Well, we didn’t kayak

I got up yesterday — my birthday — with a pounding upper respiratory infection that didn’t allow me to swallow, or breath with any skill. I am an old hand at respiratory issues (I have a tinge of asthma), but I let my husband (thanks, Frank), talk to me into going to the urgent care facility near my house, and he drove me, too.

I got medicine, laid down to nap, woke up to watch a movie, took another nap, was driven out for my complimentary lobster roll, and came back to sleep some more. It wasn’t the birthday I’d intended, but it certainly was restful.

I hope you can say the same about your yesterday.

I’m fine, thanks. How are you?

Since I left my old job back in May, life hasn’t been  what I expected.

I expected to feel pangs of nostalgia, and waves of regret. I’ve felt neither. It hasn’t been all rainbows and puppies, but when you work a job as long as I did — and as hard as I did — you would think there’s been some residual…something…so my reaction means either I did the right thing, or I’m shallow as hell.

I stayed in that job long past my due date for a variety of reasons, some of them valid. For one, the thought of losing my last name, Susan Campbell Ofthehartfordcourant, was akin to chewing off my own arm. If I wasn’t a newspaper reporter/columnist, precisely who was I?

Then, too, I hesitated leaving because You Don’t Leave A Job Without Another Job Waiting For You. Ever.

I stayed, as well, because I never quit loving to talk to people and then writing about them, and in the pressure cooker of a daily newspaper job, I never took the time to lift the lid and look around at other ways to tell stories. In fact, about five years ago, I remember talking to my husband about the potential of life after my newspaper job, and I cried. I cried!

I’ve shed no tears lately. In fact, I was driving home from dinner with friends last week (I can do those types of things now, have dinner with friends, and this week? I’m watching a movie with friends, too.) and my heart filled up. This, then, is the life I really live.

So I haven’t cried, but I have:

* Started writing a monthly column for the fabulous website C-HIT. My first one should run shortly.

* Entered into negotiations (Ha. “Negotiations,” like we used lawyers and stuff. We met over coffee.) to start co-writing a blog with Tom Breen (tentative title: Hot Dogma!). In conjunction with that, we are

* Talking about co-hosting an online radio show. I only just met Tom but I like him already — a good thing, if you’re going to share a microphone, yes? More on that later.

* Gotten back the edited version of my biography on Isabella Beecher Hooker, and the questions are going to make the book better, so I’m happy. (And if you’re a frequent visitor to this blog, you know I needs my editing.)

* Started working part-time at Partnership for Strong Communities doing research and grant-writing and generally learning the myriad of acronyms that housing-types use. I sometimes feel like the grizzled, cigar-chewing shrew in the corner among people who are lit from within, but I believe I can learn from these folks, and I like them already, too.

* Participated in a few panels, on topics from immigration to (yes!) the War of 1812.

* Guest-hosted John Dankosky’s WNPR show, Where We Live, appeared on The Colin McEnroe Show on the same station, and last night sat down for Bruce Barber’s Real Life Survival Guide, with some really interesting guests and some awesome ribs and sides. I don’t know how it’s going to sound on-air (you won’t hear it for a few weeks) but participating felt like going to a dinner party with people with whom you needed to bring your A-Game.

I am still in search of a Big Girl Job, one with benefits and everything, but I know it’s out there and I’m not losing sleep over it. The weird thing is, I’m probably working harder (though less hours) than I did at my old job, and I’m enjoying myself more. Freaky how that works out.

I have no idea what’s next and I don’t lose sleep over that, either. I guess what this has taught me that if you’re thinking of jumping, go ahead and do it. The universe (and some really good friends) will catch you. Go ahead. Do it.

 

George Carlin, the Supreme Court, and dirty words

You can watch the best video featuring Carlin, the Supreme Court, Fox, and the FCC right here.

You can read more about the Supreme Court’s decision in Fox v. FCC here.

Write your own cutline!

And extra points for creativity for this photo of presidential candidate Rick Perry.

The anti-community center/mosque needs better music

Because if this is the best they can do…

That sounds snarkier than I mean it. I find it appalling that the 9/11 tragedy would be used to stifle religious freedom, and this jingo-laden song is a sad example of how far we’ve moved from the original ideal. (That link raises an interesting parallel. Remember when the proposed The Wall, the Vietnam War Memorial, was considered an affront to our war dead? And now, it’s among Washington’s most beloved monuments.)

Here’s more on http://www.projectshiningcity.org, the creator of the music video. Their web pages features one essay called “The Islamic Ballerina,” in which Project Shining City’s lead guy, Jeff Bruzzo…well, I’m not sure what it is he’s doing, but it’s not the most informed of essays. I leave it for you to judge.

A short meditation on information overload

From Ezra Klein, at The Washington Post.

Space rock!

Help choose the wake-up songs for NASA’s final space shuttle missions.

You can write your own (and we have plenty of musicians here who could do that, but you must remember to give me credit) or choose one from previous wake-up songs (including “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Beautiful Day,” among others).

Five days in flooded Pakistan

Daniel Toole, UNICEF regional director for South Asia, has been visiting Pakistan’s heaviest-hit provinces since the flooding. Here’s his update.

Should Billy the Kid be pardoned?

We talk about forgiveness a lot here: Is this something over which we should spend calories?

Check out the Tom Robbins quote at the end.

Yep. That about sums it up. And thanks, Sis. Cynical, for this.