laurushka.org/blog

*I originally wrote this in 2005 for my private journal, but I thought I’d put it here and edit it a little. *

In the summer of 2000, I had an internship with WHYY TV Promotions. I spent every Friday that summer looking at television schedules and writing copy for “Community Connections,” something they no longer do. At that time, if you turned on WHYY at 8 PM, you would see a host introducing the upcoming shows for the evening. After the show, the host would mention a community organization that had some sort of tie-in to the show. For example, a local museum’s exhibit of photographs of the North and South Poles was plugged after a show called “Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic”. The connections involved a lot of thought– I had to research the show to find out what it was about, and then go through the pamphlets from local organizations to see if there were any connections. We didn’t have a lot of info from local organizations, so I searched the internet for places in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware (it was required I give equal attention to all three).

Sometime in May or early June, I saw that on July 13th, WHYY would be showing a biography of Steve McQueen. Because my mom’s friend B had once called us excitedly to tell us The Blob was on television, and that we HAD TO WATCH IT because it was FILMED RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD IN PHOENIXVILLE, I knew that Steve McQueen had a local connection. I remembered the cool diner in The Blob and started searching for info on it… but there isn’t an easy way to tie-in a for-profit diner with public television, so I kept looking. I found The Colonial Theatre. This historic theater had recently been restored, and was showing children’s and independent films. I called them up, and explained the Community Connection, and that I wanted to feature them. The next week, the director of the theater called me and said she was going to rent the Blob to show the weekend following the Steve McQueen documentary. I worried that my 30-second copy would end up being cut (that sometimes happened) and stammered, “Are you sure you want to go to all that trouble?” She assured me they had been meaning to show it anyway, but hadn’t gotten around to it, and this was as good a time as any to show it. I went ahead and wrote the copy and kept my fingers crossed:

For: Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge
Steve McQueen’s breakthrough role was in the 1958 camp classic movie The Blob, filmed not far from Philadelphia in Downingtown, Royersford and Phoenixville. The historic Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville presents The Blob July 16th as part of the theatre’s ongoing Sunday Classics series. Built in 1903, the Colonial Theatre is one of the oldest opera houses in Pennsylvania and holds a variety of art and independent films as well as children’s programs.

That month, I got to log the tapes of all the hosts that month, and saw Flicks’ host Patrick Stoner speaking my words. The Community Connection did not get cut, and did air on July 13th. On August 1st, the director of the theater faxed us to thank us for the plug– over 600 people had shown up for the Blob!

The following year, I noticed that it was playing again. In 2003, I saw a national news store about the 4th annual BlobFest. And a few days after I originally wrote this post in 2005, the BlobFest was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. Here is info on the 2010 BlobFest.

Last year, I was surprised to see BlobFest featured in Jerry Spinelli’s book, Love, Stargirl. I wanted to write to him and let him know that I helped start BlobFest. Haha. I feel strangely responsible for BlobFest, even though I have never attended, and had nothing to do with what must be an incredible amount of work to put on such a festival every year since 2000. Some day, I will get to BlobFest–it usually falls on my birthday weekend– but this year it is the week before, and I have to work. I have seen a couple films at the Colonial– it’s a really great theater– the kind of theater that Philadelphia is lacking.

Here’s a scan of the thank you fax sent to WHYY from Colonial Theatre. It is addressed to my internship supervisor.

ooo, Lilia was picked for a Meme:
confess to “6 weird things/habits” and then pick on six other bloggers/diarists to do the same.
She says:
1. I really love when Daddy plays just the G note on his guitar. It always makes me smile.

2. I love to stare at “my” picture. It has a ladybug, a butterfly, three stars, a turtle, two bumblebees and a flower on it. It’s beautiful!

3. I love to pet my cat friends. I don’t understand why most of them try to get away. They usually can’t get far, because I’ve got a handful of fur in my hand.

4. When I sit in my Bumbo seat, I always reach for my napkin holder. I like to bang the crap out of it.

5. I’ll put anything I can get my hands on in my mouth. Sometimes I try to eat Daddy’s nose.

6. Taking a poop always makes me smile. :o)

i put on wkdu… the show on now is called music to slit you wrists to and the kid playing the tunes is dj emo… sounds like music you’d hear on the wb.

for those of you not on joe’s friends list, stripe is going to have cauliflower ear… one of his big beautiful ears blew up with a hematoma, and it will be forever disfigured.

i got my first mother’s day card. i am so glad the day is going to have new meaning for me. saturday is 14 years since my mom died.

lili just filled her diaper and drifted off to sleep!!

better go!

I just did the balance ball tape. I will have to take some advil or my muscles will hurt.
My allergies have been bad. Not any worse than normal, just regular springtime bad, but I wanted to try natural remedies. I finally followed Dr. Weil’s advice and got Freeze-Dried Stinging Nettles. First day after I took them, my eyes didn’t burn, 2nd day they felt okay too. But within a few days, I was red and blotchy and itchy itchy itchy. Turns out you can be allergic to Stinging Nettles. I decided to go back on my zyrtec and singulair.

The hemorrhoid I have, or hemorrhoids, who knows, is getting WORSE. Ugh. It’s awful. I still sit on my donut, and sitting on the balance ball hurt. Blech. Oh well, I have had internal ones for so long, so bad that I had to have a colonoscopy before I was 30, so I guess this will be with me forever.

My hands are absolutely falling apart from holding Lili and nursing. Maria suggested that maybe I have tendinitis, and I think that is a possibility, because it’s much worse and in a slightly different place than what I call “carpal tunnel”. I think I have both. I don’t want to go to the doctor for it. I should get a referral to my chiropractor and go back to her for now. Not that she can help tendonitis.

Lili was born 10 weeks ago, and I’m still spotting. Not too bad, and I am thankful I am not like those of you who already got their periods!

I’m not sure what kinds of shirts to wear in public if I want to nurse Lili. The nursing shirts I have don’t work… the holes are not near the goods… I just wear regular shirts and lift up, but then my chubby stretchmarked belly is exposed. The nursing tanks don’t fit me… I tried the largest on at the Lactation Center. I’ve seen a suggestion of wearing a halter top around your waist, but I can’t imagine they make halter tops the size of my waist. I was thinking of trying the Bella Band but I’m not sure what the most inconspicuous color would be, or if that matters. I guess Black would be fine.

Anyway, I’m rambling. I’m gonna try and take a shower now!

Sometimes I have downtime with Lili, and I just don’t know what to do. A lot of time, she falls asleep ON ME while nursing, and I’ll have computer within reach, so I can surf around, but not really write. I will sometimes be brave and move her to her bouncy chair. It doesn’t really bounce, it vibrates and plays soothing wave noises. I like to hear them. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get stuff done even if I have her in the chair. I have a propensity for laziness and a dislike of doing dishes or cooking. I haven’t read a book that wasn’t about babies since last summer. I also think I have a touch of agoraphobia… I’ve always had this fear of doing things on my own or going out with no purpose. Joe called me a shut-in last week. After spending all day Tuesday outside, I stayed in the house for three days. I would go out in the back patio sometimes, but mostly we stayed inside. Bad. I don’t like doing things on my own. But I have to, because I have Lili, and I can’t let her stay inside all day and turn into a shut-in as well. But, I feel like I need REASONS to go out… taking a walk around East Falls just because it’s nice out isn’t reason enough for me to go out alone (alone with Lili). I will work on getting over this. Yesterday was a better day. I organized some paperwork, I did some dishes, I made chicken soup (the first food I think I have made since Lili was born… well, besides whatever sandwich I manage to eat for lunch– Joe’s been doing all the cooking and cleaning), I did some laundry, and then Joe and I went for a walk with Lili. Today, I think I will go to the library and help out preparing for the book sale this weekend.

Oh, I also did my Balance ball workout tape for the first time yesterday. The “baby weight” was coming off nicely, until about 2 weeks ago when I hit a plateau. I’m about 12 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Lili, but that means I’m still xx pounds overweight. I also feel like the plateau is sloping upwards, since I’m eating all the time. I was wearing maternity jeans still, but I finally went out and bought 2 pairs of jeans in a size I’m embarrassed to announce. I am still wearing maternity shirts. We are going to a wedding Memorial Day weekend, and I have no idea what I will wear. I am feeling very frumpy. I think I’ll try the workout tape again now, before I shower and go to the library.

I realized that I am not going to overcome my fear of manual transmission and that we should sell our car and get a used automatic car. We cannot afford anything that would cost too much more than the trade-in value of our car though. We would like a station wagon or something with room, yet something that isn’t a gas-guzzler. My biggest regret is not learning how to drive the car and buying it in the first place. Oh well. I tend not to regret things that I’ve done, because what’s the point? but I do regret this. I need to drive the car so I can go out with Lili to more exotic places… like Reading. I could drive her to see her Great-Grandmother during the week, when Joe’s at work.

We have been cloth-diapering now. The service gave us bigger prefolds, which are very long, but not very wide… it still seems like a tight squeeze to wrap it around her, and then I have to fold down the extra length and shove it in the Bummi wrap. I think she may have outgrown the small wraps already… in just 2 weeks. She’s a very big baby. Well, her head is only in the 35% or something like that, but her weight is 95%… my little chubby girl. Anyway, she has outgrown so much clothes, and now with the cloth diapers, cannot wear a lot of pants and I actually have her wearing size 9-18 months onesies (which are a little baggy, but not as much as you’d think!) I like the temperature it’s been the past few days, and am not really looking forward to summer and its heat and humidity, but at least Lili will be able to wear her summer clothes. Oh, I know you can sun cloth diapers to remove stains, but can you do the same for the Bummi wraps? Or is there a better way to get any stains out?

Lili’s been gassy lately. Thankfully her spells of crying don’t last forever, but it is hard to get through it. We can get her to laugh through her tears, but then she’ll cry louder… This is usually a couple hours in the evening. I’m going to use the Gas Drops more often, I think, since they seem to help.

I guess I’m not writing in the pregnancy/baby journal anymore. I don’t have a separate baby life anymore… it’s just all blurred together.

Okay, off to try my workout tape before Lili wakes up.