As yet unpublished

Survivor

Okay, so I just told my 15-year old that I could have stayed away with them for another week ...

What's a week away with the kids like?  I had to come home and go off on my own for the night because I couldn't answer another question -- can you believe that a 15-year old can ask you every hour for about 24 hours what time the plane will depart and what will the weather be like? -- or listen to the non-stop thoughts of my 12-year old.  So, I had to come home and decompress even though I was pretty sufficiently decompressed.  My husband seemed to have enjoyed his time off.  The dogs definitely were happy to see the family return.

We've been on cruises with the kids before.  Each time it's a totally different experience.  It's kind of funny because cruises -- the ones we go on -- are definitely mass-market and Greenwich (where we live) is definitely not mass-market.  So, suffice it to say, it wasn't a Greenwich crowd.  Which has it's advantages because I felt like I was a normal size for a change since the Greenwich size teeters on the too-small, too-lycra, too-bought side.  The Jewel of the Sea is the newest of the fleet so it was clean (phewf) and not so big as others (only holds 3,000 ...) and it was not a family cruise ship.  Still, I managed to run into Bruce Klein and family (used to work with Bruce ...) on day two and that was a little weird.  I've never run into anyone I know on a cruise.

The kids were 98% great and 2% not great but for the most part, this was a dream vacation for all.  The kids got bored (in case people weren't aware, kids need to get bored and noone seems to let them anymore) and relaxed and snorkled and browsed the crap shops and hung out with boring adults at dinner and had as many virgin cocktails that they could handle.

What were the highlights?

I read 7 books -- I'll make it 8 by the end of the night.  This was a great because I had not been reading more than a book or two a week and needed to get back to form. 

I overcame my total dislike of those jet ski things and took the boys out for a ride ... still not my idea of fun

My kids think Cuban cigars are cool ... that's werid.  And one of them likes to smoke them.  I guess a cigar is better than anything else they could smoke.

Nick will do anything for a daquiri -- will keep THAT in mind for a few years from now

My kids get along and do stuff together when faced with no other options.

You can go a whole week without renting a movie ...

I still don't know how to make towel animals.

Sea water pools suck.

Cozumel was wiped out by hurricane Wilma.  And is desperate for money.

Grand Cayman can handle an influx of 15,000 people with the blink of an eye.

Kids don't grow out of bathroom humor.

Jewel of the Sea

Hope that this cruise ship is named the Jewel of the Sea for a reason ... because after 7 days and 6 nights with two teenagers and me on the ship, I'm going to need some sort of jewel.

Wish me luck.  I'm bringing 20 books.  I hope that's not too ambitious.

Google-ee fun

I just spent a bunch of time typing all sorts of stuff and then what do you know ... I flip to google and forget to do so in a new tab and BANG away goes all that good stuff.

Which is kind of ironic because I was blogging about all the things that go on in my head and lead my so far astray when I am trying to complete a less-than-engaging task like updating the Arcadia Coffee and Just Books websites.  It's less-than-engaging because it's all movable type, each entry is the equivalent of a blog entry and I have to use *gasp* a fair amount of html and ... you get the idea.  So, what goes on in my head while I do these things?  I have a deadline -- I have to take the kids on a cruise to the Caribbean tomorrow and have the Knock Out Kings and The Catalyst rocking Arcadia tonight so ... I have to get this done.

In the meantime, my brain is meandering onto several subjects:

What's up with Sharon?  We know a lot about the quail hunt and the bruised old man and our clumsy VP and WHO CARES?  But what's up with Sharon?  A handy google search shows that ... the first hit on Sharon was about a car accident in Sharon and the first mention of the actual guy I was looking for is the tenth hit.  OUCH!  Now, a google on Cheney has every hit about the quail-and-buckshot-bullshit.  Go figure.

What's on my kid's myspace?  And what are his friends up to?  This can take you down a very deep rabbit hole ... In order to protect his privacy and that of his friends and to make sure that myspace is being used in the way that the kids naively think it works (a private little chat room for their invited circle of friends ... hah!) I won't actually share his url.  Suffice it to say, it took me down a hole for about 45 minutes ... and then almost sucked me back in. 

What is up with the other bookstores around?  One recently closed and part of the reason why I'm updating calendar entries is because I took on additional events from the store that closed and hey, what do you know, you can't get to that website anymore and why the heck not?  where is it?  Lots of good poking around here to see who is doing what ...

Does Nick have any homework?  Luckily his school posts his homework on-line and one can find out at the click-of-a-mouse what your kid was supposed to be doing last night.  Nick hasn't been in school for three weeks ... so I'm pretty up-to-date on this subject and thought the better of going down that rabbit hole.

What's the principal of the high school have to say about putting armed po-lice into the school?  Nothing on the web so I think I'll craft a letter to all the superiors in-town and let them know what I think about guns in school ... any guns in school ... the concept of not being able to shoot someone UNLESS there is a gun in school and why do we need to have poplice in school with guns to mitigate?  Having satisfied that need, sit back and wait for letters from First Selectman and the Board of Education.  Still waiting for the Principal, Superintendent, Chief of Police ... compare length of replies to others and contemplate further interaction and decide would only lead to further high blood pressure and decline.

Thank you note to my friend who had me over last night to meet her very nice friends and watch her very charming husband host Dancing with the Stars. 

Must be time for the three dogs to go outside ... inside ... outside ... inside ...

Kids need food ... first Nick and friend, then Thomas ...

My blog!  Have not blogged in a few days ... that's got to be good for some time.  First checking the depressing stats ... not checking feecburner because we all know that noone is subscribed ... and then what the heck ... adding an entry.

I've got to go.  It's nearly 3pm, in 3 hours I have to go clear out the floor at Arcadia and I'm pretty sure I have just about 2 hours of work to do ... on top of needing to find all the stuff to take on the cruise and pack it into a small bag and ...

Sharon re-emerges

Sharon is alive -- but far from well.  Today is the first day since January 16 that there has been official news in an American newspaper (that I can find, at least) about Sharon.  Stunning, really, that we have heard nothing between "we're bringing him out of a drug-induced coma" to "Sharon has emergency surgery and is in the ICU" ...

I'm going to assume he's not been hanging out in a hospital room entertaining heads of state, commenting on the Palestinian political situation and watching TV; I think he's been in a coma and a questionable state since he fell off our radar screen.  I mean, he's only the Prime Minister of Israel -- a pivotal country in the Middle East that is central to much conflict and one of our key allies. 

So, folks, there's news:

CNN
New York Times

And, not quite American but, hey, it's news!

Herald Tribune

Violence in school

There was a big fight at our school last Friday.  According to kids close to the fight -- kids that were at the epicenter of the fight -- 4 white kids beat up 1 freshman hispanic kid and sent that kid to the hospital with multiple fractures and injuries.  This was the culmination of months of tension between two groups of kids.

Now, the kids came home from school with big eyes and anxiety.  They were wound up and unsure of what was really going on.  The school was flooded with armed police and they were still there when they went back to school on Monday.  Over the weekend, a young blogger posted an entry on his myspace indicating that he was going to incite more violence ... shoot up the school ... and that apparently was nipped in the bud by the administration.

So, we all sent our kids off to school on Monday with the rumors flying, the story growing and the uncertainty and anxiety in the pits of their stomachs.  Late Monday night the principal sent out an e-mail explaining that "Last Friday morning, there was a fight between two students outside the building.  Security invtervened immediately.  The police were called and both students received consequences."  There's more to the letter but there is no mention of racial tension, of the injuries sustained, of the status of the injured party or any actual details.  That was worrisome.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the kids kept talking, IMing, blogging, phoning and worrying ... worrying ... worrying ... and the principal had small meetings with kids and decided that this Friday that the kids who are trained as a part of the Anti-Defamation League leaders in the NAMES program would have peer meetings to try to settle down the situation ...

KIDS are going to counsel KIDS about a very big, very out-of-control and VERY adult situation ...

Tonight, there is a big rumor -- or is it -- floating that there is another shooting threat and that the police will be guarding the school tomorrow so that kids will be able to come into school and that there are groups of kids targeted in the shooting threat and that a group of the kids making the threat are currently AWOL. 

I actually don't care if it's a hoax or a rumor -- my kid isn't going to school tomorrow.  If it is -- nothing is lost.  If it is not -- something is gained.  Either way, the school environment feels out of control and unsafe and that seems to be when bad things really do happen.

I hope it's a rumor and a hoax.  For the sake of the principal and the administrators.  For the sake of the police.  For the sake of the kids.  For their safety and need to feel like they are not vulnerabel to senseless violence.

Ever wondered?

I usually get into the coffee shop early enough to read the paper and center my being before the day gallops off in some direction I had no intention of heading toward ... today it was a series of "every wonder ..."

Why does a French teacher schedule a 7:30 AM meeting and not show up?
Why don't we see any news about Sharon?
Why can we eat fat now with reckless abandon when for the last umpteen years it was verboten?
Why do people park where they shouldn't?
Why do little kids kick in windows while their parents stand there and do nothing?
Why can't the people on the schedule just come to work instead of playing employee musical chairs?
Why do kids fight in school?
Why did kids get suspended when the head master thinks you have a "neat kid" who "doesn't really need this suspension"?
Why is myspace the hottest thing for kids to do at night?
Why can't my kid write his homework down?
Why don't my kids cut their hair?

There's more ... but that was all that I had time to wonder about today.  Maybe tomorrow I can wonder about things like why the sky is blue, why it's balmy in the winter time and other heady subjects ...

Authors and actors

Tonight we hosted a new author, Judith Lindbergh, with her book The Thrall's Tale.  I had asked to have her speak at Just Books because I thought that the book looked interesting, should be a book that people pick up and want to read, and has a mix of feminism, historical fiction and literary appeal that I like. 

I didn't expect a huge crowd -- new author, book just came out, it's cold out -- but I have chosen this book as the fiction pick for our book-of-the-month club and it is our March pick for the Just Books book club so I thought hearing from the author would be great and giving a new book that should go places exposure is important.

Judith is a lovely person.  She's smart and funny and has humility and is appropriately pleased with her publication and final product.  This is a well-written, well-researched book.  Not all are ...

I introduced Judith and let her have the floor.  She explained the broad themes of the book, the three female characters in the book and their genesis and then proceeded to read a section about each of the three women and ... I've never had an author bring a book to life the way that Judith did.

Some authors read their books beautifully.  Many are shy about reading and don't do a terrific job.  Some are just downright bad and shouldn't be allowed to read aloud from their work no matter how wonderful it may be.  But Judith is multitalented -- not only is she a gifted writer but she has a career that includes photography (and not the amateur type), ballet, acting and writing.  It was the acting -- the years of studying lines and parts and language that allowed her to light an internal fire on her book like noone else could.

And for the people in the room, she brought a third dimension to the book solely through her words and expression and the ultimate love and intimacy that only she could have with this book.

It's nights like these that I am able to say "this is why I do this" ...