Pride & Prejudice

Ah, the weekend update.

Friday, I decided I needed to get serious about the impending parental visit. So, I spent the evening at Target (naturally), and then alternating between frantically cleaning and watching episodes of "Pride and Prejudice" (the BBC series) to stave off a major freakout. I've ignored the apartment/life overhaul that needs to happen to sanitize it for parental consumption, and now it will be a full-court press to get it all done. It's the best way, really. (Or at least that's what I tell myself.)

Saturday, I did more "envisioning" of cleaning until it was time to head into the city for BOLLYWOOD NIGHT! That's right, kids! Oodles was our effervescent hostess as she plied us with the food she "slaved over all day" (and it ended on a sweet note - mmmm, Bombay Ice Creamery!) This time the crowd took in a movie with SRK and Madhuri Dixit. But wait - there's more! Salman Khan! Yes, we watched Hum Tumkare Hain Sanam. Yeah, as usual, I have no idea what it means. Although it might mean "SRK as a jealous, bitter newlywed who can't get any is actually funny."

There was one stellar, stellar theater of the absurd-type scene where drunken/crazy SRK is throwing some game and/or consulting a statue of a horse. Correction, statue of a horse's head. "You have such long ears (stroke stroke) You're such a good listener. But you have no legs." Jigga-wha?!?!?! At one point, the scene cut away to a reaction shot from the horse head statue. It just doesn't get better than that.

I headed home and watched the end of the "Pride & Prejudice" miniseries. (Mr. Darcy = the yum.) I realize that 75% of the Bollywood movies I've ever seen follow the same formula: guy and girl would be great together, one or both don't realize it, comitragic series of events, misunderstandings, etc. Both now have "feelings" for each other. All's well that ends well...... aaaaaaaaaand, scene!

Sunday, involved more open houses, this time concentrating on the Bernal Heights neighborhood. The funny thing is Bernal was the first place I ever stayed in the city and I loved it. When I knew I was moving here, I wanted to live there, BUT I thought I should keep my options open and check out other parts of the city. And, now, I'm back to the idea of wanting to live there. I did the same thing with law school - I really only wanted to go to the law school I attended, but decided that if I was serious, I should apply to more schools. Yeah. I could have saved myself about $700.

Bernal Heights is called that because, not surprisingly, it's on a big-ass hill. I skipped cardio Sunday morning knowing that I would be clambering around that hill. Earlier in the week, I met SJM at Little Nepal for dinner (so that I could check out the neighborhood on a weeknight.) We drove around, stalking houses from the outside. At one point, we saw a sign that said "HILL" and I laughed ... moments later we were both kind of screaming as the car slid down a rollercoaster-sized hill. I got my workout in - some of the streets were so steep that I stopped every 3 houses, pretending to admire the view to catch my breath. Some streets were linked by pedestrian stairs (i.e. climb a flight of stairs to reach the next street.) I had a great time, but I haven't found "it" yet. The evening concluded with Vietnamese food and "The Godfather" - a rockstar combination.