I feel I've been neglecting you, dear verbatim—and dear verbatim readers! I guess I've just been really busy lately, although nothing in particular is going on. Just regular busy. All day long (and sometimes well into the night) I get little ideas and inspirations for blog posts, but by the time I hunker down in front of my iMac, they're gone or they seem dumb (as if that ever stopped me before). So, without further ado, here is a peek inside that sometimes-scary place known as Karen's Brain.
1. Tea doesn't get stronger the longer you let it steep; it just gets bitter. Three to four minutes ought to do it. If that's still not strong enough for you, use less water. Then go buy some PG Tips!
2. Speaking of John Irving:
- At the end of "The Cider House Rules," the credits listed him as the stationmaster. I was too tired to hunt for that part, so I went to bed. Next morning, I forgot all about it and shipped the DVD back to Netflix! Phooey.
- I just learned (or, more likely, I was just reminded) that he wrote a memoir of his 13-year struggled to adapt The Cider House Rules to the big screen. It looks great, and I've added it to my seemingly endless Amazon wish list.
- A hundred years ago, he came to speak at Wesleyan—I was a freshman and had my beloved dog-eared copy of The World According to Garp tucked under my arm for him to sign after his reading (excerpts of the then-forthcoming Hotel New Hampshire). I was trying to come up with something clever thing to say so that he would think I was wonderful and would ask me to be his personal assistant and could he read something I'd written etc. etc. So I finally get up there and am so dazzled by his presence that I murmur dreamily, "I think you're great..." as I hand him the book to sign. Then went back to my dorm room to kick myself over and over for the rest of the night.
3. Not only did Julie name her stuffed tiger Lion; she announced, "And he's a girl."
4. Do you know anyone who named their kid(s) something ridiculous? I hear people calling out to their kids with these absurd, cruel names all the time, but I don't know these people personally. I'm usually just trying desperately not to shout at them, "What were you thinking?!"
5. I feel bad (not badly) that I've been complaining so much about my volunteer efforts. For the most part, I enjoy them. I just took on too many this year. One thing I've been doing that I just love is typing up the kids' "news of the day" for the preschool. I'm doing the oldest group, so these are kids headed off to kindergarten in the fall. Their news ranges from the mundane ("I carpooled with Lily today" and "I’m having a playdate with Jeremy tomorrow") to the bursting-with-pride ("Yesterday I went upside-down on the monkey bars" and "I bit into a Blue’s Clues cupcake and my tooth fell out") to the funny and sweet ("I’m going to the doctor for only a test to see if I have germs" and "I’ve been on a waterbed. It was at a wedding" and "Isabelle poked me with a pencil"). Very cute. They get put into a binder, along with artwork, photos, etc. Stephanie and Pete still go through their preschool binders from time to time!
Thanks for the heads up on the John Irving Memoir. I really enjoyed "Saving Piggy Sneed."
He was in Austin just a few months ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't arrange it to go see him speak.
Posted by: Lora | May 19, 2005 at 03:55 AM