Epic Weekend - Part 3

Third in series of face-to-face, dramatically intense encounters over last weekend.

Finally on Sunday afternoon, I volunteered at J's school for its 50th Anniversary Celebration. Now while I myself am not an alumna, many close friends are, so it was like a really big reunion party in our small, small Catholic-school world. My friend from high school T was there with all his family. He's one of six kids who graduated from St. C, and of his siblings, three now have children attending.

I was chatting with T when he was "ambushed" by his ex-inlaws. Talk about awkward! His ex-mother in law was going on and on about how sad the divorce was (and that was like ten years ago and her daughter has been remarried for the past four). I really wanted to be someplace else, but I stayed so T could get through with some grace. Right after, we went over to the "bar" and had a drink. . . one of those difficult moments that later on, I sure we'll have a good laugh over.

Both J's first grade teacher and my first grade teacher (an alum) were both there. I tried to get us all together for a picture, but it didn't work out.

I spent some time in the 80's memorabilia room with my friend P. We had a good time fooling with the Rubric's cubes and listening to Michael Jackson while getting the dish on her old classmates.

So in sum, St. C's basically like a small town where everybody knows everybody's business. It's a terrific community -- somewhat on the small and cliquish side -- but generally a safe, supportive place for my daughter and me.

Epic Weekend - Part 2

Second in a series:

Just after the tennis, I went to J's soccer match. The moms all week had been whispering about how rough the opposing team was supposed to be and how they have been undefeated for the past two years. Pretty intimidating for little girls -- their team won by more than ten goals last week! And Head Coach T was in Vegas. "We'll be fine," insisted Coach M (usually the assistant).

During the first half, our girls were playing their hearts out. Talk about drama! It was exhausting to watch, but I knew J was having fun too, as she and her best friend A were dancing on the field and fooling around just before the halftime break ended.

At the third quarter whistle with both teams scoreless, while the mom behind me was groaning about how there was only one more quarter to hold them off, I was saying, "Only one more quarter to score!" And that's what happened. That mom's daughter was able to push through and kick in the winning goal with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

It really was an incredible match. The little girls from both teams are terrific athletes. And we are lucky to have good coaches and referees to support them, too.

Epic Weekend - Part 1

It was an epic weekend so I'll give the highlights in a series of three.

On Saturday, I met a guy from online to play at Cuesta, the place for hardcore tennis around here. Now, I have spent plenty of time on the court in my day, from a young age even, so I feel pretty comfortable in a social game. In this case, however, I was getting nervous because from all the signaling I could tell he was really good.

I arrived at the courts early, so I wandered around a little. The attendant asked me who I was looking for, and when I told him who he said, "YOU'RE PLAYING WITH W??" That freaked me out, but I re-psyched myself by recalling General Lee's great dignity in losing the South. And W, I knew from his emails, was a Southern Boy, so he might be appreciative.

We started hitting after "warming up" with some mini-tennis (like warming up would help me?). W still plays open level tournaments, so needless to say, he blew me away (but in a very gentlemanly way). The attendant stood behind the screens watching us for a while and told me at one point, "You're doing really good." It took all my strength to mutter back, "It's only 'cause he's hitting right to me" (". . . you IDIOT," I wanted to add). After maybe half an hour, I was tired and W was bored (but trying not to show it), so I insisted we stop and have a chat before I had to go. It was a good talk -- about as lively as his emails, which have been highly entertaining.

If he calls again, my friends suggest that I offer to take him skating.

Soccer Update

I don't know how into this I should be, but J's team just played the *toughest* team in the league and won 1-0. It was exciting to watch. Luckily for us all there was a good referee who kept everything safe and fair.

Bar Mitzvah

Last week we received in the mail an invitation to a college roommate's son's bar mitzvah in Israel. It'll be in early October so we're sure not to make it because of school. It was nice to be invited, though, and I hope someday to visit J and her family in Netanya.

Going For the Mrs.

From the looks of this article, the Mrs. degree is back in style. Have we Generation X'ers been sold down the river? This was from a couple of days ago. Letters to the editor in response, published in today's paper, were numerous and varied.

Fall Thursdayfests

This morning it was looking like Indian summer but now outside it's standard fall. I hope any drizzle ends soon 'cause the neighbors are having Thursday happy hours on their front lawn starting this week.

Mexico?

There are apparently no reasonable flights to Hawaii, so now we're talking Mazatlan over Thanksgiving. Never been, but it sounds fine!

Support Your Local Ice Dancer

Olympic year coming up, y'know.

More forwarded from the skating club in case you're a hard core ice dancing fan. I'm not, but here it is for you (without any links or photos added -- I just couldn't):

------------
The Tanith Belbin citizenship team has been working with different
organizations and members of Congress since earlier this year and, until
now, have not explained our efforts in detail. Now, however, we really are
facing our last chance to get something done in time, so we need help from
fans, particularly those from Michigan and Illinois. There is very little
time remaining to get this done.

The legislative proposal is very simple. The proposal is consistent with
the immigration service's recent steps to process Green Card and citizenship
applications more efficiently. The change would affect several thousand
people who received Green Cards as people of "extraordinary ability" who
used to be required to file piecemeal applications for temporary and then
permanent residency. After the people affected by this proposed legislation
applied, CIS changed the rule to accept and process these applications
simultaneously, greatly speeding up Green Card processing times. The
legislation proposes that the people who had to receive multiple approvals
of their applications would be treated as if they had applied only once and
the approval of their initial approval would become the date from which the
time to become a citizen would run. This is not a private bill that would
affect Tanith; it would correct an inequity that affects several thousand
people who are waiting for citizenship.

CIS has indicated that the provision would not create a processing burden
for them. However, it is up to the Department of Homeland Security (in
which CIS is housed), the Administration and Congress to propose the
measure. We are seeking to have it included in an Appropriations bill,
because Appropriations bills must, by law, be enacted each year.

We need people to contact Tanith's and Ben's family's home members of
Congress and urge them to support the measure. We are asking people in
Michigan and Illinois to call the local offices of their senators. For
people in the districts of Congressmen McCotter (Michigan) and Kirk
(Deerfield), we also are asking people to call the local offices. These
numbers are:

Senator Levin (MI): (313) 226-6020 (Detroit)
Senator Stabenow (MI): (313) 961-4330 (Detroit)
Senator Durbin (IL): (312) 353-4952 (Chicago)
Senator Obama (IL): (312) 886-3506 (Chicago)
Congressman McCotter (MI): (734) 632-0314 (Livonia)
Congressman Kirk (IL): (847) 940-0202 (Deerfield); 847-662-0101 (Waukeegan)

If anyone in any other state wishes to call and express support, we ask that
you call the Washington, DC offices of these members of Congress. The
numbers are:

Senator Levin (MI): (202) 224-6221
Senator Stabenow (MI): (202) 224-4822
Senator Durbin (IL): (202) 224-2152
Senator Obama (IL): (202) 224-2854
Congressman McCotter (MI): 202.225.8171
Congressman Kirk (IL): 202-225-4835

If anyone would like more information, please feel free to email Barney
Skladany and Jessica Weisel, the attorneys representing Tanith. The email
addresses are: bskladany@akingump.com and jweisel@akingump.com.

It's In the Blood

If you ever wonder why I love discussing politics so much it's because I've got it running deep on both sides of my family. I just did a search on a maternal great-grandfather, "Lolo Paco" and have found several sites with info on his career. Here is one link.

Besides being a senator, Lolo Paco served in several other governmental positions and in fact died in a plane crash while visiting somewhere as Secretary of the Interior. Back when I was a law student, I came across an article he had published in a Philippine law journal in the mid-1950's just before his passing. It was strongly nationalistic in tone and written essentially as a warning that political conditions were ripe for a military coup or dictator to take over the country. Lolo Paco was certainly no dummy, and it's fascinating (okay, at least for me) to consider the context as this article was published only a decade before Marcos.

The are some other interesting stories about Lolo Paco. I hear he was an excellent poker player. And Lolo Paco's brother Lolo Pepe was also prominent (perhaps even more so) in politics. Here is a biography of his that I just found.

The Pledge

This NYT op-ed pretty much sums it up for me, and it's more nicely put than, "WTF, you're completely wasting our tax dollars, idiot!" which is what I would have written. My only consolation is that the guy filing these suits is probably so busy he isn't able to practice medicine (as I hear he's licensed to do). Could you imagine having him as your doctor? Talk about incredibly poor judgment -- it would be hard to trust him with a life, so perhaps letting him spin his wheels on "under God" is actually a public service.

Hurricanes And Global Warming

My college friends and I are still plotting our assault on global warming. It has been suggested that the connection between hurricanes and climate change has not been appropriately publicized. Here is something on that topic, one of more than a few links sent by my friend C.

Relating In Real Time

I've been too busy to blog lately, mostly because I've been dealing with a bunch of newish real people in my life. Since I'm extremely extroverted, this has been fun, but I haven't had much time to myself. Finally made it to the pool this morning for a meditative workout, my first in a week or so.

My new class is up and running. The kids are a cute group and we should have a good year.

I met one of my potential soulmates from eharmony last night for a drink. He was nice enough, but definitely no one to be excited about. I'm meeting two more next week. As I mentioned in another post, nearly all my single co-workers (male and female of varying ages) are dating online, so the staff room discussions comparing notes have been hysterically funny.

I met my former student teacher and another colleague for lunch today and then went to a house party for Steve Westly, a candidate for governor. He's supposedly big into public education, and it was interesting to hear what he actually had to say.

J had a soccer game. Her dad took her, but since I ended up being the Team Mom, I stopped by to catch the end and take care of the banner.

I've been reading Prep the last few days, one of the titles I had hoped to get to this summer but didn't. It's an engaging book, all about the intersections of race, class, and gender at a New England boarding school. Lee, the protagonist, reminds me a little of myself in college -- they say those prep schools are basically mini-Harvards or Yales -- though she (of course) seems much more self-aware than I was even four years older.

Tomorrow looks almost like today, except I plan to spend a somewhat leisurely morning reading the papers.

Next week and weekend are nonstop as well. Of course there's work, school, and dance-piano-soccer. The first Ladies Guild meeting is on Wednesday night and the 50th Anniversary Celebration (J's school) is next Sunday. I was to be Chairperson of Beverage Services for the latter, but luckily they didn't need me. Too bad, I would have made a helluva good bartender.

Some Chance

. . . we'll be in Hawaii over Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be the best? I'm not getting my hopes up, but can't help but be thinking about it.

Live aloha!

My Favorite Things

To reward myself for having gotten through the past few weeks, I bought one of these, a bright copper kettle. I'm a big tea drinker (herbal, mostly mint and chamomile) and have always wanted copper pans, but know I wouldn't be any good at keeping them polished, so having a copper tea kettle seems to be a kind of compromise.

Other favorite things: I heard from my student teacher from last year (finally). She has her own classroom now, in a different district, and seems to be off to a good start. And my friend T is doing well on his antidepressant meds. He's been in treatment for about three years. I've known him since we were teenagers and am extremely proud of the work he's done to get better.

Enough Soccer Already

This just in from the skating club president:

If you have a minute, please consider going to the following website to vote for Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano for the Allstate Hall of Fame. I was also forwarded a request to vote for Carlo Fassi for this honor.

Figure skating is life -- the rest is just details, remember? Thanks.

More On Toughness

When it comes to parenting, I'm really lucky to have the friends I do. Take J's soccer coaches, all dad-volunteers, who treat the eleven girls on the team like their own and teach them to work together as one. J's shoelaces came untied during practice the other day and M, the square-jawed son of a Chicago Bear, bent down and tied her cleats, patiently reworking them like nobody's business. Talk about "trade secrets" -- I would have never figured out how to do what he did. And, needless to say, the laces have not come undone again!

La Dolce Vita

It's a small world in which I move during the fall, winter, and spring. Home, J's school/church, and my school/work form to make a synergistic and seemingly secure triangle for my little family. J's friend T came over after school yesterday and we baked cookies for their Bake Sale on Sunday. We met up with T's parents and a bunch of other families at the school gym for a pasta feed to benefit the Red Cross. Today the girls have a soccer game on the field at my school and the league's opening festivities and team pictures are tomorrow.

Here are the cookies for the Bake Sale ready to go. These peanut butter blossoms were actually made from frozen, pre-shaped cookie dough purchased from a spring fundraiser. Speaking of synergy, I simply took out the box, had the girls fill two trays, and popped our handiwork in the oven. When the cookies were out, I added the chocolate kisses as they cooled (because the girls were too busy playing dolls to be bothered). Now we have more than three dozen "recycled" cookies to donate back to J's school. Sometimes I think it might be easier to just hand over another $20 bill without having to wash dishes, too, but then it would not be as much fun, right?

Mellowing With Age

John McEnroe comes to mind now because the U.S. Open is on, and that's been my only real distraction for the past few days. I used to just love the guy for being the tacky hothead he was on court.

If you're into tennis, try to catch a little of the Lindsay Davenport match from earlier today. It shouldn't have been a close one, but it was, and I won't tell you who won.

Online Dating

Everyone seems to be meeting online these days. Friends have been urging me for years to try internet dating and frankly, I've been too scared until now. What finally pushed me over was my co-worker T's challenge that I max out on free dinners over fees paid.

I signed up for two services, eharmony and the Right Stuff (for elite college types ;-)) and seem to be getting more action from the former. My friend C has wisely suggested that I sign up for them all -- match.com, Christian, Jewish, etc. -- to get the broadest pool of suitors. It's been about a week and I've communicated (by anonymous email) with three guys so far. One sounds interesting, though my stepfather was quick to surmise that "Tim" might not be real, that he's actually some spambot from eharmony to get me hooked in.

Oh well, we'll see. . . I'll let you know how it goes.

New Orleans

The stories of the devastation in New Orleans keep getting sadder and sadder. My mother, who is absolutely outraged, suggests donations go to the Red Cross.

I was in New Orleans exactly 15 years ago this weekend when three of us from college met for a mini-reunion a year after graduation. J had been stationed in nearby Biloxi, Mississippi, so she picked us up from the airport. We hung out mostly in the French Quarter, attending cooking school, listening to jazz, and checking out the shops. Our days started and ended with beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde. I was a little put off by the seediness and the open containers of alcohol being carried around in the streets, but at same time was enthralled by the place's lively history and culture.

I hope the city can rebuild.

Tender And Tough

My friend B is just incredible. She's a tough competitor, mentally and physically. You should see her ski the trails under the lifts -- NO FEAR and great knees (even as a post-40 mother of two young children). A couple of weekend ago, she ran in a 10K race just for the fun of it and nearly won. And then last weekend, at a coed poker night (which I had to miss), she took home the top prize of about $260.

Santo Nino

Here's a map of where I was born. I don't know much about life there because we moved when was about a year old. Got this image and the ones below from a blog I stumbled upon with info from the island of Cebu.



In the picture to the right is a replica of the Santo Nino de Cebu, the Christ Child statue originally brought by the explorer Magellan and now kept in the basilica in the center of town. The story goes that after making everyone on the island a subject of Spain, Magellan was killed by the local chieftain, Lapu-Lapu. Magellan's ship was destroyed and among the things that washed up on shore was the statue. Huge crowds like the one in background of the photo gather for the Sinulog, a festival held every January honoring the Santo Nino, now patron saint of the Philippines.

Above is a Cebuano beach, Malapascua. A siesta in that hammock is looking pretty good. Malapascua is Spanish for "Bad Easter." I have a feeling this might have been when and where Magellan was killed, but I'm not sure.