The 8th Nerve

I think Threadbared.com is the only thing out there that makes me laugh out loud EVERY time.

My class meets every other week. Last night, after class discussion and small group discussions, I leave with my head spinning and my energy levels high, like I used to leave community meetings at my internship. I didn’t realize how much I missed that feeling. It is not just the intellectual stimulation and flow of ideas, but also the feeling of being heard, of shared love of the topics, of people relating and reflecting and thinking. It is a surprisingly rare experience- I never felt it in college or in many classes in graduate school. This perplexes me, as I feel like it could be brought into any classroom.

The weather was so beautiful today. First I slept in a lot, then I drank coffee while watching DVR recording of Friends repeats, then I scanned the job ads (NOTHING), then I read for my thesis, then I experienced deep momentary confusion about whether today is Monday or is it Tuesday?, THEN when I went outside to run, it was still beautiful out. This time of year reminds me of when we went to Utah and ran in the marathon after traveling, hiking, and camping all over the state.

Casper brought us another freshly killed mouse, a bigger one this time, and he left it directly outside the door. Steve positively beams with pride when this happens. You can almost see the nonverbal communication happening between Man and Cat at moments like these.

Casper: I have brought you a mouse! Just because I can!

Steve: Good job! You have fulfilled all your potential as a boy cat! I relate to you on some primal caveman level!

Me: Can someone get the dead mouse off the deck?

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Sep 27th 2005Introspection & Pets

I said, without any explanation, the German word Affensperma to Steve and saw the look on his face when he translated it out loud.

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Sep 25th 2005I Laughed When

You know you’re getting older when…

1) This makes you laugh because it’s so true.

2) You start playing tennis regularly again and develop tendonitis in your wrist because it couldn’t take it.

3) You played Scrabble with your spouse on Saturday night, while NPR’s Thistle and Shamrock wafted over the speakers.

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Sep 25th 2005Everyday life

Steve: You don’t have to swear about it.

Me: I don’t have to be square about it?

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Sep 24th 2005I Misheard When

- The sentence on my bucket of deck stainer stating that it contains mineral spirits KNOWN TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER. Is this some backhanded way of subliminally undermining the risk- as in “Don’t worry, you probably won’t get cancer… unless you live in California.” Or a subtle implication- “California doesn’t really know anything, so this can be taken as a semi-fact of no particular harm to you personally.” And deep down, you know that this particular phrasing worked. You stain the deck in bare feet and allow it to splash you, because ONLY CALIFORNIA knows that it causes cancer.

However, I do like the phrase “mineral spirits.”

- Going to get an anniversary card for your husband and finding a very sad selection of Anniversary cards. But there’s a whole section devoted to cards for “Sweetest Day” which is on October 15th. Card companies are just MAKING UP HOLIDAYS NOW. And what is worse than a day devoted to “Sweetest”? How is it different from Valentine’s Day, you Hallmark money gougers? I ended up using a Sweetest Day card for my Anniversary card, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.

- Blockbuster video still acting like they are doing us such a big favor and acting like they did it because they CARE. No more late fees! Keep it as long as you want! when we all know that they only started doing that thanks to Netflix making a doody on their monopoly rip-off. Blockbuster didn’t WANT to and they were not REMOTELY happy about it. Somewhere, a Blockbuster executive couldn’t buy his 16 year old an SUV because of it.

- Couples who talk about their weddings in detail BEFORE there has been any kind of proposal. Even worse, when the girl knows that the proposal is coming soon but just isn’t “exactly sure when.” Or WORSE, they have shopped for the engagement ring together. Even worse than that, couples who actually started planning their wedding BEFORE there has been a proposal.

I do not know why that is obnoxious to me, considering that it probably demonstrates that both people are more involved in the proposal-decision process and some people prefer it that way. However it makes me picture some girl (or guy) nearly purring with contentment, like “I got this one in the BAG” instead of being absolutely surprised and delighted when the proposal happens. OR the couple is just so ahead of themselves that they can’t even let things evolve naturally and spontaneously without having discussed the future into total predictability. So irritating! For no reason! What’s it to me??

- I have depleted the supply of irritations off the top of my head. Time to go for a run.

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Sep 23rd 2005I Peeved When & making fun

Josh’s t-shirt that says: I have a black belt in keeping it real.

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Sep 20th 2005I Laughed When

Gosh, I’m tired of getting up everyday and putting on a bra.

I believe that the above sentence can just stand alone on its own merit. I signed up for Leafpeepers again this year, the 5k instead of the half-marathon this time. Currently my training status is: minimal. This evening however I ran at least a 2 and a half miler. As soon as I stepped outside, I could smell fall in the air. There hasn’t been any significant change in the color of leaves yet, despite leaves gathering at the edges of roads. Right now, fall is mostly in the sun and the wind. I can’t wait for October.

Speaking of roads, it occurred to me that at one time it must have been a monumental decision to criss cross the country with wide slabs of concrete, cutting down trees and blowing through mountains. It is amazing to me that if I go outside and put my hand on the road, I do so with the knowledge that it connects continuously with every kind of pavement from here to both oceans.

I wonder if the destruction and blight necessary to create roads caused an uproar and if there were droves of people at one point protesting that dirt pathways and horses were fine the way they were. The landscape was and is forever altered, all to suit an invention of the time, a vehicle that was of certain width and that ran on gasoline. What if people had waited, instead of immediately paving across everything to accommodate early 20th century technology- which would become the prototype for all the vehicles today. The belief that we can just do whatever we want to the earth astounds me.

What if we had demanded modes of transportation that ran exclusively on renewable resources and had minimal impact on the environment? For example- a single rail that could support vehicles that run on magnetic energy and vegetable oil. You never know. There probably could be much safer and cost-effective ways to get around, if we had all waited and thought ahead more carefully. This is humanity’s (i.e. men in power) greatest weakness- preferring the quick and convenient and the profit at the expense of the future.

I can see why there was once a strong drive to conquer and expand in the name of progress, or why the independent American dream was compelling and viable once. But I don’t think it makes any sense anymore, and at this time in history we leave a long trail of consumption and destruction behind us. At this time, there is a dire need for collectivity, connection and balance.

If I think about this too much though, all I really want to do is isolate myself further in the woods of Vermont.

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Sep 19th 2005Running & Vermont

Aschi sometimes takes it upon herself to follow Steve or me around and meow very insistently, as if there is an emergency or pressing feline need that we must attend to immediately. When this happens we usually check the litterbox and the food dish and give her extra attention. Usually this works. However, if it is none of these things and she keeps meowing in a way that suggests that she will pass out soon because she is not stopping long enough to breathe, it’s time to break out the small plastic bag of catnip. Or Kitty Krack as we call it.

Steve sprinkles a small amount on the floor. Instantly distracted, Aschi promptly stops yelling and starts rolling around, nudging at the catnip with her face. As if there is NOTHING more pleasurable in life than rubbing your face and body against small pieces of dried herb.

“Do you realize,” I say to Steve, “that this is the parental equivalent of giving a kid a joint whenever he won’t stop whining?”

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Sep 17th 2005Pets

Steve on what Casper must think when he encounters a real mouse outside after two years of playing with toy mice indoors: “Where’s his little bell?”

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Sep 17th 2005I Laughed When

I am still grief stricken after reading the latest Harry Potter. So dark! So sad! Are 8 year olds still reading this?

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Sep 13th 2005I Peeved When