Thank you, Universe!

The past few days I've had several conversations that I REALLY needed to have.  It's like the Universe served me up a big platter of Good Advice with a healthy side of So-Pay-Attention-to-This.  Thank you, Universe!

One of these conversations just happened on our morning walk.  Kathy has been talking lately about some of the challenges facing her school this year--which is why her principal asked all the teachers in their faculty meeting last night to list ten things they like about teaching there.  And they all did.  Because they could.  They could all find things they liked.    And the exercise was a useful reminder of that.

This is not (cliche alert!) rocket science.  And if you're in a certain kind of cynical mood, it's easy to go pffft! Whatever!  But the fact is that choosing to be positive while handling difficult situations (which is not the same thing as going into denial) makes you feel better.

Although sometimes denial works, too . . .

The car of my dreams

I already posted this on fb, but I'm posting it here now because I'm serious.  I want this car.  And I'm putting it out there to the Universe.  So listen up, Universe!  I want this car!

Meanwhile, I've been scattered.  I'll try to pull it together and start posting again this week.

A day at the Cloisters!

I would have loved to attended this.  New York in particular and the Hudson River Valley in general is gorgeous in the fall.  I used to tell people when we lived in New York that autumn made up for the other three seasons there.

Almost.

This and that

First this:  your captions were awesome.  WELL PLAYED!  Thank you.  Ken Cannon had a grand time reading them, and he says thank you, too.

And now that:  so the column I did on Mike Lee has kind of taken off.  At least by my very modest standards.  I mean, I'm happy if I get 50 likes on facebook and a handful of comments when something gets posted online.  I've gotten a bit more attention than that this time around.  My brother called last night to ask how this makes me feel, and I said it's been fun to be Robert Kirby for a day.  I even celebrated by eating a coconut cupcake.

Some of my favorite responses include one where a reader wrote that the coach's daughter just gave Mike Lee a verbal spanking.  And another told me it was my own fault I didn't go to the park because THE PARKS BELONG TO THE PEOPLE and alls I had to do was kick down the barricades--to which I can only say, dude.  I'm not Rambo.

Somebody else also told me to stop saying dude.

This all make me smile.  And you know what makes me smile the most?  I figured out how to use the phrase "can of whoop-ass" in a sentence.  In the paper.

Talked to Lisa B. this morning.  Life is good today.

What Ken Cannon did yesterday morning

For the record, he said I could share this picture.  Meanwhile, I think we should try to come up with awesome captions, don't you?

Well, let's see what happens.

Well, it'll be interesting to see what response this one gets. You can never tell.  Sometimes I write a column, thinking I'll hear from a lot of people and I don't.  Other times I write a column, thinking I won't hear from a lot of people and I don't.

So there you have it.

Regardless, I just had to get all this off my chest.

A disturbing experience just now

So my friends and I just went on our early morning (5:30 a.m.) walk.  As we were crossing the street at 4th and K, a car passed through the intersection.  I thought I heard screaming and someone saying "Someone help me, please."  But I couldn't tell where the noise was coming from and if, in fact, I'd really heard what I thought I'd heard.

Then Nancy said, "Did you guys hear that?"  And we all had.  We assumed it came from the car, so we tried to get a good look at it and the license plate, but it was too dark.

This is so troubling.  I mean it could have been a weird dial tone or something--Geoff has one that sounds like a snotty Frenchman chewing him out for not picking up the phone.  Still.  It was weird.  And  I don't know what to do.