More Sting Than You'd Every Want, The Joys of Arthritis, Atlantis Launch and Hubble

For the one or two e-friends who actually care, go Isorski's Musings for a great review of the Police tour and an updated setlist. It was cool to hear from a real-live musician about the concert. Morgan continues to master the guitar bits for all the songs on the setlist and even Billy has started singing. He's growing into a lovely tenor. All the Irish side of the family are musicians, but my poor geekly rocket scientist husband is tone deaf. It's a thrill to be back to living in a house with real musicians. I got out my clarinet Thursday night, and Morgan and I jammed on guitar, piano, flute and clarinet until about 3 in the morning. We are so psyched. Those of you who visit me for other stuff, hang in there. It will all be over at the end of June.

I'm on my second week of methotrexate. I've stopped the oral iron, but I'm still sick as a dog. I'm so praying it's not the methotrexate. I got an anti-emetic from the hematologist that's doing the iron injections. It's helped some, and he's got other treatment options since he's primarily in oncology. Maybe I just need some time for the damage done by the oral Fe to heal? There's an option to get the methotrexate by infusion, so I could try that if the oral med. is the cause of all the nausea. So far, the only thing that's made a dent in the pain is the prednisone and narcotic pain medication. Neither is a long-term solution.

Please take a moment today to pray for the Atlantis crew, the beautiful vehicle, and the success of our mission to further the construction of the International Space Station.
To the left, the crew of STS-117 pose for their official portrait. From left: Expedition 15/16 Flight Engineer Clayton C. Anderson, mission specialists James Reilly II, Steven Swanson, Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester and John D. Olivas. (Image credit: NASA) These good people are our neighbors and coworkers willingly putting themselves in harms way to serve their country and further the progress of science. This is a scary launch for me because of the hail damage done to the external tank. NASA believes this has been resolved, but we are in uncharted territory. We didn't have the luxury of swapping out the ET because of the damage done at Stennis Space Center during Katrina.

I'm afraid that the rollback of this launch has pretty much doomed the possibility of a Shuttle service flight to the Hubble before her orbit begins to decay. For so many of us, she's a dear friend and represents a lifelong dream. We hate the idea that she will meet her end breaking up on entry. She deserves better. NASA hasn't made any kind of announcement canceling the service flight, but we have a very limited time frame to complete the station assembly, and a delay in any launch means we will have to establish priorities. To the right, "Pillars of Creation" columns of cool interstellar hydrogen which will be the incubators of a new star systems. Released in 1995, this is a Hubble image of the "Eagle Nebula."

Police Reunion Set List

Like the good fan-girl, I've been stalking Police sites for a setlist. So here's the one from their premiere show! There are a few sunrises and disappointments, but it could certainly change by next month. The reviewers report that the set was 2 hours long and was absolutely flawless. Three seasoned musicians revisiting a body of work from their youth, sounds like the makings of a great concert.

The Setlist:

Message in A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
Spirits in the Material World
Driven to Tears
Walking on the Moon
Truth Hits Everybody
Wrapped around Your Finger
The Bed’s Too Big Without You
Murder By Numbers
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking in Your Footsteps
Can’t Stand Losing You
Roxanne
————-
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
————-
Next To You

Misc. Stuff

I haven't been blogging much lately. I think the whole thing with having to delete my old blog and having my mom still find my home address has freaked me out. But, we've had loads of fun times and great things happen. So, I'm going to try to get back to focusing on those things and not let the intrusions into my privacy change my life so much. Here goes...

We've been able to swim some. It's still not quite warm enough for every day, but it will be soon. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for daily exercise when I can't walk or swim. There's a Curves about 3 blocks from our house, but from the description it sounds like too much stress on for my joints.

I've got a brand new rheumatologist and finally a plausible diagnosis. She thinks I have, among other things, psoriatic arthritis. I started a once a week dose of methotrexate last week. Today, I'm up to the full dose! I've felt much better in the last week, but she also prescribed prednisone. so it's hard to know if that's the reason for the improvement or not. I've gained five pounds in the last week. It's almost certainly the prednisone. I've stopped it today and hopefully my weight will go back down soon. The rheumatologist has threatened to take it away from me all together if I gain weight. Five pounds or not, I'm so grateful to have a doctor who will listen to me and not just follow along with what the others have done in the past. She says the new medication has a good chance of working too! I do have to find some way to get my anemia under control. I'm going back to the hematologist to see if he will do the infusions again. I've been taking iron supplements for a week, but I won't last much longer.

We went to see the new Pirates movie over the long weekend and liked it very much. It was a little too long for me. I had to get up and walk around a few times, but I loved the Johnny Depp/Keith Richards scenes. It was great fun. Later we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants. We sat on the water and watched all the sea birds come and go. Great fun for a post Pirates dinner! This was our postponed anniversary dinner. For several reasons, the 15th just didn't work, so we did all our celebrating over Bill's four day vacation. Everyone has been going around the house saying Arrrr, avast, seadog, bilge rat, ....... Very much fun.

Suggestions?

A few months ago, most of you know, I had to shut down my old blog. I'd never worried very much about privacy because the kinds of stuff I post are too boring for anyone to care. Knitting a new pair of socks or seeing a new movie are not likely to generate outside interest from creepy strangers. What I didn't factor in was it might make it very easy for creepy relatives to find me.

On my old blog, I talked a few times about being an adult survivor of child abuse. As far as those things go, my situation wasn't as bad as many. I wasn't ever sexually molested and the outlandish stuff like kids being starved, locked in cages, etc. didn't happen either. But my house was full of violence. My parents were violent toward each other and my mom was terribly violent towards me. She is mentally ill and used me as a place to vent her rage for years. I was beaten, stabbed, choked, bitten, smothered with a pillow, cut, pushed down in the bathtub in an attempt to drown me, had guns pointed at my head, etc. This went on right up until the day I married Bill.

So why am I blogging about this now?

When we moved home, I didn't give my parents our new address. We made sure all of our phone numbers were unlisted too, and I felt kind of safe. My parents were able to get Bill's number at work, but there's a limit to the trouble they can cause from that. He's on a federal facility and the laws about how things are done there are very clear. Even crazy, I don't think my mom wants to mess with the feds. I know for sure they could never get any information about where we live from Bill's work.

Then, last night, a Mother's Day card arrived in the mail. It was from my parents. How did they get my address? Every few months, I search online phone books, etc. to make sure we don't show up. Even though they know we are in Houston, it's a city of more than four million people. So, how did they find us? I'm so freaked out about this. My son goes out to play in the cul-de-sac every afternoon with his friends. They could just drive right up. I guess that an unlisted phone number doesn't keep people from being able to find an address, but how? I'm also totally freaked out by them sending a Mother's Day card too. Of all the things to send, why would they send their daughter a Mother's Day card? It said something about my kids being their "little angels." The last time I let them near my kids, my mom beat M. with a coat hanger. We called the police, and it was a whole horrible thing. Now my kids are their angels?????

I don't want to over-react or scare my kids, but I feel so weird about this. Any of you with stalker suggestions?

A Very Blessed 31 Years

When I was a girl, getting married the day after I graduated high school seemed foolish to most everyone who knew Bill and I. We caused something of a scandal and almost everyone thought I was pregnant. Since we didn't have our first child until 14 years later, I assume most were reassured that ours was not a "shot-gun" wedding. In addition to our youth, many of our friends and family were scandalized by the fact that Bill and I our cousins. Our parents were appalled. An uncle declared we would most certainly have terribly deformed, idiot children, and my brothers-in-law were completely freaked out that their brother was going to marry one of their most annoying girl cousins. Bill had a semester left for his BS and I hadn't started college. Our educations were also declared to be ruined by getting married. We put ourselves through school, earning masters degrees and post-graduate certifications.

Today, our 31sth anniversary, I think we take some perverse delight in having proven everyone so very wrong. In fact, we know few couples who have shared so many happy years with one another. Since today is a work/school day, we will save our big celebration for Saturday. We're going to see Shrek 3 and eat at Bill's favorite restaurant. Perhaps not so romantic to some, but a celebration well suited to us. The pool is beautiful, and weather permitting, we will have dinner outside and swim tonight.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Summer Stuff

We've officially opened a swimming pool and are back to having a joint-friendly exercise for me. I've had to be careful of which stroke I used because of my sholders and neck. Still, I'm moving and that feels good.

We have 7 weeks to go till our Police/Sting fest. I broke down and admitted to my bff (who lives in Austin) that we were going to be spending the last week in June following the band. She's always given me a hard time about my major rock star crush. When I told her, she laughed and said, "You think I didn't know what you'd be doing? I'd already crossed that off as a week for us to meet." Do people ever really grow up? M. says she'll be taking me in my wheelchair to see Sting perform in his. Maybe?

We've made the perfect plan for our 50th birthdays in 2008. Suzanne's family and ours are all going to Disneyland. B's birthday is on Sept. 9, Suzanne's is on the 10th, and mine the 19th. Before we both had kids, we did big vacations every September to celebrate all the birthdays. Since then, our kids were either too little, in school, I was teaching, etc. and we gave up our tradition. But for year 50, we are going to bring it back for good. We've all been to Disney World, but B's the only one of us to have gone to Disneyland. We're doing a car trip with a stop at the Grand Canyon for the kids then on to California. For some reason she also thinks spending our 50th birthday in Disneyland is hilarious. She says she doesn't plan to get old, and I have to remind her she'll always be 9 days older than me! Oh, and I'm sure Suzanne would want you to all know were aren't actually as old as Disneyland itself. We're a full four years younger.

I haven't done any Sting facts in ages so here's my proposed set list for the concerts. I've been looking everywhere to find the real one, but no luck. Plus, it's almost certainly going to change after the first few concerts.

Play These Please!
Bring on the Night
Next to You
Hole in my life
Walking on the Moon
The Bed's too Big Without You
Can't Stand Losing You
Synchronisity II
Walking in Your Footsteps
Roxanne
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Voices Inside My Head
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Spirits in a Material World
Every Little Thing She Does
Invisible Sun
Demolition Man
Rehumanize Yourself
King of Pain
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Murder by Numbers
Message In a Bottle
Every Breath You Take

Fear, PTSD, and the Dentist

About two weeks ago there was a hostage, murder, and suicide at my husband's work.

I got a call from B. at about 11:00 that morning. He started out with, "I know you are going to get news very soon from someone and thought you would want to find out from me......" My heart started beating so fast I couldn't think. He went on to tell me the whole center was locked-down, and there was at least one gunman on site. No one had been able to learn what the armed man wanted, shots had been heard, and there were at least two people missing.

The lock-down was about 5 hours long. We got conflicting information from B's office, the local/national news, and the center public affairs office. The Virginia Tech. incident was running through my head along with all the safety training I had been given. B, on the other hand, was calm and almost casual about the whole thing. I worried he would take unnecessary risks, and I kept calling him back with instruction on what I wanted him to do, making sure he was still there, etc. I most likely scared the crap out of my kids as I started calling all of our friends to make sure they were safe too.

The following Monday, when B. went back to work, I couldn't stop crying. I finally called the doctor and went in because I was a wreck and didn't want my malfunctions to spill all over my kids any more than it already had. She tells me I have post traumatic stress disorder. During the day of the incident I broke my bite-guard and shattered two molars. I've spent most of the time since then at the endodontist and/or dentist repairing the damage I did from the stress. Both of them told me their offices were full of similar patients.

I feel like such an ass. Suzanne's baby sister was in the building, had to run for her life, knew the hostage, murder victim, and murder/suicide person. She's back to work in the same building and has been so amazingly brave. She found out the murder had no family in the area and even went to his funeral to make sure he had someone. But Suzanne, big sister and my best friend, reacted the same way I did. What we saw on the TV was not what we were trained to do. She also started calling friends in their offices or on their cells to remind them of center processes. Everyone we talked to on-site said they were doing exactly what they were supposed to, but it looked very different on the news. Suzanne's mom is the early stages of Alzheimer's and had to be shielded from the news until D. was able to get there hours later.

B. never believes anything bad will happen and was very calm throughout. On the other hand, both of my kids have had horrible nightmares and even the 17 year old has had to come and get me to lie down with her after bad dreams. Our 12 year old slept next to his father 2 nights holding on for dear life. I can't help but think my reaction had to have made their situation much worse. I'm just not built to sit, watch, and wait. I've always been at work when danger was near in a big way. I had things to take care of, people to protect, procedures to follow. When did I stop being the calm and capable leader and turn into a trembling Victorian female with a fit of the "vapors?"

I finally had a chance to see my wonderful friend, Carol, today. She was on a mission trip to Honduras while this was all happening. I made poor B. call over to her husband's office and make sure they were following center protocols. Poor B. He wasn't happy to have to make that call. Even though Carol and I are very close, both of our spouses are pretty much of the nonverbal engineer variety and don't make "Hi, I'm just checking on you...." type phone calls to anyone.

All of this stuff happened shortly before I quit my job and really made me impatient with anyone disreputable. But, I also lost my temper with my dishonest employer and can't help but think that was part of my whole over reaction to the events of the previous week. I'm still trying to collect myself. Seeing my girlfriends face-to-face has been a big part of getting back to normal. The kids and I have talked through things. The doctor had great advice for talking with them. My total dental disaster has finally calmed down after two root canals and a new bite guard. B. still seems so sure he was never in any danger. It makes me mad that he's so laid back. Is he trustworthy to act carefully if he's in danger? I also keep thinking of what the world is going to be like when my kids are my age. Raging murders, terrorists, child abusers have me all feeling very pessimistic today.

I'll try to find something more positive to write about soon.

Disappointment

I wrote some about my tutoring job and then got so busy with work that I couldn't post at all. Sadly I had to quit the job two weeks ago. I was having a great time with my students, but the company I was working for was not honest. It's sad, because; I had to leave my students with no warning or explanation. Once I realized what was going on all I could do is quit. The teachers aren't allowed to talk with parents, so no one is likely to ever know their kids aren't getting the help they promised. If you ever decide your children need tutoring, make sure that you hire a professional educator and are allowed to speak directly to the teacher concerning your child's progress and needs. Parents are paying thousands of dollars to essentially have their child sit for hours filling out worksheets.

On the good side, my kids are glad I'm not working, and it's finally warm enough to swim. It's been great to use the pool and have a great time with the kids and the poodle.

Windhover -- Gerard Hopkins

12. The Windhover

To Christ our Lord

I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,	5
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion	10
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion. Happy Easter

A Season With the Elizabethians

Have any of you watched the new Showtime series, The Tutors? Morgan and I have seen the first two episodes and are completely hooked. It seems like we've been inundated by the Elizabethans in the past several months. Morgan took an honors class covering the literature, art and music of the period. Since then we've been reading the excellent biographies by Allison Wier.

Even our fan-girl devotion to Sing has joined in our studies because of his album, Songs From the Labyrinth, a collection of the works of the Elizabethan composer John Dowland.

I've even managed to work my knitting into our interest thanks to Knit Picks. They had a great set of lace scarf patterns derived from Elizabethan fashions. I'm knitting the "Dainty Bess," which was adapted from an actual design in a pair of stockings belonging to the queen. I have to say, so far, the "Dainty Bess" has been kicking my not so dainty rear-end, but it is so exciting to see something of that time period come to life with just my two hands, yarn, and needles.

I think most parents try to imagine what kinds of people their children will grow to be. Having a child whose old enough and interested enough to share all of these things with is truly the most fun of all.

Dog and Cat

We had an interspecies incident last night. The cat decided to wage an all out attack on the dog. Triton was on my bed sleeping while I read. Pandora jumped up asking to be petted. Then, out of the blue, she decided she'd had enough of the poodle. She sank her teeth down on poor Triton's leg, wrapped all four of her little kitty legs around it, and bit and clawed her hardest. I could just tell she was getting out all her pent up frustration over months of dog stupidity. All of the butt smelling, the interruptions of cat naps, the monopolizing of the pet toys were going to be avenged.

What did the pup do? She lay there, watched, and wagged her tail in a friendly way. She thought it was some kind of idiot cat game and tried her best to play along. Their size difference is so great that the cat never even reached skin on the big dog. Pandora came away with a mouth full of poodle fur and nothing more. When she moved to leave, Triton scooped her back up with the same giant paw inviting her to play more. Oh, the cat was mad. She launched into another vicious attack, this time on the wagging tail. Triton didn't enjoy this nearly as much and moved out of the way. Pandora did a victory lap across the bed and left with her innate sense of superiority intact.

Now if I could only get the kids to work out their differences......

Saint Patrick's Day and Spring Weather

We knew we were definitely into spring last week when the big thunderstorms started. Last Tuesday, the wind was up to 55 miles per hour and hail slammed down on the house like thousands of bullets. I made the kids sit in the closet during the worst of it. We chose a house with lots of windows to let in the sunlight. But, but on bad days it makes almost every room in the house dangerous. The dog and cat went in with them and drove each other crazy. When it was over, I found most of the lawn furniture in the pool. Otherwise, there wasn't much debris., but seeing chairs sunk to the bottom was sort of creepy. The kids can't wait till it's a bit warmer and they're back in the pool. I'm going to have Triton clipped really close this week. It's so much easier to get her dried off after swimming, and she seems to enjoy the summer without so much fur. She's definitely shaggy right now.

Other than the storm, spring is very welcome. We had a quiet St. Patrick's Day, no green beer! Bill took the kids out to get a webcam. M. has to video some lessons for Texas Tech, and she seems to be looking forward to it. Today the sun is out and the weather is perfect. Our high is supposed to be 78 degrees. I'm really wanting to get some new flowers planted but can't seem to make time for it. Maybe I'll see if the kids will help this weekend. We have load of landscaping we want to do in the back, but I'm thinking our budget won't go much farther than having trees planted. It's amazing how much a small tree costs, and we need several for the back yard.

My part-time teaching job is going alright. I like the kids I'm working with, and it's good to know I can still teach. Now I have to work on getting my husband and kids to quit going out for junk food while I'm gone. If DH beats me home, they will all have eaten some sort of garbage for super. He calls from the car and takes orders for McDonalds, etc. I've made M. and B. promise to stop asking, but something tells me they aren't going to turn it down if he calls.

Sting Fact #5: The song, "Fortress Around Your Heart," from the Dream of the Blue Turtles, was the first Sting song I really noticed. I don't think it was ever released as a single, but I was struck by something in it. Sing made a documentary about the launch of his solo career called, Bring On the Night, and I found it particularly interesting to watch how this song was put together. He released one of his few live albums under the same title.

Daylight Savings Time

I hate moving the time around and often wonder what would happen if were all able to vote on this practice. In teaching, I've observed that young children really suffer by the time change. It may take two weeks for them all to be back to normal, and we do this to them twice in the school year. Why, at least, couldn't the time shifts happen when the children are out of school for the summer? This morning DH and I forced ourselves out of bed at are regularly scheduled time. But, I'm keeping the house quiet for the kids. Even the pets went back to bed. Pandora scolded me at length and then disappeared, while Triton is snoring loudly on the couch. If even the poodle and the cat find this mess offensive, why do we keep doing it?

M. is sick and on antibiotics for a sinus infection. She's been out of sorts for several days, and the doctor said it could be two or three weeks before the infection is gone entirely. I took B. to see the doctor during the same visit. He's been limping for a few days, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. She examined him and took X-rays. He's grown an inch in the last month, and his legs are uneven. I completely freaked out about the leg thing. We are going to see a pediatrician's orthopedic surgeon down at Texas Children's Hospital. Have any of you ever heard of something like this? I'm not sure what they can do about it or if there's a chance he will outgrow it. B. is mad at me right now because I won't let him go run around with his friends. The doctor is afraid that he could cause some kind of permanent injury. Who knows how long it will take to get an appointment with the surgeon. It could be well into summer before he has an opening. The boy is going to stage a revolt if I don't let him out of the house soon. Thankfully, it will be warm enough to swim soon.

Sting Fact #4: M. and I got tickets for the Houston concert too! We debated about this, since it is such an extravagance. If we'd known they were going to perform here, we wouldn't have bought the Dallas tickets. But now, we are going to see Sting/Police twice in the same week! We're pretty pleased with ourselves, and the poor husband suffers in silence.

Teaching Stories and More Sting

I am starting to get to know some of my students, and I really like them. My family laughs because it's nothing new. I'm continually amazed by watching a human beings learn. They come in not knowing how something works, what it means, or how to accomplish a task. We have class, and they learn. It's a miracle every time I see it happen. I come home with stories about all my genius students, all their accomplishments, the funny things they've said, the difficulties they've overcome. My family has heard it all before and mostly thinks I imagine it as all so amazing because I am a teacher. Is it really quite ordinary to everyone else?

I recall learning to do some things as being quite difficult. Long division, converting fractions to decimals, finding percentages, and diagramming sentences were all a nightmare to me. Then, I show the same skills to a student, a light goes off and they just know it. How is that not totally amazing? I found out last night that one of my 18 year old high school students is paying for her own tutoring. She isn't failing anything, but she knows she can excel. She thinks it's worth paying for out of her own small earnings from her part-time job. I wanted to cry. I would gladly have tutored her for free.

Sting Fact #3: Sting was part of the first series of READ posters published by the American Library Association. In his, Sting was posed leaning against a stone wall in period costume (18th century?) He held a book, I believe it was Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, and an English castle loomed in the background. There were a number of very fine posters in that first series, and I bought them all for our library. But, Sting's was my favorite and I hung it at the end of a row of stacks where it would face my desk. I later bought my own copy and kept it in my office throughout most of my library career.

Under Construction

We've been back home for well over a year now, but I still have moments when I'm struck again by how good it is to be here. I was out running errands before work yesterday and saw so much going on in our part of the city. First, spring is making itself known with beautiful weather, flowers and trees blooming everywhere, and gardeners coming out to plant on almost every street. We have some kind of flowering bush in our front bed. It was unremarkable last summer when it only had its leaves, but this spring it has these amazing red flowers. What a nice surprise. If I get the chance, I'm going to plant some begonias this weekend.

The amount of construction going on is absolutely crazy. I must have seen thirty different projects between here and the grocery store. This kind of thing used to bother me. It's loud, ugly, and gets in the way. But now I've seen what a town looks like when no improvements are made in decades. Today I took some pleasure in all of the widening roads, renovated businesses, and new buildings.

But then the road was blocked on the way to work, and I started to get very irritated. It is almost impossible to know which roads will be open and which will be closed on any given day. It makes every simple drive complicated and I never know how long it will take to get anywhere. When I finally made it past this particular bottle neck in traffic, I saw that the city utility folks were trimming trees near power lines, something so simple but so important. We were without power for 3 days in freezing temperatures back in West Virginia because this kind of maintenance isn't done. It snowed in mid October, the tree limbs grew heavy and fell on the lines. Here at home, I'd seen crews doing this kind of work and never even realized how lucky we are. I felt all enlightened yesterday, like in one of those movies where the wise Zen Master finally gets through to the student.

I work all week, and I'm starting to remember why it is so hard to work, have kids, and a home. My students are fun though. I also remember why I rarely knit unless I was on vacation. Teaching is exhausting.

Sting Fact #2: From the Dream of the Blue Turtles album there is a song called "Moon Over Bourbon Street." It is the last track on the record, and I went back to it several times. Something seemed very familiar about the song, but I couldn't place it. Finally I read the liner notes and found he based the lyrics on the novel, Interview With the Vampire. I was so excited, one of my favorite books set to music. I've never had a chance to see him perform this song live.

Don't Mess With My Bedtime!

I'm really awful about changes in my schedule. The same weakness irritates me in others, but I can't stand having my routine changed unless it was my idea. I worked late tonight and now I can't go to sleep. I should be home, have dinner, bath, quite time to read, quite time in bed with lights out to watch the evening news, and then sleep. this job has me doing things in the wrong order and now I can't sleep. Argh.......

I've decided to try and write one personal Sting fact per day between now and our big Police reunion concert in Dallas on June 26. This may be way more than you want to know. So, I'll either put it at the bottom of posts with other content, or warn you in the title that it is a Sing only post.

Here we go. Fact #1: The first album I ever bought was Dream of the Blue Turtles. It was still in the vinyl days. I never purchased any Police material until after the first Sting solo album. The song that made me want to buy the album was, "Fortress Around Your Heart."

More on this album tomorrow.

No Knitting, No Blogging

I have been busy and very distracted this week. School is going well enough for the kids, and I'm getting a little better at working through the part-time job thing. But, everything seems rushed to me. I think I got very used to working according to my own time table or DH's work demands. He has had several very hectic weeks in a row at work. His boss is seriously ill with a rare form of cancer, and his group is trying to make sure she isn't working to much. They were getting ready for the next shuttle flight to the space station, which has now been delayed. I'm not sure it will make any difference in their workload though.

The weather damage to the vehicle is a huge disappointment for everyone. I heard a reporter ask, "Couldn't they have put the shuttle somewhere safe. Even I would put my car in the garage if there was a hail storm...." I wanted to cry. I suppose it isn't easy to get an idea of how huge the shuttle is or how dangerous and complicated it is to move it. The hail storm wasn't sending out announcements 3-4 days ahead of time saying it was on its way. Moving the shuttle,once it's ready for launch, takes time. We should know something more this week about the extent of the damage and what it means for the station assembly. If you want to know more about the work they are doing, go here.

Knitting and blogging have fallen off my schedule in the last few weeks. I miss talking with e-friends and having a place to note the interesting things going on. The kids like to read about the things we've done or are planning. I thought that working part-time wouldn't make much of a difference in all of these things, and maybe it won't once we get used to a new schedule. I'm working a couple of hours today. It should make much difference to my family as they have their own Saturday morning and afternoon plans. But, this is usually a time when a have an hour or more alone in the house. I'm going to miss that. I need to get my blog-rings all fixed, but I'm not sure what to do about that. Any of you that have switched sites have suggestions?

We did get our Police tickets on the first day of the presale. We'll be in section 111 row J on July 26! M. and I have been playing all Police cd's in preparation for the big event. There are quite a few songs I didn't know. My guess is it will be strictly "Best of..." stuff. In their press conference announcing the tour, Sing said they would not be performing any new material. (Yes, I watched the press conference. I've warned you all of my geek factor.) I know there are tons of people that are really excited about the reunion thing. I would have rather seen Sting with his own band. Dominic Miller and Jason Rabello are wonderful musicians and some of the other artists like Chris Botti and Branford Marsalis are amazing. Of course, it was always a privilege to attend a live performance with the great Kenny Kirkland. So, I guess we just have to give his exs a chance. ...

Complete Geek

Do any of you remember the episode of Friends where Monica got the great boots, but they hurt her feet so bad Chandler had to carry her? At the same time, Phoebe finds out that Sting will be performing shortly in NY, but the concert is sold out. She then learns that Ross has a connection to the family as his son, Ben, is attending a preschool with Sting's son. She begs Ross to try and get tickets and sings "Ross Can" to the tune of "Roxanne" When that doesn't work out, Phoebe starts stalking Ben's school and pretends to be one of Ben's moms to get into Sting's house. There she meets Trudy Styler who, upon discovering Phoebe's a stalker, tells her "the police are on there way..." Phoebe jumps for joy at the news of a Police reunion. Sadly, such was not to be... Until NOW that is. The Police will perform in Dallas this summer, and M. and I are so there.

I never saw the group and frankly had little interest until Sting went solo. At the time there seemed to be so many crazy, bleach blond, British rock/punk/whatever running around that I didn't bother to differentiate. I was in school, never had any money, and was too busy working, studying, and going to class for much to penetrate the fog of battle.

But Dream of the Blue Turtles was a fine work. From that point on I became the fan girl I am today and passed my devotion on to my only daughter. God bless her, she's learned or tried every cool riff and knows more about the Police compositions than I do. She's slowly built up my CD collections of actual Police albums over the course of Christmases and birthdays. The only two things I'd bought from those days were "Synchronisity" and a "Best Of..."

I'm not sure how I feel about the Police as a group. We're going because it's Sting. It was weird to see him interacting with two musicians who are evidently his peers. Normally, he either performs with someone not part of his band and behaves like they're his guests or simply as the band leader for his employees. Hearing Stewart Copland smarting off at him and Andy Summer sort of laughing, I thought wow. This is going to be something totally new.

Now, I'm going to prove to you what a complete and total nerd I really am.

1. The first Sting song which interested me was due to his use of alliteration and irony. "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" juxtaposed to "Poets, priests, and polititions...." Very funny. Also, I loved the use of literary allusion in Wrapped around your Finger " Mephistopheles is not your name....."
   
2. I'm a member of "The Official Sting Fan Club"
3. Membership in the above cost actual money which I pay annually.
4. I pay the money each year because I get an exclusive CD of Sting stuff and presale on concert tickets.
5. I remember all the details of the above Friends episode.
6. I'm willing to go to Dallas.
7. I actually knew the name of Mrs. Sting
8. I'm planning to make a playlist this afternoon representing my ideal Police concert set list. Then I'm sharing it with everyone I know. I know at least one person who will actually be interested.
   

If you think you're a bigger nerd, top that!

R O X A N N E................................S T I N G .........................

Tired

I'd forgotten a number of things about working. First of all, getting dressed for work is work. I know one e-friend that gets to wear scrubs most days. Another lady from my knitting group is a pathologist and does the same. I wish teachers got to wear scrubs. I wouldn't need hose, several pairs of shoes to match outfits, several purses to match shoes........ Some people could say that I don't need to bother with those things at this job either. On the other hand, my students are coming to me after a full day at school. They're tired, their teachers are tired, their parents are tired. I decided that I should be fresh and ready to go. I need it and so do they. So now I have to do the work clothes thing again. Yuck.

I'd also forgotten about work place drama. Teachers have this going continually. Colleagues with differences, students with rivalries, parents with teachers, parents with children, parents with parents, everyone with the principal. I'd just forgotten. I remembered the teaching part really clearly, because I love that part. I even remembered the teacher/student issues that arise as part of learning. However, the adult drama I had pretty well wiped from my mind.

Today I'm tired and have a flare. I'd also forgotten what it's like to go to work during a flare. I may not have to go in today. Since it wasn't a teaching day anyway, I'm hoping I can stay home. I'm waiting for a call from another new Rheumatologist. This time, my own doctor has spoken with these folks at length about what I need and expect from them. So far, it's taken three days of waiting just to speak to someone about making an appointment. I'll call my own doctor back in a day or two if I don't hear from them.

Do you guys have prescription plans with lots of rules? We always opt. for the highest level choice was, but this year they've dropped Celebrex from our formulary making it unbelievably expensive. I'll have to find out today how we we are to proceed. Evidently there is some way to get preauthorization and it will then be charged at the highest rate i.e. $45 for a 30 day supply. I don't know if that took it out because of the newly discovered risks or because they weren't making enough money off of it.

I knit for a little while last night. Most with fat needles and easy patterns. Now I'm remembering why I knit so little for several years. It's a peaceful activity though, and I'm going to try to make time even when I'm tired and hurting. I'm way behind or blog reading and miss my pals. Something else to make time for.

Good Dog, Good Man (Spoilers for Gray's)

I worked tonight. I'm leaving work after dark, and I don't see well enough to drive easily. So, I try to call Bill and let him know when I leave. That way, he doesn't waste as much time worrying I'll drive myself into a ditch. The kids worry too, because we aren't much for going out at night. Like a bunch of hibernating animals, dark means sleep and light means wake. Winter really kicks us in the butt with so few hours of light. We, good Puritans all, actually celebrate the winter solstice. From that day forward, we will have more daylight and shake off our slowing minds and spirits. The doctor would call our problem Seasonal Affective Disorder. My favorite description is from Christy at Rainbow Chills who calls it may "SAD story." A daughter of the sunbelt, I well and truly hate the dark. We use one of those photo-therapy lights on really dark days. Thank God, we don't see dark now till after 6:00.

The man and children always worry when I drive in the dark, but aren't alone in waiting faithfully. Triton worries the entire time I'm gone. Do any of you know a standard poodle? (These are the really big ones.) Poodles are smart to the point it's hard to remember they're just dogs and not people. I know everyone says that about their pet, but poodles are scary smart, and even among a race of intelligent animals, Triton is uber-smart. When I called, she knew it was me and that I was on my way home. The man calls like this when he's on his way home too. She's used to hearing us talk about getting dinner ready and doing other small chores while "Daddy" is on his way. She's always waited and watched once he called. Now, she sits for me too. Triton was the first to greet me tonight and hasn't left my side since. The dog considers bedtime as the highlight of her day. The man calls her a "rack hound" which is evidently some archaic man-speak for a person who sleeps more than others. Triton's choice spot is in bed is sleeping between the man and myself. But on these late nights for me, she sleeps patiently in the family room, either at my feet or up on the couch with her head resting on a pillow. She would rather be in the bed, but she's my late night companion staying with me no matter how long it takes me to get sleepy.

RW taped Gray's Anatomy and bought Jack-in-the-Box tacos for me tonight. When I got home, the tacos and Gray's were ready to go. The new digital service lets us do that record it, watch it, pause it at will thing. The man loves using his new TV superpowers. With both the tacos and the Gray's waiting, I have to tell you all that my husband is a total stud. Thank you sweetie!!!!

One of the fantastic things about being married for so long, is we can, at times, truly communicate love to each other. I've definitely observed that Romance means different things for different couples. One of my blog pals made amazing cookies for her wife. I thought it was an awesome gift but not likely to come my way, since the man doesn't do baking. If he did bake, it wouldn't be yummy cookies with a lovely filling and heart shaped cut-out on the top. Even so, 30 plus years have given the man insight. He knows what does it for me. So, it was a fine evening. He sent his usual dozen yellow roses to my work place. I'll have to explain the reason why these are incredibly romantic on another day. He picked a card to go with it showing two children, dressed in adult clothes circa 1935. The girl holds a bouquet of roses and the slightly older boy leans down to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek. The card spoke as much about us as did the roses. The man has celebrated every important event in our lives together with one dozen yellow roses (Think "The Yellow Rose of Texas.") The card meant, to me, he also understands of our link growing from childhood to adulthood, to middle age together. To grow-up with one's mate is a fine thing. I was greatly touched that he, in his own way, showed he got that too.

Our female child (age 17) is sometimes at a loss when it comes to our own version of the romance. This Valentines' Day, I bought our first HDTV. The girl was disgusted by the lameness of our shared gift. "How could this be romantic?????? You just bought a TV for Christ's sake!" The boy (age 12) was more open minded about the purchase. If it plugs into the wall and delivers television, it's all good. Plus, he's at the age where the idea of love between his parents is best ignored. He's enjoying the high-def but prefers we keep the gushy stuff ourselves. The man set up the TV, upgraded the cable, and played with the new functions for hours. While he and I cooed words of endearment to one another watching The Chronicles of Riddick in high def, we managed to disgusted both children. We had this incredible moment as perfect mates, a perfect understanding, a sympathy only we knew.

The children think we are old and sad at times like this. For our 20th anniversary, my husband gave me my first laptop. It was, in 1996, an incredible extravagance. I brought it to work with pride to show my girlfriends. They all recoiled in horror at the complete lack of allure they perceived in such a gift. I, on the other hand, felt it was one of the most loving gifts I've ever received. He went to a jeweler and had a gold inscription affixed saying RW and DK forever. I was moved to tears while my girlfriends looked on in horror thinking of large and fine pieces of jewelry or perhaps an expensive automobile as fitting tributes for 20 years of marriage and the gift of both a son and daughter. I don't even remember what I gave the husband. It was nothing compared to the laptop. Of course, there were also yellow roses.

I must confess that there are days when we are not perfectly attuned. I wake some days wondering how I married this creature who seems sometimes a fool of a husband. Being a fine southern gentleman, the man would never expressed such sentiments toward me. However, all long lived couples must have days of doubt. In fact, there are days when I'm ready to move him out to live in the garage.

Sometimes, on the other hand, there comes a day of perfect understanding, and I know that our 31 year old decision to be together was exactly right. The man does not ponder relationships. If I understand his opinion corectly, he considers that to be my job. At times I envy my blog pal and her wife. Surly, both of them do the girl/relationship thing together? The man does manly things like take out the trash, mow the yard, and serve as our 24/7 tech support guy. He also kills all critters which disturb his wife,.and offers to deal with any person who causes me the least distress. I have to say, this is a fine thing after 31 years. He is, even at 52, more than ready to fight for my honor with all challengers. It is a mighty thing to find one's spouse so devout and faithful after such a time.

Dog sighs, tacos, and Gray's made me feel like I'm someone who matters. My family loves me and wants me. We are together and even the pets care about us. I finally have a job again and students!!!! It's a fine thing to live with one person long enough to create a unified family. Our My dear daughter commented this week that my work was inconvenient but well worth the pleasure I seemed to gain from rejoining our capitalist economy (i.e. having my very own money.) That she also knows me so well seems a blessing beyond my comprehension. The boy, on the other hand, misses the conveniences of a 24/7 maid, cook, teacher, chaperon, and driver. Such is life.