Friday, February 19, 2010

Shift Happens


She came to me and said good-bye.
She cried, but her eyes were dry.
She said she'd never love another guy
Like me. Like me.

But soon the sun will shine again.
She will be mine again.
And everything will be all right again.
You'll see. You'll see.

I remember seeing Devo on Saturday Night Live as clearly as I remember seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Both times, the world shifted a bit.

I never became a big devotee of punk rock, but it was interesting and energetic...and it was during that time I jotted this little song ditty. All I remember is that it had about three notes, a driving drumbeat, and a middle verse, which I have since forgotten.

Other shifts in the music world have rocked it, but not me so much. I guess we all tend to hang on to our musical roots, the stuff that shaped our lives as we were growing up.

I'm glad about that...because no matter what anyone else says, the '60s music rocked — and still does!




Friday, February 12, 2010

The Tangled Web


I'm caught up in the tangled web
That's called the Internet.
It eats my time and fries my brain
And makes me scream...and yet,
I'm learning a few basics
And slogging through the muck
And may create a website —
If there's such a thing as luck!

This online course I'm taking is a bigger bitch than me. And of course, it's because I'm ridiculously and embarrassingly web illiterate, so even the small stuff makes me sweat.

I'm working very hard to learn things that even kids today know almost intuitively, and all because I want to know how things work — at least a little bit — so I can join the e-commerce flood and maybe float some e-books into people's computers...for a price, of course.

But believe me, when I am making enough money to keep us in beans through our so-called retirement years, I'll be outsourcing, in a New York minute, the same shit I'm now struggling to master.


Monday, February 1, 2010

Bowling With My Thais and a White Russian

My citizenship students/new US citizens and I are maintaining our friendship outside of class.

As my loyal followers know, my students included people from Thailand, Laos, Russia, and Mexico.

This is a photo of Pawn, Mei, me, and Marina at the bowling alley. Cool, huh?

We had chatted about what to do for fun other than feasting on Thai/Laos/Russian food, and Mei/May suggested bowling.

Since my husband Jim has his own ball or two and loves to bowl, and I think it's okay, and everyone agreed, that's what we did. One of us couldn't make it; we may have to do it all again sometime.

Had a hoot. The tiny one, Mei/May, was the women's champ. She got many strikes; I just struck out. Someone finally asked what two gutter balls in a row was called, and I said, "Oh, shit!" Up until then they thought it was "Son of a bitch!"

The boys came too, and we had a good time. But we girls realized we wanted to talk more, and a bowling alley is not the best environment for chatting. Yelling was more like it. But we had fun...which, as you know, is one of my main goals in life.

So, success! Having fun, maintaining friendships, and swearing in context. Life is good.

Mei changed her name legally to May when she became a citizen, so I love calling her Mei-May. It makes her laugh.

May came here and spent six years in her apartment because she felt so disoriented and isolated. Then she began studying English at the library's Literacy Center and then ended up in my citizenship class. Her progress has been remarkable, and her outlook and enjoyment of life has grown exponentially. What a story.

If she can do all that, surely I can conquer the WWW. You think?