There once was a girl…

From Nantucket…..no, not really.  There once was a girl, however.

It is raining here in G’ville today.  We used to be so thankful everytime it rained, seeing as how we were experiencing a terrible drought.  Apparently the drought is over, however, and people don’t want to seem ungrateful, so they still say things like “boy, I wish the sun would shine, but we need the rain so I guess I shouldn’t complain.”  Well, folks, when the floods start flashing and the lake is full, I say complain all you want.  My vitamin D supplies are suffering and the sun needs to shine a little.  Not that I can really do anything about it, having forgotten to invent a weather-controlling machine in the midst of all my other technical and scientific breakthroughs, but there you are.

In case you couldn’t tell, my outlook on the world is a bit weird today.  We are travelling to TN tonight to help celebrate a dear friend’s 70th birthday tomorrow—actually his birthday was yesterday–and I am hoping that the combination of time with friends, a superb massage and liquor will all add up to a better demeanor.  We shall see.

Happy New Year!

All is well in 2010, so far so good.  We’ve just spent several days with our dear friends, Henry and Di and their lovely daughters.  Lots of relaxing and eating, some shopping and much merry-making.  A great way to see the old year out and ring the new year in….Also, Dianne helped me to remember how to knit and this is good since I have to teach others how to do it this year!!!

Now, it is time for the new semester and all that brings with it.  I’m excited about my classes and my students and hopeful–that I will find the best ways to reach students and that students will find ways to do really fabulous work! I hope that I will find ways to do fabulous work!

I don’t really do resolutions anymore at the new year.  I try to do my resolutions, year round, whenever I feel the need to resolve myself to do something.  I do have some sort of reaffirmations that I have thought about pretty consistently over the past few days.  First, I really want to actively appreciate my husband more.  He is a great guy and I want to wade through the routine and stress of life more to appreciate his fine qualities and the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place.  Second, I want to concentrate on what is really important to me and give whatever I am engaging in my full attention at the moment I am engaging.   Being more present in my life to make conscious decisions about what I will and will not let take up my time and energy.  I also want to be open to possibilities.  This is something that I try to constantly cultivate…and I’ll be keeping it on the front burner this year for sure.

I also am making an effort to actively journal again.  I used to journal quite consistently, right up until the time I had my children….after that, my habit fell away, came and went, ebbed and flowed.  It is important to me and I am making a go of it again.  I have a fabulous red Moleskine journal that I have been writing and drawing in.   I am a great proponent of keeping a journal and try to encourage my students to do it—-so I’ll try to walk the walk again to see if I can give any encouragement to others trying to do the same….

I guess writing this blog is journalling as well—so cyber journaling and brick and mortar journalling—commence for 2010!

I do hope everyone has a happy and healthy year, including me, my family and our friends.  I challenge myself and you to focus not on the lack of time or energy or resources that you might perceive as prohibitive to whatever you wish to do, be or have–but to grab your life by the horns and live it—fully and wholeheartedly—with gusto and enthusiasm!

I leave you with the words of Mame:  “Live, live, LIVE!  Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!”  Don’t be a starving sucker…LIVE!

A Happy Holiday

Our family had such a wonderful and lazy Christmas day yesterday.  When the girls were smaller, it seems like the day, even spent at home and in our pajamas, was much more hectic and harried.  Yesterday, however, was, as the girls put it, “a civilized Christmas.”

The girls got us up at about 7am to open gifts.  They were thrilled with their new cell phones and pleased with all the other presents they received.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then naps.  We all spent the rest of the day lounging, reading, watching movies and just generally relaxing.  It was good.

I feel so fortunate to be able to have this kind of a Christmas.  I know that others are not so privileged and so I thank my lucky stars every day.  I am grateful.

I hope everyone else I know had a “civilized Christmas”:-)

Now is the time…

David and I went phone shopping yesterday.  We desperately needed new cell phones–my old one has been through 2 batteries and both of our phones are about 4 years old.  Might as well be Flintstones phones.  Anyway, we both got a BlackBerry yesterday and now we are somewhat lost.

I am not what I would call an early adapter of technologies.

David is much more comfortable, I think, with embracing new technology and futzing around with it until he learns it.  Me, I think that I will break it if I don’t understand it.

Today will be devoted to tutorials and downloading, trying to ready ourselves for actually utilizing the phones.

Twilight Zone moment this morning when David’s old phone, even though it was powered off, sprang to life and set off an alarm…..then asked on the screen….”power on phone now?”  Creepy.  It knows we have new mobile devices and it is not happy.

Exam week

Tomorrow I embark on the week of exams—and it will be a week, because I have one exam tomorrow, one on Wednesday and one on Friday—Last year, I ended up in the hospital before my last exam.  Hopefully this year will be different–in a good way.

Happy day

I thought it was going to rain today.  It did this morning, but now it is sunny and bright outside.

We got our Christmas tree last night and will be decorating it today.

D and Z did their regional All-State band auditions this morning….all the nervousness and anxiety has been transformed to relief.

I feel physically better than I have in several weeks.  I am sore from yoga, but it is a good sore.  I have a wonderful husband and two adorable children.  I have many friends and a family that, even though they think I am weird, loves me.  I am caught up on grading and next week is exams.  I am a very lucky duck indeed.

Hopefully, a corner turned…

I am feeling better today, in the midst of my 3rd round of antibiotics for an unidentified malady.  (How can they give you antibiotics if they don’t really know what you have????)  Anyway, I dutifully came home after my class (after discovering that our department meeting is TOMORROW, not TODAY by showing up for the meeting and no one being there:-))  I whizzed into Kroger to pick up some ground beef to make a sheperd’s pie for dinner–to celebrate the fact that I do not feel like TOTAl crap today, I will cook!

Let me just say here that it is really nasty outside today…cold, raining, foggy, puddly, messy.

I ran into the store (figuratively, of course) and got the meat.  Despite the rain, there were quite a few senior citizens at the grocery store–today they get a discount–just like every Wednesday.   In the midst of the mess, as I was leaving, a man a little older than me was walking slowly toward the store with a much older man.  The younger man was holding an umbrella over the older man’s head and they were chatting about the large amounts of rain that we have received in G’ville this year.  Nothing really notable about it.  Except that when they reached the threshold of the store, the younger man bid the older man a good day and a “Merry Christmas” and they parted ways……they had not arrived together, the younger man had just seen this older gentleman in the parking lot, getting wet, and had walked him into the store under his umbrella.  This put a smile on my face and made me very happy.

I haven’t been feeling that great—either physically or about the upcoming holidays—just not in the spirit.  This little gesture, however, made me feel all “Christmasy”.  That man helping out his fellow man—that’s what it’s all about.  It is nice to know that others feel the same way.  Thank you, sir, whomever you are, for making my day brighter.

Take 2…

Well, well.  I thought that I was getting better, when in fact, I was getting worse.  Sicker, that is.  Ultimately, I have ended up on antibiotics (again) and have been told to REST.

 

Let me just say, this is not a new occurence for me…the getting sick after a period of intense work.  When I was doing theatre regularly, I would ALWAYS get sick sometime during the first week of the run.  I guess it is because in the period leading up to the opening, there would be so much to do, so much adrenaline and cortisol and other crazy-making stuff going on in my body to keep it going that I just wouldn’t notice until after the stress was gone that I was sick.  This time, the culprit was a show, but it was curating an exhibition and producing a fashion show, rather than a piece of theatre…although one could argue that a fashion show is a piece of theatre….

 

Anyway, I am trying to modulate my tendency to create havoc within my own person, and thought that I had handled the current events quite well—but as it turns out, old biological habits are as hard to break as emotional ones.  The show (actually both of them) is a success and now I have all weekend to recuperate before going back to classes for 2 days and then having 5 off for Thanksgiving.

 

I broke down, since I had a huge, sore knot on the side of my neck, in addition to not having a voice and feeling generally crappy–with a fever–and went to the doctor yesterday.  The doctor identified the knotS (they grew) as swollen lymph nodes and she prescribed meds and told me, above everything else, to REST.  Not always easy for me as I tend to be a “doer”.

 

As I attempt to REST, I have put myself on a strict diet of TV.  I don’t watch a lot of television, because I don’t have time and most of the time there is nothing on that I can’t do without.  Yesterday, however, I scoured the “On Demand” section of our cable provider to find something to watch.  I was actually pleasantly surprised and found “Some Like It Hot” for free, on demand, and so watched it!  Let me just interject here that Tony Curtis was one hot dude in his day.  I do enjoy watching old movies, for some reason especially around this time of year.  I’m sure it has to do with wanting comfort and having nostalgic feelings that comes with the “holiday season” for me.  At any rate, I can sit (or lie) still for long periods if I am plugged into the television, so I will stay plugged in this weekend.  David and the girls have been very good to me and have been keeping me stocked with water and blankets.  And chocolate.  It’s good for anything that ails you.

 

I’m hoping that the inactivity, coupled with the very large antibiotics and lots of liquids will add up to me feeling much better by next week since my family is coming for Thanksgiving and I’m doing all the cooking.  I told David last night that deli turkey sandwiches and chips was sounding very good to me as a new take on the Thanksgiving feast…but I’m sure that I’ll be back up to speed by Thursday for doing the Martha turkey that David and the girls have come to know and love.

Funny Girl

I love Barbra Streisand.  She is an amazing performer, singer, actor, director, woman, humanitarian.  You name it, she’s done it.  I’m sick at home today in bed and just finished watching FUNNY GIRL.  It is one of my favorite movies….such a nice story (although based on Fanny Brice’s life, it is a much fictionalized and “cleaned up” version of what really happened) even though it has a very sad ending.

 

Barbra was my idol growing up.  I loved to sing and perform and fancied myself a sort of funny girl.  Not really pretty, sort of out of place and able to make people laugh with me instead of at me, most of the time.  I still feel like a funny girl in those respects.  I don’t mind saying I have several Streisand albums and still enjoy her voice.  I’m also glad that she seems so happy now, married to James Brolin and living her life on her terms.

 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  Several members of my family are coming to visit us next week and spend the holidays with us.  We are all excited.  It is the first time, although we extend the invitation every year, that my family has taken us up on the offer of spending Thanksgiving with us.  The girls and I are going to work on the menu this week.

 

The girls got their braces put on yesterday….Pain and suffering ensued.  Both woke up at around 2am and had to have additional motrin/tylenol—I can’t remember who got what.  I called the orthodontist today–I never had braces so didnt really know what to expect–apparently this is very normal.  Drew is uncomfortable, but Zoe just seems plain miserable.  She has a smaller mouth than Drew and some bite problems that are not an issue for Drew, so I think her braces are making a bigger impact quicker.  They both said that they could already feel and see that their teeth were moving.  Ah, technology.

 

I am trying to rest because I have a sore throat and feel generally crappy—and I have to be OK for tomorrow and Thursday for our Yuki Yao rehearsal and fashion show.  Recuperation is my goal of the day.  Hope my story has a happier ending than FUNNY GIRL.

…but seriously, folks….

It is amazing to me how fast a semester seems to fly by after midterm.  I mean, here it is four weeks before the end of the semester!  Where did all that time go?  I always feel a little panicked—have I covered everything I wanted?  Do I have enough time to cover everything else?  Of course, it depends on the group of students, as well.  This semester, I’ve had pretty good ones.

 

On the home front, we are hosting a little get together tomorrow night for some of my colleagues.  David invited some of his colleagues, but none were able to make it.  Bummer.  I’m making the famous Julia Chicken Melon and a veggie patè.  Everyone is bringing stuff to share, so I doubt we will want for food.  I hope it is cool enough to have a fire in the pit.

 

Right now, I’m off to take a long bath and watch “Love in the Time of Cholera”–  I’ve never read the book–so if the movie is not as good, I won’t be disappointed