Friday, February 24, 2006

Chaplin

Tonight is movie night.

We all get to pick one. Ben picked Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. He loves Charlie Chaplin and has a bunch of his DVD's.

I love this film. It's hilarious and tragic. What a genius Charlie Chaplin was and how brave to put this anti-war anti-facist film out in 1939/40.

Rent it if you get a chance.

p.s. Jiminy Glick (Martin Short's film is hilarious!!! Another must see flick)

Thursday, February 16, 2006

What - ever!

Well I got tagged. And frankly, I could use a little girly good cheer in my life right now. Here it goes:

Four Jobs I've had in my life:

Fundraiser
Waitress
Legislative Aide
Public Radio Project Coordinator

Four Movies I can watch over and over again:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Broadway Danny Rose
The Right Stuff
Cinema Paradiso
Age of Innocence, Being There, Harold and Maude, Laurel Canyon, Moonstruck, Rear Window

I could list dozens more.....

Four Places I've lived

New York City
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Baltimore, Maryland

Four TV shows I love to watch

a little boy, a big husband, a dog, a writing project, a full time job, going to the gym, housework, cooking, reading = no tv

Four Places I've been on vacation

Truro, Massachusetts
Paris, France
Merin County, California
Charleston, South Carolina

Four of my favorite food/drinks

Champagne
Filet Mignon
a big fat juicy ripe plum
NYC pizza (great when you're pregnant) and tuna melts
anything my Italian grandmother cooked for me

Four websites I visit daily

Google
My job's website
thecosmicpath.com (because I studied astrology for a while but got into a time crunch)
nytimes.com

Four places I'd rather be right now

In a stone cottage, sitting in front of a fireplace, warming my feet and reading a book.
In a cozy house in Northern California finishing my writing project
In a town house in Brooklyn/Manhattan/Hoboken that I OWNED
In an elegant hotel room in Paris having fun with my very silly husband

Monday, February 13, 2006

Snow Job

By now most of the country has heard that NYC had its biggest snow storm on record.

Twenty-six inches of snow fell on Central Park.

We certainly did get tons of snow. It was and is a beautiful sight to behold. I love how snow storms quiet the city down...especially at night.

I was amazed at how well the city handled the weather. Streets were ploughed and there were no disasters to speak of. As a matter of fact, everything was so dam manageable that I began to silently wonder whether it actually snowed as much as they said it did.

I was listening to the radio this evening while baking cookies for my son's school lunches...yes..I am a dork. I nearly burst out laughing when they aired a feature that was composed of New Yorkers openly rejecting the fact that it was a record breaking snow fall.

Sample: "Look...I'm not saying it didn't snow 26 inches in Central Park but it sure as heck didn't here in the middle of the street in Brooklyn...maybe 18 inches tops."

I love New York.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Revelation

Something you should know about me.

Until a few years ago I spent most of my life fending off a nasty streak of melancholy. I did however develop a few tactics along the way that helped me avoid total despair.

I've always enjoyed hearing about good things happening for people. Somehow it's always energized me. A buoy to hold onto until I was ready to swing into life again.

The last few weeks have been tough for me. Work stuff, family stuff, figuring out the future stuff...well let's just say 4 am was becoming the new wake up and stay up time.

On Monday, a good friend took the time to listen to me for twenty minutes as I tried to piece together my scattered thoughts over the phone at work. We didn't come up with any grand solutions. But I was heard. The next day I woke up having slept through the whole night. Very lucky to have that friend.

A blog friend of mine, a very lovely, funny young woman spent the last year doing battle with breast cancer. She was generous and brave enough to share her experiences with us. I've learned so much from her decisions, her fear, her courage, her strength and her sense of humor through it all.

Well it looks like her treatments are over and the pathology reports have stamped her cancer free! I'm so friggin happy. I feel like I'm back in third grade and it's the first day of spring when everything is soggy, messy and filled with hope and possibility.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Big Mama Calls It Quits!

Benjamin will be eight years old in March.

I finally feel that time has come to retire as the resident "bad guy".

Ever since Ben could run around in the Tompkins Square Park, I've been routinely called upon to be the creature/villian/space alien who chases my little son and his friends around the playground as they squeal with excitement. Up and over monkey bars, swings, slides, black tops, lurking behind trees....

I want to retire from being

the Monster
Darth Vader
the Joker/Riddler/Cat Woman/Mr. Freeze
the Scarey Ghost
the Confederate Army (sorry southern friends)
the Central Powers (WWI)
the Axis Powers (WWII)

and of course "Big Mama", my persona when wrestling Ben on my bed while he pretends to be Mucha Lucha - the Mexican Wrestling Champ (as seen on Cartoon Network) with a red/white/blue leather wrestling mask brought from Mexico from his dear Uncle Mike...

well maybe we'll still wrestle as long as I can get him in a head vice 50% of the time.

I suppose I shouldn't complain - my husband has put in a million more villian hours than I have without complaint. Maybe it's just me. I've got bad guy burn out.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Wednesday

I've been thinking about how disconnected I've become to my neighborhood in the last month or two. Maybe it's the holidays that threw me off.

Waiting for the M8 bus to take me across the Village, my mind is so absorbed lately in work, family issues, and a manuscript that floats in limbo.

I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep. I must have woken my son because moments later he asked me in a faint voice to come cuddle with him. As soon as I slipped into his little bed, he fell fast asleep.

It felt good to be useful. To be able to soothe him even though I felt anxious. Soon I fell asleep too. My child is such a blessing to me.

It's beautiful out today. In the high 30's, sunny and clear. Time to get back in the saddle and ride my ancient red bike around the neighborhood as I run errands.