Footsie fun

Remember awhile back I mentioned that I’d been given a gift certificate to a local spa for Christmas? Well, I used part of it to have a foot massage, but then recently went back to use the rest of the certificate and have a reflexology treatment. This experience took fun to a whole new — and different — level.

I was a bit skeptical — reflexology? But my feet have been bothering me so much lately that I figured I’d try anything. (more…)

Sarasota Mover & Shaker Dick Lobo Goes to Washington …

I met Dick Lobo in December when I was up in Tampa doing a fundraising appearance on PBS/WEDU Channel 3 television program Florida This Week … . We hadn’t started my segment yet, and I saw the man himself near the coffee table and went over to introduce myself. (more…)

My best friend’s wedding

Two weeks ago, my best friend married his best girl. Married in Boston, but they came down to Florida for a post-wedding reception dinner. That was last weekend. I went up to Tampa.

And … contrary to everything I’ve ever known or thought I knew about myself … I cried like a frickin’ baby when he and his erstwhile girlfriend, now wife, re-enacted their wedding vows for the Florida contingent. Like a baby. And, believe me — and those of you who know me well know this is true — I NEVER cry. Not any more, at least. Not very often, at least. But for Brian … I cried.

Cried out of happiness. Out of something. I can’t lie and say that Oscar Wilde’s words weren’t ringing through my head — “A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.” Maybe it was that idea — of optimism — that was making me cry. Maybe it’s because the cynic in me was thinking for a moment … maybe I’ve got it all wrong — maybe love does exist. Maybe you can take a flier on somebody. Maybe you can fall in love and maybe it will stick. Maybe Wilde wasn’t being cynical when he wrote those words (though I rather think he was) — isn’t it possible he was applauding the nerve it takes to walk that aisle a second time? I can’t imagine doing that myself. Believing in someone that much again.

So, maybe. Maybe that’s why I was crying.

But I know one thing: I was also crying because I love him. He’s the best person I’ve known over the last 17 years. We met at Bucknell.

He taught me about philosophy, in fact, he’s taught me more things than I can remember … and I’d like to think I’ve taught him something as well. We’ve been friends ever since the first night we met at a poetry reading. Friends. The kind that people don’t believe can exist between a man and a woman … but which, most emphatically does exist. At least for us. We’ve lasted. (That’s Bri and me in the photo … a couple of years back at a New Year’s Eve party I threw.) Through my marriage and subsequent divorce. Through his first marriage, and now this beginning his second.

And I imagine we’ll continue to last until my dotage, at which point I fully expect him to support me and my book, cat, and martini habit for the rest of my years. Um, that might test our friendship … at long last. But only because he’s allergic. Not to cats, but to my relentless indulgence of their whims. (He’s already got a word for what he thinks ails me — anthropomorphimania.)

Maybe I cried because Brian has more faith in humans — more faith in love — than I do. (Yes, I admit, I reserve my faith for felines and birds, for the most part.) Maybe I cried because, underneath it all, I’m a big softie (though I doubt it) and I want to believe in people too. In love.

Maybe I just cried because wedding vows make people cry.

I don’t know. But I cried. And weirdly. Very weirdly … I was having fun at the same time.

Da! как смешно! (Yes, what fun! — at least I hope that’s what it means!)

So, last week, I went to see the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Van Wezel in Sarasota.

The tickets were fabulous — Row Six — so kind of front and center and the crowd was overflowing with lots of Russian conversation. Oh, and the symphony wasn’t half bad either. (more…)

Radio fun!

Local Matters WSLR host Joe Hendricks, along with co-host Steve Norris, and co-guest, Matt Orr, helped me fulfill my New Year resolution to have some fun … (more…)

Local Matters — Join the Discussion!

Joe Hendricks of WSLR’s 96.5 LPFM LOCAL MATTERS sent this notice around to remind folks to listen in tonight between 6 and 7 p.m. …. hope you can join the conversation! (more…)

Sarasota’s Police Advisory Panel — Some Thoughts

At the City of Sarasota’s Police Advisory Panel (PAP) public meeting on Dec. 28, Sgt. Kenneth Castro — a 28-year police veteran — admonished the panel for “disturbing” and “insulting” comments he felt some of its members had made about the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) in prior meetings. The panel — appointed by Sarasota City Commissioners last November in response to the summer 2009 police incident involving a police officer who was videotaped kicking a handcuffed suspect — is tasked with examining the practices of the SPD in connection with the use of force, and its relationship with residents, especially the minority community.

“We cannot allow you to continue to barrage our police officers,” Castro said, adding that such negative talk could affect the morale of the “troops” and possibly “demotivate” them on the job. (more…)

MC on Local Matters Thursday, January 28

Tomorrow night, 6 to 7 p.m., I’m going to have a bit o’ fun on the radio — WSLR 96.5 LPFM. I, along with co-guest, man-about-town Matt Orr, will be on a program called “Local Matters” hosted by Joe Hendricks. (more…)

Squirrelly fun

I may be stuck at my computer … but the squirrel outside is having fun trying to break into the bird feeder. (more…)

Sunday night … football, film, and fun

So, yesterday I had a bit of unscheduled fun.

I was invited to round out a dinner party for eight given in honor of a visiting out-of-towner, John Goberman, executive producer of “Live from Lincoln Center.” It was a lovely, erudite crowd, with a conversational focus on classical music. (more…)