Mo Pilkington, Your New Best Friend (By Request)
So. Today I had a Facebook fiasco that was reminiscent of my seven-year stint as The New Girl, except I was cooler in those days and everyone under the sun and their mother (literally) did not get pitiful friend requests from "Mo Pilkington" as they did today. (Facebook basically said that "Mrs." and my real name were not acceptable for use.) It ended a string of sucktastic winners in which current events have been inexorably depressing, I let myself get drawn into a preschool parent volunteer vortex, spent $30 sending manuscript pages via FedEx to the wrong address, lost yet another library book, realized that the doctor I was consulting reminded me more than a bit of Alec Baldwin in Malice, and topped it off a couple of hours ago with a trip to the bakery with my daughter and her friend where I thought that the cookies they wanted were $5 a pound, but they were really $15 and the girls...got a lot of cookies.
What helped enormously:
Luminous books like Linda Urban's Crooked Kind of Perfect and Lauren Tarshin's Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out Of a Tree.
Calling one of my best friends and saying "I'm going down a shame spiral!", which led to us reciting just about every line of dialogue from Clueless.
Reading and actually enjoying manuscripts by LJ buddies. You guys can write!
Bob Marley, Lagbaja, Yo Yo Ma playing Bach, Rosie Thomas and Souad Massi
A sweet surprise package from a friend
Working on this, this, this, and Mr. Bunny, as well as a random, no-name toy of my own design.
Good people like this and this who make and grow good things.
Hearing my daughter talk about Romare Bearden and play the kazoo.
Gwendolyn Brooks
Podcasts and public radio
Great teachers
Games like Mighty Mind, Puzzle Math, Smart Cubes, Little Planner, and Smarty Farm. They are corny and old-fashioned, but solid and engaging. Plus, I like saying "Smarty Farm". (Really, they're all great games -- I recommend them all over the place.)
playing Aretha Franklin's "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" straight through
Wensleydale and really sharp cheddar
Afternoon tea and my yellow teapot
The Brooklyn Bridge
And as for the news, I want to be a part of the teaspoon brigade...
"Imagine a big seesaw. One end of the seesaw is on the ground because it has a big basket half full of rocks in it. The other end of the seesaw is up in the air because it’s got a basket one quarter full of sand. Some of us have teaspoons and we are trying to fill it up. Most people are scoffing at us. They say, “People like you have been trying for thousands of years, but it is leaking out of that basket as fast as you are putting it in.” Our answer is that we are getting more people with teaspoons every day. And we believe that one of these days or years-who knows-that basket of sand is going to be so full that you are going to see that whole seesaw going zoop! in the other direction. Then people are going to say, “How did it happen so suddenly?” And we answer, “Us and our little teaspoons over thousands of years.” (Pete Seeger)
What helped enormously:
Luminous books like Linda Urban's Crooked Kind of Perfect and Lauren Tarshin's Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out Of a Tree.
Calling one of my best friends and saying "I'm going down a shame spiral!", which led to us reciting just about every line of dialogue from Clueless.
Reading and actually enjoying manuscripts by LJ buddies. You guys can write!
Bob Marley, Lagbaja, Yo Yo Ma playing Bach, Rosie Thomas and Souad Massi
A sweet surprise package from a friend
Working on this, this, this, and Mr. Bunny, as well as a random, no-name toy of my own design.
Good people like this and this who make and grow good things.
Hearing my daughter talk about Romare Bearden and play the kazoo.
Gwendolyn Brooks
Podcasts and public radio
Great teachers
Games like Mighty Mind, Puzzle Math, Smart Cubes, Little Planner, and Smarty Farm. They are corny and old-fashioned, but solid and engaging. Plus, I like saying "Smarty Farm". (Really, they're all great games -- I recommend them all over the place.)
playing Aretha Franklin's "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" straight through
Wensleydale and really sharp cheddar
Afternoon tea and my yellow teapot
The Brooklyn Bridge
And as for the news, I want to be a part of the teaspoon brigade...
"Imagine a big seesaw. One end of the seesaw is on the ground because it has a big basket half full of rocks in it. The other end of the seesaw is up in the air because it’s got a basket one quarter full of sand. Some of us have teaspoons and we are trying to fill it up. Most people are scoffing at us. They say, “People like you have been trying for thousands of years, but it is leaking out of that basket as fast as you are putting it in.” Our answer is that we are getting more people with teaspoons every day. And we believe that one of these days or years-who knows-that basket of sand is going to be so full that you are going to see that whole seesaw going zoop! in the other direction. Then people are going to say, “How did it happen so suddenly?” And we answer, “Us and our little teaspoons over thousands of years.” (Pete Seeger)