The similarities and differences between Oscar Day 2003 and Oscar Day 2004

I've been kicking this post around in my head for a few days, trying to figure out how to make it a tidy package. I don't think it will be. It will more closely resemble a horrible junior high compare and contrast essay.

Oscar day last year was a great day. . . Oscar day this year was just okay. . .

Last year during the ceremony, E was doing happy dances at the triumph of her holy trilogy. . . and I watched both her and the TV, drunk, very entertained.
This year, I woke up at 5:20 am to get her to the airport on time. She's now in Philadelphia. I worked on my quilt throughout the ceremony. I was sober and alone for most of the telecast. Housemate J joined me for part of it. I thought we would be able to be snarky together. He couldn't even work up a pretend rage at Antonio Banderas's butchering of 'El otro lado del rio.'

I don't remember church last year, only that the choir sang.
This year, the sermon was on the beauty industry. . . very interesting. Marilyn the minister spoke using a cardboard cutout of Marilyn Monroe to illustrate some of her points. There should be more cardboard cutouts of celebrities in church. And we sang one of my favorite hymns:

"How could anyone ever tell you, you are anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you, you are less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle?
How deeply you're connected to my soul."

And in Sunday school we made scones - to illustrate the story of the loaves & fishes. Except these scones didn't miraculously multiply. And we talked about our ideal city AKA 'the kingdom of God.' I learned that Portland is great & all, but it really would be better if the bubblers downtown were pop, not water, if the schools were better, and if everyone whose first name started with O was given free shoes. (I'll give you one guess at the first initial of the proposer of that change.)

And last year's Oscar afternoon was spent with F and He Who Shall Not Be Named at the Bridgeport. Drinking, going on the tour, and drinking more. Being drunk and silly. It was the day I met him, the day the epic saga began.
I did see HWSNBN at church this Oscar day. He came up to me during coffee hour. "You look beautiful today," he said. A year ago, words like that would have given me such pleasure. Now, they had no effect. So we stood outside and chatted about inconsequential things. . . lovely.

This year's Oscar afternoon was to be spent hiking, after A invited me during coffee hour #2. I was then disinvited. The woman she was to go with, the woman who was driving, had invited folks as well. I was the odd woman out. So I spent a super-exciting afternoon writing a letter, reading the newspaper, and cleaning the kitchen.

In Conclusion, there were similarities and differences and continuity between Oscar Day 2003 and Oscar Day 2004.