is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Sucky Things, Ducky Things.
Hey! I am writing a diary entry on my new MacBook Pro 15-inch widescreen, courtesy of my "start-up" funds (money given to me to spend on job-related things during my first year of employment with CUNY). It arrived just in time, because my old iBook g4 crashed a week and a half ago. I had to rent a computer in the meantime. I have never, ever undergone a catastrophic computer crash before.
I am happy to say that, though I lost a bunch of photos (which is sad), I had everything else of value backed up. It still may be the case that I'll discover, over time, that certain files I think I have are actually gone, but I can honestly say that I didn't lose anything huge. And I can even say that the timing was OK... I mean, the crash could have happened while I was getting the book manuscript ready, and I could have lost a bunch of editing and formatting I'd done, and other people's essays I had been working on, etc. So, though computer crashing is an event that never fails to suck, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE. And that's just ducky.
Like Thanksgiving. I spent Thanksgiving in a hospital. We ate pizza. But don't worry. There's nothing wrong with me. An extended family member was hospitalized, and Gus and I spent most of our Thanksgiving break visiting and worrying and such, which is what people do when people they love are in the hospital. So, though my Thanksgiving did suck, I also felt that I was exactly where I should be every minute I was there.
You know what else I realized? Thanksgiving is actually kind of important to me. That sounds corny. But this is the first Thanksgiving I've had so far in this life, whether it be with family or friends, where there hasn't been that moment where people look up, look around, and tell each other they are thankful for each other. Or something like that.
However, the fact that we were all gathered together in a hospital says as much. It's just that I am�and perhaps this will not shock you�attached to the words. They say (right, "they") that what matters is what you DO. But it also matters to me, very much, what gets said. For better and for worse.
On a more frilly and nonsensical note, as Gus and I were driving into the family zone, we passed a highway sign that mentioned a decoy museum. We wondered what that might be. I suggested that it wasn't really a museum, but rather was designed to keep people from going to real museums. Gus agreed, but then added that it might actually be designed to attract eggheads like us, so that non-eggheads could shoot at us.
So I whipped out the Sidekick3 and googled the shit out of the Decoy Museum of Havre de Grace, MD. And man, was I glad I did. Here is my favorite part of the museum's mission statement:
"In the beginning, they were made for one purpose -- to lure waterfowl within range of the hunter�s shotgun. Decoys were simple, utilitarian representations of ducks and geese rough-hewn from wood. No one considered them art. Today, decoys lure far more people than waterfowl."
Once you get past that, the statement abruptly becomes a first-person narrative written by someone who is cuckoo for decoys. He can't stop talking about TOUCHING them. It's decoy madness! For instance:
"I cannot accurately state how many decoys I've handled over this period of time, but I'm confident that it has been many thousands."
"In the late 1980's on my personal never-ending quest for the wooden fowl..."
"I recently had the opportunity to handle this great pair of decoys. I can say without any hesitation, without any reservations, that these decorative Holly canvasbacks are THE BEST DECOYS that I have ever touched."
When I look at the picture of the old guys who love the decoys, I feel slightly guilty for being so amused by their extreme enthusiasm for wooden fowl. But then again, I feel that they might not hesitate to mock or dismiss many of my most ardent enthusiasms�including, perhaps, my love of the living wood duck of Haverford, PA�so all's well that ends well. And so we celebrate diversity. After all, Holly canvasbacks are not the only kind of decoy.
10:39 a.m. - November 28, 2007
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