I Am This Woman

I made it through this day.

Today was the last day of a job I’ve had for five years, and change is tough. It’s for the better, in that it will be different. And this change has been two and a half years in the making. But change is, as I said, tough.

What helped the most was not the delicious carnitas burrito I had for lunch, but the love and friendship of at least twelve good and decent people who care about me…

What also helped was me winning at Monopoly today after I managed to put two houses on both Park Place and Boardwalk, and nearly cornered the monopoly on railroads. At one point, I was down to my last $8, but all it took was one opponent landing on Boardwalk and forking over $600 in rent. That was teh awesome.

Never underestimate the power of good friends who know your heart and remind you when you lose the way a little. Never underestimate the sheer brilliance of a good board game.

I get an insanely huge rush getting these memes and quizzes right! Esp. when it comes to usage and words. Thing is, a couple of these are not as intuitive, as the “correct” usage is heard less often.

Another fun word nerd link that I ran across today (thanks, Emily!) is this column on copyediting from The Washington Post. It says so much to me, and the irony is thick as I leave an editing job for The Next Big Thing.

(And I’m not sure I would call myself an “English Genius.” More like a “Language Expert.” Or an “Educated Woman.” Or Someone Who Reads.)

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test…

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can’t find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don’t. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you’re not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

(A birthday card post or three is long overdue. I will get to that over the weekend. Promise.)

I try to live by the motto in the title. This too shall pass. The good and the bad. It all goes by so quickly. This was brought home to me in the early days of my son’s life, when sleep was a somewhat random event and my day was broken up by bouts of crying, eating and diaper changes. A good day was a day I could take a shower and lather, rinse AND REPEAT.

Those days passed quickly. As I watch the hair sprout on my son’s arms, legs and face, I feel it all too keenly.

I learned somewhere along the way never to wish a day to be over, never to wish that some anticipated event that was weeks off would hurry up and get here. There was bound to be something good about the interim, and the event itself would pass quickly and be over as well. There is something to be learned in the interim, some valuable moment, thought, perhaps in preparation for the big thing. These are ideas that I live by, and for the most part, they work.

Except this week. I’m in my last week of a job I’ve had for five years. Most of the time, I have loved the work but not loved the job. There have been aspects of the job that I loathe, and parts of the job I shall miss. I would go into detail but maybe I’ll save the juicy details for my memoir, or that “tell-all” fictionalized version.

As I move into the next phase, I find myself lethargic, burned-out from stress, underappreciated and unmotivated. This too shall pass, but for once, I wish it would move a bit faster - the goodbyes, the closure, the getting past the inevitable sadness and awkwardness of the whole thing. I’m ready for the good parts, for the new stuff to happen. And I’m ready for the being glad that this is all over now.

But first, I still have work to do, boxes to pack and things to cross off my list.

Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings.

The Waldorf/Steiner philosophy holds handwork in high regard for the development of the mind through motor control (ha ha, I almost wrote ‘development of the motor through mind control’ — Waldorf joke!). The theory is that handwork can guide the developing young mind as well as express some inner traits not seen in traditional learning methods. Teach a child to knit and you give them a peaceful way to contemplate abstract and spatial reasoning as well as mathematics and even sociology.

Handwork, such as knitting, sculpting, sewing, even gardening, washing dishes, kneading bread or chopping vegetables, gives the mind an immediate task to work on, while other areas of the brain are engaged. If the task can be accomplished by rote, the brain can also wander blithely off to mini-fantasy camp. (more…)

This child (in the video) is so cute you will need to sit in a chair. I warned you.

I love that he commits to the song. He has a future in karaoke, I think.

Watch this video, and then think about whether or not this guy has a talent, or a gift.

Britain’s Got Talent - Opera Singer from Cardiff

I would venture to say he has a gift for singing, and the talent required to get up there and do what he did.

I love the expressions on the judges’ faces too, esp. old Simon Cowell.

(When I heard that the guy is Welsh, I was expecting good, but not quite like that!)

Follow-up: the finals of the Britain’s Got Talent 2007 competition is here.

(36 of 50)

You know, even if we didn’t make it to all the “perfect” places in Austin, we made it TWICE to see my Knitting Guru, and that was solid gold.

She is a woman I met when I started attending the UU church and discovered that I was indeed a lifelong Unitarian but just didn’t know what to call it all those years. In 1995, I was pregnant and wanting connection, so I volunteered to teach Sunday School, after Guru J chatted me up and I discovered that we shared similar teaching philosophies.

I began to live for the days when she was able to stay after church talking and gabbling with me until we were embarrassingly the last folks to leave the parking lot, stomachs grumbling for lunch.

Eventually, I found my way to her house, which was filled with books and yarn and music and love. I soaked up the time with her, and mentioned that when I was 40 (which I regarded at the Age At Which Everything Would Be Over), I would take up knitting again. She looked at me a little askew and said, “why wait? I’ve been knitting forever since I was about 8 or 9.” Oh.

So I took up needles and tried again… and fast forward two years, and I have a baby in tow on the way to Australia on a lark, and my Make-Mistake-Snake on the needles on the plane. I completed this lovely snake toy for my child, having learned much about tension, switching from purl to knit and back again, dropping stitches, joining seams, slipping the first stitch on the row and counting each row each time to see that I did not drop a stitch.

Many thousands of conversations, games, visits, food, stories, books, yards of yarn and years later, and we were sitting around her table again tonight, talking a blue streak right up until I had to run out to dinner in order to get to sleep by 11 or so. And still we have conversations, knitting work and stories to finish and show/tell each other another time.

Tonight, I showed her my very favorite birthday present, a compilation art technique book that someone gave me thinking it wasn’t much of a gift, but it was better to pass it along than to toss it. OMG, both of us raved and drooled over it for an hour. She said, “Oh my, I LOVE THIS. It gives me SO many ideas!” EXACTLY! That’s the magic of it!

Such a treasured friendship. I am truly blessed, and to that she would say, “oh well, you know, it’s just what we do, isn’t it? No big deal. Glad to see you anytime!”

And later, my darling child said, “J is so sweet.” Why? I prompted. “Well, she just UNDERSTANDS what I’m into. She listens.”

Wow. Yes. That from a 12 year old who is priming himself for a typical but very non-conformist teenage (just like all teenagers). For both of us, we have a role model for very different (but really just the same) reasons. And that is just awesome.

Now all I can think of is what should I make her! I have a very good idea. Heh heh…

(35 of 50)

Just a quick moment here before kicking into the evening portion of the festivities…

I opened cards and the few packages I received just now, and there is no way to explain just how touched and moved I am for the little kindnesses I’ve received. A handmade card, a card hand-picked, a handwritten note, a scribbled note on a gorgeous postcard (or a silly one)… they are all precious to me.

The small gifts (to the giver) mean the world to me. You have NO idea. Tears sprang to my eyes each time I saw the loveliest of little things… each one was Something Wonderful.

There will be a proper accounting of these things, and the fun of receiving the cards over the last month (and I hear there are more cards to come!), but first, I need to finish celebrating, visiting and contemplating this day because it will not come again. It is a good day, one to be met with elan… so that the next day and days can be so met too.

No rest for this siesta from the 100 degree temps here today, but lots and lots of joy, laughter and love. Thank you all!

(34 of 50)

Yay me. I’m 50 today. Although it’s just another day, and I feel the same (ie, back pain if I sleep too long, need glasses to see computer screen, where’s my coffee?!, and all that jazz).

For today, visiting here in Austin, I am going to attempt a perfect day. One can never plan these things, but I’m going to hit a number of spots that I know to be awesome and cool and just regular deals, not completely FUNNED OUT AND SIX FLAGS EXTREME!

On my list, in no particular order, though I’m thinking about scones right NOW:

Texas French Bread

Waterloo Ice House

Threadgill’s

Hyde Park Bar and Grill

Hill Country Weavers

Zilker Park/Barton Springs

Lady Bird Lake bats (formerly Town Lake)

Toy Joy/Terra Toys

Bull Creek Park

and the hotel swimming pool, sauna and spa….

Spending some time nurturing the Writer Me

Hanging with my son and Miss Lucy

Brie and pepper water crackers

German chocolate cake

Sushi

Massage and hair salon visit

(and much more…)

Add to this mix my Knitting Guru, my cousin the atty-at-law, a handful of old friends, all my nieces and nephews, and it would be the perfect birthday. Alas, I think only the Guru knows I’m in town. Obviously, there is little chance that I will have the time, patience or desire to hit all those spots (as I type I can think of 10 more). I did the hanging out and drinking thing last night (to great amusement, and a slight headache this morning). I will also make phone calls to round up those far away that I do miss… and I have a STACK of unopened birthday cards/packages that I’ve been saving.

If we were going to make this a Perfect Day(tm), what I REALLY want is to be in Italy, Hungary or Spain… but that wasn’t to be this time. No worries, there are plans afoot for next summer already (which right now are leaning towards Paris and the UK. And why not! It’s all good. There is no magic to this one day, it’s how I live the days before and after it that matter… esp. the days that come after.

No, I can’t do it all today, and I may not be able to do it all in this lifetime. But I’ve got 50 more years to try (I am ambitious), and I’m not going to waste one day (though I am certain there will be some wasted hours in traffic, waiting rooms and the like, but I’m not even going to let THAT bug me!).

I am this woman, living the only life I’ve been given. And it’s not bad, people. Not bad at all.

(33 of 50)

No, I did not get pretty pasties (the boobie kind, not the tasty meat pie kind). I got no pasties (of either kind, actually). But the mammo was uneventful in a posh, country club kind of way. Whatever big money the Perot Family have dumped into that hospital, I must say that some of it was directed by the matriarch because the mammogram/breast center was gorgeous. Designer carpeting, chair and walls, aqua t-shirt type robes that were almost cute in a kimono style and the latest digital technology. Very non-hospitally. The magazines? from May and June 2008!

My tech was South African so we chatted about how to be safe in Johannesburg (we are going there next month), and …. HER HANDS WERE NOT COLD. The gaspy ouchy part lasted about six seconds.

It was all quite lovely and forgettable. Go get your mammogram, ladies.