"You've Got Sense!"

David Sedaris was in town yesterday promoting a new book, and since I didn't have to work, I was able to go to Joseph-Beth Books at Legacy Village to see him on his book tour. It was supposed to start at 7:00, but I heard he usually works the crowd for about an hour beforehand so I showed up at 6, carrying my copy of his book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim that I bought in Milwaukee last year while visiting Darcy.

The fifty or so chairs were long-since filled (later I heard they were gone by 5) and about 100 or so people were milling around, many holding their copies of Sedaris books for signing. Booksellers were writing our names on post-its to stick on our title pages to make it easier for him to personalize them. The official signing wouldn't start until after his talk was over. I walked around for a bit to save my foot from standing >2 solid hours. At 6:20 he showed up, a slight little man in a white shirt with khakis and a tie with tiny pink flowers. He stuck aroung the seated people at first, signing some of their books, sometimes handling money. This struck me as unfair--not only did those people get to sit down the whole time, they got first class access, while we in coach could only stand and watch. That is, if no one taller than 5'6" was standing in front of us blocking our view.

I had brought my camera, hoping to maybe get a pic with him, or at least of him. The MC announced there would be no photography, not even cell phone cameras, because David would rather have a root canal than be photographed. That is so in character for him, I should have known better.

He started working the standing crowd, and finally came to a stop about 5 feet from me, saying, "I will sign anybody's book right now for 5 bucks." I didn't have to think twice--out came the wallet. When it came my turn, he read my post-it, asking, "Is it KaRIN?" I didn't correct him, giving him mental points for at least knowing it was different from "Care-en." While he's drawing a face in my book, he says, "That's one thing I like about you, KaRIN. You've got sense!" I heartily agreed. I think it was the best $5.oo I've spent in a long time.

I got to be Paul's roadie

I can tell my ancestors came from the Frozen North because it's hotter than two rats humping in a wool sock and it makes me feel lethargic and averse to the outdoors. Since June 5, we've had only one day under 90, none under 65 at night. I'm sick of the heat already and it's barely the middle of June! It's that time of year when all the schools I work for let out for the summer, so I am underemployed and spending a lot of time at home enjoying our central air conditioning. I keep it at around 80 during the day, though, as we'd both rather feel a little hot than open a $300 electric bill next month. One good thing about the heat, though--my foot hardly aches at all. I can see why the dancers like it--muscles feel more loose and relaxed.

Yesterday was my first day of being totally unemployed, so I was able to give Paul a helping hand. The Lakewood Y, where he does most of his martial arts teaching, just closed last Thursday for demolition and rebuilding (supposed to be done in early 2007). They've moved all the workout machines to a new space about a mile down the road, where there is also a storefront studio for classes. They were supposed to move to the Beck Center, but it fell through and they had to scramble for an alternate space in a short time.

Paul cancelled his Sat. classes and he and some of his students went out there to check the new place out, see if they could help, etc. The new place was still a mess, no subdividing walls had been built yet, and nowhere near ready for them to move Paul's mats yet. They went back to the old site and their old studio was still untouched, as no one from the Y had remembered to collect the mats. Paul was getting worried as he was supposed to be teaching 48 hours later!

He got in touch with the program director, who agreed to meet him at the old site at 5 pm Monday (yesterday), so Paul and whoever else could come could move the stuff themselves, since the new place should be ready by then. I was able to come and help, since I was free at that time for once. 4 of his students came too, one of whom happened to have a truck as big as a small moving van, so we were able to transport it all, sweep the petrified dust bunnies off (that was my job), and haul them into the basement of the new place in about an hour and a half.

Lucky for us, this was the one day it was only 80-85 degrees. The floor mats are 1 x 2 meters and probably 25-30 lbs apiece, sort of awkward but not hard for 2 people to carry one at a time. Paul was concerned that I not hurt my fingers, but I was fine. I don't even feel it today, so I know I didn't overdo it, although I am the least in shape of any of the helpers! It was sort of fun in a sweaty, filthy kind of way, and it felt good to be there for Paul.

It looks like his teaching schedule will be a lot lighter for a while. The one studio has to accomodate a spinning class, aerobics, etc., so he only gets the studio on Mon. and Wed. nights. It's a pain for his group that because of the spinning bikes, they can't just leave their mats on the floor but will have to put them down and take them up for every single class. The space is really small and has a pole right in the middle. He will have to combine levels and some of his students aren't very happy about it. He knows that if he finds a different space, the Y will just drop his program altogether and at this point, he would lose money with overhead, few students, no staff, etc. and he's not ready to run this as a small business.

The siver lining is that he will have Tues. and Thurs. evenings free so we can have more time together, maybe even eat dinner before 11 pm those nights, and he'll have more time to play his horn. I feel for him, though, because his teaching is very important to him.