Speak Old Friend and Enter
how long have you and I known each other?
Hubbai - Frubbends!!
I’ve been around the block. (I love that phrase) Lots of my friends have been around the block too. (There’s no good source explaining this lovely idiom by the way - I went down the rabbit hole for you and all I can tell you is that it started in the 1960s and before that you’d just been “around”)
What is the correct adjective to use to describe a friendship you have had for a very long time? “Longterm” friendship is so clinical. An “old friend” is standard but it sounds sort of….blah. I want to call them “close friends” or “intimate friends” but they often don’t know what I’ve been up to at all! That said, these friendships seem more solid than new ones and these people know you better than many of your most intimate current friends. I have recently had occasion to catch up with many of my (that kind of) friends. I have need of that adjective.
It is glorious to see the (useful adjective) friends. It reconnects you to the parts of you that you really liked that had to go dormant. You have those parts too - what do you miss about your younger self?
Anyway - one of these (useful adjective) friends is now a theater producer and she gave the whole family tickets to see The Creeps - if you are in a Halloween mood or just happen to love dark, eerie, and super weird plays that stick with you, this is for you. Run see it before it closes in early November. It is a one-woman show and Catherine Waller will make you believe that you are seeing a whole cast onstage. Truly her ability to transform herself is second to none - she is the equal of Anna Deavere Smith or Patrick Stewart (I’ve seen them both live).
The play is extraordinary and unique as well - it is a mystery that is entirely guided though improv by audience questions and responsiveness. I may need to see it again.
Photo break —if you still haven’t gotten my book, you should! Click here to grab it. Then, you too can send me a photo of the book in some cool place and it will make me (and all the readers of this newsletter) so happy!!!
Writing News:
If you like the sort of writing I do in this newsletter you are going to LOVE this very short essay I wrote about a crazy moment that actually happened in NYC. It involves mannequins and coffee, stockings and kindness. Give it a read.
(it is VERY short) Here’s another chance to click through and read it.
I hosted (co-hosted) the Pen Parentis Literary Salon about the environment. It was great - give it a listen to hear how various writers from across the country are using poetry, novels and essays to address climate change and other environmental issues. It’s about an hour long.
I’m featured on this podcast - a half hour of me just bubbling over about all things writing-related. I don’t know how much coffee I drank before doing this interview but I sound so happy! I really did enjoy doing the interview. It’s on Estelle Erasmus’ show which has writing and productivity advice Watch the whole thing — share it with anyone you know who is struggling with the balance of parenthood and a creative life. There’s also links for the audio-only if you are a podcast person and don’t want to see my arms waving around. Here’s the whole page with show notes devoted to the episode (there’s even a handy guide to let you skip to the parts you might like best).
Random final thought:
Can anyone explain how medical administration got so broken? I was asked to take a routine test. Very good. I tried to schedule it—first appointment was six months out. Makes sense I suppose, if every single female New York City citizen who is five years older or younger than me is trying to schedule this test, the place probably gets crowded. Still, six months out is a long time to keep track of a prescription that is a physical piece of paper.
And you can’t just have the doctor send that over. You have to bring it yourself.
But that aside, six months went by, I showed up, was seen immediately and went home less than an hour later. Great.
I got the test results in email later that day.
Question: Why do patients get test results before the doctor does?
I called to make an appointment as instructed by several robo calls and automated text messages but I had to leave a message since the person didn’t pick up. She called back later in the day and left a message. I called back on the number she gave me and got a person who told me he couldn’t make an appointment nor transfer me.
He would leave a message for the scheduler and she would have to call me back.
Of course she has not, and now it is the weekend.
Why would the medical profession do things this way? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the test results to simply go automatically to the doctor and trigger phone calls from the doctor’s scheduler to make the first possible appointment with the patient? (Instead of prompting the patient, prompt the doctor’s office to schedule the appointment!) All this back and forth is stressful.
The real irony is that stress is bad for your health. Thank goodness that having a sense of humor is one of the ways to decrease chronic stress in your life.
We can be happy that the ridiculousness of life is decreasing the stress caused by the ridiculousness of life.
Speaking of ridiculous - here’s your third and final chance to read that super short essay about the bizarre thing that just happened to me in NYC this past week. Enjoy the glorious fall weather!
I want to be your towering friend. Do you have a set of towering friends that have been around awhile?
I feel similarly about our health care system right now. I recently had to call our insurance company on behalf of our doctor, who is based at a major medical institution. And it felt like I was in a hall of mirrors. A hall of mirrors where every mirror was blurred.