Lady Grinning Soul

This morning, we hit the road with Aladdin Sane playing. Because this is the 30th Anniversary 2-CD reissue, it rectifies yesterday�s problem with not one but two versions of �John, I�m Only Dancing.� As perfect and wonderful as Bowie is, though, I will admit that one thing he doesn�t do well is covers. �Let�s Spend the Night Together,� a Rolling Stones composition, just doesn�t work in Bowie�s early �70�s hands. It�s all noodly and nuts at the end and the declaration coming from him doesn�t have the same feel as it does coming from Jagger. I mean, if Ziggy Stardust came up to you, all glammed out and sang his version of this song to you? You might laugh. If the �70�s era Mick Jagger did? Honey, you�d be in that limo so fast your head would spin. Seriously. And I say that as the Truly Number One Bowie Fan Of All Time.

Bowie does a lot of things well but other people�s songs are not one of them. Instead, I focused on a couple of my favorite songs from Aladdin: �Cracked Actor,� �Time,� and �Lady Grinning Soul.� Sweet. Perfection. I mean, what�s not to love?
Plus, have you seen him in Zoolander? Mmmmmm. That�s what I�m talking about.

I actually got some writing done during lunch today. Rewrote a long conversation between the narrator and the brother she just met, the brother she didn�t know she had. And it was a bit melancholy, because my narrator is, and when I turned off the computer to come back to work and type these words, I was sad. Depressed. Why, I don�t know. I guess that�s the mark of a successful writing stint � the pervading feeling in the writing bleeds over into the writer�s mood. Because otherwise, it�s a nice day. The sun is shining, it�s not too hot, there�s no humidity bringing me down, the magnolia trees I walked under smelled wonderful (I even picked up a couple of leaves for Dusty who�s been dying to make an Indian headdress that apparently can only be made with magnolia leaves.) and there was no other reason for me to feel down. So it must be that Grace, my narrator, has rubbed off on me a little bit.

Today is the first day of my husband�s Tuesday/Thursday summer class. This means he�ll be teaching until after dinner four days a week until mid-July. The two classes intersect for five weeks. This means I�m in charge of getting dinner on the table as fast as possible for two starving children four days a week without help. This means that the girls next door will take turns babysitting Red on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. She�ll be sleeping during most of this time but will be a bit disoriented today when she wakes up to find Brittney in the house. Next week, Brittney�s younger sister, Tasha, takes over. It should all work out, right? Right.

That�s all I got today. Where IS everyone?

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