In case you haven't heard and in case you care, we're back on for the Oscar's since the writers' strike ended. Feb. 24 is the red carpet day.  
I am thinking of going to the Parkway or Cerrito, where the Academy Awards will be shown on the big screen and the dress code is fancy. Love that stuff. I'm partial to the film JUNO, as anyone who knows me has heard ad naseum.
What about you guys? I'd like to know what you'll be doing that night. Going out, staying in or just ignoring the whole thing? Anything special happening in Oakland? What film are you rooting for? Which one should be sabotaged?
And, btw, what's your all-time favorite Oscar memory? (Did David Niven streak across the stage during the 1974 awards or was it that a naked man ran behind Niven while he was on stage?)

I spent Saturday inside — out of the rain — writing about the Fox Theatre for a story that will be in Friday's Trib. Read all about it folks. Part I in the ongoing drama of Oakland's rebirth as "the New San Francisco."

It's time to mark your calendars and arrange for your designated driver because tonight is the debut of First Friday Follies at the Stork Club hosted by Oakland's own mavens of burlesque mischief, Belles du Jour.  It's a coverless event — get it? Okay, free of charge then. The Stork Club is located at 2330 Telegraph Ave.  Show time is 9 pm. 
The debut of First Friday Follies February show features the talent of our MC Miss Bella Trixx, the musical stylings of Roger That from the Ship Disturbers, the neo-vintage, pop raconteur/chanteuse Uni and her Ukulele, the tantalizing dance of Little Miss Aftershock, Kellita of Hot Pink Feathers, the sultry shimmy of Ophelia Coeur de Noir (one ballerina who is too hot for Swan Lake) and the Belles du Jour. 

Midnight: Can't sleep. Finally doze off 5 a.m.
10 a.m.: Wake up to news from my dentist's office that they've sent my prescription (which keeps me from heart failure during dental work — long story but sufficient to say the antibiotics are sort of mandatory) to Kaiser Hayward's pharmacy. I've been in Hayward about three times in my life.
10:30 a.m.: Finally get some heat in my apartment that feels like Antarctica. I grab a maintenance man I hear rummaging around in the cellar to relight the pilot light — it went out Friday when I tried to put the cover back after the last maintenance man ignited it.
11 a.m.: Call Kaiser to get prescription sent to Oakland. I can pick it up tomorrow but will have to wait while they fill it — even though it was originally called in to Hayward nearly a week ago.
11:15 a.m.: Feel dizzy and begin seeing distinct shapes of wavy, gaseous shapes out of the corner of my left eye. Spreads to both eyes and now fully halucinogenic.
11:17 a.m.: Turn off heater.
11: 19 a.m.: Dizziness and blurry visions stop.
12:30 p.m.: Discover flat tire while taking car for SMOG inspection — new $400 tires less than a month old. 
12:31 p.m.: Ask self "Am I cursed?"

This has been a hell of a year. I ended a relationship of 15 years + two children; moved into an apartment about the size of the livingroom in my old house (but not before my laptop was ripped off from the house before I moved); started a new job (here at the Trib); then had my laptop and cameras stolen from burglarized apartment. That wasn't enough. My car was broken into and not only did the thieves rip out the dashboard to get my new radio out but they took my sports bras (any woman knows how expensive those suckers are). Then my boyfriend moved away for six months and I cracked my femur, which still hasn't healed. Surgery is planned for January, but I'm not taking any chances: I'm planning to put a big bulls eye on the correct leg. I only have one left one, you know. Then my transmission went the day after Christmas and I had to spent $1,700 for a new one. Well, at least I passed the SMOG test.
So, I'm hoping for a much better year in 2008. Message to the Universe, which is apparently having a blast messing with me: I've had enough.