Monday, January 03, 2005
Vivid
Happy New Year. I've been away in Florida, hence the lack of posts... one day I started up my laptop to work on my screenplay ,and it started connecting to a local network and I quickly disabled it - I missed my blog, but had to insist on being disconnected. And it worked: I feel refreshed, renewed... the rhythm of the ocean is still with me (I'm pretending it's still a block a way - so far, nothing's burst my bubble). On the beach I wrote, "the ocean is the heartbeat of the world." That's how I've always felt; I thought it was obvious. My husband says it's not, so I'm sharing it here. I worry it sounds pretentious but what the hell, maybe it's profound, or beautiful, or at least slightly interesting.
Yesterday we went to a Wizards game. I love Juan Dixon! I should clarify that I am not an avid sports fan... or even a sports fan, period. And I happened to marry the one man I know with zero (truly - zero) interest in sports. But I used to watch basketball with my dad growing up (I remember watching a playoff game between the Lakers and the Celtics - Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale - sp?), and while I never seek it out on my own, when a game's on I become quickly engrossed. My parents had extra tickets to yesterday's game, so we went, and I had a blast. The other game I'll watch is soccer - but mostly because it makes me nostalgic for my childhood... watching other people play gets boring fast. Football's a mystery, baseball makes me snooze - although I'm not completely immune to the emotion of the game: I was sucked into watching the last World Series, and developed a temporary passion for the Red Sox... it's the part of me that's a sucker for a good season finale; even if I don't watch the show, if I see an enticing promo for the last episode (inevitably a wedding or a birth), I'm in. (Well, I rarely actually tune in - but I think about it :)).
The only show I actually watch regularly these days is Arrested Development, on Fox. It is HILARIOUS. I haven't thought a show was this good since the Sopranos.
A quick list of things I want to share before I sign off (I need to leave for work in 23 minutes):
1. One morning in Florida we woke up at 6:54am and the moon was shining as bright as a naked lightbulb through the porthole in our cottage. It was so dark out for that hour. At night we could see the stars stretching for miles around.
2. One afternoon we rented bikes and it was perfect - a smooth, paved bike path, stopping off at little beaches along the way, pedaling past palm trees and trees draped with Spanish moss, bright blue sky, crisp air, hot sun...the word that came to mind was "vivid." One of those days that just gets imprinted on your heart like a thumbprint in wet clay.
3. New year's resolution: volunteer.
4. We read so much while we were away. (I know, my earlier claim to be a finicky reader is ringing false, right?? But I promise: I haven't read this much in ages. I'm just on a roll with books that are holding my interest.) I read Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, all about a group of people living (and dying) in the Bronx.... the culture of poverty. Talk about vivid - it was heartbreaking and depressing and maddening, and reinforced my growing need to give something back for all that I have. I highly recommend it.
Last night I picked up Brave on the Rocks, by Sabrina Ward, a Christmas gift from my wish list. I am so intrigued by it - by the idea of actually publishing a private journal (I still don't feel like that's what I'm doing here), by how familiar her fears and worries are, by the lush beauty of the artwork, again familiar in how it reminds me of the collages I used to make in my high school art journal...maybe she's right that more ordinary people need to be published. Anyway, I wanted to leave you with a quote she references, which I've seen before and love:
"God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
-Frederick Buechner
And with that, I'm off to work.
Yesterday we went to a Wizards game. I love Juan Dixon! I should clarify that I am not an avid sports fan... or even a sports fan, period. And I happened to marry the one man I know with zero (truly - zero) interest in sports. But I used to watch basketball with my dad growing up (I remember watching a playoff game between the Lakers and the Celtics - Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale - sp?), and while I never seek it out on my own, when a game's on I become quickly engrossed. My parents had extra tickets to yesterday's game, so we went, and I had a blast. The other game I'll watch is soccer - but mostly because it makes me nostalgic for my childhood... watching other people play gets boring fast. Football's a mystery, baseball makes me snooze - although I'm not completely immune to the emotion of the game: I was sucked into watching the last World Series, and developed a temporary passion for the Red Sox... it's the part of me that's a sucker for a good season finale; even if I don't watch the show, if I see an enticing promo for the last episode (inevitably a wedding or a birth), I'm in. (Well, I rarely actually tune in - but I think about it :)).
The only show I actually watch regularly these days is Arrested Development, on Fox. It is HILARIOUS. I haven't thought a show was this good since the Sopranos.
A quick list of things I want to share before I sign off (I need to leave for work in 23 minutes):
1. One morning in Florida we woke up at 6:54am and the moon was shining as bright as a naked lightbulb through the porthole in our cottage. It was so dark out for that hour. At night we could see the stars stretching for miles around.
2. One afternoon we rented bikes and it was perfect - a smooth, paved bike path, stopping off at little beaches along the way, pedaling past palm trees and trees draped with Spanish moss, bright blue sky, crisp air, hot sun...the word that came to mind was "vivid." One of those days that just gets imprinted on your heart like a thumbprint in wet clay.
3. New year's resolution: volunteer.
4. We read so much while we were away. (I know, my earlier claim to be a finicky reader is ringing false, right?? But I promise: I haven't read this much in ages. I'm just on a roll with books that are holding my interest.) I read Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, all about a group of people living (and dying) in the Bronx.... the culture of poverty. Talk about vivid - it was heartbreaking and depressing and maddening, and reinforced my growing need to give something back for all that I have. I highly recommend it.
Last night I picked up Brave on the Rocks, by Sabrina Ward, a Christmas gift from my wish list. I am so intrigued by it - by the idea of actually publishing a private journal (I still don't feel like that's what I'm doing here), by how familiar her fears and worries are, by the lush beauty of the artwork, again familiar in how it reminds me of the collages I used to make in my high school art journal...maybe she's right that more ordinary people need to be published. Anyway, I wanted to leave you with a quote she references, which I've seen before and love:
"God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
-Frederick Buechner
And with that, I'm off to work.
