The Random Report

Folks who visit here often know I rarely post anything too off topic…but since I was tagged by several bloggers for this, and since I've been away from home for two weeks, and since my mind is on a hundred other things besides anything literary, I thought I'd give it a go. It's supposed to be Six Random Things about me, but since I hate being confined to a number….

1. I once hired comedian Ray Romano, who nobody had ever heard of, to entertain at a client's fundraiser in New Jersey around 1990. He charged around $300, which is probably about what he leaves as a tip these days.

2. I used to feel cold all the time, even in summer, but ever since I had my first kid, I usually feel hot all the time (yes, temperature-wise. This is a G-rated blog, folks).

3. When I was a teenager, I unknowingly sat in front of Paul Newman at the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden, and when I turned in my seat, I blurted, "Wow, you have such blue eyes, you could be Paul Newman."

4. I once played ice hockey. Right wing. My friend Babette and I were 15, and were the only girls on a 12-year-old boys' team. See what happens when your older brother has Rangers season tickets and you develop an over-the-top crush on Ron Greschner?

5. One of my Catholic-elementary-school best buds, Ellen Kuras, has won at Sundance for cinematography (twice), and recently made her directorial debut. I always knew she'd do something cool. When she was a teenager, she wanted to be an Egyptologist…..

6. …and hen I was a kid, I wanted to be a: sportswriter, police detective, nurse, probation officer, actress, airline ticket agent. And, I actually did a good bit of sports writing and acted a (very) little while living in California in 1981-82. Can't imagine myself in any of the other jobs, though.

7. When I was 18, I had an 18-inch waist. Guess who was my favorite movie character in my teens?

8. I am a really good cook but a lousy house cleaner.

9. In the 1970s, Roger Staubach, the legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback, called my house, asking for my father. (They were on a corporate board together, which I didn't know). I asked who was calling, he said his name, and I cracked, "Yeah, and I'm Barbara Streisand" and hung up. My father laughed and Staubach called right back. Years later, I interviewed him for a magazine article. Nice guy.

End of Random post. Next week: back to normal.

Just finished reading: Rise and Shine, by Anna Quindlen. This helped a little to take my mind somewhere else for an hour each night before bed, while away from home and helping my mother with her health issues.

Just started reading: Dream Me Home Safely: Writers on Growing Up in America, edited by Susan Richards Shreve; foreword by Marian Wright Edelman. Published in 2003 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Children's Defense Fund. Some meaty essays in this one.