Rog and
the single life...I started a new forum category tonight: it's called "single" and so far it has a couple of boards on it, cooking, and around the house. I'm hoping that my vast army of readers will fill them with great recipes, and tips for cleaning the bathroom... just one more step on this bizarre journey I'm on right now. besides that, it was easy to do, and I felt like I needed to
just had to
brag...Chellis got all A's on his latest report card! woohoo! and that includes Shakespeare and Algebra. pretty proud of him!
kinda
hot...apparently it's not quite as hot here as it is elsewhere around the country, especially on the Great Plains, but my little second floor apartment does a real good job at holding in the heat. it got into the mid 90s here today, threatening thunderstorms, but it hasn't broken yet. Emerson and Lincoln and I sat out on the porch for quite awhile this evening after dinner, it was much cooler out there. watched the fireflies, and they regaled me with stories of school field trips and Malcolm in the Middle episodes... Chellis was in playing World of Warcraft, which occupies most of his waking hours, and probably in his sleep, too! he likes my high-speed internet... well, so do I. heh.
nothing on the docket for tomorrow, probably more of the same. I'll make pancakes for brunch, though we're thinking about less heat dependent foods... the spaghetti and garlic bread we had tonight (though delicious!) must have raised the temp in the apt several degrees... hopefully you're staying cool where you are.
one article to link tonight. I had several that I was considering, after a session with my RSS reader, but this one stuck out from the rest. I guess it made me the maddest...:
how much have we spent in Iraq? how much has gone to Halliburton? Impeach Bush (and the whole mis-administration) now...
this just in: from the Huffington report:
jerks.
hocus
pocus...thanks to an AWAD friend, I've spent some of the morning reading this great site:
it's a much better read than Snopes... click his picture to get to the good stuff.
twas
a day...laundry, some errands, and then spending quite a bit of time trying to get Marnie's iBook up and running. ultimately unsuccessful, on that. I was able to get all of her important files saved onto my computer and then burned onto a cd, so if she needs to replace the hard drive, she still has all her work. the whole thing felt a bit strange, but. oh well. since then, other computer stuff, updating software, dealing with some other small issues, and best of all, getting one of my computers (the one from school) hooked up via midi to my notation program. that will make my Voices work much easier. just play, and presto! notes! cool.
several email volleys around Counterpoint, trying to schedule a new picture, and a slot on VPR, both which we have been unsuccesful at accomplishing. too bad, but that's the way summer schedules go.
my website has been up and down all day, I think they're doing some server refurbs at the host end, so it's not my fault if you couldn't get here... but I'm sorry, nonetheless.
anyway, I wanted to post a link to this booklist which came out from the ALA:
I was pleased to see not only how many I have read but also how many I haven't! I think I'll print out the list and check them off as I go. that reminds me, I won the "Most Books" award at school, for most books read by a faculty member this year... a gift certificate at Barnes and Noble. neat.
ok, I think I'll go play some music... have a great weekend.
more
great art...shades of Eric Grohe:
I have seen some of these before, but they are still amazing!
it is
possible...pretty cool. now that they've decided it is possible, after all, we can start imagining it, for real...
the more things change
the more they stay...some things just never go away (and I'm glad for that!):
a lazy Sunday for me. finally.
and a Happy Father's Day to my Dad! my boys are spending the day with their maternal grandfather.
hope you have a great day.
why can't I cry
when I'm alone...well, I've been sitting around this evening, feeling a bit sorry for myself. rehearsal went very well this afternoon, and though I'm not looking forward to the 8 AM rehearsal tomorrow, and all the running around I have to do for Voices, I'm sure the concert will go well, too. but, anyway, I get sad, and I just can't let myself go. sometime, someday.
hopefully, quotes like this one will help:
They somehow already know what you truly want to become..."Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Steve Jobs
ok.
Happy Birthday
to my sisterHAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN!!
I hope that it was a great day!
trapped
shower anyone?...well, I'm still here at school, trapped by an absolute downpour. I stuck around after the students left to re-stack the stacks of papers around my room, and finish up all the little things that should get done at the end of the year. then I missed the window of opportunity to make it to my car between showers... it is really dumping right now, and the parking lot is further than I want to run. so, I guess I'll blog, and surf a bit, and wait for the rain to stop. it's been threatening rain for several days, very muggy, and I guess it's about time. it's supposed to cool off after all of this, and that will be most welcome. I estimate that it's been hovering around 85° or 90° in my apartment most days, with the night-time temps (outside) only getting down to around 70°.
a nice end to the year, though definitely not without its sadness. several teachers leaving, and an 8th grade class that I really had some good relationships with. I will miss them. hard to believe it's over already. but, as I have said many times already, I'm ready for a little break. a bit of time to think will be nice. plenty to do, but not to feel guilty about taking a bit of time for myself.
ok, have a great day, I'll be back later.
a good
weekend...with the boys. a couple of new meals for me/us, pancakes for brunch on Saturday, and hamburgers for dinner Saturday night. hey, I'm proud of the little things. along with the usual spaghetti, and egg/cheese/bacon muffins/bagels. and creemees on Saturday afternoon. we had to beat the heat somehow. on the way to get creemees the car thermometer said it was 97°... thank goodness for car a/c, now if I only had it in my apartment...
had the first production meeting for Voices this afternoon. it went well. it's going to be a great show, and it's a great group of people to work with. very exciting. more about that another time.
tomorrow is the last full day of school, with graduation in the evening. then a half day on Tuesday, and summer is here! as I have said before, I am ready.
have a great week, and I'll be back soon...
A Book That Should Be Read....
COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED by Jared Diamond (author of GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) -- 560 pp.
Yes, 560 pages! And I can't promise you a fast read. Nevertheless, it's remarkably conversational for a book so crammed with good scholarship and information.
The prologue begins, "A few summers ago I visited two dairy farms, Huls Farm and Gardar Farm, which despite being located thousands of miles apart were still remarkably similar in their strengths and vulnerabilities." Diamond describes those strengths, those vulnerabilities, those similarities -- and then reveals that Huls Farm is a prospering family-owned dairy in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana and the Gardar Farm was abandoned by Norse settlers of Greenland more than 500 years ago.
The rest of the book tells in fascinating detail about the collapse of several ancient societies, and the state of several contemporary ones, and draws frightening and -- occasionally -- encouraging lessons for the future of our planet.
I wish I could remember all the places that I wanted to read aloud to someone! Here are just a few tidbits:
On exports from the 1st World: "...[T]he highest blood levels of toxic industrial chemicals and pesticides reported for any people in the world are for Eastern Greenland's and Siberia's Inuit people (Eskimos), who are also among the most remote from sites of chemical manufacture or heavy use. Their blood mercury levels are nevertheless in the range associated with acute mercury poisoning, while the levels of toxic PCBs...in Inuit mothers' breast milk fall in a range high enough to classify the milk as 'hazardous waste.'" (518)
On unanticipated consequences: "When I was a child in the 1940s, some of my teachers were old enough to remember the first decades of the 20th century, when motor vehicles were in the process of replacing horse-drawn carriages and trams on city streets of the United States. The two biggest immediate consequences experienced by urban Americans, my teachers recall, were that American cities became wonderfully cleaner and quieter. No longer were streets constantly polluted with horse manure and urine, and no longer was there the constant din of horse hoofs clicking on the pavement. Today, after a century's experience of cars and buses, it strikes us a ludicrous or inconceivable that anyone could praise them for being non-polluting and quiet." (506)
On optimists who claim that population growth (in numbers and environmental impact) is good and can be accommodated: "...[My] friends in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, now carry a portable small chemical toilet in their car because travel can be so prolonged and slow; they once set off to go out of town on a holiday weekend but gave up and returned home after 17 hours, when they had advanced only three miles through the traffic jam." (500)
Okay, enough doom and gloom! Perhaps another time I'll blog about those mysterious statues on Easter Island...or the settlers in Greenland who insisted on being European, even if it meant their demise...or the lessons from all these things that make Diamond not a pessimist, but a "cautious optimist"!
okay
one link...I often wonder...
registration is required (I think)
saying
hello...it's been a while. I have run across several things I was going to link to, but just didn't have the gumption. been in a bit of a funk lately, nothing a little summer won't help... struggling a bit with how life is changing, a bit anxious about August and the Voices Project, and school atarting up again, and getting everything done, but I know I'll manage. ably. and I do have some time before then, so once I catch up on my sleep, and can settle in to the day to day, I'll be good.
one more singing gig, and a couple of Counterpoint rehearsals, and I'll really be able to relax. write some music, draw some trees, hang with the boys, stay up late, sleep in. sounds good.
one more
tonight...I should be asleep, but I ran across this and wanted to let people know that one of the great voices of the 20th century has died:
if you have Real Player, listen to him sing Wagon Wheels. great stuff. we'll miss you, Thurl.
just
amazing...and not because his last name is Grohe:
looking forward to the weekend...
update 6/6/05
yeah, the link is broken, but I did find this:
a google of Eric Grohe images will get you more than I can list here. great stuff.