My Pirate Name

My pirate name is:

Mad Ethel Kidd

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Scent Memories

Have you ever noticed that particular smells remind you of certain times, places, and people? Your sense of smell is a strong trigger for memories. Here are a few of mine:

Violet Water – this smell reminds me of my Mom, especially when combined with the scent of Youth Dew perfume. I would often sneak sprizes of these toilet waters from my Mom’s dresser where she kept her perfume selections. These remind me the most of her.

Rising Bread Dough – the yeasty warm smell of bread dough that is “resting” before being baked never fails to invoke thoughts of my Father who used to prepare fresh bread every weekend during my early childhood. Old Spice also can remind me of my Dad, or the smell of a pipe which he stopped smoking before I was a teenager. Going into a tobacco shop can instantly bring to mind my father’s pipe clasp between his teeth on Fall afternoons while he was changing the oil on the cars in the drive-way.

Drakkar Noir – I remember my brother drenching himself with this assault on your nostrils that he would call cologne. I think he thought it’s scent would seduce the teenage girls into ignoring his heiniously bad 80s hairdo and have them falling at his feet.

Chalk and oil paints – these always bring me back to my first art teacher who was a friend of my family’s through our temple. In fact, her mom was my Sunday School teacher at one point. My art teacher was maybe in her late teens when she showed me how to use watercolors, charcoal, and pastels to render faces, hands, and inanimate objects on a page. She even explained to me the meaning of the Car’s song “Who’s Gonna Drive You Home Tonight” when my youthful inexperience thought it was about someone drinking too much at a bar.

Peaches – whenever I smell peaches, even in my bubble bath last night I can’t help but think of my Grandma on my father’s side. She liked Peach Schnapp’s and would offer it to us kids every now and then. It was such a treat that sweet peachy goodness it made me feel like an adult sharing something special with her.

Clean Laundry – when laundry is fresh and warm straight out of the dryer the smell sets off a cascade of feline memories for me. All the cats I have had or known have loved clean, warm sheets, underwear, shirts, and jeans to knead, burrow under, or simple curl up on.

Chlorine – reminds me of my Mother’s parents, my Nana and Papa who had pool when I was little and I closely associate the smell of chlorine

Marlo Thomas Makes Me Smile

The Brown One mentioned in passing one day that she had the DVD for “Free to Be You and Me” that I might remember from my childhood. Remember…oh boy…I kid you not when I say that right after my fetish for the full cast movie recording Annie, Free to Be You and Me was my favorite nostalgia album from pre-teen youth. Now, not only was I getting to relieve the music, but I was finding out that there was a whole TV special that this exuberant child geared music came from.

What a magical Saturday morning we had watching this DVD chock full of confidence boasting messages for boys and girls of every age, religion, and ethnicity. One of the most endearing scenes is between a young Michael Jackson and Roberta Flack singing a song called “When I Grow Up” that affirms children are valued for who they are, not what they are. They also pay tribute to working parents (believe me when I say, every parent is a working parent) in a song sang by Marlo Thomas and Harry Belafonte called “Parents are People”. Rosey Grier passably vocalizes on “It’s Alright to Cry”, but it is his sincerity and charm that make this one of my choice performances on the DVD. Here’s a sample of his lyrics:

It's all right to cry
Crying takes the mad out of you
It's all right to cry
It might make you feel better!

He ends the song with "It's all right to cry little boy -- I know some big boys who cry too."

Not surprisingly this positive, heartfelt TV special garnered an Emmy Award for containing such understandable messages about gender roles in “William Wants a Doll” and teaching the difference between good help and help no one wants in “Helping”. Let me say that this show stands the test of time, the lyrics to the music came back to me as if I had just watched the DVD yesterday. Marlo Thomas was instrumental in helping all children when she set out to make this piece with the idea that was born--according to the liner notes--by the desire to provide her niece with music "to celebrate who she was and who she could be."

Whatever your age, this is a terrific DVD, full of affirmations about the changes associated with growing up.

Who Will Speak for You?

For St. Paddy’s Day I had the pleasure of a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner with some friends. The couple whose house these festivities were at had recently changed jobs and the lady of the house, we will call her the Queen of Karaoke (QK for short, her boyfriend is Blondie from previous posts) in honor of her boyfriend’s gift to her of a Karaoke machine that hooks into their TV, had recently begun working for a non-profit group called Jewish World Watch. JWW is an organization that is currently advocating for the people of Darfur, Sudan, but the overall concept of the group is to make good on the idea that as human beings we must not allow another Holocaust no matter what name is used to make it more socially palatable. Mass killing, violation of human rights, blocking of aid and relief efforts should bring outrage and uproar to those living with the blessings of freedom.

Currently, JWW is promoting a Passover Advocacy Project. At QK’s house she had 3x5 cards that had been filled out by school children of a variety of ages. Reading those notes was both heart wrenching and hilarious. Heart wrenching, because it's difficult to imagine children with food, housing, peace, and freedom in their home life having to advocate for children who have nothing and hilarious because a first grader is taking our President to task for not living up to his words, “Not on my watch”.

Thinking about the everyday struggles in Darfur make me want a better world for the future and for the children growing up there. I have decided to make their Advocacy Project a part of my Passover Seder this year. Passover is my favorite Jewish Holiday and it will have a special meaning this year as we sit down to tell the story of how Moses brought freedom to the Jews under Egypt’s Pharoah’s rule and we write letters to our representatives in Washington to bring attention to the suffering of men, women, and children in Darfur. Turning a blind eye to the rape, terror, and murder of an entire people is not the legacy I want for this great nation.

You can help stop the atrocities in Darfur from the comfort of your computer, simply go to this website and send an e-mail (conveniently provided here) to President Bush asking him to live up to his words and help the Sudanese people stop the violence and bring much needed aid to the area.

I leave you with this poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller (a controversial figure for his support of Hitler prior to his persecution by the Third Reich) about how German intellectuals responded to the Nazi rise in power:

First they came…

When they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews.
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

All I Want to Be is ....EVERYTHING!

Often over the past 7 years I have wanted to have a career different from the one I have. This has lead to fantasies about working in fields that actually make a difference, that help people, animals, soceity as a whole, or fulfill my want to feel special and/or important. Instead, I am a cog in a large industrial machine and the realization of my more altruistic side is found through volunteer work, charitable donations, and armchair political activism.

Below are some of the jobs or in some cases careers that have attracted my attention or been my aspiration in the previous years.

*Forensic Pathologist-I imagine working with the dead would be peaceful, but also interesting. My respect for the bodies they leave behind and the information gathered by Pathologist is useful in alleviating family’s grief, solving crimes, and improving science. The amount of school I would need to go back for to do this job makes it financially prohibitive.
*EMT/Paramedic-Helping people is the central draw of this career path. Not to mention the excitement and critical thinking involved. I have an Uncle who does this and he is tall and strong with a calm, deep voice. Being short of stature and a women, the physical requirements are daunting, especially when you consider the possibility of needing to carry someone down countless flights of stairs safely.
*Editor-I love reading and writing, but aside from that have no real qualifications that would recommend me to this position.
*Adventure Racing-You may have guessed that I am a huge fan of Mark Burnett’s Eco-challenge on the Discover Channel. I love watching teams push past there human limits and show an endurance of the mind and mastery of the body that you see in very few sports. The Kayaking, Biking, Hiking, River Rafting, Map reading, and interpersonal interaction is appealing to me. I like the comradery and the variety of events, and think I could handle them well if I were in better physical condition. Something unique to this sport is that most of the participants are not in their twenties, they are instead seasoned athletes who know their strengths and weaknesses. A girl like me is more cut out to consider this strictly a spectator sport.
*Author-Same pros and cons as being an editor, plus I am uncertain if I possess the self-motivation required to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day writing.

Random Questions with 4 Answers

I stole this from a friend’s blog.

Four jobs I've had:
*Making pizza for a take’n’bake shop in Northern California
*Assistant Sound Operator/Designer for American Musical Theater of San Jose (formerly known as San Jose Civic Light Opera when I worked there)
*Hostess at Carrows Restaurant (waking up at the cruel hour of 4AM to spend 8 hours on my feet…I am in awe of people who do this everyday, they are amazing.)
*Assistant to a VP at a large television company

Four movies I can watch over and over:
*Labyrinth (Duh…this is the movie I celebrate with, I cry with…I love this movie…or maybe it’s just David Bowie’s wardrobe)
*Super Troopers (the crash humor in this is a delight)
*Blood Simple (the Cohen Brothers at there absolute best…fascinating noir thriller)
*Cider House Rules (taken from my favorite John Irving book, Tobey McGuire is superb and Michael Cain is heartbreaking in this excellent adaptation)

Four places I've lived:
*Northridge, CA
*Sherman Oaks, CA
*Burbank, CA
*Los Angeles, CA (near USC)

Four TV shows I love:
*Oz
*The Muppet Show
*The Shield (best show on TV)
*Investigative Reports

Four places I've vacationed:
*Oahu, Hawaii
*Mammoth, CA
*Disneyworld in Florida
*Williamsburg, West Virginia

Four of my favorite dishes:
*My matzo ball soup
*My dad’s coleslaw (and he makes great waffles)
*My mom’s pot roast (she does an incredible NY Cheesecake that is so dense and rich it’s like being in the Big Apple)
*My boyfriend’s baked apples (and he also makes pretty darn good pancakes too)

Four sites I visit daily:
*CNN
*NPR
*FARK
*IMDB (usually work related)

Four places I would rather be right now:
*at home reading
*Peru hanging with the sloths
*Brazil eating the fantastic food that I have heard about there.
*In my car finishing up the book on tape I am listening to.

Spiritual Journey Cultivates Intrigue

In the doctor’s office today I was reading a National Geographics Travel Guide of some kind It looked a lot like the Nat Geo magazine from my childhood, but instead of simply showing beautiful pictures of exotic locals, it gave the reader the information needed to travel to those edges of the world and see the amazing plants, animals, and people shown and talked about in the articles. (I found out later that the magazine is called “Adventure”, I think I am going to subscribe and drool all over the incredible pictures and stories from all parts of this wonderful planet).

The story of one traveler fascinated me no end, it was the experiences of Kira, the author, on a trip down the Amazon in Peru to experience a spiritual/physical journey using ayahuasca (containing the hallucinogen DMT), a “shaman medicinal ritual”. The article goes on to describe a frightening, but fascinating incident that has healing aspects for the writer and various responses from the other fairly typical European and American participants. The ayahuasca, which is mixed by the Shaman is said to have healing properties ranging from curing cancer to alleviating severe depression (as attested to by the writer). I was captivated by the internal journey explored using this mixture and it very much reminded me of a college friends stories of trying Peyote buttons with his Native American Grandfather when he reached adulthood.

In no way am I advocating illicit drug activity, but this ritual is something I equivocate mildly with the indulgence in wine that my religion is involved in to celebrate Passover (my favorite of all Jewish holidays, even before I liked wine). They are both means to expand ones daily boundaries and indulge in rites that our ancestors did. This aspect of the shaman’s ritual, that it has gone before us and will continue after each of us is dead is suggestive of the continuity of live. Of course, one could argue that penguins lived in the arctic before I was born and will also be there after I die and that there is a timeless quality in that as well. As usual, I digress, when what I really mean to say is that I am intrigued by the authors abilities to depart the everyday 9-5 lifestyle and travel to a country with a past, with religious views and rituals so different from my own.

After reading this article I am more inspired to visit Peru then ever before. Not only for their rich tropical foliage and unique wildlife (specifically the three toed sloths that I have seen in Peruvian Market pictures-although I would be happier to see them in the jungle then in captivity…they look like Muppets!).

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Exhausted and Overwhelming: Solving the Schedule Crisis

Exhaustion has been a constant the past couple of weeks. Whenever I yawn, rub my eyes, stretch my back, and yearn for sleep I think I should call the doctor. Sadly, I suspect the truth of the matter is that I am not sick in the least and that I am simply overscheduled. Let’s take a look at a typical week for yours truly, Miss Megastein:

-Go to 40 hour a week job (my commute is about an hour each direction).
-Have lunch with a friend or co-worker a minimum of three times per week.
-Enjoy dinner out or some event with my significant other and/friends at least five times a week.
-Have two scheduled events during each weekend (last weekend was outrageous, Friday night I attended a jam band concert, Saturday was Book Club followed by an evening at the symphony, and Sunday was Nascar out at the California Speedway.).

At the end of December I moved and here it is March and I am still unpacking (granted, the roommate whose place I am taking did not move until the end of January). Yep, no doubt about it, I am overbooking myself. Heck, I have things on my schedule all the way out until November of this year. Plus I feel this enormous drive to take the scuba lessons I received as a birthday gift, but the time commitment is daunting (it’s really not all that much, but right now to my way of thinking the payoff would add to my schedule crisis). In this state of mind even my netflicks movies seem to be taunting me with my inability to watch them in a timely manner.

So, dear reader, I need to cut back. I need to rearrangement my responsibilities, obligations, needs, and wants in a way that give me more structure and additional energy. I know what I need to do and like the old Saturday morning interstitials say, “Knowing is half the battle”. It’s the execution of said knowledge that is overwhelming. So baby steps it will be. I’m going to check out a gym with my roommate this weekend, which seems like as good a place as any to start.

Cute Babies, Creepy Adults

I am babysitting a dear friend’s 10 month old baby boy tonight. Watching this baby grow from a new born to this point where he is on the cusp of being a toddler has been an amazing experience for me. Many of my cousins have children that I have received pictures of frequently, some from birth to adulthood, but seeing it happen so rapidly right in front of my eyes has been incredible.

Something that I have noticed is that babies often smile using their whole face. Their eyes light up, eyebrows raise, mouth opens with glee and they have such enthusiastic open expressions. So, the other day I mentioned to Jedi this observation and went on to ask him why we seem to lose this ability as adults. He looked at me with raised eyebrows and said “This is why” and proceeded to make the most disturbing and frighteningly weird face I have ever seen. His eyes were bugging from his head, his eyebrows were arched in absurd surprise and his mouth had a humongous smile that was supremely creepy in a “clowns-are-cannibals” kind of way.

Yeah, I now understand why grownups limit their smiles to their eyes and mouths.

As a sort of after thought to this whole conversation is this:
We were watching Scrubs last night and noticed the John C. McGinley who plays Dr. Perry Cox sometimes does the whole face smile thing. He does in some respects look like a baby, but mostly it’s just scary.