Wondering

I haven't posted lately. I can't really explain why. I do think a lot about this blog and why I'm not writing in it, or why I even have it to begin with. My own family doesn't read it, since only my husband even knows I have one. I don't think he's read it either, but then again, this is someone who finds Facebook a little stalkerish and creepy, so I'd just as soon keep my ramblings off the radar. I know a few close friends who read it...not that there's been anything to read in a few months.

So what's been going on? Where do I start?

Well, once my last post was posted, I almost immediately embarked on a cumulative 3.5 weeks of work travel. Though this was split up into three whole weeks away interspersed with time home, plus a couple other days and nights away here and there, it was a lot to happen in an 8-week stretch. Actually, it was a lot no matter how you slice it.

Then we had Thanksgiving away too. The holidays came racing toward us. They were exhausting to prepare for, since I spent the week before Christmas away too, but once Christmas arrived, all was groovy. A few years ago, we decided we'd alternate Christmases at home with Christmases away at my parents' house, but after last Christmas here at home and how much we enjoyed it, we decided that we will not travel for Christmas any more. So this was our second Christmas at home in a row, which is a first. (does this make sense?)

Our family Christmas traditions and routines are finally beginning to take form. After a few years of free-form Christmases as we learned to celebrate Christmas as parents, this is a relief. We are repeating things we did last year and enjoyed, and testing some new ideas as well. We're still working on fitting other commitments around our attendance at church for a late afternoon Christmas Eve service. We're pretty much the only ones among our local family and friends who actually go to church Christmas Eve, and seemingly everyone else we know and love wants to eat, drink, and be merry instead of going to church. So we have to balance our desire to be with those we love against our desire to experience the wonder and joy of Christmas Eve lessons and carols. We're seeing what works, and what needs more work, but I think we can find a way eventually to get to church and still get together with friends and family...without going completely insane in the process.

More soon...I hope. Gotta work on a retrospective of the decade, since seemingly every news outlet is doing that right now.

Rain and germs

So I chaperoned my first field trip today. When looking to the future and contemplating parenthood, I never imagined myself riding on a schoolbus, with 30 overexcited kindergartners, in the rain, to an apple orchard. I also never imagined that one could spend a few hours at an orchard without going outside, or anywhere near a fruit tree. Who knew you could kill over an hour demonstrating a cider press?

While the noise level on the bus was beyond intense, and that schoolbus smell brought back not-so-pleasant associations, my greater concern was just not wanting to touch anything. All those germs all over every surface from coughing, sneezing, nose-wiping kids. Swine flu has now hit both my kids' schools and a few families we know, and even though my family has all had the H1N1 mist and regular flu shots, there are other flu strains out there to avoid. And these kids were literally sticking their faces into the seats and against the windows. Gross. I just wanted to decontaminate everyone when we got back, including myself.

I'm normally not that fanatic about germs. I prefer to avoid illness, and I get annoyed at people who bring sick kids to my house, and I'm right there with the handwashing, and I hate being in really germy public places. That said, I think some exposure to bacteria is good for the immune system. I don't care if my dogs lick my kids, or vice versa. I never had one of those shopping-cart covers or portable restaurant placemats for my kids when they were smaller. I didn't sterilize bottles and binkies. When things fall on the floor, I'll still eat them as long as nothing is stuck on them. I don't believe in the 20-second rule or whatever it's called, for me or for my kids. I thought hand sanitizer was only for when you had no other alternative, and that frequent deliberate use of hand sanitizer was a little neurotic.

But this fall? Purell is everywhere. My office has it in every bathroom, and the kids' schools seem to have more dispensers than before. We have it in our cars, plus a big bottle on our kitchen counter to use when we get home. DH is like the Purell Butler if we're out somewhere. We get back in the car and he comes around door to door squirting our hands with Purell. I'm using it. I'm getting used to it. I'm even starting to really like the smell. I should have bought stock in the stuff.

And I'm curious about how this intense focus on illness is changing social behavior. A friend of mine was telling me they just don't take their child to many public places, like shopping malls and playgrounds, because of all the germs going around these days. Anecdotally, I'm hearing that such places are less crowded than usual, and that birthday parties have become smaller and fewer. It's not clear whether the low numbers are due to kids being home sick, or due to parents keeping them home pre-emptively.

Speaking as someone who loathes Chuck E. Cheese, kids' entertainment centers, and restaurant playgrounds in general (mostly because once my kids go in, they won't come out), I'm perversely happy to use germs as an excuse to avoid such establishments altogether. It's clear that I'm not the only mean mommy who feels that way. Strength in numbers, people.

That's no bull

I was an art history major, so I have a greater appreciation for out-there art than many people, but this is, um, interesting. To my eye it is a bull-like (also potentially a sheep or dog) sculpture with a giant meat cleaver splitting it in half from the front. The position of the cleaver kind of makes it look like it has eyes and even a trunk.

What does it mean? Is this some commentary on carnivorous habits, an evocation of butchering, or just a funny-looking table with leg-like legs and a meat cleaver embedded in the front? Is the presence of this public sculpture at a NJ government services complex a commentary on the bureaucratic process?

All I can say is that I'm intrigued and disturbed by this sculpture when I pass by from time to time. Adding to the incongruity is that smokers from this building are usually leaning on the thing in oblivion, like it's just some random wall or ledge. Don't you people realize you are leaning on an evocation of butchered meat?? It took several visits for me to get a shot of it all by itself.

Just watching Larry King, again

So, we have toxicology results and Michael Jackson is finally being buried, 70 days after he died. Despite the stated excuse that the family couldn't decide where to bury him, I kind of wonder whether his being kept out of a permanent resting place has to do with potentially needing to retrieve his body for further testing in the homicide investigation.

I'm not sure I really want to ponder the mortuary technology needed to prolong the pre-interment phase this long, unless someone reveals evidence that he's been stashed in a freezer all this time. In my particular line of work, I have colleagues who have exceptional knowledge of historic mortuary practices, which means I know way too much about the minutiae of coffin construction and other macabre trivia. I know way too much about the reasons why, prior to modern mortuary practices, rural Americans in the South usually buried family members in a small family cemetery out back rather than in a church cemetery at a greater distance. (And I found this book absolutely fascinating.)

This also solidifies my intention that when I die, I will be cremated. Along with averting embalming and later decomposition of my earthly remains, I want no possibility of digging me up decades later to see what really killed me.

It does seem sort of odd to hear Larry's almost breathless coverage of this "historic evening." I'm all for further Jackson fanfare, but after Ted Kennedy's beautiful memorial service and funeral this past weekend, this coverage just seems so...not respectful. Despite the supposed no-fly zone, through the magic of helicopter coverage, we can watch Elizabeth Taylor being wheeled in while Deepak Chopra interviews with Larry.

I watched Ghostbusters last night, for the first time in probably 20 years. Gotta love those free movies On Demand! Despite the length of time since I last watched it, I still know that movie so well that I can anticipate many of the lines. "There is no Dana, only Zooool!" Yes, this is unbelievably lame. This movie was part of wayyyy too many 6th grade birthday slumber parties. It was like, pizza, cake, too much soda, Mad Libs, Ghostbusters, "light as a feather, stiff as a board." Every time.

But the reason I mention this is that I noticed something new in the movie: Larry King has a cigarette-smoking silhouetted cameo in the movie. I had no idea who Larry King was back in the day, and Casey Kasem was the only cameo I recognized (well, at least his voice - I was a devotee of Casey's American Top 40). It's sort of funny to look back now, and realize that Larry has had so much "work" done since that 1984 appearance that he doesn't look much different now.

Prince Tabloid Junkie II

My ardor for the Michael Jackson mysteries continues, but I must admit, Joe Jackson repulses me. His eyes and face are just really, really scary and I can't really explain why. This latest revelation about a mysterious possible fourth Michael Jackson child is odd enough, but Joe's response to the rumor took it to a whole new level of creepy.

Along with the rest of the world, I'm also getting tired of waiting for the toxicology results. What is up?

This whole situation also has some bizarre parallels to the Anna Nicole Smith situation.

• Mysterious death of a middle-aged celebrity:
• Death occurs at rented housing, not celebrity's own home.
  
• Shadowy members of the celebrity's entourage are present at time of death, leading to suspicions about their motives and their power over the decedent.
  
• Celebrity's actual condition at time of 9-1-1 call is not clear.
  
• Suspicion of abnormal prescription drug use by celebrity.
  
• Celebrity had access to doctors willing to prescribe such drugs.
  
• Orphaned children of mysterious parentage whose custody arrangement is not immediately resolved.
  
• Media feeding frenzy.

I could probably think of more, but that Martin Bashir documentary is on MSNBC again....