Alexandra Vaillancourt

Dateline Boston — I am a multitasker. At the moment, I am cleaning the house, listening to music, sending and receiving emails and texts, eating, checking Facebook, and writing. In a minute I may turn on the TV. I want to vacuum (where did the spelling of vacuum come from, I wonder?), but my cat is sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up. Never mind the fact that she doesn’t ever hesitate to wake me up when I’m sleeping; I still won’t disturb her.

Dateline Boston — I ride the subway every day. It’s a great place for people- watching. I’ve observed fashion statements, random acts of kindness, and intimate moments, all in a very public place.

Dateline Boston — As Art Linkletter said, kids say the darnedest things. Here are a few recent gems:

Dateline Boston — A few years ago, I went to Germany to visit some friends. They took me to a grand cathedral. Imke said to me, “Look, this building has been here for (really, really long time) years!” I nodded absentmindedly; “Uh huh.” Imke poked her husband Thomas and said, “Nothing impresses her!” One of the things that did impress me was the one-eyed goat.

Dateline Boston — I’m going to write today about Silly Bandz, that fad that hit elementary schools last year. Silly Bandz started popping up on the arms of kids between the ages of five and twelve.

Dateline Boston — Recently I made three new friends in Burlington, Vermont. I had just spent a couple of days with my friends Emily and Paul. They brought me to the Greyhound bus station at the airport, where I was to catch a bus going home to Boston. We arrived at about 10:30 a.m. for a bus that was scheduled to leave at 11:15. I bought my ticket, and we went outside to wait.

Dateline Boston — Random thoughts in my column today…

Re “Gospel Surprise, Part 2”

Re: Gospel Surprise, Part 1

Dateline Boston — The big night came. I accidentally faked Amy out by opening my door in jeans and a tee shirt, after I had told her to dress nicely. I reassured her that I just hadn’t gotten changed yet. I changed into nice clothes, and we went out to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner.

Dateline Boston — Last week I took my friend Amy to a gospel concert. Last fall, Amy was stricken with (stricken with? afflicted by? fell ill via? caught?) got the H1N1 virus and almost died. When she got better, I knew I wanted to do something special for her. Because she didn’t die. And I was (and am) very happy about that.