POOPED, BUT HAD TO DIVULGE . . .

... Omma accepted my offer to try the nasty Gingermint toothpaste. As expected, she saw "ginger" and went "ooooh, sounds good!" Sigh. Wait till she tries it. I wonder who she'll try to pawn it off on next ...

... Coney Island is insane! My first visit there was overwhelming, but in the best way. Expo knew exactly where to go, knew all the shortcuts, and even knew the shortest Nathan's line to stand on for hotdogs, even though she's a vegetarian! God bless her roughage-eating soul. The Noodles held up like champs, even though one of MJ's little perfectly-shaped turds fell out of his pants onto the ground. It was so cute, I would have taken a picture of it had I had a camera, and had it not been so disgusting in reality. But it truly was a perfectly formed mini-turd. Amazing. The New York Aquarium, while not fancy, took me back to my childhood and refreshed in me a sense of awe and respect for nature, for cool and quirky animals, for the mysteries of the universe and all the squeaky, slimy, shivery creatures that dwell in it with us. The Brooklyn Cyclones play baseball worse than Little Leaguers -- I witnessed balls actually rolling through legs and players bouncing off the far field wall! -- but KeySpan Park is just too cute, as are the little games conducted every half inning. I sat there with a stupid and charmed grin on my face for three hours. And to top it all off, I consumed The Best Strawberry Banana Smoothie Ever at the game. I would make the trek out there again just for another smoothie ...

... Bike helmet, check. Bike lock, check. Bike gloves, check. I'm ready to hit the road now. The best part of it all: the helmet is my favorite shade of red, and my gloves match KitchenAid to a tee. I am lookin' SO good on this bike, it's not even funny. Forget my thighs of steel -- check out my blue gloves! ...

... My mission until November: to bring out the latent liberal in C. His mission until November: to bring out the latent conservative in me. He wants to make me a Reagan-lover, just like himself. I just want him to vote for someone not as idiotic as Bush. Someone put up a red, flashing warning sign: GOOD TIMES AHEAD ...

... Friday's care group meeting, approached with absolutely zero expectations, touched me more than I had though possible. I realized that we were former Catholics, former Korean semi-cult survivors, Methodists, Presbyterians, Puerto Rican, Filipino, 1 1/2-generation Korean-American, married and single, really young and really not-so-young, part-time workhorses, full-time workhorses and full-time workhorses at home. I guess part of me has ceased to care that we're not doing a Bible study, or that the book we're reading together is slightly contrived and overly touchy-feely. I'd rather listen to people tell me about themselves and open their hearts to me in a contrived manner -- at least at first -- than not at all. My eyes were opened to the fact that there is great value in talking and listening, no matter the topic, no matter the distractions. And speaking of distractions, we must note for the future: placing a pile of toys and books in the middle of the group, then forming a sort of fortress around them and the babies/toddlers goes a looong way towards limiting mobility and whining. Good plan, good plan. I tuned those babies out like they weren't even there. Until one crawled over to me, climbed into my arms, snuggled into my shoulder ... then BIT ME ...