Monday, May 20, 2013

Procrastinating at Report Card Time


I'm supposed to be writing report cards - or more accurately, End of Year reports.  Important stuff, and I take them seriously (sort of), but I'm just not into it.  I've been agitated about a lot of stuff lately.

Cupcake's mother, for example, is trying to guilt trip me into socializing with them.  Occasional obligations are okay - like Cupcake's graduation from Swedish Massage school last week.  I was delighted to attend the ceremony and celebrate her accomplishment, but there was no way I was going to dinner with her whole family.  If it had just been Cupcake's immediate family, that would have been okay - but her father's brother was going to be there with his wife and kid and there's been resentment brewing between Cupcake's dad and his brother for some time.

No way was I taking a front row seat to drunken family dysfunction when I was stressing over work.  I'm not so stressed about work anymore - but I'm not going to talk about work on the internet given that I already got fired from one job for revealing my true feelings in blogland.  The work drama has mellowed out for the time being, but now I'm contemplating what kind of business I would have if I started my own business.   Last summer, it occurred to me that Gigi and I should set up some kind of service where we counsel single dads about parenting stuff.  I figured that if I were somehow fated to continually find myself mixed up with men going through divorce shit, I might as well make it into a business.

The last day of school is June 7th, and even though I'll be working all summer running the little day camp, I'm transitioning to my activist self effective next weekend.   I'm going to go help my friend the pineapple head with a kids' event down at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS).  We're making musical instruments out of recycled materials.  I'll be going out to see a performance by a children's dance company, Experimental Dance Group, which a dear friend of Pineapple Head's developed.  He's a dancer and educator.


As it happens, my good buddy Nicole, of the I Love Nicole Show, is going to be singing with a new band next Friday night and that's on the Lower East Side, too.  So once I get these report cards off my neck, I can start thinking about what to wear and worrying about losing the five pounds I gained between Spring Break in Texas, the road trip with Mom and all those meals in good restaurants during Woody's Birthday Weekend.

I really am bummed about those five pounds.  It all started when I fell off the gluten free wagon down in Texas.  I was fairly mindful, but once you start eating foods you're supposed to avoid, cravings kick in and everything goes rapidly down hill.   Five pounds is no big deal, but looking at the scale every morning, I realize that I really do feel like my value as a human being is tied to the number on the scale


Intellectually, I know I am more than a number on a scale - but I swear there's the tiniest hint of jowl just starting to show up on the corners of my mouth.  It's alarming.  I'm back on the gluten and dairy free wagon and increasing my activity level by walking home from work, so I could very well lose all five pounds by Friday.  Or three anyway, and that's enough to get read of the jowl action.

Although I am concerned about my looks because of the man issue, I'm also nervous because I have to have pictures taken next weekend.  Joe needs some new photos for Worldwide Hippies News & Stuff. I'm scheduled to start turning in my two minute segments to Joe after Punk Patriot is here for Left Forum.  I'll surely need pictures taken at Left Forum - maybe even with somebody famous like Noam Chomsky.   In any case, there's no room for jowls in my life especially when I'm fixing to be splashed all over the internet again.

Years ago, when I was still married and when Max was still doing hair full time, Max and I were talking about my hair one day before a color and cut.  I told Max that I wanted to be a cool old lady with a long, gray braid.  At the time, I was a long way from being a cool old lady, and my hair still has a ways to grow before I'll have a long braid.  For the moment, I don't feel like an old lady either.  I wish I could be like this woman in the French Revolution, only with my clothes on


I'm pretty jazzed about giving focus and attention to my activist self.  Who knows?  I might even meet a man.  In any case, I'm going to commit to a fearless summer both politically and romantically.  Fearless Summer is name of a partnership of environmental groups, "a movement against extreme energy."  Tim DeChristopher's group Peaceful Uprising is one of the partners.

I doubt I'll be charging into a battle shouting, "Liberté, égalité, fraternité!"  I hang out in a community garden making music with little kids and cook for the emerging generation when they're working on the revolution.  Either way, though, I shouldn't be thinking of myself as an old lady with a long gray braid any more than I should be making plans for Access-A-Ride.

I'm not going anywhere until I finish writing these dang report cards, though.


Fearless Summer (wearefearlesssummer.org)
Summer Heat (joinsummerheat.org)

4 Comments:

Blogger Cali said...

You have your Fearless Summer and I'll continue growing my braid. As slowly and uniformly as I'm graying I doubt I'll ever make it past agouti, though. Like a rat. And I so wanted my grandmother's white skunk stripe so I could dye it every color of the rainbow. And I wanted that way back when Sebastian's "Cellophanes" were the only salon brand in rainbow colors. But alas, it was not meant to be. My mother is 70 and she finally has enough white hair to dye, but I don't know what it would look like since most of the white is around her face and on top-- just like natural blondes or really good (read expen$ive) highlights.

I can certainly understand avoiding the semi-inlaws potential drama. Non-family doesn't need to be around for that.

You always do the most FUN things! There is nothing nobler than teaching children. Well, perhaps teaching children to love all the best foods that nature has to offer-- especially foods their parents think they won't like! If you plant the first or second day of school, they can grow green beans or baby beets, carrots, radishes, herbs or lettuce before summer camp is out. Heck, they could grow an entire salad for the last day party!

Oh, those numbers on that soulless contraption! How they befuddle us and make us feel less with every addition. How the hell does that work, anyway? As for the photos, I suggest the overhead camera shot. That angle really flatters those of us with beginner jowls, laugh lines or multiple chins.

You have no idea how much I hope you DO get to meet Mr. Chomsky! I'd love to meet him sometime. Right now, all I've got in great activist interaction is when I asked Daniel Ellsberg and Reverend Billy several questions via Ustream at the Cal Whistleblower's Conference last year. Weak by comparison. Oh, and I doubt Mr. Chomsky will notice your five pounds OR your baby jowls. ;-) Just your great, big, luscious BRAIN! Probably your fab smile, too. ;-)

May 21, 2013 at 6:19 AM  
Blogger VV said...

Since I cut my hair short, and everybody got over the shock of it, they all say it looks better short. I think it does too, but I miss my longer hair and being able to tie or braid it back. I keep starting to grow it out, it begins looking bad, and then I cut it again. *sigh*. Also, the gluten free / dairy free thing. So I have been tested by an allergist, I am allergic to both. Wheat causes me to retain fluids and causes arthritic type pains. Dairy keeps me so snotted up all the time, that I'm continuously blowing my nose and coughing up flem. You would wonder why I bother consuming the crap, but I do so love whole milk and am a sucker for hot buttered bread. I never had the resolve to totally cut it out of my diet until a few weeks ago. I had to go in for surgery on the 13th (yanking the plumbing) and have always had trouble with anesthesia because of my allergies. So I resolved to cut both out a few weeks ahead of surgery to help my breathing. It made it easier to do knowing that I didn't want to have trouble breathing, and that I could go back to both after surgery. Well, that's all behind me and I haven't totally gone back to dairy. I no longer have multiple glasses of milk per day. I've been drinking coconut milk, but if there's cheese on something, I don't try to avoid it. My sinuses have been greatful for the restraint. I've also stuck with the gluten free bread, and haven't had the eating binges, hunger, and cravings I used to have. I'm now wondering why I didn't get off this stuff sooner. I really can feel the difference.

May 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM  
Blogger Mr. Charleston said...

Dadgum! Thought I'd check in on you to see how you're doing and here you are still going strong. A Fearless Summer indeed! By gosh, you are that woman leading the charge. BTW, being the liberal that I am, I don't mind if you're wearing clothes or not.

May 25, 2013 at 3:39 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Patricia, you look fabulous. I know what you mean though, stressing about photos, as I will have to bear being in God knows how many shots in just a few weeks at my daughter's wedding.

You are right to stand your ground not socializing with Cupcake's family more than is required as an in-law. I know you're not technically an in-law, but even as a pre-in-law or in-law like person, you don't have to be friends, just there for the kids when it is important.

June 17, 2013 at 2:49 PM  

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