Fanagrams

I have always wondered what goes on in a locker room before the big game.  Growing up in the pre Title 9 world of women’s sports, there was simply no such thing as a big game.  The only thing going on in our pregame locker room was putting on the uniform, if one even existed.  There was no coach helpfully pointing out that “the only thing between champ and chump is U.”  The implicit concept was that pride and self motivation and basic concepts of team work should more than suffice.  Basically there should be no reason to tap into some collective primal competitive juices.  Besides, it was unladylike.   The closest thing to a team experience that I currently have is my church bell choir where everyone has to be totally on their game to avoid a dystonal disaster, like last week when my bells were in the wrong hand.  Would a pre performance pep talk have sharpened my focus?   The thought of all of us in our royal blue robes shoulder to shoulder, jumping up and down in unison with the choir direction in the middle exhorting us to hit those 8th and 16th notes is ludicrous.  Continue reading →

During my 30+ years of working life, I have migrated from working into the office to home to the office and back again, each time in search of the perfect combination of work environment and family demands.  When Ned was an infant I made my first attempt to “work from home” and found it to be a frustrating oxymoron.  I was trying to establish myself as a free lance medical writer, and one little pesky detail was that my interviewees would call at unexpected times when Ned was not napping as planned.  One elusive physician happened to call when I was in the midst of a particularly grimy diaper change, so I just had to just forge ahead.  With my left hand I balanced Ned on the changing table and prayed that he would cooperate.  I then put the phone under my ear, and with no piece of paper in sight, I had no choice but to take notes for the whole interview by writing on the wall, madly flicking the pen to overcome the effects of gravity.  In one house, my office was in the dressing room next to the bathroom.  One day, as I got out of shower, the office phone rang. I instinctively answered and found myself plunged into a detailed conversation about heart defibrillators.  Little did my caller know that he was having a very cerebral and professional discussion with someone who was stark naked and dripping wet.  Time to go back an office environment!  When I lucked into a top notch baby-sitter/caretaker/household manager, I knew we were all in good hands and I scurried back downtown to work. Continue reading →