Jana Remy
  • Writing
    • Disability
    • Making History
    • Digital Humanities
      • dayofDH
    • Canoeing
    • Creative Nonfiction & Essays
    • Feminism
    • Bibliographies
      • Pacific Worlds Bibliography
    • Social Media
      • Mentions/Links
  • Scholarship
    • Awards/Fellowships
    • Conferences & Invited Talks
    • Collaboration
    • Workshops
    • Conference Planning
    • Technical Skills
  • Teaching
    • Blogposts About Teaching

Jana Remy

  • Writing
    • Disability
    • Making History
    • Digital Humanities
      • dayofDH
    • Canoeing
    • Creative Nonfiction & Essays
    • Feminism
    • Bibliographies
      • Pacific Worlds Bibliography
    • Social Media
      • Mentions/Links
  • Scholarship
    • Awards/Fellowships
    • Conferences & Invited Talks
    • Collaboration
    • Workshops
    • Conference Planning
    • Technical Skills
  • Teaching
    • Blogposts About Teaching
Monthly Archives

August 2005

world

rich

From MoJo, something to act on:

And the Rich Get Richer…

The federal deficit has reached record highs. Still, the Senate will vote next month on eliminating the Estate Tax for the richest 2 percent of Americans. To learn more about the Estate Tax repeal/reform visit: www.americanprogress.org To contact your senators about the Estate Tax cut visit: www.moveonpac.org.

August 30, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
deep thoughts

theft

Last week my checking account was “compromised.” This basically means that someone stole my debit card number and stared buying all kinds of things via the internet. They spent money in Arizona, in Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, etc.

Fortunately my bank caught on pretty quickly since I rarely make large internet transactions. They called me and we put a ‘stop’ on my card. But this morning I’ve got to start the tedious process of disputing the charges that this thief made. I’ve got to sort out my transactions from his so we can put my balance back in the black. What a pain.

The first day that it happened I racked my brain to figure out who or how could have done this to me. Was it the gas station attendant who had to run my card through two times and in the process copied down the number? Was it an internet hacker? Has someone infiltrated my home computer? Did I forgot to shred some bank statements? I was going crazy running different scenarios through my mind.

Now I’m feeling rather matter-of-fact about it. I’ve talked with the bank, worked through the various ‘procedures,’ and I’m resigned to the inconvenience of the theft. But a part of me is also frustrated because I don’t want this to happen again and yet I have no idea how to prevent it.

August 29, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
familyJohn

schedule

Well, this will be a big week for our litle family. This is the week that John will start back to school. He’s been waiting for this day for a very long time. He’s finally going back to study a subject of his own choosing (religious studies), and not a study that is practical (MBA) or highly employable (japanese politics and economics).

This evening as we planned our week John and I realized that once the kids start school it will take a miracle for us to be able to get everyone where they need to go. With one car, four busy schedules, and a Long Beach commute, well, it’s mind-boggling. There will be sacrifices (bus rides, missed gymnastics practices, no time for visiting w/professors, babysitting, etc?). There will be stress.

But I think it will be worth it.

To me, it’s far better to be struggling towards a lofty goal, than to be wandering aimlessly without one. I am keeping my fingers crossed, keeping a prayer in my heart, and hoping for the best. For all of us.

August 29, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
familysongs/poetry

tap

Tonight our family enjoyed a night of movie music at the OC Pacific Symphony. They showed clips from famous musicals on a large screen above the orchestra as they played the accompanying musical score. What fun!

The evening began with the music from 2001–the opening scenes with “Thus Spake Zarathustra.” I forget how powerful those scenes are until I hear them again. My familiarity is, of course, aided by the many replays of such scenes on Sesame Street. :)

Then they played some music from Brigadoon (lovely) and the dance scene from “Singin in the Rain.” E wasn’t the only one who couldn’t help but hum along. I found that I’d forgotten just how lovely Gene Kelly looked in that movie until I saw him on the big screen (probably my only chance ever to see it on anything other than video or DVD). Following that was a passionate and tragic waltz from Madame Bovary (accompanied by breaking glass–the foley artists must have had fun with that one).

The big finale was the ballet scene from An American in Paris. Though there’s a part of me that’s rather repulsed by the over-the-top stylization of such scenes, my love for Paris and my fondness for the score, and the thrill of the big screen made it a great experience. Again, Gene Kelly blew me away.

Somewhere in the middle of the show–I think during Singin in the Rain–a forgotten memory resurfaced. When C was 3 I found a pair of boy’s tap shoes, sans laces, just his size at a yard sale. I bought them and threaded some old sneaker laces through the eyelets and presented them to C. I don’t think there was ever a more delighted 3 year-old as the moment that he put on these shoes and stepped out onto our linoleum floor! It was a good thing we lived downstairs because we discovered that C could really DANCE. He danced loud and he danced long in those shoes. By the time he grew out of them they were just the right size for his sister to shuffle around in and so we had a reprise of the fun with her. When we moved from 306 University Village we left behind a kitched covered with black smudge marks–eveidence of many hours of fun.

So funny that I’d forgotten. A part of me hopes that I have C on video somewhere tapping. Tho I’m sure he’d be mortified–especially if he was wearing one of his favorite dancing outfits, the one with the cowboy hat on his head, his striped t-shirt and his winnie-the-pooh underpants. Back then I wondered if I had another Gregory Hines or Gene Kelly on my hands. He had such rhythm and passion in those little feet of his! But a part of me was really afraid of having a tap dancing son–what would that mean? Would he be a starving artist, would he dance in STOMP, or Riverdance, or ??? Would he be gay? Would he be teased and ridiculed by other boys??

Now I’m sure that C has no plans to hit the stage. Though he enjoyed the symphony tonite he didn’t seem overeager to find a new pair of tap shoes (despite John’s encouragement). But a part of me wonders if his early incination was naturally squelched as C moved on to other interests, or was it a subcounscious effort on the part of us, or of society, to channel him into more ‘appropriate’ pursuits?

August 28, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Random

change

It was time for a change…
–I added a randomizer so the description under my blog changes eaches time you visit/refresh
–I changed my flickr badge to a vertical photo list
–I removed the awful blog link in the sidebar
–and a few more details
Enjoy!

August 24, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
deep thoughts

links

Here are two links that’ll give you a boost:
iloveegg
ringtonedancer
[warning: they are both loud]

August 23, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
JohnLDS

name

Guess I’ll feel really comfortable in my Mormon community now that I have an “official” Mo name. Here it is:
My Mormon name is An’Janae.
John’s is even cooler than mine:
His Mormon name is Jadon.
What’s yours?

August 21, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
deep thoughts

boxes

This guy has a pretty unique way of furnishing his apartment. His furniture is truly a work of genius, IMO. Congrats to him for “thinking outside of the box.”

August 21, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
deep thoughtsfamily

alone

The kids are at Aunt Suz’s again. So I’m home alone today. Thus, I’m about to shut all the windows so I can dance around naked to my favorite LPs (you know, the dusty Duran Duran, Police, and Huey Lewis records that rarely see the light of day)…

In reality, I will probably polish off a scrumptious burrito from Taco Mesa and then lie around this afternoon in a post-burrito stupor as I contemplate the piles of books in the hallway that need a new shelf to call home.

PS: You know you’ve been married a long time when you have an evening sans kids and neither your nor your spouse can think of much to do other than hanging out at Barnes & Noble for the evening and reading books about traveling to China.

P.P.S: Yesterday we adopted out the rest of Aunt Suz’s foundling kitties. All night I was thinking of them and wondering if they were enjoying their new homes. Kittens are so magical! We had complete strangers lying on the floor of our LR baby-talking the little critters. So endearing. So sweet. So happy they have new people to love them as much as we have.

August 19, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
family

interest

Today C got his first bank statement from his first bank account. He had earned one cent of interest.

When I suggested that he should be thrilled to have just earned his first penny, this was his oh-so-wise response:

“You know Mom, it’s really anti-climactic.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well it’s just so miniscule…it’s just one penny.” He then shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the room.

I guess that any 11 year-old who regularly uses words like “anti-climactic” and “miniscule” doesn’t need to fret about only earning small change on his first bank account…

August 18, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
hiking
familyphoto

hiking


C & E on the top of Mt Rubidoux. Thanks to Aunt Susan, the fearless early-morning hike leader!

August 18, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
russian
songs/poetry

russian

I knew that my passion for Rachmaninoff was pretty deap-seated, but I was still downright surprised with my quiz results…

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Sergei Rakhmaninov.

I lived in the early Twentieth Century and was well known for my compositional, conducting, and piano skills, yet I am melancholy despite this talent. My famous works include my nearly-impossible piano concerti.

Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

August 16, 2005
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
  • 1
  • 2

About Me

About Me

Hi there friend, and welcome to my blog. I started writing on the internet two decades ago. Since then I've started and finished a PhD program, left the Mormon church and became a Quaker, got divorced, remarried, found full-time work in academia, took up rock climbing and outrigger canoeing, and traveled across the globe (China! Belgium! Italy! Chicago! Montana! Portland! Gettysburg! and oh-so-many points in-between). This blog is eclectic and random--it has poetry and cooking and books. And cats. And flowers. And the ocean (my ocean). But in that sense it's a good reflection of me and my wide-ranging, far-reaching, magpie curiosity.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog.

Popular

  • 1

    A Room of My Own

    December 4, 2017
  • 2

    the post-post divorce Christmas celebration

    November 28, 2017
  • 3

    Reader, I married him

    March 22, 2017
  • 4

    open

    December 21, 2017
  • Ellycat

    January 2, 2019

Categories

Archives

Popular Posts

  • 1

    A Room of My Own

    December 4, 2017
  • 2

    the post-post divorce Christmas celebration

    November 28, 2017
  • 3

    Reader, I married him

    March 22, 2017

Calendar

August 2005
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jul   Sep »
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Flickr

@2017 - PenciDesign. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign


Back To Top