’t seen a proof yet, so the printer is behind. At this rate we may not get the copies until late December. That news doesn’t improve my mood.
I saw a great quote this morning:
“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”
Richard Bach
I am not a great admirer of Bach, who wrote some goopy, silly things in the 1970’s [“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” being his magnum opus], but he is right. I need to adopt that quote as my mantra. Sometimes I feel like giving up. At the age of 44, it’s a little late to be changing course in the middle of my life, but I hope I can do it. I missed my writing a lot while I was away last weekend.
We drove over to Myrtle Beach on Thursday. It’s about a 6 hour drive, but it’s broken up into hops – 2 hours to Augusta, an hour to Columbia, an hour to Florence, 2 hours to the beach.
We stopped in Columbia and had lunch with my brother. He had previously said he would come over to the beach, but then informed me last Wednesday that he had to work all weekend. So our time with him was about an hour’s visit at an IHOP – the only place we found open. It was a nice visit, but too short. I had suggested we could just eat lunch at his house, but he was horrified by the idea, and refused to do such a thing. I think he has turned it into quite a bachelor place, and not in a good way. Perhaps it’s best we don’t see it.
Alesia took a huge variety of things to see and listen to, in her red backpack. She spent most of the time, however, looking out the window, or sleeping. I think she read for a short time. Yesterday in the car she forced Mother and I to play “Name That Tune.” She hummed tunes from her piano book. Since she is still incapable to singing anywhere close to the right key, trying to guess the song was a real challenge. Fortunately we recognized the rythyms of several songs. The last selection was a stumper – really puzzled me and Mother. Finally, Alesia laughed and admitted it was a Russian folk song.
Our condo at the beach was smaller than the one where we stayed last year, and not as nice. It was a LOT cheaper, however. The view was very nice, I will admit, and we faced the ocean. The first night I could not sleep on the tiny single bed. Between the howling wind, lumpy mattress and pillow, and being cold, it was a miserable night. I was finally able to drop off to sleep, and awakened shortly thereafter by my daughter poking me and saying “Mom! Turn over on your stomach!” – the polite way of saying “You’re snoring!” On Friday and Saturday nights I slept on the pullout couch – that was far superior. I did have to hurl myself off of it because my short legs were cruelly cut by metal pieces on the bed’s side when I tried to stand up normally, but at least the concave center of the mattress was comparatively cozy.
Alesia was very puzzled when I said I was going to pull a bed out of the couch. She really didn’t believe there was a bed in there. Her eyes grew enormous as I lifted the mattress out and it flopped open. She jumped delightedly in the middle of the bed, then grimaced in pain when she tried to get off the bed.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan’s steakhouse – my uncle’s choice. I had turkey and dressing that was pretty tasty. Friday night we were all tired, so we made sandwiches in the condo. We took a cooler of food. Saturday night was soup night. My aunt and uncle and two of my cousins came over and we ate soup and bisquits, and my aunt’s wonderful pecan pie, and just talked and visited. Saturday lunch had been a gargantuan seafood buffet at a place my uncle calls a “tourist trap” but they weren’t with us, so we submitted to the trap. They had an amazing variety of food.
It seems like we spent the entire weekend in a buffet line. All our meals except for Saturday morning breakfast [at Cracker Barrel] were buffets. I enjoy buffets, but invariably I want to nap afterwards. We ate lunch Friday at K&W cafeteria. I don’t like cafeterias – I have to eat at one every day at work. I must admit, though, that K&W was very good. It was only marred by the fact that Alesia and Lana found us a large table at the smoking section, and there was a large woman with two-toned hair sitting and smoking right next to us.
Alesia and I played miniature golf on Saturday, which was fun and nostalgic for me. The Jungle Golf course, with its enormous plaster giraffes, elephants, etc., and real waterfall and blue lagoon, is an architectural wonder not to be missed. I actually made two holes in one. I beat Alesia by ten points. She had a great time until the scores were added up, and then sulked. I explained that when I was her age and naturally energetic I was a terrible mini golf player, because I didn’t have much patience. She kept whacking the ball too hard. It’s a game of short putts, not line drives down the fairway. She sulked anyway, until we got some food in her at the gargantuan seafood buffet.
Myrtle Beach has changed so much since the days when I went there as a kid. Then it was a sleepy little beach town that was nearly deserted in winter. Now they have so many shows and attractions it’s like Branson Missouri. There are huge hotels all up and down the beach. When we walked down to the beach, it was weird – like being downtown, except the ocean was on one side. There were scores of people, despite the fact it was too cold to swim. It’s like Gatlinburg, if it were by the ocean. That’s really not a good thing. Gatlinburg was once a charming, sleepy little mountain town where I grew up going to on the weekends [it was an hour from Knoxville] but the last time I went there it was a huge tourist trap. Dolly Parton is a central figure in the Vegas-ization of both towns. Her “Dixie Stampede” is a huge attraction in Myrtle Beach. Her “Dollywood” is a huge source of traffic and pollution. I refuse to visit either place.
Alesia and I both had PMS, so there was some tension in the air all weekend. I got her down to the indoor pool a couple of times so she could swim and relax, and that helped her mood. I didn’t have but a total of maybe 15 minutes to indulge in my favorite beach thing – sitting on the balcony, reading a book. I shouldn’t complain. My life is much more full and interesting now that I have a daughter.
