Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "Prophecy is very hard, particularly when it involves the future." - Yogi Berra

Reading: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians

Listening to: Steven Bergman and David Kruh, The Curse of the Bambino. Oddly, I only have Damn Yankees on cassette, not CD.

Decluttering accomplishments: come on - the World Series takes priority over housework!

Shameless Self-promotion Department: Come to Tellebration in Long Beach! At the El Dorado Nature Center on 17 November at 8 p.m.. Send me email for more info.

4 November 2001 - Official Gloating

I don't particularly like the Arizona Diamondbacks. First of all, teams should be named after cities, not states. Secondly, team names should have no more than two syllables. Finally - and most importantly - their success has been due largely to spending tons of money to buy a few seasoned veterans. Robert pointed out that tactic is exactly the one that the Yankees have used. Which is exactly what's wrong with it.

But any team that's playing the Source of All Evil in the Universe is going to get my cheers, so I am happily gloating tonight. I was particularly pleased because of all these people who were softening towards the Yankees this year. Robert had asked me if it felt lonely being the only person in the U.S. who still hated the Yankees and I pointed out that there were still some right-thinking people left. After all, President Bush wanted us to get back to normal - and what could be more normal than hating the Yankees? And, of course, Roger Clemens (a.ka.. the traitor) is particularly hateful.

Okay, I do hate terrorism more than I hate the Yankees. But Al Qa'ida weren't playing at Bank One Ballpark this weekend.

Watching baseball has occupied only a small amount of my week. Too much of it was filled with fairly tedious chores at work. I have a particular dislike of teleconferences. While they do save on travel, it's harder to focus than it is at face to face meetings. The week was broken up by a going away luncheon for a couple of Air Force officers. One of them had the misfortune to give us incorrect directions to a restaurant a couple of weeks ago and lead us through several wrong turns. So we got him a compass and a map of the city he's moving to in honor of "his unique leadership abilities."

Thursday night, I drove down to Nancy's for a business meeting for Long Beach Storytellers. We're still debating how to use Norman's money. I'm not sure we accomplished much, beyond deciding to stop doing the mini-workshops at the beginning of each meeting. There's some chance we'll manage to bring in some guest tellers or put on some workshops. I suppose I can't complain much without making a major time commitment that I'm not really able to make right now.

Saturday featured the Contemporary Crafts Market. I went with Barbara and we were supposed to meet Penny, who showed up late and didn't stay as she wasn't feeling well. I bought just a few things - some hand-dyed knitting wool, one pin, and a camel puppet that I've wanted for a long time, plus a gift for a friend. There were plenty of other temptations, but I do try to stay within my budget. In particular, there was a lovely necklace of lapis cubes, mixed with open cubes of gold and a few diamonds. But $2600 is a bit rich for my blood. I did take the artist's card, just in case I ever win the lottery.

Finally, I went to a storytelling and music concert last night. Angela Lloyd was joined by pianist Rebecca Rollins, who played several compositions by Angela's mother, Caroline Lloyd, and a few by Ruth Crawford Seeger. Seeger is best known in the folk music world (as Peggy and Mike's mother, as well as Pete's step-mother) so it was surprising how avant-garde a lot of her own music was. There was a disappointing turnout, but it was still an interesting evening. I was particularly pleased to hear Angela's version of Cinderella again. Did you know that the real reason she wore glass slippers is because they matched all her ballgowns?

The only downside of going out last night was not watching the last few innings of Game 6. But Arizona was already winning 15-2 when I left the house. And everything worked out nicely tonight, which is what really matters. I plan to gloat until at least next season.