***Words in the Wet***

You would think The Spouse would want to stay indoors during the rainy weekend. But nooo. Instead, I found myself driving around with one of our contractors who proudly showed us his slab and tile work on a few homes. I admit I was impressed: slabbing the entire wall and floor of a shower stall does make it look richer.

I wish to say the same about the homes, though. One place--obviously still being built--was so massive that the entrance way felt more like a hotel lobby than a home. And what's with a room just devoted to a spa tub? I've discovered that, when homes reach a certain size, they become more like mazes than a place to live. And we won't even get into the decorations...!

The rest of the afternoon we checked out various stone places. We're replacing the generic tiles on our kitchen and bathroom counters with granite and travatine (sp?). R. especially, had been researching for months. We made final choices late in the afternoon while the sky was clear. Yeah!

That evening we enjoyed a nice meal at our favorite Thai restaurant. To walk off the food, we checked out the local Barnes and Nobles. Not much in new books. However, I did pick up a few mags on SUVs. Is it me, or do most of them look--and act (e.g., gas mileage, etc.) alike? I didn't find as good of a selection of these cross-over vehicles as I did with cars. (The Murano, though, looks killer. Now if I can just convince R. that SUVs are not that hard to parallel park...)
Sunday we ate out for lunch and dinner. Interestingly enough, both restaurants had undergone ownership changes. That theme was carried over into the anime we watched later that evening.

Hikaru No Go is an anime series about a young boy who rises in the ranks of the game, Go. We had been watching regularly since we purchased the series last month. The last third of the series dealt with the main character (Hikaru) striking on his own after his mentor (a ghost) literally disappeared. Very painful but ultimately realistic: Hikaru forges his own path in the championships and carries his master's legacy (symbolized by a fan).

The series nicely illustrated the cliche, the only constant in the world is change. Later, at dinner, we discussed how many of the Japanese series constantly emphasized this point in contrast to the more "static" themes in many mainstream American shows. (I remember the collective gasps in fandom a few years ago when the character Yar was killed--killed!--in the show, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sacriledge for a main character to actually die!)

As the series drew to a close and before we headed out for dinner (Japanese, of course), I reflected the changes in my own life and the upcoming ones. I then realized I needed more coffee.