I was driving home a few minutes ago and I saw an older man driving one of those cute, zippy little sports cars that men often seem to buy when they are having a "mid-life crisis". I think this one was a white Miata.
And I got to wondering. If men are buying vehicles to prove that they are still virile, then the car surely represents his actual "manhood", right? So why are these cars so often small, and fast?
Friday, May 19, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
cat update
We have decided to keep both cats. They are getting along much better now, though they still annoy one another sometimes.
Tiamat has learned that she can scratch the children and my son is enamored of playing roughly with her. We've had to set up a system of negative consequences for him having new scratches on his face, arms and/or hands. It seems to be helping, but both big kids still want to pick her up constantly. She is a remarkably patient cat and we are lucky to have her. She has her annoying habits, though. She is a licker and a meower. I've never heard such a loud cat that wasn't part Siamese. I suppose, since she seems to be a total mutt, that she could BE part Siamese, but if so it certainly isn't something one can see by looking at her. She's a calico (who looks like a tortoiseshell, as the white is confined to two spots) with yellow eyes.
Sozo got really loud for a while there, but it turned out that she was in heat. We got her spayed so that won't happen again, thank goodness. A Tonkinese in heat is LOUD. Sozo still spends just about all of her time in the bathroom in the little "cat condo" I bought for her. She's quite the anti-social animal, even taking into consideration that she is a cat, but she will put up with me extracting her from her condo at night after the kids go to bed. I put her in my lap and pet her while I sit at the computer. She allows this for a while, then retreats back to her condo. Hey, at least she's happy.
Tiamat has learned that she can scratch the children and my son is enamored of playing roughly with her. We've had to set up a system of negative consequences for him having new scratches on his face, arms and/or hands. It seems to be helping, but both big kids still want to pick her up constantly. She is a remarkably patient cat and we are lucky to have her. She has her annoying habits, though. She is a licker and a meower. I've never heard such a loud cat that wasn't part Siamese. I suppose, since she seems to be a total mutt, that she could BE part Siamese, but if so it certainly isn't something one can see by looking at her. She's a calico (who looks like a tortoiseshell, as the white is confined to two spots) with yellow eyes.
Sozo got really loud for a while there, but it turned out that she was in heat. We got her spayed so that won't happen again, thank goodness. A Tonkinese in heat is LOUD. Sozo still spends just about all of her time in the bathroom in the little "cat condo" I bought for her. She's quite the anti-social animal, even taking into consideration that she is a cat, but she will put up with me extracting her from her condo at night after the kids go to bed. I put her in my lap and pet her while I sit at the computer. She allows this for a while, then retreats back to her condo. Hey, at least she's happy.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Motivational techniques
"If you wash everything, I'll give you a star! And then I'll give you a smiley sticker!"
My son, watching me put dishes into the dishwasher this morning. Can you tell he is in kindergarten?
My son, watching me put dishes into the dishwasher this morning. Can you tell he is in kindergarten?
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
puns
This morning I was getting the "big kids" ready for school and walked into my bedroom to check on my middle kid. She was sitting on the toilet and I heard her pee.
I said "That's great, I heard you pee, honey!"
Well, she starts laughing and laughing and I have no idea what about. Finally I get an answer out of her. "I don't pee honey!"
I said "That's great, I heard you pee, honey!"
Well, she starts laughing and laughing and I have no idea what about. Finally I get an answer out of her. "I don't pee honey!"
Sunday, May 07, 2006
whatever would we say?
Yesterday I was driving my two "big kids" (6 and a half and nearly 4) to synagogue. the nearly 4 year old was babbling about Gd. she's a talker. she told me:
"if we met Him...
we wouldn't know what to say."
i wasn't expecting something quite so profound. sometimes she is fascinated with the idea of Gd. yesterday morning was definitely one of those times. i've been trying to teach her for ages that Gd isn't a person and therefore has no gender but she usually calls Gd "Him" anyway. but she does seem to understand that Gd doesn't have a body, that Gd is bigger than anything else and that Gd is "alone".
she recites the shema to me every night in Hebrew. i love hearing her say it.
shema, yisrael: adonoy elohaynu, adonoy ECHAD.
listen, israel: the Lord our Gd, the Lord is ONE.
but echad is also translated as "alone". i gave her that interpretation once and have regretted it ever since. she latched onto the word. she latches onto words frequently. so i've been trying to teach her that it means not that Gd is lonely, away from us, but alone among divine beings. we'll see how well that goes.
the other two kids aren't interested in religion. we'll see how that goes, too.
"if we met Him...
we wouldn't know what to say."
i wasn't expecting something quite so profound. sometimes she is fascinated with the idea of Gd. yesterday morning was definitely one of those times. i've been trying to teach her for ages that Gd isn't a person and therefore has no gender but she usually calls Gd "Him" anyway. but she does seem to understand that Gd doesn't have a body, that Gd is bigger than anything else and that Gd is "alone".
she recites the shema to me every night in Hebrew. i love hearing her say it.
shema, yisrael: adonoy elohaynu, adonoy ECHAD.
listen, israel: the Lord our Gd, the Lord is ONE.
but echad is also translated as "alone". i gave her that interpretation once and have regretted it ever since. she latched onto the word. she latches onto words frequently. so i've been trying to teach her that it means not that Gd is lonely, away from us, but alone among divine beings. we'll see how well that goes.
the other two kids aren't interested in religion. we'll see how that goes, too.
Monday, April 17, 2006
an odd discovery
i was heating water for tea this evening, and my hubby suddenly said "what is that? it smells like dope." as it turns out, a bit of leftover green bean burning itself to carbonized nothingness under the electric burner will reek just like pot smoke. how ... odd.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Cats.
So we haven't had good luck with animals. Had to return a few cats to the pound, back before we had children. Got a dog who seemed great but that was her "pound personality" and Loki, too, ended up going back to the pound after the second child was born. Loki couldn't handle the competion.
Anyway, it has been obvious for a long time that the children wanted an animal in the house. So hubby made a proclamation. Not till the baby turned three. (September 2007). Well, that held for months. Then suddenly, three or four months ago, hubby decided that having an adult cat would be good for our oldest now. I wasn't opposed. But he didn't want a pound cat. He was adamant. We'd had terrible luck with all the pound cats we'd ever adopted (I couldn't argue with that). Pounds are dirty, you don't know anything about the animal... he was immovable.
So, I figured that gave us two options. Purebred, or getting a nice cat off a good friend who was willing (or eager) to give it up. No friends were in that situation, so I started doing research on purebred cats. A friend who actually owns a purebred cat gave me a web address for breeders, and I emailed a ton of them. This is a story all by itself, so I'll just say I settled on a breeder of Tonkinese cats who lives about 3 hours away from me - practically in Kentucky. Negotiating took weeks, but eventually we drove all the way down there and hubby picked a cat.
I would have been more involved, but I have to admit, I was overwhelmed. The house was gross, there were cats all over, they all looked really similar and I couldn't keep them organized in my mind, and lots of them were much older or younger than what we were interested in. Hubby ended up telling me that I could choose a different one if I wanted, and then took the kids outside, away from all the wet food, poop filled litter boxes and suspicious looking pools of goop on the floor. Blech.
So, I figured the one hubby wanted because she didn't pull away when he went to let her sniff his hand and get a scritch was a good choice, and I bought her. I tried to carry her home on my lap but after a while she really wanted to explore the car and I thought that could turn dangerous, so I put her in the carrier. So she spent over two hours in the carrier and an hour of that listening to the youngest kid scream. Turns out the baby doesn't like long car rides. Ugh. Anyway, maybe it was the awful drive that inspired Sozo (named after a coffee shop we passed on the way home - it is apparently Greek for "to heal, to cure, to prevent destruction") to crawl under the furniture and not come out for days and days and days.
The kids were miserable. We'd gone through this horrid experience to get a cat, and the cat seemed to hate them. They wanted to PET the pet. I was upset for them. And I wanted to pet her, too!
So hubby and I waited about a day, and still no love from the little beast. So we wondered, is she lonely? She's spent her entire life in a house filled with dozens of kittens and cats and one little old lady. Maybe she needs a friend? So, entirely spur of the moment, we call PetSmart, find out they have cats and close in one hour, I rush the older ones into coats and we rush to the pet store and I try to pick a cat that likes us.
So I get there, and I find the cats, and they have two adults labeled "good with children" and "good with other cats". One really likes the kids, and she's spayed and pretty and friendly and, oh, look at that, she's a pound cat. PetSmart doesn't really sell cats. They take cats from an animal shelter south of here, and put them up for adoption. This was a pound cat. But the place was spotless, and this cat seemed friendly, and we'd essentially promised the children, and it wasn't my rule. So I adopted her. On the way home I kindly gave her a name we'd considered for Sozo that hubby had rejected. Her name is Tiamat. You send me out to fetch the beast, I get to name the beast.
Anyway, we get her home, and she is (or close enough) the perfect cat. She was friendly with all three children from the moment she came out of the carrier, she puts up with all sorts of nonsense from them, hasn't scratched or bitten a child yet, doesn't hide under furniture, is extremely friendly and patient with family and friends alike, is pretty, is spayed... and she loathes Sozo. Wants to shred Sozo into little bloody bits, actually. I am now covered with scratches because I've had to rescue Sozo from Tiamat multiple times. Tiamat has even attacked Sozo while Sozo was resting in my lap!
Oy.
So we've set a deadline. If Sozo and Tiamat can't get over their differences by April 18, we ask the "cat lady" to come get Sozo and take her back to the cattery. I don't really want to give her up. She's so sweet and pretty and teeny (she is fully grown and weighs about 5 pounds!) and she loves to sit on my lap for hours at a time. I've become very fond of her. But I can't in good conscience keep a cat who is terrified of the other cat and ends up spending most of her life hiding as a result. That would be mean and selfish. And we certainly aren't getting rid of the one whom the children adore and who adores them. I'll blog again when this situation is resolved.
Oh, and having a cat has been very good for our oldest.
Anyway, it has been obvious for a long time that the children wanted an animal in the house. So hubby made a proclamation. Not till the baby turned three. (September 2007). Well, that held for months. Then suddenly, three or four months ago, hubby decided that having an adult cat would be good for our oldest now. I wasn't opposed. But he didn't want a pound cat. He was adamant. We'd had terrible luck with all the pound cats we'd ever adopted (I couldn't argue with that). Pounds are dirty, you don't know anything about the animal... he was immovable.
So, I figured that gave us two options. Purebred, or getting a nice cat off a good friend who was willing (or eager) to give it up. No friends were in that situation, so I started doing research on purebred cats. A friend who actually owns a purebred cat gave me a web address for breeders, and I emailed a ton of them. This is a story all by itself, so I'll just say I settled on a breeder of Tonkinese cats who lives about 3 hours away from me - practically in Kentucky. Negotiating took weeks, but eventually we drove all the way down there and hubby picked a cat.
I would have been more involved, but I have to admit, I was overwhelmed. The house was gross, there were cats all over, they all looked really similar and I couldn't keep them organized in my mind, and lots of them were much older or younger than what we were interested in. Hubby ended up telling me that I could choose a different one if I wanted, and then took the kids outside, away from all the wet food, poop filled litter boxes and suspicious looking pools of goop on the floor. Blech.
So, I figured the one hubby wanted because she didn't pull away when he went to let her sniff his hand and get a scritch was a good choice, and I bought her. I tried to carry her home on my lap but after a while she really wanted to explore the car and I thought that could turn dangerous, so I put her in the carrier. So she spent over two hours in the carrier and an hour of that listening to the youngest kid scream. Turns out the baby doesn't like long car rides. Ugh. Anyway, maybe it was the awful drive that inspired Sozo (named after a coffee shop we passed on the way home - it is apparently Greek for "to heal, to cure, to prevent destruction") to crawl under the furniture and not come out for days and days and days.
The kids were miserable. We'd gone through this horrid experience to get a cat, and the cat seemed to hate them. They wanted to PET the pet. I was upset for them. And I wanted to pet her, too!
So hubby and I waited about a day, and still no love from the little beast. So we wondered, is she lonely? She's spent her entire life in a house filled with dozens of kittens and cats and one little old lady. Maybe she needs a friend? So, entirely spur of the moment, we call PetSmart, find out they have cats and close in one hour, I rush the older ones into coats and we rush to the pet store and I try to pick a cat that likes us.
So I get there, and I find the cats, and they have two adults labeled "good with children" and "good with other cats". One really likes the kids, and she's spayed and pretty and friendly and, oh, look at that, she's a pound cat. PetSmart doesn't really sell cats. They take cats from an animal shelter south of here, and put them up for adoption. This was a pound cat. But the place was spotless, and this cat seemed friendly, and we'd essentially promised the children, and it wasn't my rule. So I adopted her. On the way home I kindly gave her a name we'd considered for Sozo that hubby had rejected. Her name is Tiamat. You send me out to fetch the beast, I get to name the beast.
Anyway, we get her home, and she is (or close enough) the perfect cat. She was friendly with all three children from the moment she came out of the carrier, she puts up with all sorts of nonsense from them, hasn't scratched or bitten a child yet, doesn't hide under furniture, is extremely friendly and patient with family and friends alike, is pretty, is spayed... and she loathes Sozo. Wants to shred Sozo into little bloody bits, actually. I am now covered with scratches because I've had to rescue Sozo from Tiamat multiple times. Tiamat has even attacked Sozo while Sozo was resting in my lap!
Oy.
So we've set a deadline. If Sozo and Tiamat can't get over their differences by April 18, we ask the "cat lady" to come get Sozo and take her back to the cattery. I don't really want to give her up. She's so sweet and pretty and teeny (she is fully grown and weighs about 5 pounds!) and she loves to sit on my lap for hours at a time. I've become very fond of her. But I can't in good conscience keep a cat who is terrified of the other cat and ends up spending most of her life hiding as a result. That would be mean and selfish. And we certainly aren't getting rid of the one whom the children adore and who adores them. I'll blog again when this situation is resolved.
Oh, and having a cat has been very good for our oldest.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
That's my girl!
My daughter Zora is in the kitchen playing with a Hanuka present: a Disney Princess "activity set" - which means colored pencils, markers, a little coloring book, some stickers and a cardboard "ballroom" to put the stickers on. I was helping her put the stickers on the ballroom. Big stickers like those are easy to rip while removing from the backing. Anyway, she said "I want to dance at the ball."
"That sounds like fun!" I replied. "Who would you want to dance with?" I expected her to choose her Abba, a schoolfriend, someone she knows in real life. But she didn't.
"Umm....," she looked carefully at the four couples she'd placed on the cardboard, and pointed at "Belle" from the Beauty and the Beast movie. "Her." She sounded quite decisive.
Well. That's my girl!
I told her I thought that would be a lot of fun, by the way.
"That sounds like fun!" I replied. "Who would you want to dance with?" I expected her to choose her Abba, a schoolfriend, someone she knows in real life. But she didn't.
"Umm....," she looked carefully at the four couples she'd placed on the cardboard, and pointed at "Belle" from the Beauty and the Beast movie. "Her." She sounded quite decisive.
Well. That's my girl!
I told her I thought that would be a lot of fun, by the way.
Monday, December 05, 2005
the nightmare of a three and a half year old
this morning, a bit after 5am, my older daughter woke up very suddenly and screaming. she sleeps right next to me, so i immediately started trying to comfort her, but she was having none of it. she was so hysterical that it took me a while to figure out what she was yelling about, but she seemed to have had a nightmare about her bedtime routine, as she was trying to tell her Abba (who wasn't in the room) that she did not want to brush her teeth. at least that was what it sounded like.
i tried explaining that it was a dream, but that just made her more angry. she really can't tell the difference, and with dreams like that, who can blame her? it isn't like she was dreaming about something that doesn't happen every day. so i tried explaining that she had already brushed them and she needed to go back to sleep. i tried comforting her with cuddling, but she was too pissed off and freaked out to care. then i realized she'd switched gears, and was screaming that she did want to brush her teeth. well hey, that's easy. we got up and brushed our teeth. yeah, me too. why not? the dentist would be proud of me.
so that is how i found myself brushing my teeth at about 5:20am. she fell asleep easily after that.
parenthood is often not what i expected.
i tried explaining that it was a dream, but that just made her more angry. she really can't tell the difference, and with dreams like that, who can blame her? it isn't like she was dreaming about something that doesn't happen every day. so i tried explaining that she had already brushed them and she needed to go back to sleep. i tried comforting her with cuddling, but she was too pissed off and freaked out to care. then i realized she'd switched gears, and was screaming that she did want to brush her teeth. well hey, that's easy. we got up and brushed our teeth. yeah, me too. why not? the dentist would be proud of me.
so that is how i found myself brushing my teeth at about 5:20am. she fell asleep easily after that.
parenthood is often not what i expected.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Quidditch
Not that this is important, but in a world as small as wizarding Britain, how can there be so many professional Quidditch teams? Especially when they hardly ever recruit kids who've just finished Hogwarts? Do we know of anyone who's gone off to play professional Quidditch from Hogwarts (in Harry's time, anyway) other than Oliver Wood?
I recall reading about the Chudley Cannons, the Holyhead Harpies, the Falmouth Falcons, the Tutshill Tornados, Puddlemere United, the Montrose Magpies, the Wimbourne Wasps, the Kenmare Kestrels and the Pride of Portree. Then the HP lexicon also lists the Appleby Arrows, the Ballycastle Bats, the Caerphilly Catapults, and the Wigtown Wanderers. That is thirteen teams, which means between them Ireland and the UK have a minimum of 91 professional players. More if they have reserve players on staff.
That just seems, unlikely. I mean, there were only 40 eleven year olds who entered Hogwarts in Harry's first year. I guess it could work if the slow aging of wizards and witches means that they can play professional sports a whole lot longer than a muggle could, but I would love some sort of reasonable explanation. I don't expect one, of course. :)
I recall reading about the Chudley Cannons, the Holyhead Harpies, the Falmouth Falcons, the Tutshill Tornados, Puddlemere United, the Montrose Magpies, the Wimbourne Wasps, the Kenmare Kestrels and the Pride of Portree. Then the HP lexicon also lists the Appleby Arrows, the Ballycastle Bats, the Caerphilly Catapults, and the Wigtown Wanderers. That is thirteen teams, which means between them Ireland and the UK have a minimum of 91 professional players. More if they have reserve players on staff.
That just seems, unlikely. I mean, there were only 40 eleven year olds who entered Hogwarts in Harry's first year. I guess it could work if the slow aging of wizards and witches means that they can play professional sports a whole lot longer than a muggle could, but I would love some sort of reasonable explanation. I don't expect one, of course. :)
Monday, November 28, 2005
weird tidbit you probably didn't know
the cool new slang compliment from the kindergarteners in my son's class:
"you walk like a rock star!!"
apparently they said it to their principal. i'm sure he took it in the spirit in which it was intended!
"you walk like a rock star!!"
apparently they said it to their principal. i'm sure he took it in the spirit in which it was intended!
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
The Tooth Fairy
Who knew I could be so sentimental?
Don't answer that.
I picked my son up from school today - exactly one week before his 6th birthday - and after several minutes of playing on the playground, realized he was missing a lower front tooth. When I asked him where it was, he told me it was in the garbage! He'd never indicated that it was loose, so I'd never explained that he should keep it when it fell out.
I used to wonder why parents told their children about the tooth fairy. What purpose does the myth serve? Now that I am in the position myself, I finally know. I want that landmark! I want that memento! I want it enough, as it turns out, to pay for it.
As it turns out, instead of telling him about the tooth fairy, we treated the whole clan to pizza. And, it seems, invented a new tradition. Lose your first tooth, we all eat pizza. I can live with that. Now I just have to hope it convinces him not to throw away any of the other teeth.
He looks adorable, by the way. And we found the thing, at the bottom of the garbage pail in his classroom. It is safe in a plastic bag in my "save these baby things" drawer.
Motherhood. It changes a woman.
Don't answer that.
I picked my son up from school today - exactly one week before his 6th birthday - and after several minutes of playing on the playground, realized he was missing a lower front tooth. When I asked him where it was, he told me it was in the garbage! He'd never indicated that it was loose, so I'd never explained that he should keep it when it fell out.
I used to wonder why parents told their children about the tooth fairy. What purpose does the myth serve? Now that I am in the position myself, I finally know. I want that landmark! I want that memento! I want it enough, as it turns out, to pay for it.
As it turns out, instead of telling him about the tooth fairy, we treated the whole clan to pizza. And, it seems, invented a new tradition. Lose your first tooth, we all eat pizza. I can live with that. Now I just have to hope it convinces him not to throw away any of the other teeth.
He looks adorable, by the way. And we found the thing, at the bottom of the garbage pail in his classroom. It is safe in a plastic bag in my "save these baby things" drawer.
Motherhood. It changes a woman.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Thursday, September 22, 2005
FREAKONOMICS
I've been meaning to write this particular post for some time. I need to return this book so I have to just get this out or I’ll never return the book.
Anyway, I recently read _Freakonomics_ by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I was struck by a large flaw and had to comment on it. Part of the book discusses the "mistaken belief" that parents can positively influence their children by raising them well. They go into more detail about what studies have shown to work and not to work, but clearly, the authors believe that peers and genetics and maybe wealth have a lot more to do with successful child-rearing than good parenting.
Then, in the next breath they say that good adoptive parents can have a good influence on their adoptive children. Genetics aside, adopted children do seem to grow up to have better jobs and be happier people with better lives than children raised in poor, single-parent, etc., etc., homes.
So which is it, folks?
The problem, as I see it, lies in relying too heavily (in the first place - with the first argument) on the criteria measured by a lot of studies. Those studies are not proving that parents can't have a positive impact on their kids with attentive, good parenting. They may well be proving that this sort of parenting doesn't raise public school or SAT test scores, but I’m not raising my kids to be tested. Those tests will affect their lives of course, but it is their lives I am raising them for, not someone else's standardized test.
When they examined a study that measured the general lives of adults (not scores on the tests that minors took) they saw that parenting does matter. Which frankly, makes sense. Adulthood isn't about test scores. (Thank heavens.) Adulthood is about jobs and relationships and creating and striving for personal goals. It's about being a part of a marriage and a community and raising one's own children. Or at least, those are the things that adulthood is about for the vast majority of Americans.
So I suggest that the authors of this otherwise very engaging book reexamine this chapter. I think they need to take another look at the baseline assumptions underlying their point. Basically, I think they goofed.
Anyway, I recently read _Freakonomics_ by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I was struck by a large flaw and had to comment on it. Part of the book discusses the "mistaken belief" that parents can positively influence their children by raising them well. They go into more detail about what studies have shown to work and not to work, but clearly, the authors believe that peers and genetics and maybe wealth have a lot more to do with successful child-rearing than good parenting.
Then, in the next breath they say that good adoptive parents can have a good influence on their adoptive children. Genetics aside, adopted children do seem to grow up to have better jobs and be happier people with better lives than children raised in poor, single-parent, etc., etc., homes.
So which is it, folks?
The problem, as I see it, lies in relying too heavily (in the first place - with the first argument) on the criteria measured by a lot of studies. Those studies are not proving that parents can't have a positive impact on their kids with attentive, good parenting. They may well be proving that this sort of parenting doesn't raise public school or SAT test scores, but I’m not raising my kids to be tested. Those tests will affect their lives of course, but it is their lives I am raising them for, not someone else's standardized test.
When they examined a study that measured the general lives of adults (not scores on the tests that minors took) they saw that parenting does matter. Which frankly, makes sense. Adulthood isn't about test scores. (Thank heavens.) Adulthood is about jobs and relationships and creating and striving for personal goals. It's about being a part of a marriage and a community and raising one's own children. Or at least, those are the things that adulthood is about for the vast majority of Americans.
So I suggest that the authors of this otherwise very engaging book reexamine this chapter. I think they need to take another look at the baseline assumptions underlying their point. Basically, I think they goofed.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
W.
so i was talking about politics, katrina/new orleans and the iraq war with friends the other day, and i found myself quoting george orwell and 1984. "we have always been at war with eurasia"... and Joy said something like it is scary how often this president inspires folks to quote george orwell.
indeed.
i'm not sure why this blog hasn't inspired a single political post until now, but here it is. i'll just be clear for anyone who doesn't know. i voted for kerry and i'd do it again. the knowledge that women voted for bush because they thought we would be safer under him makes my jaw drop.
sadly, i find that writing well is a great deal harder than it feels like it ought to be. i hope this llnk: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/opinion/18rich.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd remains viable for a long time because this NYT op-ed columnist said it much better than i can.
indeed.
i'm not sure why this blog hasn't inspired a single political post until now, but here it is. i'll just be clear for anyone who doesn't know. i voted for kerry and i'd do it again. the knowledge that women voted for bush because they thought we would be safer under him makes my jaw drop.
sadly, i find that writing well is a great deal harder than it feels like it ought to be. i hope this llnk: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/opinion/18rich.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd remains viable for a long time because this NYT op-ed columnist said it much better than i can.
Monday, September 19, 2005
slightly wrong word
my son doesn't understand that the word "born" is not the word "boring". here's a gem from him. he just said this a minute ago.
"Zora was boring here, I was boring in a hospital!!"
"Zora was boring here, I was boring in a hospital!!"
sudden flash of insight (many years ago)
You know those rare instances when someone tried to get the better of you but you got the better of them, instead? I have no idea what triggered the memory, but for some reason I was thinking about one of those this morning.
I was in high school when this happened, and was definitely not one of the more popular kids. One evening I got an unexpected phone call. I immediately recognized the voice. It was Randy York, who I'd had a few classes with over the years. He said "Hi, this is Marvin." I said no, you aren't Marvin, you're Randy, I recognize your voice. You don't sound anything at all like Marvin. Well, we went back and forth a few times, as he insisted he was Marvin and I insisted he was Randy.
Finally I gave up and said ok "Marvin", why are you calling? Of course, I was pretty suspicious at this point. Indeed, it wasn't about finding out the pages we were supposed to read or which math problems had been assigned. No, "Marvin" was calling to ask me out on a "date".
So, I heaved a huge fake sigh and said that I really appreciated his offer, but I just couldn't accept. You see, I exclaimed, I have a huge crush on Randy York.
Silence.
And that, my friends, was the last time Randy York spoke to me. I recall that a year or two later we had trigonometry together, and I was desperately searching one day for someone with a watch. I can't remember anymore why I wanted to know the time, but though Randy was wearing a watch, he wouldn't tell me what it said. So I had zinged him so bad, apparently, that two years later he literally wouldn't give me the time of day.
I have a bad habit of dwelling on the moments in my past where I made a fool of myself or someone else made a fool of me, so really, it was nice to remember this moment instead.
I was in high school when this happened, and was definitely not one of the more popular kids. One evening I got an unexpected phone call. I immediately recognized the voice. It was Randy York, who I'd had a few classes with over the years. He said "Hi, this is Marvin." I said no, you aren't Marvin, you're Randy, I recognize your voice. You don't sound anything at all like Marvin. Well, we went back and forth a few times, as he insisted he was Marvin and I insisted he was Randy.
Finally I gave up and said ok "Marvin", why are you calling? Of course, I was pretty suspicious at this point. Indeed, it wasn't about finding out the pages we were supposed to read or which math problems had been assigned. No, "Marvin" was calling to ask me out on a "date".
So, I heaved a huge fake sigh and said that I really appreciated his offer, but I just couldn't accept. You see, I exclaimed, I have a huge crush on Randy York.
Silence.
And that, my friends, was the last time Randy York spoke to me. I recall that a year or two later we had trigonometry together, and I was desperately searching one day for someone with a watch. I can't remember anymore why I wanted to know the time, but though Randy was wearing a watch, he wouldn't tell me what it said. So I had zinged him so bad, apparently, that two years later he literally wouldn't give me the time of day.
I have a bad habit of dwelling on the moments in my past where I made a fool of myself or someone else made a fool of me, so really, it was nice to remember this moment instead.
Friday, September 09, 2005
delightful things my children have said
"The opposite of Aladdin is Jafar". - Zora, 2 years old
"Cheetahs bite their own food!" - Razi 7/15/05
"I gave Boo bread. That was kindful." - Zora 8/11/05
"Monsters are scared of trains! They are GOOD!" - Razi 8/23/05
"Bodies are for dancing." - Zora 9/8/05
"Cheetahs bite their own food!" - Razi 7/15/05
"I gave Boo bread. That was kindful." - Zora 8/11/05
"Monsters are scared of trains! They are GOOD!" - Razi 8/23/05
"Bodies are for dancing." - Zora 9/8/05
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
another harry potter prediction
Ok, at the beginning of book 5, a bunch of folks from the Order of the Phoenix come to the Dursley's house to get Harry. Why so many folks? I predict that they will all serve a purpose (some of them already have, of course).
Prof. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody - very important to book 4 and shows up often after
Prof. Remus Lupin - very important to book 3 and shows up often after
Nymphadora Tonks - a character in books 5 and 6
Kingsley Shacklebolt - a character in books 5 and 6
Elphias Doge - can't remember him being mentioned again
Dedalus Diggle - mentioned a few times here and there since book 1
Emmaline Vance - horribly murdered "between" books 5 and 6, murder mentioned in book 6
Sturgis Podmore - arrested and sent to azkaban in book 5
Hestia Jones - quite sure she isn't mentioned again in book 5 or 6
Here's my prediction. Elphias Doge and/or Dedalus Diggle and/or Hestia Jones will figure into book 7. i'm rooting for Hestia Jones. She has a cool name. ;)
Prof. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody - very important to book 4 and shows up often after
Prof. Remus Lupin - very important to book 3 and shows up often after
Nymphadora Tonks - a character in books 5 and 6
Kingsley Shacklebolt - a character in books 5 and 6
Elphias Doge - can't remember him being mentioned again
Dedalus Diggle - mentioned a few times here and there since book 1
Emmaline Vance - horribly murdered "between" books 5 and 6, murder mentioned in book 6
Sturgis Podmore - arrested and sent to azkaban in book 5
Hestia Jones - quite sure she isn't mentioned again in book 5 or 6
Here's my prediction. Elphias Doge and/or Dedalus Diggle and/or Hestia Jones will figure into book 7. i'm rooting for Hestia Jones. She has a cool name. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
