Hand Me a Gin and Tonic, Will Ya'?

Another Quiz, actually kind of similar to the other one . . . I'm not quite sure what these things say about me . . . Carole Lombard and Marilyn Monroe, huh?

Your result for The Classic Dames Test...

Carole Lombard

You scored 5% grit, 29% wit, 38% flair, and 33% class!

You're a little bit of a fruitcake, but you always act out in style. You have a good sense of humor, are game for almost anything, but you like to have nice things about you and are attracted to the high life. You're stylish and modern, but you've got a few rough edges that keep you from attaining true sophistication. Your leading men include William Powell, Fredric March, and Clark Gable. Watch out for small planes.

Standing over a Subway Grate . . .

Hi, everyone!

Yes, I will do a proper post shortly, (I promise!) but to ease my way back into posting, here's an interesting little Quiz that's been making the rounds . . .

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Marilyn!

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be direct and clear


• * Listen to me carefully


• * Don't judge me for my anxiety


• * Work things through with me


• * Reassure me that everything is OK between us


• * Laugh and make jokes with me


• * Gently push me toward new experiences


• * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a Marilyn

• * being committed and faithful to family and friends


• * being responsible and hardworking


• * being compassionate toward others


• * having intellect and wit


• * being a nonconformist


• * confronting danger bravely


• * being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

• * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind


• * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself


• * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of


• * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger


• * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right


• * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

Marilyns as Children Often

• * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn


• * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger


• * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent


• * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel


• * are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

Marilyns as Parents

• * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty


• * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence


• * worry more than most that their children will get hurt


• * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Joys and Concerns

I’m an agnostic in the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition sense, “one who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable” – a state that can otherwise be known as “hedging my bets.” I actually, probably lean more towards atheist, but I do like knowing about other religions and I do think there is a lot of comfort and good that come out of them. (And a lot of really bad too, but we won’t even go *there* for today.)

However, I like going to church because: (a) I like singing, especially with choirs, and there are some hymns that are just so gorgeous and heavenly in melodies and harmonies that you can be SO transcendently moved. Soothing the savage breast and all that; and (b) there is just a whole community of (somewhat) like-minded people who are there to care and support each other, working together all for the purpose of what I call (probably very blasphemously) “putting on the show.”

The church I go to is one of the more hippie, liberal Protestant denominations, pretty close to Unitarian as you can get. Not a lot of decorations and doodads, communion is open to whoever wants bread and grape juice that day, and usual Sunday attire runs more along the lines of jeans/khakis/shorts/sandals – both guys and gals. Even before our pastor left, we had lots of “lay” participation and people in the congregation take turns running parts of the service and teaching Sunday school to the kids. We have a very energetic choir director, so we always have a (relatively) large amount of people in the choir, and on an off Sunday, the choir members look like they outnumber the people in the pews. On a good Sunday, we might have 45 people in the pews, on a summer Sunday we might have 15-20. We have lots of little kids in the congregation, most of whom are under the age of 8, so during the service before the kids get to go downstairs for Sunday school, there is always chaos of little ones running around and playing with toys. (Ours is not a “sit-down-and-shut-up” church for kids.)

Why am I writing this? I’m not sure, but I’m going with it. It seems to be the story I want to share at the moment . . .

Anyway, there is always part of the service, after the weekly sermon, called “Joys and Concerns.” This is when people can share any of their own joys or problems that they’ve been having during the past week with the rest of the congregation. It can be as innocuous as “My anniversary was this week!” all the way up to people talking about recurrences of cancer, job losses, sicknesses and deaths of family and friends, and heavy-duty personal struggles. The pastor writes all of these things down and mentions them during the closing prayers.

It is always amazing how much people feel comfortable sharing with everyone during these times – just letting a lot of raw emotion come out that has been stored up all week, trying to be brave. It is hard to describe. Sometimes it is very draining, but there is a wonderful, healing things that happens, when everyone’s heart goes out to the person talking, and the person feels like s/he is not alone in bearing his/her burden.

However, for me, there always seems to be a downside to all of the sharing – one that makes me feel . . . well, left out and apart . . .

You see, hearing about everyone else’s problems, makes my problems and issues seem *not very important.* Having money troubles? Well, somebody couldn’t sell their old house fast enough, was stuck paying two mortgages for a long time and is horribly in debt. Angst about paying for school? Some people can’t afford their courses any more and they have to drop out. Angst about horrible conditions at work? Someone has been out of a job for months. Not that it’s all a competition or anything, but how can you compete with that? So I keep my mouth shut, because my problems are not, relatively, problems. Even though they are, and they make me very unhappy. But I feel like I have to suck it up. Which makes it less of a safe space for me. But . . . who can help me, really? Where can *I* turn when I’m feeling bad, without feeling like I’m whining?

So I’m reaching the point where I’m getting pretty tired of the stuff I’m doing. I just see miles more road to travel to get where I want to go and I’m sick of traveling, but I’m also tired of where I am. It’s nice to have the blog as an outlet, but then I actually have to take the time to write all this out. So here I am.

My joys right now: my friends and family, having fun Saturdays, being able to go see plays, taking my college class.

My concerns right now: My Army sister (who is having problems with her legs), my grandma (who really needs someone to look in on her once a week, since she’s living alone and is now taking a lot of medications due to a hospital scare two months ago), Mr. Random and his family (mom, grandmom and sister – all having issues), my job (more people leaving, office is unstable, and I am unhappy every single day), money (Mr. Random’s student loans, pressure because of job uncertainty and debts), school (taking one class a semester is not getting me very far, will take me at least 3 or 4 years at this rate, plus it adds stress in dealing with work).

What are your joys and concerns at this time? Let’s lift them up and share!

I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue . . .*

. . . However, I did pick the right time to study Economics!

These are scary times for the U.S. economy. There are a lot of things that have not been going right for, oh, about 10-12 years, and a lot of fundamental economic/business truths were tossed out of the window in the service of people getting really greedy. You would have thought that people would have learned lessons from 1987 and 2000-2001, but NOOOOO. People are stupid. Or rather, a number of people made a lot of money being stupid, so being stupid was the OK default for a very long time.

Now our very flawed system is starting to crash down and a lot of people are going to be hurt by it –even little old you and me at some point. It is a fascinating thing to watch as a student. There is so much information to process, so many things happening in such a short amount of time, such that trying to get one’s head around everything is impossible. There are many lessons to be learned from what’s occurred in the past year and from what will occur over the next six months or so. What happened this weekend is not bottom yet . . . so hold on tight . . .

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” -- Winston Churchill

* Yes, I know . . . gratuitous Airplane! reference.

Passing the Peace

So, I haven’t been blogging for a while. This is for a number of unintentional reasons, but one of the main reasons is that things got super busy, a lot more “life drama” things happened, some new things got super shiny and distracting, plus all of the usual “starting-up-of-classes-and-getting-my-schedule-figured-out” fun.

OK, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest . . .

One of the things going on is that the church I sing in the choir for is going through a lot of heavy duty transition at the moment. We’re looking for a new pastor, going through a discernment/search process (which I’m on the committees for), and recently had people in our top three leadership positions step down simultaneously. (All for different reasons and none of them knew that the others were doing it.) There’re lots of emotions going on at the church. We are a small, tight-knit congregation, so everyone is rather burnt out and not really up to taking on more tasks. It is a very difficult situation.

One of the good things about our church *is* that it is so small that people really care about each other and treat each other like family. At every service, there is the usual moment towards the beginning of “passing the peace,” where in normal churches you just turn to your neighbor and shake their hand and say “peace be with you.” At our church, we don’t just stay in the pews, we walk clear across the sanctuary, hugging everyone and saying hi to each other. It’s one of the best things that our church does, though it does tend to put newcomers off a bit. For those who get what’s going on, they usually end up coming back. To have a moment where you’re feeling accepted and everyone is welcoming and smiling, is just the thing to get communal good feelings brewing.

So this post is my passing of the peace to you all. It’s me saying that I’m very glad you all are still here and reading. I know we are all going through a lot of stuff, internally and externally, but know that I appreciate every comment and I am reading your blogs and of thinking of you all too.

Peace be with you all today!

I'm Still Here!

It’s been a while, but it has been a super busy time. I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing again, but there are a ton of other assignments and reading I have to catch up on. I’ve also discovered the joy of feed readers – what an awesome time suck they are! Of course I have loaded mine up with more blogs than I can possibly keep track of at any given point, so the totals always are taunting me: I always seem to have over 1000+ posts in the box, and no amount of marking “all read” helps me catch up. However, it does make it a lot easier to see when my favorite bloggers have updated posts – now at least I can get out of habit of clicking on people’s blogs 10 times a day to see if they’ve updated. The only problem now is that it is hard to keep up with the comment threads . . .

I promise to write more soon, but until then I’ll leave you with this picture of my Army sister and I hanging out this past 4^th of July with the dearly departed dog, Lady. (I'm the one in the blue jacket.)

This picture will disappear within a few days, so enjoy it now . . .

--->Picture went POOF!!<---

I'm Going Out to Clear the Pasture Spring

I have a lot to write, but not the presence of mind write it today – so here’s more poetry!

Sometimes poems are much better at conveying a mood than clunky prose . . .


Ark
By Katie Ford

We love the stories of flood and the few
told to prepare in advance by their god.
In that story, the saved are
always us, meaning:
whoever holds the book.


Other Answers
By Carl Dennis

Now he's gone off, the middle-aged man
Who rang the doorbell a moment ago
Looking for the Russo family,
And already I'm sorry I settled for saying, "No.
No Russos Here." A true reply,
True to the precept against deception.
But what about a flow of fellow feeling
That would have pushed me to step out
On the porch a moment—pulling a coat on
Against the November chill—and point
To houses where I knew for certain
The man would be wasting his time to ring?
A dinner guest, maybe, growing uneasy
About finding the residence of his new friends.
Am I so gloomy about the likelihood
Of stories with happy endings that I'd like everyone
To stay home, content with his portion,
However meager? Or did the man remind me
Of a character in a play who spells trouble,
A borrower who might bleed a house dry,
A talker so courteous he makes a wife regretful
She didn't meet him before she met her husband.
Or did I suspect he'd envy the pair the joy
Each feels in the other's company, as Iago
Envies the love of Othello and Desdemona?
If I want to be fair, I have to assume the visitor
Innocent until proven guilty. For all I know
He could add to the play the part of the true friend
That Shakespeare hasn't provided, a counterpoise
To the secret enemy. What a difference he'd make
By urging Othello to pause a moment,
Listen, and reconsider. However else
The world would remain the same
If I were inclined to give fuller answers,
Othello's story might be less predictable.
He wouldn't always stumble without a candle
To the final scene, wouldn't always learn late
What he'd give everything to learn earlier.

Friday Random Muppet Video

For your Friday entertainment . . . this is such an incredibly sweet song, done by the incredibly talented Danny Kaye . . . and a little extra show at the end . . .

Two Random Wednesday Poems

I haven’t posted any poems in a while, and I felt the need to find some. These two spoke to me today . . .

Spring
By Angela Ball

My feelings just took a turn for the better
While thinking of white flowers turning into strawberries,
Of clover turning into bees, of crowds of wisteria
Swelling and swelling.

People often think I have a friendly dog, but it is just me:
My wide arm-span for folding tablecloths, my feet that seem worn
Not just by me, but many.

I had this feeling once before, when I was walking through rain
And wet leaves in shoes that were red and navy.
Much of me hadn't been tried out, and I liked that.


Stopping along the Way
By David Wagoner

Heading south toward campus, my car
stops suddenly, abruptly, almost
on its own. My right foot
has found the brake pedal
before my eyes can admire
a very young possum strolling
across our right of way
at his personal intersection
of human cross-purposes,
some of whose brakes are squeaking
behind us now. The possum
pauses, lowers his gray-pink-
and-sooty snout to drink in
the odor of something
among the fallen and flattened
sycamore leaves. I've seen
too many of him lying down
even flatter than seemed
possible beside roads
and in gutters. I realize
my car's mere presence looming
over him won't quicken
those four deliberate paws,
won't urge him out of danger,
but before I can think or make
some warning sign, two cars
are honking. He lifts his head
dreamily, comparing
that sound to some distant sound
somewhere deep, far back
in his old, new mind, then begins
strolling forward again
and up onto the grass
among the unloaded, locked,
and abandoned bicycles
and empties and leaflets left
by fraternal and sisterly
orders on their own ways
to and from understanding
or back to forbidden gardens
and holes in the ground. Again
a car behind me honks.
And another. It's what geese do
heading south at the beginning
of winter. They want to know
the one in front still believes
they're there and are trusting him
to be sure where they're all going.

Mid-Summer Bumbling Along

I’m just going to start writing and then we’ll see where all this leads.

Ready?

Shall we?

My sister stayed with myself and Mr. Random last week. She was in the area all month on leave from the Army and stayed at my parent’s house most of the time. Since she has been back from Iraq, her legs have been giving her a lot of pain, and she has trouble going up and down stairs and also walking long distances. Since Mr. Random and I live in a 3rd floor walk-up, it was a slight problem. My sister and I had talked about going to New York City for a couple of days, but it was now out of the question.

I had taken the week off and had looked forward to getting away and doing things with my sister. Instead we were mostly home-bound. She was fine with that – visited friends some days, another day we went to lunch and a shopping mall, another day to the Museum of the American Indian and then had lunch, one day we went down to visit my grandmother – kept busy. Friday, she left – flew back to the base. My sister said she had a good time, got plenty of rest, just enough time away. She’s going to get her legs checked out when she gets back to base in Texas, and will let us know what happens.

I am not sure if I had a good time or not. I’m still tired. I am happy that my sister enjoyed her time here, but I’m concerned about her health. We did a few fun things, I saw a museum that I had not been to yet, we went to an ice cream tasting, had some nice lunches and dinners, but . . . but . . .

As much fun as the Fringe Festival was, it was still in the context of the day-to-day-slog. Despite my being home and staying away from work last week. It still felt like the same daily slog – just one element taken out of it. I feel bad because I don’t feel good, if that makes any sense.

I am low on days off until Christmas break – I have to save the rest of my time so I can take off the week between Christmas and New Years. Mr. Random will have the last two weeks in August off, because Congress is in recess then and he’s not going to be working at the Conventions. I look to the rest of the year with a weary eye . . .

Oy! I’m hoping that I figure out something fun and relaxing to do soon or else I’ll be fried by the end of September . . .

2008 Fringe Festival Experience – Part 4, 5 and 6

Subtle as a Brick to the Head: Ball and Chain – Journeymen Theater Ensemble

J and I went to this one last Wednesday night. It had been threatening rain that evening, but I had incorrectly surmised that it probably wouldn’t start until much later. I was terribly wrong – it poured down rain right before the show and I only had a scraggly little cheap umbrella to protect me from the elements. The rainstorm turned out to be the most dramatic part of the evening.

Ball and Chain consisted of five very short one act plays, all focusing on the subjects of love, marriage and relationships. I had high hopes for the evening because I had seen this company’s performance of Bartleby (from the Melville story) during the first Fringe festival and was quite impressed with what the scrappy group could do. Going into this year’s Fringe, they were coming off of a well-regarded season and I was rather excited to get to see them for cheap.

There were only two actors in this evening’s offerings, and after each short play they would move the sparse props around to set up for the next scene. The segments weren’t well written, and they weren’t very deep and so I was very disappointed. Luckily the whole thing lasted less than an hour, but afterwards I wished I had made another performance choice with my scarce dollars.

Written by a Hill Rat for Hill Rats: McSwiggin’s Pub – One Man Show

Mr. Random picked out this show for us to see together on Thursday. The guy who put together this one man show had worked with Second City for a while, but eventually got a job working on Capitol Hill. So most of the show consisted of a lot of Hill in-jokes which were really funny, but unless you knew that world – or watch a lot of C-SPAN – you would have sat there wondering what everyone else was laughing about. For example, you needed to know that a “Senior Legislative Correspondent” for a Congressman means just a step above “intern” and is a lot more gopher and glorified receptionist than anything. You also had to be able to recognize a dead-on Barney Frank impersonation. A lot of insider type stuff.

There actually were some tourists in the audience, which was awesome to see folks doing something so daring – especially since this venue was in a back alley in Dupont Circle, in a tiny artist’s studio. But a lot of the time they seemed confused by what people were laughing at, and I felt kind of bad. The show was really entertaining, but I would only recommend it for hardcore Hill folks and the people who love them.

Subtle as a Brick to the Head - Part 2: One for the Road – written by Harold Pinter

Sunday was the last day of the Fringe Festival, and I ended it by going to see this rendition of Harold Pinter’s One for the Road. This play was supposed to be a commentary on state-sponsored torture. The acting was amazing – the room was freezing, but one actor was able work up a major sweat during an interrogation scene – but all you took away from the play was . . . yes, torture is bad. Evil people are evil. Innocent people get hurt. But, um, we already knew that, and it didn’t have any nuance or complexity. Is all of Pinter’s work like that, I wonder?

2008 Fringe Festival - Final Summary

Thus ended my Fringe experience for this year. So I saw two excellent plays, one “OK, but fun” play and two uninspiring plays. I am glad that I got to see so many, but bummed that I was not able to see more. I didn’t get to see any “train wreck” plays like last year, when one guy didn’t even bother to put on a play but talked to the audience for 20 minutes explaining why the play wouldn’t work. There are also a lot more wacky, weirdo works that it would have been nice to experience, such as cabaret shows and more experimental/experiential plays. I’m just going to have to save up my money to buy an All Access Pass for next year!

Thanks for humoring my amateur theater reviews, everyone! The 2008-2009 theater season starts up in September, when I look forward to seeing a new set of Shakespeare plays. Hope you all are having a wonderful and exciting summer!

2008 Fringe Festival Experience – Part 3

On Friday the 18th, as the DC Fringe Festival continues, J and I saw an amazing staging of the play Marat/Sade by the Forum Theater. I’ve included an experiential summary of the play, because the more explanations, the better.

Wow.

The troupe was one of the most professional I have ever seen during the Fringe. The two hours were intense and powerful. I had neither seen nor read earlier incarnations of the play, which may have been in my favor since I experienced the play as this company had shaped it, and not through a frame from the 60’s or 70’s. I am curious as to what the other versions looked like, but I thought this version was very applicable to the present day on a number of levels. The simple fact that this was set in an asylum after the French Revolution, with the patients speaking about freedom, rights and power . . . it was just . . . wow.

It was uncomfortable. You weren’t sure when to clap or not, because the play-within-the-play conceit made it hard to judge whether you should play along or not. You’d think “wait, that’s not something to applaud, is it?” There was a great deal of activity on the stage and sometimes, you’d be looking to see how an interesting background character was reacting and miss something going on in the front of the stage.

I am very glad that we went. The only thing I would complain about is that the theater was wicked hot that night, but if it was warm for the audience, I can’t imagine what it was like to be on stage for 2 hours.

The play runs though the end of the Fringe Festival this week, so if you are in town and are looking for something challenging to do, definitely check this play out.

My next Fringe outing is on Wednesday . . . I’ll keep you all posted . . .

Elegy for My Lady: 1992 - 2008

On Friday, my sister called and told me that our family’s dog, Lady, had been put to sleep. Poor Lady had gotten progressively worse and worse as the 4th of July weekend went on, until her seizures returned and . . .

It makes me very sad to even write this, thinking of her shaking and scared . . .

My Dad woke up early Monday morning and saw her. He was very upset as he took her to the Emergency vet for the last time. Over the years, he had been her primary caretaker, and while he always complained how he hated that dog and always tried to give her away to . . . anyone, you know he adored her. He held her in his arms as the doctor gave her the shot. He was totally devastated and since has been slow to get rid of her toys and leashes.

She was the first pet I ever had, even though she technically was my youngest sister’s pet. When I moved out of the house, she sat in my empty room for days – in the place where my bed used to be – waiting for my return.

Whenever Mr. Random and I came over to the house, she would always jump and bark all over the place, she was so excited. She liked to sit next us on the couch or sprawl out by our feet. When we left, she always looked so sad, and I would always give her a treat and a hug as I walked out the door.

I will so miss her when I go home to visit . . .

I’m sure the house is so different, so much quieter, now that all three daughters are gone . . . and the dog. Life goes on. We all get older. People and pets we love can’t stay around forever, no matter how much we wish it not so.

Lady was a wonderful pet and we were lucky to have her in our lives, helping us to be gentler, more responsible human beings to everyone and everything around us. She lived a few days past her 16th birthday and it seems like just yesterday my parents brought this little puppy home to my 8 year old sister.

Goodbye, my Lady . . .

2008 Fringe Festival Experience – Part 2

Let’s Put On a Show . . . or Not

Last night, my friend J and I went to a Fringe Festival “Fireside Chat” on How to Put on Your Own 60 Minute Show.

It’s been an idea that J has been mulling around for a while, so we went last night to see sow doable the idea is. I’ve always had a hankering to be a producer/do behind-the-scenes stuff, so I thought it would be fun.

The event was a panel discussion among three people who have done shows at the DC Fringe, past and present, and they gave the audience advice from what they learned through the past few years. On the producing side, it didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t really know – that you need to run a production like a small business and think ahead. The main key is to have a quality product – the creative, the actual show –you are supremely proud of and are certain you can sell . . . all you need to do is find an audience.

One of the speakers was kind of swarmy/sleezy, and talked a lot about how successful he is and how he’s able to do a national tour of festivals. Not that his advice wasn’t good, it’s just that the vessel kind of turned off the message.

It was a valuable experience and I’m glad I went, but I don’t think we have the time or energy to start working on something like that anytime soon. The first problem is that we don’t even have a show yet, or even a fully formed idea of one. Then once you do have one, it needs to be developed until it’s something you are ready to show people. THEN, and only then, are you ready to do the work of promotion and logistics and budgets.

It’s slightly disappointing, but when the time is right, it will be right. I did take good notes, so I’ll just file them away until they are needed . . .

2008 Fringe Festival Experience - Part 1

The 2008 Capital Fringe Festival officially started on Thursday, but Saturday was the first day I was able to see any performances.

J and I went to the Rude Mechanicals’ staging of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus . This staging was remarkable in that it packed what was originally a 3 hour play into 75 minutes. (In doing so, they had to cut out a lot of the battle scenes.) The situation was updated to the present day, thus alleviating the need for major costumes. The opening of the play was a bit uneven, and some of the actors in smaller roles were really, really bad – but the actors in the main roles were quite good, especially the actors who played Menenius, Coriolanus and Coriolanus’ mother, Volumnia. In fact, the performances that linger for me were those of Menenius, who had long gray hair in a ponytail and a long, scraggly beard, and of Volumnia, who portrayed her passionate, possessive emotions very convincingly. The fight scene at the end was well staged and definitely left a lasting impression.

So for a scrappy group working with minimal props, sets and a mountain of material, I give that show a definite thumbs up.

Adding to the Fringe experience, before the play we found what can best be described as a “Mozambique-an fast food” restaurant on 7th Street. Yes, really. It was mostly some sort of rotisserie chicken in a flavorful sauce (which you could ask for in varying degrees of heat) and some healthy and tasty sides, such as Butternut Squash with Corn. We’re trying to eat healthier, so this definitely fit the bill until we got to the desserts, which were a very chocolate chocolate cake and a generous scoop of chocolate ice cream with a little spiciness to it. Yummy!

After the play, the Fringe has a patio area where you can get snacks, beverages of many types and bratwurst. Sine it was still rather early in the day, we got sodas and water but definitely tried the bratwurst. The patio seems like it would be a chill place to hang out in during the evenings after a play, mingling with other Fringe-goers and Fringe performers. As it was, we were there so early that we were the only ones occupying the tent for a while, but we could see the potential of the space.

Tonight, I’m going to another Fringe event and I hope to have something fun to report tomorrow. This is going to be a super busy week for me of evenings filled with both Fringe and non-Fringe related activities. There is much for me to look forward to and help keep my mind off of the many other things pressing on my brain. I’m hoping the creative activity nudges me towards thinking of creative solutions to what’s been keeping me stuck . . . we’ll see!

Trying to Count Blessings Instead of Sheep

There is so much going on that it is hard to even figure out where to start, so I’ll just throw some words down and see what follows from there.

My parents’ dog has been having seizures. She is 16 years old, which is very old for a dog. When I came home to visit on the Fourth of July, she was not able to do her usual glad-to-see-me jumping up and down and barking. She is on lots of medication. It made me very sad to see her this way. I gave her many hugs and kisses, since this may have been the very last time that I ever see her. If she has another seizure, they are going to put her to sleep. I am so upset about this . . . I know it is time, but she’s the first pet I ever really had (even though technically it was for my youngest sister.)

My sister in the Army came to town for her month-long leave on Thursday. Mr. Random and I picked her up from the airport and took her out to dinner. Two things kind of threw me for a loop there: (a) She now has a tattoo on her left arm, midway between her shoulder and her elbow, kind of like an armband in a Greco-Roman pattern. I know it’s kind of a military thing, but you never expect your 34 year old sister to show up with a tattoo. My other, 24 year old sister, yes, but not the 34 one. (2) She is applying for Officer Training School – she finds out in October if she gets in. If she does get in, she’s staying in. If not, she’s out in December. This threw me because I thought she just wanted out, out, out as the rest of us hoped she would be, but it looks like maybe not. So I have to reconcile the reality of who my sister is and what she might want for herself with the false impressions I guess I’ve been building up in her absence. I also have to look at myself and see if I’m projecting my own hopes onto her. Very unsettling . . .

Fourth of July, as I mentioned before, we went down to my parents’ house. My sister bought fireworks (they are legal in my parents’ county) and we spent the afternoon and evening hanging out until it got dark, then my sister and dad put on a little fireworks show in the driveway. Some people in the neighborhood had driven to South Carolina and bought some heavy duty fireworks, and so we watched them for a little bit, semi-afraid that one of the rockets would land in my parents’ trees or on their roof.

More people are leaving the Random Non-profit, some not of their own accord. The numbers dwindle further. It is very stressful to be here.

This is the last week of ESL classes. Yay! I teach tomorrow night and then there’s an End of Semester celebration on Thursday night. However, my ESL work isn’t over since I volunteered for a committee to develop some new resources and a new ESL teacher training class for new volunteers. I’ve never done something like this before and I thought it would help me develop some new (marketable) skills while doing something worthwhile for the organization.

Saw Get Smart over the weekend and was plesantly surprised. My expectations were low, but I am always amazed by how Steve Carell has blossomed since his days as "Produce Pete" on the Daily Show. Also, it was great to see all of the references to the old TV show sprinkled throughout the movie, although I don't think that some people in the audience knew about/understood them, which makes me feel really old . . .

Went to visit Mount Vernon yesterday with my friend J. We had been there before 8 years ago, but they’ve added some new museum spaces with a lot more short movies to watch on George Washington’s life. I don’t know if it is because we’re both kind of cranky people, but we found all of the new stuff to be completely without nuance. They did have a little exhibit on slavery at Mount Vernon, but otherwise it was all overtaken by how awesome George Washington was at all times. He almost didn’t seem human – Did he crack jokes? Did he have a sense of humor? Was he wracked with doubts? I mean, I know that Martha burned all of his letters to her after his death, but there needed to be some sense of conflict, of humanity, of doubt, of anger, for me to think that I actually learned something there. Oh, and the gift shops were really cheesy too.

I joined Facebook over the weekend. I finally succumbed to the peer pressure. It’s fairly addictive, I must say, but it is something else that has to be checked and maintained all the time. Also, I’m fairly skeeved by all of the personal information that corporations must be gathering on all this online activity, but I guess we’re all going to go down one way or another, so might as well have fun while we can.

The DC Fringe Festival starts this week and I’m seeing my first show on Saturday. I will do my usual Fringe Updates on the experiences I have at the various shows. It’s always an experience, let me tell you . . .

There’s more stuff, but I’ll stop there. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying your summers . . .

The Original Drama Queen

The awful cold I had turned into bronchitis, so I’ve spent the past week laying low and trying to get a lot of rest. I’ve been through my course of antibiotics and am almost done with my inhaler. I still have a bit to go in getting better, but I don’t cough as much, I can actually talk, and people tell me I seem a lot more peppy than I did last week.

This weekend, I saw Antony and Cleopatra, the second play in the Roman Repertory going on at the Harman Center Shakespeare Theater. It still had the “Rome-by-way-of-Japanese-steakhouse-décor” sets, but by now I was used to them. This was a very exciting and moving production, and although being a tragedy, the humor in the piece came through and added an extra umpfh to the play.

The woman who played Cleopatra seemed to be channeling Bette Davis/Joan Crawford, which was rather fun – it IS a rather dramatic role, since Cleopatra did seem to be the original “drama queen.” (Ba dum bum!)

This is the last week of both of the Roman plays, and the next set of Shakespeare plays doesn’t start up again until September. By now, my friend J and I have seen eleven (out of 40 or so) of Shakespeare’s plays performed here in DC (and several in multiple versions.) It is an accomplishment that I am very proud of and I hope to be able to let the streak of playgoing continue this Fall.

In other news, with all the rest I’ve been forced to get by being sick, I have been able to plow through several books in the past couple of weeks:

Moneyball – Michael Lewis
A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon

I really enjoyed all of them, but I think the one I enjoyed the most was Kavalier and Clay. I do recommend all of them though (even Moneyball – I was a huge fan of his Liar's Poker and The Money Culture and this book is actually more about reasoning processes than sports, but you certainly learn a lot about baseball, that’s for sure!)

I hope everyone is doing well!

“The Most Honorable Man of All”

On Saturday, I went to see Julius Caesar at the DC Shakespeare Theater’s Harman Hall. It is a lovely brand new facility (the one where I saw Major Barbara actually) and it was great to go on a Saturday afternoon and not be in a full rush and panic trying to get downtown after work. By observation, I do believe the average age of the usual Saturday afternoon attendee is around 72, although it was a rather more diverse crowd than usual, which was heartening to see.

I did enjoy this production of this oft read Shakespeare play – the production was about 3 hours with intermission, but the time really flew! The only quibble I had was with the sets, which upon first glance looked to me like Rome by way of some Japanese Steakhouse décor – lots of rich woods and retracting stairs and balconies, which did make the sets very versatile. Once I got over that, I was fine.

As you all know, the story is more about Brutus than Julius Caesar and the gentleman who played Brutus was amazing. My friend J didn’t like the fellow who played Mark Antony, however, I thought he did very well, especially considering that the original person who had been playing the part injured himself a week ago, so this fellow had not been long in the role. I thought he did the “Friends, Romans, Countrymen . . .” scene very ably and with a good bit of humor, which usually you don’t notice when reading the play.

The play runs through the first week of July, and is running in repertory with Antony and Cleopatra, which I’m also going to see this weekend. I’ll let you know if that play is good too – a lot of the characters overlap, which will be interesting to see.

In other news, the schedule for the DC Fringe Festival is out and I am very excited. This year it is going to run from July 10 to 27, and have events in more venues all around the city, not just in one area. You can check out the offerings here. It’s almost like Christmas, I’m so looking forward to it, and I do want to see as much as I can.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends!

PS – Yes, my sister is in the States for good this time. Her tenure in the Army should be ending at the end of December – unless she decides to re-up, which then I’ll just have to have myself a coronary . . .

Random Pop-In

Quick hits:

*I came down with an awful cold over the weekend and am still trying to get over it. I slept for pretty much three days straight starting on Sunday and am looking forward to another weekend of much needed rest.

*My sister landed in the U.S. at 5 AM on Saturday and the first thing she did was call me at home. I didn’t pick up the phone in time (um, because it was 5 in the morning), but was glad to hear her cheery message. Spoke to her a few evenings ago and my parents and younger sister went to her home Army base to meet her. She had four days of leave, so she hung out at the hotel with my family, just shopping and eating and hanging out. I’ll be able to do the same with her when she comes to visit around the 3rd of July. Yay!

*Only three more weeks of teaching ESL. Yay! It will be nice to have one more evening free . . .

*This weekend, I’m going to see a play – will let you know how it turns out.

Hope everyone is doing well!

On Random Losses . . . and a Special Flower

Life comes and goes in an instant.

There is the life that exists before . . . and the life that exists after.

One moment, someone or something you know and care about is here on the earth. You probably take the presence for granted, that the presence will always be around, so you may not pay the presence much attention sometimes. But the presence is always there in the background, and you are comforted in the knowledge that it is there and all is right with the world.

Then something happens and the presence is not there anymore – taken away when we aren’t at all prepared for it.

Or maybe we are kind of prepared for it – we can see the signs – but we choose to ignore it and the shock of the event *actually happening* throws us for a loop. Our lives had been touched and they will be touched no more.

These are not original words or original thoughts, and they are not even that well written, but they are true.

Yesterday, Mr. Random actually called me from work as soon as he found out that Tim Russert died. Mr. Random works at a Random Publication which has sort of a tangential association with that world, and his publication has a lot of guys who fit Mr. Russert’s profile – middle-aged, kind of heavy journalist – so it struck really close to home. DC is a small place, and circles overlap, so it really was a bit of a blow.

But yesterday something else happened. For the past two weeks, my friend J had been dog-sitting a large poodle named Daisy, who was 14 years old. I had met Daisy a couple of times before and she was the sweetest dog, very well behaved and, since she was so old, had a bit of trouble with standing up and going up and down stairs. Yesterday, Daisy wasn’t eating at all and wasn’t herself. The owners were supposed to come back earlier in the day, but their flights got screwed up and only one of the owners came back early enough to help J take Daisy to the vet. It turns out that Daisy had to be put to sleep last night. J was there and very upset about it and called me after it happened, since I was one of the few people who actually met Daisy, and I was very upset too . . .

So I decided to write this post. Because while Daisy wasn’t as big and famous as some other people who died yesterday, her life had meaning to those of us who knew her, even briefly.

It may seem cheesy, and I didn’t write this very well, but this post is in honor of Daisy.

Well done, sweetie! You were a good girl! Sleep well, my dear.