Nashville Confidential

flowering shrubs and trees

It's not a good time for the allergy-prone in the Mid-South. I refuse to consider myself among the allergy-prone. I never had allergies in my life, and I consider them a moral failing [this is my dad's typical line toward all types of illness -- it's a joke, people]. My co-workers chastise me and say I am living in deep denial. All I know is, my head weighs about 20 pounds, my eyes are rheumy and I am coughing a lot. I can deal with all of that -- it's the sinus headache that gets to me. Anyway, I am not ready to join the ranks of the Claritin poppers. I give it 48 more hours. It's a cold.

The air here is literally filled with blossoms. It's just gorgeous. My boss recently moved into a new corner office and the view is incredible. Today I was in a meeting with him and I could look out over the Vanderbilt campus on one side, and Centennial Park / the Parthenon on the other. The trees are budding and they are a little fuller each day. The dogwood are blooming right before your eyes, it seems. All I could think was, "I need to get out of here and go for a walk."

But there were more e-mails to answer and lists to make and people to touch base with. Then somebody stopped by and we got into a conversation about the Coptic church and the Orthodox church (this is what passes for "talking about religion" where I work). It was fascinating but by the time it was done, it was 6:10 p.m. and nearly night. Just then JCA and DMJ called from upstairs and said, "Want to walk?" So we did, over to the park and around the Parthenon. It made me so happy and grateful for them. And the park was lovely, even past dusk. They've finished much of the lagoon restoration and I think they're trying to do something like Providence's Waterfire, only with a trash barrel and some logs. I'm not kidding. There was just a blaze in the middle of the lagoon. It was bizarre.

We were trying to discern some motive for the shooting sparks when another walker came up and said, "What's the story here?" JCA later chalked this up to the fact that people anywhere, anytime approach me and ask me questions like that. It's true! Ask me about France sometime.

Centennial Park has a lot of fountains. I'll have to put that on the list for my nephews' next visit.

not to put too fine a point on it, but ...

We are still exulting in Adrien Brody's Oscar win. Oh stop it already with your "Enough about the Oscars!" How many NCAA pools you in, anyway? Think of it like this: the smallest underdog team, the team you've followed your whole life, just came out of nowhere and won the championship.

My Oscar thoughts:
How ironic that the woman who won for Best Costume Design was wearing an ugly dress.
Michael Moore is a loudmouth but I still think "Bowling for Columbine" is worth seeing and debating.
I wish "Adaptation" would have won more awards.
I'm thoroughly delighted that "Gangs of New York" won none.
It's hard to say whom I dislike more, Julianne Moore or Nicole Kidman.
If ever I wished I could be Halle Berry, it was last night.

I know you're saying, how can I learn more about Adrien Brody and watch his films in the comfort of my own home? Well, print off this page and take it to your video store as a handy shopping list. Warning: I strongly advise you to skip "Summer of Sam." Definitely don't miss "King of the Hill." It's one of the few films that can make me cry.

You can also read what Adrien's mother has to say about her son and "The Pianist" -- pre-Oscar, even.

adrien brody won!

I can't believe it! I'm so happy!! And he gave Halle Berry a liplock. He's well on his way to stardom. He also quelled the orchestra so he could give a moving acceptance speech about war. That was one of the reasons I hoped he would win, because if anyone in that fancy-ass room is qualified to speak about it, it would be the actor who played a war-ravaged man (well, really Roman Polanski would be the only qualified person, but he can't come back to American soil because of, well, you know ...)

Chris Cooper also won, and I thought that was unlikely ... he is such a great actor, and if you don't believe me, watch a couple of his films to view the power of his range. Start with "Matewan," then "Lone Star."

Oh. Eminem just won for Best Song. Well, you can't have everything.

you have your super bowl, i have mine

I am very excited about the Oscars this year because one of my all-time favorite actors is nominated. He's Adrien Brody and he starred in what I consider the best movie of the year, "The Pianist." It's a Holocaust movie, better than "Schindler's List," in my opinion. Anyway, I'll be in front of the TV tonight rooting for Adrien, who also appeared in "King of the Hill" and "Liberty Heights," two other personal faves of mine. Please note: I will not answer the phone during the telecast.

I was pretty depressed yesterday, and had to force myself to get up and get out. I have a well-tested system for dealing with such emotions: I drove around for a while, went into work, got some Adrien Brody movies and a pile of sushi and came home. My folks had called in my absence; my dad left a message asking, "Do you have the lonelies?" Probably a little, since I do miss my brother's family and I have had a bad cold. Pretty much I've just wanted to stay in the house and surf the Internet, despite the 65 degree weather.

I also miss NPR and my weekend shows, and I am filled with shame for saying this, but I really don't want to know everything about the war. I want to listen to "Car Talk" and "Prairie Home Companion." I was very afraid they were going to cancel the Oscars, which are completely superficial, trival and stupid, but I still want to watch them.

an eerie silence

Well, LRT & Co. departed this morning, and it's strangely quiet and somewhat sad in my place tonight. The only sign that they were here is a stack of children's books and videos from the Nashville Public Library. My sister-in-law is such an attentive mom and conscientious guest that the apartment looks better than when they showed up. We had a wonderful time together and it was fun to have some cuties around for hugs and silly sayings and the omnipresent "why?"

I took dozens and dozens of pictures. I'm sure I'll look at them a few hundred times or so in the next couple weeks. I never get homesick until people come to visit, and it was hard to see them go.

very very irish

Happy birthday to MCCM, whose name I cannot post because of my confidentiality / security policy. But trust me: it's way Irish. She's the youngest of 6, born on St. Patrick's Day, and very cool. Have a great day! See you in one month!!

what a difference a year makes

On March 15, 2002, I was in Nashville to interview for a new job ... hard to believe it's been a year since that fateful event! LKT and I drove down, I interviewed, we had a drink with J"C"A and talked about what it might be like if I moved here. The next day LKT and I kicked around the rainy town, looked at the library, remarked that a certain historic building (where I now live) might be a cool residence, and generally wondered what might transpire ... A couple times this week I was reminded how much your circumstances can change in a relatively short span of time. (I think the crepe-hanging part of me reflects on this in the way that fortunes can turn adversely, but it's worth recounting how things can fall together in very positive ways.)

My old boss, FSD, was in town Tuesday and we went and had dinner at Tin Angel (of course). We were marveling at how a year ago he was contemplating retirement, and I was testing the waters down here, and now we've both pulled the trigger on those decisions and feel very good about doing so.

Last weekend my friend and co-worker KSH came down to visit and we commented on the turnover in our former office, how many of the women there are expecting and how the rate of change exceeds all prognostication.

DMJ and I went to lunch this week and in the course of our conversation I remembered she and I talking in a Peoria hotel ballroom during some seminar last spring. We barely knew one another, really, and were just chatting about how I was waiting to hear about this job. Less than a year later, she's one of my closest friends here. Ditto J"C"A, who I remember sitting with at dinner during some other seminar and thinking, "He seems cool. Wonder how he likes this company? What is it like to work in Nashville?" That was in 1999, and how would we ever have guessed things would have unfolded as they have?

LRT & Brood would have had no reason to come to Music City last year; tonight they and their various and sundry toys, books, swings, diaper bags, juice boxes, etc. are in my humble residence. (More on this later, natch.)

I put no stock in fate or even the God-as-clockmaker theory. I still can't help but think about the various times I visited Nashville before I moved here, and how each was instrumental in my learning about the city. These were leisure trips, not related to business, yet the people I visited and the places I frequented are sites I pass almost every day in my new life. It's almost as if I had the tutorial I needed to help me make the decision when the time came.

A year from tonight I may not be able to say this, so I want to record it while I can: I am living one of the happiest periods of my 35 years. I feel so blessed that this opportunity came my way, and I have never, not for a second, regretted my decision to transfer here. I wasn't unhappy a year ago tonight, but I was ready for a change, and change seemed so unlikely. I had no idea how to script the next chapter in my life, so this has exceeded all imagination.

The Oprah moment I'm trying to convey is, if you don't feel things are coming together for you, just hang on, because the next 365 days could hold more than you even wish for yourself.

beeyoutiful

I miss my hometown sometimes, mostly when I need a haircut. Eric, who used to cut my hair, did a swell job, even if he did try to sell me a lot of hair products. Every hair problem, he believed, could be solved with "product." No amount of product has worked on my big, frizzy, unmanageable hair since I moved south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Today I finally I bit the bullet and went to a big old fancy salon off Music Row. The word-of-mouth on it has been pretty good, and some women in my office go there, and generally they are a good hair bunch.

This salon is way fancy. The owner's license plate is the name of the salon; the car is a top-of-the-line Lexus. You know they're moving a lot of "product" to make the payments on that baby.

Anyway, as I told my stylist, I'm pretty much a wash-and-go kind of girl. No color, no major appliances, no hassle. I was definitely in the minority at this place. Everybody else in there -- even the men -- were getting their hair colored or highlighted. And they all were drinking. Alcohol. I'm not making this up. There's a Seattle's Best coffee shop inside the salon, but there are also a wide variety of beers and wines, and I think I was about the only customer on the wagon. To be fair, all this was taking place after work on a Friday afternoon, but who gets their hair cut at happy hour? I don't know about you, but the combination of hot curling irons and alcoholic beverages does not seem a good one.

Everyone seemed to be having a fine time. I think they wanted me to feel I was get my money's worth so they put me under some strange "air-drying accelerator." It's like a big halo of heat that revolves around your head as you sit in a chair reading House Beautiful. Seriously! It was nice to read House Beautiful. There was a story about etageres; one cost $3,200. I think I saw it in the manicure section of the salon.

Anyway, I think I got a pretty good haircut. The test is tomorrow morning, when I have to style it myself. At least I escaped without buying any product, at least this trip.

cruel fate, why must you mock me?

From today's Tennessean: "This year's Nashville Film Festival is seeing more changes than just in its name. The timing, for one thing: Instead of its usual slot in early June, this year's event is slated for April 28-May 4 at its usual site, Regal's Green Hills Cinema 16." Okay, people, here's the thing: we are having a huge employee meeting here on those very dates! Guess who is coordinating it? That's right, I am, so I have work stuff every night that week!

Aaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh. This is so depressing.

Yes, these are the kinds of traumas I have here in Nashville. That, and the fact that Camper van Beethoven's reunion tour swings through here while I'm going to be in Tucson. I don't know how I can soldier on.

we want tacos

Friends, I can't believe more than a week has passed since a meaningful post. Yes, much as happened and I had a wonderful weekend with my visiting hometown pal. The weather even cooperated and it might as well be spring. More on this later as time allows. One pleasant weekend now a memory, I'm counting down until LRT & family arrive ... less than seven days and I'm so excited!

Lest you think you're wasting your time with this lowly log, please know that it still remains ahead of the news cycle. You read it here first.