US Open

We had tickets to the US Open for Monday, but because of all the damage and anxiety caused by Hurricane Irene,  I didn't think there was even a remote chance that it would be ready to start on Monday.  After all,  the mass transit had been shut down;  there were downed trees and power lines and flooding all over the area.   But unbelievably, they opened on Monday, as scheduled.  Of course, that meant that many staff persons had to spend the night at the center on Saturday night in order to spend all day Sunday cleaning up debris and water caused by the storm and rain.  Based on the projections and predictions over Friday and Saturday, I thought there was no chance the Center would we operating.  What a surprise!

This year, we got a day pass, which meant we had access to all the courts, and stadiums, except not the really huge one, Arthur Ashe Stadium.  We had already had that experience and did not want to go there anyway.  The day pass allowed us to roam around freely, and see a variety of games, which was much to our liking.

Some of the smaller courts were very intimate, with just a few bleachers, and you could see 'all the action'.  I particularly enjoyed getting the full picture of what goes on on each court.  There are six ballboys/girls;  then there are about ten linesmen, a referee, two players, cameramen, etc.  I counted at least twenty people, not counting the two players, per court.  I had no idea it required so many officials.  The actions and interactions of the players with the ballboys was fascinating. I also learned that the ballboys and the linesmen have to try out, in order to be selected, and go through extensive training.

It was clear that the officials come from all over the world.  In fact, we sat at a lunch table with a lineswoman who came for the Open from South Carolina.  Most of the referees, who announced the game, had strong accents and were obviously from other countries.  I counted in the program well over fifty nations represented with competitors.

There are twenty courts and smaller stadiums, not counting Ashe, which holds 20,000.  I found the question of scheduling all those people intriguing.  It is clearly an operation that takes an entire year to produce!

In previous years, we have attended the semi-finals, in Ashe Stadium.   I learned so much more, and enjoyed this so much more than focusing all one's attention just on the "big name" players.  Those on the outlying courts were fun to watch as well.

I was really impressed by everything I saw relative to NY City and its ability to "weather a storm" and recover quickly!  No doubt that is one advantage of having so many people---a huge work force!

Irene

The best laid plans of women and men
oft go awry
Especially when  face to face with the
hurricane's eye.

Hurricane Irene is messing up our weekend plans.  Of course, I should not complain, as we are not directly in the path and needing to evacuate.

We had our weekend on Long Island all carefully planned with outdoor activities.   First some good, fun tennis outside,  then walking the Brooklyn Bridge, and then on Monday, a day at the U.S. Open.  At the moment, I'm not sure we will get to do any of those things, when we go and visit daughter and son- in- law for the weekend.

When I told this to daughter Priscilla, she said,  "What is it with you and hurricanes?"   She was recalling, of course, the time I flew south right into the path of Hurricane Katrina.  I had my (non-refundable) plane reservations, and was headed to Mississippi to visit my mother. (Alzheimer's, didn't know I was there)   I was confident that I would far enough north in Tupelo so that I would not be affected at all, and went anyway.  That turned out not to be entirely true.

In the hotel where I was staying,  every other room was taken by people who had evacuated New Orleans.  The first night,  I buried my head under the pillows so I would not to hear the terror of the seventy mile per hour winds outside my door.   Thankfully,  we did not lose power,  but many nearby places did.

My family back in New York was worried about me.  Cell phone traffic was so overloaded, that it was almost impossible to get a call through.  I did manage to briefly, so they knew I was not in mortal danger.

I never was really in danger, but the most terrifying part for me was the fear of not being able to get back home!  Suddenly, there were long long lines at every gasoline pump.  Although I had a rented car,  and a plane ticket out of Memphis,  I feared there might not be gasoline for getting home.  I would have driven if I had to.  I was so grateful that the plane left Memphis as planned, a few days later.

It took a few days for the worse of the Hurricane Katrina to come to light;  for the levees to break, and the stadium to fill with desperate people.

I was one of the lucky ones.  I got home safely, no worse for wear.   Having a trip planned, driving right into the path of a Hurricane does bring back all those very scary memories.

Hopefully we won't have to evacuate Long Island!

Hair

I am struggling with the issue of hair.  Hair is driving me absolutely crazy.  Since mine has grown out a bit,  my whole lifestyle has had to change to accommodate it!  I envisioned a new hairstyle, only you can't get to that point from a pixie cut, so one has to first grow their hair in order to really have a new lovely salon haircut.

  

My hair is currently in between.  It is no longer a pixie.  It is not entirely short.  It is not yet a bob.  It is not really long.  It is sadly somewhere in between the land of  lovely and obscene.

It is unbearable to me, unless I roll it.   [I have to roll it because I cannot stand it flat!!  I need to poof it up!] Therefore, I spend an incredible amount of time doing just that,  but how that turns out is completely unpredictable.  It depends on a number of hair factors, like if I blow it dry, or let it dry naturally,  if I use conditioner or not, etc.  The whole rolled hair result is a roll of the dice!
If I don't have much time in the morning,  I'll take a shower the night before, so I have time for the rolling detail!  Hair is ruling my life completely!  It is clearly more trouble than it is worth!

I imagined ending up with a bob, rather than a pixie.  I've had a pixie for most of the past forty years or so, with a couple of rare occasions of letting it grow for a while before cutting it again.  I've been cutting my own hair since I was nineteen.  So, honestly, the whole matter of going to a salon for a style is a foreign concept for me.  I wonder if I will ever actually do that?

My history has been that one day I wake up and simply cannot stand it for another minute, and get out my scissors and do my thing.   At the moment, I'm not sure exactly what my thing is, or is going to be.  I'm in between things.

I have just completed an on-line a study of 'hairstyles for older women'.  The styles are all over the place, so that was no help at all. Pixies, bobs, short, long, mid-length, curly, straight, edgy, curly, chopped.

Maybe I'll get through just one more day with hair.  I am feeling just a wee bit attached to it.

Opposite Evolutions

I had a delightful lunch with an old and dear friend today.  Let's just call her "Pat".   Pat is from out of town now, having moved south a few years ago, after living in New York for the first sixty years of her life.   She is staying with a high school friend, visiting relatives and leaving soon to spend time with her daughter and grandchildren in Rochester.  She came without her husband this time.  He had some health concerns that prohibit him from traveling, at the moment.  This is the longest she has ever been away from him, being away almost three weeks, I think.

I could not help but marvel at Pat's developmental curve, and how different hers is from mine.  What I mean is, her large adventures and 'branching out' seem to be taking place in her more mature years.  Last year she and a  girlfriend took a trip to Los Angeles, rented a car, visited relatives, etc.  She used to be terrified of water and could not even bear to be near it.   Now she can even ride in a boat.   She no longer waits on her husband as much,  and is much more independent and adventurous.

My own more mature inclinations are just the opposite.  I spent much of my adult life being outrageously  independent,  having all kinds of adventures,  traveling to a great variety of places,  moving dozens and dozens of times  Pat and hubby lived in the same house for forty years, until recently.  I'm not sure I could even count all the places I've lived.   Now, my inclination is to enjoy the community in which I live,  to enjoy our home;   I'm not terribly interested in any far away, exciting trips.   I'm enjoying being domestic now, though that has certainly not always been the case. I'm a homebody.

I want a mellow life, settled, rooted, routine.

It is rather fascinating how our life paths take us along different curves and arcs and inclinations.

Like fingerprints and snowflakes, no two are the same.