THE PAM NEWSLETTER 2003

Volume 13, Page 2

40 is the New 30

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

As reported last year my book reading has plunged and was even worse this year (only 20 books). I'm always bitching about the media in my reading pile and how I can barely keep up with that, much less read a book. At Thanksgiving Erin asked us how many magazines we subscribe to, and up until that moment I sincerely thought that we had cut back to a reasonable level. Between Bob and me we subscribe to 15 magazines including 3 weeklies! Two are bi-montly and one is a quarterly. We also get two daily papers, including the NY Times and a weekly paper. That explains a lot. I think I'm going to dump 3 of mine . . . but I'm waffling.

SOCCER FEVER

In June we took the train to Seattle to see Manchester United v. Glasgow Celtic. The game sold out within two hours of tickets going on sale. 66,722 soccer nuts at Seahawks Stadium. We spent the day wandering around downtown with all the other soccer freaks and then met some friends and headed to the stadium for the game. I think this was Man U's first game after Beckham went to Real Madrid. We had a blast but I thought it would be a lot crazier. Man U won 4 to zip. I think if Celtic had scored it we would have had more singing or brawling.

KiddiePies
In Sept/Oct thanks to SARS we got the second once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Women's World Cup soccer in Portland. We bought tickets to the whole series which means 6 games in 8 days: a LOT of sports for me. We got to see a bunch of great teams like China and Canada. The China fans had a huge section with dragons and drums and the most annoying whistles, like a cat in a blender, that you've ever heard in your life. I would have ripped them out of the kids' hands if I didn't think it would cause an international incident. I was relieved when China lost. I also finally got to see the US Women when they played Germany in the semi-final. That game took about 10 years off my life. It was a great game and the only time I've ever seen the U.S. women lose. I have never cried about sports but I came pretty close. We taped the game and I haven't had the heart to watch it again but I can't bring myself to tape over it either.

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PHOTOGRAPH: Christmas Pageant, Orleans '02, PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob

This page was made on December 17, 2003. Featured beverage: mulled wine. Featured artist: Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade.

Posted: 12.17.03
http://www.pamrentz.com/pampage/xmas/v13/p2.html