What an awful year for the President and the country. There was the failure of Social Security reform, a good idea that was misplaced as the Administration’s top priority. There was the shameless political grandstanding in the Terri Schiavo case. There was Katrina. There is the stench of corruption rising from the Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff scandals and the appointment of so many hacks and cronies to positions of power. There is the possibility that Karl Rove and other top Administration officials will soon be indicted in the Valerie Plame leak case. There was, and is, the failure to deal head-on with the Iraq war and make the necessary adjustments—more troops, more pressure on the corrupt and Iranophilic government of Ibrahim al-Jaafari—that might secure a better outcome. The higher gasoline prices portend a very expensive home-heating winter. About the only thing that went well for Bush was the nomination of the indisputably excellent John Roberts to the Supreme Court.

I even shared the article with my boyfriend, I was so excited to see this list in print. Then I felt a little guilty. As Joe Klein said, it has been an awful year for the country. Why should I feel happy when I read about natural disasters and corruption and war (what is it good for? absolutely nothin’! say it again!)? But this only plagued me for a moment. I wasn’t happy that terrible things are happening to people around the world, but instead, I was pleased to see that people are finally starting to notice, acknowledge and hopefully soon, get disgusted with our current president and the cloud of deceit he and his administration (a.k.a. cronies) have so skillfully wielded for too many years.

I wish Klein’s article stopped right there, because he goes on to say how the president can earn back the approval ratings Bush is clamoring to get back. Basically, he said that the president should actually try to solve problems, rather than continuing on his current path of trying to talk himself out of them, and that he can do this by calling in people who always have been and are the experts on the topics at hand and give them the power to make the changes that need to be made, instead of the people whose backs need scratching. I can’t imagine Bush reading any other type of articles other than pat-ourselves-on-the-back in-house gibberish, but there is a chance that he may have a copy of Time by his toilet, and I can think of nothing worse than him actually reading this column and realizing that this type of tactic (of actually working) might actually work. He may then actually do something for the country, something positive, something that raises his ratings, something that leaves a good taste in the mouth of America.

And then, I would be sad, not because things are better for people in America and around the world, but because even though it worked, it would just be another cloud of deceit, a winning tactic for a sick administration.

I can’t wait to be the tourist’s tourist. I can’t wait to take a stroll through Central Park with no urgency to get to the theater on time and not be stressed as I look for the perfect bag in the hustle and bustle of Chinatown.

Well, I have. And I have had moments that I can’t find anything brainless AND productive to do, so I decide roll with it, just let it be and here’s where I go: Daily Sudoku, 107.5 Arcade, USDA Food Tracker.

First, a warning. When you first try Sudoku, it will suck you in and it will be hours later when it spits you out, especially if, because you are a professional adult, you think those silly numbers are no match for you and you try a hard or extra hard one to begin. I learned. Start with an easy one, which you can find in the archives, and you won’t find yourselve leaving work later than you intended.

Next, I do realize that there are many game sites out there (I am also addicted to Zuma, but I leave that for late nights when I am alone), but the 107.5 brings back the oldies, but goodies. There’s PacMan, Snake, and my personal love, Tetris.

Finally, I have a site with substance for you. This is a very cool, but very busy website (I often get “Server too busy” messages). On this site, you can log in the food you’ve eaten for the day, as well as the physical exercise you’ve managed to squeeze in and then the site analyzes the information for you and gives it back in many forms depending on what you want to know about your lifestyle.

Finally, there is reason to dive into work again. I can feel good about taking work home with me, carting it to the lake or the doctor’s office. I can take on extra projects that strain my relationships again, and not feel guilty. Really, people, I am extending my life here. Wouldn’t you rather have me around stressed out than not at all?

Total Number of Books I Own:
This is an impossible question for me to answer. I have several bookshelves at my home and even more at my office. My books come and go with my colleagues.

Last Books I Bought:
Non-fiction: Writer’s Market 2005
Fiction: Light on Snow, Anita Shreve for book club

Last Books I Read:
Non-fiction: Running with Scissors: A Memoir, Augusten Burroughs for book club
Fiction: Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides

5 Books That Mean A Lot To Me:
Let’s do the books that have meant the most to me most recently…
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
The Strangeness of Beauty, Lydia Minatoya
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni
the dot, Peter H. Reynolds
New York, New York: The City in Art and Literature, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tag 5 people to complete this quiz:
Can I do a tag-back?

Girl One, “You’re going to be fine.”
Girl Two sniffs.
Girl One, “This always happens, and it is always okay in the end.”
Girl Two takes a deep breath and whispers, “It’s different this time.”
Girl One looks around and then whispers back, “No it isn’t. You guys always do this and then you say you were stupid and promise not to do it again, and then you get scared and he gets mad and then it’s all okay and then you do it again.”
Girl Two’s eyes dash around the room. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”

They were supposed to be in Geography. They were supposed to be coloring Africa green and England pink, the rivers blue and the mountains brown. Instead, they’re crouched in the corner of a bathroom, waiting for their periods to start.

Things I learned this last weekend as I ran the SLC Marathon:
1) Life is easier and much more enjoyable when we have others with whom we can share it.
2) Slowing down is not defeat. It is actually making success possible.
3) There are thousands of people succeeding and failing at this moment, and their pains and joys are just as much mine as theirs.
4) There are also thousands of people who deserve to be my heroes.

Do you see the problem? #3 is glaring at you, isn’t it?

I guess it was the natural high of finishing 26.2 miles or maybe it is just my occasional Pollyanna-like state, but another person’s pain is not mine. I was going for a nice way to say that I felt an intense sense of bonding, an indescribable connection with thousands of people at once. Imagine (or feel it again with me if you’ve been to this place before) watching a herd of humans as far as you can see in front of you and behind, moving as one long serpent as you crest the top of a step hill. Then, look into the faces of those next to you, the grimaces the hopeful eyes…those faces passing you, those you are passing and see the hours of training, the personal satisfaction of arriving to this place, of making it to the top of the hill, or the disappointment as the pace slows and the frustration at the left toe which is starting to crack and bleed in their shoes.

At that moment, halfway through the marathon, some man from Kenya was wining $25,000 and next to me, a woman who had moved from Ghana to Utah a few years previously was running next to me, reaching down for my hand to run over the halfway mark. “We made it this far,” she said in a strong accent. “We can make it the rest of the way.” A few miles and a friendship later, her pace had slowed so much that we had to part. Later, I looked her up in the results page. I couldn’t find her name. I guess she didn’t finish. Later, as he accepted the award, he said, “I came with nothing in my pockets, and now I go home with 25,000 US dollars. Thank you, Salt Lake.”

Pains. Joys. Success. Failure. Thousands of people. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Is my altruism justified?

i am
a drop
of rain
held captive
in the creases
of your hand.

…So here I am in this rock concert reciting my poetry! Okay…so here is the cool part…in the middle of the concert with Amy Ray, she says something to the effect of, “Man, tonight as been rockin’ and I especially liked the preachin’. The poem recited, that was awesome. I really liked that. Where are you?” and she looks out into the audience…at ME!…and then says, “That was beautiful.”

Things I learned this last weekend as I ran the SLC Marathon:
1) Life is easier and much more enjoyable when we have others with whom we can share it.
2) Slowing down is not defeat. It is actually making success possible.
3) There are thousands of people succeeding and failing at this moment, and their pains and joys are just as much mine as theirs.
4) There are also thousands of people who deserve to be my heroes.

My favorite moment from running my first marathon was jogging past a lady, easily 76 years old, hair dyed bright red, face wrinkled like a prune, but a brown prune as her foundation make-up was caked down to her neck. She stood slightly stooped, cowbell high above her head and shook it with all her might. “You are my hero! You will make it! You are almost there!” she cried over the crowd, her voice scratchy and fumbling. I ran that mile for her. I hope to cheer like that for perfect strangers when I grow up.