Summer Reading

Summer.  Reading.  Two of my favorite words.  My birthday is June 23 and for me Summer always began on my birthday.  It was like the start of something; FUN!   Long lazy days of swimming and bike riding and a baseball game we called "three flies up"  where the batter would toss up the ball for a pop fly and whoever caught three would then become the batter.  The beauty of the game is you could play it with as few as two people, although three or four made for a better game.  As a child I ALWAYS participated in the Library's Summer Reading program. I was a competitive little kid; one summer I read 64 books, I think. My mom would ask me to tell her about each book before she wrote it down on the sheet they gave you to keep track so you could get your "prize"  I believe the "Prize" was a certificate that said you completed the Summer Reading Program.  I don't remember getting any cool stuff.  Maybe there was a coupon for a free ice cream?  I don't remember.  I stopped when I was a teen because I really don't remember the teens being involved in any kind of organized Summer Reading Program,  "YA Lit" as it is sometimes called, was in it's infancy when I was a teen.  Sure, I read and LOVED "The Outsiders" ( better than the movie) . I read "The Cat Ate  My Gym-suit" and the novels of Paul Zindel, "My Darling, My Hamburger" and "The Pigman".  Most of the books dealt with a teen angst that was at once familiar and foreign to me.    Summer in tenth grad and then again in eleventh I spent rereading the "Lord of the Ring" trilogy ( a fine set of films but again,the books are better), but there was no official group to join.  If there were one, they never recruited me.  NOW the Library goes full-bore to keep teens engaged in the Library and lifelong reading.  The past few years they have begun to include everyone in the Summer Reading program.  I signed up this year, but  as I did so online, I did not get the bag they give you and the program is apparently SO successful they are out of them!  I think I can get over the disappointment.

I will talk more about the two books I have read for it so far Julia Glass' " A House Among the Trees" and Jill Shalvis "Lost and Found Sisters" which is SUCH a "Beach Read" the cover features a beach umbrella and a beach bag which as far as I can tell - and I'm halfway through the book- has NOTHING to do with the story.  I have slowed down considerably since my 64 book achievement all those Summers ago.  But  I have a question for all of you reading this right now.  I am listening to "The Handmaid's tale". It is totally giving me the creeps, and a LOT to think about, but does LISTENING to a book count as reading it?  I'm not so sure. If I am not actually doing the "work" of reading, does it count?

Birthday weekend, Part 2

At the America show, I found myself thinking how much I missed going to see live music and live theater and thinking that I should make more of an effort to see both.  When we ran into the very kind Hank Linderman in front of the venue, he gave us each a slip of paper with the name "The Barefoot Movement " and a time and place- McCabes- on it. I had never actually BEEN to McCabes, although I had heard of it.  My great-great grandmother's maiden name was McCabe, which is an incidental thing, but that gives me a family connection right ?

 We looked them up on YouTube.  What did we do before YouTube, oh yeah  RADIO actually played new music and new acts.  We liked what we saw and heard and tried to get tickets.  The website said they had ONE ticket left.  I was disappointed and went upstairs to take a shower.  Sometimes, I get my best ideas in the shower and I came down and asked Chris to call the venue, as I found it odd that they only had ONE ticket.  Sure enough they had more and we gleefully bough a pair.  Turns out that the website had crashed AND they always have more at the box office ( good to know! )

We go to the Westside early and found parking in front of the venue.  We walked down the street to a local Mexican place, Lares.  The service was friendly, but the food was only serviceable.  I got a couple of cheese enchiladas and a margarita. They forgot the margarita mix, it was triple sec and tequila and undrinkable.  I will probably elaborate on"Stuff you can Stomach"  my food review page.

We really enjoyed the show except for the two  annoying women behind us who kept up a running discourse on what was going on.  You would think they were  baseball announcers, calling the game.    At one point, Chris turned and SHUSHED them, LOUDLY.  It worked for about two songs, but ah, the temporary silence was bliss.

The band, The Barefoot Movement, plays... barefoot.  They do rock hits and original music as well as classic Americana music, all in the style of bluegrass.  They did some interesting mashups; who KNEW "I get Around" by the Beach Boys could seamlessly blend into "Crazy Train" and back again?  Or that Jimi could be played bluegrass style?  It sounded GREAT and I did not want the night to end.  I am sorry they are not playing here for a while, but I hope to catch them when they do. I bought the EP and will be looking to buy the rest of their catalog soon. Yeah, they were THAT good.  They made me want to brave the Topanga Bluegrass Festival next year.

I am enjoying the live music and getting back out.  Strange how a serious illness makes you want to embrace things.  Chris made my birthday weekend amazing, even if we had serious building drama the next day.

Interlude

I will post birthday weekend part two and three in the coming days, but  I have been thinking about this for a while.

At the America show, I thought to myself that I really missed seeing live music and live performances and should see more of them.  As it happens, I was able to go out the next night to see The Barefoot Movement and last night went out to the Bowl to see the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Pentatonix.   Both events were a lot of fun and I will post more details in the next few days but BOTH events had me wondering about the following question;  WHY do people feel the need to TALK  and SING during quiet musical performances?   The people behind me at both shows acted like they were in their living room, keeping up a running commentary, observations so inane, I felt like slapping them.  HELLO Captain Obvious. Then the singing.  I'm sorry, but I did not pay to hear YOU sing and I really would like to be able to enjoy the professional performers  I DID pay to hear.  I mouth the words to songs I feel the need to "Sing" along with.  Last night, the orchestra played a song that had special meaning to me and the drunken millennials behind me chatted through the whole thing.  Gee, I'm glad YOU were having a good time, but you ruined it for me.  If you want to talk and sing drunkenly along, off key and with the wrong words, GO TO A BAR.  If you want to talk, GO TO A BAR. When I was little I was taught to be QUIET at the symphony.  Now it's like a sporting event.  Even a good dose of the "Hairy eyeball" did not shut these people up.  I hope I ruined their video, I kept shifting and stretching and ant one point stood up.  Ok, maybe that was uncalled for but I was annoyed.  At the Barefoot Movement show, Chris SHUSHED the chattering women behind us.  It only lasted  a few songs, but the silence was blissful.

Weigh in here. How do You feel about chattering audience members and people who seem to need to perform in their seat?  How do you react to it?   It won't stop me from going to live shows, but there must be a way to handle this, or am I overreacting?

Birthday weekend Part 1

Last night, Chris and I went to The Rose in Pasadena  to see my favorite band, America.  The venue is local ( about 20 minutes from our house) AND it was my birthday, so we splurged on the tickets and dinner.

Diner is mandatory if you get a table.  They have some seating that is just chairs and standing room,  which is around $50.  The tables were not as closely spaced together as I had feared and we were seated next to some very nice fans who had never seen the band live before ( how is THAT possible???)  We ordered dinner.  Since it was my birthday and I was NOT driving, I treated myself to a whiskey. They did not have Bushmill's , but as I like to say Jameson's will do in a pinch.  It was Jameson's.

The Rose is run by the same people who run the Canyon Club and The Coach House. With a good seat near the stage you get a table where you MUST spend $25 per person on a dinner plate.  THIS is on TOP of the really inflated ticket price.  I hate places like this, especially since the food is often terrible.  At the Coach House, for instance I got a plate of "Steamed vegetables'  They had to STEAM them to get the ice chips off.  Really they popped the bag of frozen veggies in the microwave then they topped it with margarine. oooh,tasty.  Some reviews said the food at the Rose was pretty good but  I was not excepting much and ordered the vegetable lasagna, figuring they would need to go a long way to f- that up.  I was wrong.  The sauce tasted burned and everything else was suffering from a long stint in the microwave.  I deconstructed it and ate some of it but-- bleh.  Chris got prime rib which was also overnuked.   They also add a 20 % "Service charge" that is NOT the tip to your waitress, but tips "the people in the back of the house."  I really resented that.  They should just charge more for their almost inedible food and bury the cost there.  Our bill was almost the cost of my first car.

The opener was a local girl, Bleu Stroud .  She was sweet with a nice voice.  She did that vocal thing that seems to be super popular, where they stutter over the first letter of the word ; think Taylor Swift.  She has a lot of potential, but she needs to work on her patter a bit.  It was mostly "This song is called________" and a moment to introduce Ryan, who may or may not have been her brother.  Dunno.  She may have been nervous.  We guestimate over 500 in the house.

Before the show I went over to the Merch table to see what they had to offer.  I wanted a new canvas bag and while I was there  I ran into Ryland. They were selling his CD "This Magnificent" and I purchased it.  He graciously signed it for me AND I got a birthday hug- Glynnis  who was at the table with Brynna told him it was my birthday and he offered me a birthday hug.   I will be reviewing that later but they were playing it at the close of the show when they were trying to get the crowd out and I liked what I heard. I will post a separate review later this week when I get a chance to listen to it.  I have an hour each way commute so that affords me the time for a serious listen.

The lights went down and the house speakers began to play "Miniature"   Ok  I got goosebumps.  I was SO excited to see the band.  They started with Tin Man and as usual, Dewey's vocals were buried until about halfway through the song.  The sound was pretty good after that. 

The set was the usual one with TWO delightful additions ( for ME anyway) Monster and Greenhouse.  Greenhouse makes me think of the late Miguel Ferrer who did a wicked version of it the night I saw Bill Mumy's band, the Jenerators.   Fellow America  Fan Kathy and  I shrieked and high-fived. It was awesome.  They covered Eleanor Rigby and California Dreamin.   The bass solo on "Here" ALWAYS makes me appreciate what a wonderful musician Rich Campbell is.  I was paying close attention to the "new kids"  I have a confession here.  I like them, but I have been watching those two "youngsters" since they played in a band with Gerry's son Matt, so I have a bit of a mother hen feeling toward them.  When I first saw Ryland, I think I said he looked like the pizza delivery guy but MAN could he play drums.  My opinion has not changed and he has really grown into the role.  Andy is fun to watch. I still kind of miss Woodsy's impish grin, but Andy was all over the stage and having a good time.   Nice banjo work on "Don't cross the River"

It was too soon before the audience was counting out the final "one two one two three four" start to Sister Golden Hair.  The band was joined for the encore by Hank Linderman , Ryan from the opening act and Noah Wells, who is the lead singer and an amazing fiddle player for the band "The Barefoot Movement"  We ran into Hank outside the venue and I went up to him to speak with him ( for the life of me I can't explain THAT, except maybe the second glass of whiskey had kicked in?)  He invited us to go to McCabe's in Santa Monica to see the Barefoot Movement.  We did, but that's another day and another post!

NO CANCER, so back to work

I realize I haven't written anything and I should have.

I had a lumpectomy last Monday.  In MARCH at my annual mammo, they found "something"  the configuration was not cancerous but suspicious so they had to come out.  Then I got pneumonia and was down for much longer than I thought I should have been.  Apparently I misunderstood my doctor and returned before I should have.  He placed me off work for three weeks- one week before the surgery and two weeks after- presumably for post surgical recovery- but I am feeling better, somewhat antsy here at home, so I am going BACK to work today.

The surgery was weird.  The actual incision doesn't hurt.  The worst part was getting the guide-wire inserted, which they do under a local.  Again they did not give me ENOUGH of the local and I gritted my teeth.  It HURT!  It STILL hurts in that spot.  They gave me a "cocktail" before I went into the OR and I remember them putting the legwarmers on me then.. nothing.  I don't remember them putting me under. I was actually dreaming when I came out of the anesthesia, or at least it felt like dreaming . Like I said, weird.

Chris and Ruth kept me company, then Ruth kept Chris company while they waited.  I think the surgery was about an hour.  I came home the same day and SLEPT.

ON Thursday I got the good news from my surgeon, who told me the results had JUST come in and she wanted me to know right away.  NO CANCER, probably the most beautiful combination of words in the English language.  To say I am relieved is an understatement.  I can breathe again.  I think I have been holding my breath since March.

I will begin a round of going to have a follow up mammo every six months for the next year and 1/2, If I recall correctly.  Small price to pay to make sure there was nothing lurking with the "Somethings"  I have what looks to be a small scar, a badge of honor in the fight against cancer.  Thankfully, there was no cancer there, but who know what would have happened if I had NOT had the mammo.

Get the boobies checked.  It's important.

I go back to work today.  It's been a while. I hope my brain is up to the task!

scars

"Scars are souvenirs you never lose"  As I prepare myself for surgery today to remove the three "Somethings that will be nothing" I am thinking about all the scars I have on my body. The surgeon and I joked about making the one she is going to put on my right breast match the one on my left breast.  I doubt she can but it was and is a good joke.

I have a lot of scars, mostly from surgeries.  There are a few from  misadventures, like the one on my left hand where I slammed my hand in the car door when I was about twelve. I have a scar from the c-section and a lot of little scars from having my gallbladder taken out.  The scar on my left breast, though was one I hid.

In 2006, I went for my first mammogram and the found "something"  I went through the whole series,  more mammos, the biopsy and the surgery.  I had a large somewhat puckering scar at the bottom of my breast.  I was embarrassed by it and hid it when I had cause to be undressed in front of other people.  At some point, I realized that this scar was NOT a scar but a badge.  The "somethings" did not get a chance to be cancer, because of that scar.  The same will go for this scar.  I once met a woman at a pool party who had a wicked deep scar on here left shoulder.  She told people that she had been attacked by a shark. Our eyes must have gotten wide, she laughed and said "cancer"  Scars like that mean we have fought the battle and won.

I am sure that my "somethings" are still nothing and I will come home today and rest.  As I recall, it wasn't a big deal, not any pain really. I am a bit nervous, but not afraid.  I have a wonderful surgeon and Chris will be there for as long as he can.

 I've got this.

Karma, Schadenfreude, revenge and payback

Recently I have gotten into more than one discussion that involved the need to avenge  or "get even" with someone.   It has me thinking about the nature of Karma and vengeance and the difference between the two.

Karma is a concept of Eastern philosophy that states what you did in you past life visits you in this life.  I may be oversimplifying it, but Westerners have adopted karma as "You were mean to me and the universe will get you for it"  It doesn't quite work that way.  People seem to think they can call karma out of the sky like an Old Testament lighting bolt. Again.  No.  You earn your karma in your last life and what is there is here.  You are thinking of revenge.

Now, revenge is a concept as old as time.  I think of TWO Klingon (ha) proverbs.  "When setting out on revenge, first dig two graves" and the most famous "Revenge is a dish best served cold"  Revenge has a way of rebounding on people that the person who is hell-bent on revenge often cannot see if they are blinded by their red heat of rage.  Often, the fallout hurts more people than the intended victim.  Sometimes the intended victim skates by altogether and the person SEEKING the vengeance gets hit.  Mostly it's people around both who are injured by the vengeance and sometimes it takes years to undo the damage.

My husband is always reminding me that the Universe had balance and as surely as the wave must return to the ocean, things go back into balance without our help. I do believe that the Universe has a way of working things out the way they are supposed to be if we just LET it.  This is where the concept of Schadenfreude comes in.  It means Joy from someone else's misery.  It's why we laugh when the bully gets it in the end of the film.  Satisfying.  To be able to stand by and watch the "bad guy" get their just desserts without DOING anything.  Yes. Do I feel somewhat guilty in that pleasure?  Why yes I do, but it IS human nature and I am going with it.

In a conversation with a friend from elementary school about a teacher who terrorized him and whom he would like to punch in the face ( apparently this particular teacher had a LOT of people who hated him because he was a bully, I looked him up on a website and saw at least ONE more person who after almost 50 years STILL had the desire for revenge)  I told my friend something that I really believe; Living well is the BEST revenge. The way to get "Even" is to pull ahead.  People who want to drag you down cannot stand it when you are just out there, doing your thing DESPITE them.  Eliminate people from your life who want to drag you down and LIVE