Swifter, Higher, Sleepier

I adore the Olympics. I fell in love with the summer Olympics in 1992. I was 14 years old. I have scrap books of that the Olympics and the following two-- newspaper clippings, magazine articles, front page headlines. I also have the Gymnastics competitions from the '92, '96' and '00 games on video.

One of the things that I have really been enjoying about the Olympics this year is that we are getting to see so many events live during prime time. That 4x100 men's relay the other night was AMAZING and it felt very cool to be watching it while it was happening half way around the world.

The problem, though, is that I don't want to miss seeing anything LIVE. So I find myself trying to keep my eyes open at 1:13 am wondering if I'm going to be able to wake up in the morning and be productive. It's crazy. I'm working late almost every night, scrambling home to watch as much coverage as possible, and drinking tons of caffeine during the day. I am  going to be SO tired by the closing ceremonies.

Tonight, I expect Nastia and Shawn to go 1, 2. And you can bet that I'll be watching it live.

Knotions and Philadelphia Moms

Two of my very best friends have launched online projects in the past week. They are both great. Check them out.

Knotions is the newest online knitting magazine. Jody has been working on this for months and the hard work is evident. The layout is so clean and easy to use. The patterns are great, smart, and in a wide range of sizes. I'm so proud of you, Jody!

Philadelphia Moms is a new blog launched by my friend, Deirdre. D has a one year old little boy and she's sharing the lessons she has learned about great places in Philly for moms and kids, places you can change a diaper, take a stroller, etc. Great job, D!

Concert Central

Tonight, we'll go to our third concert in 5 days. We're seeing the Police. We bought these tickets ages ago for a date that was months and months ago but Sting got the flu and they had to reschedule. I read a review this morning from someone who saw the Police about a year ago and then last week. Apparently, all of the bad reviews that I read a year ago no longer apply. Sounds like the guys have finally gotten their stuff together and the shows over the past week or so have been amazing. I'm glad because I'd hate to be disappointed after the two awesome shows we saw over the weekend.

On Friday night, we saw Coldplay. They were really good. The two opening acts were not. Whatever, I bought a Sudoku game on my cell phone and found a way to amuse myself. We were in the second to the last row but we totally enjoyed the concert. We danced a lot and sang along. Chris Martin is completely insane as a dancer. He looks like he's having a fit-- oh, yeah, and a whole bunch of fun. Coldplay played for about an hour and a half. The quality of the music made up for the brevity (I remember my mother seeing 4 hour Bruce Springsteen shows when I was a kid...where have those days gone?)

We decided last Friday during the day that we really wanted to see George Michael on Saturday night. Donna had sent Michelle an email recommending the concert. She saw him in Houston (or was it Dallas...somewhere in Texas) the previous week and sent the most glowing concert review I've ever read. We had considered buying tickets from the day we got Donna's email but we kept hedging and wondering if we should save the money instead (someday we'd like to buy a condo...really). So I took the plunge on Friday, told Michelle that I really wanted to go see George Michael and we bought $25 seats, again in the second to the last row and this time, in a section even further from the stage.

As we walked into the Wachovia Center, we noticed that the escalators were not working. The guy at the bottom took a look at our tickets, pointed to a long line and said, "Get in this line for relocation." Michelle didn't have any idea what he was talking about but I did. I couldn't remember when this had happened before but I had experienced this (I realized later that it was the Transiberian Orchestra performance in 2006). They didn't sell enough tickets to warrent having the upstairs open so they moved EVERYONE from the upper level to the lower level. After hearing that there was no line on the other side of the arena, I took Michelle's ticket out of her hand, told her to catch up with me, and raced around to the other line where we were given tickets in the first section to the right of the stage in the 5th row. Seriously. I felt bad running around the arena and leaving gimpy Michelle with the arthritic joints to hobble to catch up with me but boy was it worth it! 5th ROW!

George was awesome. He took a 20 minute intermission but played for about 2.5 hours. He did so many songs from when I was a kid, I couldn't help but remember my sleepover party in the 4th grade when I first got my Faith tape and we danced around the house to Monkey and Faith. I remember even further back, standing in my neighbor's living room dancing along to Wham songs. Wake Me Up Before Go-Go and Everything She Wants! Oh my Lord, the memories. I have to say, I think it was the best concert experience ever. His voice sounds amazing, better than ever. He still dances as well as he did 25 years ago. The seat were incredible. I danced to every song that could be danced to and sang along to the rest-- Praying for Time, Kissing a Fool, Careless Whisper.

The fact that the concert was so incredible totally made up for the fact that we were surrounded by drunken middled aged women who had deluded themselves into thinking that if only George Michael saw how much they adored him, he would run away from his partner and marry them. I actually heard a woman in the ladies' room after the concert say "Sometimes I wish my husband was gay. I just want him to get me the way George gets us." Um, hun, if your husband was gay, you'd have bigger problems than his not "getting" you. Good grief!

Here's hoping that tonight is just as fun!

Timothy William

Timothy

Born: Sunday, July 27 at 1:15 AM

Weight: 7 lbs, 6 oz

Length: 19 3/4 inches

My sister Cathy and Timothy are both doing really well. He slept during our entire visit yesterday but my sister Angie snapped this picture of Timmy last night. It's my favorite one taken of him so far, even though he only has one eye open!

NPH

Michelle and I love Neil Patrick Harris. I loved Doogie Howser and had a special affinty for Wanda that as an adult, I realize was a crush.

Last week, Michelle and I watched Dr. Horrible every day and I was, again, delighted by both Joss Whedon and NPH. I even started listening to the Buffy musical episode soundrack again.

Today, one of my favorite blogs, Throwing Things, had a post about NPH. In the comments, I lamented my long-ago taped over favorite NPH moment: a performance of What You Own from the musical RENT from the Rosie O'Donnell Show. (There are a few things that I whine about revisit often and this is one of them. Another is that Carmela still has my Oscar Wilde book which she borrowed in 2000 during the week before Comps.)

Anyway, some lovely person named Nicole located a youtube video of the NPH performance that I have long been whining about to Michelle. It was just added online on Sunday so thankfully, it's not like I've been missing it for years like a dummy.

Here is the performance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Randoms


I stopped blogging for a few weeks and I come back to a new version of the composing page. Good grief.

Here's what's been going on:

  • We thought my sweetie was going to be doing some national press for work but while an interview was taped, it hasn't aired so we're coming out of internet hiding.
  • From Maryland Sheep and Wool to July 5, I didn't knit more than 10 rows at a time. I just couldn't focus on it. On 7/5, Jody came over and I got my knitting mojo back. Since then, I have finished an Annetrelac sock in Noro sock yarn and embarked on a major knitting project to be revealed on Ravelry some time in the next few days (I need to take pictures) but not on the blog for a few weeks.
  • I finished my Holly Jacket and I hate everything about it. It makes me look really fat, which I should probably also attribute to being at my highest weight ever and last weekend, wearing a size 14 skirt for the first time in my life. Regardless of my new Shamu status, the sweater has got to go. I'm considering using the yarn for the Phyllo sweater or the adult version of the EZ February Baby Sweater which, if you are a knitter, you've seen by now. I have no idea if the yarn will work for either.
  • My sister is due to have a baby at any minute.
  • I spent a long weekend down the shore and since then, there hasn't been a day that I haven't wished I was there, sitting on the beach, reading a book.
  • It's been hot as hell here.
  • I need to start walking (see weight issue mentioned above). I am completely intrigued by this music and am purchasing it today and putting it on my ipod to induce me to walk.

It's good to be back.

Six Words

Two weeks ago, in the alumni magazine from my grad school alma mater, I read about a book called Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. I bought the book last week, read through it over a lunch hour and, very unlike me, wrote and highlighted all throughout the book. I found that reading about someone's life in only six words either resulted in my complete identification with them or with burning questions for them.

Since then, I've been obsessed with this concept of six word memoirs. I've visited the Smith Magazine site daily and find myself enraptured by people's stories. Smith Mag is now accepting submissions for their next book, Six Words on Love & Heartbreak. One that I submitted yesterday is currently in their Featured Entries section and can be seen in the header, every two minutes or so. I just noticed that it's also on the front page in the column that highlights entries for this project.

I also made some submissions to a contest that Smith is doing in conjunction with Philadelphia Magazine, It All Happened Here in Philadelphia. The formatting on that page is totally wacky (at least in my browser) but it looks like I am a finalist in the contest (names are not assigned to the submissions). After they announce the winners on Friday, I'll tell you a few of the Philly-centered memoirs that I submitted. I'll be out at dinner with friends on Friday night when the prize is announced but I'll be anxious to see the results on Saturday when the are posted online. If I am chosen, I'll raffle off the book to the person with the best six-word memoir about knitting. Stay tuned.

I'm trying to finish my Holly Jacket to wear this weekend on my birthday trip to NYC. Currently, my knitting life can be summed up in these six words:

So much finishing to be done.

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