Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Category: Uncategorized

• Reunion Dues

  Posted at 2:14 am by kayewer, on October 5, 2014

  It’s high school class reunion time again: when I see the invitation, the emotions start to get the better of me. I have never gone to the reunions. My mother went to her own just once.

  There seems to be two types of people when it comes to high school reunions: those who always go, and those who never go until everybody is too old to really remember anything about what happened before they graduated in the first place.

  Those who go regularly may well have been in touch over the years, or else they find reconnecting every five years less unpleasant. They mingle and talk, and cloud it all over with generous libations from the cash bar.

  Those who don’t go have a variety of reasons, I’m sure. Some simply disconnect from the awkwardness of childhood and teen memories. Others never felt a part of the ritual of school loyalty and, as such, never joined a “cool” club or activity, but merely studied, went home after last period and collected the diploma on graduation day. Their loyalties have shifted to colleges, family, or turned within to their own peace of mind.

  In our class of over 200, it has been hard to find some people. The invitation went on Facebook ®, and hopefully everybody will see it. However, I know of at least one person who told the alumni committee years ago not to ever contact them again. It’s understandable that, for some, high school sucked bad enough that they graduated and hit the erase button in their minds. In some cases, though, one would think that our school was so bad, people moved to Abu Dhabi or New Zealand or Antarctica to get away from it all. Some may have died, changed their names or gone into witness protection.

  The devoted alumni like I have stayed in town. Some have thriving businesses, good jobs or other ties to the community. While we do stay close to the native soil of our alma mater, we don’t often see each other. My mother has seen more classmates than I these past decades.

  When I think about what high school meant to me, I feel it would be improper to whine or embellish, so I just don’t bother. My education did help me find a good job, and I did finish college and get my BA. Enough said.

  It will take some thought before I commit to going to a reunion. I will think about it, but the big question is whether I want to pay for memories I may not want to have, or get back.

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• Mee-Wow!

  Posted at 2:07 am by kayewer, on September 28, 2014

  The cyber café where I do these posts has four cats; two kittens, a “tween” and an older cat. They enjoy all the comforts of domestic life, including kitty condos, hiding places, warm beds and clean litter boxes.

  Of course, there are also toys. Things like shiny bat-about toys and balls hold a cat’s interest for a minute or two. I think about three is a world record. Cats don’t want to lose their dignity. I brought in a pack of toys once, and one particular orange-ish toy was shredded and chewed to death. The others disappeared. Mostly cat toys disappear until they’re found, years later, behind the garage or under the clothes dryer.

  I can recommend a toy called “Cat’s Meow,” a genuine “as seen on TV” product. It is simply an electronic gizmo that randomly rotates a red plastic wand which peeks out from underneath a circular canopy. It stimulates a cat’s desire to pounce and chase. It’s battery operated, so get some rechargeable versions and keep spares on hand.

  Each time one of the cats was introduced to the product, it took less than ten minutes for them to become totally engaged. Usually they will stand back and stare for a bit. They might crouch and stalk, then take a paw to the mouse-like tail as it circles and teases; finally they will chase it in all directions, pouncing and pawing it endlessly. It’s great exercise for indoor cats.

  I also recommend plenty of treats, because you can get about a ten-second stare from a cat for every piece you dangle in front of their eyes. If your cat is not a lap lover, this is often as interpersonal as you get.

  At this moment, I am watching two new “Cat’s Meow” inductees, who have been playing with the product for the past twenty minutes. I would break out the camera, but then they would stop whatever they were doing and stare at me with bored sloe eyes. Trust me, they’re acting like kittens.

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• Week Off

  Posted at 2:24 am by kayewer, on September 7, 2014

  There is nothing like the start of fall to cause so much upheaval in one’s life. I’m taking this week off from blogging and will have a new post next week. By then I will hopefully have cooled off and caught up on my sleep. Why did the end of summer and Labor Day have to come on the first of the month, anyway? Stuff must get done, so I’ll do it and get back to the fun stuff a week from today. Stay sane until then: that’s what I’ll be telling myself.

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• So Monstrous

  Posted at 2:22 am by kayewer, on August 17, 2014

  I just came from the Monster-Mania convention, and boy are my feet tired. Really. Rule of thumb at any convention event is “no seats allowed.” All the better to encourage walking among the vendors, of which there are many. I walked off about ten pounds. My friend picked up tee-shirts and various little things, while I came out with a horrific looking soda can cozy. Last year I got a tee myself, but since admission was $35, that put a bit of a dent in my spending loot. Besides, I don’t think my boss would like a horror film gewgaw sitting at my cubicle.

  Twice a year a hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ is packed tighter than a creepy clown car, swarming with horror buffs, so we go at least once. I like horror, but I’m selective, preferring vampire fare to the zombies (whom I consider reanimated, not undead), slashers and mutants. People arrive casually dressed, but some are in costume to be seen and talked about and give the children a scare. Over a few hours I saw Anubis (one of the best costumes), a few incarnations of the Joker, clowns of all shapes and sizes, military zombies and even the killer Buffalo Bill from “Silence of the Lambs” in his creepy drag outfit (unfortunately he had to wear flesh tone undies). The conventions also have visiting cult celebrities, and this one featured Adam West (Batman) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), both of whom I spotted in the autograph lounge.

  The “dead”-icated convention fans stay the entire weekend, but an afternoon is enough for me. The next event comes in the spring, and my friend and I are talking about going in costume ourselves, to be seen and give the kids a scare. Now we just need a good idea for a duo (not a dynamic one) costume. I thought about the twin girls in “The Shining,” but we don’t look alike. Maybe if we go as ourselves, that will be scary enough.

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• Chapman Changed Up Our Evening

  Posted at 2:30 am by kayewer, on July 13, 2014

  I came home the other night to find my mother seated in front of the television, watching a PBS music program, and it wasn’t Lawrence Welk.

  She was watching a fellow named Emmett Chapman and a band called the Stick Men (which includes King Crimson associated musician Tony Levin), demonstrate a versatile instrument he invented: the Chapman Stick, a device resembling a guitar with extra frets, no filled-out body to speak of, and a bevy of ways to play it and/or imitate or enhance other instruments. It can be strummed or tapped, adjusted to produce a large variety of sounds (like bass and harmonies with chords) all at once.

  The sound was mesmerizing and fun to listen to, and it was interesting to bridge the gap in our ages and appreciate something unique in modern music: my mother doesn’t particularly like much past the Sinatra era, but she liked this. I enjoyed the music and overlooked some of the titles of the pieces (“Lark Tongues in Aspic Part II” or something like that), but appreciated that the audience in the venue was quiet and engaged, and I didn’t need earplugs.

  Sure, I’m no expert in music terminology, so as Chapman discussed the qualities of the instrument I figured whatever he was saying was impressive. What matters is that the instrument makes a fine sound and can probably be played by anybody. It’s not a ukulele, but it’s not trying to play the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto, either. I’m surprised more guitarists don’t try this instrument.

  I wonder what it would be like to pair a Chapman Stick with a Theremin?

   

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• Ask.fm, Bullying and Terrorism

  Posted at 2:05 am by kayewer, on July 13, 2014

  Matthew Homyk was murdered by bullies at the age of 14. The teen from Brunswick, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) was terrorized on an anonymous post-heavy site frequented by the over-13 crowd,  called Ask.fm. After seeing enough nameless posts of negativity, the young man ended his life.

  Though this website’s FAQ page specifies that users can control what is seen and what they see (by changing their profiles and preferences), and encourages parents and users to speak up when bullying occurs, we all know it is not possible to monitor everything that gets posted. Besides, with this type of posting allowed, with no posters’ identities to be traced and no repercussions, I can’t imagine the site being used for anything but negativity, rumors and lies. The point is, users can say anything and remain anonymous, so unless you are certain that only your friends will post positive things, blocking anonymous posts is, essentially, blocking all contact with your peers. The bullies know this, and they exploit it.

  Also, answers by the staff at Ask.fm saying “we will do what we can” to the question “How do you know if a user is over 13 years old?” does not offer hope that anything can be done to prevent younger school-age children from making the site a destructive dung heap of psychologically crippling hate. All they have to do is subtract 13 from the current year and lie.

  It makes me sick to read about victims and their families and, unfortunately, the media tends to focus on them exclusively. What I would like to see is one gutsy media resource who will strap on a pair and call out the bullies for their side of the story. I would like to hear from Matthew’s tormentors, and I have a ton of questions I would like them to answer.

  As we look at what bullying does to our society, it seems as if being a bully is a direct path to terrorism, subversive and even criminal behavior, yet we don’t seem to work on obliterating it at its source: the impressionable young who jockey for their places in the pecking order of life. Some of them win by honest, fair play: the rest by intimidation and death. Look at any terror leader, standing at a lectern warbling about war and destruction, and behind it all you see the playground bully lording over the schoolyard while the families of the oppressed children stand by and sigh, “kids will be cruel.”

  Wake up! We are the ones who can stop kids being cruel. It’s time to look at this scourge for what it is and put an end to it.

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• Three Day Weekends

  Posted at 2:16 am by kayewer, on June 29, 2014

  So the Fourth of July falls on a Friday this year. What a great idea: take Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. That means one day to overeat and two to get over it (not to mention the fireworks which will dull your hearing for hours). I will have the day off, and as per the family tradition we will eat hamburgers and potato salad. We use Miracle Whip(R) on our potato salad, which freaks out the mayonnaise purists no end. I don’t dislike mayo, but I prefer using “the Whip.” Some folks, on the other hand, won’t touch “the Whip.” It’s got a little tang to it. Mayo has a bit of a greasy thing going on, but for me it’s all good, and I don’t mind that some folks have a problem with “the Whip.” That means more for me.

  Having a Friday holiday is tough on businesses who normally pay people on Fridays. That is why I spent a few hours on a Saturday at work crunching timesheet numbers so everybody can be paid a day early next week. When you look at how many hours people work, you develop an appreciation for the amount of time we labor to earn our living, and how complex it can be to figure it all out so everybody gets a proper paycheck. It’s all that math we learned in school and promptly forgot about, with a little common sense, levity and policy enforcement thrown in. It is important to make sure that everybody has money for the big weekend, including me. Of course, somebody else reviews how much I worked, so I don’t have to enforce policy on myself (that would count as masochism, I think). It will be nice to have a different kind of three day weekend for a change, since we are all used to Mondays off for any holiday not falling on a Monday to begin with. Of course, by the time Monday actually rolls around, everybody will be grumpy because they actually have to go to work on a Monday, and anybody with a question about what they were paid will inundate us with questions first thing in the morning. That is why Tuesdays after Monday holidays are much easier to tolerate. Independence Day falls on Monday, July 4, 2016. That we can all enjoy, and it will seem normal. Except when I bring up the Whip in the potato salad.

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• Happiness Interrupted

  Posted at 2:31 am by kayewer, on June 15, 2014

  The other night there was an interesting movie on Turner Classic Movies called “All That Heaven Allows” from 1955, starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman as a gardener and widow who fall in love and have to deal with social snobbery to find happiness. By today’s standards it’s rather tame. Word spread by telephone in those days, rather than instant posts on social media, but the message of love conquering all is timeless.

  It’s what you might expect of a melodrama of that time: the town gossip envisions the stud-muffin young paid laborer servicing the lonely widow, and Wyman’s two young adult children make it practically impossible for her to follow her heart. The daughter has a minor problem with her boyfriend after rumors circulate, and she feels her mother doesn’t understand how important her own status is. How can you think of moving in with him, the son accuses, and get rid of the family home we’ve had for generations to move into a barn (which Hudson has painstakingly refurbished)? The town’s lecherous resident makes a move on Wyman and Hudson puts a stop to it, but he is the one who gets snubbed for it, not the jerk. Wyman breaks off their engagement. By Christmas, however, the son is getting a better job and is all for selling the house, and the daughter tells her mother she should not have taken her seriously for having an immature tantrum. Realizing she has let others dictate her future, she goes back to Hudson, who never gave up on her.

  Why do we, as human beings in general, go so far out of our way to interfere with how others live their lives? It really isn’t our business. Even if somebody is doing something criminal, we have authorities for that, and it isn’t our place to step in. Now I’m not saying that you should not deal with an immediate danger (if somebody is going to injure a person needlessly, for example), but we always insinuate our own ideals to others and expect total conformity when such a thing is not at all possible. It is the differences that make us special; our ability to rise up to a challenge, make compromises when needed, sacrifice, stand firm or speak up, that defines the rich uniqueness of the human condition. We look at the redefining of the family, of human rights, of our humanity and inhumanity, and we cling with fear to old tenets that have outlived their shelf life.

  I enjoyed watching that movie. Everybody lived happily ever after in spite of social snobbery. We should all be that fortunate.

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• Movie Trailers Suck

  Posted at 2:49 am by kayewer, on June 1, 2014

  I went to the movies with a friend of mine last night. We sat a few rows from the front in an IMAX theatre with 3D which, until we experienced it, we didn’t know what a mistake that was to sit so close. The sound turned our eardrums into colanders and I could almost smell the bad breath of every villainous vile creature onscreen (if we had Smell-O-Vision).

  Of course the first few trailers were, as the theatre chain drily noted, not part of the IMAX experience. Meaning if you forgot your overpriced chocolate dobobbers, if you ran you might nab a box from the concession stand. We had already put on our 3D glasses (and I wondered whose noses they had sat upon before me), and I can tell you from my experience that the non-IMAX previews were no more or less exciting than the ones after we received the military command to put on our 3D glasses NOW.

  We saw quite a few movie trailers for upcoming features, and frankly I found them all to be stupid. First of all, the theatre tacks on a reminder that the movie opens on such-and-such a date, taking the time and expense to insert the movie title for each one, in type so plain it’s obvious that they are pandering to those in the audience who might not read or missed the film’s title amid all the crash and bang and bodily injury inflicted in those few seconds of digital mishmash. Sometimes the work done to embellish a movie title could be better spent on scriptwriting.

  Second, all the movies really seemed the same to me. A misfit, or two or twelve, find that they have the power to change the world they live in (usually post-apocalyptic or other realm not our own), so they train, gather their forces, have a few emotional moments in the arms of a loved one and then charge into the fray. Yeah, we’ve seen it, we’ve done it, and it got old after the tenth one.

  Once the film’s title is revealed, near the end of the preview, there is usually a few more seconds of footage showing some desperate clash of titans or a giant ship or monster roaring into your face as you sit with your 3D glasses. If you didn’t go deaf in the first few seconds of the trailer, the last five will do it for sure. Plus your youngsters will have nightmares for weeks.

  I’ve only gone to the movies once or twice a month lately, but these trailers, which are supposedly designed to make upcoming features seem exciting, are so formulaic and banal, I plan to go to none of the features advertised. The persons putting the previews together have given away all the key points of the film (not that they are in any way unique) and provided nothing novel to encourage me to come back.

  Okay, maybe one exception: The Book of Life, an animated feature by Guillermo del Toro, had originality and held my interest. Also, it was pleasing to my poor punctured ears.

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• Cold Duck (Or Goose)

  Posted at 7:43 am by kayewer, on May 3, 2014

  Normally at this time of year, the area around the building where I work is full of geese. In spring, Canada Geese land at their favorite breeding areas, mate, promptly lose their flight feathers and spend the next few months raising their families. By May there are goslings up the wazoo. Some parents have five or more young to look after. It was a privilege to witness the miracle of birth from inside the office, as some nests have been built close to our ground floor windows. Once all the goslings hatch, the mother destroys and abandons the nest, takes the youngsters to the nearest body of water and the fast lessons in how to become geese begins. By September, the youngsters look just like the parents, and soon they take flight, along with their parents with their new flight feathers grown in. The process has gone on that way for years.

  This year I have seen one nest with one egg in it, and the mother abandoned it days later. So far, no baby geese have arrived. It might be the late onset of spring, and there could simply be a slight delay, orchestrated by Mother Nature, to give the wildlife a chance to catch up to what they should have been doing in March or so. Darned snow inconvenienced everybody.

  We often don’t think about wildlife, but creatures who don’t have houses actually had to survive in the horrendous conditions we detested from indoors (with the occasional power outage). It’s amazing they can stay alive, let alone make little versions of themselves. Outside, in the cold, with no accompanying Barry White music.

  Of course, we humans will likely see an uptick in births starting in August and running into next winter. We don’t wait until the call of spring and nature, and we have the Barry White recordings when there is no power outage. We’ll have to wait and see if nature comes through. I know that some folks don’t care about geese. With all those birds comes bird poop, after all. But their place in the animal kingdom does matter, so I hope to see some good signs soon.

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