It hasn't been a really exciting couple of months. The boys are doing well in school. Josh makes friends as easy as breathing so he is always over at someones house or has someone over at ours. I wish Curtis had it as easy but he doesn't seem to have anyone he hangs out with. I know a lot of it is because there are a million kids Josh's age around here but just not many Curtis' age. I'm not sure what to do about that. He seems fine and says he is but still. He is doing well in classes but missed to cutoff day to try out for football so he wasn't able to do that. I want to sign him up for Tai Kwan Do or something. We will see.
Josh is playing football on post and is playing pretty well. Aaron is coaching and has decided football is a lot harder to coach than baaseball. Especially dealing with the parents. But I told him you just have to realize that that there will always be unhappy parents, just do what you do. As soon as I get his pictures back I will post some.
Aaron is just doing the Army thing. Which turns out to be a lot more standing around and boring breifings that I thought it would be. They all feel that there is a serious lack of training going on. They still dont have their weapons yet and that is worrisome. They deploy in March and they really need their own weapons to train and qualify with before they go. He goes home next week for 11 days so that will be good for him. Also, he will be in Fort Hood in November for 2 weeks to meet the Brigade they are deploying with. That will be a good thing I hope.
And I'm just plugging along. I am working, which is a good thing. My bosses like me and its an interesting place to be. I work at a Nissan dealership as a receptionist. And I sit on my butt all day so I have gained back 20 pounds. I am very dissapointed about that! I need to do something but it is so hard to get up at 5 in the morning to excercise and I just dont have time at night between football, and laundry and dinner etc. I know these are just excuses but still. *sigh*
Georgia is...Georgia. Hot, muggy, and green. We have in the hundreds with out heat index every day for the last couple of months. 95 is hot at home but its almost unbearable here when the heat index goes up to 111 because of the humidity. Blech. But the wildlife is interesting. Daily you see something running around by the house - armadillos, turkeys, foxes, snakes, raccoons,turtles, vultures, and more squirrels than a disney movie. It's all right here - but I would give a lot right now to see my mountains and fish the UM.
Love to all my family out there!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
I don't Care How It's Made
Have you ever been scrolling the channels on T.V. and you get sucked into a show you really don't care about but find strangely compelling so you end up watching the whole thing anyway? Like the show How It's Made. I really don't care how they make chain link or wodden barrels, and yet here I am wasting an hour my life finding out how. In spite of myself, there are a couple of episodes that really were interesting. You quietly say to yourself - huh, how about that? Sometimes it happens with less informative shows like Say Yess to the Dress (now that really IS a waste of 30 minutes)but mostly with shows from the Discovery Networks. Not to be confused with other shows on Discovery that me and my family love like Deadliest Catch and Mythbusters.
Anyway, I am a big fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. Im an escapist-type reader. With some horror and the occasional biography and history thrown in. But I found myself looking at a book the other day that I have walked past several times, mostly because I liked the sound of the title. Cryptonomicon just sounds cool. But its a complicated book dealing with a lot of math. (Crypography is actually a lot of wierd math and probablities and things I really dont understand.) Math has never been my strong point and is not a subject I look for in the topic of my reading material. But I picked it up anyway, and in the bonus materials there is an article the author (Neal Stephenson) wrote for the magazine Wired in 1999. He talks about...well, wires. The original cables that were laid down for morse code - and later used for telephone wire and the evolution of cables for internet and phone and how and where they have to be placed and made to hold all the data, the poltical power struggle of who owns the cables and how precarious the internet (and long distance telephone calls) really are. And of course - how they are made, from then to now.
In spite of myself, it was really fascinating. Things I had never thought of, and if anyone had asked I would have said I really didn't care. It's something we all take for granted, that this whole world wide web is something that is "out there in the ether" and can't be stopped. But destroying one major connection point (like in Alexandria) could be devastaing to any number of countries. Huh, how about that? The best part of it was the author though. He wrote it humor - knowing his audience is a bunch of techno nerds who are way smarter than I am. Here are some of my favorite excerpts.
About one of the early men who tried to solve the problem of seding information along a wire.
About where one line was being installed outside of Hong Kong:
Now there were a lot of fun and interesting things in this article that I would normally never have read. Now I think I need to read the book. Cryptography could be just as fascinating.
Anyway, I am a big fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. Im an escapist-type reader. With some horror and the occasional biography and history thrown in. But I found myself looking at a book the other day that I have walked past several times, mostly because I liked the sound of the title. Cryptonomicon just sounds cool. But its a complicated book dealing with a lot of math. (Crypography is actually a lot of wierd math and probablities and things I really dont understand.) Math has never been my strong point and is not a subject I look for in the topic of my reading material. But I picked it up anyway, and in the bonus materials there is an article the author (Neal Stephenson) wrote for the magazine Wired in 1999. He talks about...well, wires. The original cables that were laid down for morse code - and later used for telephone wire and the evolution of cables for internet and phone and how and where they have to be placed and made to hold all the data, the poltical power struggle of who owns the cables and how precarious the internet (and long distance telephone calls) really are. And of course - how they are made, from then to now.
In spite of myself, it was really fascinating. Things I had never thought of, and if anyone had asked I would have said I really didn't care. It's something we all take for granted, that this whole world wide web is something that is "out there in the ether" and can't be stopped. But destroying one major connection point (like in Alexandria) could be devastaing to any number of countries. Huh, how about that? The best part of it was the author though. He wrote it humor - knowing his audience is a bunch of techno nerds who are way smarter than I am. Here are some of my favorite excerpts.
According to legend,in 1876 the first sounds transmitted down a wire were Alexander Graham Bell saying “Mr. Watson,come here.I want you.”Compared with Morse’s “What hath God wrought!’’this is disappointingly banal— as if Neil Armstrong,setting foot on the moon,had uttered the words:“Buzz,could you toss me that rock hammer?’’It’s as though during the 32 years following Morse’s message,people had become inured to the amazing powers of wire.
About one of the early men who tried to solve the problem of seding information along a wire.
In the Victorian era was an age of superlatives and largerthan-life characters,and as far as that goes,Dr.Wildman Whitehouse fit right in:what Victoria was to monarchs, Dickens to novelists,Burton to explorers,Robert E.Lee to generals,Dr.Wildman Whitehouse was to assholes.He achieved a level of pure accomplishment in this field that the Alfonse D’Amatos of our time can only dream of.The only 19th-century figure who even comes close to him in this department is Custer.
About where one line was being installed outside of Hong Kong:
It’s a hot day,and kids are swimming on the public beach,prudently staying within the line of red buoys marking the antishark net.Handley remarks,offhandedly, that five people have been eaten so far this year.A bulletin board,in English and Chinese,offers advice:“If schooling fish start to congregate in large numbers, please leave the water."
Now there were a lot of fun and interesting things in this article that I would normally never have read. Now I think I need to read the book. Cryptography could be just as fascinating.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Lillith - Blenders - and Time
Ok, so this post is mostly just trying to organize some thoughts that have been floating around my head. I have read several good books lately and like all the good ones they make you think about them for a while. And as I thought about them I start thinking to myself - well what if?? And you reorganise some ideas in your head and those ideas shoot off into tangents. Then they decide to go onto several different hikes and these ones head down the scenic byways while some other ones go straight up and yet others lag behind to chill in the shade. This generally just leads to a crazy mess in my head because they all end up getting hot and tires and losing their hiking buddy and no one can make sense of anything when they all get home.
You know?
So anyway - I have been thinking about mythical creatures. Vampires, angels, and everything in between. Yes I am a Twilight fan. I think because she made them new. I know a lot of people hated them for that very reason but personally I liked it. So there. Another series I read was called the Mortal Instruments trilogy. The good guys carry the blood of angels and are the "police" of the "downworlders". Which are the vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, warlocks, etc. All of which carry the blood of demons. This was a great trilogy and I recommend it. What was interesting in all my readings of various books involving the mythical and night creatures was how many references to Lilith there were. Even in C.S. Lewis' books he mentions her as Adams first wife.
Now this is the first I have heard about it. So I looked it up and there is oodles of mythology about her. Apparently she was not as submissive and meek as Eve. Also it seems she was very strong and somewhat powerful (power of the angels its hinted). God deemed her unsuitable and cast her out of the garden. Now her children from Adam were also powerful, but cursed because of their parentage. Mostly its only vampires who are associated as children of Lilith, but in other stories all magical creatures and faries are descended from her. Hmmm. Now that time in Eden and the immediate aftermath would make an interesting story yes? And with vague biblical references (and really what other kind are there?) to her, a nod from C.S. Lewis, is there any kernel of truth to a story of Adams other wife??? Hmmmm.
Of course, I am not sure that I buy that reason for Lilith for being unsuitable. Or at least that being the only reason. I just don't picture Eve as being meek and submissive. She had to have a lot of courage and strength and, well, gumption to do all she had to in her life. If you think about all of those "night children" including the faeiries, maybe especially the faeiries, they all have a touch of capriciousness and cruelty. Some more than others. This is attributed to Lillith which seems like a much likelier reason for her being unsuitable for Adam. Humanity needed less power and more compassion? I know I would prefer Eve for a mother.
Another fun topic for me lately has been time. The Hourglass Door started a very fun new story for me about what time is and does. Eric was a fun story that had a section where they travelled in time that is forming a story in my head greatly influenced by my husband. Time I decided is NOT like a river. Thats too linear. Time is whirlpool, every eddy touches the other circling endlessly around. A rock thrown in one eddy will not disrupt the whirlpool but will cause ripples radiating out the edge of that eddy and into the adjacent ones causing unknown problems in both the past and future from that moment! Chaos! Sounds fun! I mentioned this to my mother and she told me it sounded more like a blender. Swirling around, faster at the bottom, and if you push the wrong button everything shoots out the top into squared space making a complete mess of things. I like that too. I think that needs to be a conversation in my story.
Anway this is way too long but I needed to get it out of my head. :)
You know?
So anyway - I have been thinking about mythical creatures. Vampires, angels, and everything in between. Yes I am a Twilight fan. I think because she made them new. I know a lot of people hated them for that very reason but personally I liked it. So there. Another series I read was called the Mortal Instruments trilogy. The good guys carry the blood of angels and are the "police" of the "downworlders". Which are the vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, warlocks, etc. All of which carry the blood of demons. This was a great trilogy and I recommend it. What was interesting in all my readings of various books involving the mythical and night creatures was how many references to Lilith there were. Even in C.S. Lewis' books he mentions her as Adams first wife.
Now this is the first I have heard about it. So I looked it up and there is oodles of mythology about her. Apparently she was not as submissive and meek as Eve. Also it seems she was very strong and somewhat powerful (power of the angels its hinted). God deemed her unsuitable and cast her out of the garden. Now her children from Adam were also powerful, but cursed because of their parentage. Mostly its only vampires who are associated as children of Lilith, but in other stories all magical creatures and faries are descended from her. Hmmm. Now that time in Eden and the immediate aftermath would make an interesting story yes? And with vague biblical references (and really what other kind are there?) to her, a nod from C.S. Lewis, is there any kernel of truth to a story of Adams other wife??? Hmmmm.
Of course, I am not sure that I buy that reason for Lilith for being unsuitable. Or at least that being the only reason. I just don't picture Eve as being meek and submissive. She had to have a lot of courage and strength and, well, gumption to do all she had to in her life. If you think about all of those "night children" including the faeiries, maybe especially the faeiries, they all have a touch of capriciousness and cruelty. Some more than others. This is attributed to Lillith which seems like a much likelier reason for her being unsuitable for Adam. Humanity needed less power and more compassion? I know I would prefer Eve for a mother.
Another fun topic for me lately has been time. The Hourglass Door started a very fun new story for me about what time is and does. Eric was a fun story that had a section where they travelled in time that is forming a story in my head greatly influenced by my husband. Time I decided is NOT like a river. Thats too linear. Time is whirlpool, every eddy touches the other circling endlessly around. A rock thrown in one eddy will not disrupt the whirlpool but will cause ripples radiating out the edge of that eddy and into the adjacent ones causing unknown problems in both the past and future from that moment! Chaos! Sounds fun! I mentioned this to my mother and she told me it sounded more like a blender. Swirling around, faster at the bottom, and if you push the wrong button everything shoots out the top into squared space making a complete mess of things. I like that too. I think that needs to be a conversation in my story.
Anway this is way too long but I needed to get it out of my head. :)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Why I love Grace
I have been watching a TV show on TNT lately called Saving Grace. I love it. I really really love it. I know it is rated TVM. I know it is not appropriate for my kids, maybe not my mom either (even though I think she would like it and maybe I will get her to watch it sometime anyway) but I still love it. Here is why.
EARL
Earl is an angel. He shows himself to Grace in the first episode. He looks like a middle aged 50 something guy. He always has a new T-shirt on under an unbuttoned flannel shirt. His hair always needs to be brushed and he is kind of a red-neck. I think he is perfect. I think if God is going to send an angel to someone he will send them in a form they will understand and accept. He is kind and compassionate and dedicated. He is a "last chance" angel. His job is to get Grace to come to God, accept him and help her to help herself. I think its interesting that there is no particular name or form of God that is "better" for him. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Islam - Earl doesn't care. In fact when one of the other characters converts to Islam he is surprised Earl is still his angel, thinking he was only a Christian angel. Earl just laughed and said " You humans - thinking a name makes any difference." I loved that. He cant force her against her will but he sure messes with her and pushes that as far as he can. But he loves her, every good thing about her. And he sees good things in everything about her that others might not. He worries about her and cares for her. If I were to have an angel looking out for me - I would want it to be Earl.
GRACE
Grace is a mess. A serious crazy mess. She is a homicide detective with the Oklahoma City Police Department. Her sister was killed in the bombing. Her nephew was 10 days old at the time. She has dedicated a lot of her time to her nephew. She loves him with a crazy protective passion. I think that's the word that really describes her. Passion. She puts it into everything. Her work, her dog, her nephew, and just her life. Everything she does she is determined to do to the fullest. She is a loyal friend and a fearsome enemy. Her laugh and her happiness is infectious, her anger and stubbornness would shame a bull. She drinks way too much and sleeps with everyone. And yeah I mean pretty much every guy she meets. She has a really hard time believing in any type of God. This is a little understandable given that starting at age 9 to 12 she was repeatedly sexually molested and raped by her family priest. Even with her drinking and her sex life though - there is still a feel of trying to find as much zest in life as she possibly can. Her pain is real and you feel it with her as are her joys. She is a strong and capable person that those who know her cant help but love even when she makes that difficult. I admire her and all her quirkiness. I want to smack her and tell her to stop being such a stubborn fool. I want to hold her and tell her its going to be ok and I want to go dancing with her because I know we will have a damn good time.
I know with all her faults I still love her and still think she is strong. I like that she doesn't have to be perfect to be strong. I love everything Earl says to her, everything he tells her about whats really important. These are a few of the reasons I love Grace.
EARL
Earl is an angel. He shows himself to Grace in the first episode. He looks like a middle aged 50 something guy. He always has a new T-shirt on under an unbuttoned flannel shirt. His hair always needs to be brushed and he is kind of a red-neck. I think he is perfect. I think if God is going to send an angel to someone he will send them in a form they will understand and accept. He is kind and compassionate and dedicated. He is a "last chance" angel. His job is to get Grace to come to God, accept him and help her to help herself. I think its interesting that there is no particular name or form of God that is "better" for him. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Islam - Earl doesn't care. In fact when one of the other characters converts to Islam he is surprised Earl is still his angel, thinking he was only a Christian angel. Earl just laughed and said " You humans - thinking a name makes any difference." I loved that. He cant force her against her will but he sure messes with her and pushes that as far as he can. But he loves her, every good thing about her. And he sees good things in everything about her that others might not. He worries about her and cares for her. If I were to have an angel looking out for me - I would want it to be Earl.
GRACE
Grace is a mess. A serious crazy mess. She is a homicide detective with the Oklahoma City Police Department. Her sister was killed in the bombing. Her nephew was 10 days old at the time. She has dedicated a lot of her time to her nephew. She loves him with a crazy protective passion. I think that's the word that really describes her. Passion. She puts it into everything. Her work, her dog, her nephew, and just her life. Everything she does she is determined to do to the fullest. She is a loyal friend and a fearsome enemy. Her laugh and her happiness is infectious, her anger and stubbornness would shame a bull. She drinks way too much and sleeps with everyone. And yeah I mean pretty much every guy she meets. She has a really hard time believing in any type of God. This is a little understandable given that starting at age 9 to 12 she was repeatedly sexually molested and raped by her family priest. Even with her drinking and her sex life though - there is still a feel of trying to find as much zest in life as she possibly can. Her pain is real and you feel it with her as are her joys. She is a strong and capable person that those who know her cant help but love even when she makes that difficult. I admire her and all her quirkiness. I want to smack her and tell her to stop being such a stubborn fool. I want to hold her and tell her its going to be ok and I want to go dancing with her because I know we will have a damn good time.
I know with all her faults I still love her and still think she is strong. I like that she doesn't have to be perfect to be strong. I love everything Earl says to her, everything he tells her about whats really important. These are a few of the reasons I love Grace.
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