is when your husband is in California at his friend's memorial and the buckets of rain never let up all day even when the sun comes out for a few minutes in the late afternoon, yet denies us a rainbow.
Never mind the clocks, they are immaterial to little children who can't tell time except by the absence of Daddy who will kiss Mia's swollen infected finger and even distract Nora from her fifth viewing of a ridiculous movie starring vegetables, but that will be later.
Most of the day, outside the peace of a long family nap in the late afternoon, is spent in aimless play, making Rorschach butterflies with glitter paint one hour, some agitating computer play another. A neighborhood girl comes for a couple of hours around lunch to give the girls an audience for the imaginary scripts they act out with their stuffed animals.
The girls make up lists of their fears. Mia: the dark, pirates, meat, trying new foods and peas. For Nora, the dark, bats and bombs.
I read a few pages of John Updike's Couples (the sixties era suburban swingers are as familiar as Martians), fold laundry and clean out the bathroom drawers, listening to the rain and thinking about yesterday when we drove into the city to a public access TV studio near Greektown for the Chic-a-Go-Go dance show taping. The girls were reluctant down the anonymous gray hallway of the cable station, of course, but intrigued when we turned the corner to a soundstage full of music and costumed dancers under the bright lights.
"I want to dance," said Nora so I put some angel wings and a tiara on her and she climbed on the carpeted riser in front and went to town. Mia's a little more shy so we sit behind the cameras and watch the king in a gold coat, the sun-glassed pharaoh and lithe girls in sequins dancing with abandon while the featured band, White Mystery, lipsynchs to their danciest track. The band is a brother and sister team with matching mops of red corkscrew curls. She's got an electric guitar hooked up to nothing and he jumps off the riser and wiggles around with his manically jingly tambourine but nothing's scary for the girls.
Perhaps I should have put a little more fear of the technology in the girls because Nora wanders around in front of the camera like a Saturday Night Live character while the sweet host Miss Mia is swapping jokes with Ratso the Rat puppet.
Ratso: Knock knock!
Miss Mia and the crowd: Who's there?
Ratso: Lettuce leaf!
Miss Mia and the crowd and us: Lettuce leaf who?
Ratso: Lettuce leaf the jokes to the professionals!
Ratso: Knock knock!
Miss Mia and the crowd: Who's there?
Ratso: Turnip!
Miss Mia and the crowd: Turnip who?
Ratso: Turnip the music, we want to dance!
And so they do, but this time Mia wants to put on her Princess Jasmine costume and shake her booty to "Panama" while Nora buries her head in my lap and sucks her thumb.
There's no sign of Julie Augie and Claudia (turns out they left a little before we arrived) nor my old college friend who's playing bass for Soft Targets. I'm okay with it, the day is for the girls and my nostalgia is even milder than my curiosity.
We slip away before the El Train dance and head over to Alliance Bakery in the rain for some cake ogling and good luck horseshoe cookies.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Grieving Eric
This is the video that Randy cut for Eric Peterson's memorial.
I needed to see this. It's helping me grieve.
Losing our friend has all felt so unreal and out of the blue that news of his death was like a bad joke from Eric's comedy routine, or a sick prank he was pulling.
He was here vital and young one day and gone the next. We'll never know what happened.
Randy pulled out boxes and boxes of high school photos from the basement while he was prepping for the video. Eric looked so funny and shiny and alive, all we could do was laugh. It was so unreal.
But the video made it all come home and I finally sobbed, watching it. Not a bad thing. Just the right thing.
I needed to see this. It's helping me grieve.
Losing our friend has all felt so unreal and out of the blue that news of his death was like a bad joke from Eric's comedy routine, or a sick prank he was pulling.
He was here vital and young one day and gone the next. We'll never know what happened.
Randy pulled out boxes and boxes of high school photos from the basement while he was prepping for the video. Eric looked so funny and shiny and alive, all we could do was laugh. It was so unreal.
But the video made it all come home and I finally sobbed, watching it. Not a bad thing. Just the right thing.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Idol Picks - Top 36, Group 3
A mild show last night that left the impression of two or three adults blowing away the remaining crowd of pretty children. Lil Rounds, of course, must advance. Confidence, poise, pipes, graciousness. "Thank you so much! Opportunity of a lifetime," the mother of four gushed, putting the evening in perspective.
Why oh why did the producers lower the applicant age to 16 a couple of years ago? The high school kids are way out of their league against mom Felicia Barton, who sang Alicia Keys' "No One" really well.
My other pick is obviously Scott Macintyre, whose compellingly heroic story can distract us from his pretty good voice. We all know half the battle is in your head and when good-natured and sight-impaired Scotty gets behind his familiar piano, he might get into a groove that helps us forget his disability and hear his music.
But the real story for me tonight is about numbers.
In both of the last two weeks, the third place contestant was male, leaving us with the possibility that tonight could follow the same pattern (Is the idea of Ju'not Joyner or Jorge Nunez advancing any less surprising than Kris Allen's dark horse win last week? Even Allen looked shocked.) In that case, the Wild Card Round would be all women! Boo hoo, no second chance for my Anoop or Matt Girard! No chance of a surprise appearance by Danny Gokey's friend Jamar Rogers!
But let's think positive and give tonight to Lil, Felicia and Scott so I can make my co-ed dream list of call-backs to the Wild Card Round:
Anoop, who is the only non-advancer I want to see from Group 1. (Judges, producers, please, don't feel you need to select an equal number from each group!)
Matt Girard who will probably sing "Georgia on My Mind" but I half hope he doesn't.
Jesse Langsmith of the red hair and "Bette David Eyes."
Mishavonna Henson and Jasmine Murray, even though at 18 and 16 respectively, they are polished, but lacking the depth of the singing young parents we've seen. Hmm... maybe this topic is worth a Chicago Moms Blog post....
Megan Joy Corkrey, of the clear skin and "Girl, Put Your Records On."
maybe Taylor Vaifanua, if she promises to sing a different song than last night.
Why oh why did the producers lower the applicant age to 16 a couple of years ago? The high school kids are way out of their league against mom Felicia Barton, who sang Alicia Keys' "No One" really well.
My other pick is obviously Scott Macintyre, whose compellingly heroic story can distract us from his pretty good voice. We all know half the battle is in your head and when good-natured and sight-impaired Scotty gets behind his familiar piano, he might get into a groove that helps us forget his disability and hear his music.
But the real story for me tonight is about numbers.
In both of the last two weeks, the third place contestant was male, leaving us with the possibility that tonight could follow the same pattern (Is the idea of Ju'not Joyner or Jorge Nunez advancing any less surprising than Kris Allen's dark horse win last week? Even Allen looked shocked.) In that case, the Wild Card Round would be all women! Boo hoo, no second chance for my Anoop or Matt Girard! No chance of a surprise appearance by Danny Gokey's friend Jamar Rogers!
But let's think positive and give tonight to Lil, Felicia and Scott so I can make my co-ed dream list of call-backs to the Wild Card Round:
Anoop, who is the only non-advancer I want to see from Group 1. (Judges, producers, please, don't feel you need to select an equal number from each group!)
Matt Girard who will probably sing "Georgia on My Mind" but I half hope he doesn't.
Jesse Langsmith of the red hair and "Bette David Eyes."
Mishavonna Henson and Jasmine Murray, even though at 18 and 16 respectively, they are polished, but lacking the depth of the singing young parents we've seen. Hmm... maybe this topic is worth a Chicago Moms Blog post....
Megan Joy Corkrey, of the clear skin and "Girl, Put Your Records On."
maybe Taylor Vaifanua, if she promises to sing a different song than last night.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I Appreciate All the Writing Advice I Can Get
My latest post, "Ready to Be Surprised" on Chicago Moms Blog likens the last weeks of winter to those of a pregnancy when the thrill has gone temporarily AWOL.
Some recent writing advice:
From my friend Susan and a recent Off Campus Writers' Workshop workshop:
If a segment can stand on its own, it probably should be cut.
Sue explains, "Beautifully written passages that stand on their own without reallymoving the story forward often need to be axed from the manuscript. These are the hardest cuts to make because they seem to flow organically and we tend to fall in love with them. Playwright Robert Koon's suggestion was that if a passage can stand completely on its own, it is probably not integral enough to the forward motion of the story to stay."
From Poynter Online, via my friend Michelle:
Start your story as near to the end as possible. This little tidbit is pretty powerful when you think about it.
From Michael Wiegers, the hot silver-haired executive editor of Copper Canyon Press who presented at AWP:
Sit down and write three descriptions of your book, one in 15 words, one in 100 and one in 500 words. Wiegers said his writers hate to do this, but it's a necessary and useful marketing tool.
Some recent writing advice:
From my friend Susan and a recent Off Campus Writers' Workshop workshop:
If a segment can stand on its own, it probably should be cut.
Sue explains, "Beautifully written passages that stand on their own without reallymoving the story forward often need to be axed from the manuscript. These are the hardest cuts to make because they seem to flow organically and we tend to fall in love with them. Playwright Robert Koon's suggestion was that if a passage can stand completely on its own, it is probably not integral enough to the forward motion of the story to stay."
From Poynter Online, via my friend Michelle:
Start your story as near to the end as possible. This little tidbit is pretty powerful when you think about it.
From Michael Wiegers, the hot silver-haired executive editor of Copper Canyon Press who presented at AWP:
Sit down and write three descriptions of your book, one in 15 words, one in 100 and one in 500 words. Wiegers said his writers hate to do this, but it's a necessary and useful marketing tool.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Eric Peterson 1965-2009
Randy figures he met Eric when they were about six. Probably at the Lincoln, Nebraska Presbyterian church where Randy's dad was minister and where both he and Eric would be acolytes, wearing long robes, carrying candles and cracking each other up. Here's a picture of them on our wedding day, Eric on the left, Randy with the beer and the ohmygodohmygodohmygod face.
Eric's most recent career, post-stand-up-comedy, had been the Branding and Creative Director for a marking firm in Bangkok and Tokyo. He was in Phnom Penh last week to help preside over the launch of a new mobile service from a Cambodian telecommunications company when he died suddenly.
I didn't know that naming products was an actual career before I met Eric. I always described him as the man who was responsible for Pert Plus and the Savana minivan (get it? sa-VAN-a? Spacious as the African savanna? Clever, eh?) But Eric was so much more.
Gentle with friends, but wickedly funny too. Bigger than life. Big-hearted. As our wedding present, Eric planned a big surprise during the party the night before. He made a wooden rectangular frame on wheels, filled it with wet cement, then passed out dozens of disposable flash cameras to the crowd. Randy and I knelt on red velvet cushions and made our handprints in the cement as the cameras flashed, just like stars at Grauman's Chinese Theater. If you know how much I love old Hollywood (and showing off), you'll get an idea how happy this moment was.
Memorials are being planned in Lincoln and San Francisco.
Later. The San Francisco memorial and celebration will be Saturday, March 7, from 1-4 at the Uptown Bar, 200 Capp Street, one of Eric's favorite hangouts.
A comedy roast will take place at Bangkomedy, Saturday, March 7 at 8:00, Aura Rooftop Bar and Restaurant, 3rd floor, Bangkok. http://aurarestaurant.ning.com/events/bangkomedy-night
You can see Randy's tribute video here.
Condolences for the family can be left at reichmuthfuneralhomes.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)