Retroblogging 1980: June 18, 1980

June 18, 1980

Today I went to school.

Today I played alaskin baseball it was fun.

I like my teacher.

When I came home from school I practiced my piano. Then Jed came home from school. We got the TV back today. Robyn came and babysat for us today too.

Today is sunny.

I like my parents.

Today I was going to have a friend over but I forgot.

Today I am going for a picnic in the Park. the end.

Editor's note 6/21/2012:

In response to a comment: I had to do some Internet Searching to find out what obscure game "Alaskin Baseball" might be.

It could have been this:

Description

1) Start with 2 teams.
2) One camper is given a throwable object, their team then forms a circle around them and that person throws the object.
3) After he/she has thrown the object then he/she goes around the circle saying everyone's name in order of the circle. Every time he makes it around the circle it counts as a run.
4) Meanwhile the other team is chasing the object. Everyone forms a line behind the first person that has gotten the object. They then pass the object between their legs until it reaches the last person, where it is then passed overhead back to the first person in line.
5) When the first person gets the object the team yells out, and the other team stops counting runs. The first person in line that retrieved the object now has a circle formed around him and he throws the object and the process reverses.

from http://www.ultimatecampresource.com

Another article describes it as this:

Alaskan Baseball
If you want to play team building summer camp group games, then you should surely play this game. Considered to be one of the best camping games for kids. To play this game, divide the campers into two teams with equal number of players in each team. Name the teams as team A and B and handover a ball to player of one team. The team with the ball forms a circle. Suppose the ball is given to a player of team A. Now, the team A player who holds the ball throws the ball as far as possible. He then runs around the circle and calls out the names of the campers in the order of the circle. When he completes one circle, the team A scores one run. Meanwhile, the team B members run to chase the thrown ball and forms a line behind the person who has chased the ball. Then, the ball is to be passed from one player to another, between the legs. When the ball reaches the last person in the line, he has to run and handover the ball to the first person. The first person then shouts and team A stops making the runs. Now, team A and team B have to reverse the tasks and the team which makes maximum runs wins the game.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/summer-camp-games.html

Basically? It's a game to wear kids out in the summer.

Happy Father's Day 2012

Painting by Auntie Nettie c. 3rd Grade 1980-1981

Even though the dad in this drawing is not the blonde/silver haired kayaking fox that's my pop, I couldn't think of a better picture to post for Father's Day.

Thanks for instilling a love of the water in all your kids.

Hope you can get out on the lake soon.

xo,
me
your favorite daughter in the whole widest world

Retroblogging 1980: June 17, 1980

June 17, 1980 at 2:45

Today I went to school.

Today is sunny.

Today when I came home from school I practiced my piano because today I have piano lessons at 3:30.

Then Jed came home from school.

Then we had lunch and I was the dishes. Dad had to go somewhere today. I hope that I do good at piano today.

I was going to have someone over tomorow but I forgot.

Mom and I worked today and had my spelling test. Math is getting easy for me. Jed worked too.

I like my parents.

Retroblogging: Silly Self Portraits II, Age unknown

Swinging in Stripes

Self Portrait
Age Unknown, maybe 3-5?

This is notable for a couple of reasons.

Look at how dark my hair is. *Sniff* I miss not being grey.

This was a self portrait of a person pre-body issues. So I had a little belly (you just do at that age), but look at how thin the rest of me is. By the time I was taking dance lessons, at ages 6-8, I already had distorted perceptions about my appearance and would surely have drawn this differently. (But more on that when I can include the actual photographs and you can judge.)

Finally, is it me, or is there a Tim Burton vibe to this portrait?

Retroblogging 1980: June 16, 1980

June 16, 1980

Today I woke up late and helped mom by doing my work. Today I just about was late for school. This week is P.E. week. Mrs. Larson is my teacher. When school was out I came home had lunch, washed the dishes and Jed worked with mom. Last week was animal week at school. Debby came to see me. I practiced my piano today. For lunch we had chicken and carrots and orange juice. Today is sunny and nice. Today mom watered the lawn. Today when dad gets home I am going to hug him.

Awwww. Now I want to hug my dad but he's thousands of miles away.

Photo of the Day: 3 Things I Love About This

Photo credit: @usanetwork via twitter

May 17, 2012
@usanetwork:
Here's @TimDeKay & Matt Bomer doing TalkStoop at the ‪#USAUpfront‬. pic.twitter.com/qqRLrYzV

There are three things I love about this photo. Two are fairly obvious, and one reveals a bit too much about what kind of girl I am, so we'll just let you fill in the blanks on your own.

Somebody's Watching Me ... Watch U(SA)

With apologies to Matt Bomer.
I admire all of your body ... of work.
(Please, people. This is a family site, and he is a family man and a gentleman.)

Most of the time when I'm running around the Upper West Side, I'm doing my own thing, running my errands, heading hither, thither, and yon, minding my business ... as a typical chill New Yorker.

Then something happens and you have to react/document. There was the time in the Post Office when I stopped someone from getting harassed by a pervert -- but that's another post on another blog.

Then there was the evening when I left late, and had to leave from a different exit than my usual. I came around the corner and saw a flurry of activity in front of a neighboring business. Now, things happen in the area all the time. I work for a destination of note in and of itself, not to mention it is part of an arts complex. "We've" seen presidential motorcades, Fashion Week, festivals, film shoots, and film premieres, to name a few, but this one was different.

A cable upfront from the channel I watch all the dang time! USA

I swear, if the cable company looked at the percentage of time my t.v. was on, and to what channel it was tuned, it'd be primarily the character-driven programs and NCIS rerun-heavy USA Network. I didn't want to be too much of a dork, so out my iTouch came (to be "checking for cell coverage" you see) and snapped these on the run. The daylight photos are at one time of the day, and the night shots are from the evening after the upfront.

My boss is pretty lenient on things, but I didn't think I could take a two hour lunch to sit out on the street and watch the red-carpet arrivals. Like with most other major NYC events in recent years, most recently the Shuttle Enterprise "fly-overs," I watched it happen via the Internet, specifically via Twitter feeds.

Actually, it was probably better that way. It was hot and crowded--two of my least favorite things about NYC. And on my screaming scale of measure of what I could hear up in my office, on a scale of 0 to "Holy Cow, it's a Harry Potter Premiere, two-days of rabid fans screaming for hours," it was only about a 2. If you didn't have press creds, you wouldn't have gotten close to the talent, and since I don't wear stilettos, I probably wouldn't have been able to see anybody, I mean, anything. This way of ogling is much better for all concerned. No fear of sudden-onset-stupid-fan ness, no hyperventilating hysteria, more ability to be silly and not embarrass the actors or self, unless.... you happen to mention something to a friend .... more on that in a minute.

Regarding this large poster of Matt Bomer seen throughout, I apologize again to the tech crew person who probably had to clean it off again the night before the event. I may or may not have impulsively "splatted" myself all over it in an embrace, leaving a face print/drool. Also, it truly doesn't do him justice. Why not have it be black and white and blue to show off those baby blues? WHY!?

There was a reenactment of my "splat" the next night when it was all over, which unfortunately? fortunately? was captured by my friend Cynthia.

Whoops, now I'm dizzy from all the silliness.

So, um. Yeah. That happened.