 Running, Rip-Offs, Regrowth |
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The day before yesterday, I did Week 6, Day 1 outside. It was pretty good. One good thing about it was seeing a man jogging along with his weimaraner. They sped up as I passed them and started sprinting. The man was like a weimaraner in human form, right down to the long skinny arms and legs, the grey shirt, and the grey hair. Seeing them run together, all long limbs and grey speed, was sort of a beautiful thing. My favorite song of the run was played during the cool-down -- "NYC" from the recent Annie TV movie. It gave me great joy to hear Jack Bristow as Daddy Warbucks and Sarah from Ragtime singing that song and especially to hear the original Annie, the one on the record we had when we were little, come in for the "NYC, just got here this morning, three bucks, two bags, one me. NYC, I give you fair warning, up there in lights I'll be!" part. She still totally has her pipes, and that part is just awesome. (You can hear part of the songs here if you click on song #8.) I was discussing this with Maryelizabeth Tuesday night after she called to lament going blind after beholding the purple velvet smoking jacket worn by Taylor Hicks, and she said, "Victor Garber might even be a better Daddy Warbucks than Albert Finney." We mulled that over for a moment. "No," she reconsidered. "That's not possible. But he's still really good." Before we met, Maryelizabeth and I were both obsessed with Annie. We both had Annie wigs. I, however, unlike Maryelizabeth did not have an Annie trashcan, nor did I sing Annie songs in public while dressed in said wig. Another great song of the run started while I was running along thinking about Melissa and Elizabeth and how I wish I could see them soon. I was thinking about how excited I am that Melissa is pregnant. The song that started was "Louder than Words" from tick, tick ... BOOM!, a musical that Melissa first told me about eons ago and that I have long loved with my entire heart. It's a fantastic song to run to because it makes you angry and hopeful and makes you believe, all at the same time. I believe this to be a straight-up rip-off (albeit a poorly written one) of Ellen Emerson White's Long Live the Queen as anyone who's ever read the latter will quickly recognize. I'm just spreading the word, and I think you should feel free to do the same. I didn't get that interested in all of the recent plagiarism stories, but Ellen Emerson White is one of my favorite writers, and I am very pissed off about this. I guess it just feels like it's hitting close to home this time. I suppose if he's vile enough to copy her writing, he's probably done it with other authors, too. Ugh. I know that many of you have read Ellen Emerson White's books, and if you've read Long Live the Queen, it is head-slappingly obvious that this man ripped her off. If you would like to contact his publisher, e-mail me and I'll give you the contact information. I don't think it would hurt for them to hear from more than one of Ellen Emerson White's readers. This is very moving. On tonight's run (week 6, day 2), the songs that saved me were from 1776. "My name is Richard Henry Lee, Virginia is my home. My NAME is RICHARD HENRY LEE, VIRGINIA is my HOOOOOOOOOOOME!" and "For I have crossed the Rubicon, let the bridge be burned behind me, come what may, come what may. Commitment!" Sometimes I get so into these songs that I end up hitting the handles of the treadmill or playing the air drums. When I realize what I'm doing and become embarrassed, I just tell myself that I'm invisible and that no one can see me. Meanwhile, I try to breathe through my mouth exclusively because the armpits of the guy next to me running eight miles per hour are exuding such a noxious odor that I am close to vomiting. When Deb Talan's "Comfort" came on during the cool down, I thought of my sister, and had all of my excess bodily fluid not already been shooting out of my forehead in rivulets of perspiration, there would have been some left for my tear ducts and I might have cried.
Three years ago, when this picture was taken, this crape myrtle was cute. It grew and grew.
Then Katrina blew over a bigger tree in my backyard (the tallow tree you can see in the background in the above picture) that smashed the crape myrtle. All that was left was a tiny stump where the crape myrtle's trunk snapped.
Now it's grown into this little baby thing that's not exactly a tree, but it grew back, and it's blooming. That makes me happy.
Canna lilies seem to be very resilient plants.
Daisy likes to jump up onto an old pine trunk in the mornings to survey the backyard scene.
About this time in ...
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