This will be a bits and pieces sort of entry -- lots to say but it's all in sound
bites and none of it is particularly profound.
I spent the weekend as a sports spectator, which is rare for me
-- sometimes I do sports and sometimes I vegetate, but I rarely vegetate watching
other people do sports.
As a matter of fact there wasn't really much
vegetation involved in Sautrday's spectating. We went to the Phoenix Open (now
known as the FBR Open, which strikes me as a bad marketing idea, since I don't
think it's a brilliant move to change your name to something neither euphonious
nor especially memorable) for the morning. This turned out to be a good idea; we
walked around most of the holes and could see anyone we wanted, and when they
asked the crowd for quiet nobody breathed. Even the food vendors had only short
lines. We figure we walked over 3 miles, and yes, I'm
href="http://fivehundred.diaryland.com">logging it -- we've hiked enough to be
good at estimating distance. As we exited a bit after noon, huge crowds were
coming in, to the point where it was difficult to go in the other direction, and
the golfers seemed to be thrown off their putting by loud cheering from some of
the other holes. Fortunately, the new crowds were being directed to a different
parking lot so driving out was very easy. I'm no golfer, so it was interesting to
go once, but I don't know that I'd want to go again unless I learned to appreciate
the finer points of the sport. (On the strength of P.G. Wodehouse's golf stories,
I'm willing to believe it does have finer points.)
On Sunday, of
course, we watched the Superbowl. I believe in common national experiences. More
to the point, this year it was worth watching; we stayed up to the very end and
I'm glad we did. (This is somewhat more pathetic when you realize that it ended
around 8:30 PM in my time zone. But today was a rowing day.) What a novel concept:
a Superbowl in which the game was more exciting than either the halftime show or
the commercials. Yes, I enjoyed the donkey-wannbe-Clydesdale and the guy who drove
all the way across the country to deliver to his girlfriend a lipstick that wasn't
hers, though I can't actually see why either one would make me want to drink more
beer -- at least the former is easy to associate with its branding. And yes, I
thought the "accidental" unhooking of Janet was the most entertaining moment of
the halftime show -- but that's not a good recommendation for a singer, being able
to be upstaged by on of your own body parts. It's even less of a recommendation
for P. Diddy (why *did* he change his nom-de-microphone??), Nelly, and Justin, to
be upstaged by someone else's body part. In fact it sounds as if the streaker was
the funniest part of all, but the TV didn't show him. But none of that can compare
to a touchdown from the 90-yard-line or a game-winning field goal in the last 8
seconds. I hope the Panthers get over the disappointment enough to be proud --
both teams played a hell of a game.
If you're interested in that sort of thing, go join
Wyndspirit's 100
books club. I won't be joining, myself; I need motivation to read like I need
motivation to breathe. For adults who just need a bit of a push to do something
they want to do anyway, this might work, but I never did quite see the point of
all those vacation reading clubs libraries have for kids. If they're going to read
they will anyway and if not they'll just feel guilty. The activities around
reading to little kids or clubs where books are actually discussed are more
interesting to me, and I'd expect them (the former especially) to do a better job
motivating nonreaders to try books.
I would consider joining
href="http://www.baraita.net/blog/archives/2004_01.html#000429">Baraita's Judaica
reading group buthonestly, I don't think I have time and energy for the books
that group is likely to read. Maybe I should point my mother at it instead.
I don't think my mind works in normal ways. Sometimes I
don't think it works in any ways but those laid down in print on a page.
href="http://batten.diaryland.com/040202_49.html">Jenn's entry today had me
realizing that my views on what happens after death are probably derived less from
anything I learned in synagogue, or in Hebrew School and more from my
grandmother's fierce belief that she would see my grandfather again combined in
nearly equal parts with something Professor Bullfinch said in one of the Danny
Dunn books (Danny Dunn and the Time Machine I think) I devoured in third
grade: "To a scientist, death is another another adventure." Or words to that
effect. What a place to form your views on the great matters.
Yesterday I did an alumna interview with an applicant to my
alma mater. She handed me a "resume" that was a fulll page, front and back,
listing all of her activities, accoomplishments, and awards: sports, social,
educational, and so on. I'm sure a lot of them are very interesting and valuable
but I wonder when she has time to sleep. Or enjoy herself. Scary.