twenty-two years ago as a charming, big-toothed third grader i placed third in the elementary school spelling bee. i thought i would win a prize, but i did not (unless you count the trophy with a geeky bee on top. i do not.). i made it a goal to eventually win the spelling bee so i could find out what was the prize at the end of the rainbow (also because i loved spelling and knew i'd never win honors for my athletic abilities). i don't know what happened in 4th and 5th grades, maybe spelling bees suddenly became uncool, who knows, but i didn't place at all. however, in middle school i renewed my efforts and came away with 2nd place in 6th grade (prize: $50 savings bond...only 11 more years until i can cash in that baby.), a 3rd place finish in 7th grade ($50...in 2022), and finally, in 8th grade i won, thanks to my friend, wendy, who misspelled "melba" of all words. i finally hit the mother lode: $100...when i turn 43. my trophy collection with geeky bees is unrivaled. well, it no longer exists, but i wish it did, because those things would make GREAT white elephant gifts. anyway, i have always loved spelling bees. it is probably the nerdiest thing about me (besides my intense love for trivial pursuit). i do have to say, though, the nerdiest in my family is b, with his lord of the rings chess set.
every year since my school opened i have begged my principal to have a spelling bee, but it never worked out. finally this december, she made an announcement that fulfilled all my hopes and dreams: we will be having a school spelling bee. i cheered. co-workers mocked. of course, she asked me to help her organize the event. i gladly did. all last week we conducted class and grade spelling bees. and today is the day i've been waiting for my whole life. i, sweetpagene, am the official pronouncer of the scripps national spelling bee for our school. i will have my microphone and pronunciation guide. i will have a team of judges, with whom i will consult when necessary. and finally, i will not be the bundle of nerves on the stage spelling with all my heart and soul as if my life depended on it. this is the pinnacle of my spelling career. wish me luck.
oh, and the spellers too.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
i want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
part 3 of 3
so i did pretty much everything on my list, which would have made the trip glorious and beautiful itself, but let me tell you about all the little extra bits of excitement:
1) meeting, not one, but TWO crazy people on the subway. crazy people on the subway. isn't that so new york?
2)staying in HARLEM!! harlem. it is so cool. the only downer is that it wasn't as gritty as i'd hoped. i felt completely safe and people were so friendly. i'd walk out of my building and the garbage man would greet me. i felt like i was in a movie, except that i didn't find my true love in some quirky way within the first 90 minutes of being there.
3) hanging out in soho with all the richies. being a teacher in the worst paying state does not allow me to live the highlife (hence, harlem was my hood) but i have connections. tim and i went to dinner with some of his family members, one of whom was a wall street hedge fund guy (i did not even let on that i have no idea what a hedge fund is, because i was playing the part. so i let on that i had several hedge funds that were performing quite well, thank you.) we went to a pretty bar with very soft chairs where we saw KEIFER SUTHERLAND. well, that's who they all said it was, but i wasn't quite positive that it was him. that's why i had to walk by him to go to the bathroom, but i don't think keifer was fooled by my ruse. anyway, i was glad to see him because at this point, the only celebrity i had seen was the dinosaur bones from night at the museum. then we ate some delicious dinner at a restaurant with a fancy name where my cover was blown. when tim's cousin asked me what my plans were for the next day, i said we planned to go to the met. and he asked which one. and i got the deer in headlights look and slowly answered, "the museum." duh. i even knew that there was also the met that was the opera, but was completely thrown off guard. after this, they knew what i really was: a wide-eyed schoolteacher from out west in the big city for the first time. as if my pink floyd t-shirt didn't already give me away. then we RODE IN A YELLOW CAB! to the rockwood music hall for some hip live music. the first set was a predictably quirky girl playing the ukelele and then a guy who wouldn't stop talking about how old he was (i guessed 24, tim guessed 28 and he was actually 32) oh and the music was fine. mostly i was just trying to feel cool hanging out at a new york "club". then, on the way home (on the subway. i love that thing.) we saw what tim ABSOLUTELY SWEARS was a hooker. perfect way to end a great day.
4) i also went to the moma. this was surprisingly, my favorite museum of the four i visited. it was full of cool art and some things that are not really art, like shoe boxes. the piece de resistance, however, was the exhibit of monet's water lilies. it was a dream come true. i have wanted to see water lilies since the first time i illegally touched a monet at the national gallery of ireland. i couldn't help myself, i was so awed by it. i was snapped out of my reverie by the red blinking light that went off. sara and i quickly decided we had had enough of that museum. we left swiftly to avoid capture. anyway, 6 years later i was wiser (and 30) so i did not make that same mistake twice...plus, security at the moma is WAY more intense. i checked. oh, but also i saw some bonuses, van gogh's the starry night, andy warhol's soup cans, some by ray lichtenstein, jackson pollack, pablo picasso. i am not usually a fan of van gogh, but there is something enchanting about seeing the starry night in person. anyway, i still want to touch monet's waterloo bridge (where is that thing anyway?) and then my priceless art touching career will be over.
5)i did not see a show. i am not a fan of that sort of thing. no exceptions.
in conclusion, i heart new york. and what i thought would be a one week stand has blossomed into a romance beyond my wildest dreams. i will be back, new york. of course i will. i still have to find sesame street.
so i did pretty much everything on my list, which would have made the trip glorious and beautiful itself, but let me tell you about all the little extra bits of excitement:
1) meeting, not one, but TWO crazy people on the subway. crazy people on the subway. isn't that so new york?
2)staying in HARLEM!! harlem. it is so cool. the only downer is that it wasn't as gritty as i'd hoped. i felt completely safe and people were so friendly. i'd walk out of my building and the garbage man would greet me. i felt like i was in a movie, except that i didn't find my true love in some quirky way within the first 90 minutes of being there.
3) hanging out in soho with all the richies. being a teacher in the worst paying state does not allow me to live the highlife (hence, harlem was my hood) but i have connections. tim and i went to dinner with some of his family members, one of whom was a wall street hedge fund guy (i did not even let on that i have no idea what a hedge fund is, because i was playing the part. so i let on that i had several hedge funds that were performing quite well, thank you.) we went to a pretty bar with very soft chairs where we saw KEIFER SUTHERLAND. well, that's who they all said it was, but i wasn't quite positive that it was him. that's why i had to walk by him to go to the bathroom, but i don't think keifer was fooled by my ruse. anyway, i was glad to see him because at this point, the only celebrity i had seen was the dinosaur bones from night at the museum. then we ate some delicious dinner at a restaurant with a fancy name where my cover was blown. when tim's cousin asked me what my plans were for the next day, i said we planned to go to the met. and he asked which one. and i got the deer in headlights look and slowly answered, "the museum." duh. i even knew that there was also the met that was the opera, but was completely thrown off guard. after this, they knew what i really was: a wide-eyed schoolteacher from out west in the big city for the first time. as if my pink floyd t-shirt didn't already give me away. then we RODE IN A YELLOW CAB! to the rockwood music hall for some hip live music. the first set was a predictably quirky girl playing the ukelele and then a guy who wouldn't stop talking about how old he was (i guessed 24, tim guessed 28 and he was actually 32) oh and the music was fine. mostly i was just trying to feel cool hanging out at a new york "club". then, on the way home (on the subway. i love that thing.) we saw what tim ABSOLUTELY SWEARS was a hooker. perfect way to end a great day.
4) i also went to the moma. this was surprisingly, my favorite museum of the four i visited. it was full of cool art and some things that are not really art, like shoe boxes. the piece de resistance, however, was the exhibit of monet's water lilies. it was a dream come true. i have wanted to see water lilies since the first time i illegally touched a monet at the national gallery of ireland. i couldn't help myself, i was so awed by it. i was snapped out of my reverie by the red blinking light that went off. sara and i quickly decided we had had enough of that museum. we left swiftly to avoid capture. anyway, 6 years later i was wiser (and 30) so i did not make that same mistake twice...plus, security at the moma is WAY more intense. i checked. oh, but also i saw some bonuses, van gogh's the starry night, andy warhol's soup cans, some by ray lichtenstein, jackson pollack, pablo picasso. i am not usually a fan of van gogh, but there is something enchanting about seeing the starry night in person. anyway, i still want to touch monet's waterloo bridge (where is that thing anyway?) and then my priceless art touching career will be over.
5)i did not see a show. i am not a fan of that sort of thing. no exceptions.
in conclusion, i heart new york. and what i thought would be a one week stand has blossomed into a romance beyond my wildest dreams. i will be back, new york. of course i will. i still have to find sesame street.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
these little town blues are melting away
part deux
6) ground zero was a very surreal experience. these days it's just a construction site, but it sure felt like i was on hallowed ground. there was a giant bronze mural with name after name of firefighters who had died. definitely an emotional place.
7)i hate to say it, but i was almost dreading new years on times square. standing in one spot for 8 hours in the single digit temperatures is not my idea of a good time (usually). but, oh my word, it was the best new years ever. after eating my birthday lunch with rupert at the hello deli we wandered over to times square. it was 2:30 pm so we thought we were early, but no, several thousand people had beaten us to the free mascara and pom-poms. somehow, through no effort of our own, we ended up with the BEST spots on times square. 20 yards from the ball, at the fence (nice to do some leaning in those 8 hours and not have people on ALL sides), right on the road. that means that we got dibs on all the free stuff (bagels and stupid hats)
and the best view of celebrities (none of whom i recognized without the help of emily and the guy standing next to me, who evidently watches WAY more mtv than i do). i was actually more excited to see the bomb squad than the celebrities. i did, however, recognize ryan seacrest who is short, yes, but attractive. 
so were the college boys next to us, whom emily secretly planned to kiss at the stroke of midnight (yes, all of them). i flirted it up with one of new york's finest (and by flirted it up i mean, i asked him what street i was standing on).
and to make it more magical, what song did they play 3 minutes before midnight? that's right, imagine. HOW DID THEY KNOW?!?! and what song did they play after the ball came down? frank sinatra's new york, new york. truly magical.
8) i found out the hard way that there are 2 mets. we ate our lunch on the steps of the met (the museum, not the opera) because we weren't allowed in with our contraband sandwiches and carrots. the security guard reassured us that it wasn't personal, but she couldn't risk us puncturing our plastic containers and having our carrots leak out. a) what is going to puncture my tupperware? my shiv? 2) in all my experience with tupperware, carrots and sandwiches are the least likely things to leak out. anyway, the met was nice. i followed a cute boy around. oh, and saw some art.
9) they would not let me climb the empire state building, except from the 80th to 86th floor because the elevator was broken. this was rather unfortunate because
10) i ate everything in sight. it was a week of gluttony, which i have totally earned after living on salad and tuna for the last year. of course, my digestive system disagreed, but i paid no mind to him. we frequented the deli on our corner, ate turkish food with my friend juliane, got french fries at every turn, ate a GIANT cookie, had some brekky at the diner in our hood, and on and on and on. my crowning achievement was on day five when i got a falafel sandwich at the street vendor (according to everybody you should stay away from those street carts, but that is the worst advice i've ever heard. there is no finer food on this earth than street food.) and emily said, "i want some ray's pizza." a normal person would have said, "darn, i shouldn't have bought this delectable sandwich." i said, "hang on, let me finish this delectable sandwich." then we went into famous ray's pizza and had a chicken and bacon slice. it was huge. and delicious. then to finish off our new york style dinner we went to junior's for some cheesecake. i felt guilty (not because i was overeating, mind you) because it was busy and i felt like a chump ordering just cheesecake. plus, i saw a word against which i am powerless: reuben. so i got a reuben. with fries. oh, and don't forget the cheesecake. and it was also scrumptious. and just like that with no planning (or self-control, obviously) i ate three dinners (+ dessert) in one night. no, in less than 2 hours. i know i shouldn't be proud of that...but i kind of am. plus, i didn't eat ALL of the cheesecake. i took some of it home and ate it for breakfast the next day.
intermission.
ps. i added pictures to the last post. there has GOT to be a faster way to do that. pps. in some of these pictures i am wearing 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts. can you tell which ones?
6) ground zero was a very surreal experience. these days it's just a construction site, but it sure felt like i was on hallowed ground. there was a giant bronze mural with name after name of firefighters who had died. definitely an emotional place.
7)i hate to say it, but i was almost dreading new years on times square. standing in one spot for 8 hours in the single digit temperatures is not my idea of a good time (usually). but, oh my word, it was the best new years ever. after eating my birthday lunch with rupert at the hello deli we wandered over to times square. it was 2:30 pm so we thought we were early, but no, several thousand people had beaten us to the free mascara and pom-poms. somehow, through no effort of our own, we ended up with the BEST spots on times square. 20 yards from the ball, at the fence (nice to do some leaning in those 8 hours and not have people on ALL sides), right on the road. that means that we got dibs on all the free stuff (bagels and stupid hats)
and the best view of celebrities (none of whom i recognized without the help of emily and the guy standing next to me, who evidently watches WAY more mtv than i do). i was actually more excited to see the bomb squad than the celebrities. i did, however, recognize ryan seacrest who is short, yes, but attractive. 
so were the college boys next to us, whom emily secretly planned to kiss at the stroke of midnight (yes, all of them). i flirted it up with one of new york's finest (and by flirted it up i mean, i asked him what street i was standing on).
and to make it more magical, what song did they play 3 minutes before midnight? that's right, imagine. HOW DID THEY KNOW?!?! and what song did they play after the ball came down? frank sinatra's new york, new york. truly magical.
8) i found out the hard way that there are 2 mets. we ate our lunch on the steps of the met (the museum, not the opera) because we weren't allowed in with our contraband sandwiches and carrots. the security guard reassured us that it wasn't personal, but she couldn't risk us puncturing our plastic containers and having our carrots leak out. a) what is going to puncture my tupperware? my shiv? 2) in all my experience with tupperware, carrots and sandwiches are the least likely things to leak out. anyway, the met was nice. i followed a cute boy around. oh, and saw some art.
9) they would not let me climb the empire state building, except from the 80th to 86th floor because the elevator was broken. this was rather unfortunate because
10) i ate everything in sight. it was a week of gluttony, which i have totally earned after living on salad and tuna for the last year. of course, my digestive system disagreed, but i paid no mind to him. we frequented the deli on our corner, ate turkish food with my friend juliane, got french fries at every turn, ate a GIANT cookie, had some brekky at the diner in our hood, and on and on and on. my crowning achievement was on day five when i got a falafel sandwich at the street vendor (according to everybody you should stay away from those street carts, but that is the worst advice i've ever heard. there is no finer food on this earth than street food.) and emily said, "i want some ray's pizza." a normal person would have said, "darn, i shouldn't have bought this delectable sandwich." i said, "hang on, let me finish this delectable sandwich." then we went into famous ray's pizza and had a chicken and bacon slice. it was huge. and delicious. then to finish off our new york style dinner we went to junior's for some cheesecake. i felt guilty (not because i was overeating, mind you) because it was busy and i felt like a chump ordering just cheesecake. plus, i saw a word against which i am powerless: reuben. so i got a reuben. with fries. oh, and don't forget the cheesecake. and it was also scrumptious. and just like that with no planning (or self-control, obviously) i ate three dinners (+ dessert) in one night. no, in less than 2 hours. i know i shouldn't be proud of that...but i kind of am. plus, i didn't eat ALL of the cheesecake. i took some of it home and ate it for breakfast the next day.
intermission.
ps. i added pictures to the last post. there has GOT to be a faster way to do that. pps. in some of these pictures i am wearing 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts. can you tell which ones?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
these vagabond shoes are longing to stray
new york is the city of my dreams.
i did nearly everything on my list, except for that i couldn't find phoebe and joey and the rest of friends mostly because i couldn't find central perk, which i couldn't find because it doesn't actually exist. boo.
1) visited the imagine mosaic in strawberry fields, but i forgot to buy a red rose to gently place in the center. i didn't get to go here until day FOUR of my trip because i had to await the arrival of my personal photographer. i was not about to take selfies at strawberry fields. sheesh.
2) i actually stood on the spot where john lennon was shot right in front of the dakota. it was a sacred moment. yoko did not come to greet me, but it was probably because there were so many tourists around. and they all posed smiling, not understanding the gravity of this place. in all MY pictures, however, i am looking appropriately somber.
3) dave was, as expected, unavailable, but i saw that ed sullivan theater and they would not let me in. i tried.
4) the hello deli was open! and rupert jee was there! and i ordered a letterman! and it was delicious! also expensive! and when emily asked him if we could take a picture with him, he said "OF COURSE!!" (unlike the doorman at the dakota who not only said no, but was very rude about it. guy, i don't even care about you, i just want a picture of your jacket that says "the dakota" so there) and rupert jee was not awkward at all. there must be something about having a tv camera shoved in his face that makes him awkward.
5) we waited on line for an eternity (1.5 hours, but it was 8 hours when you factor in the wind chill) to see the statue of liberty and ellis island. the lady is very green and ellis island did not disappoint (one of the best museums i've ever been to). i pretended i was a bonny irish lass immigrating to the new world after the potato famine of the 1840s. my fantasy (and my accent) was going well until tim (who was playing the part of an italian immigrant) informed me that ellis island didn't even open until the 1890s. this dampened my spirits considerably until he apologized for ruining my life.
i recently decided my posts are WAY too long. so i'm breaking this up into THREE parts. that's how great it was. three parts.
i did nearly everything on my list, except for that i couldn't find phoebe and joey and the rest of friends mostly because i couldn't find central perk, which i couldn't find because it doesn't actually exist. boo.
1) visited the imagine mosaic in strawberry fields, but i forgot to buy a red rose to gently place in the center. i didn't get to go here until day FOUR of my trip because i had to await the arrival of my personal photographer. i was not about to take selfies at strawberry fields. sheesh.
2) i actually stood on the spot where john lennon was shot right in front of the dakota. it was a sacred moment. yoko did not come to greet me, but it was probably because there were so many tourists around. and they all posed smiling, not understanding the gravity of this place. in all MY pictures, however, i am looking appropriately somber.
3) dave was, as expected, unavailable, but i saw that ed sullivan theater and they would not let me in. i tried.
4) the hello deli was open! and rupert jee was there! and i ordered a letterman! and it was delicious! also expensive! and when emily asked him if we could take a picture with him, he said "OF COURSE!!" (unlike the doorman at the dakota who not only said no, but was very rude about it. guy, i don't even care about you, i just want a picture of your jacket that says "the dakota" so there) and rupert jee was not awkward at all. there must be something about having a tv camera shoved in his face that makes him awkward.
5) we waited on line for an eternity (1.5 hours, but it was 8 hours when you factor in the wind chill) to see the statue of liberty and ellis island. the lady is very green and ellis island did not disappoint (one of the best museums i've ever been to). i pretended i was a bonny irish lass immigrating to the new world after the potato famine of the 1840s. my fantasy (and my accent) was going well until tim (who was playing the part of an italian immigrant) informed me that ellis island didn't even open until the 1890s. this dampened my spirits considerably until he apologized for ruining my life.
i recently decided my posts are WAY too long. so i'm breaking this up into THREE parts. that's how great it was. three parts.
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