MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk
Notes from the Homefront -- Theresa Jarosz Alberti, writer and mother... http://sapphire.albatross.org
On Sunday night, DH and I watched the 2 hour special, "The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live." Oh man, did it bring me back, waaaaay back! SNL started in 1975 when I was 11, and I probably didn't start watching it until I was 12. It was quite a scandalous show back then, because of all the jokes about sex and drugs and other weird stuff, and of course my parents wouldn't let me watch it when I was 12 or 13. But I spent most of my Saturday nights babysitting back then, so I watched the show regularly, and my friends and I all loved it, quoting from the skits, laughing about all the silly characters.
The show not only showed clips of the first five years, but it also talked about behind the scenes stuff, like how the show even came about in the first place, how they put it together each week, the relationships going on. It was all very interesting, but for me the best part was the jolts of recognition and the joy I felt in seeing the old skits I'd forgotten about but liked so much as a kid. It had all been so on-the-edge, risky, funny, creative. Some skits worked wonderfully and others bombed totally. That was part of the fun and the appeal.
Over the last 30 years (ugh, does that make me feel OLD!), I've gone through spells of watching the show and not watching. In the 80's and 90's, some seasons didn't appeal to me at all. But for the last few years, DH and I have gotten back into watching it regularly. It's still pretty great, has skits that suck sometimes, but it will never be as great for me as it was those first 5 years. Those were the best. Sigh!
Last week, I ran into a woman at our local Chinese buffet, looked across the steam tables and had that flash of recognition, and then had to decide "do I avoid, or do I say hi?" I had seen her but she hadn't seen me. S. is the mom of a former friend of my daughter. C. was a 3rd grader in my DD's 2/3 grade room, and the girls had played together for several years. They had gravitated away from each other, with C. being homeschooled and life getting busier, so we hadn't seen C. or her mom for about four years.
Now S. (the mom) was someone who repelled and fascinated me at the same time. I wonder if I'm the only person, or maybe it's just my writer's curiosity, but I can be very interested and drawn to people that I actually don't like, because I'm just so fascinated by their particular personality or quirks. I'll be nice and nod my head and feel like a huge hypocrite as I smile and chat, but actually I'm mentally waiting to hear what they will say or do next. It's like a character study.
(And now I probably have my miniscule audience wondering if I'm just falsely nice to YOU while secretly taking notes on your odd personality. Heh heh! Don't worry, I wouldn't be writing this if I thought any of my "characters" were reading this!)
What always fascinated me about S. was that she talked really fast (she has kids with ADD and she seems to have some tendancies too) and she seemed to have no boundaries about personal privacy. The first time I talked to her on the phone to set up a playdate years ago, within 10 minutes I knew all about her life-- what her husband did for a living and how much he made, how many kids she had and how she wanted more, her older kids' problems with school. It just came out in a torrent and I couldn't believe my ears! And she had no boundaries about asking me about my life or our money situation or stuff like that. Every time I spoke with her, it was a verbal marathon for her. DH didn't believe me when I told him about her, and then she came over to drop her daughter at our house one day and she talked to him, and had to leave the room. It was too much!
Sooo, last week my Morbid Fascination crept in and I did speak to S. It took a minute of me reminding her about G. and C. having been friends, but then she remembered. She came over to the table and saw the kids and how they'd grown (she was alone, picking up takeout for her kids). And just like always, more details than I could want to know-- her plans to sell her house and move back to her home state, how much she could get for her house, her going back to college for nursing, how her husband doesn't have anything to do with the kids now that they're divorced, how C. got messed up with drugs last year (age 13) and has to go to a special school. Blah blah blah. The conversation lasted less than 10 minutes. And then she went on her way.
I loved it. I've tucked the characteristics away in my brain... aint I weird?
We are in the midst of one of our warmest, weirdest winters ever. We did have a below-zero cold spell for about a week, but we've had hardly any snow this year, and now that it's February, we've been having some temps in the 40's, and it rained yesterday. By nighttime it had turned to snow, but now it is sunshiney and going to reach 40 today.
Come on! This is Minnesota! In February!
I am so angry at the naysayers who claim we are not sufferring from global warming. I am angry at the current administration which is relaxing environmental and pollution laws right and left. I am angry at our country's head-in-the-sand approach to the environmental future of our world... the world we are leaving for our children and their children.
Yesterday, my 4th grade DS and I were reading his little school magazine that he gets, current events put in little articles which he has to answer questions about. Yesterday's was about global warming, its effects, and the Kyoto Treaty which many countries are agreeing to support to reduce environmental pollution that affects global warming. The US is more worried about the effects such a treaty would have on its businesses, so it is not supporting the Kyoto Treaty.
I don't understand this kind of logic-- okay, I wouldn't even call it logic. This world is our home, and not bothering to care for it in our most careful way is pompous, selfish and stupid. It is caring more for the RIGHT NOW than the FUTURE. And who is profiting from this way of doing business?
When I was a kid, you knew what to expect from a Minnesota winter. You would start getting lots of snow in December, sometimes as early as November or October. January and February would be darn, bone-chilling cold. March would bring hints of spring and tons of snow. Real spring wouldn't breathe warm air until April.
But for the last 10 years, our winters here in the northland have gotten milder. This year, no real snow until late January. A few cold spells, but now it feels like spring and looks like spring in February. We just had rain in Feburary.
How long can we go on pretending? Will our president not start to worry until the ocean rises and New York is underwater?
I'm currently reading Sara Paretsky's most recent V.I. Warshawski mystery, "Blacklist" (a quick check on Amazon told me it is the 11th in the series). DH and I started reading the V.I. Warshawki series way back when the twins were 7 months old. We were going on our first long car trip as a family, out to Indiana where DH was to be in a friend's wedding. A book group member had recommended the books, and when I was shopping before our trip, I picked up one of the first books in the series because we were looking for a book we could read aloud to each other as we drove. It was a memorable trip in many ways (12 hours each way in a car with two babies, being doted on by the groom's family at the wedding, and coming home to find a squirrel had invaded our home and chewed up all our window woodwork trying to get out). We both enjoyed meeting V.I. and we have continued to read all about her for the last 13 years.
I am not usually what I'd call a fan of mysteries. I've read a few here and there, and generally enjoy them when I do, but my passion is really for contemporary fiction and children's/young adult lit. I like V.I. as a character, someone who is so unlike me-- tough and adventurous and constantly on the go. It's fun to read about her life and how she lives it as a detective. I find the books challenging too-- very saavy about world events, local and world politics, and the business world. Sara Paretsky is one intelligent woman and I feel like I'm given a firm piece of steak to chew when I'm reading her. It takes some work but it is worth it. I think I'm intelligent, but not in this same saavy, street-smart, world-smart way.
It takes me several chapters to really get into the story with VI, but now I'm more than half-way through and I'm so eager to follow her and see what happens.
And hey, it doesn't help that she's a smart Polack, either! :-)
Yesterday was a 2-meeting day. After school, there was a "management team" meeting at my kids' school. It is a meeting of the principal and vices, some staff and parents who want to discuss what is going on around the school and make decisions about how the school is managed. The other meeting was our church's Religious Education Council, which I am a member of. Both meetings take place once a month, unfortuantely on the same day. And so, the first Monday of every month, I question why the heck I go to meetings.
They are SO BORING!!!
I know there are some people who actually like these kinds of meetings. Who get energized about talking about how things are managed, about analyzing the system. Who like meeting formats and rules of order and all that. Who are organized enough in their life to add coordinating volunteer events to their caldendar. I am not one of these people!
So the question remains-- why do I go to these meetings? Mainly I go because I like to be informed, and if big decisions are being made, I like to have a say in what is happening at these two places that are important to me-- church and school. Before I started going to these meetings, I never understood how these systems worked and who was deciding what.
After a day of meetings, I'm often grumbly and telling myself that I could just let it slide, miss a few meetings and it wouldn't be a big deal, but then I keep going to the meetings. I guess when it comes down to it, I'd rather be informed and bored than the other option.
So don't mind me. Just try to keep the meetings short!
I've gotten into listening to FM107 lately, which is kind of a women's talk radio here in Minneapolis. They have some interesting shows, and I've been known to listen to their two radio psychologists, kind of addicting to listen to people's problems and the advice they are given.
Okay, so it's probably no surprise to you that I really despise Dr. Laura. I used to despise her so much that I, out of curiosity, would tune into her show and only be able to listen to her for about five minutes before I felt swells of rage over how mean and nasty she was to people. Maybe I've matured (hah!), but now if I tune into her show, I merely find myself laughing and groaning a lot. I still think she is mean and nasty, but she is also unpredictable which makes it kind of entertaining. You never know when she will totally sneer at someone and call them stupid for thinking a certain way-- even though these same people have just told her "I love you Dr. Laura. You are the best!" Or the total kiss-up phrase that she gets people to use: "I'm my kids' mom." Saying something fawning to Dr. Laura does not mean that she won't ridicule you or shame you into seeing the error of your ways. I would love to be privy to the first words that her callers say after DL ends the conversation. Are they still ready to worship at her feet?
Dr. Joy Brown, on the other hand, is a breath of fresh air. She takes the same kinds of calls that DL does, but her voice and tone are totally sneer free. She is still firm with people, has even told off one or two who just want to argue with her, but she has this nurturing manner, calls people "Cookie," and actually seems to care. She still shows people their faulty thinking, points out their errors, but doesn't beat anyone over the head.
Since I've listened to both shows in the car, I've pointed out the differences in these two psychologists to my kids,and they've had fun analyzing the advice they hear too. They've dubbed Dr. Laura the evil one. Me too!
I feel like whispering to those callers who get snubbed by Dr. Laura--"Psst... listen to Dr. Joy. Better advice, and kind!"