Lost in Paradise

I wrote a particularly witty piece about my weekend retreat, only for the computer to bugger out on me.

So, now you are only going to get the photos.
They were all taken at the estate/wellness centre

or the nearby beach.

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Lugury...

I am off to a four-day “retreat”… translation: time on my own. I am going to an old estate that was restored a few years ago to a wellness resort. I can’t afford any of the wellness programs, but the food is supposed to be excellent, the surrounding area is filled with walking paths, and the Baltic Sea is nearby as well. I bring music, podcasts, books, and game scripts to edit and plan to do whatever I feel like doing. Such a lugury!

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Stuffed Animal Love

Good day, except for the fact that my boss said he was not in agreement with one of the projects I have initiated. Oh well, win some, lose some. Now all I have to do is figure out how to change the “concept” of the project to suit his and the financial sponsors' expectations.

I am off tomorrow on a vacation-from-family weekend. Yes, my weekends start on Thursdays. Oh, the joys and delights of a part-time position. There is obviously a long list of disadvantages (e.g. economic belt-tightening, jealousy from colleagues, dead-end-street as far as possible promotions), but, on the other hand, turning off the computer on Thursday afternoon and knowing I won’t be turning it on until Monday morning, gives me a buzz every time.

Sara asked me whether stuffed animals ever die. I managed to quickly reassure her that they never do. The comfort and joy they give to her will always be there as long as she believes in them.

Sara worries that she is not distributing her love and affection evenly throughout her large stuffed animal menagerie. She takes two of the animals with her to bed each night but often feels that the other animals are coming up short on the deal: even though she rotates the pick of the evening.

So, the question is…. is this little obsession of hers stemming from the always-feeling-guilty Irish gene, the tending-towards-melodrama Italian one, or the let’s-make-things-complicated German favourite pastime?

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Heart-to-Heart

Last night Sara and I were having a heart-to-heart talk about life and death and why there is so much suffering in the world. (For those of you who feel this is not necessarily a topic that a ten-year-old needs to discuss before bedtime, it is Her Topic, not mine. A friend of hers told her about a boy in her class who had died of brain cancer last year.)

It was a rather teary and sad discussion. We twisted and turned around many aspects of these topics until she came to the conclusion that she just feels so bad that other children are suffering. My advice was to say, “If you don’t want to feel bad, then obviously you want to find a way to feel good. Maybe you can do this by doing something good”. So, she said she was going to make another drawing for Busayo* today and promptly fell asleep.

How I wish all of such discussions could be resolved so easily.

* A child in Kenya we are supporting.

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Celebrity Obsession

Today’s Dr. Phil show is about celebrity obsession. Gosh, do any of the people caught in the spiral of celebrity promotion or presentation know what living life meaningfully is about? It’s not only the ridiculously pitiful position of celebrities being stalked, but the lack of professional integrity on the part of the graphic designers (sheesh!) and photographers that feed into the complete silliness of the fans’ obsession…

This whole aspect of the American culture is bizarre.

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Oh, Rawdon!

Brilliant weather persists. Just want to get it down on record: this has to be the most fantastic late summer, or early autumn we have experienced in the last twenty years.

Just watched the movie “Vanity Fair”. Hats off to my husband and son for sitting through the movie and offering some proper discussion about it afterwards. I liked it very much. Though I couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t fall in love with Rawdon (James Purefoy)… beyond his gambling, weak character, and lack of moral fibre, he was a great father.

1st Choice of Dinner Guests

Let’s say I could listen in on a dinner party of my choice… Below is a list of the guests who I would love to listen in conversation with each other:

• Margaret Atwood
• Jodie Foster
• Maureen Dowd
• Michaëlle Jean
• Kofi Annan
• Joschka Fischer
• Barack Obama
• Bob Herbert
• Michael Ignatieff
• Michael Ondaatje

They are not listed in order of preference. I find each equally fascinating.

(Note: ten years down the line, my dinner guest list has definitely evolved since this post.)

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Age Wave

I heard an interview with a fellow (sorry, I forgot the name…) in the States researching the possible ramifications and implications of the “Age Wave”.

The age wave is my generation of people in about ten to fifteen years' time. At this point, the kinks in the pension plan will be blatantly apparent, as well as just about every other thing concerning the medical system, housing, taxes, the work world, etc. … the political, social, educational, and governmental systems will experience massive changes.

In other words, we are finally going to be able to whup ass when it comes to making ourselves heard and making choices that could, hopefully, positively influence times to come.

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Freezing our butts off in an outdoor café

Long talk with a friend today. We met for a cup of tea and then stayed on and on discussing relationships and whether or not it is possible to ask a friend or a family member to redefine the relationship. Is it possible to ask an old friend how she sees our friendship? What is it that she wants? What is it that she gives? And what to do when this is just not enough?

These are titbits of what I took away from the conversation today:

• Sometimes I agonize about some development in a relationship, wanting to believe that it can be made whole again, but subconsciously, I know that this is no longer possible
• Authoritativeness and authenticity evolve from a common strength
• Theoretically, it is possible to speak truly and honestly. Practically, it is a hard thing to do even some of the time
• To share the minute details of your woes with a friend and not listen to, or want, any advice is taking advantage of that person

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Autumn vacation is here! At the start of this momentous occasion, the skies opened up and poured down on us steadily the whole day.

Sara had to be taken to the emergency room yesterday because she strained some muscle around her hip during the school’s relay race. She ended up hyperventilating with the pain and drama of the moment. She had settled down by the time I showed up at the track meet. The head of first aid services insisted that the hip should be looked into because it could be a fine-line break.

So, she gets to hobble along on crutches for a few days. I am hoping that her using the crutches will lose their allure quickly. She and Julien are supposed to go off to Erlangen on their own later this week.

(The first aid doctor had the audacity to ask me if Sara was someone who was resilient to pain or was she overly sensitive (translation - a whoosh). Pleease, he was talking about my precious Italian princess drama queen! I was so stunned by the question because of the audience: Sara, Julien, and other first aid helpers that I couldn't answer at first. Sara answered in a trembling voice but with total conviction: I'm more of a tough guy. Oh, don't you love self-illusion?)

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)