Bearshorty's musings

Today was a pretty mellow day, not much going on. I was watching more “Battlestar Gallactica” with Papa. I like watching it all at once; I think the show benefits from uninterrupted viewing since the episodes occur one right after the other. And I like all the characters, which is rare in a show. It is not my favorite show ever but it is entertaining.

Genesis WTF moment of the day: I can’t believe I’m almost done with Genesis, tonight I will read the last five chapters (I read them late at night). I think sticking to a plan of five chapters a day and looking for a crazy moment to write about helped me to stick to it. Last night’s reading was not that crazy but still some moments stood out. I did like some realistic touches like when pharaoh gets Joseph out of prison after two years, he gives him time to shave and change his clothes, since I’m sure he was stinky. And when Joseph leaves the room to cry for a thousand’s time after he interacts with his brothers – who sold him in the slavery in the first place – he takes time to wash his face before going back into the room. Joseph tries to be a bit of a bastard and play his brothers since he wants for them to bring his youngest brother Benjamin into Egypt. Then he tries to set it up so Benjamin would remain in Egypt by having his men conceal a cup in Benjamin’s bag, not really counting on his brother Judah try to trade himself for Benjamin’s freedom. For all his scheming it seems Joseph’s heart is not really into it because he confesses to his brothers about who is he pretty quickly (since they did not recognize him). He also cries a lot and doesn’t blame his brothers for selling him into slavery that much. Well at least he grew rich. It just the whole story with his brothers not recognizing him, and traveling back and forth from Canaan to Egypt and hiding the cup, turned out pretty pointless since they still got all “happily ever after” ending.

So it turns out that not getting enough sleep plus bleeding plus not eating until 2pm causes lightheadedness and the whole about to keel over feeling. Probably anemia acting up or at least that is what I choose to believe.

“Bones” had an episode with a James Bond theme. That show is like cotton candy, a flimsy fun show, the only procedural I like and mostly for the characters. Although the images of dead flesh, especially one guy’s body eaten by cats, were a bit too much. I did like how they focused on some kitties afterward staring at Booth and licking their faces.

I also appreciate that people on “Battlestar Gallactica” have hair and dirty faces one would have in a shitty situation, and not perfectly coiffed with nice make-up in the middle of apocalypse like many other shows and movies I won’t name (cough... terminator:salvation …cough)

Genesis WTF moment of the day: When Jacob returned to the land where he was born with his whole family, one guy in a neighboring town took a liking to Jacob’s daughter Dinah. So he took Dinah and raped her. But, of course, it was OK from his perspective because he fell in love with her afterward and wanted to marry her. The guy and his father went to Jacob to get his permission and everything. Jacob’s sons (and he had twelve from four mothers) did not take this so well and planned revenge. They pretended they were good with the marriage as long as the guy, his father and every single male in the town got circumcised. On the third day after the whole town did that and all men lay there still in pain, a few of the brothers came to the town and killed all men while they were in their weakened state. Of course, the brothers also looted the town, took away all herds and money and women and children to. A little excessive on their part there. Oh, and Rachel had another son, Benjamin, and she died in childbirth asking Jacob to name their son Ben-Ori. Jacob disregarded her last wishes there.

This morning I had to deal with fun little details. First my computer started making this noise in the left speaker. It was mild before but this morning it was really loud. It is probably the fan not working properly since the noise is intermittent. Since my laptop is only six month old, it is still under warranty, so I wasn’t worried too much. And I will get a personalized home visit to replace the fan thing within a week. But reaching the company was a circle of bureaucratic hell. I started with the website and tried to fill in the repair form and it wouldn’t recognize the model number. I clicked on “Contact Us” next and under “repair” section they sent me back straight to repair form that wouldn’t work. Finally I called the number I found, where automatic voice suggested I look at the website for any questions or problems. I held on and after a short time was actually connected to a human being who found my records easily, noted my problem and set up the home visit. It was actually too easy. I’m not breathing a sigh of relief yet until they actually show up and fix it.

After that fun morning activity I had to fix another problem. I picked up my paycheck yesterday and it is a good thing I bothered to go and get it now. I looked at what they paid me and the number seemed a little low. This was the first paycheck, so I didn’t know for sure how much I was supposed to get. I had a strong suspicion that they were only paying me for one class instead of two so I called department’s paycheck person today. Turns out I was right. Good thing I don’t need the money right away. They fixed it, of course, but it just reinforces that I need to double check everything myself.

I started on the Hebrew lessons today. I worked on chapter one which is a review of first half of the alphabet and three vowels. It was the first time I wrote out the letters and I used that iTunes class as a guide. It just reinforces the alphabet and reading since I still have to get used to it. I like when they give English words written in Hebrew letters so at least I would know if I’m pronouncing it right. They don’t always do that, but that is most effective.

The ocean today in the evening has this golden glow close to sunset. It didn’t last long but it was very pretty.

Read more “World War Z” today, mostly about government’s ineffectual handling of any disaster and the panic people are thrown in. This book feels very realistic since people act like people would with both ugly and generous behavior. The only thing that bugs me is the stories from women’s perspectives. There are not a lot of them proportionally which in a way makes sense because governments and soldiers and intelligent communities are not known to be very representative. But we read a story of an architect who in her story is pretty much a mother saving her children, a story of a little girl and a story of a Russian female soldier and it seems underbalanced in the role women play. I’m probably just over thinking this and should just enjoy the book. The book does make me think of what I would do in the situation. Probably get a shotgun, not that I ever held a gun in my life, and get out of the cities. Head north or something.

Genesis WTF moment of the day: Last night’s passages – Genesis 21-25 - where pretty straight forward, some even a bit romantic. The care Abraham took to bury Sarah properly and Isaac seeing Rebecca for the first time after Abraham’s servant fetches her from Abraham’s homeland were both moving moments. And Rebecca’s relatives even sort of asked her opinion about traveling so far from her home to marry Isaac. So the WTF moment has to go to Abraham getting ready to sacrifice Isaac when the latter was young. A familiar story was just weird in little details. We are not really privy to too much of what Isaac was thinking at the time, just him wondering why they were not taking up a lamb up with them along with all the wood. It was Abraham’s nonchalant attitude to God’s request that earned the WTF status. When Sara kicked Abraham’s son Ishmael and his servant mom out of the house, Abraham was a bit upset and uncomfortable with that. Yet God tells him to sacrifice Isaac and he doesn’t even blink. He just takes up the wood for the altar for burning, ties Isaac up on it and is ready with a knife to stab him before God finally stops it. Last night, when Bear and I were talking about this, he just came up with one hilarious script for what God might have said once he stopped Abraham. I can’t reproduce it here, I won’t do it justice, but it was hysterical (God: Dude, I was kidding, Jeez).

I started reading “World War Z: oral history of the zombie war” by Max Brooks this morning and I was not expecting how much I would like it. I couldn’t put it down. Well, partly because I knew I had to grade papers and wanted to do anything but. But it is really, really good. It is not the zombies who are fun, it is people’s response to a plague that is encroaching and terrifying. Reactions of governments and different people are very realistic. The book is written as an oral interview with a bunch of survivors and that writing choice works incredibly well. So far I read just the first part about people from all over the world processing various information about the new plague. I liked that people from different cultures sound like they are from that culture in the style of storytelling. But I just wanted to keep reading which does not often happens with books now.

Went rollerblading for 35 minutes today. The ocean was very pretty blue and sun was shining.

Most of the afternoon I spent grading papers. Paper 1 on Kingsolver and genetic engineering. Grading papers is such a brainsucking work especially in the beginning when their papers just don’t make sense. I feel like a zombie myself afterwards. At least I reached my goal of 7 papers. Now I just have to do that for three more days.

My friend N. called me today. And she has an extra season of “Farscape. Season 3” which she will give to me just because. Yeah!!! Does it mean I will eventually have to get other seasons?

I discovered today that adding feta cheese is really delicious in the regular salad Mama makes.

Watching the Emmy’s right now. NPH rocks. Great to see “Dr Horrible” on mainstream TV. Emmy is not my favorite awards show; I don’t always watch it but this year it is brilliant. Funny. Lots of jokes. Great introduction to writers of Variety shows and other writers, great introduction to directors, and great commentary for people walking to the stage. Plus Neil Patrick Harris is awe…wait for it… some. Ok, that was a lame joke. I was also reading EW liveblog for a bit to combine the media, that proved too much hassle, I don’t have attention span for that.

Today I was also learning HTML language a bit which I will need when I will talk about “House” tomorrow so as not to spoil it.

Genesis WTF moment of the day: Abram(Abraham) and Sara and their sojourn in Egypt. So Abram and Sara and their nephew Lot go into Egypt for a time. Abram is worried that if people in Egypt find out that Sara is his wife, they will kill him since she is so beautiful. So he figures he will introduce her as his sister. When that works rather well and Sara is “taken” into Pharaoh’s house, it made Abram very happy and he grew rich. God had to pretty much intervene and tell the Pharaoh that Sara was Abram’s wife. That made the Pharaoh of Egypt, of all people, very uncomfortable and he told Abram to take Sara and leave Egypt. I wonder what Sara was thinking at that time. The Bible curiously doesn’t mention it.