August 31, 1997 - Grace in action

~~Grace in action~~

Sunday, August 31, 1997, 5:00 p.m.

It's nice to have a Sunday that isn't followed by a work day. I had a pretty quiet day. I worked on the company books, processed expense reports, wrote some checks and did some filing, then I went for awhile in the afternoon. The streets were practically deserted, which I first attributed to a lot of people being out of town for the long weekend (which, here, usually means "at the lake," i.e., The Lake of the Ozarks). Then I realized that it's because the Chiefs are on television.

I went by Great Clips, one of those walk-in haircutting places, and there were four operators sitting around chatting, and no customers. My hair is really easy to cut--just straight across the bottom. Because it's long, I have to stand up while it's being cut, but it usually only takes about five minutes. Spray it with water, snip off the split ends, that's it. That's why I hate to spend a lot for a haircut, it seems like a waste of money. My hair grows fast and gets uneven quickly. For awhile I was getting it cut at an expensive salon, paying $60 a haircut, and I guess it probably was a better cut than I got today, but it didn't last any longer.

1:00 a.m.

Bob and I went out tonight, had dinner at Chili's and saw "Contact." We had a nice evening, and I really enjoyed the movie. The special effects were nice; I like seeing representations of space and stars and planets . . . I especially liked the opening sequence, when the observer was going further and further out into space and the radio and television signals were getting scarcer and older. It was sort of like the virtual reality-type rides and full-surround movies at Disney World that I can't ride or watch, but I think maybe it was different moving away from the image rather than moving toward it. Or, actually, I guess, the image moving, not me. Anyway, it didn't seem to bother me. I was prepared to close my eyes.

This was the second time Bob had seen it. He said when he saw it the first time, as he was walking out of the theater he heard a woman behind him say, "But where were the aliens?"

We had dinner in the bar at Chili's rather than wait for a table, and it was fine except that it was crowded and noisy and we sat at one of the high tables with stools. I'm not very graceful on those high chairs. I have trouble scooting up to the table; Bob was laughing at me. I don't know if it's possible to gracefully move on of those stools while you're sitting in it. And the tables were so close together that in order to sit down across from him, I had to walk completely around the bar and approach the table from the opposite side. There were two elderly couples at the table next to us, and both of the men brought out penlights to read the menu with, which I thought was sort of cool, actually. They came prepared.

Oh--I was trying to think of what else we did tonight--we went by the Great Mall of the Great Plains. We had originally planned to go to the movie there, but as it turned out, it was also playing at another theater closer to home, and closer to the restaurant. We had plenty of time before the movie, though, so we drove out there because Bob wanted to show it to me. I had sort of forgotten about it. I'm not crazy about malls, but I do like to check them out, see what's there. There's one very close to my house that I never go to because it's so crowded, and the parking lot's so crowded. I avoid it whenever possible. This new one looks like it might be fun, though. It's not completely finished yet, but there are a couple of outlet stores there that look like they might be interesting.

I feel so sad about Princess Diana's death. It's one of those things that are almost impossible to believe. I can remember getting up early to watch Charles and Diana's wedding because it seemed like the event of the century. I'd never seen a royal wedding before, and it was certainly worth getting up for. Quite a spectacle. And while I don't have the fascination with the royal family that a lot of people do, I did admire her for her strength and for the fact that she went on with her life as normally as she could in the face of incessant badgering from the public and the press.

She made mistakes, as we all do, but she did the best she could. What a tragedy, especially for her sons. They would, of course, never have had any kind of a normal life anyway, but I do think she tried hard to be a good mother to them, as much as she was allowed. What a sad, strange life she had.

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