KateSays

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

My mother had her 56th birthday party yesterday and we spent a good portion of it taking pictures of our various fake faces.  See, we (the good people of the Russell clan) find it hilarious when people fake smile and everyone has a very different take on it.  For instance, I asked my friend Pablo for his fake smile and for some reason he had to pretend he was holding a microphone when he did it.  So last night we peed our pants as we took fake smile, fake indifference, fake concern, fake indignation, fake smells bad, fake surprise, fake special needs, fake sleepy, fake monster, fake evil,  and fake revenge.  And I cry everytime I see them.  If you are interested please let me know and I will send them to you.  Otherwise, I am putting it out there, it’s the new best party game.  Do it. 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

Last night I had a horrible dream.  Aliens had invaded the earth and were coming after me with giant tornado legs.  It was so vivid and frightening and I know you’re all probably laughing at my description but it was no laughing matter during the dream or even after I woke up.  I still haven’t fully been able to shake the terror.   Why do our dreams, despite how ridiculous they are, hang with us once we’ve waken?  It’s awful.  I frequently have tornado nightmares, for some reason they are my biggest fear and they love to have cameo’s in my nighttime reveries.  What are your dreams or nightmares about? 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

So I called the President, yes the President the other day.  Apparently you can call the White House and leave a message for the President.   So I did.  And you actually talk to someone and she laughed at me when I told her I’d never done it before.  I know it’s stupid but I was really nervous.  Maybe it has something to do with my phone phobia.  I won’t even call to order pizza, ask my husband.  Anyway, I told her that I wanted the President to support a $5 billion dollar increase in the budget to go toward fighting global AIDS and Poverty.  And she said she’d give him the message.   It was actually a rush.  I was all pumped after I got off the phone, like I’d done something important.  Silly?  Then I began to speculate on what other people call to talk to the President about?  And I imagined old women calling to give him their favorite recipes.  I can only hope I’ll be that awesome someday. 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

Today I watched a very special Family Ties episode.  The one where where Mallory gets hit on by her "Uncle" Arthur.   It was on the Hallmark Channel, something I didn’t even know existed until today and I’m oh so glad I found it.  I don’t know about the rest of you but I love me a good Hallmark made for TV movie.  Anywho, getting back to Family Ties, my old high school friends will tell you I’m notorious for telling Family Ties stories and they love making fun of me for it.   But I can’t help it, I love that show and watching it today confirmed to me how good it was.  There was and is something comforting about it and you can pretty much talk to anyone and they’ll remember at least one episode from the series.  Today’s episode, the "very special" episode, *blush*, made me cry when Elise asked Mallory if he (Uncle Arthur) hurt her and Mallory broke down saying, "No, but he scared me."  Maybe it’s just that I’m a mother and I swear to God if anyone ever does that to my child they will wish they were never born but the epsiode touched me in a different way than it did when I was a kid and yet it was still as wonderful as ever.  And now I’ve got it set up on Tivo.  Isn’t it wonderful how modern technology can bring the past back into your life?    

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

The weather has been fantastic which probably means the earth is doomed but in an attempt to find the best in everything I’ve been outside with my daughter to enjoy this warm January.  Today we went for a long walk and no matter where I go with Sophie she always makes friends.  Today she met Calvin (age 4) and Ellie (age 18 months) and they drew on the sidewalk with chalk.  Remember when that was was life was about, drawing on the sidewalk?  It was simple and colorful and friendly.  I love days like today.  We had a similar day yesterday and I was telling my dad about it and he said, "sounds pretty boring,"  and I laughed because I thought it was a blast and I know Sophie did too.  I guess it’s true what they say, someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure.  Maybe that’s why Sophie picks up any piece of garbage that comes her way. 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

You’ve got one don’t you?  A list of your celebrity boyfriends or girlfriends, my husband likes to play too, and I’ve noticed that as I get older so do my choices.  Oh, and I love a beard.   Give me the scruff.   Here is my my current list in no particular order (you only get to pick five):

Hugh Laurie (Whose House?  House’s House.)
Ewan McGregor (Please Obi Wan, You are my only hope)
Djimon Hounsou (I think he may have been cut out of marble)
David Boreanaz (Mmmmm, Angel)
Daniel Dae Kim (I’d get Lost with you any day of the week)

Who’s on your list?

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

Leon and Sophie and I just got back from our first ever family vacation and it was suprisingly wonderful.  I had been panicking about it for weeks; I was sure Sophie would make the car trip hell and any future inclinations to travel in the future would be squashed.  But my little girl proved me an idiot and enjoyed her car ride full of Snyder’s Honey Wheat Sticks (yummy) and Blue’s Clues and Dora (thank goodness for portable DVD player’s).  Leon and I enjoyed the ride as well.  We listened to a lot of music and certainly Death Cab was among it.  Do you ever listen to a song a thousand times, sing along even, but not stop to really listen to the lyrics.  I do this all the time, I’m not sure why, I’m naturally guided by the music first and I guess the music takes me to places in my own mind.  This was the case with the song "Marching Bands Of Manhattan."  And I feel like a complete dunce because I’m well aware of Cab’s incredible talent of painting a picture with their lyrics.   So we were listening to this song and for some reason I decided to pay some much deserved attention.  And what happend?  I friggin got chills, that’s how damn good these lyrics are.  Please download the song if you haven’t already.  Here is the chorus to blow your ever lovin mind:

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

Leon and I have found ourselves as of late watching documentaries and/or movies relating to or about philosophy.  And so my mind is getting in the habit of being blown.  And it made me curious to look up a late cousin of mine from way back, Bertrand Russell, who was a philosopher and mathematician.  And my mind continues to shatter in the most delicious way.  Mind blowing is good…I want to make that clear.  Here are some great quotes I found by this great man:

"Passive acceptance of the teacher’s wisdom is easy to most boys and girls.  It involves no effort of independant thought, and it seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man.  Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life.  It causes man to seek and accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position."

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."

"What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with the belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer."

Whether or not you agree with him, and he would have hated for anyone to blindly do so, you have to admit, the man could write, and the man could think, and I think that’s something to think about. 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

This morning, whilst on the pooper, I came up with a summation.  I often do at these blissful times of day and I imagine many great minds get their best ideas in the same way.  Bill Gates probably poos with his palm pilot in hand.  Shakespeare probably wrote "To be or not to be…" during a great pooing.  Now, I’m no friggin Willy Shakes but I’ve decided to blog about my summation just the same.  When it comes to music one must appreciate all kinds to be a true lover of music, however it is also equally as necessary to have artists one finds completely awful or not to their taste.  Why am I writing about this?  I want everyone to write in about the musicians they love and the ones they love to hate.  My mom yesterday asked me if I liked Eric Clapton and I replied by sticking my tongue out.  No, I don’t.  I may be the only person on the planet who doesn’t, but I stand by my accessment.  Am I saying that Clapton is not a good guitar player?  No, I just happen to believe he uses his genius for evil rather than good.  His songs to me are boring and all sound alike.  I am not a fan.  I also intensly dislike Natalie Merchant although in her case I find her extremely untalented.  I may have liked her songs had someone else been singing them.   My husband likes the Bare Naked Ladies and I have tried to do the same. Although iI find their lyrics clever and do enjoy a few of their songs, I find I can’t get past one of the singer’s nasal voice and often find the music too repetative and simple.  In other words, it gets old really fast and I can’t get the friggin songs out of my head.  Who do you love to hate?  Do tell.  And lest you think I think my taste is the end all be all please take note: I admit fully and passionately to liking music most self-respecting music lovers would abhor….Britney Spears anyone? 

Posted by Kate at March 24th, 2006

If you haven’t done so already please join up at www.one.org to help fight world poverty and AIDS.  They don’t ask for anything but your voice and we all know we have enough to go round.   I also wanted to recommend a movie I watched the other day called "The Girl in the Cafe."  It  tells the story of how one voice can really make a difference and perhaps even save the world.  Listen to your hearts this holiday and share your one yet ever so powerful voice with the world.