Rabbit Style News

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from the store this evening to buy grapefruits and butter… six pounds of butter — it was on sale and I’m going to be baking buttery wedding cakes from my pretty wedding cake book.  On the way in to the store I passed a car with its headlights on.  I slowed down, then kept walking, having decided that it was probably one of those cars whose headlights stay on for a minute after the car is shut off and will turn themselves off automatically.  On my way back to my car, carrying large bags of grapefruit and butter, I noticed the car’s lights were still on.  I sauntered past, nonchalantly peeking in the windows to see if somebody was in the car, waiting for a shopper perhaps.  I didn’t see anybody, and yet I still hesitated, not wanting to set off a car alarm or be accosted by an angry, suspicious car owner.  The driver’s side door didn’t look completely latched, so I braved it and tested the door — it was unlocked!  I filled with pride at my goodness as I looked for the switch to turn off the headlights.

I didn’t find the switch, and after a moment fumbling in the dark (the overhead light didn’t turn on) I gave up and left the car to be drained of its battery because the owner left the lights on.  I tried to be helpful, doing one of those random acts of kindness or whatever that you hear about sometimes, and I failed.  I left disappointed in myself as well as vaguely paranoid about having unwittingly participated in some kind of psychology student experiment about altruism or something.

I ate a grapefruit at home as quickly as possible to cheer myself up.  Yum.

The diamond industry’s marketing campaign has totally gotten to  me.  When I was younger I thought diamonds were silly and not especially pretty and I didn’t like their history and the unnecessary allocation of resources on such a trifle.  Now, for reasons I don’t quite understand myself, I think they’re rather pretty and part of me wants one.  I mean, they’re shiny and sparkly and pretty and symbolic.  Who cares if the “tradition” was made up by a De Beers executive in the last century, I want to be part of it!  I’ve started staring longingly at women’s engagement rings when I see them at work, on my friends’ ring fingers, in this photograph of my future sister-in-law’s hand… 

I’m starting to think about “right-hand rings”, too, those new diamond rings marketed to women to buy for themselves.  Why wait for a man to buy the diamond of my dreams for me?  I’m successful, secure, and beautiful.  I’m worth it.  One website’s copy reads: “Women around the globe are realizing they’re worth it!  Splurge a little, live a little, sparkle a lot!  Women work and can buy what they want.  They can reward themselves.  Right hand rings not only make a fashion statement, they celebrate independence and freedom.   And men can buy them too, to show a woman he does appreciate her uniqueness!”

The only thing keeping me back from a ring — engagement or right-hand — is vanity: I have huge knuckles and rings looking foolish on me.  When they’re big enough to fit over my knuckle, they knock around on the finger.  If they’re small enough to rest nicely where they’re supposed to, it doesn’t make it past the knuckle.  Oh, plus that whole “engagement” aspect of an engagement ring is kind of a downer.

I fell asleep on the couch last night around 6:30.  I vaguely remembering lying down after reading a magazine.  Suddenly it was eight o’clock and Steve was carrying me to bed.  He tucked me in and closed the bedroom door.  So cute.  I fell back asleep before long and stayed that way for the next ten hours.

Yesterday the temperature in the Valley was 99 degrees.  The previous record was 95, and average temperature for that day is 76.  Right now, my computer says it’s 101 degrees.  That’s too hot.  It had better cool down again to normal temps before climbing back into the summer heat, I will be forced to complain about it some more.

 I just spent an hour lying out by the pool reading a magazine, now and then getting up to wade knee-deep in the pool, which is still painfully cold.  I smell terrible now, as as I always do after sunning myself.  Come hug me!

The group of women in this season’s “America’s Next Top Model” just don’t seem very good to me.  Was it like this the first few weeks of the previous seasons that I watched?  I could have justified sending half the girls home.  The judges’ choice was a good one, I agree, and I really liked Cassandra.  She was very positive and kind and easygoing.  When she was packing her things to leave she calmly said that she was disappointed to be heading home, and also she was thankful for the opportunity and appreciative of what she learned.  She was very likeable.