Letters from Lisa

This image comes from a free application called Planet that tracks the Earth’s rhythms - I had forgotten that it was the equinox until I saw this image.

Today, September 21st, is Mr. D’s birthday, which I always clearly remember in spite of the fact that Mr. D was my assistant band director back in high school, and I graduated from high school in 1995. I will probably remember that September 21st is Mr. D’s birthday long after I have forgotten the last seven Presidents, the names of my grandchildren, and my own birthday, because of the fuss that we made about Mr. D and his birthday back during my freshman year of high school. The weeks leading up to 9/21 were fraught with planning and activity, as different members of the band tried to top each other with crazy gift ideas. Since Mr. D was turning 40 (if I remember correctly) and jokingly obsessing about getting “old”, one faction bought him a bottle of black hair dye. Another gave him a can of soda, with half of it pre-drunk for his convenience. I seem to recall something about a little Mr. D Lego figurine as well, though 15 years later my memory is a bit hazy on the details.

15 years… I guess this means Mr. D is pushing 55 now! Time flies when you’re having fun!

I’m going to be away for the next few days on a field trip with the kids. This is a reunion of sorts for me, since this is the group I taught last year, and this also happens to be my 6th overnight with the school and my third at this particular location. Should be an interesting change in routine.

See you all on the flip side, may even have some photographs.

Well… I was AT the Daily Show, not actually ON the Daily Show. They don’t do much in the way of filming the audience, though if you watch tonight’s show you may hear me laughing in the background. I think my face may be cracking from laughing so hard. I may have also lost my voice cheering. Oh well, it was worth it.

I don’t get to watch the Daily Show as often as I’d like, since a) I go to bed at a reasonable hour, and b) I watch basically zero TV. The studio audience experience is neat, though. First we had an opener come out and try to warm up the crowd - an intern I guess, and not a very good comedian, since his main way of getting laughs was to insult people in the audience - and then Jon Stewart came out and did a little monologue and question-answer session with the audience, which went over much better. He really is very funny, and without being nasty. Some people’s questions were completely inappropriate (so unprintable I can’t even **** out the bad words) while others were clever - my favorite was when we heard his take on who’d win a fistfight between himself and Stephen Colbert. (Colbert would pummel him, but later he’d drag his bloody stump of a body over to Colbert’s house and get him while he was sleeping.)

Then the actual show got going - for the opening segment my view was blocked by one of the cameras, but otherwise we had amazing seats - second row, front and center. We did the show opening three times because something kept going wrong with the graphics, or maybe it was the sound. Who knows. Jon Stewart started wondering aloud if it meant he was being fired.

After the show wrapped, we filmed the opening for the Daily Show Global Edition, which I didn’t even know existed (I never saw it while I was abroad!) He had just got done saying, “Isn’t it so nice that it isn’t September 11th anymore?” and then the Global Edition opened with, “For the week of September 11th…”

Speaking of which, I’d typed about three paragraphs of an entry on 9/11 when my mother accidentally shorted out the power in the apartment. It’s just as well. I think, “Isn’t it so nice that it isn’t September 11th anymore?” pretty much covers what my sentiments were.

This has been quite a remarkable day - I sat down at the computer this morning and started looking up webpages about a book I’d re-read recently, got up here and there to refill the coffee or grab a little lunch while I read, answered the phone once or twice, and suddenly I looked at the time again and it was 3:00. 3:00! I couldn’t believe it. The time absolutely flew. I know that I am enjoying myself when I lose track of the time - and when I caught myself nearing the middle of the afternoon, I decided it was time to make a break for it, or I’d be sorry to have spent the entire day indoors. Even though I could have spent several more hours just idly clicking through the material I was finding.

So, I took a little walk down to the historic park to look at Manhattan from across the river, and sat on a rock thinking and writing for a while, trying to ignore the mosquitoes nipping at my bare feet. I can’t remember a time that I’ve felt so relaxed, so un-anxious about everything. Lately, for the past year or so in fact, I’ve been doing so much list-making — things I had to do, places I wanted to go, goals for this or that area of my life, all sorts of things that I thought would help keep me organized and move things along. It is a relief to feel that I didn’t need to bother with such a list today. Sometimes I get more satisfaction from checking items off than from actually doing or achieving them - and of course they’re soon replaced by new things that I absolutely must do, or new concerns I must not neglect. What a nice change to wake up and not feel the need to form an agenda for having a “productive” weekend.

Tomorrow I’ll probably be restless and want to start “getting things done” again. For today, I’m enjoying my day of rest.

This evening I finally went to CVS to print out my digital photos from the trip. I did the Galapagos Islands memory card first, then moved on to my Peru and Costa Rica photos. As I was continuing to fight with the digital photo machine, I overheard this:

CVS employee: Man! That is a big-a** turtle! That is the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen! Yo, look at this… That is one big-a** turtle!

I’ve never had one of my trips summarized in quite that way before. But, it fits.

This is really fun (if you have a lot of books, as I do)
Go check it out! (click on the LibraryThing link underneath the book covers)

Dear Abby… (scroll down a bit)

DEAR ABBY: Why is it important to go to school? My mom always tries to get me to go, but I don’t want to. She has been having me go to some therapist at Youth and Family Service. I don’t like it taking up my whole summer.

Also, I have to repeat sixth grade because of my missing school. I mean, I’m not going to need any of the stuff they teach. — CONFUSED IN WESTBROOK, CONN.

I’m trying to imagine what this kid’s everyday life is like. What I first pictured was this: “Honey, it’s time to get ready for school!” “Mo-om, I don’t want to go! I already know everything I need to get by in life! Besides, The View is on!”

But actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if this child had some sort of school phobia, or learning problem, or just couldn’t keep up with the work and so is avoiding the whole situation. This is Dear Abby’s response:

DEAR CONFUSED: Attending school is important because basic skills are being taught that you will need when you are a little older, just to get by. A knowledge of math, English, social studies, history and civics are necessary in order to become a fully functional citizen and fit into society.

The question you should be asking isn’t, “Why is it important to go to school?” but rather, “Why was I so unwilling to go that I now must repeat a grade?” If you are having trouble with the other children, help is available through counseling. If you need extra help with the work, there are special teachers who can help you. But first you have to be honest about what is the real problem.

I’m willing to bet that she probably should have repeated a grade long before now, but was socially promoted - and now that she really can’t keep up, it’s all hitting the fan.

Stingray Kills “Crocodile Hunter”

I was shocked to see this - what a crazy thing to have happen. There are plenty of animals in Australia that can kill you within minutes, but I always remember being worried about jellyfish and blue-ringed octopus more than stingrays. I remember cutting short a turtle catching session because they were swirling around, about 30 of them, and then we ended up eating one for lunch. I would have had a whole different take on that if this had happened beforehand.

I guess the man died doing his job, a job that he loved, and there are worse ways to go.

The ordeal is over… the David’s Bridal on Route 46 saves the day.

Rhinestone buckles normally aren’t my style, but I’m just happy the things fit my feet and look like they belong with the dress, and don’t have ginormous heels that will turn me into 6′5 Amazon Woman.

Yesterday we had nothing but weather - wind and rain and dreariness - and so I stayed indoors, got dressed only because I was bored with my nightclothes, wandered between my bedroom and the bathtub and the floor pillows in the den all day. I sat in front of the TV with Woody Allen and Monty Python and knit until the yarn ran out, finished a couple of books I’d started before things got really busy, and made well-meaning lists about what I was going to accomplish this weekend. My piano seized up with the extra humidity in the apartment - it’s too early to play it now to see if it relaxed overnight, but I hope it’s better today.

This is the first weekend since I’ve arrived home from my trip that I have had full days to relax and unwind. I have a number of things that must get done - finding shoes to match my bridesmaid dress, for example - but the tasks won’t consume my weekend or chop up my free time into inaccessible bits. I’m hoping to spend a solid morning wandering through the bookstore, finding material on all of the curriculum topics that I must now become an expert in. And I promised everyone that the script for this year’s musical would be ready by Tuesday, so at some point I’ll need a block of time to work on that. And I STILL haven’t been running at all since I returned from my trip. So much to do…

I know I owe everyone posts about the trip - I may get to it Monday. I still haven’t even had my digital pictures printed, so you can see how far behind I am. And even still, I haven’t finished my Australia album from LAST summer. But I need more than one three day weekend to get all of that cleared up!