Monday, November 15, 2004

Life is a little tough these days. Taking a break. I will be back with more tales of grasshoppers and compost heaps and scrabble games soon.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

From a book called "poemcrazy" that I picked up on a whim today:

Years ago poet Michael McClure suggested we each create our own "personal universe deck" of words in their simplest form on index cards. McClure suggested we include words of each sense, words of movement, time, place, an animal, a plant, and at least one word that's an important abstraction, like truth.

See where your words take you.
My favorite dream this week: Scrabble, of course. SPIRANT was on the board. I held AEINPRT. I could have played painter or various other boring words. Instead, I played…

ANTIPERSPIRANT.

Now, let’s see if I can see stuff like that with my eyes open!

Last night was just filled with nasty monster-filled nightmares, unfortunately.

Friday, November 12, 2004

I forgot to mention that rainy days are also “difficult basenji” days. She will stand under the eaves, legs crossed resolutely, rather than go out into the yard and do her business. So of course, Marsh the Sap puts on rain gear, puts the leash on her, drags her into the yard, and stands there cursing in a very sweet voice until the basenji figures it’s best to just get it over with. “Come on, you little rat puppy…” Marsh coos.

My mother used to talk very sweetly to inconsiderate drivers on the road. “You buzzards,” she’d say in a kinder tone than she’d use, say, for thanking us for the Mother’s Day Macaroni Montage.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Everybody should be able to babysit a four-month-old niece once in a while. It is good for the soul. (I have a fairly slobbery one, if anyone needs to borrow one.)

Question of the day on ISC (the Scrabble site I play on):
“When you intententionly and consistantly give people terrible letters… no wonder they shout and swear… so play fare and allow unpaying guests to rely on the software without your fingers in the pie… we can all play.”

There are so many things to love about this question. (The long-suffering helper answered something along the lines of “Supporting members get crummy tiles, too – believe me!”)

I love watching the questions and answers. I love watching the chat, too, but nobody else I know seems to enjoy it.

Tonight’s quote: “I’m gonna go now and get ready to go out to eat somewhere and drink some for the veteran befallen in my honor.” Then many chuckles and jokesters and prim and proper folk weigh in on the subject. (Unfortunately no one seems to care about the grammar.)

Who needs TV??

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit busy. Heh. To say the least. Gloria and her kids (and basenjis) are arriving Friday while I’m out of town at the tournament. So I’m scrubbing and stocking and calling her, oh, every two hours. They will stay through Thanksgiving, which will be terrifically chaotic. Eight children, three basenjis, one turkey……

Of course, being me, I choose to do all SORTS of things that complicate my preparations. The equivalent of deciding to put in a swimming pool before the guests arrive. (No, I’m not doing that. You think I’m a fool? It’s cold out there!)

Maybe a skating rink.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

I’m so weather-affected. Windy nights make me restless and anxious. Rainy mornings are a bona fide excuse to sleep in.

Today it is clear and blue and about 55. The leaves are past peak glory but are still breathtaking. They crunch under my feet, blow from my neighbor’s yard to mine and back, startle the dog. (She’s a wimpy dog.) I breathe in and feel my lungs. It is just cool enough to feel the intake but not so cold that it hurts.

And with everything that I have to worry about, the weather makes my brain think that life is glorious, good, wonderful. I don’t care if it’s just an instinctive response. I will enjoy it.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Aaron and Devon and I, with our upcoming tournament looming over our heads, decided Sunday club was necessary. There were only a few others there, because several of the regulars were at a tournament in Philly. I figured that was okay, since really I was just looking for a nice mellow experience for the guys.

I don’t know how I feel about playing people who are a lot less experienced than I am. On the one hand, I know I benefited from my many sessions with tough players who were willing to give me a trouncing to help me learn. So I feel pretty good about doing the same. On the other hand, I wonder if some of the players are upset or demoralized; I would hate to be a detriment to their progress.

(I don’t think I’m all that good, really; I’m just a lot more experienced than most of the folks in the Sunday club.)

As far as the upcoming tournament, I’m approaching it with my New Attitude. I’m studying, but not frantically. I can only know what I know. I can only play as well as I can play. I will be better one day. I’m not terrible now.

A mantra of mediocrity! I’m happy with it.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Who am I kidding? I can’t stick to a scrabble sabbatical. I love this game!

Next tournament, Stamford, Connecticut. Aaron and I are both playing up, which is always fun, and Devon (yay!) is playing, too – his first tournament.

Dust off the flashcards and print out the superduper secret weapon scoresheets!

Friday, November 05, 2004

I can’t remember where I saw this question yesterday, but it is a good question and a good starting place.

How do we take back the vocabulary?

Let’s start with the word “moral”. How has morality come to be synonymous with bigotry? Let’s the use the word correctly. I found this at linkmeister.com/blog/. “How is it "moral" to spend the country into bankruptcy? How is it "moral" to invade a country which was no threat to us, based on lies deliberately trumped up to fit an agenda thought up by a think tank? How is it "moral" to sell out the nation's public lands to private industry? How is it "moral" to turn a blind eye to science, demanding ideological purity over empirical fact?”

Thursday, November 04, 2004

I’ve been doing a lot of random blogsurfing the last couple days. People have many theories on why the election went the way it did.

“It’s a mandate from God.”

“People would rather feel safe than be free.”

I’ve gotten tons of emails (most from my sister Gloria, who apparently is putting her frustration into searching the web for answers.) Some of these emails are scary, honestly. The country is veering into a frightening state that teeters on the edge of fascism, after all. We should all be wary.

I can’t waste time being depressed or even angry, though. Our side didn’t win this election, but our numbers aren’t small. We are smart and we do have a voice, a multitude of voices. We can keep talking. We can shout. We must.

My daughter yesterday said, “we should start a country called howthe***didbushwin!” My friend’s daughter said, “don’t mourn, fight.” We’re already raising the next generation of thinkers, sons and daughters who will fight ignorance and bigotry and evil. So that is step one.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Some people – and I'm including animals – just make others around them feel good. Kind of like those Tribbles from the old Star Trek episode. They are welcoming, loving, peaceful. When we think of them, we smile. Of course, some of these Tribble-people that make me happy might not make other people happy, and vice versa. But I'm thinking of some of mine right now, and I'm smiling.