Wednesday, August 19, 2009

MY AVIS

Excerpt from an email to Rabid dated 8.9.09 . . .
Greetings from a Chinese food-scented hotel room filled with the sounds of the Food Network, situated in nastily humid New Jersey. What a delight.

I, of course, don't know about you, but my day has been a total waste of life. I got up late, ate some cereal, was bummed that it was vanilla instead of plain soymilk, ate some hummus, turned on the Food Network, surfed the Internet, talked with [The Husband], ate some more hummus, crunched some radishes, spent some quality time on the treadmill, felt guilty that I ran on a Sunday, was annoyed that the soundtrack on my Shuffle is a bunch of lame slow stuff, got ready for the day, changed my shirt four times, audibly bitched over my fat ass when I slithered into my jeans, surfed eBay for some new jeans, tidied up my rooms, threw out all the chocolate wrappers in my purse from the clandestine snacking I'd done in class last week, packed up my laptop, went downstairs for my study group, put together Advanced Interviewing questions for a [drug] workshop tomorrow, took a counterpart with me to go looking for a Chinese food place, got lost while looking, had a hard time figuring out the windshield wipers on the rental car, found the Chinese, ate a bunch of their jelly beans while waiting for the food, took the food back to my room, discovered that it was gross Chinese food, snuck out by the elevator to toss it in the garbage can there so that my room wouldn't stink, came back to more Food Network, watched the Iron Chef, went back down to the treadmill to repent for the gross Chinese I shouldn't have eaten, hit my noggin on the corner of the wall-hung TV while shaking my head at how fat my gut is, again felt guilty for working out on a Sunday, justified it because I'm out of town and couldn't go to church, came back to my room, practiced handstands against the wall, changed into pajamas, and opened up my computer to write you back. No kidding. That was my waste of a day. Hopefully writing you back will be a bit redemptive.
After seeing the Julie & Julia flick with The Husband for his birthday (no kidding, his choice--must have something to do with the red and white checkered apron he was wearing in the photo I posted yesterday), as we were driving home, engaged in our post-picture-show commentary, I stated, That Avis was adorable.

Who was Avis? he asked. (How could he not remember? The movie ended 8 minutes ago.)

The pen pal. She was adorable.

Yeah . . . (Poor fellow doesn't care but doesn't want to shut me down altogether.)

She is like Rabid. I was excited to meet her like Julia was to meet Avis. Only we didn't write for 8 years. Rabid is my Avis.

May you all find an Avis. May each and every one of you discover a friend with whom you feel comfortable saying just about anything. Or anything, rather, as I've yet to find something I wouldn't feel comfortable writing or uttering to my Avis.

6 comments:

Misti said...

I loved the book and the movie. I was disappointed in the movie in several ways, mostly because it didn't follow the book and mostly because I wanted to see more Julia instead of Julie. The Avis part was great and what a sweet, sweet movie.

I don't really have an Avis penpal/'net friend, but plenty of 'net friends I've never met.

rabidrunner said...

I'll be around for more than 8 years!

whitneyingram said...

Avis was quite adorable. Especially that little plaid number she was wearing.

So if Rabid is your Avis, wouldn't that make her Ravis?

Jessica said...

you and rabid are so cute. and not in a condescending sort of way in which you describe small children, but in a really cool, grown-up sort of way.

Haley said...

Forgot to mention that your niece was born. Would have made your day better.

[Morgan] said...

i need a ravis.