I'm half-asleep, but I've been thinking about blogging about this for a few/several days now.
Last weekend, I met up with some people I had found through Facebook to go see our former fifth-grade (for them, she was sixth-grade) teacher. She's a little old lady now and there may be more for me to write about her some other time, but during the visit, the other two women who'd been her students and I were talking about the school and other teachers there and one of the other women mentioned a story about someone, a boy who had been doing some singing...and I immediately said "Robert Puleo?" And she said yes, that's who it was. (I'm not repeating the story--if he ever found this blog, I'm sure he'd be grateful--it's just too embarrassing even just to hear about it 40-some-odd years later, never mind having had to live through it.)
Anyway, we talked about him for a couple of minutes. I told them that Robert had been my co-star in a play I'd written when I was 13--actually, he may only have been in the following year's play that I wrote (this was a summer school production, nothing major) and that I knew his mother was a voice teacher and he was singing opera. And we wondered what had happened to him and I said I'd tried Googling him with no success in the past.
A few days after the visit, I tried again. And came up with an old NY Times article written about his being a washed up opera star at the age of 15--because, yes, that's when his voice changed. A little further Googling turned up that he's apparently written an opera or two, but nothing very substantial.
And then I tried Youtube. There's two videos of Robert, both of them apparently taken the same place/time. It's a restaurant on Thanksgiving and in one he's singing "O Sole Mio," a song I've never much liked--and I couldn't even finish listening to this version.
He's got a two (or three) piece band behind him, but for the next #, it seems he went with some canned music, which poses some technical issues at first, not least of which because the restaurant crowd isn't paying any attention. The song is "Nessun Dorma" and Googling tells me this is from Puccini's Turandot. And it's beautiful and after a rocky start, the audience starts paying attention until by the end they're cheering and clapping like mad--he totally wins them over. And it's a wonderful performance and it's stayed with me and I wanted to blog about it. I don't know where else to write about it--maybe I'll find someone else to tell, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=askDz8DFYbM
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
writing
I just caught up on my favorite blog (not sure she'd want it published here, so I won't--not that there's a whole heck of a large audience that I have) and she wrote at some point about going to a women's writers' conference--and I am so envious. She's apparently writing stories and I haven't done that in so long. I do think about writing every once in a while. It just happens so very rarely.
Sometimes I think I'm making very poor choices for how I spend my time. Blogging is one of the better choices, actually, because at least I'm writing something. But there's other choices I'm having trouble with, too. Like, when should I have a root canal that I've been told I need? How should I time it so it doesn't make traveling to see my mother and stepfather (a ticket I have been procrastinating about buying for weeks now, I might add) more difficult? I have several things I could do today, including putting everything together for my website so my web designer can make the changes that need to be made.
I'm bad about making choices about where/on what to spend my money, too. And there's so many things I should (or "should") be spending it on and I'm not sure where to start, much less what to do after I start. I find myself wishing that Capital One hadn't given me such a big credit line because there's a great temptation to just buy everything I need at once and then take probably years to pay it down and I just don't think that's a great idea at all.
Anyway, I do need to get to work on the website and I also need something for breakfast...er, lunch and I need to stand up so my back doesn't hurt so much. Or, if I'm lucky, at all. So I'll just have to come back and write some more soon.
Sometimes I think I'm making very poor choices for how I spend my time. Blogging is one of the better choices, actually, because at least I'm writing something. But there's other choices I'm having trouble with, too. Like, when should I have a root canal that I've been told I need? How should I time it so it doesn't make traveling to see my mother and stepfather (a ticket I have been procrastinating about buying for weeks now, I might add) more difficult? I have several things I could do today, including putting everything together for my website so my web designer can make the changes that need to be made.
I'm bad about making choices about where/on what to spend my money, too. And there's so many things I should (or "should") be spending it on and I'm not sure where to start, much less what to do after I start. I find myself wishing that Capital One hadn't given me such a big credit line because there's a great temptation to just buy everything I need at once and then take probably years to pay it down and I just don't think that's a great idea at all.
Anyway, I do need to get to work on the website and I also need something for breakfast...er, lunch and I need to stand up so my back doesn't hurt so much. Or, if I'm lucky, at all. So I'll just have to come back and write some more soon.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tonight/tomorrow
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the fall of the Twin Towers. It's far enough away now not to be a complete horror--unless, of course, I think about it too much. But that's not what I'm thinking about tonight, in any case.
I feel lucky. This year, unlike years past, I didn't start getting depressed a month or so before this day on the calendar. I suppose I've been keeping busy, focusing on what was right in front of me and not much else. Of course, I've always been good at denial. But maybe what that is, besides a survival mechanism, is there's just so much brain power that I've got and it seems to be getting less and less as time goes on and I really just can't think of everything all at once all the time. But, then again, who can? (Other than those poor people with total recall--I used to work with one of them and he was ... sad. But that's another topic.)
But tonight I'm starting to feel it. I suppose some of it may be because today's "West Wing" du jour was the death and funeral of Dolores Landingham. I've watched that now more times than I can count and it still gets to me. Tonight a bit more than it has been, but I think that's understandable.
I miss Mouse. I miss John. I have regrets about each of them, but I'm prepared to forgive myself (and others, where appropriate) and move on. But that leaves me with the sorrow of their loss. The empty places in my heart--esp. where John should be. This assumes that having had more years with him, I would have kept loving him more and more, which I'm not sure is possible. Or at least it's that whatever time one gets to spend with a loved one, that's more memories, more life lived with that person and it becomes part of who you are and losing the person leaves a space that they're no longer going to fill. I'm sure others have written much better about what I'm trying to describe.
It feels good that I'll be doing something productive to honor Mouse on Saturday. I hope to find ways tomorrow to honor both of them, actually, as well as the fallen on 9/11. I hope not to work--at least, that's what I'm planning on, but we'll see.
I need to get more work done tonight, so I'll have less to do over the weekend. I suspect I'll be back here before long. Good night, Mouse. Good night, John.
I feel lucky. This year, unlike years past, I didn't start getting depressed a month or so before this day on the calendar. I suppose I've been keeping busy, focusing on what was right in front of me and not much else. Of course, I've always been good at denial. But maybe what that is, besides a survival mechanism, is there's just so much brain power that I've got and it seems to be getting less and less as time goes on and I really just can't think of everything all at once all the time. But, then again, who can? (Other than those poor people with total recall--I used to work with one of them and he was ... sad. But that's another topic.)
But tonight I'm starting to feel it. I suppose some of it may be because today's "West Wing" du jour was the death and funeral of Dolores Landingham. I've watched that now more times than I can count and it still gets to me. Tonight a bit more than it has been, but I think that's understandable.
I miss Mouse. I miss John. I have regrets about each of them, but I'm prepared to forgive myself (and others, where appropriate) and move on. But that leaves me with the sorrow of their loss. The empty places in my heart--esp. where John should be. This assumes that having had more years with him, I would have kept loving him more and more, which I'm not sure is possible. Or at least it's that whatever time one gets to spend with a loved one, that's more memories, more life lived with that person and it becomes part of who you are and losing the person leaves a space that they're no longer going to fill. I'm sure others have written much better about what I'm trying to describe.
It feels good that I'll be doing something productive to honor Mouse on Saturday. I hope to find ways tomorrow to honor both of them, actually, as well as the fallen on 9/11. I hope not to work--at least, that's what I'm planning on, but we'll see.
I need to get more work done tonight, so I'll have less to do over the weekend. I suspect I'll be back here before long. Good night, Mouse. Good night, John.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Shibboleth
Just watched the West Wing episode with that title (not sure I've spelled it right, but it's late). It's an episode that really hangs together very well. It's a Thanksgiving episode, so the theme of people coming here to flee religious persecution is quite apt, but there's also the side theme of school prayer and how it can be used to persecute children if they choose to sit it out.
Yeah, I'm tired, I should go to bed. But I wanted to write something about it. It's the last episode on this particular DVD and I'll start something else tomorrow. In-between working on the Job From Hell, of course.
But I wanted to mention a passing thought that keeps passing and I keep forgetting to do something about it--I want to find the atheist charities. I know there was an atheists' group that a friend of mine started and it turned out to attract a lot of libertarians. And that's not the kind of people I want to be around. For one thing, I don't see atheism as a political thing. Maybe it's the Jew in me, but I want to find a group of atheists that want to make the world a better place. Of course, I suppose libertarians are trying to do that, I just don't agree with their perspective. But I mean that I want to find the people who are trying to feed people, cure their ills, take care of children...all those things that a lot of religious charities do, but without all the religious, I'll call it baggage. I believe that people can both be good and do good without believing in a deity and I think there are atheists out there who act in a civilized, humanistic, caring way and I want to try to join forces with them.
Yeah, I'm tired, I should go to bed. But I wanted to write something about it. It's the last episode on this particular DVD and I'll start something else tomorrow. In-between working on the Job From Hell, of course.
But I wanted to mention a passing thought that keeps passing and I keep forgetting to do something about it--I want to find the atheist charities. I know there was an atheists' group that a friend of mine started and it turned out to attract a lot of libertarians. And that's not the kind of people I want to be around. For one thing, I don't see atheism as a political thing. Maybe it's the Jew in me, but I want to find a group of atheists that want to make the world a better place. Of course, I suppose libertarians are trying to do that, I just don't agree with their perspective. But I mean that I want to find the people who are trying to feed people, cure their ills, take care of children...all those things that a lot of religious charities do, but without all the religious, I'll call it baggage. I believe that people can both be good and do good without believing in a deity and I think there are atheists out there who act in a civilized, humanistic, caring way and I want to try to join forces with them.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Okay, so sue me
I was going to try to keep this updated a bit more often than this, but oh, well.
Anyway, here's what's been going on. I made it through Season 1 of The West Wing. There's honestly not really a bad episode in the bunch, if you allow for it to be mostly fiction. I mean, it's about drama and comedy, people and how they interact with each other and it just happens to be taking place in the White House and on Capitol Hill. Anyway, the season cliffhanger was, of course, shots ringing out in Roslyn and we didn't know who'd been hit (which I took to mean, when I first saw this episode, that they hadn't completed contract negotiations for all the actors, but perhaps that was just me being a bit jaded).
When I finished that season, I finally found it in me to pop in Disk 1 of Children of Paradise, a movie I'd long heard of, but never seen. It's three hours long and I had to watch it in spurts, in-between working and stuff, but I found it very, very difficult to shut it down. It's a wonderful movie, simply marvelous. And gorgeous! I really, really loved it. I also watched the Terry Gilliam intro and I listened to the commentaries on both Part 1 and Part 2. This allowed me to concentrate on the actors faces and movements, instead of having to pay attention to the subtitles--which I still prefer to seeing a movie dubbed, though. I also watched the documentary on how they restored the movie.
I've packed up those disks and put them in the mailbox back to Netflix--but now I want my own copy. It's a wonderful Criterion set and, well, I just got La Belle et La Bete and now I want this film, too.
Of course, I do have another film from Netflix--Finding Neverland (I think that's the title)--but, no, it's time to start Season 2 of The West Wing. It's In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 1, and Josh has been wheeled into the emergency room (followed by Toby, CJ and Sam, as if they would have been allowed in there in real life-ha!) and we're into the first flashback. I have this fantasy that someday my friend who hates the show will come to me because she wants me to show her the required episodes so she can discuss it intelligently with someone. I'd show her the entire first season and the first two episodes of Season 2 and that should do it. Without the backstory that these first two eps give us, she'd be lost.
More later.
Anyway, here's what's been going on. I made it through Season 1 of The West Wing. There's honestly not really a bad episode in the bunch, if you allow for it to be mostly fiction. I mean, it's about drama and comedy, people and how they interact with each other and it just happens to be taking place in the White House and on Capitol Hill. Anyway, the season cliffhanger was, of course, shots ringing out in Roslyn and we didn't know who'd been hit (which I took to mean, when I first saw this episode, that they hadn't completed contract negotiations for all the actors, but perhaps that was just me being a bit jaded).
When I finished that season, I finally found it in me to pop in Disk 1 of Children of Paradise, a movie I'd long heard of, but never seen. It's three hours long and I had to watch it in spurts, in-between working and stuff, but I found it very, very difficult to shut it down. It's a wonderful movie, simply marvelous. And gorgeous! I really, really loved it. I also watched the Terry Gilliam intro and I listened to the commentaries on both Part 1 and Part 2. This allowed me to concentrate on the actors faces and movements, instead of having to pay attention to the subtitles--which I still prefer to seeing a movie dubbed, though. I also watched the documentary on how they restored the movie.
I've packed up those disks and put them in the mailbox back to Netflix--but now I want my own copy. It's a wonderful Criterion set and, well, I just got La Belle et La Bete and now I want this film, too.
Of course, I do have another film from Netflix--Finding Neverland (I think that's the title)--but, no, it's time to start Season 2 of The West Wing. It's In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 1, and Josh has been wheeled into the emergency room (followed by Toby, CJ and Sam, as if they would have been allowed in there in real life-ha!) and we're into the first flashback. I have this fantasy that someday my friend who hates the show will come to me because she wants me to show her the required episodes so she can discuss it intelligently with someone. I'd show her the entire first season and the first two episodes of Season 2 and that should do it. Without the backstory that these first two eps give us, she'd be lost.
More later.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Back to the blog
Okay, so it's been a couple of days and here's where things stand with the DVDs:
I'm back to The West Wing. I watched one episode of Danger: UXB and realized that I didn't need to see more. Sure, Anthony Andrews was lovely, but while I could understand him (mostly), many of the supporting cast were incomprehensible, plus the suspense was, you should pardon the pun, killing me. I mean, it's obvious they're not going to blow up their star in the first episode, but other guys...?
So the last couple of West Wing episodes that I've watched are the one where Edward James Olmos gets chosen to be a Supreme Court nominee (and Ken Howard plays a nasty, snooty guy--and we get the first hint of Charlie Young's numerous jobs prior to joining the White House staff, I think it's a joke that he did so many things--here, it was that he caddied for three summers at some country club; there is the hint that it was probably pretty exclusive, a theme that gets revisited in a later episode).
And the episode I started today is the first Christmas episode, where Toby gets called because a homeless guy dies on the Mall and he's wearing an old coat of Toby's that was given to Goodwill and it's got his card in his pocket. The storyline enables some exposition of Mrs. Landingham's past--that her twin sons rather improbably got killed in the same firefight in Vietnam in 1970 on Christmas Eve. (I say "improbably", because how likely is it that two brothers were assigned to the same part of Nam at the same time?)
Haven't gotten there yet, but I'm looking forward to the juxtaposition of the funeral with honor guard for the homeless veteran with the children's choir at the White House singing Little Drummer Boy.
I really, really wish they'd put together a "Music from The West Wing" CD set. Sigh.
I'm back to The West Wing. I watched one episode of Danger: UXB and realized that I didn't need to see more. Sure, Anthony Andrews was lovely, but while I could understand him (mostly), many of the supporting cast were incomprehensible, plus the suspense was, you should pardon the pun, killing me. I mean, it's obvious they're not going to blow up their star in the first episode, but other guys...?
So the last couple of West Wing episodes that I've watched are the one where Edward James Olmos gets chosen to be a Supreme Court nominee (and Ken Howard plays a nasty, snooty guy--and we get the first hint of Charlie Young's numerous jobs prior to joining the White House staff, I think it's a joke that he did so many things--here, it was that he caddied for three summers at some country club; there is the hint that it was probably pretty exclusive, a theme that gets revisited in a later episode).
And the episode I started today is the first Christmas episode, where Toby gets called because a homeless guy dies on the Mall and he's wearing an old coat of Toby's that was given to Goodwill and it's got his card in his pocket. The storyline enables some exposition of Mrs. Landingham's past--that her twin sons rather improbably got killed in the same firefight in Vietnam in 1970 on Christmas Eve. (I say "improbably", because how likely is it that two brothers were assigned to the same part of Nam at the same time?)
Haven't gotten there yet, but I'm looking forward to the juxtaposition of the funeral with honor guard for the homeless veteran with the children's choir at the White House singing Little Drummer Boy.
I really, really wish they'd put together a "Music from The West Wing" CD set. Sigh.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Keeping up
Okay, I've decided to try to blog more often. (Yeah, sure.) No, really. (Uh-huh.) Well, I'm gonna try, anyway.
Here's what I'm thinking. I'm going to write about what DVDs I'm watching--and for the next week or two, I can also write about TV, since I'm watching my upstairs neighbors' cat, the wonderful Tito, and they have cable.
So far, I've actually made two trips up there to both spend some quality time with poor, lonely Tito and watch ... Ace of Cakes. (No. Really?) Yes, really. There are few shows that I've really missed while I've been sans cable and that was one of them. If Jeopardy! weren't probably in reruns or having a Teen Tournament or something, I'd probably get up there for that, too. Ace of Cakes is so much fun, though. I keep wishing I had the money to get them to make a cake for me...or, my fantasy is to have one for Susan's birthday and it'd be a mah jongg cake.
Anyway, tonight, I went up to watch The Man Who Came To Dinner, a movie I've seen umpteen times and just adore. Oddly, it makes me think of another cat--my mother and stepfather had a cat show up one evening for dinner, so they named him Sherry. I was one of the few people who recognized the allusion right away, my stepfather said.
He was a really nice cat, I wish he'd picked a better place to adopt. I'm not sure what happened to him, in the end--he probably just got old and passed on, but I don't know or remember how or why and I think it's probably just as well. I know they took lousy care of their other cat and I think she suffered through neglect. It's not that they don't love animals, it's that the pair of them really have no idea how to take care of them. Which is not surprising about my mother, she didn't really know how to take care of me. Aaron never had any kids of his own and he's not doing a great job today taking care of my mother or himself.
Boy, that was an interesting segue. If I were sitting in a therapist's office, she'd be having a field day. Anyway, I wanted to also mention that I recently started rewatching The West Wing series. I just keep going through all seven seasons, it's like an addiction. But if I'm in-between movies or other series from Netflix, then I just start in again. I do have a couple of things from Netflix at the moment, but I'm going to wait until I'm done with the West Wing disk I have in the player right now and then I'll watch one of them. It's still the first season and it's interesting to see how they're still figuring things out in terms of how the White House works (or at least how they'd like it to work) and so there's people involved in discussions that they probably aren't in real life and there's sets of places that don't seem to exist even within the reality, such as it is, of the show. But I know it gets better. Then it gets worse, but then it gets better again. I'm hoping to blog my way through it.
In-between, I'll be watching a movie I've heard a lot about over the years but which I've never seen--Children of Paradise. It's in two DVDs! I'm a bit nervous about it, I'm not sure what it is and I wasn't in the mood for tackling it last week, so that's why I started back in on The West Wing. But now another series is here in its little red envelope, an old British thing with a young Anthony Andrews--Danger: UXB. I wonder if I'll still like it.
Here's what I'm thinking. I'm going to write about what DVDs I'm watching--and for the next week or two, I can also write about TV, since I'm watching my upstairs neighbors' cat, the wonderful Tito, and they have cable.
So far, I've actually made two trips up there to both spend some quality time with poor, lonely Tito and watch ... Ace of Cakes. (No. Really?) Yes, really. There are few shows that I've really missed while I've been sans cable and that was one of them. If Jeopardy! weren't probably in reruns or having a Teen Tournament or something, I'd probably get up there for that, too. Ace of Cakes is so much fun, though. I keep wishing I had the money to get them to make a cake for me...or, my fantasy is to have one for Susan's birthday and it'd be a mah jongg cake.
Anyway, tonight, I went up to watch The Man Who Came To Dinner, a movie I've seen umpteen times and just adore. Oddly, it makes me think of another cat--my mother and stepfather had a cat show up one evening for dinner, so they named him Sherry. I was one of the few people who recognized the allusion right away, my stepfather said.
He was a really nice cat, I wish he'd picked a better place to adopt. I'm not sure what happened to him, in the end--he probably just got old and passed on, but I don't know or remember how or why and I think it's probably just as well. I know they took lousy care of their other cat and I think she suffered through neglect. It's not that they don't love animals, it's that the pair of them really have no idea how to take care of them. Which is not surprising about my mother, she didn't really know how to take care of me. Aaron never had any kids of his own and he's not doing a great job today taking care of my mother or himself.
Boy, that was an interesting segue. If I were sitting in a therapist's office, she'd be having a field day. Anyway, I wanted to also mention that I recently started rewatching The West Wing series. I just keep going through all seven seasons, it's like an addiction. But if I'm in-between movies or other series from Netflix, then I just start in again. I do have a couple of things from Netflix at the moment, but I'm going to wait until I'm done with the West Wing disk I have in the player right now and then I'll watch one of them. It's still the first season and it's interesting to see how they're still figuring things out in terms of how the White House works (or at least how they'd like it to work) and so there's people involved in discussions that they probably aren't in real life and there's sets of places that don't seem to exist even within the reality, such as it is, of the show. But I know it gets better. Then it gets worse, but then it gets better again. I'm hoping to blog my way through it.
In-between, I'll be watching a movie I've heard a lot about over the years but which I've never seen--Children of Paradise. It's in two DVDs! I'm a bit nervous about it, I'm not sure what it is and I wasn't in the mood for tackling it last week, so that's why I started back in on The West Wing. But now another series is here in its little red envelope, an old British thing with a young Anthony Andrews--Danger: UXB. I wonder if I'll still like it.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Reflections
Just watched, for the umpteenth time, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. I love that movie. Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders (playing his usual slimy self). I can recite the dialogue along with the actors, I know it so well. And yet I still find myself admiring little things I seem to notice for the first time--tonight, there were ways in which Gene Tierney moved her body or her face that I thought were genius. I've probably noticed them before, back when I watched it for the 300,000th time and tonight was the gazillionth and who can remember that far back?
But the score. The music is just so exquisite. Old-fashioned, yes, but perfect. Perhaps deceptively simple, elegant and, dare I say it? Hauntingly sad and beautiful.
I miss John. There's a scene where Mrs. Muir is going to take a nap and she keeps looking for the Captain, who has gone--she's not even sure who she's looking/waiting for. There's a sad and lonely look that comes over her...and I know that feeling.
Damn him, he promised to haunt me and he hasn't. I know that my remembering him, holding him in my heart and my mind is a way to keep him and maybe that's how he's haunting me. I suppose I want more. But, then, I always did want more of him and I could never have it when he was alive, why should now be any different?
But the score. The music is just so exquisite. Old-fashioned, yes, but perfect. Perhaps deceptively simple, elegant and, dare I say it? Hauntingly sad and beautiful.
I miss John. There's a scene where Mrs. Muir is going to take a nap and she keeps looking for the Captain, who has gone--she's not even sure who she's looking/waiting for. There's a sad and lonely look that comes over her...and I know that feeling.
Damn him, he promised to haunt me and he hasn't. I know that my remembering him, holding him in my heart and my mind is a way to keep him and maybe that's how he's haunting me. I suppose I want more. But, then, I always did want more of him and I could never have it when he was alive, why should now be any different?
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Spring
The Magnolia tree across the way has been preparing, for a few days now, to burst into bloom. Already there's been crocus, then forsythia, followed now by daffodils and jonquils, some hyacinth...
The weather is early spring, not what we can hope for later this month and in May, but a slow, steady improvement over the wintry chill. The way Spring is meandering into being makes me feel langorous, but expectant, if I stop long enough to pay attention. Don't even know if that makes sense, but there it is.
Business has been like that, too--not as hectic as usual, just slow and steady. Things dribbling in from all quarters. It's nice like that, it gives me time to breathe, although it's certainly better when I have more money coming in. Still, I get to do a lot of the work myself, so I keep more of that money, instead of paying it to others to handle the overflow.
I need to get better organized time-wise so I can get more done and get things taken care of that should have been taken care of ages ago. I should also probably stop beating myself up for not taking care of those things. That's time and energy that could be used to...taking care of those things.
But, first, I think I'll take a nap.
The weather is early spring, not what we can hope for later this month and in May, but a slow, steady improvement over the wintry chill. The way Spring is meandering into being makes me feel langorous, but expectant, if I stop long enough to pay attention. Don't even know if that makes sense, but there it is.
Business has been like that, too--not as hectic as usual, just slow and steady. Things dribbling in from all quarters. It's nice like that, it gives me time to breathe, although it's certainly better when I have more money coming in. Still, I get to do a lot of the work myself, so I keep more of that money, instead of paying it to others to handle the overflow.
I need to get better organized time-wise so I can get more done and get things taken care of that should have been taken care of ages ago. I should also probably stop beating myself up for not taking care of those things. That's time and energy that could be used to...taking care of those things.
But, first, I think I'll take a nap.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Amazing night
I was honored and pleased to be invited by my friend Sue to attend the memorial service for her husband, John Leonard, the other night. The service was wonderful and amazing--I was sitting next to the woman who owns the online group I belong to and when I opened up the program, I gasped to her "Is this the list of people who are here? And speaking?" I asked, because the second person on the list was Toni Morrison.
But of course she was there, she came in pain from a pinched nerve--John was the one who first championed her and her writing. I was so happy just to be able to say hello to her as she was leaving.
But then there was a "private" reception (really, I think almost everyone at the service was also invited to that--it was so crowded!). Anyway, this is how I got to spend a few moments chatting with E.L. Doctorow and then, later, Calvin Trillin (I had to stalk him a little bit, actually--and then I don't think I made a good impression, but hey, I somehow found the guts to talk to him!).
And I could have spoken to Gloria Steinem and/or Letty Cottin Pogrebin, if I had been able to think of anything to say.
But the best part was getting to meet Sue's mom. Sue has written about her mother for some time and she's in her 90s and still going to protests and getting herself arrested. She's a tiny little thing, I can't imagine what the cops think of her, but I'm guessing they take very good care while they're putting the cuffs on. At least I hope so. But what really impressed me was how bright and intelligent her eyes are. she gives me hope that Sue will be both long-lived and keep her wits about her until the end, too.
Which is more than I can say for myself, at least the wits. Unless the vaccine they're working on for Alzheimer's actually works and it gets on the market before I lose more of my wits. What's left of them.
But of course she was there, she came in pain from a pinched nerve--John was the one who first championed her and her writing. I was so happy just to be able to say hello to her as she was leaving.
But then there was a "private" reception (really, I think almost everyone at the service was also invited to that--it was so crowded!). Anyway, this is how I got to spend a few moments chatting with E.L. Doctorow and then, later, Calvin Trillin (I had to stalk him a little bit, actually--and then I don't think I made a good impression, but hey, I somehow found the guts to talk to him!).
And I could have spoken to Gloria Steinem and/or Letty Cottin Pogrebin, if I had been able to think of anything to say.
But the best part was getting to meet Sue's mom. Sue has written about her mother for some time and she's in her 90s and still going to protests and getting herself arrested. She's a tiny little thing, I can't imagine what the cops think of her, but I'm guessing they take very good care while they're putting the cuffs on. At least I hope so. But what really impressed me was how bright and intelligent her eyes are. she gives me hope that Sue will be both long-lived and keep her wits about her until the end, too.
Which is more than I can say for myself, at least the wits. Unless the vaccine they're working on for Alzheimer's actually works and it gets on the market before I lose more of my wits. What's left of them.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year
Happy 2009! This year, there will be no more funerals, I hope.
Once again, I'm not making resolutions, though I do have goals. I always have goals. Sometimes I meet them, even. Sometimes I meet them, but then they're still there. Like eating like a normal person (as opposed to pigging out all the time). Like exercising.
Anyway, I don't have much time right now, but here's one of my goals, let's see if it happens or not: I will blog more often than I did last year. Okay, granted, that won't take much.
And, most importantly, I've changed my profile because yes, I have decided to keep Spike. I have officially adopted him. The lunatic cat that he is. Maybe next post, I'll include the link to his Flickr photos. Maybe.
Anyway, best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to anyone who's out there reading this.
Once again, I'm not making resolutions, though I do have goals. I always have goals. Sometimes I meet them, even. Sometimes I meet them, but then they're still there. Like eating like a normal person (as opposed to pigging out all the time). Like exercising.
Anyway, I don't have much time right now, but here's one of my goals, let's see if it happens or not: I will blog more often than I did last year. Okay, granted, that won't take much.
And, most importantly, I've changed my profile because yes, I have decided to keep Spike. I have officially adopted him. The lunatic cat that he is. Maybe next post, I'll include the link to his Flickr photos. Maybe.
Anyway, best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to anyone who's out there reading this.
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