Had a friend message me saying "I'm having blogger block" and my first impulse was to provide potential topics to blog about...one of which was the relative merits/pitfalls of blogging while drunk (the topic of another friend's blog recently). How exactly does mood (in all its manifestations) affect the construction of a blog?
On second thought, I started wondering what the difference between writer's block and blogger's block might be - after all, they are different kinds of writing, aren't they? Shouldn't the kind of 'blocks' for each be of a different nature? After all, you don't hear about journalists suffering from writer's block as often as fiction writers, do you? A journalist is supposed to be writing about stuff that's going on in the world, and I have the sense that more frequently, the problem has to do with the way in which you want to construct the article less so than what material you will cover. At least, when I did the little bit of journalistic writing that I did for SPARK at U of C, I had a clear idea of my topic and what I wanted to say, it was the way I wanted to construct the article (and that evil word limit!) that was the biggest problem. When you're writing fiction, it seems that the block more frequently refers to a lack of ideas.
Though I understand her desire to find something to blog about if she hasn't blogged in a while - I know there are days when I think I should write something, but don't know what to write.
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Saturday, June 28, 2003
Stone Reader - good movie. Unfortunately it's only playing in a few venues, and I can't find any listing for the ones outside the U.S. though I do know it was screened in Perth, so it's out there. A docudrama about reading... well, mostly about one guy's obsession with one book and his search for what happened to its author after a well-reviewed but poorly circulated novel. If you love books, you will feel a kinship with the director/editor of the movie as he embarks on a quest that asks not only why this book is the only one produced by its author, but what is the relationship between authors and books, especially when they only write one. I certainly am curious now about the book he is obsessed with - The Stones of Summer - B&N are re-releasing it in September... though I don't know that I'll be curious enough to read all 552 pages of it!
And my first reason for saying I might not read the whole thing? I don't have enough time. But I think that might not be entirely accurate.
The one thought that kept recurring as I was watching the movie was that I was jealous of these men who seemed to have all the time in the world to read. I used to read all the time too - I read voraciously when I was younger. But when I started having kids, reading seemed to be something that there just wasn't any time for during the day, and then at night, no matter how interesting the book, the act of sitting still signalled my body that it was time to go to sleep - if I wasn't running after a child, my body assumed that the child was not conscious and it should follow the golden rule of 'sleep when the baby sleeps'. And so I did. This is why I read very little after the mid-eighties.
And so my first thought was, 'oh sure, that's fine for you guys - you aren't the ones running around after children all day'... and the fact that Moskowitz (the director) says at one point that autumn is his busiest season when he does nothing but work, and his wife and children understand, and reading is the only thing that keeps him sane made me think that reading is a luxury only available to the male, not the reproducing female. But then I realized that there is nothing (but lots of work) that would stop me from engaging in reading voraciously again - I have just gotten out of the habit... and developed a sense that reading for pleasure is a guilty pleasure when there are others around who might need my attention. So if I want to read more, then I just need to do it - if I could start with a goal of say four or five pleasure books a year: one or two that are in my extensive collection of books bought and never read, the one that wins the Booker, the one that wins the Governor General's award, and maybe, big maybe, the one that wins the Orange...but that last one would be only if I think the book is worth it 'cause I don't necessarily agree with the need for a separate award.
Since it's the end of June, should I count that as a resolution for 2003, or 2004?
And my first reason for saying I might not read the whole thing? I don't have enough time. But I think that might not be entirely accurate.
The one thought that kept recurring as I was watching the movie was that I was jealous of these men who seemed to have all the time in the world to read. I used to read all the time too - I read voraciously when I was younger. But when I started having kids, reading seemed to be something that there just wasn't any time for during the day, and then at night, no matter how interesting the book, the act of sitting still signalled my body that it was time to go to sleep - if I wasn't running after a child, my body assumed that the child was not conscious and it should follow the golden rule of 'sleep when the baby sleeps'. And so I did. This is why I read very little after the mid-eighties.
And so my first thought was, 'oh sure, that's fine for you guys - you aren't the ones running around after children all day'... and the fact that Moskowitz (the director) says at one point that autumn is his busiest season when he does nothing but work, and his wife and children understand, and reading is the only thing that keeps him sane made me think that reading is a luxury only available to the male, not the reproducing female. But then I realized that there is nothing (but lots of work) that would stop me from engaging in reading voraciously again - I have just gotten out of the habit... and developed a sense that reading for pleasure is a guilty pleasure when there are others around who might need my attention. So if I want to read more, then I just need to do it - if I could start with a goal of say four or five pleasure books a year: one or two that are in my extensive collection of books bought and never read, the one that wins the Booker, the one that wins the Governor General's award, and maybe, big maybe, the one that wins the Orange...but that last one would be only if I think the book is worth it 'cause I don't necessarily agree with the need for a separate award.
Since it's the end of June, should I count that as a resolution for 2003, or 2004?
It's amazing the capacity of our memory for trivial detail - particularly when that detail is associated with music. We spent a good part of yesterday sorting through old cassettes, most of which originated in the 80s. Bands like Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Men without Hats, Rick Springfield, Honeymoon Suite, Led Zeppelin all mixed together and it was amazing that you could play a tape of a song you haven't heard in 10 or 15 years, and still remember all the lyrics. We even found a copy of Bob & Doug McKenzie's "Take Off" on one of the compilation albums!
Also brought back lots of other (particularly) 80s memories. You know, I'm not even old enough yet to start a sentence with "In my lifetime...", but, in my lifetime - as short as it has been - I remember my parents first buying a microwave (one of those ones that was the size of a small dishwasher!), VCR, and computer, which was a Commodore 64 of course. My father purchased it when I was in grade 10 I think and I remember him coming home from buying it (at Zellers of all places if I remember correctly) and saying "I paid $200 for this computer, so you'd better use it!" And I of course felt quite intimidated at the time since I had no idea how I would fulfill that imperative since I had no idea what to do with the thing! But man! What a feeling of accomplishment when I learnt Basic and wrote my first simple program. Sorting through our cassettes reminded me of my first computers class in high school since we actually stored our data on cassette - we didn't have floppy drives till my second year. Computers seemed a lot simpler then, even if I did struggle to avoid looping in the program I tried to write for my final project.
But then I had kids and I really didn't come back to computers until I went back to school, and by then, the things they could do were mind boggling and still confuse me at many turns... (as anyone in my address book discovered this week - I'm still pretty embarassed about being caught on that one)
I also remember buying my first CD player - first anniversary present to ourselves (first marriage), and first cell phone - yeah, one of those ones that was the size of a small dog! Let alone laptops and the internet....both of which I don't think I could imagine living without...anymore than I could imagine life without a TV or a microwave.
But the pace of change in just the last thirty years is nothing compared to what I'm sure my children will see in the same amount of time.
I wonder what the ever accelerating pace of change will do to us... some people just don't respond well to change... and even those who handle it better than others still like things to remain stable for a time. There are a few things that you'd like to be able to count on in your life. Other than of course death and taxes. Will we adapt to such changes, or will it continue to alienate people from each other? Will things become more gray, or will we revert into some kind of dystopian image of the future in which white becomes whiter and black blacker and there is no middle ground? Maybe I've just read too many apocalyptic books.
Also brought back lots of other (particularly) 80s memories. You know, I'm not even old enough yet to start a sentence with "In my lifetime...", but, in my lifetime - as short as it has been - I remember my parents first buying a microwave (one of those ones that was the size of a small dishwasher!), VCR, and computer, which was a Commodore 64 of course. My father purchased it when I was in grade 10 I think and I remember him coming home from buying it (at Zellers of all places if I remember correctly) and saying "I paid $200 for this computer, so you'd better use it!" And I of course felt quite intimidated at the time since I had no idea how I would fulfill that imperative since I had no idea what to do with the thing! But man! What a feeling of accomplishment when I learnt Basic and wrote my first simple program. Sorting through our cassettes reminded me of my first computers class in high school since we actually stored our data on cassette - we didn't have floppy drives till my second year. Computers seemed a lot simpler then, even if I did struggle to avoid looping in the program I tried to write for my final project.
But then I had kids and I really didn't come back to computers until I went back to school, and by then, the things they could do were mind boggling and still confuse me at many turns... (as anyone in my address book discovered this week - I'm still pretty embarassed about being caught on that one)
I also remember buying my first CD player - first anniversary present to ourselves (first marriage), and first cell phone - yeah, one of those ones that was the size of a small dog! Let alone laptops and the internet....both of which I don't think I could imagine living without...anymore than I could imagine life without a TV or a microwave.
But the pace of change in just the last thirty years is nothing compared to what I'm sure my children will see in the same amount of time.
I wonder what the ever accelerating pace of change will do to us... some people just don't respond well to change... and even those who handle it better than others still like things to remain stable for a time. There are a few things that you'd like to be able to count on in your life. Other than of course death and taxes. Will we adapt to such changes, or will it continue to alienate people from each other? Will things become more gray, or will we revert into some kind of dystopian image of the future in which white becomes whiter and black blacker and there is no middle ground? Maybe I've just read too many apocalyptic books.
Thursday, June 26, 2003
9 am and its 85/29 outside already! Our second floor apartment just traps all the heat that rises up to it - it was actually nice around 1 am, but other than that...
But I can handle it 'cause I just keep thinking about the central air in our new place! Yes, we found a new place to live - yeah! It's officially a two bedroom townhouse, but there's a finished basement that we'll be using as a third bedroom. It's set up a bit like the two bedrooms in Varsity Courts, though a bit smaller. The cool parts are the georgous hardwood floors, mouldings, dishwasher, central air and the fact that there's a ground level access that a piano will be easy to get through. The condo includes access to an outdoor pool during the summer as well - the kids will really like that one! We still don't have a huge amount of space, but we can spread out a bit more in this place. Hopefully keep out of each other's hair better that way!
But I can handle it 'cause I just keep thinking about the central air in our new place! Yes, we found a new place to live - yeah! It's officially a two bedroom townhouse, but there's a finished basement that we'll be using as a third bedroom. It's set up a bit like the two bedrooms in Varsity Courts, though a bit smaller. The cool parts are the georgous hardwood floors, mouldings, dishwasher, central air and the fact that there's a ground level access that a piano will be easy to get through. The condo includes access to an outdoor pool during the summer as well - the kids will really like that one! We still don't have a huge amount of space, but we can spread out a bit more in this place. Hopefully keep out of each other's hair better that way!
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Finished a good book - "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme. It won the Booker award in 1985 - yeah, I'm almost two decades behind - but I wouldn't have likely enjoyed this book in '85 - I was reading Orwell, Lewis, re-reading Tolkien, and lots of sf - Asimov's Foundation books, Herbert's Dune books, oh, and a series by Stephen R. Donaldson called "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever"...though the last one isn't sf (which Donaldson is best known for) but a fantasy about a man with leprosy who travels to another world to fight the evil Lord Foul. It wasn't a particularly brilliant series, though the leprosy angle was interesting - it was recommended to me by a customer at the coffee shop I worked at - I don't know that I'd be as excited about it today if I reread the series.
But back to The Bone People - it is not only a well constructed tale, that incorporates Maori phrasing into the text (there's a glossary at the back) and thus becoming an interesting intersection of the postcolonial, but it also is an engaging story - I found myself caught up in the lives of the characters. In a book about abuse, I found it refreshing that the book avoids black and white categorizations, mostly through the characters' introspective passages, but also through some scenes that can only be described as magical realist. The narrative shifts from third to first person narration as well as from character to character. The character shifts can be disconcerting since it is occasionally difficult to tell at first glance who's narrating, but it's always possible to identify the speaker within a couple of paragraphs, unlike, say a book like "All the Pretty Horses" where you could be confused for pages at a time about who was speaking. In that case, the confusion was compounded by the fact that all his characters sounded the same.
The Bone People - good book if you're looking for an interesting summer read that makes you think.
Part of a conversation with a friend: ... she's a teeneager. I'd rather nail jello to a tree then argue with a teenager. I'd actually even prefer to reason for my life with a terrorist than rationalize with a teenager.
I loved the metaphor! feels very right...can you visualize the tree and the jello?
But back to The Bone People - it is not only a well constructed tale, that incorporates Maori phrasing into the text (there's a glossary at the back) and thus becoming an interesting intersection of the postcolonial, but it also is an engaging story - I found myself caught up in the lives of the characters. In a book about abuse, I found it refreshing that the book avoids black and white categorizations, mostly through the characters' introspective passages, but also through some scenes that can only be described as magical realist. The narrative shifts from third to first person narration as well as from character to character. The character shifts can be disconcerting since it is occasionally difficult to tell at first glance who's narrating, but it's always possible to identify the speaker within a couple of paragraphs, unlike, say a book like "All the Pretty Horses" where you could be confused for pages at a time about who was speaking. In that case, the confusion was compounded by the fact that all his characters sounded the same.
The Bone People - good book if you're looking for an interesting summer read that makes you think.
Part of a conversation with a friend: ... she's a teeneager. I'd rather nail jello to a tree then argue with a teenager. I'd actually even prefer to reason for my life with a terrorist than rationalize with a teenager.
I loved the metaphor! feels very right...can you visualize the tree and the jello?
Sunday, June 22, 2003
What a blah kinda day! Raining here, not as cold as back home, but dull & chilly nonetheless.
I finally got a call from the landlord of one place we were considering and he was asking for not only a credit report, but proof of income. He seems to think that we cannot live on the amount of money we are living on. Yet we do so. His biggest concern is 'whether we can pay the rent' - believe me, that's one of my biggest concerns too! I'm not real comfortable with having to share this information, especially for a place like this one (it's not the most fabulous place we've seen, but it's cheap and in a good town), but it seems I have little choice if I want the apartment. The place is a little odd - the kitchen is easily identifiable as such, but the other rooms are just rooms with doors of varying sizes (the rooms, not the doors!) and can be used for almost anything you want them to be used for.
I'm having difficulty adjusting to the rental climate here, and part of me resents having to share my income information with a landlord...but you just won't get a place if you don't. It really feels like an invasion of privacy, and to me it doesn't make much sense that landlords are that helpless here when it comes to evicting tenants. I'm used to a system where if you don't pay your rent within the first week of the month, you can be evicted and the police will help move you out if you refuse to comply. Here, that apparently isn't the case and you can end up with people squatting for months or years without paying. I don't get it - this is supposed to the the land of cut-throat capitalism.
Maybe I'm just naive. All I know is that it makes me uncomfortable.
The frustrations of this week are really starting to get to me.
I finally got a call from the landlord of one place we were considering and he was asking for not only a credit report, but proof of income. He seems to think that we cannot live on the amount of money we are living on. Yet we do so. His biggest concern is 'whether we can pay the rent' - believe me, that's one of my biggest concerns too! I'm not real comfortable with having to share this information, especially for a place like this one (it's not the most fabulous place we've seen, but it's cheap and in a good town), but it seems I have little choice if I want the apartment. The place is a little odd - the kitchen is easily identifiable as such, but the other rooms are just rooms with doors of varying sizes (the rooms, not the doors!) and can be used for almost anything you want them to be used for.
I'm having difficulty adjusting to the rental climate here, and part of me resents having to share my income information with a landlord...but you just won't get a place if you don't. It really feels like an invasion of privacy, and to me it doesn't make much sense that landlords are that helpless here when it comes to evicting tenants. I'm used to a system where if you don't pay your rent within the first week of the month, you can be evicted and the police will help move you out if you refuse to comply. Here, that apparently isn't the case and you can end up with people squatting for months or years without paying. I don't get it - this is supposed to the the land of cut-throat capitalism.
Maybe I'm just naive. All I know is that it makes me uncomfortable.
The frustrations of this week are really starting to get to me.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Read an article in the Globe & Mail the other day that says American 20-somethings are becoming more conservative while Canadian 20-somethings are more liberal. Made me think...and I'd love the time to read the book that some of the research is based on.
I wonder what this kind of trend it going to produce? What will it mean for each country? Will these trends bring success? or problems?
No easy answers, just interesting questions.
I wonder what this kind of trend it going to produce? What will it mean for each country? Will these trends bring success? or problems?
No easy answers, just interesting questions.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Haven't blogged for a while...mostly because I've been spending most of my time wondering what heinous crimes I committed in another life that I'm paying for in this one - frankly, I thought being married to a compulsive liar who financially ruined me and continues to disappoint his children would've been enough penance for one life. For most of the week, I've felt like I must have done something really bad in a past life since I've been taking hits from almost every quarter in the past few days. With a little time, I realize that some of it maybe isn't all that bad, and I probably wouldn't have reacted so badly to each thing individually if they hadn't fallen one right on top of the other...so I've given up on wondering what evils I have committed in the past and am just trying to deal with the now.
Since most of the stuff that's been going on is out of my hands, my only option is to learn to deal with it and get on with other things. So in that spirit, I'm trying not to take it personally that my oldest daughter's nose is out of joint because I booked her a flight (with her sisters) to see her grandparents this summer, even though she's been talking about nothing else for the last few months, and it's money I really can't afford to spend. Apparently I didn't consult the princess on the 'when' of the flight, even though it was up to her grandparents 'when' they were willing/able to have them come up.
I'm also trying not to take it personally that my supervisor, even though I have discussed with her how desperate I am for funds and the limits to my employability in this country, hands a job that I had requested back in March to a couple of other students. The reason? I'm really not sure...though I suspect part of it may be because I got my s*** together and trained to teach a new class and she thought it might be overwhelming for me to do both. Ha! I'm used to being overworked...in fact, I usually don't know what to do with myself when I have extra time. My entire post-secondary education has been as a parent of 3 kids - part of it as a single parent - and last year I was working 30 hours a week downtown, TA-ing, AND writing my Master's thesis. I would prefer to be the one to decide how much work I can handle. If that's that case, it doesn't seem fair that my efforts to make myself as useful as possible in the department (to get a summer position) have come back to bite me on the ass.
And I know it's not personal when landlords repeatedly refuse to rent to a family of five...it's just really frustrating! The last one was especially annoying because I called the phone number listed for a place, and it turned out to be a real estate agent. Now normally I'm a little leery of agents because I've had ones that have been entirely unhelpful - either showing you places that are totally unsuitable, or ignoring you - but in this case, the place sounded nice enough that I thought I'd give it a try. Now I also know that many landlords have limits on the number of people, so one of the first things I mention is that I'm looking for five of us. Well, I played telephone tag with this guy for a few days, but finally we set up an appointment to meet the owner at the place. We toured the apartment (very nice apartment - palacial compared to what we're in now), figure out where all the cable hookups were, how to get the piano in etc. when the conversation turned to occupants and the landlord was horrified when I said there were five of us! She turned to the agent and said "I thought you said there were three roomates - I don't want more than three people in here" and he turns to me and echoes the same thing! What a jerk! I told him I had three children, not three roomates - what a waste of all of our time! And then on the drive home, we were both heading the same direction and he cut me off! So, needless to say, I am still leery of agents!
On top of all that are all the other usual complaints from the family, trying to teach that new course, and trying to finish a paper from last term. And now today I have a wicked headache, which not only hurts (of course!) but also makes me hesitant to go for a stress-relieving run in case the activity makes it feel worse!
I sure hope tomorrow goes better!
Since most of the stuff that's been going on is out of my hands, my only option is to learn to deal with it and get on with other things. So in that spirit, I'm trying not to take it personally that my oldest daughter's nose is out of joint because I booked her a flight (with her sisters) to see her grandparents this summer, even though she's been talking about nothing else for the last few months, and it's money I really can't afford to spend. Apparently I didn't consult the princess on the 'when' of the flight, even though it was up to her grandparents 'when' they were willing/able to have them come up.
I'm also trying not to take it personally that my supervisor, even though I have discussed with her how desperate I am for funds and the limits to my employability in this country, hands a job that I had requested back in March to a couple of other students. The reason? I'm really not sure...though I suspect part of it may be because I got my s*** together and trained to teach a new class and she thought it might be overwhelming for me to do both. Ha! I'm used to being overworked...in fact, I usually don't know what to do with myself when I have extra time. My entire post-secondary education has been as a parent of 3 kids - part of it as a single parent - and last year I was working 30 hours a week downtown, TA-ing, AND writing my Master's thesis. I would prefer to be the one to decide how much work I can handle. If that's that case, it doesn't seem fair that my efforts to make myself as useful as possible in the department (to get a summer position) have come back to bite me on the ass.
And I know it's not personal when landlords repeatedly refuse to rent to a family of five...it's just really frustrating! The last one was especially annoying because I called the phone number listed for a place, and it turned out to be a real estate agent. Now normally I'm a little leery of agents because I've had ones that have been entirely unhelpful - either showing you places that are totally unsuitable, or ignoring you - but in this case, the place sounded nice enough that I thought I'd give it a try. Now I also know that many landlords have limits on the number of people, so one of the first things I mention is that I'm looking for five of us. Well, I played telephone tag with this guy for a few days, but finally we set up an appointment to meet the owner at the place. We toured the apartment (very nice apartment - palacial compared to what we're in now), figure out where all the cable hookups were, how to get the piano in etc. when the conversation turned to occupants and the landlord was horrified when I said there were five of us! She turned to the agent and said "I thought you said there were three roomates - I don't want more than three people in here" and he turns to me and echoes the same thing! What a jerk! I told him I had three children, not three roomates - what a waste of all of our time! And then on the drive home, we were both heading the same direction and he cut me off! So, needless to say, I am still leery of agents!
On top of all that are all the other usual complaints from the family, trying to teach that new course, and trying to finish a paper from last term. And now today I have a wicked headache, which not only hurts (of course!) but also makes me hesitant to go for a stress-relieving run in case the activity makes it feel worse!
I sure hope tomorrow goes better!
Monday, June 16, 2003
Saw a swan during my run today. Reminded me of two things. The first, was the swan that got rather annoyed at us on the upper Thames when we didn't have anything to give to it. We had been wandering around Oxford one afternoon, when we turned down a publicway that followed the river upstream. Unlike the annoyed swan, we found a friendly innkeeper at the end, who gladly served us a couple of pints at an inn/pub in the middle of nowhere (you couldn't actually see any other buildings from the pub lawn) and we played a game of lawn chess...that Dwayne won of course! It was one of those cool in-the-moment kind of things that happens sometimes when you travel...no specific destination, no sight that you're determined to see, but just taking things as they come.
After I had passed the swan, it also occurred to me that it was only a stone's throw across the river that Dwayne & I saw a fox the week before. We had both been to the Mount Auburn cemetary separately, and I at least, hadn't really been through much of it, but we walked over the other afternoon and looked around. The place is huge..over 100 acres...and there are maps that show you where all the famous people are buried. We checked out Harriet Jacobs and Longfellow's tombs...Longfellow's was of course much fancier...though Jacobs was nicer than B.F. Skinner's (behavioral psychologist). We were trying to find Skinner's grave, but the area it was supposed to be in was one that only had the small ground level markers...Dwayne kept insisting that it must be somewhere else, 'cause this was B.F. Skinner, he was important, and he should have a big headstone. I told him I figured we were in the right place, where the smallest memorials were, since Skinner was, after all, an academic. Sure enough, it was a rather unimpressive marker! And this is what I'm getting myself into! There were plenty of other notables, including Buckminster Fuller (physicist) and Colonel Shaw (the one who was played by Matthew Broderick in Glory), but we limited outselves only to a few since we wanted to spend time at the tower.
In the center of the graveyard lies a tall hill, and on the crest of the hill is a tower. From it's height, you can see probably half (the north half) or the greater Boston area, and although you can't actually see the harbour, you can see structures that lie right next to it. It's a really neat view.
And the river's really neat...and none of the places we've looked at, except for the one we really couldn't afford, are anywhere near the Charles. Which means when we move, I'll have to find new running places also. *sigh* Oh well.
After I had passed the swan, it also occurred to me that it was only a stone's throw across the river that Dwayne & I saw a fox the week before. We had both been to the Mount Auburn cemetary separately, and I at least, hadn't really been through much of it, but we walked over the other afternoon and looked around. The place is huge..over 100 acres...and there are maps that show you where all the famous people are buried. We checked out Harriet Jacobs and Longfellow's tombs...Longfellow's was of course much fancier...though Jacobs was nicer than B.F. Skinner's (behavioral psychologist). We were trying to find Skinner's grave, but the area it was supposed to be in was one that only had the small ground level markers...Dwayne kept insisting that it must be somewhere else, 'cause this was B.F. Skinner, he was important, and he should have a big headstone. I told him I figured we were in the right place, where the smallest memorials were, since Skinner was, after all, an academic. Sure enough, it was a rather unimpressive marker! And this is what I'm getting myself into! There were plenty of other notables, including Buckminster Fuller (physicist) and Colonel Shaw (the one who was played by Matthew Broderick in Glory), but we limited outselves only to a few since we wanted to spend time at the tower.
In the center of the graveyard lies a tall hill, and on the crest of the hill is a tower. From it's height, you can see probably half (the north half) or the greater Boston area, and although you can't actually see the harbour, you can see structures that lie right next to it. It's a really neat view.
And the river's really neat...and none of the places we've looked at, except for the one we really couldn't afford, are anywhere near the Charles. Which means when we move, I'll have to find new running places also. *sigh* Oh well.
I have temporarily suspended househunting for today since I've seen lots of places over the last week and have applications for many of them - I'm just waiting to hear back from one of them.
Besides, I still have to finish the syllabus for the class I begin teaching on Wednesday...and if we do take a place for July 1st, we'll want to be out of here in the next two weeks so that we can potentially sublet the place for the last month while the lease runs out. Too much work to do & not enough fun as far as I'm concerned!
Besides, I still have to finish the syllabus for the class I begin teaching on Wednesday...and if we do take a place for July 1st, we'll want to be out of here in the next two weeks so that we can potentially sublet the place for the last month while the lease runs out. Too much work to do & not enough fun as far as I'm concerned!
Saturday, June 14, 2003
I hate househunting! It's just a huge exercise in frustration in this place! The places that I love are way out of my price range, and the ones that I can afford are smaller/as small/grungier than the place we're currently in. And we missed out on a great one yesterday in Watertown by about a half hour. It would've been perfect except for the fact that it was going for July 1st instead of August 1st and in the time it took us to decide that we were willing to potentially lose a months rent to take it (about the length of the 10 minute car ride home) we lost the opportunity. Damn! I won't make that same mistake twice. I'm heading out to a couple of open houses in a couple of hours, and although these places are at the high end of our budget, they sound like they might be worth it... it would be nice to get this nailed down soon!
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Interesting melange of activities & experiences in the last couple of days.
Yesterday, I lost my major league baseball virginity to the Sox vs. Cards at Fenway Park. As in many other "first" experiences I've had, this one was made really great by having some good friends who were very knowledgeable and willing to share their expertise with me. We went as a group and the two expert friends were cheering for opposing teams, so it was interesting to see their reactions...but what was almost as interesting as the game experience were the fans - some people take the game very very seriously.
The game certainly is supreme. As you approach the Fenway, you start to see signs advertising parking for the game and once you arrive at the nearest subway station, the crowds start to grow - once you actually arrive on one of the streets surrounding the park, the pedestrians outnumber the vehicles by about 50 to 1 and the pubs are absolutely packed. Even out on the street there's a sense of festivity that extends from the sausage vendors to the fans to the ticket hawkers. Only those who have to travel through the area aren't enthused. The security screen at the gate is a bit of a damper... but at least I went through a turnstile that only had men 'manning' it, so they didn't frisk me...but they were frisking the men. I wondered about the need for such intense security - was there always a need for heightened security, or is it a more recent phenomena? I thought of asking the question, but it was in the middle of a play, and I didn't want to interrupt. And then by the time the inning changed, I was thinking about other stuff. I do wonder what specifically they were so concerned about...I know you're not allowed to bring bags etc. into the park, but I assumed that was because they didn't want you to bring food and instead be forced to pay their prices for a snack.
Fenway park is at least 70 years old, and has quite the interesting history. Though hearing much of this information from friends between innings while you're actually in the park, is far more interesting and I had a great time! And we got great tickets too - thanks Amy! (and thanks to my other 'informant' Kurt!) The only downside was the trip home 'cause I was doing the transit thing. Even the people who got ejected from the stands for fighting were interesting - in that sociological-observing-weird-things-that-people-do kind of way. There was one guy who really hated J.D. Drew of the Cardinals - for a while, you could almost set your watch to his shouts of "Drew, you suck!" every time Drew took to the outfield (since we were sitting in the right-field bleachers). Amusing! So, I had a really good time.
Then tonight, I had the joy of watching an absolutely fabulous portrayal of the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz! Angela was really, really good in the part! Many of her lines were commands to the flying monkeys...and she was very, very convincing! As she said later, she's had lots of practice bossing people around! She was really good, and even her minor flub worked out because it looked like it was supposed to be that way to add some humor. Of course I'm biased when it comes to my kids, but she really does have a flair for the dramatic, and it showed tonight. Kudos to her!
And in transnational news..the winner of the 'biggest loser dad' goes to you know who...called tonight to wish Sandy happy birthday...her birthday was on the 4th!
There are just no words adequate...and I know some pretty choice words!
And on the late night news...this just made me giggle: According to UPN, ground squirrels are dangerous because they come from 'exotic' places! I could not stop laughing! For a girl who grew up in Saskatchewan and used to get 25 cents a tail from my uncle, the idea that they are exotic was just too much! I know, I know, I realize that the monkey pox that they suspect the ground squirrels are carrying is fairly serious, but to say that ground squirrels come from exotic places just made me giggle!
Melange, as promised...
Yesterday, I lost my major league baseball virginity to the Sox vs. Cards at Fenway Park. As in many other "first" experiences I've had, this one was made really great by having some good friends who were very knowledgeable and willing to share their expertise with me. We went as a group and the two expert friends were cheering for opposing teams, so it was interesting to see their reactions...but what was almost as interesting as the game experience were the fans - some people take the game very very seriously.
The game certainly is supreme. As you approach the Fenway, you start to see signs advertising parking for the game and once you arrive at the nearest subway station, the crowds start to grow - once you actually arrive on one of the streets surrounding the park, the pedestrians outnumber the vehicles by about 50 to 1 and the pubs are absolutely packed. Even out on the street there's a sense of festivity that extends from the sausage vendors to the fans to the ticket hawkers. Only those who have to travel through the area aren't enthused. The security screen at the gate is a bit of a damper... but at least I went through a turnstile that only had men 'manning' it, so they didn't frisk me...but they were frisking the men. I wondered about the need for such intense security - was there always a need for heightened security, or is it a more recent phenomena? I thought of asking the question, but it was in the middle of a play, and I didn't want to interrupt. And then by the time the inning changed, I was thinking about other stuff. I do wonder what specifically they were so concerned about...I know you're not allowed to bring bags etc. into the park, but I assumed that was because they didn't want you to bring food and instead be forced to pay their prices for a snack.
Fenway park is at least 70 years old, and has quite the interesting history. Though hearing much of this information from friends between innings while you're actually in the park, is far more interesting and I had a great time! And we got great tickets too - thanks Amy! (and thanks to my other 'informant' Kurt!) The only downside was the trip home 'cause I was doing the transit thing. Even the people who got ejected from the stands for fighting were interesting - in that sociological-observing-weird-things-that-people-do kind of way. There was one guy who really hated J.D. Drew of the Cardinals - for a while, you could almost set your watch to his shouts of "Drew, you suck!" every time Drew took to the outfield (since we were sitting in the right-field bleachers). Amusing! So, I had a really good time.
Then tonight, I had the joy of watching an absolutely fabulous portrayal of the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz! Angela was really, really good in the part! Many of her lines were commands to the flying monkeys...and she was very, very convincing! As she said later, she's had lots of practice bossing people around! She was really good, and even her minor flub worked out because it looked like it was supposed to be that way to add some humor. Of course I'm biased when it comes to my kids, but she really does have a flair for the dramatic, and it showed tonight. Kudos to her!
And in transnational news..the winner of the 'biggest loser dad' goes to you know who...called tonight to wish Sandy happy birthday...her birthday was on the 4th!
There are just no words adequate...and I know some pretty choice words!
And on the late night news...this just made me giggle: According to UPN, ground squirrels are dangerous because they come from 'exotic' places! I could not stop laughing! For a girl who grew up in Saskatchewan and used to get 25 cents a tail from my uncle, the idea that they are exotic was just too much! I know, I know, I realize that the monkey pox that they suspect the ground squirrels are carrying is fairly serious, but to say that ground squirrels come from exotic places just made me giggle!
Melange, as promised...
Frustrating day - spent most of it running around doing errands - grocery shopping, other shopping, looking at an apartment (which was depressing), getting temporarily lost...
This place is really weird 'cause when you look at listings and such, there seem to be oodles and oodles of places, but even if you call the same day, there's some reason why you can't have the place. And it's difficult to get anyone to show you a place if they know you're not desperate to be in within a couple of weeks. If you're planning ahead (or trying to) it's just an exercise in frustration. And on top of that, lots of the good places have really long waiting lists (i.e. a couple of years). We're on some of them, but it's really a moot point. I don't know if I have the energy to persevere and find a great place - it's just depressing so far playing telephone tag, having people freak out about lead contents (until I tell them how old the kids are), or tell you they don't even want to show the place if you're not looking for the 1st of the next month. What a pain in the ass!
At least the car is working (knock on wood) right now! This would be a real pain in the ass if I had to do it all on transit!
This place is really weird 'cause when you look at listings and such, there seem to be oodles and oodles of places, but even if you call the same day, there's some reason why you can't have the place. And it's difficult to get anyone to show you a place if they know you're not desperate to be in within a couple of weeks. If you're planning ahead (or trying to) it's just an exercise in frustration. And on top of that, lots of the good places have really long waiting lists (i.e. a couple of years). We're on some of them, but it's really a moot point. I don't know if I have the energy to persevere and find a great place - it's just depressing so far playing telephone tag, having people freak out about lead contents (until I tell them how old the kids are), or tell you they don't even want to show the place if you're not looking for the 1st of the next month. What a pain in the ass!
At least the car is working (knock on wood) right now! This would be a real pain in the ass if I had to do it all on transit!
Sunday, June 08, 2003
This is really amusing - this page will generate poetry off of any url. This is what I got when I punched in the address for this site:
getting by Sunday, June 04, 2003 ] Two
of
interesting Speaking of
that! time.
At least two days to even though
he
told of a niche.
but this guy gets
on, the exam
I just how he
stayed up to run out of lying
to do The boors that many people who I wondered
how to get there.
So the foot of a really
annoyed when
since the cards.
When I passed
the route, this guy
seemed to raise children who still would ever find michele [
9:10
AM] [ I! usually take the
middle of course the
world Who knows
would ever dream of student activism the interstate, and
how clueless this guy could tell you want
to discover that
decision for the fact that
the case the one would ever dream
of the kind of writing a
while.
I'm highly amused!
getting by Sunday, June 04, 2003 ] Two
of
interesting Speaking of
that! time.
At least two days to even though
he
told of a niche.
but this guy gets
on, the exam
I just how he
stayed up to run out of lying
to do The boors that many people who I wondered
how to get there.
So the foot of a really
annoyed when
since the cards.
When I passed
the route, this guy
seemed to raise children who still would ever find michele [
9:10
AM] [ I! usually take the
middle of course the
world Who knows
would ever dream of student activism the interstate, and
how clueless this guy could tell you want
to discover that
decision for the fact that
the case the one would ever dream
of the kind of writing a
while.
I'm highly amused!
First weekend in ages that I haven't had way too many things to do...just marking student papers and even that has been relatively painless. Maybe because the students really liked the last sequence we did on madness and death. Maybe just my attitude.
Most of yesterday was a wash out in more than one way - first, because it poured most of the day, and second because I was feeling pretty nasty. Self-inflicted unfortunately. I haven't celebrated the end of a school year in quite such an excessive manner since the year that I snuck a mickey into MacHall duing BSD....that whole year was an interesting one! Now I remember why I don't drink to excess - it's not the fact that I might make an idiot out of myself that night ('cause that happens just too easily anyway!) but it's the fact that the next day is pretty much a wash out that discourages me from getting really drunk. But this weekend I did. I'm not going to feel guilty about it either - just need to do this once in a while.
The yellow menace died yesterday too - what the hell is the use of having a rain coat that only works in dry weather? I was really annoyed when I got home yesterday after walking to the grocery store in the pouring rain to get birthday supplies ('cause of course the car is still/yet/eternally in the shop), took off my raincoat only to discover that the little bit of water that leaked in through the collar and cuffs caused the dye in the lining to transfer itself onto the white shirt I was wearing! Errgghhh! So yellow menace went into the garbage can! I'm sorry that it's gone - I did like the idea that the coat stood for the power of student activism - the raincoat got its name from Jan Finney who, upon seeing it, described me as a yellow menace! Heh! Makes me feel like I at least was able to do some good during that time. At least we got the playground put in - I'm proud of that!
Most of yesterday was a wash out in more than one way - first, because it poured most of the day, and second because I was feeling pretty nasty. Self-inflicted unfortunately. I haven't celebrated the end of a school year in quite such an excessive manner since the year that I snuck a mickey into MacHall duing BSD....that whole year was an interesting one! Now I remember why I don't drink to excess - it's not the fact that I might make an idiot out of myself that night ('cause that happens just too easily anyway!) but it's the fact that the next day is pretty much a wash out that discourages me from getting really drunk. But this weekend I did. I'm not going to feel guilty about it either - just need to do this once in a while.
The yellow menace died yesterday too - what the hell is the use of having a rain coat that only works in dry weather? I was really annoyed when I got home yesterday after walking to the grocery store in the pouring rain to get birthday supplies ('cause of course the car is still/yet/eternally in the shop), took off my raincoat only to discover that the little bit of water that leaked in through the collar and cuffs caused the dye in the lining to transfer itself onto the white shirt I was wearing! Errgghhh! So yellow menace went into the garbage can! I'm sorry that it's gone - I did like the idea that the coat stood for the power of student activism - the raincoat got its name from Jan Finney who, upon seeing it, described me as a yellow menace! Heh! Makes me feel like I at least was able to do some good during that time. At least we got the playground put in - I'm proud of that!
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Two days after the exam and I still feel like I'm in a bit of a haze - it must have taken more out of me than I originally thought...or maybe it's just the fact that I'm really tired of being intelligent and can't wait for this term to be over - I can't stand the thought of finishing the current paper I'm working on or the one that I've requested an extension on.
So, instead of writing a paper, I'm going to blog, 'cause it's far more interesting. Speaking of interesting characters, I could tell you about this guy I saw on the bus.
I took a different bus than the one I usually take home, and even though it takes longer to get me back, I didn't feel like walking the extra half mile to get to the regular bus. About two stops along the route, this big guy gets on, youngish, but definitely past high school. He struck me as one of those guys who just kinda drifts for a while after high school until finding some kind of niche, but I found myself wondering if this guy would ever find a niche. When he first got on the bus, he was in the middle of a phone conversation, and as he sat down (on the seats reserved at the front for disabled/elderly I might note), he dumped his oversize bag onto the foot of the woman next to him. She obviously didn't appreciate it, since she winced when it landed on her, but he apparently didn't even notice. I did however, 'cause I was trying to read and his half of the conversation was loud enough to make that difficult.
As the bus emptied, he eventually took over three seats (him & the monster bag), but what kept my attention on him was the rather loud conversation.
I wondered how often this guy alienated people, got beat up, lost jobs, friends, money etc. 'cause he described half his life to the person listening on the other end of the phone. He told of how he thought that he was the only one this other guy (who knows) would never lie to, even though he lies to everyone else... as if he had such a high degree of integrity that no one would ever dream of lying to him. Now, that's not a really off-the-wall claim at face value, but as the conversation went on, I started to doubt his claim. He later described how he stayed up late at a friend's house watching loud movies just outside of the door of a roomate who was trying to sleep and how insulted he felt when the roomate was miffed the next morning! And then how he alienated another friend on a road trip by changing radio stations without asking other people in the car. Apparently the driver didn't care for the music he did, but he thought it was unecessary to ask his opinion since he was sure the other passenger liked the kind of music he did.
I was able to tune much of the rest of the conversation out, but from that sample, I found myself wondering just how clueless this guy could be about his effect on the people around him.
I certainly thought poorly of him, and I only shared a bus ride with him!
I also found myself wondering what kind of dream world this guy seemed to live in. His conversation indicated that he didn't see anything wrong with the way he was making his way through life, and yet his presence in the world negatively affected at least two of us on the bus, if only for a moment. I guess the thing that annoyed me the most was that he reminded me of a certain someone who I spent way too much time living with and HIS relative obliviousness to the effect of his actions on others around him. Why do these people exist in the world? Who raises these people to become the boors that they are? Did their parents just not care? Or was it out of their control? In the case of the bus-guy, I have no idea. For the other, well, there were many things that his parents could have done differently and in that case, the apple didn't seem to fall far from the tree. I guess I worry sometimes because I don't want to raise children who grow up to be such adults. And I feel like I'm doing my damnedest not to produce such people, but wonder if sometimes there's just nothing you can do.
The last thing the world needs is more boorish people!
So, instead of writing a paper, I'm going to blog, 'cause it's far more interesting. Speaking of interesting characters, I could tell you about this guy I saw on the bus.
I took a different bus than the one I usually take home, and even though it takes longer to get me back, I didn't feel like walking the extra half mile to get to the regular bus. About two stops along the route, this big guy gets on, youngish, but definitely past high school. He struck me as one of those guys who just kinda drifts for a while after high school until finding some kind of niche, but I found myself wondering if this guy would ever find a niche. When he first got on the bus, he was in the middle of a phone conversation, and as he sat down (on the seats reserved at the front for disabled/elderly I might note), he dumped his oversize bag onto the foot of the woman next to him. She obviously didn't appreciate it, since she winced when it landed on her, but he apparently didn't even notice. I did however, 'cause I was trying to read and his half of the conversation was loud enough to make that difficult.
As the bus emptied, he eventually took over three seats (him & the monster bag), but what kept my attention on him was the rather loud conversation.
I wondered how often this guy alienated people, got beat up, lost jobs, friends, money etc. 'cause he described half his life to the person listening on the other end of the phone. He told of how he thought that he was the only one this other guy (who knows) would never lie to, even though he lies to everyone else... as if he had such a high degree of integrity that no one would ever dream of lying to him. Now, that's not a really off-the-wall claim at face value, but as the conversation went on, I started to doubt his claim. He later described how he stayed up late at a friend's house watching loud movies just outside of the door of a roomate who was trying to sleep and how insulted he felt when the roomate was miffed the next morning! And then how he alienated another friend on a road trip by changing radio stations without asking other people in the car. Apparently the driver didn't care for the music he did, but he thought it was unecessary to ask his opinion since he was sure the other passenger liked the kind of music he did.
I was able to tune much of the rest of the conversation out, but from that sample, I found myself wondering just how clueless this guy could be about his effect on the people around him.
I certainly thought poorly of him, and I only shared a bus ride with him!
I also found myself wondering what kind of dream world this guy seemed to live in. His conversation indicated that he didn't see anything wrong with the way he was making his way through life, and yet his presence in the world negatively affected at least two of us on the bus, if only for a moment. I guess the thing that annoyed me the most was that he reminded me of a certain someone who I spent way too much time living with and HIS relative obliviousness to the effect of his actions on others around him. Why do these people exist in the world? Who raises these people to become the boors that they are? Did their parents just not care? Or was it out of their control? In the case of the bus-guy, I have no idea. For the other, well, there were many things that his parents could have done differently and in that case, the apple didn't seem to fall far from the tree. I guess I worry sometimes because I don't want to raise children who grow up to be such adults. And I feel like I'm doing my damnedest not to produce such people, but wonder if sometimes there's just nothing you can do.
The last thing the world needs is more boorish people!
Monday, June 02, 2003
For anyone with crossed fingers etc. I passed the oral exam - yeah!
WHAT A RELIEF!!!
I am still holding my fingers crossed for my classmates who still have to go through theirs, but I feel like I have been given a reprieve and at least my family knows where we will be next year (provided we get the student loans we need!) Many were happy for me, which also has been very nice - thanks!
Oh, and on a lighter note, I received this link from a friend. At least my oral exam wasn't this torturous!
WHAT A RELIEF!!!
I am still holding my fingers crossed for my classmates who still have to go through theirs, but I feel like I have been given a reprieve and at least my family knows where we will be next year (provided we get the student loans we need!) Many were happy for me, which also has been very nice - thanks!
Oh, and on a lighter note, I received this link from a friend. At least my oral exam wasn't this torturous!
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