2009

2009

Springfield, PA and

Carpenter’s Point, MD

My age: 53- 54

Work- Director of Student Services for 3000 students- Springfield School District, Springfield, PA

Homes- I had a four bedroom stone house in Springfield , PA and on weekends, I ran down to my home in Carpneter's Point, MD to my sweet, little two bedroom place by the North East River.

Music-

• I Woke Up Today, Feeling Brand New is a song that pays tribute to Obama’s inauguration.
• I dont know any music anymore.  I used to listen to music for hours at a time.  But once I moved away from albums and CDs, I stopped playing music.  I listen to it in the car.  Mostly I listen to WXNP, an independent  Philly station that plays singer/songwriters who are well known and unknown.

Movies

• o   Avatar- the animation was clever.
• o   Harry Potter- I enjoyed all the Harry Potter movies but the first one will always be my favorite.
• o   The Blind Side- a boring movie that should not have received all the accolade it got.
• o   Invictus- Nelson Mandela had an insight as to how to move his country forward and he did it without a civil war or more conflict.  He is admirable.
• o   It’s Complicated- this is a good rental movie for a rainy afternoon.
• o   A Single Man- I thought this movie was a little creepy.
• o   Julie & Julia- I loved this movie and I am still annoyed that Meryl Streep did not win an Academy Award for her performance in this role.
• books

Travels- I didn’t travel much this year because of my illness.

          Bermuda- Winter Break

News events

•     Barak Obama was sworn in as President of the USA. And instantly, our ugly racism reared its ugly self around the country.Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Communisism was falling apart.
• Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage by an Iranian court 
• North Korea launched the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite, Later in the year it announced it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. We all viewed this leadership as dangerous to the world.
• Following  President Bill Clinton meeting with with Kim Jong-il in North Korea two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry earlier in the year receivds pardons. 
• A tsunami triggered by An 8.3-magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands destroys communities and harbors in Samoa and American Samoa leaving nearly 200 deaths 
• A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes 28 miles west-northwest of Padang, Sumatra killing over 1,000 in Indonesia
•  The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force in European Union (EU) member states 
• US Airways Flight 1549 after being struck by a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff Piloted by Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger makes a successful Crash landing In the Hudson River. What a hero.
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      We lost a lot of famous people this year:

• Michael Jackson- this death stunned the world.
• Ted Kennedy- he served our country for 40 years.
• Patrick Swayze- I thought he was going to beat his cancer.
• Paul Harvey- I loved listening to his voice on the radio

Family and friends

• I contacted Lyme’s Disease and was sick during most of the summer and much of the rest of the calendar year. It beat me up. At one pint, I had a 104F fever.
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• I joined the Big Brother/Big Sister Program.  I was assigned to a poor, black, angry, 14-year-old female who was also a lesbian.  Her mother asked me if I could fix her.
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• My cousin lost her young son, age 27, to stomach cancer.  He was in a coma for four months before he died. He didn't have health insurance.