Amos tritt zurück!

You may recall this post about Kaveh's cousin Amos, the Imperator of Pop. Well, sad news people. This was just released by Amos' press agent:

A newsflash is shocking all of us:

Today - February the 23rd 2009 -

Amos has announced his resignation from music business.

With his brandnew and obviously last title "The Last Song"

he'd like to say goodbye to all his followers.

Watch the video here:

http://www.amos-music.com/lastsong

There has been no further statement concerning his motives.

All concerts have been canceled.

Your Amos team.

Okay, is this for real? Is he going to off himself? Is he trying to be clever and Ween-like?
I myself need to contemplate this one for a while. I'm so depressed.

It's Not You, It's Me

My dear blog, I know I have been neglecting you lately. Please, baby, look at me. It's not that I don't love you anymore, you know I do. You're always there for me, waiting, faithfully. It's just that lately, going to Facebook and giving a quick status update is so easy and efficient. It's addictive too - that immediate release of information. With you, my darling, it's like a slow dance where I have to take time to think of witty and detailed anecdotes from my not very exciting life. Don't get me wrong; once I do come up with a creative blog post, write it up and click on "Publish Now", I get the most incredible feeling of release and pleasure. But baby, sometimes I just need that quick fix. I want to write just a short sentence, maybe even a phrase, and get it out there into the world. Don't judge me for that.

I know you'll always be here, waiting for me. And please know you're in the back of my mind always; that nagging voice saying, "You really need to post to your blog. You haven't posted anything in over a week". It's not that you're a nag, please don't take offense. You force me to be a better writer -please know I am eternally grateful to you for that. But baby, I feel that we need to open up our relationship to other social media. I met this really hot spot named Twitter - would you mind if I went on a few posts there? It wouldn't mean anything, I swear. Just a meaningless one-second status update, and then I'll come right back to ya.

Thanks doll, you really are something.

25 Fascinating Things About Moi

Since I'm drawing a total blank thinking about a blog topic this week, I guess I'll just recycle this note from my Facebook page. Hey, I wrote it, right. And maybe next post will focus on explaining #25.

1) I’m writing this in Word since last time I tried to write this on FB I got to #17 then my list somehow vanished.
2) I love my kids more than I could ever have imagined.
3) I still am happily married after 7 ½ years. I’m hoping this means we’re in the clear.
4) I always try my hardest to be an optimist, to see the good in people and to remain positive. Just don’t get on my bad side.
5) I was the lead singer in several punk rock bands from 1990-2005.
6) I sang at a gay leather bar when I was 8 months pregnant with my second child.
7) I still want to be a rock ‘n roll mom, but it’s beginning to get embarrassing.
8) I also have fantasies of starting a kid’s band. Writing songs for kids, that is.
9) I work as a speech-language pathologist in the schools. That’s the fancy word for speech therapist. I have to say that after 11 years, I still enjoy the work I do and always have new challenges that make it interesting. Of course summers off don’t hurt either.
10) I write a horoscope column for a teen manga magazine.
11) My favorite form of exercise is jogging on my treadmill in the basement as I watch Dexter, The L-Word or some other addictive show.
12) I refuse to pay for cable TV after having it for free for over 8 years (Netflix is my lifeline to the outside world).
13) The hardest job I ever had was in a residential home for autistic children. And I only got paid $7 an hour. It was then that I realized the benefits of advanced degrees.
14) I am considering going back for my doctorate.
15) I am considering training for a half marathon.
16) I often speak out about grand plans and then don’t follow through. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
17) I have studied Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, the Kabbalah and even know a bit about Zoastrism. I still haven’t found something that I can commit to.
18) I am somewhat embarrassed by being a suburban mom.
19) I am a big fan of underground comics. It all started with Matt Feazell’s Stupid Boy. I used to send him love letters in high school.
20) I studied English with a concentration in film theory in college. I had ambitions of going to film school and making vampire films. Who didn’t?
21) I lived in San Francisco for 12 years and left about 2 ½ years ago. Not a week goes by when I don’t miss it.
22) I miss my best friend the most.
23) I’m starting to get teary-eyed. Shit.
24) I have been to Burning Man four times. The first was in 1994 when it was small enough you could soak in the hot springs all day and the music was acoustic.
25) When I was 16 my dad took me to see my aunt’s performance piece. She was naked, covered in blue paint.

Community Service

Here's my little Florence Nightingale - isn't she sweet? I will now annoy you with a bragging tale of how wonderful my child is, so if you are not interested (but why on earth wouldn't you be?!), please feel free to go read Perez Hilton or The Angry Arab.

Nina is a member of the Daisy Girl Scouts and naturally I wanted to be involved, so I volunteered as the service project coordinator. I hemmed and hawed about the project - should we feed the homeless, dress the orphans, plant seeds for Mother Earth? Well, not sure of how this girl scouts thing really works, I decided to do an easy valentine's project. Our troop would make and send valentines to a nursing home. They were quite cute, actually. First we made hot pink door hangers and then the girls decorated the valentines that went inside. I was told to drop off the valentines at the girl scouts' office and then they would be taken to a local nursing home. Later, like about a week ago, I found out that actually our troop should pick a place in the community to deliver them. I recalled a place very close to our house that looked a little runned down and therefore could use some cute little girl scouts to liven the place up. I notified all the moms that this Sunday would be the day to do our part and deliver the valentines to the sick and the elderly.

Well, only one other little girl showed up. Not that I blame anyone for not coming - it was short notice and a Sunday afternoon to boot. The two girls were taken to the first floor of the nursing home (I was told that these residents were a little more "with it" than the ones on the 3rd floor) and went door to door giving out their special creations. Although it looked like a hospital and smelled like one too, Nina didn't seem to notice or care. She boldly went into each resident's room and greeted them with a "Happy Valentine's Day". Nina's not the most outgoing kid, but yesterday she must have been having a moment because she was friendly and talkative to all the residents. She didn't even get scared when some people were drooling, or sleeping with their giant bellies hanging out, or had tubes up their noses. I for one was getting pretty depressed and thinking, "Please don't make me live in a place like this when I'm old", but when we were all done, Nina exclaimed, "That was fun!". The other little girl didn't seem quite as enthused but it was a great experience nonetheless.

So although we do not belong to any organized religious group, even my mom would have to agree that we had a very Christian day. Maybe it even took off a few black marks on my own record??

Bringing Work Home

Thanks to the miracle of antibiotics I was back at work today. My throat is still slightly sore, but that didn't stop me from yakking it up most of the day.

Sometimes, actually quite often, I feel guilty about my job. All day long I work with 3-5 year olds. My own children are 3 and 5. All day long I sing songs, read books, play games, teach early literacy skills, do language enrichment and basically entertain 3-5 year olds. Other peoples' 3, 4 and 5 year-olds. When I get home, I'm usually so spent or I have to go grocery shopping or cook or clean that my time with my own children is not even half of what I give "the others".

But there are days when my guilt gets the best of me, or simply because I'm doing something in therapy that I know my children will enjoy, and I bring a therapy activity home. Like today I brought home Jan Brett's The Mitten, along with a card stock mitten and animal cut outs I had made off the author's website (do you know she has over 4,000 printable activities on there?!). We read the story, sequenced the animals going into the mitten and acted out the events. I even followed up with "wh" questions.

Is this a sign that I'm working too much?

This is My Mouth for Three Months in a Row

Ugh, I'm getting nauseous just looking at it. But that's pretty much how my throat looked on Friday, and last month and the month before that.

It may be time to get the tonsils removed, but I'll wait and see. All I know is that I can't really keep getting sick all the time like this, although I must say it felt good to stay in bed much of the weekend.

Speaking of bed, must get back to my nest so I can rest up for work tomorrow. Hopefully all the nasty bacteria will be gone before morn.