Dallas Morning News Interview k8

I have the coolest friends ever.

"people who give a shit are sexy" - scott hahn & rogan gregory,

who started loomstate, quoted in Style Naturally.

"I can't imagine how anyone would get to know you and see how great you are and then decide not to date you."

"...You're great. Who's better than you?" ~ Mom

Shortly after college, when my heart was deeply broken by someone I thought about spending the rest of my life with - the kind of young, head-over-heels lust/love you think you'll never get over, and in fact it takes a long while to do so - after that, when I was so distraught, my mother told me I shouldn't tell her about anyone I even thought about dating. She said unless I was engaged to them, she didn't want to know. She said I could call them "Mr. X," she just didn't want to meet them and know them and start to care about them if they weren't actually going to officially join the family. She's since become less neurotic and rescinded this policy, but I have followed it religiously. I usually never tell her about anyone I am even remotely interested in. She did know about the 28 dates, but that was because I had to tell her about one really atrocious, ridiculous date I knew she would laugh at. And she did.

For the record, I'm not the only one in the family who doesn't tell her about dating. One of my siblings has brought 2 significant others home and both afterwards broke up with him. Their loss, really. He's amazing and so are the rest of us. (We're also crazy, but amazing nonetheless.) It's kind of become a family joke - don't bring them home, don't tell mom about them, or it'll be bad for the relationship.

But I broke the silent policy last month, to tell her about someone who did not, in fact, want to date me, and it made me so glad to have her for a mom, because what she said above did more for my self-esteem than just about anything in the world. And then she gave me a navy blue corduroy dress, saying, "I got you this. You're the only one in the world I can tell just by looking at the dress if it'll look good on you or not. "

Wow, I'm lucky. I heart mom.

"But will he love me like Calvin loves Alice?" - from a young woman's letter to writer Calvin Trillin

After reading About Alice, I know what this woman means.

You could read it in about an hour, it's just a little snippet of a thing. It's a lovely homage to Alice - wife, mother, writer, and teacher who was much beloved.

The first book Trillin published after her death is inscribed: "I wrote this for Alice. Actually, I wrote everything for Alice." Trillin speaks of wanting to impress Alice, of wanting her to laugh if he was trying to make something funny. And there's a lovely vignette about Dick Francis, one of the best English mystery novelists of all time, who spoke about his wife, Mary Francis, helping him write. After her death, he didn't think he could publish another novel.

It's effing damn stories like this that screw me up in the love department. Just when I think I'm ready to settle for any nice young man whom my mother would adore, I have to read a book like this, and start to wonder along with that young woman - Will he love me like Calvin loves Alice? Or like Dick loves Mary?

return of the Sonics saga

I believe I've discussed growing up with a rabid Sonics fan for a father and watching Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf play, and I really hope I've mentioned how great Kevin Calabro is, because I have many childhood memories of listening to CAlabro's voice while watching the games - Dad hated the tv announcers and only listened to Calabro. There was a point in my young life when I owned approximately 900 basketball cards, believe it or not. I'm pretty sure I traded them to one of my brothers, but who knows where they all ended up.

Anyway, multiple people have documented the heartbreaking move of my team to a horrible place that will not be mentioned. I thought I was getting over it, although I haven't seen a decent basketball game in forever..I think I'm still in the denial phase of grief.

Well, they've made a movie. Be still my heart: I think I have three new crushes: filmmakers Adam Brown, Jason Reid, and Darren Lund.

You can see it tonight at the SIFF and then on the Internet: Sonicsgate.