Journal Entries
1/20 - writing, shopping
1/21 - new class
1/22 - dinner with Dad
1/23 - food, talks, dance lessons
1/26 - work, food, movies, homework
1/27 - movie
1/28 - signs of aging
1/30 - prioritizing
Thoughts
1/20 - Native American epidemic
1/21 - animal domestication
1/22 - Greek legacy
1/26 - survival of small, isolated populations
1/27 - Amish fitness
Site of the Living Deb
Journal Archives, January 2004
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
This weekend I attended a meeting of the Windsor Park Writers' Circle for the first time. We had some spontaneous writing exercises, which were interesting. It always amazes me what I can write on demand. They just picked some words out of the dictionary and declared, "write something." I pulled stories out of my butt for two out of the three situations. It felt like there are certain things about which we have something to say, and even random-word generators can snag at one. In this case I wrote a piece on Amy's Ice Cream and a piece on the dangers of not doing housework. The latter was received as funny and realistic; the former as making everyone hungry. I consider that a success.
Other writers were variously realistic, thought-provoking, poetic, and there was one good creation of mood. I mostly enjoy hearing the other writing, and every person seemed either nice or interesting or both, so I'm going to return. You have to sign up to Yahoo Groups to get at their web page, so I did that, and then Yahoo offered me a free web page, and so I'm going with that for now.
I also did something I was dreading this weekend. I wrote an article on donating books to the library and brought it to librarians to review for accuracy. I dreaded doing this for obviously irrational reasons best explained as a hatred of asking people for favors (which is why I'm not a working sociologist today). Of course my writing was perfectly accurate, so the librarian made editorial suggestions instead. I'll take one--I don't care one way or the other. The other I wouldn't take. I pointed out that my verb already agreed with my actual subject, so she went with that. Well, that answers my question about why reporters never verify their stories with their sources before letting that crap go to print; maybe it's not just the time factor.
I went on two long walks this weekend. One was to and from the library for the aforementioned activities. The other was to the mall. I went to Pier One, looking for cool glazed containers (sushi dishes?) for storing office supplies, copying Sunny's totally cool set-up of which I am jealous. No success. I did get bread at the day-old bread store, and lots of socks and tights at Dillards of all places. Now that legwear is so expensive even at Target, Dillards is reasonable in comparison. And their tights were cheaper because they were half-off, this being the end of the winter season, I suppose.
I also slept a lot this weekend. And I watched "The Cooler" with Robin and John Arthur. I liked the movie. It's a love story, it's a mild thriller, and it's about a genuinely good main character. The acting is great. Warning: there is also violence, a genuinely evil character, nudity, and an overblown notion of the existence of good and bad luck.
Robin also bought "Dark City", and we watched that. This is a good movie, too. It's one of those where a guy wakes up with amnesia and has to figure stuff out. Again, we have a genuinely nice guy, and scary bad guys like in "The Matrix" and "The 13th Floor." Robin says it's the most expensive movie ever made, and it shows. It's just beautifully lit, and they have all the coolest cars and architecture from the 1930s through the 1970s. Warning: scary head drill things, but they don't show blood or anything.
In other news, we found out that our Walmart, which has recently been remodeled into a Walmart Supercenter, now has the best prices on certain grocery items such as brown sugar, baking powder, evaporated skim milk, Birdseye broccoli stir fry, and butter. Of course not all the prices are better than HEB, but we will be making monthly trips there for groceries in the future.
Thought of the day: I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. It's full of fascinating information. I learned this weekend the horrifying fact that the Americas had plenty of Native Americans when Columbus arrived, but we didn't know that until recently because by the time most of the explorers met up with them, an estimated 95% had been killed by epidemic diseases.
Smallpox, measles, influenza, and typhus competed for top rank among the killers. As if these had not been enough, diphtheria, malaria, mumps, pertussis, plague, tuberculosis, and yellow fever came up close behind. In countless cases, whites were actually there to witness the destruction occurring when the germs arrived. For example, in 1837 the Mandan Indian tribe, with one of the most elaborate cultures in our Great Plains, contracted smallpox from a steamboat traveling up the Missouri River from St. Louis. The population of one Mandan village plummeted from 2,000 to fewer than 40 within a few weeks.
Can you imagine? The Black Death (killing a mere 25% of everyone) pales in comparison. And if Black Death survivors had major mental problems from guilt, can you imagine how these guys felt? And watching the Spaniards waltz through it all, with no affect on them? I can't even imagine what that was like. Just devastating.
And it's all because Native Americans didn't have domesticated herd animals, from which human epidemic diseases were mutated. So they had no resistance to Eurasian diseases, and they had no epidemic diseases themselves to share with the Europeans.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Yesterday I started auditing a course, "Cultures in Contact." It covers the last 500 years of American history and focuses on the interactions between people from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The professor has encouraged me to do the assignments and participate during class, so I don't get to slack like I did last semester. Scary.
Thought for the day: According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, humans learned to hunt in Africa and Eurasia, so large mammals there evolved to handle this. When humans moved into Australia and the Americas, most or all of the large (>100 pounds) mammals there disappeared. When humans began domesticating large mammals, they chose those that eat plants, grow quickly, breed in captivity, refrain from killing humans most of the time, refrain from panicking and running off, and live in herds with dominance hierarchies (and humans would take the lead role). Only Eurasia had a variety of these animals; so only one large mammal was domesticated (twice) outside Eurasia (the animal that became the llama and alpaca, in the Andes). Epidemic diseases began in herd animals and evolved to prey on humans. But those humans who didn't evolve along with the diseases had no resistance.
Journal entry of the day - It�s Not Like I�m Even That Big of an Entertainment Weekly Fan by Invinciblegirl - "While I blame him for converting my complete apathy towards politics to more of dilettante-esque approach to current events, really it�s just because I think he�s like a hot robot." Long, rambling, emotional, political (sort of), but funny.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Last night I got to hang out with Sunny, Dad, and my dad's business partner, Drese (sp?). Sunny made us spaghetti and garlic bread and Dad brought enough extra fixings to make hot fudge banana splits. Mmm. Dad talked about amazing house cleaning progress and about how they're hoping to paint the walls in cool colors. Drese was looking at the beautiful pictures in one of Sunny's books about Morocco, where he's from. He recognized most of the names of the people whose houses they were showing, and most of them were French. Only two were originally from Morocco. Then we watched the video of Guster's performance on Austin City Limits. Sunny made us watch it because our cousin is a member of Guster. Then we watched the interview (though they cut about half of that interview out on the show). I usually enjoy the band's gabbing; they have a good sense of humor.
Thought of the day: My professor asked, "Do you buy that we're heirs to the Greek civilization?" He thinks we might pick and choose what we claim our identity is built from to make it easier for us to continue as we are. Certainly there's no unbroken chain--all those manuscripts that were painstakingly copied in the monasteries came from Islamic and Byzantine sources.
Journal entry of the day - Cooking and Space by Desert Agave - "There�s something so satisfying about heading out the door, walking to the store, picking out fresh produce, walking home, and starting dinner, all in the space of twenty minutes." About how a kitchen feels to a cook.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Not much of interest to others has happened since my last entry. Free breakfast tacos at work yesterday and donuts today. I've become a fan of the form of quick dinner where you boil up some frozen raviolis and add sauce from a jar and cheese. I like to pretend that unlike canned ravioli, it's good for me. But although there are more vitamins and less salt and sugar, there's still no fiber.
I talked to a couple of single friends about their adventures in dating such as dating, not dating, being interested, not being serious, being jealous, and not being an item. One was an old friend I haven't really talked to in a long time; it was nice.
I wore my dance shoes in dance class even though they have heels and are therefore uncomfortable. I noticed they look like Wicked-Witch-of-the-West shoes, not the look I was going for. I continued to make no progress on my spins, but did try to practice putting all my weight on my foot as soon as I take a step in mambo. I think I got in a bad habit because if I only tentatively set my foot down, then I can easily fix it if I screwed up. But if I commit immediately (and correctly), the next step is easier to follow, especially if I need to notice the difference between a side break (where you screetch to a halt and then turn back to face your partner) and the related turn (where you don't stop, but keep going until you've spun all the way around).
Songs in my head today - Elvises are in my head: Elvis Presley singing "I Love You Because." Sappy, but beautiful and good. And Elvis Costello singing "There Won't Be Anymore," especially "and." You know, that awesome "and" between "All the love we had/Until you turned bad/And broke my loving heart in two," and "when your heart is breaking/And you want some loving from me,/There won't be anymore." A pathetic, sore-loser song, but wow, what an "and." This kind of good music is part of why I can't wait to retire. Because it's just not professional to sing at my job.
Journal entry of the day - The Puppy Game (starting on the fourth paragraph of that entry, actually), by Beth. She has great insight into her dogs.
Monday, January 26, 2004
The good news: Robin has been invited to become a permanent employee at his current temp job (at the same hourly pay). The bad news: Robin got a new work schedule; now he has Mondays and Thursdays off instead of Sundays and Thursdays. So we never get to see each other during the day.
Yesterday John and I had lunch at the Pyramids Restaurant near I-35 and 290E, and it was pretty good. The falafel appetizer was very crunchy with delicious sauce, the hummus was served in a spiral swirl (a little creepy if you've just watched "Dark City") and tasted like olives, the gyro meat was the ground beef kind rather than lamb, but very good, and the french fries might be my favorite of all time. They are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and sprinkled with seasoned salt. Most menu items cost $5 (sandwiches) to $10 (plates). Afterwards, we went for a nice long walk in my neighborhood.
I watched some movies that Sunny lent me. First was "Dangerous Beauty." This was about a woman in Venice in the 1500s, her true love, and how she made a living. The cinematography is beautiful. The woman's mother gives her advice you'd never expect. She is very good at what she does (I love competence on screen), and the movie addresses big issues such as war, epidemics, freedom, and the Inquisition. Rufus Sewell plays the love interest, and if I hadn't just seen "Dark City," I might have liked his character better. I'd give the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.
Then we watched "This is Spinal Tap." This is a fun movie with very listenable music--it sounds good, has funny lyrics, and captures various music types over the decades. The characters are mostly likeable, in spite of their huge shortcomings. Robin says he wouldn't have thought you could make fun of rock starts because they are already caricatures, but you can. Unfortunately, the arguments in the second half of the movie feel too realistic, so it's not a keeper.
I tried to do my first homework assignment, but I can hardly describe how Metis and Cajun music have elements from various cultures when I don't know the music of either of the contributing cultures. The other homework assignments look more doable.
In other exciting news, we cleaned some things around the house. By giving up on refinishing the hall floor anytime soon, we moved the bookcases back from the doorways where they were blocking our path. We moved the coat rack back by the front door because it's easier to use than the closet.
Thought for the day: According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, when water levels rose 10,000 years ago, they separated the island of Tasmania from the Australian continent. Since neither group could navigate the water barrier, they were cut off from each other. "Thereafter, Tasmania's pouplation of 4,000 hunter-gatherers remained out of contact with all other humans on Earth, living in an isolation otherwise known only from science fiction novels. . . . When finally encountered by Europeans in A.D. 1642, the Tasmanians had the simplest material culture of any people in the modern world."
It gets worse. On at least three smaller islands that became isolated at the same time, the human populations died out. "A population of 4,000 was able to survive for 10,000 years, but with significant cultural losses and significant failures to invent, leaving it with a uniquely simplified material culture. Human populations of only a few hundred people were unable to survive indefinitely in complete isolation." I never would have guessed that hundreds weren't enough to perpetuate the species, and thousands not enough to perpetuate the culture.
Journal entry of the day: At the Ballet, by Beth - "We might be drooling uncultured morons, but at least we know what we like."
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Last night we saw the movie "Tokyo Godfathers" which plays here for only one week. It was quite fun, especially for a movie about a baby thrown in a dumpster, a runaway, drunken gamblers, and a suicidal kidnapper, many of whom are homeless throughout the movie. It's a Japanese anime epic adventure with action and romance. It shows both the beautiful and the seamy side of Tokyo, but both are beautiful in cartoon-land. Warning: nudity, subtitles, and a possibly confusing scene where the subtitles disappear and the Japanese starts sounding a lot like Spanish. (Don't worry; the other characters don't understand them either.) I learned how to say "homeless" and "Christmas present" in Japanese; it's the same as in English. I'd give it 4 stars out of 5.
Thought for the day: one of my co-workers told me about a story she heard on NPR recently about how the Amish stay so slim, even though they eat plenty of fat and sugar along with their fresh produce. The secret, of course, is hard work. Researchers got some folks to agree to wear pedometers. The men averaged over 18,000 steps per day (about 9 miles), the women, 14,000 (7).
Journal entry of the day: Shut Up in Advance, Billy Crystal by Invinciblegirl. You know you want to read an opinionated perspective on the Oscars. "I�ve been reading this morning that people think Sean Astin was robbed when he didn�t get nominated for Best Supporting. I think those people need to re-assess what it is that a best supporting actor should do. Chris Cooper won last year, and if you go back and look at his performance, it was absolutely brilliant; subtle, multifaceted, just an all-around tour de force. Sean Astin was chubby and carried Frodo up a mountain. The movie was good, great, in fact, but I mean, come on. Unless we�re giving awards for �The Hobbit Most In Love With Frodo�, he didn�t deserve it."
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Writing this thing is time-consuming, and my excuse for not doing any homework yesterday. Also, I sent off a letter to my brother.
Robin took me to CiCi's for dinner last night. Mmm. And tonight my sister and I are going to try a barbecue place called Six Napkins. I love that name!
The fact that half this entry is about food is a sign of aging, isn't it? I also occasionally don't understand young wipper-snappers these days. Like why does their music always have to be so loud? I also wrote a letter to the President (of the university where I work) about the recommendations of some committee. You know, like I'm one of those older special-interest-group types, swinging my political weight around, instead of a hip, jaded, apathetic youth. Stay tuned for more exciting signs of aging! That's right, you can watch it all happen right here!
Friday, January 30, 2004
Priorities. It's time to rank some. I hate that. In the olden days, I was always bored, so I had no need for prioritization. But now my life is too fun, too rich, too full, and I still don't have time for everything I want to do.
For example, yesterday after work I had to choose between these top two activities: 1) Hang out with my sister sewing. I have plenty of clothes that need mending and really like hanging out with my sister. 2) Go to ballroom dance class with Robin so we both learn to samba and mambo better. I could definitely use work on mambo, and I love, love, love samba and want to be able to dance it with Robin. If I had to prioritize dances, samba would be right up there because it's fun, has pretty good music, and can be done in a room as small as my living room.
I went with plan 2. And brought up the possibility that Sunny and I could hang out talking and sewing (and playing games) this Sunday at my friends' Ignore-the-Super-Bowl* party. (This is where the TV is on, but the sound is off except for the commercials, and we hang out, play games, and eat yummy party food.) Of course I will also be trying to socialize with people I don't get to see much and maybe to learn a new game.
So, my fixed schedule includes the following important priorities: working for a living, learning ballroom dance and helping Robin learn, and going to the gym twice a week. Other things I am doing is seeing several friends regularly, which is fun and also interesting; taking a class, which is supposed to be interesting, but isn't quite; reading books, but not as much as I want to, always interesting and a good activity to do while waiting for and riding on the bus; watching movies; keeping in touch by writing this and letters to my brother; doing more writing to practice because it's fun and to make a portfolio so I can get hired for a more fun job next time; laundry/dishes/grocery shopping/eating/cleaning/organizing/cooking, but not as much as I want to; and going on long walks in interesting areas for exercise and fun. That's all. I'm not even playing ultimate Frisbee these days or going camping or having parties like I want. Nor am I working on learning to play new songs or get better at speaking Spanish or ASL like I want. And of course there's no time for knitting or quilting--much too time consuming. And I'm not leading Girl Scouts or teaching first aid or helping in public schools either. Or working on the garden.
I've been kidding my friends that they're going to have to go. The only thing I've decided (almost for sure) is that after this next time to stop working for NES, scoring teacher certifications. The money plus fun plus connections I get from that just aren't enough anymore.
To the reader it also appears obvious that I should quit that class. But half the time spent is during work hours, plus he's covering the information I most want to learn during the second third of the course. Plus I think I can get more out of it by showing up a little early and asking people what they wrote their papers on, because the topics are interesting. The instructor said he wanted lots of talking and interaction, but has been doing a lot lecturing. Still, I suspect there will be more interaction once he sets down the foundation. On the other hand, I find I'm having little patience for the some of the readings. I'm remembering that social science writing sucks, especially when it's been photocopied from a photocopy with the margin encroaching over the text.
I don't see any other obvious candidates. So maybe if I could just learn to combine things better. Like practicing the piano on the bus (while still reading). Playing ballroom ultimate. Working out with weighted books that I'm reading (while still socializing).
*It turns out that "Superbowl" isn't a word. My spell checker recommends either "super bowl" or "superb owl." Ignoring the superb owl is a whole different (lack of) activity.
Journal entry of the day: Holy Hell!!! by Jennett, where a GED teacher talks about why the GED exam sucks, written with enough information that you can judge the matter for yourself. Depressing, informative, not funny. "The entire test is this way. Vague, confusing, and sometimes utterly nonsensical. Passages are taken from plays and books that seem to be just...grabbed from out of nowhere. The passage you're left to deal with doesn't give the slightest idea of the plot of the story, or the personalities or backgrounds of the characters. That wouldn't be a problem, except that ALMOST ALL THE QUESTIONS PERTAIN TO THE PLOT OF THE STORY OR THE PERSONALITIES AND BACKGROUNDS OF THE CHARACTERS." My brother passed this anyway. Twice, now. So ha!