Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Monday, Jan. 06, 2003 - 7:43 p.m.

Hi ho; didja miss me?

I am back in the Land of La, not that I'm all that thrilled to be so. The Boyfriend *did* make it back safe and sound, though, so that's a good thing. I know you were worried. He got back really late - or really early - New Year's Eve, whatever you wanna call 5am, so we did not go party that night. We stayed home and played piano together, making up stuff, and then he played Beatles' tunes while I sang, and then we played Trivial Pursuit, and that was it. It was a pleasant evening.

Nosy Katie Doyle googlers the last 24: 1
ANS weight-obsessed searchers: 1 (guess who)
International googlers: 1 ("Julie Goldman + Masks" - they even used the + sign)
Fans of the Demi Moore snore: 1
Historically curious googlers: 1 ("New+Mexico+nuclear+tests")

That's MISS Landscape Designer, If You Please.
I met with my first landscape client today. It's a gonna be a bad one, folks. The woman does not know what she wants. Thank goodness it's just the preliminary plan, though being the rank amateur that I am, I completely forgot to draw up a contract and get a retainer, so when I take a sample plan over on Wednesday, I better take a contract too, ay? Oh yes, I think I should. That'll be fun; I hate writing that kind of crap up. :( I kinda had fun measuring stuff, though. I am a world class measurer. Well, really more like it's an amateur event and not yet the real deal, but still. Bring on the AutoCAD. (I did sorta forget to measure how far the flower bed is off the sidewalk though. Although, to be fair, I don't have to do anything to the lawn, so I don't really *need* to measure, except to make the blueprint more impressive: Oo. Ah.)

After the big meet, I went over to my old place of work and saw a few people and landed another client, so that was nice. :)

I also got my photos developed today. You know, the ones I shot down in SD? Well...some of them came out very well; most of them, not so. But that's life, I guess, and I did okay considering I had no idea what I was doing. The last time I used a 35mm camera, all you had to do was set the aperture. Set the shutter speed. Focus, and press the button. ::sigh:: It's much more complicated now, and the damn lens won't let me do any of that stuff without a degree in electronics, or something. Clearly, I am to be forced to read the damn manual...which I left in San Diego. ::sigh:: Will *nothing* go right? No wonder we can't have nice things...

The photo of the man-eating leopard orchids did not come out all that well, but they still look mildly creepy. They *were* in stealth mode, so I didn't expect them to be totally scary. The weird thing is that the bottom tongue or lip or petal or whatever came out a really odd bright orange, which it is not in real life, at all. I can't figure out why that happened, but it happened in every picture, whether I employed flash or not. Huh. I *did* learn from the photos that didn't come out, so I suppose they weren't a total waste of cash... And some of the pictures are really nice. I will scan them when I have time. Or, you know, feel like it. I actually have all kinds of time. It's the motivation that's missing. St. Katie, remember?

Coincidence? I think not.
You guys know how I fricking hate insects? Well, there are these little black flies or rather large black gnats in the house for the last 2 months. They are driving me absolutely fucking nuts, I have no idea where they came from, and I don't know how to get rid of them. I hate insects, especially flying ones, and I'm going to go postal if I don't figure out how to get rid of them soon. I think they came from a bulb kit I bought at Home Depot. Narcissus. There were no little black flies, I bought the damn bulb and followed the "planting" instructions, and days later, the house was full of the freaking little monsters. You tell me where the damn things came from, if not that damn bulb. I swear to god, though, it's about to be freaking war around here. The Persian Gulf will look like a freakin' cakewalk when I'm done, mark my words. Freakin' flies.

Blech.
I am making chicken tikka marsala for dinner. It smells horrendous. I certainly hope it tastes much better, or the China Inn is gettin' a call. Maybe dumpin' in all that extra cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, paprika, and the Mystery Yellow Spice Which May or May Not Have Been Curry was a bad idea... Pray, please. Pray hard.

The Return of Golfzilla
When we last left our friends in the Vineyard, West Tisbury representative Linda Sibley felt she was being unfairly persecuted for making racist comments about Japanese people who play golf, and plaid was the really big issue of the day. Things are heating up.

The Down Island Golf Club (our heroes) brought suit against 5 members of the Martha's Vineyard Commission on November 29, and boy, is it a doozy. I also got hold of poor Linda's racist quote, and that chick really is an idiot. Of course, she also provided a stupid quote beyond my wildest dreams.

Not happy to deny just the golf course, the MVC has also stymied a gas station that wanted to open up mid-Island...a station which also jumped thru all the hoops it was legally supposed to. I've been following that story incidental to the golf debacle (I stumbled on it while looking for golf news), and it pretty much cements that the MVC is a bunch of egomaniacal, power-mad would-be politicians. Idiotboy would love them, if he could tear himself away from Crawford long enough to golf anywhere or see the world, but I digress. The reason the golf course was denied, even though it would save islanders 20 cents a gallon on some of the highest price gas in the country is that the MVC didn't want to take business away from the other two stations on the island. Hm. If I remember correctly, the mom and pop owners of one of the stations are very good friends with at least one of the members of the commission. Hmmm. The new station also happens to be near to good ol' Linda's business (she owns a Radio Shack franchise), and it seems Linda has a thing against traffic and cars. Which is understandable, because I'm sure an island with a population of 12,205 is just rife with traffic jams. Granted, in summer, the population jumps to 72,600 - on the weekends, at least. Seems to me that an island built to bear 72 thousand people can stand the traffic of 12 with very little problem. And that with 72 thousand people all vying for gasoline at two measley gas stations, you'd *want* a freaking third, but that could just be me. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm at standing in line all day to buy gas is abnormal, and everyone else really likes it. Seems, however, that a vast majority of island residents - or at least the ones not formerly employed by Enron, Worldcomm and Adelphia - would appreciate the chance to pay the lower prices on gas that a free market would provide. Especially those at "poverty level," which granted, on the Vineyard is probably still 3x what I make here...or did make, when I was a gainfully employed, though woefully underpaid, member of society. So, let's see...new station near Linda's business, and Linda hates cars (as well as minority peoples); old station friends of commission members; new station offers cheaper gas...you do the math. It's still rather bewildering, considering the new station benefits affordable housing and the Tisbury fire department and is providing what are apparently much needed new public restrooms. I have come to the conclusion from my readings that the ONLY way to build anything on Martha's Vineyard is to donate money to about a million people, at least one of which must be affordable housing, and the lion's share of which must grease a palm or two on the MVC. I have discovered thru the lawsuit the golf guys filed that another golf club applied for to the commission after Down Island did, and that club was approved, even though they made no effort to lessen the course's impact on the environment, it will heavily pollute and otherwise negatively impact certain parts of the island, the builders seem to have made patently false claims, purposely or otherwise, and it provides NO money to any group on the island which needs it. It has not jumped thru half the hoops or satisfied half the requirements the Down Island course has. It is, however, being built my men who are friends with commission members (some of them used to be on the commission, themselves), and it financially benefits several members of the commission or their immediate family members. Hmmmm. There will be more on the golf course and the lawsuit and all the juicy sordid details in days to come. I have my very own Deep Throat now, so I'll keep you guys posted. I know you're riveted.

Well, Okay Then.
I took a break, and we had dinner. I am relieved to say that not only did it smell a lot better than it had, it tasted better, too. Yum! Sadly, however, the house still smells like the stuff first did, and lemme tell you people: you don't know from pungent. Whew.

Stupid Quote(s) of the Day:
"I don't want any little Japs or Michael Jordans flying in here to play golf." --Linda Sibley, Martha's Vineyard Commissioner, on the proposed Down Island Golf Club.

Oh, yes, she *did*. Don'tcha just love her? Isn't she just the most intelligent, tolerant, likeable person on the entire planet? I get quotes like that, and I really just have to sit back with a certain amount of glee to watch the flak fly. I can not wait to see this chick go down.

"[The proposed Down Island Golf Club] is a seasonal, active-recreational installation that is not traditional to the character of Martha�s Vineyard." --the Martha's Vineyard Commission on why it chose to deny Kupersmith's golf club yet again.

Oh-kay. Like no one - certainly no one like, oh, say, BILL CLINTON - ever plays golf on the Vineyard. Or wears plaid. Or wears plaid and plays golf. Uh-huh. Denial, table for 9. (the # of commissioners who keep voting no)

"For reasons of philosophy, I don�t really think we should be building facilities to promote the automobile on Martha�s Vineyard. I think that�s a big mistake and I don�t want to be a part of it." --MV commissioner Tristan Israel, on why he voted against a 3rd gas station on the Vineyard.

Coz, that's really gonna keep them there newfangled cars out. And I'm sure the working class appreciates your sentiment every time they pay the highest prices in the country to fill their gas tank; especially if they have to eat Top Ramen for the fourth night in a row so they can afford that gas. Oh yeah.

That being that, I'm done for now.

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008