The Day It Should Have Been Done

Today is the day when the Report From Hell was supposed to be done. But it's not. It's in much better shape than it was in a few weeks ago, but it's not done. I wrote a horrible discussion section in a hurry yesterday, working from a nice, long outline, and got most of it done so I could give it (mostly) to my boss before he left on a business trip, so he could look at it before I sent it to the other coauthor, who will rip it to shreds. And my boss will also rip it to shreds, because I didn't get to even read it, let alone proofread it, before giving it to him. I know it sucks. I know it is way too long. Oh well. After doing that, my motivation today was in the dumps. I worked on references for the discussion section, which took all morning, even though I knew what they were already. Weird. And in the afternoon, it was all I could do to make myself work on fixing up the glossary, which is still not done. So I didn't get my big stressful thing done, but my boss doesn't seem to care. I hope that means he really is okay with it. I've been working on it, and it's better, but I wanted it out of my hair, at least temporarily, by today. Rats. It's hard to imagine what I did all week, but I recall working on it and being frustrated with it and all.

And then I joined Weight Watchers with my sister (because she asked, and I love her, and I need to lose weight more than she does), so now I am hungry. I cannot believe that my beef stew, homemade and chock full of veggies, is really 10 points. It was a nice big bowl, but I don't think 10 points is right. I haven't entered the recipe, and I don't know that I want to, because their point assignments are stupid. Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes get the same number of points, when everyone knows that sweet potatoes are much better for you than regular potatoes. Baby potatoes get few points, when they are worse for you. Sweet potatoes (baked, with salt) get fewer points than Sweet potatoes (cooked), or cooked without salt. Huh? So I didn't enter 10 points for my beef stew. I entered 5 points, and now I get some extra points because I also got some exercise. But do I really? I'm going to go use them, so I hope I really get them. The question is, what should I eat? And before you suggest anything silly like vegetables at 8:30 at night, let me just say this: no. I need some carbs and fat and protein and stuff. Just not too much...

Finished a Faulkner

I finally finished reading "Light in August" this morning. I took me more than a month, during which time I read another book that was a lot more fun. Yep, that is a classic, all right. You can tell by all the horrible things that happen to people and the way Faulkner gets to make up grammar and punctuation and all. It felt like most of his characters really hate women. And he doesn't really seem to like them much, either, although he does show a smidgeon of understanding near the end of the book. I certainly don't want to jump right into "The Sound and the Fury," but there is something about Faulkner. His writing is compelling and slow and beautiful in its way, with its made-up words and not quite omniscient point of view. I don't really understand what makes half his characters tick, if any, but there is still something there. I don't know if I like it or not. I'm not sure it is a book that asks me or anyone to like it. I think I'll wait a year or two before reading the other one.

rant on Christopher Hitchens

Slate.com has an editorial by Christopher Hitchens on why Gore should run, and basically why America and the Democrats suck. You can read it here, and really should if you want to get the most out of my rant.

Here's my rant, which was originally a reply to the email Cindy sent me with the Slate piece:

Who is this guy? I think I read a review of his book in the New Yorker. It was not favorable, I think, and if this article is indicative of his writing and reasoning, then I can understand why. Does he really wonder what the connection between global warming and peace is? Does he actually think that societies who are starving because of drought will just quietly die and let those of us with favorable rain survive? Has he forgotten that Nixon wasn't actually all bad and in fact looked pretty good at the time he was elected, and that people do have at least a smidgeon of respect for Carter now, when they have none for Bush? And if Gore decides not to run, that does not necessarily mean that he doesn't have what it takes and never did, nor that we all wasted our time and effort trying to get him elected 8 years ago. He may think that this society will never elect anyone worth electing, and that he can do more in the private sector. Plus, people were calling Hillary "Hillary" years ago - mostly Republicans, who used it as an epithet, but it's not new. And while I can understand feeling bitter against the most powerful country in the world, I hope that I would also recognize that to be an illogical reaction to its power. He resented the fact that American voters could influence European lives, but ignores the fact that if Europe were stronger, that wouldn't be true. He didn't mention America screwing up European lives (though he missed a good argument by ignoring Middle Eastern, Central and South American, and African lives), and if his omission means that he thinks that America didn't screw up their lives, then what is he so resentful about? It sounds like he and the Europe that he claims to represent have a big chip on their shoulder, like the puny kid who is bitter because he is not the star quarterback. While it may be understandable, it's not reasonable. What an idiot. It makes me proud to be in any country that he is attacking, which was probably not his point.

That was my rant. I think he's an idiot. Not a complete idiot, because his book is right in that religion has caused a lot of problems. And my pride in being an American will probably fade by tomorrow morning, but then again, I have Season 2 of the West Wing here (and a cold), and that show helps. I thought the line about how the president "likes surrounding himself with smart people who disagree with him" was very sharp - what a nice contrast to the current president.

not quite Sunday

It is Saturday night, and (1) I am at home, (2) I am happy with that, and (3) I am listening to an auction going on at the Children's Museum (aka Kiddie Mu) 100 yards from my apartment. I think it is a weird place to have an auction, but possibly it benefits Kiddie Mu. I also think that it is annoying that I have to listen to it in my apartment. I guess I could close my window, but it's summer and I live on an upper floor and I don't close my window.

I tried watching "Apacolypto" earlier (Mel Gibson, so I was kind of turned off from the start). A friend loaned it to me. She thought it looked authentically Mayan, for a movie. I think the actors don't look particularly Mayan, although they appear to be speaking in a real non-English language. The hero and heroine were quickly identifiable by their big eyes. I stopped watching in the middle of the Attack on the Happy Villagers scene. I don't think I can finish it. I know I don't want to. PBS has a Willie Nelson concert (or maybe more than just Willie Nelson) instead of something good (no offense, Willie, but I wanted British sitcoms), but of course they (PBS) are fundraising as they always are. If it's not a stupid concert it's Antique's Road Show. Boring-boring-boring-I'm-not-giving-them-any-money-this-is-why-people-mock-them. The only other thing on is sports. So I must update my blog.

My choir recorded music for an album of movie trailer music today. It was fun, and we are all exhausted. It's like doing two concerts in one day without preparing for it physically or vocally. My vocal cords are all stretched and ready for the season now, though. And the SCC has a nice sum of money in its coffers, which will probably be gone very soon. Last Saturday the treasurer informed us that there was no way that we can break even on a concert, even if we sell out. It's just impossible. The least amount of money we lost on a concert last year was $3300. The worst was something like $50,000. Par for the course of performing arts organizations, apparently. Scary. So I increased my monthly donation by a buck. Now they will have a whole extra $12 per year, which should make a big dent in the debt. I might have considered giving more, but a buck increase was what they suggested, and suited me fine. You can hear some of the music we will be performing at our next concert here (Jenny will like it). And here. And here. We won't have the candles or the funky cloaks and there will be many more of us, but it's basically the same thing. Except that we have really very little idea of how to pronounce Irish Gaelic, and we generally don't look so good.

Hey, the auction is over. That's nice. Now they are frantically cleaning up and trying to get everybody the things they bought so they leave with happy thoughts toward Kiddie Mu, or whoever it is for. Yay.

Sunday again

It is Sunday again, afternoon this time. It's not as sunny as I thought it was. I'm making lasagna, and I think I have a wee cold. Have been watching The West Wing, which is great of course. First season. Next is Gilmore Girls, but honestly, I need a break from the non-stop DVDs. It's not healthy to watch so many in a week! At the same time, I could have stood one more West Wing episode, and was really expecting at least one or two more, since the exciting cliff-hanger ending came on the 3rd disc, not the 4th. But I ignored the fact that it really was an exciting cliff-hanger ending, and that 22 episodes fit well on 3 discs but not so well on 4, and that I had actually watched 22 episodes. The 4th disc is extra stuff - very disappointing. So i put the 2nd season on hold at the library, and promptly suspended it so that it doesn't come in the next week, because although I would like to find out what happened right away, many more things will occur in that first episode of the 2nd season, and I will not stop with only the first episode, and I have other things to do. Like go visit my sister! :-) Saturday, whether she wants me or not. Yay, it will be fun! Must dig out my bathing suit. I hope it still works - it's been a long time since I've worn it. Too darn cold here.

Sunday rain

It is Sunday, and it is raining. It feels like morning still, but it is actually afternoon. Why can't weekend mornings go on forever? They are the best times of the week. Now that it is afternoon, I have to move around and do errands and clean my apartment and get all the weekend chores done.

Here are several things:

If you like flamenco music with a twist, listen to Rodrigo y Gabriela. They are fabulous; try out the video links on the "media" page. They are Irish, surprisingly. Well, Mexican actually, but they live in Dublin. Did I say they are fabulous?

I just finished watching Season 2.0 of Battlestar Galactica. I watched it yesterday while I finished up my decade-long butterfly cross-stitch project (yay! if I had a digital camera, I would show you what it looks like, but I don't). Great show, raises all sorts of questions, and I have only Season 2.5 left. Very sad. Kind of weird, the show is.

Did you know that so-called "extra virgin olive oil" is often not olive oil at all, and even if is olive oil, it may only be virgin or even lampante (lamp oil). Or a mix. There's a huge amount of fraud, and it goes back for millenia. I don't really care if my olive oil is extra virgin or just virgin, although I would prefer not to eat lamp oil, but I really do care if, instead of getting pure olive oil, I am getting hazelnut oil. Yes, that's right - some producers put in hazelnut oil instead of olive oil. Or maybe soybean oil or sunflower seed oil or whatever, but the point is: undocumented hazelnut oil. For those of us with food allergies, this fraud is not just annoying, it could be deadly. Hazelnut oil may or may not contain the allergens, depending on how it was processed. Higher temperatures mean fewer allergens, but then again, roasting hazelnuts may either lower or increase the level of allergens, and the first nut I reacted to was a roasted hazelnut. And all that preparation-specific allergen level business has been studied only in relation to people with pollen-related hazelnut allergies (oral allergy syndrome; this link claims that this does not involve an actual allergy to the foods, but that these foods might cause anaphylaxis, which could cause death - sounds like an allergy to me), and not in people with systemic hazelnut allergies, possibly because those allergies are more severe. After reading info on this stuff this morning, I don't know what to think. Since I have OAS, I will probably have less severe reactions to hidden hazelnut oil, but it's not a given, and looking up "hazelnut oil" in Google takes you to lots of sites extolling its glories but none of its dangers. If people want to eat nuts, that's fine, but why do they have to be so pervasive in restaurant rood and pre-prepared food? "It's great in salads" says one website - swell, will my server know that there is hazelnut oil on the salad before he or she gives it to me? On Friday, I told the waiter at an upscale Italian restaurant that I was allergic to tree nuts, and he looked at me blankly. He must have understood the words, though, because soon a woman in white (not a chef, but someone higher up than a waiter) came and asked, "Tree nuts?" There was a blank look in her eyes, and absolutely no understanding in her voice. How in the world can you work in an upscale restaurant without knowing what a fucking tree nut is??? Half their dishes had tree nuts, so they really need to know what they are. And these people have worked there a long time. Apparently, people with food allergies not only have to eat at home all the time, but they have to cook everything from scratch, and they have to raise absolutely all their own food - vegetables (easy), fruit (assuming they can eat any), flour, oils, meats (vegetarianism is not an option for these people), milk and eggs (if they can those), and anything else they might want to make the food actually taste good.

Frack it.

parrot therapy

Did you know that U.S. Army veterans are working with parrots as part of their therapy? Yep, they work with abused parrots that have been rescued, and they help them recovery from their abuse. Helping the parrots helps the veterans. You can hear about it here. It brought tears to my eyes; I almost started crying on the ferry. Then again, I'm a softie. It would be nice to help out a parrot in need. We could have a big aviary where they could fly around. It would have lots of plants that would somehow thrive in ways that my houseplants do not. One of my plants is dying, I fear. The soil was bone-dry, so I watered it. The leaves immediately turned yellow and then brown and fell off. So I decided not to water it. Then the soil became all dry again, and the plant, what was left of it, looked very sad. So I watered it. And the remaining leaves are turning yellow. It is the kind of plant that looks great when you first get it, lasts a few years, and then collapses. I don't remember its name, but apparently it is known for this. This is the second time it has collapsed. The first time, I went east for the summer, and when I returned, the people left in charge of it had resurrected it. I'm not sure how. Maybe I should give some nice plant food.

It is Saturday and I have to work. Too many things are due next week, things that are nowhere near done. Actually, one thing is near done, but another thing is in bad, bad shape. So I'm going in to work this morning. Pretty exciting, I know.