Heart

Sometimes in life I feel like things happen for me. As though certain things in this life were meant. In specific. For me. Maybe I'm an egoist? But there I was. Screaming my head off, with the majority of Nebraska (well, those who weren't at the Dave Matthews concert that night...or out cow-tipping...heh, heh) for Heart to do an encore.

Have you listened to Heart lately, people? Fine. Maybe not the coolest-looking group in the world, but, hell, that woman can sing!

So, they come out and did an encore of 3 songs. The Who's Love Reign O'er Me (I blame Mark Ross from the Young Singers of Callanwolde for my Who obsession from age 10 to maybe 25...), their own Crazy on You, and Led Zeppelin's Going to California. I almost cried. It was just beautiful. Music is amazing.

And as I look around, I'm the only person singing. With all my heart. Overjoyed. And probably a bit overwhelming...at least for Nebraska. But then again, we went with Sidney, Tony's sixteen year-old cousin, featured...need I say more?

Summer in the city

I love New York in the summer. Undergarments matter none whatsoever. You can wear a backless dress with the tackiest bra you have jutting out the back. Or a wifebeater with nothing on under it except your nipples. Anything goes. And the fellas, too. No shirt, no shoes, no skivvies? No problem. And people may look. But nobody really cares. People just seem to let people be. I guess it's a luxury, when you really think about it. This country. Freedom.

And lightning bugs! They're all over the place.

Thoughts & eavesdropping

Who buys fruit from a stand on the corner of 79th and 2nd Avenue? Or 14th and 3rd? How many cars, buses, trucks, how much exhaust can one peach suffer and still taste good?

Since when did the bicycle lane grow to include kids on crotch rocket Suzukis weaving in and out at 60 miles per hour? Yikes.

I think that if I drove a cab in the city, I'd be the angriest woman alive.

This ten year-old kid walking by me in the park just said to his friend, "Man, you know it's true. Girls who are ugly now, grow up pretty. Girls who are pretty now, turn out ugly." Funny.

OMG, OMA!

There is nothing better than getting a call from a friend screaming into the phone from excitement, words coming at you so fast, you're clueless what you've just been told. The requisite pause, and response, "WHAT?!?"

And as you struggle to listen to the same thing repeated a tiny bit slower, you realize that "concert...oh my god...tickets...ohmygood ohmygod ohmygod...Heart, Cheap Trick and Journey...July 22nd....AAAAHHH!" NICE!

As many of you may know, I love to sing. It was one thing for which I was mocked a fair amount of my life. That, and my toes. But I've come to love both. And am more than happy to share them! Especially the voice thing. I've got some stuff down, Led Zeppelin, Blind Faith, Cyndi Lauper. You know, classics. But those women from Heart? That's some hard stuff to pull off. Trust.

So I'm going to visit Tony in Omaha, and we're going to the concert. I can't wait to see him. Or the new Journey front man. We'll see if he can rival Steve Perry...and I'm hoping to channel the voice of Ann Wilson. For the rest of my life. Wish me luck!

Zoo

I spent the day at the Bronx Zoo with the town crier. Wednesday is donation day. All excited at first, once in the zoo, I couldn't help but wish that I'd been taking photos of creatures in their natural environments. Wishing I could see them triumphant, delicate, wild, real. I know, I'd end up with a tiger gnawing on my leg.

What is a zoo? A microcosm of the world built in the middle of a city. Somehow it seems so unnatural, unnecessary. I guess for smaller creatures it doesn't seem so unjust. But those that roam over plains, and those that migrate. I'm conflicted.

And yet still, here I am, leaning over the railing, peering up to see the two-toed sloth. In awe as the snowy owl makes a 360 with his head. Touched as a peacock with her newborn chicks passes. Waxy tree frogs, camels, a lion and lioness. And lemurs! There is a Madagascar exhibit full of various lemurs. A glimpse of a different life. What would it be like if these were the animals in your daily life?

The Delta Skyfari (aside: is there anything out there anymore without corporate sponsorship?) takes you up above the zoo. In the air, the city seems so far away. The skyscrapers barely discernible. A thin layer of gray haze lurking above steel, asphalt, exhaust. I guess, it's its own zoo. Hopefully, the animals are far enough away from that glorious chaos.

Pine nut, pistachio nut, macadamia nut...

So can we talk about Plumpy'nut? No, I'm not joking. Have you heard about this product? I've obviously been in the dark about this one. Anderson Cooper did a spot on it that I saw recently. It's single-serving peanut butter based paste that is curing scores of children who were suffering from malnutrition. Worldwide.

As I watched the special, a doctor from Doctors Without Borders made mention of wasted life. How the deaths of children in developing countries have been nothing more than wasted life. Maybe 8 months lived, then dying from malnutrition before a first birthday. The report's statistics showed that in any given family, 1 child in 5 would die from malnutrition. No memories established, no feeling, no real growth or learning. No chance.

Enter peanut butter. I just searched my blog to see how many times I've mentioned it and when and where. Turns out 5, now anyway. Personally, I've loved the stuff since childhood, so I can understand. I couldn't eat it with jelly on a sandwich because the jelly always made the bread look bruised. But that's just me. Really, it makes sense. All you need is a spoon. But in single-serving packages, not even that. With all the pharmaceutical warnings, food-borne mishaps, hell, toy recalls we are lucky to receive day-to-day, I hope this product works and proves a viable solution.

There were quite a few comments made about Anderson Cooper's report on CBS News that may also be of interest, from personal histories to opinions.

Right now

Does anybody else have plum crazy stuff happen to her? Or him? Me...things tend to coincide. Like I'll be talking about someone to whom I haven't spoken in years who suddenly appears right before mine eyes. Or I'll mention something in passing, then turn and see an advertisement of that very thing passing me by on a bus. It's not supersicion, it's reiteration.

Maybe I'm crazy but I take these coincidences to heart and figure, "Wow. I am supposed to be in this moment. Right now." And it's comforting. An affirmation from the world, or perhaps simply coincidence for you realists. But me? Call me naive, but I choose to believe.