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Aug. 4th, 2004 01:45 pmSo, who's going to the concerts? I'm planning on trekking up to Orlando, myself...
Aug. 4th, 2004
Did you notice how most of my posts in the past two weeks have been very very short things, except for my publishing rant, and things I've pasted in about politics?
I'll try to remedy that now.
1. My brother's girlfriend Remi got some bad news today - her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Remi is Japanese, and has only been in the US about 4 years, and is just completely wracked with guilt about this. Is anyone here familiar with how aggressively breast cancer is treated in Japan, and/or how the social framework in Japan supports families who are dealing with a diagnosis? I'd love any info that anyone has, just to help Murray know what is ordinary and what to possibly expect.
2. We spent the past weekend at Disney's Vero Beach resort, about three hours north of Miami, with my best friend from college, her husband, and their two kids, who are almost-five and almost-three. We had an amazing time, I took Jon on the 160 foot waterslide at the pool, which he loved (yes, he is only 14 months, why do you ask?), we celebrated Harry's birthday on Monday (he is now five, so he now believes he can read, which he's been able to do for a few months now, but now he feels like he's the right age for it and can now admit to doing so) and ended that day with a porchside "campfire" with everyone else at the resort. We made smores with candy bars and marshmellow fluff and one of the counsellors who'd been with Harry's group on a 2 hours event they'd had that afternoon led all 150+ people in singing Happy Birthday to him. He bowed. He is very cute.
3. As I said before, POAIMAXFTL was amazing - it's terrific to be able to get about 300 people to something so fun (and with such blue cake!) on such short notice. And WB came through with posters, too - we have two, so expect one to be a prize in an upcoming FA contest or something.
4. I've had a few questions recently about how people can help with things around FA - other than submitting your own fics, and reviewing, we're always looking for more fic processors, and the application information is here. Anyone is welcome to apply, but the grammar/spelling/canon quiz is meant to be a little challenging - feel free to pass the url around, though, of course! And I know there is going to be another call for eMentors later this month...
5. Harry starts kindergarten a week from Monday. Any advice from parents who've been through it as to transitioning for a kid who's been in school for three years already, but will be starting with a new building and a new structure? Any books, other than the Ms Bindergarten ones, to recommend?
6. A quick thought about the terror warning of last weekend. A letter to the NY Times summed up my feelings pretty well:
In other words, I understand why the warning was made public, and why the threat level went up. I do not understand why they didn't explain, from the start, the timeline of the evidence they were relying on; were they trying to hide it or did they not think people would bother to ask, or did they not think it important enough to tell? And if the latter, then why was Ridge's statement about "Bush's leadership" so important that it was included?
There's something wiggy about it, and I don't *want* to say, like Dr Dean, that it was a planned action to remove the spotlight from John Kerry. I want to think it was really real, and that we'd better believe it, and it's a great big deal. I still want to believe the president; I just don't know how do do so unreservedly.
I'll try to remedy that now.
1. My brother's girlfriend Remi got some bad news today - her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Remi is Japanese, and has only been in the US about 4 years, and is just completely wracked with guilt about this. Is anyone here familiar with how aggressively breast cancer is treated in Japan, and/or how the social framework in Japan supports families who are dealing with a diagnosis? I'd love any info that anyone has, just to help Murray know what is ordinary and what to possibly expect.
2. We spent the past weekend at Disney's Vero Beach resort, about three hours north of Miami, with my best friend from college, her husband, and their two kids, who are almost-five and almost-three. We had an amazing time, I took Jon on the 160 foot waterslide at the pool, which he loved (yes, he is only 14 months, why do you ask?), we celebrated Harry's birthday on Monday (he is now five, so he now believes he can read, which he's been able to do for a few months now, but now he feels like he's the right age for it and can now admit to doing so) and ended that day with a porchside "campfire" with everyone else at the resort. We made smores with candy bars and marshmellow fluff and one of the counsellors who'd been with Harry's group on a 2 hours event they'd had that afternoon led all 150+ people in singing Happy Birthday to him. He bowed. He is very cute.
3. As I said before, POAIMAXFTL was amazing - it's terrific to be able to get about 300 people to something so fun (and with such blue cake!) on such short notice. And WB came through with posters, too - we have two, so expect one to be a prize in an upcoming FA contest or something.
4. I've had a few questions recently about how people can help with things around FA - other than submitting your own fics, and reviewing, we're always looking for more fic processors, and the application information is here. Anyone is welcome to apply, but the grammar/spelling/canon quiz is meant to be a little challenging - feel free to pass the url around, though, of course! And I know there is going to be another call for eMentors later this month...
5. Harry starts kindergarten a week from Monday. Any advice from parents who've been through it as to transitioning for a kid who's been in school for three years already, but will be starting with a new building and a new structure? Any books, other than the Ms Bindergarten ones, to recommend?
6. A quick thought about the terror warning of last weekend. A letter to the NY Times summed up my feelings pretty well:
It certainly seems better to know than not to know. But Tom Ridge's original announcement neglected to tell the public that the information found was three or four years old; this became known a day after the press conference and has caused speculation as to the possible political motivation of the administration.
Why was this particular detail left unsaid? If pertinent information is going to be made public, shouldn't we be told as much as possible so that an informed judgment can be made about how to proceed?
In other words, I understand why the warning was made public, and why the threat level went up. I do not understand why they didn't explain, from the start, the timeline of the evidence they were relying on; were they trying to hide it or did they not think people would bother to ask, or did they not think it important enough to tell? And if the latter, then why was Ridge's statement about "Bush's leadership" so important that it was included?
There's something wiggy about it, and I don't *want* to say, like Dr Dean, that it was a planned action to remove the spotlight from John Kerry. I want to think it was really real, and that we'd better believe it, and it's a great big deal. I still want to believe the president; I just don't know how do do so unreservedly.