Sara's Very Bad Day

Sara does this thing. When she gets home, she pulls a stormcloud face and her eyes fill a little. She won't look at me. She did this yesterday after she got home from soccer practice, and I thought it might have something to do with the blood on her jersey and face.

"Hey, how did you get the nosebleed?"

She was momentarily distracted from her personal downpour. "Huh?"

"You have a nosebleed, Kiddo. Go look."

For a few minutes, she was occupied with pinching her nose. Then the stormcloud returned. (Sigh) OK, I'll bite.

"What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

Her face cracked immediately into a grimace, then a sob. "I had a really horrible bad day!"

I pulled up a kitchen stool and pulled her onto my lap. "What happened?"

Well, there was a list:

1. Her two best friends both went home at mid-day because they weren't feeling well.
2. The soccer practice was supposed to be a special clinic with a professional soccer player, but he didn't show up.
3. She got clobbered in the shins. She was wearing shin-guards but it still hurt.
4. She got a nosebleed.
5. It's Wednesday, and Mom is going to work.

I work nights on Tuesday and Thursday, generally; my kids are used to that. But once in a while, I have to go in on a Monday or a Wednesday. We have a program that meets on those nights, and those teachers are also under my supervision. From time to time, I need to do observations, help with testing, etc... Yesterday, the plan was to cook and eat supper, then return to school for an hour or so.

Si walked into the kitchen to see Sara snuffling wetly on my lap. "What?'' he mouthed at me. "Hormones." I mouthed back. Remember, she is growing a boob...

I don't know if you follow NPR very closely, but if you do, you may have heard Melissa Block's coverage of the earthquake in China. That woman is going to win a radio journalism award of some sort. Yesterday, she spent the day covering a family who was searching through the rubble of an apartment building for the husband's parents and their 2-year-old son. She stayed with them while they commandeered rescuers and heavy equipment, while they dug through he rubble with their bare hands. the grandparents and baby were all found dead. I don't speak Chinese, but this woman's screams were in a universal language of parental horror.

Through an interpreter, the woman told Melissa Block that, just before she left her son at the in-law's apartment and left for work, her son was saying, "Don't leave! Take me with you!"

I sat in the supermarket parking lot crying until my tears soaked through the lap of my skirt. "Great," I thought. "Now it looks like I peed myself."

So, my daughter is having a really bad day, and I'm thinking, "Oh, cry me a river."

But I took her with me when I went back to the office, just because I could.

See Anything?

Neither do I!

For a week, it has felt as if there's something in my eye, and it's starting to PISS ME OFF! What could be in there for a whole week? The Biblical mote? Or do I get the beam? I've searched and rinsed, rinsed and searched....

I went to the optometrist, and let him rinse, search, rinse, search. Poor Dr. Berner. He tried everything.

"Hold on, while I put a little of this neon yellow dye in your eye."

"Let me just flip your eyelid..." (My hands clench into talons. Eyelid flipping grosses me out. This harks back to the days when my big brother used to turn his eyelids inside out, moan like a zombie and chase me around the house.) "OK, you don't like that idea, huh?"

"We'll ...just...dab... a little of this ointment on you lower lid...to numb it..." (I crack up. Optometry's answer to Botox?) "And then some of this soothing ointment..."

Etc... etc... And let's not forget the $11 tube of goo he sold me, hoping it would do the trick.

None of it helped worth a damn. My eye is still feels like there's something in there. Of course, maybe the reason it hurts now is 'cause he messed around with it so much yesterday. I'm reminded of the Bugs Bunny sketch, "Barber of Seville" in which Bugs applies shaving cream, then tonic, then a massage, then finally whipped cream and a cherry to Elmer Fudd's head.

Didn't Elmer Fudd chase Bugs with a knife after that?

Well, I haven't reached that point, yet. For now, I'll wait. And wear my (geek-bomb) glasses. Eeeew.

Yikes!

Deadlines! Deadlines!

I miss blogging and reading my buddies' blogs. Be back very soon, after I slay one more grant proposal....

High Point, Low Point

Not much going on today, so I'll just play "High Point, Low Point".

If you want to play along, all you have to do is comment on the single best moment of your day (even if it's not that great) and the single worst moment (even though it's not that bad).

Stand back, everyone. This is harder than it looks.

High Point:
Finding a big bag of unclaimed potato chips hanging out on the staff room table.

Low point:
For most of the day, it felt like there was something in my eye, so I had to wear my geek-face glasses to work.

The thrills, the chills. My life is so amazing.

How about you? High point? Low Point?

Shuffle Songs

OK, I don't do very many MEMEs, but I saw this one over at Maria's place, and I thought it was funny. I am also the wrong demographic for it ("What do you think when you see the person you like?" Like, totally.) But it made me snort a few times, so all right. Plus, I miss my iPod. I haven't been running since the half-marathon, 'cause I've been too busy. It's starting to bug me.

The way this works: Hit "shuffle" on your iPod, and the names of the songs as they fall in the random sequence are the answers to the questions.

1. How would you describe yourself?
Paradise [Live] (The BoDeans)

Well, THIS game is off to a good start!

2. What do you like in a guy / girl?
Godspeed [Sweet Dreams] (The Dixie Chicks)

Ummm... Is this meant to imply that I fantasize about my little crushes? Or that I always end up discarding one crush for another?

3. What is your motto?
Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac)

Wow. That is deeply cynical. Deeply cynical...

4. What do your friends think of you?
Only Love (The BoDeans)

Pfffffttttt!!!!! Yeah, right.

5. What do you think about often?
One Night Stand (Enrique Iglesias)

Who am I to deny it?

6. What do your parents think of you?
I Will Survive (Enrique Iglesias)

Well, that may have been my mom's mantra when I was a teenager...

7. What do you think of your best friend?
A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash)

WTF?

8. What do you think of the person you like?
I'm Like A Bird (Nelly Furtado)

Sorry, this one isn't working, either. Hold on while I try to think of a birdlike person on whom I have a crush.

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
She's a Runaway (The BoDeans)

I can go with that.

10. What do you think when you see a person you like?
If I Had It My Way (Emma Roberts)

Sssnnnnrrkkk!

11. What song will they play at your wedding?
Yarrington Town (Nancy Griffith)

What? First of all, my wedding is long past; and there was no music. It wasn't quite a Justice of the Peace wedding, but pretty close. I already know that this is the song for my funeral. It is the perfect "Kate's Dirge" selection.

12. What will they play at your funeral?
Escape (Enrique Iglesias)

Honestly. Can you imagine Enrique Iglesias funeral music? And by the way, I need to point something out. When I shuffled my songs, all the Enrique Iglesias songs ended up in the first dozen. This is not an accurate cross-section of my musical taste! How embarrassing. Really.

13. What is your hobby / interest?
Red Dirt Girl (Emmylou Harris)

Could be gardening....could be desert camping...

14. What is your biggest fear?
R.O.C.K. in the USA (John Mellencamp)

Uh... "Republicans Own Congress....." (what to do with the "K"...)
Uh... "Ruthless Oil Cartels..." (Damn that "K" again...)
Uh... "Religious Orthodoxy Chokes Kate"?
I'm not good at acronyms.

15. What is your biggest secret?
Lay All Your Love On Me (ABBA)

After pondering this for a moment, it became clear. Yes, the fact that I like some ABBA tunes IS a big secret, and I wish it to remain so. Forget you saw this.

16. What do you think of your friends?
Closer to Free (The BoDeans)

This would be my childless friends, or the ones with the grown-up children.

17. What is your theme song?
Real Gone (Sheryl Crow)

Lately, given my feelings about my job, this is fairly on the mark.

18. What do you think of your family?
Hold On Tight (ELO)

That is SO sappy. Gack.

19. What is your best friend's theme song?
There is No Alternative (Tina Sugandh)

Well, he does have a hard time compromising.

20. What is your mood right now?
Naked (The BoDeans)

[pompously] I would call nudity a "state" rather than a "mood". Please.

21. If your heart could talk, what would it say?
ABC (The Jackson 5)

Geeze. I always thought guys were the uncomplicated ones.

22. What do your co-workers think of you?
Morena (Carlos Ponce)

Whoa. Don't think so. This song is in Spanish and the first lines translate to:

"Oh, Morena, your lips seduce me."

23. What does your future look like?
Hey Pretty Girl (The BoDeans)

Are these all the guys that are going to be sniffing around Sara? It won't be about me. I should be so lucky.

Arches

Whew! I have been so bad about posting lately. My work is taking over. The blob that ate New York.

We managed to get away to Moab for the weekend, so I'll get back into the routine of posting with some photos of sunny southern Utah.


Here's the Colorado River, looking up the Castle Valley.



We spent both days in Arches National Park. May is the busiest month of the year there, so it was packed. The picnic areas were crammed, so we toodled down this dirt road and ate on the truck tailgate. The National Park Rule applied: get 100 feet from the pavement, and there's NO ONE

Iconic Delicate Arch.

Nathan, working on a tricky camera angle.

Double O Arch

We are the Sultans...

We are the Sultans of Swing.

C'mon Corinne! How can you not know this song?

Check out Guitar George/

He knows/

all the chords...

I felt pretty vintage the other day. Positively antique. If any of you follow the Center for Improved Living, you know that Marc recently asked about the first band we ever saw in concert. I didn't comment, because I wasn't allowed to go to concerts. Except, like, Chuck Mangione with my dad.

Yeah, Chuck Mangione and his floogle horn. Remember him? Not cool. So I was talking to my young, hip co-worker Corinne, and I asked her about the first concert she had been to. A Ska band. I forget the name she told me, now. She said her ears rang for a week.

You know how it is: if we can't be cool, maybe we can cash in on our partner's coolness. Simon has seen some REALLY cool bands, I told her. Sometimes, in little clubs like the Top Rank Suite in Brighton. "Oh yeah?" Her eyebrows go up. She's interested. "Like who?"

"Well, Dire Straits for one."

"Who are they?"

OMG. As if from a great distance, I hear her ask, "Well, what did they sing?"

Uh...uh... I'm flabbergasted that she doesn't know Dire Straits.

"Don't worry. I'll Google them." she says.

OK, Corinne. Here is a quiz for you. These are bands that Simon heard in concert (some better known than others). Have you heard of ANY of them?

• Rush
• Dire Straits
• The Clash
• The Pretenders
• Meatloaf
• Simple Minds
• Jethro Tull

(As an aside, when I first met Simon, we were talking about music we liked and I wasn't very well tuned into his accent, yet. When he said Jethro Tull, I thought he said, "Death Hotel". Wow. Cool name for a band.

• U2 (in a dinky little bar, before they were known at all)
• Flock of Seagulls (that is little embarrassing, Si...)
• The Stranglers

Please tell me that you've at least heard of one or two of these band, Corinne; or I'll feel totally obsolete.