Stuff You Never Asked (or cared about)

1. My life now:
Yes, chaos reigns supreme at the Shack de Whack. I leave for NY on Tuesday morning, and before then I must: write several grants, do some freelance editing, bake a cake, wrap presents, go to a board retreat, hear an old friend play at Patrick’s Cabaret Friday night, hear a friend’s son play at Trotter’s on Saturday night, purchase supplies for the block party the weekend I get back, purchase art supplies for a kids art class I’m teaching when I get back, get my hair done and pack. sigh. Life is a little cuckoo britches if you catch my drift. On the plus side, I had a divine birthday. Thanks to Amy, Andy, Paul, Sydney, Isabelle, Alison, Zoe and Simon – it was super. I’m a little caked-out, though, right now.

2. My life then:
In honor of my b-day I offer these RANDOM MEMORIES of childhood:

Shows I loved: Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Wonder Bug, Electra Woman & Dynagirl, and Password. (the new one isn’t nearly as good.) I loved turning on Channel 11 at my grandparents’ house in Park Ridge, New Jersey and watching stupid Magilla Gorilla and the Monkees, interspersed with Tom Carvel and his ads for Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss.

Shows I hated that my brother loved: Tom and Jerry, Dukes of Hazzard, and Superstars.(boys.)

Instrument played as child: coronet. Why? I wanted a flute (just like every girl in class did!) but they ran out. I was left with coronet or trombone. Me with the T-rex arms really can’t make a go of it on trombone. (or coronet, come to think of it…)

Weirdest injury: sliding into base in my front yard, I unearthed a sharp bone shard that the dog had buried. It hit me at just the right angle to tear into my knee, exposing my bones underneath. Yuck.

Weirdest friendship: me and Kirsten (at age 8) signed pacts to get each other mummified when we died. I think this may not be legal, and I’m pretty glad we’ve lost touch.

Books I loved: so many, but especially creepy and or tragic stories like Alive, The Endless Steppe, Sybil, and of course Anne Frank. I read The Biography of Malcolm X when I was 10 and asked my grandmother, “What’s a doobie?” I don’t think she knew.

3. Get a life, Velma:
My new haiku entitled Joey Chestnut Rules

Kobayashi’s done
He lost the Nathan’s challenge
Suck it sideways, dude

Happy rain day, Lone Reader! Keep hope alive!