Wednesday night
I was down in Georgia visiting with former president Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn, and their grown daughter, Amy. They lived in a large stone house from the turn of the last century. It was whitewashed, but the paint was peeling in a few places. Their dog, a friendly Irish Setter, ran to and fro in the street, which was quiet and deserted, at least for the moment. Later, we went for a walk in some nearby woods, and a member of our party called out, "What is that?!" I turned to see an ordinary metal bucket, turned upside down, scurrying across the forest floor. I walked over, picked it up, and found two adorable black, furry mammals inside, staring up at me. They were nondescript, so I wasn't sure what they were -- puppies? bears? hedgehogs? -- but they sure were cute. I said, "There you go, guys," thinking that I was doing them a favor. As soon as I said so, the critter who was slightly larger than the other crawled back under the bucket, and continued in the direction that he was originally headed.
*****
The Carters do live in Plains, Ga, but I've never seen a photo of their house, and don't know if they have a dog. Our old neighbors on 34th Street, the Depaus, (Depaws?) did own an Irish Setter. Beautiful dog. I haven't seen them (or their dog) in at least 30 years.
I never met President Carter, but my family did go to a Carter rally in Old Town, Alexandria in the fall of 1976, shortly before Carter beat President Ford. I was 14 at the time. I asked my dad if we could go, and he said yes. I recall that Admiral Elmo Zumwalt made a speech that day. He had crazy eyebrows. My brother Andrew and I snuck under the rope line to get around the crowd, and then stepped back behind the rope once we were directly in front of the podium. I doubt that we could get away with such shenanigans today. Much later I sent a photo that I took that day down to Plains, and former president Carter autographed it for me and sent it back. I think I still have it in a photo album somewhere in the storage unit.
I wonder what that bucket thing was about?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Italian Interruption
Monday night
I was vacationing by myself in Italy, and found, to my delight, that my friend Steve S. was going to be there at the same time. I met up with him in a beautiful courtyard, or piazza, surrounded by historic buildings, including a majestic cathedral. All was swell until I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. I excused myself, and had to run all the way around the cathedral, down some steps, through a few doors, and then up some more interior steps till I located a rest room just in time. The toilet was in the lobby of a nice hotel, near the concierge desk. It seemed to be up on a riser, and was enclosed by some oval walls, but if I stood, people could have seen my head, and they probably could see my feet and hear me, if they tried. The guy who was working the desk was a black man, wearing an exotic costume. At first I thought he was a Beefeater, but soon realized that he was dressed as a Vatican guard, with the fancy helmet and everything. I saw him walk outside to give someone directions, and fully expected him to speak Italian, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he spoke English; he was an American, too.
*****
The whole embarrasing bathroom thing aside, what could be better than meeting a friend in an exotic locale around the world? I've only had this experience once, and it didn't really involve a friend of mine. I accompanied my future wife on a trip to Finland, and our trip coincided with a seminar in Helsinki that would be attended by some of her former coworkers in Maryland. We went to a restaurant and had a very pleasant time, as my wife caught up with them. The only strange thing was that we were all a very long way from home. I thought, "How grand is this? If only we, and our friends, had the money to get together around the globe." "See you in Amsterdam!"
I was vacationing by myself in Italy, and found, to my delight, that my friend Steve S. was going to be there at the same time. I met up with him in a beautiful courtyard, or piazza, surrounded by historic buildings, including a majestic cathedral. All was swell until I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. I excused myself, and had to run all the way around the cathedral, down some steps, through a few doors, and then up some more interior steps till I located a rest room just in time. The toilet was in the lobby of a nice hotel, near the concierge desk. It seemed to be up on a riser, and was enclosed by some oval walls, but if I stood, people could have seen my head, and they probably could see my feet and hear me, if they tried. The guy who was working the desk was a black man, wearing an exotic costume. At first I thought he was a Beefeater, but soon realized that he was dressed as a Vatican guard, with the fancy helmet and everything. I saw him walk outside to give someone directions, and fully expected him to speak Italian, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he spoke English; he was an American, too.
*****
The whole embarrasing bathroom thing aside, what could be better than meeting a friend in an exotic locale around the world? I've only had this experience once, and it didn't really involve a friend of mine. I accompanied my future wife on a trip to Finland, and our trip coincided with a seminar in Helsinki that would be attended by some of her former coworkers in Maryland. We went to a restaurant and had a very pleasant time, as my wife caught up with them. The only strange thing was that we were all a very long way from home. I thought, "How grand is this? If only we, and our friends, had the money to get together around the globe." "See you in Amsterdam!"
What's Left
Sunday night
FDR had recently died, and I was standing in his bedroom in the White House, having a good look around. I saw all of the framed pictures on his walls, and then I looked at his night table, to the left of his bed. His eyeglasses were still there. I thought to myself, "These should go to [his] museum." To the left of his glasses I saw that he had been reading a three-volume paperback biography of Winston Churchill; one of the volumes was written by Robert F. Kennedy. Each book had a yellow cover, and they had a distinctive look, because all of them were taller than they were wide -- maybe 6 inches by 3 & 1/2 or 4 inches. I opened one of the books, and found that the inside cover and facing page featured a large photograph of a newspaper, announcing the end of the war in the Pacific. The headline read, "U.S. K.O.'s JAPS."
*****
An interesting dream, if jumbled historically. Churchill outlived FDR by 20 years or so, and Roosevelt did not live to see the end of the war. Robert Kennedy certainly knew a great deal about Churchill, and probably met him, since his father was U.S. Ambassador to England in the late 1930s. RFK and his family met with FDR the day of the president's second inauguration in 1937.
This dream may be dredging up some memories of home in Arlington. My dad had some paperbacks about World War II history that he kept in a table to the left of my parents' bed. At least one of them was "The Rise of the Third Reich" by William Shirer, but there was probably a book or two about Churchill, or maybe a copy of Churchill's history of the war...
FDR had recently died, and I was standing in his bedroom in the White House, having a good look around. I saw all of the framed pictures on his walls, and then I looked at his night table, to the left of his bed. His eyeglasses were still there. I thought to myself, "These should go to [his] museum." To the left of his glasses I saw that he had been reading a three-volume paperback biography of Winston Churchill; one of the volumes was written by Robert F. Kennedy. Each book had a yellow cover, and they had a distinctive look, because all of them were taller than they were wide -- maybe 6 inches by 3 & 1/2 or 4 inches. I opened one of the books, and found that the inside cover and facing page featured a large photograph of a newspaper, announcing the end of the war in the Pacific. The headline read, "U.S. K.O.'s JAPS."
*****
An interesting dream, if jumbled historically. Churchill outlived FDR by 20 years or so, and Roosevelt did not live to see the end of the war. Robert Kennedy certainly knew a great deal about Churchill, and probably met him, since his father was U.S. Ambassador to England in the late 1930s. RFK and his family met with FDR the day of the president's second inauguration in 1937.
This dream may be dredging up some memories of home in Arlington. My dad had some paperbacks about World War II history that he kept in a table to the left of my parents' bed. At least one of them was "The Rise of the Third Reich" by William Shirer, but there was probably a book or two about Churchill, or maybe a copy of Churchill's history of the war...
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Destruction / See 'n Say
Friday night
Dream 1: Destruction
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith were at my parents' house, and were constructing a bomb. I was monitoring how things were going when they heard a noise; I figured that one of my folks was coming into the room, so they handed their project to me, and I placed it into the right pocket of my white terry cloth bathrobe. The bomb itself was round, the size of a baseball, and it had a fuse on top. It was pretty heavy, and had a sort of a rough metallic texture. Its color was a dark piney-green. I walked out the front door and around the yard to my left, with my hands in my pockets. I stopped and stared at what remained of the new-er addition to the house, the part that had extended further into the yard from the family room and basement playroom. That large section of the house had been smashed to bits, destroyed in a recent tornado, but the original part of the house (well, the part dating back to 1968) seemed to be unscathed. My mom looked out of the family room window and spoke to me. She didn't seem upset about the turn of events. Evidently, she'd already come to grips with the situation, and was simply happy that no one had been hurt. She marveled at how the storm had destroyed that part of the house, but had left the telephone poles standing, and the wires in place.
*****
Dream 2: See 'n Say
It was Christmastime, and my wife and I were at Gordon and Barbara's house, visiting with them and our friends Ed and Dawn. We were exchanging Christmas presents, and Gordon said that he had one more thing for me. He knows that I love old Hot Wheels cars and Christmas in general, so he usually gives me a neat retro Hot Wheels ornament. This time he had something different up his sleeve. He reached into a Christmas bag and handed me a round, vintage See 'n Say, a beloved educational toy from my childhood. This one had a plastic "dial" in the front, featuring a toucan. I was delighted and turned to my wife and said, "Look, Honey! It's the Fruit Loops bird!"
*****
Dream 1: Destruction
This was a weird one, but I know where I got some of these ideas. For the record, let me state that I've never met the two gentlemen from Aerosmith, and the bit about bomb making is completely fictional. I'm sure that they are very nice people, and neither they nor I want to bomb, or hurt anyone, or anything.
Believe it or not, the rounded, heavy pine-green bomb in this dream is based on none other than an emu egg. You read that right. Whole Foods has just opened a fancy grocery store here in Nashville (which we adore) and the other night we were buying fresh produce when I noticed that they were selling emu eggs. I had never seen an emu egg before in my life. I picked one up to get a closer look. It was a beautiful dark green, and quite heavy. It wasn't round; rather, it was the size of a small football. For some odd reason, I thought it was rather unique, and a feeling came over me that it was a crime to eat such a thing. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the chicken that we bought that day. Still, it seemed a shame to me to eat something so special, so unusual. What would one do with it, anyway? Make the world's largest omelet?
Last Tuesday (the evening of Super Tuesday) a rash of deadly storms blew through Arkansas and Tennessee, killing 54 people, the last I'd heard. It was a very scary night. Several different bands of terrifying bad weather passed to our north and south from 6:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. We had to spend a good deal of time sitting huddled in our basement with our cat, listening to the radio, with a lantern at the ready. Winds were whipping around the house, lightning and thunder were crashing, and the tornado siren was blaring almost constantly. I wasn't worried so much that the tornado would come down our street, but I was plenty concerned that a large tree or branch would fall on our roof or our car. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and we made it through unharmed. People in Jackson, Tennessee weren't so lucky. One of my coworkers e-mailed me several photos showing destruction of dorm rooms at Union College, and of havoc wreaked in the parking lot. Cars were literally picked up, turned over and tossed on top of each other. Those ripped up dorms became the destroyed extra addition on my parents' house in this dream.
The "extra-addition" to Mom and Dad's old house as outlined in this dream does not exist. Dad sold the house around 2001, and, as far as I know, the new owners built up (on top of the old "family room") but did not build farther out. I'd like to think that this dream simply combined the emu egg and the tornado into a bizarre story, but since the destruction in the dream only affected later additions to the house (theoretically made after the kids moved out), there's a possibility that it represents some hidden, residual resentment or anger that someone else is messing with the floor plan of "our" house. Jeez, I hope not. I have no conscious feelings in that regard. After all, it never really was "my" house to begin with. I just lived there. After reading this dream again, I got the sense that three of us could be seen as plotting to destroy any addition to the house that didn't correspond to the house of my childhood. That's the way it looks, but there was no sense that we destroyed the addition ourselves. The weather did it, and there was no implication about what we, or they, were doing with that project of theirs. In any case, it was disturbing.
*****
Dream 2: See n' Say
Once again, my age is showing. Isn't it amazing how this stuff is packed away in our brains, just waiting for a chance to come out and play? See 'n Say was a wonderful toy that I had when I was young. You'd pull a string and the character in the middle would spin around until it pointed to an animal or a word, etc., then the toy would tell you something about it. The most famous version featured a farmer, and the famous line, "the cow says: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I don't recall having a version that featured a toucan in the middle, but maybe such a thing existed. Fruit Loops was a cereal that we ate at our house from time to time. It was introduced by Kellog's in 1963. Its mascot, of course, was Toucan Sam. The first See 'n Say was brought out by Mattel in 1965. I always loved the thing, but couldn't remember what it was called till I described it to my wife this morning. She knew right away.
Dream 1: Destruction
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith were at my parents' house, and were constructing a bomb. I was monitoring how things were going when they heard a noise; I figured that one of my folks was coming into the room, so they handed their project to me, and I placed it into the right pocket of my white terry cloth bathrobe. The bomb itself was round, the size of a baseball, and it had a fuse on top. It was pretty heavy, and had a sort of a rough metallic texture. Its color was a dark piney-green. I walked out the front door and around the yard to my left, with my hands in my pockets. I stopped and stared at what remained of the new-er addition to the house, the part that had extended further into the yard from the family room and basement playroom. That large section of the house had been smashed to bits, destroyed in a recent tornado, but the original part of the house (well, the part dating back to 1968) seemed to be unscathed. My mom looked out of the family room window and spoke to me. She didn't seem upset about the turn of events. Evidently, she'd already come to grips with the situation, and was simply happy that no one had been hurt. She marveled at how the storm had destroyed that part of the house, but had left the telephone poles standing, and the wires in place.
*****
Dream 2: See 'n Say
It was Christmastime, and my wife and I were at Gordon and Barbara's house, visiting with them and our friends Ed and Dawn. We were exchanging Christmas presents, and Gordon said that he had one more thing for me. He knows that I love old Hot Wheels cars and Christmas in general, so he usually gives me a neat retro Hot Wheels ornament. This time he had something different up his sleeve. He reached into a Christmas bag and handed me a round, vintage See 'n Say, a beloved educational toy from my childhood. This one had a plastic "dial" in the front, featuring a toucan. I was delighted and turned to my wife and said, "Look, Honey! It's the Fruit Loops bird!"
*****
Dream 1: Destruction
This was a weird one, but I know where I got some of these ideas. For the record, let me state that I've never met the two gentlemen from Aerosmith, and the bit about bomb making is completely fictional. I'm sure that they are very nice people, and neither they nor I want to bomb, or hurt anyone, or anything.
Believe it or not, the rounded, heavy pine-green bomb in this dream is based on none other than an emu egg. You read that right. Whole Foods has just opened a fancy grocery store here in Nashville (which we adore) and the other night we were buying fresh produce when I noticed that they were selling emu eggs. I had never seen an emu egg before in my life. I picked one up to get a closer look. It was a beautiful dark green, and quite heavy. It wasn't round; rather, it was the size of a small football. For some odd reason, I thought it was rather unique, and a feeling came over me that it was a crime to eat such a thing. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the chicken that we bought that day. Still, it seemed a shame to me to eat something so special, so unusual. What would one do with it, anyway? Make the world's largest omelet?
Last Tuesday (the evening of Super Tuesday) a rash of deadly storms blew through Arkansas and Tennessee, killing 54 people, the last I'd heard. It was a very scary night. Several different bands of terrifying bad weather passed to our north and south from 6:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. We had to spend a good deal of time sitting huddled in our basement with our cat, listening to the radio, with a lantern at the ready. Winds were whipping around the house, lightning and thunder were crashing, and the tornado siren was blaring almost constantly. I wasn't worried so much that the tornado would come down our street, but I was plenty concerned that a large tree or branch would fall on our roof or our car. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and we made it through unharmed. People in Jackson, Tennessee weren't so lucky. One of my coworkers e-mailed me several photos showing destruction of dorm rooms at Union College, and of havoc wreaked in the parking lot. Cars were literally picked up, turned over and tossed on top of each other. Those ripped up dorms became the destroyed extra addition on my parents' house in this dream.
The "extra-addition" to Mom and Dad's old house as outlined in this dream does not exist. Dad sold the house around 2001, and, as far as I know, the new owners built up (on top of the old "family room") but did not build farther out. I'd like to think that this dream simply combined the emu egg and the tornado into a bizarre story, but since the destruction in the dream only affected later additions to the house (theoretically made after the kids moved out), there's a possibility that it represents some hidden, residual resentment or anger that someone else is messing with the floor plan of "our" house. Jeez, I hope not. I have no conscious feelings in that regard. After all, it never really was "my" house to begin with. I just lived there. After reading this dream again, I got the sense that three of us could be seen as plotting to destroy any addition to the house that didn't correspond to the house of my childhood. That's the way it looks, but there was no sense that we destroyed the addition ourselves. The weather did it, and there was no implication about what we, or they, were doing with that project of theirs. In any case, it was disturbing.
*****
Dream 2: See n' Say
Once again, my age is showing. Isn't it amazing how this stuff is packed away in our brains, just waiting for a chance to come out and play? See 'n Say was a wonderful toy that I had when I was young. You'd pull a string and the character in the middle would spin around until it pointed to an animal or a word, etc., then the toy would tell you something about it. The most famous version featured a farmer, and the famous line, "the cow says: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I don't recall having a version that featured a toucan in the middle, but maybe such a thing existed. Fruit Loops was a cereal that we ate at our house from time to time. It was introduced by Kellog's in 1963. Its mascot, of course, was Toucan Sam. The first See 'n Say was brought out by Mattel in 1965. I always loved the thing, but couldn't remember what it was called till I described it to my wife this morning. She knew right away.
Nice Rap
Tuesday night
My brother Andrew and I were playing baseball on a nicely-kept field. The other players were friends of ours. It was an informal game, and we were on opposing teams. Andrew was pitching, and I was up to bat. He sent a nice pitch my way, and I swung hard, sending a single into the outfield, between the the shortstop and second base.
*****
Fun, fun, fun. I'm a little scared to play baseball nowadays, due to the speed with which the ball comes off of the bat. My reflexes aren't what they once were (not that they were ever very good) and I'm afraid to get my remaining teeth knocked out. I still love softball and Wiffle ball, however, and love to play. In fact, Andrew and I used to have a big combined birthday party every year, called the "Birthday Bash," and we'd always have a softball game in the afternoon before the party. Gosh, that was fun. I'm already daydreaming about doing it again for our 50th, in August of 2012. Mark your calendars.
My brother Andrew and I were playing baseball on a nicely-kept field. The other players were friends of ours. It was an informal game, and we were on opposing teams. Andrew was pitching, and I was up to bat. He sent a nice pitch my way, and I swung hard, sending a single into the outfield, between the the shortstop and second base.
*****
Fun, fun, fun. I'm a little scared to play baseball nowadays, due to the speed with which the ball comes off of the bat. My reflexes aren't what they once were (not that they were ever very good) and I'm afraid to get my remaining teeth knocked out. I still love softball and Wiffle ball, however, and love to play. In fact, Andrew and I used to have a big combined birthday party every year, called the "Birthday Bash," and we'd always have a softball game in the afternoon before the party. Gosh, that was fun. I'm already daydreaming about doing it again for our 50th, in August of 2012. Mark your calendars.
Waves
Sunday night
I was talking with my former boss, Maurice, and told him that I was recently walking near a traffic circle where he and his wife had picked me up one time. I had needed a break and wanted to get away for a little while, so I had stopped by a hotel which was only a couple of blocks away. The front of the building faced the road not far from the roundabout, but the back entrance opened out onto the beach, and offered a wonderful view of the ocean. I walked down the left side of the building, and then took a right, where I found several of the hotel guests waiting patiently on a large, wide concrete stairway. The interesting thing about the stairway was that it was equipped with a special metal archway which rose up above our heads, and leaned out a few feet in the direction of the water. Somehow, the archway could sense the size of the waves in the distance, and with a glance, vacationers could tell whether or not it was safe to venture out into the water. Shortly after I arrived, I could tell that there were rough seas out there; the archway glowed red, and started blinking the numbers 1500; that meant that there was a 1,500 foot tall wave breaking out there. Better stay on the porch till things calm down.
*****
If there really was a 1,500 ft. wave heading our way, there wouldn't be a porch for very long, or a hotel, for that matter.
Again, I'm dreaming of the beach. My brother Jimmie and sister-in-law, Dawn, recently invited my wife and me to join them for a family vacation at the beach this summner, not far from a beach house that will be rented by my aunt and loads of cousins. That would be nice, but the fact is that my wife and I haven't had a week-long vacation away on our own since we went to Ireland, and that was in the fall of 2004. (A lot of things have happened since then; job changes, etc.) We are getting away by ourselves to Acadia National Park in Maine in late July. I hate to disappoint anyone, and sometimes wish I could be in two places at once, but I hope that everyone understands that when we travel home for Christmas, while it's nice to see family and friends, we end up staying for several days in a house filled with 10 people, we spend lots of time driving back and forth to see everyone, then we take 11 hours to drive home and go back to work. It's exhausting. This time we'll be staying at an inn with a balcony overlooking the harbor. We'll be going out to eat, walking the beach, hitting antique stores and book shops, etc. I do sincerely hope that we can do the beach thing with our families at another time.
And I owe Maurice and his wife a call. They contacted us a month ago about taking a walk around a local lake, and I've been so busy that I haven't taken them up on it. I suppose that I feel guilty about the Maurice thing and the beach thing with Jimmie and Dawn, so I combined them in this dream.
I was talking with my former boss, Maurice, and told him that I was recently walking near a traffic circle where he and his wife had picked me up one time. I had needed a break and wanted to get away for a little while, so I had stopped by a hotel which was only a couple of blocks away. The front of the building faced the road not far from the roundabout, but the back entrance opened out onto the beach, and offered a wonderful view of the ocean. I walked down the left side of the building, and then took a right, where I found several of the hotel guests waiting patiently on a large, wide concrete stairway. The interesting thing about the stairway was that it was equipped with a special metal archway which rose up above our heads, and leaned out a few feet in the direction of the water. Somehow, the archway could sense the size of the waves in the distance, and with a glance, vacationers could tell whether or not it was safe to venture out into the water. Shortly after I arrived, I could tell that there were rough seas out there; the archway glowed red, and started blinking the numbers 1500; that meant that there was a 1,500 foot tall wave breaking out there. Better stay on the porch till things calm down.
*****
If there really was a 1,500 ft. wave heading our way, there wouldn't be a porch for very long, or a hotel, for that matter.
Again, I'm dreaming of the beach. My brother Jimmie and sister-in-law, Dawn, recently invited my wife and me to join them for a family vacation at the beach this summner, not far from a beach house that will be rented by my aunt and loads of cousins. That would be nice, but the fact is that my wife and I haven't had a week-long vacation away on our own since we went to Ireland, and that was in the fall of 2004. (A lot of things have happened since then; job changes, etc.) We are getting away by ourselves to Acadia National Park in Maine in late July. I hate to disappoint anyone, and sometimes wish I could be in two places at once, but I hope that everyone understands that when we travel home for Christmas, while it's nice to see family and friends, we end up staying for several days in a house filled with 10 people, we spend lots of time driving back and forth to see everyone, then we take 11 hours to drive home and go back to work. It's exhausting. This time we'll be staying at an inn with a balcony overlooking the harbor. We'll be going out to eat, walking the beach, hitting antique stores and book shops, etc. I do sincerely hope that we can do the beach thing with our families at another time.
And I owe Maurice and his wife a call. They contacted us a month ago about taking a walk around a local lake, and I've been so busy that I haven't taken them up on it. I suppose that I feel guilty about the Maurice thing and the beach thing with Jimmie and Dawn, so I combined them in this dream.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Get Me Outta Here
Saturday night
I was working at a newspaper, and Rod S., the boss who engineered my downsizing at my previous job, was the publisher. I was on my way to his office when I happened to glance over at the wall near another department, and saw that the word INTERNET was posted in large block letters, but that it was misspelled. I was about to e-mail all of the employees about it, but Rod overruled me, telling me only to e-mail the boss of that department. Next, Rod had me come into his office and take notes about story ideas. He told me about a hockey player who had recently been injured, and by way of background, said that the guy had been in Army training with John Mellencamp, and just missed being in his regiment. I was writing all of this while wearing long rubber gloves, and instead of holding the pen as I normally would, between my thumb and the next two fingers, I positioned it backward, toward my palm, and wrote in a scrawl.
*****
The gloves probably mean that I wanted to sanitize myself in his presence; I didn't
want to touch anything that had to do with that man. Also, not to brag, but I've got pretty decent penmanship. The fact that I was scrawling that way means that I was really nervous and out of my element.
I'm not sure about the Mellencamp connection, although I heard a news story recently that JM was happy about John Edwards' campaign using his song "This Is Our Country," but when he heard about John McCain using it, he asked them to stop. As for the bit about hockey, I'm certainly not a fan, but some of my poker buddies were talking about it the other night, and the Caps' game was on in the background.
*****
January 2008 Dream Roundup
Family & Friends:
My wife
My sister-in-law (wife's sister) (mentioned in "Downturn")
Andrew C.
Dad
Dana S.
Dawn C.
Gordon S.
Greg S.
Jimmie C.
Mom
Our (non-existent) French son (in "Poodle?")
Susan W.
Acquaintances & Coworkers:
Christy S.
Eden F.
Jennie S.
Pat H.
Tom S.
Celebrities:
Bruce Springsteen
The Cars
Clarence Clemons
David Letterman
Erykah Badu
George W. Bush
Heath Ledger (mentioned in "On Location")
Jane Pauley
Johnny Carson
Johnny Cash
Ronald Reagan
I was working at a newspaper, and Rod S., the boss who engineered my downsizing at my previous job, was the publisher. I was on my way to his office when I happened to glance over at the wall near another department, and saw that the word INTERNET was posted in large block letters, but that it was misspelled. I was about to e-mail all of the employees about it, but Rod overruled me, telling me only to e-mail the boss of that department. Next, Rod had me come into his office and take notes about story ideas. He told me about a hockey player who had recently been injured, and by way of background, said that the guy had been in Army training with John Mellencamp, and just missed being in his regiment. I was writing all of this while wearing long rubber gloves, and instead of holding the pen as I normally would, between my thumb and the next two fingers, I positioned it backward, toward my palm, and wrote in a scrawl.
*****
The gloves probably mean that I wanted to sanitize myself in his presence; I didn't
want to touch anything that had to do with that man. Also, not to brag, but I've got pretty decent penmanship. The fact that I was scrawling that way means that I was really nervous and out of my element.
I'm not sure about the Mellencamp connection, although I heard a news story recently that JM was happy about John Edwards' campaign using his song "This Is Our Country," but when he heard about John McCain using it, he asked them to stop. As for the bit about hockey, I'm certainly not a fan, but some of my poker buddies were talking about it the other night, and the Caps' game was on in the background.
*****
January 2008 Dream Roundup
Family & Friends:
My wife
My sister-in-law (wife's sister) (mentioned in "Downturn")
Andrew C.
Dad
Dana S.
Dawn C.
Gordon S.
Greg S.
Jimmie C.
Mom
Our (non-existent) French son (in "Poodle?")
Susan W.
Acquaintances & Coworkers:
Christy S.
Eden F.
Jennie S.
Pat H.
Tom S.
Celebrities:
Bruce Springsteen
The Cars
Clarence Clemons
David Letterman
Erykah Badu
George W. Bush
Heath Ledger (mentioned in "On Location")
Jane Pauley
Johnny Carson
Johnny Cash
Ronald Reagan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)