asteroid B612

When I was in high-school, the height of existence for me was going to the symphony. I would cajole and beg until someone would schlep me and possibly any friends I could drag along the 35 miles to the nearest city, usually in the cold (this was in Iowa). I would watch breathless drinking in every minute. I continued this frenzied concert mania into college until my first senior year. Then I just quit going to symphony. I was bored with it. I can't really explain it. I used to love the thrill of getting dressed up, drinking in the music, staying out late. Perhaps I got to the point where I was performing so much that concerts began to be equated with work instead of pleasure. I don't perform anymore now, but I study music as an academic discipline, so perhaps I still view it as work. And what I really want to do on a weekend evening is stay at home and watch a movie.

This said I went to the symphony last night. A friend called with an extra ticket, so I went. Looking at the program, I probably wouldn't have chosen to go to this particular one. It was almost an all Mozart program, and as someone said, you're either a Mozart person or a Haydn person, and I'm a Haydn person. It's not that I don't like Mozart, though. I enjoyed it nevertheless. First up was the overture to Le Nozze, then a Divertimento. The third item on the program was on the only non-Mozart piece, a set of four brass pieces by Gabrieli. When they started played it all of a sudden struck me: oh my word! Early music at the sympony!! I love our conductor. I really enjoyed the pieces. Last up was the "Jupiter" symphony, no. 41.

I was not the euphoric teenager heavily involved in an aesthetic experience. I felt a bit more seasoned. While listening to the pieces, I could tell you exactly where we were formally at a given moment; I could appreciate the 'moves' Mozart was making (for example, modulating down three steps successively in the development of the fourth movement of the Divertimento); and I was interested in the interpretation of the pieces, so well-known, by the conductor (who is really fabulous) as he conducted from memory.

I realized that the last time I have been to the symphony was almost two years ago when I sang in the chorus of Missa Solemnis by Beethoven. The last concert I've been to was Monteverdi's Vespers last November. I really need to get up, get out there, and here some more live music.

Another book we actually listened to on tape this weekend was The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, both former nannies. The novel is a real eye-opener to nannying in New York. The main character is an NYU senior who takes care of a 4 yr old boy during what are supposed to be parttime hours, but it practically ends up taking over her life. The parents barely notice they have a son and exploit the nanny deplorably. From what I've read concerning this book, it is a fairly realistic portrayal of a certain category of nannying. This is beyond just a regular babysitter. These nannies are very ill-treated by their employers and are the only ones really raising the children. The nannies are the ones potty-training, teaching the tykes to say please and thank-you, teaching them basic social and people skills, teaching them basic morals. Even then the nannies may be doing it with one arm tied behind their back. And these kids will eventually be running the country, business, and the economy. Scary. The book is a quick-read. But the style is engaging. Definitely an aspect of the world I had never thought of before.

I'm sitting at my desk doing an activity for probably the first time since Chris moved it when he rearranged the living room right before Thanksgiving. It's been messy. I haven't had a chance to get situated. Etc. I was thinking that perhaps if I had my working space in order I may get some inspiration to keep plugging away at my work. It really makes a difference being surrounded by my books, papers, and timelines.

So anyway. I actually read a book instead of listening to it on tape. Since most of the stuff I read now is academic when I sit down to read fiction, it goes by so fast. I read Nick Hornby's How to Be Good in three hours flat. I really enjoyed it. One thing I liked about it was that it showed how banal and tiresome "criticism" can get. That pop kind of criticism that shows up in columns. Writing columns is a genre unto itself. (One of the main characters spends part of his occupation for part of the book writing one of these columns.) I'm not speaking out against criticism as a whole, but there are limits.

Another thing it got into, though very small undercurrent, was the working roles of the husband and wife...who does what inside and outside the home...really trying to create a natural picture of the bread-winning wife scenario. I thought it came off pretty well. Though David's (the husband) occupation during the second half of the book would've made me mad if I was the bread-winning wife, because he wasn't doing anything, really. In fact, he seemed to completely deny that all his do-gooding was completely dependent on his wife's job, which is a weak point in the book. David seemed to be criticizing the big job/big lifestyle/'and why aren't we doing more to help the poor?' scenario. But if people aren't working at their big jobs, they might become poor themselves. I guess that wasn't really the point of the book, though.

I gather that this was Hornby's first time writing from a woman's perspective. I thought that at times he did a really excellent job and portraying the instincts and thought processes of a woman (maybe we aren't so different?), but I think the aforementioned scenario (bread-winning wife) also made that a little weak. He could imitate the movements and responsibilities of what has been traditionally the man's occupation and impose that on the woman's thought processes. There's even a passage about that sort of thing in the book. (I can't seem to find it at the moment.) Where the wife is thinking about how she's more like a man and even asks her son out of the blue "Do you think of me as a mum or dad?" And he looks at her like she's crazy and says "a mum".

What I liked about the conclusion of the book was that it didn't actually end up telling you "how to be good". The characters didn't come up with the solution after all (which is realistic). I think I was expecting they would. It was kind of an abrupt ending, but on reflection I think it was a very good ending, and a good way to tie it up.

When it comes down to it, the book is also about marriage and its difficulties. Though slightly pessimistic about matrimony, I'm glad it doesn't paint the married life with a rosied paint brush, because it is difficult. Too many "chick" stories are about the courting couple ending the culmination of marriage and the "happily ever after" syndrome. On the other hand, there's a lot of really great things about marriage. (and marriage seems to be better guided in that whole dying to self/living to Christ thing that ideally we should be striving for, and ultimately selflessness is what makes a marriage "work".) One of my favorite parts is this scene where the couple is at a really tense point, and he makes a sandwich and offers her one. " Something about the easy domesticity of the offer makes me want to cry. Divorce means never having a sandwich made for you." (p. 17, NY: Riverhead Books, 2001)

Anyway, so I liked the book a lot. Can somebody recommend another book? I'm totally at a loss for finding good fiction! one of you English majors or something. I can only recommend books like The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga (which is highly recommendable, btw). I want to read Hornby's other novels. I liked the movies that were based on them. Can somebody tell me what constitutes a "New York Times bestseller"? It says that on the top of the cover.

We're back from wonderful Mardi Gras break. Sometimes living in Louisiana has its perks. We get a few days for Mardi Gras, a few days for Easter, AND a full week for Spring Break. Sure the semester drags on a bit towards the end, but those breathers are welcome.

Since my semester was off to a bit of a rocky start (I don't think the way will ever be paved smooth), I took some time for R & R...that's reading and 'riting. I bought a new blank book at B & N. They're my weakness. I counted up: I currently have 5 journals in progress, counting my blog. They're all for different things, like my cooking journal (I dream of being a chef), my academic journal (for notes and ideas for papers), my sermon notebook (so I don't fall asleep in church), my blog, and now my new blank book (for when I'm sitting in a cafe and get inspired to write whatever). Every topic HAS to have its book.

Also read Nick Hornby's How to Be Good upon the reviews from coz and friend (also watched Lost in Translation...same inspiration). Loved both...more later.

We went to Pensacola on Saturday to stay with my great-aunt and uncle. Came home Wednesday. Had a fabulous time with them!

Feeling annoyed that I don't have the school bug at the moment. Gotta kick my ass into gear.

Something about living in New Orleans. There is no other time of year quite like this time of year. It's Mardi Gras time! (this coming Tues, though parades have been going for over a week now). The energy this season evokes from our lazy city is incredible. Not even Christmas summons the vibe, vim, and vigor this holiday projects. The songs on the radio are about Mardi Gras and drinking. The DJ's are giddy with excitement (unlike their sardonic Christmas counter-selves). Houses are decorated in purple, green, and gold (the colors of Mardi Gras) lights and decorations. I have the urge to spontaneously decorate baked goods in those colors, much like the red-green urge of Christmas. Streets are closed. Stores are closed. Libraries are closed. More closes down in New Olreans for Mardi Gras than for Christmas. It's impossible to find a doctor either the Monday or Tuesday of Mardi Gras week (I was sick last Mardi Gras...thus, ER). It is now four days before MG, and this campus is pratically cleared out. Sure we get Monday-Wednesday off, but for some MG probably started a few days ago.

So, what are we doing for MG? Well, if we feel like it, and we might not, we may go to some parades tonight. (They really are fun.) Other than, we're outta here. We're off to Pensacola for a few days to visit my great-aunt and uncle, and any other sundry relatives who may be around, and to rest(!). We haven't gone on a vacation since the 2 days we spent with them last October for Fall Break, and we are SO READY!! Got my DVDs stocked up. A book to read. A token few things from the library to sit in my bookbag, so that I don't feel horrible about not doing schoolwork. And just barely enough money for gas to get there and back. But get there we will! Woohoo!!

Speaking of getting places. On my home from school today, my car will turn 200,000miles. I brought a cake (glazed with purple, gold, and green) in today for Packed-Lunch Club in order to celebrate. I'm kind of excited. What a significant point for my dear car! I hope it doesn't fall apart as it goes from 199,999 to 200,000. No, I think it will be fine.

Erica posted on her site about an all-nite Shakespeare read at Wellesley where they read the entire works of ol' Bill outloud non-stop until they hadn't gotten all the way through. At first it sounded like a pretty good idea, but then I got to wondering, how did CNN get the story? What kind of solipicistic student group would contact CNN to show them what a cool thing they did? We used to have Shakespeare reads at Cov all the time (or at least I was invited to them all the time). No they weren't 'read the oeuvres complets in one sitting' sessions, but nevertheless they were Shakespeare reads. I'll bet a bazillion liberal arts colleges have enthusiasts gathering around the fire on a winter's evening participating in the rites of the Anglophone's Homer. But really? Report it to CNN?? And then...they reported to the Guinness Book of World Records to see if they had made a world record. Now I think that's positively narcissicistic. Why can't they just read it, for crying out loud? It would've been bad enough if their student newspaper reported it, but CNN and Guinness?? I threw a rotten pumpkin off the Bluff in the middle of a foggy night once...can CNN please post a story about that?

I finished Matilda. It did get better. In fact, it did remind me of Harry Potter is a strange way. I.e. child possessed of unusual talents gets misunderstood and downtrodden at home. child goes to school, finds new friends, initial home scene is promptly forgotten, the scene action now taking place primarily at school, and uses talents for fantastic results. all live happily ever after. Well, it's taking several books to get Harry living happily ever, but we all know he's going to defeat Voldemort in the end, as long as V doesn't pull a "Luke, I am your father" trick at the end, but I kind of doubt that. So is this a formula for a children's lit novel or something. I dunno.

I was almost home when the book ended, so happily I went to the public library to get a new one. No such a luck. The library door was locked, lights darkened, and a sign on the door saying that the library closed at 5, and will be closing at 5 for the next week. Why, you might ask? well, Mardi Gras, of course. It's a week away, and it's obvious that public library really needs to be closing early a whole week before Mardi Gras. Hello!?! Librarians go to parades, too! (Thank goodness, for the Hitchhiker's Guide stash. At least I'm not totally book-on-tape-less)

Yesterday I was feeling pretty awful, but then I thought to myself "you know, you're being pretty selfish for being so stressed out". And managed to pull myself together. I think stress is largely a self-control issue. I mean self-control in the good sense, at least how I'm using it hear. Like the kind you have when you don't throw a tantrum in the grocery store when your favorite kind of potatoe chips are sold out. Don't get me wrong, stress is real and valid, but we have to deal with it, because if God has given us a task to do, He will also give us the grace to do it. The sun has come out after weeks of rain, and that helps, too.

Anyway. So I left school early yesterday so that I could go to the grocery store. We were so out of food, since I hadn't gone in nearly two weeks. Steaks were onsale, and I was thinking that maybe some red meat would perk us up a bit. So I had my mouth set on steak and baked potatoe dinner. But as I got to through the checkout, my debit card was denied. I knew we had sufficient funds, so I tried again, and again it was denied. I tried to get cash out the ATM, and again, denied. Well, I knew something was wrong, because I mean, we're not rich or very well organized, but we know if we're getting close to empty. So I had them put my groceries in the cooler and went home. Thank goodness for banking online. We looked up our account, and saw several large transaction in the very recent past that more than cleaned out our bank account. We called the bank and found that they were made from Gainesville, FL, where I was this past weekend. But I know I didn't make them. I don't know how someone got my card number. I was very careful with my things all weekend. The only thing I can think of is if someone got ahold of my number the two times I purchased something with it, once at Starbucks and the other a pizza joint. Well, anyway. That was distressing to behold. New debit cards are ordered. And we're in conversation with our bank and trying to track down where exactly at the Univ of Florida those purchases were made (since all that shows up is the U of Fl). And our church is lending us a little money for gas and groceries until we get this straightened out. Phwew. It's so crazy, this world!! It's also kind of a weird feeling, because I've never really been robbed at this magnitude before...it's around $400...wh. isn't a lot in normal people's terms, but in our terms it's almost a month's rent! So the sting factor is a bit high.

Well, best turn my attention to the language of the ancients, and Boethius' consolation... exspoliatum propriis bonis esse doluisti...sed sospitatis auctori grates

I'm stressing out way too much than I really need to be. So I have a couple of tests and a quiz. Not too bad any of them except for Latin. But when that quiz was anounced today for Thursday I thought I was going to go through the ceiling, and I panicked and could hardly breathe in class. I just totally shut down for the rest of the class. I was so mad. Now I've had a good lunch, and chatted with people, so I'm slowly getting to a sane point for the moment. But I'm really frustrated that my day to day work is having such a stymieing effect on my psyche.