rebecca_in_blue | A recap of Rebecca's weekend...

For unknown reasons, I got a bad stomachache right as I was going to bed on Friday night. I never threw up or had diarrhea, just a lot of sour-tasting burps. Ugh! Pepto-Bismal didn't help, and a hot bath only did a little. I didn't get to bed that night until after 3 am! And I had to wake up at eight the next morning to go to work. After working a long shift (and we were busy, of course - next week will only be worse) I came home, change, rested for a little bit, and left again to take "Briana," the girl I was matched with through Big Brothers Big Sisters, to the movies.

We watched Rango for free in the town square. I really liked the atmosphere -- a big screen under a big, starry summer sky, little kids playing on the grass, Girl Scouts selling concessions (I got a Nerds Rope, which is my crack, and a pickle; Briana got two bags of spicy Cheetos) -- but wow, was the movie boring. It was long, slow, and not funny at all; I really wonder who chose it and why. The weirdest thing of all was that it a close parody of Chinatown, only animated and told with desert creatures, and with all the sex and murder taken out. It was so weird. Some scenes were taken directly from Chinatown, and the villain was an exact caricature of John Huston's Noah Cross. I could appreciate it because I've seen and love Chinatown, but Rango is a kids movie (and a bad one, at that) where references to such an old, adult film really make no sense.

Briana seemed pretty bored during the movie. I don't blame her, but it made things feel awkward and painful, like I'm failing her. But, to my surprise, we actually talked most of the way home. Hallelujah! During previous things we've done, she's been so quiet, and trying to make conversation with her was like pulling teeth! But I know I was ~~the same~~ worse at that age, and I'm still hoping things will get better. Right now, I'll admit, thinking up stuff to do with her and finding time to do it still feels like a chore. I have this nagging feeling that I may suck at being a big sister.

Anyway, I didn't get home from the movie until after ten! I still can't quite believe that I pulled off such a long day on so little sleep. Today I'm off and slept in until two -- hallelujah! Now I'm just lazing around in my PJs, watching old NCIS episodes with Tovah. :)

Sara is reading some book (I forget the title) right now that's set in Germany during World War II. She was telling me about it last night, and this was our conversation:
Sara: "She keeps talking about something called the Anschluss, and I don't know what that is, but I remember they talked about it in The Sound of Music, and --"
Me: "Perhaps those who would remind you that the Anschluss is coming..."
Me and Sara, in perfect unison: "And it is coming, Captain!"
Hahaha.

On Sara's page-a-day calendar of art at the Met, I'm looking at Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea, an 1878 lithotint scraping by James McNeill Whistler. I really like the somber tone of it.

43 DAYS LEFT UNTIL SEASON 10 OF NCIS!