Reading: A title I forget about a Holocaust survivor

Listening: Mall music

Viewing: Myself as a tart

Moving: Round and round the mall

Learning: I don't recognize myself in make-up

27 December 1999: Shopping

I am a Bad and Wrong person for not remembering the title or the author of the book I read, but it was so Bad itself that I forgive myself, despite the subject matter. A man who survived Birkenau and Mengele experiments (including vivisection and castration) so incredibly badly written and badly copyedited that I read with only half an eye.

I'm not one to talk, I know, but this book screamed vanity press as few that I bother to read do. The title, which I cannot find on Amazon just now as it's decided to freeze, is the number that was tattooed on his arm--80,000 plus. He entered the camp in 1942. Vladek Spiegelman, whom his son Art portrays in Maus, was 175,113. That the man survived is as miraculous as anyone else's survival (I would like to know how many people with lower numbers than 80,000 were alive in the spring of 1945) but that his story came to be butchered in print is a travesty.

The time it takes for three women to get out of the house is remarkable. To be fair, DMB was making calls for work and dealing with RDC2, to whom she is as much parent as grandparent. But it was nearly noon by the time we got to the West Palm Beach mall. JJC had her dress already, and though A----- is mostly an Abercrombie & Fitch girl, she wanted an outfit for New Year's Eve. So we walked and browsed.

Last month, HAO and I ran into Barbie at Cherry Creek and she told us her favorite store there was Bebe. I had never gone in, assuming it was above my price range, but we did that day and I discovered it was not only above my price range but well below my size range. Nonetheless I gave this West Palm Beach one a try. I found a lavender linen-weave silk dress, straight but walkable, with wide straps. I liked the color, but frankly, only a few shades of lavender work on me and this wasn't one of them. The fabric was wonderful and the color was rich and attractive, just not against my skin. It was tighter across the bust than I would like, and when DMB, who believes in cleavage so much she bought herself more, thought it looked too snug, I knew it must be way too tight.

I entered Saks while she went back to Abercrombie and Fitch for A-----. The first dress I saw was a remarkable shade of crimson. Bright and pink and vibrant and absolutely Wrong for my fair skin in its winter bleach tone, but I'd love to see it on someone with the right skin color. But I didn't want to look at the dresses that were displayed singly because this was Saks. I needed to find a rack with lots of dresses crammed together.

Now I'd been wishy-washy about what color to look for. JJC's dress was purple and black, and I don't wear white or black to weddings, and I couldn't wear ivory because DMB was, and banana yellow looks good on me only when I'm tan, and the sad fact is that pastel pink suits me, pale or tan.

As does another shade of pink. CLH wore something like it to my wedding, and a while ago HAO made me buy a dress despite its high bodice because the color was so perfect for me. So when I saw that color peeping out, I seized it. A thick, satiny silk. Simple lines. Understanding darts. Floor-length. Oooooh yes, you belong to me, that dress told me, and I believed. I looked at the tag. 2. Ah ha ha ha, no. That dress was wrong, but perhaps it had a cousin I could belong to. I rifled. I found a 12. It was too big and Friday was too soon for alterations. I found a 6. I was going to cry. An 8. The irony was going to hit me with a stick. And then a 10 threw itself off the rack and into my arms.

At that point my mother- and almost-step sister-in-law found me. They agreed. Well, DMB did. A's pretty quiet. When we got home, RDC and JJT were suitably impressed.

At 31, I own my first formal. Does my wedding dress count? I got to wear it only once.

The rest of the afternoon's activities I cannot divulge until I have proof, but the viewing and learning tidbits to the left are hints.