Hi! I brought you some flowers.
I have returned to all my online functions after spending quality time in the three dimensional world I like to call "meatspace". Certainly, cyberspace has its charms and stimulations, but it's good to go beyond the digital interactions and hang out with folks in the flesh. I guess it was time to stop and smell other people's anti-perspirants, or something like that.
While I've been sniffing the earthy fragrance of the world and its inhabitants, Malcolm has been recovering quite nicely from laser eye surgery. Of course, when it rains it pours and the other day a thorn stabbed the cornea of his right eye. Ow! Ow! Ow! or whatever he said in dog speak. Actually, Malcolm didn't speak at all when he hopped away from the brambles where this happened on our property. Instead, he curled up into a ball, wiping his eye with his paw, and whimpered softly. Going into soft whimpers is never a good sign for a breed like the Jack Russell Terrier, so I rushed him to an emergency vet where they took a look and prescribed antibiotics and a pain-killing gel to rub into his gums. Am I a bad dog owner for thinking that watching a pooch high on prescription drugs is a great way to spend an afternoon? I mean, really, who needs the Internets when your furry friend puts on headphones, lays down on the floor and sings along to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"? I don't think it would surprise you one bit if I told you that the singing was very loud and crazily out of tune. Then, stoned Malcolm and I proceeded to have a discussion on the merits of the color blue, "Oh, I JUST LOOOOVE bah-LUUUUUE!" To be followed with how much we love enchiladas, "Oh, I JUST LOOOOVE enchiLAAAAAAdas!"
(If you don't know what I was talking about just now, I can only surmise that you did not inhale back in the day.)
On the human kid front, my Molly is finishing up a very demanding junior year of AP coursework and after school tutoring for the SAT. Let me take a moment to make an important announcement to the parents of young children out there - START SAVING FOR THAT SAT PREP NOW. Typical fees are anywhere from $700 to over $1000, and that's just tutoring in a group setting. I shudder to think of what a one-on-one tutor would cost.
I realize that buying an SAT prep book is a cheaper deal, but Molly is approaching the SAT with the intensity of a ninja. She's going to do it multiple times until she scores high enough to be competitive. That sounds nightmarish to me, retaking the SAT. Once was enough for me and my contemporaries.
(Speaking of inhaling, etc., one of my friends took LSD the night before the SATs and was still "tripping" the morning of the test. Talk about SAT prep. Incidentally, he did very well and went on to Chico State, the premier party school in the nation at that time.)
As for me, I'm good, thanks. It's been quiet and peaceful 'round these parts and in my heart. I've been wandering around town, feeling a little bit better about the world at large and at small. I'm finding little blessings everywhere, including this bouquet that was arranged in a rustic vase nailed to a fence above the beach. Consider this - somebody gathered these blooms, perhaps cut from their garden or purchased somewhere, and went out to the beach with a container of water and popped the posies into the vase on the fence. Somebody made an effort to make "the world at small" a sweeter place. Somebody, whoever that was, was looking out for us, making a little offering of beauty without imposing any charge or obligation. I think about all that and can't help but feel better.
While I've been sniffing the earthy fragrance of the world and its inhabitants, Malcolm has been recovering quite nicely from laser eye surgery. Of course, when it rains it pours and the other day a thorn stabbed the cornea of his right eye. Ow! Ow! Ow! or whatever he said in dog speak. Actually, Malcolm didn't speak at all when he hopped away from the brambles where this happened on our property. Instead, he curled up into a ball, wiping his eye with his paw, and whimpered softly. Going into soft whimpers is never a good sign for a breed like the Jack Russell Terrier, so I rushed him to an emergency vet where they took a look and prescribed antibiotics and a pain-killing gel to rub into his gums. Am I a bad dog owner for thinking that watching a pooch high on prescription drugs is a great way to spend an afternoon? I mean, really, who needs the Internets when your furry friend puts on headphones, lays down on the floor and sings along to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"? I don't think it would surprise you one bit if I told you that the singing was very loud and crazily out of tune. Then, stoned Malcolm and I proceeded to have a discussion on the merits of the color blue, "Oh, I JUST LOOOOVE bah-LUUUUUE!" To be followed with how much we love enchiladas, "Oh, I JUST LOOOOVE enchiLAAAAAAdas!"
(If you don't know what I was talking about just now, I can only surmise that you did not inhale back in the day.)
On the human kid front, my Molly is finishing up a very demanding junior year of AP coursework and after school tutoring for the SAT. Let me take a moment to make an important announcement to the parents of young children out there - START SAVING FOR THAT SAT PREP NOW. Typical fees are anywhere from $700 to over $1000, and that's just tutoring in a group setting. I shudder to think of what a one-on-one tutor would cost.
I realize that buying an SAT prep book is a cheaper deal, but Molly is approaching the SAT with the intensity of a ninja. She's going to do it multiple times until she scores high enough to be competitive. That sounds nightmarish to me, retaking the SAT. Once was enough for me and my contemporaries.
(Speaking of inhaling, etc., one of my friends took LSD the night before the SATs and was still "tripping" the morning of the test. Talk about SAT prep. Incidentally, he did very well and went on to Chico State, the premier party school in the nation at that time.)
As for me, I'm good, thanks. It's been quiet and peaceful 'round these parts and in my heart. I've been wandering around town, feeling a little bit better about the world at large and at small. I'm finding little blessings everywhere, including this bouquet that was arranged in a rustic vase nailed to a fence above the beach. Consider this - somebody gathered these blooms, perhaps cut from their garden or purchased somewhere, and went out to the beach with a container of water and popped the posies into the vase on the fence. Somebody made an effort to make "the world at small" a sweeter place. Somebody, whoever that was, was looking out for us, making a little offering of beauty without imposing any charge or obligation. I think about all that and can't help but feel better.
I took the SAT three times. Once for practice, once for real, and once more just for fun to see if I could squeeze out a few more points. But then again, I always thought that ETS standardized tests were dead easy. It's an idiot-savant-type skill I have.
Posted by: Stan | June 03, 2008 at 02:34 PM
What beautiful flowers! I love it when people do lovely little things like that for strangers.
Posted by: Average Jane | June 03, 2008 at 06:04 PM
I've so missed my dose of Grace.
Posted by: carmen | June 03, 2008 at 07:44 PM
Ughhh the SAT. What a painful experience. You don't have to spend that much though - I had my daughter do an online course with a U of Chicago tutor from prepme and it was about $500. My husband and I felt that it was more convenient and the results.
That being said, I miss the days where summers in high school were about finding a job at the local water park and having fun. Oh well. I'm an old timer now.
Posted by: Mrs. Smith | June 03, 2008 at 10:20 PM
My scores came back so low that I was presumed to have somehow mismarked an entire section, throwing everything off. There was no way, they thought, someone did that badly simply when trying to do well. They didn't know I was still drunk because, for me, Friday nights were for partying, no matter what Saturday brought. Oy. To never, ever be 17 again. Thank dawg.
Posted by: Barbara | June 03, 2008 at 11:30 PM
You've no idea how much better my day is, thanks to those flowers, and to your post. Thanks, Grace.
Posted by: Bakerina | June 04, 2008 at 09:08 AM
It is always good to see flowers but with the knowledge that you are gifting them to us in your present state makes me feel very warm and fuzzy. Wish I could give you a fleshy hug right now.
Posted by: Mocha | June 04, 2008 at 03:46 PM
I took my SAT's 3 times. Once as a junior to get into a honors program my senior year, once again cuz I was sure I could do better, and that third time because I was really REALLY sure I could do better (and I did, by about 300 points). My number one pointer? STUDY VOCABULARY. The verbal section is nothing if not a giant vocabulary test formatted in different ways. And for that I recommend www.freerice.com
Posted by: Miss Grace | June 09, 2008 at 03:01 PM
I took my SAT's 3 times. Once as a junior to get into a honors program my senior year, once again cuz I was sure I could do better, and that third time because I was really REALLY sure I could do better (and I did, by about 300 points). My number one pointer? STUDY VOCABULARY. The verbal section is nothing if not a giant vocabulary test formatted in different ways. And for that I recommend www.freerice.com
Posted by: Miss Grace | June 09, 2008 at 03:02 PM