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February 28, 2005
Know When to Fold 'Em!
It's funny the things you remember sometimes. Last night, Mom couldn't resist telling Don all my goofy childhood stories, including one about my fourth grade year. My class had performed in a concert recital for the school and all the parents singing The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. I admit, it was a fun to sing and we personalized the song with our own little interjections and gestures and the audience loved it!
So later that year, our class took a trip to Toronto. One night, we all ate at some restaurant. I was sitting with my best friend when The Gambler came on over the loudspeaker. I began singing along to it softly, then my friend joined in, then the next table of my classmates, then the next...Before you knew it, the entire class was performing the whole song. The rest of the patrons couldn't figure out how we all knew the lyrics and did all the same interjections, but when we were done, we got such grand applause!
Which also reminds me of the time we had just finished performing our high school musical--opening night of Oklahoma. We all went to celebrate at the local Stroh's Ice Cream Parlor. Of course, I started humming the accompaniment to one of the songs which prompted my friend to join in, which prompted the actors to sing the lyrics. Again, I had the entire place performing impromptu. There were only 3 or 4 other patrons there and they were enjoying our little act, but the owner decided to be a fuddy duddy and threatened to throw us all out if we didn't cut it out. Oh well...I guess not everyone appreciates great theatre...or maybe I just don't know when to fold 'em!
Posted by Amy at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
Shazbot!
Robin Williams was a student at Detroit Country Day School, my alma mater, back in the 1950s. He didn't graduate there, but he sometimes mentions in interviews that he grew up in Bloomfield Hills. When I was in 5th or 6th grade, he came to visit. It was after he'd become famous for his character on the TV show, "Mork and Mindy", and just before his big hit "The Dead Poets' Society" was released. School rumor had it that he had partly modeled his character in the movie after one of our teachers. Now, I don't know if that's true or not, but I'd like to think so.
I was lucky enough to get close enough to get this picture taken with him. He was taking a tour around the campus and I walked up to him, starry-eyed, and said, "Mr. Williams?" Charmed at the admiration of a 12-year-old girl, he looked down at me and replied, "Yes?" I held out my hand, fingers separated between the 3rd and 4th finger and said, "Na nu, na nu." He responded by crying, "Shazbot!" and returned the Orkan-style handshake.
I was so excited that as he was leaving the campus, I came up to him again, asking for his autograph ("Mork and Mindy" was my favorite show at the time). He didn't give it, probably knowing I'd be hounded to sell it or something. But he did compensate by giving me a kiss on the cheek!
Posted by Amy at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
High School Sports
Meet the 1988 Junior Varsity Lacrosse team of Detroit Country Day School. This picture was taken during Lacrosse camp at Sauk Valley. I think that's in Ohio. I remember it always took us at least 3 hours to get there and I'd spend the entire drive there and back listening to Duran Duran over and over again. We'd spend a weekend at camp doing nothing but play Lacrosse all day. It was exhausting and challenging, but fun and rewarding.
I had a hard time making it to the Varsity team and in fact the only reaason I did was because I was a senior. At our school, seniors had to be varsity to upkeep the reputation. I personally didn't care, except for when it came to being on the Varsity Volleyball team. I didn't care for my teammates and preferred being on JV, but my coach insisted and I ended up being on both teams. My playing ability in both sports was better than the best JV player, but not as good as the worst varsity player, so I was always stuck in between. But I always had a lot of friends on the JV teams and I was always glad that we were required to take sports. I don't know what I would have done without the workout.
Posted by Amy at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
Four Score and Seven Years Ago...
When I was a junior in high school, I took a Civil War history class. Now, I was never a history buff and I was terrible at memorizing historical names and dates, but part of the allure of taking this class was the fact that every year, the class would go on a week-long trip to visit the Civil War battlegrounds--Antietam, Gettysburg, etc.
Each class before us was able to do battle re-enactments, but we were unable to bring any kind of toy guns, not even brightly colored squirt guns. So, in order to play-fight, we had to ambush our enemies and call out people's names in order to "shoot" them in order to prevent them from taking possession of the forts.
Well, it turned out that we were all having a great time and strategies included resorting to using other people's jackets to disguise ourselves because if the wrong name was called out, it didn't count as a death. During one battle, one of my classmates and "enemy" hid himself high in a tree and was picking off my teammates one after another. I held off trying to overtake their fort since I would have had to expose myself in the open. No one could figure out where he was and we were about to lose the battle when I suddenly spotted him in the tree and yelled, "ADAM! YOU'RE DEAD!!" He yelled, "SH--!" And we overtook the fort. And even though it was just a re-enactment, it was fun to be the "hero".
It was a great time - driving from place to place, seeing the battlegrounds in person, staying in cheap (and I mean cheap) motels, taking a side trip to Washington D.C., and just spending a week of all-out fun. Oh yeah, we also learned a lot too!
Posted by Amy at 09:10 AM | Comments (2)
February 22, 2005
Go Green!
This is Mayo Hall, the oldest dormitory on Michigan State University's campus. It was like a second home to me while I studied there. I was fortunate enough to have my own private room. It was small and the view wasn't so great - it overlooked Grand River Avenue, but it was all mine.
I thought it was the most beautiful place on campus--its 3-story sienna brick walls covered in ivy, copper-lined windows, walnut trimmed doorways, and beautiful trees surrounding its ever popular front courtyard. It even had a large Great Room with a bay window, comfortable couches, and a piano. I used to study there every night and sometimes listen to whomever had the notion to tickle the ivories.
When I lived there, my entire circle of friends including me were volleyball-playing zealots. Any day that was even remotely pleasant, someone would inevitably haul out the volleyball net to the courtyard and within 15 minutes, we'd have nearly the entire dorm out there tossing the ball around. And they weren't your average backyard barbecue games. These were serious scrimmages - people spiking and diving for saves and such. With as much volleyball as we played, I'm surprised that any of us managed to graduate!
Those days may be long gone, but I'll always have very fond memories of that place and time.
Posted by Amy at 11:00 AM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2005
Congratulations, Ray!
This is my friend and karate teacher, Ray Hagen. He's just retired as a lieutenant from the Pittsfield Township police force after 26 years. (You can see him holding all his career badges here.) Don and I went to his retirement party on Saturday night. It was filled with lots of food, drink, friends, fun and a display of some really fascinating pictures throughout his career. He gradutated from the academy in 1978 and worked doing fire inspections, crash investigations, undercover narcotics (Crack Attack Team, aka CAT). He was even a firefighter for 5 years and I understand he also did some work for the FBI.
It was strange for me seeing him in those old photos. For one thing, he looks quite different than he does now and I'm used to seeing him in his karate uniform. And seeing the pictures really brought it to reality for me of the interesting and dangerous life he's led. I'm fascinated by the experiences he's had and the stories he tells. What's more, I'm really proud to know him and call him a friend. Congratulations on your retirement, Ray!
Posted by Amy at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Put On Your Dancin' Shoes
This is a picture of me when I was about 7 years old. From top: Mrs. Karolyn Sowden (dance instructor); my sister Sirasa; me; my friend, Annie. We were performing in a recital for an old folks' home.
Mrs. Sowden lived in my neighborhood growing up and wanted to open a dance school. So she went asked all the mothers in the neighborhood if they wanted to sign their daughters up for dance lessons. Mom signed me up for ballet and I loved it! I loved it so much that I took every class I could - ballet, then tap, acrobatics, and jazz tap. I was one of her best students because I was great at remembering the sequence of steps throughout each number.
Unfortunately, when I got to 6th grade, I was unable to continue because I couldn't get anyone to drive me to my lessons. So I quit, but I've always loved dancing. I went to every school dance and spent many nights in college at the dance clubs. And I even became a Swing era dancer for a while. I think it really helped me with my athleticism in volleyball, lacrosse and karate. I still love dancing - I just wish I had more opportunity to do it.
Posted by Amy at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2005
Our Beloved Fielding
This is my parents' late cat, Fielding. She was a very special kitty as she was the first cat to bless our family. My brother, Koset, adopted her when he was living in Baltimore, going to school at Johns Hopkins University A few years later, he got a contract working for the Navy--in Atlanta, I believe. But the Navy put Koset up in a military dwelling that didn't allow pets. So he dropped her off at my parents for 6 months while he finished the contract.
Little did he know Mom and Dad would fall helplessly in love with Fielding. When he came back to get her, they proclaimed that Koset had abandoned her and refused to give her back. So it was a 6-month-long custody battle between Koset and my parents. Finally, he gave up and let Mom and Dad keep her, knowing that she was being very loved and extremely well-pampered. And, in fact, the entire family had fallen in love with her and she loved everyone! You can see in this picture that one of Fielding's favorite things to do was take long trips in the car to the lake cottage. My favorite thing about her was she would come running to the door asking me to pet her when I visited and also when she would sleep with me curled up on my chest. She was so irresistable!
She was an incredibly smart kitty as well. One day, I'd fallen ill with the flu and came home with a fever and chills. Fielding came in to my room to visit and found me still shivering, though I had curled up in bed with the electric blanket on full. I picked her up and placed her across my neck like a scarf and she just lay there purring until I finally warmed up.
But, we were all devastated when she got sick with cancer. The vets only gave her a month to live, but my dad managed to keep her alive for 4 months. I was lucky enough to be able to say my goodbyes to her before she died--I thanked her for being such a loving friend and for taking care of me when I was ill. She responded by purring for me--something that while she was sick, she hadn't done for anyone else. I knew she understood what I said to her and I hope it gave her at least some comfort before she died. She's now resting in the back yard of my parents' home, where she was so very much loved by all. And I think about her nearly every day.
Posted by Amy at 09:45 AM | Comments (1)
February 14, 2005
The Kakanopas Family
This is an old picture of my mom's family. Top right is my mother, clockwise below her is my Aunt Noi, my grandma and grandpa and the boys are my uncles, Sornsak and Chatpol.
Most all of them were teachers, except Chatpol, who became a policeman in the Thai Border Patrol. He's a one-star general and I understand he's quite high in the chain of command. He usually gets us through Thai customs when we visit. Aunt Noi is living in Chicago with my Uncle Ed and Sornsak recently retired from teaching and is still living in the southern peninsula of Thailand, where Grandma and Grandpa lived.
Grandma was a particularly special and very lovely lady. She taught many students in her day and went on to get her PHd in Adult Education at the age of 72. Her friends then called her Dr. Boonit, though my brother, sister and I always called her Super Grandma. (It always tickled me pink to hear her giggle when we called her that.) Needless to say I was completely heartbroken when she passed away 5 years ago.
I don't remember as much as I'd like to about Grandpa. Mostly that he used to smoke a lot and that he used to make me drink hot ovaltine when it was 95 degrees out. But he was a very kind gentleman and a wonderful grandfather. Unfortunately, he got very sick with emphysema and died when I was 11. Still, I miss Grandma and Grandpa very very much and think about them very often.
Posted by Amy at 09:00 AM | Comments (8)
February 12, 2005
What A Coincidence!
This is a picture of me when I was about 2 or 3 years old. I remember when this was taken, my mom had taken me on a day-trip with my grandpa and grandma to go look at some gardens somewhere, I didn't know where. I also remember that we were walking around all day and it was high time I needed to go to the bathroom. But my mother kept insisting on taking one more picture, though I begged and pleaded for her to get me to a toilet. The result was this photo.
I'm sure you've noticed where my hand is headed--I was in desperate need to pee and I could not hold it any longer. And the instant the camera shutter clicked, I felt a warm stream going down my leg and I had burst into tears.
Ironically, as it turns out, I was showing my childhood pictures to a college friend of mine who noticed that the building behind me looked like a building on the MSU campus. I'd never really looked at the background before, but realized he was right. We both remarked how funny that was, seeing as I was attending MSU at the time. Maybe MSU was calling me somehow to come back as a student?
Posted by Amy at 04:12 PM | Comments (3)
February 09, 2005
Hey There, Squeaky!
So this is my nephew, Gino, who is my cousin's son. Now, I know what you're thinking..."An Asian boy named 'Gino'?" Personally, I think it's funny too, but you gotta admit...he's got the charm of a "Gino", doesn't he?
He's more adorable than a teddy bear and I can't help but be mesmerized by him whenever he's around. Especially since his grandmother gave him these awesome shoes that squeak every time he takes a step. (Cracks me UP!) And I think he's even begun trying to mimick the sound of his shoes because he'll very purposefully stomp his feet and make noise at the same time he stomps.
He's an extremely bright boy, probably because his parents are incredibly smart people. At 7 months, he went straight from the bottle to drinking out of a regular glass, skipping the sippy cup altogether. Now, at 15 months, he seems to have a pretty good memory as demonstrated last night when he explored all over my mom's house and remembered where the room with the ball (and other toys) was. He's also easily amused by seeing his own image in the mirror and he knows some basic words like: Mama, Dada, "baw" (ball), "Mo! Mo!" (more, more), and "booh" (book). Then there's the word I can't quite figure out, but it seem to be his favorite: "Ah-dur, ah-dur". He was also pretty good at playing with the toy where you put the shapes into the same-shaped hole.
I can't wait to see what Derek will be up to when he gets to be as old as his cousin.
Posted by Amy at 12:50 PM | Comments (2)
February 04, 2005
Crow Anyone?
I've been saying that because my Jeep doesn't go as fast as the Subaru, I probably wouldn't get any speeding tickets. But I got pulled over today leaving work, so now I'm eating my own words. And you know, I really didn't want a red car because I thought it would be like a red cape to a bull. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with today's stop, but you gotta wonder.
Anyway, this cop had the attitude of a grumpy drill seargent (except that he didn't yell at me). He wrote up my ticket super fast and even though I was extremely compliant, he seemed angry for having to do his job and really disappointed that I didn't give him any attitude. He acted as if he was expecting a bawl-fest or some kind of belligerence, but got absolutely none.
Afterwards, he hands me the ticket and says very quickly and very insincerely, "ITHANKYOUFORYOURCOOPERATIONTHANKYOUGOODBYE!", as if he were hanging up the phone on me. I guess he was anxious to catch the next poor soul.
But on the bright side, I got my first paycheck today and it was larger than I expected. I guess Uncle Sam was feeling generous, unlike some Livonia cops.
Posted by Amy at 05:36 PM | Comments (1)
February 03, 2005
Praise the Writer!
Here I am at my desk and I'm almost through the second week at my new job and I really really love it! Everyone is singing my praises saying, "We're so glad you're here! We're so glad we have a writer!!" Even my boss said this yesterday. My snarky reply: "Soooooo, do I hear a raise in there somewhere?" He indicated that if I kick ass, then maybe something could be done.
They've plunged me into the deep end of the pool, as it were, right into one big project and a few not as big projects. And I already have to make a presentation to the chairman on Monday! EEK! I'm nervous, but even the bosses (at least those I've met) don't act "corporate", even though there's over 2,600 people in the whole company. They're very approachable and friendly, as is everyone else.
Everyone in my department has been really supportive and extremely helpful, not to mention patient. But, I'll tell ya, I have never been so busy at any job as I am at this one. In fact, the other day, I was so busy that I forgot to eat lunch and didn't even realize it until it was 2pm, but by then, I had to go to a meeting and only had time to grab a Klondike bar. And I have training for the next week and a half on top of all the work I have to do! I'm swamped--but I really think I'm making a hugely good impression on them. It's so awesome to be SO needed and feel SO useful!!!
Posted by Amy at 09:09 AM | Comments (2)