Category: Uncategorized

I started this journal — and I got the idea from Oprah, God help me — where I write down three things I accomplished each day, and three positive things from the day. The instructions where great. Oprah said something about how some days it’s hard to find a positive thing and she’ll make entries like, “saw a squirrel.” So, here are some of my positive things from last year. You can tell when I was scraping bottom.

– my tooth fell out and down the drain, but the super retrieved it [it was a cap, actually].
– my new calculator works.
– a blizzard has begun.
– the Frick.
– MacDonald’s french fries.
– the water that Ruby gave me at the movies.
– the headless bride painting from Cricket.
– my newly replaced shower water filter.
– Bill Owens wrote me back [photographer I admire].
– Finney not being poisoned.
– The Half and Half is still good [oh man, what kind of sorry-ass day could I have been having when the fact that my Half and Half wasn’t sour was the best thing I could think of that day??].
– Eye contact with the Mayor [Bloomberg, he spoke at an event that I performed at and totally checked me out].
– the pizza guys know me and usually give me a good slice.
– the cover of my book is up on Amazon!
– Deadwood.
– nobody I know died [really scrapping bottom that day].
– Naveen Andrews dancing.
– figuring out the higher level ipod shuffle.
– I could afford to pay my taxes.
– purring.
– New pjs, a quiet night, lovely breeze blowing in the scent from my candle. It’s like childhood with that nice long stretch of summer ahead.
– was able to give decent directions to three sets of tourists.
– Really nice visit with Dr. Shaler, love that guy.
– my tweezers are pink.
– Love love love love (to the infinity power) my new top, even Howard commented on it.
– Lovely lovely cruise up the East River, which is a tidal something or other, not a river, it turns out.
– Kim and Oscar Wilde people screaming for me [these are friends from a bookstore, I was drumming in a parade and they screamed out my name when I went by].
– It’s hard to remember after the fact three nice things so I’m going to let this one go, and just say: cats, cats, cats.
– Great idea from an editor at Ecco, I want to write this book BAD [and now I am!!].
– getting some medicine into Buddy without getting killed.
– Shaun of the Dead [this movie has appeared three times so far in my journal].
– Figured out Hark the Herald Angels descant.
– dinner didn’t suck [that’s when I was in Durham and couldn’t find a decent place to eat, I’m talking about a veggie burger from Burger King in this entry].
– people knowing my order at Burger King [I started going there a lot].
– Realizing I’ll be in good shape for my 50th birthday, at least I’ll have that [and I did!].
– Cats are totally eating [they were sick].
– Sean of the Dead [again! I don’t know which spelling is correct].
– remembering how wonderful a good book is.
– the parking garage guys across the street carrying the machine up, yeah, I had to pay them, but just having someone there to pay was a godsend [I couldn’t lift the computer Echo used to run on, much less carry it up five flights and no friends were around and I was STUCK so I was very happy].

Okay, now I’m back in the present. Today I’m going to the wedding of two people I met while volunteering at ground zero, Diane and Brian. Hopefully I will be back with pictures! I meant to buy a new dress so I’m not wearing the same dress I’ve worn to every warm weather event for the past three years (in fact there’s a picture of me in it up on this blog), but I forgot. I’m a pretty girly-girl, I think and then I have these lapses. The wedding isn’t until 2PM. Maybe I could go quick and get one before the wedding, if I didn’t freaking live in we-don’t-open-until-noon part of town, that is.

“Someday they’re going to write a blues song just for fighters. It will be for a slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell.” – Sonny Liston

I enjoyed my boxing class so much the other night. Except after watching the instructor help someone who, unlike me, seemed to at least know how to fight a little, it was clear even to me that the instructor knew what he was doing. I had to ask him, “Why are you here, teaching people like me?” He said he used to train real fighters, but boxing was just too corrupt and he preferred what he was doing now. I remembered hearing that, that boxing was corrupt. Apparently I’m the last to know.

I just finished reading The Shame of Boxing by Jack Newfield. Good fucking lord in Heaven, what a heart breaking state of affairs.

It was written five years ago. Can anyone tell me if anything at all has been done? Has anything improved? I can’t believe this goes on, everyone knows it, and it just continues?? I see that Senator John McCain has been making an effort to reform boxing. Where does it all stand?

I woke up dreaming some bizarre dream about Osama bin Laden, and helping the military catch him and then I saw the news about al-Zarqawi. The TV was on while I slept so the news must have penetrated my dreams. I wondered what kind of difference it would really make and my friend Jonathan rightly pointed out that it’s going to be a boost to the military’s morale, and it’s certainly good for the people in Iraq. Then someone else disturbingly pointed out that clearly al-Zarqawi has enemies within Al Qaeda so we have only done their bidding.

Please forgive the juxtaposition, but meanwhile, I was an absolute failure at picture taking last night. This is the only one I like. From left to right: Jim’s hand, Marianne, Rachel, and Ellen. The people you’re not seeing because the pictures came out badly and they’d thank me for not posting them if they saw them: Liz, Max, Ruby, Ellen T., Lianne and Luce. Everyone is prettier than I managed to capture.

You know what? Turns out, 50 doesn’t suck. I’ve been getting more smiles from men on the street in the past week. I think that’s because:

1. I’ve been in a good mood and all smiley myself.
2. The gym. My whole posture and carriage is different. Here is me in one of my new birthday shirts.

Tonight I’m going out to dinner with some friends, to celebrate my birthday and my friend Ruby’s birthday. I get to extend my birthday still one more day! Then I promise to stop talking about it and go on to other topics that might be of interest to people other than ME.

Like boxing. I took a boxing class, and I have to say I loved it. If anyone can recommend a good place where I can really learn to box, I’d be most grateful. It was the most exhausting workout I have ever had in my entire life. Good Lord, they make you work. But it was worth it to get to the boxing part.

I just remembered the 666 thing, due to a really bad review of The Omen, which called it unnecessary. That would kill me, if a reviewer called one of my books unnecessary.

Today is the last day of my extended birthday. What shall I do to start the 50’s off right? And honor this symbolic day? I could bite Finney, who has nipped at me 60 thousand billion times. Look at this evil little face!