13 Apr, 2008
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I sat next to a six-year-old on the Metro today. On the way to a Nats game, complete with red cap and baseball glove. and gameboy, of course.
His parents were in the row behind us though I didn’t see them at first and he didn’t seem to be paying them much mind, just chattering away in one long continuous sentence.
“Are you going to the game??” I told him I wasn’t and he looked puzzled, as though it hadn’t occurred to him that the train went anywhere else. “It’s at the new park!!! That’s where we’re going!!!!”
Then he started explaining his pokemon game and how he was at level 17. I, of course, understood not a word and said I doubted I could get to level 2. “Oh no, you could! Level one is really easy. REALLY easy.” He continued playing and showing me things I didn’t understand in the game, though I was glad I had at least heard of pokemon.
When I got off the train, I told him to have fun, that I hoped he caught a fly ball. “Me too!” he said. “And also, I am pretty good at Pokemon, like a lot better than a lot of kids.”
As I stepped out of the train, I heard him calling “You’d be good, too! I can tell those things!”
He had me believing.
11 Apr, 2008
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Sometimes out of the loop is the best place to be.
The top mommy nag my mom sent me off to college with was this: “Don’t join anything before October 15.” Why? Because in high school, I was kind of… well, a joiner is probably a kind way to put it. (Think “Tracey 
Flick” as played by Reese Witherspoon in “Election”)
Because join I did! I was secretary of honor society, Spanish class, sophomore class, junior class, Student Senate, Student Council (Yes, they were two different things – how very bicameral of us), editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper (and sole staff member most of its history).
(Sidebar: Who can’t wait for MTV’s “The Paper?” tomorrow night. Me! and all the other Tracy Flicks out there! Anywho…) I tried to take mom’s words to heart – after all working on that student paper (on my Apple IIC and using, yes, stencils, and literal cutting and pasting, with scissors till 3 and 4 a.m.) was a wee bit tiring.
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