VaCaDay 2

So it's Sunday, which feels like a vacation day most weeks anyway, but I'm very full of the vacation mindset, so that's what it is. Even though we made our normal Sunday Target run, which is the same as every other week.

I slept badly last night, and took two naps today, one in the morning before K even got up, and another this afternoon. In between, my mission has apparently been to fine tune my little list of what I want to do this week, and do whatever I could get done today, which was filing or shredding papers, making sure I had no bills to pay, and straightening up my desk. Whenever I get up tomorrow, which is likely to be around 7.30, I can start getting other things done, like a trip to CVS and to Kohl's. I seem always to be motivated to get things done and crossed off my list so that my list will be empty and I will have no tasks to do, but then, of course, I'm bored. Gotta work that out in my head before I retire, eh?

As I mentioned on Twitter last night, I got an unexpected call from my dear OldFriend, who had herself unexpectedly heard that her brother died. Now, she is as good hearted and gentle a person as lives; she is just like her father was, who died suddenly when we were 16. Her brother was her step-brother, 8 years older, and from her mother's first marriage. He was an angry, unhappy person, just like their mother is. Some years ago, he cut off all contact with OF and her mother, not because he had any issues with his sister, but because I guess for him it was all or nothing. Sadly, OF was at that time depending on him for a lot of support -- not financial -- because she was having a lot of medical problems and he was a well-reputed doctor in another state who was trying to get her connected to the right doctors who could help her. And then one day he stopped calling, as if he vanished off the face of the earth. So she is lacking any kind of closure with him, is not really sure how he died, and is surprised that his grown daughter even called her to tell her. (And said, btw, please tell your mother. Not what's grandma's number, or will you tell grandma? Just please tell your mother. That her son died. Not a great job for anyone, but especially not for someone who isn't strong herself.) So that was last night's situation. OF apologized for calling me (not sure why) and said she didn't know what else to do, and I reminded her that she is to call me anytime ever for anything. We go back a long way together.

So it was a quiet day today; everybody took a long walk except me, but I'll get there. I have the whole Deathly Hallows audiobook loaded on the iPod, so that's a lot to listen to when I walk. I'm shooting for Tuesday, if not tomorrow.

WATCHING THE GOODBYE GIRL :: ENTRY #1733

Taking a Walk

So. I took my car for the new radio this morning, and while it was being done, I took a walk.

I am fairly certain that I did not recently write about one of my happiest childhood memories, although I was thinking about it recently. If I Peter Pan were to sprinkle fairy dust on me, this is the thought that would make me fly. If I were at Hogwarts, this is what would conjure me a Patronus.

I grew up on a street that was three blocks long; we lived near the end of the middle block. The first block rose up a little towards the highway that is one of the main roads through Bizarro Town. The bus from New York City uses this highway as its major route through town. When I was small, I was not permitted to go off of the second block, and certainly not up to the highway.

But if I knew that my grandparents were coming to visit, I roamed the limits of my block, looking hopefully up towards the highway. I knew that after they stepped down off the bus, they would appear at the crest of the street, at which point I would be free to run up to them, taking a package from one, perhaps, as I danced excitedly beside them while they walked wearily towards my house. They were always burdened with bags and packages and suitcases; it was Grandma Ida's way of life. My happy moment would be the instant I saw their recognizable figures come into view.

So the car audio place I went to was on the highway, where it intersects with the street of my childhood home. I put on my headphones, turned on my iPod, and turned right out of their parking lot, which put me at the crest of the hill, suddenly a player on the other side in my childhood memory.

I walked down the street, all the way down to the third block. Once I hit the second, though, I could look at each house and remember the people who lived there long ago. The names did not always come to me, but the faces did. My parents' best friends lived near the end of the third block; they had helped my parents find the house to buy. I spent a lot of time here.

At the end of the third block, I looked across the street and saw an empty lot -- still empty; there's a huge drainage ditch here -- where we played all the freaking time as we got older. I took a left, and came up the last two blocks of the street next to mine. I passed the house where my third grade teacher lived. I passed the house where I babysat when I was a teenager.

Before I came up the third block, though, I turned right, passed one house, and saw this before me:



So, they finally put a cut-through in the fence. I always just climbed over it.



Trees? Why would you put trees right in the middle of the playground? Hey, when I was a kid, this school was jammed; we would have run headlong into trees in the middle of the playground for sure. I guess the population's a little thinner now.



This is just a piss-poor imitation of the backstop I used to climb. For one thing, there's no actual ball field anymore; it's mostly overgrown, so I guess they're not expecting much ball playing here. The town leagues don't use this field to play on. And is it just me, or is the backstop a lot shorter than it used to be?



The building to the right is the new addition. It used to be one big open field, but now, this building breaks it up. There's still a little playground on the other side of it.



The two story building on the left is the original school, built in 1923. Not only did I go to elementary school here, the MIL is a graduate as well.



You're wondering what this is. It's the faint outline of a white dodgeball circle that's been painted over. I don't know that dodgeball has been banned here in Bizarro Town as it has in many other places, but I guess it's not encouraged. They used to paint these circles on the ground so that a class could come outside for recess or phys. ed. and have a specific place to play.

What makes this dodgeball circle special? In fact, it's the specific spot in the circle I was standing on to take the picture that rang the bell of my memory. This is the spot I was standing on when our fifth grade teacher told us that President Kennedy had been shot.

I moved on. I hit the Dunkin Donuts, and then went back to the car shop, where the guy had finished early (!) and my car was ready. Nice little radio, not too expensive. Too many buttons, though.

And I finally got the new car inspected this afternoon, the bastards. There was NO LINE, but it still took a half hour for a five minute inspection, because the line my car was on just stopped dead with no one working it for about twenty minutes. On the other lines, five people who came in after me left before I did.

It was an interesting day.

WATCHING DR. PHIL :: ENTRY #1580

Vacation Mode, Revisited

With no school today, I slipped right back into a summer vacation state of mind, and it was good. There was even the obligatory trip to a car mechanic, which was not good. But mostly it was a quiet day, with a side trip to Target, of course, and not much more.

Here in the Garden State, all cars must be inspected every other year -- used to be every year -- and there is a sticker on the windshield that indicates when, and if, the car has passed. K's car failed last month, I'm sure I have mentioned, for an allegedly loose headlight cover.

It's free to get your car inspected at a state-run inspection facilities, but these are the people who give public employees a bad name. They have power, and like to toy with people. If the inspectors are out of sorts, they find some reason to fail your car. Which is what happened, since the car passed two years ago when the headlight was in the same condition.

But you can take your car to a private facility, a garage with a state contract, and pay for your inspection. I chose this method rather than get back on the line and have those schmucks find something else wrong with it. Well, it was a good plan in theory.

My own mechanic can't be bothered with the state (smart man), so he doesn't do inspections. I found a station nearby that would, and called yesterday to make an appointment. The guy said to bring that car at noon, and it would take maybe an hour. I had explained that there was really nothing wrong with the car (as my own mechanic had already tightened the headlight.) So.

I took K's car over at noon, and asked when I should return. The guy says, he'll call sometime in the afternoon, when it's done. I said my daughter needed the car to go to class at 3.30, and he says, well, he doesn't know, it's noon now, and most of the guys have just gone to lunch, and there are other jobs ahead of me. WTF? Why did I call for an appointment? Why tell me noon if it's their lunch hour?

Anyway, I walked home, about a mile, which was the best part of the day. Beautiful day today. I don't seem to huff and puff as much anymore when I walk, and my feet don't hurt any more when I'm walking than they do at any other times. (When I wake up, the first thing I'm aware of is that my feet hurt.) But my hip hurts when I walk, my right hip. This, I'm sure, has something to do with the chiropractic stuff. Should I be continuing with that? I guess so, although there was no chance to go this week because he's closed for the Jewish holiday tomorrow. It was basically a good walk, though.

I'm taking my car in for the radio tomorrow at 10, which they say should take about a half hour. Uh huh. We'll just see about that. But there's a Dunkin Donuts across the street, and it's in a part of town that I'd really love to just walk around in, because it's the part of town where I grew up. I drive through it often enough, and sometimes even past my old house and elementary school, but it would be amusing to walk past the house, and around the school yard. Both are very different than they were when I was a kid. The house looks weird to me, but isn't it always like that? They've taken down the two big trees that were in the front, and replaced the windows, so it does look strange. It was actually a very nice house, for a split level:



The school yard has changed, of course, because they put a big honking addition onto the school building last year, just like they did to the high school. I would always go there when I was a kid and I wanted some alone time. Sometimes, I would climb up the back of the backstop and sit on top of it for awhile. Great view. I don't think there's even a baseball field there anymore, let alone a backstop.

WATCHING LAW & ORDER :: ENTRY #1579

I Walked to Work This Morning

Today was the last leg of the Great Summer Car Repair Marathon, and K's car was in the shop, but she had a doctor's appointment. So I walked the mile or so. It was fine; I was a little achy here and there, but not worn out or anything, as I usually am when I walk. I paced myself, I listened to George Harrison tunes, I was fine. Then I got to work and I looked in a mirror.

I swear I never knew my hair even could frizz up like that. Roseanne Roseannadanna, anyone?


Which was a shame, because my haircut looked very cute yesterday and very sucky today. I'll have to work on it some.

The thing about yesterday's entry is not that I don't get good bras, because I am a big supporter *ahem* of going to a good shop -- a corsetier, if you will -- and getting fitted. It's just that the straps slip and stretch over time, and I just never think to tighten them up. But I will now.

I didn't get to the pep rally today because I had a meeting, and then K picked me up right at the bell, so I don't know how my little freshmen did with their cheer. I'll ask someone on Monday. But a few people on the staff told me today that they were amused by my routine the other day. As it happens, I had completely forgotten that the faculty was standing in the back of the auditorium at the time. Heh oops.

And that's it. Have I only been back at work for a week? Not even, actually. It feels like I never left.

WATCHING LAWNORDER :: ENTRY #1575

Half Over

August 1 -- okay, August 2 -- makes the summer half over. So far, one of the strangest and least satisfying of my 54 summers, but all in all, okay. Nothing terrible happened, I actually went on a nice vacation, I got pretty jewelry, I don't have a heart condition ... I don't know, maybe this is a kind of unease that will be with me during the summers until I retire. There's a nasty thought. Anyway, it's okay, it's just not spectacular. I'm not sure what it would have to be to be spectacular, but it's okay.

I just finished that Good Omens book, which was likewise okay. I like very much that I'm reading more this summer. At least when I wonder in September where all the time went, I'll know I read several good books. Still debating what to pick up next, but I have several at hand.

When I got up yesterday, I decided to go for a walk in the park, but as soon as I got there I needed the bathroom, of course, and theirs had been demolished to make way for a new one. I got back in the car to come home, but decided to go instead to the town's new Recreation Center, which I had heard has a walking track. (And a bathroom, I assumed.) So I got myself signed up there and walked the track for ten minutes or so. The thing is, the track is 1/16th of a mile, so it's pretty short, and just after I started walking, around 9.00, troops of adolescent boys charged into the gym (which the track overlooks, like a balcony surrounding the gym) for summer basketball camp. I could barely hear my headphones over the noise. Anyway, ten minutes was my limit, so home I went.

I went back this morning, but still could only manage about 10 minutes, even though I got there well before the basketball boys. Even so, and despite two attempted naps during the day that were aborted by ill-timed phone calls, I managed to do a 20 minute workout with one of the Walk Away the Pounds videos this afternoon. Looks like that may be my best way to go, especially since the Rec Center is closed for cleaning or something during the third week in August, and their hours during the school year won't work for me at all.

What about the gym? I'm still thinking about it. For one, I have to get into better shape just to use the gym. It's one thing to peter out after ten minutes when I'm four minutes away from home. It's another to drive ten minutes each way, sign in, put stuff in a locker, and then crawl out of there ten minutes later. And I learned last year that it was hard to work regular trips to the gym into a my work week. But I'm not giving up on it totally yet. I should be ready to investigate that option again in a week or two. For now, I've got to get up tomorrow morning and walk away some pounds before I do anything else, I think. I'll give it a shot, anyway.

In other news, K is finished with her summer class, so she's got the month of August off, too. I'd like to plan a day trip into the city with her to visit my OldFriend, hopefully the week after next.

In other, wonderful news, there was an article in the town paper today that a former student, in fact, a boy who was Junior class president when I was class advisor, is back from his second tour in Afghanistan, having served there for a total of 25 months. A wonderful, wonderful boy, an Eagle Scout, he was an intelligence officer there. When he came home, our Congressman, who, it so happens, moved here to Bizarro Town not long after he was elected, was there to greet him as well. I was very, very happy to see that this young man is home safe and sound. Nice news.

I'm late posting tonight because I was finishing the book, and now I'm tired and sleepy. Time to settle in for the night.

WATCHING LAW & ORDER :: ENTRY #1542

It's Always Something

Had a pretty quiet day, for the most part, all except the aggravation in the last couple of hours. It was the kids. Is it ever not kids? I mean, how old do they need to be before parents don't have to feel like they're in the middle?

Prior to that, I actually got out and took a walk this morning, but I was really ill-prepared for it; I hadn't dressed properly so I got too hot too fast, and I started off walking too fast and I felt shin splints coming on so I had to slow down and cut it short. I will probably not walk tomorrow, since I have a pedi with the Sibs at 10 and I have been managing to sleep until 7 or 8 so far since my actual vacation started, but I will later in the day, if it's cool, or on Monday. I'll wear shorts and bring water with me. Or go to the gym. *ahem*

Otherwise, I upgraded Firefox today and then everything was screwed up for awhile, but I think it's back to normal now. And then R came by. She put in laundry, got a haircut, and then the two of them went to the movies.

As long as they were both gone -- I don't get that much alone time until K starts class again -- I watched Dreamgirls, which came in the Blockbuster mail like a month ago. I really liked it a lot. The only thing I don't understand is how Jennifer Hudson got the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, because she was clearly the star of it and the story was really about her character, so she should have been the lead. But I guess it was a billing thing, and Beyonce was the bigger star going in. But Jennifer Hudson had the amazing voice and acted up a storm.

So the girls got home around 6, I confirmed that they were having sushi on their own instead of Chinese with us, and I ordered the food for the Hubs and me. But within ten minutes or so, R developed an upset stomach and said she was better off without sushi. So she finished up what she needed to, the Hubs picked up our food, and somehow, K was left here without dinner. And she wasn't in a good mood, and I couldn't blame her. Anyway, we've since resolved it, and it's not like they were having a fight or anything, but it was awkward0-feeling there for a bit, which you know, I don't care for.

Okay, and now K has gone off upstairs and I have a headache, so I need to decide whether I should find something to watch or something else to do or what.

WATCHING FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF :: ENTRY #1512

News Flash

[copied from dland]

I cooked a meal. Now my house smells like cabbage -- Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, table for two? -- and I washed about a million dishes and pots and things, but we had the traditional holiday/birthday meal and it was good. And I was good; I had everything, including some soda bread, but a reasonable amount of all of it.

My hearing aids are coming along nicely. Most of the time I'm not even aware of them, which is pretty much what you're going for with these things. But things sound strange when I'm in the car, and when I'm singing along with the music in the car -- oy. I can't even explain it. I'll have to try singing someplace else to see what it sounds like, but since I don't exactly sing in public, I'll have to wait until I'm home along and give it a go.

Otherwise, a quiet day. I did finally get to see all of An Inconvenient Truth; I'd already fallen asleep to it three times, which is why I'm keeping it on the DVR, for occasions when I need to fall asleep and have nothing else to lull me there. It was really quite good. (It's just easy to fall asleep to the sound of one person speaking for a period of time.) I like Gore and I believe him, so that's that. Even if he's not 100% accurate, it seems pretty clear that he's on the right track; our own everyday eyewitness evidence should prove it.

My last task for the evening is to find a daily podcast, about 15 minutes long, that I can listen to while I'm walking the school hallway tomorrow morning at 7.00 am, which is a good time to get my walk in. When I walked Friday morning, the only person I ran into was the head custodian, who said "Doing your laps?" which I was. The building is bigger now, so I can stretch one lap into 15 minutes, which is better than nothing. As you may have guessed, I haven't been to the gym in a few weeks. I'm blaming the weather, and I'm sticking to it.


WATCHING THE WINNER :: ENTRY #1405