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Birthday log Star Date 12 April 2013

  • Apr. 13th, 2013 at 9:05 AM
hello48
I turned 48 yesterday and it was delightful so I thought I would write it all down. My spouse did a great job making it pleasant and delicious. It started with breakfast. I slept in while he got up early to make the lunches for the kids and make quiche and chocolate croissants. We had breakfast together and I got my presents. Lovely cards, socks with water lilies, dolphin earrings, tickets to the Muppet Movie at the Brattle, a promissory note for the Donkey Show AND tickets to see ICARUS, the new Liars & Believers play. I had despaired of seeing it because of the expense for the tickets and baby sitting, but he bought them as a present. I think experiences are the best presents. So then, kids to school and me for some yoga. Then work, clean, shop, cook but nothing ambitious. I had a blast doing Madlibs with my daughter for the first time too. Dinner was nice. We had amazing Clear Flour bread and for dessert a delicious Rosie's Mocha cake. I read the Borrowers to the kids on the couch. No dishes tonight! Replied to many, many facebook and twitter birthday wishes and got the kids to bed. Then Doctor Who & champagne! At some point there was more cake, but who's counting? Then a bit of Sherlock Jr. and to bed. I'm pleased that I don't have a hangover so that I can keep this party going! Today we've got the Muppet Movie and other delights in store.
  • Current Location:Couch, Brookline
  • Current Mood: cheerful cheerful
  • Current Music:I've Got Everything that I Need

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Letting go

  • Mar. 30th, 2013 at 9:44 PM
purple, dragon
We spent Sunday cleaning for Passover. As always, I am reluctant to let the chametz go. I don't want to throw out the pasta. I want to preserve the option of having toast for breakfast. What if the kids want something? But this always ends in frustration. It always comes to the point where I just have to give in. Surrender to the inevitability of Passover. Of time and the journey. And then, when I let go, it gets easier and I get excited. The pieces fall into place and I enjoy the process of cleaning and bringing out the Pesach dishes. Remembering the recipes. The melodies. And we're off! Cana'an or bust.

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If you garden them and water them they make you what you are

  • Mar. 18th, 2013 at 9:04 PM
hello 46
My colleague and mentor passed away. He had a minor stroke and went to the hospital where he had a major stroke and never regained consciousness. It was a sudden and terrible loss. Last time I saw him we spent an hour and a half in a conference room talking about knowledge management; the data, software, information architecture and how to get people to use and appreciate it. He was an expert in the field but so humble and supportive of my efforts. His enthusiasm was contagious. More than anything technical, I learned from him how to manage the demands of working with people and their data. We commiserated over limitations and got excited about possibilities. He was so enthusiastic, so curious and persistent. It was contagious and working with him boosted my skills to the next level. I don't know how I'm going to go forward without him. After years of trying to explain to others how I think about data structures and how they should be organized, here was someone who understood. Information architecture was in his bones and he had that sense of where things should be best placed in the system. So often in meetings, when our users would be suggesting some new field or categorization scheme, he would look at my face, curled up in a sour expression, and laugh. He would be the one to explain why this wasn't a good idea in a friendly, articulate way, while I could barely contain my impulse to say it was a priori WRONG. I will miss his counsel, his good humor and the comfort of a like-minded soul. At least I still have the system that he built, in some ways a map of his mind, which will sustain our organization for a long time. And I hope to catch glimpses of his ghost in the machine.
  • Current Location:Neverwhere
  • Current Mood:Mournful
  • Current Music:Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys,

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In which I give my own talk on the Art of Asking

  • Mar. 16th, 2013 at 2:07 PM
hello 46

Last night was the final show of our Parent/Teacher play. It is so much work, (3 months of rehearsal) and so much fun that it consumes my winter. This year I played a male character and wore sideburns, silver Converse All-Stars and I got to sing a rock song. I'm exhausted and exhilarated and can't wait to do it again. Last night was our cast party and something strange happened.

A group of people were talking about facebook and I was asked if I used it. I said I prefer twitter and was deluged with questions about it: How does it work? Who should I follow? How do you find people? What do you say? I started explaining how I was able to find people with similar interests on twitter. For example, I like the music of Amanda Palmer and I'm in touch with fans around the world that I've never actually met. Amanda's name was a showstopper.  "I saw her TED talk" someone exclaimed. "Me too". "That was amazing" "I emailed it to everyone" "You have to watch it!". "The Art of Asking" became the hot topic in the room. I told them I was one of her backers, part of the fan community. The questions turned to the kickstarter and the fan base and how it all works. I did my own mini-TED about how important connections and relationships are for artists, musicians and writers. It was cool to speak to these people, (doctors, lawyers, engineers) about a topic which is so dear to my heart. I felt vulnerable exposing this part of my life, which I don't talk about much since I don't know anyone who is interested. They are interested now.

As I walked away from that conversation,  I realized that I had just experienced a turning point in Amanda's career and social media in general. TED is a huge amplifier for both individuals and ideas. I want to tell Amanda that at the cocktail parties of Boston, everybody's talking about her. They are curious, excited and open to the message. Welcome to the next level!

  • Current Location:Brookline
  • Current Mood: pleased pleased
  • Current Music:JT on SNL

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Snow fall

  • Feb. 11th, 2013 at 2:34 PM
granmamere, ponyo
Thanks to the blizzard, many of our meetings, classes and outings have been cancelled. It feels good. The weight of those obligations is sliding of my back like snow off a roof. This makes me reflect on how all those things stacked up in the first place and how I can reduce them in the future. Mostly the issue is that our lives with children are interlocking gears or Tetris pieces. If she is there and I need to be here, then you need to be here, except when the other she has that activity. We are very scheduled, even our pleasures and it feels good to have broken out of that, though we are surrounded by ponds of slush and mountains of snow.
  • Current Location:Brookline
  • Current Mood: relieved relieved
  • Current Music:Mozart flute quartets

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Winter

  • Feb. 4th, 2013 at 9:55 AM
hello 46
A bit sore today from ice skating. I didn't think it was much of an exercise, especially at my pace, but it definitely worked some sleepy muscles. I love to skate outside in the winter. Our town has a beautiful rink, built in the former sunken Italian garden of an estate.

laskating

I think it's healthy to get out in the winter and be active if you're going to live in this climate. And then have hot chocolate!
  • Current Location:Home
  • Current Mood: cheerful cheerful
  • Current Music:My Bloody Valentine

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The Crack in Everything

  • Jan. 23rd, 2013 at 11:08 AM
princess of mars

I wrote his on Amanda Palmer's blog, but I wanted to keep it here so that I can develop the thought. It's all swirling around but I feel that I can almost see the eye of of hurricane.

"Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall..." Obama's words brought me to tears and then
to thinking about how these stories are linked. What is this force that
freedom has to push against? The cheap answer is straight white men but
that's only the surface, the reflection of those who traditionally have
held power and fought to maintain their privileged status in the US.
Societies seek homogenization and stasis. You must be like us to be part
of us and we will never change. This is true in the schoolyard, the
street and the work place. We fear and punish difference, completely
missing the point that we are one race, the human race, in infinite
diversity, infinite combination.
The conversations that we're having
here all seem related, whether it's bullying, body hair or the fraud
police. I can't quite bring it into focus, but it's about adults
pretending that we're all OK, that we're all happy, successful, hairless
masters of our own destinies. I'm reminded of the Leonard Cohen song
"Anthem"

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in. "
On this blog and in this community, people can expose themselves,

their imperfections, pain and secret joys, and there is so much Light.

  • Current Location:Boylston Street
  • Current Mood:Frosty
  • Current Music:Mendelssohn

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The Power of Music

  • Jan. 16th, 2013 at 10:26 PM
hello 46
We attended my daughter's concert tonight, which combined the middle school chorus with the orchestra. It was pretty much what would expect from such a group, but I was blown away by their focus and the power of the music. These kids are 11-13 years old. Puberty is having its wicked way with them. They are awkward and pimply and in this horrid transition period where they shriek, spaz out, giggle and cry all in about 5 minutes. But put them on Mozart and they are focused, serious and still. You can see the music move through them and it is a beautiful thing. These are the kids that made it. Who practiced, who could afford the instrument and had the parents who were committed and supportive. If you stick with it, you get to play Mozart, with a large group of kids from all over town. You get to become a part of the musical community which stretches around the world. We are extremely privileged to live in a wealthy town with a huge commitment to the arts. These kids are learning skills and gaining access to a joy that will sustain them throughout their lives. We are the lucky ones. I'm wondering what I can do to help kids who are not so lucky. It's vital that young people have something outside of school to anchor and inspire them. To show them what they are capable of. To pull them to higher ground. No real solutions here, just a head full of ideas. And music.
  • Current Mood:Inspired

Doom

  • Dec. 1st, 2012 at 3:35 PM
hello 46
On this World AIDS Day, I am reminded that I went through college thinking we were all going to die of AIDS. I went through my teens thinking we were all going die in a nuclear war. I never thought I'd live past 30. Didn't even think about it. Now I'm 47 and realizing that I need to plan for a long life. Not just living for the moment, or getting through the days, but actually making thoughtful choices that will help make the next 47 years as pleasant and interesting as possible. Hey Gen Xers, we're still alive! What the hell do we do now?
  • Current Location:Brookline
  • Current Mood:Snowed in
  • Current Music:Anything Goes

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The Commute

  • Nov. 27th, 2012 at 9:16 AM
princess of mars
When I get to the train platform, it's already full. No train for awhile, I think. And when one does come, I will wait for the next. I wander off to look at the river and the November trees. Time passes. I sit and start reading. An announcement blares out across the crowd, derailed train farther up the single-track line. Trains will be delayed. I close my Kindle, pack up my kit and stand. No one else is moving. The crowd stands, many lost in their phones or newspapers, some looking anxiously down the empty track. Very few, 4 of about 50 people, get up and cross the tracks. The waiting ones watch. We walk away from the platform, past the church and three blocks to the other train line, which is running normally. I get to work only 10 minutes later than usual.

This kind of behavior never ceases to amaze me. What the hell would these people do in an emergency? Probably sit patiently and wait for someone to save them. In case of a zombie apocalypse, I will have a really good head start. I may not run fast, but I think!
  • Current Location:Boylston Street
  • Current Mood: curious curious
  • Current Music:Hazy Shade of Winter

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