Category: Anecdote (Page 25 of 31)

BSC All Grown Up

February 10, 2011 / Katie L. Carroll

My older sisters started reading the Baby-sitter’s Club back in the ’80s, and because I wanted to do everything my older sisters did, I was in second or third grade when I picked up book #1 Kristy’s Great Idea.

At the beginning of every book, there was a portrait of each character. Now I would usually skip over this part, but there was one bit of information you had to stop and read: What outfit was artsy Claudia Kishi wearing? For example in BSC #2 Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, Claudia (each book is told from the title-character’s POV) describes her philosophy on fashion:”I think clothes make a statement about about the person inside of them. Also, since you have to get dressed every day, why not at least make it fun? Traditional clothes look boring and are boring to put on. So I never wear them. I like bright clothes and big patterns and funny touches, such as earrings made from feathers. Maybe this is because I’m an artist. I don’t know. Today, for instance, I’m wearing purple pants that stop just below my knees and are held up with suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple-plaid shirt with a matching hat, my high-top sneakers, and lobster earrings. Clothes like these are my trademarks.”

I wonder what statement Claudia was trying to make with white tights with clocks on them and lobster earrings, but it sure was fun to read about her clothes.

(Yup, I’ve got a whole shelf of BSC books!)

My favorite BSC member was probably Dawn Schafer (who didn’t join the BSC until book #5). I’m not sure why. She was a laid-back, tofu-eating vegetarian from California who wasn’t particularly athletic and was often described as an “individual.” Growing up, I was a picky eater who would never dream of eating tofu, I loved to play sports, and I had a pretty fierce competitive edge. The only thing we really had in common was our blond hair and blue eyes. Maybe our lack of commonality was what I liked about her.

Needless to say I was tickled pink to read this article about where the BSC members would be now. I was not surprised at all to read that Kristy is a lesbian, that Stacey doesn’t talk to any of the BSC members anymore, or that Dawn went off the deep end. I found it interesting that Mary Anne attended my alma mater Sacred Heart University and that Mallory and Jessi wrote a children’s book. I was quite disappointed to learn of Logan’s crime-ridden fate. He was the only boy BSC member…what is that supposed to say for boys who baby-sit?

Okay, now I totally have to go read one of the BSC books this weekend. I think I’ll go for one of the Super Specials (which are told in multiple POVs), so I can get a glimpse into more than one of the BSC members’ minds.

Being a Sun Junkie

December 18, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

I have a confession: I’m something of a sun junkie. And living in New England, I find myself jonesing for some of those good, warm rays as winter rolls around. By the time winter ends, I’m sure I’ll be “looking all pale and tragic” (five stars for the first person to comment with the correct movie reference!).

When the sun is actually shining this time of year, I try to get outside for what I call my “15 minutes a day.” It doesn’t always happen, and when it does, it’s not always in optimal conditions because I often have my head covered. I’ve read (and I can’t for the life of me remember where I read this) that the back section of your head near the crown is the most absorptive part of the body.

There’s just something about being out in the sun and fresh air a little bit everyday that invigorates me. And let’s be honest, my self-esteem gets a nice boost when I have at least a little bit of a tan (as opposed to the aforementioned pale-and-tragic look). It’s not only anecdotal evidence that supports my “15 minutes a day” theory, either.

Actual science backs this claim (and I’m not talking about overexposure to the sun…we all know skin cancer, sun spots, and wrinkles are bad…moderate exposure is key). The aptly named SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which can make you moody, tired, and depressed (admittedly, similar to the symptoms of PMS), usually occurs in conjunction with the lack of sunlight in the winter. Proper sun exposure also helps your body produce vitamin D, which is important for strong bones.

Okay, is this starting to sound too much like a commercial for sun? Well, I don’t care. I really do love the sun. Without it, we don’t have plants, food, animals, earth, life. I’d say it’s about tied with water as the most essential element of life, so you really can’t over emphasize its importance.

All this talk about the sun has made me a little twitchy. Unfortunately it’s night right now. I hope it’s not cloudy tomorrow. I need to get my fix before I start to go through withdrawal! My sun, my precious (please tell me someone knows this book/movie reference!).

Celebrating Birthdays By Singing Terribly

November 22, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve had birthdays on the mind lately (not my b-day…I’m a summer baby). My grandma celebrated her 75th b-day two weekends ago and the hubby’s b-day is today. My family, like most others, has our own particular traditions. The hubby was born on Turkey Day, so always gets the Carvel turkey cake.

Another tradition is that we sing in an unique way, which means we sing very poorly. My family takes a similar approach as the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry do when they sing their school song, i.e. we each sing to our own tune. I like to sing slowly in an ear-piercing pitch and an off-key falsetto.

Thanks to the infamous Mr. Anonymous for this great footage from my grandma’s party. This isn’t even that bad because we were in mixed company (not just family), so some of the guests are actually not trying to be awful. You may be able to catch a bit of my singing right at the end (I really like to hit a high note for the last “TO YOU!!!”).

A few years ago for my niece’s b-day, our singing was so terrible that she actually started to cry. Yup, we are that bad. I guess we take the approach that if you’re going to be bad at something, you may as well embrace it and be the absolute worst you can be.C

The Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington D.C. with Jon Stewart

November 2, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

Today I exercised the nineteenth amendment and voted. I think it’s important to vote every chance we get because not everyone has that opportunity, and I’m always disappointed at the low voter turnout (seriously, our 40 year high in 2008 was 61.6 percent…what was the remaining 38.4 percent doing that day that was so much more important than voting?).

I think the perception of apathy in the nation (and in particular, in those my own generation) was what compelled me to exercise my first amendment rights and join the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear this past weekend. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one because about 215,000 other sanity/fear-seeking people attended.

If I had to pick one word to describe the rally: crowded. Above is a small portion of the line to get tickets for the metro. The hubby, the bro, and I waited over an hour and a half to get our tickets and then we had to wait on the platform until we could find a car with enough room to literally squeeze onto the train (note to self: next time buy tickets in advance!).

(Here’s my view on the train. I particularly enjoyed the pithy advertisements for deodorant, which included a handy odor-meter.)

Once we finally made it to rally (fashionably late), the crowds just got denser. There were lots of fun signs; people off all shapes, colors, sizes, and beliefs (I picked up some interesting Communist literature); and yes, there was the occasional waft of pot.

My favorite sign of the day was a campaign ad for Palin/Voldemort 2012. I’m of the short variety so I mostly heard the rally and didn’t so much see it. I did see a black guy selling t-shirts that had a picture of George W. Bush on them and said “I SCREWED YOU ALL…BUT THANKS FOR BLAMING THE BLACK GUY.”

Yes, it was crowded and overwhelming at times, and the truth is, I wasn’t really sure why I went. I originally thought it was to have an experience and to observe (which is what I do), and I carried no real expectations at the start. But deep down, going to the rally was more than that; I just wasn’t sure what.

Even Jon Stewart, when he took a step back from the jokes and had a moment of sincerity, admitted, “I’m really glad you’re here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here.”

As Jon Stewart spoke his mind, my own mind became clearer. He said, “This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the Heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times.”

Regarding the media and the 24-hours news channels, he said, “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing…the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we get sicker.”

And then he ended on a positive note (oddly enough, just as most YA novels do), “We know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the Promise Land; sometimes it’s just New Jersey.”

And I think that summed up my whole compulsion to attend: a chance to work together with others, no matter what their beliefs, to see through the darkness to the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Indecision 2010 – Republicans Can Go to the Back of the Car

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Rally to Restore Sanity

After the rally, we had a rowdy and fun dinner with my two aunts and cousins (when we finally found them in the crowd…note to self: 200,000 cell phones in a small area will compete for service and none of them will work). It’s weird how sometimes it takes over 300 miles of travel to spend some quality time with the people you love. And then the hubby, the bro, and I were ‘on the way’ home.

Check out the rally’s live feed for more coverage of what I saw (or more accurately, heard).

An Anniversary Trip Down Memory Lane

October 22, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

The hubby and I had our five-year anniversary this past weekend. To celebrate we went to dinner at the restaurant where we got married (it was the first time we had been there since we found out it was haunted), spent the night in a hotel, and got massages.

When it comes to massages, I find that sounds have a big impact on the overall experience. Hands down the best massage I ever had was in Tahiti. If you’ve never been to French Polynesia (and really, you should make a point of going there at least once in your life…trust me, it’s worth the insanely long travel time), basically everything good thing you can imagine about a tropical paradise, that’s Tahiti.

It was pouring the day we got our massages. The rain was relentless, and even though we got soaked walking to the massage place, the weather created the perfect atmosphere. The massage hut is kind of an outdoor/indoor building (like most of the structures in French Polynesia). So there are doors and a roof, but instead of regular floors, it has raised walkways and below is dirt and flowers, and, well, nature. Not all of the rooms have walls, and the ones that do often have walls that end halfway up. No rain gets in, though, because the thatched roof hangs far enough over the edge to keep the water away.

(This is what the island of Moorea looks like in the rain.)

The ladies gave us our pareos, which are basically small sheets that can be worn in a million different ways by both guys and ladies. Then we drank little shot glasses full of some kind of wheat grass drink, which tasted terrible, but is supposedly really good for you. Then the massage ladies brought us to our room.

My masseuse got started right on my feet, which were freezing from walking in the rain with sandals. As I got rubbed down with special Polynesian oil, the only sounds were the pattering of rain and the occasional rumble of thunder.

In addition to the ever-important sounds, was the awesome smell of of island. French Polynesia smells like flowers, but not sticky, sweet, perfumy flowers (I can’t stand that); it has a subtle scent that permeates the island and becomes a part of what Tahiti is. For me, there’s no other place that I so closely identify with by smell. The whole experience of my Polynesian massage was just incredible.

The strangest (I won’t say worst because things are never bad when your getting a massage) one I ever had was by a guy who either had a cold or was a mouth-breather. The only time I didn’t notice his heavy panting was when this really bizarre music started. Most massage places have that relaxing, new-age music, but the song that came on was what could only be described as creepy clown music. I kept imagining I was at a demented circus and scary clowns were stalking me (and I don’t even have a fear of clowns).

And wouldn’t you know, my massage this weekend started off with odd music. It was one of those nature tracks, which is usually fine, but these ducks kept quacking during it. I wanted to laugh along with the ducks every time I heard one cackle “quack, quack, quack.”

Towards the end of the massage, the music turned scary. The best word I could find to describe it was diminuendo because it was like a soundtrack to someone falling down the stairs. Only in my imagination, the person was pushed down the stairs and the evil guy (maybe one of those demented clowns) who did it stood at the top, maniacally laughing. And this scene played over and over again in slow motion until the music changed and I remembered I was supposed to be relaxing and not letting my imagination run away with me.