Oz Aftermath

I got home safely from Oz a few weeks ago, but I've been waiting until my photos came back and I had something to post. I thought it would be great having a digital camera and being able to take an almost unlimited number of pictures, but ever since I got back, the whole thing has been a nightmare, with one problem or screw-up after another. The camera quit working completely after the batteries died, and then there were a couple of corrupted files on my StupidMedia card (my name for it), which corrupted the rest and prevented them from being downloaded. Then the whole card got reformatted by accident when I was trying to pull up the photos in a camera. Now it's up to some data recovery wizards who claim they might be able to save the lost files. If they can rescue anything, I will definitely post photos online.

After doing a free intro SCUBA dive in Australia, I decided to get certified once I got home, and I'm taking the classes this week. Now I can go back and see Wally the Napoleon Maori Wrasse again! I'm going to post a photo of Wally that I found on the internet. He's a remarkable fish, and a lot of travelers seem to have taken pictures - there's even a site with a little QuickTime movie! Just type in "Wally wrasse" into Google, and check out all the sites!

Oscar Party 2002

My Oscar Party invitation from 2002, the year of "Moulin Rouge," "A Beautiful Mind," "In the Bedroom," "Gosford Park" and "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

Letter to a Wellesley Classmate in D.C.

Thank you so much for writing--I'm so glad that you and yours are okay. How scary for you to be dating someone who works at the Pentagon. You made pretty good time if you had to walk all the way home. You must have mad blisters!

It's all just unbelievable--I was about to leave home, and just making a quick call to some workmen who had started (badly and crookedly) on a fence adjacent to my house, and I had the TV on kinda watching the news at the same time. When it hit me what had happened, I just started freaking out, and I was so upset I couldn't leave for 45 minutes or so because I kept on having to go wash my face after each new outrage/disaster. The complete collapse of both towers is so unbelievably shocking. Last time I was in NYC two years ago, I went to the top of Tower One with my mom to enjoy the view, and bought discount theatre tickets at the TKTS booth there, like I always do. Then we went shopping at Century 21 across the street. And now it's all gone. Just a hole in the sky. Unbelievable...

I was so worried about you, and just praying that you were out of harm's way. I'm afraid the news from NYC isn't going to be good. I wonder how many of our Wellesley classmates and friends were working in downtown Manhattan today. I hope that a lot of people were voting in the mayoral primaries and were late to work, and thus never made it into the building.

Here at work, we've all been crowding around the TV off and on all day. Anyway, let me know if you think a visit to our nation's capital is still a good idea. They're going to have to change the name for popular sites from "tourist attractions" to "targets." Well, stay in touch - maybe they'll figure out how and why this all happened.

Letter to a Friend on 9-11

Yeah, I'm in shock. I was just about to leave the house this morning when I heard the news, and I was so upset, I kept on having to go wash my face, and then I'd pull myself together, and then I'd hear about a new horror, and fall to pieces again. I'm freaking out. I can't believe that the both buildings are just gone. A huge hole in a skyline that has suddenly changed after 31 years of being dominated by the twin towers.

My mom and I went there last time we were in NYC, went to the top of Bldg. 1 to Windows on the World, had some coffee, enjoyed the view, bought some theatre tickets at TKTS on the Trade Center Concourse, and a couple of souvenirs from one of the little carts there. Unbelievable.

I've been reading the French newspaper Le Figaro to see what they have to say. They have some amazing photos, etc.

Anyway, I'm doing fine, compared to those people working in downtown Manhattan. Still waiting to hear from my friend who works for the federal government in D.C.

Not feeling very safe today.

Getting the Point Across

I never said anything to you directly about it, because I thought we had let our acquaintance drop, but now that you have written to me again, I cannot keep silent. I have to say that from your behavior and conversation when we met and when we had lunch, I was led to believe that you were separated or divorced from your wife. I was quite dismayed to find out that you were still very much married and your wife was about to have another child. I realize that even regular church-goers can be hypocrites, but I expected something more from someone who claims to be a Christian. I have no respect for men who hit on other women while their wives are 8 1/2 months pregnant, and have no desire to be friends with such a person. Please, take me off your mailing list and don't write me again.

What's Up Now

After the 10-Q was filed for the quarter, I took a day "off" last Friday, as did my mother, and we spent the weekend doing some bricolage. We put two coats of paint on my garage, so it looks like it belongs with the house instead of like an alien building that just landed during a tornado or something. We also drilled holes for new kitchen cabinet knobs, and replaced the stupid formica/Corian knobs on the new side of the kitchen with more authentic glass ones. Then we watered the lawn, and plastered all the cracks in the sheetrock that popped up when the foundation work was done. That way I can do some interior painting, and put up curtains and and put in crown molding like I've always wanted to do. Not exactly a restful weekend, but we got a lot accomplished. I'm also hoping to get some landscaping advice so I can get some plants/trees/shrubs established this fall. Whew!

I have also been kind of a social butterfly; I'm meeting lots of new people, some of whom are interesting in a dating kind of way, but no real thunderbolts exactly. My friend Shannon is dating Garth Adam, the bass player for "Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts," so I'm going to the show at Stubb's on Saturday, which should be fun and quite a scene. Last year, there were a number of real Hollywood stars and tons of wanna-bes and wanna-sleep-with-Russell-Crowes hanging around. Kinda weird for Austin.

I'm also planning a trip to D.C. in early October to visit a good friend of mine from college. I'm looking forward to a more in-depth visit to the city; my previous forays were choir- or protest-march related, and I didn't get to see any of the museums, or get official tours of the monuments, etc. Smithsonian, here I come!