Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mom

"Geniuses are just people who had good mothers."  - Buckminster Fuller

I love that.  If you had a good mother, as I did, I think you can just assume he is talking about you. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

Randomness on a Monday afternoon

I was stopped at a light this morning behind a car with a little bumper sticker of a lighthouse.  It didn't appear to be a particular lighthouse, it had no name, or anything, it was not an actual depiction, more of a little cartoon lighthouse and I was suddenly struck with how incredibly random that was.

I like lighthouses.  They're very cool.  Structurally, esthetically, historically, they evoke some emotion in us about being the lone beacon of light, ushering weary sailors onward, saving them from an unseen but perilous potential demise.  I get it.  Cool stuff.

That being said, thanks to GPS, lighthouses have been rendered somewhat obsolete in this day and age.  I know there are still some functioning, but the reality is, if our cars almost all have GPS installed, I can assure you that anything bigger than a lifeboat does too.  In which case, it's just a terribly random thing to think is worthy of slapping a likeness of on your bumper.  Right?

Why not pick something that actually does us a more consistent and relevant service to which you give props as you roll down the road.  Like, for example, water treatment plants.  I mean...holy moly....talk about an unsung hero of the modern era, I promise you, water treatment plants have saved far more lives than any lighthouse.  Or what about power plants?  Without them, you couldn't even RUN your water treatment plant, so I have to bump them pretty far up the list.  Not very sexy though.  If lighthouses are the golden retriever puppy of the random architectural icon world, water treatment plants would be the skunks I guess.

Still.  Maybe it could catch on if I had the right graphic....

Burfday

I have a birthday coming up.  It's not a terribly "exciting" birthday, though I have to say, I'm getting to the age where I am cognizant that it's good to just be having a birthday at all.

That being said, I'm working on a birthday wish list.  Items for possible inclusion thus far include:

1.  Bandwith.  My own personal chunk of bandwidth.  I don't really understand the magic of bandwith...and I guess I don't really care.  All I know is, I never seem to be able to get through an entire movie on Netflix without interruption because someone else in the house is "sucking my bandwidth."  It is SO irritating.  ( I know, I know, first world problem....)

2.  Another car.  We are having car woes en famille at the moment, and my dd doesn't even have her license, so it's just going to get worse.  I would like a Honda CRV please.  A new one that does all that super fancy stuff like telling me I look pretty and suggesting that I should stop for a latte because I seem tired. 

3.  Cash.  Or as my friend's 11 year old daughter wrote it on her birthday list "cash money" (so as not to confuse it with???)  Hilarious.  Clearly I could just resolve items 1 and 2 on my own with this item.  In fact, pretty much anything else that's going to go on the list can just be substituted for cash.

That was easier than I thought!  Bring on the candles!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Pros and Cons

My daughter is attending the Pro-Life Rally in Washington, DC on Monday next.  She is travelling, by bus, with some folks from her church.

This news engaged the "frappe" button on the blender in my brain.

I admire the youthful, and in my opinion, somewhat naeive (naturally and understandable, she is 16) fervor with which she is applying her passion to this cause.  Further, I will readily admit that the baggage I'm carrying around on the topic, while minimal, is born of my own biases, which this development now causes me to analyze.

In so doing, I have realized a few things.

I, too, am pro-life.  I love life.  I want everyone to have the opportunity to pursue theirs to the very greatest extent possible.

I am pro-family planning.  I am pro-making conscious decisions about bringing additional baby humans into the world.

I am pro-having children we want and are capable of taking care of.

I am pro-avoiding making choices that will haunt us for the rest of our lives.  Whatever those choices happen to be.

I am pro-respect.

I am pro-having options and choices at our disposal and exercising and executing them thoughtfully.


I am pro-compassion and forgiveness.

And, at the end of the day, while we might be boarding different buses on this topic and heading to opposite ends of this particular rally, metaphorically speaking....I am pro-my daughter and her right to have whatever opinion it is she wants, on anything. 

This somehow makes me feel very grown up.  Weird.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Maybe it's just me



I work in a hospital.  I think I've established that.  ALL KINDS OF CRAZY SHIT happens here.  I'm not kidding.  You name it, it has happened here.  I know way to much, unfortunately.  And yet, because I'm paid well and because somehow I find some personal satisfaction it calming the chaos for 8-10 hours a day, I keep coming back in spite of everything I know.

I just got an email from the hospital inviting me to attend:

An Open House for our New Breastfeeding Medicine Program

Okay.   I'm a fan of breastfeeding.  I think it's the healthiest option for moms and babies, assuming both moms and babies are agreeable, which is not always the case, in spite of enthusiastic (alright, overzealous, lactation consultants) but I don't happen to be breastfeeding anyone at the moment (at least not physically....metaphorically, however, I could make the argument that I've got a small station wagon full of infants latching on to me on a regular basis). 

Breastfeeding was kind of a personal thing for me.  I mean, it was really just between me, my baby, my forlorn looking husband, that creepy neighbor's kid, and that work crew of landscapers who happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

I digress.  The question I need to ask, is WHEN did breastfeeding become "MEDICINE?"  I just think there's something ... wrong .... somehow, about that.  Or is it just me???

I'm not going to their Open House.  I bet they'll serve milk and cookies.

His Holiness

In this particular instance I happen to be referring to the Pope.

He's not necessarily "my" holiness, but I certainly refer to him respectfully and reverentially as the head of a major world religion.

A religion to which my darling daughter has decided to commit her faith, as it turns out.

If you know me, you know this is kind of a big deal.  I am not Catholic.  Not raised Catholic.  Don't line up or kneel down with the Catholics, etc. etc.  I have Catholic friends, I am certainly not anti-Catholic, but I'm a solid Protestant, so, for an offspring of mine to convert, willingly, enthusiastically (as it turns out), to this faith  is a bit of a metaphysical earthquake in my spiritual landscape. 

You know when you say to your children "I will support you no matter what?"  Well.  Here you go.

I've been drafting posts about this .... experience, and not posting them, because I am having trouble seeing the big picture, and all the posts are pretty specific.

So, here's the introduction to this topic of blogging so that I can get you all on the page with me.

We'll start off with this:
And then this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_shoes  (which explains the history of the red shoes).

And finally, just to say that my daughter thinks the Pope is a really cool dude. 



Monday, January 16, 2012

Be careful what you wish for

A recent group email between me, my sister, and my two female cousins about the beauty industry (etc.) resulted in one cousin saying "Perhaps that is why nature intended for our eyesight to start failing at the same time our bodies do."  (So that we can't really see what's happening to us)

She is very very wise.

I didn't get glasses until I turned 40, and then I only wore them for reading.  I'm now sporting bifocals and I cannot read, AT ALL, without them.  I got into the shower last week them on.  This was a frightening first.

For Christmas, I asked the kids to get me one of those magnifying make up mirrors that women (of a certain age?) have in their bathrooms.  I wanted this, because I can no longer apply mascara without wearing my glasses...which is a complete catch-22.  I'm not sure what looks worse, ultimately, putting it on w/out the glasses, or trying to put it on with.

In any event, I was very excited to get my mirror.  Until I looked in it.  HOLY SHIT.  Is that what you all really see when you look at me?  I was speechless.  Utter shock, horror and panic ensued.  I've recovered slightly since, but I still have to steel myself, slightly, before I look each morning.  The upside is that the eyeliner goes on straight now, but the downside is I find myself trying to maneuver for more personal space when speaking with people so they can't get too close.

I'm writing to ask for your help.  Until I manage to have a glycolic peel, or a lift, when you look at me, please apply the soft lighting filter in your mind.  I would really appreciate that. 

Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday stones

I spent all day threatening to fire people because they haven't done what they are supposed to.  This is a disheartening component about my job for the following reasons:

1.  Because it is tedious and time consuming
2.  Because it is a huge waste of time
3.  Because the people who have legitimate reasons for their noncompliance are so sorry about it that I almost feel guilty.
4.  Because the people who just don't give a fuck and that's why they ignored the directive in the first place seriously burn my biscuits.
5.  Because swimming around in numbers 1-4 is really exhausting.

ugh

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pause Save and Resume

My son is into some new video game.  SKYRIM.  If you are a gamer, it's pretty cool.  I'm not a gamer, in spite of his tireless efforts to turn me into one.  I did try this game though. We created a character (an armored nordic warrior with green hair) for me and I tried mightily to make it to the first level.  I just don't have it in me to function with the required multi dexterity.  I'm a complete failure.  I cannot move forward, while looking around, weilding a sword and throwing flames from my hands.  It's one or the other, not all at once.  This happens to be a game where checking over your shoulder repeatedly = self preservation.  I died so many times it became boring and I gave up.

There are a lot of analogies for life here, OBVIOUSLY, but my favorite is when my son, when suddenly finding himself in a situation where his character is being ganged up on, can pause the game, reload on armor, healing potions, and whatever else he needs to fortify himself for the onslaught, save his progress at that point in his character's life, and then resume the game to meet the challenge better prepared.

He grinned at me "I sure wish I could do that in real life!"

No kidding.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Oh Mother Nature......

REALLY????

Things I love

I sing all the time.  In the car.  In the house. In the shower.  In my office. Running.  Running in the gym with my headphones on.  (oh yes, I AM that person)  I don't sing that well (and I'm not being modest), I can carry a tune a short distance, but then it inevitably gets away from me and that's that.

Singing tops the list of things I wish I could do really really well. 

One of my favorite female vocal talents is Aoife (pronounced eee-fah) O'Donovan, of the band Crooked Still (among other projects.)  I love the breathlessness with which she packs her particular punch.

Speaking of punches, she has teamed up with one of my favorite male vocal talents, Chris Thile, of the Punch Brothers (formerly founding member of Nickel Creek), and the two of them have several numbers that are part of The Goat Rodeo Sessions (which, if you're interested, is one of those rare congruences of stellar talent that rarely happen, but when they do leave you all tingly inside... http://www.yo-yoma.com/news/goat-rodeo-sessions )  You have to be really into music, I suppose, to appreciate the planetary alignment that had to have happened to pair Yo-Yo Ma and Chis Thile together.  Or perhaps it was a divine inevitability.  Either way, I am the better for it.

In the process they roped Aoife into the mix and produced this little number which has crawled under my epidermis and is happily dancing around in my squishy grey matter at the moment. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvw0vbewH_Q&feature=fvsr

If you listen really, really, closely, at 0:28, Chris Thile whispers to himself "Don't fuck up!"  I LOVE that.  I just love that someone with his kind of talent still feels that kind of pressure.  I've seen them both live.  They're amazing. I've met her, and she's just as nice as can be, and apparently he is too.  I haven't met him, but my husband has.  I also love Yo-Yo's solo at 3:30....wow!   I love the way Chris and Aoife look at each other.  I hope they are dating and that they get married and have a perfect musical baby.  That child would walk across water singing and playing to our ecstatic delight.

Monday, January 9, 2012

dieting stones

CARROTS EQUAL CHOCOLATE

Sadly, any way you slice it, a nutritious treat of carrots, even with a healthful side of triple onion dip are

NEVER
NEVER EVER
NEVER EVER EVER EVER

as good as chocolate.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Thursday, January 5th, 11:00 a.m.

Sometimes, it's important to just say "fuck it."


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Small stones that don't feel very well

Maybe I am having a stroke?  My left eye is watering.  My left sinus cavity is tingle and keeps making me sneeze.  My throat hurts (seemingly more on one side than the other, but I suspect that's psychosomatic).

Perhaps I am a little bit sickish.

Sometimes the stars just align and cool things happen

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Small stones

I am doing a little writing project this month.  (See the River of Stones icon on the left side of my page for more details.)  In any event.  The goal is to write something that is observationally based daily.  Daily is asking a lot, but we'll give it a whirl.


I slept in town last night and it was so different to wake up and look out the window to see streets and cars and buildings.  The sun was just coming up and there was frost on all of the windshields of the few remaining cars in the city pay lot.  Were those smart inebriates, who abandoned their ride in favor of a chauffeured trip home last night?  There was no one out.  It was cold and still and very very quiet.  So different from just a few short hours ago when revelers packed the sidewalks and fireworks filled the sky.  Literally, like night and day.


First World Problems

My Christmas crap seems to reproduce annually.  Not exponentially, but enough that I now have EIGHT totes and a cardboard box.  (Why don't I just get another tote and get rid of the box?  Well....(a) lazy and (b) the procurement of another tote would slow down the process of relegating said crap to the basement.  Which MUST happen today as it is my own personal New Years Day tradition and (c) this way I can still play the denial game with myself which is another New Years tradition.)

In any event.  I wish all nine of you a healthy and happy New Year.  (From the bottom of my totes!)