sufficient

i blame Ami

100 Things
Bold the things you have done...

1. Started your own blog...
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii. It helps when you live in CA.
5. Watched a meteor shower. My favorite was driving home through the night from college freshman year.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland. The original and the best
8. Climbed a mountain. By accident once in Santa Monica.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables. When I taught 4th grade, with the kids.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26..Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run. Please- have you seen me with a bat in hand?
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. Does Georgetown, GA count?
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. I suppose technically, I was riding along with the injured person, but still...
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris And the Arc de Triophe, and Notre Dame, all in one crazy day...
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. Lemonade stand. Dad even built us a for real stand.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp. Dachau. On D-Day.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt. That's on the to-do list. I have the pieces, but they aren't pieced.
73. Stood in Times Square. On New Years Eve, even.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book. ALso on the to-do list.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone's life. Figuratively, at least.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day. Multiple times. And multiple books in one day.

posted by CP @ 6:43 PM 4 thoughts

when i grow up

When I was four, my friend Alex and I had built our future together. We were going to live on a mountain the middle of New York City. On one side of this mountain would be a farm and on the other side a ranch. We would run both together, and he would be a fireman and a doctor and I would be a fireman and a nurse. This was 1982 and somehow, at the age of 4, I knew that we were in a recession. I have this clear memory of us walking into a grocery store and dumping all of our change (in my mind, the pile it makes is at least 18 inches high) onto the conveyor belt, so that we could help NYC get out of its financial woes. (That's probably not the diction I used at 4.)

This semester, I'm participating in a professional development class with some colleagues that we put together- we're reading The Grapes of Wrath and looking at how to teach it along with the Great Depression, interdisciplinarily. Today, someone was sharing a lesson plan on economics and we were looking at trends in the stock market, GNP, numbers of farm and percentage of the population involved in farming-type things. In the midst of this, the presenter shared that in 1931, news of how terrible our depression was, to the point of people starving to death in NYC, had spread so far that the citizens of Cameroon sent a relief check to the mayor of New York in the amount of $3.77. (I'm very curious to know what that would be worth today.) I was quite skeptical of this and was hardly able to keep myself from laughing aloud as it immediately triggered this childhood memory. I was able to corroborate this random fact from a couple of sources, however.

Is it possible I had heard this story when I was four and incorporated it into my dreams for my future?

posted by CP @ 10:20 PM 0 thoughts

what a beautiful thing it is

to look down the hallway and see
a student fast approaching you
with her hand stretched out
cold Diet Coke in hand.

posted by CP @ 11:28 AM 0 thoughts