and more

We were awakened twice last night by quakes and were fully awake to experience their gentler after shocks. Feeling a quake while lying in bed is not quite as unsettling as when your feet are on the ground - it’s merely a quick startle like someone plopping down next to you on a waterbed – but this recent frequency of tremors leaves me unsure of what to think. Should I abandon my first impression of whoa cool that was different and adopt a more concerned attitude, or should I latch on to the ho hum just another quake and shake, normal as rain? I think I’ll stay with the whoa cool even though it violates my most trusted axiom which is to go with understatement whenever possible. British reserve and all that you know. You shouldn’t miss a chance to understate something that cries out for a big response. “I say old girl, it’s a trifle warm what with the lava flow and all that.” Of course now that I think about it, and I am prone to thinking about these sorts of extremely important things, whoa cool if stated correctly, that is somewhat dryly, can actually be an understatement instead of a superlative. So there you have it. My stated and considered attitude to all things quake-ish is officially, whoa cool. If, however, things start falling down, oh shit may be an acceptable alternative.

Here is an unfinished Enneagram thought: Do I like blues because I am a 7? That is, an upbeat, happy person attracted to an opposite? Do introverted 4’s and 5’s like reggae for the same reason? If so, what about 3’s? Do they like music that will never hit the charts? Sorry I don’t have time to pursue this, but I’m awfully busy contemplating my posture on, well, posture. I’m sitting up pretty straight at the moment.

Oh, and about cakes. I finished baking my seventh day before yesterday. It has a cherry cake part with vanilla frosting in the center and chocolate frosting on the outside. I use whatever frosting is leftover from the previous cake so I frequently have more than one kind on a cake. Here’s a tip: If you put left over frosting in the fridge to use on your next cake it will be too hard to spread. If you then microwave the frosting, you can pour it on the cake like syrup. Saves time. Of course it is then necessary to put the whole cake in the fridge to re-firm up the frosting. This requires, if you have as small a fridge as mine, that you remove all perishables from it and place them on the table where a little tropical warming may or may not do them any good. But then, what the hell, they’re only fruits and vegetables and who needs them when you’ve got cake?

Why am I baking cakes? I don’t really know. I’m pretty sure it’s not a hormonal change, I mean I don’t wear an apron or a bra while I’m baking and I started before the earthquakes became a daily occurrence so that’s probably not the reason. There was an old Seinfeld episode where Costanza’s father says about his future daughter-in-law’s parents, “What they don’t serve cake? What kind of people don’t serve cake, a lousy piece of cake?” or something like that. Might have something to do with it. I mean I remember the episode. Or maybe I’ve got a sugar deficiency. I doubt I get more than a half pound a day. That should be enough though, right? Probably, I’m thinking, probably it’s because I like cake. Nah. Too simple. There is a profound and complex psychological factor at work here and I’m counting on my brilliant family to supply me with answers before I go off the deep end and move along to pies. Yes this a cry for help.