Okay, so the moment when Porter intercepted that ball — that was sheer gorgeousness. I got confused thinking that the person throwing the ball was on the Saints team (I always get confused. I’ve had many conversations with sports fans saying that I think pitchers should throw to their own batters; it’s hard to keep track). Okay, maybe harder with three drinks under my belt (and no, I’m NOT apologizing for the two sheets to the wind post).

Anyway, Porter’s run was so UNbelievably sexy when, right after he intercepted — he’s running down the field, and so subtly you could have almost missed it, he signals a teammate, I think, with just a pointed finger. Like he was telling him where he was going — but it was so fluid, so lovely, so sure and confident.

I just thought it was beauty in motion.

And the touchdown wasn’t half bad either.

The pass. the interception. the touchdown. holy cow. i think i’m in love.

So, I’m here at home … making some flatbread pizza with shitake ’shrooms and goat cheese. For the cats — Einstein, Boomer, and Coco — some chicken I bought at Morton’s.

Just watched NY-born Queen Latifa belt it out. Followed by some white chick from somewhere out west. What? They couldn’t get some N’Awlins singer?

And … YES! The Saints have snagged the coin toss.

I think this qualifies as fun!

Remember awhile back I mentioned that I’d been given a gift certificate to a local spa for Christmas? Well, I used part of it to have a foot massage, but then recently went back to use the rest of the certificate and have a reflexology treatment. This experience took fun to a whole new — and different — level.

I was a bit skeptical — reflexology? But my feet have been bothering me so much lately that I figured I’d try anything.

Essentially, and this is a layperson’s quick study on the subject, reflexology is the application of pressure (through massage) onto various points in the sole of the foot (primarily) to soothe, possibly even have healing effects on other parts of the body, in particular various organs. It’s a natural approach to healing that has apparently been around for a heck of a long time:

As the reflexologist explained to me before she began, she’d be massaging and applying pressure to areas on my feet and that pressure would have an effect on other parts of my body. Okay, sounded like worst case scenario, I was in for a heavenly 50 minute foot massage.

But what I got was something quite a bit different.

It didn’t take long before I could feel a wave of some kind of feeling moving through my torso. It’s very hard to explain, but it literally felt like light waves of something — though I can’t say what, just kind of coursing inside my body. That overall effect was one of “lightening” — I felt lighter in some odd sense. Then, as she moved to the pads of my toes, I’m not kidding, I felt correlating responses in my head — I think in my brain — for each toe that she touched. Without sounding dramatic, or at least without trying to sound dramatic, it felt as if the top of my head kind of opened up. I’m serious.

Even now. As I write it. I think how kind of “new-agey” and crazy it sounds. But it was a pretty serious experience — was it physical or psychological? — not really sure. It sure felt physical.

While the massage was going on, it was extremely wonderful-feeling. I felt so good. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the feeling persisted after the massage ended. After that, pretty quickly, I felt back to my normal self. Since then, I haven’t felt like any parts of my body are functioning better or worse than before … except interestingly, I have been calmer in my approach to work since then. Calmer in my approach to the deadline-drive days of press releases and article due-dates — and even more interestingly, it’s all working out pretty well. I still have a huge amount of work to get done each day and I never get the entire to-do list crossed off, but I’m less worried about what’s not getting done and more focused on what truly needs to get done throughout the day.

Still, for the money ($75), I’m not sure I’d go back with my own cash, but if I ever receive another gift certificate, I’d probably spend it on that same treatment. And, I think I’m going to see if I can even marginally recreate the experience at home … . Hmmmmm… self-reflexologizing? Sounds a little naughty. But maybe that’s just me.

So, anyway, science? Medicine? Alternative healing? I don’t have the answers. But I will say my skepticism about the connection between our lowly feet and the entire rest of our bodies has disappeared. Completely.

And on top of it all, I did leave feeling better.

Relaxed — for sure.

In a good mood and feeling positive — absolutely.

Convinced I’d found a whole new kind of fun — indubitably.

I met Dick Lobo in December when I was up in Tampa doing a fundraising appearance on PBS/WEDU Channel 3 television program Florida This Week … . We hadn’t started my segment yet, and I saw the man himself near the coffee table and went over to introduce myself. Read more »

Two weeks ago, my best friend married his best girl. Married in Boston, but they came down to Florida for a post-wedding reception dinner. That was last weekend. I went up to Tampa.

And … contrary to everything I’ve ever known or thought I knew about myself … I cried like a frickin’ baby when he and his erstwhile girlfriend, now wife, re-enacted their wedding vows for the Florida contingent. Like a baby. And, believe me — and those of you who know me well know this is true — I NEVER cry. Not any more, at least. Not very often, at least. But for Brian … I cried.

Cried out of happiness. Out of something. I can’t lie and say that Oscar Wilde’s words weren’t ringing through my head — “A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.” Maybe it was that idea — of optimism — that was making me cry. Maybe it’s because the cynic in me was thinking for a moment … maybe I’ve got it all wrong — maybe love does exist. Maybe you can take a flier on somebody. Maybe you can fall in love and maybe it will stick. Maybe Wilde wasn’t being cynical when he wrote those words (though I rather think he was) — isn’t it possible he was applauding the nerve it takes to walk that aisle a second time? I can’t imagine doing that myself. Believing in someone that much again.

So, maybe. Maybe that’s why I was crying.

But I know one thing: I was also crying because I love him. He’s the best person I’ve known over the last 17 years. We met at Bucknell.

He taught me about philosophy, in fact, he’s taught me more things than I can remember … and I’d like to think I’ve taught him something as well. We’ve been friends ever since the first night we met at a poetry reading. Friends. The kind that people don’t believe can exist between a man and a woman … but which, most emphatically does exist. At least for us. We’ve lasted. (That’s Bri and me in the photo … a couple of years back at a New Year’s Eve party I threw.) Through my marriage and subsequent divorce. Through his first marriage, and now this beginning his second.

And I imagine we’ll continue to last until my dotage, at which point I fully expect him to support me and my book, cat, and martini habit for the rest of my years. Um, that might test our friendship … at long last. But only because he’s allergic. Not to cats, but to my relentless indulgence of their whims. (He’s already got a word for what he thinks ails me — anthropomorphimania.)

Maybe I cried because Brian has more faith in humans — more faith in love — than I do. (Yes, I admit, I reserve my faith for felines and birds, for the most part.) Maybe I cried because, underneath it all, I’m a big softie (though I doubt it) and I want to believe in people too. In love.

Maybe I just cried because wedding vows make people cry.

I don’t know. But I cried. And weirdly. Very weirdly … I was having fun at the same time.

So, last week, I went to see the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Van Wezel in Sarasota.

The tickets were fabulous — Row Six — so kind of front and center and the crowd was overflowing with lots of Russian conversation. Oh, and the symphony wasn’t half bad either. Read more »

Local Matters WSLR host Joe Hendricks, along with co-host Steve Norris, and co-guest, Matt Orr, helped me fulfill my New Year resolution to have some fun … Read more »

Joe Hendricks of WSLR’s 96.5 LPFM LOCAL MATTERS sent this notice around to remind folks to listen in tonight between 6 and 7 p.m. …. hope you can join the conversation! Read more »

At the City of Sarasota’s Police Advisory Panel (PAP) public meeting on Dec. 28, Sgt. Kenneth Castro — a 28-year police veteran — admonished the panel for “disturbing” and “insulting” comments he felt some of its members had made about the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) in prior meetings. The panel — appointed by Sarasota City Commissioners last November in response to the summer 2009 police incident involving a police officer who was videotaped kicking a handcuffed suspect — is tasked with examining the practices of the SPD in connection with the use of force, and its relationship with residents, especially the minority community.

“We cannot allow you to continue to barrage our police officers,” Castro said, adding that such negative talk could affect the morale of the “troops” and possibly “demotivate” them on the job. Read more »