10 Signs Things Will Be Better in 2006

At Christmas Eve dinner, I was talking with some friends about how glad I was to see the back of 2005, and how I was sure that '06 would be better. One of the young men involved in the conversation (who, at 19, was really too young to be so cynical) said, "Well, I don't see any evidence of that, but I hope you're right." I thought about that. What was my evidence? Where was my proof, beyond my typically Pollyana-ish optimism? So I've been thinking about it. And this is what I've come up with.

A few reasons why I know 2006 is bound to be better than 2005:

1. Barring nuclear conflagration, the actual overturning of Roe v. Wade or a new television series for Jessica Simpson (all possibilities in ‘06, I'll grant you), there's virtually no way that anything could be worse than 2005;



2. Just when we thought there was no comeuppance for people like Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, we find that – hey – there just might be some after all;



3. Our very own WaiterRant got a mention on CNN. I feel very proprietary about Waiter… why, I’m not sure, except that he does a job I could never do, and (so far as we know) he hasn’t killed anyone while doing it. You GO, Waiter;



4. I finally finished my bachelor's degree and have moved on to my MFA;



5. Starbuck's grande toffee nut latte with four Splenda and whip (which may not make anything better, but certainly makes everything seem better, and may well have been the only thing that got me through 2005 with my sanity intact). I’m drinking one now (shut UP!);



6. Though everyone around me has been deathly ill, I have so far managed to avoid getting sick;



7. I think I have finally managed to put aside all the anger I had toward my mother and accept her for the flawed human being that she was (fourteen years after her death, but still….);



8. Though I'm going through a crisis of faith, it’s a crisis of what I believe, not that I believe. I do believe. I just don't know how to express it;



9. I actually saw an episode during the Twilight Zone marathon that I’ve never seen before. I just know this is a good and hopeful sign; and



10. I have come to terms with the fact that, as happy as I was living in the "no dating" cave, I was not meant to be alone forever, and that's just fine.

These are just a few of the exhibits in my case that 2006 will be better than 2005. It won't be as good as future years (say, oh… off the top of my head… 2008), but it will be better. And better is always a good reason to get out of bed.

All the best to you all in 2006, and thanks for making the Chron such a trip!

~C~

Happy New Year!

Day Three of Faithful Gym Attendance

Down side: Ouch.

Upside: Got some reading done and came up with an image that may inspire a series of short stories and/or vignettes. I went home last night and played in Poser, Vue and Photoshop for the first time in a while. It was a lovely time. I miss the hours I spent creating images. Anyway, I won't discuss the fiction project, but you can see the image and use your imaginations. Time spent on that elliptical trainer is definitely not time wasted. Hopefully, I'll continue to be inspired during that time. And my jeans should start fitting better soon, too, which is always nice.

Golly, I'm looking forward to 2006. 2005 has been kind of rough on everybody (in reality, I think it started for me on November 2, 2004). Here's hoping that this New Year will be everything 2005 wasn't, and so much more....

Hope you all had a terrific Christmas. Or at least were able to survive the Christmas you did have. Onward to better things.

~C~

And So, It Begins...

Well, it's been a pretty hellacious, wonderful, horrific, terrible ride for the past ten days. I learned some things -- things I wanted to know, things I didn't. I learned that the two greatest inventions of mankind (after the wheel and the Dewey decimal system, that is) are espresso and under-eye concealer. I learned something really kind of not nice about the man I was interested in -- turns out he's absolutely not who I thought he was in terms of his ethics and honesty.

I learned that the short story I submitted to workshop these past ten days -- which I proclaimed from the highest mountaintops that I was sick to death of and never wanted to see again after this residency -- may actually not be a short story after all, but, in fact, may be the beginnings of a novel. I kept trying to make it shorter and more compressed, when according to everyone who read it, the story is really screaming to be expanded and told at length and in detail. Who knew? (Obviously, not me!)

I learned a lot from the many lectures and seminars attended -- such as how to publish an anthology, how to begin to approach the teaching of creative writing, how to use humor and limited writing exercises to inspire young writers to write. I think my field study is going to be a reading/writing group of my daughter's friends, who have expressed an interest in learning to write. Many of them are also artists, so I think what I may do is set about creating a book that they write, illustrate, edit and publish with their own works of writing and art.

I learned that talking on the cellphone while searching for a ladies' room can be a bit risky, as it can cause you to enter the men's room instead. (Fortunately, there's an outer area with sinks only!)

I learned that for every six months, for the next two years, I get to go to a place where I completely and totally belong -- where I can talk in my weird "writer's shorthand," and everyone will know what I'm talking about. And, finally, if there was every even a momentary doubt in my mind, I learned that I am a writer, and this is what I was born to do.

So, starting in January, I begin what's known as the "Project Period" -- where every month, on the 21st, I turn in a packet of material including the pages I've written (I've set 20 per month as my goal, since I lean on the prolific side), annotations of the books I've read, plus I meet online with my mentor and her other mentees to discuss the assigned readings (to see my reading list, click here.) All very inspiring and exciting.

Wish me luck. I'm off tomorrow to buy LOTS of espresso and under-eye concealer.

~C~

One of the Benefits of Post-Grad Education Is...

... for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long, my desk at work is relatively clean.

(Go ahead... Ask me where something is... go on... ask me... I dare you?)

See you guys when I get back from my first MFA residency on December 19th.

~C~

P.S. I've just made Deirdre at Best Available sooo happy... Oh, look... is she...? I think she's actually crying....

California's Newest Driver -- and Newest Democrat

How did this happen? Wasn't it just a couple of days ago, I was taking her picture and she was twirling in her gossamer pink polka dot dress?

Yesterday, she got her learner's permit and registered to vote.

Anyway... I better go before I break out into an impromptu chorus of Sunrise, Sunset. So, I've done my share to boost the Democratic party by one. Everyone else... get crackin'!

~C~

Three More Days Before Graduation

Everything's crossed of the list. The checks have been written (and cashed -- phew!). The papers have been turned in and evaluated.

I must be forgetting something. This can't actually be happening.

Can it?

~C~

In Memoriam - Wendie Jo Sperber

The AP posted Wendie Jo Sperber's obituary this morning, so I've swiped it to post below. I was acquainted with Wendie Jo briefly (and quite casually) back in the mid-80's, and I liked her immensely. When I heard about her illness, and her way of dealing with it, I was even more impressed with her. Her organization, weSPARK, has provided cancer patients in and around the San Fernando Valley with comfort and hope for the last several years.

Though I didn't know her well, I was always inspired by the grace and humor she displayed in confronting her illness, and how she always made it clear that though she had cancer, she was not cancer. It did not define her.

My heart goes out to her friends and her family. I'm sure she will be deeply missed. Many thanks to her for the legacy she leaves behind in her children, in weSPARK, and in the example that she set for all of us.

~C~

Actress Sperber Loses Breast Cancer Fight

Thu Dec 1, 7:21 AM ET

Actress Wendie Jo Sperber, who starred opposite Tom Hanks on TV's "Bosom Buddies" and who in his words became "a walking inspiration" after she contracted cancer, has died. She was in her 40s.

Sperber died at home Tuesday after an eight-year battle with breast cancer, publicist Jo-Ann Geffen said Wednesday.

A Los Angeles native, Sperber appeared in dozens of television shows and movies, including all three "Back to the Future" films.

Her publicist first said Sperber was 46, but later said she was 43 based on an Internet resource. The Associated Press in September reported Sperber's age as 47.

Sperber also had roles in Steven Spielberg's "1941," Robert Zemeckis' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," and Neal Israel's "Moving Violations" and "Bachelor Party." Her television credits include "Murphy Brown," "Private Benjamin," "Will & Grace" and "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, the actress became an advocate for cancer care. In 2001, she founded the weSPARK Cancer Support Center, which provides free emotional support, information and social activities for individuals and families affected by cancer.

Sperber helped unveil and promote a breast cancer stamp for the U.S. Postal Service in 1998, Geffen said.

"The memory of Wendie Jo is that of a walking inspiration," Hanks said in a statement. "She met the challenges of her illness with love, cheer, joy and altruism. We are going to miss her as surely as we are all better for knowing her."

Sperber is survived by a son and daughter, her parents, two sisters and a brother.