Oh, Good...It's Snowing Again!

Are you sick of this winter yet?  Me too. 

My daughter called us this morning as she was walking to work from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and it had already started snowing...hard...down there.  She amazes me how she is so determined to keep up this habit of walking the five miles (one way) up and down streets, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and to her office.   She says it's a great workout, and a lot of folks do it every day.  Even today, there were not only walkers like her, but also runners and people on bikes...despite the heavy snow!  You gotta love New Yorkers, right?

We got our syllabus for Italian...mamma mia...we're going to have to do a few quizzes and oral presentations!  Auuuggghhh!!!  The writing professor is a maniac, and I'm guessing he tries to relate to his younger students by dropping f-bombs, and that's cool, I've been known to do a bomb run myself.  I really like this class so far.  I love hearing my younger classmates -- particularly the girls -- break down and discuss our readings.  We need these young women (oh yeh, and man-boys) in this country to scrape off the crap that has gotten tossed up by earlier generations.  Hopefully, they are much more open-minded about the life around them and are not just parrots of their upbringing...whatever it may be.

Now, Italian is giving me agita because while I seem to be able to understand our adorable Professoressa, I'm not as quick to respond in Italian.  I'm hoping my aged brain will kick in and some primal bit of it recognizes the mother language.

Anyway, it is amazing how more relaxed I am about job hunting since I started school.  My job until May is school, and I am not going to be making myself any more crazy than I am by stressing over job postings.  I will think about that around May 16...after finals.

So, be careful driving, walking, etc.  Strength to the winter weary.  The days are really getting longer, and Spring must be somewhere under all that friggin' snow, right?  Ciao, amicas e amicos!

Bad News--Snow / Good News--Oscar Nominations!

You know that feeling...when you wake up and it's very quiet outside the house, and you know why...it has snowed (yet again!).  And, that's what we woke up to this morning.  Another friggin' winter wonderland.  I know kids are probably happy to sleep in for an extra two hours, but really?  Oh, and the best part is that there's still another storm for the butt-end of the week...yippee! 

But the good news is that they're announcing the Oscar (Academy Award) nominations...so excited.  With my current schedule, I'll even be able to stay up for it!  And, for the record, I just hope The King's Speech wins over Social Network just because -- even though I have not seen either one of them yet -- I think The King's Speech is the one with the heart.  Will I even see Social Network?  Probably not.  I don't use Facebook, and so I really don't give a rat's buttocks about it.

So, off to hope that today's classes are not cancelled again.  I've been practicing my Italian...I'm better at counting than the alphabet.  Ciao!

The Monster on the Cover and in the News

What is it with publications and news media that constantly need to push crazy people into the faces of the rest of us?  What purpose does it serve by having that guy's picture who killed the six people in Tucson, and nearly destroyed the others' lives who he shot on the cover of Time or on the nightly news?  Are we interested in knowing how everyone is doing...yes...we want them to heal both physically and mentally, but by making the killer a celebrity, we just feed into his craziness and the budding craziness of others lurking in their own shadows.


Somewhere, in the recesses of the mind of someone like the individual who created chaos in a matter of seconds in Tucson, a compartment opens or closes, and heinous actions are taken.  Did his upbringing have anything to do with it, or was it something that was pre-set as the egg and that one sperm collided?  Is there any way to determine that? 

Does he, and do others like him, watch and read and listen as other tragedies occur throughout the world and feed on these events?  Is there predestined programming in these individuals that need something to key off of before they click into their own app of craziness and destruction? 

If you've ever gotten those chain-letter type of emails that include all those questions about getting to know you and have seen the one which asks, "What do you fear or are afraid of," I always look at that question and say, crazy people.  Whenever these individuals are labeled "animals," I feel insulted for the animal kingdom.  Not that I'm saying there are no crazies in the animal world, but usually, there is a survival thing going on when animals kill...not a rush.

I ask, can we stop being the publicity department for these individuals?  Stop putting their faces on publications and on the nightly news.  Bury them...figuratively and literally.  Rehabilitation is not an option, and that is something coming from my (mostly) liberal stance.

Getting Mom Out of My Head (Or How to NOT Learn "Proper" Italian)

OK...so I started my last two classes towards my Bachelors (wahoo!) today.  We should have started on Tuesday, but the Northeast was hit by still another snow storm (and there's one for tonight into tomorrow...yippee...not).

Anyway, as I expected, I am not only older than my classmates, but I am older than my professors.  Golly, it just gives me such a warm-all-over good feeling...ahem!  So the writing class should be very interesting because we're not only reading fiction (short stories), but we will be writing our own.  The professor took roll call and ask us to provide him with nicknames, if possible.  So, of course, I told him that he could address me as "Xena" (as in "Warrior Princess").  He thought that was great, so the old broad by the window will now be Xena, and the kid next to her is "Killer."  Most of the kids didn't have nicknames or were too shy to reveal them...ah youth!

The class right after that is Italian 101...that's beginning Italian...although you would have never known that by the professor who spoke fluent Italian as she was telling us what we were going to be doing for the class.  She was born in Florence, Italy.  Oh my god, oh my god...  The funny thing is that there were things we could pick up.  Some of us had taken Spanish or have Spanish or Italian in our families.  Of course, I took Spanish the year Columbus (an Italian) sailed his boats for Queen Isabella (Spanish queen).  Coupled with my mother's voice in fractured remnants of the Italian dialect that she and my father spoke, my Spanish 101 is giving me agita!  This is going to be a very tough 16 weeks.  But, I am determined to learn my ancestor's native tongue. 

So, I will provide updates via whining additions...stay tuned...Ciao!

And the Golden Globe Goes To...

OK...after a day of football games to determine who is going for divisional championships and ultimately the Super Bowl (J-E-T-S!!!), I spent the most of the evening driving my husband crazy toggling between the Golden Globes and movies and/or House Hunters.  I say "most" because he could not keep up and left to watch "Top Gear" which I totally forgot was on 'cause I like that show a lot.  With not having to get up early for work, I get to stay up on a school night to watch shows like the Golden Globes (although this year's fell on the MLK weekend, so I wouldn't have had to get up early anyway...what a waste, right?).

Anyway, I have not seen any of the movies except for Toy Story 3, and I need to say, I did not tear up as everyone else has said they did during it...at all.  So, I totally watch award shows for the fashions and to see who wins for movies and/or shows that I've never watched.  Yes, I am that shallow when it comes to this type of entertainment...so sue me.  We have one of the HDTVs, and let me tell you that you get up close and personal with a lot of people's pores...not always a good thing to do.  I never ever want that much scrutiny...no wonder the news anchors panicked when everything was going to high definition...yikes!

I was glad to see Natalie Portman and Colin Firth win their awards; not so taken with Paul Giametti...have not been "into" him since Sideways anyway.  I wonder what the Hollywood Foreign Press uses as their criteria to choose the winners...apparently not what I use since I don't usually see any of the movies prior to the awards ceremony, and they do not even consult with me...bastards.  Oh, and they have to lose Ricky Gervais as the host...totally mean-spirited and not funny. 

When you see some of the outfits these high-paid people wear, you just have to wonder..."Do you even look at yourself in the mirror?"  Or, what about their stylists...is there some passive-aggressive stuff going on?  But in the end, it's fluff and stuff stuff, and I'm totally over it this morning. 

On to the Oscars.

The Magic of Possibilities vs. the Harshness of Reality

You know that feeling you get when you are embarking on a new adventure in your life...that surge of optimism that this will be a positive experience and peace will prevail on earth, right?  Then, sometimes, you get a full-face of the "are-you-kidding-me...you?" reality check.  Been there, done that myself.

I try not to get too hopeful when I send out my cover letters, resumes, and references to the various potential employers, but I do get a rush of hope when I've put the envelope in the mail or send the electronic application out...maybe THIS one will be the magical one.  And, whenever I've been called in for an interview, that little ember of hope begins to flicker a bit brighter until reality lifts its leg over it and extinguishes it completely.

I am so looking forward to beginning school next week, and know this will keep me occupied for the next 15 weeks.  I am hopeful that I'll be able to let go of the draginess that being out of work all this time and embrace this new reinvention and all its possibilities completely.

I guess it's like the sports teams whenever they begin a new season.  Who's to say that the Chicago Cubs can't pull out a division win and go on to win the World Series, right?  They are contenders and are close to the win...right up until they're not.

I am full of the magic of possibility and will shade myself from the harsh, stabbing light of reality...at least for 15 weeks.

"Julie & Julia's" Sex Symbol

Have you seen the movie, Julie & Julia?  I love this movie primarily because of Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci as Julia and Paul Child.  They are absolutely adorable.  With movie magic, Ms. Streep appears to be significantly taller than Mr. Tucci, while portraying the love that was Julia and Paul Child's (this was the magic of Streep and Tucci).

I have told my husband of over 30 years that if I were not married to him, I'd want to be married to Stanley Tucci, and he (my husband...Stanley is unaware of this) has been extremely understanding and nodded when I spoke it to him the very first time.  It's true.  I am pretty convinced that Stanley Tucci is a very good and decent man, and I'm hoping I am right about it...I truly feel I am.

I know that Mr. Tucci and his young children had an awful loss when his wife passed away from cancer a couple of years ago, and from what you read about him and his reaction to that loss and his love for his wife and children, you just get a sense of a really decent guy.

So, there you have it.  A full confession.  I am absolutely in love with my husband.  But, I am also smitten with Stanley Tucci from afar. 

Terminal Reinvention

Of course, I've talked before about one of the newer catch words -- reinvention -- and its relation to my life (or no relation to my life). 

Don't you just get all sick to your stomach at these Oprah words?  Me too.  No offense to Oprah by any stretch...the woman nails the pulse of what is goosing (mostly) women...but really?  And, what am I doing as I enter my friggin' second year of unemployment???  Well, glad you asked.  I am going back to school next week and finally finishing my B.S. degree...yippee!!!  Yup, I'm taking Italian 101 and a fiction writing course up at the campus and I am totally psyched. 

So by May of this year, I will have in my aging hand, a genuine college degree...first one in my family to have a four-year degree.  What it will mean to me and my employment life is a mystery, but for the next 15 weeks, I will be a legitimate college senior...yahoo!  I will have "reinvented" my "authentic" self (blech!) once again, but this time, I'm controlling it and not having it done around or to me.

Maybe reinvention is really Life which is in constant flux for all of us all the time.

It'll be interesting to learn what my mother used to call "proper" Italian instead of the Bari dialect that contained a lot of naughty-type words.  Ciao!

A New Year -- A New Set of Issues

So, how is 2011 working for you so far?  Yeh, same here. 

Today's breaking news is that a 22-year-old boy/man decided somewhere in the recesses of his mind that it was a good thing for him to open fire -- with a 9mm assault weapon -- on an Arizona congress woman who was meeting with constituents in her district at a very public place (the front of a Safeway in Tucson, AZ).  As a result of his decision, six people are dead -- including a federal judge and a nine-year-old little girl.  A nine-year-old child!!!  The congress woman was critically wounded from a gunshot to her head and has undergone surgery where she is fighting for her life, as are others who were wounded and have undergone treatment/surgery.  Can you tell me what the hell could provoke someone to bring a gun of that caliber (or any gun, really), and decide to open fire on people...a nine-year-old child!  The right to bear arms is one of our inalienable rights, right?  But, who the frig needs an assault weapon, and how the hell did he get his hands on it and close enough to kill so many people?

In the meantime, my youngest niece who is married to a man 25 years her senior, is trying to keep her family and her sanity together as they deal with the devastating news that her husband's melonoma has returned in the form of tumors in his lungs.  This is one of the nieces who lost her mom just a bit over two years ago.  She has (almost) six-year-old twins, and her husband is home after surgery and in pain.  She needs to find someone to hang out with him because he is on very strong pain medication, and she wants to ensure that he doesn't over medicate himself (he's a doctor...worse patients ever).  Fortunately, she has his older son who could come in to babysit his father while she went shopping today, and her sister who took the twins to hang out with their cousin to play.  A bit of good news is that her husband had a BM (that's right, I said BM) today -- the first since the surgery -- and I know this because he told me on the phone when I called to check in with them.  Talk about too much information...ewww.

Oh, and it does get better for this family because my oldest niece (the sister of the other niece) was rushed to the hospital with chest pains and fear that she was have a coronary incident.  Fortunately, the tests did not indicate any heart-related problems, but her habit of not drinking or eating over the course of a day may have been the problem; she's on her way home from the hospital.

Has the earth shifted in its orbit, or maybe sun spots? 

Good News...Unemployment is Down...for Some

The news today included the "good" news about unemployment...it's the lowest it's been in a year and a half.  That's great news, right?  It is if you are one of the people who are now employed, that is...

As for me, I'm still looking for a job.  Being enrolled in school will take a lot of my time with going to classes and the work involved with them, and I'm grateful as heck for that, but puhleeze, I need a job before I'm old enough to collect social security. (Ok...so I'm not that close to social security age, so shut up).

As I said, I went through the two moving boxes I brought home with me from my former employer and dumped all the company-specific material and my notes.  With the reorganization that the company went through, it's pretty much junk anyway.  As I glanced at notes and other stuff, it reminded me of the jobs I had held and the people I worked with over the years.  I have some great memories, and not-so-great ones just as anyone does about their jobs.  Still...

Out With the Old...And I Ain't Talking About Me, But Thanks Anyway...

Well...I've actually done it...I've gone into the two moving boxes and tossed out all the notebooks and manuals that I collected over the years from my former company.  I had collected a lot of information that was once useful, but is now junk.  Kind of like me...ha...I just crack myself up!  But seriously...

In the meantime, it's friggin' snowing again. 

Breaking in the New Year

So, it's 2 a.m., and here I am typing this.  Why???  Because someone decided to break in the New Year... literally....trying to break into our son's car!  It's 32 degrees out...how desperate or stupid does someone have to be?

The car's alarm woke us up, along with the key chain fob that has a loud, melodic chime when the car is violated.  We saw no one, but the driver's side door was open and the driveway motion sensor light was on.  My husband went outside to check on any damage.  Apparently, no one tried either of our Subarus...not as cute as my son's '97 BMW.

My question is...what the frig is wrong with you that you try to break into people's cars in the middle of the winter...hello!  So much for the cozy, safe-in-your house feeling, eh?