what if this is as good as it gets?

5.06.2025

5.05.2025

currently

I am...

Reading: To Have and to Heist by Sara Desai

Listening to: the tick of the oven baking my pizza

Loving: my psychology students designed graphics for their 6-word memoirs today and they were engaged and enthusiastic

Thinking: I have a lot to do this week

Feeling: a little nervous about my dental consultation tomorrow--finally getting my implant

Celebrating: it's Teacher Appreciation Week but I am not feeling the love

Grateful for: at least I can wear comfy clothes all week

Enjoying: spring is actually here!

Weather: currently 63° and cloudy

A quote I want to share:

5.04.2025

Time Travel

What were you doing ...

1. Twenty years ago? I had planned an epic birthday party for my friend, Amy

2. Ten years ago? I was trying to figure out how to navigate Teacher Appreciation Week when I didn't feel appreciated

3. Five years ago? I was doing a music meme for the month of May

4. One year ago? I was getting ready to go to Kansas City to read Advanced Placement exams

5. Yesterday? I was in Portland, Maine, to see my friend's play

Bonus! What will you do tomorrow? I have morning duty (boo!) but the faculty meeting is canceled (yay!) and we get to wear jeans all week (yay yay!)

postsecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

I liked learning details about prosopagnosia, which I know about from teaching psychology classes. I had a hard time relating to Sadie, the main character who's diagnosed with prosopagnosia--she is not especially likable, self-centered, and whiny. The love triangle is a perfect example--because Sadie doesn't spend time getting to know the love interests on any kind of deep level, she isn't able to truly know them.

Even though I kinda rolled my eyes at Sadie, I loved Joe. And I loved Parker being so evil and vicious. The landlords, the Kims, were dream landlords. And there's Peanut. The star of the story!

From the publisher:

Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

5.03.2025

saturday 9

Georgia On My Mind

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This lyrics refer to "an old sweet song." What old sweet song is a favorite of yours? "Let It Be"

2) Composer Hoagy Carmichael said he was inspired by saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer to write a song about Georgia. In those days, bands traveled by bus and Frankie enjoyed rolling through Georgia. Hoagy recalled that Frankie even volunteered the first two words, "Georgia, Georgia ..." If we were to organize a Saturday 9 bus trip, where would you recommend we go for lovely scenery? Naturally, I would choose the Great State of Maine! From the coast to the national parks to the head of the Appalachian Trail!

4) While it's at odds with his "outlaw" image, Willie was a popular and active high school student. He played three sports and was a member of Future Farmers of America. What school activities did you participate in during your teen years? oh--let's see if I can remember--chorus, drama club, yearbook--I participated in those all four years--there were others that I don't recall the names

5) Willie once worked as a tree trimmer, so clearly he didn't suffer from acrophobia. How about you? Do you have a fear of heights? not since I kissed the Blarney Stone in 1987--I climbed up that rickety castle and was determined to kiss the stone even though it was from an awkward position, lying on my back and arching out to kiss the stone. (and yes, we used alcohol preps to sanitize it)

6) He wrote the lyrics to one of his biggest hits, "On the Road Again," during a flight, using the airplane barf bag as scrap paper. That was back in 1980. In 2025, do you handwrite onto note paper, or do you make all your "notes to self" digitally? about half and half

7) In 1978, when Willie was singing "Georgia on My Mind," audiences were flocking to see the movie Grease. What's your favorite song from Grease? "You're The One That I Want"

8) Also in 1978, Karina Smirnoff was born. After spending her early years in the Ukraine, she came to America and found success on Dancing with the Stars. Are you a DWTS fan? no, but I don't watch anything on TV anymore

9) Random question: Do you ever carry a backpack? funny enough, I just got a backpack last month and I'm using it for my trip to Southern Maine this weekend

5.01.2025

three on thursday

Thing one: school has been state-mandate-testing this week, and the students and I are exhausted.

Thing two: tomorrow, my bestie and I will have a gabfest dinner and then will attend my dad's community choral concert.

Thing three: this weekend I am going to Southern Maine to see my friend, the playwright/actor, and his newest play.

4.30.2025

wordless wednesday

4.28.2025

finished reading

I grew up on Sonny and Cher. Cher has always been part of my pop culture life. I remember wearing a hula skirt wrapped around my head to mimic her long, straight hair. I adore Cher.

There is an incredible amount of detail in the stories Cher tells. I wondered about the vivid recall of mundane life moments until I realized she has an eidetic memory. At one point in the memoir, she mentioned learning a script after one reading, which clicked for me.

Cher introduces each chapter and then hands it off to Stephanie Block, who won a Tony award portraying Cher on Broadway. The audio version is captivating. I can't wait for part two!

From the publisher:

The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person . . . Cher herself.

After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir.

Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woman to top Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, she is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has been lauded by the Kennedy Center.

She is a lifelong activist and philanthropist.

As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors, and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship.

With her trademark honesty and humor, Cher: The Memoir traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono—and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous, but eventually drove them apart.

Cher: The Memoir reveals the daughter, the sister, the wife, the lover, the mother, and the superstar.

It is a life too immense for only one book.