We're off to Colorado. This is what happened last time we were there for Christmas: Tom Dixon dug a snow fort and we all watched.
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We're off to Colorado. This is what happened last time we were there for Christmas: Tom Dixon dug a snow fort and we all watched.
I don't get my hair cut nearly often enough. There's always just other stuff that needs doing more. I can't replicate what John does, so I took photos for you all to see because it won't look like this until next time. I'm angling my head around so you can see the cut, not because I'm trying to find my better side. It doesn't look like much, but it took him 45 minutes.
When I first got to the States, I immediately noticed the hair. I mean immediately. I went to the bathroom at LAX and saw the differently shaped toilets and the women primping. They didn't have hair, they had HAIR. Culture Shock Moment #1.
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The teachers in my program exchange gifts. The first year took me unawares. Last year I forgot. But this year I was on the ball. In return, I got a haul of candles. Don't get me wrong, I love candles. I usually light one when I'm having a bath. Along with bubble bath, warm socks, and Dunkin Donuts gift cards, candles are presents that get used. I just don't understand this particular candle. I asked Michael to explain it to me, but he was no help.
]]>You have to be crazy or desperate to go clothes shopping at the mall the week before Christmas, but that's where I'm headed shortly. I'm currently well over my maximum allowable weight, and since I hate shopping and tend to do it only as a treat when I've met some weight goal or other, all my favorite clothes are kind of tight.
Much as this mess isn't ideal, there are many more pressing things to get done. Homework, music practise, karate, eat dinner, read, play. Plus it's not like the rest of the house is especially orderly. So I guess this is a battle I'm just not going to pick right now.
Last Thursday was Michael's birthday. He's been whiskey-curious for a while, so I got him a bottle of 12 year-old scotch. It was a speyside, which I've been told is a good "beginners scotch." It sure was tastier than the blended Canadian whiskey we were drinking.
Oh, and Thursday was also Thanksgiving. It is one of the few times each year when we eat meat. We buy a big free range organic bird that was hand raised by little girls and taken for walks around the farm every day. Then we eat turkey until we're sick of it and I make soup with the rest. I can't think of a better holiday.
]]>I found the computer-camera cord in my desk at work.
Now that I am the highest level of color belt in Tang So Do karate, I'm finally considered coordinated enough to handle a weapon. (Tang So Do is an open hand style, and not big on weapons generally). I start with a 5 foot staff, and will gradually work my way up to knives and such. My first day with the staff was odd. It felt like I had a new leg that wouldn't go where it was supposed to. Just keeping it straight down my pants seam like that required concentration.
I also had my first prep class for the upcoming black belt test (this is a series of tests, actually, and I fully expect it to take about a year). What I learned is that I don't really know very much and I have to do a lot of work to get the precision, strength, and stamina needed to pass two 5-hour and one 2-hour test.
]]>Does anyone know where I put the cord to connect my camera to the computer? Seems I'll have to go to the archives to give you all something to look at while I search for it. So, here are two pictures from Colorado, Easter 2006.
Oh, and in the "entertaining things my students say" category for today? Two of my students want to have black babies. I didn't know where to start with that, so I didn't.
]]>Ella was Cleopatra for Halloween. I had to talk her out of the French maid costume. I took this while she was getting ready for the parade at school. Maybe not the best photo for showing off her outfit, but I was fascinated by those vocabulary words. What's the theme? Can you use them all in a paragraph?
OK, so where am I at with the reading thing? It feels like I slowed right down over the summer, thanks to a couple of books I had trouble getting through.
A while back I read the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book, and declared it ok, but maybe a bit too scary for Ella. This summer she picked up the first one and was instantly hooked - to the extent of having a Percy Jackson themed birthday party. I somehow end up reading most of what she reads (although not usually the Betty and Veronica comics), so I made my way through the series. Not bad. I mean, you know, I enjoyed them enough to keep reading even if I didn't LOL like Ella did.
I bought these two with a gift certificate from Michael's mom. I knew nothing about either, but they looked interesting in the bookstore.
Red Earth and Pouring Rain: I wish I could tell you what it was about. I think it was about India. And Indian storytelling. It was Epic.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles: Clearly I read too much kid lit, because I couldn't tell you what this one was about either. I seem to be losing my ability to understand novels for grownups. I enjoyed it more than the monkey typing book, but I don't know why. Less Epic, perhaps?
Ahh, comfort food. This is The Book of My Life. My father first read it to me when I was nine. I have no idea how many times I've read it since, but it had been a while since I'd read it from start to finish. I'd forgotten what an anxious book it is, but I guess rabbits have a lot to be anxious about. And Adams sure knows his wildflowers. If the rabbits somehow were also wizards, I might be able to get Ella to read it.
I just couldn't get through the start of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It was trying too hard in that not-as-good-as-Douglas-Adams-seemed-when-I-was-seventeen way. Then Lizabeth mentioned she was enjoying this, so I got Nick to give it to me as a thank-you for acting in his senior thesis movie. (There are clips on YouTube, but they're too excrutiating for me to watch, so I won't share). Anyway, I thought I was finally getting a grown-up book I could understand, but it turned out to be another book for the young people. The protagonist is a girl who discovers she's a witch. Really, by now most children shouldn't be surprised when they find they have paranormal powers, because it is clearly very common. But guess what - I enjoyed it! And I'm going to give it to Ella to read.
Well, this was cheery. Ever want to completely lose faith in the human race? I mean, he tries to put a positive spin on the power of collective moral action, but he has to keep coming back to the fact that slavery is brutal. It was a synthesis, and not carefully written in places, but if you know nothing about slavery, this isn't a bad place to start. Did you know, for example, that the word slave comes from the word Slav? Because before Europeans discovered they could use Africans on their sugar plantations, they used, literally, Slavs. Then once the Ottoman Turks cut off trade through the Black Sea end of the Mediterranean, Europe had to look West to get East. Hence Columbus and all that came after. I didn't pick it out, someone else did, then he got a grant and time off to write, so I filled in leading the book group discussion.
I have not been able to finish this despite trying for months. It is just so...oh, I don't know: Serious Spanish Language Literature. Do you know what I mean? I stopped during the part where he starts listing how all the women die, a paragraph for each one. Maybe I'm just too lowbrow. Only, lots of lowbrow stuff annoys me - all that chicklit with headless women on the covers (that's Michael's pet peeve actually, I just stole it from him because it sounds good). No wonder I read kids' books. The difference between good and evil is so much clearer when you're nine years old.
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