from my sister’s answering machine, circa 1989?? Her roommate, drunk, singing,
“happy holidays… happy holidays… leave a MESSAGE… fa la la la LA…”
best to you and yours,
love,
WM
My most tardy Thursday Thirteen ever (I think, anyway)…
(With apologies to 13ers and Usual Suspects, who may have been waiting.)
Why You Should Never Blog When You’re Mad or Have the Mean Reds:
13. It’s like drunk-dialing. It’s just a bad idea.
12. Even if you delete it later, they’ll remember it.
11. My habit of using cuss words, even under the best of circumstances.
10. There may be children in the room.
9. Someone else’s children may be reading what you just wrote, in regards to their beloved parents. That is just so frickin’ uncool, to yammer on negatively about someone when it’s not absolutely necessary.
8. Blog unto others as you would have them blog unto you.
7. Temper, temper. Don’t let it flare. Venting does not always make it better. I know.
6. It stops you from getting important work done, when you’re “angry typing.” Mopping the kitchen floor, for instance, or revising the damn manuscript you have to get done by Jan. 1, 2008. (Self-imposed deadline; must follow.)
5. People usually have good intentions; we all just rub each other a little bit the wrong way sometimes.
4. Or a lot. I don’t mean to be morbid here, but you know what I’m going to be in fifty years? (Or less?) Dead. That’s right. So what’s the point of all the fussing?
3. My daughter’s teacher was reading the kids the last chapters of “Charlotte’s Web” yesterday and I thought, if we could all try to be half as decent as Charlotte and Wilbur, think of how much nicer the whole world would be. Then I got all choked up because, you know. I love that book. I love it so much. Enough, already, it’s fiction. But dammit, I think we can all learn a little something here.
“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” — E.B. White
2. Being angry makes your heart hurt.
1. It’s just too dang close to Christmas and New Year’s to waste any time on nonsense.
Happy Holidays, y’all.
Love,
WM
“Whatsoever affliction assails me methinks I have the keys of my prison in mine own hand, and no remedy presents itself so soon to my heart as mine own sword.”
— John Donne, “Biathanotos,” 1646
(For my former PSU English prof, Jack Cooper.)
Wacky Girl: You know how to Irish dance?
Mini-Nekkid Neighbor: Yeah, I learned it on the computer.
Hmm. Want to know what I did tonight? First I took my daughter to tap dance. Her tap-dancing grandmother will be thrilled when I tell her. Then we came home and had a fast dinner, and drove over to Jefferson High School for a little meeting.
A meeting that numerous parents decided to boycott, so guess who was there? That’s right. Me. Hockey God. And three other parents. That makes — five parents. And three kids (who raced around our table like crazy hooligans, but mainly behaved. Thank you, kids. Here’s a cooky.)
Who was there, besides us and the kids? Oh, about fifteen, or possibly it was twenty-eight, Portland Public Schools administrators and staff. Again — hmm. Some of you would be a little, I don’t know, freaked out by this. Or perhaps you would boycott and say You should have given us more notice nyah nyah. (I heard about the meeting last week, as did some other parents.)
Anyhow, you are not me, and that’s what makes me Wacky Mommy and makes you… I dunno. Grouchy and blog-less? (Ha! Triple ha ha ha!) (Pours herself a triple espresso. Thinks about her manuscript that she will work on later tonight, dammit. Or possibly tomorrow.)
First, I listened to The Administrators and Staff. Then, they listened to me (and Hockey God, and the other parents.) Then we all had a cooky. (I brought a large bowl of chocolate crinkle cookies with me. Chocolate crinkles, how I adore you. That is the recipe I used, that I just linked to. It’s deluxe.)
Hmm. Where was I? Yes. Then I listened to them, they listened to me, they listened to the other parents, we listened to them again and we made a nice big list of:
What We Want For Jefferson High School
It turns out we all want the same things. Who knew? Then we had another cooky, then we all went home. If you’d like to talk about this, you can send me an e-mail, or leave a note in comments. Better yet, drop a note to the school and cc the district.
Regards,
WM
PS — There was some talk of building an ice hockey rink at the school, for my husband and son, but no promises.
UPDATED 10 a.m. Monday morning…
wm
The meeting scheduled for Monday evening (Dec. 17th) at Jefferson High IS taking place. Community members will have a chance to discuss educational opportunities at Jefferson with district and Jefferson representatives
The meeting on Tuesday, December 18 with Superintendent Smith at PPS district headquarters (501 N. Dixon) will also take place.
A Conversation With Carole Smith
Please join Portland PTA Council for a conversation with Superintendent Carole Smith about the future of PPS schools. Where are the challenges and opportunities for our PPS community? How can parents connect with the district and best advocate for our kids? What is going well or not so well at your school? How can PPS better meet your students’ and schools’ needs?
When: Tuesday, December 18
7:00 pm
Where: PPS District Offices
Blanchard Building Atrium
501 N. Dixon
Portland, 97217
Coffee and dessert will be served!
RSVP or direct any questions to Russ Albertson, President, Portland Council PTA, ralbertsonlegend at hotmail dot com
And you didn’t.
Rock and roll, honey!
And for those of you suffering from a lil seasonal depression, perhaps brought on by the holidays, perhaps by the weather, or perhaps it’s just a sense of ennui, you’re feeling “too much of the world” right now, I’d like to say:
“Keep passing the open windows.”
— John Irving
Oh, that BlackFriend, my BBFF (Black Best Friend Forever), she’s all “write, write!” I’ll give you bullets and that is it:
* I am job-hunting again.
* I am working on my manuscript and getting distracted by numerous things including 1) laundry 2) ringing phones 3) cats 4) husband wanting things 5) children wanting things 6) shopping for a. groceries and b. Christmas and c. baking
* We’re not moving.
* Didn’t see that coming, did you?
* Sigh.
* Puts cat out, calls it a day.
* Last night we bought a new car. Today we had my husband’s company holiday dinner, my son’s classroom’s puppet show and my daughter’s church Christmas pageant dress rehearsal.
* I’m wiped out.
* kisses.
* WM
Dear Thursday 13ers and All of You Usual Suspects,
I’m dedicating this week’s Thursday Thirteen to you (and you and you and you)… Why? Because you deserve it.
13) I love my readers for a lot of reasons. Number 13 would have to be — You’re pretty good about keeping your head on straight, even when I’m not.
12) You laugh at my bad jokes.
11) And my good jokes. Um. Make that “good joke”? I think I’ve maybe told one good joke here. At some point.
10) Whether I’m talking about General Hospital, school politics, sex, recipes, gardening, whatever, there’s always someone out there who can relate.
9) I’ve “met” all kinds of people I would have never met otherwise, all ages, all types, all parts of the world. It’s cool.
8) I like being able to help, if someone’s having a hard time, or needs a question answered, or just wants to kvetch.
7) My readers are rilly, rilly, rilly funny. It adds some lightness to my day, when people leave comments.
6) However, the trolls can stay quiet.
5) People are usually pretty supportive, even when I’m being an idiot.
4) Y’all go with the flow, which I appreciate.
3) You’re pretty.
2) You’re handsome.
1) Happy Holidays!!!!!
Love,
WM
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