Intraholiday post

• Hmmm. Almost no work done on papers.

• Good haul on xmas presents. Best in quite a few years, perhaps since leaving home. Must remember to write thank-yous. Still have book and music gift certificates! Oh, the exquisite torture of deciding what to spend 'em on. Too bad book one won't extend to cover expensive textbooks. Hmm, perhaps can talk parents into that...

• Back in Oakland now in case anyone is keeping score.

• Had Zach's pizza and watched Spiderman (w/Tobey Maguire) last night. Fun.

• Have (via GF) invitation to fun-sounding New Year's party! Woo and hoo.

• Am not using new blogger yet, in case anyone is wondering about that.

• Ordered, received and "installed" new planner sheets for 2007. I like them and they fit in my existing planner. The ones I ordered last year were the wrong kind: monthly and 2-page daily but no weekly sheets and 2-pages/day=more pages than fit in binder. Now I have tabbed months and weekly pages, including weekly task sheets. Sounds about right. Think I might even start using the goal tracking sheets in the back from last year.

• Have some resolutions in mind, but should clarify and commit.

• Currently listening to my "Gershwin plays Gershwin" CD that I got at the WNIU CD sale in 2004. Not sure I've listened to it since I bought it, though I had listened to a borrowed copy many years ago. Anyway, it's sweet and is totally going on my iPod.

- posted by k @ 10:17 PM

 
Heard this at the York PA UU on Christmas Eve

You have to know your body
as the home of God
And this is the purpose of Christmas.

The rose blossoming in the wilderness
is the unfolding of your pleasure
as the fingers peel an orange and sweetness buds in the mouth.

The bright star in the night sky
is the sudden clarity of your instinct for joy.

The birth cry in the night
is your child,
falling into the dark,
and your arms holding her.

The terror of Herod's murderous intent
is your rage that would prefer death to change.

The singing angel is your voice at church,
not sure of the tune
but certain, for a moment, that there is glory.

The animals, breathing their warm breath
in the fragile stable are your emotions
kneeling into the body of earth
at ease in the presence of God.

Mary is you
God in your body.
Joseph is you
sheltering God in the world.

This is the key to the mystery,
The Word became flesh.

We are the dwelling place.

~Rebecca Parker

- posted by k @ 3:04 PM

 
Warning!
These are very addictive. I bought 3 bags 2 weeks ago (because they were on 3-for- 2 special) intending to bring 2 bags home to share, but within a week or 9 days I had eaten them all. The substrate is basically like Cheetos, but the flavors are not cheesy. They are crunchy, tart, savory and spicy: a deadly combination. I want some right now, even a week after I had my last one. So basically, don't start because it's too hard to quit. The Masala Munch flavor is the least spicy, but it will develop a slow burn after a few uninterrupted handfuls. I liked the Green Chutney slightly better than Red Chilli Chatka, and have not tried the Hyderabadi Tomato flavor. Just say no. Here, you can give those to me.

I know this isn't really funny, but I used up all my thinking power explaining my long-term career goals as they apply to graduate study in 500 words or less.
- posted by k @ 11:01 AM

 
Xmas @ Fleming Hall
Had our flat xmas party since some flatmates are flying out tomorrow morning. Was fun. We are much more comfortable with each other than we were at the start of the term.

• Tried 2 novel food items: fried taro cake with honey (very good!), and kimchee pancake (good).

• Although I'm sure I asked the same question of the same people at the beginning of the term and got blank stares, tonight I was able to ascertain that both my Asian flatmates (one is Taiwanese and I always forget the other) knew of and enjoyed Dae Jang Geum and one said she'd try to download it for me when she was home over the holidays! w00t! The best part was getting "Oh, I loved that show too!" instead of the blank stare.

• I cannot remember the third thing for the life of me. Going to bed now.
  

- posted by k @ 6:19 PM

 
Gore/Obama ticket!
Beats the crap out of Kerry and anybody. Or the dreaded Lieberman/Giuliani/McCain triangle of death.
- posted by k @ 5:34 PM

 
Department of the Letter-but-not-the-Spirit

• Exhibit A: Today I saw a girl wearing skanky close-fitting jeans, skanky chic close-fitting boots, a leather jacket along the same lines and....a headscarf!

• Exhibit B: So Radio 2 is having a year-end popmasters tournament. As near as I can figure, this means that the big winners of their daily trivia quiz are now competing against each other (like Jeopardy's Tournament of Champion, except for a 2-minute trivia quiz). So anyway, today they had this guy on and he had to name 10 Christmas movies in 30 seconds. The first movie he named was ....Die Hard! and the second was Die Hard 2! He said "they're set at Christmas, after all!"

• I've had two cups of coffee today (one at breakfast, one at lunch), which is two more than my usual dosage of zero cups (this was actual coffee, not decaf). I'm a genius! If only I could get both my eyes to look at the same thing at the same time I could write the world's best Statement of Purpose!
  

• Ok, I don't think this is related, but I have to share. Today there is an article in Salon denouncing Paris Hilton. I never really got what the big deal with her was (except that she seems to have fallen out of a Fellini film to demonstrate the imminent fall of Western civilization), but I think I must welcome this article. Just as moderate Muslims and Christians must distance themselves from and discourage the practices of religious extremists, so also must sensible liberals(?) distance themselves from the excesses of consumerism and all that other crap involving uqbiquitous images of underdressed vapid blonde women. (that was supposed to be funny, but now I'm not sure if I meant it as a joke or not)

In case I didn't mean it as a joke, here's a quote: Kay S. Hymowitz [sums up] quite neatly Hilton's role as a "synonym for American materialism, bad manners, greed ... parochialism, arrogance, promiscuity, antifeminism, exposed roots and navels, entitlement, cell-phone addiction, anorexia and bulimia, predilection for gas-guzzling private transportation, pornified womanhood, exhibitionism, [and] narcissism.... a composite of contemporary American sins."
Now surely, non-conservative people (and perhaps some conservative people) of all stripes can be united in their opposition to that list above!
- posted by k @ 10:19 AM

 
Well, crap.
I think I am going to have to start watching Dr. Who. I don't know if I'll ever catch up--I've missed so much already...
- posted by k @ 4:27 PM

 
Yeah, that was weird
Today I got hugged(?) by two drunken soccer hooligans. I was sitting with two friends at a pub in town, and a crowd of drunken athletic types were being silly by the bar, then one of them came over and asked us for a group hug, and then his friend came over and did the same thing. It was a little scary because we didn't feel like we really had a choice and we didn't know if they were trying to sexually or otherwise harrass us. Turns out they had probably just seen Borat and were being silly/friendly/drunk/stupid because there was no inappropriate touching beyond the actual hugging and they asked for high-fives after that and then (thank goodness) they went away.
- posted by k @ 3:49 PM

 
Well, this is cool.

Young Tuba Player Gets Nod from Phila. Orchestra

by Renée Montagne and Miles Hoffman

Morning Edition, September 15, 2006 · When the Philadelphia Orchestra opens its season next week, Carol Jantsch, 21, will be anchoring its brass section. She's the orchestra's youngest member and the first woman to hold a principal tuba chair in one of the nation's top orchestras.

[...]

Actually, it's fitting that Jantsch is so young because the tuba, invented in the 1830s, is the youngest of the brass instruments.

Renee Montagne discusses the history of the tuba with music commentator Miles Hoffman.

[...]

It's a misconception that a tuba's weight prevents more women from playing the instrument, Hoffman says.

"When you're holding the tuba and playing it, it's the chair that you're sitting on that supports the instrument," he says. "So holding it up is not the issue.

"But it requires an enormous amount of air. And frankly it's just another one of these preconceptions, like the old notion that tuba players -- men or women -- couldn't play fast, that the instrument couldn't be made to sound virtuosic because the instrument itself was just too unwieldy."

But that perception is changing. "More and more people treat the tuba now as an instrument where anything is possible," Hoffman says. And more women are studying the tuba in conservatories around the country.

- posted by k @ 11:56 AM

 
I'm sorry if it seemed like I was trivializing World AIDS Day. That was certainly not my intent. I pay attention to AIDS news and issues most days of the year, and I didn't feel like I had anything to really contribute on that topic at the moment, but at the same time I didn't want to let it pass without remarking.

Anyway, here are penance links:

• Official World AIDS Day site

• A link about the pope. He condemns discrimination against HIV+ people, and is considering sanctioning condoms in specific circumstances (married couple, one partner is positive. Well, better than nothing!)

• Barack Obama's speech. There's an interesting article in Salon about what it means politically that he spoke at an evangelical megachurch, but that's not the point here. He and a Republican congressman got publicly tested to help reduce the stigma with getting tested, too.
  

I realize these links are about World AIDS Day rather than about AIDS/HIV per se. I chose them because I think they show how much progress has been made in reducing the stigma associated with AIDS and with people taking it seriously and being able to talk about it and be informed about it. But none of this helps people who are already dead, except perhaps to exonerate their memories in the minds of those who think they need exonerating anyway.

So, sorry if any glibness was perceived; none was intended.
- posted by k @ 3:43 PM

 
Click me!
I'd like to tell you about my trip to buy Christmas pudding today, or the surprising thoughts I had about ballet recently, but today there are more important things to blog about.

1. Today is World AIDS Day. Let's hope the pope (hey, that rhymes) approves that condom thingy. Praying towards Mecca--the guy might not be as bad as we feared.
2. Tomorrow is the 109th Big Game! GO BEARS! Don't lose the Holiday Bowl berth. This is pretty much the only sporting event I ever care about (I watch the Olympics, sure, but that's because they're pretty).

I probably won't watch the bowl game, so the most important part of this holiday tradition is here. Learn it, Sing it, Live it (ok, maybe don't live it). Best Song Ever. I'm sure the pope would agree.
- posted by k @ 3:11 PM