C'est bon

My brother and I are set to spend a few days in Paris next week. I'm excited to show him around, revisiting the must-see places, and also going to some of the places I haven't seen (Versailles! Jim Morrison's grave!)  He joked that it's going to suck, because I'm going to drag him to all these museums - I said no, only three. (Four, if we make it to the Picasso Museum:)

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I plan to stop by my old library, pick up a DVD I had ordered. I haven't been back since I left (three or four months), so it will be good. 

This whole tea party thing...

From my perspective, it's a bit nutty. I think, "What exactly are they protesting against? A tax rate lower than Reagans? A bailout rendered necessary by a Republican president?" It's been interesting watching the coverage of these tax-day protests; the numbers are miniscule compared to antiwar protests and immigration protests.

What's also funny is how derisive a lot of the media (non-FOX) is being towards the protests. Belittling the teabaggers (haha). It's kind of how much of the media treated the Left during Bush's years.

Anyway. It's been a good day. Gave some tests, graded some tests, and finally did my dishes (minus the silverware; I have enough spoons that I can wait some more). Ate some skyline, watched some Lost, and drank some wine. Can't ask for more on a Wednesday evening.

For your viewing pleasure:

(It does feel slightly wrong to have Bush's head on my blog, but it's a nice reminder of what we've left behind!)

Pictures of pictures

Remembering dreams is not a regular occurrence for me. Maybe I'll remember two in a week, or perhaps I'll remember two in a month. Usually they're mundane, but occasionally I'll have a long dream with a beginning, middle, and end. These ones are harder to figure out. Last fall I dreamt that it was the fourth of July and terrorists were striking all the buildings in the city.

Last night's dream reminds me of something out of a sitcom. Something really dramatic happens, and then the character suddenly wakes up; something's still amiss, and the main character wakes up again - he was having a dream within a dream. That's what I did last night. I was having a dream, and in the dream I woke up from it and thought, "Hmm." 

(If I were critiquing this post, I'd say it was vague and needed more specific details; but I've got lots of grading to do:)

I used to dream about smurfs and rainbows and (at age six) driving my mom's station wagon. Now I dream about dreaming and terrorists.

The Best Show You Didn't Watch

One of my favorite shows, canceled too soon, was Everwood. Great acting, compelling characters, and intriguing situations added up to a show that only a handful of people watched and loved. It tackled abortion, drugs, relationships -- typical teen fare -- in a way that admitted how complicated that teen fare really was and is. Things aren't so clearly right and wrong.

There were these two doctors: Treat Williams played Dr. Brown, and Tom Amandes played Dr. Abbott. They were great foils and great friends. Dr. Brown moved from NYC to Everwood, a small town in Colorado (filmed in Utah, I think), after his wife died.  

In somewhere around the second or third season, I think, Dr. Abbott gave a speech about marriage  (not a stand-in-front-of-crowd-and-speak speech, just one like a friend would give to another friend, or a father to a son). People get married, he said, in order to bear witness to each other's life. (I've been scouring the internet looking for the exact quote, but haven't been able to find it; but the "bear witness" part was it in a nutshell).

Anyway, what I'm getting at [warning, two heavy IPAs in my system] is that, regardless of our desire to marry and couple off legally, we all want witnesses to our lives. Proof that we existed. Evidence that our efforts weren't for naught.  I want that witness, but I haven't decided if husband and marriage is the answer. We shall see. But I wonder if my generation (and, ugh, later ones) think of facebook, twitter, etc, the same way that Dr. Abbott thought about marrriage - something that's proof of your existence; proof that you were there, that you contributed, that you were part of something, that people cared.

I don't mind my stutter step, stutter step. As long as I'm not alone in it, I'm ok. It's ok.

Importance of Childhood Memories - II

Every Easter until a few years ago, my grandmother put out the "Money Tree." She took a small tree (or maybe it was a small branch), nestled it in a pot, and then decorated it with colorful plastic Easter Eggs. Inside each egg she put one, two, or three quarters, and in a few eggs she hid dollar bills.  My brothers and I took turns selecting an egg, opening it, and hoping for a dollar. By the end, we each had somewhere in the range of $4.75 - $7.50. 

Now we get cards with $20 bills inside. More money, less fun.

(This is me, hoping for a dollar; this is probably about thirteen years ago, the last year we did it. I've since learned that "money trees" aren't typical Easter fare).

Logical Fallacies

Edited, 1/20/10 - for those of you googling "sequitarian" and getting this post, I apologize. It really had nothing to do with sequitarianism... "Sequitur" is a logical consequence. "Sequitarian" is a made-up word, but we could define it as someone who follows logic, or who always does what logic dictates. A "non sequitur" is something that doesn't follow (e.g. "I love cheese; let's go get ice cream"). Perhaps a "non sequitarian" (again, a made-up word) would be someone who doesn't do what logic dictates. I'd say a non-sequitarian is rather random.

I think most people think of themselves as slightly abnormal. Everyone else, they think, has things figured out, or easier, or simpler. Everyone else knows what to do. At least, that's what I choose to believe - we all think that we're weird, we all feel awkward and lost and are just faking it.

The action of Othello starts in the hustling, bustling city of Venice. The major characters then go to the island of Cyprus to fight the Turks. Once the Turks are defeated, they're all just kind of there, on this island, with nothing to do but get into each other's business. Idle hands and all.

Speaking of non sequiturs, I googled to see if "non sequitarian" was a real word, and I found this quote in an article, "How to Find the Right School for Your Child":

"There are of course plenty of religious based schools but there are also non-sequitarian private schools to choose from."

Edited to add: this is funny because the writer meant "non-sectarian" private schools.

Quick post

It's nice when we can get out of our own ways. Stop defeating ourselves with doubt and tiny acts of sabotage. Do what we can and be happy, and let enough be enough.