IzzyRocks’ Neighborhood

This novel was sent to me by a man I met on-line in a group that discusses American dialect.  (thank you, Doug) This author did a wonderful job of writing dialogue phonetically, so the reader could 'hear' the accents of the various characters.
The main characters spoke Yiddish at home (which was translated into perfect, even poetic,English) and heavily accented English on the streets. The kids on the street's language was especially fun for me to read.

"Hey, you're Davy aintcha?'
'Yea. ... Waddayah wan'?"
"Dey's a kid lookin' fur yuh."

I love when he said his address:   "futt flaw, sebm futty fi'."

The author took us to a police station and wrote Irish accents, and added  a few characters from other linguistic backgrounds.  Because my dad grew up on the streets of Chicago, speaking Lithuanian/English, I enjoyed thinking about him as I read.  And because I teach many children still learning English I feel I gathered insight about them.

Roth's novel told the story of a boy and his family, immigrants to the Lower East Side in the early 1900s. His writing is beautifully visual and very intense.  The novel was complicated and intricate, with multi-facited characters who were developed fully and with compasion to their situations.  The child's stream of consciousness thoughts (we were inside his head) rang true to me, reminding me of a way of thinking I have grown past.   

I highly recommend this one. ('dis un')  BUT ... whatever  you do, do NOT read the forward until after you have finished the novel.  It's full of spoilers disguised as explainations.

Let's start this off by saying... being a mom is the hardest and most fun job I've ever had.

After having a conversation with someone about my boredom with life and my routine the other day, I decided to shake things up and find something fun for the kids and me to do last night.  You would have thought I suggested pooring hot acid into their eyeballs the way they reacted.

Seriously.

They are use to coming home and going straight to their friends house to play until dinner.  I know it's a right of passage during childhood to do so, but I kinda miss the little rugrats and wanted to do something fun with them.  So I declared Thursday nights as "family night" and they have to hang out with me. 

I suggested Joe's Crab Shack for dinner... then IHOP... then a movie... or go to the pool at the Gym.  Each time it was "Can I bring _____?"  ... they wanted to bring their friends WITH them.  I was trying to explain to them that, no, we needed to do something together as a family.  Actually, Nate was all for it, it was my 6-year-old-going-on-13 that claimed she wasn't leaving the house unless she was allowed to go play with her friends.

Sigh.  Are you kidding me?!?  I am willing to drop a good chunk of change on entertainment and food and you don't want to go?!?  When did I stop being a good enough companion for my kids?  Use to they couldn't wait to go somewhere with me.  They wouldn't let me out of their site for more than 10 minutes.  They couldn't even go to the BATHROOM by themselves.  !!!

So I finally talk them into this restaurant with a huge-tastic sandbox/sand volleyball for playing in and live band on the patio.  We ate dinner, Jenna played volleyball with some other kids... Nate ran from me and tried to bury my car keys in the sand (thank god the electric fob for the doors still works).  I had a martini to keep my sanity.  Yeah, It was fun. 

 

Then they talked me into a movie.  They wanted to go see "The Dark Knight"... but I have heard it's pretty dark and violent, so I nixed that.  We decided on "Mamma Mia".

SUCH FUN! The singing and the dancing kept the kids enthralled, and although there is a bit of adult content, it's vague and vieled enough that it was easy to explain away to the kids (namely Jenna) when she asked some questions about it.  Now we want to buy the soundtrack (and I am not even really an ABBA fan at all, but might be changing my mind now). I totally recommend it... the acting and singing is fantastic and humorous... and did I mention just FUN?!

The downside was on the way out.  I am having HUGE (and I mean SERIOUS) issues with Nate running from me in public... he's fine at home, but get him in a restaurant, store, movie theater and he thinks is HILLARIOUS to run from me. The ONLY thing that works to calm him down and show him the seriousness of the amount of trouble he is in is to spank him. I swear to GOD one of these days he is going to get run over or stolen. I scares the crap outta me.

So last night we are at the movie theater, he had been really good until we went to leave, he TAKES OFF... so far ahead of me in the crowd that by the time we get to the lobby, I can't find him. My heart is hammering. I am scared and mad and embarrassed.

I am that frantic mom you see in public, oblivious to the stares, yelling for her child to come here.  RIGHT.  THIS.  MINUTE.  Then counting to  one... Two... THREE... feeling my bloodpressure rise with each number uttered. 

I finally find him OUTSIDE, by himself, without me, laughing through the glass door at me - as I am frantically looking and calling for him.

I was sooooo MAD. I gripped his little hand and stomped back to the car with him. I wanted to spank him soooo bad, cause he was still laughing at me, but was AFRAID to spank my own child because so many people were around and we live in the kind of nieghborhood that I would certainly be turned into CPS for doing such a thing.  People don't spank their kids here.  They spoil them to the point of ridiculousness.

But then that meant, by the time we got home, the situation is so long gone that a punishment is less effective. He still got a time out, but really could have cared less at that point. Time out does nothing for him.  I was just so frustrated at the situation. And don't get me wrong... I HATE spanking him, but it's the ONLY thing that makes him stop laughing at me and take me seriously. He has ZERO respect for my authority.  He doesn't listen.  Everything I say is a big joke.  I don't know what to do with him.  It totally ruined the fun of the night for me because of his behavior. 

We have an appointment next week to have him evaluated for ADHD, not for meds (he's too young for that) but for behavior therapy. I am at the end of my rope with him and don't have any more ideas.

So moral of the story:  Go see "Mamma Mia", but don't take your kid if he tends to run from you in public.

 

I haven't quite finished this book -- maybe 20 pages left.

I am so very disappointed in it I could yell and scream. I'm wondering if I was wrong about the Kite Runner; that maybe it wasn't very good either   Maybe I just got caught up in his good job at discription and my personal fascination of learning about a diff culture & history.

I found this book, Thousand Suns, poorly written. amateurishly predictable and superficial. There were glaring errors in grammar and jarring transistions in the plot-line. The discriptions were good, and he presented 'pictures' of war that touched me. But there were no surprises and much of his blending of characters with the world politics and war felt awkward.

Overall I kept having the feeling the book was written with an eye towards making a "life time movie". I haven't seen a lot of them, but aren't they usually full of stiff cruel people in power, and women with few (or poor) choices getting beat  up a lot. Children taken away. Sex as weapon.
He even made a lead character blond. ugh  Easier for the tv watching westerners to relate to and learn more about fearing Muslim men.  There's a whole nother blog.... how much did this writer contrive to capitalize on the current fear of Muslim men?
Arrrrrrgggggghhhhh!

In spite of my broken heart,this kinda made me laugh...

I am a farmer who raise ducks and cows. The animals have a total of 9 heads and 26 feet. How many ducks and cows do I have?
Submitted by The BlueTie.

Huh? Who the fuck cares...

I think that every driver who pulls in front of me without even using a blinker should be immediately vaporized. 

And their little dogs, too.

Show us the last thing you bought.

Take5

2 comments

That's it. Honestly.

It was a big splurge, considering I skipped lunch in order to save money.

The funny thing is I normally don't like eating candy as a substitute for a real meal, but this thing was really good. Kind of sweet, kind of salty: it's essentially a chocolate-covered pretzel with carmel and some other odd things inside.

But now I have the urge to eat something incredibly healthy, like a salad made from organic greens and soyburger. Which is better than it sounds: fry up a couple of Morning Star veggie burgers, then chop them into bite-sized bits. Set them on top of a plate of your favorite mixed greens and whatever else you like in your salad. I like throwing in some tomato slices, and if it's ripe, an avocado. Drizzle on your favorite dressing. I like Annie's Goddess Dressing, recommended by my vegan son (thank you, Chris), but if I'm in the mood for something richer, I use ranch dressing. A nice summer meal, and I feel so guilt-free after eating it I can follow it with a pint of ice cream.

(This wasn't supposed to be a post about food, but I thought the "recent purchase" question was a bit mean, given that so many people are unemployed or struggling right now.)

Time to Love and Loathe...

I'll make it short. ....

Loathe:

constipation.
aching assholes from shitting 2 days worth of shit before 6am.
pimples.
being so tired I'm craving chocolate everyday at 2pm.
anxiety.
stress from work.
being over worked.
my optimism that has gotten me nowhere.

Love:

my ass lately. I think the 2 pound weight gain went there and I aint hearing no complaints.
I get to box this week.
I'm counting down to NYC.
The sun. But it seems to have disappeared today.
Coffee in mass amounts.
The support I've been receiving about making the decision to go see a therapist.

We use to pick blackberries together, her and I.  I didn't like blackberries, but it was fun picking them along the railroad tracks beside our apartment complex.  Our fingers would be stained deep purple, her tongue and lips would match.  I still like rasberries better.

She had chubby cheeks and the sweetest smile.  Made even sweeter by the silver caps in the front.  You never see kids with silver caps anymore... I guess they use something else now?  We weren't suppose to walk by the railroad tracks, but my mom didn't seem to be around much during the day when we were out playing.  As long as we were home by the time the street lights came on, we were free to play at our own pleasure.  (Not something we as parents have the luxury of doing today).

"Mandy, you want to play Barbies with me?"

Sigh.  Faintly I was tempted to go play my favorite game with my little sister, but then again, I was 10 now.  I was too old for Barbies.

"Let's play Flashdance instead"

"No, you always hog the living room floor"

We would bicker back and forth like this all the time.  We didn't really have anyone else to play with, but with five years age difference between us, there was little choice.  We were stuck together.  Most of the time I was annoyed by her constant presence.  Sometimes I was grateful to not be alone.

Especially late at night.  In the dark. 

Or when I came home from school and my mom was crying in a corner.  Overwhelmed by life and betrayal.  I'd take my sister's hand and we would go outside into a world of make believe.  Where we could be anything we wanted and go wherever our imaginations could take us.  Far away from being poor and sad. 

I use to hold her down, pinning her arms under my knees, straddling her and tickling her until she nearly peed her pants.  She would squeal.  I loved the feeling of power and dominance I had.  Sad, but oh so true.  Little did I know she would grow up to be about 5 inches taller than me.  I wouldn't attempt that trick now, I assure you.

But I was fiercly loyal and protective as well.  One day, two little nieghborhood girls yanked my sweet little sister from her big wheel bike by the hair of her head.  I was sitting on the top of the stairs playing when I witnessed this.  I ran down them two at a time and yanked one of the little girls off the bike by her pigtails and grabbed the other one by the hand and told them to never touch my sister or her things again or I'd make them very very sorry they did.

They ran away crying.  Straight to their mom.  About 15 minutes later, a very large woman with over-bleached blond hair and blood-red finger nails grabbed me by the arm and started yelling at me about being a role model and not bullying little babies (ha, her "babies" were the biggest bullies in our apartment complex).  I christened her "Bleachy Mama."

She had the intended effect though.  She scared the crap outta me.  I ran home and told my mother what happened.

The next chain of events will be forever carved into my memory.  My 95 pound (if that) mom grabbed a baseball bat from our toy box and stomped down our stairs towards Bleachy Mama's apartment, with me and my sister following at her tail. 

Banging on the door with the bat (nice one Mom!) she had the fiercest look in her eye (don't mess with a Mama Bear's cubs).  I don't remember my mother's exact words to Bleachy Mama, but it was somewhere along the lines of "don't touch or talk to my daughters again or I'll kick your fat ass".  Actually I am pretty sure those were her exact words. 

The two little girls stood behind there mama with wide eyes.  I am sure we had a similiar look on our faces as this all transpired.  Then Bleachy slammed the door in my mom's face and we went home.

Funny thing is, about 3 months later... we were all best friends, picking blackberries together by the railroad tracks.  I ended up teaching one of those little girls how to dance to my Cyndi Lauper tape I dubbed off the radio.  They never asked to ride my sister's big wheel and I don't ever remember seeing Bleachy Mama again. 

 

 

In honor of the upcoming Olympics, what could you win a gold medal in?
Submitted by TheFiercestCalm.

Procrastination.

I've spent the last two hours reading and commenting on my neighbors' posts while refreshing my email every ten minutes. I haven't eaten dinner yet, and I was supposed to finish typing a manuscript for a former professor. 

I did feed Eliza before I started this, but that's only because she kept jumping on the keyboard and staring me in the face. "Over here. See your kitty? HUNGRY KITTY? Who's gonna get medieval all over your computer if you don't get dinner soon?"

I pacified her with Fancy Feast Chicken Feast, but that's my only completed task for today, outside of work.

Remember me?