It was the night before my son’s graduation from college. His fraternity, the second oldest at the university, had invited the parents to their house for an evening of merriment and revelry. My husband, my mother and I all ventured into the lovely old house with a bit of trepidation. He had lived there for two and a half years. We knew what to expect inside.

I mean, the house was well over one hundred years old and had housed some 25 young men every year for at least 100 of them. A house in such disrepair, they were in the midst of raising money to do a massive renovation. (They were successful!) A house that had a party every Saturday and a thorough cleaning before house meetings every Wednesday. (I never understood that delay...)

And we were going to spend time in the basement. A basement on which one fraternity brother had done an experiment earlier that year. Taking a sample of basement sludge after a normal Saturday night, he brought it to his professor’s lab. Some two weeks later, the professor said don't tell me where you got that from, but it is hazardous.

A basement that smelled like Clorox with a hint of I am going to be ill.

I guess all of that was in my mind as we entered the house and walked down the rickety stairs. My mother stayed on the stairs (in her mind, a little fresh air could be felt there, ha, and she still had a perfect view of the main room.) There were several offshoots from the main, and every room had a ping pong table.

All of those thoughts evaporated when I was persuaded to play ping pong.Or, rather, beer pong.

For the first time in my life.

It was a tournament: mother and son against mother and son. My son was the reining champion in the house. I, as I mentioned, had never played.

I got a crash course and the rules were slightly modified: I was allowed to not drink the beer on a missed shot (not a fan) and the boys were allowed to make us mothers feel better by not drinking the beer in the cups in which balls that had bounced on the wet floor were hit. (Vomit.) They kept cups on the side for the drinking. Lol.

Something you should know about me: I laugh a lot. Loudly. Also, when it comes to sports, I can be very competitive. And, when I play (or watch) sports, I scream alot. :-)

By the end of our match, all the players from other rooms had stopped their games to watch ours.

This picture was taken by another parent. An amateur photographer, that night, he took some of the best action shots I’ve ever seen. This is my favorite.

As you may be able to tell from my expression, my son and I won. And then he and my husband went on to also win in the dad/son tournament. And my husband and I both had the same winning shot. :-)

If I were to guess, I would say my thoughts then were very similar to the ones evoked every time I look at the picture: I have never had so much fun.

I just moved in with my boyfriend and we have this lovely rooftop patio I like to read and write on - and take the occasional selfie on.

We live in Silicon Valley. He’s a techie at a big company and I’m a writer. We live happily with our (my) corgi.

But this isn’t a biography. It’s a picture, of me. And I’m happy. Happy to be here in sunny ol’ California.

As unhappy as my writing is, I’d like to say that I’m this picture, I’m beaming.

I took this selfie right before my previous Pre-K class had their graduation ceremony. Due to the pandemic it was Zoom only (which can arguably be a bigger challenge because I wouldn't be able to see the reactions of the families watching), and I was heading in with nervous excitement. Besides having to give a brief speech about the school year, I was also hoping that everything would go well with my 4 and 5 year old students being able to walk in as orderly as those of that age can, and also sit still long enough as well as those in that age group can. Besides being nervous, I was also excited to see my students graduate, and I felt proud of all of us for getting through a school year during a pandemic. Everything did go well and a good time was had by all. In the picture my glasses were initally foggy from wearing the mask and getting out of the car, which is always fun for a glasses character like myself.

I make videos for my two very young granddaughters. Sometimes I sing children’s songs, like baby shark. Sometimes I do a monologue of a certain part of a movie as in the little mermaid hence the fork in my hand on the end there.

My daughter says they love it and this way at least they get to know who I am.

As someone who reads a lot of Wikipedia pages about royals, I thought of how would it go if I would pose like them in their portraits.

So at my grandmother’s house one time, I requested my sister to picture me in a pose fit for royalty. And there at the third floor of the house, a few shots of me were captured. And in those moments, I do felt like a king.

However, it should be taken note that it’s just pretend; after all, I’m not a royal. As seen in the picture, my scepter was actually a hanger rod, and although it wasn’t seen, I was actually wearing a red muscle shirt back then. Most notably, I wasn't wearing any crown on my head.

In this picture, you see me about to go for a pickup. the photo was taken in the cold january 2020 morning, when the quarentine in Wuhan was just recently instated. no one knew anything about transmission of the covid 19 virus at the time and we were much in a panic. i am wearing swimming goggles, as it was rumored to be transmitttable through soft tissues, like eyes. the jacket covering my head is not just a precaution against the cold either. i was also wearing gloves, and nylon bags over my shoes.

these excursions were very rare, and limited to walking to the front gate of the residential block that i lived in, where the grocery van brought vegetables. you did not get a choice of what to buy, everything was prepacked, take it or leave it. the supermarkets did the same with dry goods and toileteies. some people got very confusing items along with their soap. but considering the fact that nothing was set up prior to deliver things to EVERYONE, then this ensured that people got at least the basics.

i remember a lot of things going through my mind:

1) the swimming goggles were an improvment on my old pair, which is more like a scuba goggle. they fogged up and made things even more difficult. so first thought- gratitude that we somehow found the older pair, which were uncomdortable in the pool, but at least made me look slightly less ridiculous.

2) i remember thinking how at the end of this excursion my wife and baby will need to go and hide in the bedroom, until i took everything off, and it was in the washer, bathing in a ton of laundry detergent, and me scrubbing myself in the bathroom. only after i was in the bath could they come out with reasonable safety. my thought- maybe we should also mop the floor with disinfectant. but of course alcohol was more expensive then gold. (we had a stock of stuff before as i was crazy a long time before covid..)

3) i wonder what surprise the grocery guy will bring? turnips? cabbage? carrots? i was desperate for a tomato or cucumber, as they were rarely sent over.

as i said much was not known of the virus and how thos sickness spreads and kills. all that people knew back then was that it was dangerous and that you need to take precautions.

which is why after more than a year of this crap, i feel absolute rage, contempt, and disgust when i read about people who have the means to protect themselves with masks, and vaccines, who still choose to not take these very basic precautions. this is a subject of gross neglect, irresponsibility and stupidity on an absurd level!! the fact that vaccinations and masks are still a political divide in some parts of the world, and a question of supply and demand in other, poorer places , just infuriates me! this is not really a question of freedom any more. abnoxious or reckless behavior can be tolarated and accepted as part of the rich tapestry that makes up a society. however a society that cant provide protection from dangers to its members is in serious danger or even doomed. the masks that people refuse to put on, mostly as a protest over some imaginary repression is not different from letting people get drunk and high and start plowing the road with their cars. no one has an objection to the police pulling them over, and at least giving them a heavy ticket, if not arresting them. the same rigor of enforcement, should be applied to vaccination and masks. countries that have limited resources to deal and provide these simple precautions should receive aid to that effect. it is much cheaper to srnd a billion dollars worth of vaccines , gloves and masks, than a billion dollars worth of smart bombs. and oeople will aporeciate the latter much less than the former. plus the benefit is at least as great.

I remember exactly what I was thinking in this moment. My ruminations centered around deep philosophical questions like Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? What is the Nature of Evil? and What is that large crispy object in my left armpit?

I also remember exactly when the picture was taken. It was February 3rd, 2008, a few minutes after David Tyree’s helmet catch ruined the Patriots quest for a perfect 19-0 season.