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Thursday, May 29, 2003
My Mom & Cher Last night I got a message. It said. 'Hey Shane. Its Mom. I need to talk to you. Call me as soon as you get this.' She NEVER leaves messages that sound as serious as all that, so I was a smidge freaked out. After all, a week or so ago, she totaled her motorcycle and she's been visiting doctors to find out why she can't remember a thing that happened to her and why the soreness in her body isn't going away. She's already been sent home from work multiple times because they keep telling her she's not ready to work yet. So, here I am thinking maybe she was going back in the hospital or needed me to come up to Rochester. The conversation went something like this: Mom: Hello. Me: Hey Mom. How are you? Mom: Oh, alright. Me: So what's up? Mom: Did you know Cher was coming to Rochester? Me: Uhm, no. Mom: I think in late July. Wanna go with me? Me: Uhm, sure... but, Mom, was that what you had to talk to me about... Cher? Mom: Yeah, why? Me: Well, you made it sound like an emergency. Mom: It is. I think the tickets go on sale in the morning. Even in pain she can still get excited about Cher. Gotta love that! | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, May 28, 2003 MICHELLE BERRY FOR COUNCIL My good friend Michelle Berry has formally announced that she will run to represent the 2nd Ward on Ithaca City's Common Council. I am thrilled and can't imagine a better candidate emerging. She's got the support of the other 2nd Ward Alderman, County Board members, and the woman who is 'retiring' from the council seat that she's attempting to fill. Of course as soon as I heard the news, I offered whatever help she could need. The answer was, 'How about be my Campaign Treasurer?' So I said 'Yes' without much hesitation. And now my role will be expanding... yesterday she asked me to act as co-chair of the campaign as well. I am so excited to be doing this for her and to be involved this way with local politics again. Pick up the new edition of the Ithaca Times that came out today and open to page 5 for a picture of the formal announcement and an article on Michelle. (I'm in the upper left-hand corner of the picture, standing behind her. The picture is NOT in the online version, unfortunately.) And also, a great write-up appeared in the Ithaca Journal today. I'll add a 'permanent' link to her campaign site when it gets launched... | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Miss Gay Binghamton 2003 Who knew that as judge of a drag show, you'd be treated so well!? Flowers, chocolates, little gifts, lunches, a sparkly 'judge' pin, and being referred to as 'distinguished' (as in 'distinguished panel of judges') were just a small part of the extravaganza. I've seen and loved drag shows in the past... but this was the first time that the queens were performing FOR me. MY vote made all the difference in whether or not they'd walk away title holders. As serious as the Miss Gay Binghamton pageant wanted to be, I couldn't help but have fun. This had as much to do with the folks I was judging with as much as the actual event... Dar Dar's friend Sue had invited her, Lori, and me and it turns out that I knew the fifth judge, Sue's friend Jason, already as well. Sue turned out to be a riot, and Lori and Dar Dar and I always have fun together. 
The judges minus Lori (takin' the pic)... Jason, Me, Sue, and Dar Dar. The first part of the pageant, the 'Male Interview,' was held at Squiggy's. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the organizer was open to including a few questions that I wrote. (We tacked one extra question on to the five standardized questions they provided.) As the name of the category suggests, this was the only time we'd see the contestants as men, and all were dressed in suits and ties. Following the interviews, all of us judges bonded over lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe. We also whipped ourselves up into an excited frenzy over what the night ahead of us was going to bring and I decided that a nap was the only thing that was going to allow me to be coherent for the entire show. We would have to report at Prism at 9:00 and the show was expected to last until after 1:00 AM. The actual show was nothing short of amazing... Anita Mann (an Ithaca Queen and the reigning Miss Binghamton) hosted the show along with Miss Bianca (an Elmira Queen who the entire panel fell in love with instantly... we were in awe of her the entire night). Our task was to rank the five contestants on a scale of 1-20 in four different categories (with the earlier interview session also worth 20 points, this gave them a possible 100 points to strive for). We judged in a creative hat (that they hopefully made themselves) and coordinated outfit category, a question and answer on stage, a talent competition (basically the performance of a song), and an evening gown category, in that order. 
The phenomenal Miss Bianca! I left some pretty harsh notes under the 'judges notes' section to each of the contestants. I guess the whole Simon Cowell/American Idol judge role went to my head. (For example, 'Nice dress, but find an iron.' Or 'You're lucky you picked that song or you would have gotten my only zero score' ... among others.) My full name is on all those score sheets, so I'm not going to sleep well for a few days worrying about the queens hunting me down and lobbing a high-heeled shoe full of concrete through my bedroom window. But I digress... At some point in the show, we got to write our own introductions that the host would read. Mine was something to the effect of, 'Should have been a porn star but settled for hosting this pageant instead.' In retrospect that doesn't make much sense, but it got a rise out of the audience nonetheless. 
Me trying to pin my flower on. I won't go too much into details... but the entire night I knew it was going to be close and come down to two queens... Miss Harley Davidson and De De Kupps (the obvious hometown favorite). They did end up being the final two, with De De Kupps winning the title. (Congratulations, De De!) I had so much fun that I'm thinking about becoming a professional Drag Show judge. Whattya think? Maybe only if I can stand the excitement... and the sleepless nights. | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, May 23, 2003 The first crack in the veneer... One of the other judges left a message last night saying that we didn't, in fact, have to write the questions to interview the Queens tomorrow... They will be pre-provided. Ugh. So I guess I won't get to ask the contestants what superpower they wish their drag persona had and if they would use that power for good or for evil... | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, May 22, 2003 A few months old and not the best scan jobs, but... ... here are two pics from my trip (months ago, back when I was employed and had money) to Fort Lauderdale. Penny, me, and Lori are in the first one in the courtyard of the hotel... and the second one is Lori and I in our rented convertible... I'll spare you the one of my pale ass in a speedo-like bathing suit. Trust me, noone wants to see that. *grin* 
Non-blogworthy week... Not much has happened this week that was blog-worthy. I guess that's not entirely true. I mean, if I sit right down and think about it there were a few things... The boyfriend woke me up one morning on his way into work bearing flowers... Awww. Everything with him is still going great. I'm working full-steam-ahead on my new business. The response has been overwhelming and once I feel a little more secure about the prospects, I'll write more about it. A friend of mine is going to be running for local office and has asked me to take a role in her campaign. I'm psyched! I went to a Tret Fure (Lesbian Folk singer) concert Sunday afternoon in Elmira and helped put together an LGBT information board for the mediation center to do outreach at the community event following. And, I've been connecting and re-connecting with a lot of friends. Having as many lunches and coffee dates as possible... Lori just said to me on the phone that I've had the most interesting unemployed period of anyone she's known... Throw in the judging the drag show this weekend and I think she's right! I know I've certainly enjoyed it! | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, May 20, 2003 A Short Memory and Opportunism... I once heard someone say that in politics, people have either extremely long or extremely short memories. Apparently, republicans would like us to have extremely short ones. Just a few short months ago, republicans, with George Bush leading the charge, were pushing a cap on awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. This was about the same time that there were front page articles describing the case of the young woman who died after receiving heart and lung transplants of the wrong blood type. And of course the Democrats questioned (rightly so) bypassing the decisions of juries to cap awards. And they often invoked the above-mentioned case, asking if it was right to limit this particular family's awards given her situation. The details of the discussion are immaterial to my point. But the republicans' response isn't. Invariably, in response to Democrats, the republicans would say some variation on, 'I think it's completely inappropriate to play politics with this case in the papers today. You should be ashamed of yourselves.' But apparently republicans aren't above playing politics with the Laci Peterson murder case. Republicans, smelling political opportunity, are pushing for a new federal law which would make it a crime to kill or harm a fetus. Dubbya has given his blessing to this legislation, and the sponsors have renamed the bill, 'Laci and Conner’s Law.' Shame on the republicans. And I don't necessarily mean for invoking her name (hell, that's just smart propaganda which they're pros at)... I mean for doing what they ALWAYS do... for being hypocrites. But beyond that, I'm furious (and anyone who is pro-choice should also be up-in-arms). How long do you think it will be before some conservative court interprets this law that 'makes it a crime to kill or harm a fetus' as an anti-abortion law and throws an abortion doctor in jail? We all know if you give the republicans an inch, they'll take a mile... Is it really a stretch to imagine those conniving republicans riding this surge of Laci Peterson coverage on the news all the way to passing a bill that could potentially limit abortion rights? Far from a stretch, I think that's precisely what they're doing. | private feedback | (0) public comments Goals... I don't have too many big goals in life. I want to wake up happy every morning. I want to have a job that I love whether it makes me rich or not. I want to have a kid someday. I want to travel to Europe. I want to have my initials on a pinball machine as a high-scorer. And I want to judge a drag show. No matter how much pinball I play I never seem to be able to crack one of those top spots... but this Saturday I will achieve one of my life's goals. I've been asked to judge a drag show. This is HUGE. I love drag shows unlike any other person I know. (I even sit through some of the more horrendous ones at the Common Ground... the ones where they let anyone willing to throw on a dress perform. Ugh.) I don't even know what the name of the pageant is or the title the queens are competing for... but with four other judges, I get to spend Saturday afternoon interviewing the contestants (I have to come up with some good questions), followed by lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe, and then ending back at Prism for the show at 10pm. Its probably too late for format suggestions... but wouldn't an 'American Idol' format drag show be fierce? I could be the Simon Cowell judge. Hmmm, maybe next time. For now, I've got interview questions to write... | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, May 19, 2003 The 'break' is over This is just a quick post to say that a few evening and late night conversations with the boyfriend this past week culminated in a very emotion-filled talk Friday night... We are ending our short 'break.' I think we realized that, in practice, a 'break' means that we'd both be missing each other terribly. That was definitely the biggest news of my extremely busy weekend... Hopefully I can find some time to type out more before too long. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, May 16, 2003 Quotes of the Day The second-tier (and I guess I'm being generous saying that) candidates of the Democratic Presidential Nomination contest are the only ones saying anything interesting... Carol Moseley Braun had this to say : This administration chose to pursue oil and revenge rather than the terrorists who attacked our country on 9/11. Too True! And Al Sharpton (who I can't really stand) often has entertaining, over-the-top things to say. Recently, it was this not-terribly-exaggerated nugget: In the '60s, we had to fight the remnants of the KKK. Today we have the challenge of the RRR ... meaning 'rich, right-wing republicans.' No, no kids. He's not done with that. He goes on... They love to wave the flag of America in Baghdad, but they have come back to South Carolina and wave the Confederate flag. Fierce! And, because I relish the thought of our sad Governor, George Pataki, getting beaten and bruised in his budget battle with the state legislature... a bipartisan coalition in both the Assembly and the Senate overrode every single one of Pataki's 119 line-item vetoes yesterday in record time. His response... You don't win all the fights. Let's hope this little experience has clipped his ambitions for higher office. | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, May 15, 2003  If there is any justice...
...Bend it Like Beckham will be the next little-movie-that-makes-it-big. The story revolves around an Indian girl, Jess, living in England who is torn between her loves (soccer and her soccer coach) and her ultra-traditional family. The young actresses are beautiful, the soccer coach is hunky (if you like British boys), the soccer scenes are really well done (and I don't even like sports), and Jess's mother is hilarious (she constantly harps on her daughter to learn how to make a traditional Indian dinner so that she can be married off). A must-see! | private feedback | (0) public comments Quote of the Day It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine De Saint-Exupery | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, May 12, 2003 This wasn't how it was supposed to be... Over the last few weeks, I've sensed a huge shift in how the boyfriend interacts with me. He doesn't return calls right away like he used to. No more late night phone calls. He goes right home after work before stopping by to see me like he used to. And when we DO talk, he seems to be very distant and doesn't really tell me anything of substance. So I say, 'Are we OK?' 'Yeah, he says. This is just a really crazy time at work.' So I accept that and operate under the assumption I won't see him as much, at least for the next month or so. Until it seems like our communication slides even further... We start talking literally five minutes a day, if that... and days pass without seeing him or him even expressing interest in seeing me. So I say, 'What's goin' on?' He says he has issues that he's dealing with stemming from his last relationship. (Ah, it's becoming a little clearer now.) 'But it's OK,' he assures me. He'll just take some time to himself every once in a while... a night a week or so. So I accept THAT. And then in our brief conversations, he starts mentioning things that would conflict with plans we've already made a month or so out. And so I have to ask again. 'Is there something you're not telling me? I feel like there's a disconnect between what you're telling me and how you're acting.' He says he loves spending time with me but that he's finding himself depressed over the lingering feelings and issues from his last relationship. 'OK.' I say, 'What do you want to do?' He throws the question back at me, 'What do YOU want to do?' Out of what I can only describe as sheer stupidity I say, 'I want you to be as excited about me as you were a month ago.' That statement is greeted by silence. He says he needs a break from 'us' so that he can deal with this 'stuff' with his ex. From the beginning of us seeing each other, I've been sensitive to the fact that his break-up was very fresh and that he still may have some issues to deal with. Fine. But he also seemed to be dealing with everything alright... that was until he started seeing this therapist who told him he had 'a lot on his plate.' Then he started to withdraw from me under the 'burden' of hearing how much he had to deal with. So now, just when I need the support he was giving me most... when I'm freaking out about having just lost my job, trying to start a company, having no money (and the potential of having to give up my apartment), among other things... I have to 'take a break' from my boyfriend. Fantastic. | private feedback | (0) public comments Sunday, May 11, 2003 Lilac Festival One (of the many) highlights this weekend in Rochester was going to the annual Lilac Festival. I was disappointed that the lilacs weren't fully in bloom yet (probably by the second weekend of the festival they will be) but I was struck by how beautiful this magnolia tree was and snapped a pic... Enjoy!  Returning the favor... Going through my site statistics, I realize that this guy has delivered literally half of my site traffic in the last few weeks. [Aside to him: Thanks!] Not only is he adorable, but he's got a lot of great things to say... So, in an effort to direct people to quality content on the net, I've made a list of 'Super Blogs.' You'll find him at the top. | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, May 09, 2003 Get Rich Quick Schemes... About a week ago, Mom called to say. 'Hey, I have an idea! I was watching one of those late-night informercials. You know, the ones where people make thousands a week just by setting up a Web site and selling stuff?' 'Mmmm. I don't watch much late night television, Mom' was all I could say. 'Well since you're unemployed now and you know about computers, I ordered the kit and figured it couldn't hurt for us to make a few extra thousand dollars a month, right? Now that you've got the time to do it.' As if it were just that easy. I held back the fits of laughter I felt bubbling up inside me... only because she sounded SO excited about it. She had paid to have it rush delivered so that it would be at her house by the time I came to visit. And she added, 'You know me... I splurged on the extra long list of products you can sell so that we'd make even more money.' So, I'm in Rochester for the weekend. Mom's birthday is tomorrow, and of course Mother's Day is Sunday, so this weekend is a 'must-visit.' But her birthday and the mom's day holiday don't seem to be the most exciting things going on. She is all about this damned Web site business she thinks that we're going to start and make a million dollars doing. One of the first things we did was to watch the video that came with the package. There are a like a million catches... trial memberships you have to join, they strongly encourage you to try out their Web access provider 'even if you already have a provider' (as if any other web access wouldn't be good enough)... and the whole package leaves more questions unanswered than answered. So much time is spent on the superficial stuff (the package came with an entire book titled, 'Introduction to the Internet' including definitions of 'URL' and 'ISP' and 'Web Hosting'... that's quite a learning curve for folks who are about to set up asuccessful e-commerce site in less than 15 minutes!) while glossing over the 'minor' details. The devil is in the 'minor' details. I can't say I'm totally surprised... but how do I break it to my mother that it's not as easy as they made it appear on TV? She's gonna be crushed. | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, May 08, 2003 Shane's Animal Adventures... Last night around 5:30, Cheri called me to have dinner with her. As we were hanging up the phone she yelled, 'OH! SHIT!' Her pet cockatiel, Stoney (Sorry, Cheri, if I spelled that wrong), had flown off her shoulder and out the front door. 'Please come over as soon as you can! Hurry!' she said as she hung up the phone. Now... I don't have a car... and Cheri lives literally on the opposite side of town as I do. So I start bookin' it in her general direction. (The Sketchers that I was wearing, by the way, are not made for running.) When I finally arrived at Cheri's, two other friends of hers were already there and they had located Stoney in a very high tree across the creek from her house. Her neighbors were also involved in the search at one point... So there were no less than six people trying to recover this bird. Cheri was frantically calling and whistling to Stoney who was making a lot of noise but not making any motions to move. We got the ladder to see if we could get close enough but the bird was too high. We called the SPCA, the Cornell Vet School, the Fire Department (who laughed at me), the Animal Rescue guy ... just about everyone we could think to call. I even took off my Sketchers in an attempt to scale a tree with no branches in my socks (for more traction). That only got me stuck in a tree, barefoot. Finally, I started slamming the metal ladder against the tree he was in hoping that he'd fly to another, more accessible tree. We did get him to take flight a few times, but he always circled and came right back to the same general area... and sometimes he'd land even higher up than where he originally was. At some point, it started to rain, we thought he'd come down but he didn't. We brought his cage over hoping he'd fly to his cage but he didn't. Two-and-a-half hours later, Cheri and I were the only ones left. We were tired, we were wet, I was starved, Cheri was emotionally overwhelmed, and it was getting dark. She just kept looking at me saying, 'I've lost him, haven't I? He's never coming down, is he?' I kept trying to be optimistic, but even I was starting to lose hope. Shortly, we'd lose visibility and so we decided to leave his cage in the backyard hoping somehow he'd find it and come home when he was good and ready. Cheri resolved to come out in the morning at daybreak and call to him again. And she asked that I come around during the day to see if he had come home on his own. Of course I said I would. This morning she called to say that she saw him for a little while, in the same place we left him last night, but that when she went to get his cage and came back, he was gone. She went to an out-of-town training thinking she had lost her bird. Around noon, as promised, I went to see if Stoney had magically reappeared in Cheri's backyard. He hadn't. I walked up and down the creekside. I can't whistle (which I thought was the only thing he'd respond to) so I was just clapping and calling out his name. I've had cockatiels before so I know what they sound like. And I didn't hear anything even resembling a cockatiel for about 15 or 20 minutes. And then when I was about to give up, I heard one screech which I KNEW was a cockatiel. So I started calling louder and heard it again. It was very far up the creek and I wasn't even sure if I was on the right side of the creek but it was getting louder as I walked, so at least I knew I was going in the right direction. I was looking all around in the treetops hoping to locate where this bird was... and before I knew it I looked straight ahead and here was this cockatiel flying straight at me! He landed on my shoulder. So now what? I was looking down the trail and trying to figure out how I was going to get him to sit on my shoulder all the way back to Cheri's house which was easily 8 or 9 houses down the creek. I walked very slowly and passed the bird from hand to hand. He was very obviously freaking out. (At this point getting him safely home was as equally important as making sure he DIDN'T shit on my new GAP jacket. Hehe, just kidding, Cheri.) I could see Cheri's neighbors at the end of the trail, cheering me on as quietly as they could... aware of the fact that while this was all very exciting, they couldn't make much noise. I stepped through her gate and got Stoney in his cage. My heart was racing. I didn't think the bird liked me, let alone would come flying to me making all kinds of ruckus. So once I got Stoney situated back in Cheri's house with the door closed I fed him and called Cheri. She was overjoyed. (This is not just any bird, he's like a child to her.) Ahhhh... these are the moments I'd miss out on if I had a job. Yay for being unemployed! | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, May 07, 2003 Dress Shopping with Keelinn [I'm posting this story by 'popular demand'... OK, OK, I'm posting this story cause Lori and Darlene keep asking me exactly when I'm going to post it.] A few Saturdays ago was Wendy's memorial service. Early that morning, Lori and I went to pick-up cutie patootie Keelinn from her other grandparents... and to our surprise they hadn't dressed her appropriately for the service at all. Expecting that Keelinn was coming pre-dressed and knowing that we didn't have time to go out to Groton to pick up clothes, it was decided that I would take Keelinn shopping for a new 'pretty dress.' I don't know if you've ever shopped for a 'pretty dress' on the Ithaca Commons, but there's not many places to go. We checked out Alphabet Soup (where we narrowly avoided purchasing a ballerina dress and a dress-up crown. Keelinn was wearing it and looked up at me... 'Shane, you're never going to get me to take this off. I have always wanted a crown just like this.'), the used clothing store Trader K's (where Keelinn proclaimed 'There is nothing pretty here!'), the Cat's Pajamas (who only seemed to have beach dresses in gaudy bright colors), and April Cornell. At April Cornell, Keelinn found the dress of her dreams. After huffing and puffing around the Commons, and telling me multiple times she was 'over' dress shopping (I doubled over laughing when she very seriously proclaimed, 'Shane, I'm over this.'), she walked right up to this pretty blue number with sequins and said, 'Oh. I love this one!' And I gotta admit, it was a beautiful dress. But I'm sure my face went pale when I saw the price tag... $75.00! Outside of a leather jacket I NEVER wear, I have never spent $75.00 on an item of clothing for myself, let alone a dress for a five-year-old who's going to outgrow it in a year. After begging her to check-out other (cheaper) dresses to no avail, I reluctantly let her try on the dress in the dressing room. On the way to the dressing room, however, I made a huge blunder by saying, 'Honey, if we get this dress your Grandmother is going to kill me! Its very expensive.' I thought she didn't hear me, it certainly didn't seem to register with her... she was mentally set on trying this dress on. And then she asked me to come into the dressing room with her to help her try it on. So I'm already conscious of the fact that I'm a 25-year-old male accompanying a 5-year-old girl into a dressing room (thanks to questioning glances from other shoppers) upon which the situation takes a sharp bad turn when Keelinn whispers, 'Shane, how much does this dress cost?' In my stupidity, I responded, '$75.00 but you can't tell Grandma Darlene, 'cause she'll kill me!' All of the sudden, at what seemed like the top of her lungs, Keelinn shouts, 'No! I'm not keeping a secret!' [Kudos to Lori and Darlene for instilling the 'no secrets' lesson...] I swear she yelled that three times before I was able to calm her down by saying, 'OK, honey. We'll tell Grandma. No secrets from Grandma Darlene.' And by this time, she had the dress on, but it was over her clothes and so it was really tight and she started to panic because she didn't think she could get it off by herself... so she started whimpering and I was so freaked out she was going to start crying and someone was going to come tearing into the dressing room. When we finally emerged from the dressing room, my face must have been beet-red. A few more strange glances, but Keelinn quickly distracted them by a song she was making up as we stood in line... something like 'Shane's buying me this pretty dress. It's so pretty, but Grandma Darlene's gonna kill him when she finds out how much it costs. I can't wait to wear my pretty dress to Wendy's memorial service. I'm gonna look so pretty. And Shane's so great cause he’s buying me this pretty dress...' [OK, She may or may not have said 'Shane's so great,' but it seems like it would fit there... eh?] But Keelinn wasn't done being adorable... when presenting the dress to the cashier so that I could pay for it, she asked very bluntly, 'Why are your dresses so expensive? My Grandma is going to kill Shane when he tells her how much this dress cost.' But the cashier's chuckle turned into tears when the cashier asked her when she was going to wear the dress. Of course Keelinn told her it was for 'a funeral for my friend Wendy. We're having a celebration of Wendy's life to tell stories about her and jokes and laugh and cry and everyone who loves her is going to be there...' She went on and on in this huge run-on sentence and the cashier didn't know quite what to make of this little girl telling her such a moving thing... except cry. That's right, kids. She balled right there behind the cash register. But the dress WAS beautiful, and Keelinn was the belle of the memorial (we also got a bunch of tulips so that Keelinn could pass them out to family at the service). ...and I earned my 'super uncle' points for the weekend. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, May 06, 2003 Oh Blog, I'm not ignoring you... I promise! Between not having internet access at home and trying to get a few new and big projects (both personal and professional) off the ground... I've been neglecting to post as frequently as I used to. Please, please, please bear with me... big things ARE happening in my life (even by my standards). And I promise you won't want to miss reading all about it when I finally get around to posting about them... *big cute grin* And I just wanted to send a huge THANK YOU out into the universe for all the amazing support I've gotten from friends, family, acquaintances and readers of this blog. Y'all are the best!! | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, May 02, 2003 Duck Race Each Spring the Cornell Cooperative Extension hosts a fundraiser for 4-H. They send 2,000 yellow rubber duckies down Cascadilla Gorge... each duckie sponsored by someone hoping to win a prize if their duck crosses the finish line first. You can follow the mass of rubber duckies (wearing little sunglasses, too) along the crick. At the end of the course, there are games and activities for the kids. We Keelinn to the duck race this year. (I sponsored five of those ducks and didn't win a thing.) Here are the pics... 
 Thursday, May 01, 2003 Sometimes you feel like you're in the driver's seat... ... and sometimes you don't. For most of my life, I've pretty much felt like my hands were on the wheel, driving my own life (at 10 and 2 o'clock of course)... completely in control. But this past week (maybe a little longer than that) I've felt like life is actually driving, and I'm just sorta along for the ride. And I'm beginning to not only be OK with the swerving and dodging of oncoming traffic (Life's not a PERFECT driver, after all) but I'm beginning to become excited about what course life is taking me on... as I let things settle and fall out on their own. Case in point... My job. I was just laid-off after five years of working with this company. I'm not going to be naive and say I didn't see it coming, but I was optimistic I would get more than 48 hours notice. So, today is my first day unemployed. Sure, I could be bitter... I could be angry... I could be hurt... (and a lot of my friends are trying to convince me I should be all of those things) but at the end of the day, those are not productive emotions. Those emotions are not productive places to move on from. I'm actually EXCITED about what is going to come next. What contacts will I leverage? What type of job leads will I pursue? How long can I wait before working again? Maybe I need a break? I can literally pursue ANYTHING now. I can take a logical next step or do an 'about face.' These are all the types of things that keep rushing through my head. Along with... do I go after jobs that I'm going to love that might not pay as well (and what does that mean for my bottom line) vs. taking a job that pays well that I might not like as much. You know, the stereotypical job search stuff. Things are going amazingly well with the boyfriend. (That's right... Since the last time I wrote about 'the guy I'm seeing,' we definitely are comfortable referring to eachother as boyfriends.) In my dreams I couldn't have imagined things going THIS well. And he has a million things going on for him as well... changes and such. More so than I do. I just keep saying, 'Honey, I'm so excited to see how things will turn out for you... and for me... and for US' and I truly mean it. This is one of the most exciting times I can remember because I'm surrounded by so much potential! So does that all sound a little too 'Pollyanna'? I woke up this morning... later than usual... next to my boyfriend... I did some errands... I sat on the commons reading the newest New Yorker magazine with an iced coffee close by... the sun was beating down on my forearms and back of my neck... I filed for unemployment (all by phone and internet now, amazing)... I had lunch with a great friend... and now I'm sitting in a cafe writing and pondering what my future holds... It doesn't get any better than that... | private feedback | (0) public comments |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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