Adventures

Cautious optimism

I have been listening to XTC quite a bit over the past few days, especially The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead. The song makes me think of Obama, and since his election i have been concerned about an assassination attempt. To a misanthropic historian such as myself, it just seems inevitable. I hope i'm eventually proved wrong.

P.S. According to Andy Partridge of XTC, the song isn't about JFK specifically.

Evil and Organs (not that kind of organ)

We were exposed to two sessions of culture over the weekend; three if you count Sofia's cold (rim shot sound effect here, please).

On Saturday night, after said nine year old went to bed, Andy and i watched Ondskan, a Swedish film recommended by my friend Helena in the comments on this post. The English title is Evil, but i think i prefer saying it in Swedish. Oh, and despite what the DVD cover says, it is not "Fight Club in a boarding school".

The story is about a teenaged boy who gets into trouble fighting a lot at school. His mother sends him to boarding school for his last year, and he finds himself thrust into an archetypical boys prep school situation, i.e., humiliating and quite painful punishments meted out to the new boys by the established student 'Council'. More than once we cringed at the torture, especially that which was done in the dining hall (a solid whack on the head with the blunt end of a knife or the pointy end of a glass carafe stopper).

It was definitely worth watching, although the end was a little abrupt and cheesy (think: faraway look in the hero's eyes). Thanks for the tip, Helena. Do the Finns make any movies?

The other culture we exposed ourselves to was a masters organ recital at St Mark's Episcopal cathedral. Our friend John, whose partner Danny and stepdaughter Mia came to our wedding, had to give an hour-long recital as part of his masters degree qualification. It was pretty interesting, and needless to say, John is an excellent player.

The church was a little odd, though. I always find Protestant churches a little unsettling, and i think i have finally figured out why: They often lack any picture or sculpture of Jesus. My primary churchy-type experience is looking at pretty Catholic churches, or churches that were Catholic until Henry VIII told them they wouldn't be anymore. I like stained windows, statuary, and vaulted ceilings. St Mark's is one of those churches built to look old, but it has a drop ceiling for spotlights and hollow columns to hold audio equipment.

Anyway, the recital was great, and we had a lot of fun at the after-party (an organ recital after-party -- doesn't sound quite right, does it?).

So, to wrap up, yesterday was a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, for those of you not in the US) and today was the Inauguration (i think you all know which inauguration i'm talking about). Tomorrow probably won't be very interesting...

Good grief; has it been a month?

Okay, so i've been a little busy and tired for the past few weeks, and i just haven't felt like writing anything. I haven't even written emails that i owe people. If it's something that takes more than 2 sentences, forget it.

What you have missed due to my indolence:

1. A major snowstorm in Seattle. We ended up with about 6 inches of snow, i think, and my last week of work before Christmas break was cancelled. Serious cabin fever set in around December 26, because the buses weren't running reliably, making it difficult to go anywhere and get home again. On December 22 we ended up having to walk 2.5 miles home after going to Ballard for an appointment.


2. Solstice celebration. Since Andy is atheist, and Sofia and i are agnostic, we celebrate Winter Solstice instead of Christmas. Sofia got a bicycle, which was a joint present from Andy & me, my parents, Sofia's great grandparents on her mother's side, and Sofia's grandparents (also on her mother's side). It's blue, and she loves it. We kitted it out with lights and a bell, and she chose a black helmet to use with it. We actually got it from a non-profit called BikeWorks that provides bicycles to needy people in Seattle and Ghana. They have a really cool Earn-a-Bike program in which kids learn how to build and maintain a bicycle, and at the end of the program they get to keep the one they have been working on. We would have had Sofia do that, but BikeWorks is really too far away for this to be feasible (about an hour on the bus).

   Andy and i did pretty well this year, too. We got more of the dishes on our wedding registry from Andy's parents, and my parents gave us a Cuisinart and numerous other items.



3. New Year's. Let's see... I went to bed at about 11:15, i think, although Andy & Sofia stayed up until midnight. Then on New Year's Day, Andy and i celebrated by shaving our two miniature Persian cats. This took a while, and we both ended up with cat hair embedded in our clothing, but the cats don't have any mats now. I took a couple of pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. You'll just have to use your imagination: Two 6-7 pound cats with fluffy heads and feet. Sherpa got to keep most of her tail fur, but Sofie's was almost completely shaved.


4. Tutoring felons. I have finally started tutoring reading and writing at the Seattle Day Reporting Program (SDRP). I only have one student, and we meet for two 1.5 hour sessions per week. He's actually a really nice guy, and i think he is enjoying the class (despite having had to be forced into doing it by his parole officer). I'm the first literacy tutor that has come in to work at the SDRP, so this is a new experience for everyone involved. The staff is super-friendly, and i'm surprised at how comfortable i feel in an office full of armed officers and felons.


5. Finding a bunch of people on Facebook. In the last month i have been able to find quite a few people from New College days and even high school (Stacia!) on Facebook. It's great to see how everyone's doing. I have always been someone who likes to reconnect with past friends or co-workers, so Facebook is perfect for me. I don't spend my time 'poking' people though.


6. Hmmm. Is that it? I think it is. I shall leave you with a photo of a melted cat on a windowsill.
   

   

I am going to try to write something at least every week if not more, but now that i've said that i will probably fail. I never said i was optimistic.