Random

Here are some photos sitting on various parts of my computer, related to brief things I haven't had much chance to mention - and some that are totally random.



Photo of me in camp when I was maybe 8.



Only someone who really knew me and loved me would surprise me by getting me this. And he did! ;)



It's been determined that all members of my household are fans of these annual Entenmann's treats.

Someone hung this up in my neighborhood recently. Either that, or a witch got stuck.

Fall leaves

I love the change in the weather up here for fall, and the beautiful changing leaves - when they actually change. This year, it's been so hot (except for a few spurts of normalcy) that the leaves haven't changed much. However, the Hubby was kind enough to take me to a cool old NY waterfront town to do some leaf-peeping anyway.

Here are a few photos. As you can see, the leaves are falling, but not completely changing. You know, the leaves have to WANT to change!

Hmmmm

Yeah, I have not had much time for blogging. Buuuut I swear that at times, I think of really great ideas for blog entries. Great ones! Not much consolation, is it?

I still want to write my "triage" entry, or series of entries. Triage, as you probably know, is the idea in medicine, particularly during war-time, that if you are dealing with injuries, you have to tend to the most serverely injured first, even if that means neglecting others for a while. I guess it's another way of saying "make priorities," only, it's for really dire situations, and has worse consequences.

What I've thought about is smaller-scale situations in my life. For instance, I work for a relatively small company. There are people whose last names I haven't learned - simply because they are relatively new - but worse, there are also people whose names I don't know at all, just because they are in a different department.

It would be classy and honorable if I actually made an effort one day to know everyone's name (even if some are just there for the short-term). Then again, if I spend the effort on that, it might take away from other more pressing aspects of work. (OKay, it's not a ton of "effort," but it still means making it a priority.)

At a former job of mine, the wealthy owner used to come in and putter around, asking everyone how they were doing, what their problems were, etc. Everyone found that amazing. Yet, I also know that he didn't really need to work, so he had more time to be generous. He also had a huuuuge network of people who loved him and supported him in whatever he did. So he had time to spread that love. But shouldn't I be more like him, palling around with everyone in the office? Would that make me more personable and a better worker, or a phony? It's something that, in a perfect world, I'd do - at least know a little about everyone in my company.

This is at the less significant part of the spectrum of triage. My bigger issue is that I'd like to - cliche on the way - "make the world a better place." But there are so many things that need fixin'...where to start? It's not like I can solve all the problems - best to just pick one small way to help, somewhere. Not at the expense of my loved ones or job, of course. But where to start?

That's an aspect for another post someday....

Disclaimer: I kinda just wrote that, not very well-organized, so judge it that way. Some of this just comes out. Maybe if I revised, it'd be more cohesive. Just my thoughts. Anyway, I wrote it on Saturday but am posting it Sunday. On Monday: Photos of fall leaves, as I went "leaf peeping" with the hubby. Unfortunately, the weather is not so conducive for leaf changes.

BASTARDS!!!

Most smartest

Most reality shows annoy me. But I found one that actually made me laugh.

It's called "America's Most Smartest Model" and of course, the purpose is just to make fun of models. I imagine that the models on the show realize that. They still want the publicity anyway.
The show judges models on their looks and moves, but also asks them history and spelling questions.

During the first episode, they had to walk the runway and say a list of things, with the category given by the judges. For instance, they would tell one guy "Kinds of dinosaur" and he had to walk the runway saying "Stegosaurus, brontosaurus..."

So anyway, during the course of this, they asked a French model to name things that smell bad.

He said: "Socks, trash, dirty laundry, dirty penis..."

At the end, Ben Stein said, "Did you say, 'Dirty penis'?"

The model replied, in his French accent, "Well, does it smell bad?"

Next, they asked a ditsy-looking woman to name things that were round. So she came out and walked the runway saying something like, "Grapefruit, balls, cherries, grapefruit, balls, cherries."

At that point, I broke down and started laughing hysterically. The Hubby just stared at me strangely. Thank God I didn't do this before the wedding or there might not have been one.

Anyway, don't forget to watch "America's Most Smartest Model" so that you can get your jollies pretending you are superior to people who look much better than you.

On another night, we are hosting trivia tonight. See ya!

Trivia

The Hub and I are hosting Tuesday Night Trivia on...well, Tuesday! So come play.

Information and directions here. The press release is a bit old, but the info is the same. Oh, it's in New York City.

Good readin'

My friend Jodi from elementary school only updates her blog occasionally, but when she does, it's REALLY worth reading. She is a stupendous writer, and very funny. If you remember Balki from "Perfect Strangers," read this entry dated Sept. 11. There's a surprise at the end.

Another friend of mine has a touching entry about friends or lovers who may be out of our lives, but left a lasting effect by teaching us something. Read it here.

Finally, a few weeks ago, the New York Times stopped forcing people to pay to read their old articles, so now you can pretty much get anything. Including some of my nutty pieces. Despite the serious headline, this is meant to be funny.

Have a great weekend! It's supposed to be sunny and cool, and I'm hoping the leaves will be purty.

Artistic genius

It's a fun tradition at weddings to leave disposable cameras on the tables so your guests can take their own pictures of each other, then leave the camera for you to develop.

We figured we'd get some good photos, and some awful ones.

But never did we predict the level of genius that we'd see when we retrieved our photos from CVS yesterday!

WOW!!! Clearly, this photo of a young man's shoulder is meant to evoke the burden that all of today's youth must "shoulder" in a changing and sometimes dangerous society.



The question asked by this astoundingly profound shot is quite obvious. Maybe we all have the capacity to hear, but do we really LISTEN?




While some of us are at our best at a wedding, others are just a shadow of themselves. Clearly the photographer here was a brilliant philosopher.



Okay, let's stop sugar-coating it. This person was just holding the camera backwards. DUH!!!

Bliss

I've been married a week, and so far it's great.

That's really no fun for you to read about, is it? Maybe I should write more about past bad dating experiences...I'll change any names to protect the innocent.

Is it hot enough for you? What are we fall-leaf loves to do? There are still moments of beauty in the trees along the highway -- crimson-studded branches and splashes of Golden Delicious yellow.

Okay, no time to write more. If you had to work today, I feel your pain.

That's just swell

Looks like someone wrote a paper on Carrie Pilby in 2004 and is now selling her paper on-line for $15! At least she got an A minus.

Well, I must go back to cleaning and ironing now.

Aftermath


My dress when I finally got out of it at the end of the day.

Gorgeous flowers I got at work yesterday from my new hubby.

Incidentally, the candy you are looking at on the second shelf is dark chocolate peanut M&Ms, which I had been curious to try. They actually taste very similar to regular peanut M&Ms; the dark chocolate doesn't make much of a difference.

I'm married

As of two days ago.

To the Boy: I'm very lucky to be with you and I love you (I guess I should call you The Hubby now).

I am extremely honored and humbled to have so many good people in my life...I have already received photos from a few of my wonderful friends, and I'm nearly speechless at how wonderful everyone is. Thanks to everyone who attended, to those who sent good wishes, and of course, to anyone reading this.

Don't worry, I won't change...except that I will now mostly write about ironing, vaccuuming, sweeping, and standing by my man.

I of course have much more to say, too much for a blog post. To The Boy, I love you and thanks for marrying me. And for putting up with a blog.

Oh, just a few things:
-I wore sneakers under my wedding dress and no one complained. Our guests did an impromptu hora to "Born to Run" at the end of the night and it was perfect. I got my veil inexpensively at a craft store (a suggestion from the best man's wife), and no one left the wedding saying, "Gee, I enjoyed the music and people and everything was beautiful....but the veil wasn't very good." So, resist the pressure of the wedding industry! It's about you and your spouse and your loved ones. That's all.

Sweatshirt weather at last!

Well, that was a long moment of silence...

Blogging will continue to be brief this month.

The Boy and I visited my alma mater this weekend, and we went to a Mets game. It was fun.

I am really posting this on Sunday but dating it for Monday, just so y'all know. I do that sometimes.

Hope you have a good week.

Peace

Blog-moment of silence today.

College life

Students at Harvard used to get a university-issued pillow when they moved into their dorms. But this year, Harvard is discontinuing the practice. They should have gotten rid of it years ago. Aren't Harvard freshmen smart enough to bring their own pillow to school?

Ferry good

Last Saturday, the fiance and I took the free ferry from NYC to Governor's Island, a former military base off the Manhattan coast. It's now full of empty brick buildings while the city decides what to do with it. They give free tours during the summer. The last tours were this past weekend.

A fortress from the War of 1812.

Then, Sunday, he took me to a Staten Island Yankees game. They played the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Mets affiliate. It was one of the more fun stadiums.

One guy's apparent homer was declared foul.

A foul ball flew over our row.

Unpleasant-ville

Apparently, much of the school board in Pleasantville, NJ got arrested this morning for alleged corruption. I don't know where Pleasantville is, but I guess you shouldn't move there for the schools.

More importantly, when I have more time - some photos from a fabulous weekend with the Boy. Including baseball. This was not our seat:

Linkage

Jon the writer told me he got inspired and wrote a first-day-of-college post of his own. It's very good.

A friend of mine published excerpts from her own elementary school diaries , which are more biting than mine. (Scroll down a post or two.)

Have a great first week of September, everyone!

Sold!

I really don't sit around all day checking on how my books are selling. But it occurred to me to check this because I haven't done so in a very long time. Is this true? If so, I want my check! Hahaha.

Note: It's still available on Amazon, so it's not really sold out.

Scott Baio's back

The Boy was kind enough to forward me articles about my favorite reality show. Scott Baio will be returning for a second season. I may not watch this one. But anyway, here's the dirt. Warning: Spoilers!!!

Coupons

During my first few days of freshman year of college, it was sunny, bright, and contradictorily cool. We kept waiting for rain, and there was none, which was good for us suburban kids who weren't used to all that walking around in a city.

Several days were reserved for freshman orientation before classes began, and this orientation included "diversity training" on the grassy college green (where we designed our own skits about racial sensitivity), last-minute dropping and adding of courses, and "campus safety" seminars. There was a tree-lined brick walkway that ran the length of campus, past the Book Store and the main freshman dorm, and along the way, people stalked us trying to invite us to their club, sell us something, offer us membership.

During the first few days of school, everybody wanted us.

If we walked on the brick walkway, we'd get accosted by coupons: The local pizza restaurant, wing joints, bagel shops. Credit card companies set up desks to offer us gifts if we'd use their card, now that we were suddenly independent (probably not such a good idea). Clubs and non-profit volunteer groups begged us to be members.

And there were jobs. "JOBS!" the pink fluorescent flyers screamed, "$12-$15 an hour!" The $15 an hour one involved delivering newspapers on campus from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. before classes, a great way to earn yourself a reputation on your dorm floor while everyone else slept late. There were jobs editing the faculty newsletter, sitting in the dorm computer rooms, and working in the dining hall (which meant a nice discount on meal plan).

One night during orientation, there was an event at the Christian center with free burgers and a showing of a Monty Python movie. Of course, all the non-Christian freshmen came too, because it was yet another free dinner, a way to avoid spending money when people were throwing so many freebies at us.

Everybody wanted us. We were the future.

And we wanted each other, no doubt. Some of us had boy- or girl-friends back home, but not most of us. We were 18, without our parents for the first time, and our hormones were still raging. So there we were, with thousands of people our ages, of similar backgrounds, suddenly sprung from the stuffy halls of high school and shedding the social labels of nerd or geek or jock. Everyone wanted to sell things to us and get to know us.

It really felt like a beginning.

We could do anything from here, and some of us were bound to be successful at it. Those groups, credit card companies, and employers knew it. We were ripe for the picking. Get 'em while they're young. Feed 'em, stuff their mailboxes with offers and event notices, give 'em a plastic blue and red rape whistle if any of their late-night activities go too far.

It was an explosive, exciting time for those of us who'd been mired in the limitations of high school. It was the beginning of independence.

For some students, it was a time when they realized they didn't know how to handle that newfound independence and flunked out. Others started a romance within a few days and never ended it. Some just went through school and had a good time. Some prepared to make a lot of money. Some filled their heads with knowledge and didn't know what to do after graduation.

But no matter what happened, beginnings are nice. We didn't know which path we were about to take, only that it was all ahead of us and not much was behind.

That feeling comes back to me every year around this time, when everyone looked at us as the representatives of the future, and we knew anything could happen in love and life. You don't have to be 18 to believe that, but when you are 18, it sure helps other people feel that way!

Bat dog

The Boy and I went to a Trenton Thunder minor league game on Saturday night. The team had a "bat dog" that actually went out and picked up the bats after the players were done with them in the first inning. It was a Golden Retriever, I think. They also featured a dog later on that was up for adoption. So, definitely my kind of game. Anyway, we left early because it was soupy-hot that night. The Thunder apparently won 7-0. The next night, they played a 14-inning game!

Bloggin' may be light over the next month. But I will write something about the first day of school soon.

Uh oh!

A boy read my diary! It was my fiance! Okay, so it was my diary from when I was 8, but still...no boys allowed.

Now that he knows that I didn't get invited to Johanna's birthday party, or that my brother got better Life Savers flavors than I, I hope he will still be kind enough to marry me.

And I tried so hard to keep those things a secret...

One writer's beginnings

I was looking for something last night and I found my diary from when I was 8.

It is not of high literary quality.

Haiku

I just made some tea
This could signify the start
Of a new season

Busy

Too busy to post today. Just to save time - er, I may be too busy to post tomorrow too.

I should get a post in some time this week. I think.

I love you all and give you all a great big free (((hug))).

(That hug was platonic, but meaningful.)

This just makes no sense

Today I got an e-mail whose subject heading said "Help! My boyfriend's p*nis is too big to fit in my mouth!"

Interesting dilemma! I had never heard of the person who was sending it, but I was quite concerned for her (his?) well-being, so I opened it. It said:

"Dames always shrieked at me and even gentlemans did in the water closet! Well, now I smil at them, because I took Mega-Di*k for 6 months and now my c*ck is dreadfully longer than average."

I don't understand this crazy logic. If it gets bigger, then it will have even less chance of fitting in the mouth. Maybe this person should take Mini-Di*k for 6 months. Hmmm. Count me puzzled.

I am officially even more lame than before

I am afraid to go on rollercoasters. Not just rollercoasters, though. The last time I rode on the Buccanneer in Great Adventure, I was scared and decided I'd never go on that again, either.

Last time I was coaxed onto a Ferris wheel, I also decided I would never go on one again.

Now that I see that people actually died on one, I have more reason - although I know that's incredibly rare. Still, I think I'll skip it if I can.

Talkin' baseball

The Boy and I had a nice weekend. We decided to see a minor league game out of the area. You may have heard of the incident a few years ago when people at a Toronto Blue Jays game witnessed a couple having sex in an attached hotel. Well, the team we saw also had an attached hotel, although we provided no such "free shows."

The minor league team, the Manchester New Hampshire Fisher Cats, were an affiliate of the Blue Jays.

Here is the view from our room:




The night we were there, the local Boy Scouts had a "sleep over" on the field. The Boy and I both agreed that it would have been a cool thing to do when we were growing up. However, by 6:30 the next morning, most of the people were packing up to leave. I could tell the adults had just had enough.

We went to a game the next day and had a lot of fun. There were fireworks after. Unfortunately, the boy caught a free t-shirt and injured his finger in the process.

There was a little non-sporty entertainment, of course. We took a walk downtown by the dozens of former mills, and enjoyed a view of the Merrimack River.

So if you are a big baseball fan or are in love with one, it's a weekend I recommend. We also soaked in the homeplate-shaped hot tub (no photo, sorry).

I might be pretty busy this week and not blog so much, so have a good week!

TGIF

Have a good weekend, y'all!

Good news

Starting today, Cablevision of New Jersey is getting the 24-hour "Sound of Music" channel! It replaces ESPN!!! I look forward to watching it on Sundays at 10 a.m. instead of "Sports Reporters"...Captain Von Trapp is much more handsome than Mitch Albom.

Anyway, apparently there was a huge storm yesterday morning that wreaked havoc all over the NYC area and even caused a tornado in Brooklyn, and I slept right through it. I've nearly lost the right to call myself a Weather Weenie.

Update: The Boy had this to say in response:

and as for the rest of the cablevision press release..........."not available in all areas, one of them being [our town] and even if it were available in [our county], we would simply move Sports Reporters, along with sports guru/genius Mitch Albom, to ESPN 2." Still not sure what you have against a show you may have spent all of five minutes watching. You are usually doing laundry, bathing or working out when Sports Reporters is on. You probably had to look up the show online to see who the moderators usually are. They tend to vary from week to week, but Albom is usually a constant.

Whatever. The Hillllls are Aliiiiiiiiive....

Anyway, he's wrong...I liked "Sports Reporters" when they were talking about The Sopranos.

8/8

I guess I did enough dwelling on myself and my days o' youth on Monday, right?

I'll spare you that today.

What can we do instead?

How about we look at puppies?????

Tuesday

A dream come true!

When I was at the crossroads

A friend of mine recently noted that people only blog when they're upset about something. It's often true of writing in one's journal, too. Through the years, I mostly used my journals to help write out my feelings on things, more bad than good. As a result, most of my journals aren't of great literary quality. There are a few writers whose published diaries are so honest and heartfelt that they're fun to read, like Sylvia Plath's. But in reading hers, you can tell she actually tried to make them well-written. (At least, it seems that way.) I never had the patience - I am pretty sure my jottings won't ever be published.

Anyway, I thought it would be funny to take out my old "One-Year Diary" from when I was 8 or 10 (I got diaries for my birthdays those years) and transcribe a bit of it here, because those diaries are NOT angry - I was too young. They were mostly full of "We went to Wildwood today. The beach was butiful [crossed out] beatifull," which is always fun.

However, I couldn't immediately find them, though I know they're here somewhere. I did open a random journal that turned out to be from when I was 22.

Unsurprisingly, the literary quality was not high. But I did get pretty detailed. Detailed about the holding pattern my life was in. After graduating from college, I was broke, isolated, and desperate to find a job I really loved during an unforgiving economic recession. I didn't know what I would do, who I would love, who I would be, and whom to talk to about any of it.

The thing that saved me was typing skills I had honed since high school, because I knew I needed to get good at typing if I was going to write novels. Even though I couldn't land a publishing job right after college like I wanted, I was pleased that I was accepted for short-term temp jobs based on my typing speed, although they were not very fulfilling.

My only social activity was doing some college-related activities with other recent grads (like attending a Penn/Columbia football game), not because I had had a great time in school, but instead, because I figured maybe the social skills that had eluded me would allow me to enjoy all those college activities now that I was older and wiser. Besides, the only people I knew in the NYC area were two or three people who had graduated with me. There was no internet and not much of a way to make new friends in my new neighborhood.

I was, in other words, at a crossroads, and the journal makes that clear.

Just now, I typed up a few of my sample entries from that journal. These are not indicative of everything that was going on (I'm cutting out some family stuff below), but...a pretty good account of a recently graduated English major in Generation X...

8/26 10:28 AM Natalie [temp woman] gave me a six-day job at $14 an hour! Cool! I gotta learn Lotus tho. Not so cool. But at least I don't gotta get up every day & make phone calls searching for work.

A woman said she's been in word processing for seven years and refused to take a typewriter test. I agreed w/her in principle. But who cares, cuz I'm GONNA MAKE four hundred smackas.

This morning I saw a REALLY old guy reading the personals. It was depressing.

Another free weekend is coming up. I don't want to take my car anywhere far until I get Triple A. [Editor's Note: This was a used car I bought for $800 after graduation, and used it to move all my stuff from Philly up north.]

8/27 10:34 AM What a temp job! $14 an hour for the next 6 days - and it's a nice financial place. I'm up on the 19th floor right now. I'm listening to Howard Stern. This company is one of those that takes care of its employees. Free juices & water...whee! I only hafta answer phones. Barely.

1:28 I just chowed down on free Chinese. Top things to do at a temp job:

1. Make long distance calls
2. Make copies
3. Steal software (duplicate it)
I do not advocate these things, however.

8/28 8:38 Weird dream! Weird dream! Something about making G.F. [someone I had a pretty intense unrequited crush on in college] take a job on a bus or something. It all escapes me now.

8/30 9:07 AM I went past the new CBS David Letterman theater this morning (For those who don't know, he left NBC). Z-100 was broadcasting some contest w/Jason Priestly.

Last night I read that Elton John had a hit with "Your Song" at the age of 23. One year older than I, and I still haven't accomplished anything. I hang on to hope w/the Jason book [a kids' book I was working on at the time]. Without that project, I'd probably feel completely worthless.

8/31 They showed the Letterman scenes on the news. He came outside a few times.

Heard on the street this morning:
DAD - We're having sushi tonight.
LITTLE GIRL - Again?

Friday

Now this is an interesting title for a book....

Notes

Alex the Italian Carrie Pilby reader e-mailed me, and I told him I was getting married. He writes:

This is simply great and special!!! I...can't believe to that....oh Caren, l'm so happy for this great thing it is happening to you... .. It is what every man or woman would like to crown as the bigger dream in their life, specially if it is with someone who deserves this reciprocal and big heart and love! It is the best news that you ever could make and give me before!! I love it !! As i have ever loved the friendship who came up one day with you. You have been a so special person for me Caren, and it will be for ever of my life. Alex

He is sweet. I hope he finds someone wonderful too.

What

I wore a skirt to work today and didn't get harassed.

How many of you actually clicked on the internet to watch the video of the bridge? Sickos.

Well

I am behind on a few e-mails, so I apologize if you sent me a comment and I didn't respond. I got pretty busy.

The Scott Baio show is on again tonight. I may skip it in order to protect my relationship. Anyway, this may be more interesting, but have they gotten to home plate as many times as Scott?

My novel is now in my agent's hands and I think she will send it to editors in September, which is a good time for it. If one of them (or more) wants to buy it, I'm in luck! It's finally in good shape and I'm hopeful.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

If you wear a skirt or dress to work, you are guaranteed to get sexually harassed on the way to work, or at least, treated differently. Okay, by "you" I mean, "me," because I always pass a few small-time construction operations during my short commute. Usually construction guys working on a street-level restaurant. But it's not really sexual harassment all the time; sometimes it's just a construction guy saying "Hi!" or "Good morning!", but I know the same one ignores me if I am not wearing a skirt.

It's really not a big deal. But anyway, the reason I mention this is that today, I passed two construction guys working on a corner bar, and one of them yelled at me, "Nice dress!"

But I was wearing pants.

I guess he wishes I was wearing a dress so he could be rude. Oh well. I ignored the remark and continued on my merry way.

You just can't win! (And by "you" I mean "me".)

Circling around New York

Even though we live here, it was very worthwhile to take the Circle Line's three-hour tour of NYC, which the Boy and I did this weekend. I saw parts of the city more scenic than I could have imagined, and learned many useful facts.

Did you know that railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt started out when he was 12 by taking his father's boat and ferrying passengers from NYC to Staten Island for money, which was the forerunner of the Staten Island ferry? I did not know that!

Our three-hour tour was conducted by award-winning tour guide Malachy Murray, who is also an author and actor, according to a Google search. He does look like a dark-haired Val Kilmer, doesn't 'e?




Here are some photos. (I'll spare the major touristy things...well, some of them.)

When the immigrants arrived in these waters, they didn't view this string of residential towers by Donald Trump.

Queensboro bridge looks a little rusty.

Riverside church, largest church in the world.

Columbia rowing team painted that. Doesn't even look like it's in NYC, does it?

A former smallpox hospital on Roosevelt Island (formerly Welfare Island). If you look closely, the architecture is pretty intricate. But it's going to be torn down soon. Waaa! (Clicking on any of these photos makes them bigger, by the way.)

One of the last area companies to still use the local waters for shipping. But it closed down not long ago.

Can I ass you a question? (These colorful specimens were sitting in front of us.)

Okay, I have to put in one touristy thing, but a very important one. Beautiful, isn't she?? To quote Henry Roth in the great immigration novel Call It Sleep, "I hear you can go up inside her for a quarter." Well, not anymore, but anyway.

So in short, if you are a tourist or a native, I suggest you take the tour. Good suggestion by the Boy!

Humbling experience

Sometimes you get so busy that you forget to step back and realize how lucky you are, and how each person with whom you deal with in your job (or on a daily basis in general) may really depend on you.

I get a lot of calls from public relations people pitching things to the publication I work for (which shall remain nameless).

Sometimes I am busy and try to handle a call quickly if it's something that has nothing to do with our readership and is out of our jurisdiction.

But anyway, a few days ago a man called and I sensed something was different.

He was talking very slowly. He started off, "Hiii...my name iiiis...Herbert..."

He took a breath and added, "aaaaand...I've written a book."

"What is your book about?" I asked.

"It's about living with a head injury," he said.

Anyway, he doesn't live in our area, so it's not something we would cover. However, we did have the chance to help him, and to help people who might benefit from reading the book. I didn't want him to waste one of his review copies on us, but I said he should send us a press release. After all, we could probably put a short listing in our health section about how to find the book.

When I got the release, it turned out he wrote the book with his mother, who is from one of the towns we cover. So it actually is something we would write about!

The guy was in an accident when he was 19. I wonder how that changed him, what kind of guy he was before, and what his life is like now. I wonder if he looks back at his boyhood when he could dance and play without a care in the world.

Anyway, it was a refreshing reminder of one of the things I do in my job, the people out there who have so many challenges to overcome, and how lucky I am.

Quick notes

Last night, I saw TWO commercials on TV that mentioned "back to school," and one that used the Monday Night Football jingle as its background. I guess it's about six weeks until both things start again. Amazing, huh?

For those of you who saw the documentary "Capturing the Friedmans," here is an important update.

And if you're really a fan, you can see Jesse Friedman celebrating his freed-man status with his new wife.

Talkin' Baseball

The boy and I went to another Brooklyn Cyclones game in Coney Island this weekend, along with some lovely friends. It was fun. The Cyclones defeated the Tri-City Valley Cats of Troy, NY 7-3.

We didn't get there early enough to get a free Don Newcombe bobblehead, but someone was kind enough to give theirs to The Boy. It's okay for boys to have dolls, isn't it?

Anyway, as The Boy explained, the Cyclones are an "A" team, and a good player may progress to AA, AAA, or even the majors. It's nice to see guys there trying to follow their dreams, even though they don't really make much money until the big leagues, if they are lucky enough to get there. We are going to a different minor league ballpark next month.

No photos from this weekend. Think back to how it looked two weeks ago. It's still a lot like that.

I have a lot of writing to do this week, so probably posting will be light for the rest of the week.

By the way, what's up with these nor'easters that they don't predict until like 12 hours before? Two days ago, the weather report said it would be sunny all week. Weird.

Today I dropped off a revised manuscript for my agent, who intends to send it out. I was revising it to the point where I would change things, then realize they were better the way they were, and change them back. Time to wrap it up!

E-mail received this morning

Caren,

I hate you for getting me hooked on "Scott Baio is 45 and Single."
Just so you know.

Well, sorry, but someone has to watch it. And The Boy will probably never let me watch it again.

By the way, everyone, someone (ahem) informed me yesterday that tonight's Mets game starts at 10:40 p.m. Yes, you read that right.

Scott Baio on VH-1

ME: "Oh good. We can watch 'Scott Baio is 45 and Single.' "
THE BOY: "If we have to watch that, YOU'RE going to be 45 and single."

The Boy is funny.

But actually, we ended up watching it. It was pretty interesting. Scott is scared that he is going to die alone. But he simply can't commit. He says he just gets bored with women after a while. When they wake up in the morning and "look like men," it's hard for him to be attracted. His type is blonde with a "big rack." He's very honest in this show. So he has this "life coach" who made him stop seeing his current girlfriend for two months. Instead, he has to go find every other girl he's been with and figure out what went wrong in the relationship. (Usually, he cheated with some Playmate or other).

Important things I learned:

-He lost his virginity to Erin Moran.
-One of his good friends is Jason Hervey (Wayne from "Wonder Years.")

So thank you to The Boy for letting me watch this. I am usually annoyed by reality shows, but I can't help it - this one amused me so!!

Words

On another note, Google informed me that this girl spoke well of my book on her blog.

Random photo from my album

Too busy to post much, but I found this recently. Cute, huh? My dog in 1985.

I'll use any excuse to post a PUPPY!

Update: No, those are not my legs, but thanks for asking.

Wildwood

The Boy was kind enough to take me to Wildwood this weekend. We met up with some of his friends.

Wildwood was just as beautiful as I remembered it - the sand was extra fine, the air was cool, the motels looked kitschy, the water was calm, and there were vendors and rides galore, including lots and lots of fudge shops.

If you want to go, the best article on Wildwood was written by a terrific writer.

Anyway, here are some photos.

Concidence

Just hours after I posted a blog post about waiting for my agent, she e-mailed me and said she read the new version of the book! (And no, she doesn't read this, to my knowledge. Although ya never know). She had taken it with her on a much-needed vacation.

She said she is ready to sell the book, which is a huge relief. But since I haven't looked at it since I gave it to her in April, I have to take another quick last look to see if any little things need to be changed.

After I hand it in, she'll be giving it to editors over the next few months. My work will be over.

Writing, Part II

The other day, I read this post in a chick-lit writing newsgroup I'm part of. It reminds me again how lucky I am to have been published. And that it always takes patience...

A woman wrote:

I was agented and ended up with two unsold mss. My agent and I parted ways back in September and I'm still looking for a new one (I have 3 mss I've written since and am wrapping up a fourth very soon). It's a bit daunting to try to find someone who is willing to A. sign me in this tight market and B. take on this backlist I'm accumulating. I never imagined it would be this hard to find another agent. Although I never imagined ANY of this (other than the actual writing) would be this hard.

When I started querying the first time over 4 years ago, I never imagined I'd be no closer to publication 4 years later. It is heartbreaking when you add up all the blood, sweat,tears and the time we've poured into our work to be no closer. Sure, I've learned a lot and improved my writing over the years, but I feel like I'm not any closer to selling a book.

My only consolation is knowing it's not just me; there are a lot oftalented writers out there in the same boat. We'll get there; what makes us true writers is the chutzpah to put our work out there and stick it out until something catches. I take heart in knowing the market WILL turn. It has to. Period.

And finally

I should note that today is Friday the 13th. Beware of black cats! You all have a great weekend. We'll be enjoying the sun.

Some summer reading

For those who haven't read Joyce Maynard's gripping memoir At Home in the World yet, here's a recent published essay by her that kind of speaks to what it's about. It's called "A Good Girl Gone Bad."

Huh

I'm curious about that movie "The Astronaut Farmer." How many astronauts do you think he farmed?

New words, and writing update

I'm always kind of interested in how certain words come to be. Centuries ago, who made them up, and how did they change through different languages and regions?

The fact that new words are still being created today sort of sheds light on the process.

Today's news brings us the bulletin that "ginormous" has been added to Webster's dictionary. Obviously, it started off as slang, but you can tell right away what it means, right? It's also kind of a combonym.

There is a lot of slanguage (a combonym in itself!) that gets made up today whose meaning is pretty obvious just from the sound of the word. A "stank" is a stink. "Va-jay-jay" seems to be gaining in popularity. "Ho" gained popularity in the last 15-20 years, it seems.

I just find it interesting that we still make up new words, and that we find a need for them.

Writing update

Haven't done one of these lately, so here it is.

Someone posted a New Amazon review of Carrie Pilby recently, the first one in a while. It's now been out for four years, and it's still nice that people still pick it up. Even though it mostly appeals to confused young people, this person is a mom, so that's nice!

I'd like for the book to sell out and for my publisher to print some more, but I don't know if it'll happen. I'm still grateful for how many they put out initially.

It's summer, time off from writing. I'm still waiting for my agent to get back to me on the teen book I turned in a few months ago, so I can make a few final revisions. I'd like her to send it out in September, which is the perfect time for it. Depending on what she feels needs to be done, it shouldn't take long to do a quick final revision, but I have to wait for her pronouncements. So we'll see.

I have a few short stories I like, but I haven't done much with them. There's nothing really to do with short stories except a) send out a mass mailing to a lot of literary reviews or mags, hope your story is accepted, then hope it gets into Best American Short Stories; b) hope someone will ask you to contribute to an anthology (like This Is Chick Lit); c) sell a book of your short stories (only works if you're very well-known), or d) just kinda keep them around and enjoy them. For now, I'm keeping mine around, but maybe some day I'll send out a few of the best ones.

And of course, I have other novel ideas here and there.

I don't have any major publications coming up - my essay in the New Jersey collection was the last one. Hopefully some new work will be generated eventually.

Anyway, that's the writing update.

I'm not linked

A few years ago, someone invited me to join this job connection website called "linkedin," which I guess is sort of like a professional Friendster. For no special reason, I said yes and put in that I was a journalist. That was about it.

Since then, I've gotten 12 or 13 requests to link people, but didn't even feel like logging in in order to do it. I didn't even remember my password.

Today I got an email saying I had about 15 unread messages and things. So I logged in, emailed people to say they could e-mail me, and sent something to Linkedin asking to delete my entry.

So hopefully it will be gone in a matter of hours. In any case, if you asked to "link" to me, I don't hate you; I just don't want to deal with that site. So don't take offense!

Reader mail

Blogfan Sam writes:

Your picture of your shadows in Coney Island are very telling. I can tell, for instance, "The Boy" is wearing parachute pants, and you are wearing bell bottoms. An interesting mix of nostalgia if you ask me. You are also carrying a giant bag (handbag, purse, or shopping bag?) and that "The Boy must be very mean to make you carry all that stuff. I can also tell you're both very tall, and "the Boy" must be at least 8' tall, but is a good head taller than you (so you must be 7' 5 or so). You're both also bald. Yes, the shadow can tell an awful lot about a person.

Actually, Sam, I am 7'9"...lucky I found an 8-foot man to be with!

Coney Island

(Me & The Boy)

Monday, Monday again

Wasn't it just Monday last week?

The Boy and I went to Coney Island on Saturday and saw a Cyclones game. A few photos of Coney Isle to come.

Meanwhile, here's some reader mail regarding the hanging groundhog:


It sounds like a possible suicide to me. I have on many occasions had a groundhog run out in front of my car in an attempt, sometimes successful, to kill themselves. I have to admit that I have never seen a groundhog off itself by hanging.

By the way, a groundhog is referred to as a woodchuck, in the summertime. Perhaps it had just watched Groundhog Day and become depressed.

Interesting. Here's something from Dictionary.com: "The woodchuck goes by several names in the United States. The most famous of these is groundhog, under which name all the legends about the animal's hibernation have accrued. In the Appalachian Mountains the woodchuck is known as a whistle pig."

7/7/07!!

Looks like it's getting hot again.

Meg used to deal with it like this.

T.G.I.F.

From the AP:

SPARTA, N.J. - The Humane Society is offering a $2,500 reward in the case of a groundhog who was found hanging from a tree. Spokeswoman Samantha Mullen told the New Jersey Herald of Newton the killing appears to be part of "a hideous, malicious prank."
The animal's body was discovered last month by a homeowner who emerged to find it about 12 feet off the ground with a wire around its neck. The other end was attached to a wooden stake in a higher branch.

I have a suspect...and his name...is Bill Murray!