Women's Hockey, Sweden 3 USA 2 2/27/06 & ME

I have wanted women's hockey for a lifetime, except that it arrived a little later than I would have liked. See earlier post, Hockey at 54, and XX Olympics. The USA-Finland game was the catalyst. Now I had to get to Torino ASAP to support the female version of "Miracle," Herb Brooks, repeat of 1980. It was deja vu, 26 years later happening in 2006, all over again. But it was to be better this time, because the unitiated were women. Women just don't have THE RIGHT STUFF to join THE GOOD OLD BOYS CLUB, never will and never want to, that is my thinking but that is only for about 90% of us. I know many of the other 10%, whom I greatly admire, those who risk life & limb & those whom have not had the encouragement from society to realize that closets are for clothes and not people. Read Middlesex if you really want to be enlightened. Where are the medical tort lawyers? Who gives anyone the right to play God? I am not sorry for this digression, more is learned when sidebarring anyhow. They really listen when they think you're off the beaten path. You digress so fast, they're geo positioning and need a hitchhiker's guide to the planet.


I decide after watching the Finnish game that it's not too late to be there for the WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL game, followed by a 3 week Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Coastal Line ship MIDNATSOL. A nice birthday & Valentine's present to myself. I'm worth it. The yearly birthday roses from Trina, ex star track & volleyball athlete who's trying to make up for the rest of my recalcitrants, and my incredible foresight of my sister, Denise, who gave me Torino Olympic gear are high up on my list, as are the Asian note cards of Chinese brush painting. Someone's vision must be very extra sensory: the association of the Asian New Year of the Dog & dinner at Rice Steet's Princess Garden! Here's to those who see what is not there and read between the lines. And, yes, St. Augustine, my prayers to you continue. Padre Pio, are you listening, too?

Feb. 26 - Mar. 20, 2006 / 22 Nights Feb. 26 --- Savona, Italy, board MS Midnatsol Feb. 28 --- Civitavecchia, Italy Mar. 01 --- Naples, Italy Mar. 02 --- Catania, Sicily Mar. 03 --- Valletta, Malta Mar. 04 --- La Goulette, Tunisia Mar. 06 --- Ajaccio, Corsica Mar. 07 --- Nice, France Mar. 08 --- Livorno, Italy Mar. 09 --- Portoferraio, Italy Mar. 10 --- Cagliari, Italy Mar. 12 --- Mahon, Menorca, Spain Mar. 13 --- Barcelona, Spain Mar. 14 --- Palma de Mallorca, Spain Mar. 15 --- Alicante, Spain Mar. 17 --- Malaga, Spain Mar. 18 --- Gilbraltar Mar. 19 --- Tangier Mar. 20 --- Lisbon, Portugal, disembark

Imagine 19 ports in 22 days! Immerse yourself in Italian and Spanish cities and more! Cruise the Mediterranean in the spring before it gets crowded with summer tourists. Feb. 26 ­ Mar. 20 Sample Fares Per Person Double Occup. Sole Occup. Inside cabin or limited view $2,255 $2,819 Outside cabin Cat. N (deck 4) $3,166 $3,958 Outside cabin Cat. U (deck 7 & 8) $4,270 $5,338

Thanks to Rico Ghilardi, Como Park HS and restraurant entrepeneur of The RED SEA in Minneapolis, I will be staying with the family of one of Rico's 12 brothers who are Ethiopian-Italians. Keep those e-mails coming, ranelligregory@mac.com as I have figured out how to access them by phone. I watched the USA-Sweden game in my hockey jersey, screaming to the cable channel. Tied in regulation, tied in Overtime, lost in a ShootOut 2-3. An 18 year old Swede gets the win, even though we had the advantage of power plays in the overtime period. Great athleticism. Maybe some Como Cougars should pay attention, instead of having the most penalty minutes or getting suspended for fighting before the region play offs. Great way to end the season. CJ, you have to answer to me. I've literally stood in your shoes (thanks for letting me wear your skates, even if they were too wide; thanks, also, Kate, another flying Red Tomato, for letting me use yours for the last period of the CSC-Alumnae game at Ridder and to be able to be on the ice when the Alumnae scored, no thanks to me, a sincere liability until I hit the strength training room regularly. Fred Clary, Advanced Injury Rehab is my savior. Acupuncture, massage to break up scar tissue and adjustments for breaking up a fight in my classroom: Andrea, armed with a linoleum cutter retaliated when her male opponent smashed her over the head with a chunk of plywood used to hold the lino blocks when carving.
Andrea is second generation on both sides, meaning that I've been teaching so long I've had both her parents as students. We had 4 siblings at Como at one time. Ron silkscreened his image on a t-shirt in '76, now it's a lost art there. Some think that art is just the frosting on the cake, but in reality, it is the cake itself. Think my tiramisu and pavlova and salivate with passion. Art is so draining of emotion. It eats up all my energy. Then why do I have so much left? Juxtapositions juxtapose. Sleep, you elusive metaphors and similes. Nessun dorma.