Saturday, September 12, 2015
Sep. 12th, 2015 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyOn my 17th birthday, my then sort-of boyfriend gave me two music tapes as presents (yes, tapes. It was the 90s). One of them was the Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" album. He didn't know much about modern popular music and his sister recommended it. At the time I wasn't really into it. I thanked him, of course. It was super nice of him but I put the tape away in my tape tower and didn't listen to it much. A year and a half later my Dad was having a birthday party and one of his friend's daughter came over too. We were hanging out in my room and she wanted to listen to it. To my utter surprise I knew and loved most of the songs on the album because they were all over the radio at the time. I didn't realize I had them. I listened to that album a lot after that. It still remains one of my favorite albums to this day.
I was thinking lately that I might have another album that I put away but might appreciate now as my musical taste evolved. A long time ago, maybe a dozen years or so, I got "Broadways Greatest Love Songs" CD as a present. I think it was from Bear but I can't be sure. Most likely from him. I liked two songs on that album right way, "On my Own" from Les Miserables (which I already knew and loved) and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar (which I discovered on that album). I didn't really care about others. I only downloaded the two songs into my iTunes, once I got iTunes, and put the CD away. Because I was making my Broadway playlist recently, and musicals are on my mind, it occurred to me that I should try it again. I know more of Broadway now. I listened to and saw more shows. My tastes certainly have changed. And I was right. I put it on today and I totally love it. I know more songs from that CD and more musicals. It's funny when that happens.
I have a week to catch up but there isn't that much. Last Sunday and Monday, we went to Long Island to visit Bear's parents for Labor Day weekend. His father was turning 75 on this Tuesday, September 8, so they were also having a little birthday party. On Sunday, Bear's brother John and his girlfriend Laurie came over and we had a nice dinner. I even came down to have ice cream cake once Tanya was sleeping.
On Monday, I was making soup for Tanya in my mother-in-law's kitchen when disaster struck. The blender she gave me to grind the chicken and blend the soup had a loose bottom. Not loose enough to notice but loose enough for soup to start to escape from the bottom as it reached good consistency. As I lifted the top portion of the blender and my mother-in-law tried to help, the bottom fell out completely and all the soup, with nice organic ingredients, ended up on the counter and floor and pants and slippers. I wanted to cry. Well, I just had to start over and make the soup all over again. There was no carrot or potato or celery in the house so we sent Bear's father to the store. The second soup came out fine and I double checked the blender super carefully.
Because of Labor Day weekend, I had to work on Tuesday instead of Monday and then again Thursday. My parents are on vacation in Aruba so Bear took three days off this week to take care of Tanya when I'm at work. (He usually watches her on Monday since it's his day off and my Mom has Thursdays). He was really nervous about it since last time he watched her all day was May. But he did fine, of course. She really mastered walking now - it's so fun to watch.
On Wednesday, when we were both home, we decided to go to Brighton Beach for variety in the morning. (Brighton Beach in Brooklyn is the center of Russian community and it has a Boardwalk and a beach). We played on the playground near the beach and I went to the Russian book store while she napped in her stroller, with Bear walking back and forth, to pick up a book and toys for Jo, who is turning 2 in October. It got pretty hot but it was still nice to do something different. I also cooked a lot on Wednesday - in addition to another batch of soup for Tanya (with my immersion blender this type and old school grinder)- I made cabbage stir fry and chicken and pasta. And on Thursday I made rice using chicken broth from the soup, instead of water.
By the way, my parents might be on vacation in Aruba but my Mom Skypes me some mornings while she's having breakfast on the balcony overlooking the beach. Technology is pretty amazing.
Work has been good so far. The classes are nice and small, so the commenting on drafts is much more manageable. The drafts, which I got on Thursday, are also only three pages long, so it's hasn't been too stressful getting them all done. I managed to get a lot done this morning, working for maybe three hours while Bear took Tanya for a walk. And I like my students, especially the second class where the students actually brought up passages in the reading that weren't as clear. The drafts are pretty terrible - mostly summary and not a lot of analysis - but that is typical of first papers. I know they will get better. We are going to work on topic sentences on Monday. They need some.
I'm still reading Sacks. I'm more than two-thirds through. (I used to have really fast reading speed until I was 17 and read "War and Peace." Reading that book slowed down my reading speed and it stayed that way. It's weird). Definitely enjoying it. He was friends with Auden, which was weird since I read Christopher Isherwood's "Christopher and his Kind" not that long ago and he and Auden were best friends. Like all the people I read about knew each other.
I bought the HumbleBook Bundle from Neil Gaiman this morning but I still need to figure out how to download it. But first, I really just want to finish Sacks.
I was thinking lately that I might have another album that I put away but might appreciate now as my musical taste evolved. A long time ago, maybe a dozen years or so, I got "Broadways Greatest Love Songs" CD as a present. I think it was from Bear but I can't be sure. Most likely from him. I liked two songs on that album right way, "On my Own" from Les Miserables (which I already knew and loved) and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar (which I discovered on that album). I didn't really care about others. I only downloaded the two songs into my iTunes, once I got iTunes, and put the CD away. Because I was making my Broadway playlist recently, and musicals are on my mind, it occurred to me that I should try it again. I know more of Broadway now. I listened to and saw more shows. My tastes certainly have changed. And I was right. I put it on today and I totally love it. I know more songs from that CD and more musicals. It's funny when that happens.
I have a week to catch up but there isn't that much. Last Sunday and Monday, we went to Long Island to visit Bear's parents for Labor Day weekend. His father was turning 75 on this Tuesday, September 8, so they were also having a little birthday party. On Sunday, Bear's brother John and his girlfriend Laurie came over and we had a nice dinner. I even came down to have ice cream cake once Tanya was sleeping.
On Monday, I was making soup for Tanya in my mother-in-law's kitchen when disaster struck. The blender she gave me to grind the chicken and blend the soup had a loose bottom. Not loose enough to notice but loose enough for soup to start to escape from the bottom as it reached good consistency. As I lifted the top portion of the blender and my mother-in-law tried to help, the bottom fell out completely and all the soup, with nice organic ingredients, ended up on the counter and floor and pants and slippers. I wanted to cry. Well, I just had to start over and make the soup all over again. There was no carrot or potato or celery in the house so we sent Bear's father to the store. The second soup came out fine and I double checked the blender super carefully.
Because of Labor Day weekend, I had to work on Tuesday instead of Monday and then again Thursday. My parents are on vacation in Aruba so Bear took three days off this week to take care of Tanya when I'm at work. (He usually watches her on Monday since it's his day off and my Mom has Thursdays). He was really nervous about it since last time he watched her all day was May. But he did fine, of course. She really mastered walking now - it's so fun to watch.
On Wednesday, when we were both home, we decided to go to Brighton Beach for variety in the morning. (Brighton Beach in Brooklyn is the center of Russian community and it has a Boardwalk and a beach). We played on the playground near the beach and I went to the Russian book store while she napped in her stroller, with Bear walking back and forth, to pick up a book and toys for Jo, who is turning 2 in October. It got pretty hot but it was still nice to do something different. I also cooked a lot on Wednesday - in addition to another batch of soup for Tanya (with my immersion blender this type and old school grinder)- I made cabbage stir fry and chicken and pasta. And on Thursday I made rice using chicken broth from the soup, instead of water.
By the way, my parents might be on vacation in Aruba but my Mom Skypes me some mornings while she's having breakfast on the balcony overlooking the beach. Technology is pretty amazing.
Work has been good so far. The classes are nice and small, so the commenting on drafts is much more manageable. The drafts, which I got on Thursday, are also only three pages long, so it's hasn't been too stressful getting them all done. I managed to get a lot done this morning, working for maybe three hours while Bear took Tanya for a walk. And I like my students, especially the second class where the students actually brought up passages in the reading that weren't as clear. The drafts are pretty terrible - mostly summary and not a lot of analysis - but that is typical of first papers. I know they will get better. We are going to work on topic sentences on Monday. They need some.
I'm still reading Sacks. I'm more than two-thirds through. (I used to have really fast reading speed until I was 17 and read "War and Peace." Reading that book slowed down my reading speed and it stayed that way. It's weird). Definitely enjoying it. He was friends with Auden, which was weird since I read Christopher Isherwood's "Christopher and his Kind" not that long ago and he and Auden were best friends. Like all the people I read about knew each other.
I bought the HumbleBook Bundle from Neil Gaiman this morning but I still need to figure out how to download it. But first, I really just want to finish Sacks.