And Now It's January, They Tell Me

Hello. I have one more day off before I have to go back to work. Isn't it funny how when I was first sick with the Crohn's -- three years ago right now -- all I wanted to do was go back to work? Now all I want to do is sleep late.

My latest annoyance is that, come February, our cable system is going to eliminate showing all non-HD channels they have HD channels for. So when you go to channel 2, for example, which is CBS, you're gonna get HD whether you want it or not. Now, I have an HD TV here in the family room, and an HD cable box, but I NEVER watch TV in HD. Why is that? Because once I got it all set up, I discovered that on an HD broadcast, the closed captions are too small too read. Which wasn't a big deal when I had an alternative. Now it's going to be a big deal. I mean, it's not as if I don't have the TV on all the time. Anyway, I just talked to the cable company -- we're the ones that lost the Food Network and HGTV on January 1, not the ones who were in danger of losing Fox -- and explained my situation to the lovely young man on the phone.

I did many errands today, including a short mall visit with the Sibs, who got her first look at my colored hair and liked it very much. I can't imagine how many people will comment on it at school on Monday, but after a day or two it will be over, I hope. I'm wondering if I need highlights to soften it a little, but the Sibs says it's good.

I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, an interesting read, and curiously, another small print thing with me. I bought the book a couple of years ago, but I couldn't read it because the print was too small, no matter what glasses I wore. So I gave it to the library. But I just got it the other day as an ebook, so the print is my standard setting, and quite readable for me. Oy, the accommodations! Did I mention I even got a catalog the other day with stuff in it to help you open doors, and tie your shoes, and all that other stuff that people need help with when they *ahem* mature? I just hope I never start wearing the velcro shoes. Then they can put me in the home.

Food shopping tomorrow, with major couponage.

Happy New Year, etc.

I don't know how many times as a kid I thought "2000! I'll be so old then!" and never thought beyond that. 2010? It sounds like science fiction to me.

What did I do today? K and I actually went out in the snow this morning -- not much of a snowstorm -- to the mall and got some make-up at the Bare Escentuals store, and scored a neat reusable bag from them as well. (I am very big on the reusable bags.) And then came home. I had a good workout on the Wii, and didn't even take a nap today.

I've had the Twilight Zone marathon off and on; amazingly, they will still show an episode once in a while that I've never seen. And I always change the channel when "The Hitchhiker" comes on because it so totally scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.

I did a ton of online coupon finding today, which I just kind of drifted into, and which has taken up way more time than it needed to. I would really, really like to save money with coupons, but it would just be so much easier if they made coupons for what I want to buy. Anyway, my A&P is doing triple coupons this week, so I've made the effort, checked their flyer, and I still have no idea what I'm doin, but I guess I'll be doing it, probably Sunday. I saw someplace that there will be five, count'em, five coupon inserts in Sunday's paper, so I guess I'll have to wait til then to figure this all out. I am Not Good At This.

New Year's Eve is now and always just another night to me, just another night with bad TV as far as I'm concerned. I have no episodes of Cold Case on the DVR -- have I mentioned my newest find, Cold Case? For one thing, it is not a well made show, not in writing, acting, directing, or even research, but I enjoy watching it, and get this: I only realized yesterday that this show is still actually on a network special. I've been watching the old ones on TNT or whatever it is that shows near-constant Law and Orders, and I only found out yesterday that it's actually still on CBS. Hey, more to record. I like the flashbacks, I guess. Speaking of shows that I need to see every episode of, Home Improvement is coming to TVLand starting Monday. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Anyway, as I was saying, no good TV tonight, but I've been recording a lot of movies lately, so I'll find something there. Or read.

Okay, so a happy and healthy new year to all --

Still Spinnning

Actually, lately I've been afloat in a sea of Mad Men, season one last weekend and seasons two and three this weekend just past, mixed in with a visit to the ILs. Good to be with the whole family. Not good to see him declining, very sad.

Perhaps the new meds I'm taking are helping. I had to stop physical therapy last week because the work on my neck triggered some way serious tinnitus, pounding in my head so loud -- not painful, just loud -- that I couldn't keep count of the exercises I was doing. And then the PT said he wouldn't touch me anymore until the doctor cleared it, because that was too weird for him. It's about 2:20 now as I'm writing; I have a meeting after school at the central office (which is to say, not in my school building) and then the doctor at 3:40. After which I'm going to run by Old Navy because I have nothing -- nothing, I tell you -- to wear.

All is well with me and the Sibs, until our next phone call anyway. (Just kidding.) All is well with other family members, as far as I can see (except the above-mentioned FIL.) All is well with therapy, which, thank god for. And lexapro. I like the lexapro.

As for me physically, perhaps the pain is less; it's hard to say. It's at its worst at night, anyway, so for now, mid-afternoon, it's very manageable. My head does seem to be cloudy whenever I sit down to write, although I'm coping well enough with everything else, not bummed, work is good except for the foolishness, which is not quite over, but almost.

Dang. I always think I have a lot to say, but then I put my hands on the keyboard and poof!

Oh, here's something. I've become a total GPS slut. I don't have a GPS as such, but I got an app -- there's an app for that, you know -- that works pretty well. How do I know that, since I rarely go anyplace I haven't already been? By turning on the GPS app when I'm going someplace I have already been. It's funnier that way. You know, the man in the iPhone says "Turn left. Turn left. Turn left." and I say "NO! I know where I'm going!" or some such foolishness. The Hubs and I very much enjoyed the man in the iPhone to and from his folks yesterday, especially each time he said "G - AR - den state PAR - kway." Okay, it's not the same in print. It was funny.

I'm home, it's six, I can go back to physical therapy on Wednesday, and I even got some corduroys at Old Navy. Score.




watching THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #2127
READING: Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
READING: Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi

Saturday

We had a nice visit from R today. We went out for lunch and then she and K did some shopping. As for me ...

It has taken me literally years, but I finally got from Wonderful Niece the big box of all my mother's pictures and mementos and things. I knew that I would find the picture I wanted for those Disney World trinkets, even though I used another picture and made them already. But the picture I wanted was in there, and so today, I made us each a refrigerator magnet from this picture:


The shrinky-dink, of course, is darker and smaller. I believe this is the only photograph ever taken of the four of us cousins together, although I could be wrong; I just haven't ever seen any others. I am the little one in the front. This was taken when my mother and sister and I visited their family in California when I was seven.

I'm watching one of those awful TV shows about beauty pageants and little girls (and boys, in this one), and I think all these parents should have their children removed from their custody. This is a bizarre form of child abuse; I can't imagine these children grow up with psyches intact, unscarred.

So, I've scanned over 130 pictures and things since yesterday, and I'm taking a little break today. There was some amazing stuff in the box, including my birth announcement, a card announcing the engagement of my father's parents, and that grandmother's original passport (in Russian), which I had never seen before. No idea where that came from, but it was accompanied by notes in my mother's handwriting from when she had it translated once. Oh, and I'll leave you with this. It was a note also in my mother's handwriting; it looked like a rough draft of a letter she then re-wrote and sent, but I don't know to whom. There's no date on it. I'm using the real name in the letter because I probably have it wrong anyway, since my mother's handwriting is nearly undecipherable. Here's the transcription:

To whom it may concern:
During the 15 years that I have known Jeanette Kenn, I have never heard her say anything that might tend to identify her with Soviet Russia or Communistic sentiments.
I am strongly opposed to the dictatorship of Communistic Russia and all that it stands for. I would never want to associate with any persons who are disloyal to the U.S. and the [to] the best of my knowledge, Jeanette Kenn is a loyal American, who believes in the American way of life.
[Signed]

So I'm thinking early fifties, which means this was probably a friend from high school she was writing a reference for. Never saw this before either.




watching TODDLERS AND TIARAS :: ENTRY #2098
READING: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

I Have the POWER!!

Mary wrote something yesterday about bad dreams, and I left her a comment about bad dreams in general, and about a really creepy dream I had a couple of days ago about waking up with ants crawling all over me. (Yes, it was a terrible dream, prompted by some ants in the real-life kitchen, makes me so sick.) Anyway, I often have a dream in which I am in a big building, a college building or hotel or dorm or office building, and I am lost in it, going up and sideways on its elevators that don't work right, and often, either the elevator or part of the building is being renovated and is a mess. So, sometime during last night, I dreamed I was on an elevator, and the doors opened onto a corridor with planks leaning against the walls, dropcloths over everything, and an bucket of paint on the floor, and Dream Me looked out at it from the elevator and said loudly and with confidence "OH NO. I AM NOT HAVING THIS DREAM NOW." And I didn't. I didn't even wake up, I just morphed into another dream. Who knew you could do that?

I just read a graphic novel version of Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, not based on the movie's animation, just like a regular comic book's illustrations. It was quite good, an interesting, since I re-read The Wizard of Oz yesterday and it's similar in that they're both written to be modern fairy tales.

I finished the little Shrinky Dink key tags today and they look very cute. I'll post a picture once I have chains or ribbons or whatever I decide on them. I almost can't believe this worked out as well as it did.

I decided to use this afternoon to record some things onto DVD that I've had on the DVR for a long time. So far, I've done two things from the History Channel on the Revolution, and now one from PBS on the conquistadores, and let me tell you, this is BORING. These are for K, of course, to use in what we hope will be the history classes she'll be teaching -- nothing on that yet -- but I was doing other things, so I didn't care. I didn't so much mind the History Channel shows, but this one is deadly. After this, I have a Twilight Zone episode she recorded in the last marathon -- July 4 -- abut a futuristic society where people have lost their rights. And then I'm done with that, at least for today. I may set things up to record when we're out tomorrow.

Where are we going tomorrow?

To meet the machatunim.

No, R is not engaged (unless we hear new tomorrow), but this is clearly it for her and the GF; they are serious and they are clearly in it for life. Tomorrow, they're having a bit of a brunch to which we are invited (the Hubs, K, and I) as well as the GF's mom and dad. (No siblings there.) So this is an occasion, I think, since these are people we are going to be somehow tied up with for the rest of our lives, no? Isn't that how it works? (If you didn't check the link, machatunim is the Yiddish word that means the parents of your own child's spouse. Either woman in the mix is the machatenesta, either man is the mahouten. There are no words in English that mean the same.) I'll report back tomorrow or Monday.

What else? Oh, the couponing thing is driving me crazy. This has got to be more trouble than it's worth. Even so, I shall persevere.

Dinner has arrived, so I'm off.




watching something awful :: ENTRY #2094
READING: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Ohai

I wish I could tell you that I haven't written in days because I've been leading such an exciting life, but that would certainly be untrue. I've done some reading, some shopping, some returning, some doctor stuff, and some marathon TV watching. That's about it.

Last first: I think it's probably not a good idea to watch too many Law and Order marathons of any kind. It makes me a little afraid to go into the outside world.

Reading. I started and gave up on a book called A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It's a Pulitzer Prize winner, and on the summer reading list for one of the new English electives at school. It was ... well, interesting, but too densely written for my tastes, and too crude for school, I think, although it is an elective for seniors. I gave up after a hundred pages. I'm currently reading, and on the verge of giving up on, a book about dieting and body-image and having healthy attitudes towards both, which R gave me to read. I'm down with all that it says, but it's saying it over and over and over. Even so, I'll stick with it for tonight and move on tomorrow, especially if I get the chance to go into school and drop off the book?s I'm done with and get another one that I want.

Oh, K and I did at last see the Harry Potter movie yesterday. What can I say? It wasn't a bad movie, but it was one of the worst adaptations of a book I've ever seen. It was as if all the heart of the book was gone. Less the halfway through the movie, I wanted to kill Dumbledore myself.

Doctor stuff, and I'm going to talk about the lady doctor and lady parts, so, you've been warned. Two doctors have pronounced me post-menopausal, so, yes! It's about time. Even so, there's some minor thing going on that needs investigation; the internist told me Friday to make an appointment with the ob/gyn and tell her I need a "hysteroscopy." I didn't know what that was, so I called, and they were all like "uh, no" and made me an appointment to talk to the doctor yesterday. Turns out that a hysteroscopy is a D & C, which I can tell myself that I don't need, and I certainly don't want, and the ob/gyn agrees, but now I have to have that all ultrasounded as well. So I'm doing that tomorrow when I get my thyroid ultrasounded. I already know that neither of these things is really any kind of concern, but I'll go and get scanned anyway.

Here's the crazy thing on my mind about all this. You know, when we are children, we explore our bodies and are familiar with what we've got and where everything is. (I don't mean just that; we also know every freckle on our hands and knees and feet, and all that stuff.) And as girls get a little older, we are warned of the changes that are about to befall us. (As are boys, I assume.) And the change comes, and it's more or less what we've been expecting. I don't remember being told ahead of time that I would get cramps each month that would double me over in pain, but I had an older sister, so that wasn't much of a surprise.

We are prepared for the change that comes at this end, too, but not nearly as well. For example, once you start piling on the pounds and can't get rid of them, only then does someone say, "Oh, yeah, that's menopause." WTF? I knew about the hot flashes, the mood swings, and some other stuff -- I had watched my mother for those clues -- but some of this other crap, really, I had no warning. Part of that is gravity taking hold, but just in general, it's like I'm trapped in a stranger's body. Not only are there new freckles and the like popping up daily, it's as if nothing is in the same place anymore. I don't know if I can be more clear than that, even if I were talking to you in person. It's just very, very strange. Makes me wonder what else is going to be relocating over the next 20 or 30 years.

No job yet for K, but a new opportunity may have opened up today, a really, really good one, so cross those fingers and toes, folks. Maybe this is the one that was meant to be after all.

Oh, and the girls gave us a really excellent anniversary gift over the weekend. It's in the living room, but it's a very rainy day today, so I don't have enough light to take a good picture to show. I'll try to get one tomorrow.




watching THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #2090
READING: Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby

HelpMe

So it's about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, and we're "watching" -- I use the term loosely -- the Michael Jackson Memorial, which I had vowed not to watch. I forgot that K would be home and would want to watch it, for the performances, she says. Probably. Anyway, I have to be quiet, because any remark I've made so far -- something about Stevie Wonder's song, I think -- she says "Well, you don't have to watch it, you know! I can go upstairs! You can change the channel!" Oy. So it's on. As I type, Al Sharpton is speaking. And I finally figured out who he reminds me of, but you've got to be old to get it:


This is the main cast of a TV show I loved when I was very young. It's called Amos 'n' Andy; it was based on a very successful radio show. Amos, on the left, was a hard-working, sensible cab driver who reminded me for some reason of my grandfather. Andy, on the right, was the slightly dumb buddy that you see on every TV show. The man in the middle was Kingfish, a demagogue in their little community, full of scam and bluster, and always trying to get Andy to buy into his doomed get-rich-quick schemes. The way he talked was bigger than life; every simple sentence was a performance, and almost nothing was ever sincere.

Guess who Al Sharpton reminds me of? Nothing like living up (or down) to the qualities of the worst kind of stereotype.

Anyway, Michael Jackson. I'm not that interested, but I'll say my piece. He was very talented, although I never understood the worldwide adulation. I don't think he was a pedophile. I think he was a damaged man who never grew up, and whose family exploited him from the minute they saw he had talent, and they still are, and they will continue to do so. His life, no matter how grandiose, was a sad one. If his children brought him joy, he and brought joy to them, so much the better. And now their lives will be sad because there is no way they can continue to live the sheltered lives they did, and everything will change for them. They've been put in the care of a 79 year old grandmother whose husband is certainly the man who made Michael what he was (not in the good way.) When the grandmother's time is done, they will pass to Diana Ross, who is 65, and has already raised her children. And then? Something needed to be more well thought out.

I wonder if this memorial is what he wanted, or if it's just what his father wanted so he could make a buck off the whole thing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

I felt pretty rotten yesterday after the colonoscopy, which is unusual. Fine for the first few hours, but then I had a low grade fever and could not get warm for hours, or eat. I felt better by nine or nine-thirty, and all through the night, though. I saw four on the clock before I fell asleep. This sucks. But will come in handy tonight, because R's flight, scheduled to arrive around 7:30, has been delayed (hello, Newark Airport!) and is now coming in around 1:45. That's in the a.m. But I'll be awake anyway, so what's the diff?



watching the travesty :: ENTRY #2081
READING: ----- by -----

Holiday Over, Back to Work

Doncha just love a holiday weekend? We had nice weather, too, although a little hot yesterday, still. Rain tomorrow, they're saying. Won't matter, I guess, if I'm indoors all day.

Five weeks to go, roughly. Which would be truly wonderful if I thought we had any source of income this summer. Ah, well. Not worrying about it has been working well for me since September, so I think I'll keep it up. Nobody else seems to be worrying about it, so I guess that's the general plan here.

It was such a nice, relaxing weekend, marred only by the only TV I could find to have on the background yesterday was the Jon and Kate marathon, and that's all so strange and sad, isn't it? Will I watch the new season start tonight? I don't know. I'll record it, and probably watch ten minutes of it tomorrow. I'm not generally drawn to trainwrecks.

R came for the afternoon today, which was lovely. Next Saturday is the day we picked for the MIL's birthday present. (Her 80th was in March.) We're taking her to lunch and shopping and having her pick out her own nice Vera Bradley bag. Ooh, I hope the weather is nice for that.

Anyway, four day workweek coming up, and those are always nice. CAT scan tomorrow for a change, no big deal.



watching TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #2052
READING: American Lion: Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham

Early Results Show

But first, clearing up yesterday's wrongly worded challenge. LA was right, it was Kermit who said "Hi Ho, Everybody!" But I was thinking of Louis Nye as Gordon Hathaway, in the man-on-the-street segment of the Steve Allen show; he always said "Hi Ho, Steverino!", which I think is where Kermit got it from, he was trying to sound like Gordon Hathaway. I promise to ask better questions in future.

Early results: K got a callback for a second interview at one of the schools she first-interviewed at last week. YAY! (Kermit says that, too.) And she picked up the suit she bought Saturday (it was being tailored) and it's lovely, and while we were out, she got two cheapo dresses at Target that fit her like they were made for her.

Also early results: I'm going back to the orthopedist tomorrow morning, but for some reason, he had a staff person call me just before with the results of the MRI: I have a bad bone bruise. So no surgery, always good. She couldn't read the rest of what he wrote, but she thought it said "crutches." Damn, I do not want to be on crutches, but he seems to want all the weight off it. Anyway, I tossed the crutches from last year's break into the car, and he'll clarify it all when I see him tomorrow. It would be easier to navigate school in a scooter than it would be on crutches, although I guess that would be overkill, especially since the cane alone seems to be helping. Again, will clarify tomorrow.

My hearing aids are still not back, which is pissing me off. They're always back in a week or less, and I don't think the office is even open on Friday, so the soonest I could get them would be Monday, assuming they even come in then.

Any Losties out there? A mind-blowing episode, eh?



watching TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #2044
READING: American Lion: Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham

Back in Muggle World

I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter lately, which tends to suck up my brain, but I finished the last book about an hour ago, so I thought I'd return to the land of real people (so to speak.)

Things are rolling along. I didn't wear a support on my knee today, but I took some Tylenol every four hours and it was much, much better. I have no idea what's up with that. No swelling, no bruise, just pain, and not where the break was two years ago. Huh.

As if you didn't already know this, I am going to Disney World with a pack of crazies. I was thinking of getting us some kind of matching t-shirts, just for a laugh, but now I just keep imagining what I might put on them, something about the crazy part of the family we're all descended from. I don't know. If one more person tells me that all the planning of the trip is in my hands and then tells me exactly how to plan it, I think I may scream.

I swear, I think of you guys all day long and plan out entries in my head, and then sit down at the keyboard and draw a blank. I haven't been commenting much lately either, in part because I read a lot of entries in school. Speaking of which ...

I don't know how many of you work with people who are completely clueless, but if you work in a public school, you do. There are always people who do not get the purpose of the whole institution, like secretaries who won't help kids and the like, but here's what we have going on. We have a technology department -- I generally refer to them as Computer Central -- staffed by Larry, Moe, and Curly. Each one is dopier than the next. (Their fourth member, new this year, is just a repairman, and he's the only one with a brain.) They have no sense whatsoever that there are people out there -- students, especially -- who actually need to use this thing they're working on, this network.

Last Friday was an in-service day, which meant staff in only, so naturally, the three stooges decided that this would be a good day to change the server. Oh yes, because there were no workshops that involved the use of the network or anything. I don't know how many people couldn't do what they were supposed to be doing because websites wouldn't come up.

Come Monday morning, guess what? Almost any website anyone went to turned up instead as a message that said that the site was blocked by our filtering software. Really dangerous sites, too, like CNN and AOL. Before 8:00, a half dozen kids had come to me in a panic because they had emailed homework to their AOL accounts but couldn't open them to print out.

So now it's Wednesday, and I can get CNN, but I cannot get most of your diaries at school. It's very frustrating. I have been very busy, but if I have ten minutes to spare between classes, I see nothing wrong with following up some stuff on Google Reader. But if I click something and it's blocked, then it's marked as Read in Reader, so I'm afraid I'll forget to come back to it. I have lost a few that way.

And did I mention that all the library resources that we use, and pay for via subscription, recognize our accounts by I.P. address? And that the new server, of course, has its own new I.P.? Why, I wonder, did they not wait until summer to do all of this, or do it when we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago? Because they have no sense that the network exists outside of their little world in which it is something to be repaired and tinkered with, never actually used by actual students and teachers.

So, swine flu. Are we all freaked out? Someone asked me that yesterday, and I said "Uh .. what?" Still, more people succumb to the regular flu. I understand why this is considered a pandemic, but I don't necessarily agree with what defines a pandemic. All things considered, very few people have been affected by this. I'm not saying it's nothing, but I don't feel personally threatened. (I hope that doesn't turn out to fall into the "Famous Last Words" category. That would be a bummer.)

I had to go to B&N after school to pick up a few books for the library. Suddenly today, we noticed that both our copies of Mien Kamph -- I don't want to get Googled for that -- were missing. No idea what that means. One of them just went out and came back a few weeks ago. With that title, I always fear censorship more than wannabees, so I'm a little concerned, but I picked up a replacement, as well as a few others. We'll see how long these all last.

Well, I finally got a full entry out, anyway. Looks like a good Lost tonight.



watching FRIENDS :: ENTRY #2034
READING: --- by ---

Waiting

We're under a winter storm alert starting at six tonight -- that's a half hour ago -- until six tomorrow night. They're predicting eight to twelve inches of snow for us, which certainly sounds like a snow day tomorrow, all except for one thing: no snow yet.

Not a flake has fallen since the little flurry this morning, and nothing stuck. I['m kind of expecting to get the robo-call from my school district around five a.m., at which point I'll look out the window and see a winter wonderland. Or not. Our chances of snow are 100%, so I guess it's coming. It sure would be nice to know whether or not to put out clothes for tomorrow, but I guess it won't hurt if I pick them out but don't use them.

My sister was supposed to be going to visit her son in California tomorrow, but her flight's already been canceled, so she'll be re-scheduling that.

I got a lot done today, but I never touched the tax stuff, since I guess I felt pretty sure I could do it tomorrow. I did five loads of laundry and got it all put away, made two days' worth of school lunches, and did indeed make a batch of breakfast burritos. I used a half dozen eggs and made eight of them. It didn't even take long, and now I know some changes I need to make for next time. Of course, the proof will be when I take one out to eat tomorrow, and see how good it is after being frozen and then nuked.

K just stepped outside for a smoke and came back in and said that it's eerily quiet out there, which is the big uh-oh, the literal quiet before the storm. You know that feeling of absolute quiet just before the blizzard hits? Yeah, that.

funny, I think it's already snowing in New England, north of us, and south of us as well. The ILs had some snow stick this morning, about an hour and half to our south. But the weather maps on TV are looking pretty scary, so again, I guess there's no escaping it.

Oh, I finished Like Water for Chocolate, which was short, and a wonderful book. Go for it if it presents itself to you. Now I need to see if I can get my hands on the movie. And also decide what to read next. I have a book here at home (Rabbit, Run by John Updike), a book at school that I picked out to read while I'm on hall duty during this week's testing (The Alchemyst, I don't remember the author), and a book on the iPhone (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.) I'm leaning toward the Updike tonight, which is also short, but I have to see if the print is hard for me to read, in which case, it's Sawtelle. I really loved last night's book, though.

And Golden Girls marathon on the Hallmark channel today! Can't beat that.



GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #1998
READING: ??? by ???

Catching Up

I've been ranting a lot lately, or talking politics at the very least, so it's time to catch up on ME.

There is nothing new in my life. There, we're caught up.

Today is the last day of freshman library orientation. Sad to say, I'm finding this not to be the brightest group we've ever had come through the school. I had noticed it when I did their ID card pictures. Each class seems to have some identifying group characteristic, and this year's ninth grade is just not all that clever. We had a class a few years ago -- K's class, in fact -- that made it clear shortly after they arrived that they were just really nice kids, and then we got reports on them from the middle schools and the elementary schools and it turned out they had been a sweet and delightful group from kindergarten on up, even when they were spread out over the different schools. In R's class, there were a lot of squirrely kids, and again, it didn't matter what school they come from, there were enough coming up from all of the schools that it was an obvious trait. One of the other mothers and I had started saying "There was something in the water that year" from the time the kids were in first grade.

Anyway, so the kids are a little dense, and the SCM is doing his usual, which is talking to people with the most complicated vocabulary he can muster, because that way, I guess, he looks smart. I'm sure he doesn't even realize that he does it because he's been doing it all his life. He also tends to use concepts as examples that are over their heads, and this year, it's just way over their heads. One of the things we explain is that the excuse "I only copied a little bit" is not an excuse for plagiarism because it's actually an admission of guilt; you're saying "I copied." I tell the kids that there's only two ways to go here, either you copied or you didn't, it doesn't matter how much. He goes another route, the metaphysical one, and compares it to other things that you can't do part way; he asks them "Can you only be a little dead?" This confuses them (it always has), and this morning, one class chorused "Yes!" because, you know, they've seen it on enough TV shows where people die and come back, and it happens in life, too. To them, a person can be a little dead. The SCM says to me that this means they weren't dead to begin with, and I said again "You can't talk philosophy with these kids." They think he's a nut case.

As for me, my handicapped class didn't turn up this morning and we re-scheduled for next week.

The phone rang last night at 11:30. I had already been asleep for two hours, so I thought it was the middle of the night. I don't keep the phone near me when I sleep unless I expect someone to call; this scared the crap out of me, and I'm lucky I didn't kill myself getting to it. It was a robo-call, but not a political one: one of the banks where we have an account was telling us not to use the credit card they gave us because they're merging or something. I didn't even know I had a credit card from that bank -- I thought it was just an ATM card -- and I've never used it. Damn. I was mad as hell, or at least as mad as hell as you can get when you're taking medication to keep you from getting mad as hell. If I remember and I have the time, I want to drop in there after school and ask the branch manager for his home number so I can call him tonight. Or at least complain. This was ridiculous.

A substitute was just here, making a sign for the classroom door to tell them to report to the library next period. She asked me how to spell library. Hmm.

Home.

I had a good checkup with Resnick the gastro guy today, but when I stopped by the bank, which has a branch in his building, they were already closed. After the doctor, I felt so good that I went out and got White Castle for dinner! OMG, I love WC, and haven't had it in forever because I mostly avoid beef, but I took a chance. A cheeseburger. It was heaven.

And then I came home and watched WifeSwap, which is turning into an odd hobby. It's like passing an accident; you know it's horrible, but you can't take your eyes off it. And it makes me do something that I never do, although my kids have always done: I talk back to the TV. Yesterday, for example, there was this unbelievably rich woman (who had four nannies to look after her three children, along with a cook, a housekeeper, and a driver) who was sent to a rural family -- in New Jersey, yes we have rural areas, too -- where, among other things, she was going to have to run the other woman's wood chopping business. At one point, she said to the camera "I've never done any kind of work in my life," and I sneered at the TV "Really?" Must. Break. Free.

I'm having a physical tomorrow afternoon, and as I said the other day, I'm basically okay, considering. I don't have to bring my lunch, since I'm leaving school after the morning, and I've already taken out my clothes and set up the coffee maker, so here it is, 6:45, and all my tasks are done.

So I guess that's it. It's getting good and cold here, and it's supposed to rain all weekend, which I hate, I hate rain on fallen leaves. Makes it seem like a deathtrap out there. Yeah, I'm normal.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1888
READING: Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis

How Excited Am I?

It looks like we may be getting to meet R's "gentleman friend", as she refers to him, in the near future.

Excellent.

This came out in emails with her this morning that started with a movie I thought she'd want to see that I'd recorded and continued on in an "Oh by the way" way. Maybe we can arrange to go out to dinner with them. I suggested that K meet the guy first -- got to pass the sister test, you know -- and she said they're having dinner together tomorrow night.

I am sooooo excited!

In other news, the SCM is back today and we are cordial, but no more, really. I'm better about the situation now, because I think I've done a few things, or made a few decisions, that give me a little bit of control back. He still can take off whenever he wants to because I can't stop that, but I've made some adjustments in the work he does, which is virtually nothing to begin with. Anyway, hard to explain, but I am better with it, which is all that counts.

I didn't watch Heroes last night because I knew I was too sleepy to follow it, so I guess I'll watch it over the weekend. I watched Two and Half Men instead, because I needed something mindless. This is, I think, the first time I ever saw it first-run when it was on; I usually just watch the syndicated reruns every day, which my kids think is the most ridiculous show on TV and they can't believe I watch it. Which means that in a year or two they'll discover it and they'll be watching it too. It's so hard to be a trendsetter. *sigh*

I slept right until the alarm this morning, very rare for me, so I woke up all kind of confused and in a way, five minutes behind on my routine since I always wake up at least five minutes before the alarm. Not that I don't have scads of time there in the morning, it's all a matter of who gets the bathroom or kitchen when. But it all worked out. Really, when the alarm goes off, I get up and go through all the steps like a robot, no thinking, just doing each thing in order until they're all done. That was one of the things I loved about this summer, not doing any of that, or at least, doing it in my own good time. But I made the mistake of having coffee with dinner last night, and even though it was decaf, it had me up three or four times. Note to self: don't do that anymore.

**************************************

I watched WifeSwap yesterday at 4:00 because there was nothing else on, an old one, I guess, and although the brief moments of that show I've seen before were annoying, this episode -- the first full one I've seen -- took the prize. In brief: one family is an upscale urban San Francisco clan with two adorable little boys; the husband is some kind of stylist (like he creates wardrobes and "looks" for people), and the other family is an Iowa farm group with two teenagers. Sounds fine at that point, but I gotta take a side here: the farm folk did not

- send their children to school because they worked full time on the farm
- clean their house, because they believe that all bacteria is good for you, or as the father said "Do you really think god would put anything on this earth that would hurt us?" Yes, he said that, and yes, I think we all know pretty well that He has.
- cook their food, including meat, because they believed that raw meat was better for you
- wash their hands, even if going directly from the never-been-cleaned toilet to prepare raw meat for dinner.

They did have a shower, which the swapped wife almost threw up when she saw. It too had never been cleaned, and was probably not all that much used, either.

I found this family infuriatingly stupid. Yes, of course, have your own lifestyle, knock yourself out. Eat raw meat, if you must, but you know, wash your damn hands first. And by the way, prepare your children for the world outside your farm. These children will know how to be good farmers, but they will have no skills whatsoever to function in the world beyond, which just maybe, they might need. It was as if these parents expect their children to live there with them forever. When the swapped wife suggested her changes -- part of the show's routine -- the 16 year old boy started shaking and crying, he was so angry.

Anyway, it was just really strange, I thought. And the only reason these people don't get sick, probably, is that they're never exposed to outside germs or bacteria, only to their own. Once again, not so much preparing their children for actual life.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Or something. Who used to say that? I have no idea.


WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1881
READING: When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

Glass Houses, Stones, and Double Standards

I have really got to stop reading about the campaign because they get me so keyed up. I could write a long entry every single day about the craziness that's going on, which would certainly be annoying to all of you, and although a release for me, not so much fun on this end either. I'm going to let my title stand on its own today and not expand on it, at least for today.

I have a sinus headache that is threatening to work its way out of my face, Alien-style. I don't get migraines, but I do get sinus-triggered migraines, which I expect this to be by tomorrow morning. What gets rid of a really bad sinus headache? In my experience, the key ingredients are a good decongestant, advil, and caffeine. All of which are forbidden to me for one reason or another, but tomorrow, I'll probably start a nasal spray decongestant for a couple of days; I don't think it'll do much, if anything, to my blood pressure. If I'm really in pain, I'll have a cup of real coffee, too; again, one cup won't hurt me that much. Advil, sadly, is all in the past for me, because that would have an immediate and very bad effect. So that's my story.

K is stressing out over the lesson plan she has to write for this week, and I'm being drawn in one way or another. Now, thinking up creative-type lessons is really one of my favorite worky things to do, but trying to meet the requirements of her assignment which wasn't explained well to begin with is not my idea of fun.

It's after six, so I suppose I should eat something or other. I'd like to get my lunch together tonight too, but I think I've done that once since school started, so I probably won't. Not so hard to do in the morning, anyway.

I Love Lucy is on, which is a show I have been watching for literally all of my life. Is this a universal thing? I mean, has everybody born since 1951 been watching I Love Lucy all of their lives? I still think it's funny, that Lucille Ball was a genius (of that sort of thing) and that it was so incredibly well-cast and well-made. I'm just saying. I mean, if there's nothing on, watching I Love Lucy is like putting on a comfortable old robe. I'm just saying.

WATCHING I LOVE LUCY :: ENTRY #1871
READING: Dear Senator by Essie Mae Washington-Williams

What I'm Watching

For a very long time now, I've had a little field at the end of each post that says "What I'm Watching" or "Watching" or something like that. I don't know if anyone ever notices it, but my TV is always on, so I make a note of what's there. I'd guess that about 50% of my entries tell you that I'm watching The Golden Girls.

I have a very satisfying relationship with television. I've mentioned before that I was born the week TV Guide first published; I'm one week older than Lucy Ricardo's baby. TV has always been there for me, and given my propensity to remember useless details about a lot of things, my knowledge of television since the 1950's is somewhat encyclopedic. (You know how I can always remember to spell encyclopedia? I sing along with Jiminy Cricket in my head.)

My most recent best friend on TV is George Lopez, which I may have also mentioned. I still watch the two episodes on Nick every night, although by now I have seen all of them (except one); I had started watching these kind of half-heartedly last fall. But when I was sick in December-January, this show somehow became very special to me. Each night, I would settle in, hoping to sleep at least a little, and when the music started: All.My.Friends.Know the Low Rider -- I would think, damn, made it through one more day. It was my marker.

I watched The Golden Girls sporadically when it was originally on; I thought it was funny and well done, but I didn't get into it. About ten years ago, K started watching it because a friend of hers -- Michael -- told her it was the funniest show on TV. Since I often found myself watching whatever my kids were watching, I got into it with her. And yes, I have seen every episode and I watch it every day -- many times -- and I have it all on DVD. Michael, now living, I think, in a gay commune in Hawaii, or some such thing, probably doesn't get Lifetime TV, but I'm guessing that he's sad today too, as are we all.

Estelle Getty was ill and not herself for several years, and so the news of her death brings a sense of relief that a loved one is at peace. I'm not saying that I feel about a TV character (or actor) the way I would about a family member, of course, but I'm saying that Sophia Petrillo et al. have played a role in my life. Sophia, in particular, who reminds me a lot of my grandmother (as millions of others will say also) and who was kind of an everyday elderly stable presence as I watched my mother decline and pass away.

There are articles about her everywhere, but I haven't seen something recently that I read about her years ago. Before she was ever cast on The Golden Girls, when she was an actress on Broadway, she was an activist against AIDS and on behalf of gay rights. This was in the early 80's. Watch the episodes of the show that deal with either of these subjects. I saw the AIDS one yesterday; Estelle Getty took the role of the ignorant one, the one who was afraid to drink out of a cup that someone who might have AIDS had used. It was so not who she was, but she used it and did it well to show how foolish such a thing is. She was such a wonderful actress, and a fine human being as well, I believe.

So that's my tribute to Sophia, whom I will continue to watch every day, for many years to come, I hope. She's my role model. If you gotta get old, hey, that's the way to do it.


WATCHING GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #1813
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

For Real

So, I can post an entry from the iPhone, but it's hardly worth giving up using the regular computer for. Even so, next time I'm not home (i.e., in DisneyWorld), I can do it if I want. I've got the little thing pretty well set up to do whatever I need it to do. I can't open and work on Word documents (although I can open them), but I can use Google documents if I need to do anything like that. So I'm okay with it. And it's cute and it's fun.

Again, nothing much happening here. R was here for the day and the four of us went out to dinner for this week's anniversary. Tomorrow looks to be a rainy day, so if we're up to it, a Target run, since we didn't go last week, but that's more to occupy some time than anything else; there's nothing we actually need to get. I have a Costco trip planned for Tuesday with my sister.

And that's it. I watched Persepolis last night, which was very good. I got nothing in particular for tonight, so I'll see what's on. I may have a couple of Quantum Leaps recorded, though, so if I do, I'll watch that for awhile.

WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1810
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

And Then It Got Exciting

Last night, I wrote:

R is currently waiting at the airport for a flight to visit friends over the holiday, a flight which I checked online so I know it's delayed. Sucks to be her.

Well. Ahem.

So, shortly after that, she learned that her flight to Atlanta was going to be so delayed that she would never catch the connecting flight from Atlanta to Charleston. The helpful ticket agent said she should fly to Atlanta (whenever the delayed flight finally tookk off), sleep in the Atlanta airport all night, and get the next flight to Charleston in the morning. She told him no, she wanted to rebook the whole thing to go today (which is what I had suggested to her.) He said, But then you'd have to spend the night in the airport here! (Newark.) Uh ... no, she lives here. So the arrangements were made, at which point she discovered that the trains were already on a holiday schedule (i.e., not running to her town), so K and went to the airport and got her, and took her home. And brought her back to the airport this morning. As of this moment, the first flight went well, and she's on her way to Charleston.

The annoying thing about all this is that the friend she's going to visit is a very peculiar friend, and she was also going there to see a guy, but they've since broken it off, so she's basically going because she didn't want to lose the money for the plane ticket. When she called the friend and explained the situation with the flight delays, she was annoyed, because she and her husband are working today, and they were counting on R to babysit, and to wait for the cable guy.

See?

Anyway, we were treated to fireworks in various towns as we made our way back from the airport last night, and R, who flew down to visit the same people last July 3, says it's very cool to fly over this country on the evening of July 3, because as you look out the plane window, you keep seeing fireworks below you. Neat.

In the meantime, I have the Twilight Zone marathon on -- wouldn't be July 4 weekend without it -- but I had to change the channel when "The Hitchhiker" episode came on, because it still scares me. My big sister told me -- as big sisters will do -- that the hitchhiker lived under my bed, or, if he got tired of that, in my closet. For years after that, I slept in the very center of my bed, still as a soldier all night, with a series of dolls on either side of me. I dearly loved my dolls, but I kind of hoped that when the hitchhiker reached up to grab me, he would get one of them first by mistake, thus providing me with valuable escape time. I also slept every night for years with my closet and room doors wide open, and the blinds up and curtains open, so that light from the street would illuminate all corners. *sigh* She also didn't take me to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium, but that's a story for another day. But she does go to doctors with me and otherwise is the best sister in the world, so I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.

The New York City oldies station (WCBS-FM) is playing its entire playlist in alphabetical order this week. Unusual, and interesting, and sometimes surprising. Sadly, they are now a 60s-70s-80s station as opposed to their previous 50s-60s-70s, but okay. This afternoon I went through my iTunes and put together a similar huge list, although not as huge as theirs, I suppose, and if you take away Bon Jovi, there's not a whole lot of 80s. (And mine has Buddy Holly.) Anyway, it's a big list; it's amusing to see the songs arranged that way, and to see which songs I have more than one version of and I'm keeping there. Sometimes, more than one artist had a hit with the same song. So there's a bunch of those. I think I can listen to this mix for weeks before I get to the end of it.

I too love July 4, as many of you have said. We used to have a barbecue here at my house, but since my parents are gone and my sister's kids are dispersed and/or at their in-laws' beck and call, it's faded away. We loved it, though; I may have posted some pictures in the past. Anyway, I'll close out today with one of my favorites, circa 1991:


(My kids are the two smallest, nephew JJ is the biggest, and the other two are the twins, Wonderful Niece and Good Guy. And in the middle, pre-cancer Shirl, and Jack, who hated to have his picture taken, but loved his grandchildren above all.)


WATCHING THE TWILIGHT ZONE :: ENTRY #1798
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Oh, Might As Well ...

.. start writing in school. I haven't done that this week, I think. But I am now brain-fried, brain-dead, wiped out. I stayed up for Lost last night, and then, as anticipated, couldn't get to sleep until maybe 1.00. And I finished grading those projects just before lunch today. They were mostly not bad, but those kids who made the mistake about not spelling the town's name right -- there were three of them -- I just don't know. One of them spoke to me about it, but I hadn't even given their papers back yet, and he didn't know if I had graded his project yet. (I had graded it just about an hour before he came in.) Which means he knew the mistake was there. And this is the kid who checked it with me just before he handed it in. So I'm guessing he did it on purpose as a kind of test to see what I would do. I do not appreciate that.

I reached a last-straw kind of moment last night and decided that I will not bring my lunch anymore, or even have breakfast and coffee at home before I leave for work in the morning. Believe it or not, this leaves me a fair amount of down time, even though I get up around six and leave the house around seven. This morning, it gave me time to run by McDonald's on my way to school, get a breakfast burrito and eat it in the car, and then have coffee to bring into school with me. I also bought my lunch in school, which is going to take more thought to get right because all I had today was one slice of less than lovely pizza and a horrid salad.

.
.
.

Just took a break here; a kid was showing me his iPhone in great detail and ooooohhhhhh wantwantwantwantwant. But will not get, not at least for some time. I just got a new phone in January, so I'm not switching away from that until the contract expires, and anyway, I'm not doing it. Unless. I have a ticket for the PTA raffle next Wednesday and first prize is a $1000 gift certificate to the mall, which I would happily spend at the Apple Store and the Bare Escentuals Store, and have half leftover to split between the girls. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I won't hold my breath. Although I do think that a person who buys a $10 ticket to the PTA raffle every year for 32 years should eventually win, no?

So now I have a mere twenty minutes left in my workday, after which I will go home and kill an hour before going to visit the therapist at four. That gives me an hour to try to remember all the stuff I wanted to talk about yesterday. Who makes an appointment for a Friday afternoon?

And today, of course, would be the birthday of Jack, which I mentioned earlier in the week, which means my cousin's grandtwins are six today. Their mother has no interest in visiting the East Coast, so although I saw them when they were a year old (because I was in Colorado), I am unlikely to see them again. That first year, we got daily email bulletins from their father -- they had been born at about 29 weeks, I think -- and they were apparently the only adorable children ever born on earth, these days we get nothing except a printed picture at Christmas along with a tacky newsletter, which really, I thought the kids' dad, who writes them, was way beyond, especially considering that he writes for a living. But whatever. Did not mean to get into any sort of weird rant today.

Oh god, why are kids still taking books out? Do they not see the photocopier right over there? Any book checked out today will only have to be ruthlessly hunted down in two weeks when it is overdue, even though I'm telling each one of them that all of our books are due back next Friday. I can see how June is shaping up for me. At least they're not seniors.

And .... at the bell ....


WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1767

It's a Simple Question

Why isn't Lost on at eight, or some other reasonable hour? Seven? I'm just saying.

So here was my amusing moment of the day. Sometime during second period, I got up and left the library (as I do) and I noticed that there was a piece paper on the floor right at the threshold. I stooped to pick it up and saw that it was printed, and taped to the floor; I looked around and saw several others taped to the corridor walls and floor in various places. It seems that one of the biology teachers, for a lesson on evolution or something, put these signs up in relative positions all over the corridor to give the kids a sense of the huge spans of time between each development. The sign at the entrance to the library was



(Sorry for the blur.) Anyway, this just amused the hell out of me, and, I felt, demanded a reply. So I wrote up a post-it (the lime green blob in the picture), on which I wrote in black Sharpie

"However, these organisms were not Mrs. Chai and Mr. SCM" and underneath, in script, "The Management"

Because really, didn't the original sign make it look like the first organisms were, y'know, there? In the library? It was literally at the edge of the library carpeting.

So, in other news, I went to my therapy appointment today and she was not there. I am a little concerned that perhaps her chemo did not go well last week. I called to leave a message about rescheduling, and her voice mail said that she would be out of the office until the 26th; this being the 29th, I have to wonder why she has not changed that yet. So I hope she's okay. I really do like her very much, and I think that going there is good for me.

K and R are both taking pre-Lost naps, but I think that's a bad plan for me. I just have to tough it out, I guess, or stay the hell out of the faculty room tomorrow.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1766

Missions Accomplished

That really has taken on a kind of ironic new meaning, hasn't it: mission accomplished? Thank you yet again, Mr. President.

Anyway, I got a lot done between last night and all day today. I moved all my music off my computer and onto a separate hard drive that I already had, so now I have about half my hard drive free. And it looks like they don't carry RAM for my computer anymore anyway, so all I need to do now is get the new operating system -- Leopard -- and put that on. I'm all backed up and ready to go.

I went to the podiatrist this morning and got my orthotics, so now I have to get used to them, an hour today, two hours tomorrow, etc. And this should really help my feet. The podiatrist is a very nice man, but a little odd, because, you know, feet all day, but I got them and that's that.

And I finally got my tattoo. I'll put up a picture over the weekend; I just uncovered it a few minutes ago and put on its first layer of shiny. It's very simple, of course, and took five minutes. Chi Chi was ready and waiting when I got there. I had a 2.00 appointment and I was home by 2.15.

And it was a day off, which was just so lovely. I slept until 8.00, showered and had breakfast leisurely, and didn't have to rush with my hair or make-up. It was a much nicer day today, after a rainy, raw week, and promises to be in the seventies every day through next Friday.

Okay then. I have Enchanted to watch tonight, having caught up on my Law and Orders until next season, I guess.

Are you really, really excited for chaos? Everybody wave bye-bye and throw a big kiss!

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1761