I have John Malkovich stuck in my mind because we were talking about what a fabulous Stanley Kowalski he would be. We also threw out Alec Baldwin (maybe in his younger days) and Liev Schreiber as well. Then last night we were talking about who could play Atticus Finch if they re-made Mockingbird, and the first name that came up was Liam Neeson.

Malkovich, Malkovich - I've loved you so long. Since that small little film production of The Glass Menagerie that I watched on HBO when I was twelve and you played the brother but there was just something so...ummph about you...

Malkovich, Malkovich.....

We've been eating a lot of delicious foods here. Homemade pizzas with chicken, bacon, mushrooms and olives with alfredo sauce. Yummy Italian soups with turkey Italian sausage, raviolis, spinach, and zucchini. This week we're going to do corned beef grilled sandwiches on sourdough, and pork loin roast, and homemade beans (we always have some sort of bean at the ready for burritos).

Other news on my front, but it isn't really mine: an old friend of mine from college has published his first novel. The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney by Christopher Higgs. Mine is on order. Yours should be too.

I started watching "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." Alll's I can say at this point: JACKED. UP.

I got a few books from Barnes & Noble (the best corporate bookstore) that I can't read yet because I'm knee-deep in the memorization process (I was recently cast as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and she talks A LOT). But I'm really excited about them. The first one on my to-read list is The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. I don't know if you remember from a blog way waaay back, when I read Little Children and then watched the film version. I picked this one up because it's about a person who's against teaching abstinence despite being abstinent herself. It just sounded like such a familiar tale...I had to get down on that.

That's all I've got this morning. I'm not going to wish anyone but my daughter a happy V-Day because I think it's a ridiculous capitalist holiday (and that opinion has nothing to do with being single - I've always hated it). Plus, I'm now under orders to make scrambled eggs with sourdough toast, so I don't have time!

So about two months ago, my hair started falling out. I do not exaggerate. I've always been a shedder, but my hair was coming out in small handfuls. Once I arrived in Reno, I realized I'd lost half the thickness of my hair, and decided it was time for action.

My sister, always in cahoots with any hair extravaganza, hooked me up with a stylist at her salon whom they told her was an expert with curly hair.

What they failed to mention is that he is both a.) brutally hot in just my kind of way and b.) STRAIGHT. And I'm not talking closet-gay posing as straight. Heterosexuality oozes from his every pore. He also sounds and speaks just like Joss Whedon, and kind of bosses me around already, and is a no-frills, no bullshit kind of guy.

And engaged, did I mention? Siiiiigh. So close, yet still so far.

The appointment was like a first date. We shared our stories, he rubbed my neck, teased me about my age (bc I always make it sound so old), and then he held out my coat for me. Seriously. I realized this morning that he is my type of sex-on-the-first-date guy. I trusted him immediately (I would have to, in order to let him chop off 6-8 inches of my hair), and felt instant chemistry (on my side at least). I respect his relationship status, however, and hope that he has at least one or two friends EXACTLY like him who are single. That would be cool. And I think cool, hot guys run in packs. So now I just have to devise a way to get in with his pack.

It's been some time and I do apologize. Here's what I've been doing:

Moving
Finding, starting, and training for job
Unpacking
Finishing grad school admissions (by the skin on my chinny chin chin)
Shopping for winter clothing
Eating fabulous and fabulously healthy food
Running, jumping, yoga
Prepping for play audition (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Bucking the system

I went to Planned Parenthood for interim meds until health ins kicks in, and I happened to ask about the HPV vaccine for my daughter, as she is of age now (9 - 26, ladies, the earlier the better). I incited a mild beaureaucratic riot with the doctor who saw me, because we discovered that PP protocol is that boys can be vaccinated from age 9 going forward (so's not to spread it) but girls can't be vaccinated until age 11.

Really.

I don't think so.

And for all you right-wingers out there, this is not me giving my daughter license to promiscuity. First of all, if she's of a promiscuous nature, I'm not going to change that. I wouldn't want to. I respect promiscuity when it's practiced safely without any harm or damage to one's self or anyone else. I envy the physical and emotional freedom.

Second of all, I know my daughter will one day have sex. I don't fear it, I celebrate it. Because I am as frank with her as I can be, and I teach her safety above all else. I do not preach abstinence, though I practice it most times myself. I would not ever advise her to wait until marriage - I don't believe that is at all safe or smart. (Lifelong commitment to a sexual stranger??? No thank you.)

I don't fear my daughter's sexuality. But I do fear that she could one day come down with a debilitating, life-threatening illness that I could have prevented if I wouldn't have wasted time preaching "morality" and resting on those laurels.

Be safe. Be smart. Care more about your child's well-being than your own beliefs and practices. She is who she is, and sex is good. We are all victims to that truth, and I believe that my daughter has every right in the world to find her way, feel out (pardon the pun) her likes and dislikes, and make her own mistakes. That's how we learn.

And third - I am by no means of a promiscuous nature, and I have HPV. I've already had the super fun experience of precancerous cell removal. Why wouldn't I protect her from that if it is in my power to do so?