(Only Two) Things to Say

I have two things to say on this virutally starless Rhode Island night. (Some of the more country-ish, open-road towns have clusters and clusters of bright silver stars winking above, but not me here in this suburb.) The first:

Why do people have to get high on marijuana when there are conversations to be had in Chinese? Nothing gives me a high like talking with someone in his or her (non-English) native language.

The other:

Okay, so you've got a seventeen-year-old girl in front of you. You haven't seen this girl in probably almost a year now, ever since she stopped attending Saturday evening church service. Last time you saw her, she was pale and skinny and eating nothing but carrots at the Wednesday night church suppers. Then she went into the hospital. Put two and two together.

A tip for getting along with teenage girls, no matter how old you are: when you see the young lady a year later, don't tell her she looks like she's "gaining a pound or two", no matter how well you mean.

Emily

Dreaming

I've been meaning to share the other night's dream.

It begins with a banned of drugged zombies at my door. Some of them I know; one is a cartoon character from Family Guy and a few are fellows from my past I had hoped never to see again.

I am not entirely sure what to say.

The zombie-druggies (I think they were really really drugged, not corpses - and one of them happened to be an addict from my past, so ...) pile into my front room and start sabatoging the house with their anti-social zombie etiquette. Some lie down on the couch and pass out. Others start moaning about their horrible, horrible lives to me. I begin playing counselor and offering advice. The zombies do not take the advice but instead decide to murder me. I run around for a while and, when the zombies are probably stumbling around confused somewhere in the house, I pick up the phone and dial 911.

"Hello," burbles the male receptionist on the other end, who sounds remarkably like the head of the theater department I recently auditioned for, "You've reached 911 Services; please state your emergency; if you are experiencing fire, robery, or attempted murder, please stay on the line and we will send an ambulance and police officers your way; if you are experiencing medical trauma, please describe your symptoms and we will send medical assistance in the form of ambulances and physicians; for all other calls, please hang up now."

"Hi, um, my hosue is full of drugged nuts who are chasing me around ... trying to kill me ... I think they might have had a little booze, too," I state calmly into the phone.

"Oh please," says the receptionist. "This sounds like a great plot for a movie, but you're just spewing nonsense, and so -"

"No, I'm serious. They've filled my house!"

"I have better things to do," sniffs the receptionist, and slams down the phone.

The rest of the dream is a blur - I leave the house to do some shopping or something. I come home and the drugged zombies have disappeared, leaving my brothers and mother in their places.

"Hi," I say. "Did someone send police officers to get rid of the zombies?"

"Um, no," replies my mother. Then she hesitates. "But they did send movie executives."

Pink June

Adopt Donald!

Donald May 1997 Donald is a captivating, expressive and sensitive twelve year old boy who wants a forever family to call his own. He describes himself as being funny, silly, athletic, and just a fun kid. In the spring and summer, Donald loves to garden. He loves to grow tomatoes and eat fresh lettuce from the garden. Donald takes great pride in the vegetables that he can harvest. He enjoys many summer activities such as hiking, fishing, riding bikes, swimming, and camping. Indoors you may find him playing video games, watching movies, or playing cards. Donald's favorite movie is "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Donald loves to laugh and tell jokes. A childhood favorite book is Dr. Suess' "Green Eggs and Ham". His favorite sport is football, and he loves to cheer on the Patriots', Tom Brady! Donald would love the opportunity to be with a family that could teach him how to draw, play sports with him, and have snowball fights. Staying active and being outside is important to Donald. He enjoys helping adults do yard work and chores. He is an affectionate young boy who thrives on attention and being around those who have a good sense of humor. In school Donald is currently in the 7th grade. He enjoys and is good at Math but appreciates help with homework assignments. In Donald's words, "adoption is more difficult to talk about because I've been waiting for a long time. I don't think it will ever happen for me. I want a family that will always be by my side, watch sports with me, and play outside with me. I want a family that will make homemade mac-n-cheese with me, which is my favorite food. I dream about being in a family, going to Disney World, going to college, and becoming a policeman." Donald will thrive in a family that is structured, consistent and firm with their rules, but a balance of love and nurturing. He has been given many reasons not to trust adults in his life and will need a family that will not waiver in their commitment to him. He is hopeful there is a family for him, but scared that a family will give up on him, as they have in the past. Because of disappointments in his life, Donald will also need a family that is patient in allowing him to trust others again. Donald is a compassionate, cuddly and irresistible little boy who has the potential to grow and succeed, but needs a family who will believe in him and be committed to parenting him. Click here to view Donald's and other recent Tuesday's Child segments.

That's right, Donald doesn't think he'll ever be adopted. No kid is ever too old to be adopted. Emily

Dolls. Looking for a Piggie. Shelving Books. And Also a Link About Suicide.

Shelving library books is a really physical job. It's nice. Very nice. On the other hand, shelving the reference books gets to be really exhausting - it's mathematical, alphabetical, and physically taxing. So this has turned out to be a most interesting job, this paging at the library. Well, I'm glad to have it: volunteering is nice but I didn't even know I could have this as a job. For some reason, I guess, I supposed one had to be older than seventeen to be a page ...

Yesterday brought me to the antique shop in the local village. And they had a Japanese doll in a case predating 1921. And so this made me determined to organize a proper place for my Old Dolls collection. And it looks great, the squat little shelf under the window full of dolls ... if I can get my camera working a little better I'll put up a photograph. They look really lovely.

Today I would like to head down there again to pick up the most interesting-looking little ceramic piggie (I have a certain respect for pigs after reading the almost exclusively meat-related article in the Funk and Wagnall's encyclopedia set). But my blood sugar isn't in a cooperative mood this afternoon. This keeps me from walking into the village like I would otherwise be able to do.

I found this today - thought it was definitely worth posting. It's a really helpful article on suicide prevention; goes very in-depth about just how suicidal people tend to feel beforehand. I liked it. And I appreciated how unbiased it was, versus some of the other articles on suicide out there.

http://www.essortment.com/all/dealingwithsui_reel.htm

I suppose I'll go back to researching atomic elemental formulas now. You know it's a bit tricky, figuring out just which element has which particular formula ...

Emily

I Can Actually Eat Candy and Other Little Things About Halloween (Not Much, but Enough)

I've never been much of a stickler for Halloween. Nor have I ever felt a particular fondness for it. It does have its fun charm, its uniqueness, its colorful personality. But I've never taken very well to stumbling around in the dark tripping over my own costume ... and holding a flashlight and candy bucket, and then of course not ever getting to consume all the candy. I've never been particularly fond of candy, either! Chocolate, of course, is wonderful. Chocolate is great. But anything really manufactured, anything really particular - like gummy worms or Sweet Tarts - I could never get into that stuff. Benjamin always rather liked the variety, though. And Jack has a gummy worm (and gummy bear) problem. We're stopping at Rite Aid every other night to refresh his supply.

As a general rule, people tend to assume I've lost all interest in candy since I have juvenile diabetes. WRONG. If I take the right amount of insulin I can eat all the candy I want. This just happens to not be very much. I've only had diabetes for five years, and even before then I was just not into the candy.

And also for your information, I had apple pie yesterday and three chocolate chip cookies the day before, without breaking any rules of any sort. Also balanced it out with fruits and vegetables and whole-wheat bread. So I am a winner.

Jack is going as Ringo Starr this year (he has a Thing for Ringo). William has a Star Wars costume of some sort ... not quite sure exactly what he is; some sort of clone with a mustache. Ben is on the fence about getting dressed up. He's quite sure he isn't going out for tricks or treats but might like to dress up anyway. He's thinking of being a coal industry executive (as Ben will tell you, the coal industry is evil and you should support the Reality Coalition).

I of course shall be watching "Catspaw" from Star Trek's second season. This is, in fact, the way to celebrate Halloween.

So happy Halloween.

Emily

"A Nerd Like Me, a Nerd Like Me ..."

Hey. I began work as an official library page today. I don't know how much it says about my personality that shelving books is my Dream Job, but there you go.

Oh, not to mention the Star Trek audio-book that arrived at the library (per the request of yours truly) this afternoon. And then there was the checking out of Euclid's Elements. My first boyfriend should be a nerd like me. That could be a song ... "A nerd like me, a nerd like me, all you've got to be is a nerd like me ..."

Emily