summer job

laughing matter

Maybe it's because I get slaphappy when I'm exhausted and I'd only had four hours of sleep the night before, or maybe Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, is the funniest book ever written... but I started laughing out loud on the subway the other day.

I'm sure it wasn't the first time anyone has ever laughed out loud while reading. But afterwards what's supposed to happen is that the reader - slightly embarrassed, perhaps, after a few suspicious glances from fellow travelers - gets ahold of themselves and goes back to their book.

Well, that didn't happen... I just kept giggling uncontrollably.

Of course I was mortified... and a little desperate. Because I really couldn't stop. Part of me knew it wouldn't last forever - that at some point I'd be able to act like a normal person again. But apparently that wasn't the case... Not even after I had closed the book and put it away in my purse. Every few moments I'd think I was done, and then I'd just start laughing again. Eventually the other passengers stopped giving me dirty looks and just avoided looking at me altogether. (That struck me as hilariously funny, of course - which didn't help either.) When I got off the train at my station I was still cackling.

So would I recommend Bossypants? I would. Fey is smart and funny, and her book's worth reading (but if you're easily embarassed or sleep deprived you might not want to do it in public.)

weird

Sometimes when I'm in the subway or on the street I'll send people who look like they need it a little energy (or love or reiki or whatever the heck you want to call it.) It could be because they're homeless or maybe they're really old or sick or sometimes it's just because they look sad...

It's pretty simple. I (unobtrusively) turn my palm towards them and send out good wishes. That's all there is to it. Don't know if it ever makes a difference, but I do it anyway...

That's not the weird part.

Today - on this most magnificent day - when I was walking in the park I saw a gorgeous old tree that was about to be cut down. They had taped off the area around it, and you could see how a storm (or perhaps simply time) had worn away one side of the tree all the way to the center, making it unsafe. And as I was passing I instinctively turned my palm toward the tree. When I realized what I was doing I was momentarily embarrassed - yes, you can be embarrassed all by yourself - and was about to stop. But then something popped into my head: "Everyone should have someone with them when they're about to pass out of this life... " Wait a minute - Everyone?

Yes, I'm a cuckoo-nut-bird - I'm not even going to argue that- but usually not in this particular way. The idea of us 'all being one' is something that I understand to be true as a philosophical concept, but very rarely experience - and certainly not with plant life. But for some reason today 'we' included a tree in Riverside park. And that tree got reiki before it died.

maine (with a short visit to martha's vineyard)